Writing is a tricky business.

You have to choose just the right words to convey your unique message to your specific audience.

And, that’s only half the battle.

There’s also the question of context.

Where and how will you communicate? And, what is your goal?

Novels are not novellas. And, content marketing is not copywriting.

As Perry Robin, a writer for the content marketing experts at Brafton, explains:

Writing marketing copy is a unique, specialized task.

It shouldn’t be confused with newswriting, sending an email to a colleague,  RFP copy or the many other types of writing a business may need to use.

Although marketing copy draws on elements from all of the above (and much, much more), it’s a distinct, powerful and unique entity that has a specific purpose and set of goals.

The goal of marketing copy is to convert.

Compelling marketing copy is the key to gaining subscribers, clients or customers. 

But, just because you’re great at writing blog content, or technical descriptions, or FAQs, does not mean that you’re a great copywriter.

Fortunately, copywriting is a skill that can be learned.

I’ve heard it claimed that copy is not written, so much as constructed.

Like a model airplane. But, with words.

And sure, there are formulas that you can follow to write strong marketing or sales copy. (More about that below.) But there’s more to copywriting than a handful of formulas.

Here are 7 tips to help fill in the blanks of what makes copywriting great. Read on to learn how to write marketing copy that combines both art and science – copy that will engage your audience and motivate them to convert.

Tip #1 Keep it short, snappy, and easy-to-read.

This first tip is important.

People are busy. They lead fast-paced lives. And, a million things are vying for their attention.

As a result, people don’t read marketing copy. They scan.

In 1997 the Nielsen Norman Group revealed that 79% of users they tested scanned web pages rather than reading them. Since then, our online lives have only gotten busier as we’re bombarded daily with personal messages, cat gifs, marketing messages, viral videos, political messages… You get the idea.

This is why people scan – they don’t have time to do anything else. And, wordiness is the enemy.

Eddie Shleyner, content marketer, copywriter and founder of VeryGoodCopy.com, asserts:

Brevity and clarity will ensure that your message is digestible, which is important if you want your words to be read and understood with ease.

If you want to write good copy, you need to get to the point. Fast.

And with fewer words to communicate your message, the words you choose become more important.

Edit ruthlessly.

And, find more concise ways to communicate your point.

Tip #2 Write in the active voice.

Don’t worry – I’m not gonna get all grammar-y on you.  Well… not too grammar-y.

Here’s what you need to know. Passive voice is fussier and harder to read than active voice.

See for yourself:

Passive: “The product was bought by the customer.”

Active: “The customer bought the product.”

Both statements are grammatically correct. However, the passive statement de-emphasizes the subject (the customer) in favor of the object (the product).

When you’re writing marketing copy, are you trying to connect with the customer or the product?

Writing in active voice (emphasizing the subject – aka your potential customer) creates a higher likelihood that the audience reading it will relate to the content. When readers can imagine themselves in your words, that resonance is a powerful tool of persuasion.

And, writing in active voice is always more concise than its passive version. So, it helps to keep your writing shorter, snappier, and easier-to-read. Sound familiar?

So, always review your copy to ensure that you’re writing in an active voice that will quickly and directly resonate with your readers.

Tip #3 Make it about your audience.

We already touched on the importance of connecting with your audience in our last section about writing in active voice. But, that’s just a piece of a much bigger puzzle.

Your readers are people. And people like to hear about themselves. You should always keep this in mind as you write your copy.

In practice, this means viewing every piece of information you share through the lens of your audience.

• What benefits are most important to them?
• Why will they care about this?
• How will this impact their lives in a positive way?
• What problem does it solve for them?

It also means speaking to your audience and helping them envision how your product or service will play a positive role in their life.

Neil Patel points out that Apple does an excellent job of doing just that. Here’s an excerpt from Apple’s iPhone5 marketing copy:

So you can browse, download, and stream content at remarkable speeds, wherever you happen to be.

With one less layer between you and what you see on iPhone 5, you experience more clarity than ever before.

So with iPhone 5, the games you play, the words you read, the images you see, and the apps you love look and feel incredibly vivid and lifelike.

It’s all about “you.” This copy paints a vivid picture. I can imagine myself holding a new iPhone and playing mobile games on a crystal clear screen.

Write copy that will guide your potential customers to see your product or service in their lives.

For example, on our blog, we offer numerous opportunities for people to get free guides on a variety of topics. When people search for how to start a business and read our article on that subject, we offer them a free brand identity guide (this is a call-out in the article). Our call-out clearly and quickly articulates why our readers should care about this guide and how it will help them.

Tip #4 Lean on emotion – not intellect.

When it comes to people, emotion trumps logic almost every time.

As we wrote previously,

One of the most valuable rules consumer behavior has taught us is that people respond better to emotional appeals than intellectual ones. Roger Dooley’s article “Emotional Ads Work Better” reveals that emotional ad campaigns perform nearly twice as well as ads with a rational focus.

It’s more persuasive to show consumers how a product or service can benefit their life in a meaningful way rather than showing them a list of features.

This guideline is especially true when writing marketing copy designed to motivate people to act. Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroanatomist, author and public speaker, explains:

We live in a world where we are taught from the start that we are thinking creatures that feel. The truth is, we are feeling creatures that think.

While common wisdom seems to indicate that it’s better to make decisions rationally, the truth is that emotion influences all of our choices. You can’t afford to forget the persuasive strength of emotions.

Tailor your copy to resonate with a prospect’s emotions. Then supplement that emotional appeal with enough info to satisfy the mind’s rational side.

The next section will offer you three copywriting techniques for doing just that.

Tip #5 Use copywriting formulas.

Good marketing copy doesn’t follow the 5 paragraph essay format you learned in high school.

But, that doesn’t mean that there’s no structure at all.

In fact, there are a vast number of copywriting formulas that you can follow. So many, that it’s impossible to cover all of them here.

These formulas outline exactly what type of information you should be sharing and in what order. Handy, right?

But, with so many copywriting formulas to choose from, how do you know where to start?

We’ve chosen three of the best-known formulas to get you started.

A.I.D.A.

This is probably the oldest and most widely known copywriting formula. It was developed in 1898 by St Elmo Lewis. “A.I.D.A.” stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

These are the four stages Lewis believed were necessary in order to motivate a customer to make a purchase. And, history has proven that he was pretty spot-on.

A – Capture the reader’s attention.

I – Build interest in your product or service. (Show how the product or service is relevant to the reader.)

D – Create desire for the product or service (Help readers imagine how their lives will be positively impacted.)

A – Deliver your call to action.

P.A.S. 

This formula is more recent.

And, it takes into account the fact that when writing on the web, chances are good that you’ve already got your reader’s attention (or they wouldn’t be there). “P.A.S.” stands for Problem, Agitation, Solution.

The best way to wrap your mind around this technique is to think of an infomercial. The narrator states a problem. The actor on the screen acts a fool as they struggle to show how difficult it is to complete the given task – this is the agitation. Then the product is revealed as the solution.

P – Introduce the problem in an engaging way.

A – Agitate the reader by helping them envision how frustrating/unpleasant the problem really is.

S – Save the day by providing a solution to solve the prospect’s issue.

F.A.B.

F.A.B. stands for Features, Advantages, Benefits. This formula is great to use when introducing a new product or service that needs some explanation or when you want to differentiate your product/service from a competitor. It’s also a great technique for writing product descriptions.

F –  Mention the specific feature you want to call attention to.

A – Specify what advantages that feature offers (over a competitor, a previous version, or just what the feature actually does).

B – Show how these features and advantages actually benefit the lives of the users in a positive way.

You’ll notice that these formulas all rely on inciting an emotional response in the prospect. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Tip #6 Make every word count.

In good writing, as in good design, nothing is arbitrary.

Every word, line, color, and shape must be chosen with intent to optimize your ability to communicate your precise message.

In marketing copywriting – when it’s essential to communicate succinctly – it becomes even more important to get the most from every word. One of the ways to accomplish this is by relying on “power words”.

The internet is full of lists of marketing power words.  While we can’t promise that simply using power words will lead to a sale – or even that every word on these lists is as effective as people claim they are – there’s no denying that certain words do have power.

Words like “free.” Or “new.” And words like “you” and “sale.”

For more “power words” check out this list of 100 power words from Honeycopy and this list from Buffer.

Making every word count also means knowing which words to avoid. Take a pass on words that are weak or generic. Instead, choose specific, evocative words that pack a lot of punch. Make friends with a thesaurus and use it regularly.

Choose vivid, expressive, powerful words and your copy will leap off the page or screen.

Tip #7 Don’t forget to ask.

No marketing copy is complete without a call to action.

The call to action (CTA) is the moment in your copy when you stop making your case and ask for what you want.

And, that’s what we want, right?

A call to action should always be clear and concise.

There’s no room for ambiguity. Ambiguity creates confusion and anxiety about how to proceed – neither of which is good for sales.

A clear call to action tells a prospect exactly what they need to do to move forward.

And, that certainty is reassuring. Not to mention knowing how to move forward increases the likelihood that they’ll manage to do it.

When writing a call to action, consider taking one of two paths – the path of complete reassurance or the path of urgency.

The path of complete reassurance removes all potential stress around following through on the CTA. “Sign up for our free trial!” is an example of this technique. There’s no downside to acting – the thing they’re signing up for is free. So, prospects feel safe to take this next step.

That’s what we do, for example, on many of our landing pages. When people are looking for custom logo design for their business, for example, we bring them to a landing page that explains that product offering. And our main call to action there is “Get started (no obligation)”.

This is something we constantly test (so the language on our landing pages always varies) – and you should do the same.

Contrast that with our call to action on landing pages related to naming. When people are looking for a unique company name, we bring them to a landing page where the main call to action is “Start a naming project draft”. In that call to action, “start” and “draft” make clear that the person isn’t taking an action that’s irreversible.

Alternately, your call to action may incite some degree of urgency or curiosity that compels a prospect to move forward. “Order today! Supplies are limited!”

Invoking a limited time or limited quantity creates a sense of urgency that motivates leads to act quickly – whether they feel completely at ease or not.

Whichever path you take, be sure to include a direct call to action. And, test to learn which CTAs are most effective with your audience.

The Power of Marketing Copy

Marketing copy is a powerful tool. But, it’s ultimately only as powerful as your knowledge of where your audience and your product intersect.

Benyamin Elias, copywriter and content marketing expert, explains it this way:

Marketing copy only makes people want products to the extent that it answers their problems and helps them get the things that they want. As Joanna Wiebe, the original conversion copywriter, says “you’re selling your prospects a better version of themselves”

If you want to have strong marketing copy, you first need to ask other questions. What problems do people have? Are they willing to pay to solve them? What demand is out there for a solution like your product?

So, anytime you feel lost about what to write, seek out your sources – your customer and your product.

For more information on copywriting, check out these blogs:

• Copyblogger
• Copyhackers
• The Copywriter’s Crucible

The post How to Write Compelling Marketing Copy: 7 Tips for Writing Content That Gets Results appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

It’s not easy to create unique, memorable logos.

But, diligence and dedication to your craft can make all the difference.

This is true for Dhian Kusuma, (who goes by the username otnielz on crowdspring), a competitive logo and graphic designer.

We recently spoke with Dhian about his experiences working with crowdspring.

Dhian is a former computer programmer, father of two, Instagram addict and coffee-lover. In his time with crowdspring, he’s submitted over 6,000 designs to over 1,800 projects and been so successful that he was able to pay off 10 years’ worth of mortgage payments with just one month’s awards!

We talked with Dhian about his crowdspring experience, how he became interested in graphic design, his two young sources of inspiration, and his design process (spoiler – it involves coffee!).

The images in this interview are the winning designs from some of the projects Dhian has won on crowdspring.

1. Please tell us about yourself.

I started working as a graphic designer 11 years ago. I was in college and graduated with a bachelor of information technology as a programmer.

But, after graduating I decided to become a graphic designer because it turns out that programming is not my passion. So I taught myself and I’ve been living from my drawing ever since.

2. How did you become interested in design?

I liked to draw since high school and from there I became interested in the world of design.

I got to know the world of graphic design during my graduation thesis. I made a website, and learned I am more interested in designing the user interface than the web programming itself.

3. What led you to start using crowdspring?

I started out using the internet for online gaming and got bored because I simply spent a lot of money. Then I started thinking about how to make money from the internet.

I knew of crowdspring from my friend; and realized that I could make money from the work I enjoy doing.

4. What inspires you?

I’ve got a lot inspiration, especially designers from Indonesia.

But my biggest inspiration comes from my sons. When I’m stuck, lazy, bored with work, I just think about my sons. They need food, milk, school, sneakers, toys, vacation…and much more.

My sons are 6 and 2 years old.

5. How would you describe your style?

Clean – Simple – Effective

Logo and branding are my favorites. And I’m just learning more about negative space logos. Negative space designs push me into thinking more creatively in a simple way.

Less but more!

6. What is the design process like for you? How do you start?

Make the coffee, read the brief, make the mood board from Pinterest, sketching (brainstorming) and make it into a vector.

Black Coffee is the best! 2 cups a day.

After I read the brief, I open Pinterest and research some keywords. This helps me discover logo styles and helps me avoid creating a similar logo that’s been created by another designer.

7. What do you do in your free time?

Instagram and playing with my sons.

8. What is your most memorable project on crowdspring?

I remember in Dec 2015, I got a lot of winner notification emails. And from the projects I won in that month, I could pay off the rest of my home loan for 10 years. Amazing!

9. What is your favorite part about working on crowdspring?

Crowdspring has a playful email they send to the creative who wins the project. It’s called the “LUCKY DOG” winner notification. I love getting those messages. Thanks crowdspring!

Want to work with Dhian?

The post An Interview with crowdspring Designer, Dhian Kusuma appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

As the price of high-quality cameras has continued to fall, the art and craft of photography have flourished.

For many people, photography isn’t just a way of capturing a memory.

Photography is a fulfilling way to express yourself. It’s a way to interpret the world and make the invisible visible.

And for many, it’s a way to make a living.

Navigating the transition between photography as a hobby and creating a photography business can be tricky. People often ask:

• How much money does it take to start a photography business?
• What do you need to do to start a photography business?
• Is a photography business profitable?
• How do photographers get clients?
• Do I need a business license for photography?

If you want to take the plunge and start your own photography business, there is a lot to consider.

Here’s a complete, 10 step guide on how to start a photography business.

1. Develop and refine your idea
2. Write a business plan
3. Decide your legal business structure
4. Purchase business insurance
5. Crunch the numbers
6. Create a strong brand identity
7. Build a web presence
8. Create a sales plan
9. Build your team
10. Grow your business

1. Develop and refine your idea

Before you dive into starting your own photography business, you need to consider your strengths, weaknesses, and interests.

You probably have an idea of what kind of photography business you want to start. Maybe you want to start a wedding photography studio, or perhaps your heart is set on taking headshots and portraits.

No matter what angle you choose, it’s important to evaluate existing businesses around you to see how much competition you’ll face.

Think about how you can integrate your natural skillset into your photography business so you can stand apart from your competition. Ask yourself the following questions, and take time to reflect on the answers:

• What skills set me apart?
• What is the purpose of my business?
• Who am I providing a service or product to?
• What is the maximum figure I can safely spend on this business?
• Do I need outside capital? How much?
• What kind of work/life balance am I looking to achieve?
• What are my expectations of being an entrepreneur?

Find a niche

You’ll also want to consider what specific niche is right for your photography business.

Is your photography geared toward a particular group or segment of the population?

Are you looking to attract a particular demographic?

You’ll have a better chance at success if you start with a specific target audience.

Make sure you build your business to meet the needs of a specific niche to avoid overspending and underwhelming all of your potential customers.

You’re more likely to succeed if you start your business with a specific product or service designed for a particular group of people. And you’ll gain experience more quickly by concentrating in a specific area.

This is true for any business, not just a photography business. For example, in our definitive guide on how to start a successful clothing brand or clothing line, we suggest that aspiring apparel entrepreneurs choose their niche too. It’s too hard to compete, especially when you start, when you don’t specialize.

Here are some photography niches to consider:

• Weddings
• Fashion
• Real Estate
• Travel
• Portraits
• Sports

Whatever niche you choose, make sure you’re passionate about it. That passion will come through in everything you do, and your customers will appreciate and embrace the authenticity of your brand.

2. Write a business plan

Although a business plan isn’t mandatory, it can help you to crystallize your ideas. Toby Nwazor advocates for creating a business plan:

Any experienced entrepreneur knows a company without a business plan is like a fish without water. The plan does not need to be lengthy at first. Rather, it should be one or two pages, identifying the key elements of the clothing line’s business strategy.

A business plan is a document that outlines the financial and operational goals of your business. It defines the objectives of your company and then provides specific information that shows how your company will reach those goals.

Your business plan doesn’t need to be 100 pages long. Keep it short and concise and focus on the essential details.

Studies show that entrepreneurs who take the time to write a business plan are 2.5 times more likely to follow through and get their business off the ground. The work that goes into creating a business plan also helps new entrepreneurs build skills that will be invaluable later.

Traditional business plans have the following sections:

• An executive summary. This section summaries the entire plan, so it is generally written last. Anyone reading your plan will read this first, so it’s an important element.
• An industry overview. This section gives a brief overview of the industry sector your business will operate in. It includes key players, industry trends, and estimates of industry sales.
• Market analysis. This looks at the target market for your product or service. It has a breakdown of your market segments, their geographic location, and what their needs are. This section shows anyone reading that you have a thorough understanding of the people you plan to sell to or serve.
• Competitive analysis. Who are your direct and indirect competitors? How do they currently meet your target market’s needs, and how will you differentiate your product or services?
• Sales and marketing plan. What is your unique selling proposition? How are you going to promote your business and persuade your target audience to buy? This section goes into detail on questions like these.
• Management plan. This section outlines your legal and management structure. It shows who your leadership team is and what your staffing needs will be. If you plan to seek funding, you should describe your advisory board here, as well.
• Operating plan. Your business location, facilities, equipment, and what kind of employees you’ll need are in this section. Any suppliers, manufacturing processes, and any other operating details also appear here.
• Financial plan. This section is for all things financial. There are three key financial documents of any business that go here: an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash flow statement.
• Appendices and Exhibits. Any information that helps support your business idea goes here, including market studies, legal agreements, photos of your products, and more.

For more information about how to create a business plan, the Small Business Administration has you covered. Click here to see their complete guide to writing a business plan.

Do market research

Before you dive into your business plan, it’s important to know the market you’re entering.

Business planning and marketing research help you to build a more successful photography business.

Who is your direct competition? Who are the top photographers working in your target niche? What makes them stand out from the rest of the competition?

A lot of the work to come relies on information gleaned from market research. It’s crucial that you don’t skip this stage, so you have the data you need to make informed decisions.

There are two major types of market research: primary and secondary.

Primary research answers some key questions, such as:

• What factors do your potential customers consider when purchasing similar products or services?
• What do they think is working and what needs improvement in their current choices?
• What do they like and dislike about the options currently available to them?
• What price do they pay? Do they feel it’s reasonable and provides good value?

You answer these questions by talking to potential customers. Surveys, focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and questionnaires are the tools of choice for primary research.

Secondary research is information pulled from existing sources.

You can identify competitors and define your market segments or demographics using currently available data. Key attributes like age range, lifestyle, and behavioral patterns are some of the data points used to divide your target customers into segments.

Once you have this information, you’ll refer back to it repeatedly as you build and launch your business. Make sure you spent a decent amount of time collecting data, so the decisions you make are based on solid research.

Plan for all of the necessary legal and logistical business considerations, and you’ll create a strong foundation for the successful future of your photography business.

3. Decide your legal business structure

There are many different types of legal structures for various business entities. For new business owners, choosing the best one for your business can feel overwhelming.

Here are some of the major business entities you should look into:

• Sole proprietorship – this is the most basic business entity. A sole proprietorship means that one person is solely responsible for a business’ profits and debts.
• Partnership – A partnership is a shared responsibility between two or more people who both hold personal liability for a business.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) – a structure that permits owners, partners or shareholders to limit personal liability, but still includes tax and flexibility benefits associated with a partnership.
• Corporation – this is an entity legally considered separate from its owners. That means that corporations are permitted to own property, can be held liable, must pay taxes, and may enter contracts.

As a creative professional, chances are you’re starting small. Setting up a sole proprietorship or partnership may be the best fit if you’re going it solo, especially if your business will be home-based when you start.

It’s important to consider your future business goals, however. You want to choose a business structure that can accommodate the growth and expansion of your business.

For more information, the Small Business Administration is a great resource.

Once you decide on your legal business structure, be sure to register with the government (typically your state and sometimes, your municipality) and the IRS.

The forms you need and where you have to register, are determined by your business structure.

You can find a full list of the forms for each type of entity on the SBA website. You can also find state-specific tax obligations on the same site.

In some cases, you may need federal, state, or local licenses and permits to operate. The SBA’s database lets you search for licensing requirements by state and business type. And remember to contact your municipality to see if there are any local licensing or registration requirements.

You may also need to get an employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS.

If you’re a sole owner and don’t have employees, this is not required. But you might want to get an EIN anyway to keep your personal and business taxes separate and to be sure that you can quickly hire when the time comes to expand your business.

The IRS has a useful checklist to help you decide whether you will need an EIN to run your business.

If you do need an EIN, you can register online for free.

4. Purchase business insurance

You’d be surprised how many new business owners forget to protect themselves and their business by purchasing insurance before they start their business.

It doesn’t help if you buy insurance after you start your business and incur claims.

Insurance can cover property damage, theft, intellectual property lawsuits, and other incidents. Those can be very costly to small businesses and you need to protect yourself and your new business. This is true even if your business is home-based as your personal home insurance might not cover your business.

