Hawaii’s coolest business cards
Most business cards serve a basic purpose: providing your name and title, and the best ways to reach you. But some cards do more: They help you stand out from the crowd. We got more than a hundred entries for…
Marketing
5 steps to Writing a Press Release
Many small businesses don’t have the budget to hire a marketing firm to disseminate information about new products, special promotions or upcoming events, so it’s important to know how to get the word out when you are your marketing team.…
5 Steps to Better Public Speaking
Some people have the natural ability to speak with confidence in front of large audiences. For everyone else, Mark Blackburn, treasurer of Honolulu’s Downtown Business Association Toastmasters, offers tips on being a better public speaker. “It’s a real challenge, but…
5 Steps to Planning an Event
Successful events are a critical way of interacting with customers. Philip Richardson, CEO of Current Affairs, one of Hawaii’s most prestigious event-planning companies, offers advice on getting the most from your events. 1. Define your objectives “You’ve got to have…
Loving Liliha
It’s late afternoon in Liliha and minutes are ticking by on the new town clock high above Finance Factors at the crossroads of North Kuakini and Liliha streets. Schoolchildren and early diners squeeze onto stools at Liliha Bakery for $4 hamburgers, hot cakes and…
Editor's Note: A Crisis in News
People tell me that I’m a lucky guy because I got out of the newspaper business a year ago. True, I have a lot more job security now than my friends at the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the two…
5 Steps to Making Meetings Work
Worried that you and your staff are wasting time in unproductive meetings? Attorney Elizabeth Kent of the Hawaii Judiciary’s Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution offers five ways to get the most out of your meetings. 1. Plan Ahead to Be…
5 Steps to Handling the Media
Hawaii presentation coach Pam Chambers offers five steps to successfully speaking to the media without feeling you’ll have to leave town the next day. 1. Take charge of the interview Don’t give all the control to the reporter, or you…
Innovation: Enticing way to reach new customers
The Web site Play@SavvyCircle helps local restaurants and other businesses attract new customers in a fresh way. What customers get: The site offers people exclusive deals and discounts from businesses, which have included Hy’s Steak House, Tango Contemporary Café, Heaven on Earth…
Ask SmallBiz: How do Public Relations and Advertising fit together?
Q. How do public relations and advertising fit together? A. A wise king once said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” That is certainly true when it comes to product launches, public relations and advertising. One time-tested formula goes…
Marketing Lessons
Jon Jepson knows the Hawaiian seas like the back of his hand, but when he began marketing for Makani, the $1.8 million catamaran he helped hand-build, Jepson found himself testing new waters. Now in its third year, Makani Catamaran takes…
ZAP! POW! BAM! WOW!
Not only is Oceanit one of the state’s largest and most diverse high-tech engineering companies, it’s now popping out superheroes from a coloring book called Team Oceanit. Designed to intrigue Hawaii children and inspire them to pursue local careers in…
Taking the Message to Japan
Marriott Resorts Hawaii is launching its Spirit of Aloha Tour in Japan this month to attract more Japanese to the islands and its six resort hotels. A weak global economy and fear of the H1N1 flu have cut the number…
Mixing Business and Pleasure
“Networking has the potential to reverse the brain drain,” says Danielle Scherman, founder and president of Social Wahines, a social and professional networking group. What started off three years ago as an intimate monthly get-together of Scherman and her 30-something…