Many of our potential clients come to us because their current image isn’t working for them, whether we’re talking about a logo, website or printed marketing materials. They know that they need a new, fresh look to stand out from their competition and make an impact with their prospects. The problem is, that when push comes to shove, some of them want to stick with the same tired old look, using excuses like “this is how everyone else in our industry looks and we don’t want to be too different.” Unfortunately, when a redesign is just a new version of the same old thing not only is it not going to produce the results you want, it will also cause you to lose any branding you’ve currently achieved.

You can’t get get new results by doing the same thing, so if you’re going to have a new logo, website or printed marketing materials designed, heed the advice of the professionals you’ve hired, step outside your comfort zone and take a chance. It’s the only way you’re going to achieve the results you want. This applies not only to design, but also to advertising and even your overall marketing strategy.

If your business markets to specific ethnic markets and you don’t natively speak that language, chances are that like most small businesses in the same situation, you’ve found someone in your office to translate your marketing materials. While this can sometimes work out well, most often the results range from poor to dismal. While different countries may speak the same basic language, a phrase or word that means something in one area may mean something completely different in another area. One of our clients who provides professional Spanish translation services regularly post some of the funnier translation errors that they’ve found in marketing materials. You should check it out, and if your company is marketing to the Hispanic community, definitely give these guys a call. They can help make sure that your message retains the correct meaning.

This is a question we get quite often because business owners usually get tired of their own advertising long before their prospects do. So should you keep running the same ad? Check out this article in the upcoming October issue of Fortune Small Business for the answer along with additional tips to get the most from your advertising.

In the past, we’ve discussed the negative effects of today’s fragmented media on your marketing efforts, but what about the potential positive aspects? When television, radio and print were the only advertising mediums available, you had to determine a fairly specific demographic and target them with a consistent and singular message. Targeting groups outside this demographic or utilizing multiple messages would limit the effect of your marketing and risk diluting your brand. Today however, you can easily target a variety of demographics each with a message tailored specifically for them. And because of the fragmentation of media, you will  generally face little risk of diluting your brand as they will most likely never see the marketing directed at the other demographic groups. Keep in mind – this doesn’t mean you should try to be all things to all people; it means that you can now target a larger group of prospects with a marketing message tailored to best reach them and convert them into your client or customer.

As the economy continues to get worse, it’s more important than ever to stand out from your competitors if you want to survive the current challenges that most business owners are facing as well as the many more that are sure to follow. The knee-jerk reaction during tough times is to reduce costs in any way possible, which usually includes reducing or eliminating marketing budgets. Unfortunately this only increases the problem by reducing or eliminating any chances of producing new revenue. Think about it like a camp fire – if you stop adding wood to the fire, it is going to produce less heat. If you want to be warmer but plan to wait until your fire starts producing more heat before adding more wood, you’re going to have a long, cold wait ahead of you.

First and foremost, you will need to continue your marketing efforts and if at all possible, increase them. When the economy slows down and your competitors cut back on their marketing, it’s your opportunity to increase your market share by earning the clients they are losing. Your profit margin may be temporarily reduced during this period but your client base will increase. When the economy picks back up, your profit margin will return to normal levels if not higher than before, with even higher revenue provided by your new, larger client base.

You should also take a look at what is missing in your competitors’ marketing and fill the void. For example, if you run a custom pool company and you know that all of your competitors just build the pool and move on, while your company actually takes the time to replace any sod, plants and fencing that was removed or damaged during the construction, make sure that your marketing emphasizes that.

Another effective approach to add to your marketing strategy is to eliminate what isn’t needed so that more emphasis can be placed on what is. Cirque du Soleil did this when competing with traditional circuses by omitting certain aspects of their shows so that they could focus on the elements that provided the highest entertainment value while creating higher profit margins. You can and should do the same thing in your marketing strategy by determining what factors are not optimal, then eliminating them in favor of those that are.

A slow economy can be rough on small businesses, but it can also give them a serious advantage if they are prepared. Are you?