Any company will reap many benefits when they have healthy and engaged employees. An employee wellness program curated and designed correctly will boost morale, increase productivity, and reduce stress. Wellness programs have always been thought of as something nice-to-have rather than a must-have. What employers don’t think about is the benefits in the long term. In the long run, the company will see the results. Wellness programs help employees to stay healthy and lessen absences. The cost of having this employee wellness program will just be minimal compared to the benefits in the long run. Listed below are some tips to make employees more productive at work.
1. What is a Wellness Program?
Before crafting and designing your employee wellness program, you first have to understand what it is. A wellness program is any program with the goal to improve the health and well-being of the company’s workforce. Wellness programs are supposed to help employees overcome general health issues and educate them about what they should do to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Usually, companies hire third-parties to conduct the program and seminar depending on the need and expertise. There are many great ways to increase productivity, and wellness programs are one of them.
2. What improvements to target?
The way to design your wellness program should address specific needs and target personal wellness. Programs structured can target physical fitness and stamina through regular exercise, Zumba, or yoga classes for employees. This doesn’t only increase welfare but also improves self-image and self-esteem, which you want in your employees. At the same time, this also reduces the stress that your employees feel. Targeting specific health-related issues will translate into a more reliable workforce and smoother workflow.
3. What are the kinds of wellness programs you can implement?
There are tons of programs that a company can implement for the well-being of their employees. Be sure to provide flexibility in the programs so many of your employees can join in. Here are just some suggestions and recommendations for great employee wellness ideas:
Zumba Classes
Diet Guidance Programs
Physical Fitness Programs
Quit-Smoking Programs
Physiological Testing Programs
Stress Management Programs
Nutrition Classes
Blood Pressure Screening
Cholesterol Tracking
Fitness Tracking
Gym Plans
Guided Meditation Classes
Cooking Classes
Team Building Activities
Anxiety Workshop
Annual Corporate Flu Shots
Healthy Lifestyle Education
Mental Health Days
Emotional and Mental Health Education and Resources
Book Clubs
Healthy Potlucks
4. Healthy Snacks
With working for at least 8 hours a day, employees will grow well into the snacking culture in no time. Unfortunately, most companies only have low-quality vending machines that offer junk food such as soda, candy, and chips loaded with fat and sugar. These snacks not only decrease productivity, but it also makes a serious dent in the health and well-being of an employee. An excellent way to improve the nutrition of your employees is to provide easy access to healthier snack choices throughout the day.
5. Launch Health Competitions
Nothing else gets people off their chairs than incentives. If economics taught anything, it’s that people respond well to incentives. Why not incentivize health? Gamify employee fitness by starting challenges and giving incentives. For instance, you can start giving out gift certificates for the employee with the most visits to the gym or went running. You can also provide employees with fitness trackers to keep them in shape and encourage them. Another competition you can start is a step competition or walking challenge. You can give out cash incentives to those who hit step targets. The goal is to keep your employees in good shape, keep them motivated, and up on their feet.
6. Pet-Friendly Office Initiative
Another way that has been proven to keep employees motivated and increase productivity is to bring in your furry, four-legged friends to the office. These are tested and proved to improve collaboration among employees. Some offices even encourage to bring pets and have pets running around the office.
Keeping your employees healthy and educating them about well-being does reduce not only absences but also boosts productivity and efficiency in employees. Even though it costs very low, this initiative from companies can go a long way in helping out employees while benefiting the company. The connection between employee wellness and productivity has already been proven and well-established. Hope this guide was able to give you some tips on how employee wellness programs can help in boosting productivity and effectivity.
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Let’s face it: with a predicted market value of almost $17 billion by 2025, baby businesses are booming. Thanks to the rising demand in infant hygiene and nutrition, researching “baby stores names” is more trendy than ever.
Do you spend your day googling “selling baby clothes online business?”
If so, you’re in business baby. From creating a baby store name to selling baby products, read our handy guide to starting your very own baby business store!
Planning out Your Baby Business
If you want your baby company to be successful, you’ve got to start with a successful plan. Not only will this plan help you to identify your target market, but it will also leave room for the unknown.
For instance, start by asking yourself what your ongoing and startup costs will be. Think about who you’re marketing your products to.
Another important thought is: how long will it take for your business to become profitable?
Of course, figuring out what the perfect startup business name is will be crucial too. Fortunately, we’ve done all the hard work for you. Let’s talk about how much it costs to start a baby business.
Whether you’re starting on your own or buying a franchise, investing in a brand-new baby store is a big deal.
You’ll need money for everything from:
Purchasing or leasing a storefront
Fulfilling inventory orders
Hiring staff members
Buying point-of-sale systems
Acquiring accounting devices
Obtaining display racks
Paying for living expenses
In a nutshell, you’ll need anywhere between $250,000 and $500,000 to begin your baby business.
Expect for employee payroll to be your biggest expense. On top of that, keeping enough inventory in stock is expensive as well. Also, maintaining computer systems and your business property will be your third largest expense.
Now, your target market should be anyone who:
Is expecting to have a baby
Already has a baby
Knows someone else with a baby
Keep in mind that budget-friendly stores are much more in demand than upscale boutiques. To make money, you have to buy your baby products at a discount rate from a wide range of distributors and manufacturers.
Earning a profit will be as simple as reselling your wholesale products at a standard retail rate.
