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From: Susan Solovic Regular followers of this space know that I’m firmly committed to the proposition that as a small business owner  you  need to grow  if you are serious about growing your small business. That’s why I recommended attending at least one of the best small business conferences each year. To make this a little easier for you, I’ve compiled a list of the 50 best tech, startup and small business conferences 2017 – 2018 has to offer. Do a little exploring (I’ve provided the links) and you’ll find: Great marketing conferences, Top tech topics, Business networking opportunities, Cutting edge online strategies, Social media marketing conferences, And much more. Further, it’s likely you can find a small business conference that’s not too far away from your home turf and at a time that’s convenient for you to attend. And don’t forget about your team. Sending your employees to one of the best 2017-2018 small business conferences not only brings new skills and knowledge int

From MarketingProfs : Marketing departments may not realize the seismic impact a new regulation will have on their plans for 2018. And if they don't begin planning today, CMOs may discover that after May 25, 2018, their teams will not be able to execute campaigns and activities in the way they used to—at least not without facing the risk of legal action against their companies resulting in dramatic penalties and brand damage. The specter of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has loomed large since it was adopted last year by European Union (EU). When it goes into effect next year, this new regulation promises to radically change every phase of consumer data management within the EU—and worldwide. And just because your company or its servers are not in the EU doesn't mean you'll be able to get around the issue. A change of this magnitude requires a dedicated and serious response from any organization that either does business within the EU itself or has a

From  Fundera Ledger Online marketing is vital for any small business hoping to stay competitive. But what online marketing tactics should you focus on in your limited time is a busy entrepreneur?  Here are 10 essential digital marketing tips for small business owners. 1. Start with Your Website “Make sure you have an updated, mobile-friendly website that is easy for users to navigate across all devices and has a modern, clean design.” —Deborah Sweeney, CEO, MyCorporation.com  By choosing the right keywords and narrowing your target audience, you can hone in on those prospective customers who are most likely to want what you sell. By following these digital marketing tips for small business owners, you’ll see your sales and profits grow.

From MarketingProfs : Imagine you just invested a lot of time and resources in your next content masterpiece. You did third-party research, interviewed industry experts, carefully crafted the copy with your target persona in mind, and pulled out all the stops to design a visually compelling piece. You then released it into the wild through all your Web and social channels and sat back, waiting for it to become the next viral sensation. But then the unthinkable happened: No one shared it (gasp!). What happened? Even the greatest content sometimes needs an early boost to gain traction in social media. Paid promotion and influencer marketing can certainly help, but those can be costly. Fortunately, virtually every organization has a captive audience that's willing—and even happy—to share content with their networks for free... Look to your left, look to your right, look at Bob in accounting: I'm talking about your fellow employees (bet you didn't know Bob has 3,000

From MarketingProfs : The appeal of some products is obvious. It's not hard to understand the attraction of an appetizing cheeseburger, a new action movie, or a revolutionary smartphone. Other products, however, have to work harder to explain the problem that they're solving. Moreover, some industries serve fundamental needs in society—but don't receive the kind of attention heaped on upstarts like Snapchat: Think Oracle, the second-highest earning software developer in the world; its name would likely draw a blank stare from the man in the street. There is hope, though. Here are 11 powerful steps for marketing products that, on the face of it, might seem totally unsexy. 1. Define the problem that you're solving Instead of telling people about the reasons that they should like your product, identify what your customers are looking for and frame your pitch around that.

From Business Knowhow : Postcard marketing articles, tips, and advice. Get new ideas for marketing with postcards. Some examples: Creative Marketing with Postcards Most business owners don't use postcards as a marketing tool and those that do, use them infrequently and haphazardly, with no strategy involved. Yet they are extremely cost-effective and are six times more likely to be read than a direct mail letter. High Response Marketing with Low-Cost Postcards Postcards can drive a huge amount of traffic to your website, generate a flood of new sales leads or produce a surge in any business activity you want. And you don't have to spend a lot of time or money on them if you apply these four little-known postcard marketing secrets. 10 Common Postcard Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Postcards are the least expensive form of direct mail today, are easy to create, and typically generate a high rate of response.

