The decision to engage professional video production services is a common scenario for many businesses today. Video content has become a key ingredient for driving digital marketing success. 

First and foremost, consider the level of professional video production quality required.  If you’re looking for a high-end video to use for branding your company in the most professional light, pro video production services is the best solution.  Trained video professionals are the ones to turn to when you need a professional-looking video with high-quality audio, seamless transitions, animated titles, and other advanced production effects.

Do It Yourself Marketing Videos

Many marketing videos used today do not require high-end, costly video production.  It’s perfectly acceptable for marketing videos to appear more raw and self-made.  In some cases, a more personal format captures an outstanding level of online attention on social media and serves the marketing purpose perfectly.  Impactful marketing videos can be very easy to produce using some widely-available software applications.

Do You Have An Advertising Video Maker on Staff?

You may not consider yourself to be an advertising video maker, but it’s very possible for anyone to create good quality videos.  A simple screen capture program is a great way to produce a nice video.  Screen capture software records everything you do on your computer from the point when you turn it on until you turn it off.  The video files can then be easily uploaded to YouTube for distribution, added to your company web pages, or included in attention-getting social media posts.

Screen Pal: A Simple Solution for Creating Marketing Videos

Follow these steps to make a screen capture video using Screen Pal

• After a small application is downloaded from the Screen Pal website and installed, there’s an option to start a recording.
• You can choose to record your screen, camera, or both.
• A box appears that can be resized and moved to define the portion of the screen that will be recorded.
• Pressing the record button starts the recording, pressing the pause button stops it. 
• Save the recording to your computer for use.

Creating Marketing Videos Using PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint can also be used to easily create a nice marketing video. In the example below, I use Microsoft PowerPoint to add some simple animation effects, slide timing, and audio. The video is then exported into an MP4 video file. 

Engaging A Video Marketing Agency

Beyond these basic techniques for creating a video, you may decide you need some editing help.  For example, you want to cut a few video segments together to create your final video, add some titles, transitions, or a stock audio track.  These tasks are best accomplished with advanced video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro.  If this type of video editing is needed, it’s best to engage the services of a video marketing agency that has qualified professionals that are trained to use pro-level tools like this.  They’ll typically chat with you to discuss your project requirements and how the video will be used, and also offer creative ideas and options you may not have considered.

If you need help creating marketing videos for your business, Contact Us and let’s get started.

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Why Is My Business Not Showing Up on Google?

If you’re like many business owners looking to find more clients, you may have asked yourself “why is my business not showing up on Google?” You know there are customers searching for the products and services your company provides. You know they’re using search engines like Google, Bing, and Duck Duck Go to find these resources on their laptops and mobile devices. You may not know the ins and outs of how these search engines connect your business with potential customers.

What is SEO Search Engine Optimization?

All types of businesses can benefit from Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Entrepreneurs launching new businesses can let people know what products and services they provide. They can get the word out.  Businesses trying to grow may benefit from expanding beyond their current customer base to acquire additional prospects in new markets.

Search engines do their best to provide answers to the questions people ask. They help deliver solutions to problems and link people to companies that can help provide the information, products, and services they’re looking for.  Search engine technology presents a huge opportunity to get a business in front of the right people, it just needs to be optimized to do so.

How Do I List My Business on Google?

For businesses that don’t have a website, that’s the first step.  A website will allow people to find information about your company online. It will also enable the search engines to find information about your company online.  Search engines continually “crawl” the internet looking for information.  When they find it, they organize it into a giant database that indexes your information so it can be recommended to someone that performs a related search.

Just having a website online doesn’t mean it will show up on the search engines.  There’s a lot more to it.  All the text, graphics, and photos you include on your web pages help the search engine know how to correctly index and categorize your information in their databases.   They also reference information contained in page titles, headings, tags, and other data found within the construction of your web pages for indexing, so having all of this optimized is imperative to getting included in the online search query results.

Match Up with Actual Searches

It’s important to note that your website content must align with the actual search queries people enter online.  For example, if you’re strongly indexed in the search engine for “brisket catering” but no one ever searches for that term because everyone types “Texas BBQ caterers”, you’ll never show up.  You need to do some research on what people search for and generate information that aligns with the actual search terms people use.

