Marketing Articles & Resources for Small Businesses

I'm very happy to congratulate 2 of my clients who received awards on Friday evening from the Chamber of Commerce, at its annual Membership & Awards Dinner at the DoubleTree Hotel in Monrovia. In addition to the awards they received from the Chamber, they also received awards of recognition from Federal, State and local politicians.

The 2011 color of the year is Pantone 18-2120 "Honeysuckle".

Nope, not a blase pastel pink, nor a shocking hot pink. Pantone describes it as Courageous, Confident, Vital. It's a color that inspires and uplifts in times of stress.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
~ Shakespeare

We all know that fear holds us back. That wording comes from a negative perspective. But when we ask ourselves, what fears are keeping us from doing more good, we step ahead, and look to see what good is not being done. That's a positive perspective that may be more motivating for some of us.

Branding is generally about clearly defining what your businesses is about. But did you know that sometimes, it can be better to brand your business around what it's against?

I came across this article today -- it's old (2007), but still thought provoking. Understanding Web Design.

The writer talks about how graphic & print designers often view website design as being so limited, with limited fonts, very specific grids, headers, footers, sidebars, etc, etc. However, he says we should look at web design from a different perspective. Web design is more like architecture or typography. His definition of web design is this:

I saw this quote on today's IAB SmartBrief
"Defeat is simply a signal to press onward."
~ Helen Keller
Some conventional wisdom tells us that when you're defeated, or things are really difficult, that you must be doing something wrong. This quote is a reminder that this is not always the case -- sometimes, it just means you're bucking the trend, and you've got something bigger to look forward to.