Why Marketing Your Startup Business Matters

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve started a business, or maybe you’ve been a small business owner for the last couple years. And you know better than anyone that starting, much less marketing your startup business, is no easy task. You can’t just perform one simple task. Owning a business means wearing a lot of hats, juggling a lot of balls, and maybe coming up with a better metaphor to express the challenges a small business owner faces.

Sometimes the to-do list of a startup business owner is so long, marketing might not seem all that important. With everything else you’re supposed to manage, could marketing your startup really make that much of a difference?

Millions of Small Businesses Are Vying for Consumers’ Attention

As of 2020, there were 31.7 million small businesses in the United States (Over 1 million were startups between 2019 and 2020 alone!) And guess what? Every one of those 31.7 million businesses want a slice of the customer pie. If you don’t want your startup business to get lost in the shuffle of 30 million other businesses, there’s something key you can do to build your brand and reach those potential customers with whom you want to share your message, service, or product. Come on, you know where we’re going with this. Let’s say it together: “Marketing!”

Number of Startup Businesses Started, 1997-2017
Marketing your startup business can be challenging in today’s incredibly competitive market with millions of new businesses starting every year.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy

Digital Marketing Is the Primary Mode of Communication between Small Businesses and Their Customers

In a survey of over 1,000 small business owners, results clearly indicated the top two modes of communication between businesses and their customers were email at 71.8% and Facebook at 60.8%. What does that mean? If you want to communicate with your customers, utilizing digital marketing channels could significantly boost the number of potential customers your business could reach. If you’re just getting started, now is the perfect time to start marketing for your startup!

Email and Facebook marketing lead the way for marketing channels employed by small businesses.
Employing digital marketing channels, such as email and Facebook marketing, could help with marketing your startup.

Source: Campaign Monitor

Marketing Your Startup Business Creates Authenticity in a Increasingly Distrusting World

According to a Havas Group report in 2021, almost 70% of consumers do not trust advertisements they see. Even worse? Those same consumers distrust 71% of brands. So where does authenticity fit in? Businesses without an established brand, say little or no social media profiles, lack of a website, minimal or no advertising, no testimonials – nothing to point to your business’s legitimacy means that your business is hard to trust. In other words, how can customers believe your startup business can solve their problem or provide a solution when your marketing is nonexistent? The short answer: building trust with consumers starts with marketing.

Marketing helps create authenticity in today's world.
Marketing your startup can provide authenticity in an increasingly distrustful world.

Sources: Entrepreneur, MarketingDive, Havas Group

Okay, if you didn’t know before, we’re certain you understand now: marketing is essential for your startup. But let’s face it, it’s really hard to not get overwhelmed by the long marketing to-do lists. There’s web design, and print marketing, and social media, and graphic design, and PPC, and SEO, and wait, what do all these acronyms mean, and how do you learn and execute all these marketing channels AND run your business . . . ?

Whether you’re trying to stand out in a crowded market, unsure of how to connect with your target customers, or want to establish a trusted brand, talk to your local marketing agency about taking your startup marketing to the next level.

5 Reasons to Outsource Your Marketing

“Why should I hire you if I can just figure it all out myself?” This is a common question many small business owners ask when they consider outsourcing marketing.

And that’s a great question. This might not apply to EVERY business. But most small businesses that are struggling to juggle everything are going to want to hear this. So here are 5 reasons it’s time for MOST businesses to outsource their marketing.

Business owner feels overwhelmed. He should consider outsourcing his marketing.
Feeling overwhelmed? Maybe it’s time to outsource your marketing!

5 Reasons to Outsource Your Marketing

1. You’re Juggling Too Many Things

When you have to do everything yourself, two things often happen:

  • You can’t perform every task at a high level because you’re too busy trying to do everything, so often you’re unable to give the necessary attention to all aspects of your business; OR
  • You forget about or give up on trying to do everything, so things like marketing fall by the wayside because you don’t have the time to dedicate to it.

If you see yourself in either or both of those situations, you’re not alone. You’re just juggling too many things, like this business owner.