How convenient is that?
Creating a Legal Baby Company
When it comes to creating a legal company, it’s all about playing by the rules. For those of you are planning to form an LLC, this will prevent you from being held responsible if your baby business is brought to court. If LLCs aren’t your thing, consider forming a DBA or a corporation instead.
Finding a registered agent website will help your business safe and compliant. The next step is to register your business to file federal and state taxes every year. To do so, you’ll have to apply for an employee identification number.
Luckily for you, getting an employer identification number is both free and easy to do. Visit the Internal Revenue Service website to obtain an employer identification number via mail, fax, or online.
Here comes the fun part: opening up a new business credit card and bank account for your company. In case you didn’t know, this is the best way to keep business and personal accounts separate. Otherwise, your company could be sued for your personal assets if it’s taken to court.
If you want to separate your company’s assets from your personal assets, the tax and accounting process will be much easier. Plus, adding a company credit card to the mix to be a great way to build credit for your business too. This is a good time to establish your company accounting records as well.
FYI – keeping detailed and accurate records will make filing your annual taxes way less stressful. It also helps tremendously if you know your tax bracket and the resulting implications. After you’ve made sure that your business is legit, you’ve got to get your hands on the necessary licenses and permits for your company. If not, your baby business could get hit with fines or closed down.
Nobody wants that, right? We didn’t think so!
Following Local & State Regulations
If this is your first rodeo, then you should know that following the local and state regulations for your baby store is your number one priority. To find out what the laws are in your area, contact the Small Business Administration to learn more.
Also, checking in with your county, city, or town clerk’s office is a smart idea too. Now that we’ve got that covered, most baby businesses have to charge a sales tax on their services or goods.
What is a Certificate of Occupancy (CO), you ask?
Fair question. If you’re planning on running your baby business out of an official storefront, then you’re definitely going to need to get a CO. This will let everyone know that you’ve met the necessary requirements for regulations, zoning laws, and building codes.
For those of you who are intending to lease a business storefront, know that it’s your job to acquire a Certificate of Occupancy. Before you sign the lease, ask your landlord if you are allowed to get a Certificate of Occupancy for your baby business.
That being said, make sure that you renew your CO whenever you plan to do a renovation of your store. If these renovations occur before your opening, tell the landowner that you won’t start making payments until you receive a CO.
What’s the real deal about building or purchasing a baby store location?
Similar to leasing a baby business, it’s your responsibility to obtain a CO from local authorities or officials. The last step in this process is to get reliable insurance for your company. This is an essential part of becoming a business owner.
Planning to hire staff members means that you’ll have to pay for worker’s compensation too!
Building Your Baby Brand
Chances are that you been thinking about building your baby brand for years now. For the uninitiated, your baby brand will reflect your company’s mission, goals, and overall vibe. Yes, that includes how your brand is received by your target audience.
But wait – there’s more. Building an iron proof brand will help you to leave your competitors in the dust. To market or promote your baby products, put your brand and company name in any place that expecting or new parents would visit, including:
OB/GYN offices
Pediatric offices
The civic center
Gyms
Daycare centers
The local library
Launching a direct mailing campaign can reach families that are already looking for baby products or services. Establishing a blog with baby tips is helpful as well. Better yet, make a social media profile to connect with new or expecting parents in your region.
Investing in newspaper ads or placing ads online is another smart marketing move. That way, you’ll be able to snag as many future clients as you can.
But here’s the catch: how do you keep consumers coming back from more?
Surprisingly, the answer is simple. Your baby store opening should be as exciting and fun as possible. To take it up a notch, you could always:
Rent a jump house
Hire clowns
Find a face painter
Have a snack station
In addition to this, offering customer specials at the door will encourage customers to check out your fun and beautiful business.
For the next year, running bargains will be a great way to help you build up your clientele too. Continue to offer excellent customer service and competitive prices.
If so, then you’ve come to the right place. For those of you who are still feeling clueless, planning out a baby business isn’t as hard as you think. In fact, all that you have to do is fundraise enough capital to get started.
The rest is simple: purchase or lease a storefront. Next, focus on fulfilling inventory orders and hiring staff members. After that, acquiring accounting devices and obtaining display racks should be stress-free.
Now that you’ve made sure that your baby business is legitimate, follow local rules and regulations. Once you get the proper paperwork together, host a grand opening to attract new customers. Keep your prices low and you should be good to go!
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With almost 200,000 dentists practicing in America, having the best dental marketing strategies in place is a must.
People have to trust you to allow you to work on their mouths. There are things you can do to become more trustworthy to people, and we are going to talk about some of those.
Continue reading this article as we talk about dental marketing and the strategies you should use to get customers.
1. Optimize Your Google My Business Page
If you aren’t familiar with your Google My Business page, you need to make sure you’ve claimed it. Claiming your Google My Business page is easy.
All you have to do is Google it and follow the simple instructions on how to secure your page and verify your business.
Once you have your GMB page, you’ll be able to fix it up to look like a mini website. This is important because it will show up at the top of the Google pack when people are looking for dentists in your area once you’re starting to rank.
You can add recent photos and even update it like social media.
2. Create a Trustworthy Website
Now that you’re getting attention from the search engines, you need to be sure they are going to a website that commands trust.
When you have a slow website that looks outdated, that doesn’t make people feel like they can trust you. They might even question whether you are out of business or not.
