by Nicole Ouellette | Aug 2, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, Breaking Even looks at a person, company, or website doing something cool to promote itself online. Have an idea for a future Marketing Monday? Let Nicole know!
I recently went with a friend to Tom’s Terrific Tattoos, located in Ellsworth Maine. I’ve long seen the bumper stickers on people’s cars. I feel like I even heard about the place before moving to Downeast Maine, probably because the name is so memorable.
When one of my friends wanted me to go with her to get her tattoo, I jumped at the chance to finally see the inside of TTT’s.
Have a memorable name.
If you are thinking of naming a business or rebranding a part of your business, a memorable name can help people keep you in mind when they are ready to make a purchase.
Give away free stuff with your memorable business name on it.
I noticed on the counter, Tom had bumper stickers and business cards with the business name on it. Also, he give my friend a ‘goodie bag’ which included one of the bumper stickers as well as care supplies for the tattoo.
Have a website with examples of your work.
Tom has a fairly basic website with examples of his work. If I was shopping for a tattoo place, I’d want one with a website, if only because I would feel a business with a website is more established. Is this important when I’m considering someone putting a needle into my body? Absolutely. Is it important to other people? I can’t say for sure but probably.
by Nicole Ouellette | Jul 26, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, I profile a business, person, or website doing neat things online. I thought I’d take a little break from the usual format and talk about something I see a lot: business owners working with the creative people they hire: webdesigners, writers, graphic artists, internet marketers, etc.
Admittedly, I’m somewhere in between. I do creative services for people but I feel like I also do a lot of organization of creative people to keep things moving forward too. Here’s what I’ve learned over the last couple years:
1. You might not know exactly what you need but be as specific as you can with what you do know. There is a reason you’re hiring someone to create a logo, a website, a painting, or anything really: You don’t know much about it or you don’t have the time/interest to do it yourself if you do. Creative people understand this.
That said, to get the best quote possible, be up front with what you do know: budgets, other players on the project, and deadlines are all helpful. It’ll keep the person from doing something embarrassing like bring up the name of a rival company or time wasting, like generating a quote for a project four times your actual budget.
by Nicole Ouellette | Jul 19, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, Breaking Even profiles a business, individual, non-profit or website doing something cool online. To nominate, contact Nicole.
Barkwheats is a dog biscuit company I’ve profiled before. Their latest initiative is really cool and it makes small businesses act a bit like non-profits. Barkwheats is fundraising using a website called Kickstarter for a new piece of equipment they need for their business. Here’s an interview I did with Chris about how and why Barkwheats set this up:
What made you decide to do such an ambitious fundraising campaign now?
We wanted to engage people outside of our business to be a part of something much bigger than what they alone could do. We also need to raise the money for this piece of equipment in order to grow our business and offer Barkwheats to more pet guardians around the country, and support more growers who produce a great product for us. I know both of you have non-profit experience in addition to this business you run.
Do you find people have a hard time ‘donating’ to a business versus a non-profit? I know both you and Renee are actively involved in several area non-profits.
Kickstarter is cool in the way that it’s not so much just “donating” but it’s more transactional in nature. You are kind of “buying” a product. For example, spend $25 and get some cute Folk Dog magnets that would cost the same as if you were to purchase them at a store. Spend $7500 and your dog gets to be the cover dog on our next flavor of treats! A very neat way to not only support what we’re doing, but make your dog famous.
by Nicole Ouellette | Jul 13, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Marketing Monday is a weekly installment talking about a person, business, or website doing something cool online. If you have an idea, let the BE Blog know!
I recently ran into someone at a local coffee shop who was telling me how he was motivated to reopened his Second Life account. “I’ve been getting gigs to Second Life parties to play my guitar and people actually pay me like $40/hour to do it!” he was saying. Yes, this is a video game character playing the guitar and yes, he is playing for actual US dollars.
As someone who’s never gotten past level three of Super Mario, I was intrigued, and maybe even slightlyjudgmental about people who play computer games like this. I was about to tell my man friend Dan how weird this conversation was when I found out he’s a gamer.Dan has been playing World of Warcraft on and off for three years. I decided to pick his brain about virtual worlds, and how and why they are so popular:
What about WoW makes it more interesting to you than something you’d play on a gaming system (Playstation, Wii, etc.)?
You can’t beat the game so the game has more replay value. There’s always something more you can do, which is motivating.Every two to three years, the developers add on an expansion, raising the maximum level of characters, adding new maps/quests, etc.
There is a group element to the game, encouraging user interaction. When you start playing WoW, you join a guild. The guild has their own chat, and there are options for guilds to get together and help each other out. You can talk to people individually or in a group format.
by Nicole Ouellette | Jul 6, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, Breaking Even Communications profiles an individual, business, or non-profit doing interesting things online. If you have an idea, please let me know about it!
Pecha Kucha is Japanese for ‘chit chat’. It’s a short presentation format (20 slides, 20 seconds per slide) that allows anyone viewing it to see a presentation to see a variety of topics instead of just one.
Midcoast Magnet has been sponsoring these events in the Midcoast for about a year but a few area non-profits have banded together to bring them to Downeast Maine.
Get together with other groups to make a one time event happen more than once.
Pecha Kucha is a ton of work to organize, with all the different presenters, setting up the venue, etc. If you are organizing an event, why not stage it a few different times?
by Nicole Ouellette | Jun 28, 2010 | Marketing Monday
Every Monday, the BE Blog profiles an individual, business, or non-profit doing something cool online to promote themselves. If you have an idea, please let me know!
The owners of Affordable Acadia are great about updating their blog with information about area activities, festivals, local issues, events, and history. They even have their posts by category like “Day trips” and “Good eats” so readers can find the information they are looking for.
From a design standpoint, the blog is also easy to skim.They post great, large format paragraphs for easy skimming. The font is large with good contrast and overall, the appearance (clean and professional) matches what’s written on the page.