2. You’re Focused on the Short Term

Like all good things in life, marketing takes time. And that time is a commitment you make to really invest in your business. But most business owners are often just trying to get through the next day, the next week, or the next month. And when it comes to marketing, this mindset is doomed to fail. Why? Because you’re focused on just the short term. It’s time to change your focus.

How do you start thinking with a long-term perspective? Since marketing strategies need regular planning and constant attention, you can start seeing results over time. Unfortunately, it is a rare business owner who can dedicate enough time to create a long-term plan specific to marketing.

That’s why many business owners will throw ideas at the wall and hope for the best. But this rarely works, if ever. And that’s why outsourcing your marketing to a team with the time can prepare your business to be successful over the long term.

3. You’re Losing Valuable Time

We often think of most things to purchase in terms of cost. How much is this lunch going to cost me? Am I going to have enough money to spend on my daughter’s dream wedding? How many dollars did your spouse just spend on that boat?! But what about the cost of your time . . . ?

If you’ve noticed a common thread through all these points, is that in most cases, business owners don’t have the luxury of time to dedicate to marketing. Ask yourself what all you could accomplish if you didn’t have to do all or any marketing by yourself.

Or maybe you haven’t spent much time on marketing, but it’s something you wish you had time for. A great marketing plan takes time and effort to create. And we’d love to help you do that!

4. You’re Limited to Only One Person’s Knowledge

Now maybe you or someone on staff has some marketing experience. That’s awesome! But what if you could multiply that knowledge? Together at Paragon Marketing Group, we offer more than 50 years of experience covering every aspect of marketing. Imagine what you could accomplish with so much more knowledge!

Let’s say you don’t have a background in marketing, but you’re considering hiring a person in-house. Now, this isn’t a bad solution, but consider the difference between hiring a full team of marketing experts as opposed to paying a single person a salary.

5. You Could Have So Many More Services at Your Disposal

Outsourcing your marketing truly does come with its perks. Consider all the additional services you could have employed for your business:

  • Email marketing, listings, social media, online advertising, podcasts, direct mail marketing
  • Video production, video marketing, streaming services
  • Web design, web hosting, web maintenance, e-commerce functionality, and SEO
  • Branding materials, advertisements, and presentation design

That’s a lot of services! And you could have all of them at your disposal if you chose to outsource your marketing.

You now have 5 great reasons to consider outsourcing your marketing. 

Now it’s pretty natural to have doubts or uncertainties about moving forward. It’s a big step. So as you have questions, consider talking to a marketing agency that could help take your marketing to the next level, and relieve that pressure you’ve been facing to do everything yourself.

What to Know About Marketing

What to know about marketing.

“Marketing” is a big, broad umbrella term that we’ve all heard, but what is marketing really all about and how can it benefit your business? Chances are you’re using a bunch of marketing techniques without realizing it!
Marketing, as a general meaning, is “the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.” (Dictionary.com) This means that, yes, marketing is just the simple act of selling your product or services, but there is a lot more that can be done to promote and advertise your business.

Digital Marketing

This is probably the most important form of marketing, especially in the modern, digital age. Digital marketing includes:

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Check out our blog about it here
  • Social Media posts and outreach. Check out our blog for tips and tricks on how to use it
  • Video marketing. Here’s a master list of all the different ways to incorporate video into your online marketing
  • Email and text message marketing. This is great to use when promoting an event or new product

There’s so much that goes into digital marketing, the possibilities are endless! If you’re not sure where to start with marketing, online is the place to begin. It’s a great way to not only promote your products and services, but it’s a great way to communicate directly with your customers.

Unique, High-Quality Service

While this one may seem obvious, the quality of your product is a great way to sell to customers and it’s the best way to stand out from competitors! Marketing your product becomes a lot easier if you and your customers understand the high quality value of it. Further, this extends to the unique face of your business. Not only do you want people to benefit from your services, but they want to get to know the unique personality of you.

Targeting Customers

This is another important aspect to understand about marketing. The best way to market your business, no matter the platform or medium, is to know who you’re selling your products to. Using Facebook or Instagram business account allows you to track the demographics of your consumers. Once you have those findings, take a look back at your posts and see which ones they interact with most, or if you’re just getting started, play around with a couple of different marketing techniques (email, social media, video, etc.) and see which one attracts the most people and go from there!

