Now in its fifth year, Small Business Saturday serves as the ceremonial kickoff to the holiday shopping season for small businesses across the United States. In 2013, shoppers spent $57 billion at small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The day was also championed by elected officials in all 50 states and Washington D.C., including President Obama who took his daughters shopping at a local bookstore. BusinessAdvising.org recognizes the importance of supporting small business: the jobs they help create and the culture they instill in local communities. You can learn more about Small Business Saturday and how to get involved by visiting ShopSmall.com and the official Small Business Saturday Facebook page. Check out resources at ShopSmall.com that can help you stand out: SPREAD THE WORD: Download marketing materials that can help you attract new customers on the day. And check out our current Marketing 101 series, for tips and tricks to maximizing … Read More
SFEDA Holiday Popup Gift Fair
La Cocina has partnered with Noise Pop Industries to host its sixth annual holiday market this December in Ghirardelli Square! The month-long event will culminate in a gift fair for local small businesses on December 6 and 7. Surrounded by the glistening bay, the ringing bells from the classic cable cars, and bright lights of the Ghirardelli Holiday tree, the event will be a celebration of both traditional San Francisco, epitomized by Ghirardelli Square, and the new San Francisco-scape of small business producers and local entertainment. Are you interested in having your business participate in this two day event? You can find more information — as well an application form — in the attached PDFs below. SFEDA Gift Fair Details And Application.pdf SFEDA Packaged Food Producer Saturday.pdf SFEDA Packaged Food Producer Sunday.pdf The Holiday pop up brings local entrepreneurs who produce craft, food or food related goods together to celebrate and promote locally made products, entrepreneurial spirit … Read More
Small Business Marketing: Engaging Your Customers
[This is a continuation of our Marketing 101 series] Email marketing is one of the most effective ways you as a small business owner can keep in touch with your customers. It’s relatively easy, it can be very cost-effective, and if you do it right it can help you increase loyalty and even grow your audience. In addition to email campaigns, social media is the other low-cost marketing channel available to your small business. But how do you get started with these platforms — and how useful are they? There are a lot of strong options out there for small business owners looking to start basic email marketing, or manage a newsletter. Some of the more popular ones include: CakeMail MailChimp Constant Contact Mad Mimi AWeber GetResponse I recommend you spend some time doing your own research to figure out which tool best fits your need, and also ask … Read More
Small Business Marketing: Understanding Your Market And Customers
[This is a continuation of our Marketing 101 series] Let’s start with the basics. Every marketing program contains four components: Your Product Or Service: This includes everything from your unique product, to the line of products you sell, to the services you offer. Promotion: Keep in mind that promotions aren’t limited to advertising. They include direct customer interactions too. Honest and friendly salesmanship is essential for a small business like yours, especially if you don’t have a big marketing budget. It can make or break a customer’s experience, and turn a potential evangelist into a fired-up Yelp critic. Price: Higher prices often mean lower volume. However, what’s unique about small businesses is that they can often leverage higher prices because of their craft offering or local services, or because their core customers are willing to pay more for a better product. Distribution: Working through an established distributor is generally … Read More
Marketing 101 For Your Small Business: What Is Marketing?
Most people tend to think that marketing equals promotion: an ad on television; a poster on the subway a promoted post on Facebook. By definition, “marketing” is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services. But in practice, it’s a much larger and broader discipline. As a small business owner, marketing is integral to your success, but if you don’t have a background or past experience in it — where do you start? If you look past the viral marketing fads, guerrilla gimmicks, and multi-million dollar ad campaigns from the Fortune 500 world, you’ll start to see that marketing is both a science, and an actual art. Marketing is the entirety of how you present yourself and your business to the world. From how you identify your customers, to understanding your competitors and your advantages over them, to social media and ads in the newspaper. It’s the … Read More
Get Ready For The Holidays: Tips For Preparing Your Small Business
If you’re a small business owner, September means it’s time to start planning for the holidays. Are you ready? We spoke with our network of entrepreneurs, and collected the following tips that will prepare you for your small business’ most productive holiday season yet. Start Planning Early We all know that holiday shoppers shift their shopping habits online, but if last year’s trends continue, 30 percent of consumers will actually begin their holiday shopping prior to Halloween. Which makes now the perfect time to get your holiday plan for your staff, inventory, and marketing in place. Let’s start with your staff. Depending on your business, the holiday season can be a particularly busy and stressful time for them as well as you. Consider their needs, and make sure that your holiday prep list includes ways to help them better serve your customers. For example, come up with lists of gift … Read More
Business Advising…Your Way.
Get the business advising your small business needs! Entrepreneurs have a lot going for them: passion, ideas, unlimited creativity, perseverance. One thing that they don’t have a lot of? Time. Entrepreneurs are extremely busy. www.BusinessAdvising.org, a new initiative powered by Pacific Community Ventures, gives entrepreneurs access to affordable business advising that works for their unique business and schedule. All you have to do is fill out a quick and easy registration, jump on the phone with one of our relationship managers, and we’ll do the rest. Our sophisticated matching system plus the personal touch of our seasoned staff (we’ve been doing this for 16 years!) will match you with an expert-level advisor based on skills, personalities, working styles and schedule flexibility. This makes sure that you advising match is the right one for you. Once you’ve been matched with your business advisor, the two of you work together to set … Read More
3 Unexpected Benefits of Becoming a Business Advisor
Skills-based volunteering is gaining steam. Individuals and big corporations alike are getting involved and volunteering their skills to give back to the community. www.BusinessAdvising.org, offers seasoned business professionals the opportunity to work directly with small business owners who are looking to create jobs and opportunities in their communities by growing their businesses. And this high-impact volunteer program is working. Last year alone, advised businesses created almost 400 jobs paid over $68 million in wages to residents of low income communities as a result of over 4,500 hours volunteered by advisors. Most, if not all, of our volunteer business advisors report that they volunteer their time because of the impact they can have on vulnerable communities. In addition to the reward of making a difference, there are many other benefit that come from working with entrepreneurs. Reconnect with your inner entrepreneur Everyone knows that entrepreneurs are some of the most passionate … Read More
Welcome, Eli!
We are thrilled to welcome Eli Raber to the BusinessAdvising.org team as Program Manager! As Program Manager, Eli is responsible for connecting entrepreneurs with the valuable resources they need to run and grow their businesses successfully. Eli works hands-on with volunteer business advisors, entrepreneurs, and partner community and economic development organizations to provide game-changing support to our thriving and ever-growing network. Click here to learn more about Eli!
Strategy Spotlight: Macy’s Fashion Incubator of San Francisco
Last week, PCV’s Business Advising team held a Strategy Roundtable session at the Macy’s Fashion Incubator of San Francisco’s (FiSF) headquarters and design studio, whose home is the former Macy’s executive offices. The session brought together of a diverse group of PCV advisors, FiSF staff, and a member of the FiSF board. Following a presentation from FiSF’s Betsy Nelson and Jeanne Allen, a robust and productive discussion around fundraising and sustainability resulted in great insights and feedback from all of the participants. The team is looking forward to watch FiSF grow as an organization and for the benefits it will bring to the city. The Fashion Incubator San Francisco is one of San Francisco’s most unique new organizations – with a mission to bring the fashion industry, and jobs, back to our City. When we think about the fashion industry, we usually think of design – but we don’t always … Read More