Dana Baedke's blog

Over the weekend my aunt, who is a conservationist, forwarded me a really interesting “Happy Mother’s Day” email about how bats are really great moms – in the dark they can find their single baby (called a “pup”) amongst thousands of hungry bat babies. This is so cool, I thought, I’d really love to share it.

I read somewhere recently that the majority of women business owners earn less than $30,000 per year and that very few take their business to the $1 million revenue mark. These statistics make me nuts. If you know me, you know I am REALLY passionate about women succeeding in their businesses and the fact that I like to put my goals out there. So here it goes: I plan to break into that small percentage of $1M women-owned businesses. And, I think that just saying this – publicly – is going to help me get there; now I'm accountable to you ;).

I swore I would not do anything "official business" today, but one thing I've learned is that when inspiration hits, it's a good idea to jump on it! 

Nearly 4 years ago I put "fitness" in my bullseye, which for me meant getting off my ass and getting in shape, no more excuses. My youngest was 4 at the time and I could only milk the 10 lb 10 oz baby excuse (really!) for so long.

It may seem obvious but I'm going to say it anyway: select a promotional item that is relevant to your business. This will get you the most bang for your buck because it not only presents your brand repeatedly, it serves to remind the recipient what you do and how you can help them. A pen or a bumper sticker might not do the trick.

Quick - name a related business for each of the following promotional items:

B2B Branding is not just about your company logo, slogan and graphic design of your marketing materials. A consistent look and feel is very important; however, perhaps even more important are your company's vision, values and messaging about your products and services. These ideas must be well thought out and consistently delivered across every single thing you do, from marketing materials to social media, from internal communications to sales presentations and proposals. Every employee needs to know what your message is and to deliver it consistently in every customer interaction.