How to Embrace Brand Citizenship for Purpose and Profit

Any-sized business can practice social good. Yet, “businesses have traditionally looked to customers and employees to advocate for their brands. Today, the equation has flipped. More and more, customers and employees demand that brands advocate on their behalf, for the things that matter most to them.” Anne Bahr Thompson, the author of Do Good: Embracing Brand Citizenship…

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What You Didn’t Know You Can Learn from Working in a Factory

The manufacturing industry’s evolution can be traced along the same lines as that of the tech industry. One of the most basic and common factors in the evolution cycle in both industries is the reduction of the human interface. From the manual manufacturing of yesteryears, the industry is making a shift towards digital manufacturing and…

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Small Business Trends: What to Expect from 2018

Many small businesses aimed to take a fresh look at their own business in 2018 and ask themselves: What’s new? Each year sees growing trends in all industries. 2016 saw the rise of male grooming, with ‘beard products’ being one of the most searched for terms that year. Adult games—specifically Cards Against Humanity—were one of…

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Coming in Loud and Cloud: Podcasts

When I was a kid, I loved listening to the old time radio shows that my parents grew up with. The Shadow was my favorite. I loved the storytelling but I also loved the portability — I used to listen when I was mowing the lawn (on my old Walkman, if that doesn’t age me!).…

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A Lesson from Pringles: How to Promote Your Brand More Creatively

It’s always a smart idea when you can get a practical (and free) marketing lesson from a multi-million-dollar ad agency. Today we thank Pringles for picking up the tab and giving us a great example of brand-based versus product-based messaging. Recently Twitter published the findings of a study that looked at the marketing mix of…

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How Would You Like a Great Advisory Board?

Have you ever thought of creating an advisory board? As you can guess, that would be an informal group with no legal responsibilities, but one able to be called upon to act as business, industry and scientific advisors to you and the company. Usually, you would want to create an advisory board to fill in the…

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Why Your Website NEEDS an SEO Audit

In our agency we always recommend and perform an SEO audit for all new clients. Without understanding clearly what is technically wrong with the website, no amount of off-site SEO is going to work well. A technical SEO audit will be able to highlight areas where the website is struggling, where it could be improved…

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Are You Coachable?

Being coachable, whether you are a top executive, a middle manager, a front line sales manager, or an individual contributor is critical to your success. To grow and develop, to improve our abilities to achieve our goals and results, we have to be constantly learning and developing. Having others providing feedback, coaching, helping us think…

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7 Ways to Survive the Retail Customer Shift to Online

In my role as advisor to small businesses, I often hear first-hand the challenges and failures of retail store owners who fear the advantages of online and feel the exodus to eCommerce, led by Amazon and Ebay. Ironically, the most common desire I hear from entrepreneurs selling wholly online, is the need for their entry…

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