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Advertising and Marketing Help for the Local Business Owner
Spring has sprung, the grass is riz,
I wonder where the flowers is?
Spring weather has dampened many retailers' expectations. Tornados in the Midwest and South; A nor'easter in New England; bitter cold in the upper Midwest; and 17 baseball games cancelled mainly because of snow!
Many Realtors are crying the blues - sales are off and there are several reasons why. The sub-prime lenders are taking it on the chin (some are even filing for bankruptcy), new homes sales are off nationally, and homes are on the market up to twice as long as normal.
A recent National Association of Realtors survey showed 75% of home buyers used the Internet to search for home purchases last year. If you (and your company) do not have a good website that customers can search, view market information and locate MLS numbers, you are losing potential customers and sales. All advertisers that purchase a plan on one of our broadcast partners will earn a direct link to their web site or a page that we will create for you. Let us know if you need help getting started with your web site.
Have a great day!
Larry Kirby and Jet Angel
Effective Advertising Seminars
New Business Opportunities
Yardsticks for Web Effectiveness |
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Web statistics are useful for measuring the effectiveness of your Web site for the customer or viewer. WebTrends Inc., which provides analytical reports on the Web, noted these useful marketing-relevant indicators. Most of these are available with standard Web statistic packages.
Penetration = Unique visitors to the home page / unique visitors
Penetration reflects the percentage of sites visitors that go beyond the organizations' home page. A Web site can lose 50% of its visitors before the home page finishes loading. A home page with 10,000 visitors a month stopping at the home page will be less effective than a site with 5000 visitors a moving onto other pages of the site.
Migration = Visits to content area/Site exits from the content area
Migration refers to the number of site visitors who leave the site from a certain content area. Areas with the highest migration (i.e., pages where more visitors are leaving the site) are less effective than areas with lower migration.
Connection = Referral click-throughs/Desired pageviews
Connection is the number of site visitors from an external location, such as another Web site or a banner advertisement. This can measure whether online promotions are effective.
Conversion = Unique visitors taking desired action/unique visitors
Conversion shows the percentage of site visitors that take a desired action. Examples are the percentage of site visitors that subscribe to the organization's newsletter or the percentage that make purchases online.
Clicks to Action = Average number of clicks from the home page to desired action
This is the number of clicks it takes from the home page to reach a desired action. For example, this is useful in reducing how many times a customer has to click to make a purchase.
Intro Skip Factor = Number of visitors to the intro page/visitors that bypass the intro page
This indicates the number of visitors that view that sites intro page. A large percentage of bypassing the intro would indicate either an ineffective intro or a large number of return visitors.
Web statistics typically are not collected with marketing or sales objectives in mind, so other tools may be required. However, data for measuring the success of Internet objectives can be incorporated in other processes to determine the overall success of marketing objectives, sales objectives and communication goals. For example, customer surveys can be used to collect information about the Web site and evaluate whether objectives are being met.
Thanks to Sheila Watson - Charleston Business Journal |
Nine Problems to Head Off by Planning Ahead |
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 What happens when bad problems happen to good companies? No one likes to think about what can go wrong, but every business is vulnerable. It can be something catastrophic, such as Hurricane Katrina, or something as simple as your best salesperson leaving. Planning is the best prevention. Take an hour to review this list and start making an action plan so your business survives the unexpected.
1. Cash flow problems
Even if your business is profitable, it does not mean you can pay your bills. You pay for inventory, raw materials and administrative expenses long before you get paid. Seasonal businesses have months with little income. Once you are in trouble with creditors, things get worse.
Solutions:
Develop at least a rudimentary cash flow projection; take a look at historic patterns of monthly income. Build up a cash reserve in flush months. Before you're in trouble, apply for a line of credit or use credit cards carefully to carry you through slower months. Make sure you send out invoices on time and have ongoing collection efforts for past-due accounts.
2. Partner break-ups:
It seemed a good idea at the time - she's great at making the product: he's great at making sales. Now they each feel they are the only ones keeping the business afloat. When partnership runs into trouble, the business is threatened.
Solutions:
Draw up an agreement outlining responsibilities and areas of authority or each partner, expected hours and financial commitment. Discuss growth plans and exit strategies. Have an attorney draw up a legal partnership agreement detailing ownership percentages and a buy- sell agreement, to end the partnership without ending the business.
3. Natural disasters
Fires, floods, earthquakes. Disaster can strike any business. When it does, you can lose a few days work or you can lose everything - data, equipment, inventory, customer records, and your premises.