Search term (or keyword) research can also reveal the volume of searches, how much competition you can expect for a search term, and other data that can help inform your choice of what content to create. 

SEO Continues Far Beyond Website Content

There are a multitude of other factors used by the search engines to rank your site including:

• How fast do your web pages load?
• How many words are included on your web pages?
• Do your pages include internal and external links?
• Is your site optimized for mobile devices?
• Is your site optimized for accessibility?
• What other websites link to your site?
• How long do online visitors remain on your site and how many pages do they visit?

Search Optimization Companies

As you can see, Search Engine Optimization is a very powerful marketing technique.  When used correctly, SEO can help your business succeed.  It’s complicated and takes time and an ongoing commitment to get it right. 

SwanRosney Marketing helps companies of all types with Search Engine Optimization.  We are certified in Digital Marketing and Search Marketing from the American Marketing Association and Digital Marketing Institute.

If you find yourself asking “Why is my business not showing up on Google?” or “How Do I List My Business on Google?”, give us a call at 832-945-0500.

For more tips on how to successfully market your business, see our News Blog.

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Marketing professionals have an enormous amount of analytical data available to them.  Advertising clicks, website activity, leads, conversions, and sales can be directly linked in ways that provide excellent insight for marketers.  For those using an integrated marketing approach that includes digital as well as other channels, measuring results for the offline programs can be a challenge.   Channels like print advertising and professional conferences may require very different approaches for gathering data. In cases like these, some “old-school” measurement techniques can help marketing pros make informed decisions.

Response Rates

One creative way to measure response rates for offline marketing programs is to include a unique phone number or web site address as the call to action.  The unique URL or phone number traffic will show how many people responded as a direct result of that advertisement or promotion. This can be used for print advertising, direct mail programs, billboards, and more.

Mail order catalogs measure responses by including a special code on a catalog and then asking callers to give them the code when they place an order. The codes are entered into a database that provides more information. Unique codes assigned to track geographical differences, household income levels, A-B design comparisons, and other factors reveal information that’s used to further analyze the marketing program.

Reach and Frequency

Reach and frequency are also helpful for measuring the effectiveness of marketing programs. A key benefit of applying reach and frequency techniques is you can estimate return on investment before programs are implemented. This can help compare various programs across channels and drive budget decisions.

For example, when planning print media buys, you can add up all the readers you’ll reach by using the circulation rates published by the magazines.  If you advertise in two publications, that each reach half of your target audience, you’ll know you can reach the entire target by advertising in both.

Frequency is the number of times you expect to reach the target audience. For example, if you know there are 50,000 car wash owners in the US and there are 3 print magazines that all claim they’re circulated to 50,000 car wash owners each month, you know that placing ads in all three publications will get your message in front of all car wash owners 3 times every month.

Share Of Voice (SOV)

Share Of Voice (SOV) can be used to compare your advertising efforts to your competitors. It’s measured by monitoring the advertisements you place, and the advertisements placed by your competition. The total circulation numbers for everyone that’s advertising shows the total voice for that period of time. Each advertiser’s SOV can be derived by calculating their percentage of the total voice.

The SOV concept can be applied to many programs including online advertising, convention participation, and more. To get the total voice for online advertising, use the number of monthly site visits claimed by the web sites you advertise on. For conventions, use the total attendance numbers provided by the convention management.

You can add more sophistication to it by adding a “weighted factor” to your measurements. For example, is your back cover ad more effective than your competitor’s half page inside black and white ad? The publisher sure thinks it is because they charge you a premium price for that position.  Use the publisher’s rates to find the factor to adjust the value of different ads. How much more do they charge you? Twice as much? If so, double your share of voice calculation. The same approach can be used for website banners.  The websites will charge different rates for different size ads and placements on the site.  For conventions, use the costs the meeting organizers charge for different size booths and different locations on the show floor.

Don’t forget about the web sites, publications, and conventions you don’t participate in. Just because you’re not in them doesn’t mean they don’t persuade the target audience. If your target customers all attend a particular convention and you aren’t there to exhibit, it affects your total SOV with that audience. 

