Akron Today Magazine

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10 Point Small Business Marketing Checklist

Small businesses often do their own marketing and have some minimal outside help.  This can mean small details get overlooked and even minor things you do not see can be costing you a lot of opportunities.  So we have assembled this list of 10 things to review and improve if needed to save you time and improve your chances of getting more leads and sales.

  1. Dormant Social Media & Blogs – Social Media accounts and blogs that never get updated tend to also never get traffic because the various services take freshness into consideration.
  2. Mobile Website – More than half the traffic to your website is probably on a mobile phone. Websites can be made to display optimally for mobile devices and this will improve your traffic and the inquiries you get from these kinds of visitors.
  3. Online Reviews – It only takes one bad online review to really hurt your traffic and lead generation. The reason is that people do research on many kinds of companies and if they find a bad review first, they will most likely stop researching you.  There are ways to address online reputation and even having reviews taken down.  One good defense is a good offence though.  Ask happy customers to review your business and build up a lot of positive reviews.
  4. Functioning Website Forms – The kiss of death is when you find out for the last year your website contact us form has not been working. Test this regularly.  Software updates or changes in your spam filter might have stopped these contacts from reaching you.
  5. Effective Advertising – If you are running your own Facebook or Google ads you need to know your numbers and pay attention to the results. Just letting these kinds of campaigns run without knowing if they are profitable or now is a huge money waste.  Try using a magazine like this one to run native advertising which is then pushed through these channels and is more effective than just sending traffic to your main website.
  6. Spam Filter – Your spam filter on your email is always getting updated. This could mean you may not be seeing legitimate leads and prospects who are trying to contact you.  This could be especially true if you offer something free, like a “free estimate” on your website.  Visitors would send an email asking for the free estimate and your spam filter picks that up as spam and does not deliver it to you.  Another lead lost.
  7. Old Emails – Do you have older emails no one monitors in your company? Maybe ex employees?  Leads might be coming into these emails and just sitting there unanswered.  Make sure all these kinds of email situations are forwarded to your active email.
  8. Phone Forwarding or Voicemail Full – Do you have old phone numbers out there not being forwarded properly? Maybe tied to some older marketing?  This needs to be fixed because the cost of forwarding an old phone number is much lower than a lost customer.  Also, if your voicemail is always full people probably are just giving up and calling your competitor.
  9. Business Registrations – Especially if you have a physical storefront, you need to register your business in Google local and other places so you show up in apps that use GPS, on maps and in more searches. Basic common sense but some people may not know how important this has become.
  10. Local Media Exposure – Magazines like this one offer great ways to reach a local audience. For example, we offer the opportunity to submit a free article to us for consideration or sponsored articles which are seen by many thousands of local readers.  Not taking advantage of local media when you are a local business is money down the drain.  Local media outlets specialize in connecting with the exact same people you are most likely trying to reach.  And you can just reach out to them – they all want to talk to local business owners.  Find out what they have to offer.

Bonus Tip: If you have a business relationship, like Daniel Moneypenny, then do not let the relationship be forgotten.  Follow up regularly.

If you verify you are not losing leads and also improve these areas where needed, you should see a significant spike in leads and new customers.  At least once a year I run into someone who has not known about one of these things causing leads to be lost for many months.  It is painful to think about “what-ifs” when you see your website form not working or lots of old leads you did not see in your spam folder.  Save this article and review it occasionally to make sure you are not having problems that are costing you money.

Hoarding Can Be a Business Problem

Shows on hoarding are one of the constants of reality TV. Through these shows hoarding, which is a mental health disorder, has become a part of the general public’s lexicon. On the shows people hoard a variety of items in their homes and on their property. However, hoarding behavior isn’t limited to personal spaces. There’s a group of people, much larger than the average person would imagine, who hoard at work too.

Hoarders have an on-going difficulty discarding tangible and intangible possessions. This is because of a perceived need to save things since they made be needed, be of use or have value in the future. A person with the disorder experiences distress at the thought of getting rid of or sharing the items. This results in the excessive accumulation of “stuff”, regardless of its actual value or usefulness.

