Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing
In legal circles, the debate rages on about “corporate personhood,” the idea that corporations share the same rights as individuals. The notion of a corporation as a person conflicts squarely with the highly impersonal nature with which corporations...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing
If your business relies on customer interactions (and which ones don’t?), customer service should be a cornerstone. Good customer service can overcome marginal products, but the best products and services in the world can’t overcome marginal customer...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Small business marketing
In the last several posts, I’ve written about marketing, and how marketing functions are being affected by changing priorities, new objectives and the need to reach larger and more audiences. For some marketers, the question is how to deploy customer-focused...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Small business marketing
Most small business owners will agree that marketing is an essential component of their business strategy, but marketing means many different things to different people. It’s also used to achieve many different objectives. For your own business, what are your...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Small business marketing, Social media
In my last two posts, I’ve discussed small business marketing strategy and the importance of being diverse, in terms of choosing multiple marketing channels, choosing the most effective channels for your particular business and budget, and targeting multiple...
Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Logo design, Mobile graphics video, Small business marketing, Social media
In my last post, I talked about business marketing strategy from a “channel” perspective. Choosing the most effective channels is critical, especially when your marketing budget is tight. Your business website and direct email marketing are the most...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Mobile website development, Small business marketing
Recently, the Business Marketing Association published a joint study with Omobono, a British marketing firm, to study emerging trends in business marketing strategy. The study reached some interesting conclusions and provides a little direction for businesses of all...
Branding You
In my last post, I talked about promotional marketing as a sturdy option for budget-conscious businesses, but no matter how much (or little) you spend on this kind of small business promotion, your return on investment may surprise you months or even years down the...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Logo design, promotional products
Small business owners need every possible edge when it comes to competition, but the marketing budget of a startup might be relatively thin. Making your marketing resources go as far as possible is a great way get a lot of “bang for the buck,” but how...
Branding Services, Business presentations, Creative Marketing, Mobile application development, Mobile website development, Small business marketing, Website design
In my last post, I talked about using website analytics in preparation for a website redesign. Nothing guides the website redesign process like concrete knowledge about your website, its visitors and how they interact! In this post, let’s look at the roles of...
Branding Services, Graphic designer, Small business marketing, Website design
Fewer than one-third of businesses in operation today have a complete, business-focused website. Very small businesses may tend to rely on “Yellow Pages” listings for their businesses. On the other end of the spectrum, highly functional websites have...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Website design
Mobile devices are seemingly everywhere, and the world’s nearly one billion website operators are all looking for an edge that will put them in front of interested consumers. So what’s the trick? Cisco recently reported that Internet traffic by mobile...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Mobile website development, Small business marketing
According to Netcraft, the Internet is approaching a milestone. Currently, there are about 975 million registered websites, with about 15-30 million new sites being added each month. In terms of active websites, however, the number is much smaller. According to...
Branding Services, Branding You, Graphic designer, Small business marketing, Website design
When it comes to your business website, there’s a lot at stake, and many website operators may not realize that a few simple website SEO tricks can make a noticeable difference in the number of visitors a website receives. Here are a few basic tips to help...
Business blogging, Small business marketing, Website design
WordPress is an incredibly flexible publishing platform, but like any other website tool, you’ll want to make sure that your WordPress installation is secure. Here are four tips to show you how to take advantage of built-in WordPress security as well as build...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Social media, Website design
One of the things that makes WordPress so attractive as a website platform is the availability of plugins. If you’re not familiar with WordPress plugins, they’re pre-programmed extensions to your WordPress installation that add desirable functions. Some...
Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing, Website design
If you’ve decided to use WordPress as a publishing platform for your website, you’ll want to know the difference between pages and posts. As a blogging platform, WordPress is oriented around posts. Posts are individual entries that are published...
Business blogging, Small business marketing, Website design
When it comes to websites, there’s a lot of focus on website navigation and making the content understandable to the search engines. That is a priority because search engines make decisions about which sites to present to searchers. Finding a website is only...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Website design
WordPress is an excellent platform for some website applications, and WordPress is very adept at providing SEO support, but there are always some tweaks that you can make to improve your WordPress SEO. Website operators need to remember that websites that load faster...
