Ellen is a founder of a law firm serving small and mid-sized businesses, many of which are in the startup stage and do not have the cash to pay her fees. Ellen also has a passion for yoga and teaches at a local studio.

The yoga studio owner wants to retain Ellen for legal advice, but instead of paying cash that she doesn’t have, she offers Ellen a small percentage of ownership in the business.

Should Ellen take the deal?

Ellen’s options are to forgo the potential business, reduce fees to an amount the owner can afford, or take the business, delaying payment to an unknown date and for an unknown, but potentially larger, amount.

If Ellen decides to either decline the business or lower her price, it depends on her need for current cash flow and her time available to take on the work relative to potential customers who might have the ability to pay.

But if Ellen chooses to trade fees for equity (and become an owner) in the customer’s business,  there are a few issues she should explore first.

Here are seven things to consider if you’re thinking about trading services for equity:

  1. What is the business’s financial forecast? Ellen’s ownership and eventual payout is a long-term decision, so she needs to know if the business is profitable today, and its three- to five-year financial profit forecast. Also, is there a well-thought-out business plan to support the projections? Fortunately, Ellen has some experience in the yoga business; if she did not, she should seek expert opinions. She should also look at traditional financial profitability measures as well as cash flow.
  1. What is its current financial position? Ask for the company’s financial information and the owner’s tax returns to understand the studio’s current financial position. If the owner is not forthright in providing this information, it  is a red flag. If Ellen goes forward with the deal, there needs to be a clear understanding of her rights to company financial and operating information.
  1. How are key decisions made, and how will your investment position be protected? Since Ellen has her own business to run, she will likely be a passive investor/owner in the yoga studio. But she should still review the studio’s governance structure. In particular, she should find out how the owner’s compensation is determined and approved, how she decides to obtain loans or other investors to buy equipment or grow the business, and if the business were to close down, how that decision would be made.
  1. How can you “sell,” or monetize, your investment in the future? Look at the studio’s operating agreement if it is an LLC, or bylaws, if it is an S or C corp to understand the procedures for selling an ownership interest. The studio may have a 10-year horizon, but if Ellen has a four-year horizon, she needs to determine how she can pull out her investment.
  1. What is your legal liability? If the company has liabilities other than accounts payable, like lawsuits, judgments, fines, or tax delinquencies, what responsibility and liability falls on owners?
  1. What is the company’s valuation? A company valuation determines the amount of ownership. For example, if the amount of legal services provided is $50,000 and value of the company is set at $500,000, then Ellen will receive a 10 percent ownership in the company. However, if the valuation is $1 million, then Ellen receives a 5 percent stake. Usually, there is a disconnect between the founder’s high valuation and an investor’s, which is much lower. Sometimes, a high valuation is based on a company’s customer list, but in a community with several yoga studios, that is of limited value as potential customers can move freely between studios. If the studio owns assets like the building in which it is located or has an attractive lease, that can increase valuation.
  1. How will your relationship with the owner change? Ellen now consults with the owner to set her teaching schedule. Going forward, if Ellen becomes an investor/owner in the business she will have another, very different, relationship with the majority owner. Ellen should project how the owner will be as a partner and steward of the business; this will be a subjective evaluation based on her interactions with the owner and her assessment of the owner’s operating style and approach.

An alternative to trading services for equity is trading for a loan to be paid with interest at a specific date. The research is much the same, with a focus on evaluating if the studio will have the cash at the time to pay off the loan.

While we used Ellen as example for this post, remember the same thinking applies to accountants, consultants, or anyone else providing a service for a fee.  Make sure you’re researching a business fully before agreeing to take an equity deal.

Key Lessons:

  1. Trading services for equity in a customer’s business substitutes current pay for future pay at an unknown time and amount.
  2. You will be a small, passive investor, so make sure the governance structure protects your interest.
  3. Determine how you can get out and monetize your investment.

For more business planning advice, you can find more of Hal’s posts here.

People love to feel appreciated.

Which is why taking the time to create a thank you video is the perfect way to let your customers and supporters know how much they mean to your business and build on a meaningful connection with them.

The best part? Creating a thank you video is not as much work as you might think.

You don’t need fancy equipment to create a video that makes an impact. And with the help of email marketing and social media, it’s easy to get your thank you video in front of everyone who matters to your business.

No matter what type of business you own, or nonprofit organization you run, your thank you video will be a valuable reminder of your gratitude.

Here’s how you can get started creating your own thank you video:

Define your goals.

Sending a simple, no-strings-attached video to say thank you is effective enough on its own. But it’s also okay to use your video as an opportunity to drop in an effective call to action.

Do you have a fundraising goal you’re eager to meet? What about a timely holiday sale at your boutique? Call this out at the end of the video!

