Marketing Blog - Page 3 of 9

Library Presentation 3: What is WordPress?

November 13, 2014 by Jesse Smith, MBA

Please join us this evening for part 3 of the Silver Falls Library presentation series. Tonight’s topic is, “What is WordPress? How to build and maintain your own company website.” Mardesco’s own Jesse Smith will discuss the basics of managing website content; using themes and plugins; installing WordPress on your own web server; and more.

Tonight’s presentation is free to the public; no registration is required. We hope to see you at the Silver Falls Library at 7pm this evening: Thursday, November 13, 2014.

The library is located at 410 S Water St in Silverton, Oregon. Click here for directions.

AdWords Campaign Management for Results: Seminar

October 7, 2014 by Jesse Smith, MBA

Please join us in the Conference Room at the Silver Falls Library this Thursday, October 9 at 7:00pm for a free seminar lecture presentation titled, “AdWords Campaign Management for Results.”

Jesse will discuss the pros and cons of AdWords, before delving into the details of campaign setup, keyword selection, performance analysis, and ongoing campaign management. There’s a lot to discuss and we look forward to seeing you there!

Branding strategy presentation

September 6, 2014 by Jesse Smith, MBA

Update: Here is video from Jesse’s “Grow your business with brand design” presentation at Silver Falls Library last week.

For best results, come out to Silverton and see the next presentation: “AdWords campaign management for results” at the Silver Falls Library on October 9, 2014 at 7pm.

Grow Your Business with Brand Design

Have you always wanted to know more about branding for your small business? Come on down to Silverton for a free Branding Strategy Presentation.

This coming Thursday, September 11 at 7pm, Mardesco’s own Jesse Smith, MBA will be putting on a branding strategy presentation in the Conference Room at the Silver Falls Library in Silverton, Oregon.

This presentation will discuss the value of a branding strategy; the components of a brand; and how branding creates superheroes. This is the first of an informative 3-part series about small business growth strategies presented by Jesse Smith, Senior Branding Strategist at Mardesco.

The presentation is free. Hope to see you there!

Get directions

When should you invest in brand design for your startup?

August 7, 2014 by Jesse Smith, MBA

It can be hard to decide when is the time you should start investing in the design of a strong brand for your startup or growing business.

The scenario is familiar. You’re a cash-strapped startup trying to go big. If your company is like many small businesses, you probably recognize the general need for a logo. However, you have a lot of priorities tugging at your attention, and you may not be sure what point in your business growth is a good time to invest in brand development.

In other words, you would like to have a logo for your business, but you would like to save money. And you’ve probably noticed that some local small businesses with an established customer base or an excellent physical location may be able to get by without investing in much of a brand strategy at all. So you think, maybe you can get by with your company name just written out in whatever font your secretary happens to select on a particular day. It doesn’t seem very important. Right?

Maybe. But if you haven’t adopted a strong branding strategy, then you’re not building as much brand equity as you could be building with each customer interaction. In the long term, that could mean you’ll have to work harder to make each sale. If you are looking for growth in a crowded, competitive market, then a solid branding strategy will be an essential part of your broad-based marketing strategy.

Investing in brand design early can help improve your business results.

Brand design is a strategic asset

Your brand is a strategic asset. Your corporate identity is not just a mark on a piece of paper. Your brand is an entire framework for building and sustaining your company’s relationship with your customers. You invest in developing your brand message and brand identity; and then you invest in communicating that brand message to your target market. Over time, this strategy builds brand equity, a stored value which translates into future sales. If you have established a strong brand early in your company’s existence, a later change can sometimes result in the loss of brand equity. People sometimes form loyalties quickly! The rule is: Delight. Don’t disappoint.

Your Investors

When you’re raising capital to fund your new business, be sure to show your new brand design to your investors. From the investors’ perspective, a strong brand presentation at the outset reflects strong leadership and vision for the company. It also demonstrates to them that you have a handle on the taste and stylistic preferences of your target market; which means your business has a better chance of success. These factors make your startup look like a better investment.

