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Friday Five – Saving Money on Boxing Day

December 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Friday FiveThe Boxing Day Sales are a tradition here in Australia. Most shops, especially in big shopping centres, have sales where they slash prices.

If you are hitting the sales this year, keep an eye out for specials on the following products to help your business.

  1. Wrapping Paper – if you offer free gift wrap as a Christmas promotion, then Boxing Day is the time to stock up for the following year. You will need space to store it, however most wrapping paper is half price or less. If you’re lucky, you will be able to find paper that looks generic and can be used during the year.
  2. Christmas Cards – as with wrapping paper, the prices of Christmas cards are cut dramatically. If you send cards in the mail, stock up ready for the following year. Pick up an extra pack or two if you’re not sure how many to purchase. They can always be used the following year or for your kids to give out at school.
  3. Decorations – Christmas decorations in all shapes and sizes have reduced prices. These can make a special gift for your best customers or suppliers, as a gift with purchase, or even something to spruce up your office. Pick up a few decorations for use the following year. These can also be used as teacher gifts or as a gift for the person who just shows up for a cuppa in the lead up to Christmas.
  4. Packaging – there are a number of boxes and gift bags that can be used as packaging for your products. Some are obviously Christmas themed, however there may be plain ones that can be used during the year. If you go looking through the piles of items in the sales, you could come home with items that can be used for  your business during the year.
  5. Office Supplies – there are some shops that discount almost everything. If you are smart with your shopping you could save money on supplies for your office – from paper to office equipment. If you are planning on buying something in the sales, make sure you do your research before Christmas so you are sure you have a genuine deal.

Do you have any other tips on how business mums can save money in the Boxing Day sales, or have you got a bargain that can be added to this list?

Filed Under: Christmas, Friday Five, Seasonal

We Wish You a Merry Christmas…

December 25, 2011 By 2 Comments

It’s Christmas Day! I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading, and I hope you’ve found the information here useful.

The blog has been a bit quiet lately, but I’ve been working behind the scenes with plans for 2012. I look forward to sharing with you again next year.

In the mean time, have a wonderful and safe Christmas and a happy New Year.

Filed Under: Christmas, Slider

Basic Business Card Etiquette

November 8, 2011 By 1 Comment

When do you give someone your business card?

I’m sure this will sound familiar: You are at a networking event talking with someone, or listening to the speaker. Someone comes up to you and hands you their business card and walks away.

Or:

You are at a networking dinner (or lunch or breakfast) and someone comes around and puts their business card at each place on your table without saying anything to you and then goes away again.

Just about everyone will agree, this isn’t making the most of networking. If you’re anything like me, that business card will simply be thrown in the bin! What a waste of a card.

For many business mums, the question is “So, when do I hand out my business card?”

That really depends on the event. As a general rule, if you haven’t been speaking with someone and engaging with them, don’t hand out a card. When you are speaking with someone, you may want to exchange business cards generally at the end of the conversation, unless another opportunity arises.

If it doesn’t come up naturally, you can suggest exchanging business cards.

Other places to hand out your business card include:

  • dropping them in for prize draws
  • including them with inserts for goodie bags
  • including them with packages you send out
  • handing them to other parents when they ask for your details to organise play dates

These are just some basic tips to get you started with handing out business cards. In essence, to get the most out of your networking and your business cards, use them wisely and give them to people who are likely to contact you.

    Filed Under: Networking

    Marketing Monday – Thank You Cards

    November 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    Marketing MondayOne way to foster customer loyalty, and create a buzz, is to send a thank you card, in the mail if possible. Sending something in the mail rather than by email can be a big surprise as so many businesses send everything by email. It is also usual for a business to thank their customers.

    You may not want to send a card to customers who make small purchases. Decide in advance who you will send cards to. For example, you may want to send a card to everyone who makes a purchase over $20 from your shop, or who buy more than one item, or similar.

    If you are sending a thank you card for a purchase, it can be tempting to simply include it with the package you are sending out – don’t do this! A thank you card is much more effective if you send it a few days after your customer will have received their purchase. It will also give your customer a chance to check the item is what they wanted and that the item has arrived in one piece.

    It may also be tempting to put the same message in every card. Where possible, personalise it so people know you care and they feel special.

    It may also be tempting to include other marketing material in with your card. Again, this may not be a great idea, unless you include a small voucher or similar to encourage them to buy from you – then again, the thank you card may be enough of a value add for most people.

    Make your thank you cards part of your marketing strategy and write it in to your procedures as part of sending out packages.

    Filed Under: Promoting your business

    Protecting Family Time

    November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    Protect family time

    For many home based business mums, the line between business time and family time can be blurred. It is easy for clients for demand attention at all hours. As parents, it is more important than ever to protect your family time, drawing a line between work and leisure.

    Here a few ways you can protect your family time.

    1. Set office hours – even if your set hours are erratic, fitting around your children, set office hours when you will be working. Outside these hours, be un-contactable, by phone and email. Answer emails and phone messages during office hours. Let your family know when your office hours are so they know when you’re working and know not to disturb you.
    2. Schedule family time – you put all your business meetings in your diary, to ensure you keep your appointments. Do the same with your family time – and ensure you keep your appointments!
    3. Use voicemail – during family time, turn your mobile phone off and unplug your phone or screen your calls. If it is an important matter, your clients will leave a message or call back later. You may even want to change your voicemail message to let callers know when you will be back in the office.
    4. Have a separate work area – if possible, keep your work area separate from your living area. If a separate room is unavailable, set yourself up in a corner that is designated as your office. Set yourself up so that your work can be put away during family time, so you are not tempted to start working while you are with your family.

