12/29/2009
Who’s Foursquare Mayor of your local business? If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, but would like to join the hottest, hippest new social networking tool for promoting a local business, read on. I’ll explain Foursquare – the still tiny but fast-growing mobile app phenomenon that could become the Twitter of 2010.
Foursquare combines elements of both Facebook and Twitter into a mobile social networking tool that lets users — mostly 20- and 30-somethings in urban areas — locate each other via mobile posts and join up at popular places. It’s a friend-finder, electronic game and city guide all rolled into one, and thousands of small businesses nationwide are quickly jumping on board. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
12/15/2009
Whether you are planning to sell online for the first time, or are tuning up and re-launching an existing e-commerce site, drawing visitors to your website is a challenge. Some traditional marketing strategies actually translate well to e-commerce, such as promoting to places where you know your customers congregate (either online or in the physical world). If you have a physical store, review what has worked there and morph those activities into your online efforts.
One of the biggest hurdles in online marketing is keeping visitors on your site long enough to buy something, says Jean Van Rensselar, a Chicago-based marketing expert. At a store, they’ve already made a time investment to be there and are less likely to walk out. Online, however, there’s no such investment so the quality of your site will make or break your online business. With a single click, potential customers can bolt. Here are some tips for marketing an online store and some errors to avoid: Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
12/11/2009
There’s a new small business startup boom sweeping across America. It’s not about high-tech, or venture capital, or any of the usual startup suspects we’ve seen in recent decades. This boom is all about “personal businesses” – the one-man or woman shops with no employees that are sprouting at a record rate, and often begin as hobbies.
This boom is about people with a passion for making something – dubbed the “Maker Movement” – armed with the smarts, low-cost startup tools and the drive to turn their hobby into a revenue stream. Today’s passion-driven hobbyists are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs – otherwise known as hobbypreneurs, who successfully combine their passion for a particular hobby or craft with pragmatic business smarts to create new revenue streams for themselves and their families. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
12/03/2009
As the U.S. economy continues to stumble along, small business owners are searching for low-cost and no-cost ways to promote their businesses and get their name in front of potential customers. “Even with talk about a recovering economy, businesses are still watching every penny,” says Drew Gerber, CEO of Wasabi Publicity, Inc., a boutique PR firm based in North Carolina.
PR is a perfect way for many small businesses to get attention and attract new customers. “Nothing has people knocking on your door like PR,” says Gerber. “Most companies know this, but not all have the budget to hire a PR firm. The good news is you don’t have to.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
11/25/2009
Excess inventory can be a serious financial drag for any business. But what to do with excess items – no matter what they are or where they came from – can be a difficult dilemma. Selling what you have through normal channels – special sales, for example, or online — may be out of the question. After all, the reason you have the surplus is because your regular outlets haven’t done the job.
And you probably have little patience for continuing to carry the extra load. But there are several tactics that can either net you a cash return on your items, or a nifty tax write-off. And some of those services are places you can buy as well as sell excess inventory. Your five basic choices are: Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
11/19/2009
Dear Dan: The last time I tried to raise prices it was a disaster. Customers revolted. But I’ve cut costs as far as I can, and profits are too thin. How can I raise prices and not lose business? — Once Burned, Price Shy
Dear Price Shy: Millions of small business owners across America seem convinced that raising prices in a bad economy is financial suicide. Held hostage by industry pricing and recession fears, many business owners believe that working harder and earning less is the only way to survive.
But that’s wrong, says pricing specialist Dale Furtwengler, a CPA and president of Furtwengler & Associates, a pricing consulting firm. Cutting costs is like dieting. It rarely produces lasting results. Furtwengler contends that the economy isn’t the issue. Rather it’s the inability of most small business owners to understand the value in what they sell, to make changes if necessary and communicate that value to customers. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
11/05/2009
Want to really target your advertising in a cutting edge medium that could surpass even the Internet in terms of advertising growth in the next few years? Then take a look at the emerging field of digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, also called out-of-home video advertising.
DOOH delivers hyper-local, personalized and engaging messages to highly specialized, captive niche audiences on out-of-home screens (the so-called “4th screen”) popping up in millions of locations everywhere.
This, say the media pundits, is sure to be the next major growth area in local advertising. It’s laser-targeted stuff. By putting DOOH in your advertising arsenal, you can place video ads and content in front of just the right people, at just the right time in just the right place. Here’s how: Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
11/03/2009
When our “new” (well, kind of) corporate parent’s PR department called recently wanting to profile me on the company’s internal “Thought Leaders & Trendsetters” web page, I naturally thought it was either a hoax, or just another corporate whim that would quickly fade. But hey, my photo might (and now does) appear right next to the CEO himself, so why not? And later Tweeting my kids that I’m a trendsetter? Priceless.
Still…I’m skeptical. This “thought leader” thing seems like just another corporate buzz word. Then, bam! An email arrives from a very smart, Chicago-based marketing and PR person named Jean Van Rensselar explaining in abundant detail just how cool and beneficial it really is to be a “thought leader” in business —especially a business-to-business type business. Buzz word? Banish the thought, says Van Rensselar. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
11/03/2009
By Jean Van Rensselar
A thought leader is essentially a trusted resource. And in an information economy, a trusted resource is extremely valuable. A thought leader can be an individual or a company with a thorough mastery of its business, its customers and the dynamics of the broader operating environment. The bottom line is that a thought leader has an enormous industry edge. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in – whether yours is a Fortune 1000 company or a bakery in a small town – thought leadership will propel your business in ways that you could never imagine. With the right approach and a small investment, results will materialize quickly.
To be a thought leader – you need to consistently articulate and convey insightful information that listeners and readers value. Truly insightful information is a rare commodity. Here are the benefits; how to become a thought leader; and mistakes to avoid: Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Daniel Kehrer
With millions of small and medium businesses using QuickBooks to manage their financial affairs, the industry for QuickBooks “add-ons” has blossomed. Add-on programs are essential to many small and mid-sized businesses because they are often the only way to get industry-specific or highly specialized functions. They’re great for adding extra capabilities in key areas such as inventory, time and project tracking, invoicing, e-commerce and others.
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