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5 Reasons Why: Your Marketing Fails

6 Jan 2012 | No Comments | posted by Coldfire Promotions | in Blog Post, Miscellaneous

Marketing is hard. Not just because it’s an incredibly complex topic that involves tons of strategy and planning, but it’s especially hard for small businesses. Most small businesses, especially in this economy, do not have the financial resources or the man power to really integrate creative, innovative and effective marketing. Fortunately, I’ve narrowed down a handful of reasons where your marketing is probably falling short, along with some helpful tips for improving those areas.

1.     Your website is working against you.

Let’s face it. Everyone knows in this day of age you need a website for your business to thrive (also see: “survive”). The good news is there are many, many tools and avenues for creating a website. Furthermore, domain registration and website hosting is incredibly inexpensive these days. In fact, you can easily spend less than $100 a year for both! Chances are, however, if you designed your own website or used some sort of template builder, your website is doing more to hurt your business than help it.

Think about it: when you have a plumbing issue, who do you call? A plumber, of course. What about car troubles? Call the mechanic! And your taxes? Yea, right! Time to get a hold of your CPA. It’s no different when it comes to website design and development. Don’t risk driving your customers to your competitor just because the first impression they got of you was your website… hire a professional!

More Helpful Tips: 5 Reasons Why You Need a Graphic Designer

2.     You’re nowhere to be found.

  • A website with quality Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Google Places
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS Feeds
  • Yelp
  • And the list goes on…

How many of these tools are you utilizing as part of your marketing strategy? 2? 3? That’s not enough. Especially if the only ones you are on consist of negative reviews on Yelp and a Facebook page with 7 fans… Get some help and take control of your brand before the evil internet monsters (your customers) do!

3.     Lack of innovation.

This is where time, creativity and technology play a big role. Creating an innovative marketing strategy isn’t always the easiest thing to do. It takes a lot of time and brainstorming and can be cumbersome for business owners to try and keep up with the latest trends in technology. Social media, mobile marketing, online coupons, a quality (and useful) website and e-mail marketing are just some of the areas in which your marketing is lacking innovation. These are all rather fresh forms of marketing and, unfortunately, many small business owners are stuck in their old ways and are losing out big time to those who actually keep up with the times. Don’t end up like Kodak and get left behind!

4.     You take the easy way out.

For example: shotgun advertising. It never really works. Sure, it might be a simplistic approach to advertising your business and it might seem to be working, but chances are you’re spending a lot more money per conversion than you would be if you actually sat down and developed a strategy. Whether it’s time, money, manpower or a lack of creativity, marketing roadblocks come from every which direction for small businesses. Don’t ever settle for anything but the best. You simply cannot afford to.

5.     Failing to put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

One of the most difficult things for any small business owner is putting yourself in the shoes of your customer. Whether its sales, marketing, PR or nearly any other business function, you have to understand that a) your customers are most important, and b) your customer is always right. All too often I see business owners so close to their work that it becomes near impossible for them to detach themself from their company and look at it from a third person perspective (or that of the customer). I’m guilty of it, you’re guilty of it… we all do it. Fortunately there are hundreds of thousands of marketing professionals readily available to help you out. We just prefer that you hire us!

More Fails?

Are there areas of your marketing that need help? Did we miss something? Share your comments below and subscribe to our e-mail newsletter for more help!

5 Reasons Why: You Need a Graphic Designer

17 Oct 2010 | 1 Comment | posted by Coldfire Promotions | in Blog Post, Miscellaneous, Slider

Thinking about creating a new brochure for your business? Maybe you want to update your business cards or letterhead? Don’t waste time and money by doing it yourself, hire a professional! Here are 5 reasons why you need a graphic designer.

1. A graphic designer saves you time and money! You are a professional. You know how to do your job, and you do it well. However, creativity and design may not be your area of expertise. That’s where a graphic designer comes in! Creativity IS their area of expertise. Not only will they be able to do the job in a much shorter time than you normally could, but they will get the job done right! In the long run this will inevitably save you money. Another plus: your brochures, website and catalogs won’t look dated after only a few months!

2. They help you stand out from the competition. Part of being a successful business is being able to differentiate yourself from the competition. Some businesses do it through prices, other through service, but what about your brand image? Every day we are barraged with thousands of advertisements, but how many do we actually remember? A graphic designer can really help you stand out from average Joe next door.

3. Improves your image. Maybe you’ve never worked with a graphic designer before? Maybe your business cards were printed at home with Microsoft Publisher? Maybe the last time you updated your letterhead was 1995? (Hopefully not…) If any of these things may be true, it’s time to work with a graphic designer! Not only can you refresh your brand image (think Pepsi), but you can keep up with technology and actually make it look like you know what you’re doing!

4. They help you take an objective look! Most people are too close to their business to really be able to take an objective look on things. When you hire a graphic designer, you are hiring someone that has seen and worked with numerous other businesses and can design your materials to help maximize results. You know what they say, “two heads are better than one!”

5. Graphic designers are on top of technology! First of all, let me add in a disclaimer here and remind you that unfortunately not all graphic designers keep up with the times. However, the folks here at Coldfire Promotions are always updating and expanding to provide the most creative and innovative products to their clients. In any case, a quality graphic designer will have the newest software. While you may have a copy of Adobe Photoshop from Creative Suite 3 lying around, some of us are using Adobe CS5! By utilizing these tools, a designer will be able to provide a product more efficiently with a higher quality.