All posts tagged micro business marketing

Tips Thursday: Seasonal Demand in Small Business

By | May 31, 2012 | Micro Business Tips Thursday | No comments

Since we celebrated Memorial Day on Monday and kicked off summer, the team started discussing how micro businesses experience seasonal demand and how they account for it. For this edition of Micro Business Tips Thursday, we asked our Facebook community if their business relied on seasonal demand. Our favorite response came from Roger Taylor.

Roger says, “Some of our business is seasonal, we cater to the hikers and campers in the spring and summer, in the fall we cater to the hunters. We have been able to bring in more products for year round sale, however, everything we hand make for the most part is spring, summer, and fall. This has forced us to diversify our products for the late fall and winter months. So far it has been successful.”

What do YOU think? Do you diversify your products based on seasonal demand? Tell us in the comments section.

MBR: Cheers, to Tax Freedom Day?

By | May 18, 2012 | Micro Business Issues, Micro Business Roundup | 1 Comment

As the weather turns warmer, we are getting ready for summer which means BBQ’s, ice cream and the beach are on our minds. This week we have a variety of articles that peeked our interest, let’s call them a fruit salad of news. Hope you have a great weekend, and here is this week’s edition of the Micro Business Roundup.

New Shopping Habits: When Your Clients Go Mobile—You know that almost everyone has a mobile phone, but what does that mean for your small business? “The question is: What are your customers’ shopping habits and how can you become a more integral part of it?” This article helps you to look at your web presence what is appropriate and what you should be doing

Small Business Owners Ready to Hire, GrowBiz Survey Shows— Considering hiring new employees you are not alone, check out this studythat says small business owners are feeling increasingly optimistic about the economy, and as a result, more than half of them are planning to hire in the next 12 months.

Small Business Pinterest Starter Guide—Great resource for information on how small businesses can use Pinterest. “Pinterest offers a new channel for businesses to connect with existing and new customers. But is Pinterest right for your small business? Should you invest your time to learn yet another social network? How can you best leverage Pinterest to increase sales?”

Employee Benefits Uncle Sam Won’t Tax—Did you know Tax Freedom Day 2012 arrived on April 17 this year? Better yet do you know what that means, According to the Tax Foundation, that means every dollar that Americans earned from January 1 through April 17 went to pay federal, state and local income taxes. Everything earned from April 18 until December 31 is yours to keep. Mike Periu has some suggestions for way reward employees that can’t be taxed, he says “Let them Travel, Let them Call, Let them Eat.”

It’s an image heavy world, just ask Instagram–We all know that imagery is becoming more and more essential in communication channels especially social media. Check out tips on how to increase your use of imagery and what can serve as a good imagery for influential information.

Not your grandma’s embroidery

By | January 9, 2012 | Marketing, Micro Business Tips, Offline Marketing | 2 Comments

Bored with your traditional printed t-shirts, hoodies and hats? Looking for a way to refresh the look and feel of your company’s uniforms? Have you considered having your logo embroidered on polo shirts, hats and uniforms?  If not, you should, because embroidery has never been easier to do.

The idea of embroidery might make you think of your grandmother tediously cross -stitching a flower onto a tablecloth or a pin cushion peppered with a variety of needles, but today there are many reasons why embroidered items are good for your business. To demand attention, small business owners can create custom apparel that has a professional look and feel.

In the past, small business owners that wanted a professional look and feel with their apparel products by utilizing embroidery struggled with high costs and long set up times. Now anyone can upload a custom image and have it stitched into a high quality garment quickly and for less.

A few things to look for as you evaluate your embroidery options:

  • Online tools to design and order embroidered apparel products without having to pay set up or minimum purchase fees
  • The ability to fully upload an image or logo online and have it automatically render into a fully stitched pattern
  • Fast turnaround times
  • High quality threads and fade-resistant fabric

Embroidered polo shirts, hats and hoodies are also great for gifts and giveaways. When a customer receives a personally embroidered gift it has a significant perceived value because of the high quality look and feel of the item. Next time you are looking for a way to stand out in the crowd, look professional with embroidered hats, polo shirts and jackets.

What would you have embroidered? Tell us in the comment section.

How To: Get your micro business on Google+

By | December 7, 2011 | How To | 2 Comments

Over the past few months, you may have heard a lot about Google’s new social networking site Google+, which is set to take on the powerhouse social site Facebook. While you may be hesitant to create another social networking platform that will require you to monitor and engage with, Google+ does offer some unique capabilities. Google+ features  include more control over what information you share with Circles, connecting with customers using Hangouts, and because Google+ runs on the powerful Google search network, the platform can help give your business more SEO value.

