Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on February 3, 2012 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Secrets,Small Biz Secrets,Small Biz Webinars | 
Modern Marketing for Small Business
Marketing Plans and Corporate Branding
by Thomas R. Reich and Chris Romero
The Phoenicians invented modern marketing for Small Business!
Modern marketing for small business in today’s competitive small business environment is essential. The first step in modern marketing for small business is the same as it has been since the Phoenicians, who first develop a working marketing plan!
A marketing plan lays out your strategy and direction in the world of modern marketing for small business. The first step is to secure a solid corporate identity, with a common look, color and design throughout all aspects of anything from your company that is seen by the public or another business. A complete corporate identity should include:
1) Corporate Branding and Logo Design
- One consistent color pattern
Social Media strategy is part of modern marketing for small business.
- Make sure logo is unique, distinctive and very reproducible to all media both media and print matter
2) Brochures – containing the Logo and the color and consistent design which is to become your corporate identity
3) Business cards and electronic signature – should also follow this developing pattern of color and design
4) Press release blanks – should carry the corporate identity
5) Newsletters with the look and feel of your corporate identity from front to back
BizCentralUSA can help with modern marketing for small business
A company like BizCentralUSA can assist you in this type of design, inexpensively, and can get you on the road to modern marketing for small business. However you create this “Corporate Identity” it must be of prime concern. Today, a business identity is your life’s blood, the key to modern marketing for small business.
The second step is to develop an integrated digital identity. In today’s business world, the internet is not only reality, but is indispensible to a modern marketing for small business plan! You have, at this point, created a consistent corporate identity, logo, overall design and color scheme.
You must now carry this “Corporate Identity” into a “Digital Identity”, and do it correctly in order to survive modern marketing for small business:
1) Create a website consistent with logo, overall design and colors to match your already developed corporate identity
2) Create a blog with consistent branding
The internet must be part of modern marketing for small business
3) Customize you Twitter with consistent branding
4) Customize your Facebook with consistent branding and create a fan page with a look consistent with your web home page
5) Customize your LinkedIn account; create a grope membership list consistent with your business type.
There are so many aspects to modern marketing for small business and each facet has books written concerning all the things you can do to maximize your exposure. What I hope you take away from this writing, is that everything your small business does must be with a consistent look. Today, due to the internet culture, you can have the look and feel of a much larger corporation, if you plan and execute your corporate identity correctly.
Having a great Marketing Plan is essential in modern marketing for small business
BizCentralUSA has been helping small Business plan and execute corporate identity, and all aspects of small business operations for many years. BizCentralUSA has helped over 12,000 small businesses just like yours and we can help you with your modern marketing for small business today!
Join us for a free webinar which will cover “Key Marketing Ideas” this coming Thursday, February 9, 2012. As always, this is not an infomercial, but a true free full hour of pure information. Want to know more about modern marketing for small business, we will see you there!
If you would like more information on the full range of services offered to set up and service a Small Business please
contact BizCentralUSA by visiting BizCentralUSA or by calling, toll FREE 1.877.857.9002. Please follow us on Twitter and Like us on Face Book to receive free daily tips and tricks as well as notification of our FREE Award Winning Webinar series!
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on January 17, 2012 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News,Small Biz Secrets,Small Biz Secrets |
Twitter for Small Business Tools for Social Marketing
Using Twitter for Small Business to Generate Calls and Loads of
FREE Advertising
By Chris Romero and Thomas R. Reich
Ever Wonder what Small Business Tools are contained within Twitter for small business? How can you mine FREE Advertising out of a Social Media Network and create real tangible Results to add to your Twitter for small business and your Small Business Tools?
Wow have we got an answer for you! What if I told you that a small group of Twitter Followers could get you hundreds of thousands of
Announcing Twitter for Small Business
Advertising impressions every day? It is possible for Twitter for small business to extract new exposure from you existing customer’s followers, while re-enforcing those existing customers loyalty?
Interested, read on and discover how this Twitter for small business Tool, will become your favorite Social
Twitter for small business will be your favorite small business tool!
Media Tool for Business Advertising. I will outline the general program. We will then follow with two examples of companies that have successfully implemented the outline of this tool and adjusted it to their unique business model.
Twitter Fact: If you ask a question or answer a question in Twitter, all your followers see that message. If you receive a question or a response form a follower, all their followers see that message. The presents of a tweet in a follow stream is called an impression, just like a magazine calls the average number of readers that see a copy of an issue its Advertising Impressions, this is Twitter for small business at its finest.