    Remember, if you were working for someone else, and working nine to five, your clients wouldn’t expect you to be available after hours, on weekends or when you are on holiday.

    Your family time is precious – protect it.

    Filed Under: Time Management

    Where are you located?

    November 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    Do people know where you are?

    I know I have  blogged about this before, but this is a topic well worth revisiting.

    It’s not always obvious from a URL where you are. I know of a lot of websites, Facebook pages and blogs that want to support and promote fellow business mums, however they want them to be local, at the very least in the same country they are in.

    Will your visitors, potential customers and readers be able to easily find out where you are located?

    Including your location is easy – simply add an About Me or Contact Me page that has your location, and include this information in the information on your Facebook page. If you don’t want to give away too much, you could simply include your state and/or country. For most people, that is enough.

    I know I prefer to support Australian businesses, especially when buying. If I’m looking at a website or Facebook page, one of the first things I look for is a location. If I can’t find one, I will think twice before liking their page on Facebook or spending too much time on their site.

    Another advantage for letting people know where you are located is simple – you may be giving information that is correct in your country but different elsewhere in the world. Also, if you are selling products from your website, people like to know what currency the prices are in and an idea of shipping costs. In general, it is cheaper to send something in the same country than sending it overseas.

    So, do you have a place on your website, Facebook page or blog so people can find your location?

    Filed Under: General

    Melbourne Cup Day 2011

    November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    It's Melbourne Cup Day today

    Today is Melbourne Cup Day. Here in Melbourne we have a public holiday and we all pause to watch a horse race, even those of us who have no interest in horse racing any other day of the year!

    Have you done anything creative in your business to promote it for the Melbourne Cup?

    Filed Under: Seasonal

    Marketing Monday – Choose Your Holiday

    October 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    Marketing MondayToday is Halloween. It is not a day we observe in my family, even though it seems to be gaining popularity in Australia. For this reason I find it very hard to give you some Halloween marketing ideas. If you really want some ideas, check out this post from last year.

    So, instead of giving you some ideas for Halloween, I’ll give you this tip – choose the holidays you will use for your marketing.

    It can be tempting to come up with an idea for every holiday that comes along, however it may not fit your business. This could be for a number of reasons:

    • it’s not a holiday you or your family observe
    • it doesn’t suit your business
    • there are too many other things happening for you to give it your full effort and run your promotion well
    • or something else

    There is nothing wrong with not having a promotion for a particular holiday. For example, if you have a business full of items for men, you may not want to do a Mother’s Day promotion or marketing push. You may want to save it and put all your energy in to a Father’s Day promotion.

    Another example: I used to send Mother’s Day cards to my clients instead of Christmas cards. Christmas was such a busy time of year I ran out of time and 99% of my clients were Mums!

    One of the main benefits in choosing your holidays is that you can put more energy into creating something creative to promote your business as well as helping you budget for those promotions.

    Do you create a promotion for every holiday that comes along, or do you save your promotional energy for those holidays that best suit your business?

    Filed Under: Promoting your business, Seasonal

    Marketing Monday – Update your bio box

    October 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    Marketing MondayOn the weekend, I picked up a free magazine that is distributed in my local area. It contained a number of articles, including some free reprint articles.

    Now, I know these were free reprint articles as I know the businesses and I have used one or two of those articles myself.

    One thing I noticed about the articles was the bio box at the end. At least one article had a website listed that is no longer current (the business owner has a new business now) and another one had outdated information.

    In order to get the most from your free reprint articles, make sure you keep your bio box up to date. This may include:

    • Making sure your URL is current - you may have re-named your business, or started a new one, or simply changed from a .com to a .com.au as your main URL
    • Making sure your basic information is current – over time, the focus of your business may change, you may have a new special or your may have had more children
    • Making sure you still offer what is in your bio box – there are some articles about article marketing that suggest you put an offer in your bio box. Make sure it is still valid

    This may be a huge job, especially if you have a lot of free reprint articles and publish them on a lot of article banks. The easiest way to do this is to have a template for the free reprint articles on your website where you can change your bio box automatically. Also keep track of where you distribute your free reprint articles so you can update as necessary.

    Don’t worry too much about the articles on other websites, unless you have made major changes (such as changing your URL). If you have time, it is worth checking these and contacting site owners with any updates – but that’s another post. It’s more important to keep things current for new people using your articles.

    Filed Under: Articles, Promoting your business

    Keep on your path

    October 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

    Keep on your path

    I see a lot of new businesses start and change. There are a lot of great ideas out there, business mums are a clever bunch.

    One thing I’ve seen happening more and more is businesses changing and moving off their original path, and not always for the better.

    The biggest effect I’ve seen (from an outsiders point of view) is businesses changing and being more like everyone else. Essentially they lose what has made them special and stand out in the first place.

    To keep yourself standing out from the crowd, focus on what makes you special in the first place. Do you make amazing clothes for girls? Then you may want to stick with that rather than bring in a boys range. Do you provide a great promotion opportunity for WAHMs? Then you may not want to go in to general business or parenting information. These are just a couple of examples, there are so many other examples.

    Often changing course can leave you feeling overwhelmed and with too much to do, and the feeling you are not doing anything very well. How do I know? Simple, I’ve been there.

    If you find you’ve gone away from your original course, there is nothing wrong with going back to basics. It’s always worth spending regular time having a good look at your business and seeing what works & what isn’t working any more – but that’s another post.

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    Filed Under: Business Mum, General, Growing your business
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