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

It’s no secret that consumers today are increasingly embracing all things green–green products, green services, anything that promises to be more environmentally sustainable than the options of days gone by. In fact, recent data shows that even during these tough economic times, 82 percent of consumers are still buying green products, despite the fact that they may cost more.

While an “eco” focus may not be part of every company’s mission–at least not yet!–it’s also a mistake to ignore the trend altogether, especially when you’re creating paper-heavy marketing materials. All other things being equal, the competitor with a greener image will likely win the sale.

So how can you create a greener image?

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You have spent time and money developing and implementing your direct marketing campaign in the expectation that your targets will be excited and take the action you want.

You wait and wait and nothing happens — no responses, no interest and no sales.

This can be quite typical with direct marketing campaigns and could be because you fell into 3 common traps that should be avoided.

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(Image credit) Back in the late ’90s, I’d often be asked to give speeches to Very Large Businesses – the kind of companies that bring their top sales execs to a “Chairman’s Circle” retreat at a high-end resort. I’d fly in, eat dinner with the senior management, and in the morning I’d give a talk about the impact of the Internet on that particular business’s industry. And whether I was speaking to an insurance company or a media conglomerate, my message was always the same: The Web is going to change your business, forever, and you better focus on understanding this new technology.

Now, this was ten years ago, mind you. In the intervening decade, large businesses have not only learned the Web, they’ve embraced it. They realize that they live or die by how their brand is expressed online. 

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I feel like i grew up online. My personal brand barely existed without being online in some form… perhaps email and IM were where it all started, moving quickly to free websites, to my own domains, to my own network of sites… my world – my brand – has nearly always been digital! NOTCOT the name itself came about because of a late night rhyming session to make a random email address between high school homework…. notcot@hotbot.com … So i suppose i can’t speak much to the transition from real world to internet….

BUT… this last week i went more offline than i have in years… all while still checking in on my sites and skimming emails about twice a day briefly for a whole week (sad, isn’t it? how that feels like not working at all?)… it’s certainly helped give me more perspective. Knowing this article was in the works made me more conscious of branding i encountered all around me in my day to day! Also being around older family members who were less techy than usual… seeing the ways they look for information and discuss brands was fascinating! (No, they don’t use maps or google on their phones… and many were just starting to try to make sense of their iPhones and looking things up on wikipedia was this slow and new thing that would come up during dinner conversations…)

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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.

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