Lastest Posts from Branding and Marketing

Use PR to Promote Your Business - Second in a Series

How to promote your business using PR: Promote the Solution Your Product or Service Provides to Your Target Market

What's the Difference Between PR and Advertising?

Promote your business with PR: Second in a Series

Attracting New Clients Using Linked In

April 2010: I showed the Cleveland Business Advisors organization how to help their clients attract new customers with LinkedIn. Contact me to have me speak to your organization about marketing topics.

More on my permanent site at Branding & Marketing

Marketing Health and Fitness at FitBloggin 2010 Baltimore

fitbloggin'10 closing remarks

Just got back from a great conference with over 100 attendees (I'm standing in the white shirt front row just left of middle) about blogging in the health and fitness markets. Some wonderful speakers and panelists helped me come away with great ideas, contacts and inspiration for creating a niche marketing blog for this category.

Organized by Roni Noone from Roni's Weigh and SkinnyMinnyMedia.
I couldn't get over the great sponsorships this conference had. The power of niche marketing!

More about this later.

tags: #fitbloggin
http://www.fitbloggin.com
http://www.skinnyminimedia.com
http://www.ronisweigh.com

Facebook Fan Pages offer Easier Marketing

Do you feel like your trying to do EVERYTHING in Social Media because you're not sure what the RIGHT thing to do is?

Having a strategy before you start is a great idea to help you keep away from just sending out multiple or confusing messages.

One thing that I have found very helpful for those who don't want to use an RSS feed reader... or subscribe to this blog via their email... is to subscribe to this blog by becoming a fan of Marketing Resources & Results in Facebook.

Yes, a Facebook Fan page makes it easy to publish by using Networked blogs.

When you pass your 100th fan, you can get your own URL on Facebook pages. Our's is http://www.Facebook.com/MarketingResults.

Another advantage of a fan page is there is no limit to the number of fans, unlike a profile where the limit is 5,000 friends.

So, if you're a regular reader, but not a subscriber, consider subscribing via our Facebook Fan page.

Entrepreneurship Series Returns to Hudson Library

Small-business owners can take advantage of some free helpful advice by attending the 2010 Entrepreneurship and Small Business Series, hosted by the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship Research at the Hudson Library & Historical Society. Registration is required for any one or all of the 11 free workshops. Simply call 330.653.6658 or email askus@ hudson.lib.oh.us.

Jan. 12: How to Procure Government Contracts, with Rich Delisio of the Ohio Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) at the Kent Regional Business Alliance. Selling to the Federal Government elisio will also be available for one-on-one counseling at the Hudson
Library.

(Note: Rich helped me with my company's capability statement and I helped him by presenting a "how-to" at his workshop last year. Here's a link if you missed the presentation: HOW TO CREATE YOUR COMPANY'S CAPABILITY STATEMENT TO MARKET YOUR COMPANY TO RECEIVE GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS. Besides the slides, I also recorded the talk so there is sound as well.)

Feb. 3: Trends Affecting Small Businesses, with Anita Campbell of Anita Campbell Associates and founder of the Small Business Trends online publication and radio program. (Note: I consider Anita one of the top trend experts in small business in the country. This is a DON'T MISS EVENT!)

Feb. 17: Rebecca O. Bagley, president of NorTech, the Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition. NorTech helps to create new technology industries and make the region’s economy more globally competitive.

Feb. 23: For National Entrepreneurship Week, The Power of Networking, an evening to share stories with other entrepreneurs. Additional networking resources: How to Brand Yourself on LinkedIn: Branding Diagram And Vail Brown's LinkedIn handout for his workshop on LinkedIn networking.

Feb. 25: Entrepreneurship Programs College Fair. High school students interested in pursuing entrepreneurship at the college level are invited to meet current college students, recent graduates who have opened their own businesses, and representatives of area university programs.

March 2: Richard T. Herman, a business and immigration attorney, and Robert Smith, a Plain Dealer reporter covering international cultures. They are the co-authors of Immigrant Inc.: Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Driving the New Economy (and How They Will Save the American Worker).

Herman is also co-founder of the Northeast Ohio chapter of TiE, a global network of entrepreneurs. TIE stands for: Talent, Ideas, Entrepreneurship.

