Archive for May, 2011

Micro Business Roundup

By | May 27, 2011 | Micro Business Roundup | No comments

Hi everyone, hope your week was filled with the first hints of summer like ours was here in New England heading into Memorial Day weekend. Do you have any special plans to kick off the summer season? Specials for your customers? A BBQ for employees? Time off with the family? If so we’d love to hear in the comments below. Memorial Day Parade 2010Whatever you plan on doing have a great weekend and enjoy this week’s edition of the Micro Business Roundup.

How to Guarantee ROI on Your Biggest Business Investment – ROI may be one of the most important aspects of any business. No one ever wants to see a negative return on an investment, but calculating ROI on some areas of business is less concrete. In this post, Leon Noone offers some great tips on calculating ROI for these areas of the business.

Teachable Moments: Learning To Lose – There is nothing fun about losing, but the fact of the matter is that we can’t win 100 percent of the time.  The good part about losing is that you can learn from it.  Donna Maria Coles Johnson looks at an instance of this reflecting on a recent lesson her daughter learned in a cheerleading competition.

Finding the Nerve to Take an Advertising Risk – How often do you take risks in your business? No matter how big or small, they always come with a bit of uneasiness as to how they will turn out. In this article from the New York Times, a small ad agency convinces a client to change their campaign outlook for positive results. The piece itself is a great lesson in how thinking outside your comfort zone can really lead to great and unanticipated results.

The Business Mistake we Cannot Afford to Ignore – This article on Small Business Trends takes a look at the human side of business. We all make mistakes, the real question should be how do business owners recover and learn from them?

Top 5 Foursquare Mistakes Committed By Small Businesses – A few weeks ago we posted on how to set up Foursquare for your company. This article from Open Forum offers five common mistakes to avoid when running Foursquare for your business.

Image - Dawn Paperin

 

Wrapping Up National Small Business Week

By | May 23, 2011 | Micro Business Insight | No comments

Good morning everyone and happy Monday! We hope you had a relaxing weekend after what was a busy National Small Business Week. Our team here at Micro Business Perspectives had a great week sharing content with you and discussing your thoughts. In case you missed any of our posts from last week, you can check them out here. In addition to our content, there were plenty of great articles that hit on several current small and micro business issues over the week. Here are a few that caught our eye.

White House Releases Small Business Report – Early in the week, the White House released a report that highlighted President Obama’s administration’s investments to support small businesses. The report, which you can read here, showcased key accomplishments made over the past several months including a series of tax breaks, lending support and counseling options. Have you felt the effects of these incentives? Or do you feel more work is needed to really affect your micro business efforts?

5 tips on repeat business marketing for SMEs – It is no secret that many small and micro businesses strive on the success of word of mouth. But building word of mouth needs other marketing outlets to help build a presence and attract customers. These five tips from BusinessInsider.com offer some great ideas to drive growth and profits. What marketing efforts have helped you? Which efforts have not helped move the needle for one reason or another?

6 Ways Big Business Helps Out Small Business – When creating a micro business you understand that, to a degree, you’ll be competing against bigger companies for a piece of the consumer’s wallet. But what if there was a way you could use some of the paths those bigger company’s created to help get your company off the ground and growing towards success? Check out this article featured in The San Francisco Chronicle about how you can differentiate your micro business to compete, and beat, larger company’s who offer similar products and services. We liked the point on outpacing the competition on quality and customer service, as those two areas are what ultimately will allow you to standout from larger companies.

Small Business Owners Still Prefer Direct Mail Over Mobile Marketing? – We were surprised to read that according to a survey from Network Solutions and the University of Maryland, small businesses prefer direct mail marketing options over mobile marketing. The study results state three-quarters of smaller firms recognize that mobile marketing solutions can drive sales, but only 15 percent of business owners consider mobile marketing to be “extremely” or “very” valuable in reaching new potential customers. We would be interested to hear your thoughts on these two methods and which side you deem more valuable to our marketing mix.

This Week in Small Business: T.G.I.M. – Still looking for more small business articles from the past week? Be sure to check out this week’s edition of “This Week in Small Business” by The New York Times columnist Gene Marks.

It’s Not What You Know…

By | May 20, 2011 | Micro Business Issues, Micro Business Tips, Offline Marketing, Retaining Customers | 4 Comments

There’s an overused saying that, “it’s not what you know but who you know that matters in life.”

