Sunday, December 30, 2012

New Year’s Resolutions for Your Small Business



It’s that time of year again - making personal promises to better our lives, kick those bad habits, or improve behavior. Maybe it is time to position your business for added success in 2013; make a new year’s resolution to enhance your marketing strategies. Here are some resolutions that are a must for this New Year: 


  • Identify and pursue new growth opportunities. Whether it is new products or new customer segments, how can you expand? Look at upcoming customer trends.

  • Spice up your marketing materials. Start with your website. Get rid of items that have the previous year’s info. Use bullet points to break things up and make sure all your links work correctly. Also, make sure your business cards, website, e-mails, etc. are all coordinated with the same theme!

  • Explore mobile marketing. Mobile internet will surpass traditional desktop use by 2014. If you haven’t done so already, use this coming year to explore mobile-friendly ways of advertising. Maybe an app?

  • Further your reach in the social media world. Social media is here to stay and if you have not made the dive into it, 2013 is the year where it needs to happen.  If you have a social media presence, commit to furthering your reach by making daily updates and interacting with consumers more frequently.

By knocking out your business’s 2013 marketing strategy now, you can set the tone to be one- step ahead of your competition. Thinking ahead and making strategic decisions now will help you skip the game of constant catch-up later on. 
 
If you are interested in learning more about ways to construct a 2013 marketing strategy for your business, give us a call. The BBG&G team has the knowledge and experience to get your business ahead of the game!





Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Incorporating The Holidays Into Your Brand


In an earlier post, I spoke about how important it is to not only be consistent when it comes to your brand, but it is also important to take a lesson from the Boy Scouts and be your brand.  With the holidays approaching, many businesses struggle with how to go about spreading some holiday cheer.  Do you say Merry Christmas? Or do you take the safe route and wish everyone a happy holiday?

The fact is your brand is a big part of your personal life as well as your professional one.  Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza or just nothing at all, don't feel guilty about extending this to your brand image.  You wouldn't hide this aspect of your personal life would you? Then don't feel like your business has to! 

At BBG&G, we love telling all of the people we work with about our Christmas stories and we enjoy sending out Christmas cards to our clients.  It's not offensive.  It's who we are! After all, aren't marketers always preaching about adding a personality to your brand image? Though we respect every religion, this is who we are and we are not afraid to tell everyone. 

Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanza or just have a safe and happy day.  We look forward to hearing all of your holiday stories and to sharing some of ours as well.