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As entrepreneurs and business owners we are always looking for new, innovative ways to do business. And though business cards might not be the first thing you think of when you are making improvements to your business ~ they are extremely important. Business cards are one of the easiest and most affordable ways to promote your business. And as we all know business cards are vital when networking. You can simply hand your business card with your name, email, website and phone to someone and boom they have your contact info ~ so easy! You’ve made a personal connection AND they have your contact information.
But, times are changing and digital business cards are on the rise. Some may as ask ~ What is a digital business cards?! A digital business card is an electronic way to store and share your contact information. So, what are the benefits of that over the paper format version? Well, we have complied 5 reasons below on why we think the digital format from Popl outshines the paper format!
This one might seem silly because you’re probably thinking ~ ummm...you can share all of your information on a regular business card too! Well, you can usually fit your business name/logo, your name, phone number, and website and sometimes there is room for a social media handle or two. But, with the digital business card you store all of your basic information (name, phone, email, website) plus ALL of your social media handles. And more importantly this is not just written on a piece of cardstock, they are DIRECT links to all of your information. So the person that scans your digital business card can click on all your links and be visiting your website instantly.
You can make your digital business cards for free in some cases. And if you go with the brand Popl you will only have a one time charge (from $15-30) for the “popl” to put on your phone and then no charge after that. Unless you want to get the PRO version of their app. We all know paper business cards aren't crazy expensive, but you have to keep buying them which adds up.
Speaking of needing to keep buying paper business cards. The digital version of a business card is much more eco-friendly since you're not printing on 500+ pieces of cardstock. Yay!
Digital business are easily accessible for both you and the person you are “giving” it to. Your digital business card with Popl is always attached to your phone so as long as you have your phone near you, you have your business card. We all know we can’t say the same for traditional business cards, unfortunately. I can’t count the number of times I have been somewhere and someone has asked for business card and I have nothing to give them. And as for the accessibility for the person you are giving it to ~ they will instantly have YOUR information directly on their phone and they do not need the app to receive your information. They can save your contact info or friend you on social media right there on the spot. Easy!
Speaking of easy! With the digital business cards you can easily and instantly change your contact information if needed. Obviously with traditional paper cards you have to redesign new ones, order and then wait for them to be printed.
With all that said, we understand change is hard sometimes, so we suggest keeping paper business cards around while you are making the switch to digital. Have a few paper ones available just in case you encounter a not-so-tech-savvy person, but they still need your information! If you are ready to make the digital plunge we have a referral code and a 20% off discount code that you can use at Popl! Just click the buttons below for the referral and for your 20% off!
WCE Referral Code 20% off code
We really hope this helps! Search our other articles for great tips and some free downloads too! And check out our all of Upcoming Events & and in our Training Resources for more tools that can help you grow as an entrepreneur. If you are not a WCE member already you need to today! We have a free membership level, as well as, premium levels that give you access to ALL WCE content for FREE! Click the button below for more info.
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If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us at connect@wearewce.com! And to opt-in for WCE's text to get up-to-date info on events, resources, and deals simply text WCE to 936-228-6391!
We say it time and time again ~ Owning a business can be overwhelming to say the least. If you are a sole entrepreneur all of the tasks fall onto you! You are not only providing the product or services that your business offers you are also the customer service rep, the accountant, the sales department, operations manager, the IT department, and the marketing department ~ just to name a few. Here are WCE we are always striving to help relieve some of this stress from you by providing tools that can help streamline your work. That is why we developed this free worksheet to help you construct an outline of your product or services so that you can easily come up with great copy for your social media, print or even radio ads!!
WCE's Create Copy for Your ADs Worksheet is very simple to use and will help you organize your ideas and thoughts to help you express better what your product or service is to your potential clients and customers. We have also broken the worksheet into two separate pages ~ one for products and one for services.
How it works ~ you start off by answering some basic questions such as: what is your product or service? How does it help people? Where or how can it be purchased? You then move onto brainstorming key descriptive words that best describe your product or service. After that you move on to thinking about your target audience ~ who are they and what do they like? Finally you put all of your answers together to form copy that will give you potential customers or clients a perfect overview of your product or service!
It is important to think about each question. When we own a business and we are involved in it 24/7 it is hard to step back and explain what we do without leaving out the simple facts. Each of the questions we provided will help you go back to the basics to help easily explain your goods. Our suggestion is to use the "where/how do they purchase your product or service" question as the Call to Action. Many times we see amazing posts, but we have no idea where to go to purchase the product or how to get in touch with the business to begin service. Make sure to have your call to action clear and links are working!
