Category Archives: Starting Out

Grand Opening Ideas For Small Children’s Shop

Products, Publicity, Starting Out

We have just opened a very small retail shop which carries fine children’s clothing, toys, and other gifts. Our main concern is how to attract new people to this shop, and for our grand opening, especially because we have an extremely small budget. Our main benefit is that we We are a sister company to a large swimming instructional school which is located right next door. We know that our main group of customers will be from the swim school, and we are already completely making use of that customer base. My main concern is getting new people in the door for our grand opening in a couple of weeks. We are going to be flyer-ing cars with a small discount attached and we are doing a pass along email to friends and family. The grand opening is going to be week long, and we are doing daily giveaways and a grand prize. But, we can’t even afford a mailer right now.

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Jay’s Answer: Have you offered a referral bonus to customers that the swim school refers? If there’s a swim team, give the bonus to the team to pay for gas, cover-ups, etc.

Where do the parents go when their kids are taking swim classes? Make it your store by offering free drinks and snacks (comarket with a local snack shop) and a cool place to sit and read.

When kids are waiting for their class to start, or for their parents to pick them up, where do they wait? Can you offer to set up a small game room for them to use?

Also: consider an essay contest (“Why I want to win the prize”) for a shopping spree. Post the entries on a wall, let everyone vote for their favorite (using an email address?). A press release about the contest would be a natural for the local newspapers to pick up on.

How To Promote My New Social Networking Platform?

eMarketing, Starting Out

I wanted to solicit your opinion on how to promote a site that I recently launched: (www.goosca.com). This site is a social networking platform that allows its users to purchase real gifts for themselves or for other users (without knowing the recipients addresses in the latter case). Our company or affiliated vendors will do the delivery. Users who do not object to receiving gifts from others provide their addresses at the account registration time. These addresses will be kept confidential and will be used only for gifts delivery purpose. In your opinion, what would be the best way to promote the site and its ideas?

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Jay’s Answer: As you know, creating a new social networking platform isn’t hard – attracting people to it is. There are a huge number of sites competing for people (for example)

It appears that the sole purpose of the site is ultimately ecommerce (and the way you generate revenue) – sending/receiving gifts to people whose address you don’t know. Your privacy policy doesn’t adequately describe the safeguards you place for ordering and storage of confidential user information.. Also, sizing / color choices will be hard for people. Ideally, you want to say, send my new friend this thing, and have the friend choose the color/size to make sure the gift will be received in the spirit it was sent.

To build an online community, you first need critical mass – enough people online (of your target demographic) to attract more people of the same demographic via word-of-mouth. The first round can be your friends, people you know in a club, etc. You want a new visitor to visit and see lots of “action” online.

I’d strongly suggest teaming up with an existing networking site that already has active membership, and attempt to integrate your Goosca patent into their environment.

For a new business, it’s much easier to improve an existing offering than trying to create a new one from scratch.

Teaching Marketing In An Academic Setting

Starting Out

I obtained a degree in Marketing Management many years ago and all my work experience till now is related to marketing of various products and services. But now I am to take up teaching marketing as an academic subject in a local institution. Though I am sure I can take up most of the fundamentals in marketing individually as they come up, my area of concern is how to start the sessions.
I know we have to start with the definitions of term “marketing”, but what could be subsequent flow of topics session after session. The campus is a new one and most of the students in the faculty are freshers, who do not even know the a,b,cs’ of the subject..

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Jay’s Answer: First, your students need to see the bigger picture. Have them pick a company that’s familiar to them, and dissect it: R&D, marketing, advertising, sales, admin, etc. Don’t talk generalities, drill down to specifics. From there, understand how the marketing department interacts with the rest of the company. What are its needs? Why?

How Can We Organize Our Marketing Calendar?

Starting Out

When we launched our Ecommerce site our team consisted of 3 people. Now we have 5 people with 3 more scheduled to start by the end of the year. We currently use a basic excel spreadsheet to keep track of homepage updates, site page updates, emails, promotions, random web marketing and creative needs. With our new staff additions and ramping up our project list and updating our site more often we’ve come to a point where our current solution doesn’t allow for scalability. Any suggestions?

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Jay’s Answer: A simple solution would be to use Google Apps to create an intranet (for your internal collaboration). They offer both a free (ad-supported) and business (paid) edition.

Alternatively, create an internal wiki.

Finally, if you simply want to track projects, use a project management software solution such as Basecamp.

How Can I Get A Sponsor/Investor For My Game?

Products, Starting Out

After 8 years me and my partner finished a new generation of games for the game market. First we report to our main game called Eragra and its first edition. In co-operation with people around the world by paying some or making contracts we almost done the first edition.. Isn’t about just a game but a new whole world mythology which is developing into books, movies, animation and so on. In few months i will move to new york cause we already talk to the appropriate companies and we are in a very good way but to finish it completely i need enough money for the prototype etc. That what i need is a sponsor and right now in fact. Some of our past ideas which we haven’t enough money to “patent” them are already released to the world game market. I need money to finish it and in few moths i can show to all something completely new. We have already done some “commercial” effort through net and thousands of people around the world are interested.

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Jay’s Answer:
Is the game a board game or an online/video game?
If it’s a board game, make sure you copyright all the images.

It sounds like you’re looking for investors (if you want to produce the game yourself) or distributors (if you want to license the game to others to sell/market for you).

