Marketing is not an expense – it's an investment in your future profits. If your small business is doing marketing properly it’s not costing you money. It’s making you money. So rather than being an expense, it’s an investment in your future profits. But If you're not doing marketing properly, then it will cost you money. [...]
How do you grab the attention of your customers when you do marketing? It’s simple. Talk about them. A lot of small businesses make the mistake of talking about themselves, their products, history and their plans for the future. While all those things might be wonderful, customers are a lot more interested in themselves than they [...]
Small businesses like to use a lot of facts in their marketing. They think facts are the best way to influence their customers, make them see reason and spend their money. But the problem is, it’s not. Humans tend to be emotional creatures rather than rational ones. We usually respond better to stories that trigger our [...]
Repetition is one of the keys to succeeding in marketing. Repetition is one of the keys to succeeding in marketing. As a small business, you can’t tell your customers something once and think they’ll care. Let alone remember. You’ve got to be more like the big businesses. Big businesses have one core message that they repeat [...]
Your company needs a new chief executive so it decides to hire a hairy-chested alpha male. Big mistake. That’s one of the key lessons from the business classic Good to Great. The book’s researchers found that the best companies aren’t led by superhero chief executives who crave the spotlight. Instead, they’re led by quiet, humble people. [...]
The number one rule of marketing is ... to stand out. It might seem obvious, but most small businesses are terrified of standing out. They take a sneaky look at what their rivals are doing and then do the same thing. Fitting in seems like the safer option. But the problem is when your marketing looks [...]