March 16: Product Globalization: A 10-Point Checklist and One Bad Example, presented by Bob Chalfant of NEO Management.

March 31: Not-for-Profit Basics, a workshop with the Akron chapter of SCORE, a business counseling group.

April 7: Copyright and Intellectual Property Legal Issues for Small Businesses, by Stephen Cook of the University of Akron School of Law.

April 22: Communicating Your Company’s Value: A Marketing and Legal Perspective, with Jeff Bauer of Giraffe Inc., a marketing communications and design firm, and Fbusiness colleague and lawyer Jeff Jones.

May 5: Entrepreneur Success Stories. A panel of successful Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs will share stories.

The Hudson Library & Historical Society’s Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship Research has experienced phenomenal growth and attendance since its inception in the winter of 2008. Through the generosity of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, the Center is able to offer print and online resources, DVDs and audiobooks, programming and services all designed to assist entrepreneurs get a business established or expand one that already exists.

Starting with the very first Entrepreneurship Series of workshops in October 2008 through the most recent Fall 2009 Entrepreneurship Series, attendance is nearing 2,000. Many of the events in the last few months exceeded 100 participants.

All workshops are free and are offered in a comfortable yet professional setting.
Counseling sessions are available free of charge (by appointment) in the library’s private study rooms from the following agencies: the Ohio Small Business Development Center’s (OSBDC) Certified Business Advisors; Akron SCORE, “Counselorsto America’s Small Businesses;” the Kent Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) for obtaining government contracts; and TiE Ohio – a global network of entrepreneurial mentors.

Subscriptions to periodicals such as The Harvard Business Review and Entrepreneur, and online databases such as Reference USA, Hoover’s and ProQuest Entrepreneurship augment the substantial, current collection of business materials that are available.

10 tips to Improve Marketing Results

As we close 2009, it's time to gear up for a great 2010. What will you do differently with your marketing to improve your results?

Consider these 10 marketing tips to improve your --read more--

Retail Sales Black Friday and Cyber Monday Results

208
Originally uploaded by me and the sysop

The sales results for same store sales at retail and online are inQ And the winner is ... read more

More Ways of Marketing Your Book On Line

This post was inspired by a very helpful comment posted by Teena Hughes of A Night in Paris in response to a post Branding & Marketing almost a year ago about: 7 Ways to Successfully Market Your Book Online.

I checked out her website and A Night in Paris looks like the ultimate guide to all things Paris and is really fun to read and expore. She's putting the finishing touches on her book "A Silk Adventure". Here are Teena's additional suggestions:

I do a lot of social networking with social media, and there are many ways to leverage your book. All of the examples above are fantastic, but I'd do one step forward on your own book's website.

• allow people to leave comments, and reply as soon as you can
• create a page for FAQs - what do people ask you most about your book? answer them on this page
• keep adding pages to your book's website - don't leave it at Home page and Contact page - search engines will NEVER find you
• write one or two info pages - per week - about different things in your book e.g. if it's travel book, focus on one idea per page
• you're not giving away the contents of the book, but the internet is based on free info, so build up a rapport with your visitors by offering great info for free on your site
• encourage people to sign up on each page of your site
• create a PDF of 5-10 pages of your book - a 'taster' - give that away for all subscribers
• post quizzes on your site about your topic to encourage interaction
• build your mailing list by offering great tips (or focus on a chapter heading) once or twice a month as a newsletter
• ask subscribers to tell you about their story (related to your book) and post them on your site

All of this creates additional content, and if you SEO your pages, the search engine robots will come by often to see what all the activity is about :-) Trust me, this one WORKS!

This may not be suitable for a book, but on one of my websites I give away a free gift each month, name drawn from the list of subscribers. The gift has a perceived value of $35, and because it's free, friends tell friends tell
friends.

This could be juicy tips as a PDF which is 'not in the book, not on the website, secret info only an insider would know" (for example).

Hope this helps someone, and thanks for all the great tips above!

Cheers, Teena!

Thanks Teena! These are great ideas!!!

