Small biz marketing tips

A person offering their hand to shake, with the quote, "Unless you don't really like your money, there are much better ways to see if a marketing iniative might work than to just "give it a try".'

How do you know if that great marketing idea will work for your business?

We’ve all had it happen: a salesperson walks in your door (or your inbox) and tells you all about this great small business marketing thing that will attract more customers. You want more customers, you think to yourself. Should you try it? Will it work? Well, there are two ways to find out. One way is to go ahead and purchase their thing or ad space or what-have-you and see what happens. Now, let me be clear; I do NOT...

A person working on their website, with the quote, "You most important marketing tool is your website"

The one marketing thing every small business must do

I’m not gonna lie, the list of small business marketing best practices is a long one. And ask ten business owners, and they probably will all have their favorite way of attracting new customers. But. Out of all those opinions and all those possibilities, I’m going to draw a line in the sand. If you, as a small business, can only do one marketing-related thing, there’s no doubt in my mind what that one thing is: you must put up...

Woman with a megaphone, and the quote, "You won't attract new customers if you only talk to your current ones"

Marketing pro tip: stop talking to the same people.

Ask anyone what marketing is, and most would say that it’s advertising. (We’ll save whether or not that’s really the best definition of marketing to another day.) In other words, they think it’s getting your product or service out in front of new potential customers. Emphasis on the new. With that in mind, you may be surprised that a lot of small business owners forget to promote their business to people outside their own customer/fan circle. Why? It’s probably because...

A man taking a selfie, with the quote, "People don't care about your business. To make them care, make it about them."

Nobody Cares: the fundamental understanding of great marketing

This may sound harsh (and a little ironic, since I’m writing something for people to read right now), but People. Don’t. Read. They really don’t. They scan, they flip by, they click close. And they really don’t care about you. Before you give up in despair, let me tell you how you can use this to your benefit and why this is a good thing. Really! First, what do you do about it? Keep it short. Make it interesting Seriously,...

An audience under a quote that says, "If you don't know who your customers is, YOU CAN'T MARKET TO THEM."

Want small business marketing that works? Get to know your customer.

First, the bad news: the statistics on new business failure are pretty grim. About half by year five. Yikes. Think about that for a moment, but don’t panic. Because there is good news. The good news is that many experts (Forbes and Business Insider among them) cite a failure to understand and connect with customers as a top reason for a lack of success. And, while you can’t control macro shifts in the economy or really even market demand, you...