Blog
Trade Show Tips For Exhibitors
Many deals are done at trade shows every year. And, while we know the big booths have the edge, there are many strategies small business owners can use to get better results. Here’s our list of trade show tips for exhibitors: Trade Show Tips For Exhibitors 1. Pre-Show Marketing A lot of the magic behind successful events happens pre-show. Use social media and standard media to get the word out. Cash in on the buzz created by other exhibitors and turn the show into a major sales event for your business. 2. The Best Location You Can Afford Get the best booth location you can afford. You need to do this early because prime locations sell out fast. In fact, you may need to look one or two years down the road to get one of the better spots. 3. An Early Start Businesses who prepare for a trade show early tend to have the most success. You don’t want to get bogged down with small details right when the show starts. Get an early start on designing and building your booth. Who is going to deliver and install it? Take care of the small details early on so you can focus on making it a great experience. 4. A Big First Impression We all know first impressions matter. That’s why it’s important to use bright, bold colors and big images to make your message stand out. Besides physical size, you can make an exhibit look bigger by including fewer elements on it. Place your branding at two to three times the height of your visitors so they can see it whether they are in the booth, down the aisle or at the far end of the trade show. Oh, and don’t forget to use floor stickers to take advantage of the orienting reflex. 5. A Crowd At Your Booth People are drawn to exhibits that appear to be successful. A booth that is surrounded by people draws the audience in. Have a few staff members and their family on hand to pose as attendees during quiet moments. More Trade Show Tips For Exhibitors 6. Extend Your Reach An easy way to extend your booth’s reach is to give away highly visible promotional items. Tie them in with a draw at the end of the show to give an incentive to wear them. Branded stickers and wearables are good examples. Items like these can create a lot of buzz because the more people wear them, the more others want to. Plus, they’re a good conversation starter with attendees. 7. Form Alliances The fact that many exhibitors at trade shows have the same audience presents an opportunity. You could trade leads and contact information with any business that isn’t in direct competition with you. Partner with brands that sell different or complimentary products and services to the same target audience as you do. 8. Give Them A Taste Make sure attendees experience your value proposition. Give them a taste of what it is you do. If you’re a high-tech brand, give them a high-tech experience. If you’re known for service, be the best host at that show. 9. The Customer Experience The customer experience begins before and lasts beyond the trade show. Will they find you when they search online for topics related to your business? Does someone answer the phone when a customer calls? Do your visitors get a memorable gift? 10. Create Value What matters to the customer is this: did they find a solution to their problem at your booth? Have your best sales people on hand and make sure your staff is well-trained so they can share a few success stories about existing clients. Final Thoughts On Trade Shows Trade shows are a great place to pick up new clients and build brand awareness. You will get better results if you get an early start and have a good marketing campaign. Remember to follow up quickly with new leads after the show.
Learn moreFloor Graphics Advertising
Stickers or decals are attention-grabbers when used for floor graphics advertising. We print our floor graphics on durable scratch and water resistant vinyl. As a result, they are ideal for high-traffic areas like retail shops and grocery stores. Floor graphics marketing is an effective and affordable way to boost branding and can be used in many ways. Because we make our floor graphics with a strong adhesive, they can be applied to any smooth surface such as commercial tile, hardwood or even concrete. It’s a novel way to maximize the use of your floor space and with a bit of creativity, it will put your customers in a better mood and boost sales. Floor Graphics Advertising Is Effective Some retailers report increased sales by as much as twenty to thirty percent from using floor graphics. In addition, you should consider using floor graphics advertising because: Effective and low cost. Floor graphics are in-store signage. You can use them for short-term promotions or for longer-term signage. Eye-catching. The right graphic can be unique and eye-catching. By doing something different from the competition, you can generate a lot of buzz and this will translate into increased sales. Free marketing platform. Since you’ve already paid for the floor space, it only makes sense to make better use of it. High-quality graphics can create a unique experience for your customers. Floor Graphics Advertising Has A Big Effect Drawing your customer’s eyes down to the floor automatically focuses their attention. It engages the orienting reflex and this makes underfoot content more meaningful than other placements. You can use floor graphics to: Boost and reinforce brand awareness Boost in-store promotions Create a livelier atmosphere Floor Graphics Advertising Has Many Uses Custom floor graphics can be very effective in non-commercial settings as well. You don’t have to be selling something to take advantage of the media. Here are a few examples: Municipal activities Organizations like the local police force School events – dances, award celebrations etc. Corporate events Safety and direction in buildings Fundraising and non-profit events Floor Graphics Placement Ideas Floor graphics are often overlooked when planning ad placements and event signage. However, they can be extremely effective when used properly. Here are a few ideal placements where they will stand out: The sidewalk in front of the store or business Immediately inside the front door Placed below sale-priced items Used to create an area where customers can take selfies Floor Graphics Ideas You can use any image for floor graphics advertising; branding and sales promotions are not the only use, you might just want to create a buzz. Here’s a list of a few suggestions that are bound to attract attention and leave them smiling: Canyon Mirror Images Footprints Animal Tracks Water puddle in an unexpected place Missing floor in an elevator Optical illusion on escalator or stairs Man Hole Money Dropped Snack Foods Bulls Eye or Target Wine Corks Mud Hole
Learn moreHow To Use Social Media For Small Business Marketing