Depending on your photography business niche market, you may need insurance to bid for jobs or secure client work. Some companies require all of their vendors and contractors to have insurance.

And if you will employ people, you’ll need to have workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance. Coverage varies by location, and much general liability (GL) policies will cover at least workers’ compensation.

As a provider of photography services, you’ll want to have professional liability insurance so you’re protected against possible claims. You probably also have lots of expensive equipment, and insuring those against theft, damage, or worse will make sure if disaster strikes, you’re prepared.

Here’s a good read on the different types of insurance you should consider as a business owner.

5. Crunch the numbers

When you start a new business, even if it’s a home-based photography business, understanding the numbers involved is crucial.

These numbers include being able to track your sales and profits – but a smart business will need to account for much more than sales alone.

Also, many photography businesses tend to work on a contract. That means you need to prepare for the ups and downs of inconsistent revenue. You need to know how much revenue you need to cover the times when things are leaner.

As you may be a company of one, you should also plan for health and life insurance, and budgeting for vacations, too. Don’t be one of those entrepreneurs who never take time to step away for a while. Everyone needs a break at some point, and your budget should consider that.

To start a new photography business, your costs may include:

• your brand design (logo, business cards, and website)
• any license or permit fees
• deposits and rent for a physical work location if you plan to lease your own workspace
• basic infrastructural costs like phone and internet service, invoicing software, etc…
• marketing and advertising costs
• equipment costs or leases
• salaries or wages for any employees

Once you know how much it will cost to get you started, compare that with the funds you have. Then plan how you’ll make up any difference.

Even if you start a home-based photography business, you’ll still incur costs, so pay careful attention to your budget.

Run calculations to determine how much it will cost to create your business will allow you to plan and think about pricing.

6. Create a strong brand identity

Crafting a memorable brand identity is a crucial element in any creative professional’s success. This identity is increasingly important as Instagram and other social media blur the lines between who is a professional and who is a hobbyist.

As we’ve previously discussed,

…your brand is your company’s public identity. Ideally, your brand should embody the best (and most essential) attributes of your company.

A brand represents how people know you and your business. It affects how customers perceive your reputation or the reputation of your company.

In today’s competitive creative market, a strong brand is more important than it has ever been.

Ask yourself these important questions:

• What identity/personality do I want my creative brand to project?
• Who will want my products or services?
• What can customers get from my products or services that they can’t get anywhere else?
• What can customers get from working with me that they can’t get anywhere else?
• What are my brand values?
• What is the most important part of my customers’ experience?

Your answers to these questions (and others like them) will build the core of your brand. All of your future branding decisions should expand on these ideas. Your company name, your company logo, and your website design should all grow from the concepts you laid out here.

Remember that your business name plays a role in almost every aspect of your business.

Whenever you make personal appearances be sure to carry business cards and brochures in case people want to learn more about your services.

You can learn more about the nuts and bolts of establishing and maintaining consistent brand identity in Grow Your Small Business with Consistent Branding.

7. Build a web presence

A photographer’s calling card is their portfolio and work samples. Today that means having a  professionally designed website.

Customers choose creative services based on the brand, the person behind the brand, and the quality of the work presented to them.

The most effective way for creatives to show off their skills and personality is through their web presence.

Don’t believe us? A recent study shows that 97% of consumers research their purchases online before they buy something.

Start by ensuring that your website design truly embodies your brand. Visitors should be able to understand who you are, the services you offer, your style, and the quality of your work.

Your website’s design and marketing copy should project your brand’s voice and identity. Here are some suggestions:

• Use your brand’s colors.
• If you are the primary employee, include a photo and bio. Customers want to know the person behind the site.
• Be authentic and avoid marketing “happy talk.” Speak the same language as your customers.
• Include high-quality examples of your work.
• Give site visitors an easy way to get in contact with you.

Aim to create a site that builds your brand establishes your approach and style and communicates your business’ value proposition. As it is with other fields that are personality-driven (like real estate sales and other creative services), people are not just buying your services; they’re buying a relationship with you.

There are self-hosted open-source portfolio apps available that allow you to combine your uniquely branded website with a gallery of your work.

Check out WordPress if you’re looking for a self-hosted solution.

Finally, a strong website design will lend credibility and legitimacy to your business. To learn more about great website design, check out Grow Your Small Business With These 7 Website Design Best Practices and 7 Modern Web Design Trends for 2019.

8. Create a sales plan

Never forget the power of good old fashioned market research when you’re ready to open your photography business.

Not every option will be cost-effective or practical, and you should understand what choices will work best for your business.

How will you sell your products or services?

Photography can be a personal, intimate service, so a hands-on approach is often more effective and successful. Your website can help you generate leads, but your success is based just as much on the customers you say no to like the ones you say yes.

What does this mean? It means getting up from the computer and on the phone.

A quick call with a prospective customer can establish whether or not you’re a good fit for their needs. It saves both you and your customer time and effort if it turns out there isn’t a good match.

All of this pre-work leads to the second part of your sales plan: the in-person consultation. You definitely want to meet with your client before you pick up your camera so that you can work out in advance their needs, expectations, and any critical factors.

The ultimate goal is for your client to buy your work. You may have your particular style or aesthetic, but you also want to capture what your customer wants. The in-person meeting is when you can establish these criteria.

One other part of your sales plan is what happens after you’ve completed the work. Post-sales customer care can be a place where you differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Present your work to your customers personally, and walk them through some of your thoughts and comments about the project. Many photographers are content to send clients a link to an online selection of photos. An online gallery may be efficient for both parties, but it may turn your work into a commodity.

Add in a personal perspective when you share your work, so your clients understand your thought process. By creating a great sales experience throughout the project, you can bolster work-of-mouth referrals.

Word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool, especially for photographers. As we wrote:

In fact, customers referred to a product are more valuable. A Wharton School of Business study found that referred customers have a 16% higher lifetime value and are more loyal.

Think about your sales plan ahead of time so you can capitalize on every opportunity to close the sale and generate more.

9. Build your team

There’s a time in almost every entrepreneur’s career when you feel like you’re going it alone.

When you first start your photography business, there’s a good chance that you will be.

For your business to scale and grow, however, you’ll need help.

Many photography businesses are started by sole entrepreneurs who hire experienced professionals to handle specific parts of their business.

Whether you hire employees or work with contractors depends on your particular business.

At first, you should only hire for positions that provide the most immediate benefit to your business.

There’s no one right answer for what those positions might be – every business is different. As you plan what positions to hire, consider what aspects of the company pose the most significant challenge. It’s also crucial to recognize your limitations.

Hire an employee who is an expert in areas your business lacks expertise. Build a robust and well-rounded team to create a stable foundation for your business.

With all of that in mind, where should you start?

You may want your first hire to be a part-time assistant. Look for someone who is a jack-of-all-trades, eager to learn new skills, with a strong work ethic. You’ll sleep better if you have someone in the trenches with you that you can rely on. And you’ll likely need someone to help you with equipment at photoshoots.

If you’re new to marketing, a marketer can help you strategize your business.

One position you’ll need to fill is an accountant or bookkeeper. You need to ensure you’re tracking your expenses and revenue and keeping good records for tax season.

The Legal Stuff

Of course, hiring staff or consultants for your photography business means that you’ll have to deal with all sorts of legalities and paperwork. Hiring and signing contracts with professional service providers isn’t an area where you should “wing it.”

To help you with some of the legal issues to consider we went straight to the source. The hiring experts at Indeed recommend that you:

• Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) by applying on the IRS website (you’ll get your number immediately after applying!).
• Register with your state’s labor department.
• Fill out paperwork to withhold federal taxes from your employee’s wages.
• Set up workers’ compensation insurance if it is required in your state.

You’ll also need to decide whether you’re hiring full or part-time employees.

Part-time employees cost less. This cost-savings can be an advantage when you first get started. As your business grows and you can afford it, you can expand their hours.

Full-time employees also require more paperwork to get set up. To gain more complete insight into the hiring process, read Indeed’s step-by-step guide, “How to Hire Employees.”

And if you need help with employment or contractor agreements or agreements with your vendors, take a look at Quickly Legal, which offers entrepreneurs, small businesses and startups an easy and inexpensive way to create, sign and manage legal contracts and agreements, with many you can start using right away.

10. Grow your business

You have your business ready to go – your brand is a masterpiece of consistency and charm, your legal and business plans are all squared away, and you have a solid team standing behind your business.

Here comes the fun part – introducing your business to customers!

Look into newspapers and local magazines, trade shows, and public events where you can bring your brand and your work to the people. Any outlet that makes sense for your business is one you should seek out.

Give your prospective customers an intimate view of your work and your business.

As a new, up-and-coming business owner, social media is an inexpensive and easy outlet for all of the beautiful work you’ve created. As we previously explained,

Social media gives you the ability to easily keep customers up-to-date on new products, store policies or sales. It also enables you to build a social rapport with current customers, while building low-pressure relationships with future buyers.

Maintaining Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook presences are important tools to build a following and connect with your market niche. With the advent of micro-influencers, the potential reach a new business now has is truly massive.

As a visual creative, your social media presence should be managed with intent.

Instagram is an obvious priority for photography businesses. You can post examples of your work to the platform, connect with customers, and use it to build your personal brand. But Instagram (and other platforms like Facebook) can also be where you post behind-the-scenes photos and videos to give prospective clients an insider’s eye to your business.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to think about when you’re starting your own photography business.

These ten steps will give you an advantage and will help get you started on the road to owning a successful business of your very own.

1. Develop and refine your idea
2. Write a business plan
3. Decide your legal business structure
4. Purchase business insurance
5. Crunch the numbers
6. Create a strong brand identity
7. Build a web presence
8. Create a sales plan
9. Build your team
10. Grow your business

Additional Resources for Photographers

If you want to sell your photos to stock image sites, here are the sites you should consider:

• 123RF
• BigStockPhoto
• Candidly Images
• CanStockPhoto
• Clashot
• Corbis
• DepositPhotos
• Dreamstime
• Foap
• Fotolia
• FreeDigitalPhotos.net
• Instaprints
• iStockPhoto
• Lobster.media
• ShutterPoint
• ShutterStock
• Snapwi.re
• Twenty20

The post How to Start a Successful Photography Business: The Complete 10 Step Guide (2019) appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Feeling a little restless?

You’re not alone.

The shiny new year excitement has officially begun to dull, and along with it, our enthusiasm for everything we had planned to make this year the Best One Ever. New hobbies we’ve set our sights on mastering have begun to idle, exciting us less and nagging us more with each passing day.

We feel guilty, at first, and then think better of it. We eyeball the calligraphy section on Amazon and realize that it’s not our fault at all, we just didn’t realize that what we really needed was to master the art of lettering,

Enter the Depth Year, whose premise centers around the resolve toward “no new hobbies, no new possessions.”

The central insight you’ll discover pursuing a Depth Year is likely (and fittingly) not a novel concept. Depth Years reveal an old truth: fulfillment is found in what is already here, not in the seductive and relentless Out There.

If we look inward, rather than outward, we’ll find enormous value in what already exists right now.

Abandoning the cult of consumption and the endless cycle of more, more, more reveals that we do not, in fact, get satisfaction from a lot of shallow distractions. Rather, we are fulfilled through deep and meaningful exploration of the vast possibility in the here and now.

If you’re already feeling the weight of burnout in this still-new year, take a look at a Depth Year. It might be the answer you didn’t know you already had.

Now, we hope you enjoy another great set of links and articles that we shared with you over the past week on our crowdspring Twitter account (and on Ross’s Twitter account). We regularly share our favorite posts on entrepreneurship, small business, marketing, logo design, web design, startups, leadership, social media, marketing, economics, and other interesting stuff! Enjoy!

Comprehensive guide!  How to Start a Business: A Step-by-Step Complete Guide (2019) https://t.co/Qi2SDpqzYS @crowdspring @rosskimbarovsky

— Larry Kim (@larrykim) February 16, 2019

My answer to What are some things to consider when selecting a business name and logo? https://t.co/jdMopdvArG

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) February 28, 2019

Growth Hacking: How To Grow Your Small Business Faster https://t.co/19GhE3dyy3 pic.twitter.com/5bcOCSt3fO

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 16, 2019

How to Start a Successful Consulting Business: The Complete 10 Step Guide (2019) – crowdspring Blog https://t.co/eaPeLyu32j @crowdspring

— Ramon Ray (@ramonray) February 19, 2019

My answer to What are the difference between a brand, branding and brand equity? https://t.co/qYKwFFu6vM

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) February 28, 2019

10 Tips to Create a Memorable Tagline for Your Business https://t.co/JIoefHKno2 pic.twitter.com/ug2mrMXwOm

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 24, 2019

How to Start a Successful Photography Business: The Complete 10 Step Guide (2019) | @crowdspring Blog – https://t.co/bOhnias1ar #photographybusiness #photographer #SMBs #HowTo pic.twitter.com/jPCGUSkyH2

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 28, 2019

4 Major Challenges of Being Your Own Boss (and How to Overcome Them) https://t.co/6lq2GgLUcB pic.twitter.com/IQ77u0JbT9

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 24, 2019

Great thread on the Amazon/NYC deal, who’s responsible, and why Amazon pulled back. https://t.co/U8V12mPqHt

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) February 15, 2019

Use Science To Avoid Bad Business Decisions https://t.co/F0Lnkhhev8 pic.twitter.com/RJ2RAkzpaR

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 25, 2019

How to Write Compelling Marketing Copy: 7 Tips for Writing Content That Gets Results | @crowdspring Blog – https://t.co/EeXBrW1cbt #SMB #marketingtips #contentstrategy #SmallBizTips pic.twitter.com/ji2gGi60xz

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 20, 2019

The 16 Best Small Business Marketing Blogs You Should Read in 2019 – https://t.co/JfqKTDqiVu #mediahaus #blogging

— MediaHaus (@MediaHausAgency) February 20, 2019

6 Effective Branding and Marketing Strategies for Your Beauty Business https://t.co/CkjXD55hF5 pic.twitter.com/8vlC73dtMN

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 1, 2019

Is your package design working hard enough for your brand? In this week's Soup-To-Nuts podcast @crowdspring gives @ECrawfordwrites the lowdown on the latest trends in food & beverage package design https://t.co/tjM0w8UY9f pic.twitter.com/5l7kmp0dP8

— FoodNavigator-USA (@FoodNavigatorUS) February 15, 2019

3 Compelling Product Packaging Design Strategies To Turn Millennials and Gen Z Into Zealous Advocates https://t.co/JpGl2SHnfr pic.twitter.com/BZXOnIGsZO

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 27, 2019

A nice refresher on UX principles – https://t.co/iY3Fzwieiv

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 19, 2019

Grow Your Small Business With These 7 Website Design Best Practices https://t.co/k2sp0bHL0l pic.twitter.com/0VdnWCJFZx

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 20, 2019

Exploring the Social Impact of Graphic Design https://t.co/E0XSNsOvF4 pic.twitter.com/8ScZYO9hCO

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 22, 2019

12 Questions with Self-Taught Designer and crowdspring Creative jhharoon https://t.co/sSyL56Nvkk pic.twitter.com/awnZbHsT9n

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 24, 2019

No bullshit from @adcontrarian (showing why millennials aren't the spending superpower everyone thinks they are) … True Detective: How Bullshit Becomes A Fact – https://t.co/AprjiJCvOQ pic.twitter.com/GkHXm3d9cL

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) February 15, 2019

Great thread on the Amazon/NYC deal, who’s responsible, and why Amazon pulled back. https://t.co/U8V12mPqHt

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) February 15, 2019

The post Twitter Link Roundup #358 – Terrific Reads for Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs, Marketers, and Designers! appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

You’re creative. And you love to craft!

Not to mention, you’ve gotten pretty darn good at it.

Or, you have an amazing eye for vintage finds but your closets are overflowing.

“You should start an Etsy shop!” your friends say. And, you’ve secretly shared that very same thought.

Etsy is a booming online marketplace full of amazing hand-made items and vintage goods. The platform brought in revenues of over $400 million in just the first three quarters of 2018! Who wouldn’t want to be a part of such a successful venture?

But you haven’t started that Etsy shop, yet. And, I’m guessing it’s because getting started can seem so daunting.

People often ask:

• How much does it cost to set up an Etsy shop?
• Do you have to have a business license to sell on Etsy?
• How do I sell successfully on Etsy?
• Is it worth selling on Etsy?

Don’t worry – you’ve got this! And, we’re here to help.

We’ve created a comprehensive guide to help de-mystify and de-stress the process of starting an Etsy shop.

In the sections below we’ll discuss branding basics, how to create listings, product pricing, financial and legal details – even marketing and long-term strategy – everything you need to know to succeed as an Etsy entrepreneur.

Here’s a comprehensive, 9 step guide on how to start an Etsy shop.

1. Set Up Your Account
2. Brand Your Etsy Shop
3. Crunch the Numbers
4. Create Your Product Listings
5. Fill in the Business Blanks
6. Make a Stocking Strategy
7. Plan for Shipping
8. Spread the Word
9. Build a Web Presence Outside of Etsy

1. Set Up Your Account

Okay, let’s take a deep breath and dive right in.

We’re marching straight to Etsy and opening up that shop. But there’s no need for panic.

Setting up the shop is super simple. And, once you get past this mental barrier, you’ll be free to build your Etsy business.

So, shall we?

The very first step is to register your account.

Once you’re registered, you can start setting up your shop. You’ll be asked to specify a few basic preferences – like language and currency.

See? I told you this was easy.

Then they’ll ask you to do the scariest step of setting up your shop – choosing a name.

But, I’m here to tell you – don’t sweat your shop name just yet.

You’re right that you should take some time to think of a really great name (more on that in the next section – Section 2: Brand Your Etsy Shop). But the name you enter here can be changed until you actually open your shop. So, don’t let having the perfect shop name stop you from completing the rest of the process.

You can even change your shop name once after opening. So… breathe. You’re okay.

Once you’ve entered a name, you’ll be allowed to stock your shop, set up payment and billing. Etsy does a great job of guiding you through the process – just follow along and you’ll be fine.

While Etsy does walk you through the mechanics of posting a listing, we’ll cover how to create awesome listings that really sell in Section 4: Create Your Product Listings.

Before opening your shop, fill in your bio and add a personal photo. Writing your bio is a great way to start thinking about who you are, why you’re opening a shop, and what you’re passionate about. All of these things will be incredibly helpful to keep in mind when you start thinking about the next step – branding.

We suggest that you read Section 2: Brand Your Etsy Shop and really think about your branding before you decide on your final shop name. So, without any further ado – let’s talk about branding…

2. Brand Your Etsy Shop

Your Etsy shop will be unique.

That’s because no other shop has you at the helm and sells your specific line of goods.

Your brand and brand identity should also be unique.

Now, you may find yourself thinking, “I’m just opening an Etsy shop. It’s a side hustle. I don’t need to worry about branding!”

But, your brand identity is the way your customers and potential customers will perceive your shop. That means you have a brand whether you choose to or not. And, you’ll be better served by making conscious branding choices instead of leaving it to chance.

Your brand identity’s importance cannot be understated – especially in the authenticity-driven world of Etsy.

Shoppers seek out Etsy for the personal connection they can forge with the shopkeepers there. Consumers can buy most necessities at Target, Amazon or their local grocery store. But, Etsy is known for its special, one-of-a-kind goods with authentic backstories.

So, if you want to make sales, you’ve got to create a brand identity that communicates the essence of what your shop is about and builds confidence in your shop visitors.

So, before you post your first listing, ask yourself these important questions:

• What makes my merchandise unique?
• Who will want to buy my products?
• What can customers get from my Etsy shop that they can’t get anywhere else?
• What are my brand values?
• What is the most important part of my customer’s experience?
  
• What identity/personality do I want my Etsy shop to project?

Your answers to these questions (and others like them) will build the core of your shop’s brand.  Your shop name, your logo, your shop banner or cover photo, and the items you list should all be informed by these core brand ideas.

Etsy Branding Basics

Your shop has three major branded elements that you should be aware of:

• your shop name
• your avatar (usually a logo)
• the shop banner or cover photo

These are the primary tools that you can use to communicate your brand in your Etsy shop. So, you’ll want to give them some real thought.

Shop Name:

All business names should be brand-specific, memorable and unique – this helps to set you apart from your competitors. But, Etsy adds a few additional requirements for shop names. Shop names can’t include spaces, punctuation or more than 20 characters. And, each shop must have a unique name.

Luckily, these requirements will work for you! They’ll force you to think of a short, interesting name. Those are generally easiest to remember.

Since punctuation and spaces are forbidden, use capitalization to ensure your name is understood. For example, “MyEtsyShop” is easier to read than “Myetsyshop.”

Avatar:

The shop avatar is where your logo should go (your personal photo should already be featured under your shop owner profile).

Your logo, like your shop name, should be directly informed by your business brand.

Whether your brand is high-end or casual will determine what sorts of imagery and fonts you choose. If your hand-made items are complex, consider a complex logo. Likewise, if your style is simple and minimalist, a simple and minimalist logo would be the better choice. You get the idea.

In addition to making sure your logo represents your brand, remember that Etsy provides a square field for your avatar. So, avoid long horizontal designs and choose a logo that will fit well inside a square.

For a great example, check out ClaraLoo’s logo above.  It has a simple, child-like, rustic charm that perfectly reflects her playful and homey nursery decor. It’s also proportioned ideally to fit in the square avatar field.

Need help creating your best logo? Let crowdspring help! Our creatives are standing by to design a unique and memorable, custom-branded logo for your Etsy shop.

Shop Banner or Cover Photo:

The top of your Etsy shop is valuable real estate. This is where your banner or cover photo will go. This area sets the visual tone for your shop. And, when used effectively, it will memorably differentiate your shop from your competitors.