Look at some of the most popular and well-trusted dentists in your area, and see how their websites look. You can model after their design elements and have a designer put something just as high quality together for you.
3. Rank Your Business in the Search Engines (SEO)
One of the best ways to get relevant customer’s attention is through the search engines. Learning SEO, which is also known as search engine optimization, is the way to give your website the best opportunity to appear on the front page of the search engines.
Search engine optimization requires work both on your website as well as off-page factors like building links to your site.
When you want to rank in the search engines, you should choose a relevant keyword for the pages you want to rank. Focus on that main keyword and build around it by using other keywords that are similar around the content.
Finding the right dental keywords for your company is important, so you’ll be able to target people that care about what you have to offer.
4. Keep Your Social Media Pages Active
If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business already, now is the right time to go create one. Having a social media presence is going to get people’s attention and make them see that you are serious about keeping your business active online.
5. Engage Customers With Video Marketing
While people can come to your website and read content about how amazing you are, the best thing you can do is create videos to post on your website. Videos allow people to see who you are and how you operate.
Not only should you be on the website, but you should also feature your workers, and show off the office.
Giving customers a behind the scenes view of your office will put them at ease and make them more likely to call and make an appointment. Video marketing is also another way for people to discover you on sites like YouTube.
6. Submit to Dental Directories
When people are looking for dentists, they might go to a trusted dental directory. You want to make sure that you’re on all of your local directories, so people will continue to see your business name when they are searching.
The more people see your business name, the more likely it is that they are going to do further research to see if you might be the right choice for their dental needs.
Submitting to dental directories is usually free. Depending on the area where you live, some of them might have some fees. Try these directories for a little while, and if they don’t give you the results you want, you can drop them.
7. Use Email Marketing
Email marketing is the best way to stay top of mind with your past customers. They need to come back in to get their teeth checked periodically, but you might need to give them reminders, and the 9 word email strategy is the best way to do this.
Some people might opt-in for your text reminders, but most people are more comfortable with giving out their email addresses for notifications.
You can use email marketing for more than reminders. If they have a birthday, or if there is a holiday coming up, you can use your email blast to wish them a happy holiday.
They know they need to come into the dentist, and just seeing your name might be enough to have them call and set an appointment up.
Implementing the Best Dental Marketing Strategies
Now that you know more about dental marketing strategies, you’ll be able to grow your dental practice. Not having enough customers can cripple your business, but proper marketing can make all the difference.
Do you feel like you need more help with your marketing efforts? Our site is full of articles that can help you as you’re growing your business and working on going to the next level.
Browse our site, find your favorite section for business marketing, drop a bookmark, and come back soon to read more.
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Millions of people apply for personal loans around the globe for a multitude of reasons. We seek loans to acquire a property, pay for unexpected expenses or simply, to improve our lifestyle. Many end up getting bankrupt for not being able to repay the amount acquired on heavy interest. Few are aware of the fact that a loan agreement does not just include loan, but also add-ons, often making it almost impossible for the borrower to repay.
One of the solutions to this is small loans, such as payday loans that are availed because these are less risky and provide added benefits. Before you apply for a personal loan, you need to be aware of the following important factors.
1.Identify The Type of Loan: If you’re planning to borrow a personal loan, you need to identify the right type of funds to borrow. Generally, personal loans are available in two forms; secured and unsecured. Unsecured personal loans are not bound to be provided against any collateral but are highly dependent on the lender’s conditions.
Before the lender supports you with the personal loan, he or she looks at your financial history and then decides whether or not they should sanction the loan. If you do not have a strong financial history, then you may avail of the services of a person who does and has a reliable financial position. This loan is riskier in the sense that the lender can recover their investment by selling the collateral in case things do not go well.
2. Criteria to Qualify: When it comes to investment and banking, certain rules and regulations have to be followed as a criterion. Similar is the case of borrowing a personal loan. The first and foremost factor is to find out whether you are qualified to borrow the loan. The general criteria are that the borrowing candidate must be over 18 years of age, has evidence of regular income and strong financial support to be able to survive even without being employed. It is advisable to only approach a lender if you have all of these things in place, or else you might get in trouble.
3. Income Status and Payables: Income status and payables is an obvious thing to decide before you go ahead with the borrowing. Think about what is the best method to repay the loan taken? What are the pros and cons of choosing a certain method, and whether you will be paying it back on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis? When deciding your options, remember to know all the conditions of the lender that fall in your favor, so that you make the most of the agreement.
4. Add-on and Interest: The amount of the actual loan and the interest may often be confusing. The amount you take as a personal loan has to be repaid with a certain amount of interest. Since many people are not aware of the concept of interest, they end up paying much more than they should. To avoid this, you should compare the interest rate with other personal loan providers and make a sound decision. This is because different lenders charge a different percentage of interest and have different timelines for repayment. Choose an option that offers the right interest rate and repayment schedule.
5. Comparison between Different Loans: According to an evaluation, banks and other lenders offer a secured loan on eight to 10 percent interest and unsecured personal loans on 12 to 26 percent. Again, this is because unsecured personal loans are riskier. When it comes to the repayment schedule, secured personal loans are more often seen to be long term as opposed to the unsecured ones. If the loan is not paid on time, a huge amount of interest is charged to reduce the uncertainty of loss. Make sure that your comparison is not bound to just the amount of the interest; there are some other things to be considered, such as payment chargers and loan processing fee, which may vary from lender to lender.
