The success of a small business relies, in part, on the company’s ability to create a winning brand. In order to be successful, you must create a memorable reputation — and part of that reputation lies in your ability to successfully brand your company, products and services.
The idea of branding is not new. Branding dates back to 2000 B.C. when inscriptions on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs indicate that cattle were branded. What has changed is how you create a winning brand in today’s online-intense marketplace.
Successful companies create strong brands around colors, images, logos, shapes, slogans and taglines.
Coca-Cola has been called the world’s most iconic beverage. The company consistently and very deliberately, uses their trademark red, the distinctive Coke glass bottle figure, their script logo, and targeted slogans. Below is one of their latest videos. When I posted this, the video was less than 2 hours old and had 306 views. It will be interesting to see how many views it has when you read this.
Free Branding Assessment Tool
Coke’s consistent branding has resulted in a strong consumer following. You can do the same with your branding.
To learn how to brand your products, services and company as consistently as Coke, start with a quick branding assessment. Click here to download Reciprocate’s free branding assessment tool. You’ll also receive an exclusive offer to receive a free company branding of your Constant Contact emails. But hurry, the Constant Contact branding offer expires Feb. 29, 2012.
Once you have identified the Pain Points, you can identify the solutions available from your product/service.
In your marketing messages, reinforce that you understand what your customers really need. Illustrate or demonstrate their pain point and how your product/service can take away their pain. Clearly define the Pain Point that your product/service is addressing.
When you market your products or service directly to solve those pain points, your customers will respond.
Some customers will pay more for the prestige of owning/using your product/service (Godiva).
Some customers will buy the cheapest version available (generic chocolate-flavored baking chips) because quality just don’t matter to them, because a premium price point is higher than anticipated, or because that is what they can afford or chose to afford.
Packaging
Sometimes it’s how you package your products and services that encourages purchases. (How many colors of M&Ms can you think of? Trust me, the green ones taste just like the red ones!)
Sometimes it’s how you bundle your offerings (individual Cadbury eggs or a 3-pack). Encourage “add-on” purchases by making it easy for customers to buy more without having to think.
Creative Marketing
The Milk Chocolate Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand Use a tagline that will emphasizes your Unique Selling Point (USP) and is memorable.
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t Know your audience and adapt your marketing message and product/service offerings to the media — postings appropriate for your business Facebook wall probably shouldn’t be used as LinkedIn updates
Gimme a break…Gimme a break…Break me off a piece of that… Make your brand more than just a product or service. Tell your audience how your product can transform their lives and attitudes, if only for a moment.
Marketing can be scary for some. It means planning and putting yourself and your business out there. Don’t fret! Marketing can be fun! Try this technique to bring in a few customers and a few more laughs. Unique and wacky holidays can create a marketing strategy to keep your customers coming back for more. Take these days for example:
February 4 is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Create a poll to find out what ice cream your customers like best! Or, better yet, hide an ice cream flavor somewhere on your website. Customers who find the flavor can enter it as a coupon code and save 5 percent.
If ice cream is too cold of an approach for you, turn February 12 into your own Grammy Awards Ceremony, presenting your customers with $5 off their next purchase.
If the Grammys don’t have you running down the red carpet, For Pete’s Sake Day is a great time to have customers share their favorite verbal phrases of frustration (appropriate for all ears of course!)
