Prairie Magic Design

Our Success Depends on Your Success

The New Entrepreneur

Today I met someone who is starting a new business. They wanted to know when – in the business entrepreneur-001-copyplanning process – is the right time to start thinking about marketing. The short answer is “right away.”

Your marketing is going to be the driver of so many things so the sooner you get started thinking about your brand and what story you want your business to tell, the sooner you can start thinking about some of the logistics like ordering signage, shop layout (if you have a physical location), and budgets.

We have met a lot of entrepreneurs that build their business first and worry about marketing later – this causes a lot of frustration and annoyance for the business owner. They usually end up spending money without thinking through the appropriate marketing processes. When they do finally take the time to execute this step, it is often too late to take back some of the original investments that were made. As an entrepreneur-in-the-making, you have the opportunity to break this cycle and do things the right way! One of the top three things most entrepreneurs claim they would do different if they could do it all over is branding. Many small businesses think they do not need a brand…they do not need a story. They do. We all do…if we want to be successful.

Working with a business-to-be is the best kind of project for us, but not for the reasons you might be thinking. We really like to be involved early on before the business launches because we are able to build a plan from the ground up with no pre-existing marketing decisions and investments to keep in mind. Often times we are asked to work on a rebranding strategy for a company, but we cannot change some of the larger investments until they become damaged or run out (e.g. shop signage, van wraps, stationary, business cards). While we completely understand these limitations (as we are also a small business), they do often require a soft launch of the rebrand. A soft launch is not a bad thing, it just leads to slower results (most people like to see big results right away). With a completely fresh slate, we are able to be as creative as we want and produce the best solution to get fast results.

Bottomline, if you are thinking about starting a business, you should be thinking about your marketing at the same time. It will help you to spend less money in the long run which will make your business more financially stable and consistent in the eyes of your community.

If you would like some assistance in the marketing process for a new business, we would love to learn more about what you are building and get an idea of when you are planning to launch. We will always work around your schedule to make sure we can meet your deadlines.

 

Rebranding, Part I: Five Signs It’s Time to Rebrand

“How often should we update our logo and marketing materials?”

We hear this question on a weekly basis. It’s a tough question to answer, but only because we cannot provide a hard and fast number of years. While the timeframe will be different for every business, every business can use these guidelines to decide when it is the right time to rebrand:

  1. Has your focus changed? Maybe you’ve expanded your offering. Maybe you’ve narrowed your target audience. Maybe you’re message has changed. Whatever the reason, if your focus has evolved, your brand needs to evolve as well.
  2. Are you constantly apologizing for your Website being ”out of date” and making excuses about how you’ll spend some time and money on your Website when it becomes important? The problem with this statement is that people think their Website upkeep should come after they get business, when in fact their Website should come before so it can bring them business.
  3. Does your logo and business card look like it’s from a decade ago because it was designed a decade ago? It’s time to rebrand!
  4. Does your logo stand out among your competitor logos? It’s definitely time to rebrand.
  5. Are people constantly asking what you do because they don’t understand from your logo, tagline, business card, or other materials? It’s definitely time to rebrand!

In today’s society, it’s not enough to just offer the best service and/or product or to spend a ton of money on advertising. You’ve got to have a successful brand that tells your story and engages the right audience. If your brand used to do that and isn’t anymore, or if your brand never did do that, it’s time to consider rebranding.

Stay tuned for next week’s blog, Rebranding, Part II: What Makes a Good Logo.

And now for some popular rebrands that you just might recognize…ENJOY!14-companies-that-reversed-their-horrible-attempts-at-rebranding

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10 Unusual Marketing Ideas

Marketing IdeasBecause logos printed on notepads and van wraps are overdone…it’s time to start thinking in a totally new direction. Hopefully this list will get you started:

1. Partner with an unlikely but visible independent business in your community.

2. Give away an unusual promo item that might be more likely to be photographed and published to social media (i.e. dog shirts with your logo).

3. Have a mascot.

4. Set up a flash mob at a big event (like a state fair), and have everyone in your flash mob dress like your profession (plumber, chef) or at least wear shirts with your contact information and throw some extra shirts out to the surrounding crowd. Have someone video and share on YouTube.

5. Find a local, well-known person to endorse your product in ads or on social media.

6. Hand out popsicles on a hot day (or serve hot chocolate on a cold day) in front of a busy grocery store. Make sure to attach your business card.

7. Commission art work for a children’s park or for a building that gets a lot of traffic.

8. Find a project to “hero.” With so many budget problems in today’s world shelters, humane societies, soup kitchens and other non-profits are closing down left and right. Find one cause that is near and dear to your heart and help champion a major effort to raise big funds in support of that group. You won’t necessarily have to be the one donating all the money, but if you can be the name behind why people are donating more, that is good enough.

