Social Media-Build Your Own Audience
Traditional Media has been doing it for years, building an audience through programming and marketing and then turning around and selling your business the opportunity to talk to its audience. Social Media is an opportunity for YOU, the local business...
What’s Your Brand Story?
From start to finish, a well-executed brand is just about telling a good story. Well-written stories are pretty predictable in their format; they have a beginning, middle, and end. The pieces of the story that are being told are consistent...
Using Product Promotions to Extend Your Brand
Once you've established your brand position and even created a branding commercial or two -- it is inevitable that the next call you receive from your boss (or the CFO) is a plea/mandate to run a promotion to sell your...
Branding Consistently
The hardest part about branding is keeping tight control of your branding consistency—always using the same logo, sticking with your tagline, maintaining your presence in the media, and sticking with your plan. Consistent branding is hard because it's so much...
Branding with Actions – Not Words
Too often, when we consider Branding, we focus entirely on the name of the business, the smartness of the tagline, or the commercials we produce. However, branding should be about creating a consistent customer experience, and the best way to...
Online Advertising in the Age of Adwords
With the advent of our new economy, we're seeing a significant shift from traditional media spending to online advertising. This transformation has been driven by the evolving landscape of how consumers interact with brands and the need for businesses—small businesses—to...
Using and Buying Media Wisely
Before we get into planning season, this seems like a good time to discuss the best ways to think about buying media. I touched on this briefly in my recent post, The Intersection of Planning and Improvisation. But this topic...
Traditional Media Created Social Media
Before conglomeration, there was a time when radio, television, and print were local community outlets. The big three were locally owned and focused on the local community. Most decisions for communities regarding their major media are made thousands of miles...
5 Reasons Social Media Should be in the 2011 Marketing Plan
Social media certainly is all the rage right now - but will it be in your 2011 Strategic Marketing Plan? If not, here are five reasons it should be: Your customers are on social media. They have Facebook accounts, Twitter...
What’s Next For Social Media?
While the big brands and big boxes have taken early advantage of social media, if social media continues to grow, it will be because of the smaller local businesses. Big brands are paving the way, which makes sense since social...
Marketing Plan: Intersection of Planning and Improvisation
Before the frenzy of annual strategic planning begins, I thought I'd take a moment to discuss some strategies you might want to consider as you build your strategic yearly marketing plan. Naturally, your strategic marketing plan should contain your best guess...
Grassroots Marketing: Where Social Media Makes Perfect Sense
We belong to a local Chamber of Commerce that represents many small communities where we live. It means small communities with populations as high as 8,000, but most closer to 1,000. Like many small communities, the summers are filled with...
Mainstream Social Media: Is That What Users Want?
Every day, we further mainstream social media. It’s hard to watch a news program that isn't talking about what's going on in tweet-land or what's being posted on Facebook. How many TV and radio commercials now ask you to follow,...
Brand Marketing: Service. Community. Value. Substance.
As usual, brand marketing is almost always on my mind, and as I was watching this exceptional TEDxPennQuarter video by David Armano, David flashed a slide-up that said: Service. Community. Value. Substance. While talking about social communities, David also published the recipe for...
Buzz Marketing Ideas for Branding
Branding is about being memorable and creating buzz marketing. There are many ways to do it; you have to get creative. Here are some buzz marketing ideas to get you started Why not work out a deal with a local...
Unexpected Branding Opportunities
In any business, there are expected branding opportunities, television commercials, radio, signs in the store, and even team member shirts. However, some unexpected branding opportunities allow you to make your brand stand out. The first thing to consider is what...
Branding with Window Clings
Many retail establishments are well-positioned to be highly visible from drive-by traffic. Many of those same retail establishments are missing the best advertising and Marketing POS available - their location and, precisely, their windows. Window clings are a viable method for putting...
Social Media and Brand Strategy
Social media is a scorching topic right now, and rightfully so. I've heard more than one company wonder if it is, longs I,n the Brand Strategy. In my opinion, the answer is a resounding YES. If it's not part of...
Considerations for Choosing a Marketing Firm
When you decide it's time to innovate and get the word out about your business, you've entered into what can feel like a difficult decision. After all, you are trying to pick a marketing firm that will put a public...
Consistent Branding at Different Locations
If you've got more than one location, keeping your brand consistent is at least three times as hard. "If I have two locations, shouldn't it just be two times as hard?" you ask. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out that way....
