If you are trying to promote your business offline, you can move in either of these two directions: You can take the conventional route to promotion and mount an elaborate media campaign, spending a considerable amount of money. Or,You can let your creative juices flow and mount a low-cost promotion effort, using a potpourri of attention-getting strategies to bring your message to the buying public. Conventional advertising is valuable. If your...more
Toll-free numbers allow customers to contact your business without them having to pay for their call. Studies have shown that consumers are more likely to call a business with a toll-free number than those who only have a long-distance number, and 90% of Americans say that they use toll-free numbers. By following these five easy steps, you can discover for yourself how a toll-number can help your business grow.1. Expand your market. Toll-free...more
When running your own business, it is no secret that buying wholesale clothing can greatly decrease your expenses. When starting a small business, the most important thing to think about is making a profit and a great way to do that is to purchase wholesale clothing. Here are 5 tips to show you how easy it can be.1. First tip is to know what kind of clothing that you want to buy. Pick any designer, any style that you're interested in. Some wholesale distributors focus only on women's clothing, some on men's or children's, make sure you decide what you're looking for first.2. Do your research. Check out the retail prices of the products that you want to resell. Start crunching numbers and calculating what your profit would be if you bought items on wholesale and then sold them at their retail price. Just look for the wholesale price that would make you the most profit once you resell the item. All you need is a calculator.3. Don't take no for an answer. If there is a specific brand that you'd like to buy, go directly to the source-to the company that makes the brand. Approaching brands is sometimes hard because they require that you meet certain standards if you'd like to benefit...more
Online business directories offer a great opportunity for all types of local businesses to win new customers. The process of updating and managing your business listings across multiple online directories is very time consuming. In business, time is money and you can save both using a multi-directory listing service such as DirectoryRunner from...more
At the core of any successful business venture is a solid business plan. And a joint venture is no exception. Even though a full business plan may not be necessary for a JV, it is still important to prepare a blueprint that outlines the goals and strategies on how your JV will succeed. What are 5 essential inclusions in a JV business plan?1....more
Regardless of whether your business is based in a bricks and mortar store front, a home service or on the internet only, your business relies on traffic to sell your product, and that requires advertising. Here are five advertising strategies, either free or nominal cost, that apply to any business.Write a short article about you and your business, and submit it to both paper and online newspapers or newsletters catering to the area or type of people you serve. For example, lawn and garden newsletter subscribers would likely be interested in a garden tractor business. Be sure to tell who you are, how you happened to get into this business, and why you love it. Show some passion for your work! Give examples of how you help your customers solve a problem. Include a gentle call to action along with the street address, phone, email and/or web address they can use to do business with you.The second idea requires a more natural form of communication - giving advice. Join and contribute to a members' forum or advice column in related publications or on the internet. Just write what you would say if they called you up and asked you the question. Be sure to include your...more
Entrepreneurs have been around for as long as profitable ideas, but Rome wasn't built in a day, nor did the CEO of a company start working out of a top floor, corner office. You might be wondering then how anyone can grow a business from a basement...more
Myth: Scholarships are only available to high achieversTruth: A lot of students are discouraged because they do not have a 4.0 GPA. Many people believe that you must receive all As in order to be considered for a scholarship. Though one of the...more
A well designed business letterhead will say a good deal about your company. If you are not artistically minded designing your own letterhead could prove to be too much of a challenge and you may want to think about approaching a graphic designer...more
Most businesses start out as a simple "a-ha" moment, an idea. They begin to grow, become alive and begin to create an identity. As each of these businesses develops they will experience common problems and as they pass through the five stages of...more
The internet has evolved into an effective mega-community rich in virtual resources for anyone to use for his or her own profit and benefit. As a single entity making a mark in this virtual arena, it would seem that the overwhelming resources as...more
Social media is a place where people make their profile, have a tte--tte about their palates and predilections for different products (Facebook communities), they outburst, they endorse themselves (LinkedIn), they upload videos (YouTube), they speak...more