Etsy allows you to select a small banner (760px X 100px) or a larger cover photo (3360px X 840px) to fill that space.

Functionally, a cover photo has a distinct advantage over a small banner. Cover photos (as shown above) are visible when your shop is viewed both by computer and by smartphone. Small banners only appear when your shop is viewed on a computer. For that reason, we recommend that you choose a cover photo over a banner.

Having a well-designed banner or cover photo is important. It makes your shop more attractive, yes. But, more importantly, it creates a professional impression and makes your shop seem trustworthy and credible.

Top Etsy shop ModParty uses their cover photo to advertise their shop name as well as to show off some truly excellent product photos.

A final word on branding…

Your shop name, avatar, and banner or cover photo are specific branding tools. But, that’s not where branding ends in your Etsy shop.

Kevin Jones of Debt Free Happens (an Etsy entrepreneur, personal finance expert, and blogger) explains:

If you sell cute stickers it may not make sense to also sell customized beer mugs in the same shop. Both are great products but you are trying to create an environment that the buyer feels comfortable in.

Each and every item you post should reinforce your brand. Customers should feel that all of your listings belong in your shop. And every listing description you write should continue and underscore that feeling. This makes your customers feel like they understand you and what your shop is about. And that makes it feel like a safe, pleasant place to be.

Your bio and personal photo are also part of your brand. This personal information (and the voice you use to communicate it) create a deeper connection with your customers.

So, be thoughtful when deciding what items to list and what info to include in your bio. And, use a consistent voice when writing your listing descriptions and writing any other customer-facing copy like your bio and store policies.

You can learn more about the nuts and bolts of establishing and maintaining consistent brand identity in  Grow Your Small Business with Consistent Branding.

3. Crunch the Numbers

When starting any new business, it’s important to understand “the numbers.”

But what numbers are important when starting an Etsy business?

Etsy entrepreneurs will obviously want to track sales and profits; but, you’ll also need to keep an eye on your start-up costs. You should build these initial costs into your pricing to pay yourself back for your investment over time.

Luckily, start-up costs for Etsy businesses are minimal compared to virtually any other type of business.

Start-up costs for an Etsy shop are likely to include:

• your brand design (logo and banner/cover photo design)
• any license or permit fees (check with the SBA)
• basic infrastructural costs like internet service and Etsy listing fees (only $0.20 per listing!)
• any crafting tools you need to acquire to make your products
• materials for your first products

Running smart calculations to determine how much it will truly cost to get your shop up and running will allow you to plan ahead and avoid expensive surprises along the way.

Setting Your Prices

Setting the right prices can make or break your shop.

To create an effective pricing strategy, you have to start by knowing how much it costs you to produce or acquire your products.

This includes material costs and the value of your time. And, you’ve got to bake the cost of running your business, (and some profit!) into your prices as well. Otherwise, it will be difficult to sustain your business over time.

Taylor Combs, a writer, and editor for Etsy’s Seller Handbook, explains;

First and foremost, your price should account for the cost of the materials that went into making the item and your time. If you’re unsure, try searching for similar items on Etsy to see what the average price point is.

Once you’ve done the math, it’s time to start considering the less-tangible aspects – competitor pricing and perceived value.

Your potential customers are shopping for more than just your goods. They’re shopping with your competitors, too.

And, they know how much those items cost. Consciously or not, they are gathering data about what they think a product like yours should cost.

That means you need to be aware of what your competitors are charging, too.

You might feel that your products are worth more, or that you want to charge less, than your competitors. And that’s okay.

But, if you’re completely unaware of what your competitors charge, you may miss the mark entirely – either costing you profit if you charge too little or sales if you charge too much.

Perceived value is the amount that a customer thinks a product is worth.  And, your competitor’s prices are a part of that perception. But, not the whole picture.

How your products look plays a role. A cheaply-made necklace that looks fancy may have a higher perceived value than a beautifully-made simple necklace. Most customers have no idea how much time, money or effort actually goes into making a particular item.

Your branding can influence how your product is perceived, as well.

A classy logo and high-end brand positioning will lead to a higher perceived value than an amateur logo and shop banner.

So, remember to consider your brand and your competitor’s pricing when creating your own pricing strategy.

For more information about pricing, check out this guide from the helpful folks at Etsy.

4. Create your product listings

Listings and art by Antoaneta Ivanova of PebbleArtDream

Your listings are the lifeblood of your Etsy shop.

Creating compelling listings can help your sales skyrocket – while lackluster listings will stagnate.

So, what does a compelling Etsy listing look like?

Well, the best and the worst Etsy listings all include the same three components – product titles, descriptions, and photographs. It’s how you execute them that makes the difference.

Master each of these three components and you’ll have rock-star listings that leap into shopper’s carts.

 Listing Titles

Your listing titles identify your products to your potential customers.

Etsy’s Taylor Combs advises:

Think like a shopper and use words and phrases that buyers might use when searching for your item.

It helps to be descriptive. You could name a listing “Wool Blanket.” Or you could name that same listing “Hand-Braided 100% Merino Wool Blanket.”

Providing more information increases the likelihood that your listing will be found. For instance, shoppers searching for “merino wool blankets” and shoppers searching for “hand braided blankets” are both likely to find the second listing.

And, the more descriptive your listing title is, the more the customer can learn about your product at a quick glance. You can showcase what makes your product special and why customers can’t live without it before they’ve even clicked through.

Use evocative, descriptive words to highlight your products’ best qualities and your listing titles will shine.

Product Photos

Image courtesy of LaurenAstonDesigns

Strong product photography is your best sales tool.

Shopping on the internet involves more uncertainty than shopping in person. In a store, you can handle and examine an item with your own two hands. Customers can’t touch the products they want to purchase on Etsy.

But, great product photos help to allay some of that uncertainty. And, well-styled photos that showcase the product in a way that resonates with your target audience help shoppers to envision that item in their lives.

Taylor Combs recommends including five photos on every listing.  She suggests that you take the following:

• A well lit, clear photo of the item you plan to sell

• A photo that shows alternate angles of the product so shoppers can make an informed purchase

• A photo showing any unique details of the product. Try to answer any questions a shopper might have about texture, color or the techniques used.

• A photo that shows the scale of the item. Styling a photo with other recognizable props or by having volunteer models hold it in their hands can help.

Take as many photos as needed to give your customers a complete understanding of the product. And, of course, show it off to its best advantage.

Take photos with natural light (instead of camera flash) – this makes a world of difference. Play around to find out what time of day yields the best lighting for you.

And remember that these pictures must appeal to your target customer. So, keep those customers in mind and style the photos accordingly.

But most importantly, make sure your products are the stars of the photos – simplicity is key.

For the full skinny on how to create the best product photos, check out Etsy’s “Ultimate Guide to Product Photography.”

Product Description

Writing an awesome project description is the final step to creating a stellar listing.

This is your opportunity to tell the story of your product. Include all of the unique details that make your item special. If you made the product, be sure to talk briefly about your process.

Help your potential customers envision how the product might fit into and improve their lives. People make buying decisions with their hearts more often than their heads. So, paint an appealing picture and you’ll attract better results than if you simply listed features.

Finally, take a look at the descriptions your top competitors write. Never plagiarize their carefully written copy. But you may get inspiration on what information to cover or formatting.

For even more great tips about writing awesome product descriptions, click here.

5. Fill in the Business Blanks

Starting an Etsy business is a really user-friendly way to start a business.

But, it is a business.

This means that you will need to follow the same legal requirements your state has defined for any other business.

First, you’ll need to choose a legal structure for your new Etsy business. We discussed these options previously in our article 15 Tips for Turning Your Craft Hobby Into a Successful Business:

A sole proprietorship is the “most basic type of business to establish” according to the SBA (Small Business Administration). You are the sole owner of the business; and, as such, are solely responsible for the assets and liabilities accrued by the business. This may be just the ticket for your brand new, baby crafting business as it is also the easiest to set up.

If you’re interested in a little more protection, an LLC (or Limited Liability Company) may be a better fit. The LLC business structure provides the limited liability features you would find in a corporation. The Small Business Administration has all of the details about these common small business structures and others.

To learn more about corporations, partnerships and other legal mistakes people commonly make when setting up a small business, take a look at our post and video: 10 Legal Mistakes That Can Destroy Your Small Business And How To Avoid Them.

After you choose your business structure, you’ll need to file any necessary paperwork. The U.S. Small Business Administration tells us that some form of license or permit is necessary for virtually every type of business.

Their website has all of the info you need to find out what sort of license or permit you’ll need for your Etsy shop in your state.

For more details about legal considerations for your Etsy shop, read this article from legal compliance experts Wolters Kluwer.

And, be sure to get familiar with Etsy’s own legal policy for sellers.

If you need help with business contracts, take a look at Quickly Legal, which offers entrepreneurs, small businesses and startups an easy and inexpensive way to create, sign and manage legal contracts and agreements, with many you can start using right away.

Taking care of these admittedly unexciting, but essential chores will ensure that you don’t get bitten in the backside later.

6. Make a Stocking Strategy

Opening a shop is a great first step.

But, if you hope to run a successful business, you need to plan for what comes after you open.

Maintaining your shop properly is key to your success. And, well-stocked shops perform best.

So, Etsy hobbyists may get away with stocking their shops as they find items or when they feel like it; but, Etsy entrepreneurs need to be more proactive. Plan ahead now to ensure you’re not overwhelmed later.

Etsy allows three different types of shops: hand-made goods, vintage items, and crafting supplies.  Each of these three categories will have different requirements for maintaining your stock.

Crafting Supplies:

Depending on how prolific a crafter you are, you may already have a substantial stock of crafting supplies. If that’s the case – good on you! You’re set for a while.

If you’re not already sitting on a large stockpile of craft supplies you can sell, you may want to develop buying relationships with wholesalers to increase your profit margin on the items you sell.

But, you will need to jump through a few minor hoops before you can do so. You’ll need an EIN, a tax license and a registered business name. Check out this article from Chron to learn all the details if wholesale purchasing seems like the right fit for you.

Vintage Items:

If you’ve chosen to sell vintage goods, you probably already have a collection of vintage items just waiting to be sold. And, that’s great – but, what happens after this stock runs out?

That’s right! Shopping! And, while that may sound fun now, shopping for stock can be hard work. And, it means that you need cash up front to invest.

You may benefit from setting a regular shopping schedule to keep you on track. You should acquire new items consistently – an empty shop is bad for business. And, finding quality vintage items can be hit and miss. Shopping regularly will ensure that you don’t find yourself in a merchandise drought.

Planning a regular shopping schedule also allows you to plan for your purchase expenses over time, ensuring you can cover the investment.

Hand-Made Goods:

If you plan to make the items you sell, you have a lot to think about.

• Will all of your items be made one-of-a-kind?
• Or will you offer products that you can create assembly-line style?
• Will you sell downloadable digital goods (like prints or crafting patterns)?
• Or will you hand-craft physical items?
• Will you offer customized items on request?

Bear in mind that one-of-a-kind hand-crafted items may bring you joy to make, but they’ll also be the most challenging to keep stocked. Supplement these more time-intensive items with staple products that are quick and easy to make.

You can also build out your shop with custom listings that are made on request. Custom listings are great because you know you’ll be paid for the item and you don’t have to invest the time and effort until the order actually comes in.

It’s a good idea to set production goals for yourself – like making X items per week to keep your shop well-stocked. What is a realistic production goal for you?

Whatever type of shop you plan to run, don’t leave your success to chance. Planning ahead for how you’ll stay stocked will increase your odds for success.

7. Plan for Shipping

Shipping is part and parcel (ha!) to running an Etsy business.

Don’t wait until you’ve made your first sale to figure out how you’re going to fulfill the customer’s order. People have come to expect speedy shipping and top-notch communication. So plan ahead to figure out your shipping logistics so you don’t ever keep customers waiting.

Luckily, Etsy knows that shipping is important and they’ve got a system in place to help their vendors ship more easily. You can print shipping labels, calculate shipping charges and track packages right from your Etsy shop. You can sign up here.

But, you need to think beyond just the logistics. Etsy shoppers are looking for a personalized shopping experience. And, how their item is packaged is an important part of that experience.

Consider including a short personal note. Think about what materials you’ll use to both protect the item in transit and create a beautiful unboxing experience.

Will you include coupons or a small free gift?

Whatever you choose, be true to you and your shop’s brand.

8. Spread the Word

Opening an Etsy shop does not necessarily equate to immediate sales and success. It takes time to build a presence and a customer base. But, there are certain steps you can take to help your shop grow faster!

As you’re first starting out, look to your friends and family to make your first sales.

Online shoppers everywhere rely on positive reviews to feel safe about making a purchase. But, your brand spanking new Etsy shop has no reviews, yet.

So, reach out to friends and family – they’ll want to support your endeavor. Encourage them to make a purchase or two and leave a positive, honest review. It also never hurts to ask them to talk up your shop to their friends!

Those reviews and sales will “seed” your shop for future sales.

You may also want to initiate a refer-a-friend campaign. All types of businesses strive for strong word-of-mouth marketing. You can encourage this by providing small printed discount coupons.

Indicate on the coupon that it’s for a friend and is only good for their first purchase. Then place these coupons in all of the packages you ship. And, to sweeten the deal – offer the original customer a discount on their next order if their friend makes a purchase.

SEO

SEO stands for search engine optimization. In a nutshell, this means setting up your shop and listings to make it easy to find on the web.

SEO is too big a topic to do justice here. But, here are a few tips to get you started…

• Utilize tags in your Etsy listings. Tags allow you to “tag” a listing with certain keywords to make it easier for shoppers to find.
• Use popular keywords in your listing title and product descriptions.
• Use Etsy categories to make your items easier to find.

And, for oodles more information about Etsy Search and SEO, check out these articles.

Social Media

As a new, up-and-coming business owner, you’ll also want to take full advantage of the inexpensive and easy exposure that social media marketing offers you. As we previously explained,

Social media gives you the ability to easily keep customers up-to-date on new products, store policies or sales. It also enables you to build a social rapport with current customers, while building low-pressure relationships with future buyers.

Maintaining (at a minimum) a Twitter and Facebook presence will help you build an audience of devotees.

Make it easy for visitors to see what your shop is all about by featuring those fabulous photos of your products in a Facebook album.

Social media is also the perfect platform to help future customers get to know you as well as your shop.

One major reason why customers buy from Etsy instead of a major retailer is that they feel a connection to that business’s story. So, use your Facebook and Twitter to share that story – for free!

9. Build a Web Presence Outside of Etsy

You have an Etsy shop. So a website would be redundant, right?

Wrong.

While you obviously don’t need a website to open an Etsy shop, it’s an excellent tool for helping your business grow. Here’s why.

A website gives any business more credibility. In our digital culture, people expect businesses to have a website.

As we explained previously:

A recent study shows that 97% of consumers research their purchases online before they buy something.

Now, shoppers certainly aren’t consciously seeking out Etsy vendors who also have a website. But almost anyone can open an Etsy shop. And if a customer is trying to make a decision between two similar Etsy shops and one has a professionally designed website while the other does not…

Well, I know who I’d buy from. And it’s not the shop with no website.

In addition to adding credibility, a stand-alone website also serves as another touch-point for customers to find your goods. It increases the chances of finding customers who don’t already shop on Etsy – widening your potential customer pool.

A simple, well-executed website is enough to accomplish all of these benefits. You don’t even need to have e-commerce capabilities on your website – simply link customers directly to your Etsy shop.

Follow these guidelines to get the most from your website:

Start by ensuring that your website design is a clear extension of the brand you’ve established in your Etsy shop. Visitors should be able to recognize that it’s the same business immediately.

Create consistency by…

• Prominently featuring your Etsy shop logo and name
• Using the same brand colors from your logo and Etsy banner on your website
• Sharing all of your product photos on your website with the same listing descriptions
• Match the same authentic writing voice on the website copy that you use in your Etsy shop
• Include an “About” section that shares the story you’ve shared on Etsy
• Link customers to your Etsy store to make purchases

Finally, a strong website design will lend credibility and legitimacy to your business. To learn more about great website design, check out Grow Your Small Business With These 7 Website Design Best Practices and 7 Modern Web Design Trends for 2019.

You Made It!

If you’ve followed all of the advice in this article, then you are well on your way to a successful Etsy business.

Nice work!

But, you may still have questions. In fact, you probably do. And that’s okay.

Etsy is one of the most supportive online communities in the world. You can seek out help from your peers on the Etsy Forums. Etsy even has a deeply informative Seller Handbook with articles covering every topic you could possibly need to know about. So, you’re never alone.

You’ve got this. Keep listing and keep learning – and before long, your Etsy business will be thriving.

Interested in other types of businesses or how-to guides? Here are our comprehensive guides:

The post How to Start an Etsy Shop: Your Comprehensive, No-Stress Guide to Starting an Etsy Shop in 2019 appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Is your business struggling to grow?

Is your brand failing to get traction?

There’s a good chance that these two factors are related. And, that means it’s time to review your brand.

Your brand is an essential part of your business.

Today’s consumers are bombarded with communication from every direction. It can feel impossible to make a decision when you’re gridlocked by so many choices.

Brands that are easily identifiable – and, more importantly, trustworthy – stand out as life rafts in stormy seas.

You brand identity – everything visual about your brand – is critically important to build loyalty and trust in the marketplace.

A strong brand identity starts with a strong company logo and company name, but branding is more than a logo and name.

In fact, even companies with strong brands can fall behind and fail to distinguish themselves from competitors.

If your brand isn’t successfully communicating who your business is, what you do, and what you stand for, then you’re losing business without even realizing it.

To get your brand back on track – and create a brand plan that stands any chance of success – you’ll need to take a step back to look at the bigger picture. You’ve got to develop a higher-level understanding of your business and the context in which it operates.

That’s where a SWOT analysis can help.

By examining your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats you may find a path to new growth that you never suspected.

What is a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning framework used to take a big-picture look at the internal and external factors impacting your brand and business.

The tool made its first appearance in the 1960s. It was created by Kenneth Andrews, William Book, C. Roland Christansen and Edmund Learned in their book Business Policy: Text and Cases.

“SWOT” stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

The first half of SWOT (strengths and weaknesses) addresses the internal factors within your business or brand that are working for and against you.

Opportunities and threats (the second half of SWOT) are, of course, the positive and negative external factors your brand must navigate through.

This kind of holistic, high-level thinking is valuable and necessary to ensure that you don’t get lost chasing after details that don’t deliver the return on investment your business needs to survive. This makes SWOT analysis a vitally useful tool.

When is SWOT the right tool…

A SWOT analysis isn’t appropriate for every small business decision you make throughout your day. The in-depth process would get in the way of moving forward in a timely fashion.

But, if you’re considering any large business decisions – like a new partnership, adding a new product line, offering a new service, big adjustments to internal policies, or adding a new position or department – then conducting a SWOT analysis before proceeding is a good idea.

You should also use this technique anytime you find your business stalling, a project fails, when you’re starting a new business, or you have unexpected success.

Finally, you should conduct a SWOT analysis anytime you consider making any significant changes to your brand or brand identity.

Your brand is made up of both your business’s authentic attributes, what your business chooses to present, and how your business is perceived by your audience. SWOT analysis surveys both internal and external factors  – making it a perfect tool for examining the dual nature of branding.

The big-picture understanding that you gain through the SWOT technique can help guide you safely through change, challenges, and growth.

Who should do a SWOT analysis?

A proper SWOT analysis should involve a cross-section of your team. You want people who have different perspectives on the company and should include people from sales, marketing, product development, engineering, etc.

In fact, some companies even invite customers to participate in a SWOT analysis.

Importantly, while you should include others, company leaders and founders should be deeply involved in a SWOT analysis as they create the overall vision for the company.

How to do a SWOT analysis correctly

A SWOT analysis is not complex and does not take weeks to complete. It can be done in a matter of hours and should be done regularly (at least once every 6 to 12 months).

You simply list all of your business’s strengths and weaknesses along with all of the outside opportunities and threats that may impact your business.

But, as with most simple things, a SWOT can be tricky to execute well.

Here are some general guidelines for getting the most from the exercise.

Be organized. We recommend creating a 2×2 grid with each quadrant labeled with the appropriate heading. Then list the relevant items inside each quadrant. Use bullet points to keep your ideas concise.

This approach allows you to quickly assess your results at a glance.

Don’t rush. For a SWOT to be truly useful, it must be comprehensive. Plan to do some real research into your brand’s assets and liabilities, as well as external threats and opportunities.

If you don’t take the time to really look, you may miss important factors. And, it’s discovering these potential unknowns that provides the most value.

Be realistic. The goal of any SWOT analysis is to make better choices that are informed by a deeper understanding of your situation. You can only succeed if you’re actually honest about what your threats and weaknesses are, and what strengths and opportunities you have to combat them.

Internal: Strengths & Weaknesses

Your SWOT analysis should begin with an earnest look inward at your business and/or brand.

Objectively identifying your brand’s strengths and weaknesses allows you to capitalize on those strengths and improve or accept your weaknesses.

This perspective will allow you to lean into situations that your brand strengths will help you master.

Conversely, you can make informed decisions about what challenges or threats your business is ill-equipped to tackle.

We’ve shared a list of SWOT questions to ask later in this article to help you get started. But, you know your business better than anyone. Be sure to add additional questions and compile as complete a list of strengths and weaknesses as possible.

Then view all of these assets and liabilities strategically in relation to the opportunities and threats you discover in the next section.

External: Opportunities & Threats

Once you’ve reviewed your internal challenges and resources, it’s time to cast your gaze outward and create a list of opportunities and threats.

The world around you is full of threats and opportunities you may never have considered. This is your chance to get those unknowns on your radar so that your brand can act accordingly.