From MarketingProfs : For over 60 years, the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system has served as a widely accepted structure for the analysis of businesses participating in the US economy. Marketers have long looked to the SIC system and its predecessor—the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)—to simplify the processes behind identifying, segmenting, and targeting potential customers and prospects. But what if you don't have a lot of marketing experience in an industry? Perhaps you are just starting out and need to quickly understand the makeup of your potential customers and prospects, and profile them. Understanding SIC and NAICS can seem like a daunting task, but having a cursory comprehension of these systems can help you support various marketing activities. The US Census Bureau assigns one code to each establishment based on its primary activity (generally the activity that generates the most revenue). Classification codes are typically deri

From MarketingProfs Research published in AdAge at the end of 2016 helped decode today's five CMO priorities. Two of those priorities fell squarely into the domain of marketing performance management (MPM). The first priority was measurement. However, the study revealed that not just any kind of measurement will do: To be effective, you need to be able to measure Marketing's impact. The second priority was the need to do a better job of justifying Marketing investments. AdAge was not alone in shining a light on those CMO priorities. The trend toward more compelling measurements of value were reflected in a Chief Marketer article that identified six trends for 2017, three of which included some type of measurement: cross-channel measurement, more sophisticated marketing measurement, and real-time attribution. And a Forbes article predicted that 2017 is the year Agile Marketing will be taken more seriously. Why? Because "agile marketing results in a measurable impro

From MarketingProfs Legendary Baseball Hall of Famer and Yankees catcher Yogi Berra once said, "You can observe a lot by watching." The humor aside, there's a lot of truth in that statement. As marketing professionals, we should always be observing our customers: Their habits, behavior, and feedback serve as a yardstick for measuring the strength of your company's relationship with its customers. And if you're not watching your customers, someone else—probably your competition—is. One way to understand customer metrics is to compare it to driving your car. When you're behind the wheel, there's a lot happening: You're constantly monitoring the vehicle's metrics, such as speed, engine temperature, and fuel levels, along with observing traffic and road conditions. There's no justification for not bringing the same level of monitoring to your customers. So how can marketing professionals turn Mr. Berra's quip into an actionable plan?

From eMarketer A new survey reveals that more marketers and agencies are beginning to adopt native advertising. However, the data hints that they aren’t necessarily ready to truly commit to native. According to a report from Advertiser Perceptions, nine out of 10 marketers and agencies in the US had at least gotten started with native in 2016. Just 10% had not tried it. Interestingly, though, while the number of marketers who had tried native rose over 2015 levels, there was no increase at all in terms of committed users. From Wikipedia : Native advertising is a type of advertising, mostly online, that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears.

From Marketing Profs : In content marketing and in journalism, the word jargon has come to be used mostly as an insult. It's a label that people put on unfamiliar language they dismiss as gibberish. Jargon has another meaning, though, and it doesn't have an inherently negative connotation: the specialized vocabulary or language that a profession or group uses. Often riddled with industry-specific acronyms and colloquialisms, industry jargon is difficult for outsiders to understand. Content marketers contemplating whether to use that sort of jargon need to note whether their target audience is general and broad, or specialized and narrow. If you're targeting a general audience (say, you're writing a beer commercial), you should comply with conventional wisdom and avoid jargon. But if you're writing or speaking to a highly specialized group, as content developers are increasingly doing, you should consider embracing jargon. Don't avoid jargon reflexivel

From Marketing Profs Only 15% of Americans say the emails they receive from marketers are frequently or always useful, according to recent research from Fluent. The report was based on data from a survey of 1,900 consumers age 18 and older who live in the United States. Some 7% of respondents say the marketing emails they receive are always useful, and 8% say they are frequently useful. In addition, 29% of respondents say marketing emails are sometimes useful, 33% say they are rarely useful, and 24% say they are never useful. Younger respondents, those age 18-29, find marketing emails more useful in general than do older respondents (age 30+).

From Marketing Profs : Agile companies want to be able to rapidly adjust on all fronts, including Marketing. Companies are interested in marketing that's agile because they believe it will help them deploy the right elements of the marketing mix at the right time to influence the specific outcome they want to achieve. Scenarios to Facilitate Agility Scenarios are postulated sequences of events or other developments. Creating scenarios helps you consider a range of possible outcomes and drivers of change. Accordingly, scenarios are a powerful tool for understanding potential situations and then developing appropriate strategies for each of those situations. In short, scenarios help you anticipate. They help you ask better questions and prepare for the unexpected. They increase your readiness—thus setting the stage for agility. And scenario analysis is an essential part of creating agility. Creating scenarios that will be useful in helping to make marketing agile requires

From Marketing Profs : Millennial small and midsize business (SMB) leaders are more likely than Baby Boomer SMB leaders to spend their marketing budgets on digital channels, such as social media and video, according to recent research from Magisto. The report was based on data from a survey of 218 Millennial (age 28-29) SMB owners/leaders and 275 Baby Boomer (age 60+) SMB owners/leaders. Millennial respondents spend more than half (58%) of their marketing budgets on digital channels, on average. Baby Boomers spend only 14% of their marketing budgets on digital channels, on average.

