Category Archives: Marketing

The Journey to Better Marketing: Advertising

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Advertising takes patience. The statistics say that people notice one in nine ads; the rest are tuned out. If it takes seven times for them to remember the ad and 10 times for them to buy something based on the ad, you’re going to need repetition, consistency, focus, and positioning to be successful. You’ll need to run the same ad 90 times before someone buys something based on the ad – assuming you’re hitting your target market. This is an estimated average. Some people may buy before then, and the same number of people may buy with more ads. Still, if you aren’t prepared to run 90 or more ads, save your money for something else until you are ready.

“Advertising is reminding. Once is not enough,” according to “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days (affiliate link).” The reason why large, well-known brands like Coca Cola and McDonald’s continue to advertise is to remind their market about the love they have for the product. Each commercial reinforces the ardor of the fans and works to convert others to the brand. Coca-Cola needs to remain people that “It’s the Real Thing.”

Ads need to be brief and compelling. “Got milk?” “Just do it.” “I’m lovin’ it.” “The quicker-picker upper.” “Where’s the beef?” “They’re great!” None of these messages is overly complicated, and I bet you know which products or companies they are advertising.

People will see your ad before they see you; it becomes your identity. Make sure that it accurately reflects your business and how you want to be perceived.

Advertising won’t be your only expense. It works best in conjunction with other marketing communication tools.

Different media have different personalities and cater to different kinds of people. Make sure you’re choosing the media that best suits your brand.

Adapted from “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days (afilliate link).”

The Journey to Better Marketing: Identity

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Identity is a strong motivator. When people identify themselves with a company, a religion, a personality trait, a band… whatever it is, they protect that identifier and do their best to make it a part of who they are, even if it’s to their detriment. Disney fans still take a trip to the movies or an annual pilgrimage to one of the Disney properties, even when it hurts financially. Homeless people refuse help because they don’t any handouts. Identity allows people to believe what they want to believe even when the evidence says they shouldn’t. Batman uses it to justify everything he does.

https://youtu.be/r9f6tbi61Zo

For a company, your identity should permeate and is made up from everything, including your logo, tagline, the way your business looks, your radio jingle, and everything else you and your employees do and say. Identity is everything your clients hear about you and everything they remember, even when that memory is false.

In order to avoid a negative identity, it should be created from a place of honesty and truth. In reality, people have complicated identities that are situationally influenced. For your business, your identity needs to be clear and consistent. Do not confuse your customers with constantly changing identity markers. A consistent identity is a successful one. You may need to reevaluate your identity periodical to make sure that it aligns with new products and services.

Information adapted from “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days.”

The Journey to Better Marketing: Creative Planning

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Your creative plan is the one that will direct your marketing communication at the right target audience. It will use a benefits approach that looks and feels like your company and provide you with the instructions that allow for continuous evaluation and improvements to the marketing plan. Your creative plan reminds you to think about marketing results and not how much you’ve spent. It will also regulate how often you communicate, avoiding communicating too often or not often enough.

Your creative plan is related only to your marketing materials and communication, and each type of communication requires its own creative plan. In the creative plan, you need to state the purpose of the communication, how you intend to achieve the purpose and the tone of the communication.

For example, “The email list will provide a continuing connection to readers and Penguinators. We will send out a weekly email which lists what’s been posted on the blog, and a separate email every month that will inspire creativity and joy. Our happy emails will be a light in the darkness.”

Your communication should get attention, be believable, and motivate for action.

Information adapted from “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days.”

The Journey to Better Marketing: Marketing Communication

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You can have the greatest products and services in the world, but if no one knows about you, you’re not going to sell much. Advertising is a smaller part of marketing communication, which encompasses everything you do to communicate about what you offer.

According to “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days,” “Communication is the key factor in determining whether a customer is retained, whether the customer spends more with you, and whether you outsell the competition.” It can be verbal or visual.

Your marketing communication should be clear, be focused on the benefits of your products and services to the customer, grab attention, and provide enough information to persuade the customer to buy. It should be easy to read without a lot of clutter. Oftentimes, too much text is off-putting. Look at the Google search bar when you start, there’s the word Google (or the Google doodle), a search bar and a choice between two buttons to push. The rest is white space.

You can build your credibility in your marketing materials through testimonials, case studies, correct grammar and typo-free content. Hire an editor to read through it for you at least once.

This information is adapted from “Guerrilla marketing in 30 Days.”

A Beginner’s Guide to Getting More from Your Website

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If you have a website and run a small business, you have a lot on your plate. If all you can do is put pages on your website and leave it alone, you’re at least ahead of the game in many respects. You’ve already recognized the importance of having a website where people can find basic information about your business. Updating this information shouldn’t necessarily be dramatic, as long as it was written well the first time. You’ve invested time and money, and you probably want to be getting more from your website.

