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The Big Opposable Blog.
Unlock big marketing ideas for small businesses.
Welcome to Creative Jungle! Dive into a treasure trove of marketing wisdom tailored for small businesses. Discover tips, tricks, and strategies to help your business swing to success with monkey-like agility and creativity!
Why small businesses need to get weird (or at least a little wild) with their marketing
Let me tell you something I’ve learned after three decades of working with small businesses: the safest marketing is often the least effective.
I’ve worked with dozens of small business owners who were convinced their marketing needed to look just like their competitors’. “Let’s keep it clean, conservative, and on-brand,” they’d say. But here’s the thing: blending in is the opposite of branding.
The strategic imperative of marketing during economic downturns
When businesses reduce or eliminate marketing, they don’t just save money—they surrender market share. They silence their voice at the very moment customers are most in need of reassurance, information, and continuity. And when recovery begins, they face the uphill battle of rebuilding brand awareness and re-establishing trust, while others who stayed present during the downturn move ahead with momentum.
Beyond the AI marketing hype: Small business reality check
AI is being marketed brilliantly. The OpenAIs and Microsofts of the world are selling you on how these tools will transform your business and simplify your life. Ironically, they're using exceptional marketing to convince you that you might not need marketers anymore.
What they're not conveying clearly is just how much time and effort is required to use these tools effectively. This creates a dangerous disconnect for small business owners who are already stretched thin.
The fundamental misconception is viewing AI as a replacement rather than an enhancement. Think about technological evolutions we've already witnessed: word processing replacing typewriters, digital photography replacing film, Photoshop revolutionizing image editing. None of these advancements eliminated the need for the human element—the writer behind the keyboard or the photographer behind the camera.
AI is no different. It's a suite of tools that can help realize the vision in your head and communicate it effectively. But without marketing savvy and experience driving those tools, you're missing the critical human component that makes marketing effective.
What’s in a brand?
A healthy brand depends on much more than a logo. Factors such as consistency of style and messaging, employee buy-in, customer experience and patience are but a few elements that contribute to a healthy brand image.
Do you need a marketing specialist or marketing generalist?
Every brand has a story. Every entrepreneur has a mission. Capturing that information is crucial to developing an effective marketing presence—so who do you need to tell your story, a marketing generalist, or a specialist?
The 4Ps of marketing transition.
IIf you’ve ever taken a marketing course, you’ll undoubtedly be familiar with the 4Ps of marketing. What’s often not addressed are the 4Ps of Transition©—Price, Perspective, Patience, and Presence—a shift in mindset that’s required of clients at the very start of the marketing process.
Is your website accessible?
Accessibility is the practice of designing and developing websites that are usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities, disabilities, or preferences. Accessibility is not only a legal requirement but also a moral and business responsibility, as it ensures that your website is inclusive, fair, and respectful of all your potential customers.
5 things you may be doing wrong in your marketing…
Small businesses fail for many reasons, and the number one reason for failure is poor cashflow (50 percent). However, a staggering 22 percent fail due to lack of a sound marketing strategy, and 14% fail because they have poor marketing. Many businesses attempt to market themselves as best they can. Here is a list of five things you may be doing that aren’t helping your business and a list of five things you could start doing right now…
What is marketing’s future in the age of AI?
What is the future of the marketing profession with artificial intelligence (AI) emerging in popularity? Does it spell doom to career marketers, or will it merely evolve to be another tool for savvy professionals to advance the creativity and effectiveness of advertising and promotional efforts?