Author Archive for Patrick Giammarco

Revealed: The Most Useful Marketing Tool Ever!

By Patrick Giammarco · Comments (0)
Friday, April 20th, 2012

Do you schedule marketing appointments with yourself?  Most business owners don’t…

But what if you started making daily (or at least weekly) marketing appointments? At the end of six months, all of a sudden, you’ve built an entire system (or at least have all the pieces) that can actually build purposeful marketing momentum rather than  focusing your attention on whatever wheel squeaks the loudest.

Watch the short (2:01) video below to find out what I believe to be the most powerful marketing tool ever!

 

Patrick Giammarco

About Patrick Giammarco

I'm a marketing consultant and digital technology and Social Media coach. I am also the owner of PWG Marketing. As northwest Ohio’s only Certified Duct Tape Marketing Consultant, I bring focus, control, clarity and confidence to small business marketing by installing the Duct Tape Marketing System. Visit www.pwgmarketing.com or email me at patrick@pwgmarketing.com to schedule your complimentary Signature Brand Audit.

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Categories : Consultant, Consulting, Lead Generation, Marketing Strategy
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Where Does Branding Fit Along the Marketing Continuum?

By Patrick Giammarco · Comments (0)
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

It’s no secret. These are challenging times for small businesses. We’re all searching for the answer to the question: “What can we do to win our share of business and escape the struggle?”

This time around branding seems to be the latest marketing trend small businesses are looking to for relief and to help ease their pain.

For small businesses, branding can be a savvy marketing initiative, but only if several important questions are answered first.

Questions like:

  • What is your company’s business goals or “end-game”?
  • What is your point of differentiation and core message?
  • Who is your Ideal Client?
  • What is your current position in the marketplace?

Branding is something you do after you’ve figured out what it is you’re trying to brand and should be fourth among five linked small business marketing pillars: strategy, differentiation, positioning, branding and marketing communications.

  1. Strategy - This is where branding should begin. All the goals of the branding program should align as closely as possible to the overall business strategy. This is also where critical marketplace questions need to be answered. Questions like: What business are we in? What service(s) do we provide? Do we provide significant benefits to our clients? What is our end-game or strategic goals?
  2. Differentiation – I talk a lot about differentiation because I believe that a clear differentiation strategy is the foundation of real competitive advantage. Prior to developing a branding strategy, small businesses must understand the ways in which they are uniquely valuable to their customers.
  3. Positioning – Don’t confuse positioning with branding and differentiation. Positioning is a separate principle that relates to a firm’s placement on a client’s mental map. Before creating a branding program, a firm should know what “spot” it holds in the marketplace today and whether or not their strategic objectives anticipate their customer’s future perspectives.
  4. Branding – I’ve said it before… branding is more about fulfilling an intangible emotional promise than about a logo or color scheme. Everything a firm does and says will be conformed to build a customer’s expectation.
  5. Marketing Communications – Perhaps the most familiar pillar. Many small businesses haven’t fully aligned resources to effectively communicate branding promises through carefully crafted messages and images. Consider carefully the words and visuals that will most effectively communicate the strategies identified above.

Small Business Marketing Takeaway:
Branding is crucial to the success of small businesses, but be careful not to let branding initiatives drive strategy. The reason some small business branding efforts fail is because firms don’t first understand where branding fits along the continuum of other marketing initiatives. You don’t need millions of dollars to address the five marketing pillars above. Many small businesses are able to do the most relevant strategic work first and develop sophisticated branding strategies on a modest budget.

Patrick Giammarco

About Patrick Giammarco

I'm a marketing consultant and digital technology and Social Media coach. I am also the owner of PWG Marketing. As northwest Ohio’s only Certified Duct Tape Marketing Consultant, I bring focus, control, clarity and confidence to small business marketing by installing the Duct Tape Marketing System. Visit www.pwgmarketing.com or email me at patrick@pwgmarketing.com to schedule your complimentary Signature Brand Audit.

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Categories : Advertising, Consultant, Consulting, Lead Conversion, Lead Generation, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations
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Local Search Marketing – What Is It and Why It’s Important

By Patrick Giammarco · Comments (2)
Monday, April 2nd, 2012
Toledo Ohio

Toledo, Ohio

Below are stats from Kelsey, comScore and Direct Mail News that really hammer the notion that small local businesses need to get very serious about being able to rank when people search for local solutions.

  • 90% of online commercial searches result in offline bricks and mortar purchases (comScore)
  • 82% of local searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit, phone call or purchase (TMP/comScore)
  • 74% of internet users perform local searches (Kelsey Group)
  • 61% of local searches result in purchases (TMP/comScore)
  • 54% of Americans have substituted the internet and local search for phone books (comScore)
  • 35% of all searches are local (DM News)

The search engines know this better than anyone and are quickly building powerful tools to make sure that people are getting this information whether they’re at their desktop or they’re out and about in their car on their mobile device.

This idea of local focus has become the most significant element of change in search engine optimization (SEO) over the past several years.

Local search is reinventing the way consumers find local products and services. Rather than using the yellow pages, consumers are turning to internet search engines to help them find a particular local business. With the addition of smart phones, consumers are able to search the internet any time of the day, regardless of their location, to find a business that offers the products are services they are seeking.

Simply, local search is the process of getting your website to appear in the search engines for specific keywords targeting local consumers. When taking advantage of local search marketing techniques, you can target both organic search engine results and paid search engine results. Both methods are highly effective and a terrific way to drive more traffic to your website and ultimately your business.

