Forge News and Updates |
Thank you to everyone who joined us at Forge for our first ever pitch night! We love hearing about the exciting businesses that are growing out of the Magic City! Your Big Idea was a huge success and we are excited to start planning the next one. If you weren’t able to join us, here’s a recap of the event!
Our 3 Panelists: Buddy Palmer, Lakey Boyd and Jacqueline Jones
First, happy hour of course! Drinks and snacks provided by our sponsor, ServisFirst Bank! Then we heard 4 minute pitches from 4 different presenters. We allowed for a quick Q&A with the crowd and our 3 panelists gave feedback on each presentation.
Donnie Garvich with Two Ravens
The Two Ravens team is based out of Forge! They are a technical innovation firm that provides R&D and Product Development services. Two Ravens works with partners to solve their most complex problems. By combining decades of technical experience with an empathetic, research-based approach, they aim to improve lives by creating not just great products, but engaging experiences.
Kala Northrup with Match Chocolate
Match Chocolate is a small batch bean-to-bar chocolate maker right here in Birmingham! They take cocoa beans and thoughtfully craft chocolate with a sense of place, highlighting the natural flavors of different parts of the world. With just cocoa beans and cane sugar Kala makes single origin chocolate bars, truffles and pastry provisions. The name Match Chocolate comes from the pairings created that showcase the differences found within just two ingredients ethically sourced, separated by geography and matched in flavor.
Erin Holtz with Refueled
Refueled is an all inclusive fitness app partnering with the best health and wellness businesses to provide members with their very own customizable fitness, health, and wellness plans. The Refueled technology offers packages to relax, to recover, and to refresh because we feel as though it is important to refuel your body in each of these ways. You can choose the fitness package that best fits your needs. Each week you will pick your classes that will fit into your schedule. Then simply walk in the studio, check in or purchase your service!
Stanley Stevenson of Stevenson Design
Stevenson Design works to improve home and business environments through thorough, thoughtful design. With a Bachelors degree in Interior Design, Stanley began working as a draftsman and 3D modeler. He moved into space planning and logistics management. With a decade of experience in managing people and processes, Stanley is available to help small businesses with anything from interior design to web design and digital strategy.
Thank you to ServisFirst Bank for sponsoring the first Your Big Idea event! We loved hosting and meeting new professionals in Birmingham. We’re already looking forward to the next event with another group of entrepreneurs!
Lunch & Learn |
Social Media posting… We all know we need to be doing it. And so we post.
But is your posting effective?
Is anyone seeing your posts?
Is the audience you are reaching the audience that can actually be converted to customers?
There is so much more to posting on social media than just shooting a picture on your phone and then putting it on instagram with a catchy caption. That is, if you want social media to be a vehicle to grow your business (HINT HINT: as business owners this should be your goal!)
Jacqueline Jones of One Degree MMM shared with Forge the Must Do’s for creating a plan before you post anything on social media.
1. Who
Build a Customer Avatar!!
You must know everything you can know about about your customer. Everything…
Age. Gender. Family Life. Where they live. What they do for a living. When they drive to work. What they listen to while driving. How much they spend…
Gather as much data as you can. Then use that data to inform all decision making.
Do not assume that you are your target customer! Marketing can often break down when that happens. Look at your data, see who is buying your product or using your service. See who is spending the most with you and how often. This information is going to guide every decision you make for your social media and marketing strategy.
It is possible that you will have a few different avatars. Know them each and market to them each.
2. What
What is the goal you are trying to achieve with your marketing efforts. Pick a goal and then stick with it for a quarter so you can see realistic results. Now there is always the case where you determine a goal and realize quickly you need to change directions. But generally speaking, it is best practice to choose a goal, build your strategy and then give your efforts time to perform. When you do this, you get more QUALIFIED DATA about who your customer really is!
3. How
How are you going to get in touch with your customer? How are you going to get your information to your perfect customer. If you just put out a blanket post (on any platform), you will not be able to reach the people that you really want to reach. Each post must be intentional. Your tone and voice must reflect who you want to reach and why you want to reach them. Speaking of tone… always communicate on your posts the way that you would communicate in person.
4. Where
Which platform should you use? The best way to answer this question is to figure out which platforms your customers are on. And then kill it on those platforms! Don’t try to be everywhere, you simply cannot do. Or at least you cannot do it well.
