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15.09.2016 // Mastering Social Media is One Key to Your Small Business Succeeding

Mastering Social Media is One Key to Your Small Business Succeeding

Learning how to use social media is a proven, effective way to help your small business grow. Social media has become essential for small businesses’ marketing for several reasons. Once you master how to leverage social media for your business, you will be able to reap the benefits and watch your revenues grow.

Why Social Media is Important
Exposure
More and more people are turning to social media to help them decide what to buy and from whom. Businesses without a focused social media presence may not be considered established enough by some consumers. Some potential customers need the “social proof” and credibility that social media can give a small business, so help them make their buying decision. Social media is a place where consumers can “check out” your business — before they decide to do business with you. You need to make it clear what you offer, what you stand for, and what customers you serve even in your social profiles.

Affordable
Social media is an extremely affordable way to spread the word about your business without a large marketing budget. If you want to help things along, paid social advertising such as Facebook ads typically cost a fraction of other types of advertising and give almost immediate results in terms of ROI. You can know in just 5-7 days if your strategy is working online.

Build Relationships
Not only does social media get your business name in front of more people, you can leverage it to develop relationships through consistent interactions. These relationships often lead to opportunities for your business to expand through collaboration with others, which can open up new opportunities. Social media exposure can often lead to mentions in news stories, media interviews, and other publicity for your business.

Boost Search Rankings
Studies have shown that social media increases brand loyalty, boosts SEO results and search rankings, and helps build an email list. It can also help you scope out the competition (without them knowing) and get feedback about how your business is doing.

Using Social Media for Your Business
Facebook and Twitter are the two biggest social media sites in the U.S., but there are many others that may benefit your business. You can use a scheduling platform like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to schedule posts to all your sites at once too. This allows you to increase your social media presence, but understand each social site is unique, so it might not be such a great idea to post the same content the same way everywhere online. Customized content will maximize your success on each site.
One great way to promote your business on social media is to offer something of value for free. People are much more motivated to like and share your post if they receive something in return, and you can ask them to like your page rather than just the post for an even greater impact. You can gain hundreds or thousands of new followers to which you can market your products and services, which will be invaluable to your future marketing efforts.
Posting at least a few times every week on at least one or two platforms will keep your content fresh so people will keep reading your blog. And that will keep your business name fresh in their minds so that, when they are ready to buy, they will think of you. Besides all the business aspects of social media, it is also a fun way to interact with customers and keep them engaged with your business on a personal level. Friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter for more great tips on using social media for your business.

09.09.2016 // A Message to Employees: Be Adaptable!

Companies are not permitted to discriminate in hiring based on a candidate’s age, because such discrimination is illegal. And yet they do it every day. Why? Why are younger people considered more desirable in the workplace? The simple answers are that they require less compensation; they’re hungry because they need to accumulate wealth for future years; sometimes they’re more educated and have advanced degrees; and they can stick around longer before retiring. There are other reasons too, such as getting sick less often and having more stamina. But there’s one crucial thing that people don’t often talk about: that younger generations can adapt more easily to change and therefore can — and are willing to — learn new things. Invariably, more-mature people joke about the fact that if they need to do just about anything technology related, they phone their children or even their grandchildren. Younger generations’ brains are wired to deal more readily with modern technology. And they don’t have to unlearn old technology.

A Growing Need for Adaptable Employees
Today’s work environment requires the ability to adapt quickly to market demands. New technology is ubiquitous and evolving fast. Learning new things and immediately becoming able to use them are modern-age requirements. Younger people more easily learn. Older people often resist and can’t.
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” as the adage says, is true for people more advanced in age. Many don’t know how to use a smartphone or how to email or how to navigate the internet or how to shop online. And they’ve come to believe they’re too old to learn; they’ve given up on learning new things. Employers are fully aware of that phenomenon and consider the age of an applicant before making an offer.
Beginning with our birth and for many years after, learning new things is a necessity to survive and be part of modern society. As we get older, though, we reach a point when learning becomes optional. We no longer need to learn new things to survive. Some use the excuse that they can’t learn anymore because they’re old. It’s not true, of course, but it still gets used as an excuse. And some simply lack the motivation to expend the energy required to learn new things.
Older people should stress in job interviews that they have the desire to keep learning new things, and in fact they should give examples of new things they’ve learned recently and adopted as parts of their daily lives.

