Thinking about using YouTube advertising to increase sales and build your brand? It’s not a shabby idea. In February 2016, Google CEO Sundar Pichai claimed YouTube visitors watch hundreds of millions of hours of video every day. The platform also has more than one billion active users each month. So how can your brand start

It’s clean slate time, people. Budgeting for advertising is an important part of the planning process, and if you’re hoping to get more for your investment this year, it pays to keep a few best practices in mind. First, you should take a hard look at recent history. Okay, 2016. Show Me The Money. The

unique advantages of facebook groups Pages and groups are both effective for connecting with customers, but in different ways. While pages and groups are both important aspects of Facebook marketing, they accomplish very different things. A business page is a public-facing profile, similar to the personal one you use when connecting with friends and family.

By now businesses big and small are trying their hand at social media marketing, and most of them are struggling to create any engagement, let alone uncover ROI (we’ll save that for another post). Effective social media marketing requires a mindset that embraces planning, consistency and experimentation, and many companies get stuck at the starting

Are you thinking about advertising on television, wondering if it makes sense for your business? It’s a fair question. After all, TV ad campaigns can be expensive. Depending on your market size, a 30 second spot can range from hundreds, to thousands and even millions of dollars (think Super Bowl). But small-to-medium sized businesses have

Long gone is The Golden Age of Radio, a time when the whole family gathered around to listen to Little Orphan Annie or Orson Welles. Even though times and media habits have changed a lot, radio is still a valuable resource, one that just might get you a leg up on your competitor with your

North country businesses are realizing that advertising is changing – fast. Many of us remember the days when it was much easier to manage your ads in-house. The ads were not cheap, granted, but they worked. As long as your ad was coherent you never had to worry about whether customers would walk through your

When some business owners think of advertising agencies, they imagine creative pitches in plush boardrooms, involving top-tier clients with enormous budgets. Blame it on watching too many episodes of Mad Men. The reality is most agencies work with small-to-medium sized businesses, helping them bring a higher level of strategy and focus to their marketing. Almost

Yes, you read that title right. This article is about how advertising agencies can actually save your business money. Now, that doesn’t mean that you won’t face expenses, as well – you can count on paying for creative development, design, and other hands-on tasks – but many executives are surprised to learn that an advertising

If you’ve been in the advertising game for a while, you’ve probably gotten this phone call or email before, the one where your media sales rep sheepishly asks you to start paying more for advertising in the program or space you’ve been in for years. More often than not, your rep will cite some startling

In our last installment we shared a few thoughts about what to do when your media partner announces an advertising rate increase. In the initial meeting with your sales rep, you should listen to what they are proposing and find out what’s driving the price hike. After that, it’s best to evaluate your leverage, based

I’ve heard many people refer to advertising as a “necessary evil” over the years, and while it always brings a smile to my face (after all, who wouldn’t want to be a necessary evil consultant?), I usually hear an underlying current of frustration in that statement. When you manage advertising on your own, it’s easy

There may have been a time in the not-so-distant past when your business and advertising agency were in perfect sync. The campaigns fired on all six cylinders and customers came running through your door every time. And then one day you realize things aren’t what they used to be. Your budget has increased, but the

If you’ve ever surfed the web and noticed a retail site you visited a few days ago popping up everywhere – you’ve already seen retargeting in action. People love to call this form of advertising “creepy” or “Big-Brother-ish,” but, generally speaking, people are used to being chased by advertisers online. They also respond to it,

Food service is one of the toughest industries to compete in. Increasing costs, employee turnover and stiff competition keep constant pressure on restaurants, and many of them don’t make it far. Despite the challenges, we’ve helped some restaurants break out of the pack and flourish over the years. Here are just a few things we’ve

Radio advertising is still a great business driver, especially in small markets where listenership has an intimate relationship with local station personalities. A 2014 Nielsen report claims that more than 90 percent of American consumers are still listening, which is good news for businesses like yours. Radio advertising is efficient, powerful and fun when it’s done

Your logo is the face of your business, and sometimes that face needs freshening up. Or all-out plastic surgery. That’s okay. Every brand needs a little freshening up sometimes, but too many small-to-medium sized businesses put this task off too long, and eventually it starts to hurt their image. Here are some signs your logo

It’s a conundrum every online business has faced. You finally manage to get people to visit your website, but most of them end up leaving before taking that “next step” down your sales funnel, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for an event, opting-in for a newsletter. Visitors don’t always do what we want

Some people think good ad design is a subjective thing. After all, everyone has own tastes. You might love country music while I hate it (unless we’re talking about Waylon, Willie, Kris and Johnny. I’m good with the Highwaymen.), but that doesn’t mean the music itself is good or bad. The same principle must apply

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Your ad sales rep! And I’ve got a great special for you, but you have to sign up today! Let me just have two minutes of your time… Sound familiar? I know, I know –  not all ad sales reps are like this. We have our favorites too, people who’ve been

Whether you are writing an advertisement for Google AdWords or a web page for your company’s flagship service, excellent advertising copy is crucial for success. Good ad copy is the difference between someone clicking on your ad or passing you by, the difference between a stellar website conversion rate and a dismal bounce rate, the

Are you feeling overwhelmed by advertising? Tired of dealing with sales calls from media reps, while struggling to find time to create and manage a plan? If so, you might be thinking of hiring an advertising agency, and are looking for information about what their services cost. The answer is: It depends. We will share

Calculating a marketing and advertising budget is never easy. It goes without saying that you need to spend a certain percentage of your annual gross revenues on marketing. After all, it’s the only way to bring new customers to your business, drive growth, and boost profits. Still, there are big questions here. The first is

Businesses come in many different types and sizes, but they all have at least one thing in common: they all need marketing and advertising. Even the ones that get by on word-of-mouth eventually realize that waiting for referrals is a very slow way to grow a business. Word of mouth is great, no doubt about

How much is that 30 second spot in the window? Ask a sales rep and you might not get an accurate answer. TV advertising, like all media, is negotiable, although novice media buyers wouldn’t necessarily know this. They often either take the prices they are given at face value or a cheap rotator schedule, figuring

You advertise your brand in hopes of attracting new customers and growing revenue, but is it doing more harm than good? Marketers and business owners mistakenly believe that any advertising is a good thing. This is not the case. Some misguided approaches will send customers running for the hills, rather than to your door. Even

A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s an old cliché, but there’s truth to it. Visual media has become an increasingly important part of marketing, even for businesses whose products aren’t particularly picturesque (think Starbucks and Redbull). Pinterest and Instagram are two of the hottest social media platforms used by brands and consumers today,

There are two types of business owners in this world: those who love to negotiate and those who don’t. We’ve worked with both over the years, and find that even excellent negotiators often make big mistakes with their advertising. You might enjoy rolling up your sleeves and arm wrestling sales reps over pricing, but there’s

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris iaculis scelerisque elit sit amet aliquam. Sed vitae bibendum magna. Suspendisse posuere nibh vel leo rhoncus, eget auctor mas