6. Lenders to Approach at a Time: Usually, people have the practice to apply for a personal loan with multiple banks, but it reduces the chances of earning the funds on time. Let’s understand how this happens. When a person applies for a personal loan, the bank or the lender is bound to collect their financial history and credit report. Such reports are treated as hard inquiries at the Credit Report Bureau, which reduces the credit score by a few points. Multiple lenders tend to reduce the score, eventually reducing the chances of receiving the loan on time. So, always apply with a good credit score to the least number of banks.
7. The Employment Factor: Many of us are not familiar that the number of jobs that we have switched in the past also affects the successful or immediate loan borrowing. People who are frequent in switching their jobs are considered to be unstable in their professional life, eventually giving a perception of a difficult repayment. This eventually leads the lender to conclude that it is better not to sanction the loan to a certain applicant. You need to understand that if you want a personal loan, then the stability of your professional career also plays a role in making it possible.
Conclusion
Out of multiple personal loans, a payday loan is less risky as it does not allow huge interest or add-ons, and is repaid in a small amount of time. If you need cash, there are multiple options for borrowing the loan, but you need to figure out how you will manage the payment terms and maintain the credit score. Will it be feasible for you to repay the loan in the given time or will it be much more difficult? If you think you are not capable of repaying the loan, then it is better to gain a strong financial status before deciding to approach a lender for funds.
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Traditional marketing is all about marketing materials which are usually the things and objects which promote your message or your brand to your target audience. Although the contemporary marketing is all about Instagram and Facebook marketing. However, we cannot stress enough on the importance of the brochures, flyers, business logos and banners, which have become digital in this highly digitalized world. The marketing materials have the power of making or breaking a brand; this is the reason why companies invest a significant amount of their money in making high-quality marketing materials.
Therefore custom marketing materials are utilized by various businesses and organizations to deliver their brand message to their customers along with improving their brand image. They not only provide you with various options for improving brand image but also provide options for growing and expanding your businesses through various cost-effective ways through printing and advertising services.
There are various innovative and creative ways, which have been developed in the current era of online and digital marketing. Some of the most utilized ones are as follows;
1.Giving high-value purchase options
Customers of today have become smarter and more knowledgeable because of hundreds of options available in the market. As they have a plethora of options, they prefer their value of money; therefore, they try to find options where they can get high-value products at affordable prices. There are various brands which provide discount coupons or sale option for their customers in order to attract their customer’s attraction towards their products and business. A lot of brands provide 50-70% sale options on their products as well as provide buy-one-get-one offers to allure their customers so that they can get their value of money through every purchase, and the businesses can increase their profits through increased sales because of these discount offers and promotional campaigns.
2. PR and Collaboration through influencers
There is no strategy that has been as effective as the endorsements or relativity of a brand to the customers in a more subtle and simplistic way. Various brands utilize these strategies to promote their brands through various influencers and digital content creators, such as bloggers and other public celebrities, through which people can relate in a better way. This is the reason why most of the larger companies and existing big brands are approaching influencers and bloggers to review their products or services and successfully spread their brand message to their thousands of followers.
3. The magic of printing materials
The printing materials are understood as the most effective ways of marketing and advertising your business, or to recreate your new message. There are endless options through printing marketing materials which are available such as attractive poster printing designs to corporate flyers, business cards, banners, postcards, note pads, and custom posters, etc. they have the significant impact on growing sales and marketing for your business along with giving a professional look to your business through marketing solutions.
4. Recognizing the power of USP
The current wave of marketing is all about identifying and recognizing the unique selling proposition (USP) of your brand. The USP is the distinct and unique reason through which a company markets its innovative product in a wide competitive world of marketing. The USP provides essential knowledge about the exceptional and unique services which will be available with your product. The USP can be developed by recognizing the essential traits of your products or services and understanding the unique properties that your brand has to provide to your customers.
5. The Value of Promotional events
There are hundreds of brands nowadays which are utilizing various innovative and creative ways to promote their products for which they utilize a number of options. The current era is all about promoting your brands in the most effective manner. Keeping in view, the significance of increased exposure of products, various companies, and bigger brands introduce significant promotional events for the promotions of their new products or for recreating promotion of their existing products. These promotional events have the power of boosting the customer exposure and advertisement of your product to larger masses and to achieve large viewership.
6. Providing a high customer experience
Marketing has become crucial these days because of the current wave of advertising which emphasizes overbuilding brand loyalty and customer satisfaction, which focuses on providing a high-quality experience to the customer with every purchase they make. Various bigger and international brands strive to provide their customers with such experience through using various customer marketing materials for their advertising campaigns.
7. Things that are printed with the company brand or logo
There are several t-shirts, logos, key-chains or daily useable things that are printed with the company brand or logo and provided to their customers to have long term value and loyalty with the brand. These techniques are significant for building your brand image and an increase in customer satisfaction.
8. Custom-made and tailored materials
The marketing materials are utilized as modern-day sales representatives communicate your brand message effectively to the customers. Therefore they are understood as conversion materials that have the power of conversion of your customers into loyal customers and making their relation to the brand.
9. Information required to reach customers
While creating flyers, postcards, and menus, the information which is required by the customers to reach your brand is essential for the conversion of your customer. This is the reason why custom made and tailored products are famous nowadays, which include customer information and their names on the product, which are also an effective way to make relativity with the customers.
