Archive for the ‘Advertising in Massachusetts’ Category

Use a Website in a Box site or Get a Professional to Make Your Website?

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Many start up companies, after they finish all other responsibilities, realize they need a website for their product or service.  Unfortunately many owners do not invest in quality and end up disappointed. There are countless examples of people going to one of those website in an hour sites; only to have the site take weeks to create because site is not user friendly.  Once they finally have given up, they just post whatever they created and leave it be.  This make the site lack the professional feel that their company exhibits, but the website leads potential leads to think this is how their entire company operates.

After months of peers and customers telling the do it yourselfer they need a professional site, they cave.  They get in contact with a professional website developer and are satisfied with the results. This route makes the small business owner pay twice though.

Do your research and do it right the first time.

Things to Do if Times are Slow…

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Right now, no matter what industry you are in. Chance are its slower than it should be.  A good place to jumpstart your winter is to call upon current and old customers.  You already have relationships with these clients and you don’t have to worry about getting through the gatekeeper to get to someone who actually has some power.  This simple effort of calling and seeing how their business is doing, takes minutes of your day.  A good sales person will be able to ask the right questions to see what you can do to help their business and yours.  With any luck, all of sudden your medicore winter just got a boost with out wasting any money or time chasing leads that come up empty.

Choosing an Advertising Agency Takes Some Research

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

 

When your company realizes that they have reached a point where it is obvious that your company needs advertising.  This point may be when you see that your sales have been stagnant for the past 4 quarters; which may be a good thing if it has been a positive during this terrible economy.   Otherwise if you continually barely break even, it is time to start research a quality advertising agency.  A simple google search such as “advertising in Worcester ma” is a good place to start.  From there choose the top 5 or 10 agencies that have a quality websites.  It will become self evident which agencies will offer similar ideas for success as you.  As you research the agencies, you will notice many choose to create websites for themselves that are made to impress other agencies.  Why in the world would an agency choose its competitors over its end users is beyond me.  Many have websites that are difficult to use and leave you questioning what on earth they are trying to push.

After skimming through the top agencies, you’ll want to schedule an appointment with some of the agencies.  Whereas your time is valuable, I suggest emailing the owner the companies for their portfolios. I for example can be reached at Zachary@giggidyadvertising.com

After you receive the portfolio, you will see an idea of what the agency is capable of and what type of direction you can expect.  Maybe a safe modest direction, or an out of the box direction that is sure to generate buzz for your brand. 

After this short work is done, you should schedule an appointment with your agency of choice, at Giggidy Advertising we can be reached at 508-989-8420.  During your appointment, you want to ask as many questions as the account executive is asking.  You are going to want numbers, success rates, examples, remember your money is meant to make you more money that’s why you are deciding to enlist the help of an advertising agency.  If the agency seems lacks, it’s not going to look in the best interest of your company. 

My final suggestion after you have completed the aforementioned is to ask for references.  Not just one or two but at least five.  This will give you a good picture of how the agency works.

Things to consider when choosing a website developer

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

 

After working in the advertising business with a strong focus on website design for some time now; I feel obliged to share some noteworthy instances that seem to occur.  When choosing a website developer, it is imperative that the client reviews all websites that the developer has created.  This will give the client a good idea of what the developer is capable.  This does not mean that the developer is limited to what he has created in the past, but he does have a style that is bound to repeat is some fashion or another.  This is not necessarily a bad thing; chances are that the website designs are focused on search engine optimization and for ease of use for the potential customers.  Clients have ideas in their head of what they would like their website to accomplish, and an idea of what the website should look like.  It is imperative that the client takes advice from their website developer, as they have a good idea of what will work and what will achieve the desired results. 

Prior to starting any website with any developer, the client must and developer must sit down and hash out expectations.  Since websites can range from one week of development to a year; it is of the utmost importance that both sides are on the same page.  It is expected that there will be changes throughout the process: text, color, pictures, etc. but the template of the website should stay the same throughout the process.  If the client agrees to a web 2.0 website which expands over the website and then 3 months later decides that they want a completely different website which does not offer any chance of being transferred to the new website; it must be expected that there will be a contract amendment to pay for a totally new website.

Also, in regards to the research of your website developer, it is extremely important to review the developer’s portfolio.  You will want to look at the graphic art that is displayed and make a determination that the quality meets your standards.  If not, you may want to have a separate graphic artist or see if your website developer has a subcontractor who can provide a portfolio which ideally will meet your standards.

Taking a little time in the beginning of a website development relationship will save thousands of dollars in time and frustration.  Good Luck!

Today’s economy is struggling in Massachusetts. Try Advertising!!

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Here are some steps that can help you get your advertising and business back on track.

Try to determine what the market wants. Do they want your product delivered in a certain way, Are there features they are willing to extra for? Are there some features they don’t need? Potential cost savings for you? Once you figure out the basics, you can charge a much more competitive price and then get your sales force out there to capitalize!!

Communication is key. You need do what your promise, deliver when you say so, and provide excellent after sale service. So many busineses do not follow this simple step, so it is easy to gain advantage in this area.

Quality counts

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Recently I was perusinga local business magazine and noticed how many advertisments were of poor quality.  Things that I noticed were not just because I am in the trade but any body reading the publication would notice.  Pixelated graphics, cropping not done properly, spell check not completed, and the worst was company’s logos being grainy and pixelated.  The amount of money invested in these publications, many advertisers use the publication year round which equates into $10,000 to $60,000.  How can a company expect to be thought of as a professional organization if the first thing the potential client notices is a poor quality ad?  I guess it may be work, because people may look at the ad just to see why it is so out of place and not comparable to competitors, but is that really what you want.  I guess it comes back to “good advertising doesn’t always sell more than bad advertising, but at least its good”. 