Branding Services, Business presentations, Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Website design
If you’re new to managing the content on your website, you will want to consider the impact that XML sitemaps can have on your SEO strategy. XML Sitemaps provide an easy, convenient way for search engines like Google and Bing to find all web pages on your site....
Branding Services, Business blogging, Small business marketing, Website design
As a platform, WordPress has some significant advantages over other content management systems. Most website hosting companies support WordPress, and for those who host their own websites, WordPress is easy to install and customize. Search engine optimization (SEO) is...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Small business marketing, Website design
In my last post, I discussed using WordPress for website management. Today, I’ll explore some built in (and add-on) capabilities for getting optimal WordPress search engine optimization. There are a number of key steps you can take with WordPress to ensure an...
Branding Services, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Website design
WordPress one of the most – if not THE most – popular blogging platform, but many sites use the content management functions of WordPress to manage the content for their entire site. Using WordPress as a publishing platform for your website makes sense if...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Small business marketing, Social media
Small businesses can come up with lots of reasons not to use social media or worry about social media content. A frequently heard objection is that the customers aren’t really into social media. That’s fine, except that it’s not true. More than 70% of...
Branding You
Yes – that is 22% of all web sites online today. A dramatic scale for what started as a small, open-source project for personal blogging in 2003. Now that equates to use by more than 60 million sites, including many major international brands. The conversation...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Small business marketing, Social media
Aside from the obvious marketing value of social media, social media platforms have other informational, brand-building and brand-reinforcing value. To ensure uniform communications and consistent usage standards, some businesses use social media templates to help...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Social media
When formulating your social media strategy, it pays to consider some social media best practices, and how you can work these tactics into your social media strategy. Here are a few tactics that have proven successful for other businesses. Although these may sound...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Mobile website development, Social media
For professional marketers, social media is a given. More than 95% of professional marketers use social media to attract, engage and retain their audiences. But simply using social media isn’t enough. Marketers also want to know how effective their social media...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Social media
Building a social media strategy may take time, but if you plan carefully, your brand-building efforts can reap exceptional rewards. If you’ve never dabbled in social media, the task can seem daunting, but social networks can effectively target a receptive...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Mobile application development, Mobile website development, Social media
Do you still wonder whether creating a social media strategy as part of your overall business marketing plan is worth your time and effort? Here are some hard-to-ignore social media statistics that may help you get off the fence and start putting together your social...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Small business marketing, Social media
Earlier this year, Facebook announced some changes to its news feed algorithm that are making marketers reconsider their social media strategy. Nothing rocks the SEO world quite like a change to Google’s search algorithms, but does Facebook pull the same kind of...
Branding Services, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing, Social media
If you’re interested in incorporating social media into your overall marketing strategy, Grantstreet Creative has a great offer for you! We will host a four-part social media webinar series designed for small businesses that will take place on Wednesdays in...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, promotional products, Small business marketing
While spring seems to be arriving late in certain parts of the country, it’s never to late to put together a new seasonal business promotion. If your business is seasonal, or depends upon warmer weather, now is the time to put together your business promotion...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Website design
Web design is only half of the equation for a new small business website. The other thing you’ll need to consider – unless you have a really good on-site IT person and a cooperative Internet Service Provider – is web hosting services. Most small businesses...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Press releases
In my last two posts, I’ve talked about different distribution options, for press releases, including free and paid distributions. While you have several options for getting the word out about your business, some business owners are still stuck on what makes for...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Press releases
In my last post, I discussed the promotional value of press releases and the advantages and drawbacks of free distribution for press releases. In this post, I’ll look at the benefits of premium distribution for press releases and some of things to consider about...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Press releases
Press releases offer an excellent vehicle to introduce your business, a new product or service, spark interest in a new website or newly redesigned website, or inform readers about changes in your staffing, services and hours. Press releases provide basic written...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business presentations, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Website design
Although a business website is one of today’s most potent sales and marketing tools, many businesses don’t follow good website design practice when they launch, update or redesign this element of their small business marketing strategy. Good website design...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Logo design, Mobile application development, promotional products, Website design
Few modern marketing strategies have been more effective than integrated branding. Integrated branding (or integrated marketing communications) was first introduced to the world in 1989 by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and it has become the go-to...
