Business Blogs: Trends, tips, and real-life anecdotes from industry experts.

Recently I asked small business owners to share the “one marketing thing” that has made the most difference for their business. I received some fantastic responses that range from practical to creative. Here are 31 of the best marketing “things” that have generated the most customers and leads for these businesses.

Last week I attended a business professionals networking event in my hometown.  The event was extremely well attended and actually turned out to be a lot of fun (I am not saying this just because I was on the planning committee).  I met a lot of great contacts and I caught up with some old [...]

Whether you’re a startup or you’ve been in business a while, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on marketing to get extraordinary results. Here are some usual marketing ideas that reaped extraordinary results from nine business owners across the US. Use their ideas to come up with your own unusual marketing ideas.

If you’re a business owner looking for some creative marketing ideas, you’ve come to the right place. Let me tell you something- If it’s being talked about on the news or on the Internet, then your customers are talking about it too. Become a part of the conversation with your out-of-the box marketing ideas and you’ll turn your business into a customer magnet.

Since I’m new here, I’ll introduce myself and give you a brief discription of what we’ll be talking about.
I’ve been working with the creators of StartUpNation since 2001 when I was hired to shoot Rich Sloan doing yoga on the conference room table in the Birmingham Michigan office of the up and coming StartUpNation.  I [...]

Constant Contact, the largest email marketing company in terms of number of users, is expanding its traditional focus to keep up with digital marketing.  With the growing use of social media as an effective and required marketing tool, Constant Contact is entering the Social CRM business. The company recently acquired Bantam Live, a social CRM [...]

Testimonials can be very good for business. Studies have shown that businesses with testimonials close 20% more sales than those who don’t. Here are 10 tips to tap into the power of testimonials to attract new customers to your business.

Should you exhibit your product at the upcoming National Hardware Show (May 10-12th)?
If you want exposure to thousands of industry professional looking for new products and the opportunity to learn from industry experts, YES…you should consider exhibiting at this show.
The trend in National Tradeshows is to include a “micro tradeshow” for inventors within the overall [...]

Have you been ripped off by a search engine optimization copywriter (SEO)?
Well, I just heard from another entrepreneur who hired a big, SEO research firm. Unfortunately, things did not go well, and this new business owner needed some help.
With this in mind, I thought it was time for a quick review so here are:

The [...]

If you are a new entrepreneur, one of the best ways to start building buzz is by contacting local media-members.
This way, you can practice your pitching skills with a smaller venue and begin creating media relationships to help your business grow.
But how do you start your publicity efforts?
1.      Research.
First, you want to read the local [...]