Marketing pros at big companies know how to design and deliver integrated campaigns that produce revenue. But for most small businesses, this is a struggle – many focus on one marketing tactic at a time, trying different approaches and hoping something works. Small businesses usually don’t have the budget or the sophistication to design and…Read More
Recently the IAB reported that online advertising grew 10% in 2008. While search advertising dominated (with 45% of the total internet advertising market), rich media and video advertising also grew at the same rate (roughly 20% courtesy of TechCrunch.) Internet marketing growth continues to outpace traditional media, and many SMEs (small to midsize entities) are…Read More
“The sweetest word in the brand universe is your brand’s name.” This obvious quote is from Bill Schley & Carl Nichols, Jr. in their unheralded book “Why Johnny Can’t Brand.” Your name is the first and most powerful part of your brand. Choosing a great brand name can help you stand out in a crowded…Read More
Everyone knows it’s important to retain customers. Good customers are hard to find and worth keeping. It’s almost always more profitable to keep existing customers than to replace them with new ones. But what about that problem customer? You know, the one that everyone wishes secretly (or not so secretly) would just disappear? …Read More
Event marketing can be a great way to generate publicity, nurture existing customers, raise brand awareness and generate new leads. Getting to know people in a social (and fun) setting adds the human elements to business relationships, which is good because, well, people prefer to buy from people instead of faceless corporations. But if you…Read More
Sometimes, a new combination of common things creates something new and exciting. Everyone understands direct mail, email marketing and websites. Many are familiar with variable printing and personalized URLs (pURLs). But how many have seen a system that combines all of these into a single messaging engine? PitchRocket is a new web-application which combines these…Read More
Can social media document sharing sites help you expand your audience and find new customers? Absolutely. I posted our Strategic Marketing Process ebook on Scribd 4 weeks ago. I spent 10 minutes uploading the PDF and setting the search parameters, then joined a couple of marketing groups and posted it there. Our results so far? Scribd and their viewers…Read More
Few companies emerge from a price war better off. What should you do if your competitors start undercutting your prices? A knee-jerk reaction is to lower your prices as well. But for some companies, that’s the exact opposite of the correct move–which is to raise prices to increase revenue. Terry Irwin of TCii Strategic and…Read More
I’ve heard many stories about executives that hire a marketing consultant to execute projects, yet only receive a simple report or partial deliverables for their five-figure engagement. That might not be a big issue for the Fortune 1000, but it can sour an SMB business leader’s view of the entire marketing consulting field. “Consultants” is already an…Read More
Are you using direct mail in your marketing mix this year? Believe it or not, direct mail isn’t dead–it can still be extremely effective as more companies shift their marketing dollars online. Don’t believe me? When was the last time you received a mail piece with your name on it speaking directly to your businesses…Read More
The New Year always brings new hope. 2008 was rough for many companies, and the cost-cutting will continue well into 2009. While cost-cutting is necessary for many companies, don’t focus all your efforts on cost-cutting: Renew your efforts to grow (or maintain) the top line. How do you accomplish this in a recession? If you’re…Read More
Most new companies start with shiny new logos and a clear corporate identity that is consistent throughout all print and graphics. (That’s the goal anyway.) As companies grow, they often lose control of that standard corporate image. It takes discipline to keep consistency while opening new locations, adding more employees, switching creative vendors and constantly…Read More
You’ve decided to chase your dream and form your own company. Congratulations! What’s the first item to tackle? For most entrepreneurs, task #1 is to name a business to form the entity and become official. It’s fun doodling logos and bouncing name ideas off of friends and family, looking for that name with the catchy…Read More
Jack Welsh, the former CEO of General Electric, recently delivered some good advice about business strategy during this economic tsunami. You can check out the 4 minute video if you wish, but I’ll paraphrase Welch’s 3 points as follows: Over communicate to every employee. In uncertain times, reassure employees of management’s plan to win. Take care…Read More
So you’ve decided to upgrade your website content. It’s a necessary–and sometimes daunting–undertaking, but it can profoundly impact your business. Good websites have a strong design, but great websites are content-driven (and have a strong design). Website content is all the information that you deliver: text, images, diagrams, videos, PDFs, forms and other downloads. Keys…Read More
We all know that “getting your name out there” is a good thing. Creating publicity can accomplish this, but you need to tell the right story the right way. While the catch-phrase “even bad publicity is good publicity” might hold true for celebrities, that’s not usually the case for businesses. Publicity is about sharing your…Read More