10. Digital marketing options
There are a number of marketing options in the current era because of digital marketing. Although there is still a lot of significance of billboards, television and print marketing, however through improved digital marketing options, there are a variety of ways through which the brands can improve their sales in a more cost-effective way. Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram marketing is the most popular form of marketing nowadays. These channels are utilized by various companies in order to attract their customers.
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that the custom marketing materials have the amazing power of building a significant brand image and improving the image of your existing brands. This is the reason why companies invest a significant amount of their money in making high-quality marketing materials along with approaching various innovative and creative ways to market and advertise their products to their valuable customers. Custom marketing materials, such as flyers, postcards, banners, and logos have a significant impact on growing sales and marketing for your business along with giving a professional look to your business through communicating your brand image to your customers.
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Business Programs
Employee Wellness: Tips To Make Employees More Productive At Work
/in Managing Your People, Talent Management/by StrategyDriven1. What is a Wellness Program?
Before crafting and designing your employee wellness program, you first have to understand what it is. A wellness program is any program with the goal to improve the health and well-being of the company’s workforce. Wellness programs are supposed to help employees overcome general health issues and educate them about what they should do to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Usually, companies hire third-parties to conduct the program and seminar depending on the need and expertise. There are many great ways to increase productivity, and wellness programs are one of them.
2. What improvements to target?
The way to design your wellness program should address specific needs and target personal wellness. Programs structured can target physical fitness and stamina through regular exercise, Zumba, or yoga classes for employees. This doesn’t only increase welfare but also improves self-image and self-esteem, which you want in your employees. At the same time, this also reduces the stress that your employees feel. Targeting specific health-related issues will translate into a more reliable workforce and smoother workflow.
3. What are the kinds of wellness programs you can implement?
There are tons of programs that a company can implement for the well-being of their employees. Be sure to provide flexibility in the programs so many of your employees can join in. Here are just some suggestions and recommendations for great employee wellness ideas:
4. Healthy Snacks
With working for at least 8 hours a day, employees will grow well into the snacking culture in no time. Unfortunately, most companies only have low-quality vending machines that offer junk food such as soda, candy, and chips loaded with fat and sugar. These snacks not only decrease productivity, but it also makes a serious dent in the health and well-being of an employee. An excellent way to improve the nutrition of your employees is to provide easy access to healthier snack choices throughout the day.
5. Launch Health Competitions
Nothing else gets people off their chairs than incentives. If economics taught anything, it’s that people respond well to incentives. Why not incentivize health? Gamify employee fitness by starting challenges and giving incentives. For instance, you can start giving out gift certificates for the employee with the most visits to the gym or went running. You can also provide employees with fitness trackers to keep them in shape and encourage them. Another competition you can start is a step competition or walking challenge. You can give out cash incentives to those who hit step targets. The goal is to keep your employees in good shape, keep them motivated, and up on their feet.
6. Pet-Friendly Office Initiative
Another way that has been proven to keep employees motivated and increase productivity is to bring in your furry, four-legged friends to the office. These are tested and proved to improve collaboration among employees. Some offices even encourage to bring pets and have pets running around the office.
Keeping your employees healthy and educating them about well-being does reduce not only absences but also boosts productivity and efficiency in employees. Even though it costs very low, this initiative from companies can go a long way in helping out employees while benefiting the company. The connection between employee wellness and productivity has already been proven and well-established. Hope this guide was able to give you some tips on how employee wellness programs can help in boosting productivity and effectivity.
How to Start Your Very Own Baby Business and Store: A Useful Guide
/in Starting Your Business/by StrategyDrivenDo you spend your day googling “selling baby clothes online business?”
If so, you’re in business baby. From creating a baby store name to selling baby products, read our handy guide to starting your very own baby business store!
Planning out Your Baby Business
If you want your baby company to be successful, you’ve got to start with a successful plan. Not only will this plan help you to identify your target market, but it will also leave room for the unknown.
For instance, start by asking yourself what your ongoing and startup costs will be. Think about who you’re marketing your products to.
Another important thought is: how long will it take for your business to become profitable?
Of course, figuring out what the perfect startup business name is will be crucial too. Fortunately, we’ve done all the hard work for you. Let’s talk about how much it costs to start a baby business.
Whether you’re starting on your own or buying a franchise, investing in a brand-new baby store is a big deal.
You’ll need money for everything from:
In a nutshell, you’ll need anywhere between $250,000 and $500,000 to begin your baby business.
Expect for employee payroll to be your biggest expense. On top of that, keeping enough inventory in stock is expensive as well. Also, maintaining computer systems and your business property will be your third largest expense.
Now, your target market should be anyone who:
Keep in mind that budget-friendly stores are much more in demand than upscale boutiques. To make money, you have to buy your baby products at a discount rate from a wide range of distributors and manufacturers.
Earning a profit will be as simple as reselling your wholesale products at a standard retail rate.
How convenient is that?
Creating a Legal Baby Company
When it comes to creating a legal company, it’s all about playing by the rules. For those of you are planning to form an LLC, this will prevent you from being held responsible if your baby business is brought to court. If LLCs aren’t your thing, consider forming a DBA or a corporation instead.
Finding a registered agent website will help your business safe and compliant. The next step is to register your business to file federal and state taxes every year. To do so, you’ll have to apply for an employee identification number.
