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Everybody loves a bargain or special offer, especially at Christmas time when they’ll be spending lots of money on other people. Traditionally Christmas season has always had a big impact on businesses, some relying on it more than others, it can provide 20-80% of their annual income. So with biggest event of year rapidly approaching, what are you doing to benefit from this spending frenzy? Don’t worry if you’re not doing anything yet, we’ll give you some ideas and tips to get you well on your way.

What exactly do I mean by promotions? Well, some advertisement, event or offer designed to get you a given result. Common examples of promotions: free or discounted product/service, buy x get x, limited editions, promotional items, specials, etc. Where words like offer, discount, only, special, sale, bargain, reduced, free, and my favourite word combination ‘special offer’, introduce a certain magical spark.

By now you’ll no doubt be thinking, and rightly so, What’s in it for me? Well, just about everything you could wish for! More sales, higher visibility, educate about your products/services, increase mailing lists, profits, growth, income, etc.

What results do these promotions get? Done well, they can achieve significant results: more sales, increase visibility of company name and products, add subscribers to mailing lists, etc. Ever been walking in your local shopping area or reading online and BANG! an offer jumps out at you, or you just cant stop thinking about something you’ve just seen? The impact on viewer can be high indeed and will make YOU stand out above everyone else, ultimately making difference between getting sale and not getting sale.

One of benefits of a promotion is that you can choose scale depending on your resources and desired results. In its simplest form it can be a simple price discount with a couple of lines of text on your website or emails. Or it could be a big production event being promoted widely on and offline by a whole organization. Whatever scale it is, effectiveness is key to success.

What makes an effective promotion? Easily understood, good offers with clearly defined objectives. Online promotions have a clear advantage over traditional offline promotions. They can be updated ailored instantly, anytime, anywhere with Internet access and at low cost. Use this advantage.

Entrepreneurs know that starting and running a successful business is hard work. They also know that growing a small business is like a marathon - long, time-consuming and grueling.

However, what many entrepreneurs don't expect is that experience can be like a hurdling event. These hurdles often appear as endless administrative forms, tax reports, and compliance with ever-changing workplace regulations. As race continues, obstacles get taller, especially in administering benefits and competing with large companies to recruit and retain talented employees. Before long, many entrepreneurs are unable to concentrate on business, and they lose speed. Consequently, a growing number of business owners are turning to Professional Employment Organizations (P.E.O.s) to remove these hurdles.

P.E.O.s were born out of frustration many small business owners experience when administrative work inhibits ability to grow an organization. To overcome that challenge, a business and a P.E.O. enter into what is called a "co-employer" relationship with existing employees, enabling P.E.O. to serve as business off-site human resources department.

According to National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) (www.napeo.org), there are three principal reasons why P.E.O. industry continues to grow rapidly. Chief among them is increase in number and complexity of workplace regulations (there are currently estimated to be more than 4,000 local, state and federal employment regulations).

The second underlying factor stems from need of business owners to attract and retain superior talent in a competitive labor market. For example, with a full-service P.E.O., employees at small and medium sized businesses have access to big company health plans, an employee assistance plan (EAP), a credit-union, educational assistance, a 401K plan, and other employee benefits that previously may have been unavailable.

Third, business owners seeking to control their operating costs are turning to P.E.O.s to help them better manage administrative expenses.

P.E.O.s offer a variety of services. On a basic level, most P.E.O.s assume responsibility for business payroll and related tax filings, unemployment and workers compensation claims, employer regulatory compliance, and for providing basic benefits such as a 401K plan and health insurance.