Hmmmm — why do we need free marketing…

We need free marketing so that we can win more business and keep our current employees (and hire back the ones who we couldn’t find work for soon enough).

jTask, Inc. is a very small privately held consulting company, specializing in organizational change management for large companie going through a software implementation or upgrade to their ERP software.

We have been very successful in executing our projects and have several large companies that will give us good references. We have also done a good job at selling additional services to our existing customers. However, we are really struggling with finding new business opportunities.

As someone working on marketing communications, I have several challenges that could perhaps make a difference if they were resolved.

I am Chair for Western Maryland’s local SCORE Chapter #682, a nonprofit organization that counsels small business, assists in business plan development, and, offers tech services and resources to the business community FREE of charge. We help entrepreneurs solve problems and seek new opportunities. I fell into the chair position sooner than expected due to three earlier chapter chairs stepping down.

We are the only chapter in rural Western Maryland and service 11 counties within Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. We own the “entity” which is The Western Maryland Business Resource Center. We see over ___ clients per year with only two to three active counselors. We have just lost one of those three. We have undergone many changes this year which are ultimately for the better, but we are basically rebuilding our chapter from the ground up. We have acquired a matching-grant and we desperatley need to market for new retired volunteers to be able to service the clients needs. We cannot market our service much more than we do right now because we can’t keep up with the demand. The largest percentage of current volunteers are also full-time workers/business owners and cannot give the time so desperately needed to run our chapter. Now, more than ever, business mentors matter to expand and create jobs!

We have over 1.25 million people in a 60 mile radius of our center. This past year, the Western Maryland Resource Center has provided services to more than 89 entrepreneurs and had 441 workshop attendees with limited volunteer hours. Nationally SCORE as helped to start almost 20,000 new small business each year, creating more than 25,000 new jobs. We do have a new website, but lack the manpower to perfrm upkeep, so we mostly refer clients to http://www.SCORE.org which houses tons of information.

Western Maryland SCORE offers a trusted and confidential advisor/counselor who can mentor on complex issues, training programs tailored to specific topics, and workshops to meet the community’s needs. However, our future is in jepeordy if we don’t rev up our chapter. We know much of what we need to do, but lack the time and expetise to get it done. Our success relies upon the local community’s willingness to assist us by volunteering and or donating to our cause. Our overall plans involve community fundraising/awareness, speaking wih local organizations, etc., but we lack the manpower to do this.

If InfoGROUP would like to offer us help in marketing to the tri-state area, we would certainly be very grateful! We’d love to continue to see businesses prosper.

Solimine Contracting is a design/build general contracting company located in Danbury, Ct. Like many businesses, our numbers are down abour 35% this year due to the current economic climate. We have been in business for over 15 years, have a triple A rating with the BBB, and pages of references.

Our company currently advertises in local newspapers, on-line with multiple sites that promote looking for contractors, as well as just recently spending more money to increase hits via our own web site.

We find advertising very difficult with limited returns based on our available budget. We very much would appreciate being considered.

Shotridge Studios is a husband and wife team owned by Sue & Israel Shotridge. Both with unique talents. The business focuses around the artistry of Tlingit Master Carver Israel Shotidge. Israel has been creating masterpieces in all forms of traditional and contemporary Northwest Coast Native art for over 27yrs. in many mediums, wood, metal and glass focusing in woodcarving featuring the carving of totem poles, canoes, bentwood boxes, masks and much more. In addition Israel creates fabulous engraved jewelry. While Israel is creating the original works of art for predominately his commissioned clients, Sue is managing the Shotridge Collection which is a series of reproductions designed by Israel. His original designs are utilized in a series of reproductions developed by Sue. Art cards & prints, jewelry and gift products are introduced annually to the wholesale and retail industry. As one of the leaders in the northwest to market these products as “authentic” Native art, the most challenging part is acquiring the financial resources to market our products and competing with the larger companies who have the resources to reach the customers at a greater rate. Even as a high caliber Artist, in down economic times as we are dealing with today due to the recession, it has been VERY difficult to secure future art commissions as in the past. Public art commissions have been much more competitive to receive. Surviving in these times as an Artist is most challenging. Our website has been a great marketing tool over the years, however our difficulty lies in its marketing and challenges to build the traffic to the site.

