Working with outside agencies like PR firms, advertising agencies, and marketing agencies can cause a lot of problems for entrepreneurs and small business owners.Should you hire an outside agency at all? If so, do you need an advertising agenc

Cost vs Value

Aug 29th, 2019 19m 39s

Price comparison shopping has become so prevalent that it's starting to have negative consequences for business owners and consumers who only look at price without evaluating the value provided by both low- and higher-cost options.How cheap or

Digital Printing vs Offset Printing

Aug 21st, 2019 31m 56s

Digital printing is a relative newcomer in the world of printed media and we often face a lot of questions with regard to when we choose to use one process over the other. On this episode of The Messengers podcast (https://messengers.blog), Chr

Cyber Security Basics

Aug 13th, 2019 48m 29s

Many business and individuals are guilty of failing to follow the most basic of cyber security steps to protect their own information, and the personal information of their employees and customers.Far too often we see the lack of simple proced

How to Set a Marketing Budget

Aug 7th, 2019 31m 46s

One of the hardest things for entrepreneurs and small business owners to wrap their heads around when it comes to marketing and advertising their business is how much they should be spending on those activities. In this episode of The Messenger

Logo Design

Jul 31st, 2019 34m

Many entrepreneurs and businesses spend far too much time, effort, and money on logo design.While your logo holds some importance, it’s not the make-or-break endeavor that many make it out to be.Whether it’s spending too much on logo design,

How to Use Google Analytics

Jul 23rd, 2019 39m 15s

Deploying your website is just step one in the long process of maximizing that shiny new domain name you just purchased. All of the effort getting things just right is wasted if you’re not measuring the performance of your website, and then mak

How to Use Direct Mail to Supercharge Your Marketing

Jul 16th, 2019 32m 28s

To some, direct mail sounds like an outdated marketing method. But with the oversaturation we’re seeing in digital marketing mediums, it’s as (or more) effective than ever. In fact, for many marketers, it’s the single best direct response marke

Redesigning Your Website the Right Way

Jul 9th, 2019 30m 55s

Keeping your website up-to-date can be one of the most difficult tasks for a small business. Very few small businesses and entrepreneurs are able to dedicate personnel to this task, which means it usually falls by the wayside until it gets so b

Everything You Need to Know About Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Jul 2nd, 2019 34m 33s

Search engine optimization, or SEO, can be one of the hardest aspects of digital marketing. But with the majority of people picking from the first page of Google’s search results when they need a service or product, organic search optimization

Using Data to Inform Design Decisions

Jun 25th, 2019 19m 48s

No matter the particular marketing piece, the goal is to drive the user/reader/listener/viewer to take an action.Your design might be a masterpiece, but it's unlikely to drive revenue to your business if your only goal is for it to look nice.

Facebook Advertising 101

Jun 20th, 2019 27m 48s

Facebook advertising can be incredibly valuable ... but it can also be daunting or, even worse, a complete waste of money if not done properly.We often see money being thrown at the platform without measuring any meaningful metrics. Other time

Promotional Items that Actually Work!

Jun 14th, 2019 23m 13s

Promotional items can be largely hit-or-miss.On one hand, your t-shirts, pens, and notepads could do a great job at keeping your company name in your customers’ minds, hitting the most important marketing element there is: Frequency.But on th

It Doesn't Pay to Be an A$$h*&^%

Jun 4th, 2019 18m 24s

"The most underrated skill in business is being nice." - Mark CubanWe've seen firsthand how true that is. Cultivating positive working relationships with your customers, vendors and employees seems to be an underdeveloped skill for a lot of pe

Does Your Business Need a Mobile App?

May 28th, 2019 30m 25s

In an increasingly-mobile world, a custom mobile app for your business might seem like a surefire way to drive revenue and make what you offer more convenient for your customers.Unfortunately, most people underestimate the time and costs that

Should You Invest In Content Marketing?

May 22nd, 2019 31m 9s

Modern marketing is all about effective storytelling.Fortunately, the tools to tell those stories have never been more accessible.The problem is, the inexpensive nature of many of those tools leads many to believe content marketing is cheap a

You Can't Out-Walmart Walmart

May 13th, 2019 23m 32s

Many small businesses often feel like their biggest threat is competition, especially from large corporations.While competition certainly plays a role in the success or failure of any business, very few businesses fail because of competition a

Darrah Brustein: Designing Your Life

Apr 29th, 2019 33m 15s

The Messengers are back, this time with special guest Messenger, Darrah Brustein.Darrah is the founder of Network Under 40, an Atlanta Georgia based business meant to help young professionals with networking and relationship building as they

My Biggest Failure (So Far) ... and What I Learned

Apr 22nd, 2019 24m 15s

It’s inevitable that every entrepreneur, business owner, and professional is going to experience failure.What distinguishes successful entrepreneurs is the way they handle failure when it happens. They learn from it, analyze where they went wr

Balancing Creativity and Clarity in Your Marketing & Advertising

Apr 15th, 2019 21m 38s

The perfect advertising campaign is a well-balanced mix of creativity and clarity. The idea is to make the message memorable while not losing the clarity of the product or service you're selling in the process.Often, marketers or businesses le

Should You Hire a Professional Photographer?

Apr 8th, 2019 16m 46s

In today’s digital landscape, photo and video are the two main driving forces behind modern marketing campaigns. No matter how good the copy is, supplemental photos and video will always play a huge role.Many business owners and entrepreneurs

It's Not About You! Always Put the User First

Apr 1st, 2019 10m 28s

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make when working on marketing is worrying too much about what they like and not enough about what their customers or prospects will respond to.When creating a marketing strategy, it’s imperative to

Text Marketing Delivers Big Results

Mar 25th, 2019 21m 23s

Boasting open rates that approach 100% and action rates nearly 20x higher than email, text message (SMS) marketing is a much more efficient way to communicate with highly-engaged customers and prospects.Strict opt-in controls coupled with simp

Customer Service is an Investment, Not an Expense

Mar 18th, 2019 15m 20s

We’ve noticed a trend that a lot of businesses believe customer service is an easy place to save on costs.Customer service is one of the primary areas in your business that needs to be invested in, not an opportunity to cut costs to the bone.

Should You Outsource Your Social Media?

Mar 11th, 2019 17m 21s

Many small businesses make the mistake of either looking at the wrong metrics when analyzing their social media platforms or outsourcing their social media altogether with the expectation that they can just be hands-off and having any presence