Tag Archives: Small business
What’s In LinkedIn For You?
Jaco Grobbelaar LinkedIn Profile
What’s in LinkedIn for you if you are not looking for a job or an employee? Why should you network on this site? And why for that matter have you gone to Chamber of Commerce and BNI meetings?
You go to Chamber and BNI events to meet people who might be able to help you improve your business. Or you go so that you can offer your expertise to those with less experience. Perhaps you go to meet people who have a service that you need. When you look in the Yellow Pages for a business, you are not certain you want to pick a business out at random. So your goal for going to the BNI or Chamber meeting is that you want to meet some people either in the business or who know people in the business so you can get references. Perhaps you are the one with the service to offer. While you are there you pass out your business cards to others and collect theirs.
4 Insights into Successful Marketing
A cook starts with a recipe. A tourist starts with a map. So why do many small business owners think they can run their business without a marketing plan?
Many small business owners think marketing equals expensive advertising. Some advertising is costly, but marketing also includes less costly ways to engage prospective customers, thanks to the internet. With some research, planning and execution, business owners can market successfully without enormous spending.
How to be That Leader
Leaders and Followers
At one time or another we all find ourselves in our first leadership position. We may be called to a temporary position to be evaluated for permanent one as a team leader. We might be called to a permanent position based on what the boss thinks of us.
What are the traits of a good leader? Do you know or do you just have gut feelings? While gut feelings are a good first step, traits actually spelled out give you a firmer idea of what is expected of you. Here are some that you can use as part of your foundation.
What Has Social Media Done to Marketing?
Image via CrunchBase
Do you remember when the Beatles became an overnight sensation? Well, I do. I guess that makes me old. You know you are old when the songs that defined your generation are being played in the pharmacy or in elevators.
OK, so I get nostalgic about the good old days, when men were men, women were women and there existed real newspapers for Clark Kent to work on, TV for Superman to have his own series, and radio and direct mail as well as the first two were key advertising elements.
It was a super time for marketing and here are some reasons why:
Website or Blog—That is the Question
WordPress blogging system
Not everyone who reads the blogs I’ve been writing is an expert yet. If you are a newbie, do you know if you are writing a blog that is used for a website? What does it become then?
Mike Clough in his post of June 28, 2010 (http://bestbizpractices.org/2010/06/28/is-your-blog-really-a-blog/) clarified the question by saying, “When a blog is used for website functions, it loses its value as a blog and in fact becomes just another website.”
Answers about Blogging for Business
Pet store business blogger
Not sure about the importance of blogging for your business? Let’s look at some information that might help.
What is blogging? There are blogs and there are blogs. In the beginning blogging was more like a web diary (the word “blog” is a combination of “web log”, which meant a log you kept of your life on the web). Now blogs have exploded out of that narrow definition as people write and read blogs for all sorts of reasons. Small businesses have discovered the value of blogging.
4 Insights to Marketing Success
Marketing Plan
A cook starts with a recipe. A tourist starts with a map. An architect starts with a plan. So why do many small business owners think they can run their business without a marketing plan?
To many small business owners, marketing means advertising – which means big bucks. And yes, some sorts of advertising are costly, but marketing also includes lots of less costly ways to engage prospective customers. With some research, planning, preparation and execution, business owners can be successful with marketing without spending enormous amounts of their budget on advertising.
Do be sure and include some marketing in your budget, but it doesn’t need to be a high ticket item. A word of warning: as you look at what your competition is doing, remember that it might not work for you. Don’t copy them or customers might mistake you for them.
Here in brief are four main insights that can lead to marketing success:
Branding for Beginners
Cheerios-made with whole grains
You want to go into some business. So you do your homework and discover that there are millions of similar companies out there.
You could crawl back under the rock you’ve been working for or you can learn an important key to help your new business idea stand out.
Let me start by giving you a short television commercial quiz.
