We’ve all heard the phrase “starving artist”. Typically this description refers to some poor soul who is struggling to make ends meet while putting their time and effort into their art. When I think of the term, I think of someone who has the courage to risk everything and follow their passion.

Meet Claire Hall. After I interviewed Claire in her downtown Toronto art studio, I was inspired. Through her business, Claire helps people feel more comfortable in their homes by creating custom-designed artwork at an affordable price. “Many people want original artwork, but they don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on it,” she said. Claire’s solution is simple. Clients can submit a picture of their room through her website and she will create custom art based on their décor and budget.

When I asked her how she got her start she said, “I went to school for fashion-design, but I always loved to paint.” Claire’s hobby became a business when she decided to load some of her paintings onto Facebook. “After one day I had 20 orders, so I took it as a sign.” Shortly after, Claire left her successful career in the fashion industry to pursue her true calling.

Not long after that she ran into a problem that is all too familiar for many entrepreneurs – getting business. “Once people found out about my business they were really interested, but getting the awareness was tough.” That changed when she was featured in the Toronto Star earlier this September. “The day the article appeared, I received over 1,500 visitors to my website, 200 emails and 100 orders.” The article was so effective that she now has a 50 person waiting list, and the orders keep coming in.

This story not only illustrates why you should follow your passion, but it demonstrates how small businesses can profit from free publicity. When your submit your story to news outlets, you aren’t the only one benefitting as journalists are always looking for new and interesting content to write about. Additionally, if Claire purchased an advertisement in the Toronto Star there’s a good chance that most readers would have skipped over it. Why? Because traditional advertising just can’t compete with the credibility that public relations can offer. Most importantly PR is free! Free publicity can work wonders for businesses with a limited advertising budget. So get your name out there by submitting information to newspapers, social news websites, or to journalist support sites like Help A Reporter Out (HARO) – and you might be surprised at what happens next.

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When it comes to marketing, many small businesses have trouble measuring their investment. Sure you could always advertise in the local newspaper, or hire someone in a guerilla suit to stand on a busy intersection, but how do you know if your marketing efforts are paying off? This question becomes even more important when you’re a small business with a limited marketing budget.

Small business owners increasingly want to know how they can get the most of their marketing dollars. To answer this question we look at some of the tools Google is offering to help small businesses with marketing – many are free! Here are the top 6 Google tools that can help maximize return on marketing.

1. Ad Words – Allows you to target specific keywords that will appear on the right hand side of a Google search in the sponsored links section. Your ad words will also appear on Google’s partner sites as advertisements.
Google Adwords.

2. Keywords – You want to pick key words that are specific, not overly competitive, and relevant. The Google Keyword tool gives you this information on a local, national or global basis. Google Keyword Tool

3. News and Alerts – If you want information specific to your industry set up a Google alert. These alerts email you a list of news worthy items so you always have content for your social media accounts and so you can stay on-top of your competitors and your brand. Fresh and interesting content can make you a knowledge expert in your industry and may even provide content for journalists.
Google Alerts or Google News

4. Reader – This tool helps you access various blogs in one place allowing you to easily find, read, and comment on them. By commenting on other blogs you can attract readers and get ideas for content.
Google Reader for more.

5. Places – A Google listing helps people find your business online. If you enter the right keywords, people in your area will easily be able to find you through search results. You can also add media to make your listing more interesting.
Google Places

6. Google + Button – This button not only allows users to share content from your website, but more importantly lets people promote your page in Google search results. According to a recent study by HubSpot, websites that use Google’s +1 button got 3.5 times more traffic than websites who didn’t use the button.
Google Plus

For even more information on this topic, attend one of our free small business webinars.
Source: http://www.hubspot.com/

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Part of selling our small business is the way we come across to other people and these impressions can have a deep and lasting effect on whether potential customers and business contacts choose to do business with us. At last week’s Enterprise Toronto Dream Up event, I noted potentially damaging choices in appearances and behaviours, and feel compelled to write to you as an image consultant and a fellow small business owner who wants you to succeed.

We embody our business, so it is important that we reflect a good image through grooming and dress – ignoring our appearance can be detrimental to entrepreneurs because our outer image reflects our person, our business, and the quality of our work. Think about it: who projects more credibility, the neat professional or the casual, rumpled business owner?

