Marketing, Advertising, and PR

Skillful marketing, advertising and public relations plans have made small businesses into Fortune 500 companies. Identifying your potential customers and implementing strategies to make them loyal customers is paramount. The articles in this section present a step-by-step process to show you how to achieve even your loftiest goals.

General Overview

• Branding: You Are What Your Customers Perceive - What do your customers think of your company? Learn the basics of building an effective brand.
• Build a Business Identity - Learn how to create a business identity – logo, stationery, packaging, web presence and more – that reinforces your image and your brand.

Marketing Your Product

• Identify and Develop Your Most Profitable Customers - Learn how to analyze customers in terms of profitability and improve operating margins.
• Know Your Market: Market Research - Learn how to determine if a good idea can become a great and profitable reality for your company.
• Simple, Effective and Inexpensive Marketing - Simple marketing techniques can complement any advertising campaign. Learn a basic strategy to reach out to and attract more customers.
• Pricing for Sales - Setting a price is easy. Setting the right price involves weighing a number of internal and external factors. Learn how to develop profitable pricing strategies for your business.
• Sell More Before Customers Leave the Store - Increase in-store sales by improving the customer experience and enhancing opportunities for cross-sales and add-on sales.
• Measuring Advertising Effectiveness - Learn simple ways to measure the effectiveness of your advertising efforts.
• Small Business Innovation - Innovation is not limited to major corporations. Master a simple approach to creatively solving your small business’ customer and corporate problems.
• Mass Market Advertising - Despite the onslaught of web marketing, traditional forms of advertising remain incredibly effective. Learn how print, radio and television advertising can benefit your business.

Planning Your Marketing Strategy

• Planning Your Overall Marketing Program - Marketing is much more than advertising. Learn how to create an overall strategy and plan that generates tangible results and a great return on your marketing investment.
• Know Your Competition - Learn how to perform basic competitive analysis in order to stay one step ahead of your competition, as well as to identify potential threats from new competitors.
• Gain a Competitive Edge: Create Customer Loyalty - Read here about the different types of customer loyalty – and how you can keep your customers coming back for more.
• Know Your Customers: Customer Profiles & Personas - Who are your best customers? Here are some ideas for creating a simple customer profile and use the results to increase revenues and market share.
• Know Your Market: Develop a Market Analysis - Learn how to perform a market analysis to decide whether to enter a market, expand territories or offer new products and services.
• Grow Your Business: New Products and Services - Innovation need not require expensive research and development. Listen to your customers and adapt and evolve to their needs.
• Grow Your Business: New Markets - Growing a business does not always require expanding your product line. Rather, leverage current products and services into new territories.

Public Relations

• Public Relations - An Overview - New tools have made getting free publicity easier than ever. Learn the basics, including different ways you can leverage public relations to grow your business.
• Create Your Own Public Relations Campaigns - You don't need to hire a public relations firm to get the word out. Here are some good ways to develop your own public relations campaigns.
• Write and Distribute Great Media Releases - Learn how to write, format and create attention-grabbing press releases, as well as how to distribute your press releases for maximum impact and exposure.
• Partner with the Media - Refer to this section for the basics on establishing a relationship with reporters and journalists, while enhancing your public relations efforts in the process.
• PR Resources - This section features an extensive link list capturing nearly every publication, Internet site and organization that addresses public relations issues.

Advertising

• Create Effective Ads - Learn the basic components of an effective ad, including emotional and rational appeals and how to create a call to action.
• Build Market Awareness with Promotions - Master the basics of building customer loyalty through sales, memberships, loyalty programs and other promotional efforts.
• Maximize Return on Advertising Spending - Don't spend advertising dollars blindly. Learn how to evaluate your advertising to make sure it is as effective and efficient as possible.

Marketing Communications

• Developing Successful Sales Brochures - A successful brochure builds market awareness, enhances image, describes products and services and creates a call to action.
• Successful Direct Mail Marketing - Direct mail has made a comeback in recent years. Create an effective direct mail campaign that generates new customers and increased revenues.
• How to Write a Newsletter that Works - Newsletters not only inform and entertain, they also can serve as great advertising and promotional tools.
• Put Your Best Business Foot Forward: Powerful Presentation Skills - Overcome anxiety through preparation and thinking of your audience first. This section also offers basic tips for handling media interviews.
• Create a Unified Marketing Promotion Plan - Reaching potential customers can require a blend of marketing activities. Learn about three ways to generate new customers and build long-term loyalty.
• Make Your Website Work for You - A website is often the first impression a business makes on potential customers. Read here for simple ways to ensure your website works for both you AND your customers.
• Permission-Based E-Mail Marketing - Refer to this article for jargon-free guidance on market research, mailing lists, HTML and text formats, e-letter design and construction, effective copy writing and more.