5 Expert Tips for Trademarking Your Startup

“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?” – Steve Jobs A startup could be considered a simple belief—a belief that you have a new product or service that is going to revolutionize the market you’re entering. However, look in the dictionary and it’ll tell you that a startup is simply a “newly…

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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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8 Creativity Traits That Will Improve Your Leadership

Starting a new venture is all about being creative, not just in the initial solution, but in tackling the daily challenges of every new and innovative business. In my role as business advisor, I find too many people still looking for the right answers in the back of the book. Most of what you learned…

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Stop Reading (Just) Sales Books!

Reading is important to our professional development and growth (not to mention the scientific evidence of how it improves our cognitive capabilities). Far too few business and sales professional actively read as part of their personal and professional growth. (Perhaps, that’s part of the reason we consistently see the stunningly poor data on results.) Every…

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How to Cultivate Your Team’s Creativity by Thinking Outside the Box

Creativity: Is it something innate? Something that can be learned? As a marketer, creativity is needed as much as the air we breathe. But how do you teach creativity? How do you foster it? During my five years managing in the marketing world, I have learned that everyone has the ability to be creative, you…

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Visual Marketing Your Audience Will Respond To

While some content marketing tactics require more resources than others to deliver a significant return, visual content marketing is one of those areas that can be a cost-effective option for startups looking to get attention in the market. Plus, it’s one of the most engaging ways to have your audience notice you and tune in.…

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Be Lean and Mean as Long as You Don’t Lose Your Creativity

Small businesses have learned to run “lean and mean,” and according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), almost 80 percent of small businesses did little to no hiring during the summer. Refraining from hiring means a lower cost structure, but when is the belt too tight? “No new employees, no new ideas, no…

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How to Make and Use GIFs to Increase Twitter Engagement

Each social media platform has evolved to excel at sharing certain kinds of content and – despite its shortcomings – Twitter is one of the best platforms for sharing news about your business, your blog posts, and certain graphics, especially GIFs. GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format) are those animated mini-movie graphics that last just a second…

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The Case for Lower Case: A Rebranding Conundrum

Ever wondered if having your brand name written in lower case on your logo is appropriate? Logo design can come with a few challenges when it comes to creativity. Often, companies are predisposed to certain design and strategy rules that are more on the traditional side. We recently faced this challenge when a client came to…

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12 Unspoken Rules for Creating Catchy Business Names

A name that sticks is a name that will win. With so much competition in almost every industry, it is difficult for upcoming businesses to get recognized. Naming is one way to do that, as a catchy business name is unique and memorable for your customers. Finding such a name is going to take a…

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