31.08.2016 // 10 Ways to Train Your Team to Think Big

10 Ways to Train Your Team to Use Big Picture Thinking

As the founder, you’re always thinking two steps ahead. That’s not always the case for your team. That’s why we asked 10 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“How can you train your team to think about the big picture when they’re working on a specific task?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say about thinking big:

1. Use an OKR Goal Setting System

“An OKR (objectives and key results) goal setting system keeps all team members aware of the bigger picture. These objectives are kept public so it is easy for other employees to see what one team is working on and how it relates to what they are working on. By highlighting how each objective works together on larger goals, it should be easier for team members to think big. ” ~ Chuck Cohn, Varsity Tutors

2. Focus on Core Values

“In his best-selling business book ‘Good to Great,’ Jim Collins highlights the importance of establishing core values to help define goals and priorities of successful businesses. Core values help team members keep the big picture and allow everyone to evaluate performance with regard to not only overall priorities, but also specific tasks. Core values help keep focus despite occasional shifts.” ~ Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com

3. Tie Their Output to Your Strategic Plan

“It’s easy to get so focused on the details that you lose sight of the big picture. By tying your team’s output directly to achieving a strategic goal, you’ll keep the focus on where the company is headed and how each task helps you get there. This also gives your team the incentive to ensure everything they do furthers your company’s strategic goals.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

4. Use Mind Maps

“The benefit of mind mapping is that you can create an overview of projects. You start with macro at the core, and slowly create smaller and smaller breakdowns of each project to have both a macro and micro view of projects. By creating this overview as a mind map, you can see how each small task connects to the large project, and how each large project fits in with the overall campaign.” ~ Marcela De Vivo, Brilliance

5. Provide Monthly Updates

“It’s important for employees to understand the bigger picture and to see that what they are doing in the moment will eventually contribute to an end goal. We send out monthly updates to our team that show how what they’ve been working on in the past month is getting us closer to our goals. ” ~ Brian David Crane, Caller Smart Inc.

6. Adopt an Agile Workflow

“Adopt an agile workflow. If done properly, the big picture is always clear, as individual tasks are worked on collaboratively while building specific functionality, or business goals, within that larger framework. With daily meetings, those goals and tasks remain in the forefront of everyone’s mind, keeping the team on task and moving toward the same destination.” ~ Blair Thomas, First American Merchant

7. Start Small

“If you want your employees to get a grasp of the big picture, they have to start small. While working on specific tasks, you and your team should identify the actionable first steps, generate goals, and structure your approach. This will allow all individual tasks and goals to align directly with your company’s big picture goal.” ~ Anthony Pezzotti, Knowzo.com

8. Tie the Task to a Specific Metric

“Ask, ‘What metric will this task have an impact on?’ It could be directly revenue related, more qualitative (customer satisfaction/delight), or internal (efficiency). Then ask, ‘How does this metric affect other metrics?’ For example, customer delight affects word-of-mouth, which affects traffic, etc. This habit will help people see their work as part of a larger team effort.” ~ Roger Lee, Captain401

9. Make Sure Everyone Is Aware of Client Expectations

“Because we create managed hosting environments for our clients, team members must understand what we’re trying to achieve for each client. I try to ensure that every team member understands the greater goal and their contribution, so that everyone is pulling in the same direction. A client-focused approach helps provide a framework within which everyone understands the part they have to play.” ~ Justin Blanchard, ServerMania Inc.

10. Whiteboard

“Sometimes the simplest team strategies work the best. Have a giant whiteboard viewable for all team members with either your one metric or your mission statement, written in full view. Make that the first thing team members see each day, and make it front in center whenever their minds (and eyes) start to wonder if they are questioning the context of a task or strategy.” ~ Sam Madden, PocketSuite, Inc.

29.08.2016 // Exclusive: the outlook for global toy licensing through 2020

Despite the enormous success of Frozen in 2014, Star Wars proved to be an even greater force in licensed toy sales, growing the market by 10% to reach US$20.6 billion globally in 2015. The growth licensed toy sales experienced in 2015 is expected to continue. Numerous factors, including smartphone proliferation, household demographic shifts, and an upcoming glut of media content will help push licensed toy sales up 27% in constant value through to 2020, to reach US$26.2 billion.

