A Business Logo: The Sun in Your Customers Sky

From time to time I will have guest bloggers sharing with you all. Kristine Sheehan, of The Merry Bird Designs graciously agreed to post for me today. If you need a logo, hand-made greeting cards, or book cover art, among other things, Kristine is the one to talk to! For now, she's talking to you about your business logo. Enjoy!

Starting a new business or revitalizing an existing one is an exciting endeavor. And, there are many ways to get noticed to make a mark in the big business world online and off. An entrepreneur may start by having an extraordinary product/service to sell/offer but have no clue how to bring in the market buyers. Although I’m not a marketing expert and can’t advise you in marketing techniques, I can be of service by telling you that you should have a creative logo designed to represent your business. A properly marketed business needs a logo for customer recognition and retention of that business.

A logo in all its integrity is the “sun in your customers sky”, “the star in your customer’s galaxy” or in other words it will make your service/product get noticed and remembered.
A good designer will create a logo that is simply memorable. One view or many a creative logo will create instant recognition. Recognition and admiration is exactly what a business needs!

You may find a designer by recommendation or a search on the web. However you choose to find your designer you should know a few questions to ask her/him before you begin.

1. Does the designer work by contract? What the customer and designer expect and will ultimately receive at the end of the design job depends on the contract! Read fine print, ask about deadlines, ask about final cost, and revise where necessary. Agree, Sign off and begin!
2. How will I receive my design? File formats to ask for are .ai, pdf, eps, jpg, png. Know that you need a file that is 72dpi for online viewing and a file that is a minimum of 300dpi for printing purposes. Be sure the format you receive can be utilized in different ways. For example, can the logo design be reduced to fit on a keychain or enlarged to fit a billboard?
3. Does the designer need specific pantone colors or will you leave it up to the designer to choose them for you? Ultimately the designer should provide you with a logo design that can be converted from color to black and white. No matter what the color of the logo is, it should keep its strength and integrity for online view and in print format.

These few tips from The Merry Bird Designs should get you started with your research for a business logo design. Remember, for customer recognition and retention of your product and/or services be sure the Logo is Simply Memorable, the Logo can be converted to Black and White and the designer provided the Logo in a File Format that can be enlarged/reduced for future printing.

The sun in your customers sky is shining already!

Kristine Sheehan

TheMerryBird Designs

http://www.themerrybird.com

info@themerrybird.com

203-551-1155

Business Blog Post Interlude

Today I usually post something business related. Something hopefully helpful and informative. Something with a great picture. At the time of writing this I haven't picked one out yet. I hope it's a good one!

Today I take a mini timeout to let you business owners know that VWE hasn't forgotten you. If you all could see what we have planned and are working on! No, I wanted to let you know that we know businesses small and medium, and hopefully large too, want to use our puzzles to help promote their businesses and we love that. So we are working on something for you.

Not sure how long it will take, but it is something being worked on as I type so hopefully not long. In the meanwhile, we'd love to hear from those businesses who want to know when we have our little something something ready so we can contact you directly. So feel free to reply to this post or, if you're seeing this via our Facebook fan page, comment there.

It won't be long!

10 Essential Criteria For Choosing Your Target Market

As business owners, we are always concerned about our target market. You want to be sure the customers you seek are in fact receptive to your business idea. But what I don't think we always consider is does your target market fit YOU? That's what this article made me think of. I like how it gave me a slightly different perspective. Enjoy.


A specific group of people you will focus on selling your services to is your target market. This is not to be confused with the problem you will be solving for this group.

Why choose a target market? You need to decide exactly who your audience is before you sell your services. Deciding on your target market lays a critical foundation for your business. When you get clear about who your target market is, you will:

* know where to focus your selling and marketing efforts.

* know where to focus your research efforts. You want to intimately understand your market: the problems they have and the language they speak. The greater your level of understanding the more magnetic you will become.

Your target market will determine your income and success. Choose the wrong one and you will waste a lot of time and money with very little results.

