VA Business – Page 2 – Business Strategy & Marketing Advice

5 Highly Effective Digital Marketing Strategies For Small And Local Businesses

One of the mistakes that many small and local business owners make when they set out to create a digital marketing campaign, is that they spread themselves too thin. What we mean by that is that, instead of focussing on one or two digital marketing tactics, they try just about everything. Apart from it being a nightmare to manage 10 or more different marketing channels, it also means your resources can be stretched to the limit, including your time and your budget.

For a digital marketing campaign to be successful, it requires careful planning, including setting its goals, research, such as spying on your competitors’ campaigns, implementation, and most importantly tracking and analysis to see what is working and what is not. If you attempt to do all of these but multiply them by 10 or more different marketing methods, you are almost certain to fail.

Instead of taking a scattergun approach, you need to focus your marketing efforts on one or two methods to start with, optimise them, and then think about moving on to others. For a start, your stress levels will be much lower, and just as important, the chances of your campaigns being successful are increased enormously. As for what online marketing avenues you should go down first, here are 5 which we highly recommend for small and local businesses.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Often cited as the holy grail in digital advertising, SEO is one of the most effective ways for a business to get traffic to its website from Google and other search engines. However, it is not something that can be done in days or even weeks, so a degree of patience is required. It is also complex and has a steep learning curve, so unless you are already an SEO expert, it is highly advisable that if you want to use SEO, that you employ a professional SEO agency.

Reforms To Unfair Contract Terms Laws

Consumer law in Australia is constantly evolving, sometimes for the worse, but mostly for the better. One area of consumer law which affects both businesses and consumers is contract law, and in this area, the government has made some significant proposals recently, and particularly concerning unfair contracts. We preface this, with recommending that if you seek legal advice, you should contact a commercial lawyer.

Definition Of Unfair Contracts

As it stands a contract relating to a consumer or a small business will be deemed unfair if any terms or conditions within that contract cause any of the three scenarios below to be created.

What Should Be Included In A Commercial Lease Agreement

Whilst individuals might have a life goal of owning a property, the same cannot be said for businesses. There are many reasons why a business, rather than owning a property, will prefer to lease one. The first, is simply that many businesses do not have the financial resources to afford both the deposit and the payments on a commercial property mortgage.

A second reason is that leasing gives a business greater flexibility should they expand quickly and require a move to larger premises. A third reason will be a case of logistics, where a company operates entirely within two floors of offices and it would not be feasible for them to purchase an entire 10-floor office block, for example. No doubt many business owners will be able to cite additional reasons why, for them, leasing premises is preferable to buying them.

In all cases, for a business to be able to lease business premises there will need to be a commercial lease agreement signed by them and the property owner, or property management company. This is a legal document that must comply with commercial law. To do so it is likely to contain several sections, some of which are deemed essential by commercial law, so let us look at what they are.

Top 7 Marketing Analytics Software

The phrase “knowledge is power” can be applied in a multitude of situations, and one of the most applicable is the world of business. A business owner that knows more information and data creating to their industry, their marketing, their sales, their competition, and their customers, has a huge advantage over the other business owners they are competing against.

To garner all this information there is no need to employ a network of spies. Instead what you need is marketing analytics software. These can provide a business with several insights into their business and provide several advantages including:

Spotting customer and market trends
Ability to adapt and personalise marketing messages
Improve social media strategies
Identifying influencers
Improved customer engagement
Improved collaboration across departments
Insight into competitor activity

To avail yourself of any of these benefits you need to have marketing analytics software working for your business so here are 7 of the best that are currently available.

How Commercial Law Defines Misleading Or Deceptive Conduct By A Business

It is a sad fact of the commercial world that some businesses cross to the wrong side of the line relating to honesty and proper conduct when it comes to how they communicate and act. For some businesses, their conduct might have been a result of errors and misunderstandings, but even then, it may still result in an unacceptable outcome. A point here is that even unintentional actions can result in repercussions under consumer law.

Most at fault are those businesses whose actions are deliberate attempts to give themselves a financial gain, whilst at the same time misleading and in some cases, cheating those customers who purchase their goods and services. Thankfully, commercial law has remedies for unacceptable conduct by businesses, and one area, in particular, is where a business acts misleadingly or deceptively.

The applicable legislation can be found in Section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The ACL applies across the entire country and thus means businesses in every state must comply with it and should not attempt any contravention of its consumer protections.