Branding

The face of your business is the first thing people see! From language to video style to the colors used in your logo, they should all be coherent and work together. This is a great marketing strategy because your consumers will become familiar with your work and find a sense of comfort when they see your posts, leading them to wanting to see your content more and more. Check out our blog on branding to get a more in depth idea of what it is.

 

Marketing can be intimidating, especially when you’re starting out, but these are great places to dip your toes into. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be diving into the world of marketing in no time. Make sure to check out our linked blog posts to help you on your journey!

Benefits of Email Marketing For Small Businesses

email marketing for small businesses.

Email is a tool most people use everyday. Email marketing is a cost effective solution to directly communicate with your customers, especially for small businesses. Whether it be a monthly newsletter, “Happy Birthday” message or seasonal specials, sending emails to your clients can be a great way to increase brand awareness and help drive sales. Here are five benefits of email marketing for small businesses:

  1. Increased Awareness

    Email marketing is an easy way to stay in front of your target audience. Send them messages to stay on top of their mind. Be consistent for the best results. If your email marketing schedule is inconsistent, people might not remember your business and will be less likely to open the message. Keep your messages fun and relevant for best results.

  2. Consistent Communication

    Like mentioned in the above point, it’s important to send out your messages consistently. Whether it’s once or twice a month or quarterly, make sure you have a plan. You don’t want to bombard people with emails all the time but you also want to stay in front of them. Sending out an email once a year is not going to be an effective solution for your marketing plan.

  3. Increased Website Traffic

    It’s important to have strong call to actions in your emails. Often times, an important call to action would be sending recipients to your website. This needs to be done strategically. You can’t always send them to your home page. Which page is going to have the most relevant information? It could be a service page, a product page, or the contact page. Send them to a page where they would be expecting to go based off the information in the email and a page that will give them necessary information to increase conversions.

  4. Build Credibility

    People are more likely to open a message from a sender they know. Make sure subject lines are relevant so the recipients can see who you are and how you can help them. You don’t want your messages to look like spam. Know your readers and make sure your content is relevant to the people receiving the message. All of these things build credibility for your business and can help increase sales through your email marketing. Get people to trust your business.

  5. Cost Effective Option

    Email marketing offers more cost-effective benefits than direct mail, making this a great strategy for small businesses. With email marketing being a digital platform, you don’t need to worry about printing costs or postage. For an even more cost effective solution, collect emails from your customers and potential customers to build an email list so you don’t need to purchase a list. This will lead to best results and ROI as you’ve already established credibility and a relationship with these recipients.

7 essentials to brand awareness

brand awareness.

Recently Paragon has taken on a new effort of working with non-profits to help them grow. We feel it is very important and the more we give the more we receive.

While visiting these non-profits it is amazing how many of them have no brand guidelines. Now, this is not only for nonprofits, but with small businesses, as well. What is a brand guideline you ask? A brand guideline is how people view your company or non-profit. It is how they recognize it is you. Brand guidelines are a roadmap to automatic recognition of who you are.

 

Here’s what should be included in your brand guidelines.

  1. Your history, vision and your top values for your organization.
  2. Your mission statement including what we call “tone of voice” requirements. Yes, the tone of voice is important and must be spelled out as to what can and can not be said and how!
  3. Color palette is essential. Typically your logo will decide this for you but if you have a two color logo then add a couple of colors that you feel go well with it and stick to them.
  4. Where and how your logo can be used is one of the most important things that you will spell out. Can it be used on certain types of materials and on the website? How much white space around your logo? Can it be combined with any other logo? Does it always have to be color or can you do black and white? What sizes are allowed to be used? All very important.
  5. What fonts are people allowed to use is another one that needs to be thought of. There are literally thousands of fonts out there so do not leave it to chance. A good rule of thumb is having 1-3 options of fonts.
  6. What type of photos can be used with your logo? Not only the style but will you require special lenses, lighting. Maybe with your brand, you only want black and white with people in it.
  7. Please provide examples of the following: a business card, letterhead, brochure or pamphlet. Maybe provide a picture of proper use and unproper use of your logo.