Social media presents an opportunity to engage with existing clients and a way to attract and engage with new prospects. The question is: how to use social media for small business marketing. Unlike traditional marketing, social media provides businesses a way to interact with their community online, in a public forum. That can be scary to some business owners, but it’s the kind of interaction customers want. As online relationships develop, businesses report good lead-to-close rates from their social media marketing efforts. Regardless of what it is you sell or who you sell it to, you can grow your brand and boost sales using social media. How To Use Social Media For Small Business Marketing 1 - Use social media to deliver a soft-sell message. Well-crafted tweets and posts are not viewed as marketing. Consequently, you will get more shares and retweets, both of which translate into more web traffic. 2 - Use social media to drive targeted traffic to your website. In 140 characters or less, a Tweet can drive a lot of traffic to your website. You should also post to groups on Facebook and LinkedIn to reach a larger audience. Post teasers that link to articles on your blog to boost traffic. 3 - Use social media to boost your site’s SEO. Search engines know which pages are earning traffic and which are not. While writing good content is the cornerstone of SEO, driving extra traffic to your pages with social media is a necessary part of the process. It’s a one-two punch combination that delivers results. 4 - Use social media to promote business activities. There’s no better way to leverage business activities such as a charity fundraiser or a booth at a trade show. Shares and retweets might even lead to a feature in local or national media. 5 - Use social media to boost promotions. Besides keeping your company’s name in front of potential buyers, social media is an ongoing opportunity to give clients incentives to buy. Use different coupon codes for each social channel to see which social network drives the most sales. 6 - Use social media to find new customers. You can use tools like Tweetdeck to set up streams based on hashtags. It’s a way to find people that are looking for the products and services you sell and a way to grow your followers organically. By responding to a tweet with a helpful suggestion and a link, you interact with your audience and generate sales. And don’t forget to answer questions on Quora. Links you post today will drive traffic to your site for years to come. Closing Thoughts - Social Media For Small Business Social media is a low-cost way to market your products and services. Unless you have a large budget, it’s best to pick two or three platforms that you can focus on every day. Don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to have a presence everywhere. Remember the social part and let a bit of personality shine through in your social media presence. People will resonate with the human element and the personality of your team. Lastly, be active and comment on high-traffic websites. Most comment forms allow you to post a link back to your website. It’s a way to build backlinks to your site and you’ll be surprised at how much additional traffic this will generate. Leave your comments below and share your experience. Which social media platforms work for you?
Learn moreContent Marketing Trends For 2017 – Part 2 - Interactive Content
In Part 2, we take a look at how a major online retailer uses interactive content to sell billions of dollars of merchandise every year. But first, let’s take a look at a typical online shopping excursion. Buyers don’t always know exactly what it is they want. And, even when they do, they’re usually looking for a good deal. That’s why most online shopping trips start at the search bar on Google. The Buyer’s Online Journey – Shopping For A Printer Even if you have a favorite brand of printer, you likely have a number of questions you want an answer to before you buy: - Should I buy a black and white or a color printer? - How much am I going to have to spend for a decent quality printer? - How many pages per minute should a good printer produce? - Which are the best brands? Does HP still make good printers? - Is noise still an issue? How do they rate a printer’s level of noise? - Should I buy a wireless model? These are typical questions the average buyer wants an answer to before they buy a printer. No one likes finding out the hard way they could have made a better purchase. That’s why buyers do product research and why they put a lot of faith in online product reviews before they hit the add to cart button. How A Major Retailer Uses Interactive Content Amazon has been around since 1994 and they sell billions of dollars of merchandise every year. So let’s take a look at how they use interactive content. If you look at any product page on Amazon you will see that at least one-third of the page is filled with customer reviews and questions and answers. Amazon doesn’t create that content – their buyers do. That’s important because people trust it. How do they do this? They actively solicit reviews from buyers via email after each purchase. Reviews are rejected if Amazon suspects collusion and they have recently sued thousands for posting fake reviews. That’s how important reviews are to their business model. Amazon also solicits answers to questions in the same way. Steps In Online Shopping If you’re like me, you read product descriptions and then you scroll down to the comments and review section. I start with the most recent and most critical reviews and then I take a look at three-star (and less) reviews. As I read reviews, I decide whether they appear to be legit or whether they’re posted by uninformed buyers with unrealistic expectations. Note that Amazon doesn’t suggest that we do this. We do this on our own. We’re curious and engaged and we want to make an intelligent decision. We like that Amazon doesn’t delete bad reviews. If we find enough reviews that scare us off that product, we look at an alternative product and start the process all over again, until we find a product we’re willing to buy. Interactive Content - Conclusion Comments and reviews are first-generation interactive content that has proven to be very effective. They are a natural extension to the online search people do to learn about a product before they buy. Shoppers now trust reviews more than other sources. The fact that people put a lot of effort into learning about a product before they buy presents a great opportunity for businesses to attract new clients. That’s why it’s a good idea to answer any questions buyers might have about your products in blog posts on your site. Good content will bring a constant flow of traffic. Each new blog entry creates a new way to be found online through user search. By writing about topics your customers are searching for, you attract new buyers for your products. What’s your experience? Do you trust product reviews?