Branding You
When you’re building a small business, there are so many competing priorities, it can sometimes be hard to know where to start. One area in which small business owners are tempted to skimp is marketing. After all, it’s hard to think about the long-term...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Logo design
Last year, LogoLounge examined more than recent 20,000 logo designs to determine emerging logo design trends. Knowing the latest trends in logo design can be helpful, largely because you want to avoid them! Logo designs are special; they are a visual representation of...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Mobile application development, Mobile website development, Social media
As more consumers adopt smartphones, the relevance of “having an app” for your business grows. US consumers have readily adopted smartphones and show no decrease in their appetite for readily available, mobile-friendly access and content. Small businesses...
Branding You
Every year, hundreds of thousands of individuals start their own businesses. Whether going out on your own has been a long-term dream, a second career option or the product of wanting to do your own thing, you’ll need to know how you plan to market yourself....
Branding Services, Branding You, Business presentations, Creative Marketing, promotional products, Small business marketing
Evolving technology has changed the way we do a lot of things. Just recently, I found myself explaining the concept of a “jukebox” to a fourteen-year-old, and I am regularly ridiculed by anyone within earshot when I say that I “taped” a...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing, Website design
In my last post, I talked about the effectiveness of word-of-mouth as a small business marketing technique. Today, I want to look at a couple of other approaches that can also deliver the mail, so to speak. Small business marketing requires time, effort and energy,...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Business presentations, Creative Marketing, Creative retainer
Knowing how your business is seen and discussed online is critical in a society with 24/7 cycles for news, shopping and communicating. From basic brand monitoring to reputation management, you should understand your options and choose those that help you most...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing, Website design
Small business owners have a lot on their plates, and managing their businesses is chief among them. For some entrepreneurs, “small business marketing” is part of their future plan – something to be done when the more important aspects of running a small...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Small business marketing
Logo design is something that most companies, even new ones, take seriously. Logos offer a visual identifier for consumers, and every element of the logo design is usually considered very carefully. Changing a logo design isn’t done lightly, and when a company...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing, Social media
Social media has turned out to be a great tool for businesses. People want to be kept informed of changes and opportunities, and social media turns out to be a great way to transmit information and build relationships with customers. But social media can be more than...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Mobile website development, Small business marketing
Your website design can either increase your web traffic and increase your sales, or it can discourage web traffic and produce some disappointing results. Worse, your website design can make your business virtually invisible to all but the most intrepid Web...
Branding Services, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing
More than 90% of all business-to-business vendors say that they employ or will employ content-based marketing strategies in 2014. If you haven’t heard of content-based marketing, you could quickly find yourself behind the curve of the latest small business...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, promotional products, Small business marketing, Social media, Website design
In the last couple of posts, I’ve talked about the importance of seasonal advertising, and knowing what’s coming up in the sales cycle of your business. You can certainly use the information to prepare for your busiest revenue-generating periods, but you...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business presentations, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing
If your sales team meets with prospective customers, you may be able to support their efforts by creating customized sales presentations or updating your current sales materials. Whether your sales team uses PowerPoint presentations, printed sales materials, or a...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, promotional products, Small business marketing, Social media
If you operate a business that’s impacted by the seasons, you’ll want to take the seasonal calendar into account when planning your advertising. If you’ve never made a seasonal advertising calendar before, this exercise will give you some new insight...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, promotional products, Small business marketing
Promotion is key for small businesses, but what is the right approach to take when it comes to your promotional products strategy? According to the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), one mistake small businesses may be tempted to make in 2014 is...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Mobile website development, Website design
Most small businesses don’t have a website. Design issues, therefore, don’t mean much to them. But if you have a website, your website design should be your top priority in 2014. Why? Because 8 out of 10 consumers research purchases on the Web before...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing
It never fails. Pick up any small business magazine or trade journal and you’ll read a rags-to-riches story about a small business with no marketing plan that hit its stride accidentally based solely on the owner’s vision and really took off. Its wild...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing
One way to liven up your marketing strategy in 2014 is through the use of promotional products. You’re familiar with promotional products because you’ve received them from all kinds of businesses. You’ve used them. You’ve stashed them in your...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Small business marketing
Is marketing really effective for small businesses? Marketing can be highly effective, but success really depends upon how well a business defines its marketing strategy. If you’re just starting out, or you’re planning ahead for 2014, now is a great time...
