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Resourceful Things You Can Do With a Product That Doesn’t Sell

Sometimes business ideas sound great on paper, but can be a complete flop when placed on the market! The hard fact is that some products simply don't sell. But don't despair — just because your first few products didn't make it doesn't mean you're stuck with inventory that you can't move.

Here are a few pointers for what to do with products that don't sell:

• There are always people on the lookout for products they can sell. You could sell the rights of reproducing and selling your product to these people.
• You could offer the product free on your website. Most people like freebies, so this will ensure that many of them will visit your site, and perhaps spot another product you sell there and purchase that.
• You could make up for some part of the money you invested by selling your product on an online auction. It could even turn out to be profitable, because bidding wars often lead to people buying products at a higher price than they are actually worth.
• You can offer the product as a free incentive with some other product that you sell. This will increase the perception of its value. People always like feeling that they are getting more than they are paying for.
• Get in touch with other businesses that have a similar target market, and find out if they will offer your product free with theirs. You can get free advertising by placing your ad on your product.
• Or, you could ask them to combine your product with theirs. The two products could be sold as a package deal, and you could share the profits.
• Another idea is selling your product at wholesale rates to other businesses as a promotional offer. Businesses are always more than willing to offer products as giveaways to make their customers happy.
• People always love contests. Put your product up as an online contest that they can win. This will not only draw people to your site, but by listing it on contest directories online, you can obtain free advertising.
• If you do give away your product, let others do it. You could gain by placing your website address on the product, which will increase the traffic to your site.

By being creative with a non-selling product, you could recoup the product development costs — and get some free advertising in the deal.

How to Stay Organized in the Workplace

These days, with the busy schedules most of us have, there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done. Workdays are full of, absent employees, and other issues that crop up - all of which just seems to eat up the day, resulting in important tasks having to be put aside.

Getting organized and planning your day by prioritizing the tasks that need to be done is essential to complete assignments and projects on time. If you are a business owner, you will also have to keep track of the work schedules of your employees.

Here are a few tips that will help you to manage your time efficiently, even in a time crunch:

•  Use a calendar to keep track of assignments, projects, and employees.
• Make a list of all daily tasks, crossing them out as they get done. Not only will this help you to keep track of you day, but also if any pressing issue crops up at short notice, you can restart from the point where you were interrupted.
•  Have separate files for different tasks, and put all the relevant material in the appropriate folder. Each morning, take out what you need for the day and keep it handy. For example, if you need to give a presentation, you should have all the material in its own folder.
• Put all the names of your employees on a list, along with their skills and strengths in specific areas. When you plan a project, you can assign roles to people by quickly referring to this list.
•  Make it a point to plan meetings well ahead of time, so that they don't interrupt your daily work schedule.
•  Keep the phone numbers of every employee handy, so that they are available if an emergency comes up. Organize them in such a way so that you can locate the numbers quickly.

Efficient time and activity management are essential factors for staying organized in the workplace. This requires a certain amount of pre-planning and involves prioritizing tasks by organizing calendars and creating lists.

E - Surveys- A Powerful Online Marketing Strategy    

As a small business owner, you should understand the market before making a business or marketing plan. That said, you should be aware of the problems, needs, complaints, reviews, cost-effectiveness, quality, and the required improvements of your goods and services from your customers' point of view.

The best way to get feedback from your customers is to ask them - indirectly or directly. With the advent of the Internet, e-surveys have become one of the most cost-effective methods of conducting market research. 

Market Research Online

The Internet offers an efficient, cheap, fast and reliable means of gathering and processing marketing data. One on one emails, surveys made on websites and chat rooms are the basic modes of conducting marketing research online.  

Some of the main advantages of online market research are:

• Since it is labor-intensive to conduct offline research, online research is more cost-effective.    
• Wider research can be conducted, as there are no geographical limitations online.  
• Complete automation ensures that there is no interviewer bias involved.  
• Being an electronic medium, data entry and collection is much faster. 

 Online research can be classified into three categories: online survey research, qualitative research online and website analysis

Online survey research: This is usually conducted via emails and web pages. Data entry fields, radio buttons and check boxes are used, which enables the researcher to gather responses easily.

Qualitative research online: Participants use bulletin boards to give their input according to their convenience.

Website analysis: Observation of navigation, most frequently reviewed pages, number of clicks and the amount of time spent on each page is tracked. Analysis of the log file provides in-depth information of the web surfer's activities on web sites.

With the growth of the Internet as a medium of commerce, small business owners can make use of its speed and efficiency for conducting e-surveys accurately and effectively. 

