Pinterest is Predicted to Drive more Business than Facebook

December 6, 2012

If you have been using Pinterest as a marketing website, you may be on to something. At least as compared to marketing with Facebook. How are you using Pinterest to promote your products or services? For service professionals, I see an opportunity to promote workshops, seminars and programs on pinterest. Selling a product? For those [...]

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Market Research is Necessary to Measure what a Community Needs

December 3, 2012

Before you launch a new product or service, have you conducted the research necessary to make sure that what your plan addresses is actually needed?  In some industries, it is required that an organization does a needs assessment for the community. For example, as part of the Affordable Care Act, all non-profit hospitals are required [...]

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Reap the Benefits from Direct Marketing

November 21, 2012

Are you’re considering the idea of direct marketing to reach the right customers?  While direct mail marketing is considered a traditional type of marketing, direct marketing doesn’t have to be the post office mail distribution. Direct Marketing provide benefits because it is a very targeted approach.  You’re reaching out to potential customers and clients who [...]

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Communication is Critical at All Stages of Marketing

November 16, 2012

Even before going to market many companies are trying to get some funding in order to create their dream.  Communicating the value proposition with the angels and the venture capital group is critical to getting the funds needed to do the launch. Yesterday I attended an entrepreneurship pitch for Archangels (they do four a year) [...]

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New Pizza Product Introduction Success Uses a Variety of Non Traditional Marketing Tools

November 14, 2012

A few weeks ago, I met Greg Getzinger when I was talking with a group of about 35 entrepreneurs as part of a business speaker series to help new business owners learn more about branding and marketing their business.  Greg is the owner of Portion Padl, a new product that helps people cut a pizza [...]

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Save Your Marketing Budget by Skipping the Yellow Book Advertising

November 12, 2012

Another copy of the Yellow Book was left by my driveway this weekend. For years I have encouraged my clients to skip the phone book advertising. It just doesn’t make sense to pay the high fees when so many people use the internet to look up a category or even a phone number of a [...]

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Has Election 2012 Affected Your Company’s Marketing?

November 5, 2012

Election Fever Has Bumped All The Regular Ads Off The Hemisphere Here in Northeast Ohio. Northeast Ohio, also known right now as the election swing location in the nation,  is so full of PR, news and ads about tomorrow’s election, that I’ve holding back some of my client’s press releases until after the election results are in. And [...]

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Directing a Logo Refresh? Check Out the Updated Logos for Fast Food Marketers

October 20, 2012

Both Arby’s logo and Wendy’s logo have had a recent update. I’m interested in this because we are in the midst of helping one of our clients move from the logo they’ve had for years to update and refresh their logo into a rebranded version of their company. While  we’ve driven the rebranding of several small businesses, I [...]

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Introducing the Branding Expert at the ATHENA International Leadership Summit

October 15, 2012

Last night was an awesome board of directors meeting for ATHENA International.  You know, the kind of meeting where you feel like the future of an organization is really coming to the tipping point? It’s like one of those wonderful books you read where you can’t wait to get to the next chapter. I’m in [...]

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The Magic of Entrepreneurship – Great Resources for Starting and Running Your Business

October 3, 2012

Plan to attend the 7th Entrepreneurship Extravaganza at Kent State University on October 25 Community entrepreneurs from Northeast Ohio are invited to the seventh annual free entrepreneurship event at Kent State University. Hosted by the CEBI, the Center for Excellence and Business Innovation, the event features the founder of Priceline Jeff Hoffman and motivating leadership [...]

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Improve Your Marketing Results – A/B Case Study Results

October 2, 2012

Ever wonder which version of a website landing page or an email subject headline would deliver better results? If so, you might be interested in checking out this library of “A/B and Multivariate testing” case study results. They have almost 300 case studies of real life examples. You can sign up for a 90 day [...]

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Marketing Trend: 45% of American Adults Own Smartphones

September 28, 2012

It’s hard for me to believe that 45% of American adults own a smartphone as reported in a recent study on smartphones by the Pew Research Center. Seems like desk tops are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Over coffee this morning, one of my friends mentioned how she purchased a book from an [...]

