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Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
« Older Entries |Your brand is more than just a logo…
Friday, April 8th, 2011
I have to say I get 'slightly' annoyed when I see creative design and "marketing" companies talking about your brand, as if brand is all about the logo, look and visual style of your business.
Your BRAND is more than just a logo!
Your business brand is the very essence of your business and your visual "brand identity" is simply the representation and communication of your brand values. And a visual one that can help your customers and potential customers recognise you with ease and consistency.
So for me, and the team at Just Too Busy, when we help you create your brand, we are doing MORE than just designing you a new logo (although this is something we do very well, I have to say!).
Your business brand consists of key elements that you need to understand and define, so that you can communicate those brand values and positioning to your identified target audiences. If you don't pay attention to this side of your brand, and we think it is the most important side, then a pretty logo that has no meaning or deliberate thought involved in its creation, will just not "do it" for you (or your business).
SO… When we say your brand is more than just your logo… We REALLY mean it!
If you would like to learn a little more about how to create your own business brand then click here to sign up for this FREE Just Too Busy webinar.
Tags: brand development, brand identity, brand secrets, branding, business brand, creating a brand, creating my brand, creative design, logo design, Marketing, marketing advice, marketing help, marketing tips, small business marketing
Posted in Just Too Busy, Marketing, Uncategorized | Comments Off
FREE Webinar from Just Too Busy
Monday, April 4th, 2011
3 MUST HAVES For Creating a Successful Business Brand
This is a 1-hour FREE webinar where you will discover the THREE fundamental elements of creating, defining and understanding your business brand. For more information click here to go the EventBrite page.
Tags: branding, free marketing advice, free marketing tips, Marketing, small business marketing
Posted in Blog, Marketing, News | Comments Off
How to define your business brand…
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
I love the process of creating a brand (and this is more than just a logo – watch this space for my next post) and for small businesses this often involves their entire business proposition and positioning.
So when I work with my clients, the majority of whom run small businesses, when we talk about brand, we are talking about their whole business, their offering, their target markets and how they can differentiate themselves from the competition and entice their target markets to spend their money with them.
Many small businesses will start marketing and promoting their small business without really thinking through what it actually is they are marketing and promoting and this often means they end up spending money on marketing that’s not working as well as it should for them – because they haven’t thought it all through. So here are the three key things I get my clients to think about when we are defining their business brand in preparation for marketing it.
The WHAT, the WHO and the WHY…
If you know inside out, in detail, with clarity (you get the picture) WHAT it is you are offering then you can clearly communicate that offering in your marketing.
If you know WHO you are offering your products and services to then not only can you identify the particular needs of your target market but you can create communications to them that are targeted specifically for them and to address those needs – this means they are more likely to respond to your marketing because they will relate to what you are saying and how you are saying it.
If you WHY your target market would buy from you rather than a competitor – i.e. you know the benefits of your business for your target market and you know your competitive advantage – then again communicating this information to that target market becomes easy and more focused.
If you would like to know more about defining the WHAT, WHO and WHY for your business to make your marketing more effective and get more business then please feel free to contact us on 0845 272 3539 or visit our website for more information.
Tags: branding for small businesses, branding strategy, business brands, business marketing, Marketing, marketing for small businesses, marketing tips, small business marketing, successful marketing
Posted in Just Too Busy, Marketing | Comments Off
Social Media and Marketing: Using Your Head
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
During my usual weekly rummage through the delights of the Internet I came across this absolutely wonderful post by Frank Strong, the director of Public Relations at Vocus & PRWeb, a client of TopRank Online Marketing and featured on Top Rank Blog.com. It was called “7 Social Media Lessons from Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid”.
A well crafted, currently relevant (vis a vis Karate Kid 2010) and a fondly nostalgic blog post, it really summed up the best way to approach social media and the ways I myself try to approach it. However, out of all the words of Miyagi wisdom “using head for something other than target” hit home the most for me as I see this applying to all forms of marketing and promotion, not just social media.
The biggest mistake businesses make in marketing is trying to sell.
Marketing (removing advertising and direct mail from this) is not about selling. It is about communicating. It is about building relationships with your customers and those people you want to become your customers. It’s about trust.
