Yet with the economic slowdown of 2008 came multiple cuts in spending for both large and small businesses, especially in the areas of marketing and advertising.  However, when a business begins to reduce costs regarding its brand promotion, the decreasing revenue takes on a sort of free-fall effect.  So how can a more budget-conscious business owner reduce expenses without sacrificing marketing and advertising? 

The key to reducing cost in advertising without undermining the visibility of your business is to become a little creative with how you advertise.  Promotions through newspapers, radio, television and other forms of media have increasingly become expensive – yet the internet is still a cheaper advertising format that has the potential to reach millions of untapped consumers.  Little things like adding a fresh and relevant blog full of keyword-optimized articles will establish a presence in the online world with little to no overhead costs.  It’s a win/win situation, as you’ll be able to reduce expenses while still highlighting the visibility of your company!

You can also join forces with another business that has a product that compliments your own to form a strategic business partnership.  For example, if your company manufactures computers, consider sharing advertising costs with a business that makes printers or other computer accessories.  For example, you’ve seen commercials for food chains that display major brands of cola in their commercials – this is done so that most advertising and marketing costs are split between the two businesses.  Both companies will receive maximum exposure from the joint venture while still reducing costs in the advertising department – which means a healthier profit margin in the long run!

Additionally, you can choose to negotiate with networks, radio stations or any other mediums that you advertise with. This is an especially important method if you’ve a long history with a particular station or newspaper, since you’ll have more leverage while bartering.  Negotiating could lead to lower rates than expected, which means that you’ll be well on your way towards effectively reducing expenses!

If you want more information on how to help your business strive and thrive towards financial security, visit www.kenhimmler.com, the IRA and 401-K experts!

This article was authored by Kenneth Himmler, Sr.

Many businesses tend to overlook just how much the “small stuff” – for example, internet and phone, mail, travel and other assorted costs – can add up and take a hefty bite out of your quarterly or year-end profits.  Remember, cash that is spent on these expenses is coming straight out of your bottom line; expense reduction will only help to put that necessary cash back where it belongs – in your profit margin!

If you’re looking to reduce costs within your company, first check out your contracts with internet and phone service providers.  Many times, business owners overlook these contracts, since it can often be a hassle to spend so much time on an administrative task.  Yet quite often companies can save thousands of dollars just by switching to a cheaper service provider or by negotiating a lower rate.  If you notice that your business is overpaying, get your service provider to lower their costs, or switch to another company to save maximum amount of dollars with almost minimal effort.

Additionally, take careful stock of your inventory – are you continuing to make expense orders even though your business is sitting on a gold mine of office supplies?  Do you have the tendency of ordering only name-brand products?  Minor changes in how you keep your inventory can add up to a healthy boost in overall profit numbers, so reduce costs by ordering less expensive office supplies only when your company truly needs them.  Also, if you have the tendency of having mail and packages overnighted to your company, kick the habit – you’ll reap major financial savings by sending and receiving all post by regular class.  Don’t forget to review your cost reduction efforts annually, as this will help your business keep on its frugal track. 

If you want more information on how to help your business strive and thrive towards financial security, visit www.kenhimmler.com, the IRA and 401-K experts!

Article authored by:  Ken Himmler, Sr.

You see the vending machine wherever you go; in shopping malls, amusement parks, hospitals, offices, bus stops, railways stations and so on. Why are these vending machines so popular? Well, it is owed mainly to two things. No person is needed to sell the products, and they are easy to install and run. You will find vending machines that sell everything from snacks and soda to coffee and newspapers. Those who embark on this kind of business will always be assured of an income since there will always be someone who wants something while shopping or waiting. Since overhead and maintenance are low, the profits in this business are high.

The most popular of all vending machines are the ones that dispense cans of soda. Once the coin is inserted, the machine releases the product without any other intervention. Not all vending machines are automatic, though. Some are mechanical, such as gum or candy vending machines. This kind of vending machine needs to have a lever pulled after the money is inserted, in order for the product to be released. These are common in amusement parks and toy sections of the shopping malls.

The coffee vending machine belongs to a third type of machines, which need electricity to run. This is because the coffee machine needs to have hot water to make coffee. The same is applicable to an ice vending machine, which needs to be plugged in to keep the ice from melting. The fourth and easily one of the most favorite is the video game vending machine. This last addition to the list of vending machines is in high demand by both adults and children.

