1) Join the parade! Small-town parades are a fun part of life in New Hampshire. And with some “floats” consisting of little more than a decorated trailer, everyone can join in!
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Jan
Blogging for Business: What Can YOU Tell Customers the Competition Can’t?
By: Heather Clifford
Category: Marketing, Social Networking
Tags: blogging basics, blogging for business, small business marketing
The advice is everywhere: You should be blogging about your business! But how does a small-business owner get started? What do I write about? And who has the time? As I’ve written before (see “Three Reasons Your Website Needs a Blog”), blogs are no longer online journals. They are easy-to-use formats for giving your customers/clients, both current and potential, chunks …
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Jan
Do You Know Your Target Audience as Well as the Tourism Folks in Jerome, Arizona Do?
By: Heather Clifford
Category: Marketing
Tags: Jerome Arizona, Jerome ghost tours, small business demographics, small business marketing, target audience
Some places advertise their sunsets or beaches. Others promote their hiking trails. Or local wineries. Or ski slopes. Or great shopping and nightlife. The historic (and, some say, haunted) mining town of Jerome, Arizona welcomes visitors with the announcement, “ROAD OPEN 365 DAYS A YEAR.” What a great example of knowing your target audience!
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Jan
Paul Rand and the Perfect Small-Business Logo
By: Heather Clifford
Category: Design, Marketing
Tags: Art for Water, Carolyn Davidson, Fields of Ambrosia, International Business Machines, logo concept, Paul Rand, Rindge Rec Department, small business logo, small business marketing
Should your logo sell you and your product or service? Or should it identify who you are? 20th-century graphic design pioneer Paul Rand insisted that a logo’s purpose is not to sell. Its purpose is to identify. Picture the IBM logo. Would you have any idea what “IBM” stands for if you didn’t already know what it stands for? Rand …
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Oct
“Doing well by doing good” is a cliché. But like many such overused phrases in marketing and advertising, just because “doing well by doing good” is a cliché doesn’t mean it’s untrue. Samsung’s recent initiative to lower road fatalities in Argentina, and the corresponding “Samsung Safety Truck” video, is a good example.
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Aug
3 Ways to Manage Your Social Media Efforts
By: Heather Clifford
Category: Marketing
Tags: small business time management, social media for small business, social media scheduling
So you’ve figured out which social media outlet or outlets are the best fit for your business and your target audience. As a small-business owner or sole proprietor, you probably haven’t figured out how to squeeze 25 hours into a 24-hour day! Here are a few ideas for finding the time to maintain your social media presence.
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Apr
Understanding 3 Print Ad Basics
By: Heather Clifford
Category: Design, Marketing
Tags: A Cut Above Landscaping, Gold Star group, Ken Yorston, Lakes Region Referral Alliance, print advertising
When sitting with a professional graphic designer to work on a print ad for your business, it helps to understand some of the basic principles of effective magazine and newspaper advertising.
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Feb
Why You NEED to Start Sending Out Postcards
By: Heather Clifford
Category: Marketing
Tags: postcard design, small business mailings, small business marketing
I wrote recently about “How NOT to Design a Postcard.” Today I’m giving you four good reasons to start using these marketing tools now. 1) Postcards are a cost-effective use of your marketing dollars. Newspaper ads and radio ads are beyond the budget of many small-business owners. But almost any business can afford postcards – which offer a big impact …
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Jan
3 Things to Change About Your Attitude Towards Marketing in 2015
By: Heather Clifford
Category: Marketing
Tags: follow-up mailing, small business marketing, word-of-mouth advertising
Skip the resolutions list this year. Many small-business owners would grow their companies more in 2015 – and find greater work-life balance to boot – by making a few small attitude changes about marketing. Which one of these sentences have you found yourself saying in the last year?
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Dec
Three things you could accomplish before lunch today! 1) Spread some smiles by supporting a local fundraiser. Is there a Scout troop or school group selling wreaths in your town? By now those hard-working kids (and their parents) are probably getting a little worried they won’t sell all they have left. Give ’em a hand by offering to take a …
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