To help you get your Google+ business page up, follow these few instructions:

1.)   Visit Create a Google+ Page to get started (NOTE: You will need a personal Google account to get started). Select the category that best describes your micro business (“Local Business or Place,” “Product or Brand,” or “Company, Institute or Organization” will likely be your best options). If you don’t feel your micro business fits in any of the given categories, you can simply select “Other” where you can enter your page name and website. You will not be required to provide any additional narrowing information of category selection.

2.)   Continue through each step filling in all relevant information to your business. You will also be prompted to add a business logo. PRO TIP: Keep your information consistent with your website, Facebook page and other marketing materials to keep that clean, uniformed look.

3.)   Once you’ve created your Google+ business page, you’ll be prompted to add additional information to your page to help give visitors a better idea of what your business provides.

4.)   Similar to the five photos you can have on your Facebook page, you’ll be prompted to fill in your photostrip. These five photos will be displayed underneath your page’s name and tagline. Be sure you add photos that best represent your micro business. Images of your product or your service in action will likely work best.

5.)   That’s it! You’ve created a Google+ page for your micro business that will give your customers another way to connect with you, as well as another location for potential customers to find you within Google search results.

So I’ve created a Google+ business page, now what?  You’re probably curious what benefit a Google+ business page has over your existing Facebook business page. One advantage utilized by brands of all sizes is that you can follow your customers back and organize them into different Circles. So you could create a Circle for your loyal/VIP customers to share special deals and other, a Circle for all customers to share general news and promotions. You could even make a Circle for your employees as a way to share news, trends, etc. without others seeing. The ability to create new Circles gives you unlimited possibilities of organization and communication options!

Outside of that, continue to update your Google+ page with content as you would with Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

Still need assistance? Feel free to check out these helpful Google Learn More videos.

MBR: When a negative can be a positive

By | December 2, 2011 | Micro Business Roundup | No comments

Happy Friday all! We hope you had a great week back after the Thanksgiving holiday last week (we’re still working through the turkey leftovers). There certainly is a lot going on within the small, micro business space as many businesses are ramping up for their busiest sales stretch of the year. While you were likely planning your holiday marketing strategy this week, we came across a series of small business articles we thought you may be interested in as you close up for the week. Issues from how negative commentary can be a positive for your business to the importance of building relationships are covered in this weeks roundup. We hope you have a safe and relaxing weekend!

Why Negativity Can Be Good for your Business Blog – Did you know that negative commentary can actually be a positive for your blog? Think about it from the consumer side, do you really want to see perfect reviews and feedback at every turn? Wouldn’t you feel better at least knowing there are some possible hiccups to be wary of? This recent Entrepreneur.com article takes a deeper look at why negativity is not always a bad thing, and how you handle those situations can help build stronger ties with your customers.

7 Blogs and Newsletters That Can Help You Sell a Business – For many of you, your micro business is your life and the thought of selling it has never crossed your mind. For others, usually called serial entrepreneurs, selling a business is the name of the game. For those interested in selling off their business, the New York Times has put together a list of seven websites that can help you make it a smoother process. Whether you are interested in selling or not, it may be a helpful article to bookmark on your computer.

Boston Beer Co.’s Jim Koch on Self Reliance – As many of you know, we like to share interesting entrepreneur stories that we come across. Entrepreneur.com this week featured the founder of the Boston Beer Company, Jim Koch, who left the financial world to follow his dream of owning his own brewery. Among a variety of intresting points made, we were drawn to Koch’s thoughts on competition. He states, “As a craft brewer in America, after 27 years we’ve (the craft beer industry) finally gotten to 1 percent market share, so my competition is not craft brewers because we’re all going to succeed or fail together.” It’s an interesting concept that micro businesses can take into their own thinking. A group of small business owners bound together are more effective to the overall good of the small business economy than competition among each other.

Why We’re Afraid to Talk Pricing – It’s an on-going issue that businesses of all sizes deal with on a day to day basis: pricing. No matter how well you market your product or service, or how efficiently you are at selling your business proposition to a potential customer, a few numbers ultimately can make or break your sale. In this SmallBizTrends.com piece, the author looks at different reasons why a business won’t provide those scary numbers and how your business can help get away from this phobia.

It’s Always Been About the Relationships – As many entrepreneurs can attest to, building a business starts with the relationships you form. What’s going to make your business stand out from the bigger box stores who will likely be able to win the price game. As this DuctTapeMarketing.com article notes, social media can be an effective tools towards building relationships with many potential customers while flexing your knowledge within your businesses industry.

