Explore why business acumen often outweighs industry knowledge in achieving entrepreneurial success. Uncover the full story and gain a new perspective on what drives business success.
Why Business Acumen Is More Important Than Industry Knowledge? Read More »
Unlock Business Success Through Niche Marketing! By Focusing on a Specific Audience, You Can Build Strong Loyalty, Reduce Competition, and Enhance Customer Satisfaction. Discover How Honing in on a Niche Can Lead to Greater Market Share and Cost-Effective Marketing Strategies.
Go Niche or Go Broke: The Imperative of Specialization Read More »
This Quiz Was Designed to Test Your Knowledge of Social Media for Small Businesses. Are You Ready to Put Your Knowledge to The Test?
Beyond Likes: Test Your Social Media Prowess With Our Quiz Read More »
Tiktok Has Quickly Become a Cultural Phenomenon with Over 1 Billion Monthly Users and Is Proving to Be a Great Platform to Market a Business. With A Little Creativity and Some Trial and Error you can create an TikTok Marketing Strategy to Drive Sales.
10 Ways to Drive Sales With a TikTok Marketing Strategy Read More »
There is a mismatch between what science knows about motivation and what the business does. Many businesses continue to use techniques designed for the industrial era workers that no longer work.
Your Old School Management Practices Are Dooming You To Failure Read More »
Measuring the Right Things When It Comes to Business Is Critical. Too Many Businesses Measure Inputs and Not Outputs.
Why You Need to Be Measuring the Right Things Read More »
The Maverick principles consist of eight steps and outline how small businesses need to define their social media strategy.
Why You Should Adopt the Maverick Principles for Social Media Read More »
Social media has matured as a marketing channel over the years and is often paired with other channels like websites, blogs, videos and more to accomplish a specific business goal. I believe there are essentially six social media goals worth considering.
How to Define Your Social Media Goals Read More »
Entrepreneurship has changed in recent years and why you may no longer need to write the classic version of a business plan.
Why Being Told You Need a Business Plan May Be Bad Advice Read More »
Positive word-of-mouth messages spread more slowly than negative ones, therefore businesses need to be much more proactive when it comes to spreading positive word-of-mouth to get referrals
How to Make the Most of Word-of-Mouth Marketing Read More »
Digital marketing gurus tell you to spend big money on their social media marketing services but social media marketing is a complete scam for most small and medium-sized businesses.
Beliefs drive our behaviors that lead to our results. Beliefs are the cause, behaviors the effect, and success is the predictable result. Successful entrepreneurs know their behaviors are driven by their beliefs and that it is their behaviors that allow them to succeed. You have been conditioned to avoid failure and to live a life of mediocrity.
Belief Systems – You Have Been Conditioned To Be Mediocre Read More »
Word-of-mouth marketing is not just making a good product or delivering a good service, and magically your clients will tell their friends how great you are, which will, in turn, lead to a greater number of sales. To achieve an epidemic you must employ some specific strategies.
How to Achieve a Word-of-Mouth Epidemic Read More »
As humans we all are guided by our own self-interests. Savvy business owners should craft their marketing messages to appeal to the customer’s self-interest.
Why You Need to Harness The Power of Self-Interest Read More »
Have you ever discovered something new and thought “What a great idea for a new business?” Often the signals you observed are only part of a short-lived fad.
How Responding to Popular Fads will Destroy a Business Read More »
The age-old marketing question is “How do you get people to talk about your product or service?” I believe the answer lies in being able to change the way your customer thinks about your offering.
How to Supercharge Word of Mouth Read More »
As an entrepreneur with employees, it is unrealistic that you will always be the smartest person in the room in all aspects of your business. You will need employees that are smarter than you in their assigned areas.
