SMB Marketing

Often when consumers and business people think about promotional products, free giveaways are what come to mind.

We all know that, in the digital age, communication has become much easier and more immediate. In just a few minutes, you can fire off an email to check in with a customer. Sometimes, if you have a personal relationship with folks who do business with you, just a text will suffice.

Many experts today say that brands aren’t just logos or catchy monikers that become household names and that brand identity is all about the right messaging. But in an increasingly competitive — and digital — world, there is one thing smart businesses can count on to build their brands’ longevity: the customer experience.

Did you know that millennials constitute the largest living generation? Bet you never thought of them that that way — as a bigger cohort than even the Baby Boom generation. Perhaps now, no matter what line of business you are in, you should think of them as that: more influential as a subset of society than other groups and especially as consumers.

If you keep a close eye on marketing, you know that rebranding has been a prominent strategy over the last two years. From all the evidence we've seen, rebranding is not just a recent trend. Likewise, with so many different types of businesses retooling their marketing strategies, it's pretty clear also that this approach is not going away.

Have you heard of the "engagement economy"? It’s the idea that engaging a customer, rather than just selling products, has become more critical for large brands as was well as small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Last fall a columnist for Parade, the popular magazine insert that graces weekly newspapers nationwide, said something we thought was funny. The author said embroidery “isn't just for grannies anymore".

April showers bring May flowers, the old saying goes. If you live and work in the northern half of the Unites States, you're probably just now breaking out your light spring jacket and warming up to the idea of some consistent good weather.

Spring weather is slowly arriving on the scene, with sunny, warmer days becoming more frequent and trees growing back their leaves. And we have to admit we’re not just excited about flowers blooming; we're looking forward to baseball season.

It's probably true that entrepreneurs think differently, which is why they can invent things or discover new approaches. But how do they think?