Luckily for you, getting an employer identification number is both free and easy to do. Visit the Internal Revenue Service website to obtain an employer identification number via mail, fax, or online.
Here comes the fun part: opening up a new business credit card and bank account for your company. In case you didn’t know, this is the best way to keep business and personal accounts separate. Otherwise, your company could be sued for your personal assets if it’s taken to court.
If you want to separate your company’s assets from your personal assets, the tax and accounting process will be much easier. Plus, adding a company credit card to the mix to be a great way to build credit for your business too. This is a good time to establish your company accounting records as well.
FYI – keeping detailed and accurate records will make filing your annual taxes way less stressful. It also helps tremendously if you know your tax bracket and the resulting implications. After you’ve made sure that your business is legit, you’ve got to get your hands on the necessary licenses and permits for your company. If not, your baby business could get hit with fines or closed down.
Nobody wants that, right? We didn’t think so!
Following Local & State Regulations
If this is your first rodeo, then you should know that following the local and state regulations for your baby store is your number one priority. To find out what the laws are in your area, contact the Small Business Administration to learn more.
Also, checking in with your county, city, or town clerk’s office is a smart idea too. Now that we’ve got that covered, most baby businesses have to charge a sales tax on their services or goods.
What is a Certificate of Occupancy (CO), you ask?
Fair question. If you’re planning on running your baby business out of an official storefront, then you’re definitely going to need to get a CO. This will let everyone know that you’ve met the necessary requirements for regulations, zoning laws, and building codes.
For those of you who are intending to lease a business storefront, know that it’s your job to acquire a Certificate of Occupancy. Before you sign the lease, ask your landlord if you are allowed to get a Certificate of Occupancy for your baby business.
That being said, make sure that you renew your CO whenever you plan to do a renovation of your store. If these renovations occur before your opening, tell the landowner that you won’t start making payments until you receive a CO.
What’s the real deal about building or purchasing a baby store location?
Similar to leasing a baby business, it’s your responsibility to obtain a CO from local authorities or officials. The last step in this process is to get reliable insurance for your company. This is an essential part of becoming a business owner.
Planning to hire staff members means that you’ll have to pay for worker’s compensation too!
Building Your Baby Brand
Chances are that you been thinking about building your baby brand for years now. For the uninitiated, your baby brand will reflect your company’s mission, goals, and overall vibe. Yes, that includes how your brand is received by your target audience.
But wait – there’s more. Building an iron proof brand will help you to leave your competitors in the dust. To market or promote your baby products, put your brand and company name in any place that expecting or new parents would visit, including:
Launching a direct mailing campaign can reach families that are already looking for baby products or services. Establishing a blog with baby tips is helpful as well. Better yet, make a social media profile to connect with new or expecting parents in your region.
Investing in newspaper ads or placing ads online is another smart marketing move. That way, you’ll be able to snag as many future clients as you can.
But here’s the catch: how do you keep consumers coming back from more?
Surprisingly, the answer is simple. Your baby store opening should be as exciting and fun as possible. To take it up a notch, you could always:
In addition to this, offering customer specials at the door will encourage customers to check out your fun and beautiful business.
For the next year, running bargains will be a great way to help you build up your clientele too. Continue to offer excellent customer service and competitive prices.
It doesn’t hurt to create a website for clients to learn even more about your services online either. Pro tip: invest in digital marketing for baby product companies!
Get Into the Baby Business Today
Looking to get into the baby business?
If so, then you’ve come to the right place. For those of you who are still feeling clueless, planning out a baby business isn’t as hard as you think. In fact, all that you have to do is fundraise enough capital to get started.
The rest is simple: purchase or lease a storefront. Next, focus on fulfilling inventory orders and hiring staff members. After that, acquiring accounting devices and obtaining display racks should be stress-free.
Now that you’ve made sure that your baby business is legitimate, follow local rules and regulations. Once you get the proper paperwork together, host a grand opening to attract new customers. Keep your prices low and you should be good to go!
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7 Dental Marketing Strategies You Should Be Using in 2020
/in Online Marketing and Website Development/by StrategyDrivenWith almost 200,000 dentists practicing in America, having the best dental marketing strategies in place is a must.
People have to trust you to allow you to work on their mouths. There are things you can do to become more trustworthy to people, and we are going to talk about some of those.
Continue reading this article as we talk about dental marketing and the strategies you should use to get customers.
1. Optimize Your Google My Business Page
If you aren’t familiar with your Google My Business page, you need to make sure you’ve claimed it. Claiming your Google My Business page is easy.
All you have to do is Google it and follow the simple instructions on how to secure your page and verify your business.
Once you have your GMB page, you’ll be able to fix it up to look like a mini website. This is important because it will show up at the top of the Google pack when people are looking for dentists in your area once you’re starting to rank.
You can add recent photos and even update it like social media.
2. Create a Trustworthy Website
Now that you’re getting attention from the search engines, you need to be sure they are going to a website that commands trust.
When you have a slow website that looks outdated, that doesn’t make people feel like they can trust you. They might even question whether you are out of business or not.
Look at some of the most popular and well-trusted dentists in your area, and see how their websites look. You can model after their design elements and have a designer put something just as high quality together for you.
