SMB Marketing Monitor

"Branding is just another name for creating a perception.

Branding isn’t your company name.

It’s not a tag line. It’s not a logo.

When marketers ask, “How do we want to brand this product?” what they’re really asking is how they want their audience to think about that product once it comes to market.

A brand is a promise. It’s an expectation of an experience."

When it comes to retargeting, most marketers instantly think of search retargeting. But highly effective marketers explore other types of retargeting. Here are six different types of retargeting to acquire and engage a potential audience.

"Here are some common mistakes that can disengage your audience and even send them into your competitors' welcoming arms."

"It doesn't matter whether you're a startup or an established firm: Branding matters. When a prospect has to choose between you or your competitor, the one with the better brand wins. So, with that in mind: How's your branding? Are you doing all you can to establish trust and loyalty with customers, or are you making classic mistakes?"

"Appearing on the first page of a Google search can be the difference between the success or the failure of your business.

...

For a long time, Search Engine Optimization and Online Reputation Management have been looked upon as two parallel services. Google recently has changed how it performs its search. These updates to the search engine algorithms were titled “Panda” and the most recent changes were called “Penguin“.

So with these changes where does the future of both these services lie?

Let’s breakdown each of the services."

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/07/19/how-search-and-online-reputation-management-impacts-your-brand/

Some soild tips for drawing up an investment seeking business plan:

"Have you reached that all-important -- and often frightening -- moment when you realize that your business needs more money to get to the next level? Whether you're attempting to borrow a few thousand bucks from Mom and Dad or you want to ask total strangers to pony up several million, you’d better have your ducks in a row before you ask. In other words, you'd better have a business plan."

Select Kit-Kat bars in the UK will contain GPS devices, which Nestlé will use to find the buyers and give them a cash prize.

"Customers buying Kit-Kat bars in the United Kingdom could be unwrapping a 21st-century version of Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket--a GPS unit the candy-maker will use to find them, apprehend them and give them a prize. Nestlé claims to be the first to market its chocolatey wares with a GPS-based promotion."

Big data applications systematically address perplexing questions at massive scale – continuously learning, adapting and improving. Early adopters will win big and propel their employers and themselves ahead of their competitors.

"Bob Sutton, a Stanford professor who writes about management and organizations, related on his blog on Monday a tale of appalling customer service. Friends of his had sent their 10-year-old daughter unaccompanied on United to summer camp, assured by the airline that it would take good care of her. Instead, the girl missed her connection in Chicago—apparently because the airline employees who were supposed to help her failed to show up."

"eMarketer’s new global mobile ad forecast is $6.43 billion in 2012, rising to staggering $23.6 billion in 2016. Which prompts three questions that every business or brand must answer today ..."

"Learn how one site has used YouTube to share charming instructional videos and cool knitwear patterns with needlecraft enthusiasts around the world and what it can teach small businesses about using online video content to reach out to customers."

I'm not into knitting (...yet!) but here are some very useful lessons for making use of YouTube in your communications mix. 

Q&A social media sites for B2B marketing. Discover how to use question based social forums to generate qualified leads and drive sales.

"How should business-to-business (B2B) marketers best use question-based social forums?

For business-to-business companies in particular, LinkedIn Groups, Quora and HighTable are just three examples of forums where marketers can demonstrate their knowledge.

In this article I’ll cover how B2B marketers can best approach these sites and provide eight recommendations for generating qualified leads and driving sales."

"A BBC report claims Facebook ads are a waste of money for marketers, while other reports take a major Facebook advertiser out of context in another swipe at the social network.

How did BBC get it so wrong and what does this mean to marketers?"