Global Licensed vs Non-licensed Traditional Toy Sales 2016 - 2020 (Illustration: Spielwarenmesse; Source: Euromonitor International)

A smartphone in every home

One of the key reasons that licensing will be the market driver of growth within traditional toys and games is the strong connection that children will form with their licenses. In 2015, over 1.2 billion smartphones were sold globally and nearly half of every household had access to a smartphone. Global sales are not expected to decline anytime soon, with 32% growth expected by 2020, where it is expected that over 70% of global households will possess a smartphone.

Many of these phones will inevitably end up in the hands of children, and with continued advancements in expansion in mobile data networks, will mean that children can potentially have constant access to the internet. This will allow them to view their favourite media content at any point of the day and interact with the intellectual properties they enjoy through streaming videos, and mobile games. Increasing interaction means a deeper connection with licensed characters resulting in higher demand for products featuring these characters, in particular toys.

Smaller, richer households

In addition to the growth of smartphones, households of the future should be better able to purchase licensed products than ever before. Licensed toys typically carry a higher unit price than their non-licensed counterparts due to the added cost of fees paid to the licensor. Therefore licensed toy growth is strongly linked to income growth, especially in developing markets where there is a greater amount of price sensitivity.

Global gross incomes per households are expected to grow by 7% in constant value from 2015 to 2020. While these gains will not be even across income levels, many families will see higher income levels over the next five years. At the same time, the average number of children per household has been on a steady decline over the past few years due to the growing number of women entering the work force globally and delaying their first child birth.

Overall the average number of children per household is expected to shrink 4% overall from 2015 to 2020. This means families will have higher incomes but fewer children to spend their income on, which in turn means they will be more inclined to buy higher priced licensed toys.

A positive feedback loop

The combination of smartphone proliferation, richer and smaller households, and a dizzying amount of media content will create a strong atmosphere for licensed properties. That will likely be even further bolstered by new developments like immersive virtual or augmented reality experiences. The growth of licensed toys will not go unnoticed, and more manufacturers and retailers will grow their portion of licensed products.

This positive atmosphere will likely drive more licensors to enter the toy market which in turn will further fuel licensed toy growth, creating a feedback loop that sustains year-on-year sales increases. While such a cycle cannot last forever due to eventual market maturity, through to 2020 there is every indication that the outlook for licensed toys will be bright.

19.08.2016 // 10 Tips for Ensuring Future Business Success

Building a successful business is a constantly changing process. So you need to be able to adapt and keep up to ensure long term success. Members of our small business community have had to navigate plenty of changes and updates. Check out some top tips for moving your business toward future success in the list below.

Be Useful for Mobile Shoppers
If you want your business to be successful going forward, you need to focus on mobile. And if you sell products, that means you need to provide an experience that is useful for mobile shoppers. Colin Williamson of Reef Digital shares some tips for doing so in this post.

Get a Headstart With Instagram’s Latest Update
Social platforms like Instagram can be great tools for businesses. But they’re also constantly changing. So you need to keep up with updates like Instagram’s newest feature, Stories, in order to be successful in the future. Ben Marshall explores how to use Instagram’s latest update in this Studio Culture post. And the BizSugar community also discusses the post here.

Protect Your Business From Crashing and Burning
There are all kinds of disasters that can happen to businesses. And while you can’t necessarily anticipate all of them, you can use processes to protect your business from some common issues. Benjamin Brandall details how processes can help in this Process Street post.

Maximize Your Marketing Efforts With Statistics
Building your own marketing strategy can be sort of a gamble. But if you take a look at the facts and statistics behind things like social media marketing, like the ones shared in this RightMix Marketing post by Chris Flores, you can improve your odds of being successful.

Consider the Past, Present and Future of SEO
SEO is one of those concepts that’s always changing. So if you’re going to use it for your business, you need to keep up with all the changes. Jasmine Sandler outlines some of those changes along with what might come next for SEO in this Search Engine Journal post. And BizSugar members share thoughts on the post too.

Bring Your Team Together With Fun Office Activities
Having a strong team can help your business deal with pretty much any situations that come your way. But in order to bring your team together, you might need to get a little creative. Ivan Widjaya has some suggestions for fun office activities in this SMB CEO post.

Engage Employees With Summer Rewards
You can also keep your employees engaged by providing some kind of rewards system. And summer is a great opportunity to offer some fun rewards to your team, as Stephanie Galioto shares in this Marketing Innovators post.

