Dear Friends (you may also watch this article on video),

I wanted to answer some of the questions I am asked most frequently about doing a business history.

The three big ones are:

• What is involved?

• What will it cost me?

• Why should I do it?

Let’s take them one at a time.

What is involved? The answer is: It depends. Sorry!

It depends on what you already know. It depends on the resources available to you. It depends on how much you want to know, how in-depth you want to go, and how much time you have to spend. For example, you might be leading up to an anniversary and you have a deadline.

It depends on whether or not you have the time to do the work yourself, or hire a historian or researcher who can charge anywhere from $25 an hour to $125, depending on who they are. It depends on what you find when you start doing the research, because you will find some surprises and the research might take longer than originally thought. There might be travel involved, or photographs to be ordered…I think you can see what I mean!

The whole process can take an investment on your part of a couple to several thousand dollars, but now let’s talk briefly about WHY – what is the return on investment.

I will go into more detail on this in an upcoming post, but, again, it really depends on you – whether or not you implement what you’ve found in your research.

What you will find, and tell, is YOUR UNIQUE story – what makes you stand out from the crowd. Then, you will tell your story in your PR and your marketing, and I promise you people will respond if you do it strategically.

The return on your investment comes from media attention, new customers, increased customer loyalty, and an appealing, high class reputation.

But HOW is often the sticking point. HOW can you do your history to take advantage of the PR and marketing opportunities that are there, and I am here to help you.

I will tell you more in the coming days, but for now, I hope I’ve gotten some wheels turning in your mind because I really want this to work for you!

I also invite you to visit historysmiths.com if you want to learn more about these ideas. This is Bonnie Hurd Smith signing off!

P.S. If you ARE about to celebrate a business anniversary -- and I give you permission to do it every five years! -- my ebook "Go Beyond the Party" is chock full of ideas for you!