The opportunities and threats you identify can then be prioritized and reviewed through the lens of the strengths and weaknesses you’ve already identified.

Look for opportunities that mesh well with the assets your business possesses. And decide whether to meet a threat head-on or avoid it based on your likelihood of success with your current resources.

Check out our list of starter questions below. We hope they’ll give you a great jumping off point for your own SWOT Analysis. But, don’t forget to ask industry-specific questions for your field.

Questions that can help you conduct a SWOT analysis

Strengths

• Does your business have a unique backstory or mission?
• In what areas does your business regularly excel? (customer support, marketing, sales, fulfillment,etc.)
• What strengths or unique skills do your employees possess?
• Is your business well-funded or does it own other useful resources it can rely on?
• Does your business have a proprietary product or service that can’t be obtained elsewhere?
• In what respects is your brand well-perceived?
• In what ways is your brand aligned with your current mission and business direction?
• What aspects of your brand are authentic?
• Which elements of your brand resonate with your target audience?
• What parts of your brand are communicated well?

Weaknesses

• In what areas does your business regularly perform poorly?
• Does your workforce suffer any consistent weaknesses? (poor morale, lack of training, etc.)
• Does your business lack resources such as time, staff or funds?
• Are your business goals unfocused?
• Do you lack strategies for moving forward?
• Are there elements of your brand that are inauthentic?
• Is your business failing to follow through on any brand promises?
• What parts of your brand are poorly communicated?
• Are any brand messages failing to resonate with your audience?
• What aspects of your brand are perceived poorly?

Opportunities

• Can you fill a niche that is currently empty or under-represented?
• Could you partner with another business to gain exposure, financial support or consumer goodwill?
• Can your product or service outperform a competitor’s?
• Will changes in state or federal legislation help your business in any way?
• Are improving economic trends likely to impact your business?
• Can your brand authentically align itself with any popular causes?
• Do any current trends benefit your business or brand?
• Are there any new technological advances that could improve your product?
• Can you modify an existing product or service for a new demographic?
• Is there an existing unsung aspect of your brand that you could highlight?

Threats

• What are your competitors offering that you can’t compete with?
• Are downward economic trends likely to impact your business?
• Will changes in state or federal legislation hinder your business in any way?
• Are any of your vendors or suppliers unreliable, increasing their prices, or going out of business?
• Are there any cultural shifts that may harm your business or brand?
• Will changes in weather negatively impact your business? (loss of crops or materials, or shipping delays)
• Are there any current events that may cast any elements of your brand in a negative light?
• Is your brand aligned with any negative entities, organizations or ideologies?
• Are any competitors attempting to discredit your brand?

After the SWOT – what to do next

Gathering information is great. But, it’s what you can do with that information that’s truly worthwhile.

Once you’ve compiled all of your threats, opportunities, weaknesses, and strengths, it’s time to plan some action. How can you redirect your brand in a stronger direction using the new perspective you’ve gained?

The answer to that question is as unique as each individual business.

But, with your analysis complete, you’ll have the high-level perspective you need to make the best choices for your brand.

The post How to Build a Successful Brand With a SWOT Analysis appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

If you’re interested in starting a real estate business to help buyers and sellers navigate the stressful and complicated process of working through one of the biggest transactions of their lives, you’ll need to make sure your business is well prepared.

People looking to start a real estate business often ask:

• How much does it cost to open a real estate business?
• How do you start your own real estate company?
• How much do real estate business owners make?
• How successful is a real estate business?
• How do realtors get clients?
• Do I need a license to work in real estate as a realtor and as a broker?
• How do I name my real estate business?
• What does a realty company do?

If you want to take the plunge and start your own real estate business, there is a lot to consider.

Here’s a complete, 11 step guide on how to start a real estate business.

1. Develop and refine your idea
2. Write a business plan
3. Decide your legal business structure
4. Get a license
5. Purchase business insurance
6. Crunch the numbers
7. Create a strong brand identity
8. Build a web presence
9. Create a sales plan
10. Join a team
11. Grow your business

1. Develop and refine your idea

Real estate is an enormously competitive field. The chances are that your area already has at least one or two successful and popular brokers already actively engaged in the marketplace.

If you want to have the best chance at success, you need to consider your strengths, weaknesses, and any areas you are particularly interested in or experienced with.

Make sure you are deeply familiar with the area you’d like to set up your business.

Knowing the towns and surrounding areas of where you’ll be helping people locate to is a critical part of running a real estate business, but it can also influence how you’ll decide to present yourself in the marketplace.

Take a look at the other realtors and brokerages in the area to determine what your competition is doing in the marketplace, and take stock of how these existing businesses are approaching things.

How do your natural strengths differentiate you from the other real estate businesses in the area?

Consider the following questions. Getting outside opinions on some of these can be helpful – don’t be afraid to ask someone you trust what they think about your answers to the following:

• What skills set me apart?
• What is the purpose of my business?
• Who am I providing a service or product to?
• What is the maximum figure I can safely spend on this business?
• Do I need outside capital? How much?
• What kind of work/life balance am I looking to achieve?
• What are my expectations of starting my own business?

Find a niche

Consider what specific niche is right for your real estate business to give yourself a leg up on the competition.

Do you want to sell to a particular group or segment of the population? Or perhaps you want to concentrate within a specific area of the city, or specialize in buying and selling condos?

Maybe you want to be the area expert in short sales, only focus on rental property management, or perhaps you are the go-to resource for landlord/tenant laws for your state.

You’ll have a better chance at success if you start with a specific target audience.

Make sure you set up your real estate business to meet the needs of a specific niche to avoid overspending and underwhelming all of your potential customers.

This is true for any business, not just the real estate business. In our definitive guide on how to start a small business, we suggest that aspiring entrepreneurs choose a niche for the best chance at success.

Competition is hard enough – make it easier to stand out with a specialty.

Here are some real estate niches to consider:

• Residential
• Resort and vacation homes
• Income properties (homes purchased to generate income through rental or leasing)
• Condos
• Commercially zoned properties
• Property management
• Rental Property

Whatever niche you choose, make sure you’re passionate about it. That passion will come through in everything you do, and your customers will appreciate and embrace the authenticity of your brand.

2. Write a business plan

Although a business plan isn’t mandatory, it can help you to crystallize your ideas. Toby Nwazor advocates for creating a business plan:

Any experienced entrepreneur knows a company without a business plan is like a fish without water. The plan does not need to be lengthy at first. Rather, it should be one or two pages, identifying the key elements of the clothing line’s business strategy.

A business plan is a document that outlines the financial and operational goals of your business. It defines the objectives of your company and then provides specific information that shows how your company will reach those goals.

Your business plan doesn’t need to be 100 pages long. Keep it short and concise and focus on the essential details.

Studies show that entrepreneurs who take the time to write a business plan are 2.5 times more likely to follow through and get their business off the ground. The work that goes into creating a business plan also helps new entrepreneurs build skills that will be invaluable later.

Traditional business plans have the following sections:

• An executive summary. This section summaries the entire plan, so it is generally written last. Anyone reading your plan will read this first, so it’s an important element.
• An industry overview. This section gives a brief overview of the industry sector your business will operate in. It includes key players, industry trends, and estimates of industry sales.
• Market analysis. This looks at the target market for your product or service. It has a breakdown of your market segments, their geographic location, and what their needs are. This section shows anyone reading that you have a thorough understanding of the people you plan to sell to or serve.
• Competitive analysis. Who are your direct and indirect competitors? How do they currently meet your target market’s needs, and how will you differentiate your product or services?
• Sales and marketing plan. What is your unique selling proposition? How are you going to promote your business and persuade your target audience to buy? This section goes into detail on questions like these.
• Management plan. This section outlines your legal and management structure. It shows who your leadership team is and what your staffing needs will be. If you plan to seek funding, you should describe your advisory board here, as well.
• Operating plan. Your business location, facilities, equipment, and what kind of employees you’ll need are in this section. Any suppliers, manufacturing processes, and any other operating details also appear here.
• Financial plan. This section is for all things financial. There are three key financial documents of any business that go here: an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash flow statement.
• Appendices and Exhibits. Any information that helps support your business idea goes here, including market studies, legal agreements, photos of your products, and more.

For more information about how to create a business plan, the Small Business Administration has you covered. Click here to see their complete guide to writing a business plan.

Do market research

Before you dive into your business plan, it’s important to know the market you’re entering.

Business planning and marketing research help you to build a more successful real estate business.

Who are your direct competitors? Who are the top real estate agents working in your target niche? What makes them stand out from the rest of the competition?

A lot of the work to come relies on information gleaned from market research. It’s crucial that you don’t skip this stage, so you have the data you need to make informed decisions.

You’ll need to undertake the two major types of market research: primary and secondary.

Primary research is an important first step. You’ll need to find the answers to questions like:

• What factors do your potential clients consider when purchasing a residence/office/land?
• What do they think is working and what needs improvement in their current location?
• What do they like and dislike about the location they are currently in?
• What is their current mortgage/rent? Do they feel it’s reasonable and has good value?

You answer these questions by talking to potential customers. Surveys, focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and questionnaires are the tools of choice for primary research.

Secondary research is information pulled from existing sources.

You can identify competitors and define your market segments or demographics using currently available data. Key attributes like age range, lifestyle, and behavioral patterns are some of the data points used to divide your target customers into segments.

Once you have this information, you’ll refer back to it repeatedly as you build and launch your business. Make sure you spent a decent amount of time collecting data, so the decisions you make are based on solid research.

Plan for all of the necessary legal and logistical business considerations, and you’ll create a strong foundation for the prosperous future of your real estate business.

3. Decide your legal business structure

There are many different types of legal structures for various business entities. For new business owners, choosing the best one for your business can feel overwhelming.

Real estate also has special business requirements to consider.

Most real estate agents operate as self-employed business owners affiliated with a licensed real estate brokerage. In this case, agents run their independent businesses but under a licensed broker’s supervision.

Opening your brokerage has some similar considerations, but with an expanded focus. In most states, opening your brokerage also requires a special type of real estate license.

In both cases, you are starting a business.

Brokerage seeking entrepreneurs generally select one of four legal business structures: sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), or a corporation. Here’s a basic breakdown of each:

• Sole proprietorship– this is the most basic business entity. A sole proprietorship means that one person is solely responsible for a business’ profits and debts.
• Partnership– A partnership is a shared responsibility between two or more people who both hold personal liability for a business.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC)– a structure that permits owners, partners or shareholders to limit personal liability, but still includes tax and flexibility benefits associated with a partnership.
• Corporation– this is an entity legally considered separate from its owners. That means that corporations are permitted to own property, can be held liable, must pay taxes, and may enter contracts.

Most real estate agents that work as independent contractors under the umbrella of a real estate brokerage operate as sole proprietors.

Additionally, single owner brokerage firms also sole proprietorships.

If you start in business on your own and opt not to incorporate or form an LLC, by default, you are a sole proprietor.

Sole proprietorship and partnerships are the most accessible business forms because they form naturally. You don’t have to declare either one. Once you or you and one more people start selling goods or services, you’re automatically a sole proprietor or partners.

Companies and corporations require more effort to set up, but there are distinct financial and business benefits to each.

Consider your future business goals. You want to choose a business structure that can accommodate the growth and expansion of your business.

For more information, the Small Business Administration is a great resource.

Once you decide on your legal business structure, be sure to register with the government (typically your state and sometimes, your municipality) and the IRS.

The forms you need and where you have to register, are determined by your business structure.

You can find a full list of the forms for each type of entity on the SBA website. You can also find state-specific tax obligations on the same site.

In some cases, you may need federal, state, or local licenses and permits to operate. The SBA’s database lets you search for licensing requirements by state and business type. And remember to contact your municipality to see if there are any local licensing or registration requirements.

You may also need to get an employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS.

If you’re a sole owner and don’t have employees, this is not required. But you might want to get an EIN anyway to keep your personal and business taxes separate and to be sure that you can quickly hire when the time comes to expand your business.

The IRS has a useful checklist to help you decide whether you will need an EIN to run your business.

If you do need an EIN, you can register online for free.

4. Get a license

Whether you are working in New York, California, Texas, Illinois, or another state, you’re going to need to have the appropriate license for your real estate business.

A real estate license

If you are entirely new to the business, you’ll need to get your real estate license before you can start working as an official Realtor.

There are four basic steps you need to compete to get your license and start working as a Realtor:

• Take the real estate pre-licensing course for your state. You’ll need to take your real estate pre-licensing course in order to take your state’s real estate exam. This grants you a real estate license. You’ll need to study the topics covered on the exam, which can include fair housing laws, types of property ownership, fiduciary responsibilities, titles, deeds, contracts, and other necessary aspects of real estate law. Every real estate pre-licensing course will cover the laws and regulations for your state, in addition to the federal real estate laws in effect for all 50 states.
• Pass the real estate licensing exam. The length of the exam varies from about 1.5 hours to 3.5 hours based on the state you’re in. In most states, you must answer 70% to 75% of the questions correctly to pass. The state exam will cover the same topics that are covered in your pre-licensing courses. The majority of states have multiple-choice exams that test both national real estate principles and laws and state real estate principles and laws.
• Submit your real estate license application. Submit your license application to your state’s real estate board as soon as you pass your exam. If there are application fees, you will need to include those. Be prepared for the possibility that your state may require all real estate license applicants to submit their fingerprints for a criminal background check.
• Find a broker to work for. Now that you’ve successfully passed your real estate exam, submitted your application for a license to your state’s real estate department, and paid any necessary fees, you will need to find a broker to work for. Having your license associated with a licensed brokerage is necessary for you to start working as a real estate agent. This is a critical decision that requires research and careful thought. Consider the benefits involved should you choose to work with a franchise brokerage, or alternatively, the benefits of working with a boutique brokerage instead.

A broker license

The basic steps for obtaining a broker license are the same in most states:

• You’ll need a real estate license. You must complete the aforementioned education, pass your state’s licensing exam, and have fully followed up with submitting your application and any necessary fees.
• Experience. Realtors are typically required to have at least 2 to 4 years of experience working in the real estate industry before they are eligible to apply for a broker license. Additionally, some states require agents to complete a minimum number of real estate transactions before becoming eligible for a real estate broker’s license.
• Education. Broker applicants in every state are mandated to complete pre-licensing education, which can vary from 45 hours to 90 hours before they are permitted to apply for a broker’s license.
• Broker’s exam. You must pass the broker licensing exam. The broker’s exam is lengthier and more comprehensive in every state as compared to the real estate agent’s exam. It is exceptionally important to prepare well and study all the necessary materials, and there are courses available to help you master the information on this in-depth exam.
• Application and Fees. Complete the broker license application and pay any applicable fees. The fees range from $150 to $200, depending on which state you live in.

5. Purchase business insurance

You’d be surprised how many new business owners forget to protect themselves and their business by purchasing insurance before they start their business.

It doesn’t help if you buy insurance after you start your business and incur claims.

Insurance can cover property damage, theft, intellectual property lawsuits, and other incidents. Those can be very costly to small businesses, and you need to protect yourself and your new business. This is especially true in real estate, where transactions include advice, guidance, and large amounts of money.

As a provider of real estate services, you’ll want liability insurance to protect you against possible claims. Your clients depend on your expertise and management, and there is always the possibility of an unhappy client suing you if something goes wrong.

If your real estate business employs people, you’ll need to have workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance. Coverage varies by location, and much general liability (GL) policies will cover at least workers’ compensation.

Here’s a good read on the different types of insurance you should consider as a real estate business owner.

6. Crunch the numbers

When you start a new business, even if it’s a home-based real estate business, understanding the numbers involved is crucial.

These numbers include being able to track your sales and profits – but a smart business will need to account for much more than sales alone.

Real estate sales tend to ebb and flow with the economy. That means you need to prepare for the ups and downs of inconsistent revenue. You need to know how much income you need to cover the times when things are leaner.

Plan for the cost of health and life insurance, and be sure you included potentially unpaid vacation time in your budget. Everyone needs a break at some point, and your budget needs to account for that.

When launching a brokerage of your own, or even if you’re starting out as a newly licensed realtor, your costs may include:

• your personal branding (logo, business cards, and website)
• any license or permit fees
• deposits and rent for a physical work location if you plan to lease your own workspace
• basic infrastructural costs like phone and internet service, invoicing software, etc…
• marketing and advertising costs
• equipment costs or leases
• salaries or wages for any employees

Once you know how much it will cost to get you started, compare that with the funds you have. Then plan how you’ll make up any difference.

No matter how small your business is, you’ll still incur costs, so pay careful attention to your budget.

Run calculations to determine how much it will cost to create your business. These numbers allow you to plan and think about your fees and what you should charge.

7. Create a strong brand identity

Crafting a memorable brand identity is a crucial element in any real estate professional’s success. This is crucial in the real estate industry. Real estate agents and brokers often market their services on the strength of their brand and personality.

As we’ve previously discussed,

…your brand is your company’s public identity. Ideally, your brand should embody the best (and most essential) attributes of your company.

A brand represents how people know you and your business. It affects how customers perceive your reputation or the reputation of your company.

In today’s competitive real estate market, a strong brand is more important than it has ever been.

Ask yourself these important questions:

• What identity/personality do I want my real estate brand to project?
• Who will want my products or services?
• What can clients get from my services that they can’t get anywhere else?
• What can clients get from working with me that they can’t get anywhere else?
• What are my brand values?
• What is the most important part of my customers’ experience?

Your answers to these questions (and others like them) will build the core of your brand. All of your future branding decisions should expand on these ideas. Your company name, your company logo, and your website design should all grow from the concepts you laid out here.

Far too many real estate companies have identical logos. Be sure your real estate logo is unique.

And don’t forget about real estate signage. Leave boring signs to others and instead, get real estate signs that sell.

It’s a good idea to review your answers to the questions you answered periodically to make sure you can relay your brand value in person – and make sure the answers still apply.

Whenever you make personal appearances, be sure to carry business cards and brochures for people who want to learn more about your services.

You can learn more about the nuts and bolts of establishing and maintaining consistent brand identity in Grow Your Small Business with Consistent Branding.

8. Build a web presence

According to a study on homebuyers, 90% start their search online, and 40% contact a real estate agent after researching on the web.

The web is an essential sales and marketing tool for all small businesses, and real estate agents and brokers are no exception.

Customers choose real estate services based on the brand, the person behind the brand, and the reputation of that person. Your website is often the first contact point between you and prospective customers. Make that first impression a good one with a well-designed site.

Ensure that your website design truly embodies your brand. Visitors should be able to understand who you are, the services you offer, and your qualifications and reputation.

Your website’s design and marketing copy should project your personal or broker’s brand voice and identity. Here are some suggestions:

• If you work as a real estate agent, include a photo and bio. Homebuyers want to know the person behind the site.
• Be authentic and avoid marketing “happy talk.” Speak the same language as your customers.
• Include high-quality examples of sales you’ve closed, and make sure to include social proof wherever possible.
• Give site visitors an easy way to get in contact with you.

Aim to create a site that builds your brand, establishes your approach and style and communicates your value proposition. As it is with other fields that are personality-driven (like real estate sales and other creative services), people are not just buying your services; they’re buying a relationship with you.

When purchasing something as important as a home, trust is critical. Make sure everything about your brand conveys that you’re a trustworthy authority.

Finally, a strong website design will lend credibility and legitimacy to your business. To learn more about great website design, check out Grow Your Small Business With These 7 Website Design Best Practices and 7 Modern Web Design Trends for 2019.

9. Create a sales plan

Market research remains a valuable, necessary tool every business owner should use when starting a new business venture.

When you’re ready to open your real estate business, having a well-researched plan will save you time, stress, and money in the long run.

Make sure you understand all of your choices and then consider which will work best for your business.

Start with the big one: how will you sell your services?

Real estate is often a personal, intimate service, so a hands-on approach is more effective and successful. Your website can help you generate leads, but your success is based just as much on the customers you say no to like the ones you say yes.

What does this mean? It means getting up from the computer and on the phone.

A quick call with a prospective customer can establish whether or not you’re a good fit for their needs. It saves both you and your customer time and effort if it turns out there isn’t a good match.

All of this pre-work leads to the second part of your sales plan: the in-person consultation. You want to meet with your client so that you can work out in advance their needs, expectations, and any critical factors.

The ultimate goal in this phase is for your client to commit to working with you.

Of course, here’s where the real work starts! No matter what service or product you offer, there’s one important thing to remember: the post-sales experience.

A crucial part of your sales plan is what happens after you’ve completed the work. Post-sales customer care can be a place where you differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Many real estate agents and brokers find a lot of their clients through word-of-mouth from happy new homeowners. Create a great sales experience with your clients to increase the likelihood you’ll get plenty of word-of-mouth referrals.

Word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool, especially for real estate agents. As we wrote:

In fact, customers referred to a product are more valuable. A Wharton School of Businesss study found that referred customers have a 16% higher lifetime value and are more loyal.

Think about your sales plan ahead of time so you can capitalize on every opportunity to close the sale and generate future ones, too.

10. Join a team

The first step in choosing to join or starting your own brokerage is understanding the pros and cons of the two basic types of real estate brokerages: franchise brokerages and boutique brokerages.

National Franchise Brokerages

The first type of brokerage is called a franchise brokerage.

Franchise brokerages work under the umbrella of large national companies. These companies grant brokers the rights to use their name, branding, and business plan. The franchise receives these benefits, and in exchange, the larger company receives a percentage of every deal closed by that office.

Most franchises are independently owned. However, each franchise brokerage is compelled to follow the rules and regulations as set by the corporate office.

There are many advantages to working for a franchise brokerage. The larger companies provide vast resources for marketing and branding, easy name recognition, and a larger percentage of online traffic.

There are drawbacks, as well.

