Women Together Inspiring Entrepreneurial Success

Women Together Inspiring Entrepreneurial Success (Women TIES)is successfully creating a regional marketplace for women entrepreneurs in Central New York. Women TIES is dedicated to promoting, educating and inspiring women entrepreneurs not only in CNY but nationwide. Women TIES provides a vehicle for the exchange of success strategies through a quarterly publication, weekly emails, seminars, luncheons and online directory.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Branding

Are you holding a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup right now? Did you notice a Fed Ex truck when you drove to work today? Are you going to McDonald's for lunch? If so, it might be because these corporate giants have done a great job at branding their products.

As women entrepreneurs we can brand like the big boys. It takes some creative thought, action, and some financial investment to launch our own branding initiative. Today's advice highlights branding ideas for your company.

Conduct Some Research: Pick one of your favorite national companies like Starbucks, Lexus, or Wendy's and study their branding program. What message do they convey? Where do you see their logo? What creativity do they use in placing their corporate logo and image everywhere so you notice them? Create a list of ways you can implement some of their branding techniques in your business.

Think Creatively: Most of us dream of seeing our company name 'in lights'. It's possible. It can be as grand as buying billboard space or sponsoring major events with celebrities involved, or as simple as having our name on magnets placed on refrigerators in every house in Central New York, or having our company name on little league hats and shirts we sponsor. The more our logo and name is in the community, the quicker we brand our company. Take a half hour this week to list all the possible places to display your company logo. Start branding now.

Share Your Ideas With Another Woman Entrepreneur: Periodically working with someone else can help you think bigger. If you are a sole proprietor, ask one or two like minded women you know and trust to sit down with you for a brainstorming session. Toss around universal branding ideas you both can utilize and then discuss unique branding ideas for each company. Schedule a brainstorming session this month with another women entrepreneur and reap great results.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Marketing Tips For Today's Hottest Markets

Recent studies show our population is getting older, become more multicultural, and are increasingly crunched for time. It's imperative as women entrepreneurs to pay attention to shifting demographics and the preferences of today's buyers.

How current is your marketing strategy related to today's changing demographics? Can you do business the same way you did business five years ago? What has changed? What haven't you changed? What must you do to stay competitive? Below is some insight for today's hottest markets.

Money Is With The Baby Boomers: The baby boomer population will increase by 25% in the next decade. Do you have a product or service geared towards this demographic? If not, can you create a new line or service for this growing population? Take a look at your current services and products, along with the needs of people in this age group, and see if you have opportunities to sell to this growing market.

Grab the Attention of The X Generation:As important as the aging baby boomer market is for women entrepreneurs, so is the young and trendy X generation. This age group spends billions of dollars a year on trendy merchandise, services, and products. Do you have a product that can be marketed to this demographic? Can you re-create or update a current product and create a trendy new line for this demographic? Research where this demographic shops, their likes, their spending interests and then create a marketing plan to capture revenue from this billion dollar spending group.

Market Globally:We live in a global buying market thanks to the Internet. Your biggest clients might still be located within close proximity to your business, but don't forget about the millions of people nationally and internationally who cound become your customers. Are you curious about marketing and selling globally? If so, start researching local companies who are already doing business this way and see if you can meet with their owner or talk to someone in their organization about how to get started. Attend a seminar on international marketing. Research advertising options online in order to market your product or service on an international basis.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Fall Publicity Ideas

If you ask most women entrepreneurs what they wish they had more of, it would be publicity for their businesses. Although we can't garner constant media attention like celebrities, national companies, and politicians receive, we can plan, prepare, and poise ourselves for some great PR for the Fall and Holiday season if we start right now. Here are some great PR tips to get you charged up for the Fall.

Hit Them in September - Local media will feature local businesses with interesting stories, hot trends and nationally inspired topics especially during a low advertising period or news month like late August or early September. If you've been trying to sell the media on a story about your business, prepare, plan and send it out soon. Paid political advertising season gets hot in October and November and there is limited room for 'free' stories. Hit the media now with a great press release.

Feature Creative Partnerships and Products - With the holiday season approaching, some women entrepreneurs are creating unique holiday products alone or collaborating on new products with other women entrepreneurs. If you have a special product you are launching for holiday sales, start putting together a media package, press release, and timeline now. Remember...don't just market your holiday products locally, think big and try selling it regionally, statewide, or nationally.