Getting Noticed this Holiday Season

By | December 1, 2011 | Micro Business Tips Thursday | No comments

In the spirit of the calendar turning pages into December and the holiday’s fast approaching, we were curious to find out how micro business owners were going to cut through the holiday “noise” and help keep their business top of mind. Between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday,  and Cyber Monday among a variety of holiday sales, micro businesses can sometimes be lost in the shuffle. So for this week’s edition of Micro Business Tips Thursday, we asked the Vistaprint Facebook community: How do you keep on top of mind for customers over the holiday season?

While our response rate was low (we’ll chalk it up to busy holiday shoppers), we received a few great responses. However, we were drawn to the feedback provided by Clifton Castleman, who stated:

“A great way to stay on the minds of your customers is to not only advertise your business/products, but also do something that gives back to the community. Sponsor a charitable event or sponsor a food drive; something that puts your brand out there in a positive light!”

Click here to see all of this week’s responses.

Great idea Clifton! We love the idea of volunteering and fund raising to help build awareness for a micro business. Not only does it give back to those in need, but as Clifton mentioned, it places your micro business in a positive light.

So what tips would you offer to help keep your micro business top of mind during the busy holiday season? We’d love to keep the conversation going by hearing your answers below! And be sure to check back next Thursday for another edition of the Micro Business Tip Thursday!

Looking back on Small Business Saturday

By | November 28, 2011 | Micro Business Roundup | No comments

If you are a micro business owner, you are likely familiar with the celebration of Small Business Saturday which kicked off its second year this past weekend. For those not familiar with the newly formed “holiday,” Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses
on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year (weekend after Thanksgiving). The day encourages consumers to think small as they plan the holiday gift buying and shop at their local, independently owned small businesses. 

While you were likely busy planning your Small Business Saturday strategy in between Thanksgiving and family activities, you may have missed some great small business articles that came out. Here are a couple articles we found interesting from over the weekend:

Small Business Saturday – In this guest reporter piece in the Baltimore Sun, one woman relives how she spent her Small Business Saturday within the greater Baltimore area. Take a look at what small business specials stuck-out to this consumer, perhaps there is an idea  that you can incorporate into your future marketing plans.

Next Year, Small Should Go Big – Do you think Small Business Saturday could be even bigger? This Portfolio.com article would agree with you. Take a look at how this reporter would change next years celebration to help get even more exposure. While we’re throwing out ideas on how to improve Small Business Saturday, we’d be interested to hear how you would improve the overall event. Please feel free to share your comments below!

Some small business owners fear holiday competition – As many small businesses are able to thrive in a down economy, the unfortunate reality is that many are failing for a variety of reasons. This recent KRMG.com piece looks at one flea market shop that is in the midst of hard times due to growing competition from new “big box” stores and consumers taking less advantage of small businesses. Who do you consider your biggest competitor? The big box stores, or other small businesses?

How One Entrepreneur Promotes ‘Cultural Commonality’ Through Tea – Outside of the obvious “generate revenue” and “be my own boss,” what do you want to get out of your micro business? For one entrepreneur, featured on Forbes.com, she wanted her tea shop to “promote international tea arts that enhances cultural commonality, health awareness and quality leisure.” Pretty impressive goals for a small business start-up. But the article showcases an important message that your micro business is exactly that, yours. You have the control to guide the business how you envision it and provide services with your own unique flair and creativity.

We’d be interested to hear how you spent your Small Business Saturday! Please share your comments below!

Holiday Cards: A Tradition on the Decline?

By | November 7, 2011 | Micro Business Issues | No comments

The tradition of sending holiday cards to our family, friends and even customers, is very much ingrained in our upbringing. But in a the modern days of social media properties such as Twitter and Facebook and the continued popularity of email, is the craft of mailing and receiving physical holiday cards a thing of the past? According to a recent survey produced by Vistaprint and Zoomerang Online Surveys , holiday cards are still a popular choice for personal communication this upcoming season! 

Among a variety of findings of the 1,000 responses from a nationally representative random sampling of males and females across the United States,  63 percent of respondents indicated they intend to send holiday cards in 2011. Of those individuals planning to send cards, 66 percent will send the same amount of holiday cards as they did last year, despite using social networks to reconnect with family.  When looking at specific quantities, 36 percent of respondents plan on sending between 11-25 cards this year, while 27 percent plan on sending between 26-50 cards.

