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Press Release Generator – Sample Press Release on United Way Day of Caring [or Action] Involvement – Brand Building for Small Business
PR as Another Opportunity for Branding In an earlier article, we discussed Press Releases as Another Opportunity for Branding. Specifically, we addressed some of the basic criteria needed to produce a successful PR piece, including discussions about: Topics, Voice, Audience, Outlets, Format, Quotes and Photos, and Post-Submission Follow-up. In other articles, we provided the following press…
Punny Signs – Brand Building for Small Business
In a recent post, Bob refers to a local church and a bar (two types of establishments in no short supply in our home town) that entertain the community with their signage, and he highlights how effective meaningful content can be in gaining visibility and recognition for your brand. (“Your Call Is Important To Us” (NOT!!))…
Be Brand Proud; Sign Up Now!! – Brand Building for Small Business
National Small Business Week Virtual Summit: May 2-3, 2023 In the words of the small business hosts, “Attend this free virtual summit to learn new business strategies, meet other business owners, and chat with industry experts!” This week’s 10-minute branding task is to start taking advantage of this opportunity by getting your registration done (a…
Protect Your Brand: Stop Intellectual Property Thieves on Etsy – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! As I previously noted in my article, Check for Copyright Infringement, if you create something of value, someone, at some point, is going to try to steal it from you. Image by Freepik That article explained that you need to stay vigilant and detailed how to regularly and…
Coffee Break!! – Brand Building for Small Business
10-Minute Branding Refresher: How do you build your brand 10 minutes at a time? You start small, and you simply begin. An excellent way to convince yourself to get going is to plan your ending. You can even set a timer. Then, be sure to bask in the success of your huge accomplishment of actually…
Ties That Bind (and Define)!! – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! Who Are You? Are you a member of your local Chamber of Commerce? Your Rotary? The Kiwanis? VFW? American Legion? Junior League? Union? Trade group such as the National Restaurant Association)? College Alumni? Local PTO? Church or other religious organization? Etc. Frankly, the list can go on and…
Basic SEO: Link Building – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! BACKGROUND SEO or Search Engine Optimization, in a nutshell, helps your web site be found online. If you haven’t already made sure search engines know your web site exists, click on over to this article (Make Sure Your Web Site is Included in Search Engines’ Index). Then, review…
“Your Call Is Important To Us” (NOT!!) – Brand Building for Small Business
How many times have you heard this telephone automated attendant message? And did those words make you feel the exact opposite of the intent? If so, you realize the importance of ALL forms of messaging to your brand, and we suggest you keep reading this next installment of 10-minute branding. Meaningful Content Matters On one…
A “Legal-Approved” Free Collection of Social Media Icons: TikTok Update – Brand Building for Small Business
Recently, a customer of mine who had purchased a social media sign for her business asked if I could add an icon for TikTok. My immediate reaction was surprise. Yet upon further consideration, I was actually surprised I hadn't gotten a request for an update sooner. TikTok, a social media platform that was once exclusively…
Employee Reality Check – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding. Walking the Walk/Talking the Talk Large companies generally have Mission and Vision Statements that summarize their product and service philosophy and (either directly or indirectly) establish standards for employee/customer interactions. Realizing the potential value of such a written manifesto, many small businesses have adopted their own as well…
Make Google Alerts Work for Your Business – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! While you need to know where your business stands in the world according to google, because that is how most prospective customers will try to get to know you, the process doesn't need to be work intensive (even for 10-minute branding standards). With google alerts, you designate how…
Go Shopping!! – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding. A Gift that Keeps on Giving Do you have 10 free minutes until your next task and want to create a way to keep your business’s name in front of existing and potential customers? Then, Go Shopping . . . for possible promotional gifts that you can distribute…
When was the last time you googled yourself? – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! When was the last time you googled yourself (or rather, your business)? (If the answer is today, that's either an extraordinary coincidence, or you might actually do this exercise too often. This article isn't for you.) More likely, you're in the majority and don't perform this quick task…
2023 – Start a Fresh, New “To Do” List!! – Brand Building for Small Business
Give Yourself a New Beginning Free from Old Failures The New Year is a time of fresh beginnings . . . a time of optimism not yet marred by those inevitable defeats we all experience on a daily basis. To properly capitalize on this moment when you get to start over with a clean slate,…