Definitions Of Misleading Or Deceptive Conduct By Businesses

There are three main ways in which misleading or deceptive conduct by businesses can be defined. They are:

#1: Future Predictions

This is classified as a business making forecasts or projections about the future which it simply cannot back up or prove with any credible evidence. Worse, it applies where a business deliberately makes false or misleading predictions. Countless examples might apply such as:

Why You Should Include Case Studies Within Your Website To Boost Your Business

When deciding what to include in any web design, one of the objectives must be to generate trust from any visitors who land on the website. There are several ways this can be attempted which include ensuring all the security protocols are in place, displaying consistent branding, and publishing reviews and testimonials on your website – check out acclaimed lawyers, www.culshawmiller.com.au to find examples of this.

These are all excellent ways to build trust and credibility for a business via its website, but here is another method, and it is one that, sadly, many websites do not have. We are referring to case studies, which might require somewhat more effort to create than a simple review, but they are certainly more than worth it.

Benefits Of Case Studies

There are several benefits of creating one or more case studies and including them within your web design.

Social Proof: Probably the most obvious one, and hugely important given that the modern consumers online look for as much social proof as they can find whenever they are thinking of buying something.

Sales/Marketing Copy: Whilst you should never turn a case study into a blatant sales pitch, they do provide you with an opportunity to use segments of them and include them in any marketing or sales copy which you use to promote your business.

5 Core Metrics For Home Building Company’s Digital Marketing

Any digital marketing campaign which is set up to promote your new home building company needs to be measured in several ways to establish its viability and your return on investment. Many business owners believe that all they have to do to assess their marketing is check how much revenue is being created but the digital marketing experts will tell you that does not paint the full picture with regards to a campaign’s success.

There are multiple metrics and measures which can give you an indication of how much your digital marketing efforts are succeeding and building a complete picture from each of these metrics, is how you will be can arrive at a definitive answer. Here, we are going to cover 5 of these metrics, and they are the ones which every business owner, including those who own new home building companies should regard as the most indicative of their digital marketing’s performance.

Metric #1: Cost Per Prospect/Lead

Cost per prospect or cost per lead is how to calculate the cost of bringing each individual into your sales funnel. Each business may have a different definition of what they would classify as a lead, but for most, it will be someone who has effectively raised their hand and asked for more information about a product or service. Take the total marketing spend and divide by the number of individual prospects. $5,000 spent to acquire 200 prospects is a cost per lead of $25.

5 Ways Online Marketing Will Help You Grow Your Removalists Business

If you own and run a removalists business, you will know better than us what level of success it has achieved. You might be at the top of your game and genuinely thinking about expanding further thanks to a full order book. On the other hand, you could be struggling, and wondering where your next client is coming from.

The fact is regardless of what end of the success scale your removalists business is at, or if you are somewhere in between the two extremes, the health of your business and its future prospects will be enhanced further if you are able to secure more clients. That sounds a lot easier than the actual actions required to gain those clients, but you should be aware that there are plenty of avenues you can take to try to find them.

One of those is online marketing, for their very simple reason that not only is that where most people do there research when looking for local companies, those numbers have increased greatly over the recent past due to COVID lockdowns. These have meant people who would not previously have used the internet are using it. The key point is now that they have, they will continue to do so.

What that mean is if you are not utilising many of the advantages that marketing online can provide your removalists business, you are losing clients. Worst of all, you are almost certainly going to lose those clients to your local competitors who have had the foresight to instigate an online marketing campaign. If that has not persuaded you of the need for to start marketing your removalists business online, here are some other benefits online marketing can provide.

Regulation D

For most entrepreneurs, the best vehicle to accomplish initial equity financing under an exemption is through the use of a Private Placement Memorandum (PPM) under Regulation D (Reg D), which is a limited offer and sale of their company’s stock, or securities, without registration under the Federal Securities Act of 1933.

Some risks continue under Reg D, but compliance is significantly easier than before Reg D. A major, major point is that complying with Reg D, it provides the company, its officers, and its directors with an insurance policy of sorts regarding disclosure.

There Are Six Basic Rules
Regulation D consists of six basic rules. The first three are concerned with definitions, conditions, and notification. Rule 501 covers the definitions of the various terms used in the rules. Rule 502 sets forth the conditions, limitations, and information requirements for the exemptions in Rules 504, 505, and 506. Rule 503 contains the SEC notification requirements.