Comparative and quantifiable measurements, like the examples explained here, can provide insight into the effectiveness of your programs beyond the readily available digital data. Identify the measurements that make sense from your target market’s point of view, then track the numbers and build an objective framework for making informed decisions.

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Many people don’t fully understand the importance of planning ahead. They progress through a series of steps in a sequential manner and when all the steps are done, the project is done. Often, they realize at some point along the way that there isn’t enough time to get it done. Then they either miss the original deadline, throw money at the problem, or cut corners and compromise quality to deliver on time.

Some deadlines like the start of the tradeshow or the date when a publisher prints and mails a trade magazine are beyond our control. These deadlines cannot be extended. So, our only choices are to cut corners or throw money at the problem. The first corners cut are typically those that assure the highest quality work, like additional proofreading and fact-checking. Throwing money at the problem can involve getting additional resources involved and paying exorbitant rush charges for shipping, printing, and so on.

Careful and responsible project management can help marketers achieve a high-quality result while meeting deadlines and budget requirements. A simple system of timing requirements, communicated to everyone involved, makes a world of difference. Having a good grasp on this gives project managers control over the process and a high confidence level in the results.

The first step in managing a project responsibly is to list all the steps involved. Think the project through from the end result. If the end result is 25,000 printed brochures in the literature fulfillment center ready to be shipped, then start with that and work backwards. The brochures need to be shipped from the printer to the fulfillment center. Before that they are printed. Before that, they are approved to print after being reviewed by those with the authority to approve the final. These final steps happen after stakeholders review the second draft, first draft, etc. And ultimately it all starts with someone kicking off the project in some form: calling the agency in for a meeting, preparing a strategy brief, or having some other type of initiation activity. You can get as granular or broad as you’re comfortable with and add as much detail as needed to manage the project and the project team towards a high-quality result.

Try to keep the time frame of reference consistent through the steps. That is, if you have an end date for “review first draft” that naturally includes providing comments on that draft. You don’t need to list a step for “provide comments.” If you think this level of instruction will be helpful to your team, combine that step into “Review first draft and provide comments.”

Once you have all the steps lined up, apply your best guess to how long each takes. Later, you’ll be able to adjust for actual practice as you track and analyze the results from individual projects. Build in a reasonable amount of time for each step, keeping in mind that people are unavailable sometimes and everyone is always busy. Once you have all the steps and the time it takes for each, add it up and you have the time it will take to complete that project, or that type of project.

If you typically rely on your experience in managing projects to estimate project timing requirements, you might find your estimates or rules of thumb need to be adjusted to allow more time. You might discover through this process that you need more time to do a good job.

Also, keep it as simple as possible. Have a few “generic templates” that all follow some standard project workflow or sequence. Then apply the templates to a wide variety of projects as needed. This helps when communicating the system to your stakeholders. If you can simplify it to just one or a few generic workflow tools and use them each time, it would be even better. Add or remove steps if you find the planning documents to be too complicated or too simple for your project team.

How does this system help in practicing marketing and marketing communications on a daily basis?

Many project stakeholders don’t believe the time involved in completing a marketing project the right way. Why should they? They don’t live it day to day. They have other things on their minds. They may think the timing requirements are overestimated and that extra time is built-in to make the project manager’s jobs easier. They push or ignore timelines and deadlines and don’t take them seriously.

In this case it helps to explain each step involved, what’s going to be done, and when. If your timeline for the development of a new ad is going to take 10 weeks, and you now only have 7 weeks, you can go through the individual steps with your team and adjust.  For example, you may need a faster turn-around of draft reviews, or you might need to reduce the number of reviewers.

Keep production windows and required start dates in front of everyone and top-of-mind. Make sure they know the timing requirements for each type of project. Remind them frequently in a way that keeps everyone thinking far enough out into the future. For example, if you know a new product introduction is on the horizon, but a launch date has not been identified, make sure they know how long it will take to prepare. If it’s June, and you require two months to prepare for a launch, make sure they don’t expect a July product launch.

