Blogs
October 27, 2010
Marketing 101
Why you need marketing
Whether you are about to launch your new small business or your business is already up and running, marketing is the lifeblood of your business.
In a nutshell:
> In order for your small business to succeed, you need cash flow.
> To get cash flow, you need customers who pay for your product or service.
> To get customers, you need to market your business.
Remember that it is not enough to produce a product or provide a service. Your primary goal should be to market your product or service.
Marketing is all about letting people know that you are in business. It will not matter how good the product or service you are offering is, if you are not able to attract customers and no one knows about it.
Marketing is not:
> A luxury
> An expense
> Something you can not afford
Marketing is:
> A financial investment and your customers are your ROI (return on investment)
> A time investment, don't spend a single cent on marketing until you have taken the time to learn about your market, to consider yur options, and to plan how to market your business.
March 11, 2010
Color Wheel
Color Wheel
A color wheel (also referred to as a color circle) is a visual representation of colors arranged according to their chromatic relationship. Begin a color wheel by positioning primary hues equidistant from one another, then create a bridge between primaries using secondary and tertiary colors.
These terms refer to color groups or types:
Primary Colors: Colors at their basic essence; those colors that cannot be created by mixing others.
PRIMARY COLORS Red, yellow and blue
Secondary Colors: Those colors achieved by a mixture of two primaries.
SECONDARY COLORS Green, orange and purple
Tertiary Colors: Those colors achieved by a mixture of primary and secondary hues.
TERTIARY COLORS Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green.
Complementary Colors: Those colors located opposite each other on a color wheel.
Analogous Colors: Those colors located close together on a color wheel.
The color wheel can be divided into ranges that are visually active or passive. Active colors will appear to advance when placed against passive hues. Passive colors appear to recede when positioned against active hues.
March 11, 2010
Brand Image
However small your business, however niche your marketplace, image really does matter, particularly in marketing. When potential customers read your brochure or visit your website, you will not be there to make sure they get the right message. Even if your company image is a direct reflection of your own personality, you need to be sure that your personality comes across in every item, at every point of contact.
Developing and maintaining the right image for your business does not have to be complicated or expensive. What it does require is thought and honesty. Thought that ensures your image is simple, easy to understand and consistent across everything you do. Honesty to recognize that what you promise is what you can reasonably deliver in the eyes of the customer. This is what will help you develop a brand for your company. There are many definitions of the key components of a brand, but the following should enable you to cover all the important areas:
Your vision
How do you want your customers to feel about you? As authoritative and established for example?
Or as contemporary and cutting edge? The first would lend itself to a traditional image, while
a contemporary image would be more appropriate for the second. It is important to avoid sending out
mixed messages.
Your position
How do you want to be perceived in the marketplace compared to your competitors? This might include price, product performance, innovation, service and support, all of which would position you differently.
Your proposition
This is a combination of your vision and your position that sums up in a simple statement what you offer to your customers, what you will deliver, and how they will benefit.
Having taken the time and effort to work through this to develop a clear brand identity, you should find it much easier to assess the different communications you send out, and the elements within those communications. The key is to look at the words, the images, the headlines and the tone of voice and ask if they support and reinforce the image that you want to communicate. If they do, you are creating the right image and building your brand. If not, then you now have a clear framework to help you improve.
