Tag: crowdfunding

Advertising is changing at lightning speed with the internet. When businesses started flocking online, they found amazing opportunities to reach consumers outside of traditional media like print and television. But even in the last few years, those advertising options have shifted tremendously.

Gone are the days of the pop up – well, mostly. Read more…

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Gaffes on social networking sites can happen to the best of us. There are some very good lessons business owners can glean from common social media mistakes and apply to their own marketing efforts. Here are 3 of those lessons and tips:

1) Make it known to employees that social media is not just for fun. Read more…

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In the competitive and increasingly saturated B2B market, it’s never been more important for you to have outstanding marketing strategies. Finding a digital marketing agency that specializes in B2B is a great way to boost results, as long as they are right for your company and sector.

How not to do it…and what to do instead

The most dangerous move you can make is choosing the first digital marketing agency that you come across. Read more…

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There are a ton of benefits to having videos on your landing pages. For starters, videos are an easy type of content for your potential leads to consume (and retain), plus most people actually want a video to explain the product or service to them.

It’s important to note that videos are not the only thing you need to focus on when it comes to creating an optimized landing page that converts. Read more…

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Google+ is a nice social network that is quite different from Facebook in many ways but it was all the rage when it came out and people were waiting for e-mail invites to join the network. The initial buzz has been over for quite a while, and now it is time to really see if Google+ can overtake Facebook at some point and become a more popular and larger social network.

Are the Numbers Important?

At some point in the future the numbers may take Google+ over Facebook, but numbers are only one part of the equation. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Mistakes That Hurt Your Crowdfunding Campaign

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

The biggest problem that many small businesses throughout the United States face is how to secure startup or initial funding from traditional lenders. Since the 2008 financial meltdown, banks are under a lot of pressure to make safer loans, resulting in stricter underwriting guidelines and fewer loans being approved.

With the advent of crowdfunding providing a more accessible option, the amount of small businesses with crowdfunding campaigns has significantly increased. Read more…

Recommended: 3 Secrets To Marketing Your Small Business Successfully

The challenge of capturing the ROI of social media is almost as old as the Internet itself. The reason boils down to basic consumer behavior. For one, shoppers engage with brands at multiple touch points, across a range of devices. And new digital technologies are lowering the barrier for startups to enter the market.

This landscape is creating a fragmented data picture –
information often lives in silos between teams. Read more…

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Most brands have a “pretty decent” email marketing program, but could it be better? Take a look at these 11 things to try and improve your engagement.

1. Take a hard look at your preference strategy.

There are three tips on capturing preferences: ask them, observe them and group them (into categories). Read more…

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Even the most perceptive business owners can make a bad hire when they don’t pay attention to the right signs. Here are 3 personality types that can bring down your business and how you can spot them in an interview.

1) The Narcissist.

It’s easy to make the mistake of hiring a narcissist. They are often charismatic and radiate self-confidence. Read more…

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What should you do as a small, independent retailer when a major food chain, big-box store or national franchise becomes a direct competitor? All along you’ve been specializing in items that aren’t in the mainstream but sell well, and then some big outfit like Walmart or Amazon decides they’re going to hone in on your action.

When this happens, what can you as a specialty retailer do to remain in business and retain your dominance in any niche market?

Your first reaction might be to lower prices in order to compete with the big stores. Read more…

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Most experts agree: 2017 was the year for influencer marketing. Most marketers planned to launch at least one influencer marketing campaign in 2017, and more in 2018. The reasons that this particular marketing strategy is surging right now are many. The first, and probably the largest reason is social proof.

According to research firm Yankelovich, Americans are exposed to 5,000 advertisements a day. Read more…

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Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Google is putting out its Wildfire. The seemingly harmonious relationship between the search engine giant and the social software platform is has come to an end after a partnership that lasted about 20 months.

