Four States Small Business Blog

For consumers and businesses, the Holiday season is perhaps one of the most chaotic times of the year. Between shopping, family gatherings, and an insane amount of shopping, it can be tough for any business to be at the top of people’s (often cluttered) minds throughout the holidays.

Small business success relies on a myriad of things, but in many ways, it can be drawn into a simple formula. Truthfully, whether you have a national brand or simply want to focus on Joplin, Missouri, marketing, your company will need to focus on branding, a strong website, and a 21-52 marketing plan. We break down this theory in our latest free guide, but today’s post is the first in a series that will give an overview of each piece. We’ll start by diving into branding for small businesses.

As you draw up your marketing budget for 2018, you probably already know that radio is a great way to go for targeting B2B and making your mark on the airwaves.

If you’re in the business of selling products or services to other businesses, then you’re what’s known as a B2B or Business-to-Business enterprise. Okay, so you already know this. But did you know that radio advertising works great for B2B, too?

Halloween is a truly spooky time of year that features horror movies aplenty. Yet those monsters creeping in the dark aren’t half as terrifying as certain scary mistakes in marketing. They ought to send marketers running away screaming, but just like the teens in horror flicks, unsuspecting businesses will walk straight into the jaws of doom. In today’s post, we’ve collected a trio of advertising horrors along with the tips you need to survive and avoid marketing mistakes like them for a happier, more successful Halloween.

Budgeting can be very tough for Four State business owners. You calculate your monthly overhead including your lease and utilities, then get to work projecting product costs, labor costs, taxes, and now all of a sudden, you need an advertising budget.

You’re all geared up and excited to finally be putting together your new marketing campaign. You’re full of great ideas—words, phrases, and slogans that you’ve heard others use, so you know they’re attention-grabbers. But is using the tried and true the best choice? Or could it be getting a little (or a lot) tried and true…and tired?

You know something about marketing, but want to learn more—that’s why you’re visiting this site and reading tips shared by some of the best Joplin marketing pros. But when discussing marketing efforts, you definitely don’t want to leave the importance of branding out of the conversation.

Every region has its collective favorite local attractions and businesses. These might include diners, parks, landmarks, hotels, historical downtowns, or amusement parks. They could include restaurants; for example, when we know we have family and friends coming to visit us, we'll make reservations at our favorite local eateries so our friends can have a taste.

Branding is a term that was once reserved for business marketing, but it’s expanded far beyond that now. Celebrities and entrepreneurs have personal brands that are as valuable and powerful as the organizations and companies that fill our marketplace. Recently, however, political branding has taken center stage. Applying brand to a political campaign isn’t actually new, but adapting the corporate terminology that surrounds branding is new in the mainstream. (This is, perhaps, most clearly demonstrated by the film, Our Brand Is Crisis, which centers around two consultants who are, essentially, political marketers.)