Do you have a book that you're promoting on line? Many authors find out that once the writing is done, the work has just begun. The great thing about promoting online is that you can do so much of the work yourself. Sometimes it is difficult to know where to start.

Do you have a marketing plan for your book? Check out these helpful links:

• Chris Brogan: Promoting your book online
• Wiley Publishing White Paper: Marketing Your Book
• Roger C. Parker: How to Promote Your Book on the Internet
• Laura Ramirez: Book Marketing: Five Tips for Successful Online Book Promotion
• Chris Brown (me!): Branding & Marketing: 7 Ways to Successfully Market Your Book Online

Network Marketing - The Power of a Great 30 Second Commercial

I went to a networking event last night. Packed with people. Everyone had a name tag (that's a plus!) but most just had their name on it, not their company or affiliation. Now, I'm not a shy person, but there's definitely a shy factor that sneaks in when you don't know people and you've just come to meet "them."

Having a great 30 second commercial is part of getting more comfortable. The folks who could tell me what they do, without rattling it off so fast or using initials to explain (worse, using a word that is an anacronym of initials) or better, talked about a benefit to their customers, were the ones that I wanted to take a few minutes to get to know better.

Got me thinking about their marketing messages.

Have you worked on your 30 second commercial lately? Say it aloud now. Jot it down.

3 Tips to Create a Strong Marketing Message in Your 30 Second Commercial

1. Identify who you help and how you help them.
2. State the benefit to your customers
3. Make it repeatable so that the person you are telling could tell it to your potential customer again next week.

Does your 30 second commercial (or elevator speech) meet each of these criteria?

Marketing Programs Need to Be Planned Now for 2010

Now is the time to create a 2010 marketing program for your business. Growth for your market share may be achievable in 2010 but only if you step up your marketing ahead of your competitors.

CEO confidence is on the rise. Economic indicators point to a recovery.

My Treadmill Desk: How to Burn More Calories While Marketing

treadmill desk full view angle
Originally uploaded by cmcbrown

Here's the full view of my makeshift treadmill desk. "Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic came up with the idea of a "Treadmill Desk". The idea is to slowly walk on a treadmill while working at a desk built around the treadmill...a Treadmill Desk.

Dr Levine's research revealed that on the average his subjects burned 100 extra calories every hour while walking slowly -- at 1 mile per hour -- than while sitting in a chair."

Check out more info here: Blogging on a Treadmill Desk

Ascend Marketing's Cathy Pringle: "Clients Reap Huge ROI Benefits with Outsourced Marketing"

I recently interviewed Cathy Pringle. You'll want to read the profile of Ascend Marketing. They are an outsourced marketing firm that focuses on “the full marketing continuum, beginning with brand strategy and market development, but extending all the way through the execution piece, including sales support and measurement." Click on the link to read more.

Branding is Expectations and Fulfilling a Promise

When discussing branding with clients, sometimes it becomes confusing when it shouldn't be. Branding really boils down to an expectation on the part of the customer/consumer and then fulfillment of the promise.

Read more at Branding & Marketing...

Branding Strategy is one Key for Lowering Your Marketing Costs

When you have a brand strategy, you don't have to constantly reinvent the wheel every time you create an ad, update your brochure, do a new sales presentation power point or develop a retractible banner.

By having a strong niche and positioning, most of your work is already done for you.

Many small and medium businesses have trouble defining their own brand. They want to tell every feature, describe every benefit and try to sell to every possible customer in every market.

If you define your brand strategy before you do the marketing tactics, you'll find your costs will be lower and your results better.

It's one way of working smarter, not harder!

Time Management - Finding Time for Social Media Marketing

where does the time go
Originally uploaded by cmcbrown

Finding time can be difficult.

If you feel under pressure, have constant deadlines and are jumping from one crisis to another, these time management tips could give your more control of your time and reduce your stress. Read more at "Branding & Marketing"

5 Ways to Add Power to your Press Release Program

Electronic press releases can be much more powerful than traditional PR releases.

I believe that if you have a business, product or service to promote, that public relations, and press releases in particular, are much less expensive and much more effective than advertising.

