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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.

Filed Under: Business Mum, General, Growing your business

What details do you collect?

September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

What contact details do you collect?

Recently, I have seen a number of business mums posting on Facebook asking for people to contact them regarding their orders. To me, it looks like they haven’t collected any contact details from their customers.

Regardless of how you sell, you should collect some basic details from your customers, especially if you sell online.

Obviously at a busy market, you may not be able to collect all the details of your customers, however if they are taking the products right away, you may not need any contact details for follow up.

With online orders, here are details you should consider collecting:

  • Customer Name – this may seem obvious, however some online retailers don’t! Instead they send the package using their customers user name.
  • Postal Address – again, this may seem obvious, however, I have seen a number of call outs asking for people to send through their postal addresses.
  • Email Address and Phone Number – these are useful if there are any problems or delays with the order, or in the case where the package is returned to you for some reason, it pays to have these additional contact details for your customers, so you can follow up quickly and your customer can enjoy their package.

Most online shopping carts will collect these details, however more and more people seem to be selling via Facebook only. If this is you, make sure you collect these basic details.

If your customers are worried about spam, reassure them that you will only use these details for their orders and they won’t be added to your newsletter list unless they request it.

Collecting these details will help things run smoother and will help your customers get their packages in a timely manner.

 

Filed Under: Competitions, Customer Service, Facebook, Growing your business

Do you have a DIY option?

September 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you have a DIY kit?

Are you a service provider, as opposed to someone who sells a product? Most service providers charge a rate for their time, and their business is reliant on them doing all the work.

Many service providers I have spoken to also report they get a number of people coming to them, using their free hour (or half hour) and never coming back, mostly citing their rates are unaffordable.

So, have you thought of creating a DIY (do it yourself) kit?

This kit is an information product you can create once, then sell again, and again. It would be cheaper than your usual consultation fee, but still worth your while to create. It would contain information and questions for clients to answer and work through what you may offer your other clients, but on their own.

Another advantage of having a DIY kit is that you can reach more people with a single product, and it won’t rely on you to be around. It is also a source of income.

With any DIY kit, don’t give away all your secrets at a cut price rate. You may even want to create a number of different kits on different aspects of your business. For example, if you are an interior designer, you may want to create a kit to help people decorate their bedroom with suggestions and checklists, and another kit for a bathroom or lounge room.

The biggest challenge with a DIY kit is finding the time to put them together. You may already have information and checklists you have created for your clients. These may be edited to turn into a DIY kit. There are also Virtual Assistants out there who can help with this task, including taking your information and editing them to a saleable product.

So, if you are a consultant or service provider, have you thought of creating a DIY kit to complement your existing services and help you grow your business?

Filed Under: Growing your business

Friday Five – Old Blog Posts

September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Friday FiveIf you have been blogging for a while, you will have built up an archive of blog posts. These posts can be valuable to your business, and not just providing old posts for search engines to find.

This week, I look at five ways you can use old posts to promote your business and provide value to your customers.

  1. Post archive – if you are on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media site, find some of your old posts and use them as status updates. You may find that your old information is topical again and can bring people back to your blog.
  2. EBook – compile some of your blog posts into an eBook or report. You can either sell this report or use it as an incentive for people to sign up to your email list.
  3. Re-write as an article – there are many websites out there looking for content. Could your old posts be re-written as an article to submit to these sites? It may be as simple as updating some of the information or making the posts a bit longer, and then adding your bio box on the bottom.
  4. Re-write as a blog post – has it been some time since the information on your old post was published? Re-write an old blog post so it’s fresh again and re-post it. You may have a whole new audience now that will find that information useful.
  5. Promotional tool – blog posts can form the basis for other promotional tools, including postcards, posters and information sheets. Glean relevant information from old posts, you never know what gems you may have.

Blog posts contain valuable information that can be re-used to promote and grow your business.

Do you have any other ideas of how you can use your old blog posts?

