By Debbie Gregory.

It is amazing that in a few short weeks, 2019 will be over and we a new year will begin. VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association wishes all of our members, sponsors, colleagues and associates a happy, healthy and prosperous holiday season and new year.

We realize that December can be the peak of the selling season for so many small businesses. In addition, there are many other responsibilities and events with family and friends so time is at a premium.

Below are a few tips and tasks for ending your business year and things you should do in December that will position you right for 2020 as well as helping you to obtain the maximum tax benefits and comply with applicable laws.

• Charitable Donations – This is the time to make them and it also the season for giving. If you have a pass-through entity such as an “S” corporation, you will benefit on your personal income tax too if you itemize deductions.
• Check-in with your Accountant – This is an excellent time (if you have not yet done so) to discuss your taxes for 2019 to make sure you are doing all you can to mitigate the final number and plan ahead for 2020. Additionally, the final payment of 2019 estimated taxes is due January 20, 2020 so make sure you avoid any penalties for late or insufficient payments to cover them.
• Check-out Legal Changes – There are all types of new laws on the horizon on the federal, state and local levels. These might include but not be limited to the new federal overtime laws. Your state minimum wage rate often changes at the beginning of new year and of course there are always various new income tax laws as well as new laws on defining an employee from an independent contractor.
• Corporate Board Meeting – The end of the year is a good time to hold it if you have not done so already. Many states require corporations even those with a sole owner to do so and elect officers and directors as well as to take specific actions.
• Compensation Plans – This is the time to plan to compensation plans employees and set them for 2020. You should keep in mind when doing this the cost of employment taxes such as social security and Medicare which will cost your company more in FICA with the maximum going up to $137,700.
• Benefit Programs – This is the time to determine your benefits for employees such as medical plans, retirement plans and other benefits. Do so by keeping in mind some of the new 2020 rules that set new limits on 401(k) contributions and other retirement plans as well as health reimbursement for medical coverage
• Employee Bonuses – This is the time for your year-end bonuses especially if 2019 has been a banner year. You will want to share the wealth with employees who helped make 2019 successful for your company as well as yourself if you are a shareholder-employee company. Keep in mind the cost of employment taxes too.
• Inventory – This is the time with the end of the holiday season to review your inventory carefully. You should take a physical inventory and review items that you want to get rid of via a big sale and donate to charity or discard and write them off.
• End of Year Purchases – This is often an excellent time to upgrade your equipment, computer systems, etc. By purchasing these items at the end of the year, it will provide you a write-off on your taxes and prepare you with what you need to begin 2020
• New Date – It is a new year and you need to update anything with a date including your website, your website copyright and any collateral to reflect that it is 2020.

Happy New Year!

By Debbie Gregory.

Recap:

In Part 2 of our holiday preparation series we went over planning deals for your past customers, putting together your holiday messaging, preparing your inventory and packing materials and getting your site prepared for the holiday rush. In Part 3, we will finish out the series with the graphics you will need to create, your PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns, updating your holiday policies, and readying your site for buyers.

Create All of the Holiday Graphics & Imagery You Will Need:

It is best to create all needed graphics and imagery well in advance of the holiday season. Adding cute little holiday touches really helps people feel festive when shopping with you. Take the time to update your website, logo, headers, and social channels with fun holiday touches. You will also want to create fun graphics to go with all your promotions, deals, and bundles. Make them eye-catching, colorful, festive, and fun!

Plan, Write & Review Your Holiday PPC Campaigns (Pay Per Click):  

If you utilize Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns, you will want to make sure that they reflect the same promotions, deals, and discounts that you are planning to push on your website and social channels. These campaigns are also best run during the peak buying days mentioned earlier. Typically you want to focus holiday campaigns from December 14th-24th.

Review & Update Any Policies & Procedures That Can BE Affected During the Holidays:

Since we are specifically talking about eCommerce businesses you will want to make sure that your holiday shipping time frames and procedures are front and center on your site. You may want to consider creating a holiday FAQ page that covers typical questions your customers may have during the holiday season so they know what they can expect. Items such as:

• Special hours
• Last days to order to ensure delivery by December 24th
• Dates certain types of shipping will no longer be available

Test & Update Your Website Security & Performance:

Security is always a concern for consumers when shopping online. Make sure that your site is ready for the holiday spending season by:

• Having an SSL certificate installed and configured or update the one you have
• Make sure that your hosting package can handle the holiday traffic
• Make sure your site is totally up to date
• Make sure your site is running properly and as fast as possible
• Make sure that your site looks proper both on a computer and on mobile

If you plan accordingly, tackle any possible issues, you will have a lower stress, more profitable, and more productive holiday eCommerce season.

