Below I’ve outlined three ways small business owners can leverage Facebook in their business.

#1 – To Extend Your Marketing Reach 

You notice that I did not say as a selling platform?  People hate to be sold to in social media spaces.  The opportunity for you here is to have conversations with your customers. Ultimately people buy from those they know like and trust. So growing the number of fans you have either by using paid Facebook advertising or simply engaging more on Facebook is an opportunity for you to talk with more people and give them a chance to learn more about you and your business. At some point they will remember you as the friendly, helpful people on Facebook and you will be in with a chance when its time to buy.

That’s not to say you can’t announce your most recent promotion when it comes around.  Just don’t make that the core of your Facebook messaging. Remember this when your boss asks you why you aren’t pounding your Facebook fans with sales messages day in and day out.

#2 – As a Pre Sales Tool 

Facebook is the biggest community of connected people on the planet.  There is a pretty good chance that your prospects are on Facebook. It’s a great way for you to help answer any questions people have about your product or service before they need to buy it. Because it’s a public forum, other Facebook people will see how you dealt with the question and be suitably impressed. In fact there is no reason why you couldn’t simply compile a list of regularly asked questions into an FAQ format and make that a sticky post on your Facebook page.

#3 – As a Customer Support Platform

Facebook excels as a customer support platform.  Lost passwords, status updates and the like.  It is a quick and easy platform for you to provide support to customers in a public forum.  Typically once people have their questions answered or problems resolved they are very happy and will be public and vocal about this.  And Facebook is the ideal venue for that.  Just remember if you have a customer who is somewhat more difficult to satisfy, remember to take the support call offline and ask then to call you directly on the phone so you can solve their issue for them.

There you have it. Facebook is more than just a simple marketing platform.  Its multiple uses provide value to many stretched small businesses as it can be used to perform multiple roles.

The survey covers a franchisee’s satisfaction in their current franchise business, with a specific focus on franchise renewal, recommendation, lifestyle and business support.  The 2^nd place result is testament to Kwik Kopy’s B2B business model which includes a strong franchise support system and a renewed focus on sharing knowledge. 

The leading Corporate Design and Print solutions specialist is celebrating an impressive climb to the top securing the number two spot in the latest results.

Kwik Kopy is now over 20% higher than the industry average when it comes to support in both frequency of contact and quality of mentoring and guidance.  Kwik Kopy has also seen a jump since the last survey in the area of better collaboration and sharing of knowledge scoring 29% better than the industry average.

Head of Intelligence at 10 THOUSAND FEET, Ian Krawitz said the latest survey results show that face-to-face communications are still critical, but combined with online collaboration tools; franchisors such as Kwik Kopy have been able to take the quality of their communications to the next level.

“We have seen a direct correlation between franchisors embracing online communication platforms and strong satisfaction levels among franchisees,” he said. 

“Sitting down one on one with a franchisee is vital, but what online platforms are doing is enabling the most experienced people in the business to share the most up-to-date advice with franchisees they wouldn’t ordinarily get to meet with.”

The ability to share information with peers is just one of the benefits of being part of such a strong national franchise community such as Kwik Kopy. 

The company has spent the past two years sharing business expertise more effectively across the group including the launch of online sales and marketing portals.  This has included sharing best practice tips and documenting case studies of success amongst Kwik Kopy franchisees.

Kwik Kopy CEO, David Bell said the key has been execution, “It’s all very well having a strategy, however, unless it is executed properly it will not work,” he said.

“We have had the right resourcing and internal team to drive these changes over the last couple of years and their commitment is paying dividends.”

The type of website that you choose to build depends on what your ultimate goal is.

Are you selling a broad range of products?  Are you selling services or chasing leads?   Is your product or service a high value complex product?

Examples of the types of websites that can be built include:

1.         Lead Generation Websites – Designed to capture contact details
2.         Ecommerce Websites – Designed to catalogue products for sale
3.         Business Websites & Business Blogs – Designed to showcase your services and your ability to deliver outcomes for clients as well as educate and demonstrate social proof  and show case studies.
4.         Membership Websites & Portals – Designed to deliver educational content with paid or free access.