Filed Under: Blogging, Branding, Friday Five, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Marketing Monday – Ask for referrals to grow your newsletter list

August 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Marketing MondayOne way you can use to get more subscribers to your email list is to invite your current subscribers to recommend you to their friends. There are a number of ways you can do this:

  • Set up a referral form where your subscribers enter their email along with the emails of up to 5 friends. Send these friends an introductory email about your busines and newsletter and invite them to sign up. Make sure in the email you say their friend has recommended them, and reassure then that they have not been added to your list, until they go to a form and sign up themselves. There are “refer a friend” programs you can use to set this up.
  • With your newsletter, include a “forward to a friend” link. Some email programs have code you can enter to track this for you, including whether or not the friend signs up.

You may want to run this as a referral drive and offer a gift or free postage to any current subscriber who gets 5 friends (or more) to sign up.

With both of these ideas, don’t automatically add these people to your list. They have not given you permission to add them as their friends are referring them. It would also be a good idea to include a note explaining to your subscribers what you will send their friends, maybe include a copy of the email you will send them. Reassure your current subscribers that you will not automatically add their friends to your email list.

When a friend of a subscriber signs up, be sure to send your subscriber a thank you note for recommending you to their friends.

Do you have any other ideas to encourage people to refer your newsletter to their friends?

Filed Under: e-Newsletters, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Friday Five – Reasons to read your local paper

August 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Friday FiveMost people receive a local paper, some people get more than one paper each week! There is a temptation to simply toss it in the recycling bin, however your local paper can be a valuable resource to help you grow your business.

This weeks Friday Five has five reasons why you should read your local paper:

  1. Local events – most local papers have a list of local events that are on the next week and beyond. These could be anything from markets to business networking events to public speaking workshops to just about anything that is on in your local area. These can open up opportunities for promotion, networking and growing your skills.
  2. Profiles - local papers often include profiles of businesses run by Mums, especially if there is an interesting story behind the business. This is a great way for you to find out about other business mums in your area. You can then contact them to get to know them, and also support their business by buying from them.
  3. Opportunities - by reading the articles and other parts of the paper, you never know what opportunities may present themselves for your business. For example, a few weeks ago I read about a new op shop that was opening up that wanted to support community groups. I was able to let a community group I’m involved with about this. While this isn’t directly business related, it is an opportunity that would have been missed if I hadn’t read my local paper.
  4. Promotion - as well as possible markets to sell your products at (see events), you may also find other opportunities for promotion. This could be writing a letter to the editor or responding to articles or opportunities that may be advertised in the paper. And don’t forget about the contact details for the editor to send in your own media releases!
  5. Research - if you have a business that is based in and targets your local area, your local newspaper can provide you with some valuable research, especially finding out what is happening in your local area.  This could be anything from council decisions to activities at the local primary school to new businesses opening up (including potential competitors or alliance partners) and more.

I hope this will give you a new appreciation for your local paper. You may not have time to read the paper cover to cover, but it is well worth making the time to flick through the paper to see what stands out. You never know what opportunities may come your way.

Filed Under: Friday Five, Growing your business

Do you put all your eggs in one basket?

August 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Are all your eggs in the one basket?

The Internet is giving business mums many new opportunities to start a business, ones that didn’t exist even a year or two ago. With these, it can also be tempting to put all your eggs in the one basket.

For example, I have seen Mums start a business that is 100% on a Facebook page. They don’t have a website or even an eBay or Etsy shop.

I have also seen Mums who have a website, but do nothing to encourage their Facebook followers to join their email lists.

This can also be a danger for sales. I have seen many Mums who have an online shop they rely on for their sales, then something will happen to their website and they haven’t attended any markets or have any alternative method to reach their customers.

So, are you putting all your promotional and sales eggs in the one basket?

For sales, there are many different places you can sell: your own website, handmade products can be sold on sites like Made It and Etsy, and there are sites such as Ethikl and Blue Caravan. Then add offline sales at markets and fairs and you may also want to stock your products in bricks and mortar stores. Another option is to offer in-home parties, like party plan. If you are looking for a market, visit Market Angel for a fantastic list of markets around Australia.

