Joanna L. Krotz writes about small-business marketing and management issues. She is the co-author of the "Microsoft Small Business Kit" and runs Muse2Muse Productions, a New York City-based custom publisher.
By Joanna L. Krotz
The early years of a business are all about scrambling to gain traction. It's hard to find the time or tactics that will make you stand out.
Yet we all know that impressing customers and driving sales get a lot easier when prospects know your name.
Joanna L. Krotz writes about small-business marketing and management issues. She is the co-author of the "Microsoft Small Business Kit" and runs Muse2Muse Productions, a New York City-based custom publisher.
By Joanna L. Krotz
The early years of a business are all about scrambling to gain traction. It's hard to find the time or tactics that will make you stand out.
Yet we all know that impressing customers and driving sales get a lot easier when prospects know your name.
So despite the daily pressures during your first few years in running a business, you should be trying to quickly and efficiently create a company identify that will build your profile in the community and/or industry.
Here's some help in going about it.
What creates identity?
Brand building is not just the announcement you send out when you open shop, though that's certainly a good thing to do. Rather, brand building is the ongoing relationship between your business and your most influential audience, including customers, media, investors, employees, family, suppliers, and so on.
"A brand image is from the inside out, from the CEO to the mailroom employee to the consumer product or service," says Katy Saeger, vice president of 5W Public Relations in New York, who has worked with such diverse brands as the San Francisco 49ers, Levi's and Chevron. "The brand needs to evoke an emotional response to create loyalty. For instance, today's Target store — you know it's fresh and hip, and it won't break the bank."
Like any new relationship, the process of getting people to notice and trust your brand takes time. As business grows, you can deepen or expand marketing efforts to harness more sophisticated strategies and metrics.
At the start, however, consider these practical, affordable baby-branding steps that will move you along the road to creating a profile for your company.
1. Get your name on a plaque. Contribute to a local charity, neighborhood project, public park or playground, school stadium, community house, educational facility, professional or trade center. Choose a group that has some affinity with your company goals. Then, send out a press release jointly with the organization to announce your gift.If you can't afford to underwrite an entire project, just get involved in the community. "Join a local service club, such as Rotary, Lions or Kiwanis, not just a business club," says John Chappelear of Changing the Focus, an executive training company in Fairfax, Va. "Make sure you're personally connected to the community." Stay visible by serving on the board or chairing events or committees. That will get you known around town and reel in clients.
2. Invest in being hip. Put your money where your brand is. Kick in extra bucks to hire a veteran graphics designer or high-powered package designer so your logo or product launches at the head of the pack. Yes, you must mind pennies at this stage of the game, but you must also think strategically. If you invest in good looks, people will always notice your brand.
3. Automate every byte. "Have great software to track who you meet, what they do and build your network," says Chicago-area publicist Kate Koziol. By using applications such as Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager, you can forge lasting customer relationships. Creating seamless databases allows you to quickly manage account information, customer contact and buying habits, such as birthdays and special occasions (with your customer's permission, of course). Use such technology to establish your reputation and credibility by sending personalized notes and offers to valued customers.
4. Offer free advice. Christine Louise Hohlbaum, author of "Diary of a Mother," publishes a weekly parenting e-zine called "Powerful Families, Powerful Lives," which promotes her work and expertise. In addition, Hohlbaum says, "I am a member of a number of online discussion groups. Whenever I see a post in which I can help someone, I immediately offer an answer."You get noticed fast when you send prospects free information relevant to their interests or work. Besides advice, this can be one-of-a-kind reports, the latest trade survey results, features you forward from a professional magazine, time-sensitive deals or your own e-zine. Microsoft List Builder makes creating and sending e-mail newsletters easy and cost-effective.
5. Add value to voice mail. Instead of simply stating your name or listing a mobile number, add some data or statistic or useful professional trick or hint in your recorded voice-mail message. You'll be remembered, fast. Just make sure to collect a bunch of tips before you begin, so you can change the message every day without any hassles. Consistency and fresh ideas are critical.
6. Get people to wear your brand. You can find many marketers to emblazon your logo on various items of clothing, such as T-shirts, hats, workout togs, scarves and more (Amazon and Lands' End do it, to name two). Use the clothing as premiums for favored clients or employees. Free T-shirts not only make people feel special, but get worn on weekends and when customers travel. Your brand could go far.
7. Don't dally on getting online. You may be tempted to focus on offline branding and leave the online stuff for later. Resist that impulse. Every small business now needs a Web site, even if it's only an interactive business card. Small-business Web hosting from Microsoft can put you online for less than $20 a month.
8. Amortize an attractive ad. Spend enough to get an attractive, smartly written ad and then use it repeatedly. "A campaign made up of small space ads sprinkled throughout a well-read local newspaper can gain favorable attention quickly and fairly inexpensively," says Gary Watson, who runs a copywriting business in Wellesley Hills, Mass.