It is easy to see why the vending machine is so common and so popular. There is a lot of convenience when you buy something from a handy machine, to both the owner of the machine and the buyer. Owing to their immense popularity, there are different types of machines for each product sold. You have automatic, electric and mechanical machines, which cater to almost all needs. The latest craze is in the entertainment field. Check it out.

Many times, business owners simply do not have the capital necessary to buy needed equipment. In situations such as these, leasing equipment can be an excellent option. When equipment is leased, a business can acquire their much needed equipment with minimal up-front expense. While leasing equipment is generally more expensive than purchasing equipment, the initial out-of-pocket cost reduction that leasing offers is often appealing.

Lease payments may be deducted as a business expense on a business’ tax return. High-tech equipment can become obsolete within a matter of years. This fact makes leasing equipment attractive because leased equipment can be upgraded when necessary, which can help a business reduce costs in the future. Leases may be flexible, but payments must be made even when the equipment is not being used. Leases often carry higher overall costs and no equity is being established.

For businesses have the necessary financial resources at their disposal, purchasing equipment may be the preferred option. The main advantage of purchasing equipment is ownership and built in equity. In the year of purchase, for some equipment, the full cost of the equipment can be deducted from taxes. This can be a significant expense reduction depending on the price of the equipment.

Additional tax savings may be available in the form of a depreciation deduction. This could be another cost reduction for the business. Since the goal of most businesses is to reduce expense, the tax breaks offered by purchasing equipment may help business owners reach this goal. However, purchasing equipment does have higher initial costs and there is the potential that equipment will become obsolete and have little resale value. For additional tax saving advice, visit www.kenhimmler.com

Whether trying to save money on expenses or attempting to overall reduce expense, the cost-effectiveness between leasing and purchasing will vary for every business.

Branch out your operations. Place the employees that you have into more than just one role and ensure that there is a duty distribution in the company that allocates more than one duty to each person in the company. So you will not need to employ more workers to work on the task your existing ones doing. A small increase in pay for added responsibility beats paying someone an entire pay package.

Have a computerized syste, and make full use of technology – especially technology that is free like the internet. Try to cut costs on all factors. Use Skype when you need to make overseas calls, use the Virtual Boardroom technology provided by Microsoft when you need to conduct meetings. In the office use MSN to speak directly to each other  - this cuts the usage of phones and other hidden costs that can add up to quite a lot.

Use recycled paper when in the office. This has been known to save up to and over thousands of dollars a year. Have a special place where recycled paper can be placed for internal use. A paper has two sides so don’t waste the other and when you print internally, try as much as possible to print two – four pages per page (especially when printing colour pictures). This way can save tons of money that can be used for other investment.

Efficient accounting! Not many people know that with efficient accounting, hidden costs and unnecessary spending can be rooted out and removed completely from the company. Some companies who finally turn to using professional accounting services have found that they could have saved up to $25, 000 a year on useless expenditure. Don’t be placed in the same state.

Use a virtual office, especially for people who want to start a new business or own home based business or for those who want to try and start a risky venture. Virtual offices cost a fraction of physical office and are just as good, with some companies offering fax, telephony, a registered mail address and a secretary as some of the basic services.

These are just some of the ways (I might have exceeded the 4!) you can cut costs for your business and the word to remember is hidden and unnecessary costs. A lot of companies in the world today are not alert of how much money they are losing because their development dollars are going into places which have no impact on company growth. Don’t be stuck in the same cycle because making the same mistake could mean that your company will be stagnant and you will never be able to venture into new markets.

We are making some quite interesting and very powerful changes to the way we operate, and I think you will find these changes provide a huge advantage to you as an article marketer. For 4 years we have operated just as most other article directories, but this is changing – giving you, the author free article adspace credits and more power with your articles.

Since this is such a change from the ‘normal’ operating method of article directories I would like to explain these exciting changes to you, along with how this all works, how it will benefit you, and why. Shortly you will see clearly how the various pieces of this new business model contribute to the depth of the enhanced author benefits. If you are wondering why we would make all these changes benefiting authors read our ‘mission statement’.

The standard business model of an article directory allows authors to submit their content for free and owners make money from the ad space this content creates. As more and more authors come to submit their articles, the amount of ad space on the site grows exponentially and so does the income generated for the site owner from the ad space. In the new business model you get free article adspace credits every time someone reads your article.

In the standard business model all this money goes to the article directory owner as their reward for operating a useful and popular website. The owners leverage the efforts of everyone who uses the site to build their income. The article author leverages the traffic of the site to increase their exposure and reputation.

It’s a fair system and it works, so why are we mixing things up to make it more advantageous to you, the author?

