Author Archives: Rieva Lesonsky

Rieva Lesonsky is an SBA guest blogger and CEO and President of GrowBiz Media, a media company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Follow Rieva at Twitter.com/Rieva and visit SmallBizDaily.com to sign up for her free TrendCast reports. She's been covering small business and entrepreneurial issues for more than 30 years, is the author of several books about entrepreneurship and was the editorial director of Entrepreneur magazine for over two decades

Marketing Mistakes Can Haunt Your Business

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Ghosts, goblins and ghouls aren’t the only things that can haunt small business owners. Many entrepreneurs fall prey to some common marketing mistakes that can have terrifying results for their businesses. Are you letting one of these marketing mess-ups scare your customers away? Mistake 1. Marketing without setting a goal Whether you’re doing digital marketing, print marketing or word-of-mouth, the first thing you need to establish is a goal. Without…

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Eight Ways to Find Your First Customers

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No matter what industry you’re in, every startup business owner has the same burning question: “How will I get my first customers?” Here are some smart strategies you can use to identify and attract those critical first customers. 1. Make a list. As you’ve done the groundwork to launch your business, you’ve undoubtedly met some people who could be potential customers. For instance, these could include people you surveyed in…

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Get the Most From Your Marketing Budget

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Are you getting good results from your small business marketing? If your results are falling short of your expectations, perhaps it’s because you’re not investing enough money in your marketing campaigns. How much money should a small business spend on marketing annually, and how can you make the most of your precious marketing budget? Here’s what you need to know. How much should a small business spend on marketing? If…

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Write a Press Release That Gets Results

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If you know how to follow today’s rules for getting attention, press releases can still be an effective marketing tool for small businesses. Are press releases still an effective marketing tool for a small business? Yes, if you know how to follow today’s rules for getting attention. Here are the essential elements of a modern press release along with tips to help make yours stand out. Today, press releases are…

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Create Marketing Content That Gets Attention

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The human attention span is evolving and that has important implications for marketers. What type of marketing content gets and holds people’s attention 0– and how can you create it? Here’s what you need to know. Attention spans are evolving While there’s lots of lamentation about how our attention spans are being destroyed by the internet, a recent study by Prezi suggests attention spans aren’t shrinking — they’re just evolving. Surprisingly, six…

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Direct Mail is Hot Again.

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From Glossier to Quip, a variety of hip new companies is targeting millennials with … mailers? From postcards to catalogs, “hot, digitally savvy, direct-to-consumer” brands including Casper, Harry’s, Wayfair, Rover, Quip, Away, Handy and Modcloth have all started targeting customers via direct mail, Vox notes. Here’s why direct mail is hot again and how your business can use it effectively. Why Direct Mail Is Hot Why is direct mail so hot? One…

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Marketing Mistakes That Can Come Back to Haunt You

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It may be the season for ghosts and goblins, but ghastly creatures aren’t the only things that can haunt a small business owner. Making any one of the seven common marketing mistakes below can have frightening consequences for your small business. Find out what you have to fear from these marketing mishaps and how to avoid them. Mistake 1. Not setting goals for your marketing efforts Whatever type of marketing…

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Marketing a Seasonal Business in the Off-Season

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Does your business rely on seasonal customers? Whether you own a surf school, a patio furniture store or an ice cream shop, you know how slow business can get during the off-season. Try these marketing ideas to keep customers engaged (and buying) all year long. Offer off-season specials. There’s a reason desert resorts slash prices when it’s super cold or hot. Reducing prices during the off-season is the easiest way…

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Catch Up on Marketing: 43 Things to Do During Downtime

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Summertime, and the livin’ is easy. For many small business owners, August’s steamy days bring a brief lull before things pick up again in the fall. That makes now a good time to catch up on some marketing activities you’ve been putting on the back burner. Here are 43 things you can do during your August downtime that will have a big impact come fall. Your Customers Schedule catch-up calls…

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Businesses Benefit from Podcasting

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Back in the early 2000s, I was at a party when one of the guests mentioned he was hooked on podcasts. “Huh?” was the primary response, as few of us knew what he was even talking about. My, how things have changed. Today, nearly two-thirds of Americans are familiar with podcasts, according to the 2018 Infinite Dial Study, and 44 percent of Americans age 12 and older have listened to one. Consumers…

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