New Super Consumer: Moms and Kids

A new book out in January 2006 should be of interest to all marketers. Entitled "Marketing to the New Super Consumer: Mom & Kid (Hardcover)", the book written by Timothy Coffey, David Siegel, Gregory Livingston opines that there is a whole new market today formed by the new relationship between moms and kids.

Gone are the days when moms make the sole purchasing decision and simply dictates to their kids what to buy and what not to buy. Today, both moms and kids jointly make purchasing decisions - where the Moms ask the kids for information, and kids tell Moms what they like, don't like, etc. The moms of today are shifting away from how they where brought up, where only adults make decisions and children comply without any question. Nowadays, moms want their kids' voices to be heard and learn how to make decisions early on.

This give-and-take of information that allows kids to influence what Moms purchase (even in products not traditionally associated with kids) is a shift of thinking that marketers need to take note. The authors call it the new superconsumer, or the 4-eyed 4-legged consumer.

As an entrepreneur and marketer, it is important that you understand the motivations and interactions of both the moms and kids in order to see how it will impact your business. A bed-and-breakfast owner, for example, can either create a marketing message for the Mom (e.g. "a place to relax and unwind") or the kid (e.g. "ride the horses or see farm animals), or send them a single marketing message together (e.g. "place where everyone will have a great time").

I will write tips from the book as soon as I get my copy.

Starting a Shoe Retail Store

I just got a copy of Focus on Shoes, a trade magazine for shoe, apparel and fashion accessories store. Their November issue featured on the cover our article "Starting a Shoe Retail Store" written by Jenny Fulbright.

Another important article for every entrepreneur looking to start a shoe store is their "10 Most Important Shoe Shows." We always get questions from our visitors asking us where they can buy inventories to sell for their shoe stores, and one good source of information as well as networking contacts is trade shows. The article says that the following shows are a must for anyone in the shoe retailing business:

1. World Shoe Association - the largest and most comprehensive footwear and related accessories event
2. Magic Marketplace www.magiconline.com - mainly apparel and accessories, though includes footwear as well
3. Fashion Footwear Association of New York www.ffany.org - largest shoe show in the East Coast
4. Shoe Market of the Americas www.smota.com - held 3 times a year in Miami
5. North American Shoe and Accessories Market www.northamericanshoe.com - the 10th largest shoe show in the world
6. Los Angeles Shoe Show www.californiamarketcenter.com
7. Southwest Shoe Expo www.southwestshoeexpo.com - held 5 times a year at Dallas World Trade Center
8. Chicago Shoe Expo www.chicagoshoeexpo.com - a small regional trade show held 4 times a year in Chicago
9. Micam Shoevent www.micamonline - international trade show for medium to high end footwear held twice a year in Milan
10. GDS www.mdna.com - the premier shoe event held twice a year in Dusseldolf, Germany

You can get a copy of Focus on Shoes by visiting their website

Money Saving Tip: Shipping Supplies

We at PowerHomeBiz.com regularly buy boxes of bubble cushioned mailers for the books that we give away, CD-ROMs that we sell, and for our e-commerce ventures. We purchase the mailers from other sellers at eBay, which we thought to be quite a steal compared to buying retail from Staples or Office Depot. One of my recent purchase was a box (100 pieces) of Jiffy® Padded Mailers #2 Self Sealing (8.5" X 12") for $25.99, with shipping costing $11.65 for a total of $37.64.

Then today, I noticed that Overstock.com now has a section called Bulk Buys and Office Supplies. The same mailer product is being sold for $24.54 -- so not much difference there from the cheapest price I was able to get from the eBay seller. But get this, shipping is only $1!!! So by purchasing at Overstock.com, we will be saving a little over than $10!

Definitely, I will be buying our office supplies needs from Overstock.com. No more eBay for us! Overstock.com's low shipping fee (no matter how heavy the item is!) is making it the go-to place to shop if you want to get the lowest price (is that why the company posted $14.2 million loss in the third quarter???).

How to Turn a Franchise Agreement to Your Advantage

Deciding to buy a franchise is a huge decision. Once you have convinced yourself that franchising suits your character and business aspirations, have identified the right franchise, done your sums, attended the initial training and perhaps paid an initial deposit you will be presented with a Franchise Agreement to sign.

Typically this agreement could run to 40 or 50 pages and can be a daunting read to those unfamiliar with commercial contracts. The very nature of a franchise business structure means that the agreement will be fairly complex. Remember that this document provides the framework for your business life over the next seven years or so.

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7 Key Marketing Strategies For The Small Business Owner

For most folks, owning your own business is a dream come true. The freedom of being your own boss and succeeding to the best of your ability are facts of life for the small business owner. Sure, there's more stress than what you probably imagined when you were creating your grand plans, but with a little strategy and planning you can overcome any tough spot you get in. There are 7 tactics developed by successful marketers that are sure to make your business as successful as theirs.

