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admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:50 +0000

Get Ready to Do Big Things: Collect E-Mail Addresses

Marianna Hayes Chapman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:07:02 +0000

Tomorrow, we’ll learn from the e-mail marketing master of our local market – Jeff Good. As I’m prepping for our visit tomorrow, I am reminded that all great marketing campaigns start with DOING SOMETHING. I can promise you that 11 years ago when I started HALO, I had NO IDEA that I would get to this place where we are creating a completely FREE marketing and shop local resource for small, independently owned businesses.

Often, when we START something, we have NO idea where it will lead. We can’t fathom the end results – but we can envision something greater than where we are today. I can’t say for certain, but I bet Jeff Good could never have imagined the impact that collecting e-mail addresses would ultimately have on his business as it is today. It’s HUGE for his three amazing restaurants and catering company. Jeff can move the needle by sending an e-mail.

But what if he’d waited to collect e-mails until he had a purpose for them? You can probably imagine a purpose for a great e-mail list – but what if you only have 50? Or less?

DO SOMETHING. Everything great started somewhere. Nothing good ever happened from waiting.

Start today. Collect e-mail addresses from every customer, prospect, vendor, and friend that you have. Have your employees do the same. Find creative ways to collect the e-mails. The time is now. Waiting until you have an important message to send is TOO LATE.

If you’re already collecting e-mail addresses, find ways to do it more efficiently and more consistently. Like anything else, there is always room for improvement, and it is a rare case where every single possible e-mail address is collected.

E-mail is still a very powerful and effective marketing tool for small, locally owned businesses. Do not let even a single opportunity to communicate so affordably and directly pass you by. Make e-mail address collection a bold, priority initiative for your business starting today. It’s the first step in getting ready to do REALLY big things (and getting really big results for your marketing).

THREE Small Business Branding Elements You Can’t Survive Without

Marianna Hayes Chapman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:45:05 +0000

When thinking about every single aspect of your small business marketing, make sure that your “brand” never disappears or is weakened through the loss of one or more elements. Make sure that every single marketing piece – whether signage, business cards, advertisements or your Facebook Page – sticks to your brand:

Logo. (Use in the same ratio and clear resolution, no matter what.)
Color Scheme. (Make sure you know the exact Pantone color or process color formula for your exact brand color or colors. If you don’t know what this means, sound off in the comments, and we’ll be happy to collectively answer your questions!)
Domain Name. This is your URL or www.mycompanyname.com. Yes, every single business needs a web site because 63% of ALL consumers across all demographics visit a web site before making a brick and mortar buying decision (USA Today/Neilson study, April 2009). This is not optional. Neither is the inclusion of your domain name of every single communication or brand presence that you make public. Put your URL EVERYWHERE.

Use all three of these elements consistently and constantly. You will be surprised at the improved effectiveness of your marketing overall when you take care of this seemingly small and sideline piece of your overall marketing puzzle.

Bring Spring to Your Store

Amy Meadows — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:52:02 +0000

Here in Chicago, Spring can’t come quickly enough. . .I stare at the yard as if able to summon crocuses and daffodils by sheer force of will. I’m not alone. Fellow Midwesterners are flocking to Flower Shows around town, longing for the sights and smells of a garden in bloom.

Eager for a change of season, last week’s Garden Club lecture couldn’t have come at a better time–an opportunity to study the use of flowers and floral motifs in Window Display. As I prepared the presentation, I looked for design parallels between Nat’l Council of Garden Club guidelines (very specific, widely published) and retail design (largely unwritten but widely acknowledged). If “a rose is a rose is a rose” then good design is good design, yes? Do the same rules apply and are the outcomes consistent?

Yes and yes. Balance, dominance, contrast, rhythm, proportion and scale play a role in well-designed garden/floral projects as well as in effective window displays. The evening’s lecture touched upon each of these principles and looked for non-traditional interpretations.

Flowers in test tubes and beakers instead of vases.

Gesso-dipped bridal bouquets? Oversized paper blooms? Have fun! Apply the design guidelines and bring Spring to your store. . .with or without Mother Nature.