The Power Of Selling The Passion For The Vision Read More »
Your customer acquisition costs are likely one of your single biggest indirect expenses, yet most entrepreneurs design an economic model based on a single transaction. As consumers, we often have a recognized need for a product or service. Perhaps we are going fishing this weekend and need some new gear or notice that our home
Do You Sell The Second Glass Read More »
The people that reside in your inner circle of friends can profoundly influence your success in life and business. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to evaluate the company that you keep to see if it is aiding in your success or hinder it. Are your Friends preventing your success?
Are Your Friends Preventing Your Success? Read More »
Social media has matured as a marketing channel over the years and is often paired with other channels like websites, blogs, videos and more to accomplish a specific business goal. I believe there are essentially six social media goals worth considering.
How to Define your Social Media Goals for Leads and Revenue Read More »
Social media has matured as a marketing channel over the years and is often paired with other channels like websites, blogs, videos and more to accomplish a specific business goal. I believe there are essentially six social media goals worth considering.
How to Define your Social Media Goals for Followers and Traffic Read More »
Social media has matured as a marketing channel over the years and is often paired with other channels like websites, blogs, videos and more to accomplish a specific business goal. I believe there are essentially six social media goals worth considering.
How to Define your Social Media Goals for Awareness and Engagement Read More »
Businesses have to make money and turn a profit to survive. While personal consumption can be influenced by personal ideals and values, in business, it is all about making a profit.
Are Your Personal Values Destroying Your Business? Read More »
When it comes to content marketing there are three broad content marketing strategy types you may want to consider; inbound, addictive, and tentpole. In this post, we explore the three content marketing strategy types so you can understand how to apply them in your business.
How to Crush The Competition With 3 Content Marketing Strategies Read More »
Many new businesses are starting to find content marketing indispensable. At its core, content marketing is the creation and distributing of online material that will attract the attention of a prospect. This post looks at five popular forms of content marketing.
5 Helpful Content Marketing Ideas to Attract New Customers Read More »
Some marketers and business owners believe that the strength of their product or service is what determines success. While this is no doubt true in a few rare cases, most often, even a great product or service has to be marketed properly to succeed. And the best marketing is centered around what we call a BIG IDEA.
Your Brand Promise – Why You Need a Big Idea! Read More »
Most companies utilize website marketing as part of their lead-to-revenue (L2R) process. Whether you use your website for creating awareness, educating prospects, generating leads or selling directly you need to maximize its efficiency and effectiveness.
10 Quick Fixes to Make Your Website Marketing More Effective Read More »
When it comes to marketing channels there are five channels which can help you make the most of the contact list that you already own.
5 Marketing Channels That Make The Most of Contacts you Own Read More »
When it comes to marketing channels there are 12 channels which can rent you access to their audience for a fee. These 12 marketing channels attract a particular demographic based on their content and will rent you access to their customers for a fee.
6 Powerful Marketing Channels That Rent You Access to Prospects Read More »
When it comes marketing channels designed to attract prospects to your brand, there are nine primary channels. These nine marketing channels rely on the type of content prospects will find via some form of search. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), therefore, is essential to create the kind of gravity to attract people to your business.
9 Marketing Channels to Find Contacts You Attract to Your Brand Read More »
No matter where you turn social media is making an impact on small business marketing. While social media is not the “be all end all” of marketing efforts it does have some significant advantages over more traditional marketing. This post looks at six reasons you need to consider social media marketing for your business.
6 Reasons Why You Need to Use Social Media Marketing Read More »
Being a business owner requires that you communicate with customers on a regular basis. However, there are five deadly sins of speaking that will cause your customer to stop listening to you.
How To Avoid The 5 Deadly Sins Of Speaking So You Will Be Heard Read More »
Is it really better to price your product or service at $59.99 vs $60.00? I’m pretty obsessed with the idea of pricing and the psychology at play. In fact, there is a science that applies to pricing.
3 Powerful Reasons Why a Price Ending in $.99 Sells Better Read More »
The human brain has limitations. Chunking of information is a life hack that allows us to overcome some of these limitations and is ubiquitous in storytelling forever and for a good reason. By incorporating chucking into your communication, you will improve your ability that the other party remembers your message.