1. Create A One of a Kind Selling Point
If you want to stand out from the crowd, create a unique selling proposition that stresses the benefits the customers will receive from doing business with you. Will they get faster service? Go ahead and dramatize it, but keep the customer at the focus... Get free overnight delivery! Hey, it tells the customer...you get quick service and a discount on shipping. Two definite benefits in one statement.

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Time to Think of Taxes

I just received a copy of the J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2006 book, and as always, it is one hefty book. There's something intimidating about reading a very thick book, more so when it deals with taxes. Taxes are not my most favorite things in the world, but like death, it is one of the inevitable realities of life.

There's less than 45 days left for this year, and it is time to start thinking about taxes. To reduce your tax liability, you may want to increase your business expenses. Perhaps you're thinking of designing and printing a new brochure, then you still have time to hire a graphic artist and having the brochures professionally done -- and deduct those expenses from your taxes. Or you may want to buy new equipment, redesign your home office, or pump up your marketing spend. If you haven't done so, you may want to think of opening tax-deferring retirement accounts such as Self Employment 401K. And of course, now is the time to start looking for receipts and other supporting documentation. Get a clearer picture now of your potential tax liabilities, so you can still plan and try to lower your tax bill.

You may want to read the press release we published last week Year-End ’05 Tax Tips from the Experts at J. K. Lasser. We'll be adding more information on tax law changes that could affect your business in the next few days, but you may also want to check out our Controlling Your Taxes section.

New Opportunity for Marketing Your Business

There's a new place where your business must be seen. It's called Google Base - an experimental (beta) new product that Google launched recently. It is described as a classified ads marketplace -- and more. You can list your products for sale (30 days maximum), jobs, websites, news and articles, events, even recipes. It seems that you can list anything that you offer to the public. Best of all, it may even be your ticket to inclusion in Google's search database and other products! As the blurb on the Google Base says

You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.

I tried it and listed some items, even the main description for PowerHomeBiz.com. It requires you to have a Google account. If you have one, then it is easy to create your own listing. Interface still remains spotty at times, but it is pretty intuitive to use. I am not sure how Google Base will evolve (I see lots of spam already), but be where the action is and start listing your website or products now!

Visit Google Base here

Prevalence of Blog Spam?

For about a month, my blog was blacklisted by the new pinging service Pingoat, which considered it "spam" and "objectionable." A search engine dropping your blog like a hot potato is one thing, but another service putting you in their blacklist for spam is another. Both are never pleasant, but the last is akin to a slap in the face (ok, that's me being a drama queen).

The issue was resolved after I posted in Pingoat's discussion forum requesting that the blacklist be removed (emailing the owner did not work). Judging from the fact that their forum contains a category dedicated to Blacklisted sites, and the number of blog owners complaining about the blacklist, Pingoat seems to be trigger happy when categorizing a blog as spam.

Just a heads up if you use their service. For me, I think I'd be sticking with Ping-o-matic, spotty service and all.

10 New Rules of Branding

In my conversations with many small business owners and home business entrepreneurs, branding is almost always considered the turf of big boys. Afterall, who has time to think of branding when they are busy selling and marketing their businesses? This is especially true among solo entrepreneurs doing everything by themselves.

This mindset is unfortunate to a certain extent as small entrepreneurs can benefit tremendously from properly positioning their businesses into a brand. They may not have the deep pockets needed to run branding campaigns, and their businesses may not become household names, but we small entrepreneurs can learn a thing or two from knowing how the big boys develop and cultivate their brands, ensuring high top-of-the-mind awareness.

ChiefMarketer.com has an interesting article on the new rules of branding. According to Simon Williams, CEO of branding company Sterling Group, below are 10 approaches you can take if you want to turn your business into a brand:

1. Influence culture to sell more - e.g. Google and Nike
2. Stand for something; have a definite point of view - e.g. Fox News
3. Involve your customers - e.g. Converse
4. Customization is crucial - e.g. Ipod. Starbucks, Nike
5. Wow your customers every day - e.g. Apple and Coach
6. Be very clear as to what you're selling; present your products clearly
7. Find your weakest link -- and rectify it quick
8. Customers look up to brands that are socially responsible -- e.g. Target
9. Move fast -- e.g. Google
10. Innovation should be at the heart of your strategy

Some of the above make sense even for a one-person business. I think the above list shows what every entrepreneur dreams and wants for their business -- having to implement them all, though, is an entirely different matter. While Google introduces new products left and right nowadays in order to make sure that they are so far ahead of their competition, a solo entrepreneur may forego sleeping altogether for months if he/she wants to move fast into the market. Not to mention the fact that resources will always be an issue!