Whatever target market -TM- you choose, check to see that it meets the following 10 essential criteria:

1. Your TM has a big problem. They think about it all the time, it keeps them awake at night.

2. Your TM wants the problem solved. The impact and cost of the problem is big enough that they will act to solve it (some people have problems they are quite happy to live with!).

3. You can easily find your TM. Do they belong to associations? Are there conferences for this target market? Are there publications? Where do they hangout? If it's not easy to find your target market, it will cost you a lot of money to find them.

4. Your TM has money to spend. No point having a terrific service if your target market hasn't the money to pay for it. I know this sounds basic but it's often overlooked.

5. Your TM has a history of paying to have this problem solved. You want to focus on a target market where there is a proven track record of problems and people paying to solve them. A good sign is if your competitors are selling similar services to the target market.

6. There's enough of your TM out there to sustain a business. How many people or businesses are in your target market? Realistically how many will become your clients and what will that be worth to you? Is that enough?

7. You enjoy working with your TM. Think about what types of people are in your target market and visualize being with them day in and day out. How does that feel? Will you feel energized or drained at the end of the day? Remember, you are also in business to enjoy yourself so make sure you will enjoy working with this target market.

8. You have a passion for helping and serving this TM. Passion is an essential ingredient for selling your services.

9. You have valuable expertise and experience you can offer. Your target market will want to buy from people who are experts in their field. Think about what specific expertise and experience you can offer your target market.

10. Your TM fits with your ultimate lifestyle package. What hours do you want to work? Where do you want to work? How do you want to work? Does this fit in with your target market? Ensure that working with your target market will enable you to live the kind of life you want to live.

Once you have found your target market, the next step is to refine it even further. Decide on the profile of your ideal client. What sort of person are they? Decide on their demographics and psychographics. Demographics are the basic facts like age, gender, income, location, etc. Psychographics are their characteristics, values etc. This will enable you to focus even more.

The clearer you are about who you want to do business with, the more you will attract exactly the clientele you're looking for. You will then need your Sales Conversation skills to convert them to clients.

(c) Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation Pty Ltd. 2005

Tessa Stowe teaches coaches, service professionals and recovering salespeople 10 simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at http://www.salesconversation.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tessa_Stowe


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How To Host a Successful Home Business Expo

You don't have to wait for the next vending event or expo to get your business out there. You can plan your own! Get together with some other businesses - preferably ones that don't compete with you - plan an expo and get out there! Don't know how? Maybe this can give you some ideas. Enjoy!


Are you in direct sales or network marketing?

No doubt you're currently having parties, luncheons, meetings or other events to showcase your business opportunity and products.

But have you ever thought of hosting a larger event that is open to the public? If you're building your business mostly on the Internet, you may shy away from offline activities, but I hope to convince you of the many perks of hosting a Home Business Expo.

The advantages of planning a large offline event are:

You can potentially get a LOT of targeted leads for your business opportunity or product.

You will be seen as the "go-to" person in your community for work at home information.

If you work it right, you will get lots of media attention.

You're providing a service in the community that benefits people.

The believability level is higher when people are meeting you face-to-face.

I strongly urge you to include other Moms in business when you plan your event. After all, your business is not right for everyone! Inviting other work at home Moms means that you'll make a lot of new friends, expand your network, and even make some money too, which will more than cover your advertising and other associated costs.

Ok, so we've covered the "why", let's work on the "how".

Choose a Venue

I've hosted business expos in public libraries, and these are great for a couple of reasons: They're free to reserve and most people in the community will know where they're located.

The disadvantages: You may not be able to serve refreshments which may not be a big deal to you, but may make it more difficult for the Pampered Chef lady you invited to sell her product. However, this may not be a strong consideration if the event is designed more as a lead generation tool for recruiting. Hotels have nice conference rooms but often carry a hefty price tag, although in some towns you may only pay $50-$75 for the room. The advantage of booking a room in a hotel is that you'll usually be able to serve food and also post signs outside the venue. Local gyms and recreation centers are good too.

