America’s SBDC Blog

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5 Ways Your Business Can Benefit from Social Media

June 2, 2014

Social platforms such as Facebook®, Twitter®, Google+™, LinkedIn®, Pinterest® and Instagram® are cost-effective avenues for connecting with your target customer base, raising awareness about your brand and building credibility within your industry. Through the strategic use of social media, you can:

1. Showcase Your Business’s Human Side. It’s easy for consumers to think of any business, no matter the size, as “they” or “them” or “that company”—the implication being that they’re dealing with a non-thinking, non-feeling entity with one goal: taking their money. Social media allows you to put names and faces to the people and personalities behind the products and/or services your business provides. Responding to questions, comments, praise and complaints in real-time allows current and potential customers a peek behind the curtain, to see the real people that make it all work.

2. Build Industry Cred. When not directly interacting with current and prospective customers, your social sites provide you and your staff a forum to display the breadth of knowledge and depth of passion you have for your business. It’s an opportunity to take off your salesperson hat and allow your expertise to speak for itself. Examples might include posting links to blog posts, videos, or articles that speak directly to your offerings. You could post links to sites that provide background information or history of your field. Maybe it’s something as simple as posting quotes that you’ve built your business on. Anything that informs your audience, either about you or what you provide, will work.  (more…)

IP And the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year?!

May 30, 2014

College football bowl week is often referred to as the “most wonderful time of the year!” I couldn’t agree more with this statement. I love college football, which includes memories of crisp autumn days, unwavering traditions and college bands. Who would think in the middle of all of this is an Intellectual Property story?

Let me introduce you to John Antonio and Helen Weaver of Henderson Advertising. In 1970, they were hired to create a new logo for the Clemson Tigers. After reviewing several logos from various teams with a tiger mascot, he noticed that all were some form of the tiger. John decided to do something different. He requested the mold of a Bengal Tiger from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The mold was sent to Henderson who then created a picture, tilting the image to the right. So what’s the big deal? We see pitchforks and other assortments of logos on helmets. In 1970, it was unusual to have any logo on a college helmet. However, when Antonio showed the Clemson helmet sporting the paw print, the Bengal Tiger Paw Print became the new logo. (more…)

Indiana SBDC Complements Small Business Strengths

May 28, 2014
Success Story: Indiana

Jennie DiBeneditto and Dawn Spyker together own Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC., in Jeffersonville, Indiana. This educational art studio offers art camps, classes, parties, and more. Jennie and Dawn designed the studio to be a relaxing space for adults to have a wonderful creative experience, but children who love to paint are also welcome! Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC. has a small gallery space where they feature a new local artist’s work every two months.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Jennie was, and still is, a graphic designer. When Dawn isn’t busy at the studio, she is working as an art teacher in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Dawn and Jennie met at the University of Louisville. They are both very passionate about art and started playing around with the idea of starting their own art studio. Dawn and Jennie believed that there weren’t enough art opportunities in the Jeffersonville area.

Dawn and Jennie talked about opening their own business for over a year. Their passion for art urged them to move forward with their dream.  Three months after taking classes at the ISBDC and legalizing their LLC, they opened Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC. on October 4, 2013.  (more…)

Lessons Learned From This Small Business Growth Story

May 26, 2014

It’s not just New Yorkers that are crazed about bagels. Turns out, Oregonians are also very into their bagels and they let their top vendors know it. Recently, we had a chance to speak with the owner of Spielman Bagels to learn more about the company and its substantial growth over the past year.

Spielman Bagels is based out of Portland, Oregon. However, their story begins in a suburban town called Hillsboro, where the company was based out of for 17 years. It was not until December 2011, that the owner, Rick Spielman, decided to move to a small 720 square foot space on SE Division Street in Portland, Oregon, with sights on the big city foot traffic. At the time, coffee was the core product and the goal was only to make a dozen bagels a day.

When they first moved to Portland, Kettleman’s was the major bagel shop in the area. They were producing over 12,000 bagels a day or a thousand times as many as Spielman Bagels. However, that didn’t last. The Einstein bagel chain stepped in and purchased Kettleman’s and changed their prized recipe. That ended up being a big mistake as customer demand dropped significantly. The result was that bagel lovers in the area and the local Press began looking for the, “best new bagel shop.” Soon, Spielman’s became the go to bagel shop in town. They received an explosion of interest and the business soon expanded from producing 12 bagels a day to now 500 bagels per day.  (more…)

Trademark Disputes: Now Playing At Your Local Redbox

May 23, 2014

If you’ve ever rented a movie from Redbox, you have likely seen some choices that bear a suspicious resemblance to films currently playing in theaters. For example, last holiday season, many Redbox kiosks offered a movie called “Age of the Hobbits” at the same time Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” was in theaters.

These movies are called “mockbusters.” They’re usually shot very quickly on a shoestring budget and titled in a way that calls to mind other movies, for example “Abraham Lincoln vs. Vampires” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” The studios behind them allege they’re legitimate and original works of cinema, but critics complain they’re meant to trick customers into thinking they’re renting a mainstream movie.

Until recently, major movie studios did not take much legal action against mockbusters because it simply wasn’t worth the time and expense. That all might be changing, though.

Recently, Disney filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a movie studio called Phase 4 films. Phase 4 had released a movie called “Frozen Land” and Disney felt like its title and marketing were too close to the title and marketing for its holiday hit “Frozen.” Disney alleged that Phase 4’s film was originally called “The Legend of Sarila,” and that months before it was released (at the same time as “Frozen,”) Phase 4 re-titled it and re-did the marketing to mimic that of “Frozen.”  (more…)