Business cards are essentially used for sharing professional contact information, but with the right strategy, they can do so much more.

Immediately engage prospects and colleagues with a QR code included directly on your business card, the new school version of a URL.

You’re destined to be remembered with an edible business card. Of course, I’d keep some traditional paper back-ups handy – these won’t last long.

Giving out a 3-dimensional card, something fun to display, will increase the chances of people sharing your card with others.

See some more ideas at Mashable.

What’s the difference between branding and personal branding? As Bernadette Jiwa of The Story of Telling explains, “‘Personal branding’ is simply how we market ourselves to others, we do it subconsciously every day in the way we dress, speak and act.” The same is true for companies – branding is the way companies market themselves to others in the way they “dress” (like with a logo or website), ”speak” (like in marketing communications), and “act” (like in public relations).

A great example Jiwa gives is regarding the graphic designer David Airey. As she explains, a Google search for the term “graphic designer” turns up over 25 million organic results and Airey is one of the first. If you think about it, through personal branding, designer Airey has made is name virtually synonymous with the general term “graphic designer” – an impressive feat! Just imagine the number of graphic designers and graphic design agencies all across the web that come up in those 25 million results.

After a discussion with Airey, Jiwa composed a list of ways in which he accomplished developing his personal brand. Though geared toward personal branding, many of these strategies could be tweaked to apply to companies as well:

• Invest time in creating a reputation – define who you are and what you stand for with an online presence.

• Decide how you would like to be perceived in your niche and set goals to achieve.

• Leverage your online platforms – communicate your abilities/services/products and showcase your expertise.

• Build a community and connections around your work using social media.

• Evolve your brand as your reputation grows.

• Openly display your work, ethics  and authenticity across all marketing platforms.

• Give your audience a place to stay up to date, interact, and acquire and share knowledge.

• Do great work!

Search and social marketing blog Single Grain recently created an interesting infographic showing how Facebook plays a role in our daily lives – and how life would be different without it.

From a marketing standpoint, Social Grain’s graphic shows that a whopping 70% of local businesses use Facebook for marketing. This is probably a massively helpful and valuable tool for local businesses. Just imagine, less than a decade ago it did not exist! Clearly Facebook marketing has caught on, and is fairly mainstream, from major global brands to your neighborhood small businesses.

Still not convinced about the power of content marketing? According to Social Grain, the average Facebook user creates 90 pieces of content per month… that’s an average of about 3 pieces of original content per day! Considering the number of Facebook users is now approximately 600 million (as of January 2011), this is an incredible statistic. At 600 million users, the “population” of Facebook has now surpassed the entire population of North America (344 million), exceeded the total number of internet users in all of Europe (475 million), and eclipsed the entire population of Russia (143 million) approximately 4 times. There are more people on Facebook today than there were in existence just 400 years ago (in the year 1600, the world population was 545 million).

With 770 billion page views per month, what would the world be like without Facebook?

Bing’s newly enhanced local listings will not only help the search engine continue to differentiate itself from Google (Bing being “The Decision Engine”), but will provide great value to businesses utilizing Bing’s business listings.

Bing’s Director of Product Management for Mobile Andy Chu told Fast Company that “fifty percent of mobile searches are users looking for businesses or entities related to local.” In addition, mobile searchers will typically come to a decision within an hour (as opposed to typically a week for those searching on a PC). Put simply, mobile searchers want local results – fast. As Fast Company noted, “That’s why it’s important for merchants to have as compelling information available as possible via mobile search. It could make the difference between that hungry searcher choosing your cute French bistro, or the one down the street.”

With Bing’s revamped local listings, businesses can verify and claim their pages faster, include deals and coupons directly within listings, and businesses like restaurants and bars can even include menus.

How are you utilizing local listings to differentiate your business?

A couple of weeks ago, we explored how small businesses utilize their websites. Now, Postling and Mashable have conducted a study on how small businesses utilize social media.