9. Build with a blog. Web logs or blogs are online journals that can be used to burnish your reputation as an industry expert or thought leader. At CooperKatz, a New York boutique PR agency, Steve Rubell launched micropersuasion.com, a Web log that examines how participatory journalism is changing the news. The blog gets him close to potential clients and builds visibility for his services. (For more on how blogging can help your business, see this article.)
10. Think small. "I would use what I call my 'Blair Witch Project' concept, where you overachieve to the ultimate degree on one small, targeted objective," says Wayne Schaffel, an account manager at Euro RSCG Magnet in New York, who has 20-plus years in marketing and PR. Identify and then "own" a target niche, he suggests. That way, you'll quickly become known for some service or expertise right away and you can build on the initial recognition.
Finally, remember the everyday branding opportunities that many owners overlook, such as e-mail signatures (see this article), or by having your logo and tag line on every note, message or shopping bag that goes out the door.
By leveraging these techniques, you can build your company name as fast as you grow your business.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
How to build a company identity from scratch
How To Build Traffic To Your Blog
With the growing interest in blogging as a means of online promotion and branding, a lot of marketers are starting blogs to promote their opinions, products, books and services.
With the growing interest in blogging as a means of online promotion and branding, a lot of marketers are starting blogs to promote their opinions, products, books and services.
But a blog is like a website. "Write and they will come" isn't exactly a magic formula to bring in traffic by the boatload.
If you need to promote your website in order to build traffic to it, you need to promote your blog as well.
Here are some ways you can become a well-read and influential blogger.
1. Write Posts That People Will Want To Read
This should be common sense, but many marketers tend to forget that their readers are real people and that you need to use the principles of online copywriting to make your headlines and copy interesting to your readers.
If you write posts that people enjoy reading, they will reward you by returning to your blog regularly.
Make your posts conversational, pithy and topical. Keep them short and stick to one topic per post.
Write often and regularly so that both readers and search engines visit your blog more often.
2. Optimize Your Posts for Search Engines
I cover this topic in detail in my article on "Search Engine Optimization For Blogs"
But here are the most important rules to follow to get your posts listed for keywords of your choice.
* Make sure your blog URL contains the primary keyword you want to optimize for
* Use your primary keywords in the title of your post
* Use your secondary keywords in the body of your post
* Use your keywords in the anchor text of links in the body of your posts
3. Submit Your Blog and RSS Feed To Directories
If you publish a blog you should submit your blog and RSS feed to big directories like Yahoo and Dmoz, as well as the numerous blog directories and search engines.
Here is the best list I've found of places to submit your feed or blog, compiled by Luigi Canali De Rossi, who writes under the pseudonym Robin Good.
Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites
Another list of sites to submit your Blog
4. Ping The Blog Services
There are a number of services designed specifically for tracking and connecting blogs. By sending a small ping to each service you let them know you've updated your blog so they can come check you out.
Bookmark the Ping-O-Matic ping results page so you can visit it and quickly ping a number of services with a single click.
5. Build Links To Your Blog
I recommend the methods here as the best ways to get links pointing to your blog.
* Link to your blog from each page on your main website
* Trackback to other blogs in your posts
* Post legitimate comments on other blogs with related topics
* Offer to exchange links with other similarly themed blogs and websites
6. Edit Your Blog Posts Into Articles
One of the best methods for promoting your website is to write articles and submit them to article directories.
The suggestion for extending this to edit your blog posts into articles and submit them to directories came from the coach at "Explode Blog Traffic" who also has other noteworthy suggestions at his blog.
You'll find an extensive list of article directories here
7. Create Buzz About Your Blog
Creating a buzz about your blog posts and topic in the local and online media will give your marketing a viral component.
* Create a controversy around your blog or it's topic.
* Distribute bumper stickers or other merchandise with your blog's URL and tagline.
* Write a press release about something newsworthy and tie it in with your blog topic.
8. Capture Subscribers By Email
It may seem strange for a blogger to send out updates by email, but email is still the #1 choice of most people who want to receive news and information.
Using a free service like Bloglet to manage your subscriptions is easy and it allows your subscribers to manage all their subscriptions from one interface.
However, if you want more control over your list and don't mind mailing out the updates yourself, you can use an autoresponder system to capture and follow-up with subscribers.
RSS Responder is a new script that allows you to keep in touch and follow-up with your subscribers without the hassle of email.
These tips should give you a good start to building your blog traffic.
Priya Shah is CEO of the blog publishing firm, Connect10. Subscribe to her free Marketing With Blogs email course. Request the whitepaper Boost Your Search Engine Visibility With Blogs And RSS here.
This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.
