Not Another Microsoft Patch Tuesday
If it’s Tuesday in your office, then chances are that means one thing: it’s time for another Windows patch/update from Microsoft. These have been rolling out pretty steadily for some time and it goes back to the business model of putting out a product that is not...
Could The Next Hurricane Harvey Flood Your Inbox?
Many Americans sat helpless as we watched the devastation that has recently hit the southern parts of the country. This started with Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana. Hurricane Irma then hit the Southeast and Hurricane Maria devastated multiple areas,...
Top 10 Benefits of Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is essentially the process of leading people to your office, store, website or blog through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks. In the past, social media was used primarily as a way for people to...
Why is Social Media Important for Small Businesses?
Social media marketing is considered the “next big thing.” Sure, there are some entrepreneurs who still think of it as a passing marketing interest. But the numbers paint an entirely different picture. In fact, according to Social Media Examiner, an estimated 97% of...
Using Facebook to Market Your Small Business
Facebook is the most widely used social media platform for businesses and as many as 41 percent of small businesses in the U.S. use it as part of their marketing strategy. However, a lot of business owners have reported that their efforts are not as effective as they...
Using Twitter to Market Your Small Business
In the latter part of 2013, Twitter had over 232 million active users each month, majority of which lived in the U.S. In 2015, this number grew to 300 million. Although Twitter is no longer as widely used as Facebook, it is still a very powerful marketing tool. So if...
Using Instagram to Market Your Small Business
Instagram currently has over 400 million users. So it’s not surprising that it has become a way for businesses to connect with people. While majority of those who use this social platform are teens and college students, there are also people from all age groups who...
What to Expect for Social Media in 2017
If you own a business, then you probably know how important social media marketing is. A lot of businesses of all sizes have tapped social networks like Facebook and Instagram to reach their audience and interact with them. Social media has been around for a decade...
Is Facebook an Effective Tool for Social Media Marketing?
Facebook has established itself as the #1 social networking website and it continues to give a wealth of benefits for businesses. If you have not yet thought about the marketing opportunities you can have with Facebook, consider the following points: 1. Facebook...
Why Digital Marketing is Important
The online marketplace is extremely lucrative, with 96 percent of Americans making purchases on the internet. The majority of those shoppers prefer the internet for shopping over having to deal with crowds, lines, and product availability in brick-and-mortar stores....
5 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2018
Being able to adapt to industry trends is the hallmark of a successful business owner. There are more platforms that ever before that owners and advertisers can utilize to drive traffic to their website, get people in the door of their brick-and-mortar shop, and...
Phones Vulnerable To Ransomware? Yes, They Are.
In 2014, Hollywood was turned upside down when personal photos of several high-profile actresses were hacked and released on the Internet. Apple quickly scrambled to fix the problem, citing that it was an issue with their “Find My Phone” app and the iCloud service. ...
Strategies for Marketing a Niche Business
If you are a small business owner or a solopreneur, narrowing your business down to a niche can actually boost your business. It sounds crazy, but getting really good at delivering a small number of specialized products or services to like-minded customers can improve...
How Digital Marketing Affects Consumer Behavior
Digital marketing and its disruption are here and opening new opportunities for businesses to expand and reach an even larger audience. Where we’ve come from In the last 20 years, we’ve moved from getting our news and advertising in measured doses from TV and...
Digital Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing
Should a business spend its marketing budget on traditional marketing, with its long and successful heritage, or digital marketing, a relative newcomer? Or does a blended approach make the most sense? Print was the first form of traditional marketing If you don’t...
Why Do You Need to Outsource IT Services?
While operating and maintaining IT by yourself is a good option, there are instances where you are better off outsourcing this aspect to a contractor. A startup can only get away with in-house support until it needs greater facilities for storage and data security....
Data Encrypted, Can’t Restore Any of Your Backups – Ransomware Only Gets Worse
As we become more and more dependent on computers to help with our lives, our basic day-to-day operations, our educations, and our businesses, we can only assume that more and more hacks will be forthcoming. Any time someone feels they can exploit someone else’s...
To Cloud or Not to Cloud? That is the Question.
A few years ago, a new term hit the tech world—“the cloud.” Since then, it has become one of the biggest technology game-changers, while at the same time also being one that many people don’t completely understand. But one thing that your business needs to do is...
Hybrid Cloud: The Best of Both Worlds
Many people are currently agonizing over the decision to switch their computer system over to a cloud-computing environment. Some are concerned about the security issues or the privacy problems. Others are worried about connectivity and what happens when the cloud...
February Roundup: 20 of Our Favorite Small Business Marketing Tips
Running your own business can be exhausting, and it can be a challenge coming up with new, fresh and fun marketing ideas when you're burnt out. Not only that, but these fun marketing ideas need to be within your marketing budget. Fear not! Here are 20 effective...
“You need to spend money to make money.” How true is that in regard to marketing?
You’ve worked hard, came up with a brilliant idea, and transformed that into a real business. But no matter how good your products or services are, the adage of “if you build it they will come” doesn’t exactly ring true these days. Competition is fierce, and the...
Why should I have a newsletter? Who cares what I’m up to?
When it comes to marketing campaigns, a newsletter isn’t likely the first idea that comes to mind. However, despite its reputation as a “boring” or antiquated tool, newsletters can offer a unique way to connect, communicate with and sell to, your customer base. Heck,...
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What are brands for?
Before asking what brands are for, you need to understand what a brand is. If you search the Internet for “What is a Brand?” you‘ll get a pile of definitions like: At its core, a brand is a promise to consumers Visual + Verbal + Experiential = Brand Perception Brands...
