Keeping your customer database clean and organized is essential to the success of any startup. However, it can be a costly and time-consuming task. Fortunately, there are several low-cost actions you can take to clean and maintain your Hubspot marketing and Salesforce sales customer database. Here are the top 5-10 low-cost actions you can take:
Read moreWhy Cleaning Your Hubspot and Salesforce Database is Critical for a Startup Success
As a startup, one of the most valuable assets you have is your customer database. However, if you don't invest in cleaning and maintaining it regularly, it can quickly become a liability that hinders your growth and profitability. In this article, we'll explore what happens to a startup when they don't invest in cleaning their Hubspot marketing and Salesforce sales customer database.
Read moreHow To Get the Blue Angels at your Sales or Marketing Event
Getting the Blue Angels to show up at your sales or marketing event is a great way to promote your company and bring in new business. No doubt you’ve been to your fair share of events over the years. And you know that some of them were great while others not so much. As a former independent meeting and event planner for 15 years, we know it’s easy to host an event, but to do it right and make it a resounding success takes a little more effort. Here’s an example of a successful event.
Read moreWhen and Where to Plan the Best Sales & Marketing Events Every Year
Sales and Marketing teams are always trying to come up with creative ideas for implementing fun marketing and sales events. This article gives you some great tips for brainstorming, ideas for calendar-event based themes - and when and where to plan the best Sales and Marketing events every year.
Read moreTop 10 Video Projects that will Increase Sales
Are you looking for new ways to increase sales this year? Have you thought about adding more videos to your website? Video technology is one of the top 10 latest technologies that will increase business sales this year.
Video marketing is a hot fast-growing trend in all companies. Why? You can thank YouTube, Tablets and Smartphones for the explosion in video interest and content over the last 2-3 years.
Read moreSmall Business Poll - Top Technology to Implement in 2012?
Are you starting to think about planning for next year? Do you have any feel for the top cost-effective new technology that will boost your company sales and productivity? During the fourth quarter, we asked Small Business Executives, Managers or Owners to share the Top 3-4 NEW Technologies that they were thinking about implementing in 2012. Based on the survey, the following are the top 4 technologies for 2012:
- Upgrading the Company Website with the Latest Technology
- Implementing Smartphones and Tablets
- Testing and Implementing Social Marketing
- Adding Video Content for the Website including: Customer Demos, New Product Announcements, Success Stories and Best Practice Tips
[polldaddy poll=5485445]
Note: The votes were anonymous and we do NOT collecting any personal info. All poll results are available now.
Please share the poll results with other managers or owners... and add any comments or questions in the comment field below.
Small Business Marketing - Which Tactics are Moving to the Web in 2010?
There will be significant change in Small Business Marketing in 2010. According to several recent studies, Small Businesses are planning to increase investment in Web and Social Media Marketing Tactics...and reduce investments in more traditional Print, Postcards, Catalogs, TV, Radio Ads. There are three big reasons why executives are changing their tactics:
- Reduced Cost of Lead Generation Programs
- Better Measurement of ROI
- Reduced Sales Cycles
...all resulting in faster sales.
The eMarketer chart below is a good summary of the top 2010 marketing tactics:
Small Business Tips on Sending out eMail this Holiday Season & in the New Year
Are you planning to send out Marketing eMail and eNewsletters in the New Year? If so, are you aware of the relatively new Federal Laws in this area? In addition to following the law, these guidelines are just good business sense and company policy. Your new and existing customers will appreciate your attention to these details.
An easy way to comply with the law is to use an outsource company for your mass Marketing eMails and eNewsletters. We have been using Vertical Response for the last 5 years. The service is very easy to use and the customer service is outstanding.
Below is a copy of the Federal Trade Commission Law and a link to their website. It is very easy to comply with the 7 mandatory requirements.
Federal Trade Commission - CAN-SPAM US Law
Do you use email in your business? The CAN-SPAM Act, a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
Despite its name, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply just to bulk email. It covers all commercial messages, which the law defines as “any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service,” including email that promotes content on commercial websites. The law makes no exception for business-to-business email. That means all email – for example, a message to former customers announcing a new product line – must comply with the law.
Each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000, so non-compliance can be costly. But following the law isn’t complicated. Here’s a rundown of CAN-SPAM’s main requirements:
- Don’t use false or misleading header information. Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.
- Don’t use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
- Identify the message as an ad. The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.
- Tell recipients where you’re located. Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.
- Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests.
- Honor opt-out requests promptly. Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days. You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request. Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
- Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. The law makes clear that even if you hire another company to handle your email marketing, you can’t contract away your legal responsibility to comply with the law. Both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible.
The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business
More Inforamation on the FTC Website on CAN-SPAM