9. Hire people who LOVE your brand.

10. Commission an artist to build a life-size version of your logo using unique mediums (balloons, fabric, lighting, Legos, flowers, etc.) either outside the front of your shop or at a booth  you are sponsoring for a big event.

Any others you want to add to the list? Share your ideas with us and your fellow blog readers!

Is a Customer Referral Program Right For You?

Customer Referral

Have you ever thought about taking the time to set up a customer referral program? If well thought out and  built to meet the needs of your customers, customer referral programs can elicit some big time profits!

A customer referral program should:

1. Engage current customers by rewarding them for bringing you new customers.

2. Enhance your brand and make more people aware of your business.

One great way to start a customer referral program is to advertise it as a short-term program. This is one way to boost profits quickly. If current customers think they only have a short time to capitalize on a reward, they’ll jump.

If the program appears to be working out for you and you’re happy with the progress, you can always extend the program by saying, “Due to popular demand we are extending our offer to receive XXXX for the referral of new clients.” At this point you can choose to provide a new end date or maybe run your program indefinitely. But always start with an end date in mind. This will give you time to test it.

Think long and hard about what type of incentive you will offer your clients for the referral. Before immediately doling out discounts off of upcoming purchases, consider what other benefits you could provide. Do you have something to offer these clients that will not cost you a fortune? Maybe promo items that your customers love that are inexpensive? Maybe a gift card for a coffee or a promo code for a free trial membership? If you’re not coming up with anything that you think is a big enough incentive, a discount off their next purchase is always an option.

Beware the NEW customer that just wants free stuff. Lots of referral programs out there reward the referrer and the referee. By rewarding the new customer, you are potentitally just letting someone in who has no potential to return and just wants something for nothing. Consider this long and hard before you reward both and truly consider only rewarding your current customer.

Telling your Brand’s Story Through Content Marketing

First things first…let us explain a little about content marketing. Content marketing is the practice of creating and sharing media (media being photos, videos, words, illustrations, etc.) and publishing that content (on a blog, Web site, magazine, newsletter, brochure, etc.) to gain or retain customers. The most successful content marketing strategies are those that carefully craft a brand’s story and share it in a creative yet effective manner.

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So, what is YOUR story? What do you want people to know about you and your business? Have you helped someone? Have you made someone feel good? Have you helped someone to be healthier or happier? Maybe you should think about sharing the stories of your customers in order to tell your story.

Content marketing is not new. It’s actually been around since the early 1900s, but the Internet gave content marketing a larger stage. Social media made it easy for us to publish large quantities of content and, hence, it’s also made it necessary to compete…no matter your market.

Developing a content marketing strategy should be an essential part of your marketing plan. Once you’ve laid out all your goals and objectives, it’s vital to your success to develop a content marketing plan that will help you with execution. We personally like to organize our content plans in a spreadsheet so we can keep ourselves organized. It also makes it easy to see where we need to be repeating some information. Remember, it takes a minimum of seven times of hearing something for someone to remember it, so any place you can repeat your message is a good way to reuse and recycle your own content!

One of the best additions to your content marketing strategy should include testimonials. Make sure to gather testimonials and ask customers to post their reviews on your Website and social media platforms. Facebook provides a great place for reviews! Just download and install the Rating/Review App. Ask customers to be specific about what they like when giving you  rating. These reviews will help future customers to decide if your business is a right fit for them.Content-marketing-cycle

If you’re going to use testimonials as part of your strategy, think of your customers as characters in a book. Only sharing their specific testimonial won’t matter much to prospective customers, but if you describe these “characters” and how they relate to your market, customers will feel connected and more likely to act. First, think about your product and/or service. Now think about the features of your customers that might be important to sell your product. Is it the way they look? Feel? Is it about their age? Gender? Is it for people who live in a specific area? Or those who make above or below a specific income? Is it for pet owners? Married couples? Home owners? Whatever the case, make a complete list of the demographics that best represent your customers and make sure to focus on these descriptions and a few more when sharing your “character’s story” (customer’s testimonial).

Once you’ve put together a good character sketch to use in your content marketing, think about how you’ll both educate and entertain your target market with information about your products and/or services. Education and entertainment are the two biggest reasons people take to the Internet so you have to craft your message in a way that answers questions and gets people excited about what you offer.

How will you get this information out there? Will you use social media or your Web site? Will you create new collateral materials? Whatever you choose, make sure that one platform works in tandem with the others. You want all the pieces and parts of your plan to complement each other and guide your prospective client to YOU!

Once you’ve had time for this new content to circulate, ask questions of your customers…how did you hear about us? What was your initial impression based on what you first saw, read, or heard? Did your experience with us meet your initial expectations? These answers will help you to hone in on and refine the current content marketing plan as you go.

Also, make sure to keep that spreadsheet of your content handy. You’ll want to repurpose the content you’ve created on multiple occasions!

If the thought of creating a content marketing plan is overwhelming, call us. Our content marketing specialist is happy to work with you on building plans that will get you recognized in your community!