Choose a Theme

Since space is limited and you can't include everyone, it's a good idea to choose a theme for your business expo. For instance, you may want to limit your vendors to Moms in Direct Sales, or you may want to choose Homeschooling parents in business. A friend of mine hosted a Natural Moms expo, and invited women who made herbal products, midwives, yoga instructors, massage therapists and the like. Having a theme also makes your advertising efforts easier since it clarifies what your event is "all about".

Other Planning Tips

At my events, I always asked each vendor to be responsible for her own table. (Most Moms in business have one so this wasn't an imposition.) That way I wouldn't have to worry about whether the venue had enough.

Encourage your vendors to have plenty of information about their business on hand-- printouts, catalogs, business cards, etc. It's also a good idea for them to have a small door prize as a way of collecting the names and numbers of people who look at their business.

Decide how much you're going to charge vendors. I always kept my vendor fee very low, since I wasn't so much interested in making a huge profit as I was exposing my own business to the community and helping Moms get legitimate information about working from home.

I've attended events that I did not plan and was very disappointed at the turnout when I had paid a nice fee in order to participate. You don't want your vendors getting resentful. If you decide to host another Expo, you'll have a lot of people who want to take part again and even assist you if the first one is a success. So keep those things in mind when deciding how much to charge your vendors. I also strongly suggest keeping the event free to the public.

Start Advertising Early

I'm a big believer in press releases because they work! Local media will likely call you to ask questions about your event, especially if you live in a smaller town. A few tips regarding press releases:

1) Emphasize how your event will help the public. Are you going to be educating women on how to avoid work at home scams? Will there be free information and samples available? Giveaways and door prizes? Are children welcome? Etc.

2) Be sure to post your press release online (Do a Google search for "submit press release") ,as well as faxing or emailing it to local newspapers.

3) Call the newspaper first to see how they prefer to receive your release and always follow up to be sure they got it!

You may be able to advertise your business expo for free online at some of the work at home websites, as well as local interest websites. Do an Internet search for "submit event", with the name of your town in the search. That should give you quite a few places to submit your event to. You'll likely find that as a few women find out about the event, you'll have no trouble getting vendors! Especially if you keep the cost for inclusion low. In order to keep in touch with your vendors for updates and communication, consider starting an online newsletter list just for this purpose. Otherwise you'll find yourself answering phone calls and emails and saying the same things over and over.

Getting Lots of Attendees

If your press release gets picked up by a few local newspapers you'll probably have lots of people show up for your event, but it's also a good idea to diversify your advertising. Take out a small ad in a community events paper if there is one in your area (but be sure to send your press release first to see if they'll give you free advertising!). Post about your event in forums online that allow you to do so. Encourage your vendors to invite their customers (it's great if they can have some product on hand to retail, thus saving their customers shipping costs) and warm market. Post flyers at local businesses, always asking permission first (I almost never had anyone say no!). And be sure to have large, well placed signs pointing to your event, like you would if you were having a yard sale.

Well that's about it! I hope you plan a business expo that brings you tons of new customers and prospects, and establishes you as THE work at home Mom in your area!

Carrie Lauth is a work at home Mom of 4. If she can earn money online, so can you! Get her free "No Fluff" marketing tips plus free subscriber gifts at http://www.Carrielauth.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carrie_Lauth

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5 Powerful Tips On How To Sell In An Economic Downturn

Is the recession over? Some think we are coming out. Others aren't so sure just yet. Either way, here are some thoughts on boosting business that can be applied no matter what the climate is out there. Enjoy!

1. Believe and achieve!

One of the problems with all of this talk about recession is that once people believe there is going to be a recession they start to feel negative about their business prospects and only tend to see what they believe rather than believing what they see. Once you believe that there is going to be a recession you tend to only notice articles, comments and statistics that support your beliefs.

What's more, your negative beliefs quickly affect your outlook and the way that you feel about your business prospects.

If you thought 2008 was going to be a great year for business, your best year yet; how would you feel?