3. Rank Your Business in the Search Engines (SEO)
One of the best ways to get relevant customer’s attention is through the search engines. Learning SEO, which is also known as search engine optimization, is the way to give your website the best opportunity to appear on the front page of the search engines.
Search engine optimization requires work both on your website as well as off-page factors like building links to your site.
When you want to rank in the search engines, you should choose a relevant keyword for the pages you want to rank. Focus on that main keyword and build around it by using other keywords that are similar around the content.
Finding the right dental keywords for your company is important, so you’ll be able to target people that care about what you have to offer.
4. Keep Your Social Media Pages Active
If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business already, now is the right time to go create one. Having a social media presence is going to get people’s attention and make them see that you are serious about keeping your business active online.
5. Engage Customers With Video Marketing
While people can come to your website and read content about how amazing you are, the best thing you can do is create videos to post on your website. Videos allow people to see who you are and how you operate.
Not only should you be on the website, but you should also feature your workers, and show off the office.
Giving customers a behind the scenes view of your office will put them at ease and make them more likely to call and make an appointment. Video marketing is also another way for people to discover you on sites like YouTube.
6. Submit to Dental Directories
When people are looking for dentists, they might go to a trusted dental directory. You want to make sure that you’re on all of your local directories, so people will continue to see your business name when they are searching.
The more people see your business name, the more likely it is that they are going to do further research to see if you might be the right choice for their dental needs.
Submitting to dental directories is usually free. Depending on the area where you live, some of them might have some fees. Try these directories for a little while, and if they don’t give you the results you want, you can drop them.
7. Use Email Marketing
Email marketing is the best way to stay top of mind with your past customers. They need to come back in to get their teeth checked periodically, but you might need to give them reminders, and the 9 word email strategy is the best way to do this.
Some people might opt-in for your text reminders, but most people are more comfortable with giving out their email addresses for notifications.
You can use email marketing for more than reminders. If they have a birthday, or if there is a holiday coming up, you can use your email blast to wish them a happy holiday.
They know they need to come into the dentist, and just seeing your name might be enough to have them call and set an appointment up.
Implementing the Best Dental Marketing Strategies
Now that you know more about dental marketing strategies, you’ll be able to grow your dental practice. Not having enough customers can cripple your business, but proper marketing can make all the difference.
Do you feel like you need more help with your marketing efforts? Our site is full of articles that can help you as you’re growing your business and working on going to the next level.
Browse our site, find your favorite section for business marketing, drop a bookmark, and come back soon to read more.
Things to Consider Before Applying for Personal Loans
/in Managing Your Finances/by StrategyDrivenOne of the solutions to this is small loans, such as payday loans that are availed because these are less risky and provide added benefits. Before you apply for a personal loan, you need to be aware of the following important factors.
1.Identify The Type of Loan: If you’re planning to borrow a personal loan, you need to identify the right type of funds to borrow. Generally, personal loans are available in two forms; secured and unsecured. Unsecured personal loans are not bound to be provided against any collateral but are highly dependent on the lender’s conditions.
Before the lender supports you with the personal loan, he or she looks at your financial history and then decides whether or not they should sanction the loan. If you do not have a strong financial history, then you may avail of the services of a person who does and has a reliable financial position. This loan is riskier in the sense that the lender can recover their investment by selling the collateral in case things do not go well.
2. Criteria to Qualify: When it comes to investment and banking, certain rules and regulations have to be followed as a criterion. Similar is the case of borrowing a personal loan. The first and foremost factor is to find out whether you are qualified to borrow the loan. The general criteria are that the borrowing candidate must be over 18 years of age, has evidence of regular income and strong financial support to be able to survive even without being employed. It is advisable to only approach a lender if you have all of these things in place, or else you might get in trouble.
3. Income Status and Payables: Income status and payables is an obvious thing to decide before you go ahead with the borrowing. Think about what is the best method to repay the loan taken? What are the pros and cons of choosing a certain method, and whether you will be paying it back on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis? When deciding your options, remember to know all the conditions of the lender that fall in your favor, so that you make the most of the agreement.
4. Add-on and Interest: The amount of the actual loan and the interest may often be confusing. The amount you take as a personal loan has to be repaid with a certain amount of interest. Since many people are not aware of the concept of interest, they end up paying much more than they should. To avoid this, you should compare the interest rate with other personal loan providers and make a sound decision. This is because different lenders charge a different percentage of interest and have different timelines for repayment. Choose an option that offers the right interest rate and repayment schedule.
5. Comparison between Different Loans: According to an evaluation, banks and other lenders offer a secured loan on eight to 10 percent interest and unsecured personal loans on 12 to 26 percent. Again, this is because unsecured personal loans are riskier. When it comes to the repayment schedule, secured personal loans are more often seen to be long term as opposed to the unsecured ones. If the loan is not paid on time, a huge amount of interest is charged to reduce the uncertainty of loss. Make sure that your comparison is not bound to just the amount of the interest; there are some other things to be considered, such as payment chargers and loan processing fee, which may vary from lender to lender.
6. Lenders to Approach at a Time: Usually, people have the practice to apply for a personal loan with multiple banks, but it reduces the chances of earning the funds on time. Let’s understand how this happens. When a person applies for a personal loan, the bank or the lender is bound to collect their financial history and credit report. Such reports are treated as hard inquiries at the Credit Report Bureau, which reduces the credit score by a few points. Multiple lenders tend to reduce the score, eventually reducing the chances of receiving the loan on time. So, always apply with a good credit score to the least number of banks.
