This week’s roundup of “How To” articles, educational resources and upcoming events, business news and success stories recommended by SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan.
Small Business Saturday
November 24, 2018
It’s not too late to participate in Small Business Saturday! For marketing materials, visit the American Express “Shop Small” resource center where you can create customizable materials, how-to videos and more. It only take a few minutes to create and download these materials for your store, website or social media platforms. Get everything you need to spread the word, plan an event, or promote your business in the Shop Small® Studio.
Tips and Helpful Information
Small Business Saturday: The Ultimate Guide for Small Business Owners, Fundera. “A great way to build anticipation among your audience is to send marketing emails that promote your business’s deals, other offers in-town, and other Small Business Saturday events in your area.”
Your Small Business Saturday Guide: Tips, Tools and Statistics for Local Companies, Big Commerce. “Tell people the benefits of spending locally.”
6 Small Business Saturday Tips to Help You Drive Traffic and Sales, Vend. “Get some press coverage! The media LOVES Small Business Saturday, so grab the opportunity to get some publicity for your store. Don’t just wait around for the press to swing by though. Go out there and find PR opportunities.”
Small Business Saturday (SBS) Marketing
Source: Infusionsoft
21 Holiday Promotion Ideas for Small Businesses, Intuit. “Update Your Online Business Listings. Make sure to update your store’s holiday hours on your Google business listing, Yelp, Facebook page, Twitter profile, and Instagram handle. You’ll want potential customers to have access to as much updated information as possible during these critical weeks.”
15 Tips to Successfully Market Your Small Business This Holiday Season, CrowdSpring. “The holidays are here. And, if you don’t have your holiday marketing strategy ironed out, you’re already behind. Way behind.”
Branding and Marketing
6 Steps to Providing Exceptional Customer Experiences, Startup Professionals. “Many business leaders still believe that exceptional experiences cost too much, and reduce profit margins and growth. In fact, just the opposite is true today, since more and more customers expect good feedback from others before they consider you, and decline to return if they don’t get a great first experience. The result is that an average business can spiral quickly into the ground.”
10 Creative Guerilla Marketing Techniques to Launch Your Brand, Small Biz Daily. “As guerrilla marketing begins with a small initial investment it is the creativity of the marketing which causes it to stand out. When done correctly you can gain a large amount of publicity, website traffic and profit while spending very little.”
5 Tips for Making Your Whole Team a Marketing Machine, Startup Professionals. “The most effective teams are the ones who feel a common responsibility for the success of the business, and are willing to reach out and contribute to all elements of the business.”
Logo Design Trends: Your Guide to Navigate Hot Trends and Avoid Fads, CrowdSpring. “A great logo will help boost your marketing. A poor logo will tarnish your brand. That’s why many businesses, including some of the most successful, periodically rebrand. The truth is that not all logos are created alike. New logo trends and fads in logo design appear every year.”
Startups and Entrepreneurship
Got an Awesome New Business Idea? Here’s What to Do Next, Entrepreneur. “While there’s no guaranteed formula to starting a successful business, there are steps to take in the planning phase that will not only help you determine if your business idea has what it takes but help you get the ball rolling, too.”
7 Critical Things to Know Before Starting a Home Business, Small Biz Daily. “Deciding to turn your home, or a portion of your home, into a money-making enterprise may seem like a great idea – who doesn’t like to work in his or her pajamas? But there are some legal considerations, permits and financial implications you must consider before moving forward.”
5 Tips for Starting a Successful Clothing Brand: The Definitive Guide (2018), CrowdSpring. “The truth is that clothing brands become successful in part because they’re created by people who are passionate about clothing. But, a clothing brand needs more than just exquisite apparel design to create a lasting business. It needs all the trappings of a successful business as well.”
7 Skills Every Startup Team Needs to Get Things Done, Startup Professionals. “The best entrepreneurs never confuse motion with results. It’s easy to find people in every organization rushing around from one meeting to the next, often working overtime to generate more work for themselves and other people, but rarely taking the action to close an issue or contract. We all need more people around us who make every motion mean something.”
4 Little Known Digital Tools that Will Accelerate Your Startup, Small Biz Daily. “When you have so much to handle, finding tools that make things a little bit easier and a lot more efficient can be a serious game changer. With the right tools, you could even revolutionize profitability and start a whole new chapter in your startup’s life.”
10 Best Cities in the United States for Startups and Entrepreneurs, CrowdSpring. “There are now many metro areas with growing infrastructure and increasingly skilled workforces that can support tech startups. Increasingly, these metro areas are regularly appearing in rankings of the best cities in the United States for startups and entrepreneurs. The good news is that these new metro centers are significantly less expensive than Silicon Valley or the East Coast.”
Success and Inspiration
Forget Trying to Craft a “Genius” Daily Routine. Do Like Billionaire Sara Blakely and Worry More About Your Weekly Routine, Inc. “One smart way to avoid that cost is to follow Blakely’s lead and think not just in terms of a daily rhythm, but a weekly one as well. That way you can batch tasks that demand a similar headspace together, cutting down on the cost of context switching and getting a lot more done in the same amount of time.”
10 Ways to Improve Yourself in 10 Minutes or Less, Entrepreneur. “You can use these tiny increments of time to make a real difference in your life. If used properly, 10 minutes is enough to begin improving yourself. Yes, it’s possible to do something to make your life better, happier and more productive in 10 minutes or less.”
Protecting Small Business, Promoting Entrepreneurship
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