Here is an interesting idea. Everyone knows that sunscreens are used when you are out in the sun.

Now, the challenge is, sunscreens are messy and they are psychologically associated with “good times on the beach”. But sunscreen is also a needed protection for skin, especially those with fair skin, to prevent skin problems. Everyone knows this, but, like a diet, no one seems to be able to make it a habit.

This company, launched by two concerned (and innovative) moms, seems to have identified an interesting niche - daily sunscreen. Their company, Screen, Inc., has a range of sunscreens that promises to be non-greasy, affordable, non-irritating and dermatologist-approved. They hope that this will encourage teens to use it on a daily basis.

This is quite smart. After all, teens are the ones who spend the most times outdoors, and they are most concerned about their looks. A face peeling from sun burn is not the most attractive, for sure!

When you think about creating a marketing plan, many people feel a huge headache come on. Everyone wants to have the “best” marketing plan.

You will always hear things like:

“We need a creative marketing plan”
“We need a practical marketing plan”
“We need an actionable marketing plan”
“We need an innovative marketing plan”

What exactly is a marketing plan anyway? If you decided to hire 10 sales personnel and go knock on the doors of all your neighbours, is that a good plan? Is that even a marketing plan?

Many people confuse the 4P’s of marketing with the marketing plan. Product, Price, Place, Promotions are essential considerations, but they are by no means the marketing plan. Most of us has learned what a marketing plan is in school and so, I will not insult all the readers by even attempting to define it. I just want to say that many people simply regurgitate the “4Ps”, add a SWOT analysis, talk a little about the competitors, put it into a nice format, and submit it as a marketing plan. Not in the real world, my friend.

I would like to venture that for the small business, an academic marketing plan is really totally unnecessary. The small business owners and managers need to understand this clearly. You do not need an elaborate, sophisticated “marketing plan’”. However, you do need one. A business without a marketing plan is simply a mom and pop shop disguised as a business. Heck, some of the more successful mom and pops do have a marketing plan - and you wonder why?

A good marketing plan for small businesses should be fun, exciting and most importantly, easily actioned upon. It is pointless to have a beautiful 99-page marketing plan that you are never going to use. Here are some simple pointers towards creating a really effective plan for your small business:

1. Figure out what you want to achieve.

This is commonly known as your objectives, or vision. It could be as simple as I would like to add one new, major customer this year that does $X of business with me. Or it could be a grand plan that says you want to have a chain of stores that circle the globe. But the most common time horizon a small business should look at is one year. Two feet on the ground, eyes lifted to the horizon.

2. Figure out who your real competitors are.

Just because you run a small eatery, McDonald’s might not necessarily be your competitor. If you are not even able to honestly appreciate who you are playing with and against, well, it’s easy to “win” when you are the only one playing.

3. Figure out why your customers like you.

If you are running a small business, you have customers. Why? They could easily have gone to the other guy. Understanding what value your customers see in you, will help you understand how to meet their needs better. It also tells you who you should target - people with similar tastes, needs, values… It is pointless to create an academic SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis at this early stage. Get the basics right.

4. Find a good agency to work with.

A mistake many small business owners make is to assume that marketing or advertising agencies do not want their business, or that they cannot afford one. Depending on your budget, there is always an agency willing to work with you and for you. I need to clarify one thing here - a freelance designer is NOT the same as a small agency. What you need is marketing and advertising expertise, not pretty pictures. Some designers do have the experience, skill and knowledge to meet your marketing needs. All I am saying is that you need to be clear about the difference between a great designer and a great marketer. Talk to them (agency/desginer/freelancer) and evaluate their track record. Then pick the one you like most. Go with your gut after all the evaluations are done.

5. Stick with it.

Stay with your plan. Give it a chance to succeed. Just because the first flyer distribution flopped does not mean your PLAN flopped. It is just one element of execution. Test. Experiment. Measure results. Adapt. But stick with your “vision”.

Above is just my view. I would welcome comments, questions and maybe, if you want to contribute, write me and I will gladly have your article posted up here.