The major drawback of working for a national franchise is, ironically, the flipside of their advantage: their size.

New agents, in particular, may find the impersonal nature of a large franchise to be off-putting, and the consequent lack of mentoring and professional development can make it an added challenge to break into an extremely competitive market.

Boutique Brokerages

Boutique brokerages are usually owned by a small company. They are managed by a single broker, and the agents working in that brokerage usually work closely together.

The small size of a boutique brokerage increases the value placed on each individual agent. Because the boutiques are small, every contribution to the brokerage’s bottom line makes a marked difference. ]

There is an inherent advantage to making sure each agent is working at their best, therefore – which means that newer agents can benefit from the extra attention and direction given by more experienced agents.

Boutique brokerages are also more flexible with branding regulations. Agents have creative license to build themselves a brand without as many constrictions, which can help new agents create a standout brand for themselves from the start.

The primary disadvantage of working with a boutique brokerage is that the available budget for marketing materials and other resources is likely to be significantly lower than that of a big chain. Brand recognition may be harder to achieve and will be limited as a rule to the areas the boutique serves. Agents may find it difficult to maintain their reputation in other areas should they decide to do so given the lack of brand awareness in other locations.

If you want to open your own boutique brokerage and need help with employment or contractor agreements or agreements with your vendors, take a look at Quickly Legal, which offers entrepreneurs, small businesses and startups an easy and inexpensive way to create, sign and manage business contracts, with many you can start using right away.

11. Grow your business

Real estate is a challenging industry to enter. Competition is fierce, and there’s plenty of it.

Getting started can feel daunting, especially if you’re fresh from earning your real estate agent or broker’s license. Where to begin?

Networking

An essential marketing tool in any real estate professional’s toolkit is networking. Making connections and establishing your credibility is a crucial step, but remember to choose quality connections over quantity.

Consider a targeted approach to find people at networking events that can help you realize your goals. You want to build a diverse network of individuals and businesses who can provide advice, assistance, sales leads, or help you “level up.”

Set up a CRM

Real estate businesses run on relationships. How well you track these connections and manage your contacts can dramatically affect how successful your business is.

What you need is customer relationship management or CRM.

Use a robust CRM to organize all of your leads, contacts, and network connections. As we said in our look at the Top 9 CRM for Small Business:

A customer relationship management system is a way to track and analyze all of the interactions you have with your customers and prospects.

By collecting customer information, you can simplify and scale engagement by capturing all of the communications your company has with its customers.

You never know from where your next referral or customer may come. CRM give you the ability to shape the customer experience and optimize your interactions, so you’re always ready for that next lead.

Contact your leads

Once you start tracking your leads in a CRM, it’s time to reach out and engage with them. Studies show that the longer a lead sits unanswered, the lower the possibility that it can be converted into a sale: from 80% if you reach out immediately to 20-35% if you wait 30 minutes or more.

Before you contact a lead, however, do some research. Have some questions ready and be prepared to answer some, too. Have answers to some of the common questions written down and above all, be positive and have an open mind.

The focus is on quality instead of quantity. Spend the time to create a rapport with prospective customers and talk to them as if you were talking to a friend. You are there to help.

Ask for Referrals

Referrals are a significant source of leads for real estate businesses. Once you’ve established a successful relationship with a customer, don’t feel shy asking for a referral.

Often if you do your job well, there’s no added effort required to get a referral. People are generally happy to share with others a positive experience they had working with someone. A brief reminder at the end of doing business with a customer can help nudge someone who might otherwise forget.

Satisfied clients are just one source of referral business, however.

In addition to friends and family, business associates and people in your social and professional networks can help expand your pool of referrers.

When asking for a referral, don’t beat around the bush. A straightforward request like, “I would appreciate your help in growing my business. Would you feel comfortable leaving me a review, or referring anyone you know that needs my services to me?”

There are many resources available for putting such a request out there, especially on the internet. Consider using email campaigns featuring enticing perks or freebies for the first number of clients to refer you business. You can also reach out to existing clientele through social media platforms, which is an easy and more personal way to engage with your connections.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to think about when you’re starting your own real estate business.

The above eleven steps will give you an advantage and will help get you started on the road to owning a successful business of your very own.

Additional Resources for Real Estate Agents and Brokers

Here are additional useful resources for real estate agents and brokers:

• Inman News (leading independent real estate news service)
• Realtor.org (official membership site for the National Association of Realtors (NAR)
• Realty Times (leading news and advice site for real estate consumers and professionals)

Interested in other types of businesses or how-to guides? Here are our comprehensive guides:

The post How to Start a Real Estate Business: The Complete 11 Step Guide (2019) appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

How many tabs do you have open in your browser right now?

If you had to stop and count, it’s probably too many.

An overcrowded browser is like a cluttered home. It is overwhelming and excessive, and it provokes a genuine stress response.

If you suffer from spending precious mental energy searching through all 42 tabs in your browser to find the one you need, consider looking into some tools to help you regain that lost time and attention. Medium recommends several good ones to try out.

You may be surprised just how much calmer and more efficient you’ll be once those tabs are under control. You may even save enough time to tackle the messy closet you hope guests never see.

Now, we hope you enjoy another great set of links and articles that we shared with you over the past week on our crowdspring Twitter account (and on Ross’s Twitter account). We regularly share our favorite posts on entrepreneurship, small business, marketing, logo design, web design, startups, leadership, social media, marketing, economics, and other interesting stuff! Enjoy!

How to Start a Successful Photography Business: The Complete 10 Step Guide (2019) | @crowdspring Blog – https://t.co/bOhnias1ar #photographybusiness #photographer #SMBs #HowTo pic.twitter.com/jPCGUSkyH2

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) February 28, 2019

10 Legal Mistakes That Can Destroy Your Small Business And How To Avoid Them https://t.co/mE2SsjogDU pic.twitter.com/kiLcS5phUJ

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 4, 2019

Here's a comprehensive, 5,500 word guide for people looking to get into the real estate business (and those struggling to grow their real estate business) … How to Start a Real Estate Business: The Complete 11 Step Guide (2019) | @crowdspring Blog – https://t.co/ibe3QSym9i pic.twitter.com/RlmoDd40nR

— Startup Foundry (@startfoundry) March 15, 2019

How to Start an Etsy Shop: Your Comprehensive, No-Stress Guide to Starting an Etsy Shop in 2019 | @crowdspring Blog – https://t.co/JAUwsy1jxc #etsyshop #etsyshopowner #etsystore #businesstips pic.twitter.com/7kNrGZlESD

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 5, 2019

My answer to When starting a business how much time and effort should be put into elements of branding such as a logo or name? How should this compare to things like product, promotion, customer experience, community development etc? https://t.co/BQDlhE2eRl

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 4, 2019

Why A Good Logo Is Essential To Your Business https://t.co/BR3uKyit8i pic.twitter.com/c8Z0F1MN8H

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 8, 2019

Businesses that survive and thrive have an unfair advantage. They’re started and run by people who are prepared for what’s ahead of them … How to Start a Business Successfully https://t.co/c2TxBnhOrV (our guest post in @SmBizDaily) pic.twitter.com/bVyUgUxcY2

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 12, 2019

Spot on. And importantly, persevering through the dips distinguishes the success stories from failures. https://t.co/xmCgoIZB8z

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 14, 2019

this is startup real talk right here, via the CEO of Munchery, now in bankruptcy protection

1. we grew too fast and raised too much debt
2. we rented customers via platforms, CAC kept growing
3. tangential competition took customer dollars away from us
4. costs were constant pic.twitter.com/bAbioLkJbX

— Dave Ambrose (@daveambrose) March 5, 2019

Not a healthy trend … Where Have All the Angels Gone? | Tomasz Tunguz – https://t.co/wmKzqbvMoL pic.twitter.com/G9iLBsDDAU

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 12, 2019

Terrific insights … 15 lessons from our first $15 million – https://t.co/ugN0BosRhk pic.twitter.com/4fPyOfYam6

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 12, 2019

Uber’s Powerful Rebrand and What Your Business Can Learn From It https://t.co/hPYAz5oOcu pic.twitter.com/KaFa5R1FvE

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 2, 2019

Super interesting thoughts on the growing importance for organizations become very effective at working asynchronously https://t.co/WF7o1agDzV

— Joel Gascoigne (@joelgascoigne) March 7, 2019

Notifications Kill Your Productivity: How To Reclaim Your Life https://t.co/WD4pYsSJ2E pic.twitter.com/88tiJggoux

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 3, 2019

What a terrific idea. Wish the government created training programs based on this model. Very compelling. https://t.co/QdVZ4a6nCI

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 14, 2019

7 Tips that Will Make Your Welcome Emails Awesome https://t.co/WG9EuxWwvR pic.twitter.com/v1fEuBkTlf

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 3, 2019

Good tips in this slide presentation on how to improve your SEO through smart content tweaks, pruning, consolidation, and removal … Exponential ROI through SEO-focused Content Strategy – https://t.co/y8xEK2gdbw pic.twitter.com/19vW2okGW0

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 11, 2019

Is your business struggling to grow? It might be time to assess your brand. Here's a good look at How to Build a Successful Brand With a SWOT Analysis | @crowdspring Blog – https://t.co/3TAfONUckt pic.twitter.com/xU1WP3e6GC

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 11, 2019

What’s Trending in Grocery Packaging Design | Progressive Grocer – https://t.co/Jwr1vmYcOC pic.twitter.com/Dp4GRX7PlN

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 13, 2019

7 Modern Web Design Trends for 2019 https://t.co/WoJUultHzC pic.twitter.com/S7mFPTxTll

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 2, 2019

Five Food Packaging Trends for 2019 | @FoodChannel – https://t.co/qZgGXbzgcA pic.twitter.com/323i9qvNyj

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 4, 2019

7 Proven Reasons Why Good Design is Good Business https://t.co/88D3rLhpQg pic.twitter.com/xo9EnURwwL

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 2, 2019

We celebrate women every day, but especially today. In honor of #IWD19, here are 13 influential women entrepreneurs who are changing the world. https://t.co/kz8N9uE4bL

— crowdspring (@crowdspring) March 8, 2019

Not a good trend … Is This the End of Recycling? – https://t.co/2lFhsVAack pic.twitter.com/RwfNkcSWWS

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 11, 2019

Interesting read … A Popular Benefit of Houseplants Is a Myth https://t.co/1TAsVdRVvH pic.twitter.com/TqpPOli95D

— Ross Kimbarovsky (@rosskimbarovsky) March 11, 2019

Anyone can accidentally kill a bicyclist by opening your car door at the wrong time. Learn the "dutch reach" way to open your door (taught in Holland for 50 years) and save a life. https://t.co/Y8EiNkYUX0

— Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) March 10, 2019

The post Twitter Link Roundup #359 – Terrific Reads for Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs, Marketers, and Designers! appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Consumers expect that the companies they deal with have integrity and authenticity. A survey by Cohn & Wolfe found that:

Nearly nine out of 10 consumers are willing to take action to reward a brand for its authenticity, including 52 percent who would recommend the brand to others and 49 percent who would pledge loyalty to the brand.

Consumers want more than quality and good value from the brands they use – they also want values.

There are many reasons for this shift to authenticity but one element is particularly crucial: millennials.

Millennials have a deep distrust of traditional advertising. A consumer study on millennials found that a mere 1% of those polled would trust a company because of advertising.

Younger generations, including Gen Z, have a similar mistrust of advertising.

In fact, 91% of consumers are more likely to buy from an authentic brand than from a dishonest brand.

Today, most consumers want brands to walk the talk.

If you’re struggling to grow your business or improve your brand, you may need to do more to convey authenticity to your customers and prospects.

Here are five key factors that help brands increase their authenticity.

1. Build relationships with customers and prospects
2. Be consistent with your branding and messaging
3. Engage customers and prospects in conversation
4. Have values and stay true to those values
5. Be honest and transparent

Let’s look at each of these factors in more details.

1. Build relationships with customers and prospects

Relationships are the key to authenticity, but you can’t build strong relationships overnight. Relationship building requires that you look at your long game.

Consider how consumers interact with your brand over an extended period.

Every touch point with your customers is an opportunity to build a relationship. Forging relationships requires work, but the result is worth the effort.

Good relationships are built on trust.

There are many ways to build up trust.

Start by listening to your customers.

Most businesses have a tough time doing this because they don’t know who their customers are! In fact, it’s the reason most marketing is misdirected.

Who are you marketing to? What do they want?  What problem(s) are they trying to solve?

This is important across industries, but especially critical in some industries. For example, in our definitive guide on how to start a clothing brand or clothing line, we emphasize that Millennials pick clothing largely based on authentic connections with brands.

Authenticity is also the reason some Etsy sellers are successful while others fail. A strong authentic brand can help your Etsy store thrive.

You also should show that you appreciate your customers. You can do this through proactive customer service and personalized communications. This can be as simple as including the customer’s name in emails you send out.

Ensure your brand message and values are consistent across all platforms so there’s no confusion.

2. Be consistent with your branding and messaging

Once you’ve established your values and brand story, make sure they’re consistent and aligned across all platforms.

For example, be sure you’ve developed a strong brand identity (everything visual about your brand) and that you use it uniformly online and offline. This includes the logo you use for your business, as well as your company name.

When you get to know someone, you start to develop opinions and impressions of them based on your interactions.

Your customers and prospects approach your company in the same way.

Present a consistent image and brand to make your brand feel more dependable and unique. Dependability increases trust. Uniqueness increases loyalty.

The problem is that many companies make the mistake of forgetting to create a unique identity.

Often, this is easily evident, such as when companies use stock art for branding, marketing, and advertising. Stock art is killing your small business brand.

Inconsistency and lack of authenticity are two reasons companies rebrand. As we wrote previously:

Renaming your business isn’t ever just renaming – it’s also re-branding.

And, part of a successful re-branding process is figuring out the authentic brand story you want your audience to associate with your business.

Since your business name is a central element of your brand, it’s essential that you figure out how your new name relates to that brand story.

Not every company needs to rebrand, however. Some just need to focus their messaging. Let people know that they can rely on the same experience no matter where they interact with you. This consistency helps them feel more comfortable and helps foster an authentic brand experience.

As Peter Minnium wrote for Marketing Land:

Consistency is key to authenticity. In today’s fragmented media environment, brand messaging often varies from source to source. While it is necessary to curate content concerning context and audience targets, it is vital that brand messages be synchronized, because today’s consumers expect their experience to be consistent across devices and platforms.

3. Engage customers and prospects in conversation

Open communication is a cornerstone of any relationship.

It’s crucial to not seem like an impenetrable ivory tower to your customers and prospects. Engage with them on social media and through other channels.

When they talk to you, respond.

Engage in two-way conversations to humanize your brand. The key here is to make sure it’s a dialogue. You want to talk to your customers, not at them, and that means listening is almost more important than what you say.

How can you get conversations going with your customers? Here are a few ideas:

• Share the news. Try sharing industry news and trends in the form of an email newsletter, social media feed, or blog. The important part is to include feedback loops so customers can talk back to you. Social media is a natural place for this as it’s optimized for communication, but email newsletters can work, too.
• Look for pain points. A great way to engage with your customers to ask them about their pain points. Post questions to your social media feed about lessons learned, or challenges customers face, and listen to what they have to say. If it’s appropriate, respond with actionable advice.
• Answer questions. People often ask questions directed at your company on social media. Take the time to answer them! Not only do you help a customer, but you also create opportunities for further discussions and comments from others that follow your feed.
• Ask questions. Customers often appreciate being consulted and asked for their opinion. It’s essential to make sure these questions are not too self-serving, however. It’s acceptable to ask for feedback or input on new features or services as long as you plan to take action on at least some of them. Either way, be gracious and make sure to keep an open mind and ear.

Standing for something and being an active participant in the community are excellent ways to live your values.

4. Have values, and stay true to those values

Authentic brands have moral, social, and corporate values they hold dear.

The best brands make their principles and values a core part of their business. They do not compromise on those principles and values. As William Arruda wrote,

Successful brands are based on authenticity, drawn from real achievements, real strengths, and real emotions that are alive and well at all levels in the organization.

Company values and principles start from the top down.

As a business owner, it’s up to you to choose what is essential and weave that throughout both your brand and your organization.

Often the most successful brands express the values of the organization the clearest.

For example, Apple is synonymous with beautiful design that is easy to use.

Nike values peak performance through great products.

Google values indexing the world’s information and making it available to all.

To be seen as genuine and authentic, your company and brand need to stand for something.

This is important and often is the difference between success and failure, as we showed in our look at statistics about branding every entrepreneur and marketers should know.

Talk to your customers. Bring them behind the curtain and let them be heard.

5. Be honest and transparent

A key component of authenticity is honesty and transparency.

Being honest shows your customers that their respect is important to you. Be conscious of your strengths and weaknesses, and admit when you’ve fallen short.

This transparency humanizes your brand and makes it easier for customers to connect with you on a deeper level.

Let customers see behind the curtain. It’s easier to trust when there’s more to see. The most trustworthy brands give customers a view of the company and what makes it work.

Consumer research backs this up.

A survey by Cohn & Wolfe found the number one behavior consumers expect companies to exhibit is that they “communicate honestly about its products and services.”

Another study by the Harvard Business Review showed that customers consistently preferred companies that valued “openness, relevance, empathy, experience, and emotion.”

Openness, transparency, empathy, and emotion are all qualities that stem from honesty.

In the crowded brand marketing space, honesty stands out.

Conduct your business with openness and transparency to cultivate both a robust corporate culture as well as a strong, authentic brand.

Conclusion

The business landscape is amid a sea change from the old world of advertising and assumed brand loyalty.

Millennials and Gen Z consumers demand that businesses stand for something more than just profits, and they have no qualms jumping ship if a brand proves to be superficial and inauthentic.

Social media has made it much easier for news of a company’s missteps or lack of principles to spread virally. Every week another instance of a company’s inauthenticity and bad behavior is in the news.

It’s crucial that your company and brand take these lessons to heart.

Authenticity is always a work in progress, and there’s no better time than now for your brand to get real.

The post Brand Authenticity: Is It Important and How Can You Increase Your Brand’s Authenticity? appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Craft beer is a growing field.

Between 2012 and 2017, the number of craft breweries in the US jumped from 2,420 to 6,266  – that’s an increase of 159%!

That growth doesn’t include microbreweries that produce fewer than 15,000 barrels of beer per year. And, the number is still growing.

It’s no wonder craft beer is so popular.

Anyone can grab a 6-pack of Miller or Budweiser at the local grocery store.

But craft breweries offer unique personalities that their consumers can relate to – as well as unique flavor profiles. And that counts for a lot.

People value authenticity in the brands they purchase and craft breweries deliver that authenticity in spades.

And, this desire for genuine, unique brand experiences isn’t going anywhere. So, if you make quality beer and have a unique perspective to share with the world, then there’s a place for you in the craft beer industry.

In fact, the craft beer community is an unusually welcoming one. Bucking the traditional competitive attitude engendered by our capitalist economy, craft brewers have chosen to work together to strengthen their industry for all comers. Brewers Association president Charlie Papazian explains:

We’re a new kind of capitalism with a different perspective on the end game. We’ve found a way to be in business and enjoy it. A lot of people are flabbergasted by the camaraderie, the sharing among competitors. We’re open to doing things in a positive light. More passionate than opportunistic.

This supportive attitude serves them well. The community shares information, ideas, and encouragement, making craft beer one of the most welcoming industries for newbies.

If you’re passionate about beer, and you’re ready to join the craft beer community, you’re in the right place. Starting a brewing business is hard work. But, you’re not alone.

Here’s a complete, 9 step guide on how to start a brewery business.

1. Choose a business model
2. Get to know the legal stuff
3. Fill in the business blanks
4. Define your brand
5. Crunch the numbers
6. Build your brewing infrastructure
7. Optimize your packaging
8. Share your beer with the world
9. Build a web presence

Let’s take a look at what you need to know to get started.

1. Choose a business model

You can’t get where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re going.

So, when you envision your own craft beer business what do you see?

Are you selling your unique brews to distributors to be sold regionally?

Maybe you’re running a brewpub, pairing delicious menu items with your craft beers?

Or are you the master of a microbrewery and tap room?

Before you can start to seriously plan your own craft beer business, you need to understand the end goal that you’re aiming for. Choosing your business model is the first step in that direction.

This is true for any business, not just for brewery businesses. In our guide on how to start a small business, we suggest that aspiring entrepreneurs choose a niche for the best chance at success.

The Brewer’s Association for Small and Independent Craft Brewers identifies four separate market segments for the craft beer industry – microbreweries, brewpubs, contract brewing companies, and regional craft breweries.

Here’s some info on each to help you decide which is the right fit for you…

• Microbrewery – The BA defines a microbrewery as one that produces fewer than 15,000 barrels of beer per year, and sells 75% or more of its beer offsite. Microbreweries may include a tap room that sells beer onsite.
• Brewpubs – Brewpubs are restaurant breweries that sell at least 25% of their beer onsite. In some states brewpubs can sell beer, wine, and spirits from other manufacturers as well, other states prohibit this. Check on your local state laws.
• Contract Brewing Company – In this business model, one business hires another brewery to manufacture their beer. The contract company would handle the other business aspects such as distribution, marketing, and sales.
• Regional Craft Brewery – This category is somewhat vague.  The BA defines it as “An independent regional brewery with a majority of volume in “traditional” or “innovative” beer(s).”

It’s important to note that each state in the US defines its own alcohol laws. And, to truly understand what your business options are, you’ve got to learn what’s legal in your state.

So, read up on your state’s laws. A microbrewery in one state may be governed by very different rules than a microbrewery the next state over.

And, once you’ve decided which overall business structure is the right fit for you, it’s time to get more specific. We recommend that you write a business plan. This should outline your goals and how you plan to achieve them.