The first example of how this Small Business Tool on Twitter works is a Hair Styling Shop in Orlando Florida;
For years Sun Clips Salon and Spa has used a complicated phone system and a live receptionist to set
Twitter for Small Business can replace constant phone use with lead producing advertising
appointments. This task is static; the customer calls for an appointment, and usually gets through, is put on hold and then given an appointment time. There is no interaction outside of 1 customer and the receptionist.
Now we put Twitter for small business in the mix, Sun Clips asked all of its customers to follow them on Twitter and receive special, Twitter only, Deals. Once the majority of their customers followed them, Sun Clips asked that appointment requests be Tweeted in for a 5% discount.
Twitter fro small business tools can make it easier for customers to connect
When a Tweet was received, Sun Clips Tweets the conformation of the appointment time or the answer to the question back to the client. Sounds like a simple system, and it is, it has streamlined their appointment system, but there is more. Can you think how this Twitter for small business Tool has created FREE Advertising impressions as well?
Each time a customer “Tweets” for an appointment, their entire network knows they get their hair cut at Sun Clips, what a great natural endorsement! When a conformation is sent back, Sun Clip customers know it is busy and time to make an appointment, maybe that a friend is going in Thursday at 11 AM, and they try for a similar time to say hi.
With the 1000+ customers that chose to participate and receive the special Twitter only offers, and in turn their customers average followers at around 300, that is 300,000 Advertising Impressions per month if each customer tweets an average of just once per month!
Example 2: A Specialty Butcher Shop in Trendy Winter Park Florida
Prime Cutz had a problem, the cost of advertising to compete with grocery store chains was prohibitive, and alternatives were not targeted to
Twitter for Small Business Tools can Help a Butcher Shop Connect with its Customers
their clientele. A specialty Butcher shop with one location can’t afford advertising in the cities major newspapers like a Publix or Winn-Dixie could, but they needed constant re-enforcement to keep growing their client base.
Prime Cutz began to ask customers to follow them on Twitter, they offered what every business should offer, an automatic follow back. With Twitter for small business follow backs are important, it makes your customer part of your family, and they appreciate it, your customers want to know you care, always follow back!
Once the followers list began to grow, Prime Cutz began an amazing offer, Tweet us what you want to see in the store and receive a tweeted back 10% off next order discount! They also openly asked their customers to re-tweet this offer to their network of friends.
Prime Cutz additionally uses Twitter for small business by sending Tweets their to followers with special offers each week. As an example: Pork Chops regular $4.00 per pound, while they last $2.50 per pound, tweet your order for conformation guarantee.
What does Twitter for small business do for Prime Cutz advertising?
1) First of all it gets specials to their growing list of customers with no advertising cost.
Twitter for Small Business Helps Business Succeed
2) It makes the “Twitter Club” a VIP Group with perceived VIP pricing.
3) Every time a customer responds by Tweet, their entire network is notified with the butcher shops name and the fact that a special deal is going on.
4) The free add impressions grow with every sale, sale prices they would have been offering and advertising in the traditional way at very high advertising rates, are now re-tweeted directly to friends and it is all FREE Advertising!
5) As their customers Tweet their meat orders, and their followers receive those Tweets, Prime Cutz is exposed to tens of thousands of potential new followers and customers each time a new sale offer is Tweeted!
Twitter for Small Business Will Flood Your Business with Positive Social Media Marketing
With an average Twitter following for a local retailer of around 9,000 and those Followers having an average Twitter Following of 300 Followers, That is a potential of 2.7 million Advertising impressions possible for each tweeted sale offer! The best part is these potential Advertising Impressions come at no hard costs to Prime Cutz, other than sales and discounts the Butcher Shop would have offered in Traditional Paid Advertising Outlets. This is one of the many was Twitter fro small business can serve you!
How can you add this Twitter fro small business tool to your arsenal? A Restaurant could offer 10% discount if an order is placed by Twitter, Patrick Schwerdtfeger gives a now famous example of a pizza restaurant using this Twitter for small business tool in his best-selling book Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed. An Auto Repair Shop can offer 10% discount on an Oil Change if appointment is placed using Twitter. A Dentist can offer FREE Tooth Brush for Tweets, the ideas never end!
Please send us ideas you may have to implement Twitter for small business tools, let’s keep this discussion going. This is a fun way to create a major buzz in your market with minimal cost! Now is the time, you have the power, let’s grow your market together!
At BizCentralUSA we work with you every step of the way. We offer FREE Tips, Tricks and Advice, have frequent FREE Webinars on a vast array
oftopics and are, to coin a phrase, Good Guys. When you find you could use a friend in the business, remember BizCentralUSA has helped over 12,000 businesses like your business, across the United States since 2003. Call one of our Business Consultants for a FREE Business Evaluation. We can save you time and money, 12,000 satisfied customers can attest, BizCentralUSA is your friend in the business!
