Before anything else – I recommend having your logo professionally designed.
I know you think it sounds like I’m trying to sell you somethign – and maybe I am. Full disclosure – it’s how I make my living –
but whether you have Hatcher Media create your logo, someone else create your logo, or someone else create it – there’s a few things you need to think about.
1. Is it readable at a glance? If it’s on the side of your truck, and I’m driving down the highway – can I read it? Can I clearly understand your message in 3 seconds?
2. Is it timeless? Some companies update their logo every few years – and you certainly COULD do that. But you also might consider creating a logo that will be around for awhile. I recommend the timeless option.
3. Is it scale-able?
Your logo needs to be able to be blown up. That means you need to create it as a vector file. If you don’t know how to do this – hire someone who can. If you have to blow up your logo – and it looks grainy – then you are going to look cheap and unprofessional. (Also note – please make sure that your logo is resized properly – and not in such a way that stretches it out of proportion!)
4. Does it work in one color as well as multiple colors? Sometimes your logo needs to work in one color. Make sure that you keep that in mind.
Tune in next week for Branding Basics: Collateral
Do you need some help with your branding? Let me know!
Josh Hatcher
mail@joshhatcher.com
People often associate your “brand” with your logo – but branding is really about more than that.
Branding is happening whether you intend it to or not – it’s the SUM of all of your communication parts, including the reception of that communication, and the image of your company in the mind of your target audience.
Before you start throwing fonts and colors at a logo – you need to know what your branding philosophy is.
Who are you, and why do you exist?
What do you want your target audience to think about you?
How do you want to be portrayed in the marketplace?
As you define these things, you want to make sure that you are communicating them across all of your marketing is consistent. Not just the message, but the design itself needs to have that consistency.
Tune in next week for Branding Basics: Logo
Do you need some help with your branding? Let me know!
Josh Hatcher
mail@joshhatcher.com
It does you no good to throw money at advertising if you have no way of measuring if it works.
Make sure you build into your campaign a way to track who is responding to your ads!
Here’s a list of ways to do it.
1. Print a coupon. Customer’s bring coupon into your shop – you know they saw your ad and responded. Track how much each of those visits made you.
2. Build a special URL – If you are web-savvy – you could do a subdomain – like Visit.HatcherMedia.net (It’s not real. Don’t bother. lol.)
You can track visitors – to see if your ad provokes a response. I did this for Open Arms Community Church with this special website we built or a campaign – http://www.secret.openarms.tv
3. Give a password –
This can work great for incoming phone campaigns – or even through the door point of sale customers.
The truth is – you need to come up with SOMETHING in your advertising that creates an opportunity for you to track it’s effectiveness. And if it doesn’t make back at LEAST what you spent on it – you need to consider whether it’s worth putting any more money into!
Tune in next week for Startup Marketing Basics: The Theory of Touches
Starting a business can be daunting – and so many people start their business by bootstrapping their operations – or starting with as little as possible in investments and loans. The problem is, because they start with nothing – and their budget is next to nothing – they often neglect marketing – and it can cost them dearly.
I do not advocate operating with a Zero Budget when it comes to marketing. I think you HAVE to put a little cash in to get anything out.
However – let me give you some ideas for ways to get some leverage when your cashflow is low.
1. Distribute Flyers, Brochures, and Business Cards.
I know – those things cost money – but many times – people have printed them up – and then left them sitting in a drawer! Go hand them out!
Where can you find people who need your service or product? If you are a business that serves other businesses – just go door to door -and drop them off, letting them know you are available to help with whatever your services you provide! (Look out for “No Soliciting” signs – it doesn’t mean you can’t drop it off – but it might mean you need to approach things differently!)
2. Follow up on your old leads!
Did you have someone that expressed interest – but then the communication ball got dropped? Just go through your phone log, email, or facebook messages to locate the people that were interested, but changed their mind, or didn’t pursue you!
3. Send a press release!
This takes some creativity – to find an event that is newsworthy – and it’s easier in small towns than large ones – but newspaper/radio coverage is some of the best free advertising you can get! If you are a startup – sometimes newspapers will offer a free article announcing your new business. (Of course – they want to try to sell you advertising – and it might just be worth it!)
4. Social Media
Facebook is starting to limit the visibility of your posts unless you pay for advertising – but social posting is still a good way to start connecting!
5. Think outside the box!
Do something outrageous, or creative, or DIFFERENT that gets people to notice you! Car dealers tie balloons on their cars – so that you notice them when you drive by. What can YOU do to get someone’s attention? Dress up in a monkey suit? Offer free samples to people walking by on the street? Make a pot of chili and bring it during lunch break to that client you are trying to land?
If you want some more ideas about “Zero Budget Marketing” – let me encouarge you to check out “Free Advertising Secrets” – a series of blogs I did in 2014. http://hatchermedia.net/tag/free-advertising/
Tune in Next Week for Startup Marketing Basics: Part 2 Which Marketing Should you Pay For?
