Archive for October, 2009
Friday Five - Gifts for your clients
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It’s been a while since I’ve done a Friday Five report. In the lead up to Christmas, I thought I’d go back to the original idea for Friday Five and introduce you to some amazing business mums and give you some ideas for Christmas gifts. Don’t groan too loudly, I know it’s not quite November, but it’s always good to get organised early and not have to worry about braving the shops on Christmas Eve!
This week, I’ll give you some ideas for great gifts for your clients. This is one area where it is better to be more organised so they can be sure to get the gifts in time for Christmas.
- Love Santa - these personalised Santa letters are written especially for the Aussie market, and Tash has a service where you can purchase these for the children of your clients. This is sure to make you stand out to your clients because it is something different and something for the kids. Be sure to check out the great special offer here that expires next week.
- Senoja for Candles - Andie creates personalised candles and bomboniere, and she can create them with your business logo on them. She made a few gorgeous ones for our recent Pamper Your Business day with the Business Mums Network logo on them and they are fantastic. Again, this is something a bit different and is a lasting reminder of your business.
- Gingerbread from Edible Creations - for a sweet treat, Belinda from Edible Creations is the person to talk to. Her gingerbread is delicious. She has many different options for gingerbread, so give her a call and talk about the best thing to do for your clients.
- Useful Fridge Magnets from Real Mums - if you have a lot of clients who are Mums, then a set of Useful Fridge Magnets from Real Mums could be the perfect gift. Again, they are not something everyone would think of, and they fit nicely inside a Christmas card for sending.
- Send Out Cards Gift Vouchers - recently I received a card via Send Out Cards that was a gift voucher. This could be a good way to send your clients a Christmas card and gift voucher all in one go. You can have a voucher code printed inside the card so your clients can go shopping.
I hope these will give you some ideas to help you with your Christmas shopping. I will be offline for a few weeks while we change our broadband supplier, however I’m hoping to get the next few Friday Five posts scheduled before we go offline.
What is a brand?
Posted by: | CommentsA lot of people ask about branding, the most common of these is “What is a brand?”
I found this post over at The Tall Poppy blog that has some great quotes, including:
“What”s a brand? A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect.” - Al Ries
This is a great definition of a brand. Check out the full post and read the other quotes Anne has put there.
Once you’ve read it, how can you apply that to your own business?
Hobby to Business - review your suppliers
Posted by: | CommentsFor the last 2 years, we have had a very slow Internet that was expensive. I spent most of the day yesterday looking for a new broadband provider. Anything would be better than what we were on. I found one and we are changing over as soon as we can. It will save time and money.
One of the things you should do when moving your hobby to a business is look at your suppliers and make sure they are saving you, not costing you money. Shop around and find the best deals - in many cases, this is not for your stock, rather the other support products and services you use in your business, such as the Internet connection you use.
Remember, though, that price isn’t everything. If you find you are with a cheaper web host, for example, and find your shopping cart doesn’t work all the time, costing you clients, then it may be time to upgrade to a more reliable, though possibly more expensive web host.
Other things to look at are things like your mobile phone, postage and delivery of your products, packaging, post office box, and travel costs. By reviewing these things, you may be able to find a better alternative that will help your business grow.
Marketing with no Money by Leah Squire
Posted by: | CommentsSince I’m running the Blog Inspiration program, I thought I should take part in it too!
When Leah Squire contacted me about her new book, Marketing with No Money, the title grabbed my attention right away. I know that most business mums don’t have a lot of money to spend on marketing and are always on the look out for marketing ideas, especially ones that don’t cost any money. After reading the review copy, I knew it would be a must have in the Business Mums Guides shop.
Marketing with No Money is a great book. It is easy to read and you can either read it cover to cover, or just read the chapters with the ideas that interest you. It is also relevant if you are just starting out or are further along in your business and you need some fresh ideas.
You can buy Marketing with No Money from the Business Mums Guides shop for only $24.95 plus postage.
Marketing Monday - Value add items
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You will hear many people talking about value add instead of discounting. Sometimes this can seem hard - after all, how do you still make money if you are giving away bonuses for free?
The answer is simple, find something that is low cost to you, but is high value to your clients.
For example, you may have written an ebook. The cost to you is your time to write it and put it together. The value to your clients will be huge because of the information contained in the ebook.
