Is Your Small Business Using Press Releases?

 

Press releases are important marketing tools. You should be writing and distributing press releases to promote your small business. Here are some tips on what should be included in a press release.

 

Start with the “newspaper basics” – the 5 W’s – who, what, where, when and why. If you include information for each of these, you will ensure that your audience has the most important information about your business or event. The answers to the 5 W’s should be addressed in the first paragraph of your press release.

 

To make the press release more interesting and credible, add quotes and more details about your business or event.

 

Don’t forget to include your contact information. The news organizations may want to follow up with you with additional questions. Contact information should include your phone number and email address. Make it easy for them to reach you.

 

Be sure to post your press release on your website. Also, use your social media (Facebook, Twitter) too. These are free channels to get your message out to your followers.

Why Business Cards Are Still Relevant Today

Technology today is moving so quickly and, as small business owners, we’re constantly playing catch-up. The latest technology is the ‘Cloud’. We’re storing and sharing documents on the ‘Cloud’ and it’s a great new technology for us to embrace.  With all this technology available, including our tablets and smartphones, you may wonder if it’s still necessary to have professionally printed business cards. The answer is “yes”!

 If you’re intent on growing your business, you should be busy networking. One of the first things we do when networking is to exchange business cards. These allow the potential customer to walk away from your meeting with your contact information.

Your business card is a low-cost promotional tool for your business. We always encourage our clients to use the back of the card to list service offering or products. This information can remind a prospect about you and what your company does.

Your business card should be professionally designed and printed. It should contain several items on the front:

·        Your name and title

·        The name of your business

·        Your phone number

·        Your email address

·        Your website

·        Your logo and tag line

A well-done business card adds legitimacy to a small business. It helps set the image for your company too.

4 Tips to Attract Customers to Your Website

As a small business, you have a website. How is it working for you? Are you attracting customers through your website? Your customers have to find themselves and answers to their problems on your home page. If not, you’ve lost them.

For your website work for you, ensure your home page contains the following:

1.   Use questions that address your customers’ problems. Think about your customers’ biggest challenges and problems. Create provocative questions that address your customers’ pain points and show your customers that you understand their needs. What are they struggling with that you can provide a solution for? By posing these questions, your customers can “find themselves” and they’ll know that you understand their pain and this establishes you as a credible resource. Limit your questions to three.

2.   Provide real solutions. You’ve let your customers know you understand their pain. Now, you need to let them know you can provide a solution that fits them.

3.   Focus on results. Your home page content must focus on your customers’ desired results, not how you achieve them. You prospects don’t really care how you get the job done. They just want to know the outcome and how it benefits them.

4.   Provide a clear Call-to-Action. Tell your prospective customers what you want them to do. Make it clear what their next step should be. Do you want them to complete a form and receive a free sample? Do you want them to call you? Whatever the call-to-action is, it should be very visible on your home page.

Are you using E-newsletters?

E-newsletters can be powerful and cost effective marketing tools for any small business. By using your own content, e-newsletters enable you to stay in front of customers and prospects with information about your products and your company.  

You should have an area on your website home page where customers and prospects can sign up for your newsletter. You’re staying top of mind with them through the e-newsletters. E-newsletters help retain, cross sell and upsell existing clients while generating leads from your prospects.

By sending content rich, targeted e-newsletters, your small business can demonstrate value beyond products and services. You’re seen as a thought leader and a trusted partner.

What does a successful e-newsletter look like? Here are some ideas:

Keep it simple.

Your text should be short and to the point. Include URL links to full-text articles. Include images to make the issue pleasing to the eye.
 
Use a catchy subject line
Get your recipients to open the e-newsletter with a descriptive subject line. Don’t be boring!

Stick to your schedule

If you promise subscribers a quarterly e-newsletter, you’d better deliver on time. Your readers will expect to receive your e-newsletter you promised. Plan your e-newsletter schedule by setting internal deadlines. It’s much easier to produce a quarterly e-newsletter than a monthly one.

Keep it fresh

You can use your blog posts in your e-newsletters, but be sure to include some new articles too. Your e-newsletter should provide value to your readers and give them a reason to want to read future issues.

 

What is a Tagline?

