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

What is your business card doing for you? Is it a plain piece of card stock with your logo and contact information printed on it? This is okay for most companies, but for a startup, your business card is one of the easiest ways to spread word of your brand.

You could take Ji Lee‘s simple–albeit a bit risky–approach:

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I know, I know, you’re all saying: “Print? Print? Battelle, in your last post, you implored us to get with the social times, start a blog, start Twittering, figure out Yelp. You even wrote that most small business websites were “static brochures, devoid of personality and life.’”

And now you want us to…print a brochure!!!

Yep. This my fantasy brochure of sorts, a slim piece of cardstock I wish every small business I worked with would hand me on the way in or out the door.

But before you can print this brochure, before it can deliver on its promise, you have to first go back and read that post of mine, the one about Cultivating Your Online Garden, and you have to actually go DO what I suggest you do.

Go ahead, DO it!

OK, now you’re ready to create the best brochure you’ve ever printed. Because this brochure isn’t a sales pitch, it’s an invitation to join a conversation that will last for a long, long time.

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Press releases are an essential marketing tool.  Media coverage is a great way to promote your brand for free. However, most small business owners are not experienced at communicating with the press. It’s not difficult to do, but it can be intimidating and confusing.

A press release is different from a press kit (see John Jantsch’s great tips on creating press kits and other marketing materials). You can think of a press kit as being about your business in general. They are a good way to make the media aware of your business and how you can be a resource for them as they write stories. While a press release is about a specific piece of news about your business and why they should cover it in their publication.

Here are 3 important press release tips:

1. Have a “newsworthy” story to tell:
It isn’t enough to simply tell a reporter “My business is interesting and you should write about it.” Reporters are looking for news. Even when they write a profile about a company, there is usually a “news angle” that makes now a particularly relevant time to feature a particular business.

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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!

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I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again: Whether your business is just launching or has been in the black for years, your brand is — or should be — as unique as you are. Your “story” is often the reason customers decide to spend money with you.

The expertise, strategy and tips shared right here in the DIY Small Business Marketing Guide will help you develop and evolve the compelling and unique story of your business — whether that brand story is a logo, a brochure, your company letterhead, a website, or all of these and more. I want to help you start sharing that story — without breaking the bank. And it starts with three easy steps.

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