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How To Create Your Own Small Business Press Kit

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:32 pm  
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In last week’s article, we talked about why your small business needs a press kit. Because they’re not just for the press, I prefer to call them small business information package. To recap, you need a small business information package to augment your business card, which has only limited information about you and your company.
Your small business information package is the printed materials to give or send to prospective clients to tell them who you are, where you are, how to contact you, what you do, how to buy, and why to buy from you instead of your competition.

This week, we’re going to discuss what you should put inside your information package. For all intents and purposes, anything that promotes your company can go inside it. Some of the more common things include:

• Business card
• Small business brochure
• Letter of introduction
• Product or service review
• Price list
• Press releases
• White papers
• Recent articles written by you or about your company
• Biography of key officers
• Flyers, coupons or direct mail pieces
• Information pamphlets

So, let’s talk a bit about each. And let’s start with the big one—your small business brochure. Your small business brochure can stand alone. If you decide not to have a complete small business information package, at the very least, create a tri-fold brochure so you have detailed printed information to give clients.

If your prospective client reads only one thing in your whole information package, it will most likely be your brochure. Why? Because it captures the reader’s attention better than any other item in your information package. Most of your other items will be letters, articles or reviews. They’ll look good, and they’ll all match because they’re on your letterhead, but they won’t jump out at your readers like your full color tri-fold brochure will.

So, you want to make sure it’s the first thing people see when they open the front cover of your information package. If you can capture their interest with your brochure, they’re more likely to read the rest.

The first page of your small business brochure should have your business name and logo, and possibly a photo or some graphics. Make it colorful. Make it interesting. Add a slogan or motto on the front that will make people curious as to what’s inside. You don’t want them to just look at the front cover and put it aside!

Inside, try to introduce yourself and review your product or service briefly. If you can, keep the introduction and review to the length of the first inside page or so. Adding a few graphics or photos throughout the whole brochure, together with informative text helps keep your readers’ interest. And, make good use of your headings, remembering that most readers will scan from left to right, stopping at graphics and headings, and sometimes reading the last paragraph.

Now, this part is important, and is possibly the biggest mistake most small businesses make with their brochure—at least some of the other two inside pages could be better used to show prospective buyers how your product or service can benefit them, rather than to describe your product or service features.

I cannot stress this enough. Too many times small business brochures are used simply to talk about you, your company or your product/service. Most of your readers simply won’t care who you are, what you do or how you do it. What they really care about is how you can benefit them. How you can save them time or resources. How you can make their lives just a little bit easier.

Often, the last outside page of your brochure summarizes the inside pages, or lists products or services in point form. You could even add a price list, if you have one.

The next several items in your small business information package are all written on your letterhead, and the sky’s the limit as to what you can use.

You could put the letter of introduction just behind your brochure, or you could include it outside the information package cover if you’re mailing it. Usually this is just a short, one-page letter introducing yourself and your company, and thanking the recipient for taking the time to look at your information package.

Your product or service review could be long or short, depending on what you’re offering. This is not the place to stress benefits, but simply to list and describe your services or products. You can combine a product or service review with your price list very effectively.

Include any press releases about your company, and articles written by you or about your company. If you don’t have any, don’t worry. You can write some specifically for your information kit. Include announcements of your grand opening, for example, or a new line of products, or your new location. Or write an article about one of your products or services.

White papers are becoming increasingly popular. Are you an expert in a particular area? If you are, you might want to write a white paper to include with your information package. A white paper discusses specific business issues, products, technology or other such topics. It usually summarizes information about the topic, and then suggests a proposal for action, referencing research data to justify the reasons for the action. It explains your topic in terms most people can understand, with the goal of educating consumers and marketing your product or service. White papers help establish the writer as an authority.

The biography of your key officers is basically a resume. Include short one-page biographies of key officers to highlight areas of expertise and level of experience in your industry.

Fliers, coupons and direct mail pieces can also be included in your small business information package. Fliers and coupons emphasize current specials or discounts. Here’s a few tips. When you’re thinking about specials or discounts, try to create a sense of urgency with them by making them time- or quantity-limited. And, consider the 10/10 rule, which theorizes that people are most likely to buy when they see discounts of 10% or $10. Or, better yet, offer something extra free.

