This is one of those questions that business owners wonder about, but aren’t sure who to ask. And yes, you should have marketing in your budget. It’s not a “wait until a good opportunity comes along” sort of thing. If you budget for marketing and create an actual plan – you are 95% more likely to: Actually market consistently Spend to your budget, rather than impulse shop Track and measure success of marketing efforts Be consistent in your message and delivery So back to…how much should you spend? A good rule of thumb is at minimum of 4-7% of your…

There’s little worth more to a business, regardless of size or industry, which can have the tremendous profitable effect a database of leads can have. Whether you call it your opt-in list, leads, or good old fashioned rolodex, the names on your list are worth money. The strategies for online and offline businesses differ slightly however the value of the database for both is equally important. To create a database of leads, as a business owner of an online business, one simple strategy is to place a form on your website. Research indicates that the right upper corner is the…

Building a brand is a process. It isn’t something that happens overnight and it certainly takes more than a logo and a business card. Many super sized businesses like Nike, Honda, and Ikea and so on spend tremendous amounts of time and money creating their brand. Small business owners just don’t have that time nor do they generally have a budget to support such efforts. The good news is that for small business owners – spending millions on branding just isn’t necessary. A small business owner’s number one branding asset is their personality. Stiff, quirky, loud, intelligent, adventurous, straight laced,…

I’m working with a Sweetie, and you can too! 🙂 This is a completely honest review of the service I use, and have used since it launched in December 2007. This is truly the BEST thing I’ve ever done for my business. When building your online business and presence it takes alot of work to stand out. It takes time and dedication to work on your sites, have them perform properly, and draw new visitors. My online journey started solely because I wanted to build something that didn’t keep me locked up inside a retail store for hours on end.…

Among psychological triggers, ‘Credibility’ offers a significant contribution to your prospect’s buying decisions. We buy from people and companies who we perceive to be experts in the industry. We buy from people with a longstanding track record of success and we buy from companies who offer the power of mass appeal – mass appeal gives the perception of credibility. If thousands of people are buying XYZ then they must be good, right? So if you’re a brand new company with a handful of customers how do you establish credibility? First and foremost – offer an exceptional customer experience. Word of…

A local website design firm noticed that their area chamber of commerce website hadn’t been updated in awhile and contact them to offer their assistance. The chamber’s decision makers were pleased to take them up on their offer and scheduled a meeting to discuss their needs. The design firm came to the meeting with a proposed new design with an updated look with a blog component. They discovered at that the person in charge of the website at the chamber was ‘very happy’ with the current design and only wanted to hear what they would charge to ‘keep it up’.…

I just spent the last week with my wife walking the theme parks of Disney World. We haven’t been there in many years and a lot has changed. I have to admit that the Disney brand is alive and kicking in Florida. Where else do you see grown men and woman walking in public wearing various themed mouse ears and Goofy hats? At Disney World it seems perfectly suited to the atmosphere created there. The Disney experience is essentially the audience immersed in theatre. The resort we stayed at welcomed you “home” upon entering the grounds and the entire cast…

There is no arguing that we are facing a down turn in our economy, I’m not ready to call it a recession yet, but we are definitely feeling the pinch. That is the nature of business-it goes in cycles of ups and downs. When the market slows and sales start to drop, owners’ first instinct is to cut their costs. One of the first to be slashed is the marketing/advertising budget. Ad budgets are often at the top of a cost-conscious small business owner’s hit list because it’s an easy decision to make and it has an immediate impact to…

What does ORFF stand for again? O- objectives; R- Rapport; F – Feedback; F – Flexibility; So what about rapport? Firstly its highly important to ask yourself – what is rapport and how do you know when you’re in rapport with someone? Raport is achieved when two people are communicating openly and with ease. When we’re in rapport there is a sense that there is a connection, often subconscious with the other person. How can we achieve this? The simplest way is to find something in common with the other person – did you work in the same company, have…

If you aren’t actively marketing for local search prospects, you are missing out big time. With close to 300 million searches per day, there is no denying that people use search engines. But do they use them when looking for local products and services? There is an abundance of public data suggesting that as high as 80% of potential prospects turn to the internet first when looking for a local product or service. The yellow pages are a thing of the past. The new yellow pages are local internet directories and a new medium called Pay Per Click advertising. If…