This is also where strategic alliance partners can come in handy. They may have an ebook, or something else they can give you to send out as a value add bonus. This is very useful to you because it doesn’t cost you anything, and is valuable to your clients too. It also helps promote your strategic alliance partner.
If you want some more tips on making the most of strategic alliances, join the Strategic Alliance Success program with Networking World.
The value add items you offer don’t need to be hugely expensive or large and flashy. The key is they are something that is low cost to you, but high value to your clients.
What value add items can you think of to add to your products?
Need inspiration for your blog?
Posted by: | CommentsSometimes it can be hard finding inspiration for blog posts. I know I go through periods where I’m really not sure what to blog about.
Programs like Blog Whammy can be a huge help. Each week, you “whammy” one of the members by using one of their posts as inspiration.
If this is not for you, Business Mums Network is starting a new program called “Blog Inspiration“. Each week, we will post a topic you may want to blog about. If you are a member of the Business Mums Network, you can then post a link to your post as a comment on the weekly article and post it on the forums. Even if you are not a member, you can use these articles as inspiration for posts on your own blog. We will try it out for a few weeks and see how it goes.
Inspiration for blog posts can be found from many sources - from your business, other blogs, your kids, your family, the list is endless. Sometimes it helps to have someone else give you the inspiration you need.
Getting “stuff” out of your head
Posted by: | CommentsAs business owners, often we start off doing everything. All our systems and proceedures are in our heads and trying to explain them to others can be tough.
One of the best ways I’ve found to get this “stuff” out of my head is to get someone else to help! Carolyn has come on board to help with the magazine, and one of her first tasks is to get everything out of my head and on to paper.
Katerina from Twinkle Lily has video’d herself making her nappies and other products and accompanied this with a proceedure manual to give to her manufacturers so everything is made correctly and she no longer has to do it all.
One of the biggest advantages of getting your work processes written down and out of your head is you can pass it on to someone else to do. You can also sit down and work out what it is that you want to do and what it is you need or want to get someone else to do.
It also frees up a lot of brain space so you are free to concentrate on the things you love to do in your business.
Hobby to Business - Are things still working?
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the things I’ve been doing lately is take a critical look at my business and at what is and isn’t working. What was working when I started may not be working now.
Part of turing your hobby into a business is to take a critical look at what you are doing and identify areas that aren’t working and then change them - either stop doing it or make changes so they start working again.
I’ve recently done this with the Business Mums Magazine - things weren’t working and so the magazine wasn’t being produced as well as it could be. With the help of my business coach, the decision has been made to relaunch the magazine in early 2010 and spend the next couple of months putting systems and a team in place so things are done properly.
You will receive complaints when things change. Part of this is because people don’t like change. When you make these changes, point out the benefits to your customers. It may be that they get better service, a wider variety of products to choose from, a team that runs better, or whatever it is. During the process, communicate as best you can with your customers. It may be via email, your blog, website or a letter in the mail - or a combination of all of these.
This process has been compared to growing pains in a child. It may hurt in the short term, but the long term benefits for your business and your customers will be worth it.
Marketing Monday - Thank You cards
Posted by: | CommentsThank you cards are amazing. In the last week I’ve received two, and they both blew me away, especially because they were thanking me for an event I put on!
Have you thought of thanking people around you?
These could include:
- Your customers
- Your suppliers
- Speakers at networking events you attend
- Organisers of networking events
- People you win prizes from
- Anyone else you can think of
Bree from Image Effect has created branded thank you cards for her business. She is a graphic designer and they show off her skills beautifully. The card she sent me is sitting over my desk at the moment.
You may not have the skills or budget to send a branded thank you card, any card will do so long as it reflects your business. I get the lavender postcards from Phoenix Trading as they look good and fit with the purple colour of my business.
A thank you card reminds people of you and they also give those you send them to a good feeling. They will want to do business with you again.
Don’t underestimate the power of a thank you card. And the best part - this is something you can do at any stage in your business.
For all you chocoholics out there…
Posted by: | CommentsJust for fun, and for all you chocoholics out there, check out these two posts from Elena at EP Designs:
Some great sayings about chocolate. I must admit, I like a lot of those quotes.
Be warned, they may make you want to go out and buy some chocolate…. must remember to pick some up once the boys are at school.