It’s overused because it’s true.  More often than not you’re going to find that if you know someone the things you want in life come much easier.  Contacts can help you get employment, opportunities, customers and even relationships.  Typically people seek our referrals for almost anything, because they’d rather work with or do business with someone who can be “vouched for” so to speak.

The same is true in small business.  Did you know that according to recent survey data, 70% of micro businesses said that referrals play the largest role in the success of their business?  You don’t have a lot of money to spend on traditional advertising, so you have to rely on wowing a few customers and let that the word of mouth take off from there.  But too often businesses just hope that referrals happen, rather than chasing them down or making it easier to obtain.  The truth is you can encourage your own customer base to give more referrals and watch your network grow dramatically.

How do you drive referrals?  Here are a few tips on how to jump start your word of mouth marketing:

Reward your customers for referring you:

It seems so simple yet so many businesses don’t do it enough.  Recently I had my house painted, and my painter did a few “extras” that he didn’t factor into the original price he had quoted me.  These would have totaled around $400 after the job was all done.  But extras happen all the time, they were things that I had asked him to do.  Mid-way through the process of his painting my house, I referred him to my sister, who also needed work done.  When that job was secured, he waived the $400 fee for me, citing the referral as the reason.  I just had to pay the original quoted price.  He was grateful I had recommended him to someone else and gotten another job for his crew.  I’ve since referred him to at least a ½ dozen people in my neighborhood, two that have hired him, and so has my sister.  One job and a reward for a customer got him three additional jobs since.  Reward your customers and they will reward you back.

Formalize Your Referral Program:

The example above is one that is very informal, yet powerful.  You can also create a formal referral program, including giving your current customers discounts if they refer someone to your business and including that in your marketing materials.  As an example, if you do business with Mr. Jones and let him know that if he refers someone to you and they mention his name, both Mr. Jones and the new customer will get 10% off their purchase.  This allows both your existing customer and your new customer to get a good deal and have an incentive to recommend  you to others.

Network, network, network

As mentioned above, micro businesses value referrals, but did you know that a lot of them also use sites like LinkedIn to network and find more contacts?  They also go out to local events, including meetings with the local Chambers of Commerce, to network.  Look at your local newspaper and see what events are going on around town.  This will mean talking to potential customers as well as other businesses about what they need and how they are doing.  You should of course always have a leave behind, for example a business card, so a contact can remember you and get in touch at a later date.  And make sure you stand out and leave an impression, so the person will want to contact you again.  Networking isn’t easy but can certainly pay off when done right.  You should even think about hosting your own local event if you have a physical storefront and have the time and the will, the benefits could be enormous.

Have you had success driving local referrals and networking? What advice would you give to other micro businesses about how to get more referrals?

 

Marketing Tips for Your Micro Business

By | May 19, 2011 | How To, Marketing | No comments

Over the three years that we’ve been writing this blog, our team has posted a variety of tips and tricks to help you manage and market your small or micro business. Since this week celebrates small business owners, we wanted to give you a one-stop resource for some of the most popular articles and “how to’s” that we have put together.

Offline Marketing

Online Marketing

Please let us know in the comments below if there are other topics that you would like us to discuss or publish in future blog posts.

Making Signs Work for Micro Business

By | May 18, 2011 | Marketing, Micro Business Issues, Offline Marketing | 3 Comments

Driving down the street outside the office the other day, I decided to count the number of signs that were on the street leading up to the main drag to get home.  Shockingly, there were 13 road signs on a quarter mile stretch and like it or not, I see them every single day.  I could probably drive down the road blindfolded and tell you what each of them has on it.

Even if you don’t actually read the signs you see every day, they always resonate and have some kind of impact. Visual aids are one of the most effective ways to be remembered.  The truth is signs are everywhere, and not just street signs.  They’re on lawns, in windows, on the back of cars, on top of buildings and on billboards.  But are you taking advantage of them as a small business owner?  If not, you should be, because consistent imagery is a very effective way to stay on top of mind.

You’re probably thinking, “I can’t afford sign space for a billboard or something like that, it’s way too expensive.” That’s true, but you can absolutely afford to invest in some signage that could give a big boost to your business.  You’re probably just not thinking small enough.  Sometimes the smallest things can have the biggest impact.

You can affordably and creatively leverage images and signage all kinds of different places and see the impact, especially locally.  For example, lawn signs are a simple way to let people know what kind of business you have.  Even if you just put one in front of your own house with a contact number and information, everyone in your neighborhood will know what your business is.

