Your customer’s relationship with your business is a core part of your brand. This relationship determines whether customers will walk in your doors, buy a product, and return in the future. Like any relationship in your life, customer relationships and branding your customer experience will require effort on your part. Here are five ways of nurturing and building this key part of your small business brand.

1. Focus on meeting needs. Instead of telling customers how great your business and its products are, tell them how you are going to meet their needs. What problem are you solving for them? If you can make someone’s life easier or more pleasant, it will be easy to be viewed as a friend, an entity that the customer has an ongoing relationship with. Make this customer focus a core part of your brand and your marketing. Read more about marketing to the affluent.

2. Make all interactions as pleasant as possible. Few people can maintain a healthy, ongoing relationship with a person who is difficult to deal with, and business relationships operate in a very similar way. From the way you and your employees answer the telephone to the way you handle returns, all customer interactions should be streamlined and managed in a way that the customer comes out feeling like a winner. As with human relationships, business relationships are developed over time through positive interaction.

3. Create an aesthetically pleasing environment. Studies have shown over and over that the public prefers attractive people for both personal and business relationships. While aesthetics aren’t everything, they are a huge part of the overall picture. This means that creating clean and attractive spaces, both in physical locations and websites, is a key part of nurturing the customer relationship.

4. Put yourself out there. You would never make friends and build relationships in your day-to-day life if you stayed in your bedroom all day. You need to be in the public eye in a variety of ways, offering brand-consistent information that creates curiosity and encourages your target customer base to develop a relationship with you. Invite the customer to do business with you through marketing, including traditional advertising as well as nontraditional methods such as social networking and community involvement.

5. Maintain your brand. How would you feel if a good friend suddenly changed their behavior drastically? People find this frustrating and alienating whether they are dealing with a human relationship or a business one. Once you have a cohesive brand and logo design, let it permeate every aspect of your company. Customers will be more likely to behave as though they have a relationship with you if they feel that they know your business well. Let them get to know you by creating an authentic experience that is coordinated to be consistent over a wide variety of interactions and leads to complete brand integration and helps build brand loyalty.

There is an immense amount of give and take between branding and customer relationships. The way you deal with these relationships is a huge part of your overall brand, but your brand must be inviting enough that the customer is open to a relationship in the first place. Be sure that your brand is one that invites the customer to be friends; a branding consultant can help if you are unsure about the process.

There are so many choices to make when starting up a new small business and one of the most essential is the legal status of your business. While most small businesses choose to use the sole-proprietor title others chose S Corp, C Corp, or LLC. All types of Corporations provide a degree of legal protection to their owners.

The main difference between the differing types of corporation is the way that taxes are paid. I will examine the different corporation choices in another blog article. In this article I will examine the differences between the simplest of corporations, Limited Liability Corporations, and the Sole-Proprietorship.

Legal Protection

The first major reason most business owners choose to incorporate is to reduce the legal responsibilities of the owners. In a sole proprietorship, the individual owner and the company are one in the same. This means that if someone sues the business, then the personal assets of the owner, car, home, etc., are fair game in any judgment against the company.

On the other hand, if your company is organized as an LLC, the company is a separate entity from the owner. If a person sues the company, only the assets of the company can be used to pay any legal judgment. The personal assets of the owner are safe unless the owner is not found to be personal negligent for the losses.

Credit

Most new businesses require some type of capital to get started. Because a sole proprietorship is founded on the name of the person who owns the company, any credit and debt is the sole responsibility of that person. If the business fails and loans cannot be repaid, the owner of the company is completely liable for that bad debt. With an LLC, the business is a separate entity from the owner. This means that if the business should fail, in most cases, the debt would not be the sole responsibility of the owner.

In addition, how a business applies for credit and financing differs with each business entity. With a sole proprietorship, the credit history of the owner is the only basis in determining whether the business is a good credit risk. If the owner has bad credit, getting the business financed is going to be much more difficult.

When the business is incorporated banks can also look into the credit history of the corporation. This may not help obtain funding for start-up costs but it will impact credit decisions after the LLC has been established for a period of time.

Legal Requirements

One of the major reasons business owners choose not to incorporate is the paperwork involved. The paperwork involved in becoming an LLC is not as onerous as the legal requirements for some other business types, but an Article of Organization and the Operating Agreement will need to be drawn up. While these articles can be drawn up without outside help; legal assistance is always recommended. Some states will have additional fees and specific requirements for LLCs that will need to be adhered too.