The '8 Great' Tips For Marketing In A Category That Hasn't Existed Before   OCT 5, 2016 @ 05:12 PM   Each of these companies have shared the same hurdle  —  how do you market a solution people don't know exists to a problem they don't yet realize they have? "Walleye Dawn" Photo courtesy of Steve Wall on Flickr:   https://flic.kr/p/6Vvgqw  Some rights reserved. Forbes' Cheryl Conner writes about a problem we see from time to time  — being a field that does not have a marketing rule book.   For most businesses buying an ad and waiting for customers to rush the door is not enough, especially so for those categories that require a little explanation. We can bandy "social media" around as being the tools to gain new customers but business owners need to be able to speak about the problems their product or service solves. The new avenues need content and the content is expertise and storytelling. Most of the methods described in

From SBA The internet has drastically affected all types of traditional small business marketing—except for one. Out-of-home advertising is the only type of advertising that hasn’t declined due to digital advertising, according to a report from Borrell. In fact, spending on out-of-home advertising has grown consistently since 2008–except for a small decline in 2014–and is expected to keep rising for the next five years. As the name implies, out-of-home (OOH) advertising refers to advertising in places outside the home (as opposed to TV and radio advertising or ads in print media, which come into the home). OOH can include billboards, bus shelter or bench signage, posters and signage in malls, arenas and stadiums; bus, taxi or other vehicle wraps; pre-roll movie ads in theaters; posters and signage in commuter stations and inside buses, trains or railway cars; and “place-based” advertising such as signs in restaurants, bars and health clubs. If your business targets a lo

From MarketingProfs : Businesses depend on email as the glue that pulls marketing tactics together, yet many otherwise-savvy marketers misuse email in a way that ultimately alienates customers. Years ago, one-size-fits-all communications worked fine, and you might well have created one email for everyone and sent it once a week. Though it still happens, it's no longer the norm now that merchants can take advantage of more sophisticated customer intelligence. Attention to the details can pay off. Email the right message to the right people, and you'll engage and delight your customers while driving more opens, clicks and sales.

From Emarketer : Influencer marketing is rapidly gaining popularity among brand marketers, and according to recent research, nearly three-quarters of US marketers cite ongoing ambassadorships as one of the most effective uses of influencers. Marketers use influencers in a variety of ways, from leaving a review for their product to mentioning their brand in some way on social networks. For many (70.6%), ongoing ambassadorships are the most effective influencer marketing tactic. Product reviews are a close second—more than two-thirds of respondents mentioned them as being the most effective use of influencers. Brand mentions and sponsored content were other tactics marketers pointed out, and though affiliate links were also mentioned, few respondents cited them as being the most effective.

From the New York Daily News The formula for business success is simple but not easy. At the core, once you have your product or service figured out, your marketing plan should be a natural progression. In fact, we would challenge the thinking that your business plan and marketing plan are one in the same to a certain extent. Some small businesses may say, "I don't really need any marketing right now, we are doing alright." While, you can't argue with a business that has a stable customer base, you have to consider the philosophy that extending the opportunity beyond the first transaction is where the lifetime value of your customer is increased. More sales equals more profits. After all, marketing is what you do to create awareness for your product or service, and that awareness should be continuous.

From MarketingProfs : Today's article offers tips on debugging content marketing software of a different sort. Namely, the words, phrases, and sentences that constitute your marketing content. Just like buggy computer software, buggy content software can be costly to your business. Because buggy content software can reduce the amount of time people spend with your marketing content, thereby lowering its productivity and effectiveness. So before you publish the latest version of your content marketing software, make your best effort to remove all bugs. To that end, here are two sets of content debugging tips that will help you exterminate a good many of these meddlesome maligners—in this case, 12 often misused words and phrases.