Small Business Mavericks

JANUARY 4, 2013

Constant Contact has made some striking and bold predictions about social media in 2013. I’m going to focus on three of those. Social media will become a business-critical activity. Images will be more important for audience engagement. LinkedIn will become more important. All three of these predictions are bold in their own right. First, on social media becoming more business-critical , it’s almost there now.

Social Media 119

Social Media LinkedIn Engagement Engineering 119

Small Business Mavericks

JANUARY 3, 2013

When it comes to business metrics , no metric is as important as the cost of acquiring a new customer. It is this metric that determines whether you are profitable or not. For instance, if you spend $20 to acquire a new customer that buys a $12 product, then you are losing $8 on that customer – especially if you only have one product. This is where the cost of customer acquisition gets sticky.

Cost 101

Cost Metrics Buy Small Business 101

Small Business Mavericks

JANUARY 2, 2013

More and more, branding is becoming the important thing online. It’s not SEO. But I’d say that SEO is now becoming a part of the overall branding efforts of serious online marketers. Rand Fishkin makes predictions every year about the direction of search marketing and social media. This year, he continues that tradition. Interestingly, he’s got some predictions for Google+, Google search criteria, and co-citations.

Google 101

Google Brands Tools SEO 101

Small Business Mavericks

DECEMBER 31, 2012

Have you set your New Year’s resolutions for 2013 yet? Do they include marketing goals? Better yet, do they include your plans and goals for online marketing in 2013 ? It’s important for small business owners to think about what they can do for the new year to take their businesses to the next level. That means more than thinking about how many sales you want to make, or how much profit you want to generate.

Small Business 87

Small Business Strategy Marketing 87