Using Web to market fashion
Dear Karen: I started a small business from my home selling designer hats. How do I get the word out?
Answer: Establish yourself as a fashion expert by starting a blog and setting up social networking sites.
“Start writing articles so you become known among the fashionistas [whom] you need to spread the word about your interesting hats,” said Don Baarns of Baarns Consulting Group in Sylmar.
Facebook and MySpace have photo albums in which you can display your products and solicit comments from your online community, he said.
You also should join online forums in which people talk about fashion and hats. Don’t overtly advertise your company on the forums but do put links to your sites in your signature file.
You can set up your own website easily and inexpensively by using a template available at one of the Web services, such as GoDaddy, Baarns said. “The site hosting is less than $100 per year. If you want, you can upgrade and start selling online for a monthly fee,” he said.
Tax rules for S corporations
Dear Karen: I sold the goodwill of my S corporation this month and plan to dissolve the corporation. Do I have to file a 2009 corporate return and pay the $800 state tax before the dissolution becomes official?
Answer: If a corporation does business in any year, the $800 minimum tax is due for that year even if you dissolve the corporation, said Donald Lucove, an accountant with Lucove, Say & Co in Calabasas.
“Since a corporate sale of goodwill took place in 2009, the corporation was effectively doing business in 2009 and will have to file a corporate tax return, Form 100S. The gain on the goodwill sale will flow to his individual return on schedule K-1. Without the filing of a corporate return, the transaction would not have a proper reporting place,” Lucove said.
The bottom line: The California secretary of state will not finalize your corporate dissolution until all your corporate income tax returns have been filed, including for 2009, and payment is received on the $800 fee.
How selling and marketing differ
Dear Karen: I’m confused. What’s the difference between marketing and selling?
Answer: Marketing is the battle for the customer’s mind, while selling is asking for an order, said Robert M. Donnelly, a brand marketing consultant based in New York.
“Another way of thinking about this confusion is the difference between a product and a brand. A product is made in a factory and sold by salesmen and women, while a brand exists in the mind,” he said.
Think about marketing as positioning your brand favorably in the mind of your customer, he advised.
“For some products or brands that we buy, we have quality concerns. For others we do not. We have some brands that we feel are the best and others that we have determined have a unique set of attributes and are the only ones we will buy,” Donnelly said.
Market your business so your customers see it as the top-quality brand they can’t do without.
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