Recent direct mail sales letters can also be included. There’s simply too much to say about them to really give justice in this short article, but some things to remember are: to stress benefits, create a sense of urgency, the 10/10 rule and a bolded P.S. including a call to action.

Keep direct mail sales letter simple and relevant. Be enthusiastic, know your product, use your imagination and understand your target audience. Establish trust and credibility. Include testimonials. Give free nuggets of information. And, just like in your brochure, write your direct mail sales letter for how people will read it, scanning left to right, and stopping at graphics and headlines, and the P.S.

Now that you’ve gotten all your information package items written and printed, it’s time to put them all together. You can buy covers in your company colors and have your logo and business name printed on them. Put your business card in the front slot and your information in the inside pockets, making sure your brochure is the first item they’ll see. Then send it out, and sit back and wait for responses you’re sure to get!

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Business Cards That Boost Your Sales

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm  
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A business card is a great way to introduce your company name to a potential client and then in turn they will always have your name and number handy. This brings your company into your client’s world as a household name for your customers for their future needs or as a word of mouth company to pass on to their friends and family. Business cards that boost your sales need to be given out to every person you come in contact with or anyone who becomes interested in your company and the service that you provide. A business card should also have an eye-catching design and it should be memorable to help your business profit more.

Let us say that you are in the real estate business. A business card is extremely necessary in that line of work. Your name will be remembered when your customer is given your card and then they will have it to keep around and refer to when necessary. There are several templates available online that will give your business card the look that you desire. Real estate business cards can convey the message that you are an independent realtor or it can show what area that you work with. Rather this is a design for apartments or houses or a specific city like New York Cit or Los Angeles with beautiful layouts, those designs will definitely enhance the look and feel of your business card. Your company will benefit in sales from a real estate business card that shows the areas of real estate you work in and the design should catch a potential client’s eye and keep them intrigued while they are holding onto your card. Consider adding clip art to your business card if you want a simple, yet effective design for your real estate business.

There are magnetic business cards that give your customers the assurance that they can place your card on the refrigerator and forget about it. Then the next day and a couple of weeks later your business card will still be around when the needs of your services are required. Your business card is not just another paper card. It has a feature that is almost guaranteed to get you business and boost your sales. Magnetic business cards are easily accessible and are a lot harder to lose, once you stick them and forget them. The refrigerator is not the only surface that your magnetic business card will stick too. File cabinets, lockers, and even cars can become places of advertisement for your business and its services.

A business card should also have an eye-catching design and it should be memorable to help your business profit more.

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The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of Business Opportunities

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm  
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Evaluating business opportunities can be a bear. How do you know what is legit and what is not? Here are some thoughts regarding web opportunities.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Of Business Opportunities

Working for yourself is great, regardless of whether you are doing it for a bit of extra money or completely ditching your boss. Ironically, entire industries have evolved offering you, me and everyone opportunities to get away from The Man. From stuffing envelopes to MLM, there are a zillion different opportunities to sell people…business opportunities. All and all, it can get pretty confusing.

On the web, there are two business approaches that work over and over. One is a Google program called Adsense. The other is the affiliate program opportunity. Let’s take a closer look.

Google Adsense is a very unique program. Businesses pay Google to advertise in its search results. If you do a search on Google, the blue ads at the top of the results and down the right column of the page are such ads. In addition to search results, Google also will place these ads on independent sites. This is where you can make a bundle in the Adsense program.

Google needs sites to place its ads on. To entice webmasters to place the ads, Google will give you a share of the revenue the advertisers are paying it. When someone clicks one of them, Google pays the site owner part of the bid price per click the advertiser has agreed to pay. This is an opportunity you can take advantage of by building a site and putting Google ads on it. Google is a huge, legitimate company, so you can count on the check coming each month.

Affiliate programs have been the dominant on the web for years. Essentially, a company will build a site and want to promote it. Instead of carrying the marketing load on their own, they will let you promote their products on your site. In exchange, they give you a cut of the amount paid at the sale. The cut can be a one-time payment or a reoccurring payment each month.