With all that said we are sure that you are ready to dive deep into making your copy! You can click the button or the image below to get your free download now!
FREE DOWNLOAD
As we stated before WCE is always looking for ways to help entrepreneurs reach their goals as a business owners. You can find more free downloads, tips and articles HERE. You can also become a member of WCE for FREE and get access to all of our downloads and resources instantly! You can join by clicking the button below or going to the Membership tab in the menu above.
And please don’t miss any of our upcoming virtual workshops or our workshop replays! We have topics covering all aspects of running a business. You can find them in the menu bar under Upcoming Events and Training Resources!
If you have any questions please contact us at connect@wearewce.com. And remember WCE always has your back!
June has gone by in a flash as each month seems to do! With summer flying by so quickly we know that you would love to to soak up more sun with less “busy” work for your business! To help you, WCE has created our July Social Media Post Idea Guide! This can help relieve some of the stress that goes into planning your social media content.
If you are new to WCE's Social Media Post Guides we want you to know that it can be followed day by day, you can pick or choose which posts work best for you and your business, or you can use these tips as a starting off point and come up with your own posts! Anyway you use this guide we hope that this streamlines your workflow, as well as, helps you get more interaction on your social media platforms. We have been told that just reading our ideas have sparked new ideas of their own! Yay! We love that!
To download our Social Media Post Guide for free simply click the button or the image below!
Free Social Media Post Idea Guide
We hope this helps and remember that WCE is always here to help! For more tips and free downloads please browse through our other Articles. You can also become a FREE member of WCE and get access to our hidden Member resource page that is full of INSTANT and free downloads, other great resources that will help you run your business, and get up-to-date information on our upcoming events! To join for free or to take look at our premium memberships go to the Membership tab here on our website or click below:
And you won’t want to miss any of our upcoming virtual workshops or our in-person events! You can find those under our Upcoming Events tab or you can click below!
Upcoming Events
If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at connect@wearewce.com
Text-based marketing ~ We have talked about text marketing before and even had a virtual workshop with the amazing Jake Dempsey of Project Broadcast! If you missed it you can see the replay HERE.
Those that are not familiar with text marketing might be asking ~ what the heck is text-based marketing? Text message marketing is the ongoing process of communicating business news, sales, promotions or other relevant information to your customers via SMS (short message service) text messages on their mobile devices. It is a type of digital marketing strategy that helps build brand awareness on a more personal level.(businessnewsdaily.com)
The reason we love and talk about text marketing so much is because it so important and so overlooked! Text marketing is not considered or put on the back burner for a lot of small businesses, but we feel like this is giant marketing opportunity that shouldn’t be ignored. Here are five reasons why you should consider text marketing for your business.
If you haven’t noticed people have their phones with them constantly and this isn’t just us thinking that. American users check their phones up to 52 times a day and 91% of Americans have their mobile devices nearby 24/7. (99firms.com) That means when you send a text, your customer will get it and they will see it AND most likely open it. Text marketing has an open rate of 98% and 90% are opened within the first 3 minutes! (www.smsglobal.com) You really can’t beat that amount of engagement with any other type of marketing.
2. More Personal and Can Increase Customer Engagement
Speaking of engagement. Text marketing not only has an amazing open rate, but it is much more personal than other types of marketing. It makes you and your business more accessible to your customers. With text marketing from Project Broadcast your customers have the ability to text you back! That means you can get instant feedback from your customers and start to build a trusting relationship with them.
3. Did We Mention High Open Rate
Not only does text marketing have the 98% open rate compared to the 20% email open rate, but 50% of US consumers make a purchase after receiving an advertising text, a discount coupon, or a QR code. (99firms.com). With that high of percentage you have a good change of getting a purchase when you send your sales and discounts over text messaging. And though this doesn’t apply to all business we thought this statistic was interesting. ~ SMS text marketing statistics show that 76% of people across the world are keen to be reminded of their medical appointments, while 69% would like to receive reminders to arrange appointments or to take their medication. (99firms.com) To us that means that people what important information TEXTED to them because they actually see it.
4. Opt-In and Opt-out
We feel like the Opt-in is a bonus because you know that the customers you have on your list want to be there. They want to engage with you and your business, that is why THEY opted in. This also applies for Opt-out. Though it is sad when you see someone not want to receive your texts anymore, it is good to know who your customers and what type of interactions they want. When you have an easy opt-out like in text marketing you don’t have to worry about marketing to the wrong clients. Some tips to get opt-ins: simply post your opt-in number on your social media platforms to let people know how to get your notifications of deals and sales. If you sell products check to see if you can integrate it in your check out process.
