How many times has an existing customers asked you if you also do this or that? Your employees – how many of them understand your brand? Take a good look at all of your stake holders, do they have a good understanding of what your brand stands for? Chances are there is a mixed bag of understanding about your brand from your stake holders. Brand Champions are advocates who promote and or refer your business to others. They are passionate about your brand and are active in your promotion. Many times even brand champions don’t have a clear understanding of…

Many of you may be aware that Google has launched a new service for websites called Google Lively – a lightweight competitor to Second Life. As this popped up, many marketing bloggers online have begun talking about how this might be relevant for for marketing purposes. I can’t say I have ignored it. In fact, I want to know – do you have any ideas for marketing and branding on Lively? While Lively creates a similar experience to Second Life, it uses websites as a platform rather than purpose built software. What Google Lively is About It’s a platform for…

There are many ways to enhance your business.  If you are looking to pursue one of those ways, consider using eBooks.  EBooks are the easiest way for people to acquire books without needing a bookshelf to house them all.  Here are some of the benefits of eBooks: 1.  Information products are inexpensive to produce.  You can hire someone to take your manuscript and turn it into a professional-looking product or you can do it yourself using eBook compiler and design software.  Make your eBook look as attractive as any volume sold in a store. 2.  There is no cost involved…

Domain names need to be chosen carefully.  Your business and your domain name are intertwined.  It represents you and who you want to be in the market.  When choosing a domain name is it a wise idea to purchase others that are similar to the one that you chose for yourself. Let’s weigh the pros and cons of this question.  Whether you should buy other domain names that are close depends on how well your name was chosen.  Just like you conduct research before choosing a niche for your business, do the same before choosing a domain name. Domain names…

This guest post is by Wendy MacQueen, www.mormac.ca Know Your Customer Throughout history, businesses have used demographics to define their customer base and tailor where they deliver their marketing messages. These tried-and-true methods of marketing helped businesses focus only on their customer, rather than a mass approach. Now, in the 21st century, we have access to customer information that far surpasses the basics of demographics. Demographics are the standard pieces of age, marital status, income, sex and education. Within each demographic category, there are many different groups of people defined by more than these five items. Think of yourself. Your…

Happy 4th to everyone! Hope you’re enjoying time spent with family and friends on this holiday. For fun, here’s a great apple pie recipe for your dinner today, who doesn’t love a good slice of apple pie with icecream? Grand Ole American Pie Ingredients: 1/3 cup butter, melted 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 pound Golden Delicious apples, cored, cut into 1/2 inch slices (6 cups) 1 pound Granny Smith apples, cored, cut into 1/2 inch slices (6 cups) 1 (15 ounce 2 crust) package refrigerator piecrust 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 2 tablespoons all purpose flour 1 egg, lightly beaten 1…

In today’s challenging economic environment you might be noticing that companies are cutting prices and offering additional benefits and bonuses so that they retain market share. It’s also likely that you might be finding it a longer lead time to closing the sale. It’s at times like this that if you have a strategy of creating great content – in other words educational marketing – that provides real value for your clients and customers really starts to pay off. Let’s take for example having as part of your marketing strategy a business blog with frequently published articles covering the subjects…

If your brand is your reputation (and it is), then it’s important to keep it on track. Everything that you do and say will reflect on that brand. How you say it is one of the toughest tasks when trying to keep your brand image compelling over all media. I regularly drop into blogs and business consultant’s websites to check out some tip or suggestion that I may find of use. I can’t tell you how many times, I’m confronted with a brand image that absolutely contradicts the message they’re sending. As consultants, they are by nature a people business.…

Today’s Guest Post is by Mark Nagurski from Really Practical Marketing The 2008 Olympics are fast approaching and buried amidst the flag-waving, medal-winning and money-spending you might just find a host of, not exactly inconspicuous, Official Sponsors, Partners and Suppliers. Of course, some of these associations make good sense, but, there are also dozens of Official Suppliers whose sporting links are tenuous at best. For example, McDonald’s, not best known for its healthy menu, is the official restaurant of Beijing 2008. And while Mao is no doubt spinning in his grave, it’s a perfect example of why sponsorships appeal to…

I’m back from a wonderful Canada Day Celebration we took in Vancouver, we had lunch with a beautiful view of English Bay and our youngest enjoyed some face painting. The streets were quiet in the morning but by the time we left, celebrations were in full swing and we were ready to go home to watch the fireworks. So Happy Canada Day to all of our fellow Canadian readers! This is why I choose to run my business completely online, so I can take in the wonder and memories of this beautiful life we have. Now I’m off to plan…