Even the best-dressed professionals can stumble if they are not conscious of their behaviour. I observed people’s actions at Dream Up that completely foiled any attempt at making a positive impression, including the use of heavy cologne, crowding others, interrupting, and shoving business cards at people. This kind of behaviour suggests obliviousness to oneself and to everyone else, prompting the question, how much attention do they pay to their work if they don’t pay any to themselves or the people around them?

If people don’t like us, they’re not likely to do business with us; if we make choices about our business image that ultimately put others off, we may jeopardize our professional reputation from which we may not be able to recover. As entrepreneurs, we are the masters of our own domain, and if we have control over the one chance we have to make a first impression, why not make it a good one?

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Sales is vanity, profit is sanity but cash flow is reality – Not sure who said this first but it is so true

When you first start your small business, you will likely run on the adrenaline of knowing you’ve created something for yourself. You will also feel elated once you’ve made your first sale, signed your first deal, sealed new clients or hired your first employees.

It’s all very new and exciting.

To succeed you must manage your cash flow. Start off by developing a 12-month forecast that you update on a regular basis. Your forecast will probably be way out in the beginning but as you gain more experience in your business, you will see your forecast getting more accurate

Tips and advice:

- Input your actual sales and expense figures into your spreadsheet at the end of each month so that you can make adjustments and compare your actual numbers to your projections.

- Remember showing a negative cash flow is not always a bad thing, as long as you know the reason why.

- When you start a small business, it will probably take some time for you to reach a positive cash flow.

- Be aware a business can make profit, but still go bankrupt if it has a cash flow problem.

- Use your cash flow forecast to set budgets for your staff so that they become aware of costs and try to control them.

- Get some advice from your small business banker on how to manage cash flow.

- If numbers aren’t your strength sit down with an accountant that works with small businesses and together develop your forecasts.

- Monitor your bank statement daily.

- If you can afford to give your clients extended terms, don’t do it.

- Monitor your receivables and inventory regularly.

Manage your cash flow and build a successful business. YOU CAN DO IT

Attend a BizLaunch webinar to learn and get inspired to succeed

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Books
Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
Duct Tape marketing by John Jantsch
Inbound Marketing by by Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah, and David Meerman Scott
Eboot Camp by Corey Perlman
Off The Wall Marketing Ideas by Nancy Michaels and Debbi J. Karpowicz

Blogs
http://www.marketingprofs.com/
http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/

Webinars
http://www.bizlaunch.com
Webinar Hero

Websites
http://www.sba.gov

Go to college and do a few marketing courses

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1. They have a burning desire to be the best in their field
2. They look and act like a professional
3. They radiate confidence
4. They have a genuine concern for customers
5. They are enthusiastic
6. They are positive human beings
7. They believe in what they are doing
8. They are excellent listeners
9. They are good communicators
10. They have excellent presentation skills
11. They don’t take rejection personally
12. They search for sales opportunities everywhere
13. They are eternal optimists
14. They learn how to interpret body language
15. They are great net workers
16. They work on developing a positive self-image or attitude
17. They have a sense of humour
18. They persevere

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1. Networking with clients  and potential referrers
2. Great customer service,  which leads to testimonials which leads to  referrals
3. Email marketing with great subject lines
4. Telephone – the telephone is still one of the best marketing tools. Use it connect with potential clients and set up meetings
5. Community relations and free publicity
6. Blogging – start blogging even if you’re not sure why
7. Social media – LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook in that order
8. A Website that is well designed, easy to navigate and optimised
9. Joint marketing ventures with companies that sell to similar target markets
10. Sales letter – develop an excellent letter and follow up with a phone call

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When starting a new venture or in growing a small business, entrepreneurs need to be creative in connecting with customers, building their brand and marketing their business.

Oftentimes with the small business owner or entrepreneur, advertising is not always a practical solution so they have to take a step back are evaluate how to spend their resources of both time and money when choosing an effective marketing strategy.

This week we asked the BizLaunch Community what they has been their most effective marketing strategies and where they would be investing most of their marketing resources this year?

Taking tips from the BizLaunch Blog and our new Facebook Page and we selected five comments from our community entrepreneurs to share.
Here are a few tips from the BizLaunch Community on how to market your small business effectively on a small budget.

What are strategies are you using in your business to get the name out there and what tips would you give to other entrepreneurs?

Photo credit, Neon Bubble

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