As usual, it’s late at night and, when most people have retired to bed, I’ve found my second wind and decided to start blogging.
I intend to use the blog to talk about the value of marketing and how it can boost leads, sales and profits for small businesses.
After all, we are all in business to make money – and if I can help any business by giving them the right marketing tools to use, or finding the right services to meet their needs, then I will have achieved my aims.
In retrospect, maybe the business should have been called “Night Owl Marketing”, because I’m certain that Anton, my business partner, is also awake devising some brilliant online campaign using his two interconnected, wide screen, jumbo sized coffee-making computers.
So, here’s my elevator pitch about our new business:
Bright Owl Marketing offers small businesses an efficient, measurable and uniquely interactive approach to marketing.
Our marketing consultants deliver superior services and support for both online and offline channels, and offer a fully integrated marketing service. This is our main competitive advantage over other agencies and consultants, as we act as a one-stop-shop for small businesses who want to market effectively – regardless of the channel.
Plus we even have facilities for small businesses to create some D.I.Y. campaigns, thus providing further cost savings.
A little more about me…
For 10 years I have worked across various marketing profiles in some well-known Australian business and consumer industries, where I have been able to sharpen my skills, particularly focusing on areas such as Consumer Marketing, Branding, Direct Marketing, Product Development, Partnership Marketing and Web Development.
In this blog, I’ll be basing many of my discussions around these areas, but with a more simplified and practical approach tailored specifically for small business.
For those of you who are interested in driving more traffic to your websites, improving rankings, and driving revenue from your PPC and other online advertising, I’ll let my business partner, Anton, talk to you about that in greater detail at a later stage.
The importance of marketing ROI
With a plethora of marketing options available today, it is important to find the most effective strategies that suit small businesses. And at the very heart of these strategies is being able to measure the impact of the value of your marketing and its effectiveness.
You’ll probably hear me harp on about return on investment (ROI), but the value in using data driven metrics is key to any successful marketing campaign. Plus, it’s a great way to justify any marketing spend.
It’s interesting – in most businesses today, the marketing department has often been fondly referred to as the “colouring-in department”!
Sure, there is a web designer and a collection of promotional collateral pinned to the cork-board for all to see, but at the very heart you’ll discover numbers being crunched in a spreadsheet or a solution to the most cost-effective and profitable campaign being developed.
Over the next few months I plan to iron out some of the fluffy misconceptions of marketing, and instil greater confidence in producing greater returns from marketing for small businesses.
If anyone has any initial questions or requests then I’d be happy to comment or provide a well-researched answer.
All the best until next week,
Craig