Branding Services, Integrated branding, Mobile website development, Website design
No matter how big or small your business is, your website is the place consumers will land when they’re searching for your products and services. Most visitors will find your website through search engines. So how do you make your website “visible”...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing, Website design
The research data show that small businesses can do big things with their business websites. One key element of a highly functional business website is e-commerce. If your business provides product information, but you don’t have a shopping cart, you could be...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Creative retainer, Small business marketing
We’re closing in on the end of 2013, and a new year always provides an opportunity to look ahead. If you want to take some concrete steps toward improving your small business marketing strategy, here are some small business marketing trends you should look for...
Branding Services, Branding You, Mobile website development, Small business marketing, Website design
For savvy business owners, the need for a business website is not open for debate. Businesses that have websites reach more customers than those that don’t, even though the majority of businesses still don’t have professionally designed websites. But one...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Website design
For some people, expressing themselves through design is easy. They can “see” what they want long before they translate their vision into reality. For others, no amount of imagination can help them “see” what’s not actually in front of...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Graphic designer, Website design
As a small business owner, you may be thinking about a new website design, or you may be wondering whether it’s time to update your existing website. If you’re in the “thinking” stage of website design, you’re in a good place to ensure...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Integrated branding, Website design
In my last several posts, I’ve concentrated on social media marketing, and the importance of having a social media strategy. Keep in mind that social media is just one part of your overall marketing and branding plan. If you’ve taken the time to consider...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Small business marketing, Social media
It’s not too early to start making plans for your 2014 social media marketing strategy. If you don’t have a social media marketing strategy, then there’s no time like right now to consider how you can incorporate social media into your business...
Branding Services, Branding You, Small business marketing, Social media
If you have to limit the number of social media marketing platforms you work with, Pinterest should definitely be high on your list. Pinterest, which was introduced to the world in 2010, is now the third largest social media website, behind Facebook and Twitter. But...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Mobile graphics video, Social media
Video offers some exceptional benefits that other forms of social media marketing don’t. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is priceless. Self-produced videos distributed via YouTube can allow your businesses to reap the biggest benefits of...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing, Social media
Social media marketing is a highly cost-effective, attractive way for small businesses to reach new audiences and stay connected to their existing customer base. Social media has grown in popularity in the last 10 years, as users begin to realize the connective powers...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing, Social media
In the last few posts, I’ve talked about social media marketing and the impact of this relatively new marketing technique for small businesses. In the last post, I examined Twitter, and how it can be used as part of a small business social media marketing...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Mobile website development, Small business marketing, Social media
In my last post, I talked about social media marketing as a potential element of a small business marketing plan. “Social media” is a broad term however, and many people aren’t familiar with the social media platforms available today. Each platform...
Branding Services, Branding You, Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Social media
Social media marketing has definitely made its mark in terms of small business marketing strategies, and if your small business isn’t using social media in some form to reach out to customers, you could be missing out on a bigger piece of your market. Social...
Branding You, Business presentations, Creative Marketing, Small business marketing
One major challenge to small business marketing efforts is cost. While large businesses have large marketing and promotion budgets, small businesses often don’t have that luxury. Does that mean that small businesses can’t take advantage of video, one of the hottest...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Mobile website development, Website design
If you have a website for your small business, you probably spent at least some time thinking about or planning its design. No matter how long and arduous the task might have been, it might be in the best interest of your business to think about your website design...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding, Mobile application development, Mobile website development, Website design
In my last post, I talked about the need for good, attractive content on your website in your quest for effective small business marketing. That’s certainly one part of the plan, but if you’re looking for ways to supercharge your small business marketing...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Website design
If you own a small business, marketing is probably one of your biggest challenges. How do you market your business to your customers and potential customers? If you have a business website, your small business marketing plan will also need to take into account online...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Social media, Website design
Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been running a small business for awhile, you might think that your business is “too small” to benefit from professional graphic design services. No business is too small to make a big impression, a...
Branding You
The latest issue of Wired Magazine has an interesting interview with Chip Kidd, a graphic designer whose work you’ve probably seen. He specializes in designing book covers, among other things, and he has recently written a book called, “GO: A Kidd’s...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding
In my last post, I discussed the brand building technique of using promotional products as part of your advertising strategy, or in place of more expensive forms of advertising. Promotional products work well because people tend to remember the advertiser that puts a...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Integrated branding
Traditionally, advertising has done the heavy lifting when it comes to brand building, but in today’s economy, business owners want to know that they’re getting a good return on their advertising investments. What kind of advertising produces the best...
