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Small Business Marketing Tips

Why Relying on Referrals is Risky Business

By Rod McGregor President, Crowl Marketing|Creative  I get asked the following question all the time, so I decided to write an article. “Why should I advertise when I get all of my business from referrals and word-of-mouth?” Word-of-mouth referrals are great, because your prospective customer already has some level of trust in you, since someone they […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

Trying To Do It All Yourself Can Be a Costly Mistake

By Rod McGregor President, Crowl Marketing|Creative  If you are a small business owner, you know that your time is one of your biggest assets. But did you ever consider this?  We can have more than 24 hour a day if we buy it from others. Many of us wear many hats, which can lead to many minor […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

Seven Tips for Successful Customer Relationships

This article is about face time; not the app—the other face time—the kind that existed before email, smart phones and social media. I am referring to face-to-face meetings that establish trust and long-term relationships with your customers. While comments are geared more toward service companies, many of the suggestions can be applied to retail businesses as […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

Confessions of a PR Person

The letters “PR” form an acronym for “Public Relations,” a term that’s been around since 1900. PR is often confused with advertising, publicity, propaganda, brainwashing and image.  A public relations professor defined it best: “PR is the sum of attitudes held by the varied publics of a business or institution.” Companies and organizations small and […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

In Today’s Digital World, Traditional Media is Still Relevant to Marketers

Even though we live in a digital world, traditional media is still an important weapon in your marketing arsenal. This includes newspapers, magazines, network/cable TV, billboards and radio. In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of companies and organizations publishing their own content, but that’s only half the battle. The content must have an audience […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

Three Things that Affect Direct Mail Response Rate

Despite the perception that digital marketing outperforms direct mail, that is not always the case, according to the latest advertising research.    In fact, direct mail boasts a response rate ranging from 2.9 percent for business lists to 5.3 percent for residential lists, compared to email marketing’s average response rate of 0.6 percent.  And it performs even […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

Five Ways to Help Your News Release Get Published

Did you ever send out a news release and wonder why it wasn’t picked up in the newspaper or broadcast media? Assuming you sent it to the right media list, the problem may have been the content. No matter how newsworthy your news may seem to you, if it doesn’t pass the newsworthiness test of […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

Is Your Website Due for an “Extreme Makeover?”

NORTH CANTON, OHIO— Your company’s online image is one of its most valuable assets. That’s why it’s important to consider a website makeover every few years. Have you really looked at your website lately? Does it project the image you want? Is it mobile friendly?  Today we consume information from numerous devices in all different sizes—from […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

Three Best Ways to Promote Your Business in 2021

NORTH CANTON, OHIO—The United States is the largest advertising market in the world, with 2020 ad spending amounting to nearly $243 billion. Internet ad spending now accounts for more than half of all media spending, while other media such as television, newspaper, outdoor, radio and magazines account for the rest. That’s a lot of Google […]

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Small Business Marketing Tips

Why Your Company Should Consider Publishing an E-newsletter

A company e-newsletter is another cog in your marketing arsenal. It can keep your customers, prospects and vendors up to date on company news in a relatively inexpensive way. It provides information that otherwise would not be known via advertising only.  The information contained in a newsletter can range from product spotlights to employee news […]