New York SBDC Research Network

From bplans : Your team matters just as much as your great business idea. A company overview (also known as company information or a company summary) is an essential part of a business plan. It’s an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure. It usually appears after the executive summary in your business plan. This is typically the shortest chapter of a business plan document, but that doesn’t reduce its importance. If you’re presenting this plan to people outside of your company, this is your opportunity to introduce yourself and your business, and you are going to want to put your best foot forward. Imagine that the person reading your business plan document has never heard of you, and doesn’t know anything about your business. What should be their takeaway? What do they need to remember about you and your company?

From Monotype : The world isn’t literally getting smaller, but you’d be forgiven for feeling that way. Customers around the world expect a consistent, on-brand experience on any device and in any country or language, and brands must face the challenge of delivering on that expectation. Our latest eBook, Fluency Through Fonts, shows how a smart font strategy can help break down language barriers and lead to a smoother, more effective workflow for brands with a global audience. Read the free eBook to learn: Why fonts are crucial to strong customer loyalty and brand perception around the world How mobile has changed the way brands need to think about their global customers What problems can arise when your font library isn’t developed in a strategic way

From the Census Bureau Mention franchises, and images of the thousands of fast-food restaurants that dot landscapes across urban and rural America immediately come to mind. Franchises, however, go well beyond fast-food chains. They are important to many industries instrumental in providing other day-to-day services, from storage and warehousing to eyeglass stores and weight-loss centers. Detailed data on franchises comes from the Economic Census, which is taken every five years, and covers employer businesses in the United States. The latest Economic Census will be conducted this year, and continue to offer detailed information only available through this program. Comprehensively collected for the first time for the 2007 Economic Census, the franchise question covers over 300 different types of businesses (industries) and measures the number of franchisee- and franchisor-owned businesses in each industry and their total employment, annual payroll and sales. The question was add

From eMarketer : It’s a hard knock life for tracking cookies these days. Ad serving firm Flashtalking analyzed 20 advertisers worldwide throughout Q4 2017 and found that 64% of their tracking cookies were either blocked or deleted by web browsers. According to the research, rejection rates on mobile devices were particularly high—75% of mobile cookies were rejected, compared with 41% on desktop. Tracking cookies have been a staple of digital advertising since its inception, and the de facto method that many marketers rely on to track and target users online. But the cookie is beginning to crumble as users shift their media consumption to mobile devices, and as browsers and regulators crack down on digital privacy. Just a few years ago, people spent most of their time online on desktops and laptops.

From Medium : Humans are wired to love a good before-and-after story. We crave transformation, whether it’s fixing up an old house or turning a clever idea into a thriving business. But pushing for that “after” state can lead us to overlook all the fun of getting started. Sure, the early days of building a product or a business can be tough. There are late nights, financial struggles, mistakes, and self-doubt. Yet, it’s also a great time to explore. You can experiment without millions of paying customers watching your every move. And if you don’t have investors breathing down your neck, you can afford to play the long game... But, how do you get started, especially if you’re not ready to quit your job? You can begin, right now, to build a foundation that will support your business for years. Even if you’re not a software engineer (or you don’t have an MBA), there are smart ways to get the ball rolling. Today’s startup media often celebrate the blind leap, but I believe i

Obtained From:   Marketing Profs Just as the universe comprises a wide variety of types of stars, so does your customer base. And like the universe, where some stars shine brighter, some of your customers are better than others. Now imagine the power of being able to separate your worst customers from your brightest star customers—and find more like your brightest ones! Doing so entails evaluating and understanding what it takes to attract, acquire, keep, and grow your new and existing customers' value. And to find, keep, and grow the value of your customers requires a customer-centric  culture  and  approach  in your marketing. Dr. Peter Fader, author of  Customer Centricity ,  defines customer-centric marketing as looking at a customer's lifetime value and focusing your marketing efforts on the high-value customer segment in order to drive profits. The suggestion here is that by understanding who your current high value customers are, you are better positioned to acquire mo

From Camille at superhuman.com Email marketing is one of the oldest strategies for marketing on the internet. This leads some to wonder whether it’s still worth spending all the time and effort required to run campaigns. The truth is that while email may not be the newest or most exciting tool in digital marketing, it still has the potential to be one of the most effective. In 2018, nearly 90% of marketers list email as one of their top three priorities, with 45% saying it is their top concern. Furthermore, it still offers of the best returns on investment when compared to other marketing channels. Numbers like this make it easy to see that email marketing is not going away anytime soon. However, if you want to produce competitive email marketing campaigns, you have to make an effort to develop a strategy that can meet the demands of the modern market and use tools like an email verifier to ensure the highest possible deliverability and conversion rate. If your tactics are old