From Wikipedia: “The medium is the message” is a phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.
The truth about your message – is that in communicating it – the communication itself IS the message to the person hearing it.
When I worked at Adelphia Long Distance – I frequently would get frustrated with phone calls that came through to our office. We were not supposed to take support calls, but because it was a different product than our sales reps were used to selling, and the customer care reps were poorly trained on support. So – while getting paid less than our customer care reps and our sales people, we were operating as second level support. That frustration sometimes bled through. I remember a manager telling me- it doesn’t matter what you think is true – or what IS true – to the person on the other end of the phone – PERCEPTION IS REALITY.
What your target perceives about your message is more important than the message itself.
You’ve got to keep this in mind. If your marketing is designed poorly, then your potential customer will see that – and it will affect their opinion of your service or product.
Stay tuned next week for Why Design Matters: It’s Worth Paying Someone
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If your logo or your flyer is created with Comic sans and Microsoft Clipart – then you will look like a fly by night operation.
Good design gives you credibility. It makes people take you seriously.
I drove around town today, and as I looked at storefronts – I saw two independent office supply places. The first had their logo prominently displayed, and the logos of the brands they carried prominently displayed. Their logo matched in quality – it was attractive, catchy, and clean. The other – used some kind of stock lettering on their sign – and then had printed off pages on their door – and those pages were using a standard overused font, and couldn’t be read from the street. (Looking through their windows – the inside of their shop was a WRECK by the way.)
Then I drove by Staples…. and if I think about the outside of Staples, and the inside of Staples – the truth is that it’s no WONDER that people drive further down the street to buy office supplies! It’s gorgeous! I would rather support small town privately owned businesses – but most people don’t care about that. The average consumer is not conscious…. they go with the name they know – the are like moths to the flame of good design.
You can’t spend millions, like Staples has done – but you CAN learn from what Staples has done – and try to recreate it in a way that works for YOUR business!
Stay tuned next week for Why Design Matters: The Medium is the Message
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I am a graphic designer. I make my living designing websites.
I’m letting you know that – because I’m going to tell you something that may seem self-serving…. but it’s true.
Your website will get better results if you pay a professional designer to set it up, to create your branding, to customize your theme – and make your wordpress site run.
CAN you do it yourself? Sure. But I don’t recommend it.
I know that not everyone has the kind of budget that would allow for such a thing – and so I’m cool with you deciding to do it on your own until you can afford to do it later. But I think you should decide that at some point – it’s going to be part of your plan.
If you really want your blog to succeed – don’t just expect it to happen. I’m a huge fan of planning and working ahead when it comes to blogging.
1. It assures that you won’t get behind. You’ll always have content posting!
2. It gives you a chance to explore topics over the course of several weeks, rather than just a long boring posts that gets a <tl;dr> response. (too long;didn’t read)
My advice is to take the blog post that you would normally have written, and split it up into four or five smaller parts – posting those parts once a week.
That spreads ONE post into a whole month of posting!
I use Google Docs to create a calendar, and I chose a topic for every month. Then I split that topic into four or five parts – and write a short post for each part!
You can concievably do a whole year in just one month, if you really work on it!
That might be a little ambitious – but if you schedule a time when you will be writing – and if you try to do several weeks at a time – it keeps you ahead, and assures that you’ve got content ready to go!
Stay tuned next week for So You Think You Can Blog? Make your Blog Visually Appealing
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This is the most important thing you’ll ever do for your blog!
1. Defining your mission –
Make sure your mission identifies your target, and what you want it to communicate.
IE – My blog at Manlihood.com has this as it’s mission statement:
We are committed to equip, educate, and entertain men in a way that is engaging and fun.
Keep your mission statement simple, write it down – print it out – and memorize it. Everything your blog does should be GUIDED by your mission statement.
2. Vision –
This goes beyond your mission. This is what you hope your blog will accomplish. What you hope your blog will become. Keep in mind that monetization may be a part of this!
I’d like it if Manlihood.com could be a site with dozens of writers, and with several posts a day, and a weekly podcast. I’d like it to generate revenue from affiliate links and advertisers, as well as to promote books and products from my writers. I’m hoping that one day it can become an actual men’s magazine!
Is this a detailed vision? No. Does it have to be a specific vision statement? No. But it helps to have an idea where you would like it to go – and what you want it to accomplish.
MAYBE you want to be an author – in which case your blog should help establish you as an expert in your field, and showcase your writing styles, and to build your platform. Eventually you want it to become a communication and PR hub for your work, as well as a sales tool to sell your books!
MAYBE you have a storefront in a small town – you might be using your blog to help promote your products, and inform your customers of specials and savings. You could say that your vision is to grow to an ecommerce site, or just to engage your clientele and attract new customers as well.
3. Goals –
Write some goals for your blog. This could include content goals – ie – I hope to have three posts a week written and schedule for the entire year by the end of January.