As a part of Google, Wildfire’s aim was to help businesses improve their social media marketing efforts. Read more…

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Don’t you love when brands interact with you in a human, authentic way that leads to a satisfactory experience? That is, your problem is solved, and your needs are met.

What do we do when we have such an experience? Well, we talk about it. That is word-of-mouth buzz from social interaction that’s authentic and customer-service focused.

Here are 2 ways to generate this type of buzz for your business’ brand:

1) Communicate in a contextual way.

If a customer posts a negative message about your product or sends you a direct message on social media sites to request support, that immediately provides you with context for response. Read more…

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Triggered or targeted emails can be a great way to deliver the right content at the right time to the right people. A sincere thank you, a courteous confirmation, or a concerned abandoned cart message that automatically follows a specific behavior someone took on your website can be the difference between a very happy customer and losing a contact altogether.

As long as the automated email is relevant, timely, and provides value to the recipient, triggered emails can be used to save marketers a tremendous amount of time and, more importantly, better engage your contact database. Read more…

Recommended: Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Is Still Very Effective

In reading the start-up and tech blogs these days, one would think investors are chomping at the bit to fund startups like yours. But as is true with most situations in life, you shouldn’t believe everything you read.

There are certainly examples of big and fast rounds and companies where money landed in a founder’s lap. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Ways to Market Your Bootstrapped Startup Online

As a small business, or a one man (or woman) show, marketing can be downright difficult to tackle. Where do you start? What would a realistic marketing plan be? How can you get the most out of your time? These are all questions that small businesses face. Here’s how to rock it out as a one-person marketing department.

Set Realistic Goals:

We’ll just throw this out there – you’re not going to have the capabilities of Proctor & Gamble when it comes to your marketing efforts. Read more…

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Imagine you’re leading a brainstorming session at your company. You want to come up with growth strategies for your startup, so you gather your team in a meeting room, generate lots of ideas, and choose the most promising one. Many small business owners use that approach, but unfortunately, it often doesn’t work. Read more…

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Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Hiring staff can be difficult as a new manager, and making bad choices can be disastrous. These 5 easy steps will help you find the right fit for your company:

1) Determine what you need.

Many people make the mistake of not clearly defining the skills needed before starting to interview. This can lead to hiring people because you like them or they’re impressive in an interview. Read more…

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Retargeting Ads. You’ve seen them. But, do you know what they are and how they benefit your business?

Unfamiliar with the difference between retargeting and remarketing? They’re the same thing. Google uses the term “remarketing” while Facebook tends to use the term “retargeting”.

Smart marketers and business owners use Ad Retargeting to:

. Bring back landing page visitors who don’t convert

. Re-engage with abandoned shopping cart prospects

. Upsell products to highly targeted, interested customers

. Increase brand awareness.

A highly optimized, targeted, conversion-centric landing page averages an 8-10% conversion rate. Read more…

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You know you want to start a business, but you can’t shake those financial pressures – rent or a mortgage, a car payment and maybe you have kids. Even young people have responsibilities after all. But tack on the fact your business idea will surely take time to catch on, and starting up can seem even further out of reach.

You are a perfect candidate to become a part-time entrepreneur. Read more…

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There are endless ways to finance your ideas, but there’s nothing like marketing a startup with a modest budget. Limited funds give you an excuse to flex your creative muscle and truly share your vision with the world.

Don’t rely on the same old banner ads and Google reviews. Instead, try these 6 marketing strategies to place the spotlight on your business:

1. Read more…

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Starting a blog is just the beginning. Publishing a blog post? You need to let the world know that your awesome blog exists!

So how do you do that? That department is called “marketing”. Blog marketing could sound like too much of a technical word and many small business bloggers don’t even want to hear about it.
Of course, there are advanced marketing techniques that you need to learn, and master someday. Read more…

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1. Everyone hates status meetings.

