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• Don't Take the Twitter Joke Too Far
  On February 3, Kenneth Cole used Twitter to send the following message: "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online ...
  Brand Equity, Humor, Small Business, Twitter
• Don't Add Insult to 404 Injury
  "While browsing a website this week," writes Paul Williams at MarketingProfs Daily Fix, "I clicked a link that seemed interesting. However, the site had changed file structure since the link ...
  Creativity, Small Business, Website Design
• When Your Slam Dunk Isn't: Customer Misdirection
  "What do you do if you've created a product that, by your reckoning, should sell easily—but then it doesn't?" asks Tom Davenport at Harvard Business Online. For Greg Burrill, owner ...
  Collaboration, Customer Behavior, Small Business
• Four Ways to Get Lost in the Crowd
  "It's doubtful that any small business owner sits down to compose a business plan and starts the list with a No. 1 priority such as: Get lost in the crowd," ...
  Marketing Tips, Naming, Small Business, Taglines
• Cool Tools for Checking Out Your SEO Competition
  In a recent post at Search Engine People, Wayne Barker notes that keeping up with SEO trends can be truly challenging, even for those who work within the industry. Staying ...
  Marketing Smarter, Search Engine Marketing, SEO, Small Business
• Three Rules for the Small Business CEO
  "At least once every day I consider replacing myself with a 'real' CEO," writes Ian Lurie at Conversation Marketing. "Then I could just be the nerd in the cave, writing ...
  Hiring Outside Resources, Management, Small Business
• When Wrong Grammar Is Right
  If you say "this is she" rather than "this is her," or "it must have been they" rather than "it must have been them," your high school English teacher would ...
  Public Speaking, Small Business, Thought Leadership
• Customers Listen, so Tell Them What You Want
  In a post at his Marketing Minute blog, Drew McLellan talks about the frustration he felt every time he made deposits at his bank. "Like most bank drive-throughs," he says, ...
  Creativity, Customer Behavior, Small Business
• How Coupons Discount Your Brand
  "The recession has caused lots of companies to panic," writes Laura Ries at Ries' Pieces. "And when companies panic, they print coupons and throw up sale signs. Look in your ...
  Brand Equity, Recession, Small Business
• Four Tips for Non-Obnoxious Networking
  If you want to step up your networking activities, but you're not quite sure how, Rohit Bhargava has some advice. "The challenge isn't how you can find more opportunities to ...
  Marketing Tips, Networking, Small Business
• Four Ways to Enchant Your Customers
  "I love to do business with small businesses—in-store, online, for myself, for others, for pleasure, for work—it doesn't matter to me," writes Guy Kawasaki at his eponymous blog. Based on ...
  Customer Experience, Marketing Tips, Small Business
• How to Get Your Whole Company Blogging
  "Maintaining a blog that's consistently interesting and relevant isn't an easy task," writes Ann Handley at MarketingProfs. "It's a challenge to create consistently awesome blog posts, and it's a challenge ...
  Corporate Blogging, Marketing Tips, Small Business, Thought Leadership
• Three Ways to Give Your Blog the SEO Treatment
  "Sometimes I hear the sound of crickets when I stumble across certain blogs written by small-business owners," writes Samantha McCormick at the OrangeSoda blog. "At first glance, the content is ...
  Blogging, Keywords, Marketing Tips, Search Engine Marketing, Small Business
• Three Ways to Influence Your Influencers
  "In simplest terms, businesses are no longer in complete control of their products, brands and messages," writes Susan Gunelius at Entrepreneur.com. "End-users are now in control." And those end-users are ...
  Community, Marketing Tips, Small Business
• Five Reasons Your Advertising Shouldn't Lead With Price
  Especially in this economy, small businesses are tripping over themselves to tell customers about their low, low prices. But in an article at MarketingProfs, Dan Hill argues strenuously against price-leading ...
  Advertising, Marketing Tips, Pricing, Small Business
• Three LinkedIn No-Nos
  "People use LinkedIn to connect with coworkers and industry peers, get business advice, and even find new jobs," writes Diana Freedman at HubSpot. "It's a great place for businesses to ...
  LinkedIn, Marketing Tips, Personal Branding, Small Business
• Four Reasons to Revive the Bulky Direct Mail Piece
  "Just a few years ago, I could count on receiving a mailbox-full of direct mail nearly every day, including the crown jewel of direct marketing, the BIG direct mail piece," ...
  Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Small Business
• What Zappos Can (Still) Teach Us About Customer Service
  In the last few years, Zappos has become as famous for its stellar customer service as for the shoes, apparel and accessories it sells. And on a recent visit to ...
  Customer Service, Small Business, Word-of-Mouth
• What You Can Learn From the Gap's Logo Debacle
  Not long ago, Gap sparked a social-media firestorm when it quietly unveiled a redesigned logo. People not only disliked the bargain-basement aesthetic—they hated it. And, writes Umair Haque at Harvard ...
  Logos, Marketing Smarter, Small Business, Social Media
• How to Change When It's 'Change or Die'
  In a post at Harvard Business Online, Bill Taylor reflects on the influential article "Change or Die," published five years ago by Fast Company. "It was a bracing reminder of ...
  Creativity, Marketing Smarter, Small Business