Google Authorship is Dead – For Real This Time
Google Authorship was created by Google as a way to connect content to an author by use of an author signature. The author’s signature was used to score the author based on trust and authority signals pointing at the author’s content, and that score was then used to...
Yet Another “Is SEO Dead?” Article
In a recent article in Forbes, written by Steve Olenski, called 7 Reasons Why Your Business Should Invest In SEO, he points out some really interesting facts. Read full article here. He says,” Google the term “Is SEO dead?” and what comes back in return is over 44...
Ten Cool Things You May Not Know About Google
The fact that Google is used by millions to search the web every day comes as no big surprise, but these ten cool things that you can do with Google might just leave your mouth wide open. Here’s the scoop on ten of Google’s little-known functions. 1. Do you want to...
Creative Marketing Strategy Defined
According to the website, businessdictionary.com, the definition of creative marketing is, “The outline prepared by the creative team of an advertising agency for the launching of an advertising campaign or message. A creative strategy is generally the result of a...
Google Doesn’t Discriminate – Even the Big Guys Get Penalized
Getting on Google’s bad side doesn’t just happen to small companies, even the big guys get their hands slapped if they misbehave and the cost can be big. Earlier this year, eBay was hit with a search penalty by Google. eBay’s estimate of a loss of $200 million in...
Stop Cliche Marketing – Get Real in Your Messaging
cli·ché klēˈSHā kli-,kli-,ˈklēˌSHā/ noun a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought. "the old cliché “one man's meat is another man's poison." synonyms: platitude, hackneyed phrase, commonplace, banality, old saying, maxim, truism,...
The Power of Why in Marketing Your Business
English poet and author, Rudyard Kipling, suggested the use of six questions – as a model for better thinking. Here is Kipling’s witty poem called, Six Honest Men: I have six honest serving men They taught me all I knew Their names are What, and Where and When; and...
Google My Business – What Does It Mean for You?
Google has been working hard on the launch of their new product, Google My Business, designed for small business owners in order to increase their visibility within Google Search, Google Maps, and Google+. Google provides services to two important groups, paid...
Google Likes Long Form Content
The mantra ‘Content is King’ has not changed but the desired length of the content may have. Google understands how easy it is for webmasters to slap together a 400-word blog post and then optimize it for a keyword or two. Google is looking for and rewarding sites...
Twitter’s New “Buy” Button
After months of reports and rumors, Twitter unveiled their first commercial product – their “Buy Now” button. Twitter is testing through a small sampling of merchandiser partners how well the “Buy Now” button will work. This is the firststep Twitter is taking toward...
Five Best Halloween Apps
Looking for the best Halloween apps? We pulled together a group of what we think are the best Halloween apps of 2014. 1. First Words Halloween by Learning Touch LLC Price: $1.99 Download from iTunes Download from Google Play This app comes with rave reviews. It was...
Why Being Easy To Find Online Is So Important For Service/Repair Companies
If you try out for a part in a movie and stay in the bathroom during the auditions, you’re not going to get the part. The same holds true for Service and Repair companies on the Internet. If you can’t be found, you won’t get the call. When a water pipe breaks in your...
Why Proofing Your Online Content Is So Important
Nothing screams “shoddy work!” more than typos, grammar errors and sloppy formatting, especially online where the content is so visual. Strangely enough, proofing is often the most overlooked step in the writing process. Today, 90% of B2C marketers use content...
What Exactly is a Hashtag?
If you’re new to social media, you might be wondering what all the talk is about hashtags. You’ve probably seen them in Twitter and other social media sites. They’re those short links with the pound sign (#) in front of them. If you’ve ever wondered what they are or...
Why Call Tracking is So Important for Your Business
Do you want to be able to record a phone conversation, know the phone number of incoming calls, the geographical location of the caller, the name and address of the caller, and the time of inbound calls? Do you also want to identify which ads, search keywords, web...
The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding
Chart created by http://nativeinstyle.com/ According to a very interesting article written by Gregory Ciotti of Help Scout, “the idea that colors such as yellow or purple are able to evoke some sort of hyper-specific emotion is about as accurate as your standard Tarot...
Marketing Using the Five Senses
Here’s a marketing test involving research participants that yielded some very interesting results. Marketing professor Raj Raghunathan and Ph.D. student Szu-Chi performed a study of two chickens and here’s what happened. The Test Participants were given two photos to...
Why You Should Be Using Call Tracking – Right Now!
Before you can reap the benefits of call tracking, first you need to understand what it is and how it works. What is Call Tracking Call tracking is a technique used in digital marketing to track which marketing channels generate calls. Call tracking is not unique to...
Google Changes Presentation of URLS On Mobile Devices
Google’s changing things up on mobile devices again. This time it’s the way that URLs are displayed on mobile devices. As part of this new launch, Google will make these two changes: The website name will be used instead of the domain name The URL structure...
From Idea to Implementation – Grafique is a Full Service Marketing Firm
Marketing is not the same industry it once was. Today a successful marketing company isn’t only experienced in traditional marketing, like direct mail advertising, billboards and print advertising, but also understands the latest online marketing strategies. Boutique...
GFQ Article – When To Know You Need Help
There’s a saying:, “Entrepreneurs are the only people who work 80 hour weeks to avoid working 40 hour weeks” How true is that! When you first start your business it’s only natural that you’ll want to do things yourself for several reasons. You’re in Start-Up Mode and...