Your earliest customers

A business with a strong brand in place at launch stands a better chance of generating coveted “buzz,” including word of mouth; online referrals and social media; and formal publicity in the form of media coverage. A strong brand is a publicist’s best friend. When your business is represented by branding elements that are attractive, memorable, easily recognizable, and highly visible, then you stand a better chance of getting more coverage, and better coverage.

What does brand design cost?

[First, note the differences between “brand design” and “logo design.” “Brand design” encompasses many aspects of your company’s image; one of which is your logo design. The logo is the most obvious component of the brand; but the brand is much more than just a logo. Now, with that said…]

I recently found this page, which I thought uses a great classification system for categorizing the various service tiers of the logo design industry.

The student/overseas service tier

At the low end, you can get a cheap logo for a couple hundred bucks; but the final deliverable is probably created by someone overseas who does not work closely with you through the project. If you look hard enough, you may even be able to find a student who will design your logo for free, or nearly free. However, there are obvious drawbacks to this supply channel, such as the unpredictable quality of the final product.

Freelance graphic designer

You may be able to find a freelance graphic designer who can create a high-quality logo design for your business at a very competitive rate. However, a designer won’t have as many resources at their disposal as a firm or agency; so a freelancer won’t be able to provide as much assistance with market research, or with more complete marketing and branding strategies.

Local design firm

A small local design firm can offer amazing work at prices that are only a little more than a freelance designer. By adding personnel to cover additional roles, a small firm is able to offer superior service and support. A local design firm is an ideal partner for your startup or small business growth strategy.

If you select a local design firm for your branding project, you’ll probably find that a quality branding project that carefully addresses the business requirements of your small, local firm will likely run something like $1,200 to $3,500 or so. (There are always outliers though…) If you are a startup or local small business, a brand design consultant like Mardesco will benefit your company by providing additional marketing advice to help your business grow.

Nationwide/international agencies

When large firms such as Fortune 500 companies decide to rebrand, they usually invest in elaborate brand design projects. Brand design projects by major agencies last many months; involve large teams of designers; often require studies, focus groups, or other methods for evaluating target market sentiment; and cost tens of thousands of dollars (or even millions).

Accounting for your brand design investment

If brand design is a strategic asset, then it stands to reason you should be able to depreciate your brand design investment just as you would depreciate any capital expense. This technique doesn’t affect your short-term cash flow; but by depreciating your investment over time, you should be able to offset a portion of your future tax liability. So ask your accountant to classify your brand design project as a capital expense, and to depreciate it over a reasonable time frame.

Go forth, and brand your startup

In conclusion, investing in your brand early in your startup’s growth trajectory should help to give your business a major performance boost.

If you want to work with a professional marketing design agency to help you design a strong brand for your startup or local small business, call Mardesco. Our talented team of marketing and graphic design professionals can help your brand stand out in a competitive world.

Success through Marketing

May 26, 2014 by Jesse Smith, MBA

Success for your small business boils down to the bottom line. You want to increase your profitability. You want to grow your customer base. How can you grow your business? Get more customers and increase your profit margins with marketing.

Marketing is the key to business success. Marketing helps you communicate with customers and prospects. Make the sale. Enter new markets. Improve your margins. Increase your market share. The strategies differ, but every strategy has the same starting point.

It begins with marketing.

Succeed

Success begins with marketing.

Your most successful marketing strategy will depend on your target market. Growing your business depends on strengthening your relationship with prospects. That’s why a marketing plan first identifies and describes your target customer. Next, the marketing plan describes your brand’s positioning and messaging. It then spells out, in elaborate detail, how you will communicate your message to your target market. We understand that small business marketing must be weighed against budgetary constraints. Mardesco can help you determine the right level of investment for targeted returns.

Brand positioning and messaging

Position your brand to reflect the goals and tastes of your target market. Your positioning includes your pricing strategy, your brand messaging, and your supporting imagery.

Determine your brand’s core message. What do you want to say about yourself? What does your brand say about your customers?