Quite simply because we feel we will be able to create more abundance for everyone by doing it this way. Times are hard for everyone right now, this new model enables us to share the value of this site with our authors who make it valuable by giving free article adspace credits.

In the coming years, website’s will succeed or fail based on their ability to build a community within them. Giving you reason and incentive to link to and promote your approved content on our site as well as find more authors to use the site is the first step we are taking to secure our success into the future.

The improvements we are making to the site are all about making it possible for you to profit more by using our site. We know that by doing this, our profits will grow too.

The New System Explained

Every time one of your articles is viewed by someone on the site, you earn 1 credit. The more traffic your article pages receive, the more free article adspace credits you earn. You can use your credits to display your own ads on our site, or you can sell them back to us for cash! That’s right! We will buy back your credits from you at a rate of approximately $2 CPM. (per 1000 credits).

Now here is where it gets interesting…

You will also earn free article adspace credits every time someone you refer to the site receives traffic to their articles, thus leveraging the efforts of everyone you refer. You earn 0.1 credits when any article submitted by someone you referred is viewed on the site by anyone.

And it gets even better!

You continue to leverage the efforts of those who the people you referred, refer, and the ones they refer and the ones they refer and so on down 10 levels of referrals. Every time any article submitted by anyone in this “downline” is viewed by anyone, you earn more credits.

In the illustration below, no-one refers more than 3 people. Everyone submits just 50 articles and these articles only receive 10 visits per month each. If you double the visits, or the number of articles or the number of authors in your downline, the credits column and the cash column double.

The cash column is based on a buy price of $2 CPM (this may vary, but $2 CPM is about right)

Look at what happens to your free article adspace credits because of the 10 tier credit downline.

*(estimate)

free article adspace credits = Cash or ads on the site. You can use your credits to display your own ads, or sell them back to us at current rates.

You earn 0.1 credits when any article submitted by someone in your downline is viewed on the site by anyone. The more people YOU refer now, the faster and further your credits downline will grow, then you can sit back and enjoy the benefits of having thousands of people building your income for you.

This is completely FREE and is already working for you… But you can help it along by learning how to passively promote your articles for free.

Businesses normally want to employ promotional advertisements to push their products and services. One common promotional ploy is to hold concerts or a festival. These kind of events usual draw a large number of individuals and can mean successful promotional tactics for companies. Considering that events of this kind can be a gargantuan task for companies, they usually seek the help of a professional event planner, so that the success of the promotion is ensured. These professionals take on every facet of preparation and execution of the event.

For a small or large business, event marketing is the only way that they can let the public know that they have a product or service that they are offering. This type of promotion also helps promote good will to the public. Putting their name out there and showing that they are there for their customers can bring in a lot of new business.

Small and large businesses, in their pursuit of promotional goals for their products and services, are commonly known to host concerts and festivals. And in dealing with the fundamental details that an event of this kind will involve, the help of a professional event planner may be sought. Companies take a backseat while the planner does the dirty work of preparing for and staging the event. Their usual responsibilities range from securing the venue for the event, food vendors, audio equipment, tables for the promotional products, seating arrangements, and toilet and parking facilities for the anticipated crowd that will attend.

To summarize, businesses, in their effort to promote their products and services usually hold concerts or different festival type community events. Understanding that these kinds of affairs are a gargantuan task, they usually employ the help of a professional event planner. The planner will be responsible for planning, organizing and executing all necessary preparations for the attending crowd.

What you need to understand is that when you go ahead and purchase a small business inventory software solution you need to be clear about your objectives and what do you really expect of the softwre you are purchasing. Many times, you will find out that there are a lot of companies that produce packages and tools that are very expensive and at the end of the day they fail in many key aspects for small businesses.

So what do you really need to look out for? Try to find easy applications to use, there is nothing worst that investing days or months, just trying to learn how to use an application. It’s imperative that you choose a simple, yet effective inventory software to not waste time. Remember that sooner or later you will need to show your staff how to use this tools and time is money. You can’t waste time learning new skills, what you need to do is work on the skills that you already have, in the skills that are going to generate money for you and your business. So what is the possible solution for your inventory problems? Well, in my professional advice, to keep trying new systems, to try different packages and to be sure that when you purchase one solution, this is the one that will actually help you to get more time for your business and not in your business. Remember that an inventory software is suppose to make your business life easier, not make it even more tedious. So keep that in mind when you apply that concept to the search of a simple and basic inventory solution for your stock, your company and your services.

