If you are a small brick and mortar business operating in a small community, you may not realize that you have the ability to market beyond the customary word of mouth system. Many small businesses rely on local promotions, the phone book and coupons to keep business running from day to day. Others may have…

Imagine sitting down at your computer one morning, and finding two emails in your inbox from rival companies. Both contain identical discounts for something you’ve wanted to buy for ages. However, one email was sent specifically to you through a branded address, while the other has blank To and CC fields and came from a…

Reliability isn’t a sexy subject. It’s rarely the top priority when looking for a new car, and it’s unlikely to affect which way you swipe on a dating app. Yet unreliability can be a deal-breaker for all sorts of things. It may even lead to the death of an online business if that company relies…

In the final quarter of 2017, $119 billion was spent in ecommerce stores across the States. And although that’s only 9% of total retail sales over the same period, online shopping is clearly here to stay. Crowded Marketplace Unfortunately, so are your competitors. They have a head start over you, with established customer bases and…

Until a few years ago, working on a project with colleagues required endless update meetings and round-robin email chains. Thankfully those days are now behind us. The arrival of cloud computing has seen a variety of project management tools being launched. These platforms are ideal for remote-working teams to collaborate, providing real-time updates on individual…

In the beginning, there was the blog. And it was good. So good that amateur bloggers quickly saturated the market, while every marketing-focused brand launched a blog on its company website or through social media accounts. As attention spans dwindled and audience fatigue set in, video blogging rose to prominence. It’s safe to say that…

Tesla, the American company leading the charge (forgive the pun) in automobile and electrical innovation, announced a new line of semi trucks at a launch event on November 16 in Hawthorne California. The launch wasn’t just one of CEO Elon Musk’s highly orchestrated events (though it was, as always, that too). Rather, Musk used the…

The startup world has always been enamored with the idea of “the pivot”—or recognizing a previously unseen business opportunity and adapting your company’s offering to serve that, rather than stick to your original mission. It’s easy to see why this concept has gained traction in the Valley. Startups pride themselves on being nimble and agile,…

There are 195 countries in the world, and chances are your business is currently only targeting one of them at the moment. With Americans only comprising around 4% of the world’s population, it’s easy to see potential markets being missed south of the Rio Grande and north of the International Boundary. Risk-averse (or apathetic) entrepreneurs…

Regardless of how effectively you run your business, customer complaints are unfortunately inevitable. From IT gremlins to intermediaries letting you down, a 100 percent satisfaction rating is unsustainable as a business grows. And while most customers will quietly drift away to competitors, roughly five per cent will provide you with a second chance by registering…