And it’s hard to trust someone who just wants you to buy something and doesn’t really appear to care about anything else. This is why successful Twitterers are those who engage and share. This is why successful online (and offline) networkers are those who ask questions and listen. So coming back to social media and Mister Miyagi:
Here are my three Once A Day Tips to help you Use Your Head in social media:
- Share something relevant to your area of expertise with your community or
- Answer one question or reply to one comment, using your business expertise or personal experience, or
- Create a communication that is simply fun, spontaneous or interesting and nothing to do with your business expertise.
If you can do one of these once a day and avoid the sell, then your profile on social media platforms will become more credible and more valuable to the people you share it with. And in turn you’ll find it will become a more effective marketing strategy for you.
Tags: business marketing, Marketing, marketing for small business, marketing tips, online marketing, social media, successful marketing
Posted in Marketing, Twitter | Comments Off
Quick-Start, Kick-Start Marketing Checklist
Monday, February 15th, 2010
How to quick-start, kick-start your marketing….
If you know you should be doing marketing for your business but aren’t getting round to it then here are a few ideas to get your marketing off the ground, quickly:
- Find ONE networking group in your area and go along as a guest – more groups will let you participate as a member and you can meet new people quickly and easily without spending a fortune. It will also give you the opportunity to see if you might even want to join that networking group. If, however, you don’t think it’s for you then you haven’t spent a fortune to find this out.
- Sort out your email signature – if this doesn’t have – at the very least – your website address and your phone number in it – along with your logo, then you are wasting a FREE marketing opportunity every single time you send out an email. Ideally your email signature should also have a client testimonial in it and you can think about changing that every few months or so and perhaps promoting any special offers you have going on.
- Either start a blog or find one that perhaps you can guest post on. This is more simple than it sounds: go into Google Reader, browse or search for different types of blogs that have a relevance for your area of expertise or knowledge, visit the blog and send the owner an email offering your guest post services. You will get yourself some quick and easy online exposure (especially if it is a well-read blog) as your post will have your name, business and web link in it.
That’s it: a 1,2,3 way to quick-start, kick-start your marketing. It’s always hard to find time to market your business but if you need more customers then, without marketing, how do you think they are going to know about you?
Go on, get started today!!
Tags: business marketing, Marketing, marketing for small business, marketing tips, quick start marketing, small business marketing, successful marketing
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Internet Marketing versus ‘real’ marketing – a RANT!
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Yes I am having a rant!
Very simply, it really frustrates me to see “Internet Marketing” being touted as the answer to a small business’s marketing dreams. I come across so many instances of pure marketing being substituted with Internet marketing that I wonder if anyone who reads that information will ever move beyond the IM holy grail of building a list, selling online products and holding teleseminars and workshops (oh and don’t forget the flagship product of exclusive one-to-one coaching.)
So yes I am having a rant about how Internet marketing is portrayed and then perceived by its intended audience. What do I mean?
Tags: business marketing, How to market your business, Marketing, marketing experts and consultants, marketing for small business, marketing your business, small business marketing, successful marketing
Posted in Just Too Busy, Marketing | Comments Off
Marketing Basics: Save money on your marketing
Friday, November 13th, 2009
Use joint ventures to cut your marketing budget in half and double your list…
And it’s EASY!
So in this installment of the Marketing Basics: 17 Ways to Generate Leads for your Business, I am going to give you some ideas on how you can generate leads for your business while keeping your costs down using joint venture marketing. (more…)
Tags: business marketing, joint venture marketing, Marketing, Marketing basics, marketing budgets, marketing for small business, marketing tips, small business marketing, successful marketing
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Taking the “SHOULD” out of your marketing
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
How to break free of the marketing activities
that everyone else says you should be doing!
As a small business owner, responsible for pretty much everything from running the finances, to making the tea, from organising your diary to doing the marketing, have you ever felt overwhelmed by all the different marketing activities you think you should be doing – because everyone else is?
I know I have done in the past!
I have spoken to three people in the last week or so where the topic of conversation was just this: what marketing should I be doing and how do I know it’s the right thing?