They may include readership goals – I hope to have 100 visitors a day to my blog by the end of June.
Remember that goals need to be S.M.A.R.T.
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Results-Focused
T – Timebound (give it a deadline!)
Stay tuned next week for So You Think You Can Blog? Make a Plan! Work Ahead!
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As Facebook has changed it’s algorithms drastically, Facebook pages are getting less traction, and personal accounts are getting even more notice than before.
So, depending on your business, you could leverage your personal network to promote or market… but you want to be careful!
Facebook is a little like church. If you stand up in the middle of the service and invite everyone to stop by your grocery store, you’ll get some dirty looks… because it feels a little, well… dirty.
I know my business survives on personal connections. Most of my business comes from a friend of a friend who saw my blog posts or facebook posts, and they referred people to me because of that. You CAN turn your friends into a referral marketing machine… but you want to do it carefully, or else you will turn them off.
So let me give you some simple advice for using your PERSONAL facebook to promote your business….
1. Don’t be a idiot.
Remember that everything you post matters. I shouldn’t HAVE to say that Saturday Night Drunken Selfies, and personal and family drama will hurt your public reputation, but it’s true. It can hurt your chances at landing jobs, getting into schools, and in promoting your business. Potential clients and customers WILL remember the things you posted on facebook.
2. Politics and Religion.
I won’t say that you CAN’T discuss these things publicly, but understand, that these discussions DO influence your friends opinions about you. If you are going to discuss them, do it with reason and compassion. Don’t bash or hate. And don’t post things that could be misconstrued as bashing or hating. Check your sources, and make sure you back up your claims with reasonable arguments… and that leads us to our next point…
3. Be NICE.
Take the time to say THANK YOU on facebook when someone does or says something nice. Send thank you notes, either privately or publicly(where appropriate) for things that happen OFFLINE as well.
Be sure to offer complements, encouragement, and hope.
4. Be authentic.
It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to express your feelings. It’s okay to BE who you are… but you want to make sure that your expressions are NOT overwhelming.
If you make a mistake, own up to it.
Be sure to demonstrate that you ARE a good person without tooting your own horn. And if you have to toot your own horn… you might want to spend some time working on the person that you are… so that you ARE a nice person… and not just pretending….
5. Josh’s Rule of Thumb.
You have five fingers, and one of them is a thumb. If you are going to use your personal account to promote your business… imagine your thumb is your business post (a “thumbtack” if you will) and your other fingers are real life stuff.
You should post a minimum of four or five real life posts (pics of your cat, inspirational quotes, and interesting discussions) for every one business promotion.
Some say this number should be closer to 1:7… and that might be more accurate… just make sure you don’t go past 1:4. If you do… your personal page starts to feel “spammy” and uncomfortable.
6. Be a good friend.
This should go along with being nice… but there’s a great blog post here that describes proper facebook friend ettiquete. It’s a great read.
http://mashable.com/2013/08/04/facebook-friend-etiquette/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link
7. Don’t overdo event and group invitations.
You can invite people to events… but you’ll want to be sure NOT to be too annoying with it.
As far as inviting people to groups… especially a group where you are going to market products to them… do it sparingly. It’s best to ask them first.
8. Be careful with tags.
NO ONE likes to get tagged in a photo they are not in. Unless it’s a photo of their grandkids….
but I don’t want to get a notification and then have a picture on my profile of your discount sneakers flyer. No one does. So tag people in photos they are in… don’t tag them just to make sure they see it.
9. Wall Posts – use sparingly.
You can share your blog posts directly on the walls of friends that you KNOW want to read it. Your mutual friends will see it too… but I would do it sparingly. Try to do it if they are already interested in what you are sharing…
10. Relationships are golden.
Remember the girl scout song? Make New friends, but keep the old… one is silver and the other gold.
If you have an existing relationship with someone… you want to do whatever you can to make that relationship stay. Tick them off with too much marketing, and you lose a friend.
You wouldn’t wear your sandwich board to their house for dinner… so make sure that your communication is NOT JUST about your business.
11. Don’t be afraid to invite your contacts.
When you meet someone in real life, get their business card, and look them up on facebook. Send them a friend request. Don’t be offended if they don’t accept… but adding them to your personal network can be a GOOD thing!
12. Don’t send game requests.
People hate them. ‘Nuff Said.
Besides… if you are working on your business, you shouldn’t have time for Farmville.
13. Do Post Often.
And do comment and engage on your friends pictures and posts.
A fresh post on your personal profile daily would be a minimum.
14. Klout
Facebook PAGES has insights to track and measure your engagement. But there isn’t an internal feature to track and measure how well you are using your personal page to connect.
I recommend signing up for Klout.com, which gives you some good metrics. You can use Klout to track a Facebook Page or a Facebook Profile, but at this time… it can only do one or the other.
Don’t get too hung up on your klout score… but you CAN use it to see how people are engaging with your content.
