Small Business Marketing Guide - DIY (do-it-yourself) BRAND MARKETING STRATEGIES to HELP YOU GROW YOUR BUSINESS

Lots of small business owners are intimidated by the thought of marketing their businesses. The buzzwords and flash associated with “marketing” often make embarking on a do-it-yourself marketing effort seem daunting. But don’t let that fear distract you from the goal of educating your customers and potential customers about your business.

In your day-to-day business, you focus on what your customers need and how you can provide them with that.  That is what your marketing should focus on, too. Too many marketing messages focus on the company rather than the customer. So as you craft your marketing strategy and materials, keep the customer top of mind.

Here are some great tips that will help you take that customer-driven attitude and translating it into marketing:

• READ MORE

If you click on the “Direct Marketing Strategies” tab, you’ll see a ton of great advice on how to boost your revenues through direct marketing.  Here’s an Editor’s Roundup of some of the hottest direct marketing tips from our group of small business marketing experts.

CRAFT A MESSAGE: Joe Costantino offers six rules for creating an effective direct marketing message.

Before you can embark on your direct marketing journey, you have to figure out what message you want to send and what action you want prospects to take. It’s important to remember that people won’t know why they should buy from you unless you tell them.

GET RESPONSE: Anita Campbell outlines four ways to get a high response from your direct marketing efforts.

• READ MORE

Your logo isn’t the most important thing about your business. But if you think it doesn’t matter, think again. A good logo communicates that you are a professional who pays attention to detail.

I’m not a professional designer, but I am a customer. I’m the person you’re trying to win over. And I’m going to do the thing that customers rarely do: I’m going to tell you how to make a good impression on me. A logo is just one of the many ways.

Let’s start with an example of a great logo we’re all familiar with: the Nike Swoosh.

• READ MORE

We’ve featured a lot of great advice on this site for developing your brand strategy. Here are some highlights to help you take advantage of the tips we’ve offered so far.

1. Choose a name with a good story behind it

John Battelle advises: “It’s often said that a brand is a ‘vessel waiting to be filled.’ In other words, you can call a new product or service anything, and after a while, if your product is successful, that brand will come to mean whatever experience it ends up delivering. While I generally agree with the thesis, I’ve found that having a great story is a very good way to jumpstart a new brand, and a great way to help sell it and keep defining it in the long term.”

You can read the full post here.

2. Clearly define what it is your company does

Guy Kawasaki says,  “… if you want to build a company that can take the heat, you need to define your business in not in terms of what you do  but what benefit you provide. Now ask yourself: What business is your company in?”

• READ MORE

In case you missed it (or would love to hear it again): The March 18 webinar on “The Truth About Small Business Branding” is available for re-play. Click here to play the webinar.

The all-star panel, led by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, featured:

• » Karen Post – The Branding Diva & Author of Brain Tattoos
• » John Moore – Creator of Brand Autopsy & Author of Tribal Knowledge
• » Sam Horn – Author of Pop! – Stand out in any crowd
• » Aaron Weiss – Chief Product Officer for MarketSplash

Join us March 31 for the next webinar, Creating Marketing Materials. Register now!

• READ MORE