Now, none of this matters if nobody knows about it.  Then you are not really creating a brand. Every time you send out your logo to anybody include these guidelines. If they don’t understand them then ask for a proof prior to print or publication. You must know where your logo is and how it is being represented at all times!

 

7 essentials to brand awareness

brand awareness.

Recently Paragon has taken on a new effort of working with non-profits to help them grow. We feel it is very important and the more we give the more we receive.

While visiting these non-profits it is amazing how many of them have no brand guidelines. Now, this is not only for nonprofits, but with small businesses, as well. What is a brand guideline you ask? A brand guideline is how people view your company or non-profit. It is how they recognize it is you. Brand guidelines are a roadmap to automatic recognition of who you are.

 

Here’s what should be included in your brand guidelines.

  1. Your history, vision and your top values for your organization.
  2. Your mission statement including what we call “tone of voice” requirements. Yes, the tone of voice is important and must be spelled out as to what can and can not be said and how!
  3. Color palette is essential. Typically your logo will decide this for you but if you have a two color logo then add a couple of colors that you feel go well with it and stick to them.
  4. Where and how your logo can be used is one of the most important things that you will spell out. Can it be used on certain types of materials and on the website? How much white space around your logo? Can it be combined with any other logo? Does it always have to be color or can you do black and white? What sizes are allowed to be used? All very important.
  5. What fonts are people allowed to use is another one that needs to be thought of. There are literally thousands of fonts out there so do not leave it to chance. A good rule of thumb is having 1-3 options of fonts.
  6. What type of photos can be used with your logo? Not only the style but will you require special lenses, lighting. Maybe with your brand, you only want black and white with people in it.
  7. Please provide examples of the following: a business card, letterhead, brochure or pamphlet. Maybe provide a picture of proper use and unproper use of your logo.

Now, none of this matters if nobody knows about it.  Then you are not really creating a brand. Every time you send out your logo to anybody include these guidelines. If they don’t understand them then ask for a proof prior to print or publication. You must know where your logo is and how it is being represented at all times!

 

The first step to a successful Email Marketing campaign. Understand the law!

These are the words, Know the rules, written on a blackboard.

Email marketing is one of the highest converting forms of advertising. Starting email marketing involves many factors, however, the most important factor is the law. I myself have made mistakes that made an email not conform to the law and I completely missed it. That is one reason why I want to make sure that people don’t make the same mistakes I have.

 

The biggest law out there has been the Can-Spam act that was signed into law in 2003 by George Bush. I won’t bore you with all of the political words but I will tell you what the law says in simpler terms.

 

  1. You must have the email address that the email is coming from. You cannot hide your email or not tell people who you are in it. This should either be a person at the company that is responsible for this or the company name. Either one shows the receiver what is happening and more importantly from where it’s coming from.
  2. Be honest and forthright. Your subject line should be straightforward and honest. Say in the subject line I have an offer for a free consultation for you, that better be what is in the email. Do not say, “I have a gift card for you” and not actually give one. You cannot say, “I have a gift card for you” and then it turns out to be a contest. You must be willing to give what you say. If you are sending an ad then say, “ad from ……”
  3. Where you are located is very important to this rule. Really, this should be important to you anyway as it shows that you are a reputable company. In this rule, it is required that you have a physical address in the email.
  4. Offer your recipient the opportunity to opt out of future emails. The law states that you have 10 days to remove them from your list but I would highly suggest you do it within 24 hours or before another email goes out, whichever comes first.
  5. If you are using a company to send emails on your behalf then make sure they are conforming to these laws. It is you that will get fined and not them. You have to make sure you are working with a reputable company at all times.

 

Recently, we have also been hit with a new rule called GDPR or General Data Protection Regulations. This was created in Europe and took effect on May 31st. I would highly suggest that every company conforms to these rules as you do not know when your site will be viewed outside of the country. A lot of the same rules apply as the Can-Spam act.

