I've got two quick questions for you: Who are the most successful businesses in your industry? Are they doing more marketing than you? I don't know the answer to question one, but the answer to question two is almost certainly 'yes'. Now, here’s the conundrum. Do you think they do more marketing than you because they’re [...]
Agree or disagree? My view is that if you want to build trust, credibility and brand recognition, then you need to keep marketing every single day. Marketing isn’t a ‘sometime’ activity, it’s an ‘all-the-time’ activity. You have to fill the marketing bathtub one drop at a time. So is it true that the small business that [...]
Is it print or digital? Brochures or banners ads? Social media or text messages? The answer is that it differs from business to business and industry to industry. Don’t follow a rigid formula, or blindly do whatever everyone else is doing. Rather, deliver the marketing that your customers prefer. So, don’t be set in your ways. [...]
It's always great to have a new product or service to talk about in your marketing because it sounds fresh and exciting. But what can your small business do if you don't have a new product to talk about? The answer is to invent one. Yes, really. To make your marketing more effective, bundle a few [...]
"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted," John Wannamaker famously said. "The trouble is, I don't know which half." This is a conundrum that bedevils a lot of small businesses. They spend money on marketing activities, but they haven’t got a clue what their return on investment is. The lesson for small businesses is [...]
One of my favourite analogies is that marketing is like filling a bathtub one drop at a time. The aim of marketing is to build trust, credibility and brand recognition – but those things don’t happen overnight. It’s a long-term process, in which you fill the marketing bathtub one drop at a time. Marketing shouldn’t be [...]
"The reason it seems like your customers only care about price is that you haven't given them a reason to care about anything else." Thanks, Seth Godin, for another piece of marketing gold. Good marketing shifts the attention from price to value. What should your small business talk about rather than price? Talk about the problems [...]
I want to tell you about a potentially devastating incident that occurred to a business owner friend of mine ... which actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My friend's email account was hacked. The hackers sent a phishing email to the thousands of people in his database, including me. All of us then [...]
"Make your marketing so useful that people would pay you for it." If you're wondering how your small business should approach marketing, heed that wonderful advice from Jay Baer. Make your marketing interesting, relevant and helpful. That way, people will want to consume it. And the more people who consume your marketing, the more sales you’ll [...]
A lot of small businesses are obsessed with getting new customers through the door. The thinking is that if you want to make more sales, you need to attract more customers. But it's easier to make sales to old customers than new ones. After all, old customers already know, like and trust you, whereas new customers [...]
