Meeting Minutes 2/16/09

30 & Driven
2/16/2010 Meeting

I) We have a new member, Kim. Kim owns Girly Girl Vintage Handbags. She is also trying to pull together an art fair for Blue Springs. Her goal for the year is to do more fundraising events. Her achievement was getting on google ads, and she hopes to soon understand it. Welcome Kim!
II) Lisa joined us for the first time at the meeting. Her car broke down last time on the way to the meeting. Welcome Lisa!
III) Katie gave a talk on Marketing. Below are the details.
A) Create a Quality Brand
1) Quality brands are not just about your logo and business image. Branding also encompasses the image you project and what people think about you.
a) What do you think of when you think apple? Cool, chic, innovative. Apple is an example of good branding.
b) Toyota messed up with their branding. They focus on quality. Recently, they started focusing more on expansion and less on quality, and it hurt them.
2) Websites are critical for branding.
a) You need a graphic designer and a website designer to create a look and then to carry that look through to your website. Weebly.com has free website hosting.
b) Social acceptance on your website is very important. Post positive reviews of your service from your customers on your website.
B) The most important thing in branding is to decide what you want to represent and/or be.
C) Know your customer base to determine how to brand.
1) Once you’ve identified your audience, you have to figure out where they are shopping and advertise there.
a) Online advertising is a good way to go. Adwords, facebook, twitter, etc.
b) Blogger is not recognized by google very well, but wordpress is. Get a wordpress account if you’re going to blog.
c) Try Hercityguide.com also. You can advertise for free for the first 60 days. You can also try advertising in her life magazine.
d) Donate to auctions. Sunshine center is having an auction. There is a website out there where there’s a list of charities, Allison will find that. Rainbow center is also having a charity auction that you may be interested in.
e) When advertising on facebook, never link your ad to your website; always link it to your facebook fan page. If you get a fan, you can continue to put your business page in front of them, but they will only click on your website once. People who are on facebook like to stay on facebook.
f) Press releases don’t work very well. PR around a business opening is very good. Try to find PR connections and send out press releases at your first big business event.
g) Kid’s closet is doing a show for Blue Springs in April, and they are doing one in Lee’s Summit in March. The contact is Jill Moxley. Kid’s closet is off of 40 Highway behind Nature’s pantry.

IV) Allison announced that she read information on what makes business owners great instead of good. It explained the differences between people who make a lot of money versus people who just make an average living. She said it was very good. There is a book called Good to Great that covers this topic in detail by Jim Collins. Allison will share copies of what she read with us at the next meeting.
A) Valerie recommended a book called E Myth by Michael Gerber.

V) Katie said: Do not devalue your services. It is important to steer clear from offering free services. Instead, offer and ad on. For example, instead of offering 12 free cupcakes, offer 12 free cupcakes with your next order.
A) Katie also said to remember to do all kinds of things for marketing. Never focus on just one avenue for marketing, try lots of different things.
VI) Kim suggested that we go to hercityguide.com to find business events and promotions in the area. Kim meets business owners this way and supports local businesses this way.


Next Meeting:

I) Bring your jump drives to get info. From Allison on Good to Great.

II) We will be discussing Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and hopefully Allison’s friend Mark can join us for a talk.