Creative Marketing Ideas for your small business

Today marketing arena calls for many creative marketing ideas to build your business and keep it growing. Many local business owners don't have the time to promote their business and just throw money at the advertising guy. In my experience a good marketing company will create a campaign with the help of the owner. Putting 2 heads or more together will make for a smoother marketing plan to serve the needs of the business owner. The owner of the business knows more about how his company runs than anyone does.

Coming up with creative marketing ideas is a sound answer to get your business in the search engines, on social media sites and around your local neighborhood. Have a brain storming session with you partners and your marketing company to come up with good low cost creative marketing ideas. You want things that help you stand out in the crowd like streaking down the street holding a sign with your business name on it. Just kidding about that, just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

Some creative marketing ideas I have come up with are as follows. Instead of handing out business cards try printing up a flyer in big letters with your contact info on bright colored paper. I tried this and it brought me more calls than business cards. Get together with other local business owners and do a co-op mailing. Buy someone dinner, hand them a business card or flyer and walk away. Hire your local high school cheer leaders to cheer in front of your business. Dress up your store front with unique decor.

These are just a few creative marketing ideas you can use to build up your business awareness and improve sales. For more DIY creative marketing ideas for your business vist this page.
Creative Marketing Ideas

Save Money Does Walmart and Amazon really save you money

Over the years Walmart and Amazon have been the go to places for budget conscience consumers. Many people complain about these giants but day after day they still shop there. The sad truth is these super stores don't save you more in the long run than your local mom and pop general stores do. Sure the big chains have big sales and can offer lower prices on some items but what are you really getting. They boast you will save money and live a better life but we know that is hog wash.

You are buying into the hype of big corporate greed that pays their employee crap wages and no benefits. Most of the associates that work at these stores are young kids or older retired people who could care less about you. The only reason they are there is to earn a crummy pay check that won't pay the bills anyways. Their attitude is if you don't like it pull out your cell phone and call someone who cares.

Amazon associates don't deal with customers face to face but I talked with some who worked in their warehouses and they feel the same way as Walmart associates. They are just there to collect a paycheck and don't give a crap about you as a customer. These big companies do have customer service reps who smooz the customer and make them feel important but it is their job to do so. Deep down inside most of these big companies have no respect for you the customer, and you wont save money anyways, it's just a money game to them.

Now enter the small business owner from downtown USA. They are the ones who are your neighbors and friends in your local community. Their taxes help pay for the roads and all the maintenance in your beautiful town. Why in the world would you want to spend your money at a big box store and send all your money to some big corporation in another city.

You can save money at these local shops just like the big box stores and they do have something the big chains will never have, personal customer service. They are the owner and will go to great lengths to make sure everything is right for you. Many of these local stores have higher quality products that you would never find at a big box store anyways. 

I did notice a lot of  more made in America products popping up in stores across the country. Even the big box store are getting in on the made in America scene but it is just a front to make you think they care. The local shop owners are the ones who make these products. They also frequent your stores and buy your products. They have the items you need in return, all you have to do is visit them to save money instead of the big box stores. It may be a little harder to find them in the shuffle of online searches but they are there.

One real great benefit to frequenting your local business is it creates other local businesses and builds commerce. Your local shop starts advertising online and is now getting found .Let's say you started visiting your local cabinet shop because he has great cabinets and because he is selling more he can lower his prices and you save money. Now he gets busy and the local saw mill needs to crank out more wood to keep him supplied. Now the local hardware store needs to keep more hardware in stock to supply him. It creates a chain reaction and builds small business. See how easy it is to shop at your local business and build your community.

 There are companies that specialize in online marketing for small to medium size companies who want you to get your share of the market. Social media and content management are important in building your small business today. These online marketing companies save you time and money, make you money and build your online presence. Yes now your business can run, bark and bite with the big dogs. No need to be worried about competing with these big players, they should be afraid of you once you get armed with marketing mace. 

Contact an online marketing specialist today and get your business found. There are a lot of little things you can do as a small business owner to rise above the big box stores. If you know a small business owner who needs more exposure share this blog with them.

