October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Chances are you know someone affected by breast cancer. Over 182,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women this year, according to the American Cancer Society. When you add that number to the women who are already fighting this disease, the numbers are staggering. This October, The Hair Connection in Neenah, Wisconsin is joining with women around the country to promote breast cancer awareness and prevention.

Because breast cancer has affected staff and clientele, owners Jeanne Mykel and Connie Koehnke want to help spread awareness and contribute toward funding research. Getting involved to meet the needs of the community is a win - win for everyone. All through October, a pink donation box will be available in the lobby for customer donations, and 10% of all retail sold will go directly to the "Susan G. Komen for the Cure" campaign for breast cancer awareness.

During the promotion, customers will be draped in pink capes, offered pink lemonade, and for every sale of a pink flat iron, the manufacturer will contribute $10.00 toward breast cancer awareness. The Hair Connection will also donate $1.00 for every new client haircut and $5.00 for every hair color.

"I really like the pink flat iron idea," said Susan Hamilton, parent of two teenage daughters and Race For The Cure participant for the last five years, "Women need to be aware of the choices they make everyday in their diet and exercise that contribute to their breast health in the long run. The flat irons are a great reminder. Eating right and staying in shape are two ways you can greatly reduce your risk of breast cancer, and I like the idea of starting every day thinking pink."

Risk factors for breast cancer are more prevalent in Caucasian women, and are greatly increased with age, lack of physical activity, and the accompanying weight gain. Risk is increased again if a family member has been diagnosed with the disease. The staff of The Hair Connection would like you to learn more about what you can do if you're supporting someone with breast cancer, or if you are concerned about your own breast health. Contact www.komen.org for more information. Together we can fight this disease.

The Hair Connection, located at 1325 Commercial Street in Neenah, is a full-service salon, offering affordable hair styling and the latest hair cuts for the whole family, full-service tanning with large tanning beds, depilatory and nail services. For more information, visit www.HairConnection.net or call 920-722-2341.

Wisconsin Business & Event Press Releases Welcome Here

Early morning in northeast Wisconsin is awe-inspiring ... at least in my backyard. We live on the edge of town, meaning there's farmland behind us. Mornings are noisy, but not from people-noise. We have a wonderful, diverse bird population, an adventurous chipmunk that likes to tease my dog, at least one large rabbit, horses in the distance, and the occasional deer and coyote. It's peaceful and satisfying. All winter long, I look forward to this short sliver of time when I can sit on my patio with notebook and coffee and just be.

Everybody needs a recharge now and then, especially business owners. We tend to obsess out the day-to-day stuff at the expense of nourishing our souls. Your recharge may look different from mine, but mine requires nature ... spending time outdoors in Wisconsin's natural beauty ... acknowledging and thanking the One who created it all.

Thank YOU too, for hanging in there while I gave this blog some more thought. Local-Wisconsin SEM Blog started with a flash of inspiration, before giving much thought to the sustainability of writing more than one blog on the the topic of marketing while managing a growing business of my own.

This morning, I woke up with a solution. Do you ever do that ... mull something over, set it aside and just let it marinate, then wake up knowing exactly what to do? That may be a topic for a future post, but for now, I'll just share this: Writing about marketing isn't enough. Through this blog, I want to help people who own businesses in Wisconsin to improve their marketing results in a tangible way.

In addition to a stockpile of local search opportunities that I have yet to cover here, I'm going to begin featuring local businesses and events in my home town of Neenah, as well as Menasha, Appleton, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Milwaukee, and throughout all of Wisconsin. Send me your Wisconsin-based business press releases, success stories, questions or comments, and if they're appropriate to my audience, newsworthy or just plain interesting, I'll publish them here. You'll find my contact information on my profile page.

Can customers find you on Google Maps?

Sally Smith returns home from a long day at the office to her home that's substantially colder than it should be. Sure, it's -10 with a -35 windchill, but the thermostat should have kicked in and the house should be near a comfortable 70 degrees. The thermostat reads 52 degrees and now she's worried ... what's wrong with the furnace?

Sally's never worried about the furnace before, other than changing out the filter a few times every year. She has no idea who to call, but she throws on an extra sweater and types "furnace service neenah wi" into the Google search box.

If you're an HVAC contractor or repairman in Neenah, will Sally find you in the Google search results? Will she find your business on the Google map with a little pin that shows your location? The answer can be yes to both questions IF you claim your Google Maps listing and IF your web site is optimized for local search terms.

To claim your Google listing, you'll need to register for a Google account. You do that right from the Google home page. After you've registered and logged-in, click on "preferences" or "account" in the top right corner of your page. On your account preferences page, under "Try Something New," click "more." Midway down the next page, under the "search" column, click on "Maps." Once on the Maps page, there's an option to add or edit your business listing.

Or, here's a quicker route once you've registered and logged-in: Google Local Business Center. Simply fill in the form and proceed page-by-page to categorize your business, add hours, types of payment accepted, a photo and custom information. You can also add coupons to your listing, if appropriate. Once complete, you'll need to validate your listing before your listing will appear live on the map.

We'll talk about optimizing your site for local search in a future post.

For more common sense small business marketing tips, I hope you’ll also check out my Express Marketing Memo blog.

Related Articles:

What is local search?

What does 2008 have in store for local?

Using Google Local Business Center to Bring in New Customers


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