5. Time-Efficient & Cost Effective
Unlike emails that you have design and craft text messages are usually short and simple. You don’t want it too long otherwise people won’t read it fully and you don’t want it to look like spam so you keep it simple. Here is a quick tip ~ Always remember to add your business name in the text somewhere, so your customer knows who they are communicating with! And as far as cost effective, with text services starting as low as $10 a month text messaging marketing is inexpensive compared to other types of marketing.
If it isn’t clear, we love text marketing because it so easy and effective. We personally use Project Broadcast when sending out texts. You can see all the benefits of Project Broadcast by clicking the button below!
Project Broadcast
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us at wearewce@gmail.com! And to opt-in for WCE's text to get up-to-date info on events, resources, and deals simply text WCE to 936-228-6391!
With so many distractions in our daily lives it can be very difficult to be productive. WCE has come up with 6 simple steps that will kick start your productivity. These aren't difficult changes, but they are changes nonetheless, so always give yourself time for adjustments and start small. When some begins training for a marathon that don't run 26 miles on day one. If you want to begin to make permanent changes in your life you should always make small changes to lead up to your end goal. If you try too much too soon you could ultimately fail. So, if you think this list is overwhelming ~ only try one or two things for awhile! But, we promise no matter if you do all of these steps or just one you will see a change in your productivity.
SIMPLE STEPS TO BETTER PRODUCTIVITY
1. Write Everything Down
You will forget it otherwise! Don’t trust your memory, too many things happen throughout your day for you to remember every little task you need to do or plan to do!
2. Plan your Day
Plan your day the night before! Write down all the tasks that you want to get do the next day. Remember to be reasonable with yourself, don't overbook yourself. Once you have all your tasks listed out, place them in the time of day you can do them. If you find that you can't fit all the tasks you want to get done in the amount of time you have available, re-evaluate your plan. Is there something that you can move until tomorrow? Is there something you can delegate to someone else? Once you have your schedule figured out you can write it in a planner or make a “note” on your phone by simply adding the times of day and filling in your action items. Fill in the what you’ll be doing at 7am, 8am, 9:30am, etc. Don’t forget to factor in eating, travel time, and any mental breaks! Driving somewhere takes longer than you think sometimes! WCE created a great Daily Schedule Template that you can download for FREE to help make this easier!
3. IF YOU PLAN IT - STICK TO IT!
This is why it’s important not to overbook yourself when planning your day the night before! Make sure everything you plan to do is possible!! Don’t break promises to yourself. If start breaking promises with yourself than you will begin to lose motivation.
4. Clear Your Space
Try to clear your space after each work day or each night. I know this is something I struggle with the most. I’m an artist and I love everything out so I can see it! But, it makes for a very chaotic environment that is hard to work in. When clearing off your desk/workspace if you can’t find a place to put an item away, you may want to think about getting rid of it or get rid of something else that has been stored away for awhile that you haven’t used. Everything needs a place so you don’t waste time looking for things.
5. Set a Timer
Set a timer for every task you need to do. That way you stick to your schedule you set the night before! Set the timer appropriately to the time you need to complete each task on your list. If you know that it will take you more than 10 minutes to answer emails, so don't set yourself up for failure as give yourself only 10 minutes to so. Give yourself the correct amount of time for each task. You will even need to set a timer for your breaks and you social media time (even if it is for work). You will be surprised how quickly 20 minutes goes by on social media!!
6. Self Care
When making your Plan for the Day the night before make sure you budget enough time for yourself so that life doesn't get overwhelming. You can't do great things if you feel run down. Take a walk, go for a run, read a book, go shopping, talk on the phone with a friend, do something for YOU! It is hard for some to take time for themselves because they see it as a waste when they could be working on something "important". But, YOU are important. Your physical and mental health is far more important than any email or social media post. Those things can wait ~ always remember that.
All in all, these are simple steps that help tremendously when trying to organize your work days. You will be surprised with how much more you get done when you start with a plan.
We hope this helped ~ if you think so check out our other articles here! And don't miss any of our Upcoming Events! You can also become a member of WCE for free! You can sign up and see all that WCE as offer by clicking the button below.
And as always if you have any questions or concerns please never hesitate to contact us at: wearewce@gmail.com
One of Women's Council of Entrepreneur main missions is to not only help educate entrepreneurs, but we also seek out to make your lives EASIER!! We know that running a business is exhausting and it consumes most of your time. We are always trying to find ways to help alleviate some of that stress and streamline your workflow.
