These basics will help you get accustomed to the #hashtag world and its exponential reach
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to understand online platforms even more. By understanding the big four (Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), you can decide which platform you want to dominate. A couple of weeks ago we talked about Linkedin and how it applies to online business. Today, we’re switching gears a…
Make sure your vision for a website meshes with your designer's. Otherwise, it could be expensive, frustrating, and devastating to your small business
Every business today needs a website but finding the right team to help build it isn't easy. There is no HomeStars for companies that design and build websites in Canada. We have many clients who've had terrible experiences with website building. Either the strategy for the site doesn’t align with the results, the content doesn’t match…
Are you giving marketing the respect it deserves?
One of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs make is to underestimate the power and importance of marketing. Right from the earliest days of a startup, marketing deserves a seat with the big boys: finance, human resources, operations, product development and sales. It shouldn't be an afterthought. And it’s not fluff. “Marketing is a core part of…
What online platform should you be active on and where are your prospective clients hanging out?
Troy Media is pleased to introduce a biweekly column by Donita Fowler, an online marketer who supports entrepreneurs in their quest to be the boss of their online platforms. We’ll post her column on Fridays. It’s hard for some of us to remember a time where we didn’t have a ‘pocket computer’ with us everywhere…
Tim Hortons desperately needs to make its Roll Up The Rim campaign work. But the chain may have again missed the mark
After a disastrous campaign last year, Tim Hortons finally got the message and opted to change its 35-year-old Roll Up The Rim campaign. But its new approach is not that simple. The iconic contest is now much shorter and incredibly more complicated. Given its last quarter financial results showed same-store-sales dropping by more than four…
You need a clear marketing strategy, prepared staff, the correct giveaways, quick follow-up on leads and plenty of energy
If you aren’t including trade shows in your marketing mix, you may be missing out. Exhibiting at a trade show immediately levels the playing field between you and the other guys, no matter how much bigger, richer or more established they are. Every business pays the same square-footage rate to get in front of people…
A poorly-chosen menu and questionable marketing led to a leadership shakeup. Innovation through trial speeds up change. But successive failures cast doubt
Tim Hortons has had what is likely one of the strangest years in its history. Most of the iconic chain’s decisions in recent months have been inexplicable. Canadians have been left scratching their heads. Take the Beyond Meat burger as an example. Tim Hortons took this well-promoted plant-based item off its menu in September 2019,…
That a guy nicknamed Elvis the Pelvis had tackled sacred songs was offensive and sacrilegious to many. But it was perfect marketing
Teenagers in the 1950s couldn’t escape the music of their parents. Despite radio’s new-fangled Top 40 and the attendant infiltration of rock ’n’ roll, the sounds of the past were all around. This was particularly the case for Christmas songs. But things began to change in late October 1957, thanks to Elvis Presley announcing the…
Only half of small businesses in Canada survive their first five years. Digital tools are critical to their success
Social media levels the playing field for Canadian small businesses and unlocks economic growth, says new research revealed Tuesday by Facebook Canada. The report, Empowered In The Digital Age: Leveling the Playing Field For Canadian Small Business, said only half of small businesses in Canada survive their first five years and accessible digital tools are…
Usain Bolt became the fastest human being ever by eating – wait for it – Chicken McNuggets, not following the latest health care fad
Kicking off her wonderful book from earlier this year, Christie Aschwanden asks a seven-word question that might help us recover some sanity for our hyper-affluent, marketing-mad society. “Do any of these products actually work?” Aschwanden asks in the introduction of Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn From the Strange…