Here are more unique February holidays:
Month-long celebrations
Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month
International Expect Success Month
Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month
Holiday Weeks
Freelance Writers Appreciation Week (Feb. 6-12)
Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 13-19)
National Entrepreneurship Week (Feb. 18-25)
Daily Holidays
1 – Change Your Password Day (declared by Gizmodo)
2 – Groundhog Day
3 – Wear Red Day
4 – Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
5 – Super Bowl XLVI
6 – Pay a Compliment Day
7 – Ballet Day
8 – Laugh and Get Rich Day
9 – Read In the Bathtub Day
10 – Umbrella Day
11 – Be Electrific Day
12 – Grammy Awards Ceremony
13 – Get a Different Name Day
14 – Valentine’s Day
15 – National Gum Drop Day
16 – Do A Grouch A Favor Day
17 – World Human Spirit Day
18 – Thumb Appreciation Day
19 – Chocolate Mint Day
20 – President’s Day
21 – Mardi Gras
22 – World Thinking Day
23 – Introduce A Girl to Engineering Day
24 – National Tortilla Chip Day
25 – International Sword Swallower’s Day
26 – For Pete’s Sake Day
27 – International Polar Bear Day
28 – Floral Design Day
29 – Leap Year Day
While we have listed some holidays to get started, feel free to create your own. Or, check out the previous calendars Reciprocate has provided. Make sure to do some quick research on your holidays though. From year to year, some holidays change dates. Regardless of your methods to marketing, creativity and a little fun can take you and your business a long way!
Try to understand your customer in terms of the Pain Points they are experiencing. Learn to recognize these Pain Points by asking questions and listening. Here are a few ideas:
Imagine a day in the life of your customer What problem does your product or service address?
Ask current customers about their lifestyles and goals How do they perceive themselves?
Ask customers what motivates them – and what doesn’t. Find out what the customer really needs
What is the true source of pain? Sometimes, you’ll need to read between the lines and listen past the immediate requests
Who sees the most value in having that pain removed? These will be your best customers
Who will ultimately pay for a solution? The end user of your product/service is not always the one who pays i.e. child/parent or pet/owner
Example Pain Points
Imagine you own a restaurant. You might be addressing not only a customer’s Pain Point and need for nutrition but also the Pain Point for a place to gather with friends without having to clean the house, a place to watch sports on multiple screens, somewhere to escape from work or home, or a place to celebrate. And the type of food you offer – healthy, inexpensive, ethnic – also might address your customers’ Pain Points.
Do you understand why your customers buy your product or service? I mean really understand what makes them buy?
Nothing motivates a person quite like pain.
While that might sound harsh, one of the best ways to increase sales is to identify your customers’ Pain Points and then position your company to deliver solutions that relieve these issues.
Customers with a burning need for something – their Pain Point – are highly motivated to alleviate this pain by buying what you have to offer.
What Pain Points do your customers have? Sample Pain Points include:
Choose one marketing theme for each month in 2012. Then feature the theme on your website, in social media postings and in all your monthly marketing efforts.
The themes will also give you new points for discussion at networking events and a reason to approach prospects throughout the year.
Marketing doesn’t have to be hard — or time consuming — and can even be fun. Here’s a simple way to use a modern twist on mythology that is guaranteed to increase sales whether you are a B2B or B2C.
Marketing Mythology
Create a mythological character, MTC (MyTypicalCustomer), based on your target market. Artist talent is not required; you can even use an online photo of an anonymous person. As you create MTC, answer these questions to help you determine what is important to MTC and why MTC is your target customer.
What does MTC look like?
Do you have several MTCs — male, female, different ages or even different education levels?
What does MTC do for a living?
Does MTC work/study in the city, suburbs, at home?
How does MTC spend his/her spare time?
Does MTC have any hobbies?
What is MTC’s family life like? Does he have kids? Aging parents?
Where does MTC live? Does he live in the city, suburbs or rural area? On a farm, in a mansion, or in an apartment?
Does MTC recycle or place high importance on green companies and products?
What pets does MTC have?
Does MTC donate to charities? Which ones?
Is MTC tech savvy? How much time does he spend on the computer each day?
Does MTC own a smartphone or mobile device? What apps does he use the most?
Is MTC active on Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter?
What problem does MTC have that your products or services can help solve?
What words does MTC use when looking for the solution to this problem?
These become the keywords you should use everywhere online — on your website, in your social media profiles and posts, and in directory listings.
Now that you have created your Mythological Marketing character, keep MTC with you. Hang MTC on your office wall. Attach MTC to your monitor. Use MTC as your screensaver or wallpaper. Throughout the day, ask yourself these questions:
wwMTCt? (What Would MyTypicalCustomer Think?)
