Best Advertising Tips for the Small to Medium Sized Business

Marketing and advertising tactics have changed a lot over the last decade due to the rapid technological growth and social media. If you are a small business or company who has tried marketing the same way you did even just a few years ago it's likely that you're wasting a lot of money. The truth of the matter is that a wise business owner changes with the times and gets the most from both their advertising and marketing budgets.

Today there are a wide variety of tactics that can boost your conversions quite fast by utilizing inbound and outbound marketing tactics including, but not limited to:

• Social Media Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Link Building
• PPC Advertising
• Backlinks
• Content Marketing

And so on...

There are many marketing companies that will provide all of the above for a reasonable monthly rate and in many cases, they will provide discounts or specials rates. However, if you're a business who is looking for the best solutions that you can handle on your own, the article below talks about the top ten low cost advertising techniques: 

• Create partnerships and cross promotions. Find other companies that hit your same target audience and are complementary to what you offer. Come up with a win-win barter proposal of how to steer clients to each other. Or, offer bundled promotions using the products/services of each to boost interest in both of your companies. Or, pool your marketing dollars together and create a campaign you could not afford on your own. It can be as small as one or two partners you barter with individually or a group, similar to the wedding industry where florists, hairstylists, veil makers, dress makers, bakers, and printers work together to help each other out.
• Find place-based advertising opportunities that are creative and free.Example: an author coming out with a book about parenting had post-it notes printed about it and they were posted above diaper changing tables in the area. A financial consultant had bookmarks created promoting his business and put them in financial books at local bookstores (very creative, however it may not have gone over well with the bookstore!). Think of how you could use your partnerships as mentioned in #1 for more place-based opportunities.
• Have an effective website. An old study says 70% of people will research online before walking into a store to purchase. That percentage is probably much higher now. A website is a must. There are free services you can use like joomla.org, etc. Or, you can use a blog format like WordPress.com. Having a custom made website with your domain and email is not cost prohibitive as some might imagine. Be sure to use search engine optimization (SEO) to bring people to your site, write articles and place them in free ezines to push people to your site; and use social networking to push people to your site (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). Of course, it may require that you invest a little time in learning new technology that you may not be familiar with, but the reward is well worth the time invested.
• Teleseminars and webinars (webex.com) are cheaper than doing in-person seminars. This is good for businesses that have a long purchase process or a complicated product that is best sold as a demonstration, etc. You can also film a demonstration/presentation and place it on YouTube.com and your website.
• Leverage your workforce to spread the word. This can be accomplished through inexpensive flyers or coupons and/or magnetic signs on their automobiles. This can also be accomplished through word of mouth but it is far more difficult to control the message.

You can read the rest of the article here.

If you're a small to medium sized business that has yet to implement a successful marketing campaign, it's due time. Both inbound and outbound marketing is a way for you to build relationships with your current or prospective clients and grow your business -- faster than many of your competitors. Today there are many companies that you can hire -- and for a reasonable price -- to manage your marketing campaigns, like Classic Image. These companies will handle the day-to-day marketing needs of your campaigns while you can focus on what matters most... growing your business. In many cases you can get a reasonable quote to jump start your campaign, ensuring that you don't break your bank.

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Top 10 Marketing & Advertising Ideas of 2013 (So Far)

When it comes to marketing and advertising a business it's important to try to think outside the box. There is unlimited potential when it comes to marketing and the more creative you are with your tactics, the more your business will stand out (in most cases). There are many companies out there that will manage your marketing or advertising campaign entirely for a reasonable price, but how you go about launching the marketing campaign for your small to medium sized business is entirely up to you. 

Marketing and advertising your business can be a lot of fun, so why not let loose and think outside the box. The article below is from a recent article at SpringWise, in regards to the top 10 marketing and advertising ideas as of June 2013. These creative, fun ideas have made various companies and products stand out from the crowd: 

1. Magazine ad offers free wifi to readers   

Smartphones are everywhere these days, but finding that elusive free wifi connection to use them can be much more difficult. To advertise its Office 365 software, Microsoft teamed up with Forbes magazine and T-mobile to insert a miniature hotspot into selected copies of its May 6 2013 issue. The campaign, created with advertising tech firm Americhip, simultaneously promoted the validity of Microsoft’s cloud-based program and gave Forbes’ readership another reason to carry the publication with them – killing two birds with one stone.