Hoarding isn’t limited by geography. It isn’t specific to a person’s home environment. It’s behavior which also can be observed in a work setting. Almost everyone has worked with or heard stories about someone who shows signs of hoarding behavior in the work place. There are 4 main ways it manifests.

Equipment/tools – Small businesses have been bankrupted due to the hoarding of the owner. This is particularly true when it comes to machinery, vehicles and tools. They’re unable to get rid of old or unusable equipment. Some have been known to leave obsolete machinery on the shop floor, taking up space needed for income producing machines.

Tool hoarding has lead to spending too much money (profit) on unneeded and unused tools. Or it may cause the owner to be unable to throw away broken, outdated or miscalibrated tools, resulting in lost time, poor quality control and noncompetitive manufacturing practices.

Supplies – Almost everyone knows or has heard of “the supply lady”. This is the person who’s in charge of the supplies. She has more Post-Its, pens and coffee creamer than the company will ever need, behaves as if they’re her personal property, and doles them out grudgingly.

Inventory – Some business owners become emotionally invested in their inventory, both raw materials and finished goods. This is one of the hallmarks of hoarding – objects create feelings of well being and security. They carry too much product in the misguided belief that they may need it someday. The business becomes insolvent when it’s unable to turn or support the expense of its inventory.

Information – Household paper items (i.e. mail, newspapers, and magazines) are commonly hoarded. This is, also, true in the work place. The depiction of an office worker unable to find anything among his over flowing stacks of paper is a cliché.   However, the stacks of paper are being replaced by information hoarding via electronics.

Electronic devices allow a hoarder to accumulate information faster and from more places. In addition, they make it easier to hide the behavior for longer periods of time. It’s an emerging business problem that’ll continue to grow. Some companies are dealing with information being inaccessible or lost when an employee has too much irrelevant and extraneous information on their business devices to find it.

The symptoms and consequences of hoarding range from mild to severe. In some cases it may not have much impact on a person’s personal life and job, while in other cases it seriously affects their thoughts, emotions and behaviors on a daily basis. It’s just a matter of time before there’s a workplace segment of Hoarders.

 

Accounting Checklist for Business Startups in Akron

There are a few steps that you should take to ensure that your small business is successful. Organizing your accounting practices early will assist you to concentrate on the important work of growing your company. You will realize that there are a number of finance software applications that you can use for your accounting practices.

Bookkeeping is an essential part of any company because it helps in controlling the operations of your company and avoids an audit by offering the IRS what they require. Therefore, in order to attain your long-term objectives, increase your sales and organize your company’s accounting practices, ensure that you consider the following factors;

  • Make sure that your small business is legally registered and thereafter open a bank account for your company. The bank account for your business should be separate from your personal account including checking and credit card. Separating your company and personal expenses will give you peace of mind in the future.
  • It is critical for you to keep a record of all your expenses so that you can be certain that your business will be successful. This activity will assist you to track the development of the organization, organize your financial statements and also the deductible expenses. Therefore, keep all the important receipts of your business.
  • Develop a bookkeeping system through the different kinds of software that are available or simply an Excel worksheet if you have a very small number of monthly transactions. Additionally, you can hire a temporary bookkeeper that is based near your business.
  • The next step is to create a payroll system that will assist you to assign different roles in your small business and then compensate them for their input. Create a payroll system for all employees including permanent staff members and independent contractors. There are many companies that offer payroll solutions and your accountant can recommend one.
  • You should produce accurate and detailed invoicing so that you can easily answer questions from your clients in case of a misunderstanding. In addition, you should consider online payments so that you can automate your bookkeeping process.
  • You need to be ready to receive large expenses such as computer upgrades and equipment repair. These kinds of major expenses can come up in a slow month and therefore, you should be ready to avoid a cash crisis.
  • Devote some time to update your books. Dedicate a few hours per week to clear out your paperwork so that you can avoid a long pile up. It is important that you stick to the days that you have set aside so that your books can be updated at all times.  If you have hired a bookkeeper this is easier for you as you just need to be organized and get information to them, and keep an eye on their work.
  • Re-evaluate your accounting practices regularly. At the start, you will only use an Excel worksheet; however, as your company grows you will need to use more improved methods. Therefore, when you realize that an Excel worksheet is not adequate for you and needs a lot of effort; you should begin to look at the Internet-based bookkeeping platforms. Continue to reassess the effort and time that you use for your company’s bookkeeping so that you can save time for other more relevant activities.

