Four States Small Business Blog

According to TalentNow, nearly 73% of employers struggle to find qualified candidates for their open job positions. This is partly due to low unemployment rates, as the national average is 4%. If you can relate, you may have already tried all the usual avenues for finding your next employees, including online job boards like Monster, Indeed and CareerBuilder. And although these boards are popular among job searchers, their one-click applications and lack of vetting can leave you sifting through an unending list of applications from unqualified candidates.

Everyone understands the power of word of mouth. Your friend recommends a great brand, a family member tells you about a horrible experience with a company, or a coworker shares an awesome — or awful — customer service call. A recommendation from a friend can make a lasting impression greater than any advertisement.

And now we’ve come to the third and final installment of our series about achieving small business success by generating powerful results with their marketing. As we’ve mentioned, there’s a three-part formula necessary for producing that success, whether it’s for a nationwide advertisement or local Joplin marketing campaign: branding, a business website, and a 21-52 marketing plan. In Part 1, we took a look at branding for small businesses, and in Part 2, we discussed why you need a strong business website.

Advertising is supposed to be a tool, and one that provides clear results for your business. You need to be seeing returns on your investment (ROI) for each of your advertising choices. If you aren’t, then why are you advertising? That’s just a waste of time and resources, not to mention a big waste of money!

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.

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.

If you own a restaurant, you know how important having a great physical storefront and interior dining experience is to your business. However, there’s another important branding aspect that makes a huge impact in terms of how customers view your business - and that’s your restaurant website.

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.

Brand awareness plays a vital role in the success of your small business. But how do you know whether your brand awareness strategy is working? Like every other aspect of your marketing strategy, it’s important to track and measure brand awareness to understand if you’re getting the results you want and maximizing ROI. Tracking brand awareness can be challenging, so in this post, we’ve put together some tips for getting started.