If you would like more information on the full range of services offered to set up and service Small Businesses please contact BizCentralUSA by visiting www.BizCentralUSA.com or by calling, toll FREE 1.877.857.9002. Please follow us on Twitter and Like us on Face Book to receive free daily tips and tricks as well as notification of our FREE Award Winning Webinar series and extra tips on Twitter for small business!
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on May 22, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing |
A website is a vital part of any small business, but having a GREAT website will differentiate a small business from a successful small business. A GREAT website can give your company the ability to better interact with your prospects, current clients and interested consumers. By providing fresh content, interactive elements, search engine optimization and simple navigation tactics your company can build and retain a faithful group of reader which will aide in growing your small business!
5 Ways to Add Sparks to your Company′s Website
- Implement a Company Blog-You can post tons of information on you company′s mission, event recaps, promotions and much more.
- E-Commerce- e-commerce is an easy way to let consumers make a puchase at their convenience. You can add products and services in an online store that never closes!
- Newsletter Sign up- Insert a section on your homepage where potential buyers can sign up for your company′s newsletter. People appreciate being updated with news that is of interest to them.
- Live Chat- You can use live chat to interact with people strolling around on your company′s website, answer their questions and potentially make a sale.
- Streaming Video or Podcasts- Add a sales video or an interview with a satisfied customer to your website. These are great tactics when matching a ‘face’ to your company.
Having a great website provides you with the opportunity to add a lot of marketing information about your company, product line, promotions, special events and more. The possibilities are endless and there are always new and exciting methods to improve your website. To gain the respect of your readers, it is important that you stand out as an informative, credible and personable source for your industry. With over a hundred million websites available today, you want your site to shine against the competition.
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on May 12, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing |
Most startup blogs are small, but with time 
and regular updates your audience can grow. As a small business it is important to start your blog early because this can be one of the most cost effective ways to start marketing your business. As your business grows so will your number of followers and those who become faithful, will appreciate your information and possibly become future consumers. Not sure how to get started, below are a few tips to get you on your way.
- Use other people′s blogs to establish yourself as an expert: Reading and commenting on blogs within your industry niche or close to your niche can help you to establish yourself as an expert. You can offer your own opinions or angles to the entries being posted. When appropriate, you can even offer links to your own blog entries or articles to offer as additional information to the readers. This step is very important because as a new blogger you will learn from others more experienced.
- Use your blog as a form of communication: Use your company blog as a way for your potential customers to know you. A blog is a great way to express yourself and show off your quality. You want your readers to feel like you are talking to them as a friend, without being too personal. You can also use the blog to ask questions to your readers in hopes of a reply or comment on your blog. All of this will help to establish an environment where people know they can receive answers to their problems, as well as read fresh, interesting content.
- Define you topic and stick to it: Now that you have decided to add a company blog to your website decide what your main focus will be a stick to it. For example, if you are in the organic gardening industry stick to topics like; organic gardening 101, dangers of pesticides, USDA regulations etc. Sticking with a niche topic will target the potential consumers that you want. An individual who swears by genetically modified food will be much less likely to become a consumer in the future.
- Stay current and up to date: Old news is bad news for blogs. This is not to say that you cannot post comments or complete a write-up on something that happened a few days ago, but you can′t post something that happened four months ago and expect people to value it. It is important to stay current with issues and news happening in your industry if you want to build a steady following.
- Don′t forget about spelling and grammar: Two benefits of blogging are that they are less formal and you do not need to be a professional writer to have and maintain a blog. Still, spelling and grammar should be a priority. Neglecting to spell check and use proper grammar can affect your credibility no matter what your writing experience is or the industry your blog focuses on.
It′s not necessary to be a professional author or multi-million dollar company to have a blog. All you need is opinions, information and insight in your area of expertise. If you prove to be genuine and knowledgeable your readers will notice and your blog will become one of the most cost effective marketing tools your small business could invest in.
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on April 16, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing |
On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending the Hubspot “How to Use Social Media to Attract More Customers″ webinar. Thousands of social media gurus and newbies flocked together (maybe you were even one of them) to find out new tips and tricks on implementing social media into their company′s Client Relationship Management (CRM). What was most interesting to me, other than the webinar itself, was the outstanding viral effect of this webinar. From the planning stage through follow up, Hubspot set the groundwork for continuous promotion of their webinar through the use of Twitter.
