The Most Effective Marketing Tool

While it’s important to incorporate a variety of marketing methods when marketing your business, never underestimate the power of a positive referral.  A positive referral is the simple, most effective marketing tool for your company, while the most detrimental is a negative one.  Research shows that TWICE as many people tell others about a bad experience than a good one.  Respond to any complaint quickly and with a positive attitude. View it as an opportunity to turn an unhappy client into a loyal one and take all the necessary steps to make it happen.

To see exactly how much each customer means to you and exactly how much you stand to lose by a poor referral, click here to access  interesting tools to help you calculate the cost of poor service and poor word of mouth.

In the meantime, keep up your excellent customer service.  Give your clients a reason to tell everyone they know about you!

For more interesting marketing facts or to schedule a consultation, contact us today!  You can also like us on Facebook for more tips and information.

2013 Marketing Trends

We’ve listed below some of what we feel are the top marketing trends for 2013 to help you in your marketing endeavors.

- Go Mobile!  In 2012 more people purchased smart phones than laptops, meaning it’s more important than ever to make sure you incorporate a mobile site!  Also make sure your emails are mobile friendly.  There are lots of other mobile marketing options as well, such as apps, ads and messaging campaigns.

- A more level playing field when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  SEO will be more about content, social media, as well as sharing and less about keywords and codes.  This is good news because it allows you the opportunity to increase your search engine rankings even if you don’t fully understand H1 tags and keywords.

- Marketing content will be less “wordy” and more media rich.  Content will be more picture and video driven.  People today want instant gratification and to get their information in the fastest, most visually pleasing way possible.  You know what they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”   The success of sites such as Pintrest and Instagram, not to mention Twitter, where content is shared quickly and in small portions, is proof of this.

- Content that isn’t just a sales pitch.  When connecting with your clients and prospective clients, don’t keep hitting them over the head with your sales pitch.  Provide information that is useful, educational and interesting.  Give people a reason to seek you out not only when they are looking to buy.

There are many marketing trends and strategies to sift through.  If you would like help sorting through all of the options and implementing the most effective for your business, please give us a call or drop us an email.

The Most Effective Marketing Tool

While it’s important to incorporate a variety of marketing methods when marketing your business, never underestimate the power of a positive referral.  A positive referral is the simple, most effective marketing tool for your company, while the most detrimental is a negative one.  Research shows that TWICE as many people tell others about a bad experience than a good one.  Respond to any complaint quickly and with a positive attitude. View it as an opportunity to turn an unhappy client into a loyal one and take all the necessary steps to make it happen.

To see exactly how much each customer means to you and exactly how much you stand to lose by a poor referral, click here to access  interesting tools to help you calculate the cost of poor service and poor word of mouth.

In the meantime, keep up your excellent customer service.  Give your clients a reason to tell everyone they know about you!

For more interesting marketing facts or to schedule a consultation, contact us today!  You can also like us on Facebook for more tips and information.

Jingle All the Way

Originally published 12/2012

How’s that for a holiday blog title?  Except, I’m not talking about that kind of jingle.

Someone asked me the other day if I thought marketing jingles were dead.  What?  No way!  True, we don’t use the jingle as much as we used to.  Today, many companies license songs from popular artists to market their products (i.e. Chrysler using Eminem, Schick using Jewel’s song for their Intuition razors), but there are still plenty of jingles out there that have stood the test of time.  When putting a band-aid over a cut, how many of you still sing, “I am stuck on Band-aid, cuz’ Band-aid’s stuck on me?”  Or when you are craving a little chocolate and almonds start singing in your head, “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t?”  Actually, whenever I do something silly, that jingle will creep into my head.   There are still plenty of companies today that use jingles effectively. Think of McDonalds, “Ba Da Ba Ba Bah, I’m lovin’ it.”

Jingles are earworms.  They can be annoying, they can be silly, they can even be cheesy, but they are effective.  Like many things in life, what goes around comes around.  What was once “out” is now “in.”  What was once unfashionable, is now all the rage.  The same goes with jingles.  They weren’t as popular for a while, but are now making a comeback.  No matter what, thanks to so many earworms of the past, they will never be completely gone.

To learn more about other effective forms of advertising, free marketing tips, news and information, make sure you like us on Facebook !