There are a zillion affiliate programs. How do you know which one to promote? The best approach is to make a list of the sites you visit and buy from. You know the businesses are credible and have attractive prices, etc. Now go see if they offer an affiliate program. Many will and you can use them to make money.

From stuffing envelopes to MLM, there are a zillion different opportunities to sell people…business opportunities. All and all, it can get pretty confusing.

Figuring out which of the million or so advertised business opportunities are legit can be difficult. Google Adsense and affiliate programs are the best options on the web.

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What You Need To Have Knowledge About Home Business

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm  
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Working from home has turn out to be more and more trendy in the past few years. More people are getting weary of having to rouse up early and make a extensive commute to a job they detest and working for a person or a company they don’’t want to work for. One of the best advantages to working from home on your own home business is that you can wake up when you want or need to and the commute is a long as it takes for you to walk to your home office. But it can be easy to get distracted when you are working from home so here are a few guidelines to keep in mind.

It’s critical that you become involved in all characteristics of your home business and become well-versed in the areas that you are unfamiliar with. This includes starting from the very idea on what you want your business to be about, to the formation of the service or the product all the way to the end when the product or service reaches the customer. If you assign things to other people, it can be easy to get induced into doing something that you end up not liking, so knowing what is going on in all aspects of the business is very important.

Exploration is a great thing. I know it can seem a little bit scary, especially if your home business is the lone thing contributing to your earnings. However a business should be about doing new things. The world is moving at a fast pace and people get jaded with seeing the same things over and over again and experimentation of ideas and products could be very useful and give you a step up above your competitors.

The biggest thing you need to be educated about when owning and operating a home business is the Internet. It is the most prevailing tool you can have when working from home. The Internet is the best place to tell people about what your business has to offer and there are several ways to not only inform people but also make money with different types of programs like advertising and affiliation. Having a website is one of the best ways to confront all of these things and you can either make it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. The bottom line is that any business needs to have an online presence.

These are just a few of the many things you need to think about when working from home and owning your own home business. Like I said before, it is crucial to become informed with all characteristics of operating a home business.

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Critical Small Business Decision #7: Stock Inventory Or Dropship Product For Your Online Store

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm  
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Starting a business online could be much quicker than starting one offline. However, as a small business owner, you need to be prepared to spend a fair amount of time and energy to make your business profitable. After all, that is why you’re going into business isn’t it?

An online business is still one of the greatest work from home business opportunities on the planet. You may even have a grand vision for an online store, but find yourself struggling to handle the basic details of getting your store up and running. One essential detail is selecting the products you will use to “stock” your store. You will also have to decide if you want to keep an inventory or want to use dropshipping. Starting a store online can be as challenging as starting one offline, but it if you understand what’s involved, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. By identifying and using the right resources, you can make your start-up a smooth one.

The key to having a profitable online presence instead of just another online enterprise is creating or locating good quality products that you can sell for a profit. One way to do this is through drop shipping. Drop shipping allows small business owners, like you to establish a professional relationship with vendors who wholesale the products you want to sell. These vendors will ship customer orders directly to them rather than you having to stock inventory and do the product fulfillment yourself.

Prior to opening your store, it is critical to have the foundation of your business firmly established. Organization must be an integral part of this process. As your list of vendors and dropshippers increases, you should have all of their contact information in a convenient location for easy access. Don’t short-circuit this part of the process, it is amazing how much time you can save by being organized and by having established contacts within your product market. Take the time you need to build your store right from the ground up and business will virtually run itself in due time.

A number of factors will contribute to the ultimate success of your business whether that business is online or offline. The Internet, especially, is often viewed as a way to “get rich quick” rather than as a way to build a good business with a greater reach. You will get out of your business what you decide to put into it. Today’s technology allows small business owners to build their businesses faster.

However, as a small business owner, you need to be prepared to spend a fair amount of time and energy to make your business profitable. After all, that is why you’re going into business isn’t it?

