It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower. —Paul Graham,

Are you consistent in your marketing?

Getting into a rhythm to boost your sales sounds like a great idea, right? After all, what small business doesn’t want to increase their sales?

But it’s so easy to forget to post a blog or write that newsletter.

What can you do to put a plan in place to be consistent in your marketing? Here are some ideas to help you become a consistent marketer.

Schedule time

On your calendar, schedule time to work on your marketing each week. Book this appointment with yourself and keep it! The time you set aside is time you can use to write your blogs, post to social media and write your newsletter.

Start an idea folder

Whenever you come across a great article, email or inspirational quote, you should save it to a folder. Use the items from your idea folder as inspiration for your next blog post or newsletter article.

Develop an editorial calendar

An editorial calendar is a roadmap to keep you on track with topics and promotions. Creating an editorial calendar is easy. Start with your full year in overview, thinking about when you’d like to hold certain sales or promotions. Drill down to the details in on the monthly calendars.

Get help

Sometimes you’re so busy running your business and working on client projects that you don’t have time to write and handle all the marketing for your business. That’s when you call in a marketing firm, such as Blue Dog Marketing, to help you. A good marketing company can free up time for you to spend on profit-generating activities.

How do you stay consistent with your small business marketing?

Stop Making These Marketing Mistakes

Marketing is the foundation of any business. Marketing keeps a small business in balance and growing.

Many small businesses don’t understand what marketing is and how to do it. Therefore, they end up making some expensive mistake.

Think advertising is marketing

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is to think that advertising is marketing. Businesses can spend a lot of money on advertising and, if not done properly, can cost a lot of money with very little return on investment.

Don’t have a marketing plan

Your marketing plan should be a part of your written business plan. The marketing plan should be revisited at least every quarter to revisit your efforts and gauge what has worked and what hasn’t. Your marketing plan is your road map to driving your business growth.

Don’t know your target audience

When you write your marketing plan, you must know who your target audience is. A small business should have a direct target niche as their audience. Analyze everything about your niche audience – their income, age, sex, education, interest in your product and their loyalty.

Don’t know your competition

One of the best ways to analyze the marketing is to be familiar with your competitors. Know your competitors strengths and weaknesses so you can make your business stand out from your rivals.

Don’t know and value your existing customers

A smart small business person knows who their customers are and values them. It costs more to find and sell to a new customer than it does to sell to an existing customer.

Keep track of your current customers. Send out monthly or quarterly newsletters to help you stay top of mind with them.

Happy customers also talk about your business so stay in touch with special offers just for them.

Don’t join your local Chamber of Commerce

All business starts local. So be involved locally. Join your local Chamber of Commerce to network with other small business owners and learn from seminars and presentations that the Chamber offers.

Avoid making these marketing mistakes and market your small business with knowledge and strategy. 

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn

3 Tips to Create Great Social Media Content

You’ve heard that content is king. That’s true but not just any content….the content must be high quality.

How do you get the high quality content that will engage your readers? Here are 3 tips to creating great content.

Know Your Audience

Knowing who you are writing for is so very important. You need to research who your target audience is so you can offer them the stories and information that they want and need.

Compose the Right Message

Once you’ve discovered who your audience is you have to determine what you are going to say. The first thing you need is a snappy headline. The right headline on your blog post will capture your reader’s attention and make them want to read the entire post. If you can’t capture their attention at the start, most will not bother to read the great content you’ve written.

Your message should assert the value you offer your customers and let your readers know why they should choose you over your competition. What sets your company apart from others?

Include Photos

A great picture that relates to the subject of your blog post can also help capture your audience’s attention. So make sure you use a good picture. Try using some behind-the-scene pictures of your office or employees at work or having fun. This can help humanize your company so you don’t look too stuffy and impersonal.

Start working on your social media strategy for 2016 and stick to it!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Blue Dog Marketing!

How to Create Your Small Business Press Kit

Are you ready to be the expert in your field? Do you want to have the press contacting  you for your expert opinion when a topic you’re knowledgeable about comes up? If so, you’d better create a Press Kit.

What is a Press Kit?

A Press Kit is like a resume for your business. You may be tempted to include every marketing piece you’ve ever produced. Only information that is current and relevant to your target reader should be included.

What should be included in a Press Kit?

Here are some things you can include in your press kit. Remember, not everything is needed; only provide what your target audience needs.

Letter of Introduction

This brief letter, on your company letterhead, is your reader’s first impression of you and your company. This is where you can grab their interest so make it count. Your contact information should be included in this letter so they can follow up with questions or an interview. Also, include a table of contents of the items enclosed in 

your press kit.

Information on your business

You should include a brief company profile, your history and your biography. Photos of yourself and your business could also be included here.

Product/Service information

Include your company brochures, sell sheets or product fact sheets. You can even include white papers, if appropriate. All this information will allow your reader to get to know your products or services in depth.

Recent articles

If you have been interviewed, include copies of those (recent) interviews. Print out any online press your company received too.

Press releases

If you have any recent press releases, especially those that got you the coverage in the articles mentioned above, include them in your kit.

The key is to get noticed

Editors are busy and have to sort through piles of press kits each day. Getting your press kit noticed will result in action….your interview!

Try packaging your press kit in a unique way and make sure all your materials are presented professionally.

Follow up with the editors you send your press kit to. Follow up calls are the perfect opportunity for editors to ask you more detailed questions or to schedule an interview.

Success comes from standing out, not fitting in. – Dan Draper

Remarkable social media content and great sales copy are pretty much the same – plain spoken words designed to focus on the needs of the reader, listener or viewer. – Brian Clark

Have You Branded Your Social Media Correctly?

Branding can have a significant impact on your social media. If your social profile doesn’t make a good ‘first impression’ or your page is not aesthetically pleasing or it fails to convey your brand’s message, prospects may decide not to ‘like’ your page and leave.

Here are three social media design tips to ensure your brand has a visually appealing social media presence.

Be Consistent

Most businesses have multiple social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter. It is important to establish design consistency across all your networks.

Being consistent does not mean each network must have the same designs. Your profile image should always be your logo, but you can change up your cover photos based on each social network’s audience.

Use Correctly Sized Images

If you are using low-quality images in your profile and posts, your brand doesn’t come across as consistent or professional.

It’s important to know what size images each social network requires for its profile image and cover image.

Facebook:    Profile image: 180 x 180 pixels

Cover photo: 828 x 315 pixels

Twitter:         Profile image: 400 x 400 pixels

Cover photo: 1500 x 500 pixels

Google+:       Profile image: 120 pixels diameter (round profile picture)

Cover photo: 1080 x 608 pixels

Use Images

Posts that use images perform better on social networks. This is not surprising since we live in a visual world. Be sure to use pictures that relate to the post.