If a business hopes to be successful in today’s tough economy, they will need to harness the power of local search to increase their revenue. By having an online presence in the major search engines, businesses will be able to attract local consumers. Consumers are no longer using the phone book to find the products and services they are after, rather they are using internet search engines to help them locate a local business, which is why your business needs to optimize this opportunity. Local search engine marketing is also extremely cost effective, which is very appealing to a small business owner that may be looking to keep his advertising costs at a minimum.

There are a few things you can do to get your website found locally:

  • Optimize your website for local search terms
  • Target keywords directly related to your business and location to help attract local consumers
  • Advertise your business online through other internet marketing methods such as pay per click advertising and social media marketing

Small Business Marketing Takeaway:
As local consumers become increasing plugged into technology, you need to be able to attract their attention when they are searching for a product or service that your business offers. If your small business depends on customers from your city or neighborhood, you have to get found online locally. Advertising in the printed version of the Yellow Pages, is not enough in this Web 2.0, mobile world.

Patrick Giammarco

About Patrick Giammarco

I'm a marketing consultant and digital technology and Social Media coach. I am also the owner of PWG Marketing. As northwest Ohio’s only Certified Duct Tape Marketing Consultant, I bring focus, control, clarity and confidence to small business marketing by installing the Duct Tape Marketing System. Visit www.pwgmarketing.com or email me at patrick@pwgmarketing.com to schedule your complimentary Signature Brand Audit.

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Categories : Advertising, Consultant, Lead Generation, Marketing Strategy
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Does Social Media Mix With Your Marketing Plan? It Should…

By Patrick Giammarco · Comments (1)
Friday, March 16th, 2012

Watch this short video to hear Patrick Giammarco of PWG Marketing describes how social media can accelerate your overall marketing plan.

Great content (content is king, remember) should be created and available to your Ideal Client for an unbeatable combination.

Patrick Giammarco

About Patrick Giammarco

I'm a marketing consultant and digital technology and Social Media coach. I am also the owner of PWG Marketing. As northwest Ohio’s only Certified Duct Tape Marketing Consultant, I bring focus, control, clarity and confidence to small business marketing by installing the Duct Tape Marketing System. Visit www.pwgmarketing.com or email me at patrick@pwgmarketing.com to schedule your complimentary Signature Brand Audit.

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Categories : Advertising, Marketing Strategy, Social Media
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Four Forces (re)Shaping Media and Their Effect on Small Business Marketing

By Patrick Giammarco · Comments (2)
Monday, February 27th, 2012

There is no doubt that the landscape of the media is changing and will continue to change at an increasing pace. The Internet has changed the way consumers gather information and make purchase decisions. As a result, traditional media’s place in the marketing mix has changed and now represents just one of a number of available options to be considered.

Below are four forces (re)shaping the media landscape and their marketing implications.

1) Increasing Media Consumption
Our appetite for media is virtually insatiable. We consume massive amounts of content and entertainment because of an inherent need to stay connected. Today, it is common for people of all ages to consume multiple media at the same time, with television, Internet, newspaper and other media frequently competing for attention.

Marketing Takeaway: Provide relevant and compelling content
Most media will be consumed with partial attention, decreasing the effectiveness of your advertising. Instead of accepting passive attention, create “intentional attention” by providing relevant and compelling content distributed via meaningful and valuable marketing channels.

2) Increased Media Choices
Thanks to cable, DVRs, the Internet and satellite radio (to name just a few), consumers now have an almost unlimited number of media options. This explosion in choice means less viewer time per medium, along with smaller audience segments, and magnifies the business challenge of pinpointing and utilizing the right media to reach each respective customer niche.

Marketing Takeaway: Segment your audience
Tackle the explosion of new forms of media by further segmenting your audiences. Develop a detailed persona for each target audience and speak to them directly with relevant content. Strive to understand how your target audiences consume media and interact with other people, uncover where they gather (in real life or online) and facilitate conversations.

3) “Gatekeepers” Losing Control
Over the past several years, massive amounts of power and control have shifted away from traditional media. Today, we no longer rely solely on journalist “gatekeepers” to create and relay information. Armed with easy-to-use content creation and Web publishing tools, an always-on Internet and powerful mobile devices, anyone now has the ability to create and share news, information and entertainment.

Marketing Takeaway: Engage your target audience through social media and blogging
The cost of content/media creation is plummeting and fueling the growth of social sharing sites like YouTube and Facebook. It’s time to bring the human side of your business out by engaging directly with your target audience through social media and blogging. Move away from a broadcast mindset to one of engagement and conversation.

4) Generational Media Habits
Each generation is fairly consistent in its media consumption patterns however, each group behaves very differently. The average audience age of traditional media such as television and radio continues to increase. Over time, generational change will result in dramatically different media consumption and participation behavior.

Marketing Takeaway: Embrace change
Media channels will become increasingly age-segmented. The traditional media triad of television, print and radio that has dominated the media landscape since the 1950s is fading. Today, a world of social networking, downloads, online communities and mobile devices is emerging. In order to capture the attention of consumers, embrace the new triad of digital media: social, out-of-home, and mobile.

Patrick Giammarco

About Patrick Giammarco

I'm a marketing consultant and digital technology and Social Media coach. I am also the owner of PWG Marketing. As northwest Ohio’s only Certified Duct Tape Marketing Consultant, I bring focus, control, clarity and confidence to small business marketing by installing the Duct Tape Marketing System. Visit www.pwgmarketing.com or email me at patrick@pwgmarketing.com to schedule your complimentary Signature Brand Audit.

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Categories : Advertising, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations, Social Media
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