How to Apply the Rule of Three to Improve Your Communications Read More »
Every once in a while, a business comes along that creates a revolution in its industry that is so profound competitors have a hard time following suit. Southwest Airlines was one of these businesses. Today businesses can take some of the lessons from Southwest and apply them to their own industry to change their trajectory.
4 Amazingly Simple Lessons From Southwest Airlines Read More »
There are three questions you and your company need to ask to be a successful content marketing practitioner.
1, How do we get people to read our marketing content? 2, How do we get people to engage with our company? 3, How do we measure results and get better over time?
How to Get Prospects to Read and Engage with Your Marketing Content Read More »
Conspicuous consumption is when someone spends money on goods or services in an effort to either convey a higher social status or invoke envy in others to gain their respect. Product badging is a way to draw attention to items that convey status. Yet, not all consumers want you to know the relative price of their products based on its badging.
The Secret to Product Badging Read More »
One thing contributes to more business failure. If the reason you want to start a business is you want the flexibility to work when or where you want, to become rich, or because you just want to be your own boss, you have a higher likelihood of failure. You are more likely to fail because your reasons for starting a business are self-centered and not externally focused.
The 1 Simple Thing That Contributes to Most Business Failure Read More »
Attraction characters fall into one of four identities: explorer, thought leader, interviewer, and duty calls. Each attraction character has a preferred way of sharing information and creates a persona that relates to and attracts an audience.
The 4 Attraction Characters: A Sure-Fire Key to Genuine Engagement Read More »
When you are deciding how much of time and financial resources to allocate between push and pull marketing strategies, keep in mind that the battleground has shifted and the prospect is the one who holds the high ground. Rather than fight this reality, just accept who has the real control and find the best ways to help people buy in the way they want to buy, instead of the way you want to sell to them.
PULL Marketing vs. PUSH Marketing – The Shifting Battleground Read More »
Naively many entrepreneurs think all traffic is the same. They use advertising to get in front of a prospect and then ask for the sale before they have even had the opportunity to build a rapport. It is important to understand that not all traffic is created equal and that the goal should not be to get the sale up front but to convert all traffic to owned traffic where you can control when and what message they see.
How to Drive Growth by Correctly Targeting Web Traffic Read More »
Many nascent entrepreneurs simply roll up their sleeves and try to do everything themselves in the hopes that it will save them money. Unfortunately, the most valuable asset entrepreneurs have is their time. Doing tasks that can be done by less expensive experts prevents entrepreneurs from focusing on the most important aspects of their business. Freelancing platforms exist to help the business owner outsource non-key tasks to experts in their fields for a fraction of what most experts cost locally.
How to Leverage Experts and Crush the Competition Read More »
Some recent research has caused me to completely rethink my marketing strategy. For years, I have heard that email marketing has a greater Return On Investment (ROI) than social media marketing. However, with my social media fans measured in the thousands and my email subscribers measured in the hundreds, I was sure that trying to
Is Social Media Really a Better Marketing Strategy than Email Marketing? Read More »
Guest post by: Christopher Ryan CEO or Fusion Marketing Partners and Center for Business Modeling. Chris is a SCORE colleague and a marketing and sales maven. We are super fans of each other’s work. The following post was published by Chris on his blog in May of 2017 and is chock full of valuable advice.
Moving up the Relationship Hierarchy Read More »
When it comes to marketing and sales, the internet changed everything. The changes caused by the internet, and its offspring social media, have not caused an evolutionary step in the way businesses go about marketing and sales but caused a revolutionary step. The internet and social media have caused businesses to re-think their old marketing
New Rules of Marketing and Sales Read More »
Guest post by: Christopher Ryan CEO or Fusion Marketing Partners and Center for Business Modeling. Chris is a SCORE colleague and a marketing and sales maven. We are super fans of each others work. The following post was published by Chris on his blog is February of 2016 and is chock full of valuable advice.
