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The magic of video has created a plethora of both good and bad means by which it is used for both personal and business reasons. A video in the form of a 30 second commercial aired on regular television, when produced correctly, could result in millions of dollars in sales. When done poorly it could cost the company millions.

But what about video online? Yes we are full steam ahead in the digital age. Everything is digital from pictures to appliances, and of course video. Due to the lowering cost of digital video recorders, anybody can be the next great film maker or commercial producer.

A commercial spot on television could cost a lot of money depending on how many times you run it, the geographic location and more. In steps internet video advertising and how it can help your business.

Unless you live in a closet I am sure you have heard of the web site YouTube. On this site you will find thousands of videos posted by amateurs and professionals alike. You can watch funny clips, people`s home movies, or Clay Aiken`s newest music video.

If you are into keeping up with the times, YouTube has given people the ability to post their frustrations about the press being all over Britney Spears, to Paris Hilton`s Champagne Birthday Party. It has truly become a magnificent web site.

How can YouTube help your business? Simply put you can post multiple video commercials about your business, products or services, how-to videos, and so much more. The best part you can sign up for free. YouTube has become such the video standard for online viewing, that we have implemented on our website the ability for our customers to embed their YouTube video directly into the online advertising promotions with a click of the button.

In order to get started I recommend that you go online to YouTube and search around and see what your competition is doing. Get a feel for what is working and what gets the most “plays”.

Once you have a feel for what will produce the best results for the video of your business, product or service, go ahead and record it. Not sure how? Search online for people in your area that handle this, yes they are out there, and they are good at it.

Once your video is complete, upload it to YouTube; share it with your friends, relatives, business partners and current customers. If they like what they see they can share it with their friends with a simple click of the “share” icon that YouTube provides.

Next visit sites that allow you to embed YouTube video directly into online advertisements and promotions, and away you go. Your video, if done well, should be pulling in customers in no time.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

What better way to do business than to reach out to your client. This is precisely the principle behind advertising. Companies advertise as to be closer to their clients, to make them interested, and to get them to patronize your products and services in as simple as the device of postcard printing.

Advertising in the Best Opportunities

So how would they know if you do not advertise well? How would your client know that you have good food, good service, or good stuff to offer if you do not reach out in a way that they would notice.

There are actually many ways to advertise but some are effective and some are not. People will only notice your advertisement if you take the extra step to reach them in their comfort zones.

Postcard printing is one of the most effective ways to remove your company from your client’s ‘never heard’ list. Postcards are more effective than other materials such as posters and fliers because:

They are client specific. You know which clients you want specifically, and with a good mailing list, you will avoid giving out advertising materials to people whom you know would not even mind your offer precisely because they do not need it. You only send postcards to your specific target clients.

You save money by not advertising in the wrong places.

They contain enough information for the client to know where to reach you if and when they actually need your products or services.

Postcards contain your contact information that your client needs to know.

Your advertisement is less likely to be ignored. Everyone checks out their mail, especially when they have enough time.

You get to catch the client in his own home. You do not put up a poster and hope that your clients will pass by and notice it. With postcards, you are where you want to be.

Sent through mail, it has a better chance to be kept than thrown; unlike fliers or brochures which go to the nearest trash bin from the moment it is handed out.

With postcard printing, your advertisement will last for a longer time. It is printed on a relatively thick paper, and is covered with coating as to serve as protection. It can be water resistant or if you want.

You can say less and yet be effective. With a minimal amount of text to put in your postcard, you give your clients enough reason to call or drop by to check you out.

You get to build the impression that you want. Through design and appearance, you can be even more effective to your clients.

By printing postcards that you need for advertising, it is hard for you to go wrong. Doing business is more than just sitting on your desk and waiting for the client to arrive. You need effort. You need to reach out in the most effective manner possible. Make your clients feel that they are important by sending them postcards. Find the printing company that offers you the best postcard printing deal now.

There are a number of qualities needed to become a successful bookkeeper; these are the five qualities that I feel are the most important. They are in no particular order and the first one is not necessary but it helpful. The other four, in my opinion, are all essential to success.

