Blogging for Business

A business blog can provide a significant boost to your website by improving traffic and search engine rankings.  Here are a few quick tips for turning your business blog into a powerful marketing tool.

Call to Action Buttons

Call to action buttons

More than just visual elements, call to action buttons are actually designed with a strategy in mind.  When thought through properly, they can lead to more user clicks which in turn can lead to more sales, signups or other actions on your website.

Consistency in Design

You have a great website, stunning email campaigns, billboards all around town and a killer brochure…but they all look very different. Are these mismatched marketing tools hindering their effectiveness? I say, “Yes they are!” And here is why.

Branding In The Nude

When it comes to branding, it’s important to bare it all. Find out how “branding in the nude” can create customer loyalty.

Why a CMS can make your life easier

Managing your website content can be quite easy, given that the right tools are in place from the start.

I’ve got five reasons why building your website with a CMS can help you sleep better at night and put a few dollars back in your pocket.

Looking for a quick way to safely build your email contact list?

Just like there is no one silver bullet to marketing success, there is no magic bullet when it comes to building an email contact list. The goal is to avoid SPAM and to get those customers or potential customers to open, read, link to your site and then buy! Some simple steps for success are at your fingertips. 

Make your website a billboard on a superhighway

Successful marketing in 2010 is so far different from what was traditionally taught as marketing and the key is the web. Take a look at that business website if it was designed more than two years ago, and get on the internet marketing bandwagon for success.

Game Changers: Finding Ways to Make New Rules

Game Changers

How does a small business compete when all the odds are stacked against them?  Larger companies with more purhasing power, more staff, and greater marketing budgets can present a huge obstacle when trying to get ahead.  Change the rules of the game to make yourself competetive!

Get Busy Cooking When the Opportunity Presents

strong foundation

Gardening requires fertile ground, knowledge of your plants, and lots of patience.  corecubed Creative Director Tammy Brown looks at gardening as a metaphor for successful marketing and discusses what goes into creating a bountiful harvest that translates into sales.

Grabbing the Spotlight

Grabbing the Spotlight

You’ve got a great product and a fantastic story to tell. You know who your customer is and you know exactly what you want to tell them about your company and why you are the obvious best choice in your industry. Now, how are you going to get them to sit up and take notice of you? You need focus the spotlight on your business so that your client can find you easily in the crowded marketplace.

Storytelling as a Marketing Device

Does your marketing and branding reflect the story of your small business?  The public face that you give your company can offer rich details and background that intrigue your target market and draw more business to your organization.

Let me Introduce Myself. I’m the Customer.

Have you ever tried to sell a freezer to an Eskimo?

What about life insurance to a five-year-old? Roast beef to a vegetarian? An umbrella to a friend living in the Sahara? Flea spray to a woman with no pets? A parachute to the captain of a deep sea fishing vessel?

To successfully negotiate these sales would be a nearly impossible effort. Why? Because they all have one thing in common. In each situation, the merchant would be trying to sell something the prospective buyer doesn't want or need. She'd be marketing her product to the wrong people. Eskimos don't need freezers – and what would a sea captain do with a parachute? Jump off the nearest island?

It would be foolhardy to attempt these sales. In essence, it would be as if the merchant had forgotten one of the most important rules of marketing: knowing the customer.

Avoid Marketing Pitfalls – Try a Winning Strategy Instead

Yes, you are all set with a dynamite new product or service that is sure to bring in the customers. You've done the studies and you are certain you are ready and top-notch. When it comes to uniqueness, your competitors can't touch your creation – there's nothing else like it on the market. You've got a full inventory (or set process), an eager sales force and a logistics network that is second to none.

Now all you have to do is get the word out to all of your potentially eager customers.

Getting the money to market your product is easy. Developing a solid marketing plan that gives you the most for your buck, well, that's another story. How can you maximize your return on investment?

You might start by avoiding the following marketing mistakes…

Where’s Your Home Care Marketing Going?

“If you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail.”

“If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else.”

Ever heard either of those quotes? They're so true. In business, and in life, if you just float around aimlessly, it can be hard to find success. But who has the time? You've got a business to run, financials to review, clients to serve. Where do you find the time to plan a marketing strategy?

It's true that time is always a concern. But, if you want to find marketing success, you've got to take time to plan. We can't emphasize enough the importance of completing a thorough and comprehensive marketing strategy to really find success for your business. But, in the meantime, there is a simple approach you can take to help get you through the present with some focus – the Three-Step Marketing Map. This is not a replacement for a good plan, but at least it satisfies the basic successful criteria of a) being written down and b) doing something positive towards a goal.