Some resources:

Great marketing articles - http://www.versacreations.net
Good copywriters - http://www.writingthoughts.com; http://essentialkeystrokes.com/
Good designers - http://randaclay.com; http://davidairey.com

OK, this is a shameless plug for all of you to go take a look at my friend’s new web site. I encouraged him to try for a niche, and of course, he picked a really strange one…

Anyway, enough about me. Go take a look at HerpesLiving.com

It would be an education for me reading that site since I am not too familiar with that topic.

Much has been said, good and bad, about GoDaddy.com. This time, however, they have come through beautifully for David Airey.

If you have read about his problems as a result of:

• getting hacked through GMAIL
• getting his domain transfered due to a weak challenge procedure
• getting extorted by the cracker who stole his domain

Then you will all be glad to know that davidairey.com is back in business. The DNS is still resolving, so some might not be able to see the page. A few lessons we can all learn here:

• GMAIL is a free service. Don’t rely on it for your business. It’s great for personal use.
• Be careful what sites you visit, don’t keep cookies in your PC if it’s not necessary.
• Keep your passwords strong, don’t share them. Especially don’t talk about them over MSN, email or any other public chat or forums.
• Big companies CAN be helpful AND effective if the issue is big enough (see how David used a powerful headline and generated a tremendous buzz)
• There are lots of nice people online too.

When you choose to operate online, remember that there is a society that is made up of real people. Just like if you opened a shop, you have neighbours, you have them online as well. Hopefully, we are all keeping good, positive accounts with our online neighbours.

Technorati Tags: david airey, cracker, hacker, gmail hack, godaddy

In any endeavor, there is always a risk factor. Online, there have been a lot of press about credit card theft, and identity thefts. However, these have been mainly focused on the consumer. Businesses have always been more concerned about scams.

David Airey’s situation is quite unique.

Most business related cases have been about “cyber squatting” - http://www.lectlaw.com/files/inp23.htm where the owner of the domain name is not the owner of the brand. Here is an interesting aside for those interested to know which famous brands do not have their own domain names: Professional Sports

David’s is the first case I know where a blogger has been targeted for a commercial blackmail: Google Mail Hacked. David has documented it quite clearly and it is apparent that the hacker had executed a very well planned attack.

So, if you are going to go for Internet Marketing, you do need to be aware that online security is not just for the big boys. If you are making slightly more than pocket change (PR-0 guys like me have no worries, then…), then, you could be a potential target. Many small businesses scrimp on things like security - virus protection, spam protection, back up and so on. It’s fine if nothing happens. But just like fire insurance, you sure as hell wish you had them when disaster strikes.

For those not technically savvy, it is best to have professional help in setting up your online presence. Sure, it can be easily done. But is it secure? Heck, would you even know if it weren’t?

If you have been doing any reading at all about marketing, you must have come across this term in marketing articles and even books - long tail marketing.

After Chris Andersen’s The Long Tail was published in 2004, many people believed that this was a “gold mine” that had been left untapped. Well, I believe Alex Iskold of ReadWriteWeb has hit it dead center when he pointed out the difference between being IN the long tail and LEVERAGING OFF the long tail.

Actually, if you thought about it, this is no different from any other “get rich” or “make money” ideas. The ideas themselves are good. But putting them into practice is the challenge. And usually, there is a linchpin which many miss. Either they over-look it or the ones sharing the secret failed to highlight it. In this case, this long-tail golden goose can be missed or caught on the back of a preposition.

I would suggest that most of us, like it or not, live in the long-tail. We are the 80 in the 80-20 rule. But what is crumbs for the elite could work out to be a nice little nest-egg for us. After all, if you are looking to bolster your main income with a little long-tail stuff, then, a couple of hundreds a month is not too bad. But if you were looking for your fortune, then maybe you have to start looking for the big head and aim for the heart.

When running a small business, many small business owners rely a lot on their credit cards to see them through tight corners. This is actually fine. But there is one thing that you should never do. Never take cash out on your credit card!

Compare loans to get the best interest rates and terms. There are really many other options when you are looking for unsecured loans that are much more viable than using your credit cards. Of course, we all know that when you are looking for homeowner loans, you shop around. Should be no different when you are going for small loans for your small business. Don’t pay huge interests, there are other options!

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Technorati Tags: personal loans, unsecured loans, small business loans

This is really interesting. Just a few months ago, I was speaking with a friend about how lucrative it was selling phone cards. Then, here is this site offering a phone card business all ready to go! Believe it or not, this is surely the coincidence of a lifetime. Or maybe, it’s a message for me.

