Do you look at your own logo and get the feeling you’re still stuck in the 20th century?

Most large corporations “refresh” their logos over the years. Periodically they give them makeovers. An updated font here, a new color there, maybe some stripes — and you have yourself an updated logo.

Well, I decided to take the big step in re-doing a logo for one of my smaller sites, Selling to Small Businesses.

This is the first article in a 3-part series. I am going to walk you through the entire process of commissioning a professional-looking, custom logo for that site. The entire process will be carried out online, using the Logoworks by HP service.

You’ll be able to watch over my shoulder throughout that process. But you have an active role, too. Because you will be asked for your input on the logo designs. You see, I hope you will help choose the new logo design. Read the rest of this entry ».

Go grab the ebook templates over at the HP Small and Medium Business Printing wiki. You can download 4 different templates at no charge.

Use them to repurpose some of your blog content or an article you’re particularly proud of.  You can create a stand-alone document to include in your marketing kit or as a download on your website. Read the rest of this entry ».

About the only thing I love more than getting freebies is being able to share those freebies with you. Over the years my business has thrived on things that cost little or nothing.

I just want to point out that there is a series of free marketing workshops at Staples stores. I posted on this before, but the title said San Diego. Some of you may have skipped the post thinking it was limited to one city. However, there are 8 states where the workshops are being offered currently:

Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas

I’ve seen the presentation and it is very practical and information packed. It is not a sales pitch.

And so what are the freebies? Read the rest of this entry »?

What is a Marketing Kit and why do you need one?

Think of a marketing kit as a portfolio that showcases your company’s products or service.

A marketing kit is an enabler for attracting new customers, educating existing customers, forming new partnerships, educating suppliers, and informing media prospects. A good marketing kit is so powerful it stops and makes people think:

• “Hey – there’s my problem and look, this company is perfect to solve it!”

• This company is worth looking at.

• This company would be a perfect fit for our upcoming feature on xxxx.
Read the rest of this entry »

Please join me in San Diego next Tuesday, February 26, 2008.

There’s a free 1-hour marketing workshop at a local Staples store, in cooperation with HP, and I’ll be there.

The event is open to the public — and YOU are invited. You can pick up some nice freebies, too.

What is it?

This is an event designed for businesspeople like you — anyone who wants to learn more about creating professional looking marketing documents on your own. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve had a fabulous response to the “Best Kept Marketing Secrets” article here. If you recall, in that article we started with tips from the experts. Then we invited you to submit your own marketing secret.

Then we said we would take the best comments and include them in a downloadable PDF document.

This is last call: The cut-off date for getting into the downloadable PDF document containing the marketing tips will be February 20, 2008. That’s next Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry ».

The next time you’re thinking of throwing out old computer equipment, don’t. Consider doing something good for the planet.

HP offers a “planet partner” recycle program that recycles old computer equipment. They are recycling 4 million pounds a month.

They are accepting almost any kind of personal computing equipment: computers; laptops, scanners; copiers; fax machines; monitors; PDAs; mice, and more. There is no limit to how much you can recycle.

There’s a video that shows the recycling process from start to finish — it’s pretty interesting to see a big computer reduced to pieces the size of a thumbnail.

A little over a week ago I introduced the new Marketing Tips section here at Small Business Trends. 

Brent Leary, host of Business for Technology $ake, had me on his radio show on WCFO over the weekend in the Atlanta area.  In the interview I gave the inside story about how the Marketing Tips section came about.  Here are some other points we discussed:

• How we came up with the idea for the Best Kept Marketing Secrets article and the other ones to go in the Marketing Tips section, and how it fits in with our 2008 goals.

• How Seth Godin managed to snag the top spot in the article with his tip.

• How Dan Perry gave a one sentence tip in the comments section that captured attention (and got him mentioned on radio, I might add) — proving you don’t have to be long, just pithy.

 

 Marketing Tips Backstory [18:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (262)

I asked some of the world’s top marketers, small business experts and bloggers one short and sweet question:

“Please share one of your best kept marketing secrets”

Without further ado, here are their marketing secrets:

ATTRACTING AND KEEPING CUSTOMERS

◊ Seth Godin, SethGodin.com – “Make promises and keep them. So obvious, it’s become a secret.”

◊ Jackie Huba, Church of the Customer – “Attracting is the new selling. It is the least-visible, and least-examined principle behind most companies today that are growing quickly through word of mouth.” Read the rest of this entry »;

Your logo, along with your company name, combine to create an image that effectively represents your company. Think of a time when you visited a medical or professional office. The first person you came in contact with was the receptionist. What impression did he or she exhibit? Professional? Overworked? Interested? Sloppy?

You most likely made some assumptions about the company based on that first impression. Your logo acts in the same way as the first impression prospects have about your business.

Your logo needs to cut through the clutter of competition and be memorable in your target prospect’s eyes. Like selecting your company name, creating a logo that represents your brand while at the same time being affordable, is a challenging prospect. However, it isn’t impossible. Read the rest of this entry ».

I am thrilled to announce that we’ve launched a new section here at Small Business Trends called “Marketing Tips,” with the support of Hewlett Packard (HP). We’ll be creating special content with marketing tips you can use.

HP has given us access to a number of in-house people so that we can pick their brains and include their expertise. That kind of access has been invaluable.

As a result of their support I’ve been able to get additional help to pull together some special inititiatives — and I think you’re going to be excited about those.

• Our first one is called “Top Experts Dish About their Best Kept Marketing Secrets.” We polled a number of top marketers, small business experts and well-known bloggers to bring you their closely guarded marketing secrets. But there’s a role for you too: I’d like to ask you to submit one of your marketing secrets in the comments section of that article. At the end of February I will take 100 of the most inventive tips and put them all in a downloadable document. That way, everyone gets a chance to have their marketing secret be included.
Read the rest of this entry »