The Marketing Monster #1

I recently had a reader email me with a question about marketing strategies for a home-based business. She wrote:
"I know there's no "best way", but what are some of the ways a small home based business that's just starting out advertise without spending thousands on a display ad? Do you mind sharing some of the things you have done?"

Well, I can't say I'm an expert on the subject by any means, but I've dipped my toe into a few things thus far. With less then 6 months of Divapreneurialship (boy do I love making up words!) under my belt I've still got a LOT to learn, but hopefully some of my attempts will inspire you.

What follows are things I've either (a) tried, or (b) am planning on trying in the near future. I've made the focus of this piece a small, home-based business as I would guess that is how many of you are starting out. I will highlight one "tactic" per blog post, so check back soon for the next installment!

(1) Trade Shows
I know, I know, this costs money. Not a ton when compared to other advertising methods, but enough. However, you WILL NOT find a better target-marketed advertising strategy at such a cheap price than this. I repeat, WILL NOT. As such, I've decided to include it in this list, AND even have the audacity to list it as Number One! If you read on, however, you'll see why.

Tradeshows are an incredible way to commune with future, and more importantly, currently seeking clients. Provided you do you homework and find a tradeshow related to your product/service, you will effectively be hitting hundreds of potential clients in a matter of hours. Think about it: an ad placed in the newspaper will see thousands of eyes in that one day it runs, but what are the odds that all those thousands of people will even look at it, let alone also coincidently be in the market for whatever it is you're selling? According to Kim Lavine, author of "Mommy Millionaire" (2007), tradeshows:

- are the most cost-effective way to reach qualified buyers
- generate more leads and require less effort than a typical business call in person or on the phone
- are a great way to meet both existing and new customers
- give you a great opportunity to study the market and your potential competition

Ladies, this is why tradeshows are so amazing! As a case example: I started taking clients in the fall of 2006, and had a respectable three (!) total. I did not enter my first show until January 2007. It was a one-day wedding fair and ran from 9am - 5pm. In that time I literally had thousands of brides (re: potential clients) stop by my booth and browse my invitation samples. Out of that I got the bulk of my current clientele, and out of them I'm also beginning to get some word-of-mouth referrals (more on that in a later post). Infact, I now only plan on entering two tradeshows per year -- one in January, and one in September. I don't think I need to enter any more! I officially consider my start date as Janaury 21, 2007 now because in hindsight, I wasn't really "out" 'till then.

Of course, as someone involved in the wedding business its relatively easy to find market-targeted tradeshows. But how do you find shows of a different nature? The single-best way to do this is to contact the convention centres, big halls, and any other places that seem to host tradeshows in your city. They will have a list for the upcoming year of any and all shows they will be hosting, both consumer ones ("open to the public" such as wedding fairs or car shows) and business-to-business ones ("private/closed to the public" such as oil & gas shows for oil companies). Go through the list, and try to pick out any that sound like they could work for your product/service. Then take that list and check them out on Google -- chances are there will be a website about it somewhere.

Another great way to find out about tradeshows (though sometimes not super-reliable, which is why I've listed it second) is the website www.tradeshowweek.com . Go to this site and click on "Tradeshow Directory" on the left-hand side to help you find shows specific to your industry.

Divas, when you add it all up and then compare it to more-traditional advertising, tradeshows are heads-and-tails above the competition in terms of price. Where I'm located (a large city in Canada), the average cost for a booth rental (this is just the space, not any signage) is $10 - $15 per square foot. My 10 x 10 booth at the wedding tradeshow cost me $1500 + tax -- I easily made that cost back in orders I received after the fair. Some of the extra-big centres in the States (Las Vegas, San Francisco) will cost you more, but its still worth checking into.

In terms of decorations, don't go overboard. Granted, you don't want your booth looking like the poor-man-on-the-block, but you do NOT have to go "all out" especially in your first few years. Go to a couple of tradeshows prior to yours, walk through the aisles, and gather some ideas of how you can best present what you're selling. Then go home and start scrounging -- look in your basement/garage, call up friends, take whatever you can get your hands on and find a use for it.