Did you know that you’re also driving around every day in a moving billboard? There are companies that have trucks with moving billboards that do nothing but drive around the highways all day long, ensuring that passing motorists can see the product they are advertising.  Again this method is expensive but all you have to do as a micro business owner is create a simple car door magnet with your brand imagery and contact information (especially your website, should you have one) and put it on both doors of your car.  Now as you drive around town, you’re giving yourself free advertising while running errands.  If you’ve got two cars, you just doubled the amount of ad space that’s driving around all day long showcasing your business.

Stickers, banners, bumper stickers and window decals are all examples of signs that can be used all over the place to help push the word out about your business. But you should aim to keep them in the same spot and in a position where they can be seen and remembered if possible.  You can encourage your customers to put a window decal or sticker somewhere for you, including their office whiteboard.  Or talk to other local businesses and see if they would be willing to put a sticker in their window in exchange for you pushing business their way as well.  You never know where referrals might come from, but the more awareness you raise the better your chances are.

So while most people think of signs as big, cumbersome and expensive, the reality is they can be small and very effective.  Get creative and think of some ways you can start off small and build big awareness, you never know where it might lead!

Have you used signs, big or small to expand or tell people about your business.  What successes have you seen?

Small Business Social Media Statistics

By | May 17, 2011 | Micro Business Insight, Social Media | 10 Comments
social-media

We are constantly reading and researching a lot on different micro business issues, with social media being a constant hot button issue. Throughout our reading have come across many useful statistics and figures that help showcase the benefits of social media for small and micro businesses. It’s safe to say that no matter who has conducted survey, even our very own, there is no doubt that social media is something that is trending upwards.

Since social media is a platform for sharing, we’ve gone ahead and put together a high-level list of social media statistics to share with you. There are many eye-catching statistics, gathered over the past year plus, that will get you thinking about social media differently and how your micro business could potentially play in the space. What stats stick out to you?

Social Media Usage:

Social Media Growth:

  • Facebook has grown by 55 percent and is the top social media site where advertisers are spending their marketing budgets. Twitter & LinkedIn, with a fifth of the popularity, are growing at close to 26 percent with LinkedIn emerging as the 3rd popular social network for job seekers. – ComScore
  • 35 percent of United States small businesses reported using online social networking for marketing, up from 15 percent in fall 2009. In addition, 12 percent of SMBs were using blogs as a social tactic, nearly double the figure from fall 2009. – Small Business Monitor/American Express OPEN
  • Research shows that social media adoption by small business doubled from 2009 to 2010. 61 percent of small business owners now use social media to help identify and attract new customers, 75 percent have a company page on a social networking site, and 45 percent expect their social media activities to be profitable within the next 12 months. – Social Media Today
  • The number of people who are visiting social media sites has increased by 24% over the last year – The Neilson Company

Social Media Investing:

  • One-third of small and mid-sized business owners revealed plans to significantly boost their social media spending this year. – Borrell Associates
  • In the next twelve months, 46 percent of small business decision-makers expect to have a social media presence, 66 percent expect to have a website, and 36 percent expect to have an SEO plan. – Network Solutions
  • Traditionally, small business marketers have favored email and search, and spent the majority of their marketing dollars offline. In 2009, only one-third of SMB marketers viewed Facebook as “very” or “somewhat” beneficial. But for 2010, 74% planned to increase their use of email marketing and 68% planned larger expenditures for social media. – ThoughtPick.com
  • 40 percent of micro businesses will explore social media in the future, or keep their social media usage the same in 2011 – Vistaprint.

Social Media Results:

  • Almost one-half of small businesses have successfully connected with new customers through social networks (compared to larger companies at 28 percent and medium-sized businesses at 36 percent). – Regus Survey “Social Success?”
  • 90% of consumers say they trust recommendations from people they know, and 70% trust consumer opinions posted online. – The Neilson Company
  • Gary Vaynerchuk, a social media fanatic, spends 12 hour a day engaging online markets which helped bolster earnings for his father’s quaint New Jersey-based liquor store from $4 million to $50 million “through social media” alone. – ThePersonalityProject.com

 

Micro Businesses Are Very Happy

By | May 16, 2011 | Micro Business Insight, Micro Business Issues, Social Media | 24 Comments
happy

Today, Vistaprint launched the first of what will be quarterly updates on the “Small Business Happiness” of micro businesses like you.   What we wanted to find out was, despite the downturn in the economy and most of the negative numbers surrounding business in general, do you still enjoy working for yourself as compared to working for someone else?  Do you still have that fire to make your business succeed and be independent, while not relying on anyone else for employment?