Communicate your message

Select your marketing channels based on your customer analysis. In the most basic sense, your marketing campaigns are either online, or offline. Studies suggest that a combination of online and offline marketing efforts will yield the highest response rate.

Online marketing

Web design. Your online marketing campaign begins with web design. Your website should reflect well on your business, with a professional visual design, well-written website content, and intuitive functionality.

SEO. Once you have a website, try to promote it in the “organic” search engine results with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Optimize your pages for relevant keywords and phrases. Generate inbound links with quality content and off-page SEO.

PPC. Your positioning strategy requires you to be seen. Boost your visibility with paid advertising. Run a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad campaign with the major search engines and/or local media outlets to boost your sales.

Social media marketing. Gaining a following in social media circles builds credibility and trust. Engage with your customers through social media marketing campaigns.

E-mail marketing. Done properly, e-mail marketing has an unbelievable ROI. You can leverage the power of e-mail to build your brand and engage in a meaningful conversation with customers. Be careful though: it’s easy to overdo it. Don’t send your customers scrambling for the “unsubscribe” link. Ask Mardesco to help you find the right balance.

Offline marketing

Direct mail. Direct mail tends to be a very cost-effective marketing medium. Send your targeted marketing message directly to a specific individual prospect! Studies show that even in the digital age, direct mail still has the best response rate of any marketing medium. Direct mail allows your message to be specifically targeted to the recipient.

Referral marketing. Referrals are, without a doubt, the most profitable way to make new sales. A referral from an existing customer boosts your credibility and breaks down a prospect’s barriers to making a purchase. By strategically focusing on referral marketing, you can successfully increase your referrals. Ask us how!

Print marketing. Run your printed advertisements in relevant print media for exposure to your target demographic. Mardesco will create your ad campaign and select the best media channels to reach your target audience.

And Repeat

Success is based on marketing; and it is also achieved through persistence. Running a single advertisement is unlikely to establish you as the market leader. Running a consistent marketing campaign over the long haul could very well cement your reputation.

It Begins when you Call Mardesco

Are you ready for success? Contact Mardesco today to get started!

I want to succeed.

Marketing like a Dandelion

May 2, 2014 by Jesse Smith, MBA

The humble dandelion has a lot to teach a small business owner about marketing. Marketing like a dandelion is marketing that is visible and contagious.

The dandelion’s vision of a perfect world is a world covered in dandelions. In practice, this may be a bit extreme. In principle, if you are a business owner, be a dandelion.

Be a dandelion

So what makes the dandelion so successful?

Aggressive

Dandelions are aggressive. When a dandelion takes root, it grows fast to get its head above its competition. It spread its leaves wide, to choke out the competition. This ensures that all available sunlight, moisture, and soil nutrients will be absorbed by the dandelion, leaving your lawn grass to fight over the scraps.

By marketing aggressively, you can maintain a constant communications relationship with your customers and prospects. This vastly increases both the chance that they will buy, and that when they do buy, they will buy from you. Your competitors will be left fighting over scraps.

Prolific

The dandelion doesn’t just put out one or two seeds. It releases hundreds of seeds at once. In fact, a single dandelion plant may produce more than 2,000 seeds.

If you’re going to be successful in spreading your marketing message, you need to address a sufficiently large audience. Perhaps many of those “seeds” that you put out there will fall upon the pavement (figuratively speaking) with audiences who never end up purchasing from you. But the more places your seeds land, the more potentials you have for making the sale.

Better still, with modern marketing methods, you can qualify your leads, target your best prospects and greatly improve the chance that your message will fall upon fertile soil, as it were.

Everywhere

The key to the dandelion’s success is that it takes every opportunity to get its message out there. The dandelion is everywhere. This approach has a significant impact with customers.

Be like the dandelion. Plant your marketing message everywhere your customers go. This is why your business should have a website, and a social media presence, and a Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign, and a direct mail campaign, and a media placement campaign, and other campaigns in other channels as appropriate to your budget and your business type.

Marketing like a dandelion

Marketing like a dandelion is the secret to making your business grow like a weed.