A Guide to Ecommerce for Home Businesses

If you're thinking about launching an ecommerce business, then you're probably on the right track.  In addition to being able to work from home, ecommerce is now very cost effective and lucrative.

As Internet access becomes more accessible and cheaper across the world, Ecommerce has become an integral aspect of more and more businesses. In a fast-paced and electronically connected corporate world, e-commerce has proven profitable for both business owners and consumers.

Ecommerce has assumed an important role in all types of businesses, as companies have expanded their operations to the online world. Having an ecommerce business has several advantages over other traditional methods of doing business. If you are new to the business world and want to start a home business, then you should consider ecommerce.

While some small business owners are more inclined to earn revenue only through contextual advertising without selling a product, those inspired by ecommerce choose to depend on income earned by selling physical or intangible goods. Sales of intangible goods such as ebooks, downloadable software, and online products generally have a higher profit margin.

The Potential

E-commerce has the potential to take your home business to the next level by allowing access with minimal expense to geographically diverse markets that were once beyond your reach as an entrepreneur. In fact, cost efficiency is one of the most important reasons why business owners around the world choose to conduct their business online.

Along with cost efficiency, ecommerce can also help you lower the costs associated with manufacturing, processing, distribution, and storage. In addition, you don't have to worry about managing files and other important documents. You can also save a great deal on advertising and the costs of circulating promotional material. And of course, perhaps the biggest advantage of ecommerce is the high revenue potential. 

Tips for Designing a Marketing Plan

Marketing a product or a service is not a simple job; extensive research and planning needs to be conducted before actually starting the process. There are various ways to design a marketing plan - but to have effective marketing, you need to have a creative plan.

Below are some tips that I put together to help you design a marketing plan with punch:

To begin with, you need to abandon the marketing theories and try something creative. It does involve the risk factor, but following book knowledge is going to get you nowhere, especially if your product or service is unique. Marketing a product or service requires a creative plan, and has to be done in such a way that does not follow methods used by your competitors.

You also need to find a suitable marketplace where your target customers are located, keeping in mind the density of the competition in that particular area. If there is a lot of competition in your targeted area, then you should definitely move to another area where there is less competition.

Using such a strategy will not only provide you with a market with high concentration of customers, but will also reduce the amount of similar products that you will be competing with. This in turn helps you to sell your products and services more effectively.

Another factor to keep in mind is the price of your competitor's products or service. You should do extensive research of the competitor's price, quality and the quality of their customer service. Then you can decide on the price of your product or service depending on what they are offering.

Always design a marketing plan keeping your target market in mind.  What may feel good to one person may not appeal to the other.

Press Releases and Articles for Online Success

I'm always looking for new ways to generate traffic to my website, and it isn't always easy. If your website or blog is not generating traffic, then you can post some well written articles and press releases in order to ensure online success. Articles can be an excellent tool in the promotion of new services, ideas and products.

For instance, the electronics industry has been very successful with the help of content rich articles. Consumers who are crazy about gadgets flock to magazines that have articles on electrical gadgets. By the time the product is ready to be released, there is a long line of consumers who are ready to spend money on products they read about.

Importance of Articles and Press Releases

If you are not using articles for promoting your website, then you are missing out huge traffic generating potential. Writing articles is a great traffic generator and this is why blog writers and developers are always looking for new content. When articles are circulated on websites and a link is included with the article, it will get noticed by the search engines - increasing the rating of the website in their index.

There are some websites that have not been found by the search engines until they have been able to get this done through article submissions. Besides the articles, if you are interested in taking advantage of every advertising opportunity that is open to you, then create online traffic with the help of press releases. If you are able to use this medium well, it can open up a flood of traffic to your site. There are various online services that can distribute press releases for no or little cost.

An online press release appears on high traffic press release distribution websites, and it will be often sent out in industry specific RSS feeds to interested readers. You can get lucky and get coverage, because even journalists monitor online press releases.

Online press releases and articles are a great way to get noticed by both the search engines and your customers — so don't miss the boat.

Small Business Marketing Tips

It is hard to start and run a small business successfully — I should know! It is also hard to market the products and services of a small business, as there are big companies providing the same products and services under a large, well known brand name.

Because owning a small business comes with its own marketing challenges, not the least of which is competing with the big boys, I've come up with 2 key areas to concentrate on:

Advertising

The most common mistake most small business owners make is that they try to market themselves like big businesses. If you are a small business owner, you need to find out the cheapest and most affective way to market your products and services. 

TV ads may be effective, but is also expensive — so you need to find a better way. Try giving away free samples to promote your products. Issue discount coupons, have a contest or offer a 2 for 1 deal.