1. Qualifications. As I have said, this is not essential but it is definitely a bonus when trying to secure new clients. It doesn’t have to be a bachelor degree in accounting; it can just be a certificate. Showing that you have achieved some level of education in your chosen career with show prospective clients that you know what you are talking about.

2. Experience. When listing your previous experience, even the small things count, e.g. banking. Experience can be anything related to office work. The more experience you have, the more confidence your clients will have in you, especially if your experience has been gained in a variety of situations.

3. Reputation. Your reputation is build with your experience. If you do your job well, you can use previous employees and clients as references for new clients. When you build a good reputation, you won’t need to search for new clients; they will come looking for you.

4. Ethics. There is an ethical code of conduct for accountants and this should be followed by all bookkeepers. I am in contact by email with a bookkeeper in Sydney who asked for my advice. Although it is hard to help when you don’t exactly know what you are dealing with, I respect him more for not giving me exact details, as it would not be ethical to tell me more. In my opinion, he will go a long way in his bookkeeping career as he has the right attitude. He is willing to ask for help when he needs it AND he doesn’t give away company information. I don’t even know the name of his company.

5. Commitment. You must be committed to each and every one of your clients. They need to feel that they are your most important client and that you are committed to helping them make a success of their business.

If you can show clients and potential clients that you have experience, ethics and commitment, then your reputation will build itself and thus you will have a successful bookkeeping career.

All businesses are vulnerable to shrinking in a recession, but service businesses - those offering a service rather than a product - are particularly vulnerable to an economic downturn. Here are some suggestions on how business owners can prepare for tougher times ahead.

First, take a hard look at what you do now. Is your service a necessity to customers or clients? Or is it a luxury? Being objective is crucial. You may think your quarterly survey of customer satisfaction is important to a manufacturer, but they may see it as a luxury or frill when their own cash flow starts to dwindle. To assess you situation, create a scale by drawing a line with ‘necessity’ at one end and ‘luxury’ at the other. Then mark off where your services cluster, using a mark for each project and how the customers see it. Be objective; this is no time to kid yourself about how your clients view your offering.

If your services mainly fall at or cluster towards the luxury end of the scale, next take a hard look at your customers. Will they still be able to afford you when the economy shrinks? For example, if you cater to retirees or the wealthy, their incomes may not decline. But if your services tend to be subject to customers’ budget cutbacks, you need to rethink some of what you offer.

The first step is to look at how you can repackage part of what you offer, to either lower the price point, or vary the service to broaden the range of potential customers. If, for example, you have tended to do nationwide market studies, can you scale these back to offer regional studies that either existing customers or new ones may want to purchase? Or, if you do promotion, how can you streamline your approach, to perhaps offer services in one channel, for example, radio or e-mail, rather than a full spectrum of channels? It’s always important to revisit what you do and find a way to offer a “quickie”. You can still go on offering your full service, but the lower-priced alternate may help keep the dollars coming in when the economy slows.

If this is not possible, what services can you introduce that will be mainly recession-proof? Perhaps you have some new ideas on the back burner? Bring them forward; a slow economy is not necessarily a bad time for something new, it just has to be the right ‘new’. If you can offer a small, affordable luxury, people will still find the dimes even if they no longer have the dollars.

Another way to migrate to greener pastures is to focus on geography and find the areas of the country, which are less affected by economic troubles. What can you offer outside your usual territory? Which of your services can travel well and might lead to substantial new business away from home?

The next thing to look at, if you see your services dying off in terms of demand, is how you might change over to a ‘D-I-Y’ model and, rather than providing the service, act as a coach to your customers or clients so they can do it themselves. That is, if you usually develop and execute strategy, perhaps you now provide the ’skeleton’ and they have to flesh out the details themselves. Or, if you would normally be the one making calls for a market research survey, you now, instead, develop the questionnaire and guide staff at your client’s company to do the phone work.

A recession can also be a good time to look at how offering training or seminars, based on what you do, can broaden your markets and generate some needed cash. While each seminar might not deliver the same level of dollars as a full-scale project, it’s all ‘grist to the mill’. And if you keep the cash flow coming in, you’ll be better positioned to thrive when the good times return.

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

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