The written agreement also gives you a tool to manage stakeholders. When your team is considering a new project and they want you to identify the date you can have it done, you have a useful tool to quickly give them an answer that you can back up.

Use the system to track projects. List the timing and dates and then monitor progress. Mark down the planned dates and the dates it actually happened. You can use it later to evaluate the project. (You might need to explain why the original deadline was missed). You can also evaluate a number of projects and adjust your system accordingly once you have some data. If you have the tracking dates from a number of projects, and they all show that it took consistently 10 business days to review the first draft, you’ll have more credibility when you build 10 business days for first draft review into the schedule.

The name of the game is having a clear grasp on exactly what it takes, and how long it takes, to complete a project. Then, you can better manage your team towards a good quality result.

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As discussed in Part 1 of this series, original content relevant to your business, products, and service offerings helps to drive online traffic for your business and generate valuable leads.  Connecting with someone that’s potentially going to do business with your company based on their search engine queries and other online behavior starts a meaningful conversation. You have what they’re looking for and just need to discuss their needs further and see if there’s a match.

As we implement content strategies to connect with potential customers online, we also have to consider the changing landscape of the digital marketing world.  There used to be two primary ways to capture online traffic.  One was by publishing quality online content that the search engine algorithms ranked as valuable. This is called organic search or search engine optimization and would affect the presentation of search engine results presented when someone performed an online search. 

The other way was to direct online traffic to your offerings by paying for advertising. Paid advertising would be presented in front of organic search results when searches commenced.  This is called pay-per-click advertising.

Quality Online Content is More Important Than Ever

The lines between these two digital marketing mechanisms is blurring as more intent, or integrity really, is being built into the way the paid advertising systems function.  The PPC algorithms now prioritize ads based on the alignment with user intent.  The search engines now evaluate and rank your content against available alternatives, prioritize your appearance based on this analysis, and even adjust how much you pay for your ads based on their opinion of your alignment with the ultimate intent of the online audience doing the searching.

They consider how well the content you have online aligns with your ad copy and keywords and how users interact with your online content. They measure how long visitors spend on your site, do they bounce off your site quickly and at a high rate, how many pages do they view, do they ultimately purchase from you or fill out your web forms, etc.  It really comes down to whether they believe you have actual, valuable information that will meet the intent of the online audience.

How To Start Creating Quality Marketing Content

If your company has existing customers, case studies are great way to develop content. Make sure to describe how your products and services are being used by your customers and especially any unique and interesting applications.  It’s not necessary to use your actual customer names either.  Write the case study in a descriptive way that tells the story without using any names.  The names don’t typically help your content marketing results anyway. 

Another approach is to provide an in-depth look into the technology behind your products and services. A detailed description of how the technology behind your products and services works is a great way to weave in your targeted keywords.  For example, a dry cleaner can describe how the chemicals involved in their process are created, used, or transported. Or they can publish a description about how their particular operational processes protect the environment.

A behind-the scenes peek inside your company operations is another approach to generating content. Show some photos of your unique manufacturing process or other core competency. For example, a equipment rental company can describe the maintenance procedures or training programs that keep their equipment performing at an advantageous level at all times for the customer.

Content Marketing Planning & Execution

If you find you need help creating and implementing a content marketing strategy for your business, SwanRosney Marketing has the experience and skills that will get you excellent results.  We can create a comprehensive content marketing plan with detailed schedules and the marketing assets as well.  We can also assist with any individual aspect of your content market program as needed.  The first step is to Contact Us and let us know a little bit about your business.

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With so much marketing activities centered around online delivery of information, marketers have been using the term “content in marketing” for a while now.  And naturally, many people are asking “what is content marketing?” “how does this apply to my business?” and “what results can I expect from improved content in marketing?”

What Is Content In Marketing?

Simply put, Content Marketing identifies the key information that’s required to move a prospect through the journey of becoming a customer.  It starts with a clear definition of the intended customer (frequently called a Buyer Persona or Avatar). Then an analysis of the information that moves the customer along the sales process and an application of some content marketing secrets forms a plan of action.

