Guide to a good New Year's resolution for small business branding

We all want to make ourselves and our lifestyles better (or at least you should). Most of us make New Years resolutions, some big some small, to improve our health, our careers, etc. But, one mistake almost all small business owners make is not having a New Year's resolution for their pride and joy, their business.

Unless you made so much money in 2013 that you're set to retire next month, then your business has room for improvement. Maybe you missed out on some sponsorship opportunities. Maybe you came up short on your projected sales. Maybe you didn't paint that darn pink wall in your store that all of the customers cringe at. Or maybe you didn't get around to that rebranding project or new website that you were planning to do. (If this is you, we should talk) If you've never made one before, just give it a shot. You have nothing to lose by doing so.

Like everyone else making lists this time of year, I've compiled a some of my favorite and most effective business resolutions. Plus, I'll give you tips to help achieve those resolutions.

First, one tip is to make resolutions that are beneficial and that are attainable. "I want to lose 100 pounds by Valentine's Day." or "I will double my profit and half my expenses." are not realistic and reachable goals. Which brings me to my first resolution...

1. Make a branding strategy

So many small businesses have potential to have an effective identity that could retain loyal customers. They just need to have a strategy.

How to achieve:
Start with setting just one goal. Don't overwhelm yourself. My suggestion is to be persistent and consistent in all touch points of your brand. I suggest working with a marketing or creative professional (we're more affordable than you think). Anywhere your product or advertisements or other materials are seen by your customers should have a consistent look, feel, and messaging. Then, follow up with customers and your professional every couple months with a larger end of the year meeting to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the effort.

2. Set a marketing budget

You'd be amazed how many business owners fly by the seat of their pants (where did this saying come from?) when it comes to their marketing. They wait until business gets slow, unfortunately when there's little money to work with, to start advertising in hopes of new customers.

How to achieve:
Plan out in January what your marketing objectives are and how much you're going to spend throughout the entire year. A good rule of thumb is to spend 5-7% of yearly revenue on marketing. 4-6% should be spent on regular consistent advertising and 1-3% should be spent on brand improvements like a new website, logo, identity materials or packaging. Divide your budget by month and do a little more marketing in your busy months when there's more to work with.

3. Build a web presence

It's no mystery today that 80-90% of all website traffic comes from search engines like Google and Bing. You can increase the hits to your website and your search rankings by improving your web presence. It's a team effort between your website, inbound marketing, blog and social media.

How to achieve:
Again, work with a professional! Set up all of your social media accounts, but only the necessary ones. Make the look and feel consistent in all areas. Start blogging! A huge benefit to your search rankings is to continuously have new content directing visitors to your site. Lastly, work on the keywords and SEO friendly content on your website.

4. Make 1 big improvement to your product or point of purchase

One of the most important things you will do this year is to make just 1 big improvement. If you're not getting better you're getting worse. If you're standing still, you're falling behind.

How to achieve:
Like I said, set just 1 big improvement to make. If you don't have a website, you're way past due for one. If your technology is out dated, make a goal to get all new equipment. If your shop is getting run down, make it a point to clean and fix everything. Set a deadline for your improvement and STICK TO IT!

What's your resolution?

All of these things are beneficial and sometimes crucial to your success. Let me know what your business resolution is and I will let you know how I can help.

Happy New Year's! And as always, #BeAmbitious.

Groupon: Good for guests, Bad for Business

Image courtesy of Google images

We all love a to save some money these days and companies like Groupon and Living Social benefit us as consumers greatly.

If you're unfamiliar with how Groupon works, I'll explain. Businesses offer a discount to their product or service to customers. They set an amount of purchases that have to be made and if there are enough people to buy the offer then the "deal is on." The concept is that a large amount of purchases will make up for the discount they are giving.

The 'Benefits' to the Business

These businesses benefit from inflated sales for a period of time (or so you think). The true benefit they get is the amount of NEW customers to buy their product. When a Groupon representative talks with you this is one of their biggest selling points. They tell you about all of the new faces you'll see and after testing your AMAZING product they will keep coming back. It's true! You WILL see a lot of new people.

BUT, the truth about all those new customers is that the majority of them will not come back without another discount. This is a proven fact and I invite you to even ask these businesses. There are a few reasons why they won't come back:

• They've come to expect a discount and they will wait for your next Groupon offer.
• They like to try new things, but your product just wasn't to their liking. (Surprise, not EVERYONE likes your product)
• They have always wanted to try your product, but the price without a discount is just way too high, so they won't be coming back.

Bad for Business

So what's so bad about offering a discount on Groupon? It's a rip off! Most business owners are blinded by the large amount of new customers that they think they're getting a great deal. In reality, they are still not making full profit on all of those sales. Most offers are 40-60% off their regular price. If a business could live on selling their product all the time at that rate then they shouldn't be charging the original price to begin with.

The other thing most people don't think about with regards to Groupon is they have to be able to make money, too. The way Groupon makes their money is by taking a percentage (40-60%) of the money customers pay for YOUR offer. Let me repeat. They take a cut from your already discounted price!

Let's use one of my favorite offers for an example, 18 holes of Golf with cart rental at 50% off.