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Enter the Business JumpStart Contest to Win Free Agency Services

September 27, 2012

I received an email today with a request to tell my readers about a unique, new campaign launch that offers an emerging business the opportunity to win a business JumpStart with $100,000 in agency services from Blue Collar Interactive. I skip over most of the requests I receive for pushing out information to readers, but [...]

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Feedburner Stats Are Back Working Again

September 25, 2012

After a flurry of activity in saving email subscribers and selecting a new syndication service for this blogs feed, Feedburner is back up and showing stats again. Have stats and information about the blog is a critical part of the publishing process and Feedburner provided a great way to analyze stats without having a complex [...]

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Feedburner Feeds are Ending

September 24, 2012

From almost 15,000 subscribers to zero. At least that’s how it looks for Feedburner’s stats on the Branding & Marketing blog for now. If you are a blogger and have used Google’s Feedburner for your RSS feeds, you may be aware that Feedburner Feeds are now gone. Here’s what is on their development site: Important: [...]

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New Market Research Tool from SBA Provides Competitive Intelligence

September 24, 2012

Market research and marketing research are keys to having a strong marketing program.  The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently launched a web page on their website to help small businesses get an edge on their competition. The free tool, called SizeUp, helps businesses identify new customers and compare their performance against other businesses in their [...]

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Do You Need to Refresh Your Company Logo?

September 17, 2012

Are you working on a logo redesign for your brand? If so, you’re probably trying to balance a variety of challenges: Keeping your logo fresh without losing your brand identity. Making changes minor enough not to alienate your brand fans and users, but significant enough to make the needed difference that warrants the investment of [...]

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3 Steps to Improve Your Marketing Message

September 3, 2012

Are you struggling to fit all your copy into your ads and sell sheets?  Wondering why you’re putting so much money into marketing and not getting the return on investment that you’d expect?  Consider taking these three steps to improve your marketing message. 1) Get clear on the basics: Before your marketing can be clear, [...]

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Start Your Business RIGHT NOW with this Launch in a Day Website

August 17, 2012

LaunchInADay.com is an online step-by-step guide to help entrepreneurs (especially for those without a background in business) walk through the logistics of starting a business. The guide is very down-to-earth and practical and includes links that point each entrepreneur exactly where he needs to go in order to properly initiate his business. I wish that [...]

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How Does Your Website Look on a Smart Phone?

August 7, 2012

In 2011 more smartphones were sold than PC’s. And now that some of the phone carriers are forcing a smart phone sale by not carrying a variety of low end phones, desktop websites will become less important and how a website looks on a smartphone and mobile devices will become more important. So, how does [...]

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Can Marketing Help to Generate Leads Even in an Uncertain Economy?

July 25, 2012

Source: Vistage CEO Confidence Index — Q2 2012 This index of first quarter 2012 from Vistage tracks the confidence level of CEOS and small business owners against the GDP YOY (Gross Domestic Product Year over Year.) If you’re finding it more difficult to generate leads and close proposals, looking at the CEO Confidence level survey [...]

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Entrepreneurship — the Spark Needed to Build Wealth in the Next Generation

July 17, 2012

In a recent article called “Buy Lemonade, Inspire an Entrepreneur“, Deborah Hoover, the president and CEO of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, suggests we business people help young people learn how to start businesses. I think it is a great idea! No — not just to buy lemonade — but to fan the flames of entrepreneurship. [...]

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QR Codes are the Most Popular Mobile Marketing Tactic

July 13, 2012

QR Codes are probably one of the easiest to implement and most common of the mobile marketing tactics, but do they actually work? I’ve seen them used effectively at trade shows. It’s easy enough to get the tag. And even to customize it with your brand and colors. The trick is to create QR code [...]

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Is Your Mobile Marketing Program Ready to Generate Results?

July 12, 2012

Everything I read lately reminds me that mobile marketing is going to be big, BIG, REALLY BIG. From advertising, to websites, and of course, all the apps — having your brand accessible and in the public’s eye from a mobile device will be crucial. Mobile text, ads on apps, mobile only sites… each mobile marketing [...]

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13 Ways to Improve Landing Page Conversion Rates Today

June 27, 2012

Guest Author Jason Wells is the CEO of ContactPoint. One of the best ways to get a lead is to create a landing page. Landing pages can offer anything from a coupon or a White Paper to a Demo or an actual product. While keeping in mind that no landing page is perfect, there are [...]

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