SMB Marketing

Social Media is an effective way to marketing your business to consumers. Here are 5 common questions and answers to help you get started.

As small businesses, it’s common to want to attempt things on your own but when does crafty turn into just a waste of time? And more importantly, when does that lost time equal lost opportunity? Because at the end of the day a dollar saved isn’t always a dollar earned.

As a small business owner in Colorado, social media may seem like a task that you should hold off on until later—especially if you are just starting out and you have a dozen (or two dozen) other things on your mind. However, even if you are not quite ready to use social media to market…

You’re finally ready to begin marketing your business. You have a product or service ready to go, you have a budget in mind and you have an idea who you want to reach. Marketing comes in many forms, but it’s easier than you think to make mistakes in your strategy. Mistakes can be costly, so it’s essential you…

When a customer stops doing business with you it sucks but when it’s due to a bad customer experience it’s even worse. That’s why establishing great habits focused around delighting your customers are an essential component to maintaining a high level of customer retention. So here are 5 bad habits that cause customers to leave…

Over the last year, many companies and organizations, both large and small, have shifted to a culture of remote work, or at least a hybrid model that blends virtual and onsite interaction. While there are benefits to working remotely in Colorado Springs, it can also get a bit tedious. Some professionals even find it difficult…

As the COVID-19 pandemic subsides and restrictions are scaled back in the Colorado Springs area, life can begin shifting back toward normalcy. For small business owners and professionals, that means slowly returning to the days of in-person meetings, conferences and organizational get-togethers. At the start of January, Gov. Jared Polis allowed counties that were in…

A new year brings hope for change, and with it, the excitement and energy needed to take on new challenges. Check out these 4 tasks, when done, will help position your business to sell more this year. Are you ready to make this your best year yet?

(This article originally appeared September 24, 2014 and was updated April 22, 2020) One of the most effective ways to boost your response rates is sending strategic, multi-touch campaigns. Multi-touch marketing utilizes multiple touches with the same or different media to build your message over time to the same targeted audience. Often, these touches are…

Transcript: The way people discover, evaluate and trust businesses has changed. This is only exemplified by the fact that 87% of consumers say a business needs to have a 3 to 5-star rating before they’ll consider using them. Research also shows that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. And each…

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here… is not what marketing should feel like. Unfortunately it’s a common sentiment for businesses due to past experiences. But marketing doesn’t have to be a creepy forest filled with monsters and blood-sucking beasts. Or feel like a runaway carriage when you do start a campaign. With the right…

They’re not just a way to make us feel better about ourselves… they actual help us do more business. Reviews should be an integral part of your marketing. And that not just because I say so — well that too — but because research shows that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

While we’re all enjoying those fresh fall beverages, the leaves are beginning to change, the evenings are slowly coming sooner — wait! — 4th Quarter is only weeks away! Don’t spill your drink or let panic set in. Just take a deep breath (of that amazing autumn air) and look forward at what’s next. In…

What is Marketing? What is Advertising!? Many have heard both of these common terms but contrary to popular belief, marketing and advertising are actually two separate things. Learn difference and understand how they both work together to help your business drive more sales.

I heard this question again just the other day. The business owner was getting ready to send out a mailing to promote his business but wanted to know what else he might be able to do. His question was a good one. McDonalds doesn’t advertise every day because they are afraid you’ll forget who they…

Welcome to the new normal. Not to be confused with the old normal, or the next normal where you can go to a restaurant but can’t sit next to anyone. Or the normal after that where you can get together in groups of more than ten but you can’t touch each other. So as we all slowly start to adjust and realize…

We’re four weeks into the Stay at Home order in Colorado. Reports concerning the COVID-19 virus say that hospital admissions for the state are down and that we’re supposed to be able to open for business in another week and a half.  But even with this possible good news, on the national and international level…

I hope by now you’ve taken the opportunity to claim your Google My Business (GMB) page. Here’s a link to last week’s email should you need a reminder of the recommended things to do. According to recent forecasts concerning COVID-19, it appears that we have a ways to go before we begin to see a…

Our world has changed these last seven days. But we are still working. We’re just working differently. Just like you. I mentioned that I would send out some marketing tips that you can use even now. Let’s begin by looking at your Google My Business (GMB) page. Find it Begin by doing a Google search…

Hey guys, The last few months have been a great time to be a business owner. But then, just like riding a roller coaster, you hit that spot you didn’t see coming and you weren’t expecting.   And all of a sudden, you want off this ride. But that’s not an option yet. Just like…

Small Business Social Media Marketing – Busting Social Media Myths Social media – to some people’s dismay and other’s delight – is regularly mentioned as a MUST for marketing your business. Regardless of your dismay or delight for social media, I want to demystify some assumptions, fallacies, and expectations about what to expect from doing…

Advertising and marketing are the same. True or false? False. Advertising is a slice of the marketing pie. Similar to the concept that all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares, all advertising is marketing, but not all marketing is advertising. Marketing vs. Advertising. What’s the Difference? While the terms “marketing” and “advertising” are…