On the other hand, if you thought this year we're going to have a major downturn and you and your business would be badly affected; how would you feel?

Mighty different huh? And remember, nothing's changed here other than your belief. Having a positive and supportive belief structure is essential if you want to succeed in any market but it is vitally essential if you want to keep on selling in a tough one.

Having a winning belief system does not mean that you need to be deluded however! In the middle of the darkest recession you don't want to have your eyes shut! But you have to understand that in a downturn clients want to partner with the best companies. Suppliers that they can rely on. Suppliers that support them. Suppliers who are going to be around tomorrow. And if your competitors struggle, that means more sales and more business for you.

2. Get proactive

You need to be more proactive. Much more proactive. You need to do more marketing and more selling. You need to attend more events and do more networking. You need to do more promotion and more canvassing. You need to increase your sales activities, maybe dramatically.

In a recession many companies cut their sales activites. They figure, "If we're not going to sell anything, what's the point?" Many individual salespeople do this too.

Cut your activity, cut your sales. You're a living, breathing, self-fulfilling prophecy! You believe there is not much business out there, so you feel negative. That in turn affects your activity and your activity destroys your sales results.

Even if there is not as much business out there, then you need to be more active, more focused and more targeted. If your competitors are easing off a little, now is the time to up the anti and grab your share of the market. Even if there is a blip, you will be strongly placed when activity picks up.

One of my friends went down to our local real estate agent this week to put his house on the market. He was told that maybe he should wait as he might not get the price he wants right now. They told him the market was quiet and that might not be able to sell the house at all. Better to wait for the market to pick up. I walked past their offices later on that day. They were all sitting, chatting and drinking coffee. They were probably moaning about what a bad year it's going to be. If I'd have been in that office, I'd have taken my mates house on and I'd have been on the phone drumming up some viewings. 50 calls, 100, calls, 500 calls... Whatever it takes. I'd have found someone.

Talk about killing your own market! If you see less business then you need to do more sales and marketing, not less. That's common sense.

3. Sharpen your sales skills

If a workman needs a spade and a farmer needs a horse; a boxer needs a defence and a chef needs a recipe; what do salespeople need? The answer's obvious - it's sales skills.

Most salespeople do not spend enough time working on improving their sales skills and techniques. Sales training and development is not something that many salespeople spend their time on out of choice. Perhaps they can get away with this in a booming marrket when sales are easy. Perhaps not. But things will always change if the market tightens. Sales success will go to the salesperson who really understands why people buy and can help people make the right business decisions. Salespeople of this calibre stand to benefit from possible changes ahead because there will be more business for them as their competition falls by the wayside.

Sales will not go to the journeyman salesperson, the mediocre wannabee or the 9-5 order taker. Salespeople like these could well be in for a rough time.

When did you last read a sales training book on selling? How many sales training audios have you listened to over the last month? How many sales training seminars have you atteneded in the last 6 months? For 80% of salespeople reading this, the answer is zero.

4. Improve your service and focus on relationships

As I write this many companies will be working out how to cut corners. They will try to save money by tinkering with their business offerings. They will try and eek extra profits out of their clients by cutting the bells and whistles from their offerings. This is not a good idea. A Swiss cow with no bells is just a cow and no-one would send postcards of them home!

If business is tight you want to be wowing your clients with the best service that they have ever had, from you or from any of your competitors. You need to be going the extra mile. If a recession bites many companies will try and discount to survive. They probably won't (survive), but you don't want your clients going to them as they try to keep their heads above water! You need to "lock in" your existing clients now so that they won't even think about going anywhere else.

Spend time with your clients. Build stronger relationships with your clients. Make sure you truly understand them, their concerns and their businesses. Find ways to help them and add value over and above what they could have ever expected.

5. Leverage your efforts

In a soft market many salespeople only chase the easy stuff. They don't chase the tough stuff. They're doing ok, they don't have to. They're making sales right?

Wrong.