For more information about how to create a business plan, the Small Business Administration has you covered. Click here to see their complete guide to writing a business plan.

This will serve as your guide as you venture forth into the adventure of running your own business. And, remember – business plans aren’t set in stone (you should be prepared for it to evolve over time). But, they do serve as a necessary starting point to help you get your business off the ground.

2. Get to know the legal stuff

The alcohol industry is governed at both the federal and state level. Alcohol production, distribution, and sales are all heavily shaped by laws.

The alcohol industry is overseen at the federal level by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau or “TTB.” It’s important that you know and abide by all existing federal laws governing beer and alcohol.

And, while the federal laws and regulations provide the baseline for what you’ll need to know, they are merely the foundation. State laws have the most control over how your craft beer business will be run.

The current laws governing alcohol production, distribution, and sales evolved in the wake of the Prohibition era. After the 21st Amendment (lifting prohibition) was passed in December of 1933, states were left to decide how they would repeal the prohibition laws in their respective state. The result was a 3-tiered system separating alcohol producers, distributors, and retailers. This system is still in place in most states today.

Marc Sorini, lawyer, and expert in alcohol regulatory law explains:

Fortunately for small brewers, the laws of many states provide flexibility allowing many brewery business models to thrive within the overall three-tier structure. Brewpub laws allow the marriage of producer and retailer tier into single premises… Conversely, most state brewery laws today authorize brewers to have a tasting room or restaurant as part of their brewery, and an increasing number of states permit brewers to also open a few remote retail tasting rooms or restaurants in order to brand themselves at premier retail locations.

As you can see, this 3-tier system provides the framework within which your future craft beer business must operate. So, get to know it well. You can learn more about the 3-tier system here.

Each state determines how this 3-tier system will be executed in their territory. So, look into the laws governing beer production, distribution, and retail in your state.

Investigating your state alcohol laws early will save you the strife of having to change course mid-stream. These resources from the Brewers Association should help you get started with your state law research:

• Self-Distribution Laws by State
• Brewery Sales and Sampling Laws
• Barrel Cap Laws

3. Fill in the business blanks

Starting a craft beer business isn’t all brewing and drinking.

There are basic administrative tasks that all businesses must complete in order to legally operate.

For instance, you need to choose the legal structure for your new business. Sole proprietorship or LLC? Will you incorporate or register a partnership?

We discussed these options previously in our article 15 Tips for Turning Your Craft Hobby Into a Successful Business:

A sole proprietorship is the “most basic type of business to establish” according to the SBA (Small Business Administration). You are the sole owner of the business; and, as such, are solely responsible for the assets and liabilities accrued by the business. This may be just the ticket for your brand new, baby crafting business as it is also the easiest to set up.

If you’re interested in a little more protection, an LLC (or Limited Liability Company) may be a better fit. The LLC business structure provides the limited liability features you would find in a corporation. The Small Business Administration has all of the details about these common small business structures and others.

To learn more about corporations, partnerships and other legal mistakes people commonly make when setting up a small business, take a look at our post and video: 10 Legal Mistakes That Can Destroy Your Small Business And How To Avoid Them.

Think carefully about your business structure. Breweries are expensive endeavors. So, the protections an LLC offers may be a better fit than a sole proprietorship.

Don’t skimp on these less glamorous decisions – they can have a big impact on your business in the long-term.

Licenses and permits

After you decide on your business’s legal structure, you’ll need to file the necessary paperwork.

The U.S. Small Business Administration tells us that some form of license or permit is necessary for virtually every type of business. You may need to file multiple permits – those that are relevant to establishing your business entity (LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership, etc.) and those that are relevant to your specific industry.

Research the state laws impacting breweries in your location to discover precisely what permits and licenses you’ll need to acquire in order to run your brewery, microbrewery, or brewpub in your state.

This article from CraftBrewingBusiness.com walks you through the overall brewery license and bonding process. And, you can find a tutorial and get started with your TTB permits here.

Vendor and employee agreements

If you need help with vendor or employment, take a look at Quickly Legal, which offers entrepreneurs, small businesses and startups an easy and inexpensive way to create, sign and manage business contracts, with many you can start using right away.

4. Define your brand

Okay, enough with the legal stuff. Let’s talk about something fun – your brand!

Craft breweries are known and celebrated for their unique brand personalities. No boring Michelob or Budweiser here! So, if you’re going to get noticed, you need to consciously develop your brand identity.

As we’ve previously discussed,

…your brand is your company’s public identity. Ideally, your brand should embody the best (and most essential) attributes of your company.

The importance of your brand identity cannot be understated – especially in the world of craft beer.  With so much creativity and unique personality already on display, a lackluster brand will fail to take off no matter how good your brews are.

In particular, millennials (a major buying force) want authentic connections with the brands they purchase. And, with so many craft breweries in the US, there’s a perfect fit for every unique beer-drinking audience.

Here are a few questions to guide you as you think about your brewery or brewpub’s brand:

• What personality do I want my brand to project?
• Who will want to drink my beer?
• What can customers get from my beer that they can’t get anywhere else?
• What makes my brand unique? 
• What is the most important part of my customer’s experience?

Your answers to these questions (and others like them) will build the core of your brand. All of your future branding decisions should expand on these ideas. Your business name, your logo, your website design, your beer can or label designs, and your brewpub or tap house decor should all grow from the concepts you lay out here.

So, take the time to think – really think – about your brand from the start. And maintain that brand as your craft beer business evolves and grows. This consistency of brand personality (and the quality of your beer) will keep loyal customers coming back.

You can learn more about the nuts and bolts of establishing and maintaining consistent brand identity in  Grow Your Small Business with Consistent Branding.

5. Crunch the numbers

When starting any new business, it’s important to understand “the numbers.”

But for craft beer businesses – which require a large upfront investment in brewing equipment and materials – wrapping your head around the numbers is even more important.

You’ll obviously want to track your sales and profits – eventually. But there’s so much more to think about before you can get there. You’ve got to start at the beginning… with your start-up costs.

For a craft beer brewery, these costs will include:

• license, bond and permit fees
• deposits and rent for your physical brewing space
• insurance premiums
• brewing equipment and canning or bottling equipment
• your brand design (logo, label or can designs, and website)
• ingredients for making your beer
• basic infrastructural costs like phone and internet service, etc…
• cleaning supplies
• marketing and advertising costs
• wages for you and your brewing staff

If you’re running a brewpub, you’ll also have all the additional start-up costs of a restaurant, including:

• dishes, flatware, and table linens
• cookware and kitchen appliances
• ingredients for preparing your menu
• Printing costs for menus
• wages for cooks, busboys and wait staff

For a more complete picture of the cost of starting your brewery, read this article from Nerdwallet.

Once you know how much it will actually cost to get you started, compare that with the funds you actually have. Then plan how you’ll make up any difference. If you have savings, that’s great. But, be prepared to take out a small business loan.

Running smart calculations to determine how much it will cost to start your brewery will allow you to plan ahead. Devin of 7venth Sun Brewing shares these wise words:

Before we got started we did a lot of research on what to anticipate from seasoned veterans in the industry.  All of them said that we should plan for everything to take twice as long and cost three times as much.  We approached our plan with this in mind and they were certainly right.

Keep the whole picture in mind when it comes to your finances. Nobody likes surprises – and expensive surprises are the worst. So, plan your budget out to cover all known costs and build in some extra to cover the “unknown unknowns.”

For a deeper look into this complex topic, consider following up with Beer Business Finance.

6. Build your brewing infrastructure

The heart of your business is the beer you brew.  So, it’s vital to give your actual brewing set-up the utmost attention and thought.

The facility you choose to brew in and the equipment you put there will determine your brewing capacity for the next several years at the very least. And, upgrading or purchasing a new system is complex and expensive. So it’s best to get your brewing set-up right from the get-go.

So, let’s take a deeper look.

Location, location, location…

Choosing the right location is a make or break decision for every brewery. And, there’s a lot to think about – cost, how much space is needed, actual location, renovation costs for creating a tap-room or brew-pub, zoning restrictions…

Start by determining what functions your space will serve and how you will use it.  Is it just where you brew your beer? Or will there be a tap room as well? Will it be a brewpub? If so, how much space needs to be dedicated to the brewery vs the kitchen vs the seating area?

Once you’ve outlined exactly what you need from your space, you can keep those needs in mind as you review different facilities.

Here are a few things to consider as you review each space…

• Does the building have easy access for loading and unloading supplies and product?
• Is there room to store product on site?
• Is the rent or mortgage low enough to accommodate any needed renovation costs and remain within your budget?
• Does the neighborhood have (and is it safe for) foot traffic if you plan to cater to onsite guests?
• Is there room for guests to park (if appropriate)?
• Does the building offer enough space to expand your brewing system’s capacity in a few years or would you need to relocate?

One of the most valuable lessons you can learn from established brewers is to choose a location with room to grow. Brett from Dust Bowl Brewing Company speaks from experience:

We’ve expanded the operation and reached capacity production three times since we started brewing in 2009. We’ve now maximized what we can fit in the footprint of our current building. We are in the process of relocating to a new location. Our new site will, of course, have room to grow, so at least we’ve learned!

Brewing equipment

Your brewing system is also vital to the success of your craft beer business. The larger the system, the more beer you can produce and the more beer you can sell.

Myles from Borderlands Brewing ran into this issue early on:

People are thirsty! We started with a 3 barrel brewhouse, and that barely made enough beer to keep our tap room stocked. And the tap room was only open two days a week. We recently upgraded to a 20 barrel system, and we’re already planning the next expansion!

But, brewing equipment is expensive. So, it’s important to strike the right balance. Overspending on your brewing system without an established demand will only backfire. And a system that’s too small will save you money upfront, but lead to additional costs as you upgrade.

This article by Wooden Hill Brewing gives a great break-down of the equipment you’ll need and the considerations to keep in mind when choosing your system. And this piece by the Brewing Industry Guide can help you decide on the right size system for your brewery’s needs.

7. Optimize your packaging

Image courtesy of Oh Beautiful Beer

Before any consumers can enjoy your beer, it has to be packaged. And, it needs to look good.

Luckily, you have more options for packaging than ever before. You’ll still be working with bottles, cans, and kegs. But, new technology in materials and labeling mean you can make smarter choices for your business.

Some breweries choose to bottle or can their own brews on their own equipment. Other breweries hire in mobile canning services like The Beer Monks of Southern California.

Here are the topics that should be on your radar when planning your beer packaging…

DIY or hire a service

Opening a brewery is a big investment. And, when you’re first starting up, it’s a good idea to ask yourself where it makes sense to save money. For some breweries, the packaging is one of those places.

Depending on the size of your operation, and thanks to mobile canning and bottling services, you may be able to avoid purchasing, housing, and running your own bottling equipment. Look to see if there are mobile bottling and canning services in your area. Then compare their fees with the costs you’d rack up buying and running your own packaging system.

Alternately, keep in mind that packaging your own beer allows you to control the quality of the process to a more exacting degree. But, it also means training and paying staff to run the machines and paying for repair costs. Chris Riphenburg of Ale Asylum in Madison, Wisconsin offers this advice:

…if you don’t have an engineer on staff, become friends with one quickly. There is always something that needs to be repaired.

Bottling vs canning

Image courtesy of Oh Beautiful Beer

Bottles are the traditional choice of craft breweries. But, cans are growing in popularity.

Purists will claim that beer tastes better from a bottle. But, cans keep beer fresher longer, are more eco-friendly, and are cheaper to ship due to their lighter weight.

The differences don’t stop there. Bottles offer the flexibility of a cap, neckband, and label to share your packaging design. But, cans offer more physical space for design.

There’s no wrong choice. But, don’t make a decision without weighing the pros and cons.

Choosing your packaging design

Image courtesy of Oh Beautiful Beer

When it comes to packaging design consider both the materials the design will be printed on and the package graphics.

There’s a dizzying array of bottle label materials to choose from; including paper, matte film, glossy film, metalized film, wood finish film or clear film. Each of these communicate a different message to your consumer; so make sure to select a label material that reflects your brand identity.

Cans don’t offer quite so many options. You can print directly on cans or apply a plastic shrink-wrapped sleeve.

Printing directly on the can limits the number of colors you can use and it’s hard to achieve bright vibrant colors.

Can sleeves offer a more vibrant look and a quicker turn-around. These sleeves are very versatile canvas for printing your can design.

To learn more, read up on cans vs can sleeves here.

Once you know what material your design will appear on, you can enlist the help of a professional designer. Make sure to let them know the dimensions and materials for your packaging, as well as detailed information about your brand and the product itself.

The more information you can provide about your brand personality, mission, and beer, the better. These details equip the designer to create a design that will embody your beer and your brand.

And, don’t be shy about providing feedback to guide the evolution of a design. You know your product better than anyone else. So don’t be stingy with your knowledge and guidance.

If you’d like to see lots of design options before settling on a final design, consider using a crowdsourced design service like crowdspring.

Image courtesy of Oh Beautiful Beer

Kegs – stainless steel vs one-way

Historically, kegs have been made of stainless steel.  These kegs are then returned to the brewery to be re-used after they’ve been tapped out. However, there’s a new game in town.

Lightweight, sustainable, one-way kegs are now available. They’re cheaper to ship and can travel further from your home base than traditional stainless steel kegs. This gives you the option to sell to new markets.

Whether you opt for stainless steel, lightweight one-way kegs, or both… know your options and make the choice that will serve your business best.

8. Share your beer with the world

Okay, you’ve brewed and packaged your beer – hooray! But, your beer is just beginning its journey. It still needs to make its way to retailers or direct to consumers – this is known as “distribution.”

As Tom McCormick of ProBrewer explains:

You can brew the very best of products and have great packaging, but without good distribution, it will be not be enjoyed by the end consumer.

And, depending on where your brewery is located, you may or may not be able to distribute your own beer. (Remember that 3-tier system?) As always, begin by researching the laws in your state.  This resource from the Brewer’s Association is a good place to start.

If you’re unable to self-distribute your beer, then prepare to find a distributor. Or, if you decide that paying for trucks, labor, storage is too costly and you don’t want to self-distribute… you’ll need a distributor.

Either way, do your homework carefully before signing a distributor contract. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when shopping for a distributor:

• Do they have access to the markets you want to sell in?
• Will they help to market your brand?
• Do they have the connections needed to get your beer into the retail spaces where your audience drinks and buys?
• Is their territory wide enough to help your business expand as it grows?
• Do they fit into your budget?

Once you’ve signed with a distributor, you’ve committed to that path for the term of the contract. So be sure you’re comfortable with your choice before you commit.

For a more in-depth look at how to prepare for beer distribution, click here.

9. Build a web presence

Your website is one of your brewery or brewpub’s most important ambassadors.

As we explained previously:

Today, it’s impossible to reach most customers without a website. This is especially true for new small businesses and startups trying to compete in an increasingly noisy world. but it’s also true for even established companies.

Don’t believe me? A recent study shows that 97% of consumers research their purchases online before they buy something.

Your website is a crucial component of your marketing and branding strategy.

So, put this vital business tool to work for your craft beer business.

Start by ensuring that your website design truly embodies your brand. Visitors should be able to understand who you are and what your brand is about as soon as they arrive.

As I mentioned in a previous article,

It’s not enough to have a website… You also want to be sure that your site’s design is unique and that it showcases your products and you.

Just like your logo, your web design should start with your personal brand. A well-designed website will expand upon and support the values and personality traits that you’ve identified as being core to your business. If web design is not among your many DIY skills, know that there’s help available.

Your website’s visual design and marketing copy should project your brand’s voice and identity. Here are some suggestions:

• Use your brand’s colors.
• Prominently feature your logo.
• Share your brewing process and philosophy as a brewer.
• Write copy with your target consumer in mind.

In addition to serving as a brand ambassador, your website is also a great venue for attracting a wider customer base. Strong copy describing your beers along with enticing photography will make consumers want to give them a try.

And, you can share your full line, inspiring consumers to try more flavors. Offer seasonal brews? Mention them on your site so that folks know to come back to try them at the appropriate time.

Finally, a strong website design will lend credibility and legitimacy to your business. Make sure you’re using your website to its fullest capacity.

To learn more about great website design, check out Grow Your Small Business With These 7 Website Design Best Practices and 7 Modern Web Design Trends for 2019.

There’s no doubt about it – starting a craft beer business is hard work.

But, brewing is a work of passion. And for those who have followed its call, it’s a rewarding, fulfilling career.

With planning and hard work, you can join their ranks. And, soon, you’ll be toasting your own craft beer business with your very own brew.

Interested in other types of businesses or how-to guides? Here are our comprehensive guides:

The post How to Start a Brewery Business: The Complete 9 Step Guide (2019) appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Businesses are pressured to produce more content every day.

Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter… the content monsters demand to be fed.

And, visual content has been shown to be the most popular with buyers – so it’s in the greatest demand for marketers. But, it can also be hard to create.

Most small businesses don’t have an on-staff photographer and graphic designer to take care of their visual content creation.

And if you’re starting a new business, you’re looking for ways to conserve your money to give yourself a better chance to succeed.

That’s where stock photography sites come in handy.

Stock photography sites can provide the raw images that you can creatively transform into valuable visual content. They can also supplement the written content you’re already creating.

But, not all stock photographs are licensed for commercial use. And some have strict requirements about attributions and restrictions on modifications.

So, how do you safely use stock photos without getting into legal trouble, spending a lot of money for licensing fees, or getting caught in a web of complex licensing rules?

We’ve found that by sticking with certain reputable stock photography sites, it can actually be pretty simple. To save you the hassle, we’ve assembled a collection of our favorite stock photos sources just for you.

Here are 7 of the most popular stock photography sites:

• Pexels.com
• Unsplash.com
• Pixabay
• ISO Republic
• StockSnap
• Reshot
• PicJumbo

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” I hear you saying. “But, don’t you advise against using stock?”

And, the answer is – yes.

We wholeheartedly believe that stock art and photography have no place in your core visual branding materials.

Stock art is available to everyone. And, for that reason, it can never be unique enough to create a differentiated visual brand. You’d just blend in with all the other businesses using that same stock art.

For the full details on why stock art is bad for your brand, just click that link above.

But, stock photography can play a role in creating massive quantities of visual content needed to keep the social media engine running. And, it can be used as supplemental visuals for blog content.

So, for example…

• Should you use stock photography for your website homepage?  No.
• Can you use stock photography for an image in a blog article?  Yes.
• Should you use stock images or photo for your company logo? No.
• Can you use a stock photo or image to create content for a Facebook post?  Sure!

Stock photography and art can’t be used to replace an authentic, consistent visual brand identity. But, stock photos can supplement an already established brand identity. Just choose photos that don’t contradict your existing brand.

So, now that we know the ground rules for when it’s okay to use stock photography, let’s take a look at the best sources for acquiring free, high-quality stock photos.

Pexels.com

The stock photography hub Pexels offers a wide selection of hand-curated photos from over 80,000 photographers. And, they add new photos regularly.

Pexels features a user-friendly interface that allows you to search for photos by keyword to find just what you’re looking for. And, they have a sizable assortment of business photos that come in handy for blog posts.

One of our favorite features is that you can download the images in your custom size specifications.

Trust me – this is a life-saver!

And, all of Pexel’s photos are free to use – even commercially.

Check out their license details here.

Unsplash.com

Unsplash claims to provide “photos for everyone.” With a vast collection of over 800,000 photos, they may be right.

It’s easy to search for photos using keywords. But, Unsplash also has a detailed category system including topics like Textures & Patterns, Nature, Business & Work, and Current Events. This offers a helpful way to find new photos you may not have considered.

Like Pexels, Unsplash encourages attribution but does not require it. Their licensing page states:

Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash.

Read their full license details here.

Pixabay

Pixabay is unique in that it offers vector art, videos, and illustrations as well as stock photography. And, their collection is huge – more than a million images!

Like Pexels and Unsplash, it’s easy to search for photos and art using keywords. You can also filter your search by photography, illustration, vector or video.

Some of the art and photography on Pixabay can be a little… odd. I’ve found that if you’re having trouble finding what you need elsewhere, that you may have luck at Pixabay.

And, all of their art is completely, awesomely, free to use.

Check out Pixabay’s license details here. 

ISO Republic

ISO Republic’s collection is a bit smaller than Pexels, Unsplash, and Pixabay. But, they offer both beautiful high-res photos and videos for free.

You can search by keyword or category. And, you can also sign up to receive their latest stock photos straight to your inbox, providing you with a regular supply of new stock photos without even venturing onto the web.

ISO Republic has partnered with Adobe to offer 1 free month of Adobe Stock (a paid stock service). And, they’ve also recently launched a blog with photography and video tips and inspiration for photographers.

If their recent actions are any indication, this platform is looking to grow and worth keeping an eye on.

Learn more about their licensing details here.

StockSnap

StockSnap is a constantly-growing stock photography resource. They add hundreds of new high-quality images on a weekly basis. And, like all the other sites on our list, you can use their photos for absolutely free.

StockSnap’s photos are all tagged for content and concept. This allows them to offer a great search tool that delivers results for both literal content keywords and for broader concepts like “happy” or “serene.” And, you can browse by popular categories like food, design, nature, or (on Monday mornings) coffee.

StockSnap also can email their most popular photos every week.

Read StockSnap’s full licensing details here.

Reshot

Reshot considers itself the anti-stock stock photography site. They offer “handpicked, non-stocky images.” And, they have quite a collection to choose from.

They offer an easy keyword search interface, as well as offering pre-assembled concept “packs” for download. The packs feature concepts like “Everyday Technology” and “Diversity Matters.”

Reshot values quality over quantity and claims that “authenticity is everything”. If you’re looking for stock photos with a fresh perspective, then Reshot might be your jam.

