If you are still questioning whether you should include mobile marketing efforts you are giving sales to your competitors. Now, it’s a question of how soon can you integrate mobile marketing.

People are already looking up your company on smart phones. If you have Google analytics on your web page it will tell you that activity. The figures may be small. Having tracked the activity over the last few years and knowing that the number of homes with landlines is diminishing, there is no denying the trend.

If you have a website and allocated time and budget to maintenance, it’s mobile friendly status should have been discussed with your web master.

I have been told, no matter your business, the defining decision a customer or client makes in determining whether to purchase from you or your competition, comes down to one single element: service – the overall experience and delight of dealing with your company.

Let’s face it, the price tag of the purchase determines whether customer service is a factor or have a big an impact it, makes on the decision. We all have to buying groceries so convenience can out weight the fact that a store doesn’t provide customer service. Great customer service won’t make a difference if you have a limited budget and you don’t expect to need help with set up or troubleshooting.

The acclaimed Disney Institute focuses on details as markers for success.  Interiors, door knobs, parking lot, even the office pictures influence consumer experience. Do the details support the image being built?

Traditional or online, the most successful marketing encompasses every aspect of your business no matter the industry you are in. The difference is solely in what your customers notice most...the small details.

Photos get noticed and sell your product.

Many businesses think they are saving money by providing their own photos for packaging and marketing. To them the objective of being economical out weights the marketing impact. 

I always stress that every impression is an opportunity to move your business forward and that must be the biggest influence on the graphic solution produced. This is not to say you have to spend a lot of money. But short cutting the creative development, tieing the hands of your marketing department or graphics provider can negatvely impact product sales.

A Package Tells A Story With Great Photographs

You have a great product, tell its story with great photography. A photo can create an emotional connection with your customer and stop them in the aisle. Cutting corners can save money up front but be a big financial mistake in the long run. It is important that you are smart when making any purchase. Smart is the key to this discussion. Cutting corners in the package design process can hurt sales just like a poor decision about rebranding has for some well know brands.  (4 Reasons Package Rebranding Goes Wrong).

Video has secured its place in many marketing budgets. A picture is worth a thousand words so a moving picture with sound ampligies that impact.

Blogging and videos are the top 2 ways to increase impact. Comscore reports that 188.7 million people in the US watched 46 billion online content videos in September 2013. The average American spent more than 20 hours watching online video.

1.9% of time spent viewing video online is spent viewing ads compared to 20-30% on TV.

Many companies use video to promote their brand and instruct customers on benefits and use of their product. Now some are taking it to the extreme, demonstrating product use from the users persepctive with  cameras like the GoPro.

Direct Marketing Association 2012 report included data that direct mail was still strong, volume remaining steady with a slight dip from 2011 to 2012. As business owners and marketers we have seen technology change the definition of direct marketing to include texting, emailing, and tweeting. Emailing is easily accepted as a new version of direct mail. But it is clear that email is not replacing direct mail. For the foreseeable future mail boxes will have a purpose.

Over the past 6 years we have witnessed a huge shift in how people work and live. This has significantly impacted businesses and how they need to market. News and information is readily available on-line. Print newspapers have almost been completely displaced by on-line counterpart.