What’s missing from marketing automation systems today are insights into who customers really are, beyond their demographics and one-dimensional profiles in CRM systems. With more sales forces choosing to virtually connect with prospects through the majority of a sales cycle, understanding who a prospect is beyond their title or role is crucial. Generating leads is a daunting task for many…
Category
Small Business Planning
Small Business Coaching Helps Business Owners Find Their ‘Safe Place’
Owning a business isn’t a walk in the park. It takes plenty of hard work and perseverance, and in many cases, even the most dedicated small business owner will run into trouble when they least expect it. Some of these problems can make a business owner feel paralyzed. No matter how optimistic things looked in the past or how good business has been, it’s easy for small business owners to hit a…
What Branding Really Means, and Why it’s Usually Code for BS
My brand is vital to me—but not in the way you’d expect if you heeded the rubbish spouted by “branding experts”, designers, consultants, and the Internet-In-General. If you think branding is important, you are right. If you think you should spend money on branding, you are right. But if you think your brand is your visual identity—logo, website, product packaging, that sort of…
How to Find & Remove Non-Essential Content
There’s been a lot of talk about quality content in the SEO world for the past couple of years. We do our best to be mindful of Google’s Content Quality Guidelines and know that a human rater may review the page quality of the content we provide for consumption by users. Looking at the Big Picture Creating fresh content that is insightful, entertaining, or informational is important. But that’s…
Increasing Your Small Business in the Current Economy
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 200,000 businesses closed down between 2008 and 2010. The tough economic times during that span forced many small businesses around the nation to fold. Many entrepreneurs have been riding the wave and hoping to still be holding on when things level out. They would also, if they could just find a way, like to grow their business during this time, rather…
Is Personal Branding The Future Of Marketing?
I am truly honored and amazed at all the provocative, interesting and insightful points of views we have seen thus far on the Future of Marketing . In our last interview, Drew Davis offered guidance on how to move from branded content to a content brand . Previous interviews covered the Customer’s brand , Marketing Creativity , Big Data , Big Testing , Customer Experience , Thought Leadership ,…
The Truth About Working From Home
At the most recent meeting of the She Owns It business group , the owners talked about the pros and cons of allowing workers to do their jobs from home. “I’m a huge advocate of having everyone together for the sharing of ideas and communication, but I think that, as a business owner, you need to be flexible,” said Beth Shaw, who owns YogaFit . She said she had had both successful — and…
Branding the Pope – Forbes
I’m writing this just after the conclave of cardinals announced the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who last month became the first modern-day pontiff to abdicate the throne. They charted some new ground, choosing 76-year-old Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first non-European to fill the role in more than 1,200 years and the first ever from the Jesuit order. But in other ways, it…
Coaches can help business people thrive – Business
As children and students, people are surrounded by models and mentors in the form of parents, teachers, coaches and advisers. That changes once someone starts a business or gets a job at companies without solid mentoring programs. There’s often no one to turn to and plotting a career path or building a small business gets lonely. Enter the business coach. Just as the athletic coach doesn’t run…
How to Fully Embrace Your Branding (Or, the Duck Commander Guide to Brand Depth and Consistency)
Branding is a funny thing. It’s a full, comprehensive experience that goes far beyond coming up with a catchy name and cool-looking logo for your business. Today we’re going to talk about brand depth and consistency and we’re using…wait for it…the company Duck Commander , a duck call company [...]
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