Another personal case example: I didn't have much (re: zero) money to put into my booth at the fair. I was incredibly lucky in that my husband works for a company that designs tradeshow booths, so I got a great price on my big sign. But after that, I had nothing. I stressed and stressed for weeks about how I was going to display everything, and finally settled on a less-is-more attitude. I had a few leftover tree-branches from my wedding that I strung with lights (we had gotten the branches by walking back alleys in older neighborhoods in the summer -- whenever someone did some major pruning and threw the branches out, we were right there to catch them!) and placed them on either side of the sign. I took a third one and hung some of my invitations from it in a "wishing tree" style that I'd seen in some wedding magazines. My mother-in-law got a great deal on some brown fabric and sewed me a simple tablecloth to go over the table that came with the cost of the booth. I laid out my sample books, used two small dishes to hold my business cards and a third to hold the ballots for the draw I was having, and then borrowed a vase and silk flowers from my own home to complete the look. I got hundreds (honestly!) of compliments from attendees at the show regarding my booth set-up. Everyone commented on how simple-yet-elegant everything looked, and how my booth stood out from my competitors (who had all gone with an uber-contemporary look). I was so proud!

So thats it ladies. Tradeshows. The wave of the future (well, not really, but you get the point!). Learn to use them strategically and they'll take you far. Promise.

Well, don't HOLD me to that .... :-)

Lavine, Kim (2007). Mommy Millionaire. New York: St. Martin's Press

What's It Take To Be A Divapreneur?

1) Divapreneurs are women
In a world (previously) dominated by male-owned & operated businesses, this is an obvious-yet-important distinction to make. Divapreneurs are women who have decided to step outside the boundaries that tradition dictates, and start their own company. Simple as that. They are not bra-burners, man-haters, or any other such titles. Divapreneurs have a healthy appreciation for the individual knowledge & expertise that both sexes can bring to their company, and know how to use this knowledge wisely.

2) Divapreneurs are young, or young-at-heart
What this means: unconventional. Divapreneurs strive to maintain hip, modern, forward-thinking businesses to set themselves apart from the standard companies of yore. They are web-based and connected, on top of the latest technologies & advances for their field, keep an ear on the street for upcoming trends, and most likely own at least one pair of kick-ass high-heeled boots.

3) Divapreneurs are persistent
These ladies know that a million-dollar idea doesn't (usually) make money overnight. Though they often start off small, the idea is always there to grow their business into something successful & fulfilling, by whichever standards the Divapreneur uses to judge this. How this gets done is through sheet grit, drive, and determination to succeed. There are late nights, early mornings, lots of coffee, and occasionally a few good "get-it-all-out" crys, but the job gets done, and done well.

4) Divapreneurs are talented
Divapreneurs aren't simply opening their business for "something to do" -- they have talent & creativity that demands it be done. Sometimes this gift is tangible, such as an ability to design fabulous clothes; sometimes it's more ethereal and hard to pin-point, such as a "way" with people. In all circumstances, it is real and visible to others, and a necessary part of society in some small way.

5) Divapreneurs are you
If you are reading this little blog, and this little post, then no matter where you are in life, you are a Divapreneur. You would not have read this far without wanting to verify to yourself that you are. It does not matter if you do or do not own your own business right now. The important thing is that you would like to. And thats the very first step!

Still Waiting For Your Ship To Come In?

My day-job as an elementary special education teacher leaves me privy to seemingly hundreds of "inspirational/educational" posters that, as most will recollect, tend to be left hanging on class & hallway walls for years. Who didn't have at least one classroom with the poster of Garfield sitting on a stack of books and the memorable words "I learn through osmosis" printed underneath? Ah, memories .... but I digress.

Yesterday, whilst walking the halls of my school, I chanced upon a poster I hadn't before noticed. While the image on it (a tanker ship in the ocean) was beautiful-in-a-concrete-business-sort-of-way, the words really struck a chord with me:

"Don't wait for your ship to come in.