The Web Pages You Need

Your website should consist of a home page that contains some general information that makes the user want to find out more, an about page that focuses on the benefits you offer to your clients, an online store if appropriate, a blog and your contact information should be in the footer. These pages should have at least 100 words each and focus on keywords necessary to finding your website. Many small businesses are often best served by focusing on geo-related keywords, so that local people can find them. It’s okay for your web pages to be static, but your blog is another story.

Getting More from Your Website

Your blog needs to be updated regularly. Once a month is too few for your customers, and once a day is probably too much for you. Once every two weeks is okay, once a week is good and twice a week is better. A blog serves five purposes:

  1. It keeps your website current in the eyes of search engine algorithms and those new to your site.
  2. It provides value to your regular clients.
  3. It establishes you as an expert in your field.
  4. It gives you something of value to share on your social media.
  5. It allows you to improve your search engine rankings for keywords related to your site and business.

Finding the Right Keywords

Don’t be fooled. You are going to need high quality content on your blog to rank with the biggest search engines. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also incorporate the keywords that people are searching for on the Internet related to your business. If you write a great blog about “snow peas on the vine” but everyone searches for “vine snow peas,” you’re blog post will be harder to find than someone else’s who made use of the correct keywords.

You can find the right keywords using Google Ads keyword tool, or just by going to the search engine bar and typing in a query. It’ll give you suggestions and some more ideas about keywords. Once you know about which keywords people are searching for, you can start to make your blogging schedule around those keywords.

A Blogging Schedule

The second thing you need to do before you establish a blog is to come up with a schedule or calendar to plan your blog posts around. This plan should include important dates to you and important dates in general. If you happen to know which hashtags trend on which days, like the general #TravelTuesday, which happens almost every Tuesday, or the more specific #TalkLikeaPirateDay, which happens on Sep. 19, you can take advantage of the natural marketing that can come with these, especially if your business is somehow related to them. If you’re in the business of selling stuffed penguins, then knowing the date of #WorldPenguinDay could be a boon to your business. (It’s April 25.)

The Umbrella Content Theory

If you want your website to stand out with search engines and clients alike, you could use the umbrella content theory to build your blog. Basically, you find a large topic to build an “ultimate guide” on, and you find smaller topics based on that ultimate guide to go more into depth. When everything is written, it is all interconnected and linked to the larger subject at hand. The nice thing about building content this way is that you already have eight to 10 post built into the idea. The “ultimate guide” may take longer to compile than the smaller posts, but you can blog those smaller items and connect them to the larger one later.

Ultimate guides make you look like a leader in your field to both consumers and search engines. They provide an amazing value to the people you’re trying to attract, and you can use them as incentives to get people to sign up for your email list. Done correctly, this umbrella content can drive traffic to your website through organic search engine optimization, and it can keep your potential clients on your website to turn into paying clients.

Set It and Retread It

A blog is not something that you can do once or for a month and then forget about it. A blog is a long-term commitment to creating content that people want that will also help your website get seen by search engines. If your blog has been around long enough, you may be able to take some of your older posts and update them. As long as you’re able to change the date to the “updated” rather than the “posted” date, you’ll be fine. People won’t click away because the post looks old, and that will benefit your SEO. It will also save you some time when you need to get something “new” posted but don’t have time to complete a post.

The Write Stuff

If all of this seems like a lot of work for your website and your business, especially in context of what you’re already doing, it is. If writing isn’t your thing or your grammar skills are unintentionally lacking, hiring a writer to get the words down on the page might be one of the best things you can do. When looking for a writer, you should find one that has experience in search engine optimization. You should also find one whose writing style you like.

A good writer will be able to present you with new, exclusive copy for your blog on a topic of your choice. If he or she knows SEO techniques, the writer can even place the keywords in the right positions for you. You’ll save the time that it would have taken you to research the topic, and you can order blog posts ahead of time. That way if something goes wrong, you’ll still be able to stick to your publishing schedule. A writer can also bring a fresh perspective to your blog.

You should expect to pay about six cents a word, which is a professional rate for writers, and be allowed one revision. Generally, writers will require half the payment up front (non-refundable) and half when you’re satisfied with the work. If for some reason, you aren’t satisfied, you should express that to the writer in specific terms.

Writing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. If you don’t like to write or don’t have time, hiring a writer will help you improve your website and your business. Just be sure to read and edit any new copy sent to you before posting it online. You’ll be getting more from your website in almost no time.

Three Benefits of Our Stuffed Penguin Plush Toys

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Life is too serious. Our penguins help to lighten things up and provide laughter and joy to prevent the darkness from closing in. As a soft and squishy companion, our stuffed penguin plush toys provide a pleasing and calming tactile experience.