As some of you may know each month WCE gives you a Social Media Post Idea Guide which is a FREE reference for you to use when you are just stuck on what to post on your business' social media platforms. There are ideas to promote yourself, your business, and ideas to create interaction on your page. It is a great resource and you can find the June one HERE! Even though we know this is helpful we got to thinking....the actual planning of when and where you are going to post can be overwhelming too!
So, we thought about what we do and what makes our workflow easier. And what we do is write things down! We strongly believe that writing out a daily, weekly and even monthly social media plan is very important for productivity! Again, our Social Media Post Ideas Guide is amazing, but you may not want to use all the posts that we came up with since they may not ALL fit your brand. And you may want to post slightly different things on each platform. It can begin to get a little unorganized. Well, this is where WCE's Social Media Content Weekly Planner Template comes in!
Our Social Media Content Weekly Planner Template is extremely simple to use. Once you download it you will see along the top you can write the week and the days that you are working. There are also spots along the left side of the page to write your social media handles. This then forms almost like a spreadsheet where you can place all the posts you want to do for each day of the week for each of your social media platforms!
We strongly suggest that you print out several of these at a time so you can plan head. The best way to organize all of these papers is to get a inexpensive 3-ring binder and hole punch and voila ~ You have yourself a custom social media planner!
With all that said it's time to give you the FREE download! You can download the Social Media Content Weekly Planner Template by clicking the button or the image below!
Free Download
If you found this helpful you can find more free downloads, tips and articles HERE. You can also become a member of WCE for FREE and get access to all of our downloads and resources instantly! You can join by clicking the button below or going to the Membership tab in the menu above.
Like we said before our goal here at WCE is helping you find ways to make your business life easier! If you have any questions please contact us at wearewce@gmail.com. And remember WCE always has your back!
It is safe to say that most of us have been in a situation where we are asked to introduce ourselves and our mind goes completely blank and we can barely even remember our own name! It is even more difficult when you are asked to produce a quick summary of your business at a networking event! I mean we can talk about our businesses ALL DAY if you want us to, but you want me sum up what I do 24/7 in a 30 second “pitch” in front of all these people?! Yikes!
The hardest part of creating the introduction to your business or your "elevator pitch” is that you need to make sure you hit all the important aspects of your business. We have heard a lot of elevator pitches and while they are all good, some fall short when describing what the person actually does. We leave wondering “what exactly does she do again”?
Sometimes you only have a minute or less to make a good impression, so you want to make sure you are clear and concise. You want to have them know you as a person, but more importantly what your business is and who you help.
This is of course is easier said than done like most things are when owning a business! But, here at WCE we are always trying to make things easier for entrepreneurs. So, we created a free worksheet that will help you create your elevator pitch!
There are two parts to the worksheet. The first is a series of questions that will help you figure out who your business helps, how they help, where your target market is, and what sets you apart from the rest. Not only will these questions help you create your “elevator pitch”, but it can also help you develop a great summary for your website and social media accounts!
The second part of the worksheet works similar to a mad libs and is there to help anyone really struggling with stringing all of these ideas and statements together. While you can use the text we provided word for word, we do suggest you put your own spin on it so that the people you are networking with get an understanding of who YOU are too.
Once you have your intro written out ~ practice it OUT LOUD until it becomes natural when you say it. Try to tweak the wording to what naturally comes to you! Remember be YOU. Practicing will help relieve the anxiety built around being put on the spot when asked to introduce yourself and your business. The more you say this “pitch” the more it will naturally flow and it won’t seem like a pitch anymore
So, we know that the “elevator pitch” is important because it helps people really understand who needs your business and what your business does, but we can’t forget the importance of building relationships at a networking event. Using this worksheet and organizing your introduction will really open the doors to you being able to be yourself at the events. Being prepared always makes us feel more relaxed going into what can feel like an uncomfortable setting.
With all that said, now is the time for you to get the worksheet! Click the button below or the image for the FREE download of WCE’s Create Your Elevator Pitch Worksheet.
As always hope that this helps! You can browse our other Articles for more free downloads, helpful tips and entrepreneurial resources. To make it easier for yourself you can become a member of WCE for free and have instant access to all these free downloads and resources. You can join by clicking the button below or going to the Membership tab in the menu above. Make sure to check out all the perks of being a premium member too!
If you really want to dive deep into topics that will make owning a business easier you don’t want to miss our Training Resources or our Upcoming Events! We have so many workshops and webinars that can streamline your workflow and take your business to new levels!
