entrepreneurship – Page 17 – 40Billion Blog for Startup Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses

Nov 24: Improve Profitability With These 10 Steps Marketing Plan

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.

Nov 24: Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Is Still Very Effective

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…

Nov 24: The Unexpected Benefits of Crowdfunding

In addition to the money provided by backers, crowdfunding can generate other, unanticipated benefits for small businesses. Two such benefits are 1) new customers and supporters, and 2) access to additional financing and specialized services.

New Customers and Supporters:

Everyone who contributes to a crowdfunding campaign is a potential new customer and loyal advocate for your brand. Read more…

Nov 24: Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman. …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman.” – George Soros… read more

Nov 24: Use Your Smartphone To Be 30% More Productive At Work

It’s easy to lose precious hours playing games and goofing around on your smartphone or tablet. Such distractions can kill your focus and productivity.

But you don’t need to turn off your phone or chuck it out a window to get more work done. From scaling back your notifications to timing your tasks, try these 4 tips for using a smartphone to boost your productivity by up to 30% and reach your business goals:

1) Turn off your notifications.

Your smartphone and many of its apps are designed to grab your attention with various types of notifications, including icons that appear in your phone’s status bar, sounds, flashing lights and vibrations.

Whenever your phone notifies you of something, you might not need to immediately respond. Read more…

Nov 24: 9 Don’ts of Crowdfunding Campaign

Crowdfunding opens up a new world of opportunity to startups. Crowdfunding campaign is convenient and has the potential to reach a wider range of investors, but it’s not easy. It requires much thought and effort. Most of the crowdfunding projects fail due to inadequate planning.

Following are nine reasons as to why crowdfunding campaign fails:

Nov 23: How To Overcome 3 Horrifying Mental Challenges In Business

Whether you’re a startup or established entrepreneur looking to grow, you’ll probably have to deal with common mental challenges along the way to success.

NEGATIVE THINKING

Slumps happen in business and life. Start asking positive questions when you find yourself thinking: “I’m not good enough. Read more…

Nov 23: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

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…

Nov 23: How To Deal With Setbacks

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…

Nov 23: 3 Winning Social Marketing Strategies From Top Brands

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…

Nov 23: Can Social Media Marketing Be Outsourced?

Social media plays a very vital role in the online presence of a business or the brand, and more and more consumers are turning to these outlets to connect with brands they like. Social media is the best way to actively engage with your customers both active and potential, and if done cautiously and correctly, can of great advantage to your business by targeting a specific audience for your brand. Read more…

Nov 23: 6 Ways to Create Content that Attracts Audiences and Customers

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…

Recommended: Leading With Perspective

Nov 23: 5 Surprising Reasons To Raise The Price Of Your Product

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…

Nov 23: 7 Ways to Grow Your Business Through Marketing Partners

You can attract new customers, increase sales and grow your pipeline instantly by partnering strategically with other businesses. There are many mutual benefits that make the work required to build a strong marketing partnership worthwhile. There is the implied endorsement that goes along with it as well.

Strategy is a key to a success. Read more…

Nov 23: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

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…

Nov 23: 3 Reasons Why You May Not Need To Write A Business Plan After All

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…

Nov 23: How To Attract More Customers With A Great Mobile Website

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…

Nov 23: Why Entrepreneurs Need to Create Their Own Brands

At some point in your career, someone has probably talked to you about how to brand yourself, how personal branding is this incredibly important thing that everyone is doing these days, how, if you’ve built a business and are trying to grow, it’s not something you can ignore.

Or is it? Personal branding, just like regular branding, is something that’s often completely out of your control. Read more…

Recommended: Crowdfunding vs Venture Capital

Nov 23: An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

SAY OF THE DAY: “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson … read more

Nov 23: 10 Content Marketing Trends You Need To Know For Success

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…

Nov 22: How To Develop A LinkedIn Marketing Plan

Do you want to learn how to present yourself and your business on LinkedIn?

Are you looking for a resource to guide your LinkedIn marketing efforts?

Whether you’re using LinkedIn as an individual or as a brand, the following tips will help you develop a LinkedIn marketing plan and find prospects and leads.

