Let’s say that you decide to take up a new sport as an adult. Your goal is not just to “get in shape” but to actually get good enough to be competitive. You sign up for classes, make gains, get better, get more enthusiastic and then one day you start hitting a wall. Instead of moving forward, learning new skills and improving, you find yourself having to almost re-learn the most basic things you learned in your first lessons and losing, pretty regularly, to others in your class that you used to...

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

How many times have you bought something new only to become overwhelmed by features and thought, “Why does this have to be so complex?” Or after having it awhile think, “I only use this part and that part. I don’t even understand what that button does?” Just because something can be made complex doesn’t make it better and that’s a philosophy that can help you...

Every picture tells a story and then some when it’s posted on Instagram. For the creative small business entrepreneur trying to market products into a scenario that weaves a creative tale, you’ve got to show your customers what you do, not just tell them. And right now, there’s no better place to showcase your talents than on Instagram, the picture-sharing app. Twitter lets you talk, Facebook lets you ask and aggregate opinions but Instagram lets you quietly show off. With nothing more than a...

If you're locked out of your house, chances are you won't have your laptop with you to search for a locksmith, but you probably will have the key to your house right in your pocket - your smartphone. And instead of surfing the web for fun this time, you'll need to get right down to business, find the closest locksmith and get in touch with them, by phone, NOW! No looking for the best price, best reviewed, best website - you just need to get inside your house and as quickly as possible. THAT'S...

I know when I am on the fence about a product and doing research on it, one of the first things I do is look for customer reviews to see what experiences actual users have had with the product. I am less concerned with "bells and whistles" than the answer to my critical question - "Would you buy it again?" Someone might like that something is the perfect color, or has variable adjustments, or fits a need at that moment, but the real bottom line for me is whether or not they would make the...

Let's say you're thinking of changing an offer or you want to add a new item to your product line but you're just not sure the interest is there to support your investment. Larger companies can rely on expensive focus groups or marketing trend reports to help them make decisions, but that's a little more costly than your marketing budget allows. Did you know you have your own dedicated built-in focus group that's interested, vocal, has opinions and is just waiting to be asked to share them? It's...

I was in a very small antique shop a couple of weeks ago and pulled out my checkbook to pay when I noticed that the person standing next to me had handed the owner a credit card. There was no cash register or credit card swipe machine on the counter so I had thought that, considering how small this business was, the owner only took cash or checks. I had heard of Square (more about that in a minute) and watched as the owner took out a small white plastic square, attached it to his cell phone,...

A recent study showed that 72% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. When you consider that your social media campaigns can create free word-of-mouth advertising and the potential audience is huge, it’s more important than ever that your social media marketing time is used wisely to gain the biggest bang for your business.

A recent blog post explained the five things you should consider before you build your social media presence. Once you have done some planning...

Social media isn’t a traditional “send out your message and wait” passive marketing medium. While traditional marketing is still important in your overall strategy, social media allows for an ongoing, interactive, and high-energy conversation. You start the ball rolling with your tweet, blog or Facebook post and then everyone, including current and potential customers, can join in. Social media control doesn’t lie in the hands of the “sellers,” it lies in the hands of your followers. As a small...