Let’s face it, marketing can be hard! In each marketing blog post, we hope you’ll find the information you need for your business marketing success.

Online Advertising in the Age of Adwords

With the advent of our new economy, we’re seeing a pretty significant move from traditional media dollars to online media. The reasons are several-fold. Traditional advertising takes a big bite out of a limited marketing budget. Online advertising is quite cheap in comparison with traditional media. Marketing budgets are getting smaller – not larger. Online…

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Using and Buying Media Wisely

This seems like a good time, before we get fully into planning season, to talk about the best uses of media. I touched on this briefly in my recent post the Intersection of Planning and Improvisation. But this is really a topic that deserves a full post before annual plans are laid for 2011. The first thing…

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Marketing Plan: Intersection of Planning and Improvisation

I thought I’d take a moment before the frenzy of annual strategic planning begins to discuss some strategies you might want to consider as you start to build your annual strategic marketing plan. Naturally, your strategic marketing plan should contain your best guess as to how you’re going to advance your brand and product positions…

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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 specifically their windows. Window clings are a viable method for putting your promotional message out where people driving past can see it. Granted, in…

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Social Media and Brand Strategy

Social media is a very hot topic right now, and rightfully so. I’ve heard more than one company wonder out loud though if it belongs in the Brand Strategy. In my opinion, the answer is a resounding YES. If it’s not part of your integrated Brand Strategy, you’re missing a vital channel for furthering your…

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Considerations for Choosing a Marketing Firm

I’m honored to be the guest blogger today over at the rno1 blog. Head on over to their blog to learn what six questions you should be asking any marketing or advertising agency you’re considering hiring. Knowing the answer to these questions will help you make sure you’re hiring the right firm for your business.
We’re working on having the folks at rno1 guest post here as well – so stay tuned!

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5 Reasons a Local Business Owner Should be Involved in Social Media

There are many reasons that every local business should be involved in local social media.  I’ve found that if it takes more than five reasons, then they are afraid of what they don’t understand, or are fearful of change.  To go beyond five you are just reaffirming to someone who believes in what you are…

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Media Fragmentation, It Always Seems To Happen

How much has social media fragmentation affected your audience and at what cost?  Traditional media tries to entertain an audience and keep it, so they can then sell advertising within that form of entertainment.  While the programming and editorial content has become corporate blah for the most part audiences, have rushed over to other venues…

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Social Marketing: Why it matters.

We do believe that social media and social marketing has radically altered advertising. We believe that social media can level the playing field between Madison Avenue and local business owners. It’s not a fad, the landscape of social media has changed dramatically over the past three years, and what we see today will dramatically change…

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Lessons in Brand Authenticity

I stumbled across a question posed on LinkedIn this morning that got me thinking. The question was: How do you see social platforms evolving in the future? And while I answered it from a personal standpoint, I neglected the answer from a brand authenticity perspective – an oversight I aim to correct here. Social Media…

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Twitter Marketing Strategy: Tweeting with Frequency

As any good radio account executive or business owner knows, the frequency is necessary with radio. I’d argue frequency is critical for Twitter marketing strategy as well. With radio being the active medium that it is, users are usually active at what they are doing while listening. They are getting ready in the morning, driving,…

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Using Social Media Branding Strategy to Build Your Brand

Know your audience!  Engage your audience.  Social Media is no exception.  With little room for error in today’s economy for the small business owner, it’s important to embrace the social media revolution and use it just as with traditional media, the correct way.  Just as there are keys to success in “Traditional Media”, there are…

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Your Brand Manifesto: Your Secret Sauce

OK, so you’ve found your new brand position and tagline. You’ve taken the time to discuss it with your key stakeholders and get their buy-in. Now what? Well, my friends, now comes the FUN part! The first thing you’re going to need to write is your brand manifesto. In a short paragraph, what does your company…

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Keeping Media Buying Simple

For most small business owners dealing with media buying  is like dealing with an ever-changing alphabet soup. This is primarily because the language of media is cluttered with acronyms. And understanding each acronym is necessary to getting the most out of your media buy. AQH, GRP’s CPM, CPP and that was before web banners, unique…

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How to Create a Brand

We feel the rightness of creating a brand in our bones. Marketing and advertising agencies tell us that we’re supposed “create a brand” and we believe them. After all, who wouldn’t want a name like Nike, Kleenex, or Starbucks to call their own? But folks in business just beginning branding often find that it is expensive…

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