Questions to ask yourself:

1.         Are you selling products, services or leads?
2.         What is the average price point of the products you are selling?  Is it high or low?
3.         Is the product or service you are selling simple or complex?
4.         Does a potential customer have key questions they need answered before they will buy?
5.         Does the product or service have a heavy post sale support requirement?
6.         Does a prospect require education about features and benefits and how you are different before doing business with you?
7.         Does the prospect need to see proof of successful outcomes from previous customers?
8.         Is the product purchase life-cycle short or long?

The answers to these questions will help you decide what type of site you need to build.

For example lead generation businesses like plumbing, home loans, credit cards and carpet cleaning are designed to get your customer to call you or fill in a contact form, so the landing page needs to be optimised to do just that.

Businesses selling low cost items of low complexity might best be served with a simple ecommerce site that facilitates easy browsing, sorting, filtering and buying.

Alternatively if you are a business with a complex or high value product that requires more comprehensive education, social validation via testimonials and customer case studies then a more traditional business website and blog would be ideal as it allows you to present content in a manner that achieves these goals.

Take some time out to think about what the final outcome of your website is to be before you talk to your web developer, and you are on the right road to building a successful website.

David Bell

First published in Franchising Magazine, 7th May. Article by Domini Stuart

Print and signage are both about communication – and both have been changing fast. In print there was a major shift around five years ago when big, offset printers were replaced by digital alternatives. Suddenly, business owners had no need for a dedicated operator and, as digital machines are also much neater and cleaner, their outlets took on the look and feel of service centres rather than manufacturing plants.  

The digital revolution has been opening the door to methods of communication that, just a decade or so ago, would have sounded like science fiction. As a result, there are new and exciting opportunities to prosper for anyone willing to work with the changes. 

“There’s no question that this is shrinking as readers and advertisers move part of their spend into digital forms of communication – but it’s shrinking slowly and from a very large base,” says David Bell, chief executive officer of Kwik Kopy Australia. “Today, the business is as much about software and problem solving as producing printed materials and we have responded by broadening the range of services we offer from print to print and digital.” 

Read the full article here.

Kwik Kopy has teamed up with Smarter Business ideas to bring you an exciting series of ebooks packed with expert branding advice and interactive case studies.

The first edition is full of easy-to-follow advice on how to present your brand in a quality way.

• What is your brand identity meant to do?
• Logo design that works in all sizes and places
• Brand consistency and the benefits of style guides
• Branded promotions – giveaways that give you the best bang for your buck

Watch the video to find out how Kwik Kopy helped create a new brand identity for Delizia Gelato and Sorbet in Brisbane.

Below we list 4 of the biggest web design trends for 2013. 

#1 – Responsive Web Layouts

The massive growth in the use of mobile devices to access the Internet has resulted in a boom in the demand for responsive web designs.  Responsive websites have the ability to adapt their display to the screen size of the device that the user is accessing the internet with.  The goal is to support all devices from tablets, desktops and smartphones without the need to build and maintain a separate website just for mobile devices.

(Image by infocux Technologies)

#2 – One Page Web Design

Once again we have a web design trend that is driven by the growth in adoption of mobile devices.  One Page web designs make it simple for a user on a mobile device to access information without the need to browse to multiple pages.  All of the key information is typically presented in summary format in a separate visual section on the home page. The user on a mobile device simply needs to scroll down to learn all they need to do. The advantage of this design is that it encourages the content creator to focus on what is really important.  In this way, one page websites function in the same way that a landing page does, with a focus on a single call to action.

Some wonderful examples of one page web design include:
http://www.getgumbo.com/

More great examples of one page web design can be found on the showcase site One Page Love. http://onepagelove.com/

 #3 – The Use of Landing Pages

With the growth in the ability to target specific demographics on social media platforms like Facebook as well as the increased desire to improve business performance, the use of landing pages to get a single specific action from a visitor has boomed. Having various landing pages allows you to control and test all manner of attributes from the web copy, the colours and the images.