The last three rules (504, 505, and 506) deal with the specifics of raising money under Reg D. Rule 504 generally pertains to securities sales up to $1 million. Rule 505 applies to offerings from $1 million to $5 million. Rule 506 is for securities offerings exceeding $5 million. (A complete review of all aspects of Reg D is contained in our book Going Public” – Everything You Need to Know to Take Your Company Public.)

Rule 506: Offerings with no dollar limit

Under SEC Rule 506; an issuer may issue an unlimited amount of securities, with no dollar limit, to 35 unsophisticated investors plus any number of “accredited investors.” There are required disclosures, if a sale of securities includes purchasers who are not accredited investors. All non-accredited investors must be sophisticated and must sign an Investor Questionnaire acknowledging same. Advertising and a general solicitation are prohibited.

The securities are “restricted securities” which may not be readily resold. There is a major advantage to 506, in that it supersedes and preempts the securities laws of all the states. This saves a lot of time, effort, and expense if the issuer is obtaining money from investors in multiple states. Form D must be filed with the SEC within 15 days after the first sale of securities and also with the Secretary of State of each state in which a purchaser is a resident.

Under Rule 506(c)
Just like 506(b). there is no limit on the dollar size and a company can broadly solicit and generally advertise the offering if:

The investors in the offering are all accredited investors; and
The company has taken reasonable steps to verify that its investors are accredited investors, which could include reviewing documentation, such as W-2s, tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, credit reports and the like.

Visit our FAQ page on Private Offerings for additional information

Rule 505: Offerings of $5 million or less

Rule 505 is used for offerings of $5 million or less in any 12-month period and is restricted to 35 purchasers other than “accredited investors.”

There are a number of required disclosures if the sale of securities includes investors who are not accredited investors: advertising and a general solicitation are prohibited, one must inform purchasers that they receive “restricted” securities (meaning that the securities cannot be sold for a time period without registering them), your must not violate the anti fraud prohibitions of the Federal Security Laws, financial statements need to be certified by an independent public accountant or at a minimum, the balance sheet needs to be audited.

Companies must give non-accredited investors disclosure documents that are the same as those used in registered offerings. If a company provides information to accredited investors, it must make this information available to non-accredited investors as well. The company must also be available to answer questions by prospective purchasers. The Issuer must comply with the securities laws of each state in which a person who buys the security is a resident, and must usually file a notice with that state’s commissioner of corporations or similar official.

Should I use a business broker to sell my business?

You would like to sell your business and you are debating should you business a business broker or should you sell your business by yourself. Which option should you use? Do you sell the business on The Business Place website or do you hire a business broker? There are no wrong choices, there are advances of listing the business yourself and there are advantages of using a broker.

If you list your business for sale yourself, you will save commissions. You will also be able to control who is told your that your business is for sale. You have much more control of this feature if you are concerned about your customers finding out about your business for sale.

Rule 504

This rule is considered by many as the perfect answer for the company just starting out OR one that needs to raise less than $1 million.

Regulation D Rule 504 offers such companies:
An exemption to raise up to $1 million
No disclosure criteria
Few general solicitation and resale restrictions
No limit as to the number or type of investors

Actually, Congress’s original intent in 1982 for Rule 504 was to “set aside a clear and workable exemption for small issuers to be regulated by state blue sky requirements, but by the same token, to be subjected to federal anti-fraud provisions and civil liability provisions.” Rule 504 exemption is provided for almost any type of organization, including corporations, LLCs, partnerships, trusts, or other entities. However, it is not applicable to companies already reporting to the SEC (subject to the ’34 Act) or investment companies.

How is your business affected when your spouse wants a divorce?

You have been operating your business for many years and you have been having marriage problems for years. One day your spouse wants finality to the relationship and wants a divorce. How do you cope? Do you have lines of credit that still can be drawn? Is the spouse working for you. I spoke to a person the other day and they split up 4 years ago, live in the same house on two floors and still worked in the business.

No arrangement was made for closure because neither wanted to pay for a lawyer. It is difficult for a married couple to split up however there are two ways to do it, the friendly way or the non friendly way.

When you are using divorce lawyers and are fighting, the only person who wins are the lawyers. The two spouses and their family loses. I saw one spouse who was very vindictive cause the husband to lose 50% of his net worth due to fighting. The kids see the fighting and no one wins.