Here we concentrate mostly on small business. And one of the cardinal rules of small business is that not everyone wants to—or should—grow into a big business. So while larger businesses certainly have a lot to teach, often small business owners are more apt to learn more directly from other small businesses similar to themselves. But sometimes, a big company is so iconic, so inspiring and so universal in what it teaches, we just have to ...
Last week we talked some about the popularity of video content and the public’s growing demand for it. Up until recently, video was either consumer-oriented (as in piano-playing cats) or in the case of commercials, slickly and expensively produced by big advertisers. But now, Google and YouTube have announced that they are “helping every business ‘play big’ on YouTube” by making Google AdWords for video available to all. It parallels search advertising in many ways:
You ...
Usually a small business—or any business for that matter—wouldn’t react too well to a mob suddenly invading their place of business. But a “cash mob” – well, that’s a mob of a different color. And that color is green.
This is a trend sweeping the nation’s small businesses, thanks to one guy’s brainstorm in Cleveland. It’s exactly as the name says: a mob (a bunch of people) with cash in hand. Most importantly, once they reach ...
It was almost exactly two years ago when President Obama, in a speech in Buffalo, referred to small businesses as “…the backbone of America’s economy.” A lot of us, including the news media, have repeated similar thoughts on small business until we are absolutely certain that small businesses are single-handedly lifting us out of our economic doldrums. But then we read convincing evidence that makes a very different argument: that small business’s share of—and influence ...
It’s spring. We’re seeing signs of renewal, both in nature and in the economy. And not a moment too soon…hooray!
But in the midst of the country’s growing optimism, there’s still a group who seems intent on keeping the bad news coming, especially when it comes to financing for small businesses. That’s right, it’s banks! Sly foxes all, they’ve long forgotten their own struggles at the recession’s onset. But we just can’t quite figure out why ...
When you call a business and reach a courteous, seemingly scripted customer service representative, you generally feel like you’re speaking with a bigger company. For good or ill, these are the companies that have the resources to man such an operation. Despite the sometimes negative experience associated with calling customer service, deploying one for your small business can have a positive impact on customer satisfaction and, ultimately, your bottom line. You just have to take ...
We’re well into the second quarter of 2012 already—how’s your business going so far this year? Hopefully, your first quarter was a good one and business continues to grow.
Regardless of whether business is booming or your year started a bit slowly, cash flow can be an ongoing challenge for small businesses. Sometimes it takes awhile to turn receivables into actual cash. Depending on the type of business, expenses can be frontloaded for the year or ...
Tell the truth: How many hours have you spent watching video clips of clever cats, cute kids or the latest Funny or Die parody? We all do it, and we’re doing it more and more apparently. Would you believe that YouTube alone attracts a monthly global audience of 800 million (and growing) monthly visitors? Baljeet Singh, a group product manager at YouTube, likens putting video content on YouTube to “advertising in the SuperBowl,” and, he ...
The question isn’t as cheesy as What’s your sign?, but the term brand, along with all sorts of discussions about what it means and what it does, gets tossed around almost as much today as questions about one’s astrological leanings did back in the sixties! In fact, you could argue that brand is over used, mis-used and misunderstood more than any other marketing term.
Small businesses often tune out when brand-related discussions arise. After all, we ...
Trying to make sense of an ever-changing world is an ongoing process, and we routinely look to all kinds of resources to help us do that. One of our favorites is Faith Popcorn, a strategic marketing consultant who analyzes shifting social, cultural and business factors and collectively interprets them in the form of trends.
One of her most striking and likely controversial, trends for 2012 is called “She-change.”
Popcorn always has an interesting take on things. As ...
