By Barb Croxen

As we tell all of our clients, now is not the time to disappear. More than ever, small business owners need to take advantage of every opportunity to market themselves — through their website, online and print advertising, and social media.

Those elements all affect a prospect’s decision to buy into your product or service. Taking that into consideration, here’s what Spark5 Marketing thinks every new business should know about marketing and advertising:

1) If you don’t understand and know everything about your target market, find out. Do your research and identify the unique attributes that define the space occupied by your product or service. Listen to the voices of prospects and customers to get their perceptions, what they value and what they want.

2) Understand your competition and why they are, or are not, successful. Knowing who or what your prospects compare you to is key. It gives you the opportunity to position yourself for success.

3) The more prospects experience our brand, the more often they will think of you. Advertising and collateral material are necessities. With careful and thorough planning, you can reach your target market in a variety of ways. The trick is to have ads and collateral that feature strong design and concise copy. People have way too much to read these days. To get their attention, your message must be “to the point” and very attractive – particularly if you aren’t offering a special price on a product or service.

4) Embody your brand: Your brand should be evident in all things visual as well as behind the scenes. Your brand is the sum total of your company. It should encompass your reputation, customer service, price, feeling, attitude, logo, and your product and service line. Live up to who you say you are!

5) It may be cliché, but build your business on relationships, not transactions. Every opportunity to communicate is an opportunity to make and build a connection. Critical to turning that connection into a relationship, however, requires consistent follow, good listening skills and the willingness to continually take the service up a notch.