According to the study, not surprisingly, Twitter and Facebook are the social networks most used by small businesses, with 78% utilizing Twitter and 75% Facebook. Twitter and Facebook usage is followed by LinkedIn, but at only 30%, with WordPress at 22%, Flickr at 13%, Tumblr at 11%, and Blogger at 10%. Obviously, Twitter and Facebook are the most used by a long shot. Similarly, Twitter and Facebook account for 97% of comments received across all platforms, so engagement is high, perhaps explaining their popularity. While Twitter drove the most comments, Facebook drove the most click-throughs on shared links.

See the infographic below for all of the findings from the study.

According to an analysis by Formstack, only 45% of small businesses have websites. While this is still less than half of all small business, it is an increase of 12% since 2007.

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So, why do more than half of small businesses not have a website? According to the study, the most common reason given is that it is unneeded (41% of respondents). In addition, 19% feel it costs too much, and 16% feel it is too time-consuming. Still, 13% of new small business responded that they plan to create a website.

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Of the 45% that do have websites, how do they use them? According to the research, a resounding 80% use their websites for providing general information about their business. After that, 45% use their websites for customer service, 35% for lead generation, and only 30% actually utilize e-commerce. Fifteen percent use their websites for taking appointments or reservations, and a mere 13% responded that they post a blog.

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As people who love making websites for small businesses, this research is particularly interesting. Why don’t you have a website for your small business?

As the new intern at Ashworth Creative I have been given the task of handling all things social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and this blog. Part of my daily routine consists of keeping up to date with all of our favorite bloggers. As I was reading through the hundreds of new posts this week, I came across an interesting trend: a battle over the life of social media.

According to the blog Duct Tape Marketing, social media doesn’t matter anymore. The blog is based off the Duct Tape Marketing book by John Jantsch, which claims to give simple, effective and affordable small business marketing tactics. John claims that small businesses are lacking in the adaptation of social media, agencies are over-adapting to social media, and in reality it’s all irrelevant. He goes on to say that the reason why social media doesn’t deserve the hype is because it doesn’t exist beyond a label. Social media was mislabeled, and really it is part of the new way of marketing; listening to and involving consumers. Social media tools, plans, agencies, departments, and experts are drawing focus away from marketing strategies and tactics. Instead of wasting resources on the hyped-up social media trend, marketers should be focusing on engaging prospects, customer experiences, collaboration with communities, and fusion between offline and online activity.

So right about now I feel pretty useless, but as I continue reading through the blogs the life of social media (and my job!) starts looking up.

I came across a post from Brian Solis in honor of National Small Business Week. Brian claims that social media in small business in anything but small. He discusses how social media is helping small, local, and emerging businesses increase visibility and value. People and businesses are connecting, consumers are participating, and customer-bases are unifying all from opportunities created by social media. Results from a study published by the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Network Solutions shows interesting statistics about social media adoption among U.S small businesses. According to the study, the rate of small businesses adopting social media has increased from 12% to 24% over the last year. More interesting statistics from the study: 61% of small business owners use social media to identify and attract new customers, 75% of those surveyed have a company page on a social networking site, and 45% expect to see profits from social media integration over the next 12 months.

Now I’m beginning to feel better about my love for social media (and the importance of my job!). I disagree with John; I think social media does still matter, and can be used to reach and start the conversation with your consumers. However, it is important to note that social media alone can’t be your only marketing strategy. Social media can be utilized as a supplement to other strategies such as search engine marketing, optimization, traditional advertising, public relations, and other marketing tactics. Brian found fascinating statistics about the use of social media in small businesses, and made an interesting point: social media help businesses and people connect. If your business doesn’t have an online presence, you might as well not exist. This online presence doesn’t just include social media, but a website, searchability, general contact information, and perhaps even some multimedia. The Internet is the first (and probably only) place consumers go for information.