Happy holidays and we hope this is your biggest holiday season ever!

By Debbie Gregory.

Recap:

Part 1 of our holiday preparation series went over the days you should focus on and preparing your holiday deals. Part 2 will cover planning deals for your past customers, putting together your holiday messaging, preparing your inventory and packing materials ready, and getting your site prepared for the holiday rush.

Prepare Special/Exclusive Holiday Offers for your Current/Past Customers:

People who have purchased from you in the past are very likely to purchase from you again. Target them with an exclusive deal! Special discounts, free shipping, or other perks offered to past customers shows them that you appreciate their business and loyalty counts with in your business.

Prepare All Holiday Mail/Email Messaging:

Make sure that you pre-setup all holiday-related emails and newsletters. Make sure your auto-responders are setup and ready to deploy when the holiday season begins. Put together template responses to commonly asked questions so replies are quick and easy.

Make Sure You Will Have the Inventory & Shipping Items:

You not only need to make sure that you have enough products to sell, you also need to make sure that you have all of the packaging materials, promotional materials, and gift wrapping materials you will need to process and ship out your orders. Trying to scramble to find these materials when orders are waiting to go out, can add a lot to your holiday stress not to mention cost business.

Make Sure You Have These Items:

• Packaging materials: boxes, labels, tape, envelopes, bubble wrap, etc.
• Promotional materials: business cards, inserts, flyers, discount cards, etc.
• Gift wrapping materials: gift boxes, cards, ribbon, wrapping paper, etc.

Plan Out All Holiday, Website, Newsletter, Social Media & Blog Content:  

Customers spend a lot of time shopping around for the best deals from trusted sellers. Creating and sharing holiday-specific content helps your exposure, helps build trust, and can showcase your expertise and products. Schedule your social posts to go out more than once to ensure they are being seen. It is important to repeat your message without being annoying.  Create content that helps your customer gain interest in your upcoming deals and products.  You might consider telling your story regarding various products.

Content Ideas to Help Get the Ball Rolling:

• Holiday gift guides
• Stocking stuffer ideas
• Last-minute gift guides
• Coming soon landing pages for your holiday promos or products
• How-to to make life easier, more productive, or more enjoyable
• Product comparisons
• Customer review compilations

Stay tuned for part 3 of this series – we will finish out the series with the graphics you will need to create, your PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns, updating your holiday policies, and preparing your site ready for buyers.

By Debbie Gregory.

If you own and run an eCommerce business, you should have your holiday plan in place well before Halloween begins. As the holidays close in, we all have more demands on our time with the stress, preparation, and activities that the holiday season brings. It will make your life exponentially easier if you prepare and plan for the holiday season well in advance of it starting.

The more you can have created, planned for, have in place and are ready to roll in advance, the better off you will be as the holiday season unfolds. The holidays, as you know, are where retailers make the bulk of their entire yearly sales.  If plan for the season correctly, you can more easily grab a significant piece of the holiday spending pie.

Areas of Focus to Increase Customer Sales for the Holiday Shopping Season:

• Put together your promotional calendar
• Plan out any promotional codes and bundles you will be offering
• Prepare special/exclusive holiday offers for your current/past customers
• Prepare all holiday mail/email messaging
• Make sure you will/do have the inventory
• Plan out all your holiday website, newsletter, social media, and blog content
• Create the holiday graphics and imagery you will need
• Plan, write and review your holiday PPC (Paid Per Click) campaigns
• Review and update any policies and procedures that may be impacted by the holidays
• Test and update your website security and performance

Put Together Your Promotional Calendar:

The first step is to put together a detailed holiday plan including a calendar of what you want to promote and when for the coming season. You will want to jot down the important shopping days and what promotions you would like to run for those days.