2. When it’s eerily quiet on the line, you know the other callers are talking shit on mute.

3. And as soon as you get off the phone, you do this so you can chat about all the stupid stuff said on the call.

4. You see these buzzwords in emails almost every day.

5. Read more…

Recommended: 8 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing May Fail

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

A variety of internal and external forces can affect the longevity of products and services your business offers. Understanding how your business excels where your competition does not is a crucial element in dominating your market. Incorporating these strategies into your marketing plan can push your organization into becoming an industry leader. Read more…

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Is your business on Facebook?

Do you need to convince your boss-or a client-that Facebook is a worthy marketing investment?

And speaking of social media advertising, don’t forget online marketing sites. You can visit 40billion.com which is a fastest-growing network of entrepreneurs and crowdfunders. Read more…

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With Facebook declining in popularity among younger users, more and more businesses are turning to Instagram to reach younger demographics.If you plan to adopt a similar strategy, you’ll want to take a look at the following Instagram marketing tips and tricks for getting the most out of your presence on the site.

Fill Out Your “Bio” Section

Before you pass “Go” and collect $200, be sure to fill out the “Bio” section of your Instagram profile. Read more…

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Why isn’t anyone buying your products and services? It doesn’t matter how great your products and services are or how nice your offices look if no one has heard of you. That’s where good marketing comes into play. Unfortunately, many small businesses make the mistake of focusing all of their efforts on other aspects of their company and forget to make marketing a top priority. Read more…

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Need more leads? Of course, you do!

A well-optimized landing page is one of the most effective methods of generating authentic leads for your business. It drives traffic to your website, develops familiarity with your visitors and can gain you warm leads.

But what marketing campaigns increase traffic to your page and drive conversions? What value exchange does your business need to increase leads?

And for year around affordable marketing, don’t forget online marketing sites. Read more…

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If at least a third of your receivables are 60-plus days delinquent, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re one of 40 percent of small businesses in that predicament – and your invoices may be partially to blame.

Before you issue your next invoice, be sure all the parts are complete.

1. Seller info:

The source of the invoice should be clear and include your company’s name, address and telephone number. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Mistakes That Hurt Your Crowdfunding Campaign

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Resilient business owners have learned to apply three lessons that help them lead their companies successfully despite inevitable setbacks. Here they are:

1) Monitor your time, and stick to a schedule.

2) Focus on what’s most important.

3) Don’t give up. Read more…

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Sure, you can lay out a proposed path to success in a business plan presentation template, but the road will be full of surprises. More important than attempting to forecast is knowing how to adapt and be flexible.

For exactly that reason, many top investors and incubators are shifting their views on written business plans. Read more…

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Risk taking is second nature to most entrepreneurs, but technology issues can make them turn cautious. Too often, business owners believe they don’t have the expertise or financial resources to take full advantage of technology. But, by limiting their use of tech, they also limit their growth opportunities in our always-on, always-connected world.

Turns out, many of these myths about tech may be based on misconceptions. Read more…

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Business owners often struggle with a perpetual to-do list for running their companies, and it seems to be getting longer all the time. Digital marketing, in all its varied forms, is becoming increasingly important as more and more of your target audience is searching for and finding products and services on the internet. Read more…

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Wouldn’t you like to have a celebrity recommend your product or service? This type of endorsement has been known to boost businesses and sales. But dealing with influencers, such as celebrities, can be tricky because they tend to get thousands of free sample products in the mail from businesses hoping to get their attention. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Ways To Turn Your Customers Into Brand Ambassadors

What is Crowdfunding?

Over the past 10 years, crowdfunding has emerged as a popular tool for individuals to raise financing for business ventures.

Entrepreneurs typically raise small amounts of money from a large number of backers, or “the crowd,” usually via the Internet. Backers receive some sort of reward or, less commonly, an equity- or royalty-based financial return. Read more…

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Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

As business leaders and athletic coaches know, you need more than exceptional talent to succeed. To create a winning team, entrepreneurs can learn from great athletes who came together to reach their full potential.

