what you need to know about email marketing

What You Need to Know About Email Marketing

Just yesterday, I found myself procrastinating on a task that had been sitting on my to-do list for days. Instead of tackling it, I found an interesting message about why houseplants shouldn’t be kept in direct sunlight. Naturally, I got curious and read the whole thing—even though I don’t have any houseplants. However, I plan on getting some soon, so these little nuggets of wisdom might be useful. Or maybe not. The point is, I was procrastinating and ended up reading an email I would have ignored last year when I did have houseplants. You get the drift. Email is …

COVID-19: How to Take Your Business Virtual for the Next 90 Days

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the recent spread of COVID-19 a global pandemic as it moves from country to country. Quarantines seem to be happening left and right. New cases of the virus make the news almost daily. Markets seem tenuous at best. If you’re the owner of a small business, you might feel like freaking out right now. All I can say? Don’t Panic. As an entrepreneur and small business owner myself, I certainly feel your pain. COVID-19 is serious, and the effect that it is having on businesses across the nation is real. But …

Do You Have a CRM Solution to Help Manage Your Business Relationships?

Did you know a CRM solution can help you manage your leads and customers? You’ve got a bunch of lead funnels in place to capture opportunities for your business to grow. Those are relationships that you’re fostering. But is every single one of those relationships at a point where they want to buy from you? Nope. Some of them—most of them, in fact—need to be nurtured. Let’s say you’re out at a networking event. You get someone’s business card, and you decide that you want to keep in touch with them. You could send them a newsletter, but that might …

3 Ways To Throw Your Money Away On Advertising

Before you react and think that this is post about how much I hate advertising, it isn’t.  In fact, I think advertising can be a great source of leads and brand awareness for a business.  But too often I see small businesses spending money on advertising for the wrong reasons.  Here are some examples of poor logic when it comes to advertising spend: “But it’s only $50/month” (insert your low monthly cost here…are you sure that is the best way you can spend your company’s $600?) “My competitors advertise there” (and if all the other kids jumped off a bridge?…ok …

Does Your Online Marketing Feel Like Throwing Darts?

Remember the carnival game where you had three darts to throw at a wall full of balloons to win the giant stuffed panda?  Most of the darts would hit the wall, or skim by the balloon, and if you did manage to pop a balloon it would typically be for a rather unexciting small plastic whistle and definitely NOT the giant stuffed panda.  The problem with this game is that you don’t know where the panda prize card is pinned, and you may not have the greatest aim.  But you know it’s there somewhere so you just keep on paying …

How Your Small B2B Business Can Rock Social Media

The questions we typically hear most often from small businesses about social media are: Which social media networks should I consider? What type of content should I post? These are great questions and we have certainly seen a lot of boring Business-To-Business (B2B) content on social media.  It often seems that only Business-To-Consumer (B2C)  businesses know how to sell the sizzle in the steak, so to speak.  What business owners seem to forget when delivering their message to other businesses is that those businesses are run by people.  And people still like to have their attention grabbed, even if it …