Small Business Happiness

Over the course of the past year, we’ve gotten the sense that you as a group are resilient and exceedingly positive, but you’re also chasing your dream or passion by working for yourself.  Because of that, we expected that the happiness of micro businesses would be high.  You did not disappoint with the results.

In our inaugural survey of over 1,200 U.S. micro businesses (businesses with between 1-10 employees) we found that the vast majority are feeling happy about the decision to go out on their own and run their own business.

  • Just over 42% described themselves as “very happy” when asked how they felt about running their business and working for themselves.
  • A further 35% indicated they were “extremely happy” and wouldn’t even consider working for someone else in the near future.

What’s more encouraging is that while micro business owners are working longer hours now than they did in 2010, they have attracted more customers and are projecting to make more or the same amount of money.  Results included:

  • 47% of micro business owners are working more hours this year than they did last year
  • 46% are on track to make more money in 2011 than they did in 2010, with a further 35% projecting to make the same amount
  • 56% of micro businesses have more customers now than they did at this time in 2010

We also took the opportunity to see how you were attracting those customers and driving that bump in revenue.  As it turns out, referrals are the most effective marketing tactic that you use on a regular basis, beating out such avenues as email marketing, online advertising or direct mail.  It was the most popular choice, with 41% saying it was the most effective option.

As we continue to monitor and track how the micro business audience is using social media, it’s becoming increasingly more important, as it’s a relatively cheap and easy way to drive more real time referrals.  Of the 65% of micro businesses using social media, facebook continues to be the dominant platform at 50%, with Twitter registering at just over 2%.

Not surprisingly, LinkedIn, a popular networking site, was listed at 7%, again tied to the referral benefits.

The question is how happy are you in running your micro business?  Would you consider working for someone else right now or are you on the upward trend towards more customers and more money?  We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

 

 

Micro Business Roundup

By | May 13, 2011 | Micro Business Roundup | No comments

Happy Friday all! We hope you had a great week. As we had mentioned last week, we’ve been busy this week putting the final touches on some great content to share next week during National Small Business Week. Does your micro business have any plans to help celebrate the week? Please have a great weekend and enjoy this week’s edition of the Micro Business Roundup.

How to Make Money As an Expert – Do you find that your knowledge within your specific industry exceeds those around you? Are you constantly being approached for advice and guidance within a specific area? This Entrepreneur.com article showcases a couple different examples of how you can package up your knowledge to create a business based on your expertise. You may find that selling your expertise can also help lead to increased business within your existing micro business venture.

Image courtesy of SBOmag.com

How to Make the Most of an Intern – With the summer months fast approaching and many colleges letting out, now may be an ideal time to hire an intern to help with your micro business. An intern can be a valuable (an inexpensive) option to help increase resources and build your business. In exchange for their time, you will be giving them a valuable lesson about entrepreneurism and the hard work that is put into creating and maintaining a business. This Small Biz Trends piece highlights a few keys to keep in mind when working with an intern.

 

How to Grow a Business (With Little Cash) – It’s a common issue among many micro businesses owners; growing your business with little monetary assets. The folks at BootStrapIt.com note that focusing your efforts on intangible assets can be a great way to increase your authenticity and grow your clientele with little money. They also offer a few great tips to help get you started with focusing on intangible assets

Built to Last: Launching a Company That Will Stand the Test of Time – We came across this interesting article from Inc.com about what makes a strong business owner sustainable over the long haul. While we thought it was a nice list of eight traits that make a great company sustain the test of time, but we wanted to hear from you about what you felt made a successful company? What are the one or two most important qualities needed to keep a successful micro business going for multiple years?

Why It’s So Difficult for Entrepreneurs to Head for the Exit – Have you ever thought about leaving your micro business to free yourself up for other opportunities? Did you find the process tough due to your emotional attachment for the company that you created from the floor up? This recent case study/Q&A in the New York Times showcases an entrepreneur who went through that exact scenario and how he coped with the change.

The Power of Less

By | May 11, 2011 | How To, Micro Business Insight, Micro Business Tips | No comments

This post is the first in a monthly series on design tips for your micro business from Vistaprint’s Creative Director, Keith Manning.

I first realized the power of less in my second grade music class. A substitute was teaching us all about the recorder and asked for a volunteer to demonstrate playing the instrument.  Like a volcano erupting, the entire class jumped out of their seats, frantically raising their hands, screaming, “pick me, pick me!” One student remained quiet and reserved in his seat, with one hand timidly raised. To everyone’s surprise, he was the one selected to play the recorder in front of the class.

