Great Ideas for your Small Business: Invite Associates to a Trade Show If exhibiting at or attending a trade show is on your calendar this year, turn it into a valuable business trip by inviting business associates to meet you there. As soon as you sign up to attend, go through your database or business … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Know the Difference between Marketing, Advertising, and PR Too many entrepreneurs use a scattershot approach to marketing, advertising, and public relations, primarily because they don’t understand the subtle differences between the three. But knowing which to use, and when, can save you time, aggravation, and money. Marketing encompasses a … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Give Away a Seminar Seat Karen tate, president of the griffin tate Group in Cincinnati, teaches employees of big and small companies how to manage complex projects. Although she earns most of her money conducting group seminars for big corporations, she attracts new individual clients by raffling off a … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Host an Open House One of the best ways to acquaint customers and clients with your business is to arrange a visit. An open house combines a social event with the ability to do some serious one-to-one marketing. Of course, if you deal with toxic chemicals or dangerous machinery, … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Market Your Service-Based Business Selling your expertise—an intangible product—requires a much different approach from selling a product that sits on the shelf. Some professionals, like doctors and lawyers, are limited by professional ethics to marketing their services through specific channels. If you’re a consultant, you have more options. One … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Publish a Newsletter In this age of instant information on the Internet, it’s comforting to know that there is still a vibrant market for old-fashioned printed newsletters. There are about 5,000 subscription newsletters and thousands more for free, according to industry experts. Newsletters cover everything from fly fishing and … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Hire a Mascot or a Celebrity Brenny watt didn’t set out to find a mascot for her small store, but she ended up with a famous cat. “One day, a stray cat wandered in, and we started to feed her,” said Watt. “Then one night, we accidentally locked her … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Free Up Your Sales Force “Most salespeople love to sell but hate to generate their own leads,” said the co-owner of a financial planning firm in Orlando. “So we invest a great deal of time and money for telemarketers to generate leads. This frees the salesmen to do what … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Put Your Company Name on Everything When they first started making “rack Sacks,” plastic bag holders, Exhifix Inc. didn’t have much money to spend on advertising. That’s why they printed their company name and phone number on every product. As a result, it became very easy for people to … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Set Up a Strong Referral Network Unlike the folks at big companies, small business owners are usually eager to help each other out by making referrals. Entrepreneurs really believe that “what goes around, comes around.” While many referrals are made informally by word-of- mouth, some entrepreneurs take it a … Read more