Buyer Persona Examples

To get a good foundation for a Content Marketing plan, the Buyer Persona should include as much relevant information about your intended customer as possible. Market segmentation can help you gain some clarity and focus. (See our Blog Post for more about Market Segmentation.) Including details such as demographic, behavioral, and psychographic information about a buyer helps fine-tune your market intelligence. 

For example, it may help a company that provides pool cleaning services to know who typically buys these types of services- average age, gender, marital status, average income, etc.

Another example would be a contract engineering company that needs to know who typically purchases engineering services- job title, company size, location, and prior purchasing behavior. Do they buy services through a bid/proposal process and how does that work?

Marketing Insights That Feed A Content Marketing Plan

Many resources are available to help identify the information that’s important to your customers. You can look at the social media and websites your customers use and analysis tools like Sparktoro help point you in the right direction. Then you can review those sites for content patterns and trends. Professional associations can provide similar insight into popular topics.

If you’re in the position to analyze prior customer behavior, you can chart out what it took to get them from awareness to conversion. That is, what information was provided in what order to close a sale?

A close look at your competitors may reveal content that customers value that you’re not providing.  What content works well for your competitors? Review their social media pages, website, and even email if you can get on their lists. Take note of any new social media platforms they’re using online. Setting up Google Alerts for your competitors is another good way to get timely information.

Finally, keyword research can validate that the topics you’ve identified are actually interesting and being searched for online. Keyword research won’t tell you who is searching for the information, only how popular the topic is, or isn’t.

Content Marketing Ideas

Mapping the information required to move a customer along the Buyer Journey will show which content is needed and in what order. Creative digital marketing content ideas then expand this thinking to define how and where you’re going to present it. Can you move leads thru the funnel with an email drip campaign? Do you have a sales team that might need case studies to help them close a sale? Can you use social media ads to drive brand awareness?

The sales funnel is a helpful model for thinking critically and capturing the insights in document form.

Once you’ve mapped content to the sales funnel, you can prioritize the development of new content based on any gaps.  The additional content required can go on a plan that outlines what’s needed and in what order it will be created. 

Content Marketing Secrets

The best formats to drive Awareness are advertising channels that reach potential customers that do not yet know about your company. Customers in the interest and consideration stages can be informed with additional information on your website, social media pages, and lead nurture programs.

Many businesses provide a Conversion mechanism right on their website or social media page.  Other companies may make sales by inbound phone calls or even at cash registers in a physical location. 

Finally, some of the most cost-effective marketing activities are aimed at customers who have already purchased. After all, it’s far more effective to sell to prior customers than find new customers.  A steady email marketing program is a great way to stay top-of-mind with prior customers and get referrals from their networks.

Content Marketing Agencies

You can certainly go it alone or you can certainly hire an agency to create and implement a content marketing plan for you.  If you decide you need some help creating and implementing a content marketing strategy for your business, SwanRosney Marketing has the experience and skills that will get you excellent results.  We can create an entire content marketing plan and all the marketing assets required, or we can jump in and assist with any aspect of your content market program.  The first step is to Contact Us and let us know how we can help.

Part 2 of our series on Content In Marketing will cover creative ways to develop content to use in your content marketing program.

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Marketing strategy exercises will reveal courses of action to pursue based on careful analysis of company and environmental factors. The specifics of target customers also need to be considered because consumer behavior and reactions to messages can differ greatly across different consumer groups.  For example, Generation Y consumers may be more willing to take risks than older Baby Boomers. 

To gain an understanding of your target markets and what you can expect from each, it’s helpful to separate your markets into groups that will behave differently, or value your offerings differently, than other groups.  This is called Market Segmentation.  Some of the common variables used to split up or segment markets include:

Behavioral segmentation

• Benefits sought from the product
• How often the product is used
• Usage situation (daily, seasonal)
• Buyer status (non-users, potential users, first-timers, regular users)

Demographic segmentation

• Age/generation
• Income
• Gender, ethnicity, family life cycle, family size
• Occupation, education, nationality
• Religion, social class

Geographic segmentation

• Region
• City size, population, climate

Psychographic segmentation

• Beliefs
• Values
• Reasons for being

If you have trouble identifying segments, follow the ways other companies segment markets. Google Adsense and Adwords, for example, can reveal the ways markets are commonly segmented for online advertising.

