Brand Development – Why Advertising Doesn’t Work For the Small Business Owner
When developing a new brand, most entrepreneurs tend to think that advertising is the most important way to promote it and get it into the minds of their target customer. Logically, this seems like the most appropriate thing to do – after all, we see advertisements all day long on TV and (read on...)
Get Ahead of the Curve – Advertising to Personal Relationships
It is becoming increasingly evident that the mass market, lemmings-off-a-cliff advertising isn’t as effective as it used to be. Let’s look at a typical scenario. (And I know this is the case in my house, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.) If you have TiVo or DVR (read on...)
Small Business Advertising Idea – 5 Proven Strategies
If you are looking for a small business advertising idea, use the internet. The majority of potential customers use the web to find products and services in your city or county. Word of mouth and paper advertisements are becoming less relevant by the day. Here are some tactics to get your product (read on...)
5 Marketing Mantras For Entrepreneurs
I recently returned home from Ali Brown’s 3-day Shine Event in Las Vegas. Shine was a seminar all about entrepreneurship, marketing and personal discovery. The second day of the event was devoted to one of my favorite topics-marketing. Ali gave us her top marketing “mantras” in (read on...)
Are Business Cards As Powerful As They Used to Be?
Business cards have been around for what seems like forever, but with the birth of the internet, they seem to be taking a less prominent role within the marketing campaigns of small businesses. Lots of small businesses these days seem to be concentrating on their websites, and less on the humble (read on...)
Corporate Branding Vs Small Business (Entrepreneurial) Branding
“I want my small business’s brand to be as prominent, recognizable, and simple as Nike’s logo.” Creating a brand with the appeal and instant familiarity of a major brand like Nike is often at the top of the list for every small business I work with. But it’s more of (read on...)
Medical Trade Shows – Ten Costly Exhibit Mistakes and How to Fix Them
In the world of exhibiting and trade shows, three common opinions of this branch of the sales and marketing tree is: all we get is lousy leads, we don’t know if we made sales trade shows are a waste of time and money Why this response? Because it’s tough to stand-out among the (read on...)
Business-Building Lessons Learned in 2009 – What Highly-Successful Small Business Owners Are Doing
I’ve talked to plenty of entrepreneurs who are just barely eking by right now. One of the most common complaints I hear from long-time business owners is “referrals alone are just not enough anymore”. What’s really interesting is that most of them aren’t doing (read on...)
How to Get Great Graphic Design For Your Small Business
The key to getting great graphic design for your logo, business cards, website or any marketing material starts with how YOU communicate your goals and objectives to the designer. Small business owners often overlook this process of writing a creative brief because they believe that it is (read on...)
Sales, JV Partners, and Wet, Sloppy Kisses
When I was a little girl and my parents had some visitors, I would sometimes go and hide in the closet. Doing this, I could avoid their overwhelming displays of affection – ranging from wet, sloppy kisses to smothering, inescapable hugs. So, why am I being self-revealing here? – To (read on...)