Would MTC be moved to action by your decision or bored by your message?
Create calls to action that will inspire MTC to pick up the phone/email/purchase your product or service.
There, as easy as that, you’ve created a Marketing Myth guaranteed to increase sales. By keeping MTC top of mind when making business decisions, you will find that your business becomes more focused on your target customer and your sales will increase.
Looking for a new marketing strategy to put you ahead of your competition? Finding new ways to bring in customers can be tricky. Try out this fun marketing strategy and see what fun it brings!
Using bizarre holidays can catch the eye of your future customers. It can also keep your current customers coming back for more!
On January 4th, Trivia Day, have fun trivia questions that lead your customers through your website, hunting for answers and reward them with 10% off their next purchase.
If trivia isn’t your game, try January 14th, Dress Up Your Pet Day. Post a photo of your pet dressed up and encourage your customers to send in pictures of their pets! Don’t have a pet? No problem! Change it to January 15th and use National Hat Day as an excuse to post a picture of yourself in a wacky hat. Once again, this is another great way to get your customers involved as they can post pictures of themselves in wacky hats as well!
Don’t forget to take advantage of Get to Know Your Customers Day on January 19th!
Month-long Celebrations
International Creativity Month
International New Year’s Resolutions Month For Businesses
Holiday Weeks
Someday we’ll Laugh about This Week (Jan. 2-8)
Home Office Safety and Security Week (Jan. 8-14)
Clean Out Your Inbox Week (Jan. 23-27)
Daily Holidays
1 – New Year’s Day
2 – Tournament of Roses Parade Day
3 – Drinking Straw Day
4 – Trivia Day
5 – Elvis’ Birthday Celebration Begins
6 – Three Kings Day
7 – International Programmers’ Day
8 – Show and Tell Day at Work
9 – National Clean Off Your Desk Day
10 – National Cut Your Energy Costs Day
11 – Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day
12 – National Pharmacist Day
13 – Friday The 13th
14 – Dress up Your Pet Day
15 – National Hat Day
16 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
17 – Kid Inventors Day
18 – Winnie the Pooh Day
19 – Get to Know Your Customers Day
20 – Penguin Awareness Day
21 – National Hugging Day
22 – Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day
23 – National Pie Day
24 – National Compliment Day
25 – Macintosh Computer Day
26 – National Peanut Brittle Day
27 – Punch the Clock Day
28 – Fun at Work Day
29 – National Puzzle Day
30 – National Inane (not a typo!) Answering Message Day
31 – Inspire Your Heart with Art Day
Take these wacky holidays or even create your own! The marketing possibilities are endless. Just be creative and keep your customers wanting more!
Reciprocate has surveyed thousands of small business owners since 2010 and found that few are actually using Twitter effectively. While we typically recommend that Reciprocate clients use social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn first based on their target customer base, Twitter does have a place in online marketing for both B2B and B2C organizations.
In fact, numerous companies directly credit their Twitter accounts with boosting their bottom line. Online tech news giant Mashable offers insight into several of these success stories through 7 Twitter marketing campaigns to learn from.
If you decide to venture into the world of Twitter, here are 7 tips to get you started:
Your Twitter account is part of your brand. Be mindful when setting your Twitter “handle.” While Twitter tends to be more casual then LinkedIn, make sure your tweets are consistent in tone and style with your brand.
If you are having trouble coming up with things to tweet about, consider organizing tweets around a specific event like a press release, product launch, speech or event. Also, don’t be afraid to retweet (RT) others’ tweets if they are relevant to your audience.
Use keywords. The words you use in each tweet will impact your success. Twitter feeds are integrated into search engines so use words in your tweets that your target audience might use in a search. For example, if you are an accounting firm and your customers would search for “tax help”, use “tax help” in your tweets as frequently as possible to promote that service offering. You might even want to create a hashtag such as #TaxHelp.
