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.

How Long Does it Take to Make Money?

We have a lot of small business clients and being that CWI is also a small business, we like that.  It helps us to relate to our clients and understand them.  One of the questions we are asked the most is, “How long does it take to build a brand?” or “How long until this marketing stuff works?”  When we ask the client to elaborate, we find that what they are really asking is, “How long until I make money?”

Good question, since both building your brand and making money go hand-in-hand.

The old adage goes:

“The first year you lose money, the second year you break even and the third year you make money.”

Now, we aren’t saying you should plan on going bankrupt your first year in business, but if you plan on starting a business and striking it rich within the first few months, you aren’t being realistic.  We also aren’t saying that it can’t happen, we are simply saying that if it does (especially in this economy), you are lucky.  You are the exception, not the rule.

When starting a business, it’s important to plan and have enough resources to get you through the first difficult year.  Don’t start too large!

When it comes to building your brand, just like making money, it takes time.  The most important part of building your brand is consistency.  There is no old adage or definite time frame when it comes to having a strong brand that is easily recognized. However, not being consistent in your branding will definitely slow down the time it takes to build your brand.  As I mentioned earlier, building your brand and making money go hand-in- hand.  If your brand isn’t well recognized or perceived as a good value, your company will have a harder time being successful.  On the contrary, a company that has a brand that is well known and recognized as a good value, will be more successful.  Your brand helps you attract new customers and maintain existing ones.

It’s important that the work you put into positioning your brand is ongoing.  Don’t make the mistake of only working on your marketing and branding when business is good and there are a few extra dollars in your budget.  That strategy will take away from the effectiveness of your brand.

If you would like some more helpful hints and ideas for building your brand, we’d love to help.  Feel free to give us a call 540-295-5139, or drop us an email.

Yikes! I like the "new" Facebook

Don't Shoot Me.

I actually like it.

Why? It's simple. If you use Facebook for many different reasons (i.e. business, staying in touch with close friends, people who are just acquaintances, or personal updates that you only want family to see), it comes in very handy. It makes it harder to miss important news and lets you decided who you would rather NOT hear from (i.e. I don't care if you just used the bathroom for the fifth time today, and now I don't HAVE to hear about it), without hurting anyone's feelings.

Another example, I have secured many new clients through social media, therefore, it's important for me to have business contacts on my Facebook page to easily stay in touch and maintain that relationship. However, I don't think my business contacts want or need to know (as an example) if I'm planning a family reunion or a surprise party for my sister. In the past, I had to create a separate group just for my family to maintain contact with them separate from my business contacts. Now, I can do it all from one page.

If you just take the few minutes necessary to learn to use it correctly, it is a big help and SAVES you time and frustration in the long run.

As always, CWI Marketing is here for you, please feel free to contact us for help with any of your marketing needs.

The Ever Changing World of Business Etiquette

As long as there has been business, there has been business etiquette. Many manners from 20 and 30+ years ago, still apply today. For example, don’t wear so much perfume or cologne that people smell you when you pull into the parking lot. Don’t speak so loudly while on the phone that the person in the cubicle on the next floor can hear you (while we’re at it, keep personal conversations to a minimum). These are some of the common sense basics of office manners.

Today, there’s a whole new world of business etiquette that we need to be aware of, such as:

• When making presentations and emailing, use full sentences, not social media acronyms. Believe it or not, not everyone tweets or is on Facebook and some people have no idea what LOL, FTW, FWIW or IMO stands for (Laugh Out Loud, For the Win, For What it’s Worth or In My Opinion).

• While we’re talking about email, before you click “send,” think about how you would feel if someone forwarded it to the CEO of your company. If you would be uncomfortable with the company head reading it, you shouldn’t send it.

• When it comes to cell phones, keep them on vibrate while in the office or in a meeting. Seriously, if I’m on a conference call, I don’t want the person I’m on the phone with thinking I’m at a Lil’ Jon concert (WHAT? OKAY! YEAH!). Also, don’t set them on the table in front of you during a meeting; it is distracting and disrespectful to the person conducting the meeting.

• If you like to decorate your home with flashing neon lights, palm trees, grass skirts and that great picture of your spouse in their bathing suit to remind you of your wonderful honeymoon…GREAT! Don’t do it at the office. Your office space and cubicle should not be distracting, distasteful or disrespectful.

Basically, what this all boils down to is being considerate of others. Be considerate; use your manners and your common sense to avoid uncomfortable situations!

The Death of the Postcard

I understand how this may seem like a strange post from someone who is in the marketing and printing business, but my goal is to help my clients to be successful.

I'll cut right to the chase.....Unless you have a history of seeing results from postcards, I don't recommend them.

There, I said it.

Recently I conducted a poll in which I asked a two part question. With the first question I asked what people do with sales postcards when they received them in the mail. The majority said they simply threw them away without even reading them. Not a single person saved the card. I've been saying for a long time that you have about 3 seconds to get someone's attention and get them to read your post card. Question 1 supported that point.

I've also been saying that, in most cases, postcards are a waste of your marketing budget. Question 2 supported that point.

In question 2, I asked if a postcard had ever influenced a buying decision. Not a single "yes." Not. a. single. one. All the time and money spent didn't get a single person to buy a product.

With the advent of social media, email marketing and the slew of other effective marketing tools out there, the next time you are tempted to spend hundreds of dollars on postcards, save a few trees AND a few dollars; invest your money elsewhere.

As always, CWI Marketing is here for you, please feel free to contact us for help with any of your marketing needs.

Facebook Releases a Guide to Marketing on Facebook.

acebook has published their “Best Practice Guide: Marketing on Facebook.” This guide gives ideas on how to foster product development and innovation, generate awareness, increase traffic and sales, build loyalty and deepen relationships, gain insights, as well as meet several other objectives. While this guide is specific to Facebook, many of the helpful hints they list can be used anywhere in social media. If you’ve read my blog before, portions of it will be familiar, as the advice they layout covers some of the topics I have tacked before (i.e. engaging your clients, interacting with them, building relationships).

If you are new to Facebook, new to business or are interested in kicking up your Facebook page a notch with Facebook advertising, plug-in’s, etc., then this guide will be very helpful to you and I would recommend checking it out.

If you would like to read the Guide (it's not too long, only 14 pages), click here:

As always, if you need help with creating your Facebook business page or any other social media projects, contact us. It would be our pleasure to help!