Pushy Telemarketers and Small Businesses

Many small business owners has gotten a phone call from a pushy telemarketer. Well known companies are using telemarketers to cold call small business owners to try and sign them up for services that they could either do themselves or can get for a much more reasonable price through another small business that specializes in those services.

An example of these services is websites and SEO. Common practice for these telemarketers is to call you up and tell you that your website has poor placement on Google and that you are not easily found in web searches. They will tell you this and it can be true HOWEVER, it is generally only true because the searches they are doing for your business will be done using terms that have very little relevancy to your business and will include search terms that no one will actually use to look for your business.

Many telemarketers will try and make it sound as if they have the "magic formula" to fixing any website or SEO issues you may or may not be having, but the truth is there is no magic fix. If there are any issues regarding your website and/or SEO they can usually be fixed and you don't need to pay hundreds of dollars per page on your website to do it.

You definitely do not need to spend what will ultimately be thousands of dollars (especially when you are a small business) to set up or fix any SEO issues or to do basic website copy. Other small businesses such as Event Elements & Business Solutions are capable of doing this type of work without draining your bank account and we don't need to be pushy about it, unlike telemarketers because we aren't working off commission and we want to help other small businesses succeed. By helping you to succeed we succeed.

Give Event Elements & Business Solutions a call at 905-924-5687 or email us today to book a consultation or if you have any questions about our services.

Social Media Tip #1

Utilize Your Family and Friends

Ask your family and friends to support your business on various social media site. Such as "like" your page on Facebook, follow you on Twitter, etc.

Self-employment: Business Plans

If self-employment is something that you are considering, it's important to approach it in the right way. Aside from the obvious of having an idea of what your business is going to do (aka. what service are you going to offer and/or what products you are going to sell, it's also important to consider either writing a business plan or hiring someone to write a business plan for you.

Business plans are important to any new or existing business because it can serve as a guide for you in starting your business, running it and growing it. Having a well-written plan will help you think about the aspects and details that are important to your business that you may not have considered before.

For example, what if you are the sole employee of your business and you become seriously ill for a period of time. How are you going to continue running your business? Will you be able to hire a replacement who you trust and is capable of running everything? Will you have to shut down for a period of time? If you shut down, how will you start up again? How will it affect your business? 

Another example is if you are selling a product that you make (say necklaces) and in order for you to make your product you must purchase beads and chain from a supplier. Perhaps your supplier does not have the beads and chains that you need. What are you going to do? It's important to think about this type of thing and how you will solve the problem in a situation like this. Maybe it's a case of before you open your business, find a back up supplier so that if your regular supplier doesn't have what you need, then you can get it from your back up.

Another reason to have a formal business plan is funding. If you are starting a business that will have a large cost of operating (rent, supplies, expenses, etc) then you will likely be approaching a bank or private lender for funding. In this situation, you will need a well-written, thought out, through plan that shows potential lenders and investors that your business has a real chance of succeeding before they will take the chance on you. If you go into a bank with a vague idea written on a napkin, you will not get the financial support you need.

Another reason for a business plan is setting and working towards your short and long-term goals. Trying to run a business without any goals will not work. Some of the types of goals that you should be setting include

• strategic- for example, increasing the number of a specific client/customer type within a specific time frame
• operational- for example, increase output of finished projects or jobs
• financial- for example, to break even by the end of a specific time frame
• marketing- for example, to increase sales to repeat clients/customers by a specific amount

There are many reasons for having a business plan before you start your business and there are many other factors that go into a business plan (financials, customer analysis, market analysis, competitor information, marketing, etc) a lot of it really comes down to helping you plan for everything that could arise in running your business (for at least the first operational year or two), figuring out your goals and helping you stay on track for achieving them, helping you to stay on track financially, maintaining an understanding of your customer demographics, and your competitors and more.

Starting a business without a plan is just asking for a disaster. It can sometimes work, but it's rare and with your business why would want to take the risk?

For more information about what Event Elements & Business Solutions can do for you with regards to business plans or any of the other services we offer, please email us or give us a call at 905-924-5687.