Dominique Moceanu won the Olympic gold medal in 1996, as part of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team known as the Magnificent Seven. Read more…

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Face it… The topic of shutting down your business isn’t something most entrepreneurs want to contemplate, but something most will have to deal with inevitably.

There’s just no skating around the issue that for whatever reasons, sometimes companies must close up shop. Read more…

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Coming up with ways to interact with your audience daily can start to make you feel as though you’re stretching your creative capacity a little thin. Yet developing strategies to engage with your audience and keep them coming back for more is critical to long-term social success. Connect with customers for the long haul with these 6 content strategies that will spur conversation and tell a story over time:

1. Read more…

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With Twitter having more than 300 million user accounts, it has become an important network for companies to reach out to their customers. There are well-established and successful brands that have come up with best practices companies could emulate to attract a loyal following and transform customers into brand advocates.

Here are ten marketing lessons for successful utilization of Twitter:

1. Read more…

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Video is rapidly growing and quickly becoming a staple of marketing strategies. If you have not yet incorporated video marketing then you are simply behind the curve. Not only that, but you are losing out on the various benefits that having a video strategy provides.

Importance of Video:

The reason video is such a powerful medium lies within its ability to engage, educate, and influence potential and existing customers. Read more…

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Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

For best results in marketing it is crucial to develop a system, test that system, measure its results and when you find the combination that works best for what you are selling, repeat it over and over again without fail and sustain it with persistence. The results will come if this method is followed.

Follow these 10 steps and hopefully they will help you obtain good results.

1. Read more…

Recommended: Why Twitter for Small Businesses?

Are you flushing your time – and money – down the toilet? Not long after you start a business on your own, you soon realize that you need to get smarter about managing time. If you feel overwhelmed, you may need to rethink how you use your time, which is an entrepreneur’s most valuable – and scarce – resource. Read more…

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Prior to Crowdfunding, starting a business was nearly a mission impossible.

Entrepreneurs had only three choices of raising capital: (1) Friends & Family (2) Bank and (3) Angel or Venture Capital.

Then in 2007, all that changed when Prosper.com launched the first peer-to-peer lending service in the US. Read more…

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Keeping the doors of your small business open can depend upon your ability to market to potential clients. Email marketing has been a mainstay strategy throughout the technological era. Prior to this, companies were limited to direct mail for advertising. Read more…

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As the 32nd most popular website in the world, Tumblr is a big opportunity. But you can’t approach it as you would other marketing strategies.

With 105 million blogs and 49 billion posts, Tumblr, the free blog hosting and social networking site, is the 32nd most popular site in the world. So, if you’re not using Tumblr as part of your marketing efforts, you’re missing a very large boat.

Tumblr isn’t a blog platform like WordPress; it’s a social network that has a blogging platform. Read more…

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With the tough economic climate, crowdfunding has become a popular and alternative method of raising finance for a business, projects or ideas. Crowdfunding platforms are convenient, simple to use and reach a wide audience of investors at a low cost.

Crowdfunding can be defined as a collective cooperation of people who network and pool their money and resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other organizations. Read more…

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Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Are you stressing out about changes in search engine algorithms and new social media platforms to learn? Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is in constant flux, which means that your business’ online marketing strategies need to be revamped frequently. Read more…

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You’ve poured your heart and soul, your time, your money and more into your business, so it simply must succeed… Right? While that’s nice to say, it’s not always true. The more you’re able to realize that success can come and go, the better positioned you’ll be to take advantage of other, more promising opportunities.

Here’s how to know when to give up:

1) Are you the only one who still believes in your business?

Sometimes the smartest people can have a blind spot when it comes to their own vision. Read more…

Recommended: Crowdfunding Made Easier With These 4 Tips

Sure, you can lay out a proposed path to success in a business plan presentation template, but the road will be full of surprises. More important than attempting to forecast is knowing how to adapt and be flexible.