Learn moreContent Marketing Trends For 2017 – Part 1 - Interactive Content
Digital marketing succeeds when viewers consume your content and act on it. In Part 1 of this series, we take a look at content marketing trends for 2017 with a focus on interactive content. Most marketers report that interactive content converts at a higher rate than static content. Therefore, it only makes sense to incorporate some interactive content on your website. Interactive content comes in many forms: calculators, contests, quizzes, polls etc. It engages visitors by asking them to answer questions, make choices or give an opinion. Consequently, it captures their attention and makes them think and respond to a cue. Content Marketing Trends For 2017 The real measure of the success of any form of marketing is results. Businesses count email queries, phone calls, discount codes used in purchases and overall sales. Marketers also take note of shares, clicks and views. Engagement It’s hard to overstate how important engagement is. Engagement builds brand affinity. This leads to building relationships that lead to trust which leads to sales. In other words, building engagement leads to building your business. One of the toughest challenges in content marketing is to engage your audience. Start by having an interesting blog that informs and/or entertains. Finally, add interactive content and you have a winning combination that keeps your audience engaged. Interactive Content Some websites are strictly geared to providing entertainment and they raise money by selling ad space on their sites. However, the challenge is to find a way to incorporate interactive content that complements your business model. Not all interactive content is suited to every type of business. Some examples of interactive content are: Assessments Assessments, also called personality tests, deliver customized content based on how a user answers a series of questions. They can help move prospects through sales processes or offer more personalized information. Quizzes Quizzes are popular and have a wide appeal. They can be used to gather information about your visitors and help shape your marketing efforts. A quiz can help you figure out which questions your audience is trying to answer or which pain points are they trying to resolve. Contests Contests can be used in almost any business to increase engagement, lure customers and gather customer data. A contest can also be created to gather useful and engaging user-generated content. Galleries Visual marketing has a big impact. Because the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text, you can use image galleries to engage viewers quickly. Therefore, use galleries to showcase your products, highlight special events and interesting customer examples from your contests. Shopping Cart A shopping cart allows users to register and place orders online. It is a convenience that will increase sales and boost customer retention. It's important that you make it as easy as possible for your customers to make their purchases. You should simplify the buying and checkout process and make sure there are no unexpected costs during checkout. Complicated checkout procedures and unexpected costs are the main causes of cart abandonment. Comments And Reviews Your website should allow visitors to share views, give an opinion and interact freely. This builds a sense of community and encourages visitors to return to the website. Content Marketing Trends For 2017 – Conclusion We will see much more interactive content online in 2017. The question is, how will you best take advantage of it? Stay tuned for Part 2 when we take a look at a very successful online merchant and see how this major retailer is using interactive content to sell billions of dollars of merchandise every year.