Not taking accounting seriously is a huge risk for businesses.  It can lead to lost money, paying too much in taxes, poor business performance and even large penalties and fees simply by not paying things on time. If you are not able to conduct the bookkeeping process on your own then you should seek the assistance of an expert. That way, you will have a chance to concentrate on running your small Akron, Stow or Fairlawn business and try to get ahead of your competitors.

 

 

 

Kid Proof Your Home Office

Here are a few tips to kid proof your home office if you are a work from home mom:

1. Keep as few wires as possible reachable to little hands. That means position your furniture to cover outlets so wires are not exposed and inviting little hands to pull at them. Also, you can get cable covers and wire clips to hold several wires together.

2. Keep as much away from the edge of surfaces where little hands can reach. For instance, keep your computer monitor far back and when you are not using your keyboard put it above your monitor if possible. Also, unplug your printer and fax machine when not in use so that even if little hands get on them they can’t do much damage.

3. Your file cabinet will be hard to keep organized if your little one keeps getting into all the papers. The easiest solution is to get locks for the drawers. However, be careful that they cannot lock themselves in the drawers.

These are a few inexpensive tips to help you if you are trying to earn extra money at home. Of course the ideal would be to lock your office door when you are not working and only work when your little one is not around. However, this is not always practical and therefore I hope these simple tips are helpful as you set up your home office.

Tax Advantages with Home Based Businesses

Tax advantages with home based businesses are plenty that there is no reason not to take the income opportunity home based business provides. Tax advantages include equipment deduction, deductions on office supplies and furniture, and travel needed to provide service.

Employing yourself to the income opportunity home based business basically means that you may have a certain area in the house dedicated to the business. The IRS regards this as the work space and allows deductions for any needs that will support that area of the house.Equipment including computers and service equipment needed to start the business can be deducted from taxes and allow ample opportunity to purchase what is needed. Thinking big in your business can be an excellent way to kick start the career from home but it is generally recommended to start small and then work up to more expensive equipment depending upon the area of expertise.

Deductions include furniture and office supplies for your income opportunity home based business and can provide the office space with enough to feel comfortable. Working from home should be a comfortable experience in order to provide enough space and arrangement for furniture to work within the area. Creating a theme in the workspace is highly recommended for the career from home minded individuals for a pleasant working environment.

Traveling, entertaining, and fuel expenses can also be deducted from the taxes of a home based business. These are plausible opportunities to gain further clients and provide service or products for the growth of the business.

Your Kid Gets Caught Shoplifting. What Do You Do?

As a loss prevention and law enforcement professional with over 40 years of experience, I have a few thoughts on this subject. Before reacting one way or another, you need to ask yourself what you want to achieve. Do you want your child to learn and grow from a life lesson or are you more interested in going on the attack to try to get them or you out of trouble?

I have seen parents react in many different ways. Normally, being aggressive towards the Retailer and/or the Police is not the best route to take. Threatening or being aggressive or argumentative will probably be met with criminal and civil actions against both you and your child. Because the message you send to everyone is that you are more concerned about yourself than the welfare and growth of your child.

I would not start by assuming that your little darling didn’t do it. Ask to see the evidence. Be reasonable and listen.