The Evolving Journey of the B2B Buyer Read More »
Learn how savvy entrepreneurs recognize they may have a confirmation bias that can stifle their success and discover how to avoid them.
How Your Confirmation Bias Is Stifling Your Business Success Read More »
Recently, I have been exploring my analytics and revisiting my Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). What began to dawn on me as I attempted to make actionable sense of all this data was that I was falling into the same trap that most businesses owners do when looking at their social media performance. Many of my
How Deep Is Your Audience? Read More »
As a small business, you have to consider the concept of microeconomics when pricing your product or service to maximize revenue. By definition, microeconomics studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of limited resources (i.e., money). Contrast microeconomics with macroeconomics. Macroeconomics considers the sum of all economic activity such
Using Microeconomics to Maximize Revenue Read More »
in Late 2016 The FAA issued a safety alert to the airlines regarding the Samsung Note 7 and its exploding battery issue. Airline gate attendants announce to millions of travelers every day the special regulation to completely turn off the Note 7 phone to avoid a potential battery explosion during flight. To the everyday person,
How to Exploit Bad Press Read More »
In the old days, companies would do extensive research to try to predict what the market would buy. Once they felt that they had a good idea about what would sell and how much of it they would need, they would build a product line to produce it and develop a strategy to deliver it.
Why Advertising Is Dying In the Long Tail Marketplace Read More »
It occurred to me as I saw an article about Apple computers that there are some businesses clearly branded to their founders. For example, while I worked for Digital Equipment Corporation, founded by Ken Olsen, the company was not inexorably branded to his personality. However, that is not the case with Steve Jobs. Jobs was
Branding Your Personality for Profit Read More »
When he was watching the 2012 London Olympics, Steven Marx felt disappointed with the television coverage offered by NBC. Since he was an intermittent Twitter user with only about 20 followers at the time, Marx tweeted his frustration and used the hashtag #NBCFail. That single post catapulted Marx to fame and put an unfavorable light
Creating and Using Hashtags Read More »
The Campaign Follow-Up Step Involves Making Good on Your Campaign Promises. If You Fail to Meet Your Goal You Still Need to Thank Backers
Crowdfunding: Campaign Follow-up Read More »
The Campaign Execution Step Is When the Campaign Is Live on The Crowdfunding Platform and Backers Are Pledging Their Support to Your Campaign
Crowdfunding: Campaign Execution Read More »
The Campaign Write-Up Step Involves Creating the Campaign’s Landing Page and Includes At Least 8 Elements Necessary for A Successful Campaign
Crowdfunding: Campaign Write-Up Read More »
Going Social Involves Creating a Facebook Page & Getting Involved in Other Social Media Platforms/Groups to Bring Attention to Your Campaign
Crowdfunding: Going Social Read More »
Take a look at the logos for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Do you see a common thread? They all use blue as their primary color and that’s no coincidence. According to ColorMatters, 40% of people worldwide consider blue to be their favorite color. According to my daughter-in-law, if you’ve seen Chris Pine’s baby blue eyes,
What Color Are You? Read More »
Romance is one of four very powerful emotional appeals. Discover how using romance as an emotional appeal will cause people to unconsciously stop what they are doing and pay attention to your marketing message.
Romance Is A Powerful Emotional Appeal To Get Attention Read More »
Recognition one of four very powerful emotional appeals. Discover how using recognition as an emotional appeal will cause people to unconsciously stop what they are doing and pay attention to your marketing message.
Recognition Is A Powerful Emotional Appeal To Get Attention Read More »
Self-preservation is one of four very powerful emotional appeals. Discover how using self-preservation as an emotional appeal will cause people to unconsciously stop what they are doing and pay attention to your marketing message.
