Recently I put together a 10 Website Mistakes to Avoid for the Small Business Owner for the company’s May business mixer.   Here’s a copy:

1.      Not having a website!

In this era of technology, not having a website may make your business (and you) seem amateurish.  Some people believe if you are not on the web, then you are not serious about your business.

 

2.      Letting the kid down the street design your site

If you are going to invest in a website, get it professionally done.  A poorly designed website reflects poorly on your business.

 

3.      Not making your website user friendly

Is your website easy to navigate?  Can visitors find what they are looking for quickly?  Do you have any broken links? A frustrated visitor is a potential customer who will turn elsewhere to satisfy their needs. 

 

4.      Not making it search engine friendly

Millions of people (including you) search for products and services on popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo.  If your competitor ranks #2 for “babysitting services Boston” and you rank #200, your competitor will get more traffic…and more clients.

 

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Do you hate wearing a suit too?

Dog beer: a real niche market.

Funny ads not funny.

Technorati Tags: advertising, suits, beer, dogs

Continuing from the last post, here is breakdown of a sponsorship opportunity for a late February event.

What is the purpose of the event?

A play celebrating Black history.

When and where?

John Hancock Hall and Dorothy Quincy Suite, last Sunday in Feb.

How many attendees?

1000 expected (up from 200 last year)

What is the attendee general demographic?

“Sponsoring businesses will reach out to upscale urban professionals
from Boston, and surrounding areas. This is a mature, young-adult
audience ranging in age from 18 to 55 years old. This section of the
demographic represents those most likely to make purchases in
consumer goods, financial services, mortgages, legal, and other
professional services.”

What are the listed benefits? 

Like many events, there are different levels of sponsorhip so I’ll just list the levels in line with the advertising budget.

Show Vendor $150

1. Six Foot Vending Table
2. Listing in Program Booklet

Full page color ad $165 Full page b+w $125; 1/4 page ad $75; Honorable mention $40

How many other sponsors will there be?

(more…)

Continuing from yesterday, here is the a glimpse into the thought process of deciding to sponsor an event earlier this year.
What is the purpose of event?

A community cookout to have fun, be entertained, and hang out.

When and where is the event(could be a big factor if event is outdoors)?

July at a local park beach.  There was a rain day scheduled for the next day.

How many attendees are expected?

Over 3,000.

What is the general demographic of attendees?

African-Americans of all ages, concentrating between 21 and 40.

What are the listed benefits? (copied directly from email)

“Participating organizations benefit from the exposure received from having their name and/or logo prominently displayed in all email blasts as well as on web pages created for the event, the Cookout T-Shirts and the 10ft event Banner.
 
Additional benefits arise from the good will and appreciation received from your organization’s supporters, members and/or constituency.
 
Participating organizations have the opportunity to set up information tables to disseminate and/or collect information from cookout attendees.
 
Participating organizations benefit from having brief information regarding their organization and/or events they are hosting publicized throughout the event.”

How many other sponsors will there be?

Twenty five (approximation made by organizers).

How does this fit into our company’s branding strategy?

The desired audience for the website and newsletters are people of color in Boston.  The desired audience for the mixer series is professionals of color in MA.  Sponsorship adds credibility to our comapny being plugged into the life of the community.

How much time would have to be devoted to the event?

A couple hours including creating sign-up sheets and flyers to have at the table.

Who is the event’s point person in managing sponsor relations?

There was clear point person for the event listed in the sponsor packet.

And of course, what is the cost of sponsoring the event?

$300, which was affordable.  (more…)

As a company that continuously seeks to attract sponsorship for our mixer series, it is always interesting when we are on the other side of the fence receiving solicitations to sponsor events produced by others.  Even if the prices are way out of our range, the soliciation is carefully scrutinized for language/terminology used and benefits offered.  It just may happen that a benefit they offer is something we can include in our own sponsorship packages to our prospective clients.

Big business can throw away 10K on a whim because the VP’s son-in-law’s cousin is the co-chair of some event.  As a small business, 10K is NOT something that can be thrown away let alone even be affordable in terms of sponsorsing an event.  And let’s not forget, affordability does not equal worthiness.

Many factors should go into consideration such as:

• What is the purpose of event?
• When and where is the event(could be a big factor if event is outdoors)?
• How many attendees are expected?
• What is the general demographic of attendees?
• What are the listed benefits?
• How many other sponsors will there be?
• How does this fit into our company’s branding strategy?
• How much time would have to be devoted to the event?
• Who is the event’s point person in managing sponsor relations?
• And of course, what is the cost of sponsoring the event?

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about how these questions affected our decision to sponsor an event earlier this year and how they are impacting a potential sponsorship for an upcoming event.  Feel free to add any questions I may have left out.

Technorati Tags: sponsorship, event sponsor

Put the URL on all marketing collateral

• Business cards
• Letterhead
• Envelopes
• Invoices
• Promotion Items (I like using calendars as they are actually useful unlike many promo items which get tossed in the trash and they will be looked at every week if not every day.)
• Flyers

I make sure anything “public” has the URL on it.

Tell everyone you know and remind them regularly 

Sending the link to my friends and colleagues and asking them to forward it is not enough.  Nothing beats face to face interaction where I can explain to people what the website is about and why they should visit it.  And this why I am so big on attending networking events, especially if the other attendees fit this website’s demographic.  I get the opportunity to talk about the site to a good number of people in a short amount of time for little to no money.

One of my worst fears is for this site to become a “faceless” site where it’s nice to look at but there’s no personal connection.  It’s JUS (just another site).  That’s why I try to attend one or two networking events a month, not including the E & E Club mixers.  My belief is that the more people get to know me, the better the chances they will become repeat visitors and will help in the all-important word of mouth advertising.  And that is priceless.