If you’re looking for investors, you’ll need to create a business plan, showing how much interest is already in your game, your plans for distribution, estimated profitability, etc.

If you’re looking for distributors, you’ll need to first identify distributors that offer similar products to yours and contact them directly. No doubt they have a website with contact information for inventors such as yourself. Additionally, there are game conventions around the world where you can both exhibit and “network” with potential partners.

How Can I Generate Capital For My Movie Project?

Starting Out

I am involved in a low budget movie project and am looking for ideas to generate capital. Our goal is to bring in 300k-400k. We’re looking for any suggestions for any business plan items that pertain to the film industry. As well as ways to bring in some more financial backing.

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Jay’s Answer: The simplest way would be product placements. But you’ll need to prove that your movie would get sufficient exposure.

If you have a well-respected team, then network.

If you’re unknowns, then aim even lower-budget, and bankroll it yourself (at least until a film festival picks it up and gives you exposure for distribution).

Trade Show Banner Tips?

Publicity, Starting Out

We have a trade show coming up and we are launching a new product in a new market. Therefore the product is unknown and so are we. We are however working with a well known channel partner to enter the market. We are therefore planning to have an interactive demo unit (operational) with a 35″ x 90″ banner. I’d like some feedback on the content:

-words _ too many ?
-logo sizing
etc..
and general rule of thumbs as it applies to product banners vs. corporate banners.

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Jay’s Answer: A banner is not a brochure. It’s also competing visually against the entire environment. Since no one knows your company name, product name, or logo, don’t spend valuable space trying to announce yourself. Instead, focus on the key benefit that your prospects care about. That’s who ultimately you want to attract. Yes, put your logo & company name, but not prominently. Keep your message simple, your text large, easily read, and able to catch their attention in 3 seconds as they pass on by your booth.

A Catchy Name For An Interior Decorating Business?

Names + Taglines, Starting Out

We are located in Northville Michigan. Most clients are near-by not more than an hour away from us. What makes us different or better I would say is that we shop very good quality items with little money, we also use a lot of items that the clients have, and we have reasonable hourly pricing. We really have only done a hand full of business’ and are looking to target that area a little more. We are working with mostly homeowners in family houses. We try to make their house into homes and try to help them have better space planning (rearranging furniture and such). We work with middle class to high end it just depends. We are looking for a name that would apply to the business and residential owners.

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Jay’s Answer: A business client would have very different goals from a homeowner – so one name that works for both will get a bit generic.

Here are some names to get you thinking:

  • Interior Design For A Song (emphasize price)
  • Home Inner Beauty (like a person)
  • Rooms That Reflect You (emphasize uniqueness)
  • Gorgeous Rooms (emphasize beauty)

Start Up Furniture Consignment Branding Ideas?

Branding, Starting Out

My husband and I have researched the market and found what we hope will be a good location with good demographics and foot traffic to open an Upscale Furniture Consignment Store. We want to make the biggest impact as possible upon opening. Mainly, we are looking to create a brand. I have experience with furniture design and interior design, and will have a workroom in the back for making signature pieces that we will sell along with consignment pieces. What is your best suggestion to create good brand recognition for a company with NO Branding yet??


I basically want to be THE place for people looking to furnish their homes with a designer look for less. As of now, we have no name and no tag line either – so I’m wanting to come up with our branding ideas first and let that dictate where we go with the name….I may be doing this backwards – but my thought process is this – once the name is out there – it is out there – like it or hate it – unless you want to start “branding” all over again. Thanks for any help!

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Jay’s Answer: “Designer Look For Less” means different things to different people. So, before you start with a name & tagline & other branding-related tasks, focus on your target market first (even though you found a “good location”):

  • Age
  • Location
  • Price point
  • Competition (both local & Internet)
  • USP – What makes you unique?

For example, you could place all your consignment pieces on your website and allow people to subscribe to your site to find pieces that match what they’re looking for. That would help both consumers and designers. Or, maybe you offer free room design consultations (bring in a photo and designers can show how to use the pieces you sell to “make” a room). Or even, rent out furniture to home-stagers.

Before you start spending money on branding, spend your time & money on your marketing strategy & plan. It’ll save you lots in the long run.

How Can I Start My Own Clothing Line?

Starting Out

I want to start a clothing line for infants/toddlers/young men. I have a name brand (example: babyphat, tommy hilfiger etc.) in mind but I don’t know where to start and where to end to get the line designed and into the stores for sale.

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Jay’s Answer:
If you have an idea, but no design, start by contacting your local fashion school, and hiring a student to help create your design (if you have the $, hire a professional designer).

If you have a design, but no clothing, hire a seamstress to create samples of your designs.

Stores buyers will be interested in your clothing lines if: 1) your designs will sell and 2) you can consistently produce quality on schedule. Most important, you need to prove that people will buy your clothing. How? Start selling the designs yourself. If you can prove the market, then they’ll be interested. By doing it yourself, then you’ll also prove that you can produce quality.

Alternatively, take you design concept and try selling it to a name brand. This is extremely hard, since you’ll basically be selling a concept, which is extremely hard to protect (they may see your idea and be inspired to copy it).

Before you start the long process, contact local buyers for your department stores. Set up informational interviews with them to find out how they find clothing lines, and who they work with. You might benefit from working for some of the companies they work with to learn the business.