It’s been a long time since I have been called upon to play that recorder, but I remember that day very clearly. I remember feeling that crazed energy around me, as the class begged for that recorder. I remember sensing the teacher’s struggle to find a retreat from the chaos. And I remember her looking at me with a sense of welcomed relief. And so began my understanding and affinity for less.

For over a decade, I’ve established, nurtured and grown many brands. I’ve been lucky to work with giant budgets, and challenged with limiting budgets. No matter the size of the brand or budget, one truth has always remained evident – saying less is far more effective than saying too much.

This is not easy as easy as it sounds.

When you own a small business, you don’t have a ton of money to spend on marketing. If you do make the marketing investment, you probably want the chance showcase all of your best features, products and reasons that make your business special. In other words, if you’re paying for a direct mail piece, then you’re probably going to want to maximize that postcard to sell the hell out of your business.

I get it.

However, think about everything that you put on that marketing piece as a person talking. Each line of copy is the equivalent of a student raising their hand. Every additional message you add, is another child screaming, “pick me,” every image, starburst or graphic added is a kid jumping out of their seat. Your marketing piece has the potential to become my second grade music class, fighting for attention from the teacher. In this case, the teacher is the customer, and the last thing you want to do is overwhelm your customers with chaos. Ultimately, marketing materials that overwhelm prospective customers will end up in the trash.

Say less.

Customers are bombarded with thousands of marketing materials daily. They’re filtering out messages so often that they probably don’t even realize they’re doing it. Your best shot at a potential customer retaining any message from your company is to have just one. Say it once and say it clearly. If a customer can remember your company’s name and associate it with one particular attribute, then you’ve got them. That’s ultimately the purpose of any good marketing piece. And that’s the power of less.

If you have a design tip that you would like Keith to cover in a future column or have a piece of marketing that you would like potentially review of in a column, please email us at microbusiness@vistaprint.com.

 

How To Utilize Twitter Search for Your Business

By | May 9, 2011 | How To, Twitter | 1 Comment

We previously posted an article on setting up a Twitter account for your micro business, but we wanted to expand on that and offer insight into how to use the platform to find new business leads or find customers already talking about your company using the site’s search feature.

You might have a good grasp of what Twitter is and how it works, but you probably don’t know that in many respects it’s a real time search engine that can tell you what people are talking about and what they are saying.  People could be talking about your business, what you offer in your area, or even asking for recommendations from friends.  Unless you know how to tap into the search tools, you’ll never know.  Here’s how to utilize Twitter’s search to listen and determine who you should be connecting to.

Step 1

To get started, log onto search.twitter.com and select the “Advanced Search” link.

Step 2

The advanced search is a robust tool that allows you to browse Twitter by select keywords (or filter ones out) and to tie your search to a geographical area. For example, if you are a diner in Boston, you can do a search for people discussing meals in your target area.

Once you have added in all of the search terms, click the “Search” button at the bottom of the page.

Step 3

When the search has been completed, take a look at the data to see if it is showing you relevant Tweets. If it isn’t, you can easily hit the back button on your browser to further broaden or refine the search. Once you have your search created, you can do a number of things to save the parameters for a future search including bookmarking the page or adding the query’s feed into your RSS reader or third party tool. With the RSS method, you can have the updates sent directly to your email account using many different platforms.

When you are comfortable with the data, be sure to set up a regular listening schedule to get a sense of the conversation being had around the topic. After listening for a while, you should look for the best opportunity to join the conversation on behalf of your company.  Twitter is one large cocktail party conversation, if there is something that you can offer insight into, feel free to chime in. If the conversation is around your product or something that you offer, you can offer your services, but don’t be overly promotional. For example if someone is looking for lunch options, you might offer the following Tweet “@Vistaprint what are you in the mood for? If you are up for some Italian cuisine or pizza, here are our specials URL.” When you drive customers to your location through Twitter conversations, you should create a special Twitter discount so you can track foot traffic to Tweets.

Aside from prospecting, you can use these kinds of searches to keep tabs on your competition and local events to see if there is a way for you to participate in.

If you are new to Twitter or debating whether or not Twitter is right for your business, you can also use this search feature to search for your business to gauge the interest and participation levels by your customers.

Have you utilized Twitter search for your business? If so we’d love to hear how in the comments below.

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