As you are planning out your Social Media strategy, here are a few things that you should CHOOSE NOT to do:
- Choose Not To get caught up in frequency suggestions. Do not be lured in to believe you must follow all the advice out there. The best thing to do is be consistent. Consistency for you could mean once a week, once a day or five times a day. Determine the capacity that you have to create and post meaningful, strategic posts and then stick to it! When you are building your community on social platforms, this community is built on relationships. Relationships are trusted through consistency.
- Choose Not To create blanket content. Create content that speaks to your Avatar!
- Choose Not To be everywhere. Your customers are not everywhere, you should not be everywhere either.
- Choose Not To be fake. Do not try to be who you think people want you to be. They want you! Be you!
- Choose Not to be afraid to ask for help or guidance. As a business owner you cannot do it all. There is no shame in getting someone to help you with your Social Media Planning and Posting.
We are thankful for the work that Jacqueline is doing to help Small Business Owners grow! If you would like to contact Jacqueline to get more information or learn how she can help grow your business, you can email Jacqueline at info@onedegreemmm.com.
If you are interested in diving deeper into your business, Jacqueline is hosting Boiling Point: A Group Marketing Strategy Session, at Forge on March 11. Use the code APLAN to receive a $30 discount!
Lunch & Learn |
Josh Andrew with Gatehouse Law returned to Forge with a topic that is near and dear to all Entrepreneurs and Small Business owners – or at least it should be! What do you need to know about your business’s trademark? You have legally registered your business, isn’t that enough? Let’s dig a little deeper…
Step 1: Understanding Trademarks
What is a Trademark?
A trademark is a word, phrase or graphic symbol used to show the source of goods or products… or service!
Think of the most notable trademarks: Nike Swoosh, McDonald’s Golden Arches, UPS Brown Box (example of a service)
So, what is the difference between a Trademark and copyright? If you hired a designer to create your logo and they have a copyright for that image, do they own the trademark?
The short answer is no! The copyright protects the artwork or words. The trademark protects the business. So even if your logo has a copyright that you do not own, the trademark is yours!
Step 2: Protecting Trademarks
1. Your Trademark Cannot be “Merely Descriptive”
A merely descriptive mark is one that immediately conveys knowledge of a quality, feature, function or characteristic of an applicant’s goods or services. For example if a dry cleaners named their business “The Dry Cleaners,” they could not lay claim to that name being Trademarked. Anyone could use the same name because it is merely descriptive of the business that it represents.
2. Your Trademark Must have Distinction
It must be:
- Fanciful
- Arbitrary
- Suggestive
All three of these qualities can be legally protected.
3. Protecting Trademarks before you launch. This step is particularly important for those building a business, and not yet in operation. There are three ways to protect your business before you launch.
- Non-disclosure Act. Any time you enter into conversation with someone about your business, have them sign a non-disclosure act regarding the business knowledge shared during the meeting.
- File “Intent to Use.” This is a more costly option and only lasts six months. If you are not in business at the end of six months, but still want to protect the business, there must be another filing.
- Action. Do something with your mark. Setting up a website that collects email addresses is the simplest way to begin acting as a business before you are ready to launch.
Enforcing Trademarks
While ultimately your business needs to have the trademark legally protected, there are a few things that can protect the trademark while the business is growing.
1. Common Law Mark: Trademarks are protected in the immediate area that the business is operating. However this does not prevent your trademark in another part of the country from being used legally.
2. Business Name Registration
3. Notice – By using the trademark, your business trademark is protected (only in the area of operation)
4. Cease and Desist letters. It may seem like an extreme option. But it is the responsibility of the owner to protect the trademark immediately, otherwise the trademark is ineffective.
Thank you Gatehouse Law for teaching us all things Trademarks! We are thankful for firms like Gatehouse Law who serve entrepreneurs and Small Business owners teaching us the things we really need to be thinking about while building our business!
Forge News and Updates |
For our fourth Business Breakthrough Session, we had the pleasure of learning from Andrea Snyder, Founder of Urban Cookhouse and Farm Bowl + Juice Co. Urban Cookhouse is known for their fresh, locally sourced food and amazing customer service. Farm Bowl + Juice Co. is their newest creation with juice, smoothies and açaí bowls. Andrea mentioned that they are currently working on their third concept but she couldn’t give any hints at this time as to what it will be!
The foundation of their restaurants is about relationships. They focus heavily on the relationships with their farmers, employees and customers. Obviously buying local means that their food tastes better but they are able to have a huge economic impact to keep these farms in business. Their main egg farmer started with 9 chickens when Andrea first hired him and now he has over 9,000 chickens total!