Nonetheless, it is worth keeping the above strategies in mind when thinking of how best you want to set your business apart from your competition and be ahead of the pack.

Understanding Google's Current Update

The webmaster community is all agog nowadays of the ongoing Google update. In an effort to combat spam and improve its search results, Google periodically changes its algorithm in ranking websites.

However, this particular update, codenamed Jagger (in honor of Matt Cutts), is different from all others. First off, it comes in three stages, the first stage of which started around end-September (some say Sept. 22), and two months later is still ongoing. Many suspect that new ranking frameworks are being implemented, in particular Trust Rank

As with every update, some gain better Google rankings while others see their traffic dwindle if not altogether disappear. Over at WebmasterWorld, three extremely long threads have been devoted to this update, and one of the trends emerging is that many white hat sites with unique and quality content were adversely affected by the update. Pandia.com has a succinct article on this current update, and what the mitigating factors could be. The author posits that the following impacts a site's ranking in Google with the current Jagger update:

1. Value of incoming links
2. Value of anchor text in incoming links
3. Content on page of incoming links
4. Keyword repetitions in anchor text
5. Age of the incoming links
6. Nature of sites linking to you
7. Directory links
8. Speed and volume of incoming links created
9. Value of reciprocal links
10. Impact of outbound links / links page on your website
11. Sandbox effect / age of your site, domain registration date
12. Size of your site’s content
13. Addition and frequency of fresh content update
14. Canonical / sub domains, sub-sub domains
15. Multiple domains on same IP numbers
16. Duplicate content on same site or on multiple domains
17. Over-optimization, excessive text markup
18. Irrational use of CSS

New Website Analytics Tool from Google

I was just thinking of signing up for an advanced web analytics tool for WomenHomeBusiness.com (our current web stats software only gives us the basic), but Google just released their Google Analytics tool. It is by far the BEST analytics software that I know of that is free.

Some of the features that I like:

- it's able to track basic visitor information
- it provides conversion information from your Google Adwords account, as well as track performance of banner campaigns, email campaigns, etc.
- it allows you to create groups or sections of your websites and track statistics on this particular group
- it tracks clicks on your outbound links
- it allows you to track the visitor's progress towards a predetermined goal (e.g. signing up the newsletter, ecommerce sale, etc)
- tracks PDF, flash and other files downloaded from your website

Great features for a great price, so what could you ask for more? (well, ok, I would want to see how many clicks each link of a webpage gets - a feature that is available in the $20,000+ HBX web analytics software). Just to clarify on the "free" - here's the skinny from their Help section

This free version is limited to 5 million pageviews a month - however, users with an active Google AdWords account are given unlimited pageview tracking.

If you have less than 5 million pageviews a month -- or have an existing Adwords account -- you may want to consider this service instead of paying for something else. You will just have to insert a javascript code to the headers of all your pages, and you're ready to go.

Go to Google Analytics to check it out

Home Business Alerts: 5 Growing Niches for Your Business

This week's issue of PowerHomeBiz.com's newsletter Home Business Alerts can be found here: http://www.powerhomebiz.com/newsletter/2005/nov10.htm

3 Most Important Customer Lessons You Need to Know

I am currently re-reading the book "Steal These Ideas: Marketing Secrets that Will Make You a Star" by Steve Cone (Bloomberg Press, 1 September 2005, ISBN #1576601919, 204 pages), which I featured in a previous post.

I think the simple concepts provided in the chapter on "The Three Most Important Customer Lessons You Will Ever Learn" are important in helping a home or small business owner understand their customers. The author puts forward three lessons about customers, and these are:

• People renew the way they are acquired. The reason customers return to you is they want to sample again the experience your product or service gave them. Hence, it is important that you give them consistency (or at least be close to the original). McDonald's succeed because they give their customers the same burgers they have been accustomed to and grown to love. Diverting or radically changing your product may alienate customers; afterall, it is no longer the product that they fell in love with. For example, constant design changes led to the decline of Ford Thunderbird, compared to Chevy Corvette that more or less stayed true to the original design.
  
• The most critical time in a new customer's relationship with your business is the first week after the initial purchase. New customers need assurance that they did the right thing in buying your product or service. You will most likely create a stronger impression if you follow-up with the customer, via email or postcard, thanking them for the transaction. But this needs to be done immediately after the transaction. The author recommends a five business day window of opportunity. This is especially critical if the customer had a negative experience with your business.
  
• Forget complicated clusters and demographics. For the author, there are only five customer groups: the evangelists who love you; those who buy occasionally; price is right or those who buy in response to a price offer; negative or those who had a bad experience purchasing from you; and those who have no clue that they actually dealt with you (they received your product as a gift or bought from you by mistake).

Simple concepts, but understanding these lessons can change your views about your customers and how best you need to approach them.

