Small biz marketing tips

A blogger putting together a post with the caption, "Content marketing attracts three times the leads for about 62% less cost. Whoa is right."

What the heck is content marketing and why should I care: the small business guide

Hey! If you’re reading this, you’re interested in content marketing, one of the biggest trends in recent marketing history. So give yourself a pat on the back. Yes, content is king. Here are a few stats to support that statement: Content marketing generates about three times the leads that traditional marketing does (including paid search marketing), at about 62% less cost Small businesses with blogs (i.e. content marketing) get 126% more lead growth than small businesses that don’t. Websites with...

A car engine, with the caption, "Good marketing, like a car, works pretty much all the time. If yours has broken down, don't assume that cars aren't for you - run a diagnostic instead."

Marketing not working? Six ways to troubleshoot

If you are a small business and you don’t feel like any of your marketing works… well, let’s just say you’re not alone. I hear this over and over, and often not just from small businesses. I’ve heard the infamous, “marketing doesn’t work for us” line from businesses ranging from one employee to fifty. And the reality is that they aren’t wrong. But they also aren’t right. Don’t worry, I haven’t lost it. The truth is that at the very...

A video camera filming, with the caption, "Conventional wisdom would have us all believe that video is the greatest marketing thing since sliced bread. But we advise caution. Here's why."

Don’t make me watch your stupid marketing video

Marketing video fail: a few weeks ago, my mortgage company sent me an email regarding their annual audit of my escrow account. In the past, they’ve sent me a letter describing the change and letting me know when my payment will adjust. I read the letter, absorb the information, and I’m on to other things in under 10 seconds. Sounds good, right? No need to mess with that formula. This year, it appears the marketing department at my mortgage company...

Two rams butting heads, with the caption, "Copying what the competition is doing is the best way to never stand out."

Business marketing: three three reasons why you should stop looking at your competition

Between the two of us, Theron and I have about 40 years of business marketing experience. And I’m willing to bet that the one thing we’ve heard the most in all those years is, “We should be doing [some idea] because our competitor is doing it”. These things that the competition are doing range from great ideas to really terrible ideas. But they all have one thing in common: the sense of gut-wrenching urgency from the requester. We have to...

Diners in a nice restaurant, with the quote, "Marketing is so much easier - and more important - than fancy ad campaigns and expensive agency tricks."

What you think is marketing isn’t really marketing (and what that means to you)

A week or so ago, we were chatting about the importance of marketing with a business owner, and it became apparent that sometimes the idea of “Marketing” with a capital “M” seems a bit daunting—and even perhaps irrelevant—when you’re dealing with the day-in, day-out challenges of keeping your business running profitably. And sometimes the basic underlying purpose of marketing gets lost in the translation, when agencies and so-called experts start to pontificate on the importance of “building your brand”, “developing...