I just received a copy of Francine Silverman’s book “Talk Radio for Authors: Getting Interviews Across the US and Canada.” I previously interviewed Francine on how a small business entrepreneur can market their business through talk radio shows http://www.powerhomebiz.com/022007/talk-radio-marketing.htm so I was looking forward to getting a copy of the book. The book is light on tips on how to land radio interviews or how to prepare for a radio interview. But it offers a comprehensive listing of radio shows all over the country, both big and small markets, categorized by industries. In fact, the book provides the much-needed information

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The April 2007 issue of the magazine Fast Company has a very interesting article illustrating the high price of engaging in a pricing war. Ebrahim Currim & Sons http://www.stagumbrellas.com/ of India has been manufacturing high quality umbrellas since 1860 through their popular brand Stag Umbrellas. They are a leading umbrella manufacturer in India known for the quality of their products. Towards the end of the 20th century, however, India was deluged with cheap imported umbrellas from China. Prices of umbrellas plummeted. To remain competitive, Ebrahim Currim & Sons decided to join the fray and slash their prices, and to do

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I was leafing through my old copies of business magazines and came across a great article from Direct Marketing magazine on selling after you close the deal. Small businesses often make the mistake of ignoring or failing to communicate enough to customers after their purchase, and doing so reduces the chance to promote to your own customer base. The article then raised 4 accepted facts in after-purchase marketing: For an average company, 80% of its new business comes from existing customers. You are likely to get strong referrals from your customers within 3 months of their last transaction. A new

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If you are looking for people to represent you and help sell your products (other than the affiliate program on the Web), try going to various manufacturers’ representatives association. There are a number of sales reps organizations representing various industries, and your best bet is to contact these associations for referrals. Here are some of them: Agricultural & Industrial Manufacturers Representatives Association (AIMRA) http://www.aimrareps.org/ = for agricultural and light industry and OEM manufacturers Association of Independent Manufacturers Representatives (AIM/R) http://www.aimr.net/ = for plumbing, heating, cooling & piping products. Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (Manufacturers Rep Division) (AAIA) http://www.aftermarket.org/ = for vehicle

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Researching and knowing the target market for your business is an important first step when starting a business. Unfortunately, it is a step that many businesses, not just the small and home based businesses, fail to do. I’ve met many business owners who are at a loss as to why they are not earning as much as they expected, only to find that they are unclear as to who their real customers are. I’ve also worked with this company that was surprised when their perceived target audience did not want their product, only to find a very responsive audience in

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I am a coupon freak (at least online). While I never collect coupons going to the grocery, I always search the Web first if there are any coupons available before I start my online shopping. I also sign up for offers with my favorite stores so I get their latest deals and coupons. If you are selling on the Web, online coupons are a must to attract and retain customers. MultiChannel Merchant has an interesting article on “Ten Tips for Online Couponing” written by the founder of CouponCabin.com. His tips include: Create coupons that appeal to a wide audience and

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The new book The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy by Jon Gordon joins a long list of books that provides a road map to achieve success. What sets the book apart and makes it interesting is its use of a business fable approach. The main character, George, is experiencing troubles in his personal and business life. To make matters worse, his car broke down. He was forced to commute and ride the bus. And the characters he met in the bus from the driver to other passengers showed him the techniques

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The Fayetteville Observer has an interesting article called “Why Venture Businesses Fail” . While the article goes off in various directions and does not really address the question of why venture businesses fail, it raises some very interesting points, as follows: Some businesses fail at their peak because they stop learning and fail to account challenges from global competition. Others fail because they have vague definition of their target customers and fail to account that If you fail, you can always start a new business. As Sir Winston Churchill said, “Success is moving from one venture failure to another one

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People running on tight schedules are the norm nowadays. There’s just so many important things to do and places to go to, that running errands slide down the priority ladder. Even kids nowadays are overscheduled and have so much activities. Welcome to life in the 21st century. With this context, a new business has grown significantly in the last decade — the errand or concierge business. More people are now willing to pay somebody else to do the time consuming tasks of running errands instead of diverting their precious hours to these tasks. If you think you will enjoy picking

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Harry Beckwith, author of one of my favorite business books “What Clients Love: A Field Guide to Growing Your Business,” has a new book entitled You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself . The book is all about selling YOU — the most important product of all. The book is all about improving yourself, whether you are presenting to clients or trying to make a good impression to employers. It offers a number of ideas to help propel you to the next step to achieve success. Some ideas are common knowledge and have been preached since time immemorial, but are

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Target Marketing magazine has an interesting article entitled “Four E-mail Opportunities You Could Be Missing” that you should read if you are using emails to market your business and connect with your customers. According to the article, many marketers are making mistakes in the implementation that results in poor performance from email campaigns: Missed opportunity #1: Make sure your message is visible to recipients.The rule is simple – make sure the recipient can see your email. Outlook for example blocks images, so be sure that even if the images are blocked, a user can still get your message Missed opportunity

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Networking is not my forte; in fact, I am more comfortable at times just being the wallflower. That’s why I am looking forward to reading the new book “Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-How for Business and Career Success” by Anne Barker and Lynne Waymon. From the book, the authors made a list of the top 10 expressions people use when they are talking about networking that can make you cringe: Schmoozing = this word makes networking seem so slimy and insincere. Networking is about teaching your contacts to believe in your character and competence so they want to work

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