2. In South Africa, drones repurposed to deliver beer to festivalgoers 

 Brand sponsorships at popular music festivals can be great for businesses, but often limit product choice for attendees. Looking to go that bit further to create brand engagement, Windhoek developed a system whereby revelers at the OppiKoppi festival – taking place in South Africa in August – can order a free beer through their GPS-enabled smartphone and promptly receive a can to their approximate location, delivered through the air via specially-repurposed flying robots.

3. Shopping cart-mounted tablet detects nearby items and offers recipes in real tim 

Having made our Top 10 Food & Beverage Ideas list last year for its innovative Recipe Receipt campaign, Hellmann’s returned to provide another unique way to experience the supermarket. Trialled in Brazil, the initiative saw shopping carts fitted with NFC-enabled tablets. When users placed a Hellmann’s product in their trolley, the display showed potential meal ideas they could make with the other items on the shelves next to them. According to the company, sales rose by 70 percent. This is a marketing campaign with serious potential as a future option for in-store advertising.

4. Thailand billboards can be used to build homes when they’re not in use 

It’s clear that in the age of internet, consumers know a lot more about brands and how they act on their social responsibility. In order to present itself as a people-centered business, Thailand’s HomePro DIY store collaborated with BBDO Bangkok to create The Other Side campaign. Since the country’s homeless population often reappropriate road-side billboards in order to create makeshift shelters, the company decorated the reverse of their advertisements with wallpaper and fitted them with practical shelves and hangers. When they’d served their use as marketing tools for HomePro, they could then be used to brighten up the lives of those less fortunate.

5. Concept store enables customers to make and share their own digital ‘look book’ 

Social media has arguably become an integral element to any business’s marketing strategy, although there are different ideas on how it can best be used. For the launch of the new Karl Lagerfeld Store in Amsterdam in April, the fashion label tapped into consumer desire to share purchases with friends and family by placing iPads in changing rooms, loaded with an app that enables shoppers to take photos of their look, apply a filter and post online. The store also enables visitors to leave their comments on the Karl Lagerfeld Facebook page via tablets located around the space. A great example of combining the online and offline worlds.

You may read the rest of the article here.

If you're a small to medium sized business that has yet to implement a successful marketing campaign, it's due time. Both inbound and outbound marketing is a way for you to build relationships with your current or prospective clients and grow your business -- faster than many of your competitors. Today there are many companies that you can hire -- and for a reasonable price -- to manage your marketing campaigns, like Classic Image.

These companies will handle the day-to-day marketing needs of your campaigns while you can focus on what matters most... growing your business. In many cases you can get a reasonable quote to jump start your campaign, ensuring that you don't break your bank.

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Great Innovative Marketing Campaigns of 2013 (So Far)

Photo Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Regardless of whether you and your business are working on an inbound or outbound marketing campaign, what makes a marketing campaign effective is an emotional connection - an emotional connection with your readers, your audience, your customers and your potential customers. It used to be that the only way to make that emotional connection was through outbound marketing techniques such as cold calling, door to door marketing or direct mailings. Today, thanks to the growth of technology, there are a million different opportunities for a business to truly achieve that emotional connection and obtain long-term customers, making an affinity between your customers, the messages and your product or service.

Because there are so many ways to reach your customers in this complex digital world, marketing professionals have a million and one different ways to promote their business, their services and their products.

The article below talks about five of the most innovative marketing campaigns of 2013 -- so far. These marketing campaigns have made their mark and that is only the beginning:

1) Coca-Cola Sharing Can
Coca-Cola has really hit it out of the park recently with their campaigns. They have done an incredible job at connecting with their audience through understanding their motivations and the nostalgic feelings behind craving a can of Coke. Another impressive aspect of recent campaigns is the attention that Coke puts into making each message global. Coke has smartly positioned themselves as a brand that connects millions of people across the world.
Recently, Coke has upped their game with how they get people to not only emotionally engage with their brand, but also with each other. They created a vending machine that enabled people in India and Pakistan to communicate. And in Europe Coke is offering customers a chance to customize their own Coke bottles with their names. The most recent iteration is the idea of having a can of Coke that twists apart into two smaller cans so you can share! I immediately resonated with this. I love Coca-Cola, but I often can’t finish a full can, so having two small cans that I can share with a loved one is genius. Currently, the cans are only available in limited quantities during a trial through their “Happiness Truck”. So that is a bummer, but I have high hopes the concept will make it to the mainstream.