How to Write a Winning Business Plan

There are literally hundreds of books that discuss the process of writing a business plan. These books teach you how to write a business plan, including the sections needed, and what each section must contain. But few actually give you the secrets of a winning business plan that can attract the investors you need.

“The ABC's of Writing Winning Business Plans: How to Prepare a Business Plan That Others Will Want to Read -- and Invest In” (Time Warner Book Group, July 2005) by Garrett Sutton goes above and beyond the standard business plan book. Part of the popular Rich Dad’s Advisors series popularized by Robert Kiyosaki, the book not only teaches you what you need to cover in a business plan, but how best to write it in order to sell investors to your idea and make them invest. The book teaches you how to write a compelling business plan that people would actually want to read – over and beyond the plan’s Executive Summary.

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Profit from 5 Growing Niches for Your Home Business

“Follow the money,” they say. But where is the money?

Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new opportunities. I have listed below five hot niche markets with significant growth potential and profitability. The list is by no means exhaustive or complete, as I eliminated those sectors that may require high of a start-up capital for a small or home-based entrepreneur. In these markets, anyone can launch a new business even with a capital of only a few thousand dollars.

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11 Rules for Selling to a Skeptic

Let's face it: the greatest accomplishment for a member of the sales community is closing a deal with a skeptic. Many who are proficient at this art agree that it is far more gratifying to convince someone who initially felt your product was not necessary that it indeed is, than to complete what the industry terms an "easy sell." Lucky for us all, plenty of doubters buy products and services everyday. Let us examine eleven of the fundamental techniques used by those who succeed in persuading the worst of cynics.

1. Know your product/service

Know it inside and out, backwards and forwards. You should know its strengths, weaknesses, and any proprietary features. Also understand the factors that influence its supply and demand. All of these will strengthen your presentation and help the skeptic make a more informed purchasing decision. There should be nothing that anyone can tell you about what you solicit. You will definitely be asked questions, so be prepared to demonstrate all aspects of your product/service in response.

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Lesson in Customer Relations in Online Retailing

Ever wonder why customers are no longer shopping at your online store? That no matter how many marketing emails you send, catalogs you send or even phone calls, your former customers no longer wish to deal with you? Today, we join the league of customers who decided to abandon a previously favorite online store.

We have always bought our promotional materials and holiday giveaways from this one online company. We have bought promotional calculators, mousepads, magnets, pens, clocks, and other items only from this one online store -- and each time, quantity averages about 300-500.

But each time, customer service has become sloppier and sloppier. For our last 3 orders, the invoice is nowhere to be found on the shipped items. We had to call them up -- and calling them up meant spending at least an hour or so just to get through to them. It's voicemail after voicemail, and emails are just as bad. This company normally took 2-3 days to respond to emails! We had to call them just for them to send their invoice. And each time they send their invoice, they slap us with late fees! Why late fees when it was their fault for not including the invoice in the product shipment in the first place?

The first time we saw the late fees, we actually paid it thinking that we might have misplaced the invoice in our excitement over the promo items. Having learned our lesson the first time, we now check every shipment received to see whether the invoice is indeed included in the shipment or not. The second time, we contested the late fees and they agreed to waive it. But recently, it happened again - item came with no invoice and late fees were assessed in the invoice mailed to us a couple of weeks after delivery of the item. We called them again contesting the late fees, and again, they agreed to waive it.

But we do not like the pattern we are seeing -- deliberately excluding the invoice in the shipment, and assessing late fees in the follow-up invoice sent. Our decision? Ditch them! Buy from another company that will respect us more as a customer. We're definitely not their biggest client, but like all customers, we'd like to think we're special!

Imagine if you were that company, and you find that sales are decreasing and customers are no longer coming back. And you do not know why -- that the reason lies in the poor way your business is doing fulfillment and billing. The lesson here is to be constantly on the lookout for every signals of customer unhappiness and review every single process in how you do your business.

Baby Boomers: Still Changing the Business Landscape

Continuing with my previous post on the opportunities presented by the baby boomer generation to small businesses, I found this article in ChiefMarketer.com on how this generation is shaping marketing. According to the article, baby boomers are turning 60, yet they still have significant impact on the business, to wit:

• Health and fitness go beyond damage repair: boomers will turn to fitness to forestall the effects of aging
• Changing workforce dynamics will forestall the retirement exodus: New businesses will appear to help companies and boomers actualize phased retirement, offering such services as "knowledge capture and sharing," "social network analysis," and "cultural change."
• “Aging in place” changes housing patterns: more retirement-friendly housing, such as patio homes and gated communities and home delivery services, among others
• Boomers are planning ahead for healthcare: new businesses to help boomers find healthcare and medications overseas, as well as create cooperative buying networks of healthcare services
• The travel and tourism industry will continue to grow: boomers have contributed to the growth of new forms of travel entertainment

You can read the full article here