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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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Did you know the day after Christmas is National Candy Cane Day? In honor of these holidays, this week’s tip is to celebrate National Candy Cane Day leading up to Christmas. To help you celebrate, we’ve gathered a few creative and easy ways to include candy canes in your product mix and presentation.
Hot Chocolate or Coffee Stirrers
Candy Cane Tree (Great for window display!)
Candy Cane Marshmallow
Candy Cane Popcorn
If you have creative candy cane ideas to share, leave us a comment below!
Tags:
Candy Holidays
Candy Making
Holidays
Marketing
Photos
Seasonal
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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You’re busy sending out emails to your customer list but are you thinking about how the emails will be viewed depending on elements such as email service providers and screen size? This week’s tip is to take time to optimize your marketing emails for the images you are using.
Next, be sure your images are optimized for web. For example, check to be sure it has the right file size, type and format to avoid your receiver getting upload errors. Your email marketing service provider should provide the guidelines they recommend. For example, no larger than 350KB and no wider than 800 pixels wide is what is recommended by Constant Contact. Anything larger than that and they will likely automatically shrink the image for you which may result in loss of quality.
Additionally, remember that many email programs automatically block images until the receiver chooses to download them. Therefore, it is not recommended that every call to action be included in an image. Instead, utilize both images and text to tell your customers to “Order Online Now” or whatever it is you would like them to do in response to your email.
You are now ready to send effective email marketing messages using photos. If you have additional tips for email marketing, please leave them in the comments below!
Tags:
Marketing
Owning a Business
Photos
Social Media
Technology
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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In honor of today’s Election Day in the United States, this week’s tip is to stay informed and get involved in legislature as it relates to and affects your business. Whether it is from a local, state or national level, it is up to you as a business owner to speak out on behalf of the interests of your business.
State and Local
Your state and local chambers of commerce will have a variety resources and information for you on legislature that affects businesses in your local and state area. For most chambers, you may visit their website for information on current legislature. Be sure to also visit with the staff and volunteers of the chamber about how you can get involved to make your voice heard.
National
Govtrack.us is a website that helps you to research pending federal legislation in the U.S. that might impact your life or business. Quickly view information by doing a search on relevant topics or specific bills moving through Congress. You may also sign up to receive email updates to track activities for the bills or topics that matter most to your business. Another important part of staying informed is to know who is representing you in Congress. Visit www.house.gov or www.senate.gov to find the most up-to-date contact and voting information on your members of Congress.
For our Canadian friends, www.parl.gc.ca provides a wealth of information on Senators and Members of Congress in Canada as well as current bills before Parliament.
As Thomas Jefferson said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”
Tags:
Owning a Business
Public Policy
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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Your customers expect that each time you make a product that it will look and taste the same way as when they purchased it the last time. Your product is just as good as the ingredients you use to make it. Therefore, this week’s tip is to require your suppliers to be consistent with their own products.
Many times we hear from small businesses that they don’t feel they have the ‘clout’ to demand anything from their suppliers because of their size. However, we always remind those businesses that their own livelihood and success is dependent on the quality of their raw materials. Therefore, as a paying customer they have just as much right as any other business to require a consistent product from their suppliers.
As part of requiring consistency of your suppliers, be sure to regularly test each supplier shipment for consistency in characteristics such as taste, size and odor. Remember, if your raw materials and suppliers are dependable, you increase the chances of your finished product being consistent as well. And a consistently delicious product will keep your customers coming back for more!
This tip was inspired by an article in our Good Manufacturing Practices series found in all four 2012 issues of Kettle Talk. RCI members may access past issues of Kettle Talk by signing in as a member on the RCI website.
Tags:
Candy Making
GMP's
Owning a Business
Quality Control
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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This week’s tip is to take the time to implement a system to back up your company files in more than one location. For example, many companies think that having their files on a server in their facility is secure enough. However, if your office is destroyed by a fire or natural disaster, you will have lost all of that important information. Instead, be sure your files are securely backed up in another location so you can quickly access them in case of emergency.
A number of options are available for backing up your company files. From remote data backup services to storing files on the numerous cloud services available, you will need to find what works best for your company. You may find that it is a combination or hybrid of more than one of the options in order to best meet your information security and data storage needs. Regardless of what you choose, no company should take the risk of having no off-site back up of their files.