Provide useful information. Don’t forget to include a link to your website or registration page.
Tweet frequently. Use a tool such as Hootsuite to schedule tweets.
Check your Twitter account at least once a day and respond to retweets, direct messages and mentions.
Experiment, have fun, and learn from your mistakes. You might be surprised by the level of interaction you can achieve in 120 characters
Reciprocate offers custom, one-on-one and small group Twitter training sessions. Contact Reciprocate today to find out how Twitter can help you grow your bottom line. In the meantime, we encourage you to follow us on Twitter at KarenEman and ReciprocateLLC. Happy tweeting!
Use unique marketing messages to attract attention to your business
Looking for creative ways to market your business? Use holidays as an excuse to celebrate and offer fun contests, discounts, and other opportunities for your customers. You may be thinking “That sounds like a great idea! But where do I start?”
Below are a few suggestions. Take these ideas. Tweak them. Make them fit your business. Most importantly, go for it!
December 4 is Wear Brown Shoes Day. Turn it into a Facebook photo contest. Encourage customers to post photos of them or their family members (or even the family dog!) wearing brown shoes. Offer a discount for entries and encourage comments from your Facebook community.
December 18 is Bake Cookies Day. Open up a forum on your website and share your favorite cookie recipes with your customers.
December 28 is Card Playing Day. Honor this day by having customer’s “draw a card” for their discount on their current or future purchase.
Here are some other “idea starter” holidays in December:
Month-long Celebrations
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Universal Human Rights Month
Holiday weeks:
First week: National Hand Washing Awareness Week (Dec. 4-10)
Third week: You’re Doing a Good Job! Week (Dec. 18-24)
Hanukkah (Dec. 20-28)
Kwanzaa (Dec. 26- Jan. 1)
Daily Holidays
1 – World AIDS Day
2 – Special Education Day
3 – Make A Gift Day
4 – Wear Brown Shoes Day
5 – Walt Disney’s Birthday
6 – Saint Nicholas Day
7 – National Cotton Candy Day
8 – National Brownie Day
9 – Christmas Card Day
10 – Dewey Decimal System Day
11 – International Shareware Day
12 – National Poinsettia Day
13 – National Cocoa Day
14 – Monkey Day
15 – Cat Herder’s Day
16 – National Chocolate Covered Anything Day
17 – Wright Brothers Day
18 – Bake Cookies Day
19 – Oatmeal Muffin Day
20 – Hanukkah Begins
21 – National Flashlight Day
22 – National Haiku Poetry Day
23 – Roots Day
24 – Christmas Eve
25 – Christmas
26 – Kwanzaa Begins
27 – National Fruit Cake Day
28 – Card Playing Day
29 – Tick Tock Day
30 – Falling Needles Family Fest Day
31 – New Year’s Eve
Not quite sure that these holidays could work for your business? Create your own customer appreciate days or hold discount days to honor your accomplishments as a small business owner. Advertising and spreading the word help your business grow and fun holidays can help spread the word faster. Get creative and have fun!
Yes, holidays are hectic for most of us. But there are ways that you can still engage your customers and make November and December profitable months for your organization.
Below are 8 tips for attracting customer’s attention:
KISS — keep it short and social
Less is more. We’re busy. No time to read volumes.
Offer holidays specials — that are truly special
Provide incentives that make it worth the effort. If you ask me to answer a 10-question survey or enter a contest to get a $1 off coupon, I might not bother, especially in November or December.
Consider adding a countdown promotion
The 12 deals of December. What a great reason to contact your customers via email daily. Just remember tips # 1 and #2 above.
Take Tip #3 a step further and add a progressive deal
Customers must open each email to receive the next — and each deal is better than the one before. With an email provider such as Contact Contact, you can segment your mailing list based on who has opened each email.
Create a sense of urgency
We all wait ’til the last minute. Make your offer a priority.
Subject lines matter
Communicate the offer and deadline in your subject line. We’re busy. A well-written subject line may keep your message from being trashed without being opened.
