Marketing Tactics That Work: How Social Media Led to Followers, Customers, and Sales for Startup GoGo Gear

I love social media marketing success stories about small businesses and startups operating on a tiny budget.  If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur looking to create awareness, earn interest and actually win paying customers on a budget, blogger Mary Hall’s recent interview with the founder of GoGo Gear is a must-read.
Marketing expert Mary [...]

Putting Social Media Marketing to Work Like IBM

Ready to put BtoB social media marketing to work for your small business to increase leads and sales like IBM?  See my earlier post here about how IBM has generated millions in sales based on social media and blogs by sales folks and others.
Here’s a quick next-steps checklist to help you get started:
1.    Identify people [...]

B2B Social Media: How IBM Uncovers Millions of Dollars in Sales Leads

Is your small business looking for proven B2B social media marketing tactics that generate leads and sales?   Read on!  You may like this business-to-business marketing case study.  IBM shares their experiences with social media roles for subject matter experts, sales reps, and results metrics. Clark Fredricksen at eMarketer uncovers valuable social media best practices from [...]

Small Business Success: Startup with a Big Vision Wins LHJ Do Good Award

Business owners and startups are often looking for ways to increase visibility, stand out, and get known.   Social media marketing can level the playing field for small businesses working to get known online—even on a tight budget.  However, gaining recognition and visibility is still a steep hill to climb for many small businesses.

Here’s a from-the-trenches [...]

Finding Time for Social Media Marketing in Your Small Business

As a small business owner you’re wearing a ton of hats—entrepreneur, chief sales person, accountant, product developer, customer service rep, and more.   If you’d like to jump on the social media marketing bandwagon, great!  Social media marketing is really the way business gets done now. It’s time to put on your publisher’s hat.
Before you fire [...]

Business Growth Goals and Content Marketing Tactics (Part 1)

This begins a series of posts for small business owners, startups and B2B marketers that are new to using social media to grow their companies.  Or, are ready to reconsider established marketing tactics and look for new ways to achieve customer and business growth.
Every dollar and every minute you spend on marketing tactics is for [...]

Crush It! Author & Wine Library TV Host Gary Vaynerchuk Comes to Carlsbad, CA

Gary Vaynerchuk, the New York Times/Wall St. Journal best-selling author of “Crush It!  Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion” is a savvy businessperson that every entrepreneur, small business owner, marketer, CEO, etc. can learn from.
He’s raised the business use of blogging, online video, and Twitter to an art form.  He’s [...]

How to: Use Social Media to Increase Your Visibility and Get People Listening

How Service-now.com is Beating the Goliath(s) in the IT  Management Software Space
Shannon Free-Cleveland, UCSD Extension, Matt French & Rhett Glauser of Service-now.com  (San Diego, Dec. 3, 2009)

Does your small B2B business have a great story to tell and no one is listening?

Are your primary B2B lead generation tools cold calling and large (pricey) industry events?

Do [...]

Social Media Shifts from Fad to Small Business Requirement

Erik Qualman has done for social media what the Freakonomics guys have done for recent social history and economics. In case you missed it, his video below is insightful, entertaining and eye-opening.
In his video Qualman asks, “Is Social Media a Fad or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?”
If you’re a small [...]

How to: 7 Content Marketing Tactics to Increase Web Site Visitors

If your small business is looking for ways to increase the number of web visitors—as most of us are—here are seven content marketing ideas.  The secret to being found online is a web site updated with an ongoing supply of fresh, relevant content when your prospects are searching for solutions.
Before you can Tweet your way [...]