New magazine

Larry Mersereau — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:42:17 -0400

There's a new magazine for small business owners - Small Business CEO Magazine. They had the good taste to publish one of my articles this month! Read it at: http://smallbusinessceomagazine.com/article.aspx?author=Larry%20Mersereau&title=Your%20Market%20Position&Article=68

It's a free suscription publication - go get it!

Should you try Mobile Advertising?

Larry Mersereau — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:54:07 -0400

If you sell to anyone under about 30 years old (and that number gets bigger every year) you must start looking at mobile advertising.

Mobile advertising is placing your message on mobile phones. It can be as simple as sending text messages to a list of people who have asked you to keep them up to date on specials (How about a weekly special text message?), to as complicated as sending a widget that lets them play a game that features your brand.

Should you try Mobile Advertising?

Larry Mersereau — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:46:37 -0400

If you sell to anyone under about 30 years old (and that number gets bigger every year) you must start looking at mobile advertising.

Stubborn vs Consistent

Larry Mersereau — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:26:22 -0400

I've always preached continuity in your marketing and advertising. By that I mean that you establish a certain look and fee (and sound if applicable). You establish a color theme, general layout, borders, type faces, colors... and you stick with them accross all media. Your mobile site looks just like your web site. Your print ad looks like your direct mail piece. Your TV ad uses the same voice over and background music as your radio spots.

Live networking

Larry Mersereau — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:37:40 -0400

Lots of people are talking about social networking. They're generally talking about the online version of what people have done for hundreds of years: interact with numerous people, realizing that some will become valuable relationships (personal or business) and some will not.

Cutting back part II

Larry Mersereau — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:34:20 -0400

OK, you HAVE to cut back on advertising and promotion. You have no choice, the money isn't there.

At least do it intelligently. There's a constant balancing act in marketing: Reach vs Repetition. Reach is how many people you want to put your message in front of. Repetition is how often you want to contact them.

Cutting back in tough market?

Larry Mersereau — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:48:44 -0400

Have you cut back on advertising and promotion? Too many small business owners consider marketing to be an expense rather than an investment. When times get a little tough... and let's face it, they are now... they look for ways to cut expenses. And marketing, advertising, direct mail, web site promotion, anything that takes money is considered. Heck, most don't enjoy marketing anyway. And they're not really seeing concrete results from their advertising or direct mail, so it's a no-brainer to just stop doing them.

Discounting in slow markets

Larry Mersereau — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:25:46 -0400

Should you offer lower prices to stimulate business in slow times...like we're in NOW?

I've always been against discounting. I always recommend doing "buy three get one free" or "$100 off your second purchase" or offers like that. I don't like offering a lower price, because that becomes the dollar figure people associate with your product.

Where to advertise

Larry Mersereau — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:07:26 -0400

I just spoke to a group of motorcycle dealers, and the number one question on their minds was "Where should I be investing my advertising dollars?"

The first question you have to answer is: "Who do I want to talk to?" Most small brick-and-mortar merchants like the group of dealers just kind of throw their advertising out to the whole public. They hope that the relative few real prospects out there will see it. When you do that, you pay for a lot of overflow advertising - dollars spent talking to people who will never buy from you.

The Magic Formula for Marketing Communications

Larry Mersereau — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:17:39 -0400

Whether you're writing an ad, a mailer, a web page, a flyer or a brochure, it's important to present your information in a sequence that will grab your prospect's attention, walk them by the hand through your communique, and demand response.