Tag Archives: free advice

Small Business Marketing Tips

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Marketing Plan concept with man holding a tablet computer

Do ever hear yourself say, on a really busy day, especially one with a deadline to meet…”wish that phone would stop ringing!” Really? When the phone stops ringing, it’s time to reconsider marketing in today’s connected world. Here’s a checklist you may find helpful.

  1. Create a free Google My Business account. If you have one now, congratulations, because these free profiles are among the most effective marketing strategies today. Google is the new Yellow Pages. It’s what buyers check first when looking for a new or replacement service or product.
  2. Take Social Media seriously and responsibly. Social media engagements are an excellent way to expand your reach beyond your website and print advertising. It can show a more personal side of your business, but avoid controversies, politics, or any divisive subject.
  3. Use free promotional features on Facebook. Invite your friends to “like” or “share” your page (or blog); promote contests or giveaways.
  4. Blog on your website, then share your blog on social media and via email to your customers. Avoid sharing or emailing anyone unless you have their permission to use their email address. Unsolicited postal mail ends up in a trash can; unsolicited email also is sent to Trash, but most often ends as an “unsubscribe” or “block” action on the receiver’s end.
  5. Ask customers for feedback and reviews: Ask them during an office call, over the phone or even a quick text. Give them a reason to say yes to your request for a review. For example, adding a Customer Review page to your website offers your customers a pathway to getting their name in front of your clients!
  6. Offer a referral discount or gift. Your current customers are the best source of your future customers.

What techniques can you recommend to “market on a budget”? Share your success stories (and even your flops) with us via email. With your permission, we’d like to share them with our customers. 

4 Ideas for Holiday Season at Work

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With Thanksgiving Day behind us, we are well into Hanukkah and Christmas seasons and a stone’s throw from New Year’s Day. That is, if we can survive the temptations and stress all around us during this challenging time of year.

Somewhere among the office parties and gift exchanges, beyond the end of the year workload and gift list we still haven’t completed, there is a sense of joy — if we can only stand still long enough to sense it.

moose dollRather than stress out, we can choose to focus on ways to make the holidays around the office healthier and more peaceful.

Have that potluck party, but suggest low-calorie, low-sugar options like fruits and nuts, veggie sticks, festive salads and sugar-free gelatin desserts. With a little less soda and more sparkling water, everyone will still have fun “goofing off” for a long lunch hour and will be more inclined to get back to work after the last cheese cube and olive is gone.

If you have a gift exchange, insist that everyone spend very little and keep it light with fun gifts, gag gifts, or homemade gifts…any type of gift that prevents stress from it’s giving or receiving.

Help employees and coworkers manage their stress. Employees, help your co-workers. Avoid alcohol in the office, or drink in moderation if you choose, and encourage everyone to manage their tasks so that they don’t need to work overtime. Encourage exercise by organizing walking groups during lunch hour.

As the business winds down for the year, encourage everyone to acknowledge the extra efforts put forth. Business owners, managers, and every single worker can’t say “thank you” to someone too often, especially at this time of the year.

Straw Issue

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The Cincinnati Business Courier recently released an article Newport Aquarium Enlists Businesses’ Help to Stamp Out Plastic Straws. The article explains why our own Newport Aquarium joined 22 other aquariums throughout the U.S. to reduce causes of plastic pollution and want businesses (and individuals) to help by cutting back on straw usage. According to get-green-now.com it takes up to 200 years for a plastic straw to decompose, and they can’t be recycled in most places.

turtle strawIf the numbers are right, 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals die from ingesting plastic. Interestingly, straws come in 11th on the list of plastic founds in dead sea animals and birds.

Straws won’t go away overnight, but we need to start somewhere to reduce straw trash in waterways. Request your drink without a straw and use reusable straws. For example, Amazon offers a pack of reusable straws made from stainless steel that comes with a special cleaning brush Click to view.

We can do our part so that the fish, turtles, and other sea life in our oceans and rivers will have a chance to life a long life, free to feed on grasses and other natural food sources so they can survive and thrive without the threat of consuming plastic.

More info

The River City News »
Cincinnati.com »
Newport Aquarium »