New Service

We are happy to announce that we are now offering Data Entry as a new service. 

Give us a call at 905-924-5687 or email us today for more information or to book a consultation.

Branding Tip #5

Social networking is another great way to build your brand and even better, it's free! To help build your brand, you should open up a profile and start connecting with colleagues, connections, anyone who you can network with.

When you create your profile use the same fonts (if possible) and style of writing, colours, graphics, etc that you used on other promotional materials.

Branding Tip #4

Be Consistent in your message, promotional and marketing materials and image. Find what "design" works best for you and your business and be consistent, so that clients can see your consistency

Branding Tip #3

Develop print and web materials (logo, tagline, mission statement, business cards, brochures, bios, time sheets, invoices, post cards, flyers, etc) that coincide with what you want your brand to represent and what your message is to clients

Branding Tip #2

Develop a memorable tagline that expresses who you are and what you do

Where to find us

 Here is an updated list of where you can find Event Elements & Business Solutions....and of course there's our blog, but hopefully you already the address :)

FaceBook
Website
Linked In
Twitter

If you have any questions or would like to book a consultation please email us today.

Branding Tip #1

Develop a mission statement that shows your clients and potential clients what the point of your business is and what you can do for them.

Just Add Water Festival and Trade Show

This weekend is the Just Add Water Festival in Honey Harbour. Part of this festival is the trade show at Village Marina.

Cottage Country Pest Control will be there today, so if you are in the area stop by and come find us!

The ad for the AGM designed by Event Elements & Business Solutions.

Durham Home & Small Business Association

In April and May, I attended the monthly meetings for the DHSBA. If you are not familiar with them you can check out their website here. Basically they are a non-profit organization that promotes excellence and growth in home and small business in the Durham Region.


It is a great place to meet other small business owners and network and I can't recommend it enough to other small business owners in the area. I have also been working with the board as part of the marketing committee to promote the DHSBA and their upcoming Annual General Meeting, which is taking place June 4. It has been a great opportunity to work with the board and let's face it show a bit of what I do as a business.


For more information about the DHSBA you can check out their website or find us on Facebook. If you are interesting in attending the AGM (everyone is welcome) then go here.


As always, if you have any questions or would like to book and appointment or consultation with me, please email or call me at 905-924-5687.

Web Presence Management

So, you might be wondering what Web Presence Management or WPM is. Basically this is the "umbrella" for all my web services.

This includes social media (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, etc), blogging (setting up and posting), E-Newsletter (designing and distributing), writing website copy, SEO, Google Maps and email monitoring.

There is a lot more than we can do that ties into many of these services and we offer 2 set packages for our WPM services or if you prefer we can prepare a customized package designed to fit you and your business needs.

Email or call me at 905-924-5687 to find out more or if you have any questions.

Welcome to a new client

Event Elements & Business Solutions is happy to announce we are working with a new client, David from Dave's Handy Help. We will be doing Web Presence Management for him--setting him up on social media (I'll be posting links soon) and also working on a Fall newsletter.

Busy Busy

So we've been busy doing work for Cottage Country Pest Control and seem to have neglected our own blog a bit. That just will not do, so I'm working on some new blog posts that will hopefully be posted this week.

In the meantime, a quick update. Last week I attended two BNI meetings. If you are unfamiliar with BNI, you can check out their website. Going to those meetings was great because I got to meet a ton of entrepreneurs  and small business owners from Durham Region and made some really great connections. I would definitely recommend checking BNI out and maybe attending a meeting or two if you are a business owner (you can check their website out to see if they have chapters in your area).

As I said I have been doing work for CCPC and tomorrow I have a lunch meeting with a potential client. I met this potential client at my second BNI meeting and he is interested in discussing how my services can work for him as he's retooling his business.

Check back later this week for new blog posts and as always, if you have any questions please email me or visit our website or Facebook page to get in contact.

Networking

Event Elements & Business Solutions has been hard at work doing WPM for Cottage Country Pest Control the past few weeks, but this week I'll also focusing on networking. On Tuesday and Wednesday morning, I'll be attending two BNI meetings. If you aren't aware of what BNI is, you can click here to check out their website.

