Archive for the ‘Strategic Communications’ Category
Friday, June 19th, 2020
As businesses slowly begin to open back up, many find themselves doing business far differently than they may have before the pandemic. Safety is top of mind. Not all customers feel comfortable at this point, interacting in person with the businesses they may have frequented without fear in the past. That means for many companies, a combination of in-store/in-person and online or socially distanced interactions. Many are operating on the fly, figuring things out as they go. But now may be an excellent time to take a step back and update, or create, a marketing plan to help you move forward more strategically.
Here’s some advice for doing just that: (more…)
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Tags: Marketing, marketing during the pandemic, marketing plan, marketing planning, marketing strategy
Posted in Business Development, Customer Communication, Marketing and Branding, Strategic Communications, Strategy | No Comments »
Monday, March 16th, 2020
by Linda Pophal
I have a love/hate relationship with search engine optimization (SEO). I understand SEO. I very often use the concepts in my own writing—and often use the concepts in writing for clients. Sometimes, though, and probably because I was a writer long before SEO was even “a thing,” I balk at what can seem at times to be a misguided focus—a singular focus—on SEO to the exception of everything else. (more…)
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Tags: content marketing, copywriting, search engine optimization, SEO, SEO writing, slave to SEO, writing copy, writing for bots
Posted in Content Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing and Branding, Marketing Communication, SEO, Strategic Communications | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018
Many people are somewhat wary of having something sold to them. Even with professional salespeople, and even when we’ve actively sought out the product or service a salesperson is offering, there is a tendency to be skeptical of what they’re telling us. After all, they are trying to get money from us. That’s why anything that can be done to boost the credibility of a salesperson is a big boon. (more…)
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Tags: effective sales, Sales, sales ability, salesmanship, selling products, SME, subject matter expert, thought leader
Posted in Business Development, Sales, Strategic Communications | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2018
Most small business owners are heavily focused on their core skillset. They are bakers, event planners, lawyers – insert job – first, and accountants and marketers second. As Pamela Slim writes for Entrepreneur, “Most small business owners aren’t marketers by trade, but almost all (95 percent) do some form of marketing for themselves, and many need to master what can feel like a very steep learning curve quickly. Most entrepreneurs and small business owners (64 percent) are self-taught and less than half (46 percent) consider themselves ‘marketing savvy.’” (more…)
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Tags: content marketing, Marketing, pr, professional services, professional services marketing, publicity, thought leadership
Posted in Business Development, Content Marketing, Marketing, Marketing and Branding, PR and Media Relations, Strategic Communications | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 8th, 2018
There’s an old saying that has been used to describe exceptional salespeople: “They’re so good that they could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.” The point being that Eskimos, living in a cold climate, really don’t need ice cubes, and are likely an audience that is going to be tough to crack. But, great salespeople could crack them.
Our perspective: Why? (more…)
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Tags: creativity, effective mearketing, Marketing, marketing effectiveness, segmenting, strategic marketing, target audience
Posted in Marketing and Branding, Marketing Communication, Strategic Communications, Strategy | No Comments »
Thursday, January 18th, 2018
At Strategic Communications, we are big advocates of content marketing. It’s crucial to offer something of value to your potential customers rather than simply advertising to them. Blogs and whitepapers can be great vehicles for this type of marketing, but there are many, many forms of content marketing, and some might not seem to fit that label at first glance. (more…)
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Tags: content management, content marketing, Marketing, writing
Posted in Content Marketing, Internet Marketing, Strategic Communications | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 7th, 2017
The value proposition for a product or service is a foundational element in any sales and marketing activity. The value proposition responds to consumers’ question of “why” related to your products and services. “Why should I buy your product?” “Why should I subscribe to this service?”
A value proposition isn’t an off-the-top-of-your-head pitch to potential customers. It has to be carefully crafted, based on a solid understanding of your audience’s needs and values. Writing for Forbes, Rebecca O. Bagley recommends a three-step process for developing a value proposition: (more…)
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Tags: conveying value to customers, customer needs, features vs. benefits, identifying product benefits, Marketing, meeting customer needs, value proposition
Posted in Customer Communication, Marketing, Marketing and Branding, Marketing Communication, Strategic Communications | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 31st, 2017
For many businesses, connecting with and selling to a target market can be challenging enough on its own. But, when a competitor jumps into the mix and badmouths your product, service or entire company, an entirely new front opens up. Consider a local grocer watching TV when an ad comes on from a competitor discussing how the local grocer’s produce is not as fresh as the competitor’s and that its product selection is less expansive. Many marketers and business owners struggle with how to respond. Do you ignore the attack? Do you hit back? (more…)
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Tags: competitive environment, competitive threats, handling negative online comments, negative advertising, social media and crisis management
Posted in Competition, Customer Service, PR and Media Relations, Strategic Communications | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 15th, 2017
At Strategic Communications, we are strong advocates for social media marketing. The challenge faced by many businesses — particularly smaller organizations without a sophisticated marketing department with the ability to conduct focused market research — is that it’s not always easy to tell how those efforts contribute to growing revenue. Consequently, it’s hard to know just how much social media marketing to do.
We feel strongly that some presence is generally better than no presence. However, what is the marginal benefit of posting five tweets per day instead of four? (more…)
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Tags: communicating on social media, content marketing, content marketing in 2017, marketing with social media, social media analysis
Posted in Content Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing and Branding, Social Media, Strategic Communications | No Comments »
Economic theory has some fundamental assumptions underpinning it. One of the most important is that people behave rationally. In other words, that the decisions we make are designed to fulfill our best interests.
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How to Respond Effectively to Negative Advertising
Tuesday, October 31st, 2017For many businesses, connecting with and selling to a target market can be challenging enough on its own. But, when a competitor jumps into the mix and badmouths your product, service or entire company, an entirely new front opens up. Consider a local grocer watching TV when an ad comes on from a competitor discussing how the local grocer’s produce is not as fresh as the competitor’s and that its product selection is less expansive. Many marketers and business owners struggle with how to respond. Do you ignore the attack? Do you hit back? (more…)
Tags: competitive environment, competitive threats, handling negative online comments, negative advertising, social media and crisis management
Posted in Competition, Customer Service, PR and Media Relations, Strategic Communications | No Comments »