Small Business Marketing Experts

Thanks for reading

Mark Whitney

Marketing Techniques for small business

The More U Know

 In the world of online marketing for your small business you will come across many techniques for promoting your business. Many small business owners have no idea where to start their efforts and many times they make mistakes along the way that lowers their search engine ranking. Google is a fickle child when it comes to how you market your business online. Many local marketing companies will employ black hat techniques that can get your site banned from organic searches. The organic search is the best free traffic you can get for your website and you can get a boat load of it if you follow certain guide lines.

One thing that will help you get ranked is if you have your keyword in the url of your site. An example would be if you sell widgets then you want something like widgetmaker dot com or something similar. Some say titles work others say no but I say use them to help you rank. I always use them and they work for me. Don't try to spam your keywords in your website because Google will pick this up and slam your site.

Backlinks are another important part of getting your site ranked in the search engines. The higher the site rank the better the weight of the link. Just remember getting high ranked back links is a science and should be done by professional marketers. The high ranking sites are fussy about who they link to and many marketing companies don't know the ropes for getting links from these desirable sites.

Other factors that matter is fresh content from your blog and frequent updates to your website. Google loves fresh content and will reward you according. If you don't have a blog for your website I suggest you get one or hire a pro that can get the job done.

Placing online classified ads can also boost your ranking if you put an ad on a high ranking site and include a link back to your site. Many marketers claim that classified ads are a waste of time but I beg to differ. If you place several ads on high pr classified sites and update them on a regular basis they will get you some traffic.

One of the most powerful ways to build your customer base is with an autoresponder on your website. There are many out on the market that charge you a monthly fee but I use a free one called list wire. Why pay for an autoresponder when list wire has some good features and does not cost you one red cent. Just offer people something of value for free in exchange for their name and email address.

Ending out our write up is the good ole social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. There are a few other ones that are important like linkedin, reddit, youtube and pinterest to make your social media promotions work well. One thing about social media you need to know is dont try to spam everyone about your business. Make your posts suttle and interesting and slip in a little info about your business. There are other ways to market your business but these are the base line for your marketing needs.

Marketing your business can be time consuming and costly. Why not leave all your marketing dirty work to the pros.  They will give you a thorough assessment of your business for free and explain your options. Get your business in front of more  people online and watch your business grow.

Being seen online is more important now more than ever. Over 90% of people look online for goods and services and many are searching from their smart phones. If you currently do market online is your website smart phone friendly.

Thank You for reading
Marketing Mark

It's no accident that they put Mark in marketing, so don't leave him out of yours.
Marketing Techniques

Sales Cold Calling Scares Me To Death

In one form or another we all are walking talking sales people. If you watch a movie or buy a product ,nothing stops you from telling the world about how great it was. I am in a marketing business where I have to cold call on business owners to help them promote their business more efficiently. Walking around and talking to owners face to face does not scare me as much as calling on the phone.

I don't know what it is about picking up the phone and calling people that scares me to death. It would seem like calling on the phone would be much easier but for some reason the phone feels like a 1,000 LB weight. When I do finally get the nerve up to call I do very well at talking to prospects. Once  I get my steam built up I call a few dozen leads and then quit for a while.

My wife says I sound very good on the phone but there is just something about the phone that creeps me out. I can talk to a total stranger on the street but give me a phone # to call and I crack like an egg. Somewhere some scientist has come up with a name like phonaphoba or something like that. I am trying to do motivational videos and such to conquer my fears.

 I am not the only one that has this problem with phone calling. I was a salesman at a car dealer and when it came time to call customers from the orphan list everyone hid. The more I have to call people the better I get at this. It just takes setting your mind to picking up the phone and calling. Before every phone calling session I sit at my desk and concentrate on the outcome of talking to that one right prospect.

The hardest thing with having your own business is getting motivated especially after a bad day. Think about the positive results that will come about from calling prospects and by all means watch motivational videos.

Mark Whitney
Marketing Service 
It's no mistake they put Mark in marketing. Don't leave him out of yours!    

PS. If you get really scared check out this video I found on youtube