Marketing 101 provides an overview of key marketing tactics for small businesses, including prioritizing efforts, branding and design, content creation, websites, email marketing, and social media. The document outlines steps for developing an effective brand identity with a logo, fonts, and color palette. It also provides guidance on creating compelling content in three steps and reviewing essential design tools and content resources. Finally, the document reviews best practices for using email marketing, choosing the right website platform, and committing to social media while measuring results.

1. Marketing 101

2. Agenda
1. Prioritizing Your Marketing Efforts
2. Marketing Tactics
• Branding and Design
• Content
• Website
• Email
• Social Media
2

3. 1. What is your
business need?
2. Based on your
business need, who
is your #1 target
audience?
3. Based on your
audience, where are
you most likely to
reach them?
How To Prioritize Your
Marketing Efforts
3

4. Branding And Design
4

5. Your brand identity is made up of three key pieces that will
be present across all of your business’s communication
materials:
• Logo
• Font
• Color
Developing Your Brand Identity
5

6. • Simplicity
• Constantly ask yourself,
does that element really
need to be there?
• Does it play a purpose?
• Smart color choice
• Each color evokes a
different emotion (red =
passionate, energy;
green = fresh, natural;
purple = luxury)
• Keep in mind who your
target audience is
• Adaptable (does it look
good big and small? In color
and in black and white)
What Makes A Great Logo
6

7. Your font choices need to be
purposeful and appropriate.
• Does your font support the
qualities of your brand and
the clients you wish to
serve?
• Will it be practical and
easily readable in the
context of your design?
• Choose a font that has
multiple weights (light,
regular, bold, etc.) or consider
pairing two fonts together
to serve as primary and
secondary fonts.
Choosing The Right Font
7

8. • Use a color generating websites
• Kuler – can customize your own
or browse through pages of their
already made palettes
• Color Hunter – you can upload an
image and get a color palette
generated based on the colors in
the image or search their gallery
• If you have a logo, use the dominant
color in your logo as your first
primary color. Afterwards, add one
more primary color, a secondary
color, and an accent color.
• Limit your palette to four colors
• Keep in mind that these secondary
colors can be tints and shades
Generating A Color Palette
8
JumpStart’s ColorPalette

9. • Create a one-page document
which lays out your brand
identity
• Specify what fonts are used for
headers/titles, subtitles, body
copy
• Specify within your color palette
which one(s) are your “core”
colors, secondary or accent colors.
• Show the variations in your logo
• Full color, black and white
• These guidelines will help
maintain consistency as you create
collateral, build a website and
grow your company.
Putting Your Brand Identity Together
9

10. • Canva
• Free layout templates that are sized for all social media
channels, posters, presentations
• The majority of the layouts and images are either FREE or cost
$1
• Font Squirrel, DaFont, 1001 Free Fonts, Google Fonts
• All four websites provide hundreds of free fonts, just be careful
about licensing
• Public Domain Archive
• Free stock photos that you do not have to attribute or give
credit
• Flickr
• Category of photos that are free for commercial use
Essential Design Tools
10

11. Content
11

12. Step One: This Is What I Do
Start by developing a “Key Message
Statement.” This is your value
proposition in its most basic form.
• The name of your company or
product
• Who it’s for
• What it does
• Your differentiator
• Aim for 50 words or less
Compelling Content In Three Easy Steps
12
Studio Stick is a
portable recording
studio that allows
“artists” to record
quality songs or
audio anywhere
on the go.
Sample
Key
Message

13. Step Two: This Is Why I’m
Different
• Add 50-100 word chunks
of content focusing on
specific differentiators,
such as:
• Price
• Quality
• Ease of Use
• Innovative Technology
• Ask yourself, why should
people buy my product, or
invest in my company?
Compelling Content In Three Easy Steps
13
Step Three: 3rd Party
Credibility
Solicit a testimonial from an
investor, mentor or customer.

14. Create these three pieces and you’ll have a strong foundation to
build on:
• When you bring on interns, freelance writers and/or content
specialists, they will come up to speed much more rapidly.
• You will be better prepared for pitch meetings, sales
presentations and media inquiries.
• You will have much of the basic copy your web designer
needs to get your site up and running.
• Even blog posts and other thought leadership becomes
easier once the foundation is laid.
Compelling Content In Three Easy Steps
14

15. Content Resources
15
Check Your Network:
Many strong freelancers
have day jobs or work
mostly through referrals
than advertising.
Get An Intern:
Northeast Ohio
Universities are full of
strong writers looking
for experience.
Interns & freelancers
are great for polishing
content, but the
foundational ideas
should come from you.
Pro
Tip:
Hit The Web:
Websites like Elance and
Scripted can help you connect
with freelance writing talent.

16. Websites
16

17. Yes, it does. But first, you need to figure out why.
For a startup or a local business – perhaps a restaurant, a
tech startup, retail store or something else entirely – a
website’s purpose may be to increase business by getting
your name out there and encouraging people to visit your
business and use your services, or to appeal to potential
investors, or even both.
A fast, well-designed, functional and mobile friendly website
is the only one to have.
Does Your Business Need A Website?
17

18. Well… maybe it doesn’t. At least, not right away.
If your site is bad, what could that do to your business?
At best, it won’t bring in any extra clients: a pointless
investment of your time and money. At worst – and here’s
the killer – it’ll actively put people off your business.
Does Your Business Need A Website?
18

19. Your website isn’t just your presence on the internet. For
many customers, your website is what shapes a first
impression and can go a long way in establishing (or
diminishing) your credibility.
If your website is clunky, slow, unappealing, not mobile-
friendly or has poor content: potential customers will lose
trust that you can deliver on the high-quality product or
service you’ve created.
On the other hand, if you have no website at all, there’s a
huge pool of people who won’t know you exist.
Does Your Business Need A Website?
19

