PROSAR Inbound Blog

It’s natural to want to find a quick fix, something that takes little work and provides a big payoff (ever bought a lottery ticket?). Anyone who has been in the workforce for a while comes to the realization that working smart is the best route to success. Working smart involves having a strategic plan and labouring methodically to achieve it, monitoring and adapting as you go. If your company wants to nurture sales leads and grow (just in case that lottery ticket doesn’t work out for you), then “all-in-one” or “marketing automation” software is a good example of working smart. What I take issue with is the companies that imply  that their software does the marketing for you.

Would like more traffic to your website? How about increasing your number of qualified leads? Of course you would!! Every business who wants to not only survive, but thrive, looks for ways to increase business and get more sales.

Super Bowl ads have become something for fans and marketers to look forward to. Regular viewers and professionals love to critique the ads and share their favourites. And of course there are the controversies, like this year's Volkswagen ad - The Minnesota man with the Jamaican accent or the Coca-Cola ad - Race across the desert.

You’ve probably heard the maxim “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” — a witty and powerful turn of phrase that most everyone will agree with. However, if I asked to see your 2013 marketing plan, 70% of you would have nothing to show me. The actual percent varies slightly depending upon whose stats you favour, but the numbers demonstrate that less than 30% of small to medium-sized businesses have a structured and detailed marketing plan. The stats improve slightly (still under 40%) when we consider a marketing plan developed for a specific niche, such as z campaign for mobile users or a content marketing strategy. So some of you are preparing your businesses to take advantage of market opportunities, but most of you are doing what you did last year, or simply hoping that it will be a good year this year. Is that any way to run a company? It is certainly no way to grow a company.

I don't know about you, but watching traffic grow on a website is really exciting for me! Seriously. It's awesome to see traffic growing in general, but even more exciting when I can see that it's increased compared to the previous month or previous 3 months (better average).

Currently our firm is working with a start-up company to help create their corporate name, brand/product name, brand image, company website, etc. It's a really exciting project, but unfortunately I can't share the details with you yet. (Stay tuned!). However, it has got me thinking about brand names, why they are so important, and what makes a great brand name.

Have you written down your New Years resolutions for your business? Wait, scratch that. Over 85% of New Years resolutions fail. Why? There are many reasons, but a few come to mind: they are too general, there's no plan, or no deadline is established. 

What do the words "cheat sheet", "marketing mistakes", and "successful promotion" have in common? They are in the titles of our top 10 blog articles of 2012!

As 2012 draws to a close, we look forward to 2013 in anticipation of more exciting changes in the marketing industry! As people's habits change and evolve, marketing needs to adapt as well. That's part of the fun of working in this industry; there are always new ways to reach customers, especially in the digital scene.

From the start let me say that I am not a proponent for smokers’ rights. I have sympathy for those who are addicted, but certainly support anti-smoking programs and laws… until they go too far.