Below are a few handy tips to help you reassess your relationships with your customers, and how to develop a plan for building and improving those relationships.

Get Organized

It’s difficult to target and streamline communication and build relationships if you don’t start out knowing where you stand with your customers. You probably have files on your customers, but do these files include the tracking of correspondence? If not, this is an aspect that should be added to your customer files.

Another idea is to develop a file of success stories. Are there customers with whom you have a strong relationship, who are loyal and devoted clients? If so, assess the history of your relationship with these clients to determine if you did something different to gain their loyalty. You may even want to start a file of success stories to refer to for inspiration when creativity about how to expand customer relationships may be waning.

Develop a Communication Plan

Communication is the first step in building strong relationships with your customers. First, assess what your communication strategy is. If you do not currently have a strategy for ongoing contact with your clients, it’s time to develop one! Whether it’s a weekly, monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly correspondence with your clients, it’s important to decide on a plan of action and implement that plan.

If you already have a communication plan in place, and are tracking your customer communication, now is the time to review and assess the effectiveness of your plan.

• Do your customers seem engaged and interested in your communication with them?
• Is your customer base steady, or do you seem to be losing customers?
• Have you had any repeated complaints from multiple customers?
• How can you better serve your customers?
• Is there an easy and reliable way for customers to reach you if they have a complaint, concern, or would like to make a suggestion?

This may all sound overwhelming at first, but these are just a few areas to get you started thinking about how to facilitate more communication with your customers. You are probably already doing some of these things. If there are several of these suggestions that you are not doing, yet you feel compelled to implement, don’t panic! Just take one suggestion at a time and move forward that way.

Relationships with clients are built over time, and anything you do now to start the process is a step in the right direction. Once you start to understand and embrace the importance of customer relationships in a strategic marketing plan, you will be heading for success.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing
firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by
creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
Join his JV Wealth e-zine at http://www.christianfea.com/joint-venture-wealth-report/?a=2

This may sound like a fantastic idea, but how do you go about building these partnerships? It seems so daunting . . . if you’re just a small niche market business, how can you help anyone else and why would they want to partner with you?

These are valid questions and concerns, but forging a strategic alliance isn’t as difficult as it may initially appear to be. The Internet is full of small, niche market businesses, so it is not a far-fetched idea to think that a company of a similar size to yours would welcome an alliance with you, and that you’d be able to help one another.

Getting Started

The first step towards embarking upon a strategic marketing alliance is to select a company who is not a direct competitor of yours, that wouldn’t serve either one of you very well, but to choose a company whose interests run similar to your own, without being a direct competitor.

Initially, figuring out what these businesses might be is to assess your own target market. You must know whom your business appeals to before you can embark on deciding who might be interested in a similar client base.

You first must ask yourself a few simple questions:

• What is the average age of your clients?
• What are their occupations?
• What is their income range?
• What other interests do they have?
• What are some other products or services that are compatible with mine?

If you don’t have immediate answers to these questions, it is time to create a market survey to get the answers you need, or to simply inventory your client roster and compile some basic data. The occupation and income range may not be relevant information to your business, if you deal in luxury goods, but it will of course matter if you deal in refrigerators or stoves, or something that everyone at some point needs to purchase where income is a less telling metric. Questions 1, 4 and 5 may be the most helpful in targeting potential partners for smaller Internet businesses.

The Next Step

Once you have identified your target market, and a product or service that may be a good accompaniment to yours, what do you do next?

Let’s say for instance, that your company rents designer wedding gowns. The occupation and income, as stated above, are less important considerations than questions 1 and 5. It naturally follows that someone in need of a wedding dress may also be in need of a caterer, photographer or wedding planner. In this instance, question number 5 is the most important consideration, but the age of your clients may also be important. Will a young couple prefer a young photographer? Will an older couple prefer an older more established photographer? Perhaps.

In this case, your next step will be to contact some photographers, caterers and wedding planers to propose a referral agreement, or even to exchange mailing lists and client lists. It is also important to seek alliances with a variety of companies in terms of age, and establishment: some clients will distinctly want an experienced photographer, while some will be willing to take a chance on a newer professional.

Forming a strategic alliance can be an integral part to the marketing and ultimate success of your business. The first step is to know your client base, so you can target and appropriate partner. Don’t be intimidated by approaching companies with which to forge an alliance, ideally this is a partnership - something from which both parties will benefit equally.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing
firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by
creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
Join his JV Wealth e-zine at http://www.christianfea.com/joint-venture-wealth-report/?a=2