Five Interesting Marketing Facts

1.    70% of local businesses use Facebook.  Does your competition have a
Facebook page?  Do you?

2.    A majority of people stop following a company’s Facebook page because of
the company not replying to a wall post, the page not being updated frequently
enough or having posts that are too repetitive.  Make sure you properly manage
your Facebook page, if you don’t, it could actually do you more harm than good.

3.    Blogging is an effective way to increase your Search Engine Optimization and
increase your sales.  Companies with blogs generate an average of 67% more l
leads than companies who do not.

4.    60% of Bloggers update weekly, only 10% update daily.

5.    When advertising online, leader board (728 x 90 px) and medium rectangle
  (300 x 250) have the highest view rates.  Contrary to popular belief, ads placed
higher on a page do NOT necessarily have a higher impression rate than those
placed lower.

For more interesting marketing facts or to schedule a consultation, contact us today!  You can also like us on Facebook for more tips and information.

Source:  jeffbullas.com

What's New Pussycat?

I just heard this song for the first time in ages.  Even though it is before my time, I do remember hearing it growing up.  It’s one of those old earworms that, once you hear it,  you can’t get out of your head.  If you know this song, you are probably thanking me right now for doing the same to you and will continue to thank me throughout the day.  Just in case you have never had the pleasure, click here to listen to the song and enjoy the enormous bow tie and collar sported by Tom Jones.

No thanks necessary, really.

But, this song did get me thinking about marketing, so it can’t be all bad.  What’s new with your marketing?  The last thing you want to do is let your marketing efforts become stagnant.  Just like Tom Jones wanted to keep things fresh with his pussycat, keeping things fresh with your marketing will help lead to longevity in your business.

Have you been running the same ad in the same publication for eons?  Why not give it a little boost?  Has it been years since your web site has been updated?  Energize it!  Are you giving away ice scrapers as promo items in the summer?  You may want to re-think that.  Are you sporting a Dorothy Hamill haircut in your marketing pieces, despite the fact that you haven’t had that haircut since the 70’s?  Update!

It’s easy to let your marketing fall to the side when business is booming and even when times are financially tight.  Don’t make this mistake!

Allow us to help you invigorate your marketing efforts, by contacting us today!

Three Marketing Mistakes New Businesses Make....and How to Avoid Them

by Donna Sams

Starting a new business can be fun and exciting; it can also be scary and overwhelming.  Between hiring employees or sub-contractors, all of the “back of the house” needs like insurance and accounting, along with the countless other surprises that pop up when you are first starting out, it’s easy to see how marketing can be an afterthought.

That’s the first mistake.

When you finally make the decision to start your own business, one of your first priorities should be marketing.  Before you even open the doors, before meeting with your first potential client, it’s important to have a plan in place and already be implementing it.  Don’t wait until business is underway to decide on a logo or web site.  Once business starts, you will be busy enough.  Already having a logo, marketing materials, a web site, etc. will be one less thing to do during those very busy first days and will ensure that you give your marketing the time and attention it deserves.  Trying to determine how to brand your company after you are already busy running it can contribute to your branding not being the most effective.  Of course, marketing is ongoing and important to keep up after your business has started, but going in without having a firm plan implemented can spell disaster and lead to even more work (and more expense) later.

Another reason to start marketing early - it generates interest.  A few months before opening your doors, you can generate excitement for your new business by putting your best marketing foot forward.

Mistake number two made by new businesses - failure to do any tracking.  After you’ve spent your time and money on various marketing efforts, make sure to track them.  Find out how your new clients are finding out about you.  It will help determine the best way to spend your marketing dollars in the future and avoid potential waste.

Once your business is booming and things are going well, don’t forget about your marketing.  That’s mistake number three.  New businesses tend to think that once their logo is determined, their web site up and running and marketing materials purchased that they are done.  It’s important to stay at the forefront of trends and keep your marketing fresh.  The last thing you want is to be stagnant.  If you don’t have a marketing employee, it’s good to have a marketing professional you can outsource to (or even both), to help maintain your status as a  leader in your industry.

For more marketing tips or to schedule a consultation, contact us today!  You can also like us on Facebook for more tips and information.