This demand has led to the demand for landing page tools and testing software like Unbounce http://unbounce.com/ ,  Premise http://getpremise.com/, and Lead Pages http://www.leadpages.net

A great example of a focused landing page is

 #4 – Large Photographic Backgrounds

There has been an increasing use of large photographic elements as the backgrounds on many websites.  This is due to the growing importance of visuals to capture attention in our attention poor society. Images typically illicit strong emotions based on their colors and backgrounds. These designs are not for all businesses.  They can be challenging to place content onto them.  Design portfolios and creative websites typically use them but they can be very impactful if done well.

An example of such sites include:

http://www.aperto.de/en.html 

There are some awesome resources out there which showcase the latest developments in business card design.  From the good people at Card Nerd at www.cardnerd.com and Behance http://www.behance.net/ we bring you some of the latest creative business card designs to give you some new business card ideas.

Konstruct

Ruth Meyers

Pablo Toledo

Teaching Shop

Fat Cow

Tunnel Vision Records Business Cards

But that’s not very helpful when it comes to deciding whether to buy a franchise or not.  We all need money to pay the bills, so you need to get an idea of whether you can make a decent living from the franchise you’re considering.

When it comes to finding a profitable franchise opportunity you should definitely examine the franchisor’s track record and check if the existing franchisees are making money. But how do you get an idea of how much you can make?

The answer is to do some financial projections. This will give you an idea of the income and the costs of running the business you are looking at. Then you’ll see whether it is likely to generate enough profit to give you the income you need. 

5 steps to work out how much profit your franchise can make

Here are five steps that will help you work out how much profit your franchise can make, and give you the best chance of achieving it.

1. Assess the potential of the business. Before you spend any money on advisers and ‘experts’ it’s a good idea to do a ‘back of the envelope’ estimate of how much profit the business could make. Let’s look at a simple example.   

In practice, there’s more to consider when it comes to assessing the financial potential of a business. But this exercise will give you an idea of the profit you can make once your business is established.

If you are happy with how things look it’s worth doing a more thorough assessment. At this next stage you’ll use more detailed financial information to get a better understanding of how much you could make from the business.

2. Prepare detailed financial projections

If your initial assessment looks promising the next step is to dig deeper into the numbers. This is where you prepare detailed projections based on information you’ll get about the likely sales and each of the operating costs of the business.  These projections are much more detailed than the example above. The franchisor may have a format you can use, or you can ask your accountant.

It’s important to do this step because as the business owner you need to understand how the business works financially.  Yes, you! Don’t neglect this, even if you think you’re not very good with numbers. You can ask an accountant to help put the figures together once you’ve collected the information.

So, where do you get the figures for sales and costs?

For a brand new franchise, a good place to start is the Disclosure Document. This is where you will find details of the main costs to operate your franchise. The Disclosure Document may also include details of the franchise performance benchmarks, and sales and expense figures for existing franchises.

If you are looking to buy an existing franchise, you will be able to see the figures from the previous owner.

Other franchisees in the group are also a great source of help at this stage, so be sure to ask for their comments about sales and costs in their business. It’s a good idea to speak with successful owners and also those who have struggled at some point. This will help you get a balanced understanding of the business.

Once you’ve gathered this information, put your projections together. Be sure to take into account your specific costs, such as rent, wages, loan payments and other financial commitments. With regard to sales, be sure to allow for realistic growth and seasonal sales patterns.

You should also take time to meet with an accountant who has experience with franchises. They can assist you in putting your projections together. 

3. Work out how much you could pay yourself

 How much you pay yourself really comes down to what the business can afford. Your financial projections will help you see this for yourself. After you’ve paid all the day-to-day bills, and your bank loan repayments, you will see how much is left.  That’s what’s available for you.

But remember, apart from your wages, you need to allow for reinvestment to support growth of the business. You will also need to repay yourself for any money you’ve put into the business.

