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How much of your marketing budget should be Digital vs other forms of marketing?

Your marketing budget should be 6 to 10% of your gross revenue. Digital should be 50% of of your budget. (New businesses should allocate 12-20% of their gross revenue).

Can I use all digital marketing?

No, it doesn’t matter how perfect your digital marketing plan is, you should also be seen in other ways to really build your brand. This is especially true when you are a local company selling to a local target market. You need your potential clients to see you as a local community resource. Stress that you are locally owned and operated – people want to support local business.

All business need to take their marketing full circle. You can’t just do one part of marketing and expected to work for you. Remember, it takes 6 to 8 touches before a person makes a buying decision

Some other marketing strategies to add into your marketing plan

• Vehicle Lettering – Vehicle lettering is like a mobile billboard. Your vehicles are driving all through your target area, take advantage of this great exposure and it will also help to strengthen your brand recognition.

• Yard signs – Depending on your business, yard signs are a great way to get your business recognized and remembered. This is one of the least inexpensive form of advertising and helps to build your brand. The more your logo is seen, the more it will be remembered.

• Apparel – Have your employees wear shirts with your company name – In addition to knowing that they look professional when they are representing your company, they will be walking billboards for your company.

• Promo items should also be part of your marketing arsenal. When you do a job, you should leave behind a promotional item, something to keep your name in their mind after you leave the job site.

• Yard Signs are inexpensive and another great way for people to see your name.

• Door Hangers – Again, depending on your business, you may want to add door hangers to your marketing plan. When an installer is doing a job, have them drop off a door hanger on a few houses on each side of the home you are working on. If the homeowner saw your vehicle and saw the yard sign, now they see your information on their door it is a third touch!

• Print Ads – Find a magazine that is a good fit for your business – if you decide to do magazine ads, make sure you commit to at least 6 issues to give it a chance.

• Radio Ads – local radio ads are another great way to build your brand locally

• Billboards – again depending on your business, this may be a great way to be seen

• Every Door Direct Mail – this is a much less expensive option than direct mail. You can target the neighbors on a street you are working on or that you would like to be working on (you choose a postal carrier route – no mailing list is needed). If you use this with a yard sign and a door hanger and vehicle lettering, you have just had 4 touches! Now you are becoming familiar.

• Direct Mail is another great way to get your name out there. Depending on your business I would suggest either a small mailing so you can follow up, or send a larger mailing that goes to the people who receive the magazine that you choose to advertise in. They’ve already seen your name once, now it’s a second hit.

The Most Important Part of Marketing…

Remember when you’re doing any form of advertising the content is the most important piece to your marketing strategy, don’t just tell them who you are and what you can do. Tell the reader you understand them and their problems and how you will solve their problem for them, how you are the solution.

This is the perfect time to look at you marketing mix and make sure you take it full circle!

If you have a question about your marketing or design, email [email protected]

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Let’s Talk About Brochure Content

Before we can get into the content, let’s start at at the beginning… the cover. Why would you bother to open this brochure?

A brochure is not a piece that is used to talk about you, it is a marketing piece. It is a very important marketing piece and it should be used to tell the reader what’s in it for them, what problems you can solve for them, why should they come to you. So take out your brochure and look at it really look at it like you never saw it before and be critical. If you didn’t know the company, would you have any reason to open the brochure to find out more?


The cover is important because it should give someone a reason to open your brochure. What’s on the front of your brochure? Is it your photo or a photo of your building? That’s not a reason for them to open your brochure. Try changing it to a compelling photo, or a statement that calls for action, or ask a question… give them a reason to look inside.

Once they’re inside write your brochure in a way that tells them why they should be calling you ,what are you going to do for them. Make sure there is a call to action. For example:

• Call us today for a free quote

• Call us today and let us prove her commitment to you

• Go to our website

• Go to our website and sign up for our free report

Don’t waste this advertising opportunity…you have them looking at your business make them do something to get their information so you have the opportunity to make them your customer. Make sure your phone number and contact information is in more than one location. It should be on the inside and the outside of the brochure. If they want to contact you, don’t make them search for your information.


You can talk about yourself or your business on the back panel, add your mission statement on the back panel or the inside flap from the back panel – BUT the inside spread of your brochure should be all about what’s in it for them, what benefit can you offer them that your competition can’t, what makes you different. Write your content so that it explains what you do, but does it in a way so the read what’s in it for them.


Studies have shown that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business, how many employees you have, how many trucks you have, they want to know what you can do for them. For example if their hot water tank or furnace goes out in the middle of the night they’re going to look for someone that offers emergency service, they don’t care how long you’ve been in business or how many employees you have, they only care that you offer 24 hour emergency service – everything else is irrelevant.


Finally, please make sure that your brochure is on quality paper, professionally printed that your margins are correct and that the look is consistent with your corporate image. This is a very important marketing piece for your business, do it right.


So now that you’ve looked at your brochure, if it’s not what you need, re-do it if you need help give us a call . . . we do that.

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What is a Marketing Audit

A marketing audit is a comprehensive review of a company’s marketing including its goals, objectives and strategies.

The goal of a marketing audit is to see what’s working, what isn’t and to find out what is missing. We evaluate the performance of your existing marketing and find out what your business wants out of its marketing strategy so we can determine a plan of action. We help you understand your marketing strengths and weaknesses, so you can make solid decisions about where to put your resources in the future. A marketing audit should be performed by someone outside of your company. They will be able to look at your marketing objectively and provide inside from a different prospective.

Reasons to Have a Marketing Audit 

1.  Make Sure Your Marketing Aligns With Your Goals

Like a business plan, your marketing plan needs to change to stay current with your changing needs. You should perform a marketing audit every few years to make sure your marketing is staying in line with the goals you set and to make any necessary adjustments.

2. To See What is Working, What is Not Working and What is Missing

Looking at all of your marketing will allow you to see what is working, how you can adjust what is not working and once you know what is missing, you can add that to your marketing arsenal.

3. Get Insight Into Your Competition 

A marketing audit will look the current market, your target market and your competition. Looking into your competition will give you the opportunity to see how you compare. This insight can help you level the playing field or rise above.

4.  New Strategies and Ideas

Once your weakness are identified, you can find new ways to achieve your goals and make your marketing budget go further. You will look at your products or services to see how they solve your customers challenges and what makes you different from your competitors. You may also find new ideas to from something your competition is doing that you can change and make your own.

5. Saves you Time and Money

You may find you were wasting money on marketing that was not producing results. The audit will help refocus to make sure you are spending your marketing dollars on things that provide  a return on your investment.

Remember, if you need help…we do that! We would be happy to help you grow your business!