If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to us at wearewce@gmail.com. Or you can connect with on Facebook and Instagram too! And remember, WCE always has your back!
It's already the end of May and we can't believe it!! With school ending soon and summer coming up so quickly we know that you are going to have less and less time to get the extra work done for your business! WCE has a monthly Social Media Post Idea Guide and the June edition is ready for you!!
For those that are new to Women’s Council of Entrepreneurs ~ our Social Media Post Idea Guide is a list of social media posts that are complementary to each day of the month. There are ideas to promote yourself, your business, and ideas to create interaction on your page. We also include important or fun holidays of the Month ~ like Thank God it’s Monday Day! You can follow our guide day by day, you can pick or choose which posts work best for you and your business, or you can use these tips as a starting off point and come up with your own posts! Anyway you use this guide we hope that this streamlines your workflow, as well as, helps you get more interaction on your social media platforms.
You can click the button or the image below to get the FREE download now.
CLICK FOR FREE DOWNLOAD
JOIN WCE FOR FREE!
UPCOMING EVENTS
If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at wearewce@gmail.com!
Networking has bad rap, but it doesn't need to!!
When most people think of networking they cringe at the thought of walking into a stuffy room with sharks ready to attack you with their "pitch". Or you envision the old fear of the middle school lunchroom and you see yourself sitting alone in the corner and no one talks to you!
While these feelings are understandable, that isn't the scene at most networking event (cough **especially WCE events** cough)!
We found an amazing article breaking down the myths of networking.
The 4 Myths of Networking Events according to Janna Kefalas are:
We couldn't agree more that these statements are myths! Networking is actually fun and extremely important for your business so you that you can expand your reach to new clients and customers.
The myths aren't enough though Janna goes on to explain these myths, why they're not true and some tips on how to make networking not only easier, but dare we say...fun!
Follow the link here to read more about these www.forwardthinkcareers.com/the-4-biggest-myths-of-networking-events
And if you didn't know ~ Women’s Council of Entrepreneurs has great opportunities for you to network! You can go to our Upcoming Events to see our events near you (we also hold virtual ones too!). You can join our FREE Facebook group HERE to connect with women entrepreneurs all over the U.S. You can also check out all the benefits of being a member of WCE HERE, and we have so many days on both Facebook and Instagram where we encourage connections and collaborations ~ so make sure you’re following us on all the platforms (see the icons at the bottom of the page)!!
Our goal here at WCE is help you find ways to make your business life easier! And we hope this helped you! If you have any questions please contact us at wearewce@gmail.com
As many of you know the Women’s Council of Entrepreneurs’ mission is to promote, motivate, educate, and connect female entrepreneurs. We also try to find ways to lighten the load of being an entrepreneur and business owner! Each week we give tips or free downloads that usually streamline work flows, help get your creative juices flowing or give you valuable information that will help you grow as an entrepreneur.
We know that connecting with your audience on social media is important. Making sure to post on holidays is an easy way to connect with your audience. What isn’t easy is making the graphics for those posts! You could share graphics from other sites, which is perfectly fine especially if you like and want to promote the business you are sharing! But, the bonus of making a custom graphic with your website or your social media handle on it is when it is shared YOUR business is promoted! People will see YOUR business, no someone else’s! Now, we go back to ~ but, making graphics in not in my wheelhouse!
Don’t worry!
WCE has created a few Mother’s Day graphics on canva.com that are fully editable! And these are free for you to use!! When you click on it you will be taken to the download which leads to Canva.com. If you do not have account with Canva you can go:
https://partner.canva.com/c/2753431/647168/10068 to create one for FREE! Once you do that you will be able to change the colors and add your logo, website and whatever else you need to do to it to make the graphic YOURS!
You can download a template we made for you HERE or by clicking the quote image below!
While you are in Canva make sure to poke around! There are so many amazing templates for anything you can imagine. Canva makes it easy to create custom images and graphics for your business.
We really hope this helps! If you find yourself a little lost on Canva you can check out our two Canva Workshops right here in our SHOP. Jasmin Augustin of Media Jasmin does an amazing job of walking through all the amazing tools on Canva in the 2 part workshop! You can also browse our Articles for more free downloads and other tips and tricks. And please don’t forget to join or FREE facebook group where you can connect with other entrepreneurs, share experiences, and promote their businesses. And always if you have any questions or concerns please never hesitate to contact us at: wearewce@gmail.com
Email: wearewce@gmail.com
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