Monthly Archives: December 2011

How To Promote My Salon & Spa?

Publicity

I want to know know good SPA AND SALON packages for seasonal promotion for my salon and spa through which i can build good sale of my salon and spa.

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Jay’s Answer: There is no such thing as an ideal promotion package that will work for every spa/salon business. That’s because the ideal package needs to address YOUR target audience’s needs and be compatible with your business positioning. For example, let’s say you operate a very high end spa/salon in a high-rent/exclusive district for VIPs. You wouldn’t want to offer a discounted price, since that would cheapen your exclusive image. Instead, you might offer a special service from a world-class traveling expert. Likewise, if your spa/salon is for the average person in an average location, a discounted price might make sense, or a bundled package (bring a friend for a discount), etc.

If you’ve been in business awhile, you probably already understand why you clients come to your salon. Your job is to figure out how to entice more clients like these to come in using your promotions.

List Of Words To Inspire Employees?

Clubs + Associations

I am looking for your help for a list of motivating & inspiring words that would drive & inspire employees to achieve Organizational & self goals which would act as theme for the campaign. The word needs to be one word & should be self explanatory. Some of the examples are: Goal, Velocity, and Synergy.

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Jay’s Answer:   Words alone won’t motivate and inspire. Can you develop a storyline that showcases the goals you’re trying to achieve? If so, use words from that story (which you’ve shared with your employees in multiple ways and at multiple times) to reinforce/remind them of the “big picture”.

My Cleaning Business Needs a Tagline

Names + Taglines, Starting Out

 I hope you could help me out with a tagline for my cleaning business.  I want to attract both residential and commercial cleaning, but not able to come up with something suitable, even though I been working for a while on this ( this is what I have so far: “Reliable Cleaning. Affordable Solutions”).  I think the first part is good, but the second one is not sitting well with me, I don’t really like the word solutions, and I think the word affordable makes it sound somewhat cheezy and may send the wrong message.  We do quality cleaning and offer good rates, but lately I noticed that people who want to pay the cheapest, most of the time actually
appreciate us the least, so I want to stay away from that.  What could work good for the second part that would describe good results or satisfaction, or something in that line and go well with the first part.  Thank you so much for your time and help!!!

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Jay’s Answer:   The key question you want your tagline to answer is: “Why should I hire you?”. If you’re in the cleaning business, it’s assumed you’re reliable. It’s assumed you’re trustworthy. It’s assumed you have an eye for detail. These are all “givens”. But what makes your business different/special from all the other cleaning businesses in your area? That’s what you want to showcase, otherwise your tagline will be quite generic and therefore won’t help you achieve your marketing goals.

Also – if you have the word “cleaning” in your business name – why repeat it?

So, even though you like “Reliable Cleaning”, I strongly suggest some different approaches to make your business stand out.

Looking For A New Company Tagline

Names + Taglines

Our company Bartizan has been in the data collection business since its founding in 1970. Every year tens of thousands of exhibitors and millions of show attendees interact using our hardware and software.

Recently, we have shifted our business away from hardware based to being information based. Meaning, we used to sell equipment that facilitated the exchange of contact info at trade shows, now we are essentially selling just information. Our new lead retrieval product. iLeads works on exhibitors own smartphones, so they pay show management a data access fee as opposed to paying a lead retrieval equipment rental fee. We’d love a fresh tagline that celebrates our new focus of being in the information business and away from equipment rentals.

Hope you can help, and thank you very much in advance!

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Jay’s Answer:

  • (More) Leads At Your Fingertips
  • Get Leads Wherever You Are
  • The Hub Of Business Lead Distribution

 

How To Start My Pie Delivery Business?

Starting Out

I bake pies and am creating a delivery only business.  I have ADHD (but, I find I am not alone). I can’t seem to “finish” my business plan.  Is this project ongoing or is it me? I would like to sell my pies on craigslist.com.  I plan on keeping my job so I meet my business obligations.  I have several people to help with the baking and delivery but I have a problem with being afraid of people ripping me off. Are these all normal concerns?  I have a lot of family and associate support.  Where do I put my foot first?