Each Offer:

Regular price of such offer is $50

Golf Course through Groupon offers $25

Groupon takes 50% of offer price = $12.50

$50 x 50% = $25

$25 x 50% = $12.50

$25 - $12.50 = $12.50

Total amount business receives = $12.50 or 25%

In the end, Golf Course gave their product away for 75% off!

As a consumer I'm going to keep buying Groupon offers every week because they save me a bunch of money and I get my fix of eating out and trying new things. It's awesome and you know it! But as a professional and someone who helps small businesses with their branding and growth I will absolutely never advise a business owner participate in Groupon. There are countless ways to get exposure and new customers through your doors without needing to discount your product and without giving money away to another company.

If you want some advice to get new customers and keep them loyal or grow your brand please contact me and I'll gladly help. Until next time... #BeAmbitious

Type and text tips for a top-notch brand

It seems as though a lot of people think it does not matter which font your designer chooses with your branding. Well, what kind of expert would I be if I told you that was true? There are tons of tiny details in the font you choose with any body of text that can make a BIG difference in how your brand is reflected. So I'm going to give you some tips to watch for when having someone design your ads or other marketing materials. I will also give you a quick course in the different styles of fonts and what they mean for your brand.

Sans vs. Serif

Lets start with the basics and a couple terms that people who don't work with typography everyday can easily get confused.
There are four main types of fonts: Serif, Sans-serif, Script, and Novelty. Script fonts often look like cursive or hand-written. Novelty fonts are basically any font that does not fit in any of the first three categories. The most commonly used of these are Serif and Sans-serif, but what are they and what's the difference?

This image illustrates the difference between the two. As you can see, there are little notches on the ends of the strokes on the top word. These things are called serifs and they are on a lot of the most used and the oldest fonts like Times and Baskerville. The bottom word has more uniform sized lines where the widths don't vary, this is called sans-serif. The term sans directly translates to "without". So, sans-serif = "without" serif.

Now that we've got that all cleared up here are some tips for the proper use of each type style:

Large amounts of text

When you have large amounts of text in paragraph form it is imperative to consider readability. Certain fonts just make it very difficult for readers to follow. Serif and sans-serif fonts are the ideal typestyles here. It is absolutely never acceptable to use script and novelty fonts for larger amounts of text! These fonts are very difficult to read and should only be used in small amounts – no exceptions. When considering how wide columns of text should be, the rule of thumb is to allow 10-14 words per line. Any longer and the reader may have trouble moving their eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. Too short and your paragraphs will seem long and overwhelming.

So when can I use script and novelty fonts?

I advise limiting your use of script and novelty fonts to short pieces of text like headings and logo use. These fonts often have nice qualities that are very particular to the style of a brand. Script fonts are often wispy and and curly and have nice feminine qualities. They work well for brands of female targeted products, but beware of using them for holiday advertisements since they get overly used by other brands.

What does your typestyle say about your brand?

So which font is right for your brand? Good question. Depending on how the font is used and treated by your designer almost any type style can emit different emotions. The safest routes are these... Serif fonts have a look of old fashion. They give the viewer a sense of reliability in the brand. Sans-serif fonts are often more rectangular and sturdy-looking. This means they represent being strong. However, if you use a lighter weight sans-serif font you can get an opposite result. Sans-serif fonts also work great for giving a very contemporary, sleek, and modern look. As mentioned earlier, script fonts have great feminine qualities. They work well for a softer feel and representing attention to detail. The toughest typestyle to talk about is novelty fonts because they come in all shapes and sizes. My only suggestion here is to use them sparingly.

Still have questions? Don't fret. Shoot me an email or visit my website to learn more. Comment with any questions you might have an I will gladly answer.

As always, #BeAmbitious.

Template sites like Vistaprint are bad for your business

We've all seen the commercials lately... "I carry 50 business cards on me at any given moment... thanks to Vistaprint, business is BOOMING!"

Besides the fact that no one can actually fit 50 business cards in their wallet or pockets to awkwardly carry around at all times, companies like Vistaprint can't actually have an effect on your business. And here's why...

You see, websites like that, and ThemeForest, and Ink'd give you hundreds of templates to choose from. They claim to have designs to suit every type of business (which is pretty true). The concept behind theses websites is to make your marketing as 'easy' for you as possible. This is all fine and dandy, however they don't truly care how your business grows. If your business doesn't succeed after using their products you can't speak to their representative and work out a new strategy. (they might laugh in your face if you try)

Recognize this design?

The other fault to template companies is that even if you find a perfect design to 'suit your business' there is likely 10,000 other businesses who have the exact same design as you. These companies make their money on quantity over quality.

This is the after effects of good branding. 

Funny story... about 10 months ago I went to visit a client of mine at one of her places of business to do a little research before we started on her branding. She travels to expos and shows to sell her vintage repurposed products. The first stand I noticed at the show had business cards exactly like hers. I of course assumed this stand was the same company as hers and I asked the person if she knew my client and that I would be working with her. After she gave me a very confused look I had to ask where she got her business cards from... you guessed it, Vistaprint.

The moral of that story is that with templated designs you can easily have your business get lost in the mix and easily lose business to competitors with the same look.

Wondering where you should go instead of these sites? Comment with your questions below or visit my site, here, to see the unique styles I put together for my clients.

... and as always

BE AMBITIOUS.