We are diligent and work very hard at our marketing efforts in order to survive the storm in the rain, wind and snow !

I am Chair for Western Maryland’s local SCORE Chapter #682, a nonprofit organization that counsels small business, assists in business plan development, and, offers tech services and resources to the business community FREE of charge. We help entrepreneurs solve problems and seek new opportunities. I fell into the chair position sooner than expected due to three earlier chapter chairs stepping down.

We are the only chapter in rural Western Maryland and service 11 counties within Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. We own the “entity” which is The Western Maryland Business Resource Center. We have just lost one of those three. We have undergone many changes this year which are ultimately for the better, but we are basically rebuilding our chapter from the ground up. We have acquired a matching-grant and we desperatley need to market for new retired volunteers to be able to service the clients needs. We cannot market our service much more than we do right now because we can’t keep up with the demand. The largest percentage of current volunteers are also full-time workers/business owners and cannot give the time so desperately needed to run our chapter. Now, more than ever, business mentors matter to expand and create jobs!

We have over 1.25 million people in a 60 mile radius of our center. This past year, the Western Maryland Resource Center has provided services to more than 89 entrepreneurs and had 441 workshop attendees with limited volunteer hours. Nationally SCORE as helped to start almost 20,000 new small business each year, creating more than 25,000 new jobs. We do have a new website, but lack the manpower to perfrm upkeep, so we mostly refer clients to http://www.SCORE.org which houses tons of information.

Western Maryland SCORE offers a trusted and confidential advisor/counselor who can mentor on complex issues, training programs tailored to specific topics, and workshops to meet the community’s needs. However, our future is in jepeordy if we don’t rev up our chapter. We know much of what we need to do, but lack the time and expetise to get it done. Our success relies upon the local community’s willingness to assist us by volunteering and or donating to our cause. Our overall plans involve community fundraising/awareness, speaking wih local organizations, etc., but we lack the manpower to do this.

If InfoGROUP would like to offer us help in marketing to the tri-state area, we would certainly be very grateful! We’d love to continue to see businesses prosper.

Boy do I need help! We bought a dental lab supply business 18 months ago and struggling to effectively market economically. We do some direct mail with follow-up phone calls, with some success. Marketing materials could be better, I’m sure. Web site development is nearly complete.

At Strategic Property Exchanges, our team is comprised of tax attorneys and expert staff who specialize in maximizing our client’s wealth through secure exchange transactions. Founded in 1990, Strategic Property Exchanges, LLC provides the complete range of 1031 Exchange services, including Deferred, Reverse, Parking Exchanges as well as LKE and Business Asset Exchanges.

Our owner, Stephen L. Robison, J.D., LL.M., is a Board Certified Specialist in Federal Taxation Law and he is the only Tax Specialist who is a full time practicing Qualified Intermediary. He has over 24 years of legal experience. We have full time exchange coordinators to handle every exchange detail and deadline. We prepare all federal tax reporting and filings for your exchange.

Since the real estate market went down, people have been exchanging properties less and less. However we need help in getting the word out about other types of exchanges. IE partnerships, businesses, intellectual property, art, cars, patents…. People don’t even think to utilize the benefits of a 1031 exchange for things other than property.

In recent months we’ve been utilizing online social media (twitter, linkedin) to find potential clients by showing what we have to offer. There is a lot of competition for the top Google spot for the keyword “1031 Exchange” so we’ve turned to other keywords. We have had some improvements but not as many as we’d like.

The benefits of a 1031 Exchange are not widely known, and we want to make it common knowledge!

Why Exchange……

By deferring your income taxes, you have more money available to purchase another property (ies).