For exactly that reason, many top investors and incubators are shifting their views on written business plans. Read more…

Recommended: 10 Content Marketing Trends You Need To Know For Success

The biggest problem that many small businesses throughout the United States face is how to secure startup or initial funding from traditional lenders. Since the 2008 financial meltdown, banks are under a lot of pressure to make safer loans, resulting in stricter underwriting guidelines and fewer loans being approved.

With the advent of crowdfunding providing a more accessible option, the amount of small businesses with crowdfunding campaigns has significantly increased. Read more…

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There are a ton of benefits to having videos on your landing pages. For starters, videos are an easy type of content for your potential leads to consume (and retain), plus most people actually want a video to explain the product or service to them.

It’s important to note that videos are not the only thing you need to focus on when it comes to creating an optimized landing page that converts. Read more…

Recommended: Secrets Of Virgin Atlantic’s Marketing Success

Can’t get through your workday without constant interruptions? Are routine tasks taking over your day? Here are 5 daily tasks you can remove from your workday to help you stay focused and be more productive:

1) Cram your to-do list.

You might feel the need to write down everything you need to accomplish each day, and while compiling a lengthy list of things you need to accomplish might seem productive, you could be doing more harm than good. Read more…

Recommended: How to Build Great Marketing Relationships for your Business

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

How can you maximize the benefits of attending professional networking events as an entrepreneur or business owner?

1. Have an agenda.

Not all networking events are created equal. It behooves you to research the best of the bunch in your area and decide which might be best for your overall start-up goals. Read more…

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Content marketing online is continually changing and evolving. If you’re behind the content marketing curve, now’s the time to get caught up – here are 10 content marketing trends that are relevant today.

1. Social Media Content is King

Social media marketing is the most popular content promotion tactic by a mile. Read more…

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In the competitive and increasingly saturated B2B market, it’s never been more important for you to have outstanding marketing strategies. Finding a digital marketing agency that specializes in B2B is a great way to boost results, as long as they are right for your company and sector.

How not to do it…and what to do instead

The most dangerous move you can make is choosing the first digital marketing agency that you come across. Read more…

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Are you willing to pay so your posts reach more eyes? Perhaps you should be.

One of the newest 40Billion features, called Promoted Posts, allows businesses to pay from $20 to $300 so that more visitors and contacts see their posts on computers and mobile devices.

Using a regular whiteboard post on 40Billion.com can be effective for ramping up engagement, but with Promoted Posts, 40Billion is taking the idea one step further.

The problem is that many regular posts go unseen, and only a small percentage of a user’s contacts see a given post; though it varies depending on how engaged your contacts are. Read more…

Recommended: 6 Lies of Content Marketing That Businesses Must Avoid

Small businesses are especially vulnerable to hacking because they usually lack the technology expertise and site security that larger companies have. They also suffer more if their lack of expertise slows repairs and their ability to get back to work. Read more…

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It’s a fact that women are now responsible for 85 percent of all purchasing decisions in the United States and recent research shows that they overwhelmingly prefer to shop in physical retail stores.

They like to touch and feel the products they’re considering buying and they enjoy the social interactions that come from shopping with friends and family. Read more…

Recommended: How to Empower Entrepreneurs With Crowdfunding

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

What do smart entrepreneurs do different to ensure their business stays profitable? They do the simple things right. Simple things really, like finding cheap ways to get exposure, or hearing their customers out, or networking in the right places. With all this covered, the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for every new customer falls low enough to make their business model sustainable in both the long and short run.

If you have a young business that’s losing steam fast compared to its rivals, it’s very likely you’re facing a competitor who has found inexpensive and effective ways to market itself to new customers. Read more…

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It’s the entrepreneurial spirit that shapes the economy, but it’s difficult to shape anything if no one knows about your products or services. Here are 3 nuggets of marketing advice to small-business owners who need to get the word out…

1) Target your customer.