Design the Perfect Twitter Campaign
If you use Twitter as part of your content strategy, you may need to do more than just post the occasional promotional tweets. Using actual Twitter campaigns can be beneficial when done correctly, as David Lowbridge of Two Feet Marketing explores here. You can also see conversation surrounding the post over on BizSugar.

Write a Blog Series
You likely already know about the potential benefits that blogging can bring to your content strategy. But some entrepreneurs still struggle with getting people to read their blogs on an ongoing basis. That’s where blog series’ can help. Megan Hicks shares how to start a blog series in this post on the Social Marketing Fella blog.

Keep an Eye on These Gadget Trends
If you want your business to be successful well into the future, you need to monitor upcoming trends. Whether you run a tech business or not, gadgets and tech trends can have a huge impact on how you run your business. And Stephen Moyers outlines some upcoming gadget trends in this post on the SPINX Digital Blog.

15.08.2016 // 5 Amazing Content Marketing Tips For Solopreneurs

Let’s just be honest for a second.

Building a business by yourself is tough, isn’t it? It’s not easy to get customers. This is especially true if you do a lot of business online.

Online marketing is a huge challenge for many solopreneurs. You try to design an attractive website. You work on writing your web copy. You may have even dabbled in blogging.

But it’s not working. You aren’t getting any traffic. There’s nobody subscribing to your website.

The success of most solopreneurs depends on their ability to market effectively.

In this day and age, it would be silly for any solopreneur to ignore the power of content marketing. These kinds of marketing techniques allow you to attract customers in a way that builds credibility, authority and trust.

Content marketing is a solid way to find highly targeted leads even if you don’t have a huge marketing budget. It’s a great way to increase your influence by providing great value to your audience.

However, just like any other kind of marketing technique, it has to be done right. You can’t just throw a website up with any old type of content and expect people to be eager to read it. Quite the contrary, you will usually have to try harder to get people to pay any attention to you, since they are bombarded with free information all the time. It is your job to stand out from the cacophony of content.

To that end, here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re using content marketing as a strategy:

Marketing a One Person Business Using Content

Tip #1: Don’t Create Lousy Content

This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. You need to make sure that each piece of content that you create is of the highest quality possible. Creating high-quality content takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it in the end.

You can have tons of information, but if it’s unreadable or inaccurate, few people will share it, and the whole point of content marketing is to get people to spread your material around as much as possible.

Think of your content as a spore that will grow into new prospects when it falls on the fertile ground of your niche. That was rather poetic, wasn’t it?

But it’s true. If your material is high quality, your audience will continue to grow.

Tip #2: Make it Easy for Prospects to Find You

There’s no point in creating great content if nobody sees it, right? That’s why it’s important to focus on your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).

You should write for people before you write for search engines, of course, but you can’t ignore the power of search engines. Search engines are the main way that consumers find the products and services they purchase. That’s why you can’t afford to neglect search engine optimization.

There are many ways to get your website to rank higher in search engines. You need to find the techniques that are best for your company.

Tip #3: Social Media is Your Friend

Another thing that can influence SEO these days is social sharing. You need to make sure that your material is getting shared on social media. Everyone is using social media nowadays, so it would be foolish to ignore it.

One of the best ways to get people’s attention is to simply show up where they hang out. Of course, you need to find out what social media platforms are best for your business. You want to make sure you’re actually posting on a platform that your prospective customers are using.

Tip #4: Don’t Be Afraid to Outsource

Now, you might be thinking: “Sure, content marketing is great and I should definitely do it, but who has time to make all of that material?” This is a valid question, especially when the content you need falls outside of your specialization. If this is the case, you might consider outsourcing some of your content creation.

For example, let’s say you need articles on your website, but you’re not a writer. It would probably take you longer than a professional writer to write up the kind of ideas that you want to express, and you may not be able to express them as well. This could be a waste of time because you could be using your talents for other things. In this case, it may be better to outsource.

Now, if you like having a lot of control, you don’t have to outsource everything. To go back to the example above, you could just write article outlines and have a writer fill in the blanks. If you are making video content, you could shoot the content yourself and hire an editor to make sure the raw footage is fit for consumption.

No matter what, though, don’t fall into that trap of thinking that you’ll “save money” by doing everything yourself. You know what? Time is money, and if you are using your time inefficiently — working on a task you dislike or that you’re not that great at doing, instead of working from your strengths — then you are wasting money. Many new entrepreneurs, in their zeal to save every last bit of capital, make this mistake.