Additional results found during the survey include:

  • 33 percent receive 10 or fewer holiday cards each year
  • 35 percent receive between 11-25 holiday cards each year
  • 50 percent plan to spend less than $25 on their cards in 2011
  • 60 percent choose “Merry Christmas” as their greeting message
  • 74 percent do not plan on sending electronic holiday cards this year
  • 78 percent buy holiday cards in store, 7 percent exclusively online and 15 percent use a combination of the two

Despite the turn in the economy, most consumers are not making any material changes to their holiday traditions, though they don’t plan to increase their holiday gift spending when compared to the previous holiday season, with 91 percent stating that they plan to spend as much or less than they did in 2010.  In addition, 85 percent don’t plan to change any holiday traditions because of the recession.

So as a micro business owner, what is your take? Do you still send physical holiday cards to customers and vendors, or do you resort to online methods to showing your thanks?

MBR: Are Your Customers Using Search Engines Less?

By | November 4, 2011 | Micro Business Issues, Micro Business Roundup | 2 Comments

Hello and happy Friday from (still snowy) New England! While our area continues to recover from record amounts of early arrival snow, we came across a few interesting small business articles that we thought may be of interest to you. Topics range from the idea that search engines are being used less to how the power of smell can help land holiday sales. We hope you have a nice and relaxing weekend and please enjoy this weeks edition of Micro Business Roundup. 

Why my Search Engine Use Is Dwindling and Why Yours Will Too – What if you spent the past few months trying to build up your SEO “juice” only to find out it was all for nothing? Do you think we’d ever come to a time where that could actually happen? According to John Jantsch at DuctTapeMarketing.com, it’s an idea that could possibly be happening now. Jantsch discusses how his use of search engine sites is slowly being replaced by the use of applications (“apps”) the accuracy to provide the answers he wants/needs relevant his immediate query. Has your search usage switched from search engines to applications, or are you still relying on Google to provide you answers?

Is Social Media Killing Your Business? – How does your micro business utilize social media (if you’re engaged in social media, of course)? While this growing platform can be an asset to your business, it can also detract from your overall efforts as well. This recent OpenForum.com post takes a look at different ways social media hurts your business. We’d be interested to hear how you view social media… is it a positive for your business, or do see it as a negative?

5 Ways to get that Federal Contract – Did you know there are more than $500 million worth of contract money handed out by the federal goverment each year? Ever wonder how your small, micro business could get a piece of the action? This Washington Post article offers five useful tips that small businesses such as yourself can utilize to get a piece of the (large) pie. While the application process could be tedious, the reward can be lucrative to the success and growth of your business.

 Street Walking in a Nutshell – We came across this short piece from the folks at Small Business Bonfire on a great topic, street walking marketing. The author, Jason Gregory, chats briefly about the importance of being upfront with signage and marketing materials so that your potential customers will not be left guessing what it is exactly that your business offers. Is your micro business upfront about what it provides, or do you use an element of mystery to help attract potential buyers?

How Cinnamon Smells Will Save Holiday Sales – Does a specific smell effect your purchasing behavior? According to this recent Inc.com article, how your brick and mortar store smells could play a factor in your customers purchasing behavior. With the recent reports that consumer holiday shopping will drop this year, businesses will have to up their game to capitalize off of holiday sales. To help you get started with having your business smelling right, the article offers five senses you can utilize to encourage customers to buy.

Happy Halloween!

By | October 31, 2011 | Marketing, Micro Business Tips | 1 Comment

Happy Halloween all! As you may have read last week, we shared a list of a few Halloween marketing tips your micro business could utilize to help promote your business around this festive holiday. To get a better idea of what different entrepreneurs were doing, we went to our Vistaprint Facebook community and asked the following question: What creative ideas are you implementing to celebrate with your customers today? 

Per usual, the entrepreneurs within our community shared some great ideas they have utilized. Here are a couple of our favorites: 

“We are doing a trunk or treat in front of our store to give out treats and brochures. We also participated in our towns treat or treat this morning with the schools and daycares that come downtown. Great fun and great customer relations too.” – Jan B. Waller

“I run a small music studio. Over the past few weeks, my students have colored pictures which are now the decorations on my windows! Hopefully they all come by to trick or treat tonight and see their creations lit up!” –  Amy Flamminio

“Pizzerias (or any business) can invite the public to visit your business on Halloween to receive a special “treat” and get a picture taken with your mascot (a costumed employee). You can then e-mail them a copy of their photo. Of course, you will need to get their email address to send them the photo and in doing so, you will be building your database so that you can email them throughout the year.” – Scott Anthony

Click here to see the rest of the feedback.

Be sure to keep your ideas coming as well as the feedback you receive from customers. In the meantime, please have a safe and fun Halloween!

Page 1 of 1212345678...Last »