Should Your Small Business Get Political?
Should Your Small Business Get Political?
Stop us if you’ve heard this one: “A politician walks into a nondescript farm-to-table restaurant named after a scarlet female fowl …” Oh, so you already know about Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ quick jaunt to Lexington, Virginia’s Red Hen restaurant? If not, here’s the skinny: In June, the White House press secretary was asked to leave the restaurant because Red Hen co-owner Stephanie Wilkinson didn’t agree...
Online Reviews: Your Small Business Needs Them!
Imagine you just moved to a new city. You’d love for someone to recommend the best restaurant, the most dependable babysitter or the most reliable mechanic – but you don’t know a single soul here. Where do you turn? Google, of course, or whatever your preferred search engine may be. You’ll patronize the restaurant, book the babysitter and hire the mechanic to fix your brakes...
Can Customer Referrals Boost Your Bottom Line? Yes!
Pop quiz: Which of the following two options will bring in more customers? A killer marketing campaign A current customer boasting to their friends and family about how awesome your small business is, how well they were treated and how much money they saved If you said B, you passed with flying colors. Yes, customer referrals hold more weight than even the best marketing campaigns...
Will YouTube Work for Your Small Business Marketing?
YouTube. To some, it’s a video sharing site that your kids use to watch videos of other kids playing games, making slime or “unboxing” their recent Amazon deliveries. But does it have a place in small business marketing? Is it a useful addition to your overall strategy? In short, is the time and effort you put in to making a video and sharing it with...
How to Become an Award-Winning Small Business
Any small business can hang a framed, cheaply printed certificate from Kinko’s on their wall, proclaiming themselves “Best [whatever] in [wherever].” Fake small business awards might fool some of your customers, but even if no one ever comes asking questions, at heart, you’llknow you’re a fraud. And if someone does ask questions … It’s true that there aren’t a ton of small business awards out there...
Brand Yourself: Designing Your Small Business Website
What does your website say about your small business? We’re not talking about the obvious stuff, such as hours, contact information and locations. (You should include those things; otherwise, what’s the point of your website?) But we’re talking about the story your website has to tell. Everything on your small business website, from your logo to the colors and fonts you choose, says something about...
How Cold Emailing Sets Your Marketing Strategy on Fire
We recently showed you how cold calling can generate hot leads. But picking up the phone and calling a stranger isn’t for everyone. Fortunately, there’s another option: cold emailing. The concept is the same. You’re reaching out to someone who doesn’t know you from Adam or Abby, hoping to establish a connection that will (eventually) lead them to your customer corral. But cold emailing differs...
Cold Calling Can Generate Hot Leads
We’ve all been there. The phone rings just as we’re sitting down to dinner. There’s a stranger on the other end of the line, trying their best to sell us something we don’t want or need, and being pretty darn pushy about it, too. They keep talking while our mashed potatoes get cold and our temper gets hot, until we finally hang up on them...
Take Your Customer Relationships to the Next Level
Question: What’s the difference between a profitable small business and an expensive hobby? Answer: Your customers. The people who buy your goods and services, allowing you to pay your bills and make a tidy little profit on the side … they matter. Without them, your business doesn’t exist -- so what are you doing to maintain and even improve your relationship with them? Whether you’ve...
Search Optimization: How to Make Google Love Your Blog
If a blog post pops up on the internet but no one is around to read it, does it make an impact? The short answer is “no.” The long answer is “no, definitely not.” It could be the best blog post you’ve ever written, jam-packed with information that could change the course of human nature (or at least solve the Laurel vs. Yanny debate). But...