Blue Dog Marketing helps many start-up companies get branded. In addition to a company name and logo, we are challenged to come up with a creative tagline.

What is a tagline? It is a short, crisp phrase used to tell prospective customers what you do. It’s often wrongly thought of as a slogan.

Do you need a tagline? Of course you do! Taglines can be a cost-effective form of advertising. They convey the uniqueness and importance of your company’s brand or products. Taglines can also enhance consumer retention and brand recall.

Here are some attributes of a good tagline:

·        Originality

·        Simple

·        Crisp

·        Memorable

·        Amusing

·        Appealing

·        Convincing

Your tagline should quickly let prospects know what it is that you do. Blue Dog Marketing’s tagline is “Customized Marketing for Small Business.” That tell you right away that we do marketing and our customers are small businesses.

Need help creating a tagline? Contact Blue Dog Marketing and we’ll help you brand your small business properly.

Create a Marketing Plan That Gets Results

Whether you’ve been in business for years or are just starting up, having a marketing plan is essential. A marketing plan is your road map to success. It keeps you from wasting your time, effort and money.

What should be included in a marketing plan? Here are two elements that we at Blue Dog Marketing often see missing from our client’s marketing plans and are definitely needed to create a successful marketing plan.

Identify your target audience

Your entire marketing strategy should be based around appealing to your target audience. Conduct research to identify your target audience. The more clearly you can identify your target audience and learn about their needs, the more successful you will be in speaking to their problems and how you can solve them.

Differentiate your business

What makes you the best at what you do? Why should potential customers choose you over your competition? It is important to identify and define what makes your business stand out from the competition. This is part of your message to your target audience.

Approach your marketing strategically. Creating a marketing plan will keep you on track and save you time and money.

Need help creating a marketing plan? Reach out to Blue Dog Marketing. We can help you craft a winning strategy for your business.

Don’t Waste Your Marketing Budget

You’re running a small business and you don’t have a lot of time or money to spend on marketing. Don’t waste either! To get the maximum return on your investment of time and money, you must make sure you’re not wasting any of your marketing budget. Here are some areas where small business owners often end up wasting money due to lack of experience.

Don’t have a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap of where you are now and what you plan to do in the future. It helps you define your business’ niche, product offerings and target markets. Many small businesses waste money by ditching their plan and randomly working on a new marketing idea. If it’s not in the plan, then revisit the plan and see where, if at all, this new idea will fit. Should you implement it now or wait until next quarter?

Choose the wrong advertising medium

Not every business’ offering are made to be advertised on television. Your niche market may not even be reached through the TV advertising medium. Take a look at your goals to find the right marketing approach for your business.

 Target the wrong customers

Spend some time defining your target audience. Look at your product offerings and create a list of demographics that fit your customers. Once you’ve defined the right customer, you can craft a message that speaks directly to them and their specific needs. Spending money on messages to the wrong customers wastes your marketing budget.

 It all comes back to your marketing plan. Having a strong marketing plan in place will help you bring in new customers, keep your current customers and increase revenue.

 

3 Cost-Effective Marketing Techniques for Small Businesses

 

For your small business to succeed, you must have a good marketing strategy in place. Don’t worry that this strategy will be a budget-buster. It doesn't have to cost you a lot if you’re resourceful and creative.

The purpose of a good marketing strategy is to help you broaden your client base, build customer relationship and increase your bottom line. Here are 3 low-cost marketing strategies that you can use.

1) Business Cards - One of your most effective marketing tools is your business card. Business cards lets potential customers know what your business is and provides people an idea of what you are capable of doing in case they need your product or service in the future. Your business card should at least contain your business name, your name, business telephone number, website address and, if you have a location, your store address. Don’t forget about the back of your card. That’s often wasted space. Use it to list your services or products.

2.) Blog – Your potential customers search online for solutions to their problems. Share your knowledge and expertise on your blog and other social media so they can find you and see that you’re an expert in what you do and have solutions that can help them.

3.) Word of Mouth - One of the most affordable and strongest marketing techniques is the word of mouth referral. However, it is one of the most difficult to achieve because, for people to talk about you and refer you to their friends and family, you have to truly satisfy your clients. Always give your best to your clients and be professional. This will keep them coming back to you and referring your business.