Branding Services, Branding You, Integrated branding, Social media
Social media is playing an increasingly important role in social media marketing, and by extension, integrated branding. Platforms like Facebook allow businesses to reach out to potential new customers –and allow customers to reach back – in ways that even social...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Graphic designer, Website design
Finding a graphic design professional doesn’t have to be difficult, but many business owners haven’t yet taken steps to create a positive, professional public impression of their business. Business owners have many reasons for not working with a graphic...
Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Website design
Forbes published an interesting article about web design last week. The article discussed – in very broad strokes – the recent evolution of web design and suggested that a sea change of sorts is in store for web design and web designers. Design management systems...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Website design
If you’re a small business owner, one of the best investments you can make is registering a domain name for your business. Studies show that most US consumers (85%) use the Web to shop, find information about businesses and research purchases before they buy....
Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Newsletters
If you’re considering business blogging, or you’re looking for ways to perk up your existing business blog, here are a few things to consider. Business blogging is a great way to draw potential customers to your website, and ultimately to your business,...
Mobile application development, Mobile website development
If your small business is ready to join the mobile revolution, there are few better ways to “go mobile” than by having your own free mobile app. But developing a mobile application can take thousands of dollars and a lot of time, right? Well, not exactly....
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Website design
Branding and marketing for a small business isn’t easy, partially because small business owners have a lot in front of them and little time to think strategically about their current and future place in the market. Brand planning and marketing planning are both...
Branding You
A recent article on selecting a graphic designer through “crowdsourcing” got me thinking. Merriam-Webster defines crowdsourcing as “the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people,...
Creative Marketing, Creative retainer, Graphic designer, Website design
If you’re in the market for a new graphic design firm, or you’re looking for a graphic designer for the first time, you may not know much about the industry, what you can expect from a graphic designer or what you should be looking for. Here are five...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing
In my last post, I talked about the power of word-of-mouth marketing from the customer perspective, but this technique can be effective in other ways, too! Business networking can also have a positive effect on your business branding, especially if your business is...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Social media
American businesses spend about $150 billion annually on advertising, but from a branding and marketing perspective, many businesses don’t take full advantage of the power of word-of-mouth marketing. Consumers are turning to social media for a number of reasons,...
Branding Services, Branding You, Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Social media
Social media is just one avenue that small business owners are using to grow their businesses. According to a survey released earlier this year by American Express OPEN, about half of all small businesses (46%) use a social media platform. This is comparable to...
Branding Services, Business presentations, Newsletters
For years, businesses have relied on print media in a variety of ways. Sales brochures, product literature, catalogs, printed mailers, stationery and advertising have all been used to support the marketing and branding efforts of business. But a new report from...
Branding You, Business presentations, Mobile graphics video, Website design
Motion graphics video is an emerging technique for engaging customers online. Motion graphics combine video, animation and graphics with music to create the illusion of motion. Motion is the “holy grail” of advertising because you can use it to catch and...
Business blogging, Creative Marketing, Website design
Part 1 of this post reviewed two really good reasons to have a business website that includes a blog. First, consumers love the Internet as a primary source of information about businesses, but 3 out of 4 businesses don’t take advantage of the Web! Second, the...
Branding You, Business blogging, Website design
Blogging isn’t new; the tools have been around for at least 16 years. Some will even argue that the basic technique predates the Internet by nearly 25 years! Business blogging is much newer however, and it’s represents an excellent opportunity to develop...
Branding Services, Creative Marketing, Creative retainer, Website design
Design is basically a reflection of your image, and when you operate a business, it’s important to project a consistent image. Subconsciously or not, customers look for consistency in design, and they do it for some very basic reasons. Design consistency...
Branding You, Mobile website development, Website design
The Americans with Disabilities Act is a civil rights act designed to protect persons with disabilities. It was originally passed by Congress in 1990 and underwent a substantive revision in 2008. The most recent modifications took effect in 2009. Businesses with 15 or...
Creative Marketing, Mobile website development, Website design
Motion is attractive to human beings, so putting a website in motion seems like a good way to attract users. From a visual perspective, that might be correct, but good website design requires more than movement. Today’s website visitors aren’t usually...