It’s a little late to think about buying a parachute when you’re going down in flames. Businesses that chose to ignore their brands and marketing to save a few dollars are now scrambling to try and and fend off their inevitable demise. Have you ever noticed that many in the retail world, both large and small do their best job at marketing when they are going out of business. The liquidation sales are adequately promoted with proper funding. When they had the opportunity to take marketing seriously they chose to pinch pennies and failed to invest in themselves, believing people…

Rebranding a Newly Acquired Business: They Told Me Not To Not long ago, I purchased an online business. When I bought the business, it came with its own, pretty well known brand, was a fairly profitable business and had a loyal client base. After obtaining the business, I pondered over completely rebranding it. The business didn’t require a fresh image, but it was something I personally felt would be a profitable choice as the new owner. I had plans to grow the business prior to acquiring it and giving it a brand make-over is just one of the ways I…

Well I have to say I’ve been chatting a ton about blogging and why it’s so important for me to hone my skill with it all. Lynette Chandler has now brought us Blog Energizer, she’s simply amazing with her knowledge about blogging. The cool thing is that you can grab a free account and get some pretty neat things for your blogging efforts, I’m looking forward to also using some of her resources. One challenge we all face is adding fresh content to our sites and having our visitors happy to check us out on a regular basis, Lynette takes…

One question I have postulating for some time has just resurfaced by prominent blogger John Jantsch over at ducttapemarketing.com.  He says there is.  And I agree.  The basic theory is similar to Maslow’s theory that self-actualization cannot be achieved until the most basic human psychological needs such as breathing, eating, and sleeping are first met. The same holds true in the small business realm. The ultimate potential of your marketing cannot be actualized until the basic or preliminary marketing requirements are filled. For example, as I have mentioned man times before, the number one mistake I see business owners make…

Ok so I’m following along the Blog Mastermind Program and Yaro suggests that we add more personality to our blogs to develop a closer relationship with our reader. One way he says is to add your picture to your blog to show your personality and build your brand. Yaro says… I want you to be very open, honest and real with your readers. You can do this by using your real personality and photos of yourself…. Well, I’m not one for pictures but I snapped this one with my laptop webcam of me with NO make-up I might add… (by…

Do you have a business blog? Bravo! Blogs are a fantastic way to connect with your target audience and existing clients alike. Our fellow Small Business Branding blogger Nick Rice mentions that in a recent post too. Yet, there is one problem I see consistently among small business blogs and that is their URL. I Cringe Every single time I see a small business blog that has blogspot.com, wordpress.com or even typepad.com in the URL, I wince.  Why? But It’s Stunningly Simple Or Is It… On second thought. I know why. I know it is super easy. What can be…

You know lately I’ve really been into fixing up my blog and following some great advice. At the same time, My ear is always to the ground keeping an eye out for other things and I wanted to share with you a few things. Today I need to share with you some TREATS for your blogging efforts. 🙂 The first time I ever heard about blogging and RSS it was presented to me by Lynette Chandler. Lynette is a Guest Blogger here and has been very instrumental in my online success. She is a complete tech whiz and I can’t…

Your corporate brand essentially involves two parties – you and them. It is the key in marketing yourself to be sure that you are resonating with your target audience. It’s time that you did some key research from three strategic perspectives: ONE: Tell us – who are you? It’s important to know who you are. In the past companies developed mission statements to define who they are. Many times it was wishful thinking. I’ve helped companies determine their brand values and personalities to help them understand who they are. One good way is to ask employees and principals for their…

Submitting articles to relevant websites, online magazines and article directories is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website.  It’s a low cost method with a fairly high return on investment. For example, if you pay $20 to $50 to have a writer create an article, you publish the article on a relevant website you will increase your exposure automatically.  Additionally, readers will click through to your website and buy your products or services. Depending on the price of your product or service all it takes is one purchase to make the article investment worth the cost and effort.…

Get ready for a rant, and let me ask you this question… “Are YOU a twitter snob??” This post has been in my mind for a long time. What is the point of Twitter? – is it to showcase your work? – connect with others? – secure business deals? – build a relationship with your readers? – all of the above? I truly use Twitter mostly for the joy in connecting with my online business friends. Aside from that, it really annoys me when I respond to others and they either don’t check their replies, or don’t care to reply.…