Gone are the days when businesses just relied on neon signs, tarpaulins and pamphlets. Since the inception of social networking sites, entrepreneurs harnessed it to maintain business relationships and attract new customers. Marketing has taken on a whole new meaning once social media became prevalent, especially for small businesses.
While it is true that the more people know your business exists, the higher chance you get of being considered to fit consumer’s needs, there is still the matter of being able to establish that you can deliver what you promised you would.
You may be sending hordes of email, tweeting left and right, posting new blogs daily all in the hopes of being noticed by more of your target market but have you measured how much of an improvement your business made since you started marketing online?…
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Does your company’s Information Technology area act more like competitors rather than partners with the business?
Everywhere you look, people are doing something with their phones. They are either texting someone, or they are using one of the thousands of apps available.
Any person who is running their own enterprise and is accountable for it can be called an entrepreneur. But not all entrepreneurs can be called financially literate. Financial literacy goes beyond just knowing what goes on in the financial world, it is about understanding finance so that effective decisions about the business can be reached.
There are two main problems concerning human resources today. The first one is the unemployment rate which causes grossly underqualified people to apply to your company and the second is employee retention. For business owners, retaining your best employees may pose as a challenge.
One of the keys to success for every small business is a really smart marketing program that keeps existing customers in the fold and continually incites prospects to join. The program should include the most cost-effective ways to raise brand-awareness, leverage your expertise and share deals.
In these tough times, the biggest impact of the economic downturn is being felt by the small business sector. This is largely because of the fact that there are fewer resources available to counter the effects of an uncertain economy. The best way for a small business to thrive nowadays is by cutting costs. Practicing frugality in your business does not mean that you are sacrificing the quality and service level of your company. Cost cutting on certain aspects of your business could just be the economic stimulus needed to let you bounce back from an economic spiral.
As small business owners, we wear many different hats. Among which, hiring the right people, and helping them achieve their highest potential, are two of your most important responsibilities. But which one is MORE important?
Many business owners are now relying heavily on social media to help market their products and services. You may already have a business account with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. You may also see that with these sites, your sales went up higher than you expected. But you should not stop there. People regularly think of ways to let them connect with others who share the same interests and you have to be updated so that your business can thrive.
Technology companies are, unfortunately, almost as well known for having poor customer service as they are for their actual products. Why is that?