Popular Online Holidays for 2020:

1. Cyber Monday –  November 30, 2020
2. Black Friday – November 27, 2020
3. Thanksgiving –  November 26, 2020
4. Small Business Saturday
5. Green Monday – December 9, 2019 &
6. Christmas Eve – December 24, 2020
7. Christmas Day – December 25, 2020

Some of the Most Popular Online Shopping Days: 

1. Cyber Monday – December 2, 2019 & November 30, 2020
2. Small Business Saturday –
3. Black Friday – November 29, 2019 & November 27, 2020
4. Small Business Saturday – November 30, 2019 & November 28, 2020
5. Thanksgiving – November 28,2019 & November 26, 2020
6. Day Before Thanksgiving – November 27, 2019 & November 25, 2020
7. Saturday After Thanksgiving – November 30, 2019 & November 28, 2020
8. Sunday After Thanksgiving – December 1, 2019 & November 29, 2020
9. Green Monday – usually the 2^nd Monday in December 9, 2019 & December 14, 2020
10. Christmas Eve – December 24, 2019 & December 24, 2020
11. Day after Christmas – December 26, 2019 & December 26, 2020
12. New Year’s Eve – December 31, 2019 & December 31, 2020

Don’t forget to use December 26th as a great day for post-holiday clearance sales. This day really appeals to gift card recipients and people hunting for deals.

Plan out any Promotional Codes and Bundles to Offer:

On your calendar, you should have a clear plan for all promotional codes or deals. Write out what they are, when they start, and when they will end. Create catchy promo code names that will be easy for customers to remember. Put together bundle deals to entice customers and up-sell your other products. Announce all sales, bundles, and promo codes on your site and in newsletters, and social media content.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series – we go into planning deals for past customers, putting together your holiday messaging, preparing your inventory and packing materials ready, and getting your site prepared for the holiday rush.

By Debbie Gregory.

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association is your non-profit trade association.  There are other associations out there for Veterans and Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) that also address some of the needs of population.  We are a little different than other associations.

As the CEO of VAMBOA, I’d like to explain how we are different and some of what we offer so that Veteran and Military Business Owners may gain the most benefit from VAMBOA.

VAMBOA’s focus is to provide those we serve with as much valuable information and as many resources as possible.  We also want to make it easy for you to access it. We are highly cognizant of the fact that small business owners have limited time and must use it wisely.

It is not possible to attend all the conferences that will yield helpful and provide you valuable resources and also be away from your business.  Additionally, it can be very expensive and not only in the time away from your business, but the cost of travel, hotels, meals, conference fees.  More importantly, you can lose or compromise business by not being there to work with clients, prospects and your team.  Small business owners wear many hats and operating a successful business requires you to be engaged and there more often than not.

VAMBOA has evolved and in a few words has become the “Go To Place” for Veterans, Service Disabled and Military Business Owners to obtain resources and do so online.  We work hard to provide you significant value on a regular basis.

VAMBOA’s team performs extensive research in all areas of business that are important to you.  We write, edit, and post online on our blog a minimum of three important articles weekly to keep you informed without you having to leave your seat or your office.

VAMBOA has over 7,200 registered members and an extensive database of other Veteran, Service Disabled and Military Business Owners.  We are approaching a quarter of a million combined fans and followers on social media.  We regularly use various social medium platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In to put forth important information for you.

VAMBOA also connects our members with corporations that are seeking a diverse network of suppliers that includes Veterans, Service-Disabled Veterans and Military business owners.   We put forth their needs to our membership and contact individual members in the areas they seek for their Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Requests for Information (RFIs), to work with them and more.  We follow up and help you gain their business.

VAMBOA does not charge our members and all of services and connections are free of charge to you without dues or fees.  We also do not send you endless emails trying to sell you products or services.  VAMBOA relies solely on corporate sponsorship.   Corporations that sponsor us can easily connect to our huge audience.   They too don’t have to leave their offices and work to accomplish this goal nor do we go back to them over and over to sponsor various events.   We keep it simple and provide considerable value.

We place their corporate outreach to our members front and center in a variety of ways and repeat their message to engage and accomplish their goals.  We use the power of our huge database and the Internet including direct outreach, exposure on the VAMBOA website, emails, newsletters, social media posts and articles.  VAMBOA has impressive traffic with an outstanding US Alexa Traffic ranking of under 17,000 of all the billions of websites on the Internet (with Alexa the lower the number the better with Google being #1).

VAMBOA invites Veteran, Service-Disabled and Military Business Owners to join our association so your business can connect to companies that seek your skills and diversity.

You can register here: https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

VAMBOA also invites corporations that recognize the Veteran Business Owners are awesome and want to connect with them in an easy, efficient and cost-effective way to become sponsors.  Please send us an EMAIL!