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

Upon introduction, it only takes a split second before your customer has created their own impression of your business and what you do. Before you allow that decision to be made, you have to decide what you want that first impression to be.

How you market yourself, as well as the presentation of your materials, will tell the customer everything they need to know about you. However, you must first present that information in a way that will allow them to feel positive about you and what you do.

Dress To Impress

While you can’t impress everyone, you can ‘dress’ your materials to offer the message you want the customer to receive. You wouldn’t walk into an important meeting wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt, would you? Neither should your marketing materials!

• READ MORE

When you’re creating your marketing materials, do you struggle to find the right balance between eye-popping promises and reality?  Sure, you can get people to pay attention with claims like:

• Lose 20 lbs in 2 weeks – no dieting.
• Double your income in half the time.

However, there are a couple of problems with making outrageous claims.  You may get people’s attention, but they won’t necessarily believe you.  People will be looking for the fine print of your offer.   They know if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!

• READ MORE

Google inspired me.

Yes, Google inspired me to create a marketing collateral piece for my business, from its little AdSense booklet that I received in the mail several years back.  (See the booklet and read more about it here.)

Today I’d like to share my own booklet – the booklet that Google inspired.  When I saw Google’s booklet, a light bulb went on over my brain.  “A ha!  I can create something like that to drive people back to my website,” I thought.

You see, I run a Web-based publishing business – akin to an informal online magazine.  I have struggled to come up with meaningful printed collateral to hand out at in-person events and speaking engagements that will get people to go online and visit my website.

In my case, going to my website is the single biggest call to action.  My goal is to get people to go to my website, whereupon they read information, subscribe and participate in the community.  So I created my own booklet, which looked like this:

• READ MORE

I’ll never forget how surprised I was to receive the little booklet from Google.

You see, I’ve always thought of Google as the quintessential electronic business.  Who would have thought that they’d print up little spiral bound booklets and mail them to small business owners like me?  But they did.  Here is the booklet I got in the mail one day:

The booklet is called “Tweak Your Way to Profitability.”   The subtitle is “Tips for Boosting Your Income with AdSense.”

It contains tips for running Google AdSense units on your website to earn extra income.

Several things intrigued me about this marketing piece – so much so, that over 4 years later I still have it.  

• READ MORE

Your company is small. Your budget is small. You want good design, but you wonder, “Can I get good design at an affordable price?”

Yes. You can do it yourself.

But first, be aware of the common perils DIY designers fall into. Before you start any design project, keep these do’s and don’ts in mind:

DON’T fix it, if it ain’t broke

You need design for two major reasons:

1. Your goals have changed
2. You aren’t achieving your current goals

If your goals are the same—you’re satisfied and successful—then why redesign what’s already working?

DO define your goals

Unfortunately, goals rarely remain the same over time. Why? Because the environment or context of your business is always changing. For example:

• READ MORE