When your investing 10 of thousands of dollars, it is highly recommended that your company pursue a quality graphic artist, one with a portfolio, one that has worked with your industry before, one that is willing to come to you to work with you and communicate. 

The price of the advertising doesn’t change but the quality sure does!

Using Twitter as a Small Business

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

One month after DL Fitness opened their doors in Worcester, MA, the owners began to notice customers enrolling that were not from referrals or their limited advertising. The owners looked into the random customers and learnt that the clients had found them on Twitter.

The owners of DL Fitness did not really understand how Twitter worked, but quickly were informed that their current clients were raving about the classes on Twitter. As a result it created buzz in the online world. DL Fitness set up their own account and not have close to 400 followers who are the studios main advertising.

“We would like to say we had a good advertising campaign, but it seems Twitter is the cornerstone to our success”, the owners said.

Many small business start ups have no ad budget, as a result Twitter is the main source of marketing for these companies. It is easier to set up and update Twitter for low tech individuals than maintaining their webpage.

Small businesses typically get more than half of their customers through word of mouth and Twitter capitalizes on this. Twitter use 140 characters in length to update followers on specials on specific days and time frames.

Giggidy Advertising Giving our Clients the Edge

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

In this present economic climate, how would you like to achieve competitive advantage over your competitors and have a foot up against the competition when the economy revs up once again? Read on! This might be the most important letter you have ever received.

Here’s how. Giggidy Advertising provides you with a one stop environment where you have access to a wide range of professional, business-building services.

Now you do not have to spend valuable time and resources moving from agency to agency to access various services to promote and build your business. You get it ALL at
Giggidy Advertising.

We design websites which are:

 User friendly and Gripping. Your potential customers won’t be able to pull themselves away from browsing your product.
 Designed to be able to easily update as often as our client desires. Your potential customers will love its versatility.
 Accompanied by Search Engine Optimization so that the website appears in the top three spots on search engine results. You’ll be on top of the list for your potential customers.
Our Professional Photography offers a unique result which can be available at short notice. So you get the lead on your competitors.
Market Research is the key to success in the business world. We will do it for you, while you concentrate your limited resources on other areas to get your business up and ready to take advantage of every opportunity that available.
Our Media Planning team offers total control for our clients advertising budget that assures effective communication and the meeting of deadlines.
Giggidy Advertising also specializes in the production of Jingles, Public Relations services, creation of Company Newsletters and Logo Design.

You cannot afford to wait. Your competitors are not. And this economy sure is not waiting. ACT NOW!!!

According to research as stated by AC Nielsen: “In recessions, companies that invested more in marketing grew 274% in the first year post recession versus only 19% growth for those companies that pulled back on spending.”

Few agencies can boast of offering all that Giggidy Advertising has outlined to you. Go to our website right now www.giggidyadvertising.com and get the jump on your competition. The sooner you get to work on boosting your company, the better positioned you will be to take advantage of opportunities now and even more opportunities when the economy returns to its usual robust form.

We are waiting to be your partner!!

Website Development in a Bad Economy

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Website development in a bad economy

Aside from leads that are not from word of mouth references; advertising is how businesses survive during bad economic times. During these times, business owners must be aware that what they invest in advertising will return in sales two fold, if not more. The investment should be thoroughly researched and references should be taken into account.
For example, many companies try to save money by having an unemployed friend or acquaintance make a website for them. The acquaintance offers to make a site for them for”pennies on the dollar because they have nothing else to do and it should only take a few days.” The site is put together with little input from the company on account of the unemployed not being able to afford gas to visit the company to review the site. This results in a mediocre site being made that is not what the company intended or is fully functional. Don’t you love it when you go to a site and some of the pages don’t work? That makes your company look very professional. If somehow you skim by with a decent site, 3 months or 6 months down the road when you need to update where is that “acquaintance”? Probably still unemployed but does not think it is worth their time to return your phone calls or take the time to update your site. If you do get the person to agree to do it, it will probably cost you the same amount it cost to develop the site. While if you went to a professional website developer; the revisions would be included in the price. Worst yet, if you let the “acquaintance” sign up your hosting account and purchase your domain name, your company could be up the river with a paddle if the passwords and user names are not transferred to you.
At Giggidy Advertising we offer professional custom website development. We charge the prices we do, because it takes time. It takes time to meet with the client to make sure we understand what the client wants from the website. It takes time to make a site look professional. It takes time to make a site custom, completely unique. How embarrassing would it be if your site was made from a template and your competitor used the same template across town? Very unprofessional! And chances are both companies will not get the potential client on account of this frugality. If you pay peanuts for something that should be market value; you will get monkeys doing the work! At Giggidy Advertising, we are not the cheapest Agency, nor the most expensive. We charge what the project is worth and we strive to create long term relationships with our clients based on honesty, integrity and product that provided accountability through ROI. Take a couple minutes to review our site and our portfolio; then email us to set up an appointment to see what we can do for your company!

Fresh Ideas! Pure Results!

Chamber of Commerce

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

After a few weeks of being a member of the local chamber of commerce; I would have to say that it is very worthwhile investment for any small or medium size business. It puts your company in direct contact with many potential leads; and it is basically  your for taking, pending your salesman ship.  As a result I have been able to get 3 new jobs in the past month, that I would not have received other wise.  If you would like to receive more information on this topic or are interested in becoming a member, feel free to shoot me an email at Zachary@giggidyadvertising.com or call at 508-989-8420.