SmallBusinessNewz - Marketing

Halloween Expected To Bring Small Businesses Happiness

Doug Caverly — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:01:38 -0400

Don't love Halloween? For a number of reasons, you should. And as a small business owner, you may be especially happy to hear that a new report indicates consumer spending on the holiday is expected to be impressive this year.

A New Advertising Opportunity from MySpace

Chris Crum — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:57:02 -0400

MySpace just recently launched MySpace Music, a new service that lets users create their own playlists of songs, and offers a huge catalog of millions of major label and independent label songs to stream on demand. It's going to be a very big and popular service. You've probably heard about it.

Chatting With Small Business Professionals

Chris Crum — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:20:20 -0400

As promised, we had people in Columbus, Ohio that last two days to cover the Small Business Marketing Unleashed event. From that, Mike McDonald has come back with a number of video interviews. Some will be posted at SmallBusinessNewz.com, while others will find their way to WebProNews.

Holiday Business Strategies

Doug Caverly — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:29:13 -0400

It's officially that time of year again, and anyone in doubt need only go to Target, where both Halloween costumes and Christmas cards are on display. So here are a couple of tips for small businesses as they prepare to go up against bigger companies this holiday season.

Social Media Marketing and Blogging Advice from BlogWorld

Chris Crum — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:22:03 -0400

Reporters for our sister site WebProNews spent the weekend in Las Vegas, attending the BlogWorld Expo, as I mentioned here. While the video interviews are still to come on the WebProNews Video Blog, I have been writing up my fair share of posts from notes that our reporter Abby sent in.

Want Some More Blogging Tips?

Chris Crum — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:13:23 -0400

It is no secret that blogging can be good for your business. It can help you earn the trust of your customers, and let you socialize with others in your industry.

Using Google to Reach Local Customers

Chris Crum — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:59:19 -0400

Google does a lot of things that can help local businesses market themselves and become more visible to potential customers. They recently announced a partnership with NBC that will have Google distributing ads on NBC channels while addressing local markets.

Bad Economy May Make Marketing More Important

Doug Caverly — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:28:13 -0400

The Dow's crash yesterday put a lot of people into survival mode. They intend for food, electricity, and mortgage payments to be their top - and perhaps only - priorities until things settle down or they get more money stashed away. So marketing may be more important to your business than ever before.

Is Your Social Media Marketing Plan in Jeopardy?

Chris Crum — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:21:36 -0400

At SmallBusinessNewz, it seems like I'm always talking about how businesses should be using social media as part of their marketing efforts (not to mention the fact that it can be used for correspondence within a company as well).

Local TV Advertising Gets Easier with Google

Chris Crum — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:02:30 -0400

Small business owners should find this news interesting: Google has signed a deal with NBC Universal to offer ads on a number of cable channels. The really interesting part is that local markets will be addressed.

It should be pretty easy for small businesses to get ads on TV this way, because as you can see on Google's TV Ads page, you can manage these simply through an AdWords account.

Search Marketers And Web Designers Should Work Together

Frank Reed — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:53:54 -0400

Web sites are complicated, and they need lots of different skills to make them work. Every Web site needs a designer and a search marketing expert, but how do they work together? Sometimes it seems that the two don't know enough about each other to make it work.

Ad Targeting is Great. Just Don't Be Insulting.

Chris Crum — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:43:45 -0400

I read an interesting and thoroughly entertaining article this morning from Washington Post staff writer Rachel Beckman. In it, she discusses how Facebook ads have basically been calling her fat and preying upon psychological "soft spots".

FSB Announces Keep Trade Local Photography Tour

Doug Caverly — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:00:47 -0400

Some people will always manage to get a finger in front of the camera's lens, and for whatever reason, a few photos will often fail to come out. So we'll alter a clich by saying that good pictures are worth a lot of words, and the FSB is taking advantage of this with a new Keep Trade Local photography tour.

Small Business Marketing Unleashed Again

Chris Crum — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:09:06 -0400

Back in April, we covered the Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference in Houston, and came away with a lot of useful advice from some professionals like Stoney deGeyter, Matt Bailey, Jennifer Laycock, Matt McGee, and others.

Toll-Free Numbers Work For Some Small Businesses

Doug Caverly — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:29:18 -0400

Clubs that have cover charges do okay, and people pay thousands of dollars to sit with celebrities and presidential candidates. Consumers don't want contacting you to cost them, however, so toll-free phone numbers are something small businesses might want to get.