With more and more ways to communicate with your target market, it seems that the choices for marketing activity is just growing. The explosion of social media has just compounded this. For example some people say that to be effective in your marketing you SHOULD be doing a monthly email newsletter, a weekly or daily blog, Twittering like crazy and regular online networking etc.
WRONG! Your marketing, your specific marketing for your specific small business, is just that: specific. Just because other people are doing those things, doesn’t mean you have to or SHOULD.
Tags: business marketing, how to develop your brand, Marketing, marketing for small business, marketing tips, small business marketing, successful marketing
Posted in Marketing | 2 Comments »
The essence of brand…
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
…The essence of your business
I have been talking to a few new clients recently and all seem to be in a similar position. They have an amazing passion for what they do and want to run their own business, but when it comes to actually working out what it actually is they want to do in their business, something happens.
Either, they have been caught up in a ‘title’ and feel they have to reflect that or due to the very helpful comments and suggestions from friends and family, have moved so far from their original idea that they are not really sure what they are doing any more.
When I find clients in either of these situations, or indeed in any situation that means they have lost sight of their business brand, one of the things I do – usually before we do anything else – is to take them back to the very beginning. As a certified marketing coach one of my skills is to help my clients ‘find’ their brand (again).
Tags: branding, how to develop your brand, Marketing, smal business marketing
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Marketing Basics: Your email signature…
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
…Showcasing your business in one paragraph (or thereabouts!)
Have a think… How many emails do you send each day? How many do you send a week?
The number of emails you send out each day or each week equates to the same number of opportunities to generate a lead for your business.
It’s free, it’s easy and every time you send an email out you could be showcasing your business (or different aspects of it) to your contacts and potential customers.
Most emails I get now, have email signatures – so the tactic seems to have caught on. But there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Here’s the RIGHT way (we don’t need to worry about the WRONG way because you’re not going to go off and do that are you?)
The Right Way
Include all your contact details. You might think that by sending an email that the recipient will know how to get in touch with you i.e. by just replying to your email or if they already have your business card. Well yes, they do, but I cannot count the number of times I have opened up a recent email to get someone’s phone number to call them rather than having to look in my business card book or my online address book.
Including your contact details in every email you send out means that everyone who you communicate with can get in touch with you quickly and easily with the minimum of fuss, which means that they are more likely to make the effort!
Include your logo. This makes your email instantly recognisable amongst all the other emails that person might be receiving. It also brightens up or livens up what might be a solid chunk of text. you can choose to have your logo as the very first bit of your signature or a little further down. Whichever you choose, make sure that the image you use isn’t too large so that it increases the size of each email you send out.
Link to your website. You may think this comes under contact details and it does, but it is so important that I am going to mention it as a separate point. If you link to your website in your email signature, people are more likely to click on that link to have a look at what you do rather than open up a web browser; copy or remember your web address and put it into their address bar to see your site. One click is much easier! Once on your website they can either ‘bounce’ straight off if you are not of interest to them or they can have a look around at what you do and may get in touch.
Give them a reason to want to know more or visit your site. This could be a client testimonial that is so fantastic that they just want to know more about you and will call you or go to your site. It could be a special promotion you are running at the moment, by phone on or your website, or it could be a free report you are giving away when people sign up to your mailing list – again on your website. All these things are designed to either get your recipient to go to your website and find out more about you or just give you a call.
Tailor your signature to suit your purpose. Your email signature is completely under your control and you can use it for whatever reason you want to. This includes promoting an up and coming event you are holding or if you have some special news that you want to tell people about. You can do both of these and more through your signature. You can even create different signatures that promote different aspects of your business and use the relevant signature according to who you are mailing out to.
Get it RIGHT!
Whatever you do make sure that when you put your email signature together that you check all the details, check any links you have included and test test test! Send yourself an email with your new signature on it and keep checking until you get it right.
Well, that’s it for email signatures. Now I know I am not telling you something you probably haven’t heard before, in fact some of this was told to me by someone else a few years ago, but the key thing here is to remember that your emails are not just a way to communicate with people.
Your emails are little pieces of marketing that are showcasing you and your business so why not take advantage of that and use it to its full potential? If you keep this in mind and follow the points above, then you should be able to craft an email signature that is effective and polished.
Tags: business marketing, email signatures, Marketing, small business marketing
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