The night before my keynote presentation to independent retailers this past weekend, I was testing and preparing the final details for the next morning. Community Marketing Online Marketing Small Business Social Media Success community content marketing customers Jeff Korhan keynote presentation retailers social mediaJust before knocking off for the evening I decided to clean up my blog reader. To be perfectly honest, the above statistic surprised me. Given that, I suspect it was definitely a wake-up call for some of those in my audience. Apparently, that time is now. Why is this? MORE >>

When I was conducting my Social Media Summit here in Chicago a few weeks ago I sensed that the concept was not resonating with some of the retailers in the group. Why are so many retailers offering free Wi-Fi without obligation to make a purchase? Awareness content marketing How-To Marketing Selling Small Business Success customers free Jeff Korhan mainstream small business marketing profitable retailersAre you still having some challenges wrapping your arms around the concept of content marketing  to increase your small business revenues? Imagine Your Store. MORE >>

Over the past few weeks I have been interviewing retail businesses that belong to the same association, and naturally have some things in common. In response to my query of their top challenges, here’s what the owners of three respective retail businesses had to say. Awareness Marketing Online Marketing Selling Small Business Social Media Trends customers differences engagement Internet Jeff Korhan listening marketing Marketing Mix online phone retail similarities social mediaThat’s what you notice on the surface. Cross-Section of Challenges. Doubtful. MORE >>

That has certainly been my experience from speaking to small business groups in multiple industries, including retail, franchising, agriculture, construction, and hospitality. 'The art of marketing has always been about making meaningful connections with ideal buyers. Modern marketing is a practice that is new to most small businesses. Prior Prior to that small businesses made meaningful connections through selling , not marketing. The Early Days of Modern Marketing. In the early days of marketing, impressions were a common metric that media agencies measured. And so can you. Find it. MORE >>

One example is  local retailers using video to bring the in-store experience to new prospects. The idea is that personalized service and first-hand experience with products differentiates a local retailer from an online merchant. Traditional retailer JC Penney has come up with an ingenious application that should give all of something to think about. QR codes are effective for bringing virtually any form of digital content to people via their mobile devices – and for the most part, that is how they are commonly used. That would really be something special. co.uk. MORE >>