This should be the year to embrace the power of targeted advertising and segmented ad campaigns. Although these strategies have existed for a while now, the powerful combination isn’t widespread.

Segment your targets into leads, current customers, and previous customers. Create Lookalike Audiences (Facebook/LinkedIn/AdWords, etc) off of the combined list for a fourth segment. Now, create four different ad campaigns (complete with their own headlines, graphics, and landing pages) speaking directly to each of those segments.

SMB’s today are a little leery of the recent explosions in market share Amazon has eaten up. Big Box stores are also concerned, because they are more likely to lose customer share to Amazon than an SMB is. So, they had to adapt their approach and are meeting some success by pivoting.

Our Managing Director, Louis Tanguay, recently wrote an article for the California Business Journal about how to increase your business by 30% or more. Here’s a link to that original article.

Below, we’re written a little lead-in explanation, and an additional tip for you which expands on the initial concept Jay Abraham created.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Hey, I don’t need to spend a lot of money on this piece of marketing collateral, because all I’m going to do it give 1,000 of these away. They’re throw away items, don’t waste money or time on these?” I’ll tell you that’s the exact wrong thinking.

Why is this wrong? Because that “throw away” item might be the only thing a prospective customer ever sees of your business. Your goal is the drum up awareness, interest, and (hopefully) more business, yes? Then why cut corners and have your first impression be cheaply made? Is that truly the type of representative of your company and quality control you want them to see of your company?

Our Managing Director, Louis Tanguay, wrote a whole article on this for the California Business Journal. Check it out here: http://www.calbizjournal.com/no-throw-away-marketing-materials/

Our Managing Director, Louis Tanguay, has started a marketing column on the Business publication “California Business Journal.” Louis will be contributing regularly there, and all articles written for the CBJ will be linked to from our blog. This way, you can come back here to read our organic posts, as well as see what’s new across the board.

The maiden article is a take on Jay Abraham’s “3 Ways to Grow Any Business.” Jay Abraham is a marketing legend and borrowing from one of the best is still pretty darn good. Allen Iverson didn’t invent the cross-over, he just did it superbly. OK, whether you’re a basketball fan or not, let’s move on to the article…

To read the article, check out “How to Increase Your Business 30%…or More” at the California Business Journal!

Circle Marketing’s Managing Director, Louis Tanguay, was approached by the Small Business Digital Marketing Summit to be a panelist at their 3-Day National Summit in San Diego, CA. Honored to be asked to participate, Louis and our trusty side-kick Palu the Bulldog drove down to San Diego while the rest of us continued to work hard on our clients’ projects.

Having talented creative marketing executives with over six years experience working for two major film studios has enabled Circle Marketing to bring our creative marketing expertise to the Film and Entertainment world. After working on high-profile major studio campaigns, we can deliver that same marketing and creative expertise to any film which was made for any budget. It’s not the size of the film budget which counts, it’s the quality of the script, talent of the production crew, and creative marketing which makes a film successful.

You own a small business, and know that over one billion people are using social media. How can you run your business, and find time to use social media to connect with potential and current customers, all while still trying to find the time to have a semblance of a personal life? We can help you with your social media marketing strategy by breaking down some best practices for you here.

NOT ALL SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE CREATED EQUAL
Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google Plus, and LinkedIn are all social networks, but that’s pretty much where the similarity ends. Most small businesses don’t have the time to invest in varying their messages to effectively communicate with each very different social network audience. So, some small business owners resort to using programs which duplicate the same content across all the networks to save time and effort, but that is not an effective strategy.

Have you ever been baffled by the wide range of quotes for what it costs the design and build a website? How can one person on Fiverr or CraigsList only charge $350, while this other company is charging $10,000? Why do you need a $10,000 website if you can get one for $350, or, better yet…have your nephew build one for free or just design it yourself on a DIY website like Wix? Here, we’ll break down why websites costs different prices, and give you some guidelines on what to expect to pay, and what results to expect depending on what you pay (Retun-On-Investment, or, ROI).

Everyone knows they need marketing, but many small business owners have different ideas on what that is, or how much it should cost, or how to gauge if it’s working or not. How great would it be to have a clear understanding of what marketing can do for your small business, and how to track and gauge it’s success? Well, that’s easy…just keep reading!

Trends show that working from home, or working from “virtual offices” are a growing trend. It makes sense, because with modern technology allows those with office jobs and the like the ability to connect to the office from the comfort of home.

The problem with working from home is

Every small business needs a little extra promotion now and then. Promotions are just another form of marketing. Actually, anything you do to create attention and awareness for your business is all technically marketing. Let’s explore some easy, cost-efficient, and