  1. You must get all data legally and you cannot spam to add to your email list.
  2. There must be a purpose for the email and they must opt-in for that purpose. You can not use their data for ANY other purpose without explicitly asking and getting permission.
  3. You must confirm all data is accurate. I would suggest sending an auto email to confirm the data prior to adding them to a list.
  4. You will only keep the data as long as you need it. If it is a 6-week campaign then you cannot use it for another campaign after the 6 week period.
  5. Confidentiality is the most important new rule. In the past, you technically had the ability to sell your list to others and make some extra income off of it. Although I have never done this, I heard it was pretty lucrative at times. It cannot be done the same way now. Permission must be given to sharing data across multiple entities. You must have security systems on all data to ensure that nobody can take data without your knowledge.

 

Understanding the laws of email marketing is the first step in starting a campaign. Without this understanding, your email programs will fail and you may or may not be fined. The personal information of individuals is very important to keep secure and not shared. Most email programs do conform to these rules so I highly suggest you use a program like Constant Contact or MailChimp.  

www.paragonmarketinggroup.com

 

Why is video needed in your Marketing mix?

This is a business team gathering around a laptop.

According to Wordstream, viewers retain 95% of information from watching a video compared to retaining 10% from reading the same information. This trend is astonishing to me but also understandable. When I look back at things I buy online or things I learn, it is the same for me. As a matter of fact, I think it may be worse because I can’t read a long article with my attention span but I can definitely watch a video or listen to a podcast. At this point, I am wondering how much more to write and how to line it up. According to that statistic, I should end it here! However, please continue and choose to be the 10%, then please go and watch the video or listen to the podcast to remember the rest.

 

Every good content marketing strategy encompasses a mixture of different things: blog, video, social, web, ads, and podcasts. Obviously, it is called content marketing for a reason! Think about those things, how many of those strategies can you incorporate into a video? The big question that we always get is, why?

 

  1. According to the same article on Wordstream, a video on your home screen can increase conversions by up to 80%. Who can’t use more leads?
  2. Video creates a personal touch that you can’t get anywhere else. The old saying, “People do business with people they like” is still important today. It may actually be more important because of the internet.
  3. According to an article written by Vidyard, 65% of viewers watch more than ¾ of a video. This is not even close to what people read!
  4. Search Engine Optimization asks you to link and backlink as much as possible as long as it is relevant content. What can be more relevant than you talking about your product on a video?
  5. Content Marketing Institute says that audiences are 10 times more likely to engage, share, and comment on a video than they are a blog or social post.
  6. Last but certainly not least, email is more seen and more returned with a video in the message.

 

About a year ago, a friend of mine told me that he was going to start doing a weekly video newsletter along with his regular newsletter. I got his newsletter and I fully admit that I only read about half of it on a regular basis. Since he started doing a video newsletter every Monday, I have learned so much about what is happening and what he is doing. I never knew most of that information before, even though I received his regular newsletter. This is an example of the power of video at its finest and a perfect reason to incorporate video into your marketing campaign.

 

The big obstacle that you will face with this is yourself. Most people do not like to be on video and admittedly, I am one of them. I believe I have a face for radio but I do videos on a regular basis because that is what is being asked of me by our clients. In the next article, I will talk about what you will do with a video once you have it.

Cybercrime affects Small Business

This is a blue circuit board with a blue lock in front.

We have all heard the word Cybercrime and we know that we need to protect ourselves. What most small businesses do not understand is how much it affects them. We have heard all the stories from the news about the big companies getting hacked and information being leaked. What we never hear about is the small businesses that get hacked on a daily basis. According to a survey done by CNBC less than 2% of American small businesses say that they are concerned about getting hacked.The big reason why is, “We are the little guy, they don’t want to hack us.” This thought process is incorrect and is exactly why you should care more than the big companies.

Hackers know that you do not have the time, money, or knowledge to protect your site like the big companies do. Therefore, your website is targeted more than any other. Just because you only have 100 clients or 1,000 clients does not make you immune. It makes you a perfect candidate for hackers. They can go in, get what they want, and get out without anybody knowing. What’s better is that because you are a small business, the word that you got hacked won’t go out to everyone in the world because it won’t be considered a big story.

