Every marketing strategy has its planning.  Marketers have to plan ahead, but they also have to be ready to respond to issues.  While marketers may plan for the next few weeks or even months, the web now isn’t about planning for the next few years and only then setting things in motion. It’s about having effective real-time strategies and being prepared for them. The problem is  than most of the businesses out there simply aren’t ready to align to something this difficult to control.

Too Much Analysis
 The change Social Media brought was the constant need for spontaneity. It wasn’t only that [...]

The Federal Reserve conducts rounds of tests on banks throughout the year. These tests are referred to as stress tests. They place a series of hypothetical scenarios for the bank to work with including worst case scenarios from the European crises fall out. As a small business owner, these tests are something you should pay attention to. They also show the importance of researching which banks you choose for your business finances.
Tests have been issued to 31 banks this year compared to a mere 19 banks last year. Surprisingly though large banks such as Toronto-Dominion Bank US and BancWest Corp., [...]

Small businesses in Idaho are now in a great position to get financing for their business. The federal government awarded the Idaho Housing and Finance Association over $13 million towards helping small businesses increase their collateral available for loans.
The loans are available to those using the money for business purposes. The business must be located in Idaho and have fewer than 500 employees.  The borrower and lender must not be affiliated or related in any way. Lastly the small business must meet the banks requirements other than collateral and the owner of the business must not have committed any crimes [...]

We are all familiar with the wonderful start-up that focuses on location tracking: Foursquare. The most interesting thing about Foursquare so far, is the fact that it has just recently surpassed the one billion mark, making it the most popular check-in app out there. The point of marketing is to use any means possible to give your business a bigger boost. The good news is that it doesn’t matter whether your business is big or small, at the beginning or launched for some time now; it can always benefit from Foursquare – provided that it has an actual physical location [...]

One of the most important decisions you will make as a business owner is deciding to add employees and begin the payroll process.  Although some businesses may benefit from keeping employees as independent contractors, other companies have more success with in house employees that are added onto the company payroll.  It is very important that you secure some of your most vital employees so they can be confident about their financial and employment future, just as you want to secure the future of your company.
Before adding employees to your payroll, it is important that you familiarize yourself with the payroll [...]

Even with an electron microscope it would not be possible to see a difference between Britain’s Got Talent, American Idol, Pop Idol and The X Factor. Three judges glare at an amateur singer and give their opinion about the singer’s talent or lack thereof. Singing other people’s songs to recorded music used to be called karaoke and was done after a few drinks on Friday night. Now people watch it on TV.
It would be hard to look at The Talk and not think that some idiot at CBS saw The View and thought they just needed a couple of Caucasian [...]

The season of giving grows increasingly demanding for retailers every year, bruising the spirits none more than those of small business owners.  Your customers may conveniently benefit from your local delivery service for ten months every calendar year, but your regularly staffed logistics fleet proves no match for Holiday shoppers.  According to Budget Truck Rental, forecasting is important, as contracted reinforcements will soon become scarce.
“The time period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is one of the busiest times of the year for truck rentals, and vehicles such as cargo vans can sell out quickly,” said Joe Ferraro, Senior VP [...]

If you don’t think you can learn something new about email, think again! A new e-book featuring emails from Steve Jobs show how  important this communication medium is to business leaders. The book was created to provide an inside view of how Jobs worked.
Managing emails may seem tedious. After all, most of the information within your inbox will be out of date or not very compelling, but communicating by email doesn’t have to be boring. Here are some of the interesting ways Jobs used email communication at work.
Contact Customers
The great thing about leading a company is the amount of [...]

While Britney Spears and her 55 hour marriage took the record, Kim and her 72 day marriage isn’t a long term commitment even in Hollywood. Demi and Ashton Kutcher were going strong for 6 years, but in 2011 called it quits. While celebs divorce for a multitude of reasons, the important aspect to consider is if both people are better off emotionally, mentally, physically and financially after the separation. When it comes to the business world, there are good reasons to end or maintain relationships with clients, vendors and employees. In general, the saying, “The bottom line is the bottom [...]

The creature known as Bigfoot has been a staple of cultures all over the world from the Florida “Skunk Ape” to the Himalayan “Yeti.” Nearly every country has a creature traipsing across mountain tops, along ridges and through dense forests. It is the dream of many to capture this beat on film, but if you are on Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire you will need a permit to do so. Bigfoot may or may not be real but to video performance artist Jonathan Doyle this is his art and a form of fun. He puts on his Yeti suit and [...]