You can Diversify the Type of Assets you own

You can keep your Assets Fully Invested and Appreciating.

You can improve your Cash Flow by switching properties.

You can improve your Opportunities for Appreciation.

You can select Properties that are easier to Sell.

You can select Properties that require Less Management.

You can select Properties that are in a Better Location.

You can accomplish Your Wealth Creation or Retirement Goals.

… All without incurring Income Taxes!

Visit us at http://www.spe1031.com

or

Follow us at http://twitter.com/RobTaxLaw

Good morning!
I have a Personal Chef business which I started in 2002. Until the recent economic downturn I was doing quite well. However over the past year I have lost numerous clients to the economy. As we are getting close to the busy “season” here in the Palm Beaches I would love to have a marketing plan in place to maximize my chance for success. Your assistance would be invaluable!

My business is a muffin company based out of a recycled trolley car in Austin Texas and Today is our 1 year anniversary. The trailer food business in Austin is getting a lot of press these days and I have a unique concept, in a “good location”. I sell all natural / organic muffins, STUFFED to the brim with real fruit, nuts, chocolate etc. The muffins are baked fresh every morning (by me) and sold through the window of the trolley (by me). We are open 6 days a week for breakfast and lunch and in addition to muffins offer fresh cut fruit, yogurt parfaits, organic Popsicles, coffee, yerba mate and Ice cream sandwiches. We also deliver muffins to several coffee shops in the area and to offices and homes for meetings and parties. We’ve gotten great press and great feedback from our customers and on Yelp but despite all the good press foot traffic is much slower than we’d like.
For marketing I do a lot online with twitter and facebook, offering specials and communicating with fans and friends. We’ve placed a sign spinner on the side of the road, we’ve mounted a large sign on top of the trolley for better visibility and sandwich boards on the corner of the road(though the signage was against city regulations). We have attempted to hand out coupons in the parking lot of our neighbors restaurant even attempted to put table tents on the tables inside a the restaurant (with their permission of course). One Monday I placed flyers with coupons on the doors of a neighboring apartment community and offered them free delivery for call in orders. While some of our efforts have shown some results, I have yet to increase business to the point where I can attain my next step goals of hiring a baker and cutting my hours back from 12 – 16 hrs a day to a much more reasonable 8 – 10. I would LOVE some help with marketing and welcome any new ideas that will get me to this next level. I sure could use a day off and won’t get one until that new baker is hired and trained!
Thanks so much for this opportunity.
Much Love and Happy Munching,
Karisa

Everything Graphic, Inc. located in Marietta GA is Celebrating 10 Years in Business. While we’re excited about this, the printing business as a whole took a hit these past two (2) years. We are a full service graphic design and printing business. Our services are all inclusive from concept to delivery; design, printing, mailing/distribution. We’ve had some great years and through them have helped a number of start ups, non profits, and small businesses make their mark. We have also provided graphic design and printing for large corporations, for example, we produced maps for Home Depot, and helped the At Home Services division with their printing needs. Other relationships include UPS, Colonial Pipeline, Publix, Burlington Rug Company, and many more. Because we are now only a 2-3 person team it is difficult for us to accomplish all our marketing goals. We believe our business has strong potential for growth, and we are passionate about all we do. We recently came up with a unique localized marketing opportunity for small businesses that are industry related but offer different services. I recently introduced the concept at a business association meeting and it was well received. We signed one (1) business up after the meeting, he was our first. Later, we knocked on doors and left one package behind without having an opportunity to meet with any one in person and received an email reply to please call right away, they wanted to know how to get started, that was the 2nd one, both are committed but we need five (5) more to complete the first package. If we can’t wrap this up, we’ll have to return the funds and tuck our tails and move on but we’re getting excited again and know it’s a great idea, just not sure how to get the word out.

To win a FREE marketing plan from infoGroup would be a tremendous opportunity. We believe Everything Graphic will benefit, and not only to expand our business, but we will share the benefits of working with infoGroup with our client base and spread the word. They grow, we grow!!