Check out Reshot’s complete licensing info here.

PicJumbo

PicJumbo is an interesting stock photography site – they allow you to download individual free photos or their entire collection of free photos.

In addition to their free section, they offer a premium service with a deeper well of images. And, despite their paid service, PicJumbo doesn’t shirk on the number of free photos they offer.

As per usual, you can search using keywords or browse from their pre-set categories. And, if you actually like getting email, you can subscribe to their newsletter to get new free stock photos delivered regularly.

The site was founded by photographer and web designer Victor Hanacek. He explains,

I’m just a guy who shares his photos to the world. For free.

Get the full licensing details here.

Stock Answer

Good stock photography has its place in the world.

That place is not in your most important branding material – like your logo, website, or social media profiles. But, free stock photography is a great solution for harried content and social media marketers who are struggling daily to keep their content calendar full.

These 7 quality stock photo sites will help your marketing team deliver the visual content they need. They’re simple to use and they’re free.

If only everything in life was this convenient…

The post 7 Outstanding (and Free!) Stock Photography Sites Your Marketing Team Should Know About appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Nonprofits are not traditional businesses.

They serve a higher purpose.

And, they operate differently than for-profit businesses on a fundamental level.

But, just because nonprofits aren’t in it for the money doesn’t mean they can or should ignore branding.

If you’re starting a new business, a strong brand identity is the most effective way for your new business to gain a competitive edge.

But a strong brand identity may be even more important for nonprofits than for regular companies.

As Matt Schwartz of Philanthropy News Digest points out, nonprofits simply don’t provide the same instant gratification of a traditional purchase. Instead, nonprofits appeal to people to invest their time and money in a cause that’s far less tangible.

So, what is a brand in the nonprofit world? Schwartz defines a nonprofit brand as:

 …a combination of your mission, values, strategy, relationships, impact — and their value to the world. It’s a gut feeling about the promises you make and your reputation for keeping (or breaking) them.

When you think of it that way, a strong brand is vital to your organization’s success.

The good news is that nonprofits are increasingly aware of this importance. In 2012 the Stanford Social Innovation Review reported that:

Branding in the nonprofit sector appears to be at an inflection point in its development. Although many nonprofits continue to take a narrow approach to brand management, using it as a tool for fundraising, a growing number are moving beyond that approach to explore the wider, strategic roles that brands can play: driving broad, long-term social goals, while strengthening internal identity, cohesion, and capacity.

The trend of emphasizing branding as an overarching strategic tool for nonprofits has only matured in the years since. And, for good reason.

So, let’s take a look at the role branding can – and should – play in your nonprofit’s overall strategy.

1. Be understood – a clear brand message resonates.

Nonprofits deal with a variety of audiences.

Their donors, volunteers, and constituents (and sometimes the government) must be able to easily understand who they are and what they’re about.

People don’t want to volunteer their time or money for nothing. They need a worthwhile cause to motivate them. And, a nonprofit’s brand identity is responsible for bridging that communication gap.

A well-executed brand identity will help people understand your mission.

But, a brand identity that clear and well-defined doesn’t happen by accident.  It has to be planned with intent – from the visuals of your logo and website to the messaging of your company name and marketing copy.

Ilma Ibrisevic of the Donorbox Nonprofit Blog points out:

When a brand has been intentionally crafted, properly positioned and aligned to its target audiences, the trust, and loyalty of the audience increase.

This is ultimately the goal of any good brand in the profit or nonprofit sectors – to build trust and loyalty so that people will engage with you.

And, trust and loyalty can only occur when you have an understandable, relatable cause fronted by an authentic brand.

How to Make it Happen

• Choose a brand name that clearly communicates your mission.
• Work with a professional designer or crowdsourcing design team to get a unique logo that captures the essence of your mission.
• Choose brand colors that elicit an emotional response that supports your mission.
• Share your branding journey on your website to help your audience understand how your brand name, colors, and logo are inspired by and encapsulate your organization’s goals.

2. Get heard – a strong brand cuts through the noise.

People today are overwhelmed with marketing messages.

As we wrote previously,

According to recent studies, the average person is exposed to anywhere from 3,000 to a staggering 20,000 messages and brands a day.

This constant media bombardment is a tremendous drain on a person’s mental resources. And, non-profits have to compete on the same field as every other business for a share of the same consumers’ limited attention.

So, if you want your important message to be heard, you have to speak in a way that allows your audience to hear you. That includes cultivating a recognizable, consistent brand that people can trust.

The human mind seeks out things that are familiar and easily identifiable.  In fact, as we previously explained, ” the simple act of repeated exposure automatically triggers an increased positive association in our brains.”

In other words, brands that remain consistent will be viewed more favorably the more frequently people encounter them.

Brands that are inconsistent will not enjoy that same reward. In fact, inconsistent branding may both undermine trust and make it harder to recognize your organization.

If you’re seeking funding, volunteers, or simply shares and likes on social media, a consistent brand will help your message be heard.

How to Make it Happen

• Use the same visual branding wherever your organization is represented. Your organization’s website; print and television ads; and signage, flyers, and brochures for events should all feature the same unique and easy-to-recognize logo.
• Select unique and appropriate brand colors to be used on all of your marketing and fundraising materials. Color makes a strong impact on people’s perception of your brand. Using the same color palette will increase the recognition of your brand.

3. Raise funds – people donate to brands they trust.

As a nonprofit, your mission is to deliver social impact – not make money.

But, it’s hard to deliver social impact without money.

This is where fundraising enters the picture.

Fundraising is the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations.  Funding allows your organization to continue to function – which ensures that you can keep working toward your higher goal.

And, with the advent of nonprofit grading sites like CharityWatch.org and CharityNavigator.org, people are more aware than ever about making sure the nonprofits they support are trustworthy. This heightened awareness (and frequent cynicism) makes it harder than ever to raise money.

But, a brand that’s linked with a strong reputation helps to overcome this challenge.  For example, The American Cancer Society raised roughly 860 million dollars in 2017. They’ve cultivated a strong and trustworthy brand.

Create your own transparent and trustworthy brand and you’ll see higher revenues for your organization, too.

How to Make it Happen

• Put the money you raise where you claimed it would go. This should be a no-brainer – but sadly, it’s not. You may need to use funds for infrastructural costs like salaries, utility bills, and rent. But, the vast majority of the money you raise should, of course, go to supporting your mission.
• Be transparent about how you use your money. Let people know how much of your revenue goes to infrastructural costs like salaries, utility bills, and rent vs directly funding your mission. People want to see the impact their dollars have made. Transparency increases the likelihood that people will remain engaged with your efforts and your organization. It also reassures new and potential donors that your brand can be trusted.
• Make your fiscal responsibility and transparency central themes of your brand identity.
  • Include financial breakdowns on your branded website.
  • Share your devotion to fiscal transparency in your marketing messages.
  • Make sure your visual branding is always present when showcasing successful endeavors.

Nonprofits are vital organizations fighting to make a difference in our world.

As a nonprofit, you need to use every tool in your arsenal to effect the change you wish to see. Don’t overlook a consistent, authentic brand when planning your strategy.

The post Nonprofit Branding: Why You Must Build a Strong Nonprofit Brand appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Design, marketing, and other creative agencies and consultants have a unique challenge.

It can be tough to convince clients to pay before clients see a finished product.

And, this is especially true for smaller graphic design and marketing agencies that don’t have the rock-solid reputations of top firms to pave the way.

Purchasing design or marketing services can be a speculative action.

It’s risky.

And research suggests that spending money can actually trigger pain reactions in the brain.

When you add that into the mix, it’s easy to see why making sales can be such an onerous task for agencies.

But, what if you could overcome both of those challenges  – and more – with a single marketing tactic?

The fact is that you can.

A simple, well-crafted guarantee could be the game-changer your agency has been searching for.

Here’s what you need to know about offering results and/or service guarantees to your clients and prospective clients.

Three reasons why your agency should have a guarantee

1. Guarantees remove risk/friction

Most clients are uncomfortable paying for something sight unseen. They worry that they won’t get what they’re looking for. And, that’s a reasonable concern.

In fact, this was the key reason we founded crowdpring in 2008 and the reason why our model lets clients pick from actual designs (or names), rather than bids and proposals. More about this in our look at 10 essential tools that will help grow your marketing agency.

A guarantee can help to mitigate that concern for agencies that are not comfortable or unwilling to work on spec, making the client comfortable with the decision to hire the agency.

A money-back guarantee or a satisfaction guarantee can effectively remove the danger by ensuring that the client can get a refund if it doesn’t work out; or, that you’ll work with the client until they are satisfied.

Risk. Gone.

2. Guarantees build client confidence

A business willing to guarantee their product or service exudes confidence.

It’s one reason we have a 100% money-back guarantee on crowdspring. We stand behind our services.

Many of our competitors offer confusing, convoluted guarantees where you can get some money back but not all of it, with confusing and restrictive rules how/when/why you can request money back. As a client, I hate those types of guarantees.

Guarantees, to be effective and to build client confidence, should be simple.

A guarantee means the agency is assuming the risk instead of the client. And, the agency is so confident in what they have to offer, that they’re not even worried.

That kind of confidence inspires confidence from others. Clients will take notice and feel comfortable with your ability to deliver on your promises.

And you’ll stand out from other agencies who sell on a relative basis (i.e. telling clients that if they blog twice as much, they’ll get twice as much traffic).

3. Guarantees increase sales

Removing risk and building client confidence are important. But, they don’t pay the bills.

But, the good news is that removing clients’ concerns and giving them reasons to be confident in your business will naturally lead to more sales.

Leads who were on the fence will have fewer reasons to walk away.

And, if you offer a quality service, they’ll have every reason to give your business a shot.

What a good guarantee looks like

Guarantees come in many forms – and that’s good. It means that with a little creativity, and intimate knowledge of your business, there’s a guarantee for every agency.

But, it’s important to remember some basic guidelines to ensure that your guarantee works for both your business and your clients. Here’s what to look for…

a service or results guarantee must have clear terms.

The terms of your guarantee must be clear. What is your client guaranteed to receive? Is there a time frame? What conditions apply?

You’ve got to think through all aspects of your guarantee completely before launching it for your clients. And you have to clearly articulate those terms to avoid confusion or setting false expectations.

Confusing or overly complex guarantees will raise red flags, suspicions, and misunderstandings that undermine your efforts.

a service or results guarantee must be enforceable.

Your guarantee must be something you can deliver – consistently.

So, when planning your guarantee, look at your business processes.

What can you safely guarantee taking into consideration the way your business is currently run?

You can’t guarantee results – nobody can. But you can guarantee that if you don’t obtain results for a client, you’ll refund their fees.

For example, you can’t guarantee that you can create a strong brand identity for your clients. But you can guarantee that they’ll love the identity you create for them.

If necessary, make tweaks to your processes or infrastructure that will allow your guarantee to be painlessly sustainable.

a service or results guarantee must differentiate your agency.

Your guarantee should help to set your agency apart from the pack.

Make an offer that is unique and compelling.

This guarantee not only serve as a powerful sales tool, but it will also help drive traffic to your agency instead of your competitor.

While a potential client can’t directly compare the finished products they might receive from two different agencies (they don’t exist yet), they can directly compare guarantees.

And, they will.

a service or results guarantee must be easy for clients to use.

A good guarantee must be easy for a client to take advantage of.

Everyone hates jumping through rings of fire to get a refund or claim something to which they feel entitled. And yet, some businesses make it nearly impossible to follow through on their guarantee.

Don’t be one of those businesses.

Creating a guarantee structure that is difficult to execute will make customers feel like they’ve been scammed. And, they’ll be sure to let their friends and family know. But, if you create a pain-free, frictionless guarantee process, your clients will walk away happy.

Is one of these guarantees right for your agency?

100% Money Back Guarantee – The 100% money back guarantee ensures that a client will receive all of their investment back if they meet the terms of the guarantee. This guarantee is very popular with clients as it removes all risk from their investment.

Here at crowdspring, this is the guarantee we offer for all of our graphic design projects, including logo design, web design, product design, and other design projects. It gives our clients complete confidence in posting a design project because they know they can request a refund if the results in a project don’t meet their expectations. This rarely happens, but clients love that they have this guarantee.

Many agencies that leverage crowdspring for creative assets smartly use this guarantee because they can easily pass the same guarantee on to their clients.

Partial Refund Guarantee – Some agencies prefer to keep part of the fees paid and refund the remaining amount to the client. This is a little less risky for the agency, but also a little less appealing to a client.

Design Quantity (Choice) Guarantee – This guarantee promises that the agency will deliver a certain number of designs or marketing services for the client to choose from. You have the option of defining a flat number for all clients, or negotiating the specific quantity to be met on a client-by-client basis.

This is the guarantee we offer at crowdspring for business name and business tagline projects. In naming and tagline projects, we guarantee clients will get at least 100 names or taglines to choose from. We make this very clear when clients create a project – we don’t want clients to be surprised. This offers an unparalleled choice for clients that they cannot get anywhere else.

Low Price (Or Price Match) Guarantee – Clients love to know that they’re getting the best deal – and this guarantee delivers that peace of mind. A low price guarantee assures that your agency will offer or match the lowest price available.

Bonus Guarantee – People love free stuff. And, the bonus guarantee is contingent on offering the client a free bonus of some sort with their purchase. If they’re not pleased with their primary service, they can receive a refund (or partial refund) but still keep their bonus gift.

24 Hour Response Guarantee –  Prompt customer support has real value in our fast-paced world. Offering a 24-hour response guarantee reassures clients that they’ll always hear back from your team within 24 hours of reaching out.

This is just a small sampling of the types of guarantees that your agency could offer. Think about the reasons your clients are hesitant to purchase and any outstanding services your agency offers that might translate into a stellar custom guarantee.

How to successfully execute a guarantee

1. Set terms and conditions

It’s best to start by defining exactly what you’re guaranteeing will happen.

But, don’t just slap a random guarantee on anything and hope it’ll make an impact. Kathryn Aragon explains for DigitalMarketer.com:

Your best bet is to determine why people resist purchasing (or purchasing more), then create a guarantee that covers that situation.

To make the biggest impact, tackle the biggest obstacle to your sales.

Are clients concerned they won’t like the finished product? Offer a money back guarantee.

Maybe clients think they won’t have enough designs to choose from? Guarantee they’ll have a choice of designs.

Are clients intimidated by the process? Offer a no-stress guarantee.

Then outline exactly what conditions apply. Remember that the more complex the conditions are, the harder it will be for clients to take advantage – and the weaker your guarantee will become.

2. Set the time period

For how long will clients be able to take advantage of your guarantee? 30 days? 3 months? 1 year? Some guarantees can last a lifetime.

Clients will, of course, prefer guarantees covering longer time spans. But, you have to consider what length of time works for your business, as well.

Look at the framework of the guarantee you plan to offer.

Then assess the costs (monetary, time and resources) required to deliver that guarantee for set lengths of time.

Then choose the timeframe that makes the most sense for you.

3. Create a business infrastructure that supports the guarantee

You shouldn’t have to work hard to execute your guarantee.

A guarantee with too high of a cost simply isn’t sustainable.

It’ll put you out of business, instead of increasing your revenues and profits.

So, if you’re serious about creating a successful guarantee campaign, create a system that supports that guarantee easily and effortlessly.

If you’re offering a money-back guarantee, make sure your support team is fully briefed and empowered to handle refunds easily.

If you’re guaranteeing choice of designs,  consider enlisting the help of a reputable crowdsourcing design service like crowdspring to bolster your creative pool and provide more designs for clients to choose from.

Only you know what processes or tools will be necessary to execute your unique guarantee. Just be sure to get them in place so that you can provide an easy and painless guarantee for both your client and your business.

4. Set proper expectations for clients

Your guarantee is destined to fail if you don’t communicate it clearly.

Make sure you feature your guarantee prominently on your website and in your marketing materials. But, that’s not all. You also have to explain it in language that sets appropriate expectations for your clients.

If a client thinks your guarantee ensures a complete refund, but in fact, they can only be refunded a portion of their fees… that’s a recipe for unhappy clients.

Have someone with a fresh perspective proofread your guarantee copy before you make it live.

A guarantee is a deceptively simple, but powerful marketing tool. Don’t underestimate the positive impact it could make on your agency’s bottom line.

The post The Power of the Guarantee – Is Your Agency Missing Out? appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Symbols are one of the earliest forms of written communication.

From cave walls to hieroglyphics to the printed word as we know it today, symbols are a powerful way to communicate concepts at a glance.

The ability of symbols to convey information, culture, and identity has made them an invaluable part of our shared visual language.

This is true not only in popular culture but also when it comes to business.

We live in a world where people and companies are recognized more for what they represent than who they are. This makes symbols a powerful and effective way of communicating.

As we emphasized in our guide on how to start a business,

A strong brand identity is the most effective way your new business can gain a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Why use symbols in design?

Symbols can help customers understand your brand. As we wrote,

You can communicate a lot – and do it efficiently and effectively – if you understand your brand and make informed, thoughtful choices regarding fonts, shapes, lines, colors, and composition.

Logos, color, graphics, and text are used throughout our daily life as symbols to communicate deeply held meaning, often at a subconscious level.

Think about this effect when you see a red octagon, or an X on a map. These symbols speak to us on an almost primitive level.

As people interact with a symbol, it becomes filled with meaning.

When you see a person wearing a white coat and stethoscope you probably think that person is a doctor. The white coat and stethoscope are symbols for the medical profession.

It’s this recognition and how quickly they can communicate an idea or concept that makes them so powerful.

How Symbols Influence Branding

Companies use logos as symbols for their brand identity. As we wrote,

Your company’s logo is the visual figurehead of your brand. It’s important to get it right.

Whether every detail of a logo is intentional or not, every detail will influence people who see that logo.

Nothing should be arbitrary.

It’s in your best interest to make sure that every logo design choice is intentional and communicates the message you want to convey.

Thoughtless design choices lead to misleading or confusing logos. Or, even worse, logos that don’t say anything at all.

Symbols are a visual shorthand that businesses can use to imbue their brand identity with a deeper meaning.

While great business names can create a deep meaning too, symbols can be more powerful. You know the saying … a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Symbols create connections between your company and the ideas you want people to associate with your company.

Careful use of a symbol in your brand identity, including your business logo, can have a subtle or powerful effect (or both!).

It all comes down to what you want your brand to stand for and what you want to say.

Symbol examples

Symbols are everywhere – you can find them on street signs, food products, sports teams, even on the laundering instructions tag inside your favorite shirt.

Not sure which one to use for your business? We’ve gathered a list of the more common ones (and their possible meanings) here.

Rose

Besides love and romance, roses also can represent appreciation, friendship, passion, and much more. Here, the color of the rose is just as important as the flower itself. Roses have experienced a resurgence in popularity; the symbol has emerged at the forefront of many modern designs.

Fire

Fire conjures up thoughts of anger, passion, and destruction. It can also signify rebirth (as in the myth of the Phoenix). Fire can also convey a blaze – of energy, speed, and bright, burning passion. Look no further than the iconic Firefox, the Mozilla logo that communicates a brand dedicated to speed and durability.

Lion

The “King of the Jungle” carries with it authority, strength, royalty, and steadfastness. The power and force that a lion communicates makes it a go-to choice for any business looking to demonstrate a respectable, strong standing in their marketplace.

Wolf

The wolf is often used to show independence, freedom, the wild, strength, and guardianship. Logos that use a wolf in their design demonstrate a ferocity, agility, and clever edge that work especially well for sports-related logos.

Triangle

The triangle is connected to ideas like stability, power, harmony, women’s health, and illumination. A dynamic shape, the triangle conveys focus, balance, and innovation. When shown oriented base-down, stability and strength become clear. However, when shown at an angle, relays an energized, spontaneous feeling instead.

Circle

Circles can evoke the concepts of wholeness, completion, infinity, cycles, and also represent the self. The cyclical, inclusive feeling a circle lends a business is an effective symbol for many businesses – Google Chrome notably uses it to great effect.

Dragon

Dragons are especially revered in Asian culture and are often used to represent strength, wisdom, good luck, and potency. Dragons are commonly used in businesses looking to convey a nearly mystical power, unearthly wisdom and a fierceness that is intuitively understood by every viewer.

Tree

Trees are a common symbol for life and the outdoors. They can also signify fertility, good health, and calm. It’s a popular design symbol for a reason and can be found in many businesses seeking to emphasize their nature-oriented products and services.

Arrows

Arrows can mean direction, speed, progress. They can also point out that something is important. They reinforce the idea of movement and are great for conveying expedient service – like FedEx’s iconic negative space logo (notice the white arrow between the E and x).

Sun

The sun is a potent symbol of life, power, glory, and energy. The heat and intensity the image of a sun communicate to a viewer creates a lasting impression of warmth, endurance, and limitless power. Businesses with a focus on stamina, eternity, and prosperity are quick to incorporate the sun in their logo designs.

Moon

The moon represents the rhythm of time, peacefulness, femininity eternity, and enlightenment. The moon can be used by a company seeking to demonstrate an ongoing relationship with their customers. P&G notably uses a crescent moon to reflect their steadfast devotion to their customers through all of the phases of their days, weeks, and lives.

Flag

Flags can have many different meanings depending on the context and what color they are. White flags can mean surrender or peace, red can mean warning, attention, or caution, and blue often symbolizes freedom. Using a flag in a design can, therefore, represent a number of meanings – be careful that your color choice doesn’t send a potentially conflicting message about your brand.

Owl

Owls are synonymous with wisdom, insight, the night, grace, mystery, and learning. Education and literacy institutions are quick to adopt the owl into their organizations. The wise owl is famously used in Wise Foods’ logo – a bold decision to inspire confidence in consumer snacking habits.

