Hi There!

Welcome to the seventh issue of the Basket Biz Cafe Newsletter! I'm so glad to have you as a member of our newsletter readers. Just a note here, if you see crazy characters in the text, it's to help this newsletter get through the spam filters to reach your inbox instead of your junk mail box, I really do know how to spell! The word S~A~L~E is especially vulnerable.

What's In This Issue

1. Editor's Note: New Business Articles Section at GBWS, Monthly S@le, Summer & Volleyball (yeah, AGAIN!!!)
2. Feature Articles: Identify The Ideal Target Audience With These 5 Tips / by Debbie LaChusa
3. Gift Basket Idea of the Month: Baby Bath Basket By Reba Collins
4. Business Tip of the Month: Are You Keeping A Backup of Your Important Data Files? By Reba Collins
5. NEW! GBWS MarketPlace: Classified Ads
6. New Inventory, Sa~le Items & Upcoming Items - New S*ale Items~! New Items Recently Arrived! See Right Column For Details=>
7. Upcoming Events - Right Column =>

Editor's Note

Dad's Day is coming up VERY soon, so if you plan to make any Father's Day supply orders, you need to get on it NOW. We still have some items in stock that make great additions to your Dad's Day baskets, so order soon if you want to get them in time.

So, now we're into the part of the year that doesn't have any gift-giving holidays. That's when you have to rely on other gift-giving occassions as well as your own creativity to bring in the money. You'll need to now focus on themes for New Baby, Birthday, Get Well, Housewarming, Weddings and Forgiveness. And corporate businesses you need to contact are those that give year-round, like realtors, car dealerships, hospitals and travel/cruise agents. Hopefully you've been marketing these items and to these businesses all year long so by now they'll recognize who you are and will be open to purchasing from you.

We just added a new area to our website, it's a Business Articles area. I plan to add two or three new articles each week, eventually it will become quite a resource for small business information. Be sure to check it out often. There's an RSS Feed so you can add it to your feed reader to know when it's been updated. Don't know what a feed reader is, here's a link to a past newsletter that explains, it's at the bottom of the page in the Business Tips section ~ RSS, XML and Feed Readers? Huh? Help!

Here's the link to the new Business Articles Section of the site:

http://www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com/articles

Last week we added just a couple of new items to the site, but there were some others the week before. Check out the right hand column.

And just like every month, yes we have a S^LE, so be sure to stop by in the S@LE category! Here's a link to this month's sale items to make them easy for you to find. The sale will run through Sunday, June 12th and only while supplies last, so click on over to get the best prices.

S@LE! S@LE! S@LE! ~ CL|CK HE~RE!

Also, don't forget to read our blog. There were several posts last month that might be of interest to you. That's where I announced the addition of our new Business Articles Section. I add new stuff as it happens, so if you don't use an RSS Reader, you might want to add your name to the email update feature I added a while back, you can find it near the top of the right-hand column. Just add your email address to our list and receive one email on any day there is an update to the blog. Here's the link to the blog, be sure to sign up!

http://www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com/blog

And, what else is going on in my life? Well, there's always volleyball, you know that, but I have something new this month to tell you about ~ my husband and I put our house up for sale! Wow, I still can't believe we're doing this! We're the only family to ever live in this house and we've been here 18 years, right along side both our next door neighbors who moved in just before we did. It's going to be hard to leave, but Brent and I decided it's time.

Brittany is going to graduate from high school in December this year and go on to Texas State where she'll be playing volleyball. Stephanie is 25 and lives very close but she's not yet married and there are no grandkids in the foreseeable future. It will be down to just the two of us. So, we really need a smaller place to live.

It's been a big job preparing the house for the market and I knew it would be when we made the decision. So I decided to journal the process and set up a blog. If you would like to follow our journey as we navigate the real estate market to sell our house and then buy another, go to the link below. Heck, I've learned a lot, you may learn a thing or two as well.

http://www.PuttingUpTheForSaleSign.com

Volleyball? Well, it's been pretty quiet. The girls are still practicing for Junior Olympics in Salt Lake City, July 3-6th. (OH - BTW, we'll be closed that week, we're taking a vaca to watch a little volleyball !!) The team has a local tournament coming up in a couple of weeks, but not much else is going on. Some of the girls are playing beach volleyball on the weekends and having a blast doing that.

There have been a few more teammates who made their verbal committments to colleges. It is so exciting! Out of the eleven girls that are on the team SEVEN have received and committed to full-ride scholarships! The other four will probably receive scholarships as well, most girls commit during their senior year of high school, there's still a lot of time left for them as well. Colleges represented by Willowbrook 17 Asics are Texas State, Stephen F. Austin State, Sam Houston State, University of Texas, San Diego State and Wichita State.