Create a Presence for Yourself

Make sure your LinkedIn account is secure. Read more…

Nov 22: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 22: Top 3 Crowdfunding Tips to Get Funded

Crowdfunding is a collective cooperation of people who network and pool their money and resources together, usually via the Internet.

It seems like everyone is using crowdfunding to kick off their new business venture, be it a new coffee shop, or gadget. With the tough economic climate, crowdfunding has become a popular and alternative method of raising finance for a business, projects or ideas and has become popularized online by sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe.

Now anyone with a computer or mobile device and an internet connection can research, review and become an investor in a business with a push of a button. Read more…

Nov 22: Don’t Make This Common Brainstorming Mistake That Leads to Failure

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…

Nov 22: Crowdfunding Made Easier With These 4 Tips

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…

Nov 22: Uncommon Ways To Find Investors For Your Startup

Lack of funding often causes young entrepreneurs to give up on their ventures before ever getting off the ground. The many rejections, ignored emails and missed calls thrown your way from potential investors can be quite demoralizing, to say the least. Sometimes it seems like searching for a needle in a haystack, but entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart.

It’s imperative for young entrepreneurs to look beyond what is considered the normal route in business, especially as they seek that crucial first investment. Read more…

Nov 22: 3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business Brand on Google

Google loves big brand names, and for good reason. But that doesn’t mean smaller companies don’t stand a chance when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).

In regard to natural search results, the better the results Google can deliver, the more people will use its service. Read more…

Nov 22: How To Be More Creative In Business

To be an innovative entrepreneur, you want to foster creativity in your daily life so that your mind is ready when opportunity arises.

Unusual combinations, sometimes called “remote associations,” are related ideas that may seem unrelated at first glance. They are the essence of creative thinking.

To cultivate creativity, you want to increase your chances of stumbling on an unexpected link. Read more…

Nov 22: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

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…

Nov 22: 4 Ways To Overcome Fear And Be More Confident

Ever experienced fear or doubt about your abilities? To the degree you can overcome your insecurities, you will experience freedom to be yourself and reach your full potential as an entrepreneur. The most important thing to understand is that everyone experiences these scary emotions to some degree, regardless of how confident and self-assured people may seem.

Follow these 4 tips to overcome fear and get to that next level in your business goals:

1) Don’t forget that it’s normal. Read more…

Recommended: How To Deal With Stress At Work

Nov 22: 6 Reasons Why Time Is The Business Owner’s Most Scarce Resource

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…

Nov 22: 4 Effective Video Marketing Content Ideas

You’ve got your ideas about what you want to promote in your video content. You’ve probably even already got a video marketing strategy. But have you given real thought to what your audience wants to see in your videos?

Sure, you’ve thought about how to make your videos more successful, and that requires thinking about audience reception to a degree. Read more…

Recommended: One Man Marketing Department !!!

Nov 22: Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have. -Zig Ziglar

SAY OF THE DAY: “Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.” -Zig Ziglar … read more

Nov 22: Cheap Ways To Get Exposure, Stay Profitable.

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. Number one marketing tip is don’t just think outside the box, get rid of the box! Be creative. Read more…

Nov 22: How To Be More Creative In Business

To be an innovative entrepreneur, you want to foster creativity in your daily life so that your mind is ready when opportunity arises.

Unusual combinations, sometimes called “remote associations,” are related ideas that may seem unrelated at first glance. They are the essence of creative thinking.

To cultivate creativity, you want to increase your chances of stumbling on an unexpected link. Read more…

Nov 21: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Who Take Vacations Are More Successful

When was the last time you took a vacation? For many young entrepreneurs, the answer is probably “I can’t remember,” or “I don’t have time for vacation.” But you just might want to rethink your aversion to time off. To run a successful company, you’ll need to be there, of course. But you’ll often need to also take time to clear your head or even distance yourself from the business in order to think about how to grow more effectively. Read more…

Nov 21: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

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…

Nov 21: Tumblr – 7 Things To Know About

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…

Nov 21: How To Avoid Summer Slowdowns, And Keep Growing Your Business

If your business experiences uneven revenues during summer months or other seasonal slowdowns, you may be looking for new summer marketing ideas to grow your organization. Here are four ways you can give in order to get more customers and sales this summer.