Tip #5: Use the Right Tools

There are plenty of useful tools out there that can help you turn your website into a lead generating machine. The key is to find the right tools for your type of business. These tools are designed to make it easier for you to accomplish your content marketing goals.

After all, what’s the point of having great content if you’re not selling anything?

If you run an eCommerce business, there are plenty of WordPress plugins you can use to get more people to buy your products. There are also more comprehensive lists of tools that can help enhance your content marketing.

Conclusion

Growing a successful business means earning the trust of your prospective clients. You have to build influence with them as much as possible.

Content marketing works because you are providing value to your audience without expecting anything in return. When your prospects look to you as a source of valuable information, it increases the chances that they will buy from you. You may not see dramatic results at first, but if you keep at it, you’ll discover how powerful content marketing can be.

5 Amazing Ways to Market a One Person Business Using Content

09.08.2016 // Best practice: successful marketing strategies for board & other tabletop games

The success of a new game starts right from the development of an appealing game concept. The measures then taken to market the game are another big aspect of achieving bestseller status. Most games publishers have comparatively small budgets. Instead of big promotional campaigns, publishers like to find other ways of garnering attention for a new game. The use of modern media is one tool in their armoury, but not the only one.

Kosmos chanced an unusual approach four years ago, in autumn 2012. An alternate reality game was created for the new Legends of Andor fantasy game released in October of the same year. 50 prominent games journalists and bloggers received a little anonymous parcel containing some mysterious items. A piece of fur, some little wooden sticks, cryptic symbols and an ancient newspaper article had to be deciphered. The search for a solution quickly began.

The treasure hunters found the help they needed online. They connected on Facebook, exchanged information and searched for traces like geocachers. After all, besides the virtual world, very real information also had to be tracked down. Finally, the new game was unveiled at an exclusive media event. Curiosity had been piqued, the reporting by multipliers was more intensive than ever and the focus lay on Andor. No one paying any attention could have missed this new product in autumn 2012.

Sparking interest in an upcoming game highlight

Fortunately, the game designer and editorial team had developed a game worth playing. Thus was launched a product which would go on to be named the “Kennerspiel des Jahres” (German for “Expert Game of the Year”) the following year and achieve six-figure sales. Andor lives on, with part three having just been announced for the second half of the year.

And while the publisher no longer has to come up with ARG ideas, social media is still being used, with a teaser of the new cover now available on the relevant websites months before release. And garnering great attention once again.

Provoking online discussion

Of course, all publishers now have their own websites which they use to present new products and the facts about them. Rules are often published online in advance so that interested consumers can find out how a new game idea works. Casual players appreciate this as they can assess a new game in the comfort of their own homes. However, besides the publisher’s website, it is more important for perennially popular games to also have their own website or YouTube channel, Facebook account, etc.

Internet users will sometimes find information via the author's website as well. Carcassonne, Memory and Stratego are just three well-known examples of this. Online versions of adapted board games are also an option for games that consistently sell well over a long period, Monopoly being the main example. Of course, the publisher’s fundamental idea behind all of these measures is to keep its own bestsellers in the limelight and prevent them falling through the cracks.

Showcasing games in action

Catan Big Game

Catan GmbH enjoyed unbelievable success in cooperation with publisher Kosmos at the Spieltage game trade fair in 2015. Billed as the Catan Big Game, the organisers succeeded in getting almost 1000 players playing together and building settlements at the same time at one game table. Of course, the term “game table” does this little justice. The organisers hired out an entire exhibition hall and used a sophisticated system to accommodate hundreds of players engaged in harvesting, trade and construction at the same time. Through such initiatives, Catan still remains young and topical after 20 years. And is again the focus of reports.

There is also a noticeable preference for using attention-grabbing marketing activities for a publisher's core games rather than to push new ones. Publishers know that familiar ideas and ground rules are simply easier to sell than completely new game ideas. Consumers can be somewhat slow to mix things up and like to fall back on the old familiars, though perhaps in slightly amended forms.

For example, the Ravensburger classics Memory and 11er raus! (“Elevens Out!”) now have board game versions with the same titles. Whole families of games are centred around successful titles such as Catan, Carcassonne, Monopoly, Uno and Bohnanza. If a game is named the “Spiel des Jahres” (German for “Game of the Year”), thereby boosting sales by a factor of twenty or thirty, you do not have to wait long until a junior version, card game or travel version of the core game is unveiled.