Let’s assume that your child was actually shoplifting. If your child shoplifted and your approach is to tell your child it will be alright, then you are essentially saying to your child that they can do what they want legal or illegal and there are no consequences. You are also diminishing your character to your child, the Retailer and the Authorities.

Very early in my career I saw a young teenage girl brought in to the Police station in custody for shoplifting. The girl was placed in a juvenile holding cell. I was stationed outside the cell with the key to keep an eye on her as she was crying hysterically.  About forty-five minutes later her parents arrived. They were well dressed and calm. It became very clear to me that they were very concerned and loved their daughter very much.

I listened as they expressed dismay at their daughter’s actions. In talking to the Police Lieutenant they said that they were shocked by her behavior and did not understand because this is not how she was raised. The Lieutenant listened patiently and told them that children make mistakes and that he had seen this on many occasions.  The parents did not talk about themselves but about what was best for their daughter. The Lieutenant started working with the parents as a unified team for what was best for her.

The father approached me and asked me to unlock the cell door. The Lieutenant nodded approval and I unlocked the door. The daughter, who did not even know that her parents were there yet, was relieved and tried to exit the cell. Mom and Dad blocked her way and said something I will never forget. “Sweetheart, you have gotten yourself in serious trouble and we do not think we can get you out of this”. With that Dad closed and locked the cell door. He handed me the key. He turned to the Lieutenant and said “we will be back in a few hours after we get some lunch”. They then left.

I stayed outside the cell for those few hours and listened to pretty much non-stop crying until they returned and took her home. I have nothing but the utmost respect for them and the Lieutenant. I suspect that the young lady learned a valuable life lesson that stuck with her. It certainly was one for me as a 17 year old Police Explorer Scout. It became very clear to me at that point how much my parents loved me and that they were concerned for my growth because I had experienced several lessons like that from my Mother and Father. I am now sixty years old and still see the wisdom they had by teaching me those lessons. I am also thankful they used tough love because it has helped to make me who I am today.

So when it happens to your child what will you do?

By the way, the charges against the young lady were dropped. The parents and police felt she had learned her lesson better than any court could do.

This article is written by Bill Bregar,  Bill helps retail stores prevent shoplifting and all kinds of businesses do pre-employment background checks to make sure they hire the best people they can and avoid employee theft issues in the future.  Bill is author of “Protect Your Store: The Shoplifting Prevention Guide for Small to Medium Retailers” which is available on Amazon.com and is a must read for retail store managers and owners.  Have a question for Bill?  Call him at 1-866-914-2567.

5 Ways To Save Money This Year

Every year you probably make a resolution to save more money and waste less money in the new year.  For most people this is fairly easy to do but if you do not know where to start you will not be able to identify how to best go about it.  We have assembled this list of five simple things you can do to make a dent in your budget and put more away for that future nest egg.

  1. Quickly audit your spending from the last year.  This is not as hard as it sounds.  Just get out your bank statements and credit card statements and use a highlighter and highlight unnecessary purchases from the previous year.  Do you see some trends?  Are you spending too much money on going out or on fast food?  How about your grocery budget?  Are you way over what you would like to spend?  Use this information to cut back on non-essential things that you are buying but do not really want to buy.

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  2. Change Charge Cards and Refinance if it make sense. If you are paying high interest rates you can usually move the debt you have to a lower rate card or refinance a higher interest rate loan.  A few hours of work could save you hundreds or thousands over the life of the debt.

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  3. Monthly Service – what are you using and what are you overpaying for? Everyone needs utilities, some entertainment, mobile phones, transportation, etc.  However, many of these services are simply paid each month without shopping around or looking at the plan you have.  Do you need full cable?  Maybe you only need Netflix?  It depends on what you value, but taking a hard look at these monthly expenses can save you a lot of money.  Even utilities sometimes can be shopped around and rates can be reduced for a limited time, sometimes saving more than 50% versus not doing anything at all and just paying the bill.