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Business – Strategy And Execution

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:06 pm  
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Every company aims to formulate good strategy and execute that strategy well. But many times it is found that it was either good strategy, bad execution or bad strategy and good execution. Why and how to avoid this?

Let us begin with what is a strategy? In simple terms, it means the plan to achieve the desired goals or results. If any organization has well defined goals, and can develop a strategy to achieve them, it should be half the battle won. But it is seen that execution fails. Why should that be so? It may be the fault of the team that executes the strategy, or certain unknown factors that unexpectedly or unknowingly creep in while executing the plan.

What should be done? Ideally the team that forms the strategies should consider the factors such as who are the people who will execute, does the company have the capacity to execute, what if any unexpected change or event occurs while executing, what are the risks involved, and so on. No strategy can be created without taking into account the ability of the people who will be executing it. One may create a great marketing plan but if the field marketing staff fails to understand and execute the game, it is bound to fail and then the blame game begins.

Can a company make a single team that not only creates the strategy but is also responsible to execute it? This will eliminate many such hiccups on the way. The problem is expertise. I am a good strategist and not a good executor. You are a bad strategist but a good executor on the ground. What if such arguments are presented by the team under formation? All right, how about creating a strategy and keep the execution team in the loop throughout the process of creating strategy? This creates another set of problems. The views of both the teams may be so different that no positive outcome will ever result.

I have discussed in brief about these factors above. In real life, more complications arise and especially in large organizations, the complexities increase. The only solution for the top management is to set goals and discuss them with every one. After getting every one in confidence, create strategies and let every one participate in the strategy formation. Decide about what is totally achievable and why may be achievable. Let the team that will execute commit itself to achieve what is totally achievable and promise them with rewards if they manage to achieve the other part also. The synergy between the strategy makers and the executors will ultimately decide the final outcome.

This creates another set of problems. The views of both the teams may be so different that no positive outcome will ever result.

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Fall In Love With Your Business Again

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:06 pm  
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Why did you start your business? Most business owners start their businesses because they desire personal freedom. They want to be their own boss. They have a great idea that they want to try. They are in love with all of these ideas. When you started your business, I bet you were full of passion and excitement. It was like the first days of a new romance. All you could think about or talk about was your business. What an exciting time.

Today, on Valentine’s Day, I’d like to ask you to fall in love again. In the time since you started your business, you’ve been through a lot. You’ve worked hard. You’ve had some rewards. Your love of the business has ebbed and flowed. Ask yourself now, are you in love with your business still or has it just turned into a partner, a faithful companion?

If you answered the latter, I have some suggestions for you to rekindle the flame. Some of these are right out of a marriage counselor’s book.

1. Take some time away. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. Take a little time off and reconnect with the reasons that you started your business. Reconnect with the excitement you had at the start. Relive the dream. Really let yourself feel what you felt at the start.

2. Ask yourself what you really love about your business. Some of the work you love, some of it is just plain old work. Focus on what you enjoy. Appreciate what’s working. Develop systems to make the hard work easier. Delegate the work you don’t enjoy. Get outside help. Do what you love and give the rest away.

3. Make a plan. Make a plan to get yourself out of overwhelm and back doing the work that you really enjoy. Put it in writing. Dust off your business plan. Read the first page where you wrote all the exciting stuff about what a great business you have. Having a written plan eases stress and gets you back in charge. You’ll feel powerful with a plan.

4. Share your excitement. With your new plan and your renewed vision get out there and tell people about it. Just like after your first dates when that’s all you’d talk about, share your enthusiasm. Share the feelings of freedom you enjoy. Being in love is contagious and you’ll be amazed at the difference this makes in your business and your life.

When you started your business, I bet you were full of passion and excitement. It was like the first days of a new romance. All you could think about or talk about was your business. Having a written plan eases stress and gets you back in charge. You’ll feel powerful with a plan.

