Tips, Trends and Resources for Entrepreneurs
This week’s roundup of “How To” articles, educational resources and upcoming events, business news and success stories recommended by SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan.
MARKETING & SALES
Marketing is the #1 Problem According to Small Businesses: How to Do Marketing Effectively, Small Business Trends. “It’s clear that getting repeat business, retaining customers and generating new ones is a huge focus point for all business owners. The question is, how do you do marketing and advertising effectively? How do you attract new customers with a positive ROI?
6 Market Research Sources that Fit a Limited Budget, Startup Professionals. “A common excuse I hear from entrepreneurs for not doing the work is that real market research takes too much time, and costs too much money. Perhaps that was once true, but in this age of the worldwide Internet, big data, and pervasive business intelligence in every industry, you can use the following steps to get the data you need with very little time and cost.”
How to Reach the Hidden Market of Baby Boomer Women, Bank of America – Small Business Community. “Are you among the 91 percent of marketers ignoring a massive consumer demographic with trillions of dollars to spend? Unless you’re marketing to baby boomer women, the answer is yes.”
How to Turn Your Customers into Volunteer Marketers
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How to Write Cold Emails That Quickly Convert to Sales, Entrepreneur. “Email remains one of the best ways to communicate and interact with your audience. It’s just that the days of spray-and-pray email are over. Instead, you need to update your approach to cold emailing — and converting — by taking the following steps.”
How Today’s Full Customer Buying Journal is Critical, Startup Professionals. “From a big picture standpoint, what you need today is a market engagement strategy, rather than just the traditional sales funnel that focuses on completing transactions. Your selling process has to harmonize with how the market is buying, or tackle the more difficult challenge of changing how the market buys.”
STARTUPS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
5 Criteria for Splitting Equity in Your New Venture, Startup Professionals. “It’s the power of the team that makes the business. Major equity in a startup that goes nowhere is not my idea of fun.”
21 Businesses to Start for $25k (or Less), Bank of America – Small Business Community. “Do you dream of being your own boss but don’t think you have enough startup capital? Starting a business is more affordable than ever.”
6 Steps to Creating a Business Legacy that You Love, Startup Professionals. “Before you start down the long hard road of an entrepreneur, it pays to look inside yourself to see what you love to do, and what would fit your definition of success.”
The 5 Best Website Builders for Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneur. “If you’re looking to boost your online presence, here are some of the best platforms for getting started.”
MARKETPLACE TRENDS
Holiday Shopping 2018, Small Biz Daily. “The National Retail Federation (NRF) has already upped its retail sales forecast for 2018, predicting overall sales will increase a minimum of 4.5%, up from its initial 3.8% to 4.4% forecast issued earlier this year.”
Christmas Comes Early for Farmers in the $2B Real-Tree Industry After Amazon Announcement, Forbes.com. “E-commerce’s biggest power player is disrupting yet another industry—and this time, it’s landing on Christmas tree farmers’ nice list. Amazon announced this week that it will be offering full-size Christmas trees for delivery to customers’ homes.”
Should Your Company Accept Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrency Payments?, Forbes. “ Deciding to accept cryptocurrencies is more like the decision to accept foreign currencies than just choosing to add a new form of payment processor. There are significant benefits to accepting crypto, but it is not without some drawbacks.”