See what I mean at my Branding and Marketing blog post today: 5 Ways to Add Power to Your Press Release Distribution

Guest Posts on Small Business TV

You can read more from Branding & Marketing on Small Business TV's website

Branding & Marketing: 5 WAYS TO ADD POWER TO YOUR PRESS RELEASE PROGRAM
Updated: 5/12/2009 6:37:03 AM
Press Releases are more powerful than most advertising. See how to take advantage of new electronic tools to add power to your PR. . . .
Tags: public relations, press release, advertising, branding, marketing

Branding and Marketing: HOW TO CREATE A SPEAKER SHEET TO GET SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Updated: 3/9/2009 7:18:57 AM
Creating a speaker sheet can help you get speaking engagements. Here's how. . . .
Tags: speaker sheet, speaking engagements, promoting your business

Branding & Marketing: 4 INEXPENSIVE TECHNIQUES TO MARKET YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Updated: 3/1/2009 8:06:09 AM
What are four low cost or no cost marketing techniques for marketing a small business? Crystal Robinson knows and is using them! . . .
Tags: low cost website, marketing techniques, marketing your small business

Branding & Marketing: MARKETING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS IN GOOGLE RESULTS
Updated: 2/22/2009 9:19:59 AM
Getting your business in the top results in Google search is important to help customers find your products and services. . . .
Tags: keywords Google branding marketing marketing your small business

Branding & Marketing: BRAND YOURSELF WITH YOUR TWITTER BACKGROUND
Updated: 1/20/2009 5:00:13 AM
Brand yourself with your Twitter background for added impact. contact information. Graphics. . . .
Tags: Twitter Branding Twitter Graphics Twitter Background

Branding & Marketing: INTERVIEW WITH MARKETING AGENCY PRESIDENT CHRIS BROWN
Updated: 1/8/2009 10:38:27 AM
Business profile: Interview with Marketing Agency President Chris Brown . . .
Tags: Branding Marketing Small business interview

Branding & Marketing: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SALES AND MARKETING?
Updated: 10/21/2008 5:35:00 AM
Last week I asked my community of business contacts -- or "tribe" as Seth Godin describes it -- what their opinion of the difference between sales and marketing was. The range of answers surprised me. Some made me laugh and some...

Branding & Marketing: PERSONAL ENDORSEMENT OVER MASS IMPRESSIONS
Updated: 10/4/2008 6:27:00 AM
Much more personal than mass TV or even targeted internet advertising, human billboards provide a media channel that conveys the personal endorsement of those who wear the message. Buttons, handbags, hoodies and T-shirt advertising can convey the me . . .

Branding & Marketing: MARKETING GREEN AND SUSTAINABILITY: TREADING CAREFULLY!
Updated: 9/30/2008 6:19:00 AM
Do you remember when food got lighter a few years ago? Lite. Fat-Free. It was confusing at best. I think the Green Movement has hit this same level of marketing positioning. It's both an opportunity and a challenge. Joel Makower at Greenbiz.co . . .

Branding & Marketing: KEEPING YOUR WEBSITE UP TO DATE
Updated: 9/19/2008 5:37:00 AM
I visited a website of a business this morning that has some old information on it: the old address from before they moved. Forgivable? I wonder how much business is lost because things aren’t up-to-date and look sloppy?

Branding and Marketing: BRANDING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS AS A GREEN BUSINESS -- WITHOUT GREENWASHING
Updated: 9/17/2008 7:13:00 AM
So many businesses are trying to do the right thing when it comes to recycling, using "green" marketing materials printed with soy inks and post consumer waste paper and offering employees the opportunity to work from home one day a week to . . .

Branding & Marketing: BRANDING ISN'T JUST FOR "BIG BUSINESS"
Updated: 9/10/2008 6:03:00 AM
All businesses need some branding. That is a powerful statement that many small business owners might disagree with. Some small business owners think of big, huge consumer brands like Coke, Pepsi, Dell and McDonalds when they hear the wo . . .

How to Turn Your Marketing into More Sales

Threading New Warp
Originally uploaded by LollyKnit

Are you wondering why you're not closing more sales?

You have great marketing. But not getting any more customers. Is the economy? Is it your marketing? Your sales process? Your people?