According to one of Bill Cosby’s famous quotes, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Now, he doesn’t mean saying “Please” is the key to failure. Read more…

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You want your employees to perform at their best, but there’s a fine line between being a tough manager with high expectations and being an unreasonable asshole. Here are 3 tips to ensure that you’re on the right side of the line and don’t lose your best workers:

1) Give your employees a reason to give a crap. Read more…

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It seems like everyone is using crowdfunding to kick off their new business venture, be it a new coffee shop, or electronic gadget. But the usefulness of crowdfunding is still debatable. Is crowdfunding even right for your business?

Here’s some information and and a few tips that will help explain crowdfunding concepts and how you can take advantage of them to fund your business.

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a way of raising money for a new venture by soliciting small donations or investments from many people online. Read more…

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Should you charge a premium price for providing an extraordinary experience and value? Why bang your head against the wall trying to undercut competitors’ prices?

Selling premium products and services at premium prices leads to greater profits. If you want to make a million this year, you’d have to sell 40,000 copies of your product at $25. Read more…

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When should you start thinking about outsourcing some of your tasks? As a small business entrepreneur, time is always scarce, and you find that you just can’t do everything yourself the way you would like to. Maybe you’ve thought about outsourcing, but it’s not a simple decision because you need to compare the cost and quality of the person or company that will be working for you.

A simple search for companies using the terms “virtual assistant” and “outsourcing” will reveal a plethora of firms and virtual assistants that offer outsourcing services for everyday business tasks – such as customer service, tech support, bookkeeping, accounts payable, accounting, and even social media marketing. Read more…

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Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

What do smart entrepreneurs do different to ensure their business stays profitable? They do the simple things right. Simple things really, like finding cheap ways to get exposure, or hearing their customers out, or networking in the right places. With all this covered, the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for every new customer falls low enough to make their business model sustainable in both the long and short run.

If you have a young business that’s losing steam fast compared to its rivals, it’s very likely you’re facing a competitor who has found inexpensive and effective ways to market itself to new customers. Read more…

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Wondering whether or not to write a business plan? Do you really need one? Well, unless you have a spectacular track record as an entrepreneur or an exceptionally great new business idea, you cannot raise money to fund your startup without a business plan.

Furthermore, the business plans that result in successful outcomes usually contain insights into the customers who will buying your company’s products. Read more…

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Is your B2B content marketing strategy successful? Or do you at times feel like your strategy needs a facelift? How can you boost your content strategy to generate a greater level of success? Here are seven definitive ways that you can fire up your content strategy, and generate palpable results.

Create content around a predetermined purpose

What is your company’s purpose? This is the first and most important question you need to ask yourself before any content is created. Read more…

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Do you have a mobile-friendly version of your small business website yet? If you don’t, you could be missing tons of potential customers who use their smartphones to do the majority of their shopping because it’s more convenient.

Would you believe that more than half of all adults in the United States use a smartphone? Chances are, you’re one of them. Read more…

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Need more leads? Of course, you do!

A well-optimized landing page is one of the most effective methods of generating authentic leads for your business. It drives traffic to your website, develops familiarity with your visitors and can gain you warm leads.

But what marketing campaigns increase traffic to your page and drive conversions? What value exchange does your business need to increase leads?

And for year around affordable marketing, don’t forget online marketing sites. Read more…

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Many of us dream of leaving the workplace while in our 40’s or 50’s instead of sticking it out until age 65. Early retirement is a tempting goal, but it can be tough to achieve.

There are four major obstacles to early retirement:

1) You have less time to earn money. If you start working at age 20 and retire at 65, you have 45 years to produce income. Read more…

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Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

While some say that email isn’t an effective marketing tool anymore, research shows that it still has the highest ROI of any online marketing tactic.

One reason is that email is still a dominant avenue of communication in business. In fact, 91% check their email daily.
Email subscriptions to websites for updates and information is growing at the fastest rate ever, with 74% of consumers actually preferring to receive commercial communications by email.