Water

Water can represent life, cleaning, creation, and purity. The cleanliness and health water conveys is powerful, and can be used in a variety of forms: water droplets, waves, and rain showers are commonly used in businesses seeking to demonstrate environmental, calming, or cleansing brand values. Method incorporates the water drop shape directly into its packaging for greater impact.

Clouds

Clouds are commonly used by climate/weather businesses, but recently, have also become a major symbol of online storage. Any business that uses cloud imagery should consider their specific marketplace. Using a less literal representation is effective with technologically oriented businesses. A more on the nose approach would be appropriate for a business that deals in weather, climate, or other traditional associations.

Heart

Hearts are a straightforward way to demonstrate love, romance, and enthusiasm – the retail industry, in particular, uses hearts in product packaging, package graphics, and product design to great effect (especially on Valentines Day). Other businesses focused on health, vitality, and emotional welfare also use the symbol to great effect. Hearts are a versatile symbol and are an increasingly popular choice for a wide range of businesses.

Tips on using symbols in logos and brand identities

There are some important considerations if you want to incorporate symbols into your brand identity.

As symbols often come loaded with meaning, their use and how they can be interpreted should be weighed against your branding goals.

Here are some things to keep in mind.

Tell a story

Not all symbols are equal! It’s crucial that you do your research to ensure whatever symbols you choose are clear and concise, and add to the narrative that is your brand.

Don’t choose solely based on visual or aesthetic beauty. Tell a story.

Think internationally

Symbols can mean different things in different cultures and countries.

For example, the bald eagle may be a symbol of the United States of America to most, but to Native Americans, it is a symbol of nature and a messenger from the Creator.

Colors are another good example of a symbol that can have many meanings. As we wrote in our look at what colors say about your small business:

Culture and context can also influence how a color is interpreted. Therefore, do your due diligence and research your audience so you can make the best choices based on their specific backgrounds.

Doing some due diligence before you choose a symbol is especially important if you run an international business.

Avoid conflict

Choosing multiple symbols for your brand can have its pitfalls. You don’t want to choose symbols that have conflicting or unexpected ideas.

Symbols can be combined in very powerful ways, but research is again your best protection against unfortunate combinations.

Ultimately you want your brand to have a unified message, and whatever symbols you choose should help and not hinder this.

Be intentional

Successful logos have a meaning behind them.

These powerful logos make a lasting impact because they communicate your brand’s message in a compelling, effective way.

A thoughtfully used symbol gives your logo the powerful impact your brand needs to stand out in the marketplace.

Make sure that you choose a symbol or two that form a strong connection to your brand’s values, mission, and personality. If you aren’t careful and considered in choosing a symbol for your logo, you risk sending confusing, mixed, or even negative messages to your customers.

Be intentional with the symbol you choose and that it clearly supports the brand persona you’re presenting.

Conclusion

Symbols are powerful, and they can evoke almost subliminal connections and meanings. For companies eager to join memorable concepts with their businesses, symbols can create brand equity. As David Asker wrote in Managing Brand Equity:

When products and services are difficult to differentiate, a symbol can be the central element of brand equity, the key to differentiating characteristics of the brand. The symbol can by itself create awareness, associations, and a liking or feelings which in turn can affect loyalty and perceived quality.”

If you’re looking for ways to connect your brand message on a deeper level with your consumers, symbols may be just what you’ve been looking for.

The post 16 Design Symbols Your Business Can Use to Improve Its Brand Identity appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

Most startups and small businesses have limited budgets for marketing.

But, we all know that it’s essential to spread the word, build relationships, and make sales.

So what’s a startup or small business to do when their need for marketing is big, but their budget is small?

National television campaigns are definitely out. But, there’s plenty that you can do… if you embrace lean marketing principles.

Lean marketing is a philosophy that emphasizes executing campaigns quickly, getting feedback from your audience, analyzing the results, and optimizing the campaign – all in rapid succession.

Any type of marketing is speculative – we can make educated guesses, but we can never truly guarantee results.

Traditional marketing practices may direct you to invest a lot of time and effort into a campaign to get it “just right” before launching it. Lean marketing, on the other hand, acknowledges that we can never truly know what “just right” is.

And, as the saying goes, “perfect is the enemy of good.”

So, lean marketing strategy suggests that it’s best to act quickly (without investing too much time trying to reach perfection) and get feedback sooner so that you can optimize your campaign sooner… based on actual data.

In practice, this means that you can avoid over-investing into a campaign that won’t deliver – saving you both time and money.

How you can put this lean marketing framework to work in your business?

Here are 5 lean marketing principles and 22 actionable lean marketing tactics you can try in your small business or startup.

1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
2. If you can’t measure it, don’t do it.
3. Ready, Fire, Aim.
4. Rely on your customers.
5. Don’t go it alone

Let’s take a look at the 5 principles and the 22 tactics in detail.

1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Small businesses and startups with equally small budgets can’t afford to sink all of their resources into a single all-important marketing campaign.

Such a desperate “Hail Mary” practice could ruin your business if that campaign doesn’t pay off.

You’ve got to diversify your marketing channels and tactics.

A diversified marketing strategy not only serves as a safety net but is also key to the lean marketing process.

Test marketing campaigns across multiple channels to gain a wide range of information quickly. To keep this process lean, don’t invest too much time, money or resources in any one campaign. Act quickly to gain quick results.

You’ll learn that some platforms may not work for you at all. And, that’s okay – it’s valuable information. You can always circle back and try again later (if it seems worth it).

Other platforms will allow you to connect with your audience. And, now you can say (with evidence to back you up) that this is where your efforts should lie.

Now, the resources you can free up (by eliminating the campaigns on platforms that aren’t delivering), can be redirected into optimizing campaigns on the platforms that are.

This diversified strategy will ensure that you can find the right channels to market in before spending too much time on the campaigns themselves.

Be sure that you maintain consistent brand identity across all marketing channels. Some marketers and business owners think that each channel requires a unique brand identity and approach. While it’s true that marketing channels are unique and often require unique approaches, your brand identity should stay constant across all marketing efforts.

Remember that your brand identity – including your company logo, is everything visual about a brand. It’s what you, customers, and prospects can see. If you start changing your brand identity, you’ll confuse your customers and prospects.

Here are just a few options to get you started…

• Test low-cost ads in local publications
• Build relationships with potential customers on social media
• Launch targeted online ads
• Include marketing flyers inside your product packaging
• Create specific landing pages to drive conversions

2. If you can’t measure it, don’t do it.

Lean marketing is about building and executing quickly so that you can learn from the results.

It’s absolutely essential that you find a way to track the results for your marketing efforts. The right metrics will let you know what’s working and what isn’t. Data is one of your most important lean marketing tools.

Poor email open rates indicate weak subject lines. Low click-through suggests that it’s time to test new calls-to-action. And weak conversions may mean that your copy, call to action, or design is weak. 

This data (among other metrics) is what allows us to intelligently optimize our efforts. Without it, we’re simply wandering in the dark.

So, especially while you’re trying to operate as cost-effectively as possible – if you can’t measure it, don’t do it.

Here are some examples of inexpensive and measurable lean marketing examples for you to try…

• A/B test landing pages for your product or service (measure with Google Analytics)
• Launch an email marketing campaign (measure with internal tools provided by email services like MailChimp or Constant Contact)
• Poll your customers or clients (track results using SurveyMonkey)
• Hold an event (track attendance) and provide discount promo codes for all attendees to track resulting sales

3. Ready. Fire. Aim.

The lean marketing process is intended to be fast and iterative. 

Each version of a campaign should be adjusted (based on your findings from the last version) and quickly redeployed to bring you yet more data. Ideally, each subsequent version of a campaign should deliver better results due to what you’ve learned.

This is a distinct break from the more traditional “ready, aim, fire” sequence that we usually hear.

This technique of aiming (or optimizing) last should be applied across all of your campaigns. Here are some ideas you can try…

• Send email newsletters and A/B test your subject lines to hone in on what captures your audience’s attention
• Create social media profiles on the platforms that make the most sense for your business and track which perform the most strongly. Be sure that the profiles reflect your business name so that your customer and prospects can connect your social media profiles to your business
• Send follow-up emails to customers who abandon their online shopping carts – test copy, design, and CTAs
• Start a blog and track which topics deliver the highest interest, adjust your content strategy accordingly
• Send out customer satisfaction surveys after a big launch, adjust your product or service based on the feedback provided

4. Rely on your customers.

Your best resources for learning about how your business is performing are your current customers or clients.  They know what’s working and what isn’t. Tapping into this insight allows you to optimize your product or service for their friction points.

And, best of all, people who have already committed to doing business with you know what they want from your business. Chances are good that if you can get them to share, you’ll be able to market to new leads more effectively.

But, not only that, investing in your current customers is more cost-effective than constantly seeking new ones. As we previously explained,

It’s 5-25 times less expensive to maintain relationships with current customers than to acquire new customers.

As a result, prioritizing marketing efforts to your current customers has a higher chance for a strong ROI than approaching new leads.

So, get feedback from your customers early and often. And, don’t neglect them as you plan marketing campaigns to drive new sales. Ask what your current customers want. Listen. And deliver.

Consider if any of these inexpensive lean marketing tactics would work well for your business…

• Start a customer referral program rewarding both the current and referred customers
• Ask your support team about customer and client pain points, then improve your product/service accordingly
• Reward regular customers with a loyalty program for repeat business
• Ask customers or clients for reviews after every transaction and use those reviews as testimonials or guidance to grow

5. Don’t go it alone.

Small business owners and startup entrepreneurs often feel like they’re all alone.

They take on so many tasks that it can be downright overwhelming. And, their employees (if they have any) can expect them to be the final word on every topic.

But, it’s foolhardy to think that you’re alone. And, even more, foolish to reinvent wheels or work inefficiently when there are other options. These tendencies to hoard tasks and work in a vacuum run directly counter to the lean marketing philosophy.

Lean on and learn from relationships with others in your industry. And, look for ways that you can partner with others to leverage your marketing efforts to greater heights.

This is important, especially if you’re starting a new business. The lean marketing process works best when you have others to back you up and boost you ahead. Try these techniques…

• Learn from the marketing experts in your local library
• Join a professional organization to learn from and network with those who have gone before you
• Attend trade shows and marketing workshops to expand your skills and gain new ideas
• Develop a partnership with a complementary business

If you’re tight on time, money and resources, the lean marketing philosophy is the one you should adopt.

The post Lean Marketing for Startups and Small Businesses: How to Make the Most Impact with the Least Investment appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

The top 5 retailers in the US made nearly $230 billion dollars in 2018.

($228.4 billion to be exact.)

They must be doing something right.

Walmart, Amazon, Costco, Walgreens, and Home Depot have each built strong brand identities and all benefit from powerful household recognition and strong brand equity.

As we wrote previously:

A brand is the sum total of the experience your customers and customer prospects have with your company.

A strong brand communicates what your company does, how it does it, and at the same time, establishes trust and credibility with your prospects and customers.

Your company’s brand is, in many ways, its personality.

Your brand lives in everyday interactions your company has with its prospects and customers, including the images you share, the messages you post on your website, the content of your marketing materials, your presentations and booths at conferences, and your posts on social networks.

These top retail businesses know that their brand is invaluable. These are the businesses that we should be learning from.

So, we’ve studied what these mega-brands are doing right… and wrong.

We’ve cultivated a list of 5 actionable lessons that apply to retail businesses of any size – not just mega-retailers.

And, now, we’re here to share the results of our research with you. Let’s get started.

Walmart

Build a better brand through meaningful change.

Walmart has long been a top name in US retail. But, the biggest box store hasn’t always had a flawless reputation.

For a time, Walmart was making headlines that reported their less-than-stellar treatment of employees and the negative impact their mega-brand’s presence created for small businesses across the country.

Walmart’s leadership team realized that their brand was suffering and chose to make a change. In the years since Walmart has made real efforts to chart a new course.

In a 2017 Harvard Business Review interview, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon explained,

We start with reality and try to focus on what we can do to make Walmart an even better company.

Over the past 12 years, Walmart has made environmental and social sustainability a priority. They’ve also revisited their wage structure (increasing overall wages by $2.7 billion in 2017), employee training, and advancement structure.

While Walmart may still have flaws, they’ve improved their brand considerably by acknowledging their flaws and working to fix them.

Simon Mainwaring, branding expert, and entrepreneur, shares in his Walmart Case Study:

The key takeaway is that purpose is essential to the way stakeholders view your brand. Investing in positive impact within the communities you touch is an excellent way to strengthen brand image.

What You Can Do:

Get real about the ways in which your business is failing to meet expectations. It’s only through self-awareness and brutal honesty that you can really see how your brand is perceived.

• Ask customers where you’re falling short in serving your community and being a brand people want to support.
• Poll your customer support team – what are the most common complaints they receive?
• Ask your employees for their observations – they may have insights you don’t
• Then make plans to do better – and follow through.

Don’t sugarcoat any failing. Every single problem that you identify is an opportunity to improve your business and brand in a meaningful way.

This is especially true for new businesses. In our guide on how to start a business, we emphasize that a strong brand is more important than ever.

As Mainwaring puts it:

…businesses that invest in and share stories about their measurable social contributions increase brand value and carve out a competitive advantage.

So, look for ways that you can give back to your community. Embrace integrity and socially ethical practices. As a side effect, your brand will get a boost, too.

Amazon

Develop a consistent, reliable multi-channel brand.

Today, it’s hard to imagine a world without Amazon.

But, when Amazon first issued its mission statement in 1995:

…to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.

…no one could have foreseen the colossal eCommerce giant it would become.

You can see the key to Amazon’s success in that mission statement. The brand has delivered on their promises – and in unexpected and innovative ways.

Twenty four years later, Amazon is still working to find new ways to be customer-centric and deliver anything anyone might want to buy online.

In addition to the core Amazon website, Amazon has a robust mobile app, an army of AI home assistants (I’m looking at you, Alexa), the Amazon Prime subscription service, and Amazon drop-off lockers all across the country. And, those are just the services that most people know.

This versatile brand has made it easy for customers to interact with them virtually anywhere. Amazon has mastered the art of meeting its customers wherever they are. And that multichannel approach has defined their brand.

What You Can Do:

While you may not have the resources to launch your own household AI assistant, there’s still plenty you can do.

• Survey your customers to gain their invaluable insight. And be sure to reward them for their time with a discount or gift certificate toward a future purchase.
• Build a user-friendly and reliable mobile app if you offer eCommerce.
• Create strong social media relationships with customers. Treat your social media profiles as extensions of your support and sales teams. If a customer reaches out to you there, be sure to respond in kind.
• Make it easy to communicate with your business through various channels. Provide prompt customer support via phone, email, and chat – as well as in store – whenever possible.
• Maintain a consistent brand voice and user experience across all channels. Customers should experience your brand consistently whether they’re on social media, a mobile app, your website or in your store.

Get on the same page as your customers. Find out how, where, and when they want to do business with you. Then figure out how to deliver those conditions with as little friction as possible.

Costco

Invest in your signature brand.

Many retailers offer a signature private label brand.

Walmart has Mainstays, Safeway grocery stores have Safeway Select, and CVS pharmacies have CVS Health. But, most of us don’t head to the store specifically to find those brands.

However, Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand is breaking that mold.

In 1995 Costco consolidated all of their private label products under the Kirkland Signature brand. And, in the years since, they’ve carefully curated the brand’s offerings to ensure quality and customer appeal.

This careful handling has paid off. Today, customers trust Kirkland Signature as a quality brand at a competitive price. It’s become a motivating factor that drives consumers to Costco.

And, as a result, the Kirkland Signature brand accounts for nearly a third of Costco’s revenues.

What You Can Do:

If you offer a signature brand, invest the time and effort to make it a draw in and of itself. We recommend that you follow Costco’s lead and curate your store’s signature brand carefully.

• Make sure every item you offer under your signature brand is a strong match for your customers and your existing brand.
• Focus on quality as well as price – today’s consumers expect a balance of both.
• Find a differentiating factor for your signature brand. Make sure you offer products with unique value and create distinct packaging design and package graphics for that signature brand.
• Market your signature brand. Customers can’t care about your brand if they don’t know about it.

Cultivating a unique, high quality, and exclusive signature brand will give your retail store a hook too good for your customers to pass up.

Walgreens

Branding is more than a tagline.

In December of 2017 Walgreens revealed a new direction for their brand.

Taking a sharp turn at the corner of happy and healthy, they revealed their new tagline: “Walgreens. Trusted since 1901.”

This change came shortly after Walgreen’s competitor CVS made a major acquisition of a health insurance provider. This lead some to wonder if the rebrand was a response to this perceived threat.

Jim Fosina, founder and CEO of Fosina Marketing Group, observed at the time:

If Walgreens thought that a rebranding effort focusing on longevity was going to be competitive with the CVS moves … they are sadly mistaken … and really missing an understanding of what motivates today’s consumer.

It’s possible that Fosina is right – nostalgia may be the wrong fit for a major pharmacy brand. On the other hand, Walgreens made it into the top 5 US retailers for 2018 while their larger competitor CVS didn’t.

I’d hazard the guess that this is because Walgreens new tagline didn’t have much of an impact on their brand. In the year since Walgreens announced that their brand has changed, I’ve visited their establishments a number of times. My experience as a consumer has been exactly the same regardless of a change in tagline.

A brand is more than its business tagline or a company logo. A retail brand is a sum of what your business claims it is, what your business actually does, and how your customers perceive your business.

Walgreens brand has already earned enough goodwill to weather any minor blips like a weak tagline – as long as those blips don’t impact customers’ actual experiences.

What You Can Do:

Don’t assume that telling your customers what your brand is will actually make it so.

If changes are to be made, be sure to make them where the rubber meets the road – not in a company memo. Real branding change must come from action.

• Get employee buy-in on your brand. If your employees don’t buy it – neither will your customers.
• Execute new company policies that will support the branding choices you’ve made.
• Plan your customer’s experience to reflect the changes in your brand.

Attack any changes in your retail brand at all levels of your business. Take a holistic view of your brand and make holistic actions to affect real change.

Home Depot

Don’t let what you think you know lead your brand astray.

Home Depot knew that the majority of their customers were men.

Except, they were wrong.

When Trish Mueller (former Chief Marketing Officer) signed on with Home Depot in August 2009, the accepted wisdom was that women just didn’t shop at Home Depot. And, as a result, Home Depot’s brand was very male-centric.

However, Trish offered insights that allowed Home Depot to correct what they thought they knew – and adjust course accordingly.

Home Depot’s willingness to take a second look revealed that their consumer base was more of an even split between genders. Knowing this, it became apparent that their brand was misaligned – it was time for their brand to embrace female shoppers.

Don’t let what you think you know get in the way of your business’s growth.

Accepting their new reality allowed the brand to intentionally recalibrate – and begin to create a more welcoming environment for the customers they’d had all along.

What You Can Do:

Take regular stock of your brand – and, don’t trust any assumptions.

• Conduct a SWOT Analysis to get a high-level view of your brand health.
• Question even your most basic assumptions about your audience, what they want, and how you can best deliver it.
• Seek outside opinions and pay particular attention to the answers that surprise you or don’t fit in with your perception of the situation.

It’s vitally important to keep an open mind and welcome fresh perspectives. This is how you can keep your brand aligned with your audience as you both evolve.

The post 19 Important Branding Lessons from the Top 5 Retailers in the US appeared first on crowdspring Blog.

“If I work harder, my business will grow faster.”

Many entrepreneurs, including agency owners, share this belief.

And, it’s true that a strong work ethic is vital to your success – particularly for freelance designers and owners of small and boutique design and marketing agencies.

But, with this mentality, it’s easy to see how so many freelancers and agency owners burn themselves out within the first few years of running their businesses.

And, well-intentioned as that sentiment may be… it just isn’t true.

Growing a business can’t be done by brute force. It requires strategy and the self-discipline to apply your efforts where they really count.

Endlessly taking on more projects and doing all the design work yourself is a strategy with a…

Small business owners often find themselves taking on every task in their company.

But, as a business grows, this hands-on approach becomes harder to maintain.

A business’s ability to evolve depends on its leader’s ability to let go of that death grip on… everything… and learn to delegate without micromanaging.

But, despite the fact that hoarding tasks is exhausting and detrimental to business, it’s still a hard habit to break.

In fact, this difficulty in letting go of tasks is commonplace. As Jesse Sostrin – leadership expert and entrepreneur – explains:

One of the most difficult transitions for leaders to make is the shift from doing to leading.

But, it’s an important transition that all successful business owners must make.

Let’s take…

I’m about to lay down some truth.

How you present a design to a client can be as important as the design itself.

I can hear the outrage already. “Good design speaks for itself!” the nay-sayers will cry.

And, in some cases that may be true.

Other creative directors, designers or visual marketers may be able to identify good design. But, that doesn’t mean that every client can do so.

Most clients simply don’t see your work from your perspective.

But, a strong presentation bridges the gap between a creative’s vision and a client’s perception.

And, the right presentation can mean the difference between a client’s buy-in and the outright dismissal of a design, strategy or proposal.

If you want a client to see your idea’s true potential, you…

The cover of your book can make or break book sales.

Books with compelling covers have a much higher chance to be discovered and read. Forgetful covers leave books sitting on a shelf.

Shelf?

Despite consumers purchasing e-books and audiobooks more than ever, print is still king.

And even for readers buying books online, digital cover thumbnails continue to reflect the importance of well-designed book covers.

Ask any author who has poured their heart into a story — this is a big deal. No author wants their book to gather dust.

Sure, there are some who say that people should not judge a book by its cover.

But the truth is that everyone does. Science reminds us that our brain becomes a critic within seconds of seeing an image.

Just look at…