Tags:
Employee Management
Organizing
Owning a Business
Technology
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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As we mentioned last month, at each of our events, we take attendees on behind-the-scenes visit of area candy stores and suppliers. It’s one of the most anticipated parts of the event week as it’s a great time for attendees to find ideas to take back to their own stores. And it’s where we found this week’s tip!
This week the tip is very simple and also very versatile. It is to use jewelry such as bracelets to accent a small two- or four-piece box of chocolates. You can get very inexpensive seasonal or fun plastic bracelets that wrap perfectly around a small box to make it a fun gift and a great seasonal display. And, since the bracelet wraps around the box rather than attaching to it with glue, when the season has passed you can easily remove the bracelet and replace with a new one without damaging the box.
Do you have quick and versatile ideas for using small boxes? Please share them in the comments below!
This week’s tip was taken from ‘Creative Uses for Small Boxes’ in our January/February/March 2013 Kettle Talk. RCI members may access past issues of Kettle Talk by signing in as a member on the RCI website.
Tags:
Holidays
Marketing
Merchandising
Packaging
Photos
Seasonal
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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Are you ready for Small Business Saturday on November 30, 2013?
Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. Situated right between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s a great opportunity for you to promote your store to holiday shoppers as a local business.
American Express and Constant Contact have put together great online kits to help small businesses promote themselves and Small Business Saturday leading up to this special day. From downloadable signage to sample copy and outlines, these kits are great places to start planning your marketing efforts.
We hope these tools help to make this year’s Small Business Saturday an extremely successful day for your stores!
RCI Members: Be sure to check the October/November/December 2012 Kettle Talk issue for more tips on marketing Small Business Saturday in your store!
Tags:
Holidays
Marketing
Owning a Business
Seasonal
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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National Candy Corn Day is just a few weeks away (October 30). Therefore this week’s tip includes four creative candy corn-themed confections to incorporate in your fall product mix.
1. Candy Corn Marshmallow
Do you have creative candy corn ideas? Share them in the comments below!
Tags:
Candy Holidays
Candy Making
Holidays
Marshmallow
Photos
Seasonal
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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At each of our events, we take attendees on behind-the-scenes visit of area candy stores and suppliers. It’s one of the most anticipated parts of the event week as it’s a great time for attendees to find ideas to take back to their own stores.
During our Canadian Chocolate Tour in September 2012 and recent Annual Convention & Industry Expo in June we visited confectionery retail stores that had designated gift designers. Attendees were consistently “wowed” by the beautiful displays and merchandising in these stores so this week’s tip is for you to hire a gift designer for your own retail candy store.
Gift designers are focused solely on the presentation of the products and displays in your store. Their job is to take your delicious candy products and turn them into beautiful gifts that your customers can’t resist buying. It’s about more than just wrapping paper – it is creating a theme, designing a shopping experience for your customers.
If hiring someone solely for the purpose of designing gifts isn’t something you can do, then consider making it a seasonal position or incorporating it into an existing position. You’ll be surprised at the difference having an individual focused on designing your items will make when it comes to the presentation of your products.
One other tip: once you hire someone, be sure to give him or her freedom to be creative and come up with new and original ideas. Share your vision and brand strategy and then step out of the way and be amazed at what is created and the exquisiteness it adds to your displays.
Tags:
Colors
Employee Management
Merchandising
Organizing
Owning a Business
Packaging
Photos
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Posted By RCI,
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2020
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A couple weeks ago we posted a tip on a fall favorite – caramel apples. Another favorite treat during the holiday season, and a growing snack trend this year, is popcorn. This week’s tip is quick and will help increase the shelf life for your popcorn.
To increase shelf life, we suggest air popping your popcorn. Because popping with oil increases the chance for rancidity, if you air pop your popcorn, the shelf life of your product is increased. It’s that simple but it works!
While we’re sure your popcorn is so good it’ll be flying off the shelves, we hope this quick tip will help you be able to pop your popcorn ahead of time so you can meet the demand for this great treat!
Tags:
Candy Making
Holidays
Photos
Quality Control
Seasonal
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