2) Senador Volstead Beer
This is a truly innovative campaign. Senador Volstead is a beer company based in Spain named after Senator Volstead, who decreed the start of prohibition in 1920. So how do you promote a beer that is themed after 1920s prohibition? Why not make it hidden on your own website? I have never seen anything like this, which immediately makes it memorable.When you go onto the Senador Volstead website you might be confused at first because it appears to be a website selling teddy bears. 

3) Game of Thrones Season 3
OK, truth be told, I love Game of Thrones. I also love HBO and I think their marketing is genius. I mean, True Blood? That first campaign truly set a precedent. But what I am really into right now is Game of Thrones, and their marketing campaign for Season 3 was clean, consistent, mysterious, and of course cool.
The big theme for the season premiere this year was a subtle, yet mysterious shadow of a dragon. The beauty behind this campaign was that it was extremely consistent and its subtlety did a lot to build momentum to the premiere. First came the poster and magazine covers:

 4) ORPHEA Billboard Fly Trap
This example appeals to emotions in a different way. Instead of focusing on the warm and fuzzy feelings of nostalgia or excitement over looking forward to something in the future, ORPHEA relies on the relatable pain point of bug hating to bring their customers together. And they used an extremely unique marketing technique to get their message across.

They rented a billboard in Milan and created a giant insect trap using transparent glue that was placed on the billboard in the shape of an aerosol spray. Over time, insects naturally got trapped in the glue and created a huge, and very visible insect trap. Gross? Maybe. Shocking? Probably. Memorable? Definitely! It certainly attracted millions of people’s attention. The lesson here is never be afraid to try something different.

You can read the rest of the article here.

 For B2B businesses or small to medium sized businesses who would like some tips on successful marketing and social media marketing tactics, please contact us at Classic Image today to see how we can help your business with all of your marketing campaigns from social media marketing to direct marketing. We strongly believe that combining inbound and outbound marketing tactics is a great way to help any business flourish

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Video Marketing: A Few Video Marketing Ideas That Stand Out

Interesting Video Marketing Campaigns of Summer 2013

Video marketing is becoming increasingly important in today's day and age. Social media marketing and video marketing often go hand in hand, and with the right techniques they could really help a small to medium sized business grow and flourish -- faster than businesses who do not utilize social media or video marketing tactics. Today it is possible for a small to medium sized business to take advantage of video marketing and for an affordable price. 

Throughout this blog I have included a few very interesting video marketing campaigns that have recently shown some success -- or who have at least brought awareness to a company's products or services. 

Samsung's New Ad Campaign

Buddy the Dog has somehow managed to get the attention of customers worldwide. What do you think of this video campaign? Do you think it's effective? 

What about this other ad campaign below? 

For businesses that would like to take advantage of what video marketing or advertising has to offer there are a wide variety of companies out there that will fully manage your video marketing campaigns as well as search engine optimization and tactics. I've worked with quite a few and I've found that my business has grown quite a bit by combining video marketing and social media with traditional marketing tactics like direct mailings and so on. 

If you or your business is in need of some marketing assistance, Classic Image is a premier marketing and design agency that has helped hundreds of companies over the last decade. They are affordable, too, so you don't have to spend an arm and a leg while you're trying to bring your business to the top. 

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B2B Marketing Selling Strategies

B2B marketing is one of the best ways to help your business
flourish.
Photo Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

While economic times are still a bit tighter than we would all like to admit, it’s important for business owners to try their best not to skimp on promotion—especially with b2b marketing or marketing to other businesses. A lot of business owners will simply put up a website and run an occasional ad in an industry trade journal. Sure, this advertisement might bring in some new customers and help in some respects, however, successful B2B marketing needs to provide a steady stream of consistent messages across a wide variety of platforms.