The deciding to begin a new small business is a major life-changing experience and each smaller decision will impact the health of your new business. This decision should be based on the size and complexity of the business and how many owners, shareholders, or members the business will have. While a LLC take more time and effort to establish it may become the difference in staying in business for two years or twenty.

Most small business owners are not also experts in corporate and tax law, but to choose the best corporate structure for your small business you need at least some basic knowledge on these subjects. If you chose to incorporate your small business instead of operating under a Sole-Proprietorship you have several choices.

The major choices are LLC, or Limited Liability Corporation, S-corp, and C-corp. To explain all the differences between these types of corporations I would need to fill dozens of pages with legal jargon. Instead I boiled the differences down to the essentials that will impact your day-to-day operations.

LLC

The major reason to form a LLC is to reduce the legal liability of the owners. In a sole-proprietorship all the losses of the business along with any legal action against the business is the direct responsibility of the owner. In an LLC the corporation is responsible for the losses of the business and legal action would generally focused on the corporation and not the individual.

For those that like the simplicity of taxes with a sole-proprietorship no federal tax changes are made by becoming a LLC. Single-owner LLCs are taxed just like sole proprietorships, and multiple-owner LLCs are taxed just like partnerships. You should, however, be aware that forming an LLC might subject your business to additional state taxes. Certain states (California for instance) subject LLCs to “franchise taxes” in addition to a typical income tax.

S-Corp

S-Corporations, on the other hand, have the ability to provide some tax savings as a result of the fact that profits from an S-Corp are not subject to Self-Employment Tax. However, before you’re allowed to distribute any profits, you are required to pay any owner-employees a “reasonable salary.” This salary will be subject to social security and Medicare taxes (which total the same amount as the Self-Employment Tax). As such, the tax savings only take effect once the business has a pretty sizable income. S-Corps owners still file taxes in basically the same way as sole-proprietorships and the business does not pay taxes as its own entity.

S-Corps are significantly more complicated from a legal and financial perspective. Unless you have a background in accounting or law it is recommended that you consult a lawyer and accountant before setting up an S-Corp and yearly to make sure all legal requirements are fulfilled.

C-Corp

Unlike the previous two business structures, C-corporations are taxable entities. This means that the corporation itself is taxed on its income (as opposed to other structures which simply pass the income along to the owner(s), who are then taxed on it). This means that the profit from the business is essentially taxed twice; once as business and then a second time as personal income. Also, like S-corporations, C-corporations are more complicated from an accounting, tax, and legal standpoint than sole proprietorships, partnerships, or LLCs and in most cases will require outside consultants.

While I focused on tax differences between these corporate types there is also considerable differences in the business structure and how individual are paid within the business. In general, the type of corporate structure can be broken down based on the size of the business. The smallest businesses benefit from the simplicity of a sole-proprietorship, partnership, or LLC. Mid-sized business benefit from the potential tax savings of an S-Corp. While generally only larger businesses with a group of shareholders use the C-corp structure. Of course, the decision of corporate structure can only be decided on an individual basis depending on the unique needs of that business.

If your target customer base seems to be a little more frugal than ever, you may be wondering if there is a future for your business. Luckily, most customers never get tired of spending other people’s money, no matter what the economy happens to be doing. There are two major ways for the average small business to tap in to this under-recognized market: by offering gift registries, and by marketing to other businesses.

People routinely register for a variety of events, from baby showers to weddings. The trend seems to be gaining strength, with many major websites offering registries for house warmings, birthdays, and even seasonal holidays. People who aren’t inclined to spend their own money seem to have fewer qualms about telling others which gifts they would enjoy. This means that offering a registry can be a substantial boon to your bottom line.

Large corporations have long been offering registries and business services because they know something that many small business owners don’t: that everyone enjoys spending other people’s money far more than they enjoy spending their own. Now is the time to get creative and to aggressively offer options that allow customers to stay on budget while partaking of your products.