For promotion, there are many, many different things you can do, both online and offline. For some ideas, check out our Promoting Your Business category.

To grow your business, and give you a contingency in case your sole means of sales or promotion stops for some reason, don’t put all your eggs in the one basket.

Filed Under: Growing your business, Promoting your business, Slider, Starting Out

Marketing Monday – Competition Prizes – be specific

August 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Marketing MondayCompetitions are a great way to promote your business and grow your database. Offering prizes to other businesses for their competitions is a great way to get the word out there about your business.

One thing I’ve learned from running competitions is to be specific with the prize details. Let people know the colour, size, fragrance or any other details. This can help them decide whether they want the prize or not and may encourage more people to join.

One example I saw recently was a business offering a “hamper of children’s toys”. There were no details of the sex or ages of the toys. As I have 2 boys in primary school, I didn’t enter in case the hamper was full of baby toys or items only suitable for girls.

This business would have been better served to write a list of what was in the hamper. including whether or not they were appropriate for boys or girls and what age the toys were aimed at. Even if the business didn’t want to include a full list, a list of the main items would help people choose what is included.

So, when you are listing a prize for a competition, be specific with the prize details. You may find you get more people entering, and more people entering who really want the prize you are offering.

 

Filed Under: Competitions, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Friday Five – Do more than Like a page

August 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Friday FiveMost business mums I know have a Facebook page, and like many, many other pages. Especially with the various marches and silent tagging that go on.

Facebook are also constantly changing their rules and enforcing them, resulting in many pages being removed without notice.

So, this week I have five ways to do more than simply like a Facebook page to support your favourite business mum businesses. As word gets around, some of the business mums who like your page will do the same, helping you all grow your businesses.

  1. Subscribe to their newsletter – even if you receive regular updates by looking at your wall and their page, keep up to date by subscribing to their newsletter. This will also give them a way to contact you should anything happen to their page.
  2. Buy something – this may seem obvious, but the best way to keep a business going is to support them financially. So, buy something from your favourite business, and do so through their website rather than through their Facebook page.
  3. Link to them – there are many different ways you can link to your favourite business mums businesses, and not to their Facebook page (though you can do this too). This could be a links page, referring to them in a blog post, recommending them in your newsletter. By spreading the word about them, it will help keep them open, and you never know, they may link back to you.
  4. Add a comment – if the business has a blog, or their business IS their blog, add comments as you read a post. Bloggers love comments and this is a great way to show them that you are reading and value their posts.
  5. Encourage them – being a business mum can be lonely, and it can be easy to wonder if we are doing the right thing. Encouragement could be as easy as sending them an email or a card in the mail to say that you love what they are doing and to keep up the great work, as well as the above ideas.

It is important to support fellow small businesses. You can also encourage your Facebook likers to do the same to you.

Filed Under: Facebook, Friday Five, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Networking for Introverts

August 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I am an Introvert. I much prefer to stay home and read instead of going out and meeting people. This is one reason why networking online is so much easier.

Networking face to face is important to grow your business. It can give you new contacts, clients, alliance partners, and you can also come away with some great ideas to help you grow your business.

Here are a few tips that helped me at networking events, I hope they’ll help you too:

  • Go alone – you have no idea how important this is. I found if I went with someone else, I would stay and talk with that one person the whole time & wouldn’t make any new contacts. Going alone forced me WAY out of my comfort zone and helped me make new contacts.
  • Find a seat – especially if it is a lunch or dinner & people are being encouraged to sit down, find a seat and people will come to you. This can backfire – once I found myself sitting on a table full of people who already knew each other! That didn’t go so well, but when I’m finding mingling and chit chat too much, finding a seat helps.
  • Have a goal – your goal can vary from event to event. Sometimes the goal may simply be to meet one new person! Think about the event, why you are going, and focus on that, it will help, trust me.
  • Choose the event carefully – it can be tempting to go to any event that comes your way in an attempt to get out of your comfort zone. Instead, choose the events with the most relevant speakers or where you are likely to make great contacts.

I hope these tips help any other Introverts out there. If you have any tips to add, please share them with a comment.

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