All businesses need to regularly review the words on their website for maximum impact and clarity. Heart Harmony is no exception … it is sort of an occupational hazard for us as we are always tweaking our words.
But this week’s make-over has been at the extreme end of the scale. We have totally redone our home page – adding in a video of yours truly (I am now Queen of Java coding!), as well as running the ruler over every other page on the website.
We have changed the title of our newsletter to “Words from the Heart” to better reflect the newsletter content and added in a stack more articles to our article library.
Check out the changes – we would love to hear what you think! Just go to www.heartharmony.com.au
Remember how I talked about my kids getting into Wii Fit? Well I finally jumped on today myself when the kids were at school. Who knew exercise could be fun!
It also helped that I totally blew my kids highest scores on the hula hoop out of the water (not that I am competitive in any way) and that my Wii Fit calculated age on my fitness was 9 years younger than my real age (it is nice to know that I am younger than my birth certificate says).
I promise I will return to normal business blog posts tomorrow … but today I am off to beat the highest score on downhill slalom.
Last night Penni (one of our Heart Harmony writers) and I attended a small business reception at Parliament House. Anna Bligh, our State Premier mentioned that 95% of people employed in Queensland were employed by small-medium businesses. (Makes my Employee Manual for Small Business even more relevant when you look at those statistics).
It was great to see so many diverse small businesses at the reception and it was also brilliant to catch up with a number of our current and past clients who were also there. We met some great small businesses with unique ways to reclaim water, retaining wall specialists, property developers, cosmetic manufacturers, printers, aviation experts and speakers.
We also met a great business that teaches kids and adults the basics of fishing – what a great business to be in! They took their hobby and have turned it into a thriving business.
Many times small business doesn’t realise the impact it makes on the community. One employee here, another there all adds up to a significant total. We are the powerhouse behind our local communities and the economy.
Today stand up and be proud of the difference you are making to your community.
We have all heard of the stats about the growing obesity problem with our kids. On the weekend I bought a Wii Fit for the kids. I admit I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but was willing to give it a go.
I am now a raving fan – my kids spent an hour each day playing games including downhill skiiing, hula hoops, yoga, moving bubbles down a river through their balance and taking part in step classes. Even the jogging turned out to be quite fun for them (and yes they worked up a sweat and enjoyed it). Given my kids are not sporty and will find any excuse to avoid physical activity this was a huge win.
My only criticism (and it is a very tiny one at that) is that the activities are definitely designed more to the female market rather than male, so if you have teenage boys you are not likely to get them onto Wii Fit for any extended period of time (only the soccer game seemed targeted to the boys).
This is a very clever business idea from Wii – taking an issue (weight), combining it with a trend (the increase in people interested in getting fit) and mashing it with a computer game. I suspect this will sell like hotcakes and the other major games companies will need to move to embrace the trend of fitness based interactive gaming.
One of my favourite clients, Shirley, put me onto the Carman’s range of muesli. Yes the products are great but what I love most are the packaging. Each package gives you a brilliant lesson in marketing.
What makes it so great? With the muesli bars box you get the Carman’s story – not a glossy hype version, but a warts and all story by Carolyn Creswell the Company Founder. There’s drama as you hear about her losing her job when the business was to be sold, the love of her parents who gave her the inspiration to buy the business (for $1000), the early year challenges and the success of today (all in 3 paragraphs).
You also read about the charity they support and what specifically Carman’s do to support their charity. There’s clear instructions to how to tell a friend, the product ingredients and where they are sourced from, a thank you to people who refer friends as well as information about their products and healthy eating for kids. Their company philosophy is front and centre of every package.
On the porridge box you get a great story about Carolyn’s Grandpa and how they took turns making porridge with him in the mornings. You also get some oat trivia as well as a recipe for an oat face pack as well as instructions for cooking (with a twist of humour) and offers of free bag seals.
There’s no photos, box design is quite basic but you do get to see the products in all their glory with a see-through cut out section. I can’t tell you what’s written on the Muesli range boxes (yet). It is sad I know but I will be buying the full range just to read what’s on the boxes!