Most salespeople have all sorts of opportunities which they squander every day and every month because there are seemingly easier things that they can be doing. This is particularly true in an industry or a company where leads have been relatively easy to come by, where sales targets are relatively soft (I could tell you which industries but I'm not going to) or where salespeople are overpaid so don't crave the business (again, I'll keep this to myself!).

In a tough market you must leverage all of your efforts. This is basic sales 101 and should be stuff that you do every day anyway... Here are just a few ideas.

Always ask for referrals. Referrals are great business but most salespeople do not ask for them because clients often say no. Learn how to ask for a referral properly and then build asking for a referral into your sales process and ask for one every time.

Upsell and cross-sell. Whether though laziness, lack of knowledge or lack of ability many salespeople sit on accounts where there is so much more business than they are currently leveraging. Extending your business with existing clients will not only make you more money, it will also strengthen your relationships with and value to them and their businesses.

Contact dormant accounts. Most companies have hundreds if not thousands of "dormant" accounts. There may be multiple reasons for this from changing business practises to fall-outs with the client. Dormant clients may well be redeemable and may have been "lost" purely because someone forgot to ring them or a salesperson moved on. Get in touch with them!

Follow up on all leads. I recently contacted 5 health insurance companies over the web. Only one replied. You should not be burning leads like this in any market. Follow up on all leads professionally using a proven sales system like the ones I teach in my sales training seminars and programmes and you will close more business. New business is the lifeblood of any business in any market.

So there we are, 5 tips to help you to sell in a recssion. This year may well prove to be an interesting year for some businesses and individuals. Some of this will be down to the market itself. Much of it will be down to you and how you react and respond to what might be a challenging year.

Here's my prediction for the year...

There will be winners and there will be losers. Which are you going to be?

For more powerful personal development articles visit http://www.gaviningham.com now.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gavin_Ingham

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Bring Your Business Out of the Noise

There are many smart people out there writing and speaking about marketing your business. Today the voice you shall hear is my own. But I will not necessarily speak as one business to another. I will instead be one customer to businesses and people who are in charge of the marketing of that business.

In case you did not notice, it's a pretty noisy world out there. I don't care if you live on a mountaintop in Greenland. If you have a business and are actively marketing that business, then you are using a lot of the same tools everyone else is using - TV, radio, social networking, newspapers, some even still use the Yellow Pages because it works for them. Maybe you are vending and networking face to face to build relationships. Maybe you are networking screen to screen. If you stop to visualize all these places, what do they have in common? Your ad is next to someone else's. Your TV or radio spot has to say it all in 30 seconds. Your social networking page has tons of people on it that's hard for you to sort out, so imagine everyone else.

It's a noisy world today compared to just 10, 20 years ago; basically one to 1 1/2 generations ago. It's no wonder people ignore their calls and let them go to voice mail. They don't necessarily respond to emails quickly, if at all. I know I do this and again, I am talking to you as a consumer.

I see your emails and I am annoyed because there are SO many of them from SO many people so I mostly delete, sort, or save for later. In any of these scenarios, your immediate deal goes unnoticed. Yeah, I get those tweets. But I get too many of them so I may glance, I may never read, I may miss them altogether. Where is my safe haven? Personally, I have two children so my car is one of my favorite places and thus radio is still somewhat effective for me. But I don't live in my car so you've got me for a limited amount of time.

No. My safe haven is home where I can turn all that noise off. Businesses and even everyday people have gone wild with the power of instant connection so I have to go invisible for a little while. But how can you still reach me, dear business owner, when I am screening my phone calls? What is one place where even you can still enter my quiet world? The U.S. Mail.

Oh yes, dear business owner. I am still reading my mail. I still come home and sort looking for something other than a bill I am going to pay online anyway so I doubt I'll open. (Gotta go paperless. Note to self.) My eyes are still looking for pops of color because I am attracted to that. That's why even if I don't plan to order a thing, catalogs still grab me. As I chill and do nothing, I'll peruse those and by the end, who knows? I may just be dog-earring a page for future use. I may even be checking out my bank account to see if I can swing this unexpected expense (so you better make it good!).

