Effective Marketing Tactics for SMBs by George Bounacos
Find or create something remarkable about your organization. We're a very high-touch boutique agency. We don't work with everyone who calls us. We look for businesses where the passion to be excellent is present. You don't need to be in an exciting life-or-death field, but we look for people who are passionate about being the best in their field.
There are many differentiation strategies. Quality is one, price is another and excellent service is a third. Anything that someone values is a potential differentiator for your business.
Constantly communicating that differentiator in all of your messaging is one of your biggest responsibilities. Unless you're fortunate enough to have discovered or created something, you will have direct substitutes as competition. Helping prospects understand what makes your organization special is a key component of your communication strategy, including your online channels.
George Bounacos, Silver Beacon Marketing's founder and COO, began an obsession with online businesses in the 1980s. The four startups of which he has been part have sold for a combined $96 million. While an executive at CARFAX.com, he created the company's Buy Back Guarantee program and led revenue generation from more than 20,000 businesses. Later, he managed a lead generation practice for an internet yellow pages firm. He has since launched two online businesses, including Silver Beacon, which focuses on profitability for small businesses and non-profits.
A graduate of George Mason University, Bounacos has been a Google AdWords professional for years. He judged the School of Management's undergraduate business case competition each semester for a decade and has guest-lectured in three other GMU business classes in the last two years. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors appointed Bounacos to a three-year term on the county's Consumer Protection Commission in 2009.
Bounacos co-chaired the American Diabetes Association's Step Out fundraising walk in Northern Virginia and led social media efforts for the International Children's Festival at Wolf Trap. Bounacos and Silver Beacon donate more than 400 hours of work each year to SPARC, an organization helping Northern Virginia adults with disabilities.