Even if you decide to do an unscripted video, make sure you’ve defined your goals before recording anything.

Decide where to host your video.

Where you host your video depends on how you want to reach your audience. If you’re planning on sending the video in an email or embeding it on your website, a business video host like Wistia might be the way to go.

With Wistia, you’ll get detailed analytics and great insights into who watched your video. You’ll also keep viewers on your domain so they don’t wander off to content unrelated to your business.

If you have a massive following on Facebook, YouTube, or another social media platform, uploading it to one of those natively could allow you to reach a great audience.

If you’re posting the video in multiple locations, make sure to use the same link or embed code for the video. You want everyone watching the same video file.

Choose how to produce your video.

You have two main options for producing your video:

1. Fast, cheap, and off the cuff.

There’s no shame in going selfie-style and making an honest, from the heart, testimonial type thank you video with your mobile phone. There are plenty of inexpensive tools out there from mini tripods to clip on lenses that turn a mobile phone into a pretty powerful video camera. If you’re hoping to have a professional looking video recorded with a phone, all it takes is a little more time and research on your part.

If you, someone you work with, or a friend have some video production skills or equipment to lend to your no-budget video, that can also help make your video look more professional. It’s really about how much time and effort you have to put into it, but keep in mind even the simplest video can be effective.

2. Call the pros.

Having a freelance video producer or production company make your thank you video gives you the freedom to think up ideas that you could never execute on your own. Another advantage of having a professionally produced video is that the look and feel of your video will be more polished with editing, music, titles, and graphics included.

I recently made an end-of-year thank you video for a nonprofit that I care about, Silver Lining Mentoring in Boston, Massachusetts. They were able to sincerely thank their donors and supporters while being able to be playful and show their warm personalities.

 

Whether you’re creating the video on your own or hiring some help, people are going to love it.

Make your video today!

Need some ideas to get you started? Here are a few to get your wheels turning:

  • End of the Year

The end of the year is a great time to say thank you to your customers and supporters. Let them know how their business or contribution has impacted you. I can’t stress enough how much people like to be thanked.

  • Happy Birthdays

Produce a thank you video that includes a general happy birthday message. You can collect birthday information from your subscribers, store them in your Constant Contact account, and send timely emails just in time for their big day. This is a great way to drive a personal connection with your subscribers.

  • Holidays

New Year’s isn’t the only holiday you can send out a thank you video. Any holiday works. You can send a Valentine’s Day themed thank you to let your customers and supporters know how much you love them. Or even a Halloween treat. Think of the costume possibilities!

  • Autoresponder Thank You

Creating a thank you video triggered by a specific action is also really effective. Using Constant Contact’s Autoresponder feature, you can create a custom thank you video to send after someone signs up for your email list, purchases your product or service, donates to your nonprofit, or any other action.

Start planning today!

Creating a thank you video is a powerful way to show your subscribers how much they mean to you. The most important thing is to be authentic; think about what you would say if you were talking to your audience directly, and take a few moments to get it on camera. Your customers and supporters will feel appreciated and eager to continue their relationship with your business.

Save time with suggested content and schedule

After creating or scheduling  an email campaign and choosing to share it using Social Share, you will see a series of posts automatically created for you to post or schedule later.

These posts include suggested messaging, and images from your Constant Contact photo library. If you prefer to customize your social posts, you can easily customize the messaging and image to match your business’s unique voice and brand.

social share 1 image

Easily plan and manage social posts for your email campaigns

Social Share allows you to schedule multiple social posts per day for multiple social channels.

Simply connect your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn channels and you can create posts that go to all your channels or just one. You can also schedule social posts to go out up to six months after your email goes out, giving you the ability to engage with your social audience well into the future.

Get new insights with detailed reporting

After your social posts are published to your social networks, you can track the engagement for each post. You can see the engagements, clicks, and reach that each post received, giving you the ability to see what connected with your audience and what to change for your next campaign.

social share image 2

These are just a few of the many new features that will give you even more control over your social sharing.

Try Social Share for yourself!

Next time you send an email campaign in Constant Contact, you’ll see the option to “Schedule Posts.”

social share image 3

Click on the blue button to activate Social Share and make sure you’ve connected the right social networks to your Constant Contact account. In just a few minutes, you’ll be able to schedule a series of social posts which will help extend the reach of your next campaign and drive more results for your business or organization.

In my last post, A Beginner’s Guide to Snapchat for Business, I covered why Snapchat is a great new tool for your business and how to create an account. Now it’s time to start thinking about how you can use Snapchat at your business and what to share with your Snapchat followers.

Snapchat has already gained a lot of attention from larger companies and organizations.

And if you’re looking for a new and creative way to connect with your target audience, now is the perfect time to give these fun Snapchat ideas a try.

Here are seven unique and creative uses of Snapchat for your business.