I am definitely looking forward to getting out there and networking with other small business owners in Durham Region and if you are a new or existing business owner you should definitely check out attending a meeting or two.

CCPC: Boxelder Bugs

Wondering what Boxelder Bugs are? Find out at Cottage Country Pest Control.

CCPC: Wasps

Last part of the Bees, Hornets & Wasps series is up at Cottage Country Pest Control.

CCPC: Hornets

Part 2 of the Bees, Hornets & Wasps series is up at Cottage Country Pest Control.

CCPC: Bees, hornets & wasps...oh my!

New 3-part series on bees, hornets & wasps on Cottage Country Pest Control. First up, bees.

CCPC: German Cockroaches

There's a post all about German Cockroaches at Cottage Country Pest Control.

CCPC: Integrated Pest Management

What is Integrated Pest Management? Check out our new blog over at Cottage Country Pest Control for a brief introduction to IPM.

CCPC: Mice

 

There's a new post all about mice up at Cottage Country Pest Control.

CCPC: Pesticides

There's a new blog post up over at Cottage Country Pest Control all about Pesticides.

Branding: Branding Your Business

In part 1 of Branding I talked about branding in general; what is it and what it can do for you. In this part I'll explain ways of branding your business that you can do or hire someone to do for you.

There are some easy (and fairly inexpensive ways) to brand your business such as the following:

• Hire someone such as Event Elements & Business Solutions to bring your image and message to a brand (develop all collateral and image materials such as letterhead, logos, taglines, mission statement, post cards, 
• brochures, newsletters, business cards, flyers, etc)
•  Develop a mission statement that shows the value you provide to your clients
• Regularly update your blog, FB, Twitter, etc
• Create and issue an online or direct mail newsletter
• Participate & sponsor local charity events (get your name in the program)
• Add informational website content a minimum of 4 times a month
• Develop a calendar of local events that fit with your business industry so you are visible to potential clients
• Post your event calendar on you website
• Write a media release before each event
• Regularly write and pitch feature story ideas to the media

These are just some ideas to consider when looking to brand or re-brand your business and of course there are tons of other ideas to consider.

Event Elements & Business Solutions is able to help with your branding or re-branding. We will discuss your needs and wants for the business and based on what you are looking for we will be able to offer a Branding Package customized with our ideas and suggestions. We will then work with you to further customize designed materials.

Contact us for more information or for pricing and package information.

CCPC is now on Twitter

As part of our Web Presence Management service, we have now gotten Cottage Country Pest Control on Twitter. You can check them out @C_C_PestControl.

For more information about our WPM service contact us today.

CCPC: Carpenter Ants

There's 2 new blog post about Carpenter Ants  and Carpenter Ant Treatments over at Cottage Country Pest Control.

CCPC: Wood Cockroaches

We've got a new post all about Wood Cockroaches at Cottage Country Pest Control.

CCPC: Spiders & Spider Sprays

We've written a new blog post all about Spiders & Spider Sprays over at Cottage Country Pest Control.

PR& Marketing

According to Public Relations News “Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest and plan and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

Public relations is just one part of marketing, with the bottom line being to get you, your business, brand, services and products out in the public through more public-based tasks such as public affairs, community and investor relations, conferences, crisis communications, internal communications and media events. The less public-based tasks involved with PR include writing press releases, looking to get articles placed in publications, coordinating media contacts, etc.

Marketing is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services. This can be done through relationship marketing, business/industrial marketing, social marketing and branding.

Event Elements & Business Solutions is dedicated to providing the best PR and marketing to your business based on your needs. We will interview you to evaluate what would best suit the needs of you and your business.

Check out our website eventelements.ca for more information about PR & Marketing and our other services.

Marketing Plans

A marketing plan is another important document (like a business plan) to have when starting a business. A marketing plan is useful to a business owner for a few reasons--it acts as a guide to your business and you and it can help add clarity within the marketing aspects to your business.