Once segments are identified, find some information about each to give you some insight about that segment’s behavior.

• Online discussion forum for a segment can provide insight into the attitudes and top current issues important to a market segment
• If you have current customers, you can use surveys to gather information

Don’t forget to segment the customers you already have. You have some insight about them already. Think about your experience with them. How are they similar and different across the common segmenting variables? Studying their buying patterns will help you decide which segments are the best to purse going forward. It can also identify segments that aren’t worth the effort.

Selecting Target Markets

After segmenting your markets and gathering some consumer insight about them, you are ready to make some choices. You may end up with many market segments that you could pursue, but some will be better and more viable options than others. Some might just be a waste of time and resources. Evaluate each market segment by asking:

• Is it sizable enough to be profitable?
• Is it growing?
• Is it saturated with competition? If so, is there a way to stand out?
• Is it accessible?
• Do you have the resources to compete for this segments business?
• Does it fit with you Mission Statement?

You may choose to target a very select group of customers. This is called a concentrated marketing strategy and is risky because all your eggs are put into one basket.  Niche marketing is an even narrower marketing strategy. Many marketing visionaries recommend a niche strategy because modern marketing data and technology enables targeting and engagement of very specific market segments.

Targeted Marketing

Once you’ve decided on the segment(s) to pursue, apply the perspective gained through the segmenting analysis to your product offerings.  You can now think about adjusting your marketing to the segments you want to pursue.  Do you need to promote your products and services differently? Would different marketing channels work better to reach the segment? Are your prices too high? Maybe your core products and services need to be changed to better align with the market? 

Now comes the competitive ingredient and Positioning

Positioning

Positioning involves planning how you want consumers to perceive your product relative to the competition.  You need think this through carefully and differentiate your offerings around the value you can actually deliver to the customer. The value that’s different and better than your competitors- your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

The positioning of your top competitors may be very obvious in their marketing. Take a look at what segments they appear to be targeting. What main messages are used in their advertising and promotions? How do you think they are being perceived in the market?

A helpful tool for visualizing the relative positioning of competitors in a market is a perceptual map. A perceptual map shows where you and your competitors stand relative to the criterial that is important to customers.

For example, if price and quality are the most important factors to a target market, a perceptual map showing where each competitor positions it’s offering may reveal an opportunity to differentiate an offering in the market.

Be careful and realistic, though. You need to be able to stand behind your positioning with actions and real results. Only choose a positioning that you can stand up to. 

Messaging

Taglines and message points can be used for positioning and repositioning products and services. A useful tool for organizing messaging points and keeping positioning consistent across different communications channels is a message map. A well-written message map keeps positioning consistent across marketing  promotions that may span all different types of media.

Applying Consistent Messaging Across Marketing Tactics

After you’ve planned out what you want to say, you then apply it to all the places where you want to say it.   Adjust your messaging to address each step in the sales funnel, while still remaining true to the core messaging direction for your market offering. 

If your business needs help developing and implementing a marketing strategy, we can help.

In case you missed the first two parts of this 4-Part Series on Marketing Strategy,

Part 1: Small Business Marketing Starts with Value

Part 2: Small Business Marketing Strategies

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To begin brainstorming and generating ideas for possible marketing strategies, it’s good to conduct a situation analysis of the business.  Strategies are the means, or the “game plans”, by which a company will reach its measurable objectives. And to identify where you’re going, it’s helpful to think about where you are now.

One tool commonly used to conduct a situation analysis is a SWOT analysis. Thinking critically and objectively about your company’s Strengths and Weaknesses and then about the external Opportunities and Threats that may influence your success, can lead to ideas about what to do going forward. viable. For example, an Internet search engine like Google may find that they are very strong at collecting data. There may also be an overall industry movement towards using data to make business decisions. So, a strategy to offer data for sale to existing users emerges.