Self-Preservation Is A Powerful Emotional Appeal To Get Attention Read More »
Jonathan Labed was 14 years old when he realized that there was a hazy line between perception and reality on the internet. It was 1999 and he was watching CNBC. He suddenly realized how after an analyst touted a particular company’s stock, the stock price would rise. Seemed simple enough so Jonathan, an internet savvy
The Raw Power of the Internet Makes Everyone Equal Read More »
When we refer to channels in the Business Model Canvas, we are speaking about marketing channels or distribution channels. Here are 5 you should address: 1, Awareness 2, Evaluate 3, Purchase 4, Deliver 5, Customer Support
Channels and Your Business Model Read More »
With today’s 24/7 news cycle, there is no excuse for an absence of information. There is only the eroding sense of duty felt by Americans to remain informed. If you are reading this post today, share it with your friends and make a commitment to talk to your children tonight and instill in them the value that we as Americans have to remain actively engaged in the news and public issues affecting us all.
Are You Reading This? Read More »
We all know that at the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon was defeated by the British. The British victory would have a dramatic effect on the financial world. News in the early 1800’s traveled slowly by today’s standards. Baron Rothschild headed up a large financial empire, and news of a French or British victory would have
Speed of Trending Information Can be Critical to Success Read More »
If you are a savvy entrepreneur, you don’t go into anything cold. With the Internet and a plethora of other resources, you can warm up any call quickly, and not waste your time or your potential client. Doing your homework first is one of the best ways to get an advantage over your competition. If
There’s No Such Thing as a Cold Call Read More »
In behavioral economics, we never want to lose our options. We often keep our doors open even if we never have any intention to go back through them. It is our often irrational fear that once we close the door we’ll have the need to get back that prevents us from moving forward in a constructive way.
Harness the Power of Keeping Options Open and Fear of Loss Read More »
On a recent trip to visit our son, we went to dinner at a nice restaurant. When the meal was served my son’s Chicken Alfredo contained a rather large bone, on which he nearly choked. When the owner was summoned to the table he began to explain that it was not possible for the bone
Social Media Can Make Or Break You Read More »
Many years ago typing was a skill that only a fraction of the workforce possessed. In fact, I had one job where I was concerned about my ability to be successful. The job description clearly required typing skills, and although I took typing in school I was not very proficient. Typing is no longer considered
Social Media: The New Selectric Typewriter Read More »
Is social media just another way to separate a business owner’s money from the business? Small business owners hear that to be successful these days they have to have a social media presence. I remember with the advent of the Internet business owners were told that to be successful they needed to have a web page.
What is the Role of Social Media? Read More »
Humans have difficulty recognizing and reacting to experiences that are new to them. This mental state is called our “Normalcy Bias”.
Do You Suffer From a Normalcy Bias? Read More »
Want to get a quick answer to see if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Take the following simple one question entrepreneurial test.
Take a Simple Entrepreneurial Test Read More »
When asked what is your entrepreneurial driver, most people have a rather vague answer. Here are the most common reasons I have heard.
What is Your Entrepreneurial Driver? Read More »
In the old west drinking establishments were called saloons. They were the hangouts for tough men and prostitutes, which gave the establishments a bad name. Ultimately saloons’ unruly reputation led to a movement for total abstinence from alcohol. In 1919 Prohibition was passed into law. Savvy bar-keepers, now forced underground, changed their image to that
Change Your Image To Get Results Read More »
Adam Smith wrote in his book The Wealth of Nations: “The value which the workmen add to the materials, therefore, resolves itself in this case into two parts, of which the one pays their wages, the other the profits of the employer upon the whole stock of materials and wages which he advanced.” As
You Should Be Getting Paid Twice Read More »
Every Business Model Needs to Leverage Something. That Special Leverage Could Be A Unique Skill, A Special Tool, Or Proprietary Process.
