A great logo design creates brand recognition and customer loyalty that if presented correctly, can last for decades. The first step to creating the perfect logo for your business is to determine what is most important to you. What colors do you want to use to depict your brand? What type of symbol? With so many options to choose from it is important to ask yourself these questions before you get started. It all has to work in unison: the symbol, the color choice, and the message. Without getting all of these elements correct the logo simply won’t work. By breaking your logo into two categories you can keep your design on track for success.
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Today is the first day of National Small Business Week. Events are taking place in multiple cities across the country with informative events geared towards helping small business owners grow their businesses. More than 50% of Americans either own or work for a small business, which creates about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year. According to the SBA, National Small Business Week began in 1963. Every year since then, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week. This week aims to recognize the contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. Read the full entry

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A high performing business person, like a professional athlete, needs to be able to perform well under any circumstance. You can’t just rely on the home court advantage to be at your best when it comes to work.

As our business circles expand wider and wider, we often find ourselves on the road to meet clients or attend a business conference.

I know as the Director of Marketing for my company, I often find myself on the road, sometimes as long as two weeks at a time. Yet, like anyone, I find ways to keep myself on top of my game, even when I’m in unfamiliar territory.
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Ever think about your small business assets?  Are they safe from fraud, cybercrime and identity theft?  The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners tells us that companies with less than 100 employees lose around $155,000 a year as a result of fraud.  (Tweet this stat!)

Businesses smaller in size have a higher fraud rate than larger businesses and a frequent source of fraud is credit card abuse.  This tends to be true due to business owners not taking the time to look at every line item on their monthly statements.

Don’t be a fraud victim!  Here are four tactics you can put into play to better protect your business from the most commonly seen forms of cybercrime and fraud. Read the full entry

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No matter how many evolutions your business model goes through, there are several aspects of your company that should never change: your company’s core values, a focus on short-term goals, and loyalty to your customers.

When you prioritize these components, your chances of success increase tremendously.

In many industries, like technology and healthcare, the business landscape is constantly changing.

A company cannot expect success if it refuses to evolve and progress. Despite the changes a business goes through, there are still evergreen strategies to ensure success in the long run. Read the full entry

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Starting your small business from the comfort of your own home can be a great way to create a relaxed working environment for yourself.

A home-based business allows you to create your own hours and not have to commute each day to an uncomfortable office space. However, working from home is not for everyone.

Often people dive into home-based ventures head first simply because they want to work by their own rules, and don’t take the time to consider their personal work style. Some individuals thrive in situations where deadlines and boundaries are set for them and they don’t have to rely on self-motivation to get work done.

Here are a few things to consider when starting your business from home. Read the full entry

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We’ve heard it before; we’ll hear it again: “Content is King.” This three-word phrase is being thrown around left and right in the marketing world.

The relevance and the context of the content are also important factors for businesses to consider as they develop their content marketing strategies.

Content marketing is an inbound initiative that marketers use in an effort to build brand awareness, thought leadership, traffic and profits. You might ask, “What type of content are other businesses using and what can my business do?” Read the full entry

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Your customer relationship management software (CRM) can go far beyond its basic duty of organizing your customer information data – it can be a valuable tool to actually increase your business sales.

Using your CRM to supplement sales can allow your business to grow by providing you with helpful analytics and keeping you up to date with the latest client information reports.

The latest CRM software can provide your business with many more tools than you might be aware of, so use it in these three ways to increase revenue. Read the full entry

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According to the 2012 In-House Creative Services Industry Report – a survey of more than 360 in-house creative departments from a variety of companies  and industries – more than 60%  use time tracking software. That percentage increases to 70% in teams of more than twenty members.

Many time tracking apps enable you to shift quickly between various projects and activities and back again with just a few clicks of the mouse. By recording how much time you spend on different tasks each day, you can better understand your own workflow, optimize the time you spend on your work, and offer greater accountability to your clients. Read the full entry

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The average call center inbound call costs $5.90.

US call centers receive 45.4 billion calls per year, which means that the cost of all inbound telephone customer service in the U.S. costs nearly $267 billion each year. And the ramifications of poor customer service costs call centers even more.

However, 79% of customers still consider a phone conversation with a call center agent as their preferred means of accessing customer service (Zendesk). Read the full entry

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