From the second you hit the webinar′s landing page you were hit with an opportunity to “Tweet this webinar”, “Share on Facebook”, “Follow us on Twitter”, “Become a Fan” and “Subscribe to our Blog”. Once registered for the webinar, you were again hit with a larger “tweet it!” button, which when you clicked, it automatically opened up your Twitter home page and created a tweet for you!
The day of the webinar, as normal you were invited to listen in and follow the live webinar online, but you were also urged to communicate and ask questions on Twitter during the webinar. Well, that is exactly what thousands of people did! In fact, so many people participated in live discussions on Twitter that this webinar just about brought down the Twittersphere. Comments were 19 minutes behind due to high volume and “#hubspot” became the #1 trending topic on Twitter. Today when reviewing all of the comments made by Tweeps (the inclusive Twitter term for Peeps using Twitter) I became mentally exhausted after going through over 50 pages of tweets, and still counting. In addition to their massive exposure, Hubspot also engaged in the conversation on Twitter by fielding questions, posting updates on the Twitter status and tweeting a few “tid bits” along the way.
Was their webinar successful? I would say yes, definitely. Not only did they accomplish the task of finding people to attend their webinar, but they participated in proactive CRM and also got loads and loads of free marketing and PR for their company and the conversations are still going. If you were on Twitter that day, I think it may have been inevitable to not hear something about Hubspot, they just about brought down Twitter.
The moral of my story for small businesses is this: It is almost certain, that as a small or startup business you have a very minute amount of funds to work with for marketing and PR purposes, but using outlets like Twitter and Facebook are completely free! Take advantage of these social mediums to push your message out to the public. Embed your brand into the minds of the millions of Tweeps, Facebook groups and other social media stalkers-In this case a penny saved could turn into a penny earned!
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on March 17, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship |
Every small business will inevitably go through three stages of a life cycle: 
start-up, throw-up and grow-up, (As stated by Jay Goltz, in an article on CnnMoney.com). For those of you who haven′t been there yet, it is the point usually between 6 months to 2 years after your initial start up, where you find that your business is not meeting the expectations first projected. Mr. Goltz gave a fine example on how stage two can come about very quickly and unexpectedly through faulty accounting. In addition, I believe there are many other variables that can lead to the throw-up stage.
Each of the variables below can either make or break a small business. If you have found yourself in the throw-up stage, take a few minutes and ask yourself the following questions:
1) Do you resist changing with the times? Take a look around you-the world is not the same way it was 8 months ago, let alone 10 years ago. Times change and so do market trends, communication capabilities and business tactics, (to include a few examples: the explosion of online social networks, SEO, viral marketing and blogging). Traditional methods of doing business are not to be forgotten, but you must learn to integrate these methods with a new laundry list of tactics.
2) Do you practice outstanding, excellent and rewarding 
customer service? Remember the first rule of thumb- “If you don′t take care of your customers, someone else will!” Too often poor customer service can lead to a grapevine of bad publicity and referrals. Word of mouth can be one of the strongest influencers when one is making a decision. Don′t believe me? Check out these stats: 67% of all consumer decisions are primarily influenced by word of mouth (McKinsey/Thompson Lighthouse) and 90% of customers identify word of mouth as the best, most reliable and trustworthy source about ideas and information on products and services (NOP World).
3) What marketing and self-promotional initiatives are you practicing? I understand that most entrepreneurs probably have a tight wallet, but a small budget is no excuse to eliminate marketing and pr from your business structure. Recently, I spent a lot time on some of the top 50 social tools on the web, including (Facebook, Twitter, Furl, Digg and more). These sites are no longer just for picture posting of the latest college mixer! Large and small businesses alike, have adapted these tools as a way to gain leads and build presence on the web. Utilizing these tools, will act like a bull horn for your company new, updates, questions, promos and comments.
4) Do you know your competition? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Think back to your high school football team. Usually every night before a big game the team would review “film” from the opposing team′s recent games. Your home team would take notes, observe tendencies and learn the competitor′s weakness. The next night, your home team was prepared and ready to take home a victory! The same goes for business, you cannot compete if you don′t know who your competition is!
However it is that your business found itself in the throw-up stage, don′t forget there is light at the end of the tunnel, but not without a lot of hard work and re-evaluation of your current business structure. In many cases you will have to start at the core of the problem and work your way through this mess, but in the end you will come out stronger and more confident in the future success of your business!
Tags: Business Growth, Business Solutions, creating your business plan, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, establish your business, marketing, Marketing Services, Marketing Trends, Small Biz and Entrepreneurship, Small Business, small business certification, Small Business Development, Start up, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council