Send Your Valued Customers a Happy New Year Message – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! Nothing beats a nice card sent through the mail with a short and personal hand-written note. If you have the time for that, wonderful. If you're reading this, it's probably because you're short on time, and the idea of getting important things accomplished in a 10-minute window is…
A Match Made in Minutes – Brand Building for Small Business
Consider Bringing a Partner On Board Owning and operating a small business can be a lonely and overwhelming proposition. Sometimes, you just wish you had some additional resource you could rely upon. If you have ever found yourself in this position, perhaps you should consider enlisting the assistance of a strategic partner – the topic…
Favicons (and a Favicon Generator) – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! So what is a favicon, you may ask? A favicon is the small image (typically a simplified logo) that the web browser displays along with the name of your web page . . . IF you have one designated. Beneficial not only for your branding efforts but also…
Sponsor a Community Team – Brand Building for Small Business
Grassroots BRANDING Would you invest 10 minutes of your time and a very modest amount of money to get your name (and BRAND!) publicized within your community in a very positive way for weeks (often months) at a time? The answer seems obvious, but a surprisingly small number of businesses take advantage of the opportunity…
Always Have a Back-up on Hand – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! I recently wrote a piece about making your brand a consistent statement throughout your business by reviewing all the physical documents your customers see, your advertising, your web presence, and signage to make sure each piece fits your brand — logo, company colors, tag line, etc. Doing this…
Ask a Customer (Just One) To Do a Review – Brand Building for Small Business
Today's 10-Minute Tip: If you have a very friendly repeat customer who has been complimentary about your business, you have a possible candidate to write a review for you. Very often, you just need to ask. Since this 10-minute branding activity can be done at any time, any day that you don’t have a specific…
Conduct an Ongoing Three-a-Day Sales Campaign – Brand Building for Small Business
This newest 10-minute brand building tip makes the assumption that you have already followed our advice to start to create a 10-minute contact database (see Build a Contact Prospect List) or alternatively have a list acquired separately from a third party that you’re now ready to start approaching. While contact and production sales campaigns are…
Basic SEO: Review Your Web Pages’ Descriptions – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! SEO or Search Engine Optimization, in a nutshell, helps your web site be found online. The very first step is to make sure search engines know your web site exists. Or, more specifically . . . check whether your web site is indexed. If you haven’t already done…
Basic SEO: Meta Keywords – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! SEO or Search Engine Optimization, in a nutshell, helps your web site be found online. Before you get started with meta tags, I would recommend you make sure search engines know your web site exists. Or, more specifically . . . check whether your web site is indexed. …
Make Your Brand a Consistent Statement Throughout Your Business – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! So how do you make your brand a consistent statement throughout your business . . . in 10 minutes a day no less?! The endeavor sounds so much harder and more intimidating than the actuality. ENSURING BRAND CONSISTENCY: THE PROCESS Day 1: Collect all the physical documents that…
Protect Your Brand: Check for Copyright Infringement – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding! If you create something of value, someone, at some point, is going to try to steal it from you. Image by Freepik You’ll most likely encounter such a culprit even if you don't go looking. However, if you stay vigilant and catch copyright infringement quickly, you don't risk…
Visit a Competitor’s Web Site – Brand Building for Small Business
Looking into a Looking Glass Visiting a competitor’s web site can be a very useful way of holding a mirror up to yourself to better understand and measure the effectiveness of your own brand (while taking the pulse of your position in the marketplace in relation to a company that’s out to secure the same…
Order Pizza for Your Employees – Brand Building for Small Business
Today’s 10-Minute Tip Your employees are your best brand ambassadors. They have the most direct and frequent contact with the general public/your audience/your customers and can be the key to reinforcing the brand image and message you want to communicate while embodying your service philosophy. In taking 10 minutes every once in a while to…
Build a Contact Prospect List – Brand Building for Small Business
Add Three New Names Per Session When you think about telemarketing, direct mail, or some other sales campaign, you probably imagine using a huge database of prospects obtained from a third-party source. Perhaps the list was purchased from a vendor or downloaded from a non-profit professional organization of which you are a member. Then, you…
Basic SEO: Review Your Web Pages’ Titles – Brand Building for Small Business
Welcome to our first official installment of 10-minute branding! SEO or Search Engine Optimization, in a nutshell, helps your web site be found online. The very first step is to make sure search engines know your web site exists. Or, more specifically . . . check whether your web site is indexed. If you haven’t…