I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
Read, subscribe to my newsletter, enjoy!Tash
Small business tax help
As part of the Government’s attempt to reduce the impact of the global financial situation on Australia, they announced some cashflow relief for small businesses. It was announced in December but applies to payments due, in the main, at the end of February (or late January for some.)
In short, if you have a PAYG installment due for the October to December quarter, you only have to pay 80% of the amount requested by the ATO.
However, it is very important to note that the 20% discount only applies to payments due now – the actual amount of tax you need to pay for the year is not being reduced. If you pay less now, you will have to pay the remaining 20% as part of your annual tax return.
So in choosing whether or not to take the discount this month, remember
- it is 20% off your Oct-Dec quarter IAS/BAS
- it is not a tax cut so you will have to pay it eventually
- it may help your cashflow
If you are very organised and will not overspend, you could take the discount and keep the 20% earning interest or paying off loans. If there is a risk you will forget to put aside money for a larger tax bill later this year, consider carefully before taking up this opportunity.
What do you think – are you likely to take up this offer? Do you need help with your cash flow at this time of year?
P.S. Your business must turnover less than $2million p.a. to qualify for the reduction. And you have a couple of extra days to pay, too – it is due on 28 February but as that is a weekend, you have until 2 March.
rejecting SEO “offers”
I seem to be getting more emails about search engine optimisation (SEO) services lately – all of which I delete without any consideration I might add!
Why do I delete them?
- I don’t have time to read so many emails that are often copies of the same text
- I don’t trust services who need to spam me to get work – if their services are so great, they should be able to get work in less annoying ways
- no one can promise to get another site to to the top of Google – Google changes their system often enough that no one can hack it exactly for one thing, and it depends on what other sites are doing as well – if their site is improved, how do I stay as number 1?
- I am convinced that good content is a key to succeeding with search engines – the amount of site traffic I get from my articles is evidence of that – and I doubt an SEO company will help me with my content!
- I hate spam!
What worries me more is that some of them will convince other business people to take up their services. Not only would it be a waste of money most of the time, some SEO strategies can actually penalise your site (and if Google or Yahoo cuts you out, it is very hard to get your site recognised.)
So if you get made an offer to ‘put your site at the top of search engine listings’, please consider carefully if it is worth pursuing. In fact, if they convince you of the need to have SEO help, go online to find a company to use instead of trusting an uncalled for solicitation. Finding a company gives you the chance to decide how reputable they appear.
Alternatively, take some time to work on your content to make it useful and relevant for humans and read up on other ways to help your page rankings.
Welcome tips
Catching up on some reading over the break, I came across Melissa’s post on using welcome kits to help get repeat customers. It is an interesting idea, and one used by membership places and some real estate agents.
Melissa gave a number of suggestions of things to potentially be included, one of which was a set of tips or an article to help customers maximise what you’ve sold (or at least told) them. I think it’s a great idea – you are providing a value beyond the expected as well as keeping your name & brand in front of them, and the cost is minimal. In fact, if you compare it with the cost of marketing and advertising for new customers, it is a real bargain!
Tomorrow, I’ll post some tips on making your tips valuable 🙂 But here are some ideas of tips you could produce:
- tips on how to use a media release (this one I’ve been doing for years – first time clients I write media releases for get a sheet of related tips)
- tips on how to clean your product, especially if you go beyond ‘clean with soapy water’ and explain how to deal with likely spills and stains
- an article on search engine optimisation (SEO) with all web designs
- tips on uses for business cards with a card or letterhead design or when helping them with a new phone number
- a list of items that can be tax deductions for new bookkeeping or accounting clients
- an article on how to hold a violin/saxophone/flute/etc with all new instrument purchases
- a checklist of business set up tasks for clients you help with new accounts/website/insurance/logo design/etc
- tips on energy saving with all new appliances and computers
- a conversion chart when you sell cooking or craft items
What tips/articles do you give out to new clients – or what have I just inspired you to produce? 🙂
Use your words wisely!
Branding the little things
Building a brand is an important way to develop your business and attract customers, but I read a blog post recently that reminded me of branding even the small things to match your style guide.
Kylie posted that customising and branding your invoices is useful, and quite easy. Personally, I have always had my logo and other details in my invoices, but I hadn’t thought about changing the font. Many people would say that invoices are boring and nuisances rather than marketing tools – and that no one would ever notice what font the dollars are printed in – but it still part of being consistent and reinforcing the look of your business. It also shows an attention to detail for anyone who does notice the details of your invoice.
So, is your invoice branded? Does that include choice of font, wording style and colours/backgrounds?
Use real advantages…
When marketing, it is important to point out how your business (or product or service) is superior or different to others – in other words, why should people come to you?
This difference is often known as a unique selling point (USP) or a point of difference, and there are many ways to make use of it.
However, it is also important to show you are different by avoiding being the same. What do I mean by that? Well, if everyone in your industry talks about their compact products, don’t use the word compact – try space saving, small, minimalist or mini for instance.
Additionally, it’s not a good idea to use over-used words such as quality, value, fast and safe (see what Drew McLellan and others say on this in Drew’s recent blog post – he gives some good alternatives and the discussion is interesting.)
In writing as in business, being original and providing interesting content is likely to make more of an impact than being the same as everyone else. And making an impact may be just what you need to get customers to you rather than your competitors.
But when you are stating those great differences and reasons to use you, remember to be honest and only state real advantages rather than making up something your customers want to read.
tracking advertising
A few days ago, I was reminded of the importance of tracking advertising through a story a friend told me.