Analysing all of this there are great ideas any business can learn from Carman’s.
Tell a story about you and your background - why you created your product and service, what memories do you have about your product or service. Parables and stories of yourself help connect you with your customers. They may you real and accessible.
How does your charity fit with your business? Many businesses have a number of charities they support. Why do you support those charities? What specifically do you do for that charity? By explaining the background you help people understand your charity. They also can see you are more than just a cheque – you are actively making a difference.
Instructions don’t have to be boring - just easy to understand. Yes instructions have to be clear and easy to follow … but you can personalise it with humour as well.
Extra ways to use your product. Give ideas of different and interesting ways to use your product.
Give some facts/trivia. People love to know facts and trivia about an item or a service. Find some credible statistics and quote them.
Stand behind your philosphy – what do you believe in?
Encourage referrals. Encourage people to talk about your products and share their experiences (and say thank you when they do).
Both Coles & Woolworths stock Carman’s so the next time you are out shopping, pick up a box just to read what they say and have a quick lesson in marketing (and the products do taste great).
Business ethics is one of my passions. Ethics is a very gray area, with answers sometimes not as simple as they first appear. Ethics is something that you explore through discussing cases in your workplace and working through all of the pros and cons of a decision before making your final decision.
So here is a real life ethical dilemma to work through.
One of your top regular clients calls you with a huge rush job. Income from this job is about double your regular weekly income – but they can easily afford the bill. You can fit it in with a few late nights and still keep your other work under control.
As you start to research the job you realise that the job is wrong for the client and that it will not get them the results they are looking for. Do you a) keep going b) ring the client and talk through your research recommending they cancel the project (and lose the income in the process).
In answering this think through the reasons for your decision.
Congratulations Donna-Marie – you truly deserve the nomination! You stand in great company and prove small business owners can make a massive difference to lives!
Weall know the trend is towards more ecologically sustainable living – which is why I love this product. Solar panels in handbags!
Noon solar is just one of a number of handbag manufacturers that include a light flexible solar panel on the side of their bags. Just pop your handbag by a window during the day and you get enough power to recharge your ipod or mobile phone. No more flat batteries. How cool is that!
These designers have taken a traditional concept (handbags) and turned it on its head! To think I was excited a few months ago to find a handbag that had an external pocket for my mobile, one for my PDA and an easy access compartment for my business cards for networking.
Where can you turn a design idea around in your business?
If you like learning more about your brain here are a stack of quizzes on the BBC website. You can learn the connection between your personality and the art you like, is Wednesday red, can you spot the fake smile and a stack of interesting other little things to take up time you could be using on work.
Every year for the past 7 years I have taken my kids into the annual Buddha’s Birthday celebrations at South Bank in Brisbane. This was our favourite festival in Brisbane, with great cultural displays, exhibits, fabulous vegetarian food and a strong experience of the Buddhist faith.
Every year the kids made wishes, took part in candle offerings and bathed baby Buddha to help them experience and understand different faiths. Each year the festival grew in size – with a greater range of experiences on offer to match the increasing numbers of people through the festival.
This year we noticed something different from the moment we walked in – only a fraction of the usual glowing orange lanterns decorated South Bank and the main entry arch was missing. The cultural aspects were down to a few token sections with very limited interaction (and the fireworks moved nights without announcement from a Saturday to a Sunday night).
The festival felt flat – not just for us but for other festival goers. Most people who attend go every year and have expectations on what the festival is all about. We still have no idea what happened this year to cause it to shrink by half.
This is similar to any business. Customers are happy when their expectations are exceeded, but when there are sudden changes without warning, and a decreased level of service then you lose your regular customers.
Some things you can do if you have to cut back on your service, product range or other offering is to communicate these changes clearly and openly to your customers. As long as you explain “why” people will generally accept the changes. It is only when there is silence there is a problem.
We will still check out the festival next year, but with much lower enthusiasm on the part of the kids.
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Earnings Disclosure: I will receive financial compensation for sales of these products ... enough for a few cups of good coffee