New niches

©Ravensburger Spieleverlag GmbH

One important marketing strategy for games is to identify unexploited niches and target these forcefully. Industry leader Ravensburger is enjoying brilliant success with its tiptoi pen, bringing electronics to play. By using the electronic pen, a game, illustrated book or even toys can interact and communicate with the user, opening up completely new play worlds. This line has been extremely successful for years in the children’s sector in particular.

Games inspired by books and the series of two-player games from Kosmos are also closely linked with the publisher. Competitors have so far tried in vain to muscle their way into these niches. HCM Kinzel has captured the market with smart solitaire games, Amigo with diverse card games for all target groups, Haba, with its sunshine yellow boxes, the preschool game segment, etc. It is difficult to break new ground. However, it can be worth identifying niches and testing out new ideas.

Träxx Franz Jurthe, Managing Director of Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag, reports that when looking for just such a niche, the analysis showed that what people want is “low-priced cute and compact games”. The publisher chose to go in a completely opposite direction from the usual prevailing themes with the games it then launched. There are already far too many games revolving around knights, pirate islands and fantasy adventures.

“Abstract games with made-up names were needed”, said Jurthe. Titles such as Träx, Qwixx, The Game and the very recent Quinto are the essence. Many of these titles also have a tremendous fun factor and have been reaping praise from critics and scooping up awards. In this way, this marketing strategy paired with good game ideas has prevailed. A new niche has been occupied.

On-trend licences and themes

Publishers are consumed with looking for thematic trends, the “in” themes. Significant money is paid to acquire licensing rights. For example, if games with original images are released to coincide with cinema blockbusters, then these products have recognition value that is closely linked with the original. Almost all Disney characters have been turned into some kind of a game, over and over again. The original as a brand in and of itself can be very strong.

The licensing business has worked superbly around film highlights such as The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series. However, it has to be borne in mind that exclusive rights are acquired. What good is it if multiple games appear with the same theme and there is no USP? This was the case with Star Wars games last Christmas.

Kosmos: Halt mal kurz von Mark-Uwe Kling

Kosmos: "Halt mal kurz" by Mark-Uwe Kling

And every now and then you get the shooting stars. The very current card game “Halt mal kurz” (German for “Hold This a Sec”) from Marc-Uwe Kling, who along with his successful Kangeroo books is now also inviting people to the game table, is evidence of this. The game congenially captures the flair of the books. And a explanatory video provides a good overview. No wonder then that the publisher announced that more than 100,000 copies had already been sold within just four months. These are the success stories where licensing has really paid off for all involved.

Ultimately, it is not enough to come up with good games. It is just as important to direct the public's attention towards your products. A game without such investment will lose out.

27.07.2016 // Kids License Monitor II/2016: these are the most popular toy licenses among children

What is the current number 1 toy license? The Kids License Monitor from the Munich Children's Research Institute iconkids & youth is a useful guide for the toy industry and shows which toy licenses are currently popular among children. Benefit from the knowledge of the most popular licenses in the UK, France and Germany.

Top 10 Licenses - appeal

The licenses liked best by children aged 4-12 years in the three markets (total sample). For example, 72 % of all British children in this age group like Angry Birds. The top 10 most popular licensed properties in France (Illustration: Spielwarenmesse; Source: iconkids & youth)

The top 10 most popular licensed properties in the UK (Illustration: Spielwarenmesse; Source: iconkids & youth)

The top 10 most popular licensed properties in Germany (Illustration: Spielwarenmesse; Source: iconkids & youth)

The licenses liked best by boys and girls aged 4-12 in Germany

Boys

4 - 6: Cars, Ice Age, The Jungle Book
7 - 9: Ice Age, Tom & Jerry, Madagascar
10 - 12: Ice Age, Tom & Jerry, Penguins of Madagascar

Girls:

4 - 6: Frozen, Pippi Longstocking, Princess Lillifee
7 - 9: Frozen, Barbie, Ice Age
10 - 12: Ice Age, Madagascar, Minions

The top 3 most popular licenses on toys in Germany sorted by gender

Boys

4 - 6: Spiderman, Cars, Minions
7 - 9: Spiderman, Star Wars, Minions
10 - 12: Star Wars, Minions, Spiderman