Solutions:
Develop an emergency preparedness plan and discuss it with employees regularly. Maintain and off-site list of emergency numbers for all employees. Build ongoing back-up systems for all key data with off-site storage or your database and customer records at least a mile from your office. Get a fire-proof safe. Make sure you have adequate insurance - not just fire and flood but business interruption insurance to cover loss of income during a disaster.
4. Loss of a major customer
It's easy to become dependent on one or two accounts. They're your big customers, so you devote most of your time, energy and resources to serving them. Then the company closes, or is acquired or the buyer you've built up a relationship with for years changes jobs.
Solutions:
A bit of paranoia. As Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel said, "Only the paranoid survive." Develop a business plan that enables you to diversify your client base. Look for new channels as well as new customers - can you sell your product or service to a different target market? And never rely on just one buyer as a major customer.
5. New competition
A big-box store opens down the block; a franchised service company enters your market; a well funded Internet company offers discounted prices.
Solutions:
Always keep your eye on what is happening in the market, and expect that it can happen to you. Look for what you can offer that the competition cannot. Develop a niche market or niche product line that enables you to be distinct. Don't compete on price alone, as that makes you the most vulnerable to companies with deeper pockets.
6. Industry change
Remember all those small stores put out of business by big-box retailers? Those stores were also the customers of small manufacturers and service businesses. Virtually every industry is seeing consolidation. Yours will too.
Solutions:
Develop an annual business plan. Stay abreast of what's happening in your industry. Attend industry conferences. Stay flexible. The reality is, your business is going to have to change.
7. Loss of key personnel
The business owner dies. The company's best salesperson quits. The bookkeeper who's the only one who knows how to use the decades old software retires.
Solutions:
Develop a succession and backup plans. Develop an estate plan for the owner that insures the company can keep running during probate, and ownership transfer is clear. Develop operations manuals for key positions. Have key employees share information regularly. Make sure you have their contacts in your database.
8. Theft and embezzlement
Since cash flow in small businesses is usually tight, a dishonest employee in a key position can mean the difference between being able to stay in business and having to shut the doors.
Solutions:
Hire well, treat your employees fairly, and run an honest business. If you cheat your customers or the IRS, you create an atmosphere in which dishonesty flourishes. Establish procedures to double check those who handle money, invoices, and banking. Get fraud and theft insurance. Ask your insurance company for tips on theft prevention.
9. Family Problems
Divorce. Illness. A teenager in trouble. Every family has them. But when they happen to the business owner or a key employee, the company suffers.
Solutions:
Time off. Emotional support. Structure. Employees remain loyal to those who are loyal to them. Choose health insurance that covers mental health therapy. Allow for extra time off or, if necessary, a leave of absence to deal with a problem.
Thanks to Rhonda Abrams - USA Today |
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 One of the most valuable assets in all of business isn't a building, a technology or a bank account. It's the combination of words, images and feelings that evokes Coca-Cola. The world's most valuable brand, worth $67 billion, belongs to the Atlanta beverage Goliath, according to Interbrand, a NYC marketing company. Entrepreneurs can expand their businesses with the help of brands if they follow the tried and true rules of brand building.
1. Be Different
Michael Sands co- founded Lesser-Evil Brand Snack Co. in Tuckahoe, NY, because he felt that no one in the snack industry was providing flavorful food that was also good for consumers. "We wanted to be a brand that stood for gourmet taste first and health second", said Sands. With a "stop bad snacking" motto that prods competitors while comforting snackers, Sands is grossing $1.4 million in less than 3 years.
2. Know your customer and your brand
Building a brand starts with a lot of questions. Run your choices by consumers until you find a combination that generates the response that you want. What does the brand mean? How can you verbalize it? How do you see it visually?
3. Focus all your efforts on the brand
Everything you do must reinforce the brand: advertising, packaging, stationary, and e-mail signature blocks are just some of the obvious. Don't forget after the sale service and even the time customers are on hold may be part of your brand.
4. Start small and build from your strengths
You can build a city-wide or even a national brand, but only if you start in the places that give you the best return on your money. Michael Sands warns "don't take a shotgun approach, go where your fish are". For his snack company, that was the health food and natural stores. Sands also says, "now that we have the base built, we can approach the mainstream stores. If we had gone there first, we would have been killed".
5. Protect what you have
Changing tastes and innovative competitors, for example, can hamstring the even strongest brand. It is very important to register your brand, so that it becomes a protected trademark. Don't invest all your money and effort into building brand equity, so that someone with more money can take it away from you.
Thanks to Entrepreneur magazine
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