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  4. Meals – eat less and/or cook more. If you are not your ideal weight, why not just try to lower your portions at every meal.  Don’t think of it as a diet, think of it as trying to shave 20% off your food bill so you can save some money.  Split meals with someone else at restaurants or take half home and make it two meals instead of one.  Think about what you spend in a month on food and imagine trimming it by 20% or more.  This can also be done by cooking more and eating out less.  If you eat out several times a week, set a maximum number and once you have gone out that many times, you have to cook in every other meal.  Try learning some healthy meals you can make for under $5 as well and you will be really raking in the savings.

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  5. Necessities – Gourmet coffee, wine, organic? It is easy to fall into a trap of thinking you need the best gourmet coffee, or red wine every day, or only organic fruits and vegetables. If you do some research, you can find that some over the counter coffee is very good, and there are nice red wines for under $10 a bottle if you know where to look, and many organic items have no added benefit (especially if they are peeled.)  Spend money where you really need to but do not fall into a trap of always needing everything at the highest end when there are good alternatives.

In addition to these things, look at a spending threshold per item and set a waiting time period before you can buy anything over that limit.  It could be $50 or it could be $500 depending on what your spending habits are and what you can afford reasonably.  

As an example, if you see you often buy things on impulse over $50 then you say, I will not buy something over $50 unless I wait for at least 7 days before making the purchase.  If after 7 days I still really want it, I will then buy it.  This will stop impulse buys where you might often regret the purchase after you realize it was not something you would use.  A good example of this is kitchen gadgets, jewelry, shoes, tools, tech gadgets, etc.

7 Common Business Mistakes

When you have a business, you are bound to make mistakes.  Even if you have a business degree, you are rarely going to be good at everything you need to do.  It can be overwhelming.

We have assembled seven common mistakes people make when they are business owners.  If you catch these things up front, you are going to save yourself money, headaches and possibly save the business itself.

  1. Not Charging a Late Fee – If you do not charge a late fee up front, it is much harder to add it later. A late fee is not a way to make extra money.  Instead, it is a way to encourage on-time payment and reduce slow pays from people.  If they call and complain, you can always “forgive” it one time as a courtesy.  Having dependable cash flow is critical for keeping the doors open for any business.
  2. Not Promoting Business Where People Are Reading – People spend more and more of their time reading in social media and on their phones. So, your marketing plan must include a mobile friendly website and promotions in social media.  Our magazine is an example of how this can work.  Businesses pay to be featured in our mobile friendly online magazine and we push the articles out via paid social and news channels to be seen where people currently spend their time, generating many thousands of views of active, targeted potential customers.
  3. Never Raising Your Prices – You do not want to do a bait and switch (raising prices quickly or unexpectedly) but you also do not want to never raise your prices. Inflation and added costs to your business for other services justify a modest price increase regularly.  Most customer’s do not mind a modest increase regularly in industries where it makes sense.
  4. Allowing Too Many Customizations and Options – If your business offers too many options and customizations, there is a good chance you are hurting sales and making your business more complex and expensive to run than you need to. Just as an example, a restaurant with too many items on the menu must stock more ingredients, hire more cooks and prep people, spend more time training people and probably end up with more food sent back.  Focusing on a small but very tasty menu can improve costs, make customers happier with easier options, improve service and speed and help you be known for something very specific.  These same issues could be true for an accounting firm, a retail store or car sales.
  5. Getting Sold Things You Do Not Need – Once you open your door people will start telling you that you need SEO, registered with Google, employment posters, signs, insurance, etc. All of these things are valid usually, but you need to understand what they are, why you need them and carefully choose a vendor if you are buying services or products.  Don’t buy from the 1st person to send you an email about it.
  6. Not Using a Payroll Company – If you do not know how to do payroll, a payroll company is the way to go. There are a lot of forms to file and there are monthly requirements, quarterly requirements and annual requirements.  Trying to do it yourself in Excel will probably result in fines if you are late or make a mistake.  The small cost of a payroll company is well worth not having the paperwork headache.
  7. Buying Things You Think You Need To Have – Lastly, if you are just starting a business it is common to think you need things that you actually do not need. For example, many companies now run virtually without office space.  You might think you need a fancy website, but you actually only need one page and active social presence.  You might think you need brochures, but chances are you do not.  Landline phone?  I doubt it.  Before you buy things you think you should buy, really take a hard look at what you really need and do not get stuck in an old way of thinking.

