All startups fall into one of three categories: those which sell products, those which sell services, and hybrids which sell both. These distinctions may not seem all that important at first. But in fact they make a profound difference in how you design your marketing strategy.
To put it simply, a service company is unlikely to succeed if it markets itself the same way that a retail company does. And vice versa.
Among other things, the first concern of most retail customers is your price and how it stacks up against your competition. The first concern of service customers is whether you can deliver your services professionally, with quality, and in a time frame which meets their needs.
Category Archives: Advertising
5 Reasons There’s Never Been aBetter Time to Start a Business Mike Armour This is the greatest time in history to start a small business. Sure, money for startups is not easy to come by. The economy, while technically in … Continue reading
Never Waste This ValuableMarketing Space Mike Armour You’ve no doubt heard the old real estate adage about the three things which determine the value of a property: location, location, location. This same principle holds true in marketing. Whenever you produce … Continue reading
Online slideshows provide a simpler and less costly alternative to video producing for telling your story in images on web pages. Slideshows do not require expensive equipment or elaborate editing software, as is the case with video. And they are far less time-consuming to produce.
Since these slideshows can be created in PowerPoint and uploaded to free sharing sites, slideshows can be created with minimal expense and a limited investment of time.
Thus, for cash-strapped startup businesses, online slideshows may be a preferable alternativein creating a rich graphic presence on their website.
Continue readingSplit testing is a technique which allows you to determine how small changes in your advertising materials impact your response rate. While very popular with internet-based businesses and advertising on the web, split testing can be utilized with almost any type of advertising medium.
To be effective, split testing needs to honor certain guidelines which are outlined in this article. And it depends on the business owner’s willingness to gather and analyze metrics tenaciously. Split testing requires a significant investment of time and effort, but the payoff is continuous improvement in the success rate of your marketing campaigns.
Continue readingSplit marketing allow you to monitor response rates to your advertising and to identify how the response rate changes when you make small variations in an ad or a marketing piece.
Done consistently, split testing gives you vital insights into the decision-making of your potential customers — insights which you can gain in no other way.
Your business card may be small, but it makes a BIG impression. In all likelihood you will hand it to hundreds of people. And for most of them it will be their first opportunity to make judgments about the quality and professionalism of your business.
In this issue I want to look at some considerations which should go into the design of your card. These best practices will help you create a business card that leaves the kind of professional impression that you want your business to have.
Continue readingAll businesses have one thing in common. They must have customers. And finding enough customers relies primarily on effective marketing and advertising. Unfortunately, most encore entrepreneurs do not come into business ownership with a strong background in either discipline. They may have never written an advertisement in their life. Now their lifeblood depends on successful ad campaigns.
Let me show you, therefore, how the five vowels — A, E, I, O, and U — can serve as a roadmap for writing powerful and compelling advertising..
Continue readingPeople starting a small business often devote themselves primarily to what they will offer rather than innovating the way in which they will offer it.
Continue readingWe all have strong feelings about certain issues. Whenever these issues come up in conversation, we snap to attention. We tune in more intently. We become fully engaged with what is being said. Marketers call these emotionally-laden topics "hot button … Continue reading