Want to Boost Your Readership?

Chris Crum — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:26:23 -0400

Article marketing can be one of the most effective forms of Internet marketing, whether you write for established publications, have your articles syndicated across content networks, or simply maintain your own blog. The strategy is worthless however, if you can't keep the readers' attention. On the Internet, attention spans are shorter than anywhere due to the sheer amount of options for obtaining information.

Tips for Capturing Reader Interest

Tips On Corporate Blogging From Matt Cutts

Doug Caverly — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:29:13 -0400

Within the search engine optimization industry, Matt Cutts's name is synonymous with Google. He's an engineer who goes out of his way to discuss new features and corporate policies, and audiences have responded well to his tips and tone. So new advice on "company blogging" from Cutts seems worth mentioning.

Website Content Tips

Doug Caverly — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:05:00 -0400

Henry James was an excellent writer. Even when his stories centered on less than exciting subjects, the rich language made everything worthwhile. But if you emulate his style on a business website, potential customers will probably wander away, and Jon Wuebben has some tips about what might be more effective.

SEO Tips For Your Blog

Lee Odden — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:30:21 -0400

Moderator Dana Todd & Lee Odden

Blogs have been abuzz for at least 4 years in the tech space and in the past 2-3 years in the business marketing world. Like many new marketing/communication channels, there continues to be a need to demystify shiny new objects and what they mean for businesses. Blogs and search engine optimization are no different.

Study: A Focus On Family May Boost Business

Doug Caverly — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:29:12 -0400

In Lexington, Kentucky, every television commercial for a certain furniture shop and at least one car dealer features the owners' families. The relatives are bad actors and not particularly pretty people. However, it turns out that this focus on family might be a good way to boost business.

Promote Yourself As A Brand

Jeremy Griffin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:43:27 -0400

Welcome to part 2 of my epic masterpiece on self-branding and promotion by utilizing social media. Last time, I wrote about how to think of yourself as a brand. Sit that lesson on the back burner for a little while, and lets talk about our audience.

Don't Look Past Your Local Internet Audience

Chris Crum — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:04:38 -0400

When it comes to Internet marketing for small businesses, it can be easy to get caught up in the enormous number of tactics and resources available online.

You might even forget about the good-old fashioned local media that has been working for businesses for ages.

Do You Want to Start a Brand War?

Chris Crum — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:11:57 -0400

I have never been a big fan of the type of ad campaign in which the company tries to play off of a competitor's brand.

This type of "smear" campaign always runs rampant in election years of course with politicians constantly telling you why they're better than the other guy. It is not an uncommon strategy for businesses either.

Subway Vs. McDonald's

Immediacy Key To Web, Real Life Customer Relations

David A. Utter — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:39:58 -0400

Getting the most from one's online data means looking at Internet traffic much the same as one does every real world meeting and relationship today.

Problem and Solution Marketing

Chris Crum — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:32:18 -0400

I came across an interesting article at Small Business Branding by Ed Roach, who discusses selling your product by marketing through "pain points".

The concept while certainly not a new one is still an effective strategy. Basically, you're just figuring out who your target market is, and considering what gives them the biggest headaches, and that's your marketing angle.

You need to make them understand that they have a problem, and you are the solution.

7 Steps to Earning Customer Trust Online

Chris Crum — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:17:33 -0400

Keeping in theme with my recent article about ingredients to surviving in online business, let's talk about earning customer trust.

A recent survey found that 81% of consumers don't trust small online businesses.

5 Key Ingredients to Surviving in Online Business

Chris Crum — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:57:15 -0400

This is a basic list of key things that are critical to having a successful online business. This article is more for the person who is new to online business rather than the seasoned professional.

1. Design

I really can't stress enough how important a professional-looking design is for attracting sales. Quite frankly, many people will just not trust a site that is poorly designed.

Customer Relations Built to Last

Abby Johnson — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:30:00 -0400

Customer relations can be sticky. The business motto "the customer is always right" isn't always true. Even so, that motto must apply if you want to build a strong relationship with your customers.

Are You Filling A Need?

David A. Utter — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:21:44 -0400

The wisdom of the movie 'Robots' comes across when Rodney Copperbottom says, "see a need, fill a need."

Social Media and Internal Issues

Lisa Braziel — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:04:57 -0400

My dad used to tell me the main reason most relationships don’t work out is that one or both of the people involved is looking for the other person as the solution to their problems. His notion was that if you were happy by yourself, you’d likely be be happy with who you are partnered with.