Archive for January, 1970
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
Information for Small Business Marketing
Small Business note: A great resource for small business marketers is the Know This site. In includes a pretty comprehensive outline of the components of a marketing plan. It’s content rich and has been around for a long time.
When you log on you’ll be able to search through their extensive definitions of small business terms and definitions. They also cover various aspects of online marketing.
See resource links for link to site.
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
Remedy or Replica – What is Your Small Business?
Small Business Challenge: I just heard this in relation to the Presidential campaign, but I think it works as a starting point for any effective brand campaign. How are you positioning your brand in relation to other products in the marketplace? Are you a remedy or a replica? There’s an important difference.
A remedy solves a problem, it can be entirely new and not similar to anything on the marketplace. Since it is so new, it can have a price point that is new as well. But, to make this kind of claim, you better have evidence to back it up.
A replica is just like others already on the market. A replica is so similar, that you won’t notice any difference. A replica always is judged on price, since a replica is never (almost) better than the original.
Your small business brand’s first decision, then, is it a remedy or a replica? How does it fit with your online direct marketing strategy?
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
Social Networking and Small Business
Small Business Note: It’s been said that a brand is an emotional connection customers have with your brand. I like this definition and it sort of addresses the fact that a lot of brand strength comes from factors like group belonging, social networking, and self-identity. These are things that would be difficult to discover in the ingredients in a bottle of Coke.
Dodge Talks is a great example of online marketing taking products and building them into a social networking component. It has a lot of product info mixed with discussion boards and live forums with Dodge engineers. Whatever car model or brand you prefer, Dodge Talks is state of the art in taking brands into the social networking arena.
For small business, the challenge will be to find ways to add social networking to your marketing mix. It’s the growing category in online direct marketing.
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
Trackbacks
There are many conflicting messages about Trackbacks on the Web right now. Here’s one that makes a lot of sense…And if my Trackback works, it was a very good explanation. It’s on Bloggerholic.
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
The Canadian Postal Service Website has a great article on designing monthly statements with a marketing / customer service mind set. In this new era of financial constraints, every piece of mail that a company sends should be utilized to its fullest. There’s also an online test to help you evaluate your own statements.
For those of you who don’t speak Canadian, remember to use the Google translation service.:)
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
If your website is used to draw in consumers, your domain should have the same magnetism as your brand. Here are tips for prioritizing and optimizing your domain strategy.
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
eMail Marketing Campaigns are Most Cost-Effective Tool
If there was any doubt that eMail Marketing will continue to grow as a DM tool, here are two statistics to consider:
1. The Direct Marketing Association estimates that eMail marketing brings in $45.65 for every dollar spent.
2. The average cost per order through the eMail channel is less than $7 compared to $84.21 for banner ads according to Shop.org.
What can stop this train? The most likely scenario is over-use by marketers who look at these kinds of numbers and flood the Web with poorly-crafted campaigns. Like many other things in this world, success brings its own challenges.
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
I almost titled this post, “Go Search Yourself”, but I thought that might be a bit too cute. For small business, however, Google’s new addition of local search results is a significant change to the dominant search engine. One aspect of this new local twist to search can directly affect small businesses which may still think that Web search is not a big factor in their profitability.
For example, if you do a search for Riverside dry cleaners, you now will see a new arrangement of returns. These new local results come with customer reviews attached. I know that having a review will drive a dry cleaner to the top of the list if the there are no reviews for the other cleaners (I wrote a review for my dry cleaners and up it went!). I am also guessing that the number of “stars” associated with each review will also affect placement. I can see a near future where small business owners will be beseeching friends and family members to give their business a review.
I can also see where a devious competitor could log on and “flame” the competition with a series of scorching, negative comments. I have read about lawsuits already beginning over libelous and unfounded comments. For the long term, I can’t see Google wanting to moderate these conflicts across the world. But for the short term, it’s probably a good idea for small business owners to start each day with a Google search for local listings in their business category.
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
While we’re on the subject of Google Local(see previous post), remember to upload a photo to your local listing. It’s always amazing to me how indifferent small business is to Google Local. Take a moment to upload a photo of your storefront, maybe a shot of your store interior. Why not make use of this wonderful self-promotion opportunity? If you’re really uncertain about the value of Google Local, why not set up an account and see how many “views” your listing is receiving?
Posted by admin on
January 1, 1970
For awhile now we’ve been hearing that video is the future of marketing. I tend to believe it, videos are persuasive and can convey information more easily than print along in a time-pressed, multi-language America.
If you need further convincing, look at the most recent reports on the number of searches conducted on various search engines. More searches are conducted on You Tube each year than on Yahoo. In fact, this past year searches on Yahoo dropped by 5%.
The Numbers:
You Tube: 2.6 billion searches
Yahoo: 2.4 billion searches
Although You Tube is not a general search engine, the numbers certainly support the argument that videos will be a key marketing component going forward.
Good news for video production companies and amateur videographers on the corporate web team.
