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• Enough Is More Than Enough
  You've just read the first draft of a press release and you can already see where you want to make a few edits. The lede needs more punch. Your audience ...
  Press Releases, Small Business, Writing
• Get Those Happy Customers Yakkin'
  "[M]any companies hesitate to launch customer case studies because they worry about imposing on their best customers," say Barbara Bix and Olga Taylor in an article at MarketingProfs. "To their ...
  Case Studies, Customer Relationships, Small Business
• So You Wanna Be a Swan?
  "We're duped into believing that the pretty, the pristine, and the perfect get all the perks, all the breaks, all the glory," says Vicki Kunkel in her book Instant Appeal. ...
  Branding, Customer Behavior, Small Business, Surveys
• Cut Back, but Don't Cancel
  In a post at Harvard Business Online, John Baldoni worries about the impact budgetary cutbacks will have on corporate meetings this winter. "I hear from colleagues in the communication business ...
  Economic Crisis, Management, Small Business
• Some Extremely Bad Words
  In a post at Entrepreneur.com, Susan Gunelius identifies ten words marketers should avoid in the coming year. "I think her list will surprise you," says Drew McLellan at his Marketing ...
  Ad Copy, Copywriting, Small Business, Writing
• Take a Page from Redbook
  In a guest post at the HubSpot blog, Paul Gillin argues that women's interest magazines like Redbook face the same basic challenge as your online properties: grabbing a distracted person's ...
  Copywriting, Customer Engagement, Small Business, Writing
• You Oughta Be in Podcasts
  Gary Vaynerchuk is a podcast natural—the affable, energetic wine aficionado has become an Internet superstar by producing entertaining reviews for his Wine Library series. "Because they give relevant information, the ...
  Podcasting, Small Business
• Five Small-Business Email Customer Lifecycle Tactics for the New YearKara Trivunovic, Andrew Osterday
  It's probably no surprise that the process of acquiring new customers comes with one of the higher price tags of any of your marketing initiatives. The value of growing your ...
  Email Lists, Email Marketing, Marketing Tips, Small Business, Targeting
• Stood Up at the Altar
  Because your customers will abandon online purchases if they encounter a tedious checkout process, it's critical to make your e-commerce functionality simple and efficient. In a post at the Conversation ...
  Customer Behavior, E-Commerce, Small Business
• Get Sober
  When you have a great idea—a true light-bulb moment—you don't want to be bothered with pesky marketing research that tells you it won't work. "People who really, really want to ...
  Market Research, Marketing Smarter, Small Business
• Mix It Up, People
  In a post at the HubSpot blog, Prashant Kaw says his small education-oriented Web site has achieved remarkable Google rankings in a category loaded with heavyweight competitors. His dependence on ...
  Marketing Strategy, Search Engines, Small Business, Social Networking
• Just Say No to Comment Spam
  If you read blogs on a regular basis, you've seen comment spam. There are the obvious offenders (those people, for instance, who work their way around the blogosphere leaving generic ...
  Blog Comments, Small Business
• Wow, It's Half Full After All!
  "When it comes to marketing budgets, more is always better than less," writes Adam Cahill in a refreshingly honest column at ClickZ, "so let's not pretend this is a 'glass ...
  Economic Crisis, Marketing Budgets, Small Business
• Case Study: How Intuit Used Viral Marketing and an Interactive Web Site to Generate Small-Business Leads, Engage CustomersKimberly Smith
  Inspired by the viral success of Office Max's "Elf Yourself," QuickBooks-maker Intuit set out to creatively engage small businesses with its "Jingle Generator." The effort exceeded targeted metrics, earning viral ...
• Free Firefighting Tools
  When it comes to your company's reputation, what the Internet giveth, it can also taketh away. The benefits of good online buzz can diminish in the space of hours or ...
  Google, Online Marketing, RSS, Small Business
• Going Up the Down Escalator
  MarketingProfs' own Roy Young recently asked Barry Judge (CMO of Best Buy) and Jessie Paul (CMO of Wipro) how they planned to stay up in a down economy. An article ...
  Economic Crisis, Segmentation, Small Business
• Got a Waffling Customer? Push Her Over the Edge!
  "If you want to avoid being stuck with inventory or downtime during a recession," advises Seth Godin in a post at his eponymous blog, "you might profit from realizing that ...
  Customer Acquisition, Economic Crisis, Sales, Small Business
• This Time, It's Personal
  Everyone likes personalized attention, and it seems that a handwritten note might be worth the time it takes to write. A post at the Neuromarketing blog cites an interesting study ...
  Customer Engagement, Small Business
• A Splash of Color for Your Whitepapers
  Have you ever fantasized about curling up by a roaring fire with a cup of cocoa and your favorite whitepaper? Probably not. Because, while we crave the information they contain, ...
  Copywriting, Small Business, Writing Whitepapers
• You've Got to Read This
  In a post at his Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That! blog, Andy Sernovitz recounts discovering something unusual when he opened the advance proof of a book written by ...
  Referrals, Small Business, Word-of-Mouth