Branding

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How to Choose the Right Color For Your Brand

By Christine Milot | June 27, 2010

Understanding the proper use of color is essential to creating a positive small business branding image. Color can send a positive or negative message, increase sales, excite an audience, or make an athlete perform better.

At a very young age we begin to learn the meaning of color from our social, cultural and environmental surroundings. We learn about the meaning of color from our parents, teachers, friends and even advertisements that we see in stores and product packaging. As we learn about the meaning of color we begin to associate emotional reactions and expectations to specific colors. As adults, many of our psychological reactions to color are universal. Read More »

Quantity vs. Quality

By Kim Sheehan | October 7, 2009

The blogosphere has been busy with chatter regarding a certain company that offers to sell companies followers on Twitter, Facebook fans, and Digg votes. It’s not expensive: Facebook fans go for about 10 cents each. Many companies large and small appear to be interested in this service.

What is the psychology here? Read More »

Where’s Your Competitive Edge? | Word of Mouth Marketing Tips

By Kim Sheehan | September 21, 2009

When people talk about your business, what are they talking about? If you can quickly name the one thing that they’re saying (‘we have the best burgers in town;’ ‘our prices can’t ever be beat;’ ‘our employees are the most helpful in town’) then you have a competitive advantage: you have one thing that sets you apart from your competitors. And that’s great. You can stop reading now.

But chances are, what people are saying about your business is Read More »

Why Hardly Anyone Is Buying

By Peter Geisheker | August 31, 2009

When you use the same approach everyone else does, your marketing takes on a “me too” look and your prospects have no idea why they should bother doing business with you versus the competition or just not doing anything at all.

Want a better response from your marketing? Want your prospects to actually contact you and buy from you? Read More »

Have You Ever Put Lipstick on a Pig?

By Charlie Cook | September 10, 2008

What is it with putting lipstick on a pig?

Obama and McCain both seem to love this phrase. According to Meghan McCain her Dad uses it frequently and at last count McCain used it plenty publicly referring to Hilary’s health care plan and to Mitt Romney.

What’s it mean?

It refers to dressing something up and trying to sell it as something it isn’t.

Obviously you can take this idea too far and the first thing I’d recommend is that to anyone who uses this phrase drop but don’t dump the concept.

What am I saying? Should you put lipstick on a pig?

No! But regularly businesses rename products and bring them back to life. For example book publishers look at poorly selling titles and if the book looks like it could have life they come up with a better title, one that catches attention and sells.

So don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, use this idea, just not to literally.

Does this work? Does renaming and repacking existing products or services work to bring life to a poor sales?

Yes! It’s one of the easiest ways to ramp up profits. Just don’t call it putting lipstick on a pig. And of course I’m assuming none of your products or services are pigs anyways.

– Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

What’s In a Name? How much does it affect your marketing success?

By Charlie Cook | May 27, 2007

How important are your product names to the success of your marketing?

Back in March after a ski trip, my son returned to college leaving his ski boots in our poolroom, that wasn’t the problem, the problem was they were highly odoriferous if you know what I mean. Other than dipping them in Clorox I wasn’t sure how to kill the smell.

With a short web search and I found the perfect product. It was marketed under the name, “Stinky Feet”, which got my attention and I whipped out my credit card and bought it. Amazingly enough the stuff worked, at least after a few applications.

How important is the name of your product or service to the success of your small business marketing?

Product names like Stinky Feet or Mold Away or Eliminating Obstacles to Sales or Creating Web Sites That Sell let your prospects know what they’re for or do immediately. That’s a good thing if you want the sale.

Want to get the attention of your prospects and attract buyers with your marketing? Does the name of your product or services contain a description of the problem or the solution?

If they do, they’re much easier to sell.

Know of other great product names or ideas? Submit them here by leaving a comment.

– Charlie
For Marketing Ideas That Work

How to Differentiate Ourselves from Our Small Business Competitors?

By Charlie Cook | June 24, 2005

“We are one of 15 competitors in the NY area all selling the same product. There are no real differentiators outside of price. Working for a corporate entity — I cannot change pricing.” – B.K.

How you talk about your services, the marketing copy you use can help to differentiate your business from others.

1. Identify your prospects’ concerns.

2. Appeal to your prospects’ emotional needs relative to your product or services.

3. Use your business marketing messages to focus on how you help your prospects instead of some meaningless mumbo jumbo.

Your small business marketing can help you differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Many decades ago Miller beer sales were in the doldrums, hitting new lows. The came up with a new advertising campaign that step by step explained how they brewed their beer. Never mind that other manufacturers did the same thing. In creating an awareness of the what was involved in making their beer Miller was able to become the top selling beer within a year or two.

Marketing, how you talk about what you do makes a difference to your small business results.
– Charlie Cook

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