.A big part of branding is recognition. All your marketing materials – printed pieces, websites, newsletters, blogs, etc. – should have a consistent and easily recognizable look. Key elements of your brand’s visual image include your logo, color scheme, fonts, layouts and other stylistic elements. Remember, if your marketing materials are a mismatched hodge-podge of colors, designs and messages, it will be very difficult for you to build a recognizable presence in the marketplace.
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Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com.

When you stop to think about what it is that you’re really selling, you realize that you’re selling solutions to the problems, needs or desires that your ideal clients have. Plus, you’re probably selling different things to different audiences. For example, a restaurant might sell “convenience” to one target audience, a “fun evening out” to another group of people and a “way to connect with family and friends” to others. Whether you’re writing marketing materials or making sales calls, always determine what solution you're offering to the particular group you’re targeting, and then focus your message on this.
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Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com

Chances are, your business has more than one target audience, and your marketing program should reflect this. Have you identified all your target audiences? For example, if you’re selling quick print services, your list might include:

• Current and past customers 
• People who inquired about your services in the past but did not buy
• Graphic designers and others who might recommend your services to their clients
• People who “follow” your business through social media sites
• And more

​Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

When was the last time you contacted your top customers? How about the 2nd & 3rd tier of your customer list, your database of potential customers and all your other contacts? If you don’t have a formal program for keeping in touch, you should. An email newsletter can be ideal for this purpose. The key is to stay top-of-mind so that when someone has a need for your products or services, you’ll be the one they call.


​Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

Most people have a hard time figuring out what to do with punctuation that comes within something that is in quotation marks. Here’s how it works… Commas and periods are always placed before the closing quotation mark. Question marks, exclamation points, and dashes are put before the closing quotation mark when the punctuation applies to the quotation itself, and after when the punctuation applies to the whole sentence.
 

• “I wonder,” she thought to herself, “when the cherry blossoms will bloom.”

 

• Eleanor screamed in exasperation, “I want to go home!”

 

• Do you agree with the saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned”?

​Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

Many businesspeople make the mistake of focusing on their product’s featuresinstead of its benefits. What’s the difference? A feature is a fact about the product, while a benefit explains or demonstrates how the product will benefit the customer. For example, “made of heavy-duty plastic” is a feature; “guaranteed unbreakable” is a benefit (in this case, the benefit of it being made of heavy-duty plastic).

​Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

Your business’ marketing plan is your roadmap for success. Regardless of the plan’s length, here are the key elements that it should contain:

• Business/financial objectives – Your business’ overall goals.
• Market overview – Description of your market, product and competition.
• Marketing objectives – What you hope to accomplish with your marketing program.
• Target audience definitions – Who are you marketing to?
• Key creative, media and promotional strategies and tactics – The “guts” of your marketing plan.
• Infrastructure issues – Known issues your company faces that may impact your ability to reach your goals.

Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

One way to generate publicity for your firm is to become known as the “go to” expert in your field. What can you do to establish yourself as an expert? Try some of the following tactics:

• Give talks to community and business groups.
• Write an informative newsletter or blog.
• Become a published author by turning a collection of your articles into a book.

Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

Do you get confused trying to determine when to use a semicolon and when to use a colon? Semicolons are used either between two independent clauses (i.e. groups of words that can stand alone as a sentence) or to separate long or complicated items in a series that already use commas. Colons are primarily used to introduce explanations, examples, series, lists, or quotations. Think of semicolons as “separators” and colons as “announcers.” 

• Gerald arrived at the office just after dawn and stayed until well past the dinner hour; by the time he got home, he was exhausted. 
• There are three things that Dawn loves to cook: lasagna, pasta salad and chocolate chip cookies.

Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

Your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, is what clearly answers the question, “Why should I do business with you instead of your competitors?” Often translated into a tagline, the USP should be the basis for all your company’s marketing efforts. Remember, when people are deciding whether they should do business with you, there’s a good chance they’re also evaluating your competitors’ offerings. Be sure to give them a good reason to pick you!

​Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com.