Putting up a well thought out and designed website is a start for reaching other business owners who are also potential customers, but it’s also important that you do not think of your website as a “once and done” type of thing. B2B marketing and social media tactics are extremely important for you to work on because you will receive much better results—results that can make a world of difference in your business.

The article snippet below is from a recent article posted on Business News Daily, about how B2B businesses can market their business—successfully—from day one.

Be engaging

Just having an online presence isn't enough, though. Your B2B customers are still consumers and they need to detect coherence in your overall marketing strategy.
"Start with an Internet strategy that maps your overall business strategy." Rigano said. "How much do you want to grow, what markets will be most important to your growth, and what will constitute success in each of these markets? 

Set up your website to support your achieving these goals, with content that makes your company easy to find online, and helps convert prospects into buyers. Hold your website accountable for sales, and use analytics to continually measure results and refine your strategies. 

Email and social media also are essential and fit into almost any budget, but they require effort and monitoring. 

"I'd suggest tools like e-mail and social networking because not only do they come at little to no cost, but they are often user-friendly and allow you the ability to get very, very targeted who receives your message, when they receive it, how they receive it and why," said Jeremiah Sullivan, co-owner and operator of Woodbridge, N.J.-based Framework Media Strategies, a marketing and public relations firm. "Even better, these tools also allow for consistent and immediate communication between you and the business you've reached out to and also records a written history of everything shared." 

Tracking results

Whatever approach a business owner takes, tracking the results and making adjustments is the key to success. 

"The United States Postal Service's intelligent mail bar code tracking, which makes it possible to receive notifications that let you know when a direct mail piece will reach a recipient," said David Henkel, president of Niles, Ill.-based Johnson & Quin, a provider of integrated marketing services. "An email can then be sent or a call can be made to a prospect informing them that their mail piece is about to come."

It is also important to consider the types of businesses you are trying to reach when determining whether email, direct mail, banner ads or other vehicles are the best way to reach customers.

 You can read the rest of the article here.

For B2B businesses or small to medium sized businesses who would like some tips on successful marketing and social media marketing tactics, please contact us at Classic Image today to see how we can help your business with all of your marketing campaigns from social media marketing to direct marketing. We strongly believe that combining inbound and outbound marketing tactics is a great way to help any business flourish.

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B2B Marketing & Social Media

In today’s world, technology and social media is ever-changing. In fact, 2013 is marked as a year that will bring B2B marketing and B2B social media marketing to the top. One main reason for this is because daily social media usage includes B2B customers and prospective customers. Many B2B companies and small to medium sized businesses complain that their customers and prospects do not use social media, but according to a recent report 40% of the world uses a social media website every day.

According to the infographic below, created by Saxum, people are using social media each and every day. So as a B2B business, once you begin to identify where your customers and prospects are in regards to social networks, the next step will be to determine what kind of useful content you need to create to connect with them.

 The statistics below show just how important it is for B2B companies and for small to medium sized businesses to use B2B social media marketing:

•  1 out of every 7 minutes spent online is spent on Facebook. 
• 23% of Facebook users check their newsfeed more than 5 times per day. 
• 2.1 billion search queries are conducted on Twitter every day. That’s almost half as many as performed on Google. 
• 1,370 company pages are added to LinkedIn every day. 
• Facebook and Twitter traffic peaks in the afternoon. 
• LinkedIn traffic peaks in the morning. 
• 200 million hours of video are watched on YouTube every day. 
• 10 million presentations have been uploaded to Slideshare. 

There are a wide variety of tactics that businesses can use that will really boost their social media presence. Once this happens you will find that your business will begin to cultivate and flourish. While no one can expect this to happen overnight, you will notice a difference within one to two months of continuous effort.

The infographic below reveals “Social Media in a Day” for B2B social media marketing and small to medium sized businesses.

Classic Image is a creative marketing firm based in Brooklyn, New York, dedicated to helping businesses just like yours move to the top. They have worked with hundreds of small to medium sized businesses in the Brooklyn area--and nationwide--with social media campaigns, content management and all marketing essentials. 

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