Archive for June, 2009
Marketing Monday - Send out one thing per day to market your business
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One very simple marketing tool is to send out one thing a day to promote your business. The aim of this is to keep your business in the minds of your clients and potential clients. You may send a sample product, a media release, an email newsletter, a business card, a brochure, a letter of introduction, the ideas are endless!
By sending one thing a day, you are spreading the work out over a number of days, so marketing doesn’t seem quite so daunting. Depending on what you are sending, it may only take a few minutes and you have done your task.
This is also something you can do with the help of your kids! Depending on their age, they can help pack envelopes, write addresses, afix stamps, choose cards, and so on. They can even help you come up with ideas for creative ways to promote your business.
One very simple thing to to send a card a day - it may be to thank a customer, wish a client “Happy Birthday” or just to let them know you are thinking about them.
By doing something small every day, it can make a huge impact on your business.
Friday Five - Blog Ideas for Web Developers
Posted by: | CommentsAre you a web developer & need some ideas for your blog? This weeks Friday Five report will give you some ideas of what to include.
Friday Five reports are only $5 each, through PayPal. To get yours, simply click on the button below:
To view past Friday Five reports, click here.
To be notified when the next report is available, click here.
Note: The Victorian school holidays are on the next 2 weeks. The Friday Five reports will start again on Friday 17 July.
Something to blog about
Posted by: | CommentsOK, so last week was a write off as far as posts go - we had the Business Mums Conference on the weekend and I spent the whole week working on that! So, now I’m back to blogging.
Sometimes, it can be hard to work out what to blog about. Reading the Your Cheeky Monkey blog, I came across a great idea. If you win something, blog about it! You can find posts about things she has won here.
Monique includes a photo of her prize, description of the competition and prize as well as links to the site where she entered the competition and the person who donated the prize.
Not only does this give you something to blog about, but the prize sponsors and the business running the competition will appreciate the links. They will also appreciate the feedback of the prize.
So, when you win a prize, blog about it!
Friday Five - What do you want to see?
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s a curriculum day in Victoria, so there is no Friday Five report today - also, it’s been a 3 day week, so time has been tighter than normal.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to ask you - what reports would you like to see? What topics are you interested in? If it’s not an area of business I know a lot about, I can get some others to write reports for me.
Please, post a comment and let me know what topics you would like to see.
Twitter tips - what are yours?
Posted by: | CommentsA couple of weeks ago, I posted about some of my tips for using Twitter. Twitter can be a powerful tool for growing your business.
This weeks question is:
What is your top tip for using Twitter in your business?
Share your tips and the best tip will win a copy of “Simple Ways to Handle things you Hate Doing in Business” by Maureen Pound.
If you are business mum and a member of Twitter, check out our special offer for today only. You can join Business Mums Network for an incredibly low rate!
Congratulations to Melinda White for her tip last week on financing your business. There were some great tips and it was very hard to choose. Using your stimulus package is timely this year.
Marketing Monday - attending conferences
Posted by: | CommentsDid you know that attending conferences can be a great place to market your business? We all know about networking events - these are usually a lunch, dinner or other event, generally a couple of hours long where you can hear a speaker and connect with other business owners.
So, what makes conferences different?
Firstly, they are often 1-2 or more full days of workshops and networking. This gives you more opportunities to connect with other delegates and get to know them. It also means they have more opportunity to get you know you.
Secondly, you will have the opportunity to attend more than one workshop and hear more than one speaker. This will give you more knowledge to grow your business. The knowledge you will get here will often depend on the theme and topic of the conference. For example, if you are looking for help with your business, attending a conference about music won’t be much help!
Thirdly, many conference offer additional promotion opportunities for businesses. These can include donating prizes, putting promotional items in conference bags, and more. Sometimes there will be an additional fee, however in some cases, these extras are free for participants, or free if you are a member of the organisation running the conference.
In 2 weeks, the Business Mums Network is running its tthird annual conference in Melbourne. If you are a mum in business, then this is the event to attend. There are networking and promotion opportunities available. For full details, go to www.businessmumsconference.com.au and register for your ticket.
Friday Five - Things to blog about
Posted by: | CommentsDo you have a blog, and struggle to find topics to blog about? This weeks Friday Five can help you. It contains a number of ideas to help keep you blogging and give you an interesting blog for people to read.
Friday Five reports are only $5 each, through PayPal. To get yours, simply click on the button below:
To view past Friday Five reports, click here.
To be notified when the next report is available, click here.
Case Study - Leroy’s Gun Show Doll
Posted by: | CommentsThis morning I was at the Rialto with Light FM. It was an interesting morning, and it was great to catch up with people like Leroy and Cassie from The Buzz.
One of the features was a test live read, to see what it would be like to have one for our business. Well, Leroy & Cassie did one about the Business Mums Magazine. The read started with Leroy talking about a doll that had blow up muscles to show off his “Gun Show”.
Following on from that, I thought it would be fun to test his idea and get the brilliant business mums community to give him some tips on testing the market, manufacturing his dolls and so on.
Every Thursday, I will post as well as interview various experts on different aspects of business to go through how Leroy would get his Gun Show doll to market.
Leroy may not be a Mum, but he is a Dad. 
So, I hope you’ll all tune in and share your ideas.
Financing Your Business
Posted by: | CommentsFollowing on from last weeks post and all the great suggestions, I’ve decided to do it every Wednesday. A prize will be offered for the best suggestion and the winner will be announced the following week. For the winner from last week, look at the end of this post.
One of the most comment reasons I hear for people not starting a business is money - they don’t have the money to buy all the stock they want or get their ideal website.
If you know my story, I started the Business Mums Network with $100, and built it up slowly.
There are many ways you can finance your business. My question today is how did you finance your business? Or, if you don’t want to share that, what are some creative ways business mums can finance their business?
This weeks winning comment will receive a copy of Raising a Business by Sonia Williams.
The winner of last weeks comment is Sascha from Activ8 Change. Congratulations Sascha, we will get your CD out to you in the next few days.
Marketing Monday - Products on Blogs
Posted by: | CommentsAs you’re no doubt aware by now, I read a lot of blogs… Blogs are a great resource for business, especially reading the blogs of other business owners.
While viewing the Konstant Kaos blog, I was reminded of a great marketing idea. If you have a blog, make sure you promote your products there.
Margaret regularly posts about current products as well as invites feedback for future products. She also showcases stands she’s had at markets, as well as other useful bits of information.
So, if you have a blog for your business, remember to showcase your products. If you also have an online shop, link to where people can buy those products.