We also have one young lady who was chosen to the Girl's Youth National Team Training Roster. She's one of 18 young ladies who will train to be on the Youth National Team which will be narrowered down to 12 players (we think she'll make it, she's 6' 5" tall and they LOVE tall players, not to mention, she's one of the really good players!). The YNT will play in the Youth World Championships in Macao, China, in August of 2005. She gets to do this for free, the entire trip is paid for by USA Volleyball, the USA's olympic governing body for women's and men's volleyball. If this young lady makes the team, she will be in the pipeline for the 2012 Women's Olympic Volleyball Team. Now how cool is that? Wish her luck, she'll be representing YOU as a citizen of the United States. We couldn't be more proud. You can read more about it on the team's blog and feel free to leave comments and well wishes.

http://www.willowbrook17s.blogspot.com/

So, that's it for my part of the newsletter for this issue, hope you enjoy the rest. As I told you last month, I'm going to keep the format the same each month so you'll be able to read it and find what you want quickly. If you would like to contribute a gift basket idea or article, by all means, please do, just email me. And don't forget to send me your feedback as well. So, I can keep your letters out of my spam filter, use the following email address - editor@giftbasketwholesalesupply.com

Featured Articles

Narrowing your focus to one primary group of people is often difficult for small business owners. They want to help everyone — and very often their product or service CAN help a variety of people.

It also goes against human nature to narrow your focus in order to grow a business. Common sense seems to tell us if we want to grow our business big, we need to appeal to more people.

In reality the opposite is true. When we narrow our focus to a particular group of people we become an expert in solving their particular problems. We get to know them very well and we can develop additional products and services to fill their needs.

So how do you decide who to market to?

Following are 5 tips:

1. Think about the type of people who can MOST benefit from what you have to offer.
   
2. Think about who you would most enjoy helping, or working with.
   
3. Think about the type of people who will be easiest to reach, AND who will be most receptive to what you are selling. These will be people who KNOW they have THE problem you can solve and are LOOKING for a solution.
   
4. Know that just because you select a particular group of people to focus your marketing on, does NOT mean you can't help others who may come to you. It only means you're going to focus your proactive marketing efforts on the target group you select.
   
5. Lastly, don't over-think it. Listen to your gut, pick a group you feel you can really help and proceed with the development of your marketing plan. Marketing is a fluid process. The important thing is to start. You can always refine your audience and your plan later as you learn more.

Reach Thousands of Your Prospects, Absolutely Free
by Debbie LaChusa

I'm big on getting maximum marketing exposure at the lowest cost possible. After all, most small business owners don't have huge marketing budgets, so finding inexpensive ways to market is a necessity. Recently I was able to get free marketing exposure to nearly 100,000 people. It was something that took an hour or two of my time and the payoff was huge. And you can do it for your business, too.

It's called Public Relations

And it's simpler than you might think. If you follow a few basic rules, you can get great exposure for your business, product or service without having to pay for it. Here's all I did. See if this might apply to your business.

I sent out a press release announcing the launch of my 10stepmarketing System to two local business publications. While it did not take a lot of time to write and send the release, there were a few key steps I took that you also must take to be successful with your PR efforts.

A few key steps

First, I found several publications that were targeted to the same type of people I am targeting with 10stepmarketing: small business owners. Once I had identified these publications, I did some research to find out the names of the staff writers who cover marketing. I identified a "hook" to make the story relevant to the publications and I made sure the content of my release provided clear benefits to their readers.

I emailed the release with a note saying I would follow up in a day or two to answer any questions. I followed up with a phone call, speaking directly to one writer and leaving a voice message for the other. A few days later, I received a phone call from the writer I had left the message for, and spent 20 minutes on the phone answering her questions and helping her understand more clearly how my system could help her readers. I even arranged for her to receive a copy of my system for review.

A few days later, both stories hit. One publication ran my press release verbatim and the other covered all the content in my release and added quotes and information from her phone interview with me.

PR isn't hard when you follow these 6 basic rules:

1. Identify news outlets that reach YOUR target audience
   
2. Send news that is important to, and includes a clear BENEFIT for the publication's audience
   
3. Send your release to the APPROPRIATE writer or editor
   
4. Include a "HOOK" or something that makes it more interesting or relevant to the publication and their audience (in my case, since the writers cover the local advertising community, I led with the fact that I am a local ad agency veteran
   
5. Follow up
   
6. Make yourself available to do an interview, answer questions or provide additional information

While I didn't expect a whole lot to happen as a result of this release being published (my objective was simply to announce the launch of 10stepmarketing and to pave the way for future news. I know it usually takes multiple message exposures to generate significant results), the short-term results were amazing. Not only did it generate sales, I also received an invitation to speak as a result of the stories.

What news could you share about your business? What news outlets reach your prospects? What "hook" could you use? I challenge you to consider how you could use PR to market your business.