Review Your Email Lists For Segmentation Opportunities

A common opportunity we uncover is email list segmentation. Read more…

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Here’s why your company’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social media campaigns aren’t performing as well as they could be.

Over the past five years, social media has become an increasingly important part of many companies‘ marketing strategies. Read more…

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Business owners often struggle with a perpetual to-do list for running their companies, and it seems to be getting longer all the time. Digital marketing, in all its varied forms, is becoming increasingly important as more and more of your target audience is searching for and finding products and services on the internet. Read more…

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Does your name matter? It might, in the case of your new business, if you want people to remember it. Judging from the long list of businesses a simple Google search yields when you query “naming your company,” it matters a lot.

While there are several technical strategies that can be used when choosing a name for your new venture, you can just as easily flip through the business section of any newspaper to get an idea of how other entrepreneurs are doing it.

However, don’t take this decision lightly. Read more…

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Don’t you love when brands interact with you in a human, authentic way that leads to a satisfactory experience? That is, your problem is solved, and your needs are met.

What do we do when we have such an experience? Well, we talk about it. That is word-of-mouth buzz from social interaction that’s authentic and customer-service focused.

Here are 2 ways to generate this type of buzz for your business’ brand:

1) Communicate in a contextual way.

If a customer posts a negative message about your product or sends you a direct message on social media sites to request support, that immediately provides you with context for response. Read more…

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Are you flushing your time – and money – down the toilet? Not long after you start a business on your own, you soon realize that you need to get smarter about managing time. If you feel overwhelmed, you may need to rethink how you use your time, which is an entrepreneur’s most valuable – and scarce – resource. Read more…

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Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Are you debating whether your small business should invest time on Twitter?

Do you wonder how Twitter can help your business?

By being an active part of the Twitter community and sharing the right mix of content, you can reach a larger audience, generate more leads and become the go-to source when customers are ready to buy.

Twitter has evolved a lot since 2007. Read more…

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Why do startup entrepreneurs have a difficult time finding and recruiting good employees? Hiring the right people is a difficult task for many companies, even well-established businesses. The main difference is that startup entrepreneurs are often unable to retain the employees that they hire, and there are several reasons for that. Read more…

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Wondering whether or not to write a business plan? Do you really need one? Well, unless you have a spectacular track record as an entrepreneur or an exceptionally great new business idea, you cannot raise money to fund your startup without a business plan.

Furthermore, the business plans that result in successful outcomes usually contain insights into the customers who will buying your company’s products. Read more…

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Have you ever heard the expression, “Content is king?” While content comes in many forms, engaging content is scarce these days. The fact is, you have only a few seconds to capture the interest of your website visitors or potential customers. There is simply too much competition for attention to expect that people will invest too much of their time in trying to decipher bad content. Read more…

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Word-of-mouth advertising is 10 times more effective than a traditional ad. Contrary to popular belief, less than 10 percent of those sought-after personal recommendations happen online.

In addition to word of mouth marketing, don’t forget online marketing sites. You can visit 40billion.com which is a fastest-growing network of entrepreneurs and crowdfunders. Read more…

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Marketing strategies and tactics can be very different, depending on your industry, size or location. But there are five fundamentals your marketing must accomplish, no matter what type or size of business you run, and no matter where it is.

If your marketing is not accomplishing one or more of these five marketing musts, it might not be bringing your small business the new customers, brand advocates and followers you need to build a strong organization. Read more…

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Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Unless you’re an accountant, the word accounting probably strikes fear in your heart, or a little bit of nervousness, at least. For aspiring entrepreneurs, the feeling is probably amplified. After all, poor bookkeeping out of the gate not only can set a project back in the short term, it can really come back to bite you over the long haul. Read more…

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You’ve heard it many times: reuse, reduce, recycle. Did you know that this piece of advice doesn’t just apply to aluminum cans and plastic water bottles?

