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Small business Practical, no-bull marketing advice, ideas and plans. Topics: Branding, Customer Experience, Word of Mouth, Social Media, Advertising, Promotion.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'Advertising'
Advertising Trends: Yellow Pages Getting into Everything
Earlier this year consumers crossed a line of demarcation, preferring to find businesses with search engines rather than in the yellow pages. But yellow page directories will not go quietly into the night. Instead they have decided to fight back with...
10 Questions to Give Your Advertising Message More Clout
More important than where you advertise is what you say in your advertisement. The most important determinant of advertising success is the copy that goes in the ad. So, before you waste another dollar on advertising, ask yourself these questions: 1...
Features & Benefits or Creativity? Neither
The choice in advertising seems to be features and benefits or creativity. Maybe that's why there's so much bad advertising. I don't think either choice is right. So I asked a trick question this morning on Twitter, which is better; features or benef...
Advertising Trends: Video On Demand
I met with my local cable reps this week about using video on demand (VOD) for local clients. It's something you might consider using to differentiate yourself in the market. It's a relatively new advertising platform and largely goes unused by local...
Case Study: Advertising a Technology Services Business
J.T. Buice reached out to me on Twitter with this tweet and asked: @TheMarketingGuy I am starting a Tech Consulting business in Waco. I have $4000 for Advertising. Where in Waco could I get the best bang? Case Study: Advertising a Tech Bus...
Promoting Your Business: Use the Right Tactics
This is the third in a three-part series on how to promote your business. Part 1: The Message: How Should I Promote My Business? Part 2: The Media: The Complete (Thumbnail) Guide to Choosing the Right Media Part 3: The Tactics (Today) Yo...
The Complete (Thumbnail) Guide to Choosing the Right Media
This is the second in a three-part series on how to promote your business. Part 1: The Message: How Should I Promote My BusinessPart 2: The Media (Today)Part 3: The Tactics: Promoting Your Business: Use the Right Tactics You may have heard that tra...
The Basics of Marketing: How Should I Promote My Business?
This is the first in a three-part series. Part 1: The Message (Today) Part 2: The Media Part 3: The Tactics Before tactics, comes the message. More important than where you promote your business, is what you say about your business. More s...
Broadcast Advertising Don’ts and More Don’ts.
Guest Post by Jim Morris Don’t assume your audience is local, just because your business is. Your radio or TV ad includes clear directions for how to find your store. “Just off the interstate at exit 31, east on Sanders Road.” Really? If I li...
Advertising Trends: Digital Billboards
Digital Display BillboardsYou're going to see these outdoor advertising venues become very popular during the next couple of years. They are built and placed like traditional billboards with one big exception, digital billboards have a giant LCD disp...
How Radio Missed the Brand
Years and years ago, radio stations made a wrong turn. They decided that their format would be their brand. In the 80s, I worked in advertising sales for a station dubbed "The Best Country in the City." In the 90s I worked for an "All Hit" radio stat...
Clever? Yes. Effective? Probably not.
Advertising professionals operate under the myth that they need to be clever. Don't follow their lead. The point of advertising is not to entertain or to be clever. The point of advertising is to be effective. This following billboard is wrong and a ...
Forget What You Know, Because You're Cursed
Your marketing is hampered by what you know. You've spent years and years working on your dream and acquiring knowledge. All that hard work has given you a curse. It's called the curse of knowledge and it's bad for marketing. Let's explore why that i...
Weekend Marketing Project: Intentional Congruence
With very little forethought, small businesses jump into advertising. Usually, an advertising campaign is a reaction to; slow business, market conditions, being sold by a media rep, pressure from employees, or a wild hair. Rather, your advertising sh...
Spot On! Marketing Tip: Communicate One Idea in Concrete Terms
What you want to tell your customers is often not what they need to hear. Because you own and manage your business, you think in details and abstractions. So the rule for your advertising communications is to tell customers what they need and want to...
You don’t need a tagline. (You need a good tagline.)
Guest Post by Jim Morris Sadly, the current tendency on the part of our industry’s brightest minds (including Luke Sullivan and others of my otherwise heroes) is to devalue the tagline. They argue that the tagline is obsolete, extraneous, an ele...
Spot On! This Weeks Best Marketing Advice
Here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Enjoy and be educated. Photo credit: jc_jc_jc_jc Branding: How Str...
Spot On! This Week's Best Marketing Advice
Here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Enjoy and be educated. Photo Credit: Mykl Roventine Branding: Sill...
Torpedo Your Marketing Campaign
I hear from quite a few business owners asking what's the first thing they should do. It's difficult for them to figure out exactly how to launch a advertising or promotional campaign, consequently they never get started. They are paralyzed into inac...
Spot On! This week's best marketing advice.
Here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Enjoy and be educated. Photo Credit: striatic Experience: Conductin...
Upcoming Marketing Seminars, Workshops and Speeches
Upgrade Your Customer Experience Next week I'll be speaking on Creating Remarkable Customer Experiences for the Waco, Texas chapter of the National Association of Female Executives. If you're interested in attending, contact Karyn Miller, who ...
Spot On! This week's best marketing advice.
Here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Consume and be educated. Photo Credit: striatic Promotion: Small Bu...
10 Questions To Ask Before You Advertise
So you've decided you need to advertise. Before you do, understand that advertising is not a magic spell you cast over people. It's actually very tough to get real, verifiable, and long-term results from advertising. So, if you are going to advertise...
Spot On! This Week's Best Marketing Advice.
Here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Enjoy and be educated. Photo Credit: jeffk Conversation: Viral Camp...
Spot On! This Week's Best Marketing Advice
Here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Enjoy and be educated. Photo Credit: Chris Gin Branding: Once Upon ...
Spot On! This week's best marketing advice.
Formerly known as Weekend Marketing Reading, here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Enjoy and be educated. Photo Cr...
A Reputation for Quality, and other meaningless marketing phrases.
Marketing in general is filled with too much fluffery. You see it in taglines and slogans, in promotional and advertising copy. If you are going to say something, you should say something with meaning. Here is list of some useless marketing phraseolo...
Spot On! This Week's Best Marketing Advice
Formerly known as Weekend Marketing Reading, here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Enjoy and be educated. Photo cr...
