Lack of Marketing Plan Blows the Budget standard
A look at the importance of a marketing plan as exhibited by a restaurant owner, plus some suggested ways to improve the marketing performance.
Continue ReadingRevealing the Top 3 Secrets of Email Marketing standard
This is Part 1 on a new series: Revealing the Top 3 Secrets of Email Marketing Have you noticed how so many people bitch and moan that their emails never seem to get opened? They spout the percentages the media likes to throw around, like: “The national average open rate for email is less than 6%. And the click-through rate is even lower.” If you are one of those folks, please keep reading. We want to change the way you view email marketing, especially if you operate a small, privately-held business. Those who know the secrets and apply them have a completely different philosophy when it comes to using email as a marketing tool. They have developed a unique perspective on getting ...
Continue ReadingMarketing Your Small Business 4 Pennies standard
Hang on a minute. Does Marketing Your Small Business 4 Pennies even make sense? It does if you have no marketing budget and are hard-pressed to find new prospective customers. Marketing your small business for pennies is a concept that many very small businesses use to get off the ground. While traditional marketing and advertising tactics may seem passé, they do have their place and can be very effective for some businesses. But, digital marketing online is proving to be more efficient for the SMB community we serve. Plus, old school tactics tend to be more investment intensive. Remember Mad Men, the hit TV series that touted the Madison Avenue advertising agencies? It put a big fat spotlight on the old ...
Continue ReadingWhy Brands Are Blue Over Green standard
Brands like Whole Foods, Aldi, Tata Harper, The Good Trade, Honest Company, and many, many more are leading the way towards a lower carbon footprint, healthier people, environmentally healing action towards the critical issue of degradation of our world. Have you documented your company’s environmental sustainability plan yet?
Continue ReadingIs Your Website a Crime Scene? standard
Is your website a crime scene? Do visitors find their expectations exceeded and have a great experience when they open it?
Continue ReadingBeware the Sales Tax Nexus standard
The Official 2019 Tax Season may be over, but the discussions regarding Interstate Sales Tax isn’t and that brings to mind the sales tax nexus. If someone isn’t careful, this Sword of Damocles known as uncollected sales tax hanging over the heads of retailers and service providers may become a reality. Nexus, also called “sufficient physical presence,” is a legal term that refers to the requirement for companies doing business in a state to collect and pay tax on sales in that state. For example, if you sell goods or services in Los Angeles, you must file and pay California state taxes. Up to now, retailers that sell online across state lines are not necessarily responsible for collecting and reporting sales ...
Continue ReadingTop 5 Ways to Avoid Online and Offline Content Violations standard
Avoiding online and offline content violations, and the possibility of litigation should be on the minds of any serious small business person actively blogging and other forms of content production. The 5 ways we’ve found to avoid content trouble is to follow these recommendations. Now, please realize this is NOT legal advice of any kind, it is merely what you might consider as a good start toward risk avoidance and avoiding copyright entanglements. Centralize your Data - eliminate silos The first step in avoiding online and offline content violations is to understand that you have much more data than you realize. In fact, you’d probably be shocked at how much data really exists in your business, and I’m just talking about your ...
Continue ReadingYour Ideal Client – Who Is It Really? standard
As a business owner you probably think the world is your market, and that anyone with money is your ideal client. You couldn’t be more wrong.
Continue ReadingBogus Email; is the Third Time the Charm? standard
If you are anything like me, you’re sick and tired of bogus email that attempts to corrupt your computer, steal your information, compromise stuff like identity, bank information and all sorts of other nefarious deeds. As a business person you are in charged with positively impacting your clientele (or target audience), provide information through a variety of means, and recognize the importance of email, which has long been at the top of the tools list for doing so. Every developed business depends on email for communicating directly with it’s customers, clients, prospects, or patients. It’s the one way to know the message is getting through to them. That is, it used to be. As email continued to grow as fast as ...
Continue ReadingIs 2019 the Year to Rediscover Yourself? standard
Here Are 6 Things to Consider in Doing So It’s barely the end of the first month of this New Year and already the gyms are beginning to become less “busy” with resolutions falling off by the day. What started out as compaction is now settling back to a normal member flow, and the machines are nearly always free and available when I want one. However, I ask this with your best interest at heart. Is 2019 the year to rediscover yourself? Your business, specifically, but you are so much the business when you’re an entrepreneur, so it almost goes without saying. If you really want to make some positive change in your business and your life, consider doing these 6 ...
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