What is Your Special Leverage? Read More »
Nobody can resist the power of cuteness. I went to a trade show a few years back that had 1,800 exhibitors. Getting noticed in a crowd that large is often quite hard, except for one clever exhibitor. She had in her booth a full-grown African Serval, which is the largest domesticated cat; about the size
Leverage the Cuteness Factor Read More »
One nice thing about mathematics is that it is the same in every language and has only one solution to a problem. Wouldn’t it be nice if every problem had only one correct answer and, so long as you knew the rules, you could find that one true answer to every question? Successful entrepreneurs understand
The Path To Success Is Paved By Math Read More »
In the early 1900s you had a class of rough and tumble characters that hung out in saloons, and then you had the Anti-Saloon Organization (ASO) that felt that booze was tearing apart the fabric of society. In 1919 the ASO pushed their extreme position and the 18th amendment to the Constitution made the
Are You Forcing an Extreme Position? Read More »
To get elected Politicians need both money to campaign and, ultimately, votes. Massaging the tax code is a favored way of getting both money and votes. Offering tax credits to an industry gets you money from lobbyists to fund your campaign. Providing tax credits related to mortgages, childcare, or education to the voting public buys
Taxes Are The Currency Of Politics Read More »
Often the entrepreneur states that a primary reason for starting a business is to make more money. As the old saying goes, “Money does not buy happiness.” One reason this is true is that the simple fact that you have money has not changed anything. It is what you do with the money that can
Making Money is Not Enough Read More »
All too often the entrepreneur has a grand vision of how his product should look and how it should work. After spending way too many hours and too many dollars to get the product just right before its debut, when finally introduced the product falls flat. Sometimes assumptions that went into the original design were
Ride The Wave, Don’t Build The Ocean Read More »
Focus on what you want and not what you don’t want. Think positive thoughts, not negative ones. As a motorcyclist, it is common knowledge that you look at where you want to go and NOT at what you want to avoid. If you look at a pothole or an object in the road you don’t
Put the Power of Positive Thoughts to Work for You Read More »
When it comes to solving problems the most successful problem solvers have benefited from looking across to other industries. James Dyson once worked in a sawmill where they used a vortex to separate out the sawdust so it did not clog their filter. Velcro was invented by a guy picking sand-burs off his dog after
How To Find A Solution To Your Problem Read More »
Start-ups take time to reach profitability. Sometimes it may only take a few months, other times a few years, and in many cases, it will never happen. Every business needs to understand just how long their path to profits is before they commit to starting a business. They need to make sure they have access
Do You Know The Path to Profitability? Read More »
As an entrepreneur, you need to make sure your efforts are directed and focused on the right target to achieve your desired outcomes. For example, one of the goals of law enforcement is to reduce illegal drug usage. To that end, law enforcement agencies target drug dealers in the hope that these efforts will reduce
Are You Focused On The Right Target? Read More »
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who
Inspirational Quote Teddy Roosevelt Read More »
Do you remember “paint by numbers”? Would it not make more sense to paint by letters since there are 26 letters in the alphabet and only 10 numbers?
The concept of “average” is just not real, except in mathematics. When it comes to marketing, think typical or median: not average.
Ever wonder why they say “Sell the sizzle not the steak”? It is because people make decisions based on emotion and then justify their decisions with logic. When you are sitting in Chili’s and a sizzling fajita passes by, the menu becomes just words. The sizzle of the fajitas strikes an emotion. Once stimulated, the
How to Harness the Power of Emotion Read More »
Can you quantify the value of the time you devote to the various activities you do every day? Sometimes trying to put a value on effort is hard, but without understanding the value of your efforts you can’t prioritize your actions. If you didn’t know the value of money, two quarters might sound better than
Would you ever consider playing golf while blindfolded? Of course not. You need to see the flag and make adjustments to your aim and swing based on processing feedback about the hole. However, entrepreneurs often step up to the tee box blindfolded because they do not have a process to measure feedback. Running a business
Running Blindfolded Read More »