Provide special offers for VIP customers
Everyone likes to be a VIP. Let them know they are your VIPs. Thank past customers with great incentives.
Partner with a worthwhile charity or organization.
Offer your customers a way they can buy from you and be philanthropic at the same time. Win-win-win
These 8 simple tips can help you stay “top of mind” with your customers even during these hectic holidays and throughout the year. We’d love to hear your ideas on how you’ve engaged customers, particularly during the holiday season.
Try celebrating unique holidays with them. Here are some idea starters for November:
November 7, Hug-A-Bear Day is your opportunity to hold a photo contest of your customers hugging their bears.
Not beary interesting to you? Take on National Clean out your Refrigerator Day by asking your customers to find the most expired item in their refrigerator. Offer them 30% off an order.
But for something that isn’t so chilly and that is easy to do, have a Name your PC Day contest. Encourage customers to come up with the most creative, clever name for their PC and recognize the customer and their PC on your website.
November month long holidays
International Creative Child and Adult Month
Family Stories Month
November week long holidays
First week: World Communication Week
Second week: Pursuit of Happiness Week
November daily holidays
1 – National Author’s Day
2 – Cookie Monster’s Birthday
3 – Sandwich Day
4 – Use Your Common Sense Day
5 – FM Stereo Birthday 1933
6 – Daylight Saving Time Ends
7 – Hug-a-bear Day
8 – General Election Day
9 – National Young Readers Day
10 – Area Code Day
11 – Veteran’s Day
12 – National Pizza With The Works Except Anchovies Day
13 – Artificial Snow Birthday 1946
14 – Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day
14 – National Clean out your Refrigerator Day
15 – America Recycles Day
16 – Button Day
17 – Homemade Bread Day
18 – Mickey Mouse’s Birthday (1928)
19 – National Family Volunteer Day
20 – Name Your PC Day
21 – Tweety Bird’s Birthday
22 – Start Your Own Country Day
23 – Eat a Cranberry Day
24 – Thanksgiving Day
25 – Black Friday
26 – National Day of Listening
27 – National Bavarian Cream Pie Day
28 – National French Toast Day
29 – Electronic Greetings Day
30 – Mark Twain’s Birthday (1835)
And of course, take advantage of Black Friday!
You can also create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly, make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.
Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!
A: Those tolling the death bell for both may have been premature on their proclamations.
If you’re like me, you spend hours each day creating and responding to emails. Yet, there are some in the industry who would like you to believe that email marketing is a waste of time.
I beg to differ. Reciprocate’s results have me encouraging clients (and prospective clients) to jump into email marketing as a viable, and profitable, marketing vehicle. Last month, less than 48 hours after I emailed the October issue of the Reciprocate newsletter, four prospective clients contacted me for more information. In less than a week, each of the four had signed a Reciprocate Letter of Engagement for services!
As a Constant Contact Solution Provider, I constantly study email marketing. Here are some interesting email tips I’ve learned:
4 email marketing tips
When should you send an email for the best open rates? Send emails between 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursdsay
How long are the best subject lines? 5-8 words with a maximum of 40 characters
What is the average time spent reading an email? Just 52 seconds. Wow! Be brief!
What are 3 ways to write the best subject lines? Make them:
1. Useful 2. Urgent 3. Unique
The Value of Email
We found this infograph by Smarter Tools Incorporated that shows the value of email in relation to social media powerhouses Facebook and Twitter as well as some other interesting statistics. Did you know that the total number of searches on Google, Yahoo!, and Bing combined equals only 1.1% of all email traffic?
Imagine how powerful your email would be if you sent valuable content to people who had money to buy. Contact Reciprocate today for help with your email marketing strategy.
Reciprocate has surveyed thousands of small business owners since 2010 and found that few are actually using Twitter effectively. While we typically recommend that Reciprocate clients use social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn first based on their target customer base, Twitter does have a place in online marketing for both B2B and B2C organizations.