Girls:

4 - 6: Frozen, Princess Lillifee, Disney Princess
7 - 9: Frozen, Bibi und Tina, Monster High
10 - 12: Minions, Frozen, Madagascar

21.07.2016 // Toys in the non-book product range of the book trade

The book trade was one of the first to feel the effects of the growing success of online trade. What do you do when fewer customers come into the shop? Readings by authors and other events can help to attract more customers. These customers have been offered more than just books for some time now. "Non-book" is the magic word that booksellers hope will secure their future. Gift items, school and office stationery, greeting cards and toys can be found in many bookshops today.

Toy suppliers - games publishers in particular - have been exploiting this potential for a while. For companies like Ravensburger or Kosmos it is relatively easy to place their toys and games in bookshops. They already have their own sales teams for their book products. Many other toy suppliers have also starting approaching customers successfully through bookshops.

Harald Hemmerlein has had a look around this year's novelties and presents a few examples that are particularly suitable for this distribution channel.

The cult mouse now has a new master partner

Diddl The cult "Diddl" mouse has been available through virtually all distribution channels since it was created. The license specialist United Labels is now the new licensee and master partner for Diddl. The licensing agreement extends over Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Benelux and covers a wide portfolio of gift items, party ware, home fabrics, bags, cuddly items as well as watches, games and kitchen utensils. The core target group for these product categories is girls aged between 6 and 10. The products will be given a brand new 3D design and will be in the shops in autumn 2016.

Creativity is always a winner

"Creativity" is an emotive word that has a particularly positive effect on bookshop customers who are usually well educated. Kosmos has a new product for this customer group.

About two years ago the company presented its first "Geek & Co." kits. In 2016 a further six categories will be available: A block of lime wood can be turned into a little sailing boat in the DIY wood carving kit. Young sewers can create their own little super heroes. The "Geek & Co." range will also include stamping and planting kits as well as feltwork craft and experiments with LEDs.
Playing and learning
Playing and learning, as we all know, are virtually inseparable. In the atmosphere of a bookshop this connection can, of course, be exploited very successfully.
The early learning book "Learn with me", published by Ravensburger in their tiptoi range helps second year primary pupils with their maths. Basic multiplication tables, adding and subtracting up to 100, measuring units and doing sums with times on the clock: In this little early learning book children help the castle ghost Erasmus von Rechenstein to overcome his age-related difficulties with maths. Children can have fun practising all the topics covered in maths lessons and then check the answers themselves. They have to climb up castle walls, cross the moat and shoot down the multiplication tables.

From adults for adults

Adults buy an above-average number of games in bookshops for their own use. This also includes jigsaw puzzles. The calender and puzzle specialist Heye also has some products in bookshops this year, including the four new jigsaw series "Jolly Pets", "Flower Show", "Hearts of Gold" and "Inside Neuschwanstein". There are also 54 new motifs from the categories art, fantasy, cartoons, nature and animals.

The "Jolly Pets" series includes two colourful animal portraits "Dogs never lie" and "9 Lives", by the artist Dean Russo. The illustrator and graphic designer Rita Berman has also joined the Heye team. Her imaginative hidden object picture "Happytown" consists of 1500 pieces.

Babies receive a lot of presents

Bookshops are also focussing on the other end of the target group spectrum, namely babies. People often buy toys in bookshops as a present for newborn babies, christenings or birthdays.

The Paddling Puppy by TOMY TOMY's recently launched new products, the Mix and Match Motor Boat and the Paddling Puppy, are suitable for children from 10 months. The special feature of the Mix and Match Motor Boat is its engine which children can wind up. Wind it up once and it will zoom across the bath tub - no batteries needed. It is made up of four segments which are four little toys at the same time: a water pourer, sieve, water cannon and a water wheel. Kids can put the segments together however they want. But, however they design the boat, it will always float. The Paddling Puppy is a delight for all animal lovers. Turn the handle under the boat and the little puppy will start paddling happily across the water. The Paddling Puppy does not need any batteries either.

This is only a small selection of the toys that are suitable for sales in the non-book segment of bookshops. Just take a look at booksellers' online shops to see for yourself.

18.07.2016 // Trade for All - New EU Trade and Investment Strategy

The Commission is proposing a new trade and investment strategy for the European Union: 'Trade for All'.