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Business Start-up Costs

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:05 pm  
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If you are considering starting your own business, then you have no doubt considered the investment required for various business start-up costs. The first thing you need to do is find a market that your business can be successful in. Next you must look at approximately how much it will cost you in just basic business start-up costs; business licenses, lawyer consult fees and form preparation fees, accountant fees/accounting programs, inventory costs, business insurance, leases, and utilities are just a few of the standard traditional business start-up costs. You must also consider how you are going to support yourself and your family while you venture takes off; this could be at least two to three months, and you want to make sure you can pay your mortgage, all your bills, feed your kids, and have a little extra left over for incidentals, in addition to business start-up costs.

If you choose to not have a physical location for your business, you may want to consider offering your goods and services via a website or mail order catalog. This is a great way to reach a large audience all at once, but business start-up costs associated with this mode of doing business can be expensive as well. By the time you pay someone to create your website, host it, register your domain name, and start a merchant account, you have made quite an expenditure, unless of course you are capable of building your own website, which many people are. Yahoo! offers web hosting, domain name registration, business email, and store front options for a very reasonable price worth checking out. This is a great way to save on some of those business start-up costs that could otherwise break the bank.

The traditional way that business has been conducted in this country has changed dramatically since the advent of the World Wide Web, opening the door for a number of new ways to conduct business. You no longer have to have a physical storefront address to sell your goods or services, a rather archaic point of view. More and more people are buying goods and services on the internet, which is a great place to feature your business while keeping your business start up costs at a minimum. You don’t need to lease that 900 square foot shop for $2800 a month to sell what you can sell just as easily with a website and a little marketing campaign. Business start-up costs do not have to be astronomical, in fact, they can be quite the opposite. You can visit a number of online sources that offer an abundance of information on business start-ups costs and links to essential sites that can help you get your business up and running!

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The Basics Of Business Incorporation

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:05 pm  
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If you are a business owner, even if it is a small business, you want to be successful. You are undoubtedly aware of the work it takes to make a business profitable. You might also be aware of the different tax penalties and other ways that the government makes it difficult for a small, young business to make it. You should consider business incorporation. It is not as complicated as you might think it is, in fact, it is quite easy to incorporate your business. By doing it, you will be helping your business to fulfill its potential.

Incorporation is the process of forming a new corporation, whether it is a business, a new town government, or a not-for-profit organization. As a business owner it is easy for you to take advantage of the many benefits that incorporation has to offer. There are several legal advantages to going through the process of business incorporation. For starters, your personal property and possessions will be protected from creditors and lawsuits. Any officers in your corporation (including you) are only responsible for the amount of money that they invest into the corporation. And if you are going through some kind of personal litigation, your corporate assets are secured, other than your personal shares in the organization.

Another plus in business incorporation is that your ownership in the corporation can be transferred to other parties without difficulty, sometimes with little or no paperwork required. Also, your corporation will be taxed at a lower rate than individuals. There is no cutoff point on the loss amount that can be carried into succeeding tax years, either. Further, corporations earn and maintain their own credit ratings separate from the owner, no matter what the owner’s personal credit rating might be. Business incorporation is a really good way to not only protect the organization, but to protect the business owner as well.

Yet another advantage to business incorporation is that it is easier to set up retirement plans. In addition, the owner’s health insurance premiums are fully deductible, which is a huge bonus. And no matter if the owner or some other officer in the corporation passes away, the corporation continues on forever.

The basic steps in business incorporation are fairly straightforward. Every state is going to have different requirements and applicable laws, so make sure to check before getting started with the process. The first thing you do when incorporating is to file a charter. Check with your state’s (or the state that you wish to incorporate in) Secretary of State office for guidelines and appropriate forms to complete. The next step is to choose a name for your new corporation. You should make sure to check trademark registers to avoid duplication and problems later on. Next, you need to complete the corporation’s bylaws. These are important because they set forth the particulars regarding annual shareholder meetings and voting procedures. You will also need to report annually on your corporation. This can be done at an annual meeting, and any business that is discussed and voted upon is documented.

Business incorporation can be the answer to making the most of your organization. Taking advantage of the tax benefits alone can help save – and make – you money. And depending on which state you incorporate in, you might have to deal with little or no paperwork and red tape, and even fewer tax issues. Business incorporation is a great way to turn your little business into a legitimate organization, and it is not nearly as complicated as it might sound to you.

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