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Tim Berry

Brand aid: The basics of branding

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or business to business. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. But what exactly does “branding” mean? How does it affect a small business like yours?
Branding basics
Simply put, your brand is your promise to [...]

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Pitfalls and hazards of do-it-yourself marketing materials

Have you ever noticed how many articles there are on creating your own marketing materials? These articles concentrate on things you “should do,” like “know your audience,” “say it with pictures,” “write clearly.” Now, I’m not saying that’s bad. That’s great. But you should also know what NOT to do. That’s what this article is [...]

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Use correct image formats for different marketing materials

If you’ve ever had anything professionally printed, you’ve probably been asked for an “EPS” copy of your logo. Ever wonder why you can’t just use a JPG, like the one on your website? What is the difference between EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), JPG or JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) and GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)?
In brief, EPS [...]

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Brand standards create consistent image and identity

One key way to build brand equity is to create a set of design “rules” that tie together the look and feel of all your marketing materials. These rules are often referred to as “brand standards.” Ideally, brand standards do the double duty of creating awareness of your brand and differentiating your brand from your [...]

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Creating the right image for your small business

If you’re like millions of other small businesses, creating a professional visual image is key to your success. After all, your image — as seen on your business cards, marketing materials, packaging and website — is the first and sometimes only chance you have to introduce your company to potential customers. If your customers like [...]

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Catalog sales as a retail channel for your business

There are plenty of benefits to having your products sold in catalogs. But, be wary! There are pitfalls as well in this sales/distribution channel.
Giving away the farm
Many catalogs will ask for a multitude of discounts and concessions before they even place one order. You give them a set price for your product. But they insist [...]

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How to perform a SWOT analysis

The SWOT analysis is a valuable step in your situational analysis. Assessing your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, market opportunities, and threats through a SWOT analysis is a very simple process that can offer powerful insight into the potential and critical issues affecting a venture.
The SWOT analysis begins by conducting an inventory of internal strengths and weaknesses [...]

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Using Porter’s Five Forces when creating your marketing plan

Understanding the dynamics of competitors within an industry is critical for several reasons. First, it can help to assess the potential opportunities for your venture, particularly important if you are entering this industry as a new player. It can also be a critical step to better differentiate yourself from others that offer similar products and [...]

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Efficiency in marketing on the Web

Build a better website and they will come? Not a chance. The value of your website will depend on traffic, and traffic depends on marketing. A website without a marketing plan is as useful as a toll free telephone number that nobody knows about. If you have an online store, or simply use your site [...]

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Add competitive analysis to your marketing plan

The competitive analysis process presents an opportunity to describe your major competitors in terms of the factors that most influence revenues. This may include your competitor’s:

organization size
market share
comparative product quality
growth
available capital and resources
image
marketing strategy
target markets
and any attributes you consider important.

Industry associations, industry publications, media coverage, information from the financial community, and their own marketing materials [...]

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