Learn moreNew Year's Resolutions For Entrepreneurs
We all know it’s a good idea to make New Year’s Resolutions for entrepreneurs. While it’s important to resolve to make certain improvements, it is even more important to follow through on them. We can do that by setting goals we can stick to and by breaking those goals down into smaller measurable chunks. Resolutions such as, I will eat healthier, exercise more, read more etc., are often abandoned quickly because they’re really just wishful thinking. In order to be achievable, goals need to have a tangible and measurable outcome and you need a plan to get there. An example of a measurable goal is I will lose 10 pounds. Giving up deserts or working out five times a week are examples of a plan to get there. New Year’s Resolutions For Entrepreneurs 1. Set Realistic Goals And Milestones Make a resolution to set realistic goals and break them down into achievable milestones. This is important because every milestone reached becomes a small victory and this will motivate you to keep moving toward your major goal. 2. Measure And Keep Track Of Your Successes It’s easy for an entrepreneur to feel too busy to build proper feedback loops into the business. But without ways to measure your success, you’re just hoping for the best. Resolve to follow the lean startup methodology of build, measure and learn. 3. Delegate More Do more of what you do best and support and encourage your staff to do what they do best. Then, stay out of their way while they’re doing it. People are happier and more productive when they feel like they’re making a meaningful contribution. The difference between surviving and success can be as simple as knowing how to manage your time by focusing on what you do best. 4. Improve Your SEO Whether you’re an established retailer or you’ve just started a business, you need to constantly improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and local SEO. You’re never done with SEO. Your competitors are constantly working on it and so should you. 5. Find Healthy Ways To Manage Stress It’s easy to use stress and a busy schedule as an excuse for unhealthy habits. Eating clean and working out will lead to increased performance but fast food meals and skipping out on physical activity will deliver the opposite result. Making poor choices comes with a price and it’s not a good deal for you. 6. Get Inspired Read the biography of a successful person. It's a way to learn something new and get inspired to do more at the same time. One of the easiest ways to achieve success is to model successful people. 7. Keep Up With Industry News Staying current is a must for entrepreneurs. You need to know what’s going on in the world to make smart, forward-thinking decisions for your business and to grow your social network effectively. 8. Pay More Attention To Customer Feedback Entrepreneurs often forget to ask for and listen to customer feedback. This could be costing you a lot of money in lost sales. Make it a priority to engage with your customers and ask them how your business could serve them better. Conduct surveys, use focus groups or reach out to people on social media. Implement whichever suggestions make the most sense. 9. Expand Your Knowledge Applied knowledge is power. Make time to read a few good business books or listen to a podcast while you’re driving - you'll be making an investment in yourself. Resolve to learn more and become a better entrepreneur in 2017. Conclusion New Year’s resolutions are a long-standing tradition. January gets its name from Janus, a two-faced god who looked backward into the old year and forward into the New Year. This tradition can be a starting point for real improvement in your business if you follow the advice in this article. Make a list of your resolutions for 2017 (and milestones) and keep it posted where you can see it every day. Wishing you much success and a Happy New Year!
Learn more10 Winter Holiday Activities
While a trip to a tropical resort makes for a nice winter holiday, it’s not in the cards for all of us this year. However, there are many ways to have fun with the entire family even if you happen to be staying at home. Here’s a list of 10 winter holiday activities to help keep your spirits up and fight cabin fever over the winter holiday. 10 winter holiday activities 1- Snowshoeing or Cross-country skiing According to Harvard Health Publications cross-country skiing and snowshoeing activity burn calories at the same rate. A 185-pound person will burn about 355 calories in 30 minutes. You can rent or buy the equipment and hit the local parks or a sky hill. Both are low-cost hobbies and lots of fun year after year. 2- Bowling Bowling used to be driven by bowling leagues. While there are fewer bowlers today, there has been a shift from a blue color to a white color clientele. You might want to give it a try. 3- Swimming Swimming is another healthy activity regardless of your level of proficiency. You will burn as many calories doing a breaststroke as you would if swimming fast freestyle. Get your summer swim trunks out and it will seem like you are in Hawaii or some other warm locale while you’re in a warm indoor pool. You’ll feel like you’re on vacation without any of the stress from traveling. 4- Tobogganing Because you have to climb back up the hill, you will burn a lot of calories here too. Tobogganing is a low-cost activity and it is a lot of fun for the entire family. You don’t have to go to an expensive facility for this one either. Practically any hill will do. Remember to make safety a priority during any of these activities. 5- Winter bike ride This isn’t for everyone, but some people ride their bikes all year long. They usually make a few equipment changes, like adding mudguards, cheap/old wheels and wider tires to make the bicycles function better in winter conditions. 6- Check out a climbing gym If there’s a climbing gym in the area, you might want to climb the walls there instead of climbing the walls in your own home. It’s a terrific way to fight cabin fever and it’s great for skill development. Climbing gyms have come a long way - some companies spend millions of dollars on carefully designed facilities that cater to climbers of all levels. 7- Take the kids on a five senses walk Here’s a fun way to get the entire family outdoors and help build an appreciation for nature. Pick one of the five senses for each outing. You could even keep score and offer a prize to the winner. Here are a few ideas for a five senses walk: Hearing: Listen for sounds and call out what you hear. You could mimic the sounds and identify the source for added fun. Touch: Describe anything you can touch - trees, moss, rocks etc. Sight: Pick an object and play a game like bug where the person who sees a Volkswagen beetle first, yells bug. The person with the most sightings wins the game. Taste: This one could be a bit of a challenge while you’re out in the field, but you could save it for later you get back home. Smell: What do you smell while on your walk? You could turn this into a game as well by having whoever detects a new odor first call out the name and then try to identify the source for extra points. Indoor winter holiday activities Because you can’t be outdoors all the time, we've come up with a few fun things for you to do indoors too. Most of these are low-cost as well: 8- Go to the library for books, tapes, and movies. 9- Take a trip to the museum. 10- Play indoor games like card games, scrabble, puzzles, board games, or organize a treasure hunt if you have younger children. You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a memorable winter holiday. Spend some quality time with friends and family and make sure you get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Sending you our best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season from Stickerbeat.
