29Jun

The Benefits of Being Social: HST, TBOT, CBC, The Star, & The Minister of Revenue

Posted in Social media

Our company, a Toronto small business marketing firm, has been getting some press attention recently.

First we were on the CBC (radio and TV) talking about our 10% HST sale.

The Toronto Star saw our blog article and called to get more details on how we think the HST is going to benefit companies using our print and digital marketing services.

And finally, John Wilkinson, the Ontario Minister of Revenue, is planning a visit for this Friday to find out more about our business, the challenges we face, and why we are glad about the demise of the outdated and harmful PST.

Of course, it will be an honour to meet a public official, and it is exciting to be in the media.  However, as a business, we are very interested in how all this raises our profile and promotes what we offer.

How did all this free publicity come about?  Simple – by being social.

This sort of thing is exactly what is behind the excitement of social media marketing.

The interesting thing for us is that it started offline, at a Toronto Board of Trade networking meeting.

The Toronto Board of Trade holds regular networking events, and they are a fantastic way to get business, find good vendors, and increase your knowledge.  However, more importantly I found these networking events are a great way to get the conversation started.  And that’s what social marketing is all about – the conversation (vs. the sale).

Resulting from my conversations with my relationship manager Marla Tobe at the Toronto Board of Trade, I was introduced to the CBC (TV & radio).  From the CBC and our twitter feed we were introduced to the Minister of Revenue’s office.  And the Toronto Star found our blog and called for an interview.

So get out there & join the conversation.

If you are a member of the Toronto Board of Trade – speak with your relationship manager.  Make sure they know about you, who you are, what your ideal client is, and what you hope to get from TBOT.  (And if you aren’t a member – Join!)

Be social, and see where it takes you!

**

Updates:
- Article in the June 30th, Toronto Board of Trade Bulletin
- July 2nd: A second mention in The Toronto Star
- News release by the Ministry of Revenue
- And a brief mention on Global TV June 30th (clip not available online)

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28Jun

3 elements for successful brochure website homepages

Posted in Website Content

Very often your websites homepage is the first impression any of your customers will have of you.

Like a warm smile and a strong handshake, your homepage sets the stage for how your customers think of you, and what action they will take next – will it be the one you want?

Other than a compelling design, and good writing, most successful homepages for brochure websites have at least these three elements:

1. Home page visual focal point: A picture that “says it all”.

For Casa Duna (a cottage in Southampton Ontario), an animated slideshow for the focal point quickly takes a visitor through a series of beautiful pictures highlighting the cottage and the area.

For Toronto video production company Video Excellence, we used a series of images and text as an intro to the range of services offered.

2. A BRIEF bit of homepage text that describes what you are offering.

For us (a Toronto website design company), we start with a greeting and a question highlighting how our job is to fulfill your goals: “Hello. Where would you like to go?”.

You will notice we went for subtle and didn’t include a big picture – instead focusing on a core message, our bold arrow, topped off with our ladybug for humanity.

For Toronto beach spa and salon Hair Dynamix, we used this brief bit of homepage text to establish the location and their primary benefit – being a family owned business with a personal touch.

3. Keep it simple.

You may have a lot to say, but let your home page be the beginning of the conversation.

Use your text and picture focals to convey the primary elements you want your visitors to “takeaway”. Maybe add a little extra direction, such as the right-hand internal “ad” we setup for Collingwood & Port Carling interior design firm Peaks and Rafters.

Don’t start the relationship by trying to tell your potential customer everything about you. Give your visitor a good first impression. They can get the details as they explore your website (or better yet – call you!)

Side note: Did you notice the descriptive links to our clients (and ourselves) in this blog? We did this to help Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines know what these sites are about.

2 Comments »
18Jun

Kobayashi Technology on CBC – HST Savings Coming Your Way!

Posted in Kobayashi Online

Hello there,

CBC came by yesterday to ask what my thoughts were about the HST as a small business owner.

For us, it is a very good thing. So much so, we’re going to pass on the savings to our customers! But more on that in a bit.

First: Is your eCommerce store HST ready?

Most every business is of course affected. For those in Ontario with eCommerce stores (and who are already registered for GST), you should already be charging GST, PST, and HST depending on where you are shipping your products.

If you haven’t done so yet, you need to prepare now to update your shopping cart to the new rules. (If you need help – just let us know!).

There are nuances and transition rules, so check with your accountant or visit the Canada Revenue Agency website.

(And don’t forget the small business credit to help with the transition)

OK, back to your HST savings.

Over this next year, we will be benefiting from the transition to HST.

• We get to save 8% on all goods that we purchase! (That extra 8% is fully deductible as an Input Tax Credit – PST wasn’t).

• Our customers are all businesses, and they get to deduct any extra tax we will charge.

• The cost of our print design service just went down: Because print design is a service resulting in a tangible good, PST was applicable. Now it is fully refundable as part of the HST.

• Our administrative expenses go down a little.

• And finally everyone will be calling the tax by its proper name (PST is actually RST – for some reason RST never stuck…).

Instead of waiting for market pressures to reduce our rates a little, we are going to front-load the PST savings for the year and give all our clients 10% off any new web design, web development, email marketing, logo and print design projects for the month of July only.

If you’ve been thinking of doing a project – now is the time!

We have limited resources, so please let us know as quickly as you can.

Best regards,

Brent Kobayashi
President
416-410-3266 x1

1 Comment »
15Jun

Social media for business explained – finally!

Posted in Social media

Like many businesses, we have been thinking a great deal about social media.  Mostly trying to figure out how it relates to our business, and the business of our clients.

Well, Guy Kawasaki gives the most succinct and helpful explanation of social media (as it relates to businesses) that I have found yet.

It’s simple, the goal for a business is to “establish yourself as a fascinating subject-matter expert”.

Guy provides an example (restaurant owner posting food links), and four methods to find content that you can use for blogging, tweeting, and email marketing (StumpleUpon, SmartBrief, hire an intern, and Alltop – a company Guy co-founded).

I decided to give Guy’s methods a try.  I spent 1/2 hr each researching articles for a Real Estate agent, a Beauty Spa, and an Interior Design company.

Of course, an actual expert might pick different articles.  The point is – the information that will help you communicate regularly with your client base is readily available – for next to nothing.

Most importantly, with regular communications, comes more opportunity for you to be in the right place at the right time to get that next sale.

Real estate agent:

Beauty Spa:

Interior design:

Feel free to let us know if you would like help regularly communicating with your clients.

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