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Published in Marketing Solutions
Article
When to Say Goodbye to Your Benefits Broker
For many businesses, the process of choosing and administering a health insurance benefits program is daunting. They often turn to benefits brokers to help them select and implement plans. Traditional benefits brokers offer assistance in choosing plans, but typically lack the technological systems and solutions that h...
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Article
Can Social Media Ruin Your Business?
Social media sites can be incredibly useful. Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and all the rest have created new means of communication and enabled companies to connect organically with users whose interests are already vetted. That said, they can also be destructive. The difference lies in the way you use them...
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Article
The Benefits of Working “Out of the Office”
Working remotely or from home, whether this is on an ad-hoc basis or as a regular occurrence, can allow people the scope to undertake their roles to their very best advantage. People quickly learn how best to shape and adapt their hectic schedules and workload. I know that having the flexibility to work from home has...
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Article
10 Email Marketing Statistics That Prove It’s Effective
We all hate getting spam mail so it’s hard to admit that email advertising is effective, but study after study show that it’s a low-cost method of obtaining new customers and generating repeat clients. According to SalesForce.com, the average return on investment (ROI) for every $1 devoted to an email-marketing campai...
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Article
The Benefits of Working “Out of the Office”
Working remotely or from home, whether this is on an ad-hoc basis or as a regular occurrence, can allow people the scope to undertake their roles to their very best advantage. People quickly learn how best to shape and adapt their hectic schedules and workload. I know that having the flexibility to work from home has...
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Article
FOR THE BUSINESS OWNER - STRATEGIES FOR TEAM MEETINGS
The normal staff meeting has become a colossal waste of time. No surprise, but a staff meeting is boring and even a dreaded part of the “9 to 5” world. Many consider staff meetings (or team meetings) a practical alternative to work. They feign interest and look at the gatherings as a place to jot down their grocery li...
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Article
YOUR RESULTS, YOUR FAULT
In business the results you get can be “relatively” proportionate to the effort you put in. So far so good, but a problem arises when people don’t do anything or do the wrong thing to try and get results. Far too often people will play the blame game. “I tried this to get more business happening and it didn’t work and...
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Article
Promotions: Where do they fit in?
When your auto repair company sends you a coupon for a discount on an oil change, or your local coffee shop rewards you with a free cup of coffee every tenth time you buy, you're seeing a promotional program at work. A promotion is a planned strategy for increasing sales over a short period. A promotion adds value to...
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Article
Database Marketing – I am a Fan!
Database Marketing Is For Everyone! Whether you're a partner in a consulting firm, a contractor or electrician, or CEO of an international conglomerate, database marketing is crucial for your success. Database marketing can be simple or sophisticated. The key is that instead of just having a mailing list of prospectiv...
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Article
Customer Loyalty
Do you have a specific plan for addressing loyalty to your current customers and clients? Did you know that if you improve your customer retention by just 5%, you are also adding 5% to your growth rate? That is due to the high costs of closing new business vs. the profitability of loyal customers spending more money a...
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Article
Using Facebook to Screen Job Applicants
These days, almost every business checks Facebook as part of their applicant screening process. And it turns out many employers are misreading the information they glean from this social media giant. A new study from North Carolina State University shows that many organizations may have a fundamental misunderstanding...
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Article
Is Your Employee Handbook 2014 Compliant?
An employee handbook lays the groundwork for how a business runs from day to day. If your handbook isn’t used or updated consistently, your business may not be running as efficiently as possible and be at high risk for costly employee relations issues. Your handbook needs to reflect compliance with applicable federal,...
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Article
The Art & Science of Team Building
Teams have become the latest management obsession. They’re the corporate equivalent of a Visa card: they’re everywhere you want to be. Trouble is that despite their vast presence, teams rarely achieve breakthrough results. Instead, they sink to the level of the weakest performer. The fault lies not with the team or it...
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Q&A
Time to Get Social
~~By John Focht Today’s fast-paced, technological world requires more in developing a solid business plan than ever before. Twenty years ago, a website was a non-existent factor in developing a marketing plan for your small business. Ten years ago, your marketing plan required you to have a website to ensure you had a...
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Q&A
Think Outside Your Website – Create a Web Presence
By John Focht Today’s world provides website owners with plenty of options when it comes to marketing their website. Traditional means of advertising, word-of-mouth, and networking still apply, but in today’s technological world, social media has opened many more options in getting websites visible on the internet. On...
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Q&A
Drive Web Traffic to Your Website
By John Focht Your website is created! Looks great! Now what? Too often when a small-sized company or an individual creates a website for their business, they get caught up in the moment of having a great looking website. But if no one is finding or visiting your website, what good is it? Some websites fail in that a...
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Poll
Do you think an SEO Strategy should be developed while in the technocal development phase of your website?
Now that you’ve got a great looking website, how do you go about driving new traffic to it? After all, it doesn’t matter what your website looks like if no one knows how to find you. Often times, driving web traffic to a website is overlooked in the planning and developing of a new site. Website traffic is a pivotal p...
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Article
Creating a Marketing Plan
Almost everyone who dreams of starting their own business, knows they need to create a business plan. However, that’s often where many people stop. When you created your business plan, what did you do with it? You actually have the basis for the next step, which is creating your marketing plan. Without the plan of how...
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Article
Social Media's Role in Today's Workplace
In my business, with Social Media being an integral part of Marketing and Business Development, I am often questioned on the role it plays when employees have access to Social Media while working. I am not an HR Professional, however, there are certain aspects of Marketing that often overlap with Human Resources and m...
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Article
What's Your Blurb?
We’ve all heard about the “blurb.” It’s that short phrase you use to describe what you do for a living. Often it’s the first and, maybe if handled incorrectly, the last, contact you’ll have when meeting a potential client. It’s more important than your name when introducing yourself. When it comes to creating a blurb...
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Article
Leveraging the Power of Your Personal Network
Here's an idea — get with your network of friends, relatives and neighbors and put them to work for you. I don't mean putting them on the payroll. I mean tapping into them as a referral source. Consider this. Most people know roughly 250 people. Those 250 people each know another 250. Do the math. That's 45,000+ poten...
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Article
Self Promotion — It's OK to Sell Yourself
Wouldn't it be nice if effective small business marketing and self-promotion practices felt natural and authentic? If you truly care about your customers, self-promotion deserves your attention. Many negative connotations typically come to mind when thinking about self-promotion, all of which keep many people from fee...
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