By Kyle McCabe | October 15, 2009
Thanks for coming back! We'd really like to hear what you think of this post, so don't be shy with the comments!
I wrote the other day that you already “do” marketing by having a presence in the marketplace – your storefront. From there, all your business activity is, or should be, focused on bringing customers in the door.
Your website is the marketing hub
So unless you’re an online business, your brick-and-mortar store is the hub of your marketing efforts. Your website, then, should be the hub for your online marketing, and in turn, should point customers to your store.
If you sell products directly from your website, customers are already “at” your store. But even if you don’t have that e-commerce element, you’re still making a pitch of some sort to your web visitors, and trying to convince them to take an action. …Read more »
By Jillian Anderson | October 5, 2009
Are you ready for the holidays? Well, it is now October – Rapid City’s first snow has fallen. Yes, it is long-due time to start thinking about the holidays – and holiday advertising (see tips below).
With a well crafted message, promotion and placement, holiday advertising can be incredibly effective. Whether your business is retail or service oriented and regardless of your product’s gifting nature, the holidays are an opportune time to connect with people.
Reasons for holiday advertising:
- People are in the buying/giving spirit and feeling nostalgic.
- Your competition is surely advertising. If they’re not, you have a huge advantage!
- TOMA (top of mind awareness). During the holidays, people have a number of things on their minds. Even if you’re not selling gifts, you don’t want them to forget about you.
- People are looking for deals and gift ideas – paying attention to ads.
- Increased sales numbers. We’ve seen clients experience a 50% sales increase (or more) from a holiday ad campaign!
- There are plenty more. What are your reasons for advertising, or not, during the holidays?
Ok, but why so soon?
Honestly, the sooner the better – many companies even start planning in the summer. Locally, it is best to have your holiday campaigns planned and placed (or at least started) by mid-October! …Read more »
By Kyle McCabe | July 2, 2009
So quick to cut? (original photo by klynslis)
Yes, okay, I’m biased. I work for an advertising and marketing agency. You might think, since the welfare of my company depends on the advertising budgets of our clients, I’d say whatever I needed to in order to convince people to advertise. Clearly an inherent conflict of interest, right?
But consider: as such an agency, we’re intimately familiar with the workings of many businesses across multiple industries, and in our role as business partners we share a common goal with each of our clients. Our job is to keep them healthy and growing with the skills and knowledge we bring to the table. So it wouldn’t make much sense to push more advertising if we knew it would hurt a client’s business. …Read more »