Learn more5 Tips To Help Boost Your Sales
The most important skill to master in direct sales is the art of schmoozing. Many people have never learned how to feel comfortable around strangers. And, if you can’t be comfortable around strangers, you will have a difficult time making them feel comfortable around you. These 5 tips to help boost your sales will also help you break the ice when speaking with people you don't know. The easiest way to make someone comfortable is to show a genuine interest in them. Ask a few questions to find out what problem they want to solve and then help them make a good decision. We like to keep it short and sweet here at Stickerbeat, so here are 5 tips to help boost your sales. 5 Tips To Help Boost Your Sales Know Your Product. Experienced one-on-one sales people will tell you that a big part of being successful in sales is product knowledge. You have to know your product and you have to know your competitor’s product. Lead with Your Biggest Benefit. What is the biggest benefit your product delivers. That’s your strongest selling point, so use it to drive interest in your product. Qualify Your Prospect. Find out what problem your prospect is trying to solve and show him how your product or service will fix it. Your product or service has many good features but your prospect is mostly interested in how it will solve his problem. Don’t talk yourself out of a sale. Be Emotional About Your Product. Customers often buy on impulse, not logic. Be excited about your product or service. Enthusiasm is contagious. Get them excited about using your product or service and you will increase sales. Ask For The Sale. Once you think the prospect is genuinely interested, ask for the sale. If they are not quite ready yet they will tell you why and you can then deal with that objection. The Art Of Schmoozing The best schmoozers are able to gain your trust almost immediately. These people have the ability to make you feel as if you’ve known them for a long time, even though you just met. You can train yourself to get better at this by following the five simple steps presented in this article. Make a point to really listen to your prospects when they talk and give them appropriate feedback at the right time. Don’t get into technical details unless the client appears to be interested in them. Too much information will only confuse the prospect and they will want more time before they come to a decision to buy. Some people are born with the gift, but most of us have to work at it. The good news is, even if you’re not a natural at this, you can learn these skills and with practice, you will develop the ability to win people over quickly and build lasting relationships with them. This skill will transform and advance your career or business very quickly. There you have it. You only have five things to remember. Start working on this right away and you will see a dramatic increase in the sales you close vs the ones you quote.
Learn moreWelcome To Stickerbeat
It all began in 1986 when two elementary school buddies saved up enough money to buy a t-shirt printer and a computer sign-maker. There were no cell phones and the internet had a long way to go before it would serve a useful function for the public. In fact, we had a rotary phone on the order desk! But times changed and so did we. With Stickerbeat, we take one part of our business completely online. We started the business in the basement of a house. The two original partners are still together and we now use four different high-speed, state-of-the-art digital presses to produce our work. Today, our children are part of the team and we’ve launched this website to take this part of the business completely online. Get Stickers That Rock From Stickerbeat On Stickerbeat, you can create and order stickers, decals, and magnets right from your own computer. This reduces costs and we’re passing the savings on to you by shipping it to your door for free. That’s right. There are no shipping charges on Stickerbeat! Besides offering a great product at a great price, we are also sharing informative content to help you make a success of your business. If you’re thinking about starting a business, you might be interested in reading this post, advice for entrepreneurs. If you’ve already started a business but you’re not quite sure how to go about carving out a niche for yourself, you should read this article about branding your small business. We’ve also posted some great marketing tips for the Christmas holiday season here. And since we’re all about stickers and decals, we’ve looked into the history of using stickers for marketing. You can read all about it in this post titled custom stickers. We hope you enjoy browsing our site as much as we enjoy creating it. Keep checking back, because we are continuously posting new content. And remember, we’re here for you if you need help with custom work. Just fill out this form and one of our designers will get right back to you.
Learn more