Swim out to meet it"

Though I'm sure I've seen those exact words on numerous motivational posters before, yesterday they finally sank in. In terms of deciding when to finally start our own business, I think a lot of the time we are waiting for something to happen before doing so: figuratively, for our "ship to come in". Perhaps we are waiting until we are more-financially stable, until we've been at our current job longer, until we have more time, until we feel better, until we have our first child, until our last child is in school. There are always going to be numerous reasons why we cannot start our business "just yet". The thing is, once one reason is complete, there will always be another reason to follow.

I don't believe there is ever a perfect time to start your own business. Unless you are independently wealthy, have oodles of free time and unending childcare to boot, starting a new company is going to be tough. Face it. There's going to be lots of hours, paperwork, researching vendors, and expenses. Also, its scary. Its scary to be stepping out on your own, especially if you have only ever worked for someone else. You will have upsetting dreams and occasionally wake up panic-stricken at night, wondering who you forgot to contact, or how you're going to pay for such-and-such.

However, the BIG question is ... can you really risk not doing it? If your heart and soul are aching for something different, if your mind is regularily fantasizing about "breaking the mold", can you risk not even giving it a shot? Are you ok with going through the rest of your life wondering "what if?". Because the "what if?" will happen. If you continue to allow yourself to fall prey to the hoping-and-waiting syndrom, very quickly you will find yourself looking back instead of forward.

I didn't think I could handle the time committment, the work, the start-up costs, but I could and do. Somehow everything has found its own way. I can now proudly say that I have two jobs (one as a teacher, one as a business owner), write two seperate blogs, and STILL find time for my husband, family, and friends. True, some days are crazier then others, but it all seems to work out in the end (jealous? Don't be. Most days I look like hell and barely have enough clean clothes to wear due to lack of laundry time but, you know, you take the good with the bad .... ).

I think what I'm trying to say (boy, has this turned into a longer post then I intended!) is simple: go ahead and do it. If you really don't think you are able to handle a new business right now, set an actual timeline for when you will start it (not "when I have the time", but "by April 2008"). If you don't think you can afford it, start small and keep your day job. Your dream of a clothing store along a boutique avenue in your city could begin by opening an on-line store on ebay. Just as there are always going to be excuses for why you can't start your business right now, there will always be reasons & resources why you can. Sometimes it just takes stepping outside your comfort zone.

I'm going to end this post with another motivational-poster-ship-saying I found (what a way to tie it all together. High-five!):

"A ship in the harbour is safe ...

but thats not what ships were made for"

Welcome Divapreneurs!

Whoah .... who woulda thunk it? If you had told me a mere YEAR ago that I would soon own & operate my own business, I would have laughed in your face. Ridiculously, heartily laughed, 'till tears streamed down my cheeks and I had to scream at you "stop!" for fear my sides would burst.

Well .... perhaps I exaggerate a little. But it would have been funny.

You see, I'd never thought of myself as a business gal before. First degree in psychology, six months in SouthEast Asia, two soul-less years in an accounting department, second degree in education. I had friends who got business degrees, but it never interested me. And an entrepreneur? Forget it! Waaaayy too risky. Better to work for someone else, collect my paycheck, and be on my way.

And then I got married. During the planning of my wedding I discovered a tiny, perfect, hidden gem of creativity that I had never before known I possessed. After much encouragement, persuasian, and lets face it, gentle shoving from my new husband (remember ... I wasn't "into" owning my own business. Too scary!), Epiphany Designs was born. Bam! As quickly as that.

Now I'm an entrepreneur. And I LOVE IT. I sit awake at night thinking up new designs and innovative strategies to increase my customer base. My mind regularily scrolls through off-the-wall ideas that are suddenly appearing from everywhere, inspired by anything. I get excited about new paper products, fabulous client meetings, beautiful designs. At last, I finally know what it means to feel passionate about your work. And because of all this, I want to help other "wannabe's" achieve their Divaprenurial dreams. I'm not an expert, merely a girl who's (just begun) living the dream. But I'm willing to share what I can.

Divapreneurs is about finding a business that you love and jumping in heart-first. Its about loving your work, loving your life, and learning to find a peaceful balance between both. Most importantly, its about encouraging you that it is possible. That tiny cafe, that homebased business, that boutique shop --- if you truly want it, it is going to happen. Its just a matter of when.