Scott's Marketplace
The times, they are a-changing. Starting a small business today looks vastly different than it did a few years ago. No longer is it just "What is my product and where is my store?"
Is getting your product into WalMart a small business owner's dream or is it akin to making a deal with the devil? You just might have the chance to find out thanks to WalMart's second annual " Get on the Shelf" contest.
Websites are one of the most important aspects of any company's marketing strategy. It will likely be the first thing that the customer sees, and as we all know, first impressions count, and if a customer doesn't like the look and feel of the website, chances are they will look elsewhere.
By Tamara Weintraub Most small business owners understand how important it is to invest in online lead generation, and they use a range of tactics including search advertising, email marketing, retargeting and more. But according to research commissioned by InsideSales, 55 percent of companies don't respond to new sales leads at all.
By Jason Miller published June 23, 2013 Is there such a thing as having too much content? Marketo customers often ask me this question, so I thought I would pose it to a few experts to get their perspective. I consulted with Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs; Joe Pulizzi, CMI's own Content Marketing Evangelist; C.C.
Kids are great. I don't know anyone who can text, watch TV, talk on the phone, and listen to music all at once with the smooth efficiency of a teenager. All the while being slightly annoyed at your very presence. Like I said, kids are great.
We're all guilty of it. A quick trip to the store, a simple drive-though pit stop on the way home. That old, 'convenience factor' is everyone's favorite excuse for visiting the big chains. As much as we may want to support local all the time, it can be difficult to work it into every area of your life.
The ins and outs of a more democratic way to do business is put on full display in the film, We the Owners: Employees Expanding the American Dream , which looks at various type of co-operative and employee stock ownership models through the eyes of employees at every level of three different companies.
OK. Before we get started, let me make one thing painfully clear: I am not here to teach you math. I don't want to revisit memories of calculus and algebra any more than you do. Leave that to the economists and nerds of the world.
You know how when you don't want to do something, you tend to make up an excuse as to why it's OK not to do it? Like when you don't feel like doing laundry, you think, well, at least I'm conserving water.
When your business idea is to change the world for the better, it stands to reason that you should welcome all the help you can get. And contrary to what you might think after watching the nightly news, the world is filled with amazing people who want to not only make things better, but to help others do the same.
For most small business owners, the question isn't, "What products should I make?" but rather, "How do I get my products out there?" In today's saturated market, it takes more than simply listing your products online to get noticed, and effective brand management should be utilized to make your products stand out.
Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 06/20/2013 Baltimore firm first to release prescription-only smartphone app The pharmacy as an app store? That's a reality now after the Food and Drug Administration cleared WellDoc, a 100-person health care technology firm based in Baltimore, to sell a prescription-only smartphone app for diabetes patients.
Maybe you have a great idea and you want to turn it into a business. Or, perhaps you already have a business and are now looking to expand. Either way, you know money doesn't grow on trees... momma didn't raise no fool.
What do you think when you hear the word "incubator?" Do you also have flashbacks to fourth grade science class and the little quail eggs that you tried so desperately to hatch? Maybe that's just me. Today, entrepreneurs have taken the incubator idea a few steps further by forming like-minded collectives of small businesses still in their formative stages.
What does the horrible, heartbreaking, devastating (I could go on) " Red Wedding " episode of Game of Thrones have in common with small business owners? Plenty. When you own a business, you naturally become a leader in everything you do, whether it's through making important business decisions or ensuring your employees respect you.
Thrilling, stressful, gratifying, overwhelming... You can't become an entrepreneur without experiencing a roller coaster of emotions, often on a daily basis. It's for this reason that we've compiled advice from a variety of successful entrepreneurs who know exactly what you're going through because they've been there themselves.
Luckily for parents, there's a ready-made audience for teaching the support-local message. Yes, we're talking about your children. Those crumb-snatching little rascals represent the future of our country, and passing on your sound economic habits is the easiest way to create a generation of local shoppers.
Small-business lending activity is on the rise, but the size of loans is shrinking, new data show. The total number of small-business loans jumped up 10.4% last year, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy. The agency defines small business loans as bank loans under $1 million.
Waiting for someone else to create a 'buy local' campaign for your community is like waiting for water to boil. It's like the water can sense your impatience. Instead of waiting for someone to come along and boost support for you and your fellow small business owners, why not take it upon yourself to get the ball rolling?
Every time you pick up the phone, you have about seven seconds to make a good impression. In this fleeting instant, you can either win someone over or lose their faith forever. Not to put a ton of pressure on you or anything, but... this small-but-critical time window all begins with your greeting.
If you are operating a small business, you can make it easy for customers to find you by creating and optimizing your social media profiles. Social media factors into a larger search engine optimization (SEO) plan that will help your business show up in online searches.
According to Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, vulnerability is what can turn an average leader into an exceptional one. This is the message she shared during the Inc. Leadership Forum, and widely popular 2010 talk at TedxHouston.
We're all guilty of it. A quick trip to the store, a simple drive-though pit stop on the way home. That old, 'convenience factor' is everyone's favorite excuse for visiting the big chains. As much as we may want to support local all the time, it can be difficult to work it into every area of your life.
Money. We all want more of it, but, let's face it... not all of us get it. And there's nothing more frustrating than knowing you have a great product yet still not being able to bring in enough paying customers to keep your business afloat.