Perhaps you aren't weaving your marketing into the sales process or vice versa. Read more here to find out how to increase your sales results.

From Toys to NASCAR to Viral Commercials and Social Media Marketing

All of my recent Branding & Marketing posts are located at the Wordpress blog:

• The Secret of How 2 Juvenile Product Designers Started a Successful Business Almost Effortlessly


• 3 Tips for Turning Your Marketing Green and Save Money at the Same Time


• Marketing and Branding Resources: the Ultimate Encyclopedia


• NASCAR Marketing: Surviving Negative Attitudes Towards Sports Sponsorships


• Comcast’s Viral Commercials are Fun, but Very Ornate


• Social Media Marketing: Promote your Business, Product or Service


• Available on Amazon: Age of Conversation2

4 Inexpensive Ways of Marketing Your Own Direct Sales Business

Crystal Robinson, a Bodyshaping Consultant, is marketing her own business called "Slimmer Within" with a tag line "Experience the Magic."

She also works a full time job as a Market Manager at a savings and loan company, but runs her own company during nights and weekends by holding "transformations" and doing direct sales.

How can she find the time to market her business? She does a lot of things right! She's got several key marketing features of a direct sales business and she's doing a great job with them:

1. Website
2. e-mail
3. Promotions
4. Business cards

How does she do all that? Continue reading about Inexpensive Direct Sales Marketing Methods

Marketing to Women

If women contol 80% of the purchasing power in the US households... why are more companies and brands marketing to women?

Trendsight
Lipsticking
Wonderbranding

How to Improve your SEO results in Google

If you've ever tried to market your business on the internet, you're probably looking at the search engine results in Google and working on a keyword strategy for more ...

Finding the Silver Bullet in Marketing

You didn't think there was a silver bullet for marketing? I used to think there wasn't one either...

Recently Ralph Cutcher of Brick House Partners shared an insight with me that might actually qualify as THE SILVER BULLET of strategic marketing. Ralph and I met because worked together, but separately for the same company...just not at the same time.)

Read the rest of the Silver Bullet in Marketing story here.

Watch my interview on SBTV

COSE interview
Originally uploaded by cmcbrown

I was recently interviewed on Small Business Television SBTV.com during the COSE business conference.

You can watch the whole video at http://www.sbtv.com/partners/cose/?segid=3450

Marketing and Branding for Alpacas Farms

Krystal Acres Alpacas herd
Originally uploaded by Andrew_N

While reading this interesting article about branding and marketing cattle farms, from the cattle network written by Dan Frobose of Ohio State, I was reminded about a conversation with Pat McKay (who insures commercial embroydery businesses and non-profit organizations) during lunch yesterday where we celebrated her 15th anniversary of her business.

We were talking about the economy and how will high end, expensive businesses like Alpaca Farms make it during the economic downturn?

For anyone who wants to market and brand their farm, I would recommend reading everything that Julie Wassom has published and written on the subject of marketing an Alpaca Farm. She's a marketing expert who loves alpacas and her advice is spot-on.

When people in Marketing say "Print" - What do they mean?

What are the components of print?

Collateral:

• Publications
• Brochures
• Sell Sheets
• Fliers
• CD Packages
• Invitations
• Corporate Identity Packages
• Logos
  

Trade & Publication advertising:

• Newspaper
• Trade magazine
• Chamber of Commerce or organizational ads
• Sponsorship of related charitable causes

What am I missing??

Entrpreneur Jackie Garmier Shares her Story

Jackie Garmier
Originally uploaded by cmcbrown

Entrpreneur Jackie Garmier recently shared the story of Renewable Lubricants with the other entrepreneurs at the Entrepreneur Extravaganza at Kent State University.

She is passionate about her brand because she is:
Her company, Renewable Lubricants, uses soy based inks in printing and recycleable packaging wherever prossible.

Green Business: How Johnstone Supply Helps with Sustainability & Profitability

Johnstone Supply seems to have an important solution for greening up existing buildings --- one where the ROI payback comes in less than a year. I met them at a recent GREEN BUSINESS event in Cleveland where over 200 business leaders networked, discussed and learned from experts about how to help with the 3 P's - people, planet and prosperity. Read more at Branding & Marketing