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Marketing Articles

The following are the articles from our Vista Viewpoint™ newsletter organized into general marketing topics. Click on the title to read the entire article. Visit our Vista Viewpoint™ Marketing Blog or our Masterful Marketing™ web site for more information on marketing your business.

General Marketing

  • Marketing Coach or Marketing Consultant: Which is Right for my Business? - A marketing coach may be just what you need to help you market your business.
  • Dare to be Different - In this world of constant marketing noise and more severe competition, it is time to shed your "me too" marketing and do something interesting that gets the attention of your prospective clients.
  • B2B vs. B2C Marketing - Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing is different. Understand the differences and develop marketing programs that are appropriate for your audience.
  • Four Deadly Sins of Marketing - If your marketing programs are attracting many leads but not many sales, you could be committing the four deadly sins of marketing.
  • Top 10 Marketing Myths - The top 10 list of the most common marketing myths that if you believe in them, could hurt your business.
  • Marketing is an Investment in Your Business - Make Time for Marketing - Marketing is not something you can turn on and off and should be an integral part of your business culture. Consistent marketing will help you get your business rolling again when your pipeline empties.
  • Practical Market Research - Getting the depth and breadth of market research right is a challenged for many companies. Get practical information to help you start using market research to your advantage.
  • Focus Your Business, Simplify Your Marketing - Many small business owners offer a vast array of services under one business. Lack of business focus results in unclear messages, no specific target audience, and confusion for those prospects you do get to talk with.
  • Focus Your Marketing for Better Results - When the economy is down, investing in marketing can help you get the attention of your target audience such that it will both boost sales opportunities now, and have your name in front of a prospect when they start to evaluate options.
  • 10 Strategic Marketing Mistakes - Although some of these will seem like common sense, I still run across companies that commit these sins. Solid marketing efforts take a combination of planning, creativity, and patience.
  • Does Your Marketing Lack Passion? - Marketing plays a major role in determining whether your customer will buy your product or service by appealing to their wants and needs. Does your marketing bore your audiences with messages that are less than passionate?
  • Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow - What can marketing do when you have put your marketing budget on temporary hold but still need to make the most efficient use of your marketing resources.
  • Good Enough Never Is ... or Is It? - When is good enough really good enough when it comes to marketing? Sometimes you may need to settle for second best.

Marketing Plan

  • The Value of Market Segmentation - Market segmentation helps to easily classify your best customers and find more like them. By dividing your target market into further slices, you are able to speak to them in terms that will get their attention and be more likely to do business with you.
  • Target Your Marketing Efforts - Not understanding who will buy your products or services only result in marketing efforts that are costly and ineffective, leading to the belief that marketing does not work.
  • The Value of a Competitive Analysis - Understanding your competition and how you differ from them enables you to develop a plan that takes advantage of their weaknesses and differentiates you in a way that gets you visibility with your target audience.
  • The 4 P's of Marketing - The marketing strategy section of your plan outlines your game plan to achieve your marketing objectives and should include information about the 4 P’s of marketing: product, price, place and promotion.
  • Build a Solid Marketing Foundation - All construction must begin with a solid foundation otherwise you risk erecting a structure that requires constant maintenance and repair. Before you begin spending your precious marketing budget, make sure your marketing foundation is solid.
  • The Marketing Budget - Where Do I Start? - Since every business’s marketing needs and costs vary widely, there are no simple rules for determining what you should spend on marketing your business. Here are some guidelines for developing your annual marketing budget.
  • The Budget Spreadsheet, Simple but Powerful
  • Get an Objective View of Your Business - Conduct a SWOT analysis to look at your company from an internal perspective and the external environment that can affect its overall success.
  • Review Your Marketing Results Regularly to Achieve Maximum Return - Businesses should constantly be reviewing the results of marketing efforts to adjust their "living" marketing plan document. In order to put together a winning plan, you should conduct a marketing review to see how your marketing plan is working. Insight into your results enables you to prune the dead wood, feed the marketing programs that are producing, and look to harvest a wealth of new business in the New Year.
  • Eliminate Marketing Heartburn - Eliminate marketing heartburn with a well integrated marketing plan.
  • Shortcut to Success - How to Simplify Your Marketing Plan - Most small businesses do not have a marketing plan but research indicates that companies with a formal marketing plan increase their sales by 25 to 30%. A simple marketing plan can help you think through what programs you should put into motion.
  • Spring Clean your Marketing Plan - Got spring fever? Now is a great time to "spring clean" your marketing plan and be sure to be out in front of your target audience.
  • Cultivate Market Perception - Develop your positioning statement and messages to establish your market perception, i.e. value as perceived by your customers. Understand the difference to help you do an effective job of developing these critical components of your marketing plan.
  • Think Outside the Box - Try to avoid making assumptions quickly when developing a marketing strategy for a particular product or service. A little bit of strategic thinking can point you in a direction that can be a winner.
  • Is Your Value Proposition Helping or Hurting You? - Do your customers know what a value proposition is and why it is important to them? Is your company's value proposition clear and compelling to your target audience?
  • Your Strategic Plan, A Roadmap to Success - An effective strategy, both for marketing and business development, helps technology companies focus their efforts on initiatives that are key to the success of any product.
  • Map Your Road to Success - Goals, objectives, and strategies – these are the most confusing terms in marketing but critically important to growing your business. What do they mean and should you care?