The mail, dear business owner, is no longer fun for people. I just heard a statistic yesterday that ever since the Internet came along, over 70% of people no longer write letters. I still do, though not as much, and everyone I know appreciates it. Think of the holidays. We are still scrambling to send cards and we love to get them. The mail has become a place of mainly bills and overdue notices, but there is still some soliciting going on. People are still reading even the solicitations of companies they are interested in if the mail is interesting enough.

So make yours interesting for me!

Once in my whole life, so far, have I received a puzzle from a company. Did I open that unusual package? Sure I did! Ok, yes, this was pre-anthrax days, but I think we're back to safe mode now. Even today I REMEMBER that puzzle. It was for a car dealership, so no I wasn't buying. But I remember it! My kids took it to play with right then and there. Jigsaw puzzles are memorable, dear business owners! And people tend to keep them as well. Imagine how much your message is getting through over and over again!

You can use jigsaw puzzles to:

Introduce yourself

Tell about a special or make an announcement

Send one-piece at a time for some sort of giveaway or to even get them onto your site/into your store.

Put a special code on a piece to be redeemed. (yes, we print on the back too)

Just say thank you/happy birthday/send a little fun gift with your logo on it.

Invite your customers to some special event

Use as a business card or giveaway

If you want to be different and new right now, go old school. Try the mail and make yourself stand out from the crowd.

This little beauty is a 2x2, 4-piece puzzle that just says hi. Interested? They start at $1.75 per puzzle for a minimum of 500. Check it out!

Simple Small Business Marketing Ideas Often Work the Best

You know what gets my attention? Hand-written letters. I still do them personally, though not nearly as often as I used to. And when I get them, even from solicitors, I am curious enough to open them. That's why this tip is one I wholehearedtly agree with. Take a read.

Have you ever noticed how many times the simplest small business marketing ideas end up working the best?

Who ever said small business marketing has to be hard?

I'm constantly amazed at just how powerful some of the simplest concepts are. There are many small business marketing ideas that cost next to nothing and really require little to no additional extra work to begin bringing in more business every month.

Unfortunately, the problem with simple marketing ideas is that many small businesses are so quick to excuse them. Intelligent business owners and independent professionals just like you mistakenly believe a marketing idea has to be sophisticated and intricate to be really valuable.

WRONG! In fact, it's completely the opposite that's true. The more complicated the idea, the less chance you have of making it work. Simple doesn't mean well thought out. It just means not complicated.

One of the simplest small business marketing ideas I've ever come across is also one of the most powerful. Many successful professionals have shared that this one technique has been primarily responsible for completely filling their business pipeline.

Even though most people know about this powerful method, it's surprising how few people actually use it consistently. Perhaps because it's just too simple and business owners are always looking for fresh, new, and more sophisticated (i.e., perceived to be higher value) marketing ideas.

After all, if the simple, easy ideas really worked then wouldn't everyone be using them? Well you would think, but even the simple solutions take some work on your part to be successful. And too often, people want the results without having to do the work.

Simple does not mean you don't have to do the work. It just means not complicated.

So what is this simple yet incredibly powerful idea that can help you generate significantly more business?

Commit to sending out personal hand-written notes - Thank You notes or Cards.

The reasons to send personal notes including "thank you" notes are practically endless.

When you make a new contact at a networking event

When you get a new clients

When a client takes your advice

When a client recommends you

When a business contact recommends a new resource

Taking time to hand write notes is a lost art in the world of business anymore. Even though personal attention is always more effective, email and voice mail are just so much quicker and therefore make it ineffective in some peoples' minds.

Consider How To Put This Small Business Marketing Idea To Work For Your Business...

Is your small business marketing strategy attracting all the clients you can handle? Effective small business marketing is more than just a bunch of ideas and tips. Follow a step-by-step approach to creating your own powerful small business marketing plan at http://www.GetMoreGreatClients.com

Kevin Dervin is co-founder of the Marketing Action Club and creator the the Get More Great Clients marketing system.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Dervin

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