Another huge component of their foundation is their commitment to developing great employees. They now have a total of 175 employees with the combination of Urban Cookhouse and Farm Bowl. Andrea said they focus on hiring right because one bad employee can cost them a lot of time and money in the long run. They want to train and teach their employees well and incentivize them through franchising opportunities and bonuses. Offer your employees a growth track!
Andrea talked about something she calls “drive by reviews.” They want to continually encourage employees in the moment- as soon as she sees them doing something good. And from time to time, she also has to be direct when someone needs improvement. Encouragement goes a long way!
Andrea provided a great analogy for us. If you think of each day having a total of 150% of available time, most business owners will spend the first 50% on the tyranny of the daily urgent tasks. Then the next 50% is spent on gathering and analyzing metrics of the business while the third 50% would be developing your employees.
But Andrea totally flip flops this structure. The first 50% must be spent on developing and pouring into your employees. She believes this is what has created a great culture for Urban Cookhouse so she will continue to prioritize their employees with Farm Bowl as well.
Over the last 8 years, Andrea has continued to come back to this same quote from Samuel Johnson:
“Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified.”
What about customer acquisition? Andrea believes the real estate of your restaurant is the most important. You must be in the center of the customer population you want and parking is so important- that is one reason they just relocated their Homewood Urban Cookhouse spot. Plus they were able to add a drive thru!
In order to truly give their customers the best experience possible, they hire a CEO at each location. But this specific CEO stands for Customer Experience Owner. Even though this position may not be the highest paid, this person is extremely important to the success of the location. This employee does anything from holding the door open for customers to getting a high chair for a baby. Adding this position to their company has had immeasurable benefits!
Andrea has a wealth of knowledge about what it truly takes to build amazing restaurants! We are so grateful she spent time with us at Forge. If you haven’t already, go check out their restaurants! And look out for whatever restaurant they develop in the near future!
Member Spotlight |
Jacqueline Jones is a well-loved Forge member and today we’re reposting this valuable post from her personal blog! Jacqui started her company One Degree MMM which focuses on marketing and branding for small businesses and organizations. We loved this timely post as we change our mindset entering into spring!
Finally, Spring has officially arrived. Never mind the, still, bi-polar weather. It’s here, so says the calendar. Newness in any form is something we as human beings thrive off. We love to start fresh, launch new, and get rid of the old at the beginning of… well, anything. Spring is one of those times of newness, renewal, and restarting.
Many equate spring with gardening. Spring is the time to sow seeds, turn over soil, and create room for new blossoms and growth. Your branding shouldn’t be any different. So, let’s prepare your brand for growth and new heights in 3 steps!
Pick Your Flowers
Take a moment and decide how you want your new garden to look. Landscaping is an art. Marketing and landscaping are very similar during a time of transition. The goal is to take what exists and alter it in a way that makes it more attractive. To prepare our brand for greater things, we must start with a renewed vision. Now is the time to do some benchmarking and decide how you want your refreshed brand to evolve. Don’t just start implementing new things with no forethought. Let’s take a moment to create a full picture before we attempt to start painting. If you’re a One Degree FIRE Starter, you know how important goal setting is to me. I practically mention it in every email I send.
Prepare The Soil
You know how the new grand and fantastic brand will look. GREAT! What groundwork needs to be done for this transition to be successful? Just like in gardening, you may have to take some time to research what you’re putting in the ground. Many skip this step in their business in general. This process is commonly referred to as “investment.” Invest in yourself and your brand. Take that class, hire that service provider, or buy that packaging. Set yourself up for success from the beginning of this new season. Don’t just go plopping stuff in the ground with your fingers crossed and your eyes squinched expecting a miracle. Do the research. Do the work. Do what it takes to see a clear and positive change in your brand. Invest the time, money, and resources you have into your brand and yourself.
Commit To Watering Your Garden
One of my favorite phrases in life is “start out how you plan to hold out.” As you prepare for these new things within your brand’s marketing efforts, commit to seeing them through. You have to be realistic with yourself. No one requires anything of you for your brand, but you. Whatever you choose, be sure you can stay motivated (or employ whatever tactics necessary) throughout the entire season. Your dreams, visions, and plans may get the seed in the ground, but your daily commitment to them are what make them grow into your beautiful garden.
It’s time to get going. March is nearly over. The 2nd quarter of the year is just around the corner. Ready, set, GROW!