Whether you are running a baby boutique or a travel agency, you can make this fad work in your favor. Allow customers to register for gifts, presenting your company as a less commercial and more local option. If you sell larger items or services, allow people to contribute money in lieu of a gift. For example, many travel agencies have found success in allowing a couple to ‘register’ for a luxury honeymoon. Instead of asking for standard gifts and house wares, the couple asks for contributions toward their trip. Getting creative can mean that your customer base gets what they really want for these occasions without having to spend a dime.

Another benefit of this approach is that it brings new people into your location. These people will interact with your staff, see your logo design, and encounter your brand in a highly personal way. If you offer a pleasant experience, many of these people will be more likely to return in the future when they need your services for themselves.

A similar way of promoting your business is by marketing to mid-level managers and executives. People in these positions often make financial decisions on a daily basis—with their employer’s money. Offering incentives that are meaningful to this market and a more streamlined buying process, along with a price that won’t incur the wrath of the boss, is the key to pulling in this market. If you are not reaching out to this segment through direct mailings and other targeted advertisements, you may be missing out on a healthy profit.

Are you encouraging customers to spend other people’s money at your business? This is an often overlooked area that can pad your profit margins while getting more exposure for your brand and bringing new customers through your doors. Desperate times call for creative marketing, so figure out a way to make this trend work for your business.

An HP survey recently examined small business owners and their marketing plans, looking for trends and changes. There were a few elements that, while not surprising to marketing consultants, may be interesting for small business owners who haven’t been following the changing times. Digital media is more important than ever to success in any field. Here is a short list of what your competition is doing to find success.

Blogs. In this survey, blogs were such an important part of marketing that they were part of the actual marketing plan. In fact, 16% of small business list blogs as a way to market themselves in the next two to three years. What does this mean for businesses that don’t blog? That they will be missing an invaluable and usually free way of communicating with their target customers. This is such an increasingly important factor that blogging consultants are becoming the business consultant of the future.

Websites. Over forty percent of small businesses maintain a website, even if this is not their primary mode of sales. Almost sixty percent feel that a website will be part of their marketing in the next two to three years. This makes the information superhighway just a little more crowded, which means that your website will have to be better designed than ever in order to stand out in the crowd. A poorly designed website gives the feeling that you are unprofessional in other areas.

SEO. Having more websites on the internet generally lowers your chances of popping up on the first few pages of a search. This means that business bloggers and website owners will have to take more care to court the search engines. A qualified web designer knows how to do this through careful word choices, tags, and other elements. These become more and more important as more website owners begrudgingly embrace search engine optimization. As in a race, if you don’t give your best you will be left behind.

Consultants. This was not a specific part of the survey, but the need for high quality consultants was implied throughout. No one can be an expert on every topic. Finding excellence in fields like graphic design, logo design, and website design requires specialized knowledge that can’t be learned from a book or seminar. As such, many of these small businesses will be hiring these consultants to design online and visual aspects of their brand. This is often cheaper in the long run because it frees the business owners to actually run the business rather than constantly tweaking details. Opening a small business is a steep learning curve as it is.

If you don’t have a blog and a business website, this should be a wakeup call. If you have a blog or a business website, now is the time to have them designed so you can reap maximum results. It’s difficult to survive in the small business world without these elements; with experts in your corner, your chances of success skyrocket.

If you have a small business, you likely are interested in having a small business credit card. However, while having a constant cash flow can be attractive, there are a few things every business owner and manager need to know about credit. Here are the top five facts that everyone needs to know before they make this very important decision.

1.       Getting credit isn’t easy. At least, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Unfortunately, at the time when you most need a credit card—that is, while you are still in the process of opening your business—business credit cards may be very elusive. While private parties are inundated with credit offers, a new business owner may find their mailbox surprisingly empty, except for bills. This is because of the perceived high failure rate of start up businesses. Don’t count on getting a credit line from the very beginning; apply to several different sources and look into finding nontraditional sources of credit while keeping overhead as low as humanly possible.

2.       Getting credit may be necessary. There is definitely a stigma attached to making large purchases on credit. However, in many cases, having a flexible line of credit, such as a credit card, may be crucial to success. Small business owners are often faced with opportunities for expansion, such as a relevant and highly marketable new line of products, which require a sizeable initial investment. Having a small business credit card allows you to take these opportunities and pay the bills after you’ve started receiving profits.