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Jay’s Answer:   Your concerns/fears are normal. Keeping your job going is also a very smart move. So how to proceed?

  1. Make sure you’re using a commercial kitchen. Your local health department has the information you need to understand why it’s necessary (both legally and from a safety perspective).
  2. Form a legal company. You’ll want to either talk to a lawyer or at least do your own research (starting with Nolo Press – http://www.nolo.com). The point is that if someone were claim to have gotten sick from your pies, they might sue you. And you don’t want to lose your house because of your pies. The right company structure can help protect you financially. (Note: I’m not a lawyer, and this isn’t legal advice).
  3. You’ll probably need a business license to sell your goods (again depending on where you live). Getting your license to sell your baked goods will also probably necessitate working with your local Health Department to ensure you’re following packaging and food safety regulations.
  4. You’ll want to make it easy for people to pay you for your goods. These days, an easy way to solve in-person payment is a mobile credit card processing machine. People could then pay you either in cash or with an instantly validated credit card.
  5. Since you’re delivering the pies, you’ll probably want additional insurance to protect the pie delivery vehicle and driver. You’re operating a business, and if there’s a problem, your normal auto insurance provider might not be too happy.

The last steps were all to protect you and your business. Now, you need to market your pies to the public. Craiglist is the easy way to sell something, but it might not be the most efficient/effective. How about your local Farmer’s Market? Or, working with your local charity (they take orders for pies, they get payment up-front, you deliver).

All of these steps take time and money. Taking shortcuts might save you time and money short-term, but may cost you dearly long-term.

Cause Marketing Idea for the Holidays

Clubs + Associations, Creative Business Ideas, Publicity

Now here’s an idea worth replicating (from Marin IJ). It lets people choose to donate to a local charity in a way that everyone wins:

Quarters gobbled up by Sausalito parking meters in December go a long way to helping those in need.

During the rest of the year, a quarter will buy you 15 minutes of time for your car in the city. But in December, it will buy you a bit of good karma.

During the Christmas month the city waives all meter fees for the public with the hope people will come to shop in Sausalito.

But to each meter is affixed a sign letting people know that if they drop money in anyway, it will go to a good cause. And despite the recent tough financial years, the quarters drop.

“Surprisingly enough, people do,” said Adam Politzer, Sausalito’s city manager. “It can be anywhere up to $14,000 in donations collected from the public.”

It’s an annual city tradition that goes back a decade.

“What that allows the City Council to do every year is to look for service providers and nonprofits that help the less fortunate and the underserved during the holidays,” Politzer said. “It helps folks here in the city and in the county that need help.”

Last December, roughly 24,000 quarters were deposited into the meters. That means the city had $6,000 to distribute to good causes this year. Quarters being dropped right now will be distributed next December.

Three programs benefited from the city’s and public’s good cheer as they were each awarded $2,000 at last week’s City Council meeting.

Homeward Bound of Marin, which addresses homelessness in the county, was one of the recipients.

The Ritter Center, which serves low-income people in the county, also received money along with MarinLink’s Project Warm Wishes, which once a year distributes “street packs” stuffed with new gloves, hats, scarves, socks and rain ponchos to homeless men and women.

Mary Kay Sweeney, executive director of Homeward Bound, applauded the city’s program.

“This has to get the award for creativity in fundraising,” she said. “This is a wonderful way, a painless way, to raise money for very important causes.”

Tagline For Hardware Products In India

Names + Taglines

I am looking for a TAG LINE for our a new company selling a range of HARDWARE Products in India. These are handles, door closers etc. We want to give the feel of a Trustworthy, Solid, High Quality, International product line. The Indian consumer will probably not like (currently) a witty or casual tag line as they would like to feel they are associated with an EXPERT for these rather technical products. Our company name is RINOX KAUFMANN Limited (Kaufmann indication German connection).

Some current suggestions: Premium International Hardware, Premium Building Solutions, and  Professional Hardware Systems.

