057: Review Contracts Like a Lawyer
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
I do a lot of contract reviews for clients, and what I see in these agreements covers a wide range. Yet, my clients frequently say the same thing: they don’t like dealing with contracts and feel nervous about it because they’re worried about reading them incorrectly. That fear typically translates into procrastination or anxiety about the agreements. Even though contracts can differ greatly, I usually tackle them using the same step-by-step process. If you’re the type of business owner who doesn’t love reviewing contracts and you want to feel more comfortable, then tune in to today’s...
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056: Develop Your Contract Strategy
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
Creating a legal strategy is very similar to creating a business plan. You’re just putting an emphasis on fitting legal into your overall business strategy. Even so, you need to have a strategy for different aspects of legal too, depending on your needs and the type of business you have. In this episode, I take a look at a particular legal sub-strategy: developing your contract strategy. While the idea of having this kind of strategy may seem advanced, it really isn’t. I discuss what it is and who needs one, the areas for consideration of what to include in one, and how a contract strategy...
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055: Contracts Service Business Owners Need
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
As a service-based business owner, you know you need contracts. But which ones do you really need? I received this question when I asked a handful of service business owners what they most wanted to know about legal. And it’s a good one, so I dedicate this week to answering it. For this episode, I focus on contract needs for service-based business owners. Even if you don’t categorize your business that way, you’ll probably still need a few of these agreements too. I discuss the necessary contracts and some of the most important terms to include in them. Please subscribe if you haven’t...
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054: Solve Problems with Your Contract
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
What role does your contract play in your service-based business? This might be something you haven’t really thought about. So often contracts are viewed as just a necessity, stating the terms or protecting the business in case a client relationship sours. While contracts are something you should have for your business, I don’t think entrepreneurs use them to their full potential. In this episode, I want to expand your thinking about contracts and discuss how they’re an underutilized tool service business owners can use for proactive problem-solving. I cover how I apply this in my own...
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053: Save Time, Money, and Stress with MSAs
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
I love master service agreements (MSAs) as a tool for service-based business owners! Many types of businesses use them. But service business owners can benefit from them, because it gives them the ability to easily incorporate future projects with ongoing clients into the same contract. In this episode, I talk about how you can save time, money, and stress with a master service agreement. I also go over the key pieces of a master service agreement and how it’s different from a client agreement, managing your MSA, and the benefits of converting your current client agreement into an MSA....
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052: Managing Proposals and Contracts
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
I often help draft client agreements for new small business entrepreneurs through my law firm. One of the things I talk with them about is what their process for obtaining clients looks like. Understanding that, I can better recommend how to best structure their client agreements. In this episode, I talk about how to manage your proposals and contracts, if you are using proposals in your client acquisition process. You’ll hear about how a business proposal differs from a contract, what to include in your client proposals, and how to address your proposal in your contract. Please subscribe if...
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051: Legally Host a Giveaway
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
Many companies use giveaways as a way to market their products and services. But, “giveaways” aren’t actually a legal term. Instead, they are usually a contest or sweepstakes. And, there are a lot of laws that can impact your business if you host this type of promotion. In this episode, I discuss what a giveaway is and how to protect your business if you host one, including what you need to include in the official rules and regulations. I also talk about how to handle certain social media platforms when marketing your giveaway. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. And if you...
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050: Legally Deal with Negative Reviews
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
Business owners make a regular practice of using testimonials in their marketing. Many businesses also ask customers to leave reviews on public third-party platforms like Google, Yelp, or Facebook. The goal is to capture those positive experiences to help attract more clients and customers. But these public reviews also mean you’re opening yourself up to criticism and negative reviews. How should you deal with negative reviews? In this episode, I look at this from a couple of different angles based on questions I’ve been asked before. Can you legally prevent the posting of a...
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049: What Is Legal Marketing Review?
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
Legal Marketing Review is common for big businesses with in-house legal teams. In this episode, I'll be discussing what smaller businesses need to know. Just as you want your marketing to help you stand out from your competition and help you sell your products and services, you want to make sure you’re covered legally. So think of legal marketing review as a process to make sure your content is compliant and says what you want it to say, from a legal perspective. I’ll cover who needs legal marketing review, how the process works, how I conduct it for my clients, and a common...
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048: Structuring Money-Back Guarantees
Simplifying Legal for Small Business Owners
With all the talk about complying with the FTC over the past few episodes, it should come as no surprise that the organization also has guidance on money-back guarantees. Money-back guarantees are a heavily used sales tool and, sometimes, they honestly make me cringe. In this episode, I discuss how to structure money-back guarantees. You’ll learn about the most common money-back guarantees and how to create better, compliant policies. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. And if you like the show, I’d love it if you’d give it a review wherever you listen to podcasts!...
info_outlineFor the last few episodes, I’ve talked a lot about marketing and complying with the Federal Trade Commission for the legal side of your business. Primarily, I’ve looked at testimonials and advertising claims. Today, I want to look at the FTC more broadly and why it matters for your marketing.
In this episode, I do a quick review of what the FTC is and discuss FTC compliance in your marketing within a handful of areas you need to consider. You’ll hear about rules you should follow for health claims, expert endorsements, comparative advertising, disclosures, and more. This episode was created with online business owners in mind and covers the areas that are typically most important in your marketing.
Please subscribe if you haven’t already. And if you like the show, I’d love it if you’d give it a review wherever you listen to podcasts!
In this episode:
[02:32] - Danielle provides a quick overview of the Federal Trade Commission.
[03:31] - What are the most important things you need to know about using testimonials in compliance with the FTC?
[04:31] - Danielle goes over the main criteria for evaluating your advertising claims.
[06:01] - The rules about testimonials also apply to expert endorsements. But here are additional things you need to know.
[07:25] - Be careful making claims in the health and wellness industry. The FTC heavily scrutinizes this market.
[08:18] - What’s the golden rule for health claims and how do you evaluate them in your marketing?
[09:15] - What if you can’t prove your claims are typical of results? Here’s what NOT to do.
[10:11] - Danielle discusses puffery. Besides sounding funny, what is it and why would you want to avoid it?
[11:39] - Referred to by the FTC as comparative advertising, brand comparison has its own rules you must follow.
[12:43] - Before wrapping the episode, Danielle reviews disclosures.
[13:59] - Follow these action steps to ensure your marketing complies with the FTC’s guidelines.
Links & Resources:
Episode 45: “Using Testimonials”
Episode 46: “Marketing with Income Claims”