3.       Getting credit can simplify your accounting. This is one of the chief benefits of a small business credit card. You can track expenses, making it easier to keep accurate accounting records and even easier to take your maximum tax write-off. This can lead to huge savings in both time and money, a true win-win situation.

4.       Don’t mingle personal and business accounts. Not only does this put your personal credit at risk and make it harder to track expenses, it can be a huge red flag on loan applications and IRS documents. Having separate accounts is part of showing the world that you are a legitimate business with professional practices. It will also allow you to build a solid credit record for your small business, allowing you to get credit with less difficulty the next time you need it.

5.       Small business credit cards do not have the same legal protections as personal credit cards. Unfortunately, the 2009 Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, which will ban certain predatory practices commonly used by credit card companies, does not apply to small businesses. This means that you will have to carefully read your credit agreement and make sure you are getting exactly what you need, with no unwanted clauses and riders. Which, of course, every small business should be doing anyway…

As you can see, having a small business care is very different from having personal credit. However, once you learn the rules, it can be a huge asset. Because having a flexible line of credit can make all the difference between success and failure, you owe it to yourself and to your employees to open a credit card account and use it wisely.

Everyone has heard the dismal small business statistics. Every day, hundreds and even thousands of these companies are going under as they struggle to compete with larger and more established competitors. While this is enough to give most entrepreneurs a panic attack, there are many ways to hedge your bets and help your enterprise achieve success. Here are the five top ways you can avoid being another one of the small business failures we hear about every day.

Find Your Niche. People love the convenience and low prices of the big box stores, but they will be happy to spend a little extra time and money if you give them something worth the effort. In most cases, this means finding and catering to niche markets. Think of your own lifestyle and hobbies. There may be a certain area where you are underserved, where the big businesses just aren’t meeting your needs. There’s a good chance many people in your area feel the same way, which means that you have a built-in market actively seeking that niche market.

Listen and Respond. While it might take a large company several months or even years to respond to customer demands, a small business is much more flexible. Listen to what your customers are saying and what kind of goods they are asking for. Then, do your best to modify your company to meet these unmet needs. This will not only make customers more loyal, it will decrease your need to compete with the large corporations. You will already be one step ahead of them.

Focus on First Impressions. Nowhere is impression more important than in the small business. You don’t have the money for a national marketing campaign, so make sure every communication with the customer, whether it be an advertisement or an actual sale, leaves the desired impression. Always stick with your brand—more on this later.

Plan Ahead. There’s a reason you have to produce a business plan when you apply for small business funding. Banks and financiers know something that many small business owners don’t, which is that businesses that plan ahead are much more likely to be successful. Investing time up front in the planning of your financial structure, your products, and your brand will pay off later, because you will be able to avoid many of the pitfalls that have killed off many small businesses. Do the research to find out what makes a business in your niche successful, and don’t be afraid to call in expert consultants in areas where you simply don’t have the know-how.

Be Your Brand. Your brand is more than a logo design — it is the public persona of your business. The same way your target customers will like some people right off the bat but intensely dislike others, they will prefer certain brands and be more likely to pursue business with them. A branding consultant can help you identify this audience and build a public image that will attract and interest them for years to come. While this does require a certain amount of up-front expense, there is no way to underestimate the positive impact a brand will have on your personal chances of success.

You may be wondering why some small business owners appear to have all the luck in the world. It seems everything they touch turn into profits. Here’s the thing, it’s not about luck. It’s about having a proven method which draws success to you. Here are the simple steps that will show you the way toward success:

1. Believe in yourself. If you don’t, no one will. In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” In the world filled with frustrations and failures, we have learned to manage our expectations and settle for small victories. Strong self-confidence is trait shared by top performers in almost any field from business to sports.

2. Detail Your Ambition. We all have dreams but only a few of us translate this to actionable steps. Success is all about closing the gap between dream and reality. Consider what you want your business to look like, including projected revenues and desired lifestyle.

3. Go all the Way. Never ever go to war without the will to win it. Once you embark on your chosen path there’s no turning back. Devote your time and energy to reach your goals. Even if you’re the smartest person on earth, it will not help if you don’t take action.

4. Choose Your Peers. Success is contagious and so is failure. Network with people who share your passion and have experienced success in their endeavors. Learn from them. Avoid the pessimists and whiners for they hinder your big dreams and kill your fighting spirit.