1. Coupons

The immediacy of Snapchat provides customers with an urgent incentive to shop. Try offering a call-to-action like “15 percent off today only!” or “Screenshot this snap and present it at the register for $5 off.” These enticements encourage your customers to shop while making them feel like they are in the know on offers other customers may not be getting.

Wondering how to create a coupon for Snapchat? You can take a picture of a current physical coupon you may have, or create a coupon specifically for your Snapchat followers. The coupon should be sent to your Snapchat story so all of your followers can take advantage of it. Consider something like this:

coupons on snapchat image

2. Product updates/demos

Do you have a new feature in your product that you want to make sure your customers are aware of? Consider making a short video of an employee demoing the tool to show followers how it works and why they should be using it.

You can also use Snapchat to create buzz around a new product that will be released in the future. Think of it as a way to create suspense and excitement.

3. Contests

A great way to get your followers to engage with your business is to run a contest. If you are an art supply store, challenge your followers to a Snapchat drawing contest — whoever draws the best doodle and sends it to your company’s Snapchat username wins a paint kit or first dibs on a new release. For a hair salon, challenge your users to send in photos of their favorite hair trends for a chance to win a gift certificate.

A great example of a brand using Snapchat to run contests is GrubHub. The food delivery company asks followers to use Snapchat’s drawing function to create a doodle, which users then send to GrubHub. The company picks 10 user-submitted snaps and rewards them with a gift, such as a discount.

Here is an example of a “food doodle” contest GrubHub ran in the past:

snapchat contest image

4. Promote events

Digital marketing is one of the best ways to get the word out about upcoming events.  In fact, covering events on social media allows you to broadcast your event and make it available to those who may not live close enough to join.

Use your Snapchat story to post videos of yourself explaining the importance of an upcoming event, as well as the date, time, and location. You can also direct your followers to your other platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter, for more information or registration links.

Follow up these promotions by posting snaps to your Story during the live event. Your viewers who couldn’t make it will love getting a peek into the action, while those who are in attendance will likely be happy to make an appearance in your Snapchat story!

5. Behind-the-scenes footage

Customers love seeing the personality of a brand, and what better way to show it than through personalized videos and images just for them. They will feel emotionally connected with your business, leading to customer loyalty and positive reviews shared with their friends and family.

Here is an example from our Constant Contact Snapchat story. We recently traveled to Rockport, Massachusetts to visit La Provence for our Small Biz Stories podcast. While we were there, we posted behind-the-scenes pictures and video clips of our trip. This allowed our followers to receive information about the next podcast episode that was only available to them. Think about the ways you can invite your followers into your company and give them a special sneak peek.

https://youtu.be/-sct4Ab4UPA

6. Encourage followers to sign up for your email list

While social media platforms such as Snapchat do a good job generating excitement and providing your customers with unique rewards, you always want to make sure you are able to keep in contact with them. After all, you own your email list, but you do not own your followers.

Encourage your followers to sign up for your email list by mentioning your email campaigns in your Snapchat story. Consider including a photo of your latest newsletter to show your followers what they can expect. This can turn your most engaged followers into leads.

Here at Constant Contact, we use Snapchat to promote our Hints & Tips newsletter. Check out this example from one of our Snapchat Stories in November below.

https://youtu.be/bGGvZ83O6OI

7. Fun tidbits

Sometimes your followers will appreciate something fun from your business. For example, Amazon often posts sequences of images for their followers to vote on. Recently, Amazon employees carved pumpkins and shared their Halloween creations on their Snapchat story, asking followers to screenshot their favorite. While it may not seem Amazon is promoting their business by doing this, they are increasing follower engagement with their brand and reinforcing the idea that they are a fun company.

snapchat example image

Ready to try these ideas out on Snapchat?

Snapchat allows you to share fun, creative, and personable content quickly and interact with your current and prospective customers.

Claim your Snapchat username today and begin reaching a target demographic that your competitors may not have considered. Your customers will remember that you were the first and your creative visual content will keep them coming back for more.

Also, keep in mind that building a following on Snapchat will take some time, so don’t be discouraged if your follower count or engagement with each post is low at the start. Consider building your audience by exporting your Snapchat stories to repurpose on other channels. You can do this by clicking the ellipsis next to the “My Story” button and then clicking the download button that appears next to it.

snapchat story image

Voila, you now have a video of your Snapchat Story, which you can share in your emails or on social media.

It may also take a bit of experimenting to figure out what content works best for your brand. Keep in mind that Snapchat is a much different platform than ones you may already be active on. You’re going to want to have a mix of photos and videos to keep your Story interesting and you want to keep things short and sweet, just how Snapchat intended!

Best of luck planning your content. Don’t forget to explore Snapchat’s geofilter to engage your followers.