In the online world, I have seen such turnkey solutions for dating sites, gambling sites, shopping sites even. But this is the first that I have seen for phone cards. Going through their website, it seems like this is really a full-fledged online sales system that allows you to actually create a phone card business. One of the biggest challenges when setting up a phone card sales business is the inventory of phone cards. All the other stuff like the shopping cart system, payment and security are chicken feed compared to the hassle of getting a decent inventory of phone cards to start the business. That problem is solved with this turn-key solution.

Checking out the Frequently Asked Questions, the commissions range from 16 - 41% with the majority falling in the 20% range. Considering my own market research when me and my friend were considering starting this business on our own, those are decent margins. For those who are not aware, phone cards are one of the most popular means of calling overseas. If you think about the highly cosmopolitan US population and the fact that everyone loves to call home; you will realize just how lucrative this market really is.

Technorati Tags: phone cards, calling cards, online store

Some time ago, I reviewed a shopping cart solution that was pretty comprehensive and professional. I liked the fact that it had a free trial where you could actually use the shopping cart for 10 days, which should be enough time for you to figure out if this is a solution for you.

But more importantly, when I re-visited the site, I noticed that they have revamped the look and feel of the site. But the one thing that made me smile was the addition of a Live Sales & Support button! This is fantastic! I do not know if you have ever experienced buying stuff or services online, but one of the biggest headache is always access to support.

In the “real world” that we live in, support is a phone call away; or we take the train and bang on some tables. But online, it is sometimes tough to get a hold of anyone when you need help. Features aside, this one single button says to me that this is a really serious company that is committed to helping its customers.

That, is good enough for me.

Technorati Tags: shopping cart, ecommerce software, shopping cart software, online store

Here is a really simple, yet often overlooked tip for business owners - collect as many business cards as you can!

OK, for those who are asking “why?” I would then say, because…

- you need to know more people who might become your potential customers
- you need to know more people who might know your potential customers
- you need to know more people who might be able to help you in your business
- you need to know more people who might be able to invite you to more parties

But as any avid business card collector will tell you, the challenge is not in collecting cards. People are more than happy to pass you their cards. It has become an auto-reflex. The real problem is, what do you DO with all those cards? It is going to be hell trying to type in all the contacts.

To the rescue, comes the business card reader. As an employee, you might wave it off as a frivolous toy, but as an entrepreneur, this is your lean, mean, lead-generating machine!

Of course, this is not the only model available out there. But this model, Scan2Contacts from ScanShell integrates with your Microsoft Outlook and scans those addresses and other information directly into your Outlook. Talk about saving time!

If you speak with any internet marketing professional, you will always hear “… the money is in the list” kind of talk. Well, in this case, it is easy to create that list. Just feed those cards into the reader. If that is too technical for you, then you must be that 5-year old lemonade king that everyone is talking about down the block!

Technorati Tags: business card scanner, entrepreneur, small business, start up

Besides parking your car, what else do you put in your garage? What is it good for? For some, its just another space to clean. For others, it was the start of a multi-million dollar corporation!

This could be you! If you can just upgrade your garage into an office and have a proper garage storage system in place, that little space could be transformed into the first step towards your success.

Many entrepreneurs who just start out spend way too much trying to get a spanky new office. That can come later. While you are starting, the garage could be your ideal choice. It sits outside of your regular living space, thus giving you the feeling of “going to work” and it is near enough not to require excessive time wasted in office commute.

See you at the top Steve!

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Technorati Tags: garage storage, entrepreneur, small business, start up

Sometimes, as an entrepreneur, we fight bravely against all odds. From chasing clients who prefer to work with “bigger” companies to keeping our operations running smoothly. With such a heavy load, sometimes, we get overwhelmed by one of the most basic of needs - cash.

That is where the Internet comes in. It is rather easier to get a cash advance on the Internet than through any other means. Also, as a small business owner, there are times where we might not want the whole world to know that we are taking small loans. We are already struggling with the whole image thing, and such short term, almost anonymous loans can be a great help. This company specializes in payday loans, but the small businesses can certainly make use of any resource that can help.

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Technorati Tags: quick cash, loans, internet loans, cash advance, payday loans