When choosing what marketing avenue works for your business you need to think about your target market. Who are you trying to reach? Where are they at? What are they doing? Looking at the answers to these simple questions will help you decide how to reach them.

Once you have decided on what type of marketing piece you are going to use, make sure you build some way to track the response into the piece itself. Include a special offer that is unique to that advertising piece or put in a special web address or phone number they can use. This helps you continue to make smart choices about where to put your advertising dollars. If the response isn’t good, you need to decide whether it is the message that is the issue or whether the advertising mode is the problem.

In the end, it’s up to you to decide what lengths you are willing to go to in order to promote your business. I know it can be a daunting task but you can do it! Tattoo anyone?

As a little girl, I went to my mother one day and told her it was a wonderful world we lived in because we had colored toilet paper. Yes, COLORED TOILET PAPER. Some of you may remember that we were able to buy toilet paper in pink, light blue, pale green, yellow, and peach colors long ago. Now our choice in toilet paper is white or…white.

And it’s not just toilet paper. Houses used to line the street in beautiful shades of blue, yellow, green, pink and more. Now entire developments are built where you have your choice of four neutrals for the exterior of your house. And cars? The road is full of silver and white vehicles. When did the world become so blah?

Mother Nature knows the power of color. You can’t look at a field of warm yellow sunflowers against a blue sky without feeling happy. Butterflies proudly wear their bright colors as they fly through life. And one thing people love about fall is the way the leaves change from green to yellow, orange, and red.

In the world of marketing it is understood that color can be used to evoke certain emotions in people. You can create a sense of urgency or calm, wealth or need, playfulness or stability, all with color. Color can build strong associations as well. McDonald’s will always be tied to red and yellow. UPS asks “What can Brown do for you?” When choosing colors for your business logo and marketing keep in mind what feeling you want to evoke. Here are the basics:

Blue: Loyalty and trust. Tranquility.
Red: Danger and excitement.
Yellow: Warmth and happiness. Energy.
Green: Natural and healthy. Growth.
Orange: Energetic and playful.
Purple: Royalty and celebration. Creativity.
White: Purity. Perfection.
Black: Elegance and power.

So leave behind the boring world of neutrals and embrace color! Now where’s that pink toilet paper?