For seasonal businesses that thrive during summer months, marketing might be a cinch. Read more…

Nov 21: Five Prong Approach To Creating Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy:

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…

Nov 21: When To Start Outsourcing Some Of Your Busy Work

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…

Nov 21: 6 Tips To Achieve Marketing Goals

All marketing managers struggle with one thing. How to set goals for marketing department. It sounds like a simple-enough task, but over time I came to see goal-setting as something of an art; it requires practice, constant refinement, focus and a little bit of playfulness (unless you want to drive yourself crazy).

How do you set goals that are challenging yet still achievable (is there an exact formula for this, like always shoot for x% more than last month)? How many goals should you set–one, three, six? Should you focus on a new goal every week, month, semester, quarter or year? If you’re a small company and you need to achieve quick growth, how do you pick which goal is most important when there are a billion urgent things that need to happen? How do you stay focused on your goals (once you’ve finally decided on them) and not let other stuff get in the way, like tempting partnership opportunities or new tactics you want to try out?

Following six tips will help achieve marketing goals:

Nov 21: How to Create a Great Invoice – 7 Tips

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…

Nov 21: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 21: The Real Reasons Why VC Investors Delete Your Emails

What should you include in an introductory email to a potential VC investor if your goal is to actually get them to open it and read it? Although every investor pitch and every investor is different, these 4 blunders are common to most of the unsuccessful ones:

1) The email has a worthless subject line.

Too often, entrepreneurs use boring, worthless subject lines in their investor pitches. Read more…

Nov 21: Traditional Marketing And Content Marketing: Can They Co-Exist?

As content marketing continues to grow in popularity, a question being asked more and more is “should I replace my traditional marketing with content marketing?” The short answer is no.

It’s easy to pile onto the idea that print, radio, and even TV are on their way out as marketing platforms – but if they are effective, you shouldn’t give them up. Read more…

Nov 21: How To Attract More Customers With A Great Mobile Website

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…

Nov 21: The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. …

SAY OF THE DAY: “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” -Vidal Sassoon … read more

Nov 21: 4 More Ways to Create a Brand That Customers Remember

It takes only 3 to 5 seconds to form a first impression. If your business doesn’t capture attention at first glance, not only are you missing out on brand recognition but on sales too.

If you haven’t felt your brand is quite at the level you envisioned, use these tips to step it up. From messaging strategy to visual content creation, here are 4 ways to make sure you’re delivering consistent, on-brand content.

Nov 21: 3 Reasons To Work For A Startup First

You’re an aspiring entrepreneur, so why are you working for an entrepreneur? Is working at another startup a route to nowhere or a good career move? It just might pay to work at someone else’s startup before starting your own. Here are 3 reasons why:

1) Startups can take a chance on talent.

Getting a first job is key to launching your career as an entrepreneur. Read more…

Nov 20: 6 Reasons Why Time Is The Business Owner’s Most Scarce Resource

Nov 20: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 20: Boost Summer Sales With These 4 Tips

Many people accept that a slowdown in sales is a fact of business life during the summer. Well, nothing could be further from the truth, and as a business owner you need to get out of that frame of mind.

A summer slowdown may be something many people want because they expect this to be a season for vacations when the living is easy. Read more…

Recommended: How To Deal With Setbacks

Nov 20: Is Crowdfunding Right For Your Small Business?

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…

Nov 20: Marketing Made Easier – Follow These 10 Tricks from The Pros

Marketing is the lifeblood of any startup – without it, the company will be sure to sink.

Here is a list of the top ten marketing tricks:

Social Media
1. Boost your posts.Give your social media content a boost. Businesses are finding it more and more difficult to get their message heard. Read more…

Nov 20: Secrets Of Virgin Atlantic’s Marketing Success

Virgin Atlantic is a small airline with a big personality. This is how it lures customers from the big guys.

You may think Virgin Atlantic is a huge airline worldwide, but they’re not. Maybe they’re the No. 2 airline in the UK, but they don’t even hold a candle to United, American or Delta here in the U.S. Read more…

Nov 20: Avoid These Four Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Social media marketing is an area which seems to divide businesses. Some companies embrace it, invest in it, and generate fabulous returns from it, whilst other businesses are pensive, scared and unwilling to get online and start competing via social.

