Logo items
The idea of spending money to make money isn’t new. But the idea of spending money on stuff you’re going to give away for free is a little harder to swallow. But logo items are a powerful way to spread your brand name. Whether you are handing them out in person at your business location, at conferences or mailing them out with online purchases, logo products are a clever and relatively inexpensive way to make an impact. Even little things like pens and pencils can be powerful tools for keeping your brand name present in the minds of customers. Flyers, emails and most advertising winds up relegated to a trash bin. But something useful can easily become part of your customers day to day life.
Branded items also give businesses an opportunity to be memorable by supporting a companies core philosophies. Gifts like stress balls or water bottles can promote healthy living. While products like recycled material tote-bags support messages of green living. You can also use these kinds of give-aways to show wit and personality. It’s all in how clever you and your team can be. The more creative you are when choosing your promotional products the more remarkable you can be. It’s usually best to start small, and experiment with what you like, but ideally your logo products will help keep your brand name ever-present in the minds of past and future customers.
Customer feedback
Small businesses actually have an advantage when it comes to customer feedback. Decision makers are often much closer to the trenches than they are in big businesses. That means customer comments can actually get through to the people that need the information to shape policy. The way you collect your data can be as old-school as customer comment cards, suggestion boxes and hotlines or it can be all web 2.0 using email, online surveys, comments, and reviews. The information you gather through these channels can be both disheartening and enlightening.
The most important thing to remember when looking at customer feedback is not to ever let it be personal. It can be hard when someone calls your baby ugly, but it’s also educational. Sure, you can ignore the un-constructive comments that are clearly from trolls, but what you’re really looking for are unifying themes. The ideas and concepts that seem to have multiple supporters are the ones that can bring the most insight. You may find that feedback confirms what you have suspected or it may open your eyes to a problem you never knew existed.
Customer feedback also brings us full circle to SEO. Interacting with users online is a major part of having a business that is successful online. The rise of social media has made it infinitely easier for companies to connect directly to customers though one on one dialogues. Participating in conversations relevant to your business, or even just the subjects associated with your business can help you gain additional feedback as well as ideas for new initiatives. Also when you collect customer feedback in the form of on-site comments and reviews you have the added benefit of user generated content, which is useful for both search engine rankings, and future customers.
Small businesses have a lot to contend with and often have many employees wearing numerous hats in their every day jobs. But it doesn???t take a full marketing department to implement these simple strategies. With an eye on basic SEO, cost effective logo items and customer feedback you may discover that it doesn’t take extraordinary measures to create amazing results.
Sarah is a frequent writer for the website quality logo products. They specialize in the conception and creation of unique logo products for businesses of all sizes. Sarah has been an avid blogger, freelance writer and brand consultant for several years.