The biggest (and most obvious) difference between a business and marketing plan is that a marketing plan focuses on just the marketing within your business, while a business plan covers every aspect of the business, and yes there is a marketing section to most business plan however, a marketing plan will expand on the information and include more specific information that may be lacking from the business plan.

Marketing plans are essentially a guidebook for the business owner because, it can give clarity to what you are spending (and where you are spending it) and it helps enable you to budget marketing expenses, helps control what your expenditures are and it can help manage and track all cash flow and sales for your business.

Event Elements & Business Solutions is dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs and small business owners get their marketing started, run their marketing tactics and determine what works and what doesn't for your business within your industry.

Event Elements & Business Solutions will work with you to evaluate where you and your business are situated within the market, how your clients and potential clients see you and what your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are so we are able to design the best marketing plan for you and your business.

Check out our website eventelements.ca for more information about marketing plans and our other services.

Branding Part 1

The Basics

Branding is a fairly simple way to increase public awareness of your business and to also build a familiarity to your clients and potential clients.

It is very important to build your brand carefully because a well-built brand is worth more to your business than most people realize. Your brand can bring in customers or it can drive them away and in the future, should you choose to sell your business, a well-build brand will be worth more in actual dollars than all tangible assets put together.

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers”.
The word brand has continued to evolve so that is now encompasses identity, which means it affects the personality of a product, company or service. It is defined by a perception—whether it good or bad—that customers or potential customers have about you and your business.

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness refers to a customer’s ability to recognize and recall the brand under various conditions and make the connection to the brand name, logo, jingles, etc. It also consists of brand recognition and brand recall. It also helps customers to understand which product or service the particular brand belongs to and what products and services are sold under that particular brand name.

Local Brand

A brand that is sold and marketing to one specific and restricted geographical area is considered to be a local brand. It could be considered a regional brand, if the area encompasses more than one metropolitan area and both the local and regional brand could be a brand developed for one specific market.

According to Blogtrepreneur.com, there are "10 Reasons Every Small Business Needs to Brand with a Logo"

1. Convey that you’re well established
You can show that you’re committed to your clients and your business with a logo and professionally printed materials. Taking this step can also convey the appearance that you’re stable and have been around for some time.

2. Catch the attention of more potential customers
The saying, “Never judge a book by its cover” has been around forever, but the fact remains that people continue to judge things based on appearance. Finding a company that has the right look and feel to it, whether conscious or sub-conscious, can often be one of a person’s criteria in making purchasing decisions. Some people may even feel wowed by your professional looking materials and logo to the point that it impresses them into buying.

3. Increase your integrity and credibility
A good-looking logo can give you an appearance of being experienced and professional. It can also help a lot by making your entire business appear more credible. Establishing this type of credibility is one of the first things you need to do to be known as an expert in your field.

4. Make a memorable impression
Studies show that 40% of people remember what they see more easily than what they read or hear. Creating graphics that associate a memorable image with your company, and having consistent graphics on all business materials, will make you much more likely to be at the top of potential customers’ minds, when a need for your products or services arises.

5. Help you stand out in your field
When paired with a strong marketing program, well-designed logos and identity programs can give you the edge that will set you apart from your competition.

6. Give the appearance of being professional
Business cards printed at home, with jagged edges and smeared ink, don’t exactly give a person a “big-time” appearance. If you appear cheap and inexperienced, that is exactly how you will be compensated by your clients.

7. Brand your business
You need a logo so you can build an image and a brand that’s bigger than your individual identity. Remember: the purpose of a logo is to create a brand for your company that’s recognizable and consistent across all marketing channels.

8. Offer your customers a sense of stability
While you might not have been in business for yourself for decades, if you’ve made an investment in an identity, your customers will see you as far more stable. It can really go a long way toward creating a feeling of stability and trust.

9. Communicate your message
A good logo design can contain many understated meanings, and can help to communicate a message about how you conduct business. This can include any features or benefits that set you apart from your competitors.