Corporate Giving is Noteworthy - If your company is involved with donating items or offering services to non-profit agencies during the holiday season, don't be afraid to ask the organization you are donating to for publicity and exposure. Request your company name and logo be listed on marketing pieces. Additionally write a separate press release on your company's gift if your contribution is significant. Don't be afraid to give your business and your favorite organization PR.

There are some accomplished Women TIES entrepreneurs who specialize in PR and advertising. Check out our website at http://www.womenties.com for the names of Central New York women entrepreneurs who can help you with other PR ideas to grow your business.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Plan, Prepare and Develop

Women entrepreneurs are the most dedicated, tenacious, and hard working people I know. We exceed our busines projections because we have amazing work ethic and drive. Our companies are successful because of our unbelieveable energy level and fortitude. We demand more of ourselves than most other business professionals do from themselves because we refuse to fall short in our goals. Failure is not in our vocabulary.

But the hot days of summer are a special time of year for women entrepreneurs. We relax, breathe and work alittle bit differently. We spend our time wisely and efficiently knowing summertime is brief. We allow ourselves extra time to enjoy this season and spend less time working our traditional schedules, because flexibility is one of the main reasons we became entrepreneurs in the first place.

The glorious mornings and peaceful sunsets not only bring balance and harmony to our typical busy lifestyles, they also bring calmness to our working minds and tired bodies. Mid to late summer is a perfect to time to plan, prepare and develop new business plans for the 'second new year' which occurs the day after Labor Day. September is right behind January as a busy planning month for women entrepreneurs. Forecasting, planning, and preparing our businesses for a busy fall season can be best done during the month of August and early September when the days are long, the air is warm, and we are relaxed, refreshed, and rejunvenated.

Business Succession Planning Tips

When women entrepreneurs start their businesses the last thing on their minds is the thought of exiting the business. The concept of business succession planning seems counter to the energy and action we take to get our enterprises breathing and growing. Just like a business plan is needed to expand and succeed, every women entrepreneur needs to understand, be counseled, and educated in the financial and legal aspects of succession planning.

We put extraordinary time, energy, and resources into our business, developing a name in the marketplace, creating a brand, and building assets and income. It is essential to plan for transfering, selling, or exiting when we are ready to move on or when an opportunity arises. Here are some tips on starting a business valuation and exit strategy presented at a Women TIES Success Seminar by Betsy Powers of Sagemark Consulting in Syracuse, New York.

1. Catalog all of your business assets
2. Take a look at your personal balance sheet
3. Create a personal and business timeline for business transfer or sale
4. Start creating a framework for the transfer and sale
5. Discuss your timeline, framework and plans with key advisors
6. If you are in a partnership, make sure you have a buy-sell agreement
7. If you are a sole proprietor, make sure your exit strategies are outlined in your estate planning documents
8. The four key transfer options include selling during your lifetime, selling at death, giving as a gift at your death or giving as a gift during your lifetime.

Don't put off the planning...identify and communicate objectives and assess your long-range financial situation so you can benefit from the time, energy and resources you put into your enterprise.

Finding Time Is Essential For Success

Time...most of us feel like we don't have enough of it. Time to plan. Time to fix problems. Time to thank our clients. Time to explore new opportunities. Time to just enjoy our successes.

Because women entrepreneurs are determined to be accomplished, innovative, successful, growing, expanding, and developing all the time, we don't have enough of this precious commodity so we can prepare, find solutions, research, and relax. Here are a few timesaving solutions for busy women entrepreneurs.

"Dial Up, Road Runner, Wireless" - If you haven't switched from a dial-up Internet connection to high speed Internet connection or haven't researched wireless Internet capabilities yet, find time this month to do so. Stop wasting valuable time when efficiency and speed are only a phone call away.

"It Takes Time, To Make Time" - We know we don't have to do everything ourselves in order to run a successful business but we still do. We perform tasks that could be handled by an employee or outsourced to another women entrepreneur. If we studied how we spent our time, we would discover responsibilities someone could handle. Make a plan today to monitor your work load and give some responsibilities away to someone else.

"Stockpile Supplies & Efficient Earrands" - Depending on the size of your business, you may or may not have someone responsible for monitoring supplies. Countless hours are wasted each year when you run out your staples! Schedule the first and last day of the month to check supplies and make one run to your favorite supply store.

Remember "Luck is infatuated with the efficient" - Persian Proverb