Likely Competitive Scenarios

Another way to analyze a business and uncover strategic ideas involves looking at the competitive forces in your industry.  Michael Porter’s five forces model involves compartmentalizing your competition into direct competitors and potential new entrants into the market.  How easy is it for new companies to set-up shop in your industry? How viable are substitutions or alternatives to your product and services? For example, large coffee retailers like Starbucks may want to consider how easy it is for their customers to make their own coffee at home or office. And because of this, make more strategic efforts towards creating a unique customer experience n their shops.

Sometimes buyers turn into competitors. A large grocery chain may purchase a bakery and begin making their own bread instead of buying yours. Sometimes a supplier similarly moves downstream to compete. Looking at competitive forces in this way may reveal possible marketing strategies, as well as operational business strategies, to address likely scenarios.

Product and Market Lifecycles

Evaluating a company’s products and services based on their newness versus the newness of the markets they compete in is another way to help strategic directions emerge.  Once viewed in this way, more ideas about possible strategies may become clear.

Filter Strategic Ideas Using A Mission Statement

After possible strategies are identified through the situational analysis exercises, the best strategies to be pursued are chosen based on their compliance with the company’s Mission. Going back to the company mission statement will help determine which strategies are best.

From here, the tactics to be built to support the strategies are plugged into the plan.

In Part 3 of this series on Marketing Strategy, we’ll explore the relationships between customer segments, value offerings, and positioning. Link to Part 1: “Small Business Marketing Starts with Value” in case you missed it.

SwanRosney Marketing helps businesses of any size plan and execute creative marketing strategies. For more information about our services, click here.

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The need for small business marketing is everywhere. People start new companies every day for all kinds of reasons. Maybe they have specific skills that are in demand.  For example, an auto mechanic that starts her own shop or a construction worker that launches a new roofing company.  Some people have hobbies they enjoy so much they turn them into successful businesses. A weekend fisherman may decide to leave that accounting job, buy a new boat, and offer charter fishing services to fellow enthusiasts.

While new entrepreneurs may have the motivation and technical skills necessary to get their new business set-up and off the ground, they might not know anything about small business marketing. They might find that finding customers is not as easy as they had planned.

To be successful, every company needs to get their “story” in front of customers one way or another. That is, they need to market their business.  Marketing a business involves finding customers and convincing them to buy something.  Marketing is central to business success and can be very complex and confusing. Companies like Coca-Cola spend billions each year and employ brilliant people to make it work correctly.

Small business marketing doesn’t have to be as complex and confusing as marketing a consumer beverage like Coca-Cola. Thinking about your company from a marketing perspective and working through some planning steps can produce a simple action plan for marketing your business and creating results. 

Small Business Marketing Centers Around Value

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” At the center of this definition, and the center of everything marketing does, is “value.”

Business owners need to think about the value they bring to the market. What value can their company, through delivery of products and services, deliver to customers? What benefits do the customers receive from the company’s products and services? Beyond the obvious may be additional benefits like the piece-of-mind received from purchasing items they believe to be high-quality or prestigious. This is known as brand value.

Value Equals Benefits Minus Price (and Hassle)

In exchange for the benefits received are the costs to the customer in terms of price and any other hassles. Price is a central component of value and is personal and subjective as well. It’s different for different people. For some people, going to an auto dealership to buy a new car can be the most difficult hassle imaginable. Others may enjoy the car buying process.

All things considered, value can therefore be defined as the benefits received minus the combination of price and hassle.

Looking at a company through this value “lens” is the first step in small business marketing. Part 2 of this series, “Small Business Marketing Strategies”, explains a simple approach to forming intelligent strategies for marketing a small business.

SwanRosney Marketing helps businesses of any size plan and execute creative marketing strategies. For more information about our services, click here.

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Many of us are using presentation tools like Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides on a regular basis. It’s fairly easy to add some text bullets and photos in these programs. After all, we’ve been using these tools for some time now. However, the programs have evolved over the years and now enable some very creative and interesting approaches to sharing information visually.

The following example slide designs present some common types of business content in ways that just might keep your audience engaged and interested.  (Or at least awake.)

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