a marketing guide for small business
Sheila Hibbard
Sheila Hibbard takes the fluff and confusion out of marketing and social media. She provides small business owners with straight forward, no nonsense marketing guidance and techniques that produce results. She has a wealth of experience in all phases of marketing collected during her 35 plus years in communications, research and strategy. Feel free to tap into that expertise with an email asking Sheila your marketing questions by using the Contact Us tab. She's happy to help in whatever way possible. Go ahead. It's free. What do you have to lose?
Posts by Sheila Hibbard
Marketing: To Logo or Not To Logo
May 16th
The Marketing Role of the Logo
by Hugh MacLeod, Gaping Void
A month ago I found myself in a marketing meeting discussing logos. It seems several years ago, the organization had changed its logo and there was no shortage of horrid stories around the change.
The people around the table didn’t like the revised logo and wanted to return to the previous one, but it had been licensed out to another organization.
The conversation continued citing all of the aspects of the current logo that weren’t liked. The color, the size of this or that, the inappropriateness of the image, etc.
Marketing materials needed More >
Marketing: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
May 16th
Do Marketing and Love Go Together?
What's Love Got to Do with It (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I think the answer is “Yes” and “No” I’m not going all Tina Turner on you.
I didn’t intend to write a post about something as fluffy as “love”. Typically I stick to all things marketing with a focus on social media. But I was hit by this video by GiveMore.com and perhaps you will be as well. (See below).
For some reason as I watched, several “loving” work environments early in my career came to mind. These were companies where the management had instilled a sense of caring More >
Facebook IPO – Who Wins and Who Will Wait It Out – Infographic
May 15th
What Is Behind Upcoming Facebook IPO?
Everyone alive and breathing (almost everyone) has heard about the upcoming Facebook IPO offer. Wall Street is salivating while Facebook users are probably bracing for further changes once the IPO goes through. Now that Wall Street analysts are at the table, the name of the game will be profits.
Worse news is that GM has decided to pull all of it’s Facebook advertising as it’s Facebook ads don’t seem to be working. It seems there are other major brands advertising on Facebook expressing some doubt if Facebook can deliver the goods.
Regardless of the last minute hoopla, one has to More >
Small Business: Are You Becoming Complacent?
May 9th
Is Your Small Business Becoming Complacent?
If so, it may be time to wake up!
Complacency
Several weeks ago, my husband was bemoaning the fall of Kodak, a well respected company and brand for over a hundred years. I still recall my Mom’s Brownie and Instamatic cameras.
As we talked about the demise of Kodak, we both recalled witnessing a similar demise of Zenith and Bell & Howell while we lived in Chicago. Former brand and marketing powerhouses that have all but disappeared in the ether.
Last week we bumped into an old friend that neither of us had seen in awhile. Keith is a fabulous graphic artist. More >
Comparison of Facebook and Pinterest (Infographic)
May 9th
Facebook and Pinterest Comparison
I found this infographic to be particularly interesting. Boticca.com is an online jewelry store and designer store. The company conducted a major study between March 15 and April 15 of this year, among 100,000 visitors evenly divided between Pinterest and Facebook.
Take a look at the results. Some of the key takeaways.
- Pinterest users are higher spenders: on average, Pinterest users spend $180 vs. an average of $85 spent by Facebook users
- When it comes to engagement, Facebook is the overall leader: Pinterest users spent 65% less time on the site than do Facebook users.
Meanwhile, while Pinterest has been found to drive More >
29 Plus Pinterest Tips – How To Be More Pinnable (Infographic)
May 9th
How Pinterest Can Work For Your Business
The following Pinterest infographic from Pinnable Business presents you with 20 Tips on how you can make your business more pinnable (yes, “pinnable” is a word, or at least it is now).
Of the twenty tips, there are two you need to pay attention to if you’re serious about Pinterest.
1. SEO still plays a serious role in pinning as Google is picking up Pinterest activity in search results. This means that you need to use rich keywords in your descriptions. None of the this “Ahhh, ain’t this cute” stuff.
2. After you’ve uploaded an image, double check and make More >
Acquisition of Instagram (Infographic)
May 8th
A Smart Facebook Move or Acquisition Folly
There are many left scratching their heads when Facebook plopped down $1 Billion in its acquisition of Instagram in April of this year. What surprised many was the price tag for a relatively small company with only 13 employees and no revenues. The acquisition of the decade? Certainly the most expensive.
Zuckerburg is currently explaining this move while he is touring on the investor’s roadshow for Facebook’s upcoming IPO. Apparently, Instagram hit some sort of magical tipping point and it was expected it would achieve a significant growth spurt. And there were other suitors. Twitter was rumored More >
Marketing Contest: Create A Jaw Dropper
May 2nd
How To Get Noticed
Drive by Daniel Pink
We all want it. We all want and many need or even crave attention, particularly attention for what we do and for our businesses.
So what does this conversation have to do with marketing? Glad you asked.
I am a devotee of Daniel Pink, a management consultant and a best selling author on Amazon for the last two years. He writes and speaks about how the old ways of management don’t work in today’s world, if they ever did. I came across an old video (2 years old) that Pink used to promote his motivational More >
Social Media: Which Network Works Best? Infographic
May 1st
Social Media and Marketing
As a small business owner, you have more important things to do than to waste time on social media marketing. Right?
Wrong!
The problem for the business owner as well as the entrepreneur, is social media is taking over the role of marketing and has become the primary marketing communications channel for all sorts of products and services.
So what is a small business owner, an entrepreneur to do? Here are three quick steps you can take to reap the benefits of social media marketing.
1. FOCUS!Focus on what?
Focus on the one or two social media networks that makes sense for More >
Pinterest: The New Habit
Apr 30th
If you’re still wondering what all of the buzz is about regarding Pinterest, this cartoon says it all. One thing is for certain. It can be a very addictive social media site.
Source: perfectweddings.info via Denise on Pinterest