Even Facebook is becoming a search engine, and not only for people but businesses too. According to Eli Goodman, a blogger for SearchEngineWatch.com, Facebook hosts 600 million U.S. searches per month! Currently the majority of searches on Facebook are for people, but Facebook can further develop their search technology so that when an individual searches “cars,” a list of their friends’ “liked” related pages such as BMW or Toyota appear. This type of social search doesn’t exist yet, but as consumer behavior changes we may see Facebook redefine search and become a key search market player.

All of this social media buzz may seem overwhelming to you, but have no fear Ashworth is here to help! I came across a blog post by Michele Linn from MarketingProfs Daily Fix . She gives some great tips to remember when you consider starting a social marketing plan:

(1) Start small. Don’t jump into every social media vehicle at once, you will be overwhelmed. Try setting small goals: check out other blogs first, try writing possible blog topics, observe how others are using Facebook and Twitter, do some research on your target market to see where they are interacting.

(2) Realize opportunity cost. Starting a social media campaign is time consuming, and sometimes hard work! You will have to spend hours researching, developing, and maintaining your presence.

(3) Get others to help you. Have a group of people at your business help maintain your online identity. Or hire outside marketing agencies (like us!) to design and develop a strategic online marketing plan. Once established, think about hiring someone internally to keep your online presence going and up-to-date.

(4) Commit. Once you have your website, social profiles, and online existence, you must keep it going. Engage and interact with your consumers, keep information current, and grow your customer base.

Want some more tips? I found a post on Mashable.com that describes 6 tips for effective recruiting on social media sites. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook, we are always posting useful and interesting information. What do you think about the importance of social media? Should marketers stop using these vehicles all together? Do you think social media is effective? What do you think could make social media more effective? Any comments, suggestions, questions? Let us know what you think, we love hearing from our fans! Until next time, keep tweeting, liking, and posting, it’s good for you :)

Listening and understanding are two of the major core values Ashworth Creative strives for. We do so, not only to meet the needs of our current and prospective clients, but also to connect and create lasting relations.

With a new year comes new perspective. I know we’re pitching all year long, but after reading an article about how to pitch to investors (http://www.garage.com/ resources/perfectingpitch. shtml), we noticed many parallels that are also applicable to potential clients. So, we thought it would be nifty to share these savvy pitch tips.

“Wow, these guys are good”

• -Include company name, logo, location, tag-line, and the presenter’s name and title on the cover slide so people know what is going on before the presentation begins
• -Tell an exciting but quick story
• -Introduce the team at the beginning of the presentation, so the audience can relate on a personal level
• -Quickly present core values and company history while name dropping past and current clients along the way
• -Qave problems? We have solutions
• -Articulate ability to problem solve and understand the current creative or marketing dynamics. In addition, demonstrate how your company fits perfectly with the client needs

“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side”

• -Be the last company to pitch and get information on competition
• -The more you know, the more you illustrate a competent and confidence in your field of expertise
• -Illustrate key benefits of your company and express their value in terms of direct benefits to the client
• -Articulate how your work is original and how other companies can not duplicate your intellectual and creative property
• -Have a list of competitors strengths and weaknesses. This requires some in depth research, but hey, it’s important!

“At least they’re honest”

• -Explain your pricing, materials, deliverance, and realistic goals in an honest and clear fashion
• -Demonstrate flexibility and be reasonable about deadlines (consider potential milestones that may arise in the project)
• -Always be prepared and open for any questions or concerns of the client
• -Explain what happens if the project takes longer than estimated
• -Notify the client if the budget is subject to change

“Let’s get started”

• -Be confident, always bring that contract!
• -If all goes as planned, the prospect will want to begin right away

Additional Tips

• -Have very little text on your PowerPoint
• -If possible, visualize! Meaning, use charts and images
• -Keep the client engaged by asking them questions
• -Be realistic and never make unrealistic promises
• -Make the client feel comfortable and engaged in your presentation
• -Be personal! the most important word in the world is a person’s name. Also, never underestimate the power of (friendly) eye contact.
• -Change the presentation to fit personality. So, know your audience
• -Do not leave lengthy brochures behind for the client to read
• -Be creative and call them to action!