7. The Employment Factor: Many of us are not familiar that the number of jobs that we have switched in the past also affects the successful or immediate loan borrowing. People who are frequent in switching their jobs are considered to be unstable in their professional life, eventually giving a perception of a difficult repayment. This eventually leads the lender to conclude that it is better not to sanction the loan to a certain applicant. You need to understand that if you want a personal loan, then the stability of your professional career also plays a role in making it possible.
Conclusion
Out of multiple personal loans, a payday loan is less risky as it does not allow huge interest or add-ons, and is repaid in a small amount of time. If you need cash, there are multiple options for borrowing the loan, but you need to figure out how you will manage the payment terms and maintain the credit score. Will it be feasible for you to repay the loan in the given time or will it be much more difficult? If you think you are not capable of repaying the loan, then it is better to gain a strong financial status before deciding to approach a lender for funds.
Ten steps to effective marketing
/in Marketing & Sales/by StrategyDrivenTherefore custom marketing materials are utilized by various businesses and organizations to deliver their brand message to their customers along with improving their brand image. They not only provide you with various options for improving brand image but also provide options for growing and expanding your businesses through various cost-effective ways through printing and advertising services.
There are various innovative and creative ways, which have been developed in the current era of online and digital marketing. Some of the most utilized ones are as follows;
1.Giving high-value purchase options
Customers of today have become smarter and more knowledgeable because of hundreds of options available in the market. As they have a plethora of options, they prefer their value of money; therefore, they try to find options where they can get high-value products at affordable prices. There are various brands which provide discount coupons or sale option for their customers in order to attract their customer’s attraction towards their products and business. A lot of brands provide 50-70% sale options on their products as well as provide buy-one-get-one offers to allure their customers so that they can get their value of money through every purchase, and the businesses can increase their profits through increased sales because of these discount offers and promotional campaigns.
2. PR and Collaboration through influencers
There is no strategy that has been as effective as the endorsements or relativity of a brand to the customers in a more subtle and simplistic way. Various brands utilize these strategies to promote their brands through various influencers and digital content creators, such as bloggers and other public celebrities, through which people can relate in a better way. This is the reason why most of the larger companies and existing big brands are approaching influencers and bloggers to review their products or services and successfully spread their brand message to their thousands of followers.
3. The magic of printing materials
The printing materials are understood as the most effective ways of marketing and advertising your business, or to recreate your new message. There are endless options through printing marketing materials which are available such as attractive poster printing designs to corporate flyers, business cards, banners, postcards, note pads, and custom posters, etc. they have the significant impact on growing sales and marketing for your business along with giving a professional look to your business through marketing solutions.
4. Recognizing the power of USP
The current wave of marketing is all about identifying and recognizing the unique selling proposition (USP) of your brand. The USP is the distinct and unique reason through which a company markets its innovative product in a wide competitive world of marketing. The USP provides essential knowledge about the exceptional and unique services which will be available with your product. The USP can be developed by recognizing the essential traits of your products or services and understanding the unique properties that your brand has to provide to your customers.
5. The Value of Promotional events
There are hundreds of brands nowadays which are utilizing various innovative and creative ways to promote their products for which they utilize a number of options. The current era is all about promoting your brands in the most effective manner. Keeping in view, the significance of increased exposure of products, various companies, and bigger brands introduce significant promotional events for the promotions of their new products or for recreating promotion of their existing products. These promotional events have the power of boosting the customer exposure and advertisement of your product to larger masses and to achieve large viewership.
6. Providing a high customer experience
Marketing has become crucial these days because of the current wave of advertising which emphasizes overbuilding brand loyalty and customer satisfaction, which focuses on providing a high-quality experience to the customer with every purchase they make. Various bigger and international brands strive to provide their customers with such experience through using various customer marketing materials for their advertising campaigns.
7. Things that are printed with the company brand or logo
There are several t-shirts, logos, key-chains or daily useable things that are printed with the company brand or logo and provided to their customers to have long term value and loyalty with the brand. These techniques are significant for building your brand image and an increase in customer satisfaction.
8. Custom-made and tailored materials
The marketing materials are utilized as modern-day sales representatives communicate your brand message effectively to the customers. Therefore they are understood as conversion materials that have the power of conversion of your customers into loyal customers and making their relation to the brand.
9. Information required to reach customers
While creating flyers, postcards, and menus, the information which is required by the customers to reach your brand is essential for the conversion of your customer. This is the reason why custom made and tailored products are famous nowadays, which include customer information and their names on the product, which are also an effective way to make relativity with the customers.
10. Digital marketing options
There are a number of marketing options in the current era because of digital marketing. Although there is still a lot of significance of billboards, television and print marketing, however through improved digital marketing options, there are a variety of ways through which the brands can improve their sales in a more cost-effective way. Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram marketing is the most popular form of marketing nowadays. These channels are utilized by various companies in order to attract their customers.
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that the custom marketing materials have the amazing power of building a significant brand image and improving the image of your existing brands. This is the reason why companies invest a significant amount of their money in making high-quality marketing materials along with approaching various innovative and creative ways to market and advertise their products to their valuable customers. Custom marketing materials, such as flyers, postcards, banners, and logos have a significant impact on growing sales and marketing for your business along with giving a professional look to your business through communicating your brand image to your customers.