Small Business Branding

Mobile Marketing Tsunami: 4 Reasons Mobile Is Taking Over

Jason Wells — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:52:32 +0000

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on smart phones and instant information, business owners will need to direct more of their attention to mobile marketing as a means of reaching their target market. With useful search results and actionable business intelligence, mobile marketing is going to annihilate other marketing methods that have been around for [...]

How To Take Your Brand Seriously

Ed Roach — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:45:25 +0000

How customers look at your brand sets the wheels in motion whether they will purchase from you or not. What are they thinking? Are they getting what you stand for? Is your image and brand promise resonating with them? How is your positioning affecting how a customer reacts? Here are some observations that might help [...]

How to Build a Reputation as an Expert with Content Marketing

Susanna Gebauer — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:30:59 +0000

To understand what content marketing is about, you have to be clear about what you want (and can) achieve with it and how you can get there with the tight content. The reason why Social Media for B2B seems to be so much harder than B2C is due to the totally different processes in the [...]

8 Ways To Get More Out Of Your Chamber Of Commerce Membership

Mike Bowman — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:36:33 +0000

There are many reasons to join your local Chamber of Commerce. Some of the obvious ones are networking opportunities, community involvement, and the trust that Chamber affiliation builds with your customers. Of course, there are many more benefits you receive from becoming a Chamber member, but many people don’t fully enjoy them. They wrongly assume [...]

5 Ways to Get More Customers from Your Website

Jason Wells — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:18:24 +0000

Every small business wishes they could drive more traffic to their website and get more customers. The big question is how do you drive more profits from your website? There are several ways to convert more web visitors into paying customers. Here are 5 ideas to try. 1. Improve Your Web Design Has your website [...]

Why PDF is the Go-To File Format for Business

David Lazar — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:01:18 +0000

The PDF file format has become the publishing standard for most companies and businesses worldwide, particularly in the last decade and half – and with good reason. Turning your documents into PDFs makes them immediately smaller, more mobile and generally easier to use. The versatility of the PDF is another aspect that makes it so [...]

How Turning Your Brand Around Can Be Like A New Pair Of Shoes.

Ed Roach — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:56:21 +0000

Are you in this precarious position? Sales are flat. You’ve downsized as much as the business can stand. You’ve streamlined your processes to be more productive. You and the staff haven’t experienced a raise in some time. Moral is tenuous. What to do – what to do? It’s a scary position but every entrepreneur carries [...]

8 Ways to Differentiate your Small Business

Kevin Levi — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:13:37 +0000

We have all heard the word differentiate before, but… 1. What does it really mean? 2. How does it really work? The term “differentiate” is defined by dictionary.com as “to form or mark differently from other such things; distinguish”. As a brand positioning specialist, I define “differentiate” as a means of distinguishing one’s business over [...]

Why Even Small Businesses Need a Brand

Fred Richards — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:25:29 +0000

There are a plethora of worries to juggle when starting a small business. Between financing, distribution, physical location, and consumer growth there’s no end of dire concerns. These seemingly never ending problems will keep many small businesses from focusing on considerations such as branding, slogans, and logos. It’s not surprising these things fall by the [...]

23 Places to Market your Phone Number

Jason Wells — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:52:47 +0000

Customers are more likely to buy if they call you than if they visit your website, so here’s the big question: where should you advertise your phone number? 1. Your Website – This is the most obvious place to put your phone number. Put it in a prominent place on your website. You would think [...]

A Contradiction Is A Terrible Brand

Ed Roach — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:55:15 +0000

It continually comes to my attention that a good deal of businesses don’t do as they preach. As a brand (which to my reasoning is your reputation), you have a responsibility to deliver an authentic experience to your marketplace. A basic example of this off-brand thinking is a real estate agent who buys a home [...]

BIG or small – Brands That Stand Out, Drive Sales!

Ed Roach — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:53:38 +0000

Branding is critical in understanding where your company fits into the grand scheme of things. In the public domain, discussions on branding are almost exclusively focused on multi-national brands. Brands we see in our daily lives. Brands such as Apple, General Motors, Google and McDonald’s. In discussing these powerful brands it becomes hard for small [...]

Top 5 Reasons Marketing Doesn’t Produce Sales

Jason Wells — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:34:59 +0000

Your marketing is working. You are running an effective Google Adwords campaign. Your social media efforts are generating leads. Your Google Pagerank is increasing. And, you are attending tradeshows and utilizing local SEO. You are a medium-sized business and these advertising methods are generating 30 – 40 BtoB leads a day. Each of these prospects [...]

Quotes in Press Releases Make Marketing Mix Magic

Stacey Acevero — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:20:06 +0000

Quotes are incredibly useful and powerful. This simple truth applies to the press releases incorporated in your marketing mix. In addition to having an interesting news angle or memorable title, a key element of a press release is the quote. Quotes that support the focus of a press release enhance its message. Whether quotes are [...]

Top 5 Reasons Why I Blog…

Ed Roach — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:08:49 +0000

Let’s just get right to it… ONE: I can’t think of a better way to increase my ‘expert profile’. Putting your opinion out there through blogging is a terrific way to show your audience what you’re made from. It allows to to control the conversation about you. Teaching your audience by providing valuable content shows [...]

Getting Started with A/B Testing

EJ Parfitt — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:05:42 +0000

A/B testing created quite a stir when it was first introduced as a viable testing method for optimizing websites or email copy. There is actually a lot to be excited about when it comes to A/B testing because it can get you actual results, even if you don’t have extensive experience in computer programming. You [...]

How Your Online Brand Can Be Hijacked Overnight And What To Do About It

Lynette Chandler — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:06:10 +0000

Let me ask you a question. What do you think, is the cornerstone your brand online? Website design, Your voice, Your product quality and all the other things we talk about here? Well yes, they are of course important and play a part in the make up of your brand but the foundation of all [...]

Digital Product Marketing: Five More Ways to Promote Web Sales

Karl Walinskas — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:20:26 +0000

In a previous article, I provided some of the essentials to promoting a digital product online. If you didn’t take those steps, revisit Marketing Your Virtual Goods: 5 Essential Practices for Online Content Creators to benefit from low or no-cost methods of getting your product visible. Now that the basics are out of the way, [...]

How to Miss the Boat on LinkedIn

Karl Walinskas — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:46:17 +0000

LinkedIn is a rapidly evolving social media platform that appeals more directly to business people than do Facebook and Twitter; specifically, business-to-business (B2B) possibilities. You undoubtedly know that. Most of those folks want to be successful with LinkedIn promotion and generate new leads, business, or career opportunities. What you might not know is how exceptionally [...]

Spring Brings Fresh Ideas!

Ed Roach — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:12:19 +0000

Spring is here and I’m taking the time today to see how I can improve my efforts to get my message out. I’m always trying to augment what I do with effective tools. A few things that I’m looking into is a mobile version of my website, webinars, getting more serious with Twitter and live [...]