About The Author: 20-year marketing veteran Debbie LaChusa created The 10stepmarketing System to help small business owners successfully market their business, themselves without spending a fortune on marketing. To learn more about this simple, step-by-step program and to sign up for her FREE audio class and FREE weekly ezine featuring how-to articles, tips and advice, visit http://www.10stepmarketing.com

Gift Basket Idea of the Month

This month I put together a "Baby Bath Basket". Since I don't carry any baby bath soaps or lotions, I went to the store to get some to do the basket. I chose Aveeno Baby Bath Products because when I was at the store picking out the items I wanted to put in the basket, those were the ones that "looked" best. Somehow, they just seemed to "look" more expensive. Well...they WERE more expensive and I'm sure they're good products. I also purchased a couple of bars of Johnson & Johnson bath bars.

Click to enlarge.

I wanted to make the "Baby Bath Basket" because we carry the cutest little bath mits for babies and toddlers made by Russ Berrie. They're too small to fit on the hands of an adult but they will fit on a mom's fingers and are absolutely perfect for keeping baby happy during bathtime. Plus, they make an ADORABLE presentation in a gift basket.

I first took a receiving blanket and folded it so two corners were together and then draped it over over the side of the basket. A baby hooded towel would have been best but we don't have any in stock at the moment, so the receiving blanket had to do.

I then stuffed the basket with newsprint paper (not newspaper, newsprint doesn't have the print on it) for a base. I then made holes in the paper for the Aveeno Baby shampoo, bath wash and lotion. I placed them in the back center. I then added some shred, it didn't matter what color, there were so many colors going on I could have used any color and it would have looked good.

I had three products to put the mits on and that would have been enough but I wanted to use all six that came in the set because they're so darn cute. So I tied one on each side of the handle and placed the last one in the middle in front of the products. I put the soap bars and rubber duckie in the very front.

The last thing I needed was some enhancements. I thought the large daisy was perfect. I also placed a few pieces of greenery around the front edge.

I didn't wrap it for the picture but it would be a MUST to let the little guys hang out on the sides as if they're peeking through and dying to get out. How cute is that? Finish it off with a big hand tied bow and it's the perfect presentation!

Send ideas for upcoming gift basket ideas and I'll try to tackle the project. Just email me at editor@giftbasketwholesalesupply.com. I honestly welcome your input!! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Business Tip of the Month

Do you back up your computer files like you know you should? I know I don't. I wish I were better at it but I just can't find the media or the time to get it done as often as it should be done.

An example of my neglect is proven on a daily basis. I use QuickBooks as my accounting software for Gift Basket Wholesale Supply and a couple of other businesses I run. The QuickBooks software asks me EVERYDAY, as I'm shutting down the program, if I want to back up. Do I back up everyday? No. I just say to myself, I'll "get it" tomorrow. Now what would happen if a virus killed my hard drive tonight? Tomorrow would be too late, I'd have to re-enter all the work I've done since the last time I backed up. And to be honest with you, it's been over three weeks. Yikes!! And it would be a really big job because most my stuff is filed alphabetically, not chronologically.

Wow! I don't even want to think about it, I'm going to back up TODAY!

I've often thought about using one of those off-site backup companies, you know, the ones where you can upload your data to them and if something happens to your computer, no problem, you can just restore from them. Well, I haven't had good luck finding one I could afford until now. PC Fort ended up being just what I needed.

PC Fort is a company I just found and I thought it sounded like the perfect thing for me, so I decided I'd try it out and then write this review for you in my newsletter. Hopefully this write-up will make you think a little bit about your own data back-up procedures (or lack of) and you'll get something set in motion before too long.

You can sign up for PC Fort at their website ~ www.PCFort.com, there's plenty of info there, be sure to read through it. They offer several levels of pricing based on how much data space you need, and guess what, the prices start out at .99 cents per month for 250mb of data! Yes, you read that right, less than a dollar a month. They charge you for the entire year up front but there is a 30-day money back guarantee, so if you don't like it, you can cancel.

Well, I went ahead and signed up for the cheapest package. Okay, less than a dollar a month, but how much data is 250mb? Well, if you're trying to store hi-res photos, large database files or even your entire hard drive, it's not going to be enough space, you'll have to move up. But, if you just want to use it to back up your VERY important files, like your business accounting back-up file, or your personal financial files, or maybe a few software programs you purchased and downloaded from the internet but never copied to CD, you'll probably be just fine with the 250mb level.

What does PC Fort do? Here's a quote from their website:

Every day at a time of your choosing, PC Fort looks for new and changed files on your computer. These are compressed [for efficiency] and encrypted [for security], before being transmitted over the Internet to our data center.

Should you need to restore a single file or bring back the information from your whole computer this can be completed over an Internet connection.