4. Assess the results

Now that you’ve done the numbers, it’s time to step back and assess the result. Do the projections show this business can make a healthy profit? Based on your research of the franchise, are the projections achievable? Will this franchise give you the income you need?

5. Make it happen

So far, what you’ve prepared are projections, and they’re just on paper. To make money, you’ve got to turn these into reality!

Once you can see that the business has potential, you’ll need to determine how to achieve it.

There are two key parts to this. Firstly, work with the franchisor and understand how their systems, advice and support will help you get started and then run the business effectively.  Secondly, start putting your own plans together for how you will attract customers, manage costs and run a profitable business.

You see, it takes more than a proven franchise and good intentions to succeed. It doesn’t just happen by itself. To turn your projections into reality you’ll need to make a plan, then follow that plan to make your financial goals come true.

In the next article in this series we’ll be discussing how to prepare a business plan, and the steps you need to follow to run an effective business.

About us

This is a guest post by Peter Knight, FCPA and Kate Groom. Through their business, Smart Franchise, they help franchise owners understand the financial side of business.

Peter is an accountant with over 25 years in professional practice advising business owners. Kate has worked with franchises for almost 20 years, focusing on business improvement. She was formerly Business Performance Manager with Kwik Kopy Australia.

Find out more at www.smartfranchise.com.au 

#1 Get Yourself a Good Graphic Designer

You may have considered taking on the design aspect of your business yourself, but in reality, your best chances of coming out with a solid design are to leave it in the hands of a professional. You can find a good designer by requesting samples, meeting with them, and testing their turn-around times. Be sure to create technical and creative briefs with your designer so that you are both on the same page as far as the design and brand are concerned.  Of course at Kwik Kopy we believe your local Kwik Kopy graphic designer is a great place to start.

#2 Find Inspiration

If you’ve got a design in mind that inspires you, don’t neglect to share it with your designer. Of course, this does not mean that you should blatantly copy the design to fit your business, but you should use it for pointers or take certain mechanics from it. Maybe you like the balance of the design elements. You can most definitely incorporate this aspect into your design. Tell the designer what you like about the design you have in mind.

Three great blogs we recommend that you look to for inspiration include:

http://www.formfiftyfive.com/ – A showcase of creative international design work

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/ – A blog which provides opinions on corporate and brand identity work

http://lovelypackage.com/ – A blog that focuses primarily on curating the best packaging design

#3 Determine Your Target Market 

You’ll want to find out who your audience is, and your graphic design professional will more than likely be able to help you with this. Once you’ve found your target market, you want to cater to them through your design. If you’re trying to design for a nursing home, you probably shouldn’t use busy colors or outlandish colors. The details of your target audience should be covered in the briefs, and your designer should help you find a design for your brand that will speak to the correct demographic.

#4 Don’t Tell Your Designer How to Do Their Job

Lastly, don’t hang over your designer’s shoulder or tell them how to design. Many clients make the mistake of nitpicking and requesting unnecessary changes to designs that can majorly affect the overall message in the long run. Let the designer utilize the knowledge that they’ve gained through experience and education. It can be easy to feel paranoid about what the designer wants to do with your brand since, after all, it is a reflection of your business. However, this mentality must be somewhat thrown out the door. Let the designer work and the quality designs will come.

To get the most benefit from your printed marketing collateral, you need to be very clear about what you want visually and be able to communicate your needs in a language that your designer understands.

Let’s face it, first impressions are critical and nothing influences a prospect’s first impression of you more than well thought out, well designed marketing collateral.

Kwik Kopy developed the Guide to Design & Printing to help you design awesome stuff.

• Understand the basics of design before you brief your designer so you don’t waste time and money with back and forth edits of your design project.
• Learn all about the three primary colour models, CMYK, PMS and RGB – what they are and when to use them.
• Learn the importance of typography and how the type of font you choose can be used to position your business effectively.
• Understand the benefit of quality imagery and its impact on getting your materials viewed and read.
• Learn about the design and printing process so you know how long things are going to take to get done so you can save time in planning.

Download your copy of the Guide to Design & Printing today.

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