Networking for Your Franchise Business

Networking can really help grow your business—including a franchise business. The name recognition your franchise already has can help you gain attention and clout more easily in organizations like the Chamber of Commerce or the Rotary Club, so it makes sense to take advantage of opportunities to speak or to head up committees in these groups.
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What My Dog Taught Me About Social Media Marketing

There is no one person or way to learn to be successful in business. We have to borrow (aka steal) ideas and strategies from those around us who are successful. You can learn from other entrepreneurs, online blogs, or even your dog. Yes, your dog—or at least my dog, Lola.
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What is Deal Loyalty?

True loyalty programs are built on the basis of establishing a long-term positive relationship between the company and the customer and is not accomplished with a single “deal” or even multiple “deals.”
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What’s Your Situational Awareness?

Talk to anyone in the military about tactics, and a topic that comes up very quickly is situational awareness. There are a lot of technical definitions, but in it’s simplest form, situational awareness is about “paying attention to what’s happening around you.”
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Small Businesses Should Consider International Expansion

Just because you are a “small business” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be thinking big. Your plans for expanding your enterprise may include opening a second location a few miles down the road or increasing your product line, but you should also consider how you can take advantage of the global marketplace.
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How to Get Your Product into Whole Foods

It surely is the Holy Grail for food immpreneurs: getting your products on the shelves of Whole Foods. Here’s what Errol Schweizer, executive global grocery coordinator, told us about how to get into Whole Foods—and turn your product into a sensation once it hits the shelves.
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6 Key Marketing Do’s and Don’ts for Your Startup

Marketing is everything these days. You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late.
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Loyalty is not Black and White

There have been a number of articles written regarding loyalty as if it were a black-and-white topic. The authors have made loyalty appear to be a term something like pregnancy. You’re either pregnant or you’re not.
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