This process is entirely automated and can be done in the middle of the night when you're asleep. And you'll never have to remember to back up your files again, it's done. Well, not totally, if you use QuickBooks like I do, when it asks you to back up as you're exiting the program, go ahead and do it but save it to your hard drive (yea! no more diskettes!), then just select your back-up file as one that PC Fort will back up to their data center. Easy, huh?

Is it easy to use? I'd say yes. All I did was sign up and give them my credit card, they charged me $11.88 for an entire year. After that they sent me an email with a link. I went to that link and downloaded the software that I have to use on my computer. I then installed the software by clicking on the file I downloaded. Within the software I was able to choose which files I wanted backed up and when I wanted it to run. I was also able to run it and stop it on demand.

How long did it take to back up 250mb? Well, I have a cable internet connnection, and that's considered high-speed, yours will be much slower if you're not on high-speed. However, it only took 15 minutes for it to get through 193mb.

The other thing I liked about it was that while it was "doing it's thing", I was still able to do mine. I continued to surf the net and check my email. Now that might not be possible if you're on dial-up, but with a high-speed connection, it worked fine.

Speaking of dial-up, the website did not address whether or not it would dial-up to make a back-up. I'm assuming it won't, it'll just start when you take your computer online. This is a question you should ask their support center BEFORE you sign up.

What did I NOT like? I'll be honest with you, there wasn't much I didn't like, but there were a couple of things. When you're selecting the files you want to back up, it doesn't tell you how much data you've selected. The first time I made my selections, I way over-did it. I went back and checked the size of the folders I'd selected and they added up to over 10gb - ouch! I think the program should be equiped to calculate the totals as you're making your selections.

The other thing I didn't like is that it didn't tell me how long the back up would take. I think it should be able to measure my data transfer rate and tell me approximately how long my data will take to transfer. Nope.

But, these things really aren't a big deal. Once I figured out which files I really NEEDED to back up and which ones I just WANTED to back up, I was able to get it narrowed down to the size I wanted. And I won't have to change the files I have selected unless I add something new to my current routine and at that time I can upgrade if I decide I need to. They make upgrading really easy, there's a button you click in the software, very simple.

Wow, for less than $12 I won't have to worry again about my QuickBook files, my Quiken files or several other very important files I keep, for an entire year. Yea!!! Peace of mind, it's a beautiful thing!

So, if you want to be sure you never lose your most important files to a computer virus or a hard disk crash or if you need a way to safely, securely and affordably store your data off-site or even if you just want to make your data back-up routine something you don't have to think about any more then click on the link, go to their website and sign up today!

PC Fort
www.PCFort.com

Next month....

I'm getting ready to start a new business selling inspirational greeting cards and stationery from a retail website. My new company will be called Inspired Greetings (www.InspiredGreetings.com ~ the site's not up yet). For this new business I'm going to need to have a logo designed and I just don't think I have it in me to do it myself. So, I'm going to have a graphic design company I found, OnMessage Graphic Design, do the work for me. They have a Small Business Internet Package that only costs $69.95.

Next month you'll find my review for OnMessage Graphic Design. You'll get the low-down as to how they handled the process of creating my new logo, whether or not they presented themselves as a professional company, and whether or not I think they would be a good company to use for your graphic design. I'm also going to critique the work they do for me...stay turned. Oh, I'm going to unveil the new logo too!

Future months...

I'm considering adding an affiliate program to my new business, Inspired Greetings, so that others can help me promote and earn a commission by doing so. Have you ever considered adding an affiliate program to your website but thought it would cost too much? Well, I found an affiliate network company called ClixGalore and it only costs $75 to get started.

In future months, when I go through the process of adding an affiliate program to my site, I will write an article about the process and review ClixGalore as to whether or not they are a good company to work with.

And, in another month, I'll review Yahoo Store!, as that's the shopping cart I plan to use. I'll also be checking out the costs of using Yahoo Shopping, BizRate, Shopping.com and Shopzilla.com. Be sure to stay subscribed...

Until next month...

Want to Interview or Contribute?

If you would like to be considered to be interviewed for an article to be published in this newsletter, please email me at the following link: "Editor" We will consider gift basket companies and other vendors who supply the industry as long as they don't compete with our product offerings.

Also, if you would like to contribute an article, I will consider any article that would be helpful to our industry and I will include an "Author's Info" box and link to your website. Just email me at the following link: "Editor" .

We do not pay for articles or interviews and we reserve the right to only publish those we choose to use and think are appropriate for our audience.

Gift Basket Market Place

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Contact us by Phone :1-800-738-5685
Or Email Customer Service

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Until Next Time

Thanks for joining in reading this great information. I'm hopeful that you learned a lot. So, I'll be talking with you next month, until then,

Good Luck, God Bless and Happy Gift Basketeering!

Reba Collins
Gift Basket Wholesale Supply
www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com

Gift Basket Wholesale Supply | 4431 Canadian River | Sugar Land, TX | 77478