I don’t know about you, but in my experience, working in small business means that every day is a new day full of solving business problems. Troubleshooting and resolving issues for this, that, and the other can be energizing for those who have the entrepreneurial spirit, namely ENTPs, ESTJs, ENTJs, INTJs, and ISTJs. I am…

There is hidden growth potential in your business. In every business, there is this potential – no matter how big or small. Fortunately, it’s not about getting on the next greatest lead generation bandwagon or social media platform. *phew* There’s a simpler way to increase business growth.  And yet, it seems that day in and…

Digital Examiner found that 45% of small businesses do not track ROI of their digital marketing spend. That’s terrifying! As a marketing agency, we attest to that reality with on-boarding clients. Even the most financially astute, colorful spreadsheet wizards are clueless when it comes to analyzing the return on their marketing efforts. But why? Many small…

Social media has carved out an unexpected name for itself in marketing over the last few years as a hyper-efficient platform for your advertising campaigns. With traditional advertising, there is no guarantee that people will see or hear the your newspaper, TV or radio ad or that they will actually be interested in what you’re…

You know that you need to be on social media. But, you haven’t found the answer for “What kind of social media should my business use!?!” Knowing which social media platforms to use to drive your business goals forward comes down to understanding  1) where your audience is at and 2) how much time you…

If you’ve owned, run, or worked for a small business you know there is a laundry list of things that need to be done, checked, monitored, cleaned and more every day, week, month, year. But with the constant need to get more customers and run the business time is limited for other things, making research…

It’s another Monday and the door bells sing as Randy unlocks the office doors, flicks on the lights, and boots up the computers throughout our homey workspace. The third item on his agenda is to brew the first of his cinnamon infused coffees. Marilyn and Sarah saunter in soon after. The first thing Sarah notices…

Updated on November 26, 2018 for freshness. If you own or manage a business that has a physical location where you sell products or services in your store, most of your marketing campaigns likely strive to increase sales revenue. However, there is a similar but slightly different goal that you should also keep in mind,…

One of the latest trends on social media is videos, specifically live video streaming. Platforms like Twitch and YouTube have shown how successful a person or business can be with good content and businesses are learning how they can better engage with their customers. Live video streaming on social media platforms such as Facebook Live…

While it’s important to produce many types of content that can reach people on many different platforms, every content strategy needs a flagship—the medium you choose to be your primary messaging. When online content strategies were first showing up, that was considered to be the blog, and now a lot of businesses are prioritizing snappier…

When you are running a marketing campaign, it’s important to be able to accurately track its effectiveness. That way you know what works well enough that you can re-use ideas or concepts in the future and what did not work well and needs to be improved or scrapped. There are three types of Key Performance…

Using Facebook and Pinterest For Your Business… Where To Begin? Crash Course on Facebook News Feed for Businesses The average person has 1,500 stories a day that could flow through his/her feed. Is YOUR business one of those stories? Facebook tracks the type of content you’ve interacted with most in the past, and then presents…

We can all probably think of at least one humorous marketing campaign that made us laugh- but do they really help businesses to market their products? Why does humor work so well? Some of the most successful humorous marketing strategies manage to achieve remarkable results for the companies that execute them. But precisely how successful…

There’s no doubt that businesses need to make the most of social media marketing if they are to stay on top of the game. Yet, how to stand out on social media isn’t always obvious. After all, if you are going to invest in social media marketing, you want to get a return on your…

It goes without saying that we live in a society of instant gratification. When we launch a marketing campaign, we want results at the snap of a finger. Unfortunately, this is far from reality with most marketing campaigns. Like almost everything else in life, marketing requires patience and a realistic mindset. Creating a realistic marketing…

Do you own a business? Do you sell a product or offer a service? If so, reaching your customer base might be a little more complicated than you’d think. In an ideal world, word of mouth of your business would spread like wildfire, and you’d never have to worry about finding new customers again. For…

It’s no secret that social media has become one of the primary marketing methods of the last decade. Social media has bloomed from the old days of MySpace to Facebook, Pinterest, and everything in between. Today, there are several social media platforms to choose from. While it may be tempting (and slightly overwhelming) to tackle…

Email lists are beneficial tools that can enhance your company’s marketing techniques. They are simple to build and offer an avenue of convenience for reaching your customers. Not to mention, email marketing is a very low-cost method of reaching your customers. You don’t have to worry about the cost of stamps or the cost of…

No matter what marketing technique you’re investing in, the end goal is to generate a sale. However, there are multiple steps that exist between luring your customer in and convincing them to hand over that credit card. Creating specific calls-to-action gives customers instructions on what to do next. With that said, the correct call-to-action depends…

When it comes to any form of marketing, knowing and understanding your audience is key. Marketing to a general audience without understanding demographics can lead to disaster, as you are essentially throwing techniques at the wall with the hope that something sticks. In order to ensure that your marketing campaign is a success, you must…