Previously, I offered some tips on putting your website to work for you. This month, I’m back to help make sure your website can be discovered by search engines, such as Google, which is vital to helping both customers and other businesses find you on the internet. The primary goal of search engine optimization (SEO) […]
The first employee people see
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Imagine you hired an employee who, when asked about your inventory, could only tell people what you used to sell. Or when asked where an item could be found, could only inexplicably point to empty space or not answer at all. Simply put, a single interaction with this employee might lead your customers to assume […]
Knowing customer needs before they do
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You’ve got a great location. You’ve got massive inventory lined up on nursery benches. Perhaps, you even have indoor lines of merchandise, such as home décor and clothing. As far as you can tell, you’ve got everything a good nursery or garden center should have. So, why aren’t people buying anything? Accurately anticipating your customers’ […]
Spending your first digital dollars
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Beyond the ads you see on Facebook, Instagram, and Google, digital advertising may be something of a mystery to you. Many small- and medium-sized businesses aren’t sure where to start when it comes to digital marketing, because it is still fairly new and its landscape is ever-changing. Given the challenges, you may be curious about […]
Shades of meaning
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It’s my privilege to work with a team of talented designers. One of them — Rachel Getsinger, Pivot’s senior design lead — takes the lead on many of our logo and branding projects. Recently, she has introduced Color Theory 101 to our clients when we present logo color options. In this month’s article, I’m passing […]
The right information in the right place
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My coworkers and I sometimes joke about our clients’ predilections for stuffing as much information as possible into an ad. To illustrate this, our designers created a presentation called “Applesauce.” It starts with an Apple Watch ad — simple and clear, with a single image and very little text. “Applesauce” then imagines what would happen […]
Brewing up some lessons in marketing
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One of the most popular events at the Farwest Show is the annual Pub Crawl. So in this, the Farwest issue, let’s talk about — you guessed it — beer. Before we go on, I must confess that for a Portland native and current resident, I fail my city in two major ways: I don’t […]
Lessons from a rebrand
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Tillamook Creamery — and the cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and butter it produces — is an Oregon Coast institution with international reach. Its products are available around the globe. I’m passionate about Tillamook cheese. It’s the only cheese I will buy, and their ice cream is a treat. Recently, in celebration of their 110th anniversary, […]
Looking at your marketing strategy
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I have the privilege and joy of working alongside my brother Erik at our marketing agency, Pivot. He’s usually the one who sits in meetings, silently following the conversation for a while. Midway through the meeting he breaks his silence and asks a question that is so thoughtful, on the nose, and (often) paradigm-shifting that […]
Start here: your marketing budget priority list
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Wouldn’t we all love to have the advertising budgets and marketing teams of Nike or Apple? Unfortunately, that’s not in the cards for most of us. Generally, small- and medium-sized business owners must prioritize their time and money. Are you wondering where to start, or whether you’ve covered the most important things? Here is my […]
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