10. Meet expectations
In many areas of business, a logo is simply expected. Especially in industries like design or other creative services, having a fantastic logo is considered an industry standard.
In addition to the above reasons, having a great logo that you’re happy with and proud of will increase your confidence – not only in your business, but in yourself too. It will show through in all of your business practices and interactions, and will benefit you more than you might even realize. So if you don’t already have a logo, start thinking about developing one, along with a brandable identity, right away. And if you happen to have an existing logo, reexamine it. Are you still happy with it, or could it use a make-over?

Check back for part 2, where I'll be talking about more about how to brand your business and what Event Elements & Business Solutions can do for your busines.

CCPC Bed Bug 3-Part Series Part 3

We have reached the end of the 3 part series on bed bugs for Cottage Country Pest Control. Check out the final part on Prevention up now on the CCPC blog.

Keep checking back daily to read our daily posts for CCPC as part of our Web Presence Management service offered by Event Elements & Business Solutions.

CCPC Bed Bug 3-Part Series Part 2

Part 2 of our 3 part series up over at the blog for Cottage Country Pest Control. Check it out and check back for part 3!

CCPC Bed Bug 3-Part Series

Today, we wrote a new blog post for Cottage Country Pest Control. It's the first of a 3-part series on bed bugs, so go check it out.


Check back tomorrow for part 2.

Cottage Country Pest Control

Starting today, we are taking on Web Presence Management for Cottage Country Pest Control, which is just one of the many services we offer. You can check out the first blog post we've written for them all about bats.

Make sure you check out their website also.

Business Plans

So over the next week or so, I'm going to be doing posts with more information about each of the services we offer.

First up...

Business Plans

Having a business plan before you embark on starting a new business is an important step because it is a great way to guide your business and it can help add clarity to your business. While you may have your idea and a strategy in your head, writing it down provides consistency in your thoughts and it helps in communicating your idea to others.

A business plan is also a great tool to test how feasible your business idea is, it helps give your business a good chance of success, it helps secure funding through financial institutions and it can help make business planning more manageable and effective.

Event Elements & Business Solutions is dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs and small business owners get started and become successful.

Business plan development with Event Elements & Business Solutions includes an interview session between us and the client to determine your needs and expectations.

You will also get one hard copy of the finished business plan once it’s finished and an electronic copy of the plan (which you will receive once your balance is paid. Included in the cost is one free revision of your business plan.

If you are working on a business plan or have one already completed, but you need assistance in completing it or editing and revising it, we can also help.

Contact us today for more information about what we can offer you or for pricing information.

Our Branding

So in the next day or so, there will be a new post about branding. What is branding, how it can work for you, the advantages of branding, etc. In preparation for the post, I thought I would post the different branding we have for Event Elements & Business Solutions.

First up is our logo:

Our business card:

Our blog banner (which you can also see at the top of the blog):

 Finally our post cards:

Once our website is completely up and running, it too will match the rest of our branding and any other marketing or advertising we do, will also match the rest. This is important when trying to brand your business, which will be explained in more detail in the next post.

About Event Elements & Business Solutions

Event Elements & Business Solutions provides new and existing small businesses with custom business and marketing plans, marketing, Public Relations and event planning services in addition to event planning for the general public.

Because we know how much time and energy goes into starting and running a small business so we want to help other entrepreneurs get started and become successful. Whether it be through preparing a custom business or marketing plan, providing marketing and/or Public Relations through a variety of channels or just planning an upcoming event for your business we can help.

Not only do we work with entrepreneurs and small business owners but we love to work with people in the general public as well when it comes to planning events.

In regards to our event planning services for both small businesses and the general public, we are more than happy to take on all or just part of the responsibility of planning the event. We will work  as closely with you as you prefer and provide updates as often as you wish.

To find out more about us, our services or pricing & packages please contact us at eventelementsbusiness@gmail.com or on Facebook .

Welcome!

Welcome to the brand new blog for Event Elements & Business Solutions. This is where you will find articles, tips, pictures and more about topics that relate to us, our services and most importantly our clients and potential clients.

Check back often for new posts!

Also be sure to check out our Facebook Page. Website coming soon!