20. Your Business Needs A (Good)
Website

21. You have some great options when it comes to website
creation tools for startups and small businesses.
Your Business Needs A (Good) Website
21

22. Key Features
• More than 500 site designs available in over 70 categories
• Mobile-friendly and responsive designs – with a separate mobile editor
• Access to Wix’s App Market where you can extend your site’s functionality with things such as
email subscribers integration, Shopify, live chat, testimonials, and many more
Best For
• Business owners who want to handle all of the work themselves and need a tool that would
enable them to do so from start to finish, while relying primarily on pre-made designs.
Pro
• Easy to make your site look awesome on mobile due to the custom mobile site editor
• There are new designs constantly being added, and you can easily see what’s new through the
filter feature in the designs
Con
• There can be almost too many designs to choose from, and you can waste time sifting through
options
Your Business Needs A (Good) Website
22

23. Key Features
• Modern design templates, purpose built by SquareSpace’s in-house design
team
• Built-in image editor via Aviary
• E-commerce components
Best For
• Design-conscious users and businesses that desire a modern presence on the
web. The range of features that Squarespace offers also makes it a great
alternative for advanced users and site owners.
Pro
• An incredibly impressive set of easy-to-add features.
• The designs are very modern, and beautiful in their simplicity.
Con
• The majority of the designs offered at Squarespace are based on good visuals
and attractive imagery, which can backfire in the hands of a less design-
conscious person. To build a good looking site with Squarespace, you need
images of a very high quality.
Your Business Needs A (Good) Website
23

24. Features
• Incredibly easy site creator
• Cloud hosting
• Simple, built-in site analytics
Best For
• Businesses looking for a very simple, clean site… possibly as a
“landing page” before developing a full site down the line.
Pro
• Great drag-and-drop site building feature that’s easy to use and
highly intuitive.
Con
• You can only create up to five pages on the free plan. This may not
be a problem for a small business site, but you won’t be able to do
much with your new site in terms of content.
• Free sites are created as subdomains under weebly.com.
Your Business Needs A (Good) Website
24

25. Features
• Free to use*
• Open source (which means enhancements are constant)
• Thousands of professionally designed theme options
• Comprehensive SEO, analytics and security tools
Best For
• Businesses willing to invest both time and finances into a professionally
designed and developed website.
Pro
• Virtually limitless flexibility in both design and functionality
• New features added constantly
Con
• While management is intuitive, building a WordPress site is not for beginners
• Susceptible to security exploits if not regularly updated
Your Business Needs A (Good) Website
25

26. A website is an investment and requires careful planning.
Don’t rush. Don’t skimp. Don’t cut corners or take the easy
way out.
Before you start, do your own research and ask for advice.
Think long and hard about what you want your website to show and
say about your business, then decide on the right platform or find
competent professionals to make it happen.
Your Business Needs A (Good) Website
26

27. Email Marketing

28. Email marketing is one of the most effective
methods of direct communication between a
brand and its customers.
• Think of it as an online version of direct mail, with the
added ability to see exactly who is opening their mail and
which campaigns are leading to sales.
• You can use email in a variety of ways, from building
brand loyalty and finding new customers to encouraging
loyalty and repeat business.
• The main drawback is that some consumers may consider
the emails to be spam and hold it against a brand's
reputation.
• If customers feel they are being bombarded by unwanted
emails from a business, they will be less likely to become new
or repeat customers.
Email Marketing For Small Business
28

29. • Newsletters: A quick way to regularly keep customers informed
on any business news or upcoming promotions. Newsletters are
typically sent on a recurring basis, such as every week or month.
• Promotional campaigns: These emails let customers know about
upcoming sales. These emails can be sent in the days leading up
to the sale, as well during the sale, as a reminder for customers.
• Invitation emails: This kind of message keeps clients up to date
on upcoming special events. Invitation emails can be sent weeks
or days before an event occurs as a way to encourage a
customer to attend.
• Catalog emails: Sent as a way to highlight products or services.
• Lead-nurturing emails: Designed to keep brands at the top of
mind for prospective clients. These emails are sent out regularly
until a potential customer is converted into a paying customer
Types Of Email Marketing
29

30. Email Marketing Software
30

31. Social Media

32. Social media is a time commitment with little immediate
return.
• Post updates consistently (5 – 7 times per week based on the
channel)
• Make sure to listen to and engage with your customers – both
positive and negative comments!
• Measure and optimize daily and monthly
Committing To Social Media
32

33. You don’t have to be on every channel – find the most
relevant one for your audience.
Choosing The Right Channels
33

34. Keep your business and personal accounts separate.
• You should mention your business on your personal accounts,
but your customers and your friends are different!
• Social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, have
separate types of profiles for businesses and those will allow
for better measurement.
Separating Your Personal And Business Accounts
34

35. As an entrepreneur, LinkedIn offers the opportunity to
connect with people in your industry and it will be one of the
first places potential investors, partners or job seekers will
go to research you and your business.
• Setup a company page for your business with a short summary, even if you
don’t actively post
• Even if you have another job, add your business to your experience section
• Actively connect and engage with people within your industry and the
Cleveland entrepreneurial ecosystem
• Great way to start blogging without setting up a separate site
Using LinkedIn
35

36. Know you’re objective and measure accordingly.
• Brand Awareness: Impressions and engagements
• Building a loyal customer base: Engagements
• Sales: Link clicks to your website
Measuring Your Efforts
36

37. Free Tools
37
SocialPosting SocialListening
SocialData

38. Thank
You!
38