Farmers Market Banners 101

There is no doubt about it - just the basic fact of being a vendor at the farmers market will generate sales. However, there is also lots of competition at the market, where many vendors may offer the same or similar types of produce. Ideally, you want customers to remember exactly who they purchased from, to be able to tell their friends and family about you, and even become a customer outside of the market if that is an option you offer.

One of the most basic, economical and popular ways to display your name at an outdoor farmers market is a banner. They are large, and they can withstand various weather conditions such as wind and rain. In many cases, your banner will be one of your largest costs when it comes to your farmers market display. Consider these factors to ensure your banner makes a great impression with your customers and is as cost effective as possible.

Check market guidelines and ask for advice. Many markets have specific guidelines regarding signage. Be sure to check with your market manager regarding these, and also ask their opinion on what works best. Your market manager and fellow vendors can also be good referral sources when finding a sign company and/or graphic designer to help create your banner.

Plan ahead. Depending on their schedule a printer can print a banner in as little as 2 days with supplied artwork. No supplied artwork? Allow a minimum of 2 weeks to 2-3 months to complete artwork.

Why might it take months? It can take time to do things like find a graphic designer, locate your existing electronic logo files and/or have a logo created. You also need to allow time for approvals. If you are very busy, and need a week to provide feedback this obviously delays the process.

Make sure it looks great.

• Look for other examples of what you like.

• Take a few moments to sketch out your ideas for the banner and show these to your printer and/or graphic designer. Spend no more than 15 minutes doing this - it's just to give them some ideas.

• Make sure your business name, or ideally your logo, are the first thing people will see.

• Avoid covering every square inch with graphics and words.

Keep in mind that deciding what your banner will look like and printing it are two different stages. Some sign companies can provide great graphic design assistance, in other cases you may want to hire an independent graphic designer. Whoever helps you with the look of your banner, be sure to look at examples of their work and always ask for quotes before getting started.

Designing your own sign? Check with your printer first. Before you try doing the artwork yourself, talk to your printer. Your printer will want your artwork in a specific file format. If you don't have the appropriate software there is no sense spending a large amount of time on your artwork to only find out it is unusable.

Keep it short and sweet when it comes to wording. Only add important information such as your location and website address. If you are active on Facebook or Twitter consider adding those images to the side, in a size that is noticeable but not overwhelming.

Consider your environment - be sure to stand out. Farmers markets are naturally full of colour and activity. Keeping your banner simple will help ensure it gets noticed. Don't be tempted to add lots of patterns or photos. Stick to colours that are part of your branding, but be aware that certain colours such as blues, purples and greens are more likely to blend into their surroundings so use these strategically in the design if necessary. Communicate what your environment is like to whoever is helping design and print your banner.

Think about installation. Where will your banner go? How will you hang it? Is it in a position where staff will not bump into it? Are there areas of the banner that might be covered by part of the tent infrastructure? For example, if the top 6" will be covered - ensure you don't have graphics in this area.

How to Define Your Niche When Your Ideal Clients Are Women

Often my clients come to me with a very broad group of ideal clients and need help narrowing it down.
The more you get clear on who your ideal client is, the better your marketing message can speak directly to them and their concerns. This will significantly improve your marketing results as you pull clients in and they can more easily self-select to work with you.

One of the most common examples of a broad group is women. Think about women as a group - that is half the population right? So you need to narrow the field down. There are women who are moms, business owners, empty nesters, women who are divorced, addicted to sugar and the list goes on. How can you reach all these different groups of women with your marketing message without spending a fortune? That's not easy.

The smartest way to make your marketing efforts work harder is to focus on a particular niche. I'm going to make this really easy for you. The key is to look at where women are already assembled for you. One of the best target audiences for that is women business owners. Why? Because they must gather to get more clients and grow their businesses. So when you look for groups of women business owners, it's so much easier since they gather themselves.

There are so many places to find women business owners! Here are three national organizations:

1. National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)

2. eWomen Network

3. National Association of Female Executives (NAFE)

There is a directory of women's associations that's available online and the last time I bought it, it was only $75. The directory is like a phonebook of all the women's associations in the US and it is amazing.

You can also do a Google search in your area to discover groups that are regional or even local to just your state or town. New women's groups and organizations are popping up all over and growing in popularity every day.

Finding these groups makes is so much easier to market to women since you can rub elbows with many all in one place. And there will likely be some of any type you seek in whatever group you attend.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

Do some research this week to discover women business owner networking groups in your area. Then make a list of everything available and when they hold their meetings. Pick the ones that sound best to you and schedule them into your calendar. Then make sure you attend.

How Small Business Created The Internet Marketing Company

There are more than 23 million small businesses in the US, comprising 54% of all U.S. income. Despite the fact that almost all of these companies often have reduced marketing budgets in contrast to more substantial corporations, challenging versus the giant players develops into a vital aspect of any small company advertising and thereby an important emphasis for long lasting emergence.

Key reports collected from the SBA signify that since 1990, as mammoth business removed roughly 4 million work opportunities, small enterprises essentially supplied 8 million all new jobs. While small companies are necessary factors to the financial system, it is more and more tricky to contend in a global environment dictated by much higher leveraged businesses, until today.

Lower priced and significantly productive marketing instruments have moved into the current market and such instruments including social networks, mobile marketing, and even paid search components now find their way in to small business tactical organizing sessions. While these resources have proven to be incredibly strong for the small business world, there remains a major percentage of small business proprietors who are not wanting to recognize the change. Granted the reality that the average age of the US based private business owner is approximately 49 yrs old, this age bracket is typically hesitant to change their marketing techniques and add modern-day marketing and advertising, including employing smartphones versus t.v. and billboard ads.

There are at this moment 116,000,000 US smart phone consumers, a reflection of 37 percent of the complete population, as outlined by eMarketer. While mobile phone advertising and marketing has turned into a larger chip in the pile, research conducted recently signifies that only 20 % of local business owners claimed they are applying mobile marketing and advertising. The bottom-line is, businesses that totally focus the majority of their functions within a determined topographical distance are losing out on potential individuals, while larger sized contending companies are scooping up the opportunities. Take, for instance, a neighborhood coffee house shedding business to Starbucks or McDonald's.

Leveraging social websites is cost-beneficial and can also drastically boost the functionality of a small company marketing strategy. Customers reside on social media. They are not any longer tuned in to the radio and TV over the workday nearly as much as they are seeing what is going on via Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. The fact is that Facebook fairly recently crossed the one-billion user mark and Twitter comes with an average of 6.9 million active users every day. Building brand interest and maximizing presence through the use of social networks has turned into a big asset to small businesses.