Internet Marketing

  • Social Media Marketing Basics - The tools of marketing have expanded and for many businesses, this new media is an unknown territory that complicates the marketing mix. Get the basics on Social Media Marketing and add this new media to your marketing mix.
  • Benefits of using RSS - If you haven't started using RSS for to subscribe to blogs and newsletters, it's time to start. RSS offers a more convenient way for me to get the information I need from news and business sources. Find out how.
  • Email Newsletters or Blogs: Which one is better? - Email newsletters have value in businesses as they enable you to reach out to your clients and prospects with timely information that adds value to their daily activities. Blogs provide a similar capability but with more interactivity. Which one of these two information products is better for your business?
  • Getting Started with Google AdWords - Google has made it very feasible and cost-effective for small, localized businesses to develop and run an effective online advertising campaign using Google AdWords.
  • Make Your Website Sell - Many people treat their web site as a marketing brochure – lots of information on your company, products and services – but little on what you want your visitors to do. Don't miss an opportunity to guide your prospects and have them take an action.
  • Can My Small Business Benefit from Internet Marketing? - If you think Internet marketing doesn’t apply to your business, you are missing a wonderful opportunity to easily and cost-effectively grow your business. Find out why you should consider Internet marketing for your small business.
  • Once You have Their Permission, Do You Have Anything to Say? - Most marketing organizations spend time getting prospects to their Web site to encourage them to opt-in to the mailing list. But once you have their email address, do you have a plan to nurture these leads?
  • What's in a Domain Name? - Your domain name is the center of your Internet identity. Choose a set of domain names that you can build upon and use to your advantage. If you already have a domain name, you may want to purchase others for future uses.
  • Next Up: Pay Per Call - Internet marketers are now extending the concept of Pay Per Click into a new type of performance based advertising: Pay-per-call. This article discusses this upcoming capability for cost-effective advertising.
  • Internet Advertising - Advertising on the Internet has become practical for many businesses. This article goes into pay per click advertising using Google Adwords™ or Yahoo Search (formerly Overture PrecisionMatch™) programs.
  • If You Build It, Will They Come? - An Overview of Internet Marketing - Approach Internet marketing the same as you would other marketing programs. Determine your goals, develop a plan and execute the tactics, constantly measuring the effectiveness of each one.
  • Search Engine Optimization Tips - To ensure prospects find you on the Web, take actions to drive people to your site. One of the most effective ways to do this is to optimize your site for search engines.
  • What does CAN-SPAM mean to you? - Email is a wonderful communication mechanism that has been spoiled by SPAM. You can still send email to prospects and customers, just be aware of the rule of the game.

Branding

  • Corporate Identity, Brand Identity or Brand Image? - These three terms are often confused with one another when in reality they are quite different. Is one more important than the others? Does every business have all three? What are the differences and how they should fit in your marketing effort?
  • The Myths and Benefits of Brand Identity - Your business’s brand identity is an extremely important factor in the success of your business. There are three myths that many small business owners believe that can seriously damage their success. This article will provide eight benefits of having a brand developed professionally for your business to counteract those damaging beliefs.
  • Be Different - Get Attention - Determine your differences from your competition and be a bit bold and daring to make you stand out.
  • The Name Game - Many companies consider the process of naming their product or company in one of two ways: a minor exercise that can be done quickly or a major effort that is frustrating and costly. Although naming does take some effort and can be frustrating, but it does not have to be costly.
  • Time to Freshen Your Brand - If your brand isn't projecting what you want your customer to feel or think, it may be time to freshen your brand.
  • Create Your Company's Identity - When you mention the word ‘brand’ to most people, their immediate thoughts turn to your company name or logo. Brand is an important concept that should be part of your overall business strategy.
  • The True Price of LAST MINUTE - Preparing quality marketing materials take time. Last minute requests to vendors can result in not so pleasant surprises in the fees you may need to pay. Plan ahead and get your materials underway early, and you can save a lot of money.

Marketing Tactics

  • Public Relations: More than a Press Release - Almost all businesses seem to overlook, even ignore, public relations as one very effective form of marketing. Public relations can help small businesses get noticed at a much lower cost than advertising.
  • Watch, Listen and Learn - By observing the different types of marketing you see daily, you can learn a lot about what others do for marketing, good or bad.
  • Advertising: I Know I Need It But I Can't Afford It! - Advertising comes in all shapes and sizes and has many different features and price tags. One common myth is that you have to be rich to advertise! If you do it wrong, that is certainly true. But if you have a game plan, your business can afford to include advertising in the marketing mix. Written by Laura Briere, Vision Advertising.
  • Tradeshow Success Starts with a Plan - Tradeshows offer a great venue for generating qualified leads and meeting existing and potential customers to talk with them about your products and services in a very informal environment. The key is to develop a trade show marketing plan that ensures your time spent at the show brings in quality leads that result in sales.
  • Connecting You With Your Customers - The Value of Relationship Marketing - The purpose of all businesses, regardless of what it offers, is to create and retain customers. Using marketing strategies that build loyalty to your product and brand can help you win customers for the long term.
  • Direct Mail That Works - While there are significant cost and immediacy advantages to on-line marketing campaigns, organizations can greatly benefit from keeping direct mail in their marketing programs mix.
  • Building High Impact Alliance Programs - For small companies, building alliances that can help sell your software product can help you grow without incurring the cost of hiring a sales force.