The story: a company spent $60,000 or so on an advertising campaign, but didn’t implement any means of tracking the results of the ad. Meaning they have spent $60,000 and have no idea if it raised their brand awareness or brought in customers and revenue (I’m not sure which was the aim of their campaign.) So when the radio stations come back and ask if the company wants to repeat the ad, who knows if they should say yes or no…
The moral: tracking advertising is important for a number of reasons:
- makes it easy to decide on a repeat of the campaign
- helps you better understand your demographic (e.g. they may listen to the radio but not respond to the type of ad you ran)
- assess the ROI (return on investment) and value of the campaign – $60,000 is nothing if it results in $500,000 of sales, but it is a ridiculous amount of money if it results in $100 profit
- tracking and comparing different ads allows you to decide the most effective advertising for your business (e.g. radio vs TV vs major newspapers vs local advertising) PLUS you can tweak the actual ad to find the best presentation, too
Even if your budget is nowhere near $60,000, tracking of advertising is a worthwhile exercise.
Don’t assume that free ads aren’t worth tracking, either. Why?
- the results from a free ad can be a useful comparison with paid advertising
- free ads can be a great place to test different wording and formats for your ad before you pay for its placement (assuming a very similar audience of course)
- if the ad is free in monetary terms but costs a lot of time, tracking will help you determine if you are getting enough reward for your time
- a free ad may be attracting the wrong people – people who don’t become customers and use up your valuable time. If you know many false leads are coming from a certain ad, stop that ad even if it is free!
Have you used tracking with your advertising? Did you find it a useful activity, even if tedious and time consuming?
P.S. You can read more about the basics of tracking your advertising or assessing the results of tracking in my articles.
Rewards and acknowledgements
I spoke at a workshop this morning on goal setting – we worked on SMARTY Goals, business values and setting challenges.
As part of setting goals and milestones, it is important to notice the work you have done and the progress made even if you haven’t fully reached the original goal (as Melissa, wrote in her blog, aim for the moon as you’ll at least reach the stars.) Having small rewards for yourself is one way to acknowledge what you have done, which makes it easier for you to move on and do the next step, and the next, and the next…
Rewards can be anything that you gain pleasure from (booking a massage, eating a doughnut, taking time to read a book, buying a book or magazine, seeing a movie, taking your family on a picnic, sitting in a spa, and so on.) You can keep the reward to yourself, too, so don’t worry about what anyone else would think of the reward.
My guidelines for rewards are:
- make it a reward for you, not your family or coach or whoever
- make the reward match the goal in size – a doughnut for a year’s worth of hard work is not much reward, but a two week beach holiday is probably a bit over zealous to reward sending out one newsletter!
- if you promised yourself a reward, make sure you get it when you’ve earned it
- keep a reminder of the reward with the goal – maybe a photo next to your computer, light a coconut candle to think of a tropical holiday, or stick a car key on your mirror
And don’t be afraid to share your achievements with others, either. Even small achievements can be shared and acknowledged by friends, people you network with or a coach.
How often do you reward reaching a goal? Do you give yourself acknowledgement of work you’ve done and how far you’ve come, even if it wasn’t actually a goal?
Beyond the call…
I recently read a post by Melissa about being sick and running your business and it made me smile. I think I can safely say I went beyond the call of duty for one of my clients last month, on the day Melissa wrote that post…
I spent the morning in hospital in false labour and the afternoon doing errands. By late afternoon, I was in full labour with painful contractions and received a request for an urgent client newsletter mailing. So I spent the early evening preparing and sending out an email in between major contractions – and then went back to hospital for my son’s birth!
Aside from my dedication to client’s :), managing business during personal health issues is a serious topic for business owners. Do you struggle on and hope you’ll get better but risk making yourself worse? Do you tell clients you’re sick and delay their work? Do you get help from somewhere?
As professionals, we want to fulfill promises to clients and deliver on time and to a suitable standard. As people, we need time to recover from illness and time to rest and care for ourselves. It is when these needs clash that we struggle.
The ideal is to prepare for such issues, rather than find ourselves unable to deal with it (imagine being so sick you can’t even warn clients things are running behind…) What ways have you prepared your business for your unplanned (or planned) absences?
Allowing learning…
I read a blog post called Tilda Virtual Services is moving – again! and I was impressed enough to write an answering post, as well as leaving Kylie a comment!
The background is that Kylie started a VA business from home a few years ago. As things were going so well, she moved into an office earlier this year – a big step for her and an exciting one! After nearly 6 months, Kylie has decided to close the office and operate from home again.
Kylie took a risk and left her comfort zone by moving into an office. In doing so, she was able to change her work habits (no more midnight work) and define work and family better.
What I found inspiring about this is that Kylie has realised she is better suited to work from her home office, and has set up her business so that doing so is still feasible. Instead of just accepting the office as what she ‘should’ do as a successful business or worrying that moving out after 6 months is a ‘failure’, Kylie is doing what is right for her.
So often people let themselves get stuck into a rut because they think it is expected of them or don’t want to admit a previous decision was wrong. But why not admit a decision wasn’t right, but was worth trying?
As Kylie said “If I didn’t, I would have wondered if moving out was the right thing to do and I wouldn’t have developed my good habits so I don’t regret it at all. Life is a series of learning experiences and this was another one of those.”
Taking a risk doesn’t mean closing off options – it just means giving something new a go and then deciding what to do with the new knowledge and skills you gain from the experience.
Have you ever taken a risk and then decided to go back to how something used to be?
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