So, what can a small business owner do to protect themselves? More importantly, what can a small business owner do to protect their customers? Well, here you go!

1. Make sure your website is on a secure server. You have a lot of options when it comes to hosting your website. We highly suggest that you find out what equipment or software your host has to combat hacker attempts.

2. Redundancy is very important. Make sure your host has more than one copy of your site. Having multiple servers in different locations would be ideal. This way, if one location gets hacked then they can quickly change over to a backup copy.

3. Consistent security scans. Security scans should be happening weekly on your site or at the minimum monthly. If you keep up on your security scans you will remove any trackers that may have attached to your site in-between scans.

4. You must be updating your site monthly at the minimum. By staying up to date you are also keeping away any new hacks created by having an old version of the theme or integrations your site requires.

5. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encrypts any conversation that you have with the customer, the website and your office computer. This item is so important that Google is now requiring this if you want your page to be found on Google. It is required as of June 1st to have it. You’ll know you have one by seeing HTTPS:// instead of HTTP:// in your URL.

By following these steps we cannot guarantee that you will never get hacked or that your information will never get out. Hackers are getting smarter and smarter every day and nobody can ever guarantee that. What we can tell you is that by following these 5 things you are giving your clients and yourself the best protection you can.

6 steps to retail marketing

This is a view of a mall from the top floor.

Marketing in the retail world can be a lot of fun. It also can be very time consuming and monotonous. However, without marketing in the retail world, you will not maintain or grow. Retail has an attrition rate and it doesn’t matter how long you have been in business or how great of a reputation you have, there still has to be marketing. You have to replace the people you lose yearly or you might as well shut your doors right now. How do you do this, is the question and how do you do it well?

1. It all starts with building a brand. You have to have a brand recognition or you will not grow. When people think of the typical products you sell, you want your name to come to mind first. In marketing, there is a rule called the rule of seven. Now, some marketers will say it is the rule of 10 or a rule of 5, regardless, it is still important that you follow it. A person must see your brand 7 times before they start thinking about you for a certain product. How those 7 times is achieved can be hard, however, the rest of this blog explains a few tricks.

2. How you are found is important and that is where listings come into the equation. There are literally hundreds of sites that your business should be listed on depending on exactly what your product is. Personally, I believe that if you are listed properly on the top sites then the rest will follow over time. What people do not realize is that everything HAS to be exactly the same across all of your online listings, right down to the dot in the same place.

3. Social media marketing is going to give you the most bang for your buck. Depending on your demographic you will utilize Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Anyone of these 4 are going to be important, however, the two most important are going to be Facebook and Twitter. The most important thing with these platforms is to not post just 1 time per week about your store and expect people to flock in. You have to post regularly and you have to not only educate the consumer about you but also about your products.

4. You have to create a personalized experience. Just as we talked about social being important well, so is mobile marketing. It is said that 58% of people will look on cell phones before they look for your store on a desktop or laptop. With the world of artificial intelligence growing it is very important to learn new ways to use personalized mobile marketing in order to attract new clients.

5. Reward programs are becoming very popular. Create an awards program through email marketing and offer a free product for being a member of your newsletter program. Once you start getting emails from consumers, do not miss a single month of sending newsletters out. I would suggest that you send out an email at a minimum of bi-weekly. One can be a newsletter talking about anything new that you have done and the other can be an offer of the month for members of the group.

6. People will come in and spend more if they know you are supporting the community. Your local chamber of commerce or business group will have a list of events that are community-based in order to help you find a great charity or event to support. Once you find one, offer your support or sponsorship then market about your contribution. Millennials today want to know that you support a charity or local event. They will remember that and come back to you because of it.

Having a retail establishment is a very exciting and fun thing. In today’s world, you have a great opportunity to provide a great location for people to get what you need. The more people that know who you are, the better. With the digital world, you have a great opportunity to tell the world about you! Have fun with it but remember to be respectful and responsible. You will be successful with these suggestions.