Customers

There are some customers who would prefer to purchase products at a cheaper cost, while there are some who would prefer good quality and are not worried about the price. That said, it is essential to know the mindset of your targeted customers.

For example, if your product is targeted to middle class customers, then the price of the product should be lower. However, if the targeted customers are affluent, then you should consider providing good product quality, regardless of the price. You can also sell your products in packaging that will make the price reasonable and provide good enough quality.  

Remember that it is easier to maintain current, loyal customers than to get new ones. Provide good after-sales service and guarantee your products.  

The Advantages of a Drop Shipping Business

If you are looking to start a small business, consider becoming a drop shipper.  Drop shipping is a method of shipping products from the manufacturer to the end-user without any involvement of a middleman like a distributor. There are various advantages of having a drop shipping business.
 
Less Capital
 
Drop shipping requires low investment in capital. You don't have to invest in stocking products. Unlike distributors, a drop shipping merchant does not have to invest in inventory. There is no fixed overhead and the cost of inventory will vary.
 
Less Expense
 
There is no problem with stocking products that will not sell. As a drop shipper, you are not bound to having to sell certain products in a specific time period. Your job is to simply pick up the product from the manufacturer and deliver it to the customer.
 
Drop shipping a product is much less expensive, as it does not involve paying a middleman. Instead of buying goods from a dealer at wholesale price, businesses can save a lot of money by using a drop shipper. 
 
Loads of Profit
 
Once you've gotten started and the business is doing well, you can expand your drop shipping business. You can sell other business' products with your existing products and services to make additional profit. You earn money from the supplier of the product or service and then you can sell the products for a higher cost to customers. This way you make a profit from both ends.
 
Easy and Flexible Work
 
The work of a drop shipper includes picking up the product from the manufacturer, packing and delivering it to the customer. You can drop ship as few as one item at a time.  
 
Having a drop shipping business can be very lucrative, with none of the headaches of a ‘traditional' business — all you have to do is get started!

Key Tactics for the Small Business Owner             

For many people, owning a business is a dream come true. The feeling of being your own boss and making the best use of your skills on your own terms can be very satisfying.

However, in addition to the advantages, there is a lot of stress involved in owning a small business.  To counter this, I've found that a little strategy can help overcome lots of difficult situations when it comes to products and customers.

Tactics for Small Business Owners   

 
• If you want to stand out from the crowd, then you will have to create a unique selling point that will attract customers to your business. The selling point should stress the benefits of doing business with you. Dramatize it, but don't over do it and keep your customers as the focal point. Keep in mind key questions like ‘why will someone buy from me and not from others?' You don't need to create a different service or product, just add a special benefit to the ones you have.
•  Use testimonials, because they can play an important role in advertising your business. What your current customers think about you and your business will matter the most to any prospective customer. A testimonial can have a positive impact on how people perceive your business. 
• Upselling can and should be used, simply because it is successful. Your existing customers should know what other great products and services you have that can augment the products they have already purchased. Focus more on the customers you have.

Get more attention through effective  headlines. There may be many instances when you have had scanned a headline in a newspaper before deciding whether you want to read an article or not. So create a headline for your business that is effective and that will compel people to read further about your product or service.

Having a small business is stressful; but by using the tips above you can ensure that your business is attractive to customers and is successful.

Managing Projects Successfully

As a small business owner, you may have handled a lot of projects successfully by yourself - but it is not easy to manage a project team. You have to deal with different kinds of people and different kinds of issues. You will have to manage a team environment and sometimes even be the head or in charge of a particular project. If your small business often has several projects going at once, here's how to manage all of them successfully.

Needs Analysis

Before you start any particular project, you should analyze the kind of people you will need to run the project successfully. This is essentially to identify the kind of skills that will be needed for the project.

Choose Wisely

Always choose the people for the team depending on what they can do for the project. Do not pre-judge a person based on your personal preferences. It is important to consider the team and its needs over your comfort level.

Prepare a Skills Matrix

Preparing a skill inventory matrix will help you identify and keep track of the skills that are required for the completion of your projects. This method ensures that you will hire the right people for your project.

Understand the Mission

It is extremely essential that you understand the mission of the project as it relates to your business goals and your team right from the beginning. Make sure that every member of the team is aware of the reason that they are a part of the team in the first place. If they understand that, then they can put their skills to good use for your company more effectively.

Communication Plan

At the very initial stages of the project, a communication plan has to be established. Every team member should be aware of the communication plan that will be used for the completion of the project. Establish guidelines for the exchange of information. This will help in communicating effectively for the duration of the project. Remember, managing a team is very different from doing the entire project from start to finish by yourself. The tips above will ensure that you get the project to the finish line more efficiently.