5. Why So Serious? All the success in this world is nothing if you don’t know how to enjoy it. People seldom thrive in something they hate. Try to inject fun in your work and while working with other people.

Not every businessman starts his own business. Many buy up a running business. Most people think that this is an easy option because the ground work has been done and all that is required is to keep the business running. If you think this way, you may be making the biggest mistake of your life. There are always skeletons in the cupboard. You will not find a perfect business operation to buy. But knowing where the problems lie before you shell out your money can save you a lot of grief.

Why it is for sale? You know what the owner has told you (retirement, health, family etc.). But how true is this? Make your own discrete inquiries and try to find out if there are reasons that could affect the future of the business.

The next thing you need to do is check the balance sheet – not for the current year, but for the past several years. Obviously you will look at the profits. But keep an eye open for other things as well. Have there been a lot of ups and downs? If so why? Has the profit been steady with no real growth? This is not a good sign. Has all the profit come from operations or has some money come in from the sale of assets (even small things like computers and furniture)? Yes, obsolete equipment needs to be sold off, but is this the real reason? If the current year’s profits are exceptionally high, look carefully for the reasons. Could it be that the owner has artificially boosted the figures to make the purchase look sweeter to you? Understanding accounts is a fine art. If you are not competent to do this yourself, get professional help. It’s worth the cost.

Study the business and economic environment. Is the company dealing in products or services that are becoming outmoded? Or is there legislation on the anvil that will restrict the use of the product or service? If so, the business doesn’t have a future.

Check out the financial aspects that do not appear on the balance sheet. Get a copy of the owner’s credit rating. Is he in debt? Could it be that he has been using his personal funds to keep the business looking healthy? Check with the local Better Business Bureau to see what information they have on the business. Banks are notoriously reluctant to talk about their clients, but there is no harm in meeting the company’s banker and asking a few questions.

Meet the other stake holders – the web designer and hosting company, the computer maintenance people, the suppliers. They too may not be willing to say too much, but even from their attitude, you can learn a lot about how their relations with the company have been.

The employees will also not say much. But spending some time with them will tell you if the office atmosphere is positive or negative.

Buying a running business can be a good idea. Just be sure that if you are paying for an apple, you are not getting a lemon.

Not a happy subject is it? But it is one every businessman needs to know about. And before you get depressed and stop reading, let me say that I am not talking about your business going down the drain but about the times when we do not meet with success and yet have to carry on. Unless you are the kind of person who never fails (in which case you should be doing business is a far better place that here on Earth) here are a few things successful business men have found helped them when they met with failure.

• Failure is not an end, it just another step in the learning process. When you have not succeeded in a business initiative, examine every step you made. Spot your mistakes and analyze what exactly went wrong and why. This knowledge will strengthen you for the future.
• Do not waste time on allocating blame on yourself or others. That is a waste of time which you could use in trying again.
• Do not let a failure stop you. Keep trying new things or new ways of doing things. This does not mean you should be stubborn and waste time on something that can not succeed. But one failed attempt does not automatically mean that the concept was bad. Look for another way.
• Do not let a failure affect our commitment to your business. You have lost time and money. Now you need to make up for it. Get back to work. And work HARD!
• Get consultancy to help you understand what went wrong and to define your future plans. Companies like Ringgle (http://www.ringgle.com) are a great source for this kind of help. Expert assistance will improve your chances of success.
• There will be failures that occurred through no fault of your own. Or so you think. If the failure was due to external circumstances, that does not absolve you of responsibility. You were there and involved. Could you not have seen what was coming? What were the signs you missed? Understanding this will give you a better perspective for your next endeavor.
• What can you salvage from the failure? If your new website deign failed, can you write about it? Besides helping others not to make the same mistake you may get some responses that could provide you with additional information that will strengthen you in the future.
• Remember your failures at times of success. This will help you to savor your achievements even more and, at the same time, give you a balanced outlook on what you have really achieved.
• Don’t bottle up your failures. It is like an untreated wound. It natural not to want to publicize where you went wrong. But you have family and friends you can talk to about it. You don’t want their pity, but their understanding and desire to help is a source of strength.
• Never let a failure cause you to make knee jerk reactions. These could lead to more problems. Carry on with the doing all the right things that have brought you so far.