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Jay’s Answer:

  • Premium Precision Architectural Elements
  • Brilliant Precision Architectural Elements
  • Beautiful Construction Hardware Systems

Clarifying The Mission & Message Of Organization

Clubs + Associations

I am working with a website/marketing/social media organization. The CEO wants to craft the mission statement of the company; for internal employees and to publicize his philosophy to the world.

The original idea was “Changing the Way Businesses Behave”, but that really isn’t what they do; he wants to discover the core heart of a company and share clients’ marketing/social/human face to the world.

1. He is sold on the word remarkable —not meaning amazing, but meaning that others will remark, message, refer, tweet, and share about the organization.

2. He wants to discover the heart and soul of his clients’ organization and message their their unique brand via social media and get others to “remark” about them.

Any mission/tagline thoughts on this one? I am stumped.

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Jay’s Answer:   Mission statements tend to be an exercise in futility. You get something that everyone agrees on, says nothing, and does nothing for the people in the organization.

As for a tagline, consider: “Our Business Is To Make Your’s Remarkable”

Promotion Ideas For a Resort

Publicity

How can I promote my resort?

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Jay’s Answer:   The key to promoting anything is understanding who exactly would love your offering, and describe how/why they would love it.  Here are 5 tips to help you get started:

1. “Who” isn’t “everyone who’s visiting in your area”. It’s what type of people enjoy your resort the most. Age? Travelling alone? Budget? Luxury? Convenience?

2. Based on people’s experiences in the past, why did they choose the resort? No doubt there are some logical reasons, but the emotional reasons are even more important (color, room size, staff helpfulness, specialty food prep, etc.).

3. How do the people you’re targeting research resorts in your area? Online? Travel agent? Magazine? Word-of-mouth? Put your advertisements where the right people look.

4. Interview your (prospective) guests. Find out their needs/expectations. If you can meet/exceed them, do it. Positive word-of-mouth is the best marketing. If you ask at the end of your stay “was everything okay?” it’s too late.

5. Close the loop. Follow up with your guests (you have their contact information, right?). Find out how their travels went (not just your resort) and find out what other local merchants/services they used. Co-market with these local businesses in the future.

Name My New Wedding & Event Planning Business

Names + Taglines, Starting Out

I’m in the process of finishing a course to become a wedding and event planner.  Once completed I intend to start out with my own business.  The problem is I am stuck on a business name.  I am after something that is professional enough for corporate events but also has the right feel for wedding planning, many that I think of are already taken, any help would be great.

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Jay’s Answer:   Congratulations on finishing up and best wishes in launching your new business. I get a lot of requests about naming a wedding/event planning business; in most cases my answer’s the same:

http://www.manygoodideas.com/2010/07/21/name-my-wedding-planning-business/

New business owners are excited to launch a new business, print business cards, create a website, and start trying to get business as soon as possible. That’s understandable – you’ve got an idea, passion, and see an opportunity for yourself to make some money. However, if you don’t think ahead strategically, you’re likely going to find yourself stuck. You’ll have a website, business cards, a business phone number, and you’ll be waiting for the phone to ring or emails to arrive. Or, you’ll be handing out your cards to anyone who’ll take them, hoping that they’ll contact you. That’ll quickly lead to frustration and disappointment.

Instead, imagine yourself in the future with your ideal client(s). Who are they? Where are they located? Why did they contact you specifically? What about your personality, skills, knowledge made them choose you from your competition? How much are they paying you? What do you love about working with them? What challenges you in working with them? The clearer you can describe your future, the better you can plan for it:

http://www.manygoodideas.com/2010/09/01/what-is-your-ideal-business-day/

This is probably not what you wanted to hear – you wanted simply a name. But a name alone won’t truly help you unless you’ve done your planning ahead homework (marketing/business strategy). And I do want you to succeed, so throwing out something “cute”, clever, or “catchy” won’t be of long-term benefit to your business.

If the person who’s teaching your course has given you wise counsel for marketing, you might have the information you need at-hand. If not, save yourself time & money now. Plan for your own success.