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

A friend of mine is thinking of starting her own insurance business, but she can’t leave her full time job until she’s tested the waters and determines if she has what it takes or if there is enough demand for her offering. We talked about the kind of marketing practices she could dabble in that [...]

Last night I attended my first baseball game of the season at AT&T Park in San Francisco. It’s tradition in most stadiums around the US to incorporate a little crowd participation on the big screens during a break in the game. Everyone has a little fun watching the KissCam, you know when couples are shown [...]

I typically focus on email marketing, since it is cost effective, it has a viral quality, and VerticalResponse happens to offer a great email solution for startups, but the following suggestions can apply to direct mail projects as well.
When designing your email campaign or your promotion mailing, from copy to layout, consider how your recipient [...]

My team visited Scottsdale, Arizona last week as exhibitor and sponsor of the Women Entrepreneurs’ Boot Camp.  We had a chance to sit down with organizer, Susan Ratliff, and discussed key marketing tips and business tactics for beating the recession in 2009 and I thought I’d share some of her insights.
Susan happens to be an [...]

The National Retail Federation announced holiday sales are up 7.2% from last year.  While these numbers are encouraging, here’s the real question: “Is Anyone Making Money?”
As the dark cloud of Recession looms over the economy, retailers are showing their desperation as they drastically slash prices to compete for consumer dollars.  The end result is [...]

The Marketing to Moms Coalition just released their Moms Annual Media Survey 2008.  The group surveyed 1,033 Moms all with children under 18 living at home via an online questionnaire.  Moms currently spend an estimated $2.1 trillion dollars in the U.S. marketplace.  Needless to say, knowing how to reach this key demographic can give your [...]

Among the constant influx of bad news I came across an article from Forbes singing the praises of emerging designers.  While this article talks mainly about fashion designers, I believe it can translate to other industries as well.  The bottom line is that retailers are looking for new ideas to excite and motivate their customers [...]

The producers at The Big Idea called asking if I’d make myself available to help out one of their viewers in need. His name was Tony, and here was his situation: He’s a dad of four kids, got let go from one job accepted a new one and that company went bankrupt right before his [...]

It’s travel season … last week Washington, DC for Franchise Appreciation Day and this week Franchise Update’s annual Franchise Development Conference at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, IL. The conference agenda is helping owners of franchise organizations (in a peer to peer environment) understand the present franchise sales environment and gain valuable insight for improving [...]

I just returned from the ABC Kids Expo in Vegas this past week.  The show is a children’s industry tradeshow that connects children’s manufacturers with buyers from specialty boutiques, department stores, and chains.  Buyer traffic was down as the case with most shows; however, I couldn’t help but notice a reoccurring theme throughout the five [...]