Talk out Your Problems

When you’re faced with a problem and you have no one else to go to, a stuffed penguin can listen to what you need to say. The mere act of verbalizing a problem is often enough to see it in the light that it deserves.

When you talk out a problem, even to a stuffed penguin, you are giving yourself the opportunity to state the problem I a way that you can understand it. Too often, people let a problem roam the mind where the imagination grabs it and allows it to grow out of control.

Giving voice to your fears allows you to get a handle on them. When you can label the problem, you can begin to understand it. Our penguins act as your confidante giving you a way to talk to someone without receiving judgement from that person. The essential part of this act gives you emotional and psychological protection, you may not otherwise experience. Our penguins always understand you.

Express Your Emotions

Our penguins reflect your inner emotions. Each face is unique and created so that your personality shines through them. Because of their innate cuteness, they help to make the emotions softer, so that you can deal with them better. Introverts can use our penguins as the starting point for their social media interactions or as a way to express themselves to friends and family when it would be too painful or difficult otherwise.

Boost Your Creativity

Our stuffed penguin plush toys bring out the child in you. They allow you to practice using your imagination and telling stories. When you exercise your abilities to be childlike, you are practicing for creativity. Every interaction with a stuffed penguin will help you grow your creativity. Take photos with it, tell its story, and find its personality. You will find joy, friendship, travel and penguins in your imagination.

The Journey to Better Marketing: Benefits vs. Features

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The basis of capitalism is “the individual will do what’s good for the individual.” When you consider marketing your product or service, you need to consider it from your customers’ perspectives. What’s in it for them?

If you talk about how cold your refrigerator is, you’re talking about a feature. The refrigerator is cold. So what? What does that mean to your customer? The refrigerator will keep food fresher longer because of its cold temperature. The feature is “cold;” the benefit is “fresher food.” Too many businesses list features and think they are benefits.

A feature is not a benefit. A benefit explains how a product or service will make the consumers’ lives better, and just because it’s a benefit for you, doesn’t mean it’s a benefit for someone else. The most compelling benefits are emotional or financial.

A competitive advantage is a special kind of benefit. It is one that is unique to you or it is something that only you talk about. It’s a benefit that gets the buyer’s attention, sells your product, keeps customers coming back, and causes people to talk about your product. The right competitive advantage buries your competition and should become the focus of your overall marketing plan.

Adapted from “Guerrilla Maketing in 30 days.”

The Journey to Better Marketing: Build a Marketing Plan

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A marketing plan requires information, brain power, and initiative. Brain power is broken down into analysis, ideas, creativity, and imagination.

You can make a seven-sentence marketing plan. It should include the purpose of the marketing, the target market, the niche, the benefits or competitive advantage, identity, the tools you have in your marketing bag, and your budget.  Guerrilla Marketing adds “investigate new markets in the coming year.”

A good marketing plan requires you to know the market, what customers expect and want, and how to satisfy them. Plans need to be flexible. They should include how to attract potential customers, how to convert those potential customers into purchasers, and how to keep them coming back.

Adapted from “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days.”

The Journey to Better Marketing: Niche vs. Mass Marketing

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Niche marketing is the opposite of mass marketing. With a niche, you have a specific target segment to aim at; mass marketing is like a shotgun blast. Niche marketing takes advantage of the opportunity to really connect with your target market; mass marketing is the Super Bowl commercial that reaches millions of people, who may or may not be interested in your product or services.

To put it terms of technology: If mass marketing were a phone, it would be a Smartphone. It takes pictures, accesses the Internet, allows you to order pizza, and, yes, you could even make a phone call with it. However, it has so many features that you probably use fewer than half of them. All of those unused features are things that you paid for and don’t need. Mass marketing may reach thousands of people, but if only a couple of them are your target market, it’s a lot of wasted effort, time, and money.

Niche marketing, on the other hand, would be your old-fashioned, Ma Bell rent-a-phone. It did one thing: Allowed you to make calls. Those phones lasted forever!

For niche marketing to work, you need to become the expert in your field. A niche will help you know where to market and to whom, and it will give you an identity that your competitors don’t have.

Inspired by “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days.”

The Journey to Better Marketing: Positioning

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When you create a positioning statement, you aren’t creating a product or service. You are creating a basis for everything you do. You are positioning your company in the minds of your potential customers. Positioning is your business’ true identity and its true value.

A positioning statement should say who you are, what business you’re really in, who buys your products or services, what they demand and what unique value you bring to them. Our second draft:

At Penguinate.com, we inspire happiness and creativity in professional adults by helping them embrace their inner child through our handmade stuffed animals and plush toys and their costumes.

Positioning statement, our second draft.

The positioning statement should address a real benefit the target audience wants that separates the business from its competition in a unique or difficult to copy way. Positioning should be benefit focused. Joy. Friendship. Travel. Penguins!

Idea adapted from “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 days.”