You can repurpose your influencer marketing content to increase its value to your campaign. Think of it like a neighborhood recycling program: You’re preventing waste while putting resources back into the community – or, in this case, your company.

1. Read more…

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Are you stressing out about changes in search engine algorithms and new social media platforms to learn? Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is in constant flux, which means that your business’ online marketing strategies need to be revamped frequently. Read more…

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1. Little or no social media or blogging activity.

Why start a blog and never publish? Why start a Twitter account and never tweet? In social marketing, you have to show up and be active. Yes, starting that Facebook page was a good idea, but unless you are going to be consistent in posting and using it, just forget about it.

You can save time by using sites like 40Billion.com, which specializes in broadcasting and promoting posts to its large network of several million users across the most popular social networking sites for small businesses – including Twitter, LinkedIn, 40Billion, and even Facebook. Read more…

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The marketing manager is a critical component to any company’s success. They’re the ones responsible for using creative, cunning, and savvy interpersonal skills to make the company’s product or service known. A company might sell a groundbreaking, innovating product, but it won’t matter much if no one knows about it.

Marketing directors can take a business struggling to make ends meet and jump-start its growth. Read more…

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When you are looking for funding, the dilemma use face is crowdfunding or peer-to-peer lending? This is the question many business owners are asking now that these alternative forms of business finance have become mainstream on the back of ineffective lending from the banks. So, the ultimate question then is, which method of finance would work best for you and your business?

Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are two innovative ways to get money into your business. Read more…

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Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Creating a social media marketing strategy is a sin qua non for every social media marketing professional in order to have an effective social media campaign. Social media marketing should be merged with your traditional marketing plan. Read more…

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Even the most perceptive business owners can make a bad hire when they don’t pay attention to the right signs. Here are 3 personality types that can bring down your business and how you can spot them in an interview.

1) The Narcissist.

It’s easy to make the mistake of hiring a narcissist. They are often charismatic and radiate self-confidence. Read more…

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This post on how to raise money successfully using simple crowdfunding steps answers common questions for startup entrepreneurs and small businesses thinking about using crowdfunding to raise funding.

I have been in the crowdfunding space since 2008, after experiencing first-hand one of the biggest problems plaguing new businesses: There was a $40 billion gap in funding every year! That year, I founded one of the first crowdfunding platforms for U.S. Read more…

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Should you charge a premium price for providing an extraordinary experience and value? Why bang your head against the wall trying to undercut competitors’ prices?

Selling premium products and services at premium prices leads to greater profits. If you want to make a million this year, you’d have to sell 40,000 copies of your product at $25. Read more…

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In case you hadn’t noticed, the hashtag has pretty much taken over social media.

With sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram all using this format to organize content, it should be clear that this once forgotten character on the keyboard has finally made the big time.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who just don’t seem to understand the new trend. Read more…

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The Holy Grail of social media outreach is engagement, which goes beyond broadcasting to interacting with your fans. While some businesses might use 40Billion, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networks to drive traffic to their own websites, the more that people are engaging with your posts and sharing your content with their own networks, the more brand loyalty you can build.

While there’s no tried-and-true formula for everyone to maximize engagement all the time, outreach on social media doesn’t have to be like blindly throwing darts at a board. Read more…

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Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Do you follow a brand in social media? Are you glad you did? If that’s the case, they are doing either one of three things:

. Connecting with one of your passions and/or interests.
. Entertaining you with their engaging personality.
. Providing interesting and/or important information to you. Read more…

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Marketing strategies and tactics can be very different, depending on your industry, size or location. But there are five fundamentals your marketing must accomplish, no matter what type or size of business you run, and no matter where it is.

If your marketing is not accomplishing one or more of these five marketing musts, it might not be bringing your small business the new customers, brand advocates and followers you need to build a strong organization. Read more…

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