Up and Running Blog

marketing

Small business marketing rut

It’s so easy to get stuck, isn’t it? We go about our lives, doing our work, pretty much on auto-pilot, and before we know it we’re stuck. Nothing is growing or changing or progressing; we’ve just been doing the same things day in and day out for weeks, months, and even years hoping that miraculously [...]

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Business Planning

If you’re writing a business plan, you should at least be considering your marketing plan at the same time. A good business plan includes a marketing component, and most successful businesses have entirely separate marketing plans to guide them. So what makes a good marketing plan? Recently on Tim Berry’s AmEx OPEN Forum blog, the [...]

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nichetroopers

Hi there! My name is Natalie MacNeil, the newest guest blogger here at Bplans. I’m an Emmy Award-winning Media Producer and the author of “She Takes on the World: A Guide to Being Your Own Boss, Working Happy, and Living on Purpose” (read to the end for a special offer!). When I was in high [...]

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grapedrink

Building a memorable brand is more important than ever.  In this climate of unlimited choices,  your brand has to be cohesive, memorable and differentiated to captivate consumers and eventually capture mind share. Branding isn’t simply a visual identity, and a lot of start-ups go wrong by undervaluing the importance of branding initiatives. Think of branding [...]

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21 Reasons small businesses fail at marketing

I don’t know what it is about Marketing, but everyone on earth seems to think they can do it. And yet I see so many people NOT doing it or wasting thousands of dollars and not getting results.  I see business owners try the same things over and over,  wasting more money, more time, and [...]

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bigstock_resolutions_782668

Call me a rebel… or  a Scrooge… or a Grinch if you must, but I am so happy all this holiday nonsense is finally over.  And as I sit here trying to come up with a blog for the new year, the word “resolution” keeps popping into my head and I absolutely REFUSE to give [...]

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spam-can-collection-2009-09-med-300x202

We’re all familiar with the “who-actually-falls-for-this-stuff” SPAM and we all know its complete bogus. For example: RE: I await to hear from you urgently Please I am seeking for your help (sic) From Google: Google winning notification Or the ones that actually warn you they’re SPAM in the subject line, what is up with that? [...]

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Does Your Website Suck?

by Carolyn Higgins on December 19, 2011

Finally, small business owners everywhere realize they need an online presence if they are going to compete in today’s world.  Small business owners who just a year ago adamantly argued that their customers aren’t using the web are now jumping on board and admitting – yes, indeed they are. But slapping up a website just [...]

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happy_new_year

Where to focus in 2012

by Cidnee Stephen on December 16, 2011

The common tone going into 2012 is cautious optimism. Economies remain very fragile and so lavish spending on your marketing would be a high risk activity. Instead, focus in 2012 on your high payoff activities and leverage the abundance of low cost, no cost marketing tools available to you. From a budget standpoint, try to [...]

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santa

Whether he meant to or not jolly old St. Nick created one of the most recognizable and beloved brands in the western world; one that children have adored and parents embraced for centuries.  Santa Claus has endured wars, depressions, scrutiny (is he real or not??), imposters who tried to tarnish his image (ala The Grinch), and even [...]

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