The last twenty years have seen a lot of changes.  With cloud apps, shared office space, outsourcing and mobile devices there is a good chance you can now get a lot of work done and build a business without all of the old overhead.  Keep all these things in mind and build a leaner business and you will be more successful.

Best Akron Marketing Agency

Akron, Ohio is home to a number of fine marketing agencies. And which marketing agency you pick depends on what your main objective is. If you want to produce mail and print pieces, then you need to look for those older Akron marketing agencies who have specialized in that for many years. If you are more interested in growing quickly, then you need to find an Akron marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing, including pay per click and SEO.

Most businesses want to generate leads and awareness from online marketing. Lead generation via AdWords and SEO is the best way to attract new customers locally and nationally. Buzzoodle Digital Marketing Agency is the best Akron marketing agency with over 15 years of experience doing only that.

The reason this is your best bet is simple. SEO takes time, but over time attracts very high-quality buyers to your business and the cost of the click is zero, although there is an investment of time and money in advance, to attract them in the first place.

But if you need leads fast, you also want to mix in PPC. Adwords is the most common PPC 9pay per click) ad engine and it will allow you to start attracting targeted, high quality leads within 24 hours in most cases. The cost of each click is higher, but you are also getting leads quickly as well.

The combination of using Adwords for quick lead generation and SEO for longer-term, lower-cost lead generation is the best way to meet your short term and long term needs for your Akron business.

Buzzoodle has helped companies navigate this maze of opportunities for many years and grown people’s businesses. They combine Akron SEO expertise as well as Adwords management to optimize your ad campaign to test and generate the best leads for your business.

Additional services include Akron website design and development, social media marketing, native advertising and custom application development. Buzzoodle ia an Akron Marketing Agency that can provide the full scope of digital services to clients.

To reach Buzzoodle visit their Akron Marketing Agency website today and see what they can do for you.

What is External Benchmarking and How Does it Help?

Many small business owners think that external benchmarking is a complicated process, which only large corporations can benefit from.  They believe that there’s no advantage to be gained for their small company by doing it.  Also, even if they wanted to do it, they think the process is cost prohibitive, in addition to requiring time and manpower they don’t have.

And while this can be true, one methodology has a 12 step procedure, it doesn’t have to be that way.  There’s no universally accepted template for the process.  In its most basic form external benchmarking is simply a way to measure your company’s performance in a certain area (i.e., operations, quality, profit and loss, technology) against the best practices of other companies.

Comparing your company practices to another’s best practices provides you with 2 important things.  One is benchmarking gives you insight into how your procedures, operations and costs compare to other companies who’re “doing it right”.  Small business owners who lack basic, broad based knowledge of standard business practices, let alone best practices, is epidemic.

Secondly, benchmarking is a way to learn from the mistakes and experiences of others, without having to go through them yourself.  If you’re willing to learn from the process it’ll give you the perspective, insight and knowledge you need to stay competitive through effective management of goods, services, operations and costs.  External benchmarking provides numerous competitive advantages.

For example, a fictional Akron machine shop had significant employee theft.  The owner learned the best practices for correcting the problem from the owner of a plastics fabricator in Elyria.  However, when the problem was maintaining calibration of his machines, he sought out the best practices of the non-competitive machine shop 2 streets over.

External benchmarking doesn’t have to be complicated or costly.  It can be a onetime event related to a specific problem or an on-going course of action focusing on one or more problems.  It’s impossible for a small business owner to know everything he needs to know to stay competitive and make a profit.  Therefore, it’s worth the time to learn if external benchmarking is right for you.