The new approach builds on Europe's excellent trade track record. More than 30 million jobs already depend on exports outside the EU. 90% of future global growth will happen outside Europe's borders. A new strategy that will make trade agreements more effective and that will create more opportunities means supporting jobs in Europe.

The new approach is also a direct response to the current intense debate on trade in the EU - including on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). It is also an implementation of the Juncker Commission's pledge to listen and respond to EU citizens' concerns.

It will involve trade policy being more effective at delivering new economic opportunities; more transparent in terms of opening up negotiations to more public scrutiny; and address not just interests but also values. The new strategy addresses all these principles. It also lays out an updated programme of negotiations to put them into practice.

Because transparency is an important topic in the trade debate, the Commission has consulted widely in preparation of the communication, meeting with hundreds of organisations representing civil society and government representatives in Brussels and national capitals.

The Communication will now be considered by Member States in the Council and by the European Parliament, as well as by the European Economic and Social Committee. The actions will be implemented over the course of the current Commission's mandate.

Who benefits from the new strategy?

The new trade strategy is focused on making sure as many people as possible have access to the benefits of trade.

Consumers:

Consumers already have a wider choice of products at lower prices thanks to the EU's open trade policy. The new trade agreements planned in the strategy will expand this while protecting consumer safety. The Commission will also analyse more closely the impact of trade on prices and choice.
The new strategy also contains actions to increase consumers' confidence in the products they buy:
The Commission pledges to protect Europe's levels of consumer, environmental and social protection and will ensure that these will also be enjoyed in EU trade agreements in the future. This will give consumers confidence in the products they buy and how products are made, respecting human rights, social and environmental protection.
The Commission's proposed new approach to investment protection safeguards public authorities’ right to regulate in the interest of consumers.
The Commission will give greater support to fair and ethical trade schemes and to broader efforts to ensure responsible management of supply chains, helping consumers to make informed, sustainable choices.
In the same vein, the new strategy expands measures to fight against corruption, support sustainable development and human rights, including by ensuring effective implementation of related FTA provisions and the Generalised Scheme of Preferences.

Workers:

The new strategy will support jobs in Europe by making trade agreements more effective at creating economic opportunities. As 90% of future global growth will happen outside Europe's borders, that means supporting jobs in Europe. More than 30 million jobs - almost one in seven - already depend on exports outside the EU. Completing negotiations with, for example, the US and Japan and launching new negotiations in the Asia Pacific region and in Latin America will help create more jobs like these.
Free trade agreements will also contain strong provisions to promote the respect of labour rights around the world. The Commission will make it a priority to see that our trading partners implement provisions on core labour standards like the abolition of child labour, the rights of workers to organise and non-discrimination at work. The TTIP will include strong provisions on key issues like these as well.
The Commission will review the performance of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund to make it more effective. The fund helps communities adapt when jobs are lost due to international competition.

Citizens:

The new strategy will help the public engage with trade policy-making by making the negotiations more transparent.
The Commission will, for example, request that the Council publish negotiating mandates and publish EU text proposals online for all negotiations, following the practice in TTIP.
Small and medium-sized enterprises:

The new strategy seeks to make it easier for SMEs to take advantage of the opportunities provided by trade agreements by proposing dedicated provisions on SMEs in all negotiations. This will mean:
Requesting that trading partners set up dedicated web portals to give access to information on legal requirements for products.
Taking SME concerns into account in all parts of trade agreements.
Outside of negotiations, the Commission will:
Work with the Member States so that they better coordinate how they implement trade agreements with their national strategies to help SMEs go global.
Conduct regular surveys on barriers SMEs face in specific markets.

People in developing countries:

As the world's largest importer, the EU's deep and open market is already a vital source of income to people in developing countries. The new strategy confirms this basic pro-development stance.
It also expands our action to support sustainable development. The EU has been the strongest proponent of ambitiously integrating sustainable development into trade policy in the UN’s 2030 agenda and we will keep promoting this ambition worldwide.
It will also give more prominence to human rights concerns in trade work. We will begin intensified dialogue with the developing countries where EU trade has most influence to fight against human rights breaches, in particular those benefitting from the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP).

The Commission's new efforts to support fair and ethical trade schemes and ensure responsible management of supply chains will help improve develop more sustainable trade opportunities for small producers and better conditions for workers in poor countries.