The early adopters of blog marketing, for example, are way, way ahead of their industry competitors.

Trying to catch up a thought leader is a virtually impossible task, after all. Read more…

Nov 20: 4 Ways to Market Your Bootstrapped Startup Online

Some marketing strategies become less effective and some more effective. As a startup with limited resources, you need to pay especially close attention to what’s current so you can get the most bang for your marketing budget. You already know that you have to setup social media accounts. Read more…

Nov 20: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 20: 5 Ideas for Marketing Your Business Brand Effectively

Telling your brand story is more than just slapping dates together on an About Us page and throwing it up on the website with a stock image. Your brand story should be a major differentiator, something that sets you apart from your competition and compels your prospects to partner with you. It’s an opportunity to not talk about your products and services, but to talk about the real value of partnering with your firm.

When it comes to B2B branding and storytelling, there are a variety of ways to tell your brand story in a way that engages your target audience. Read more…

Nov 20: The 7 Crowdfunding Tips That Are Most Important

Crowdfunding is 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. Unlike angel investments, in which an investor takes a large stake in a small business, with crowdfunding, you can literally attract a “crowd” of people – each of whom takes a small stake (if any) in a business idea by contributing towards an online funding target. Read more…

Nov 20: 4 Things Entrepreneurs Must Do Before Going on Vacation

It’s that time of year again when you and a lot of other entrepreneurs may be looking at former 9-to-5 colleagues with some envy, as they plan their annual two-week vacation with family or friends.

Can you afford to take two weeks away from your business and have it run as smoothly as it does when you’re in it? If you can, that’s great. Read more…

Nov 20: There must be tradeoffs for there to be balance. – Cornelius McNab

SAY OF THE DAY: “There must be tradeoffs for there to be balance.” – Cornelius McNab… read more

Nov 20: Improve Your E-Mail Marketing – Follow These 10 Steps

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…

Nov 20: 4 Ways to Market Your Bootstrapped Startup Online

Nov 19: How To Keep Your Employees Motivated

Keeping your employees motivated, inspired and productive should be a top goal for any organization. Here are 5 ways to leave your staff inspired and productive:

1) Create a list of employee rights.

To amp up your work environment, this list should include the right to a comfortable work environment, managers who behave professionally, and an immediate and fair response to any grievances. Read more…

Nov 19: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 19: Secrets Of Virgin Atlantic’s Marketing Success

Virgin Atlantic is a small airline with a big personality. This is how it lures customers from the big guys.

Nov 19: 3 Tips To Recruit The Best Employees For Your Startup

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…

Recommended: Leading With Perspective

Nov 19: How To Deal With The Risky Business Of Launching Your Own Startup

Dreaming about leaving that “day job” and starting your own business? Doing that is easier said than done. As anyone who has ever contemplated starting a business knows, the risks of the venture loom large.

How does one leave the security of a job and paycheck and benefits for the uncertainty of a new business? The potential perils seem too big, but risk is part of the game. Read more…

Nov 19: 6 Creative Ways of Marketing Your Startup on a Budget

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:

Nov 19: 5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on GoFundMe

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…

Nov 19: How To Dominate the Market – 8 Tips

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…

Nov 19: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 19: How To Gain Clients Trust – 5 Tips

If you are the owner of a small business looking to increase your clientele, here are some tips on how to build a trusting relationship with your client.

Tip # 1: Be Upfront

How do you put your client at ease when he first comes to your home as a total stranger? It all starts with communication. Read more…

Nov 19: New to Crowdfunding? Here’s What to Expect.

With the popularity and success of crowdfunding as a new way to fund new projects, it’s easy for other aspiring entrepreneurs to believe that sites like Kickstarter are their golden ticket to launching a business. But the reality is, crowdfunding isn’t always as simple as it seems.

Whether you’re looking to raise a small amount of startup cash or acquire a larger sum through equity crowdfunding, there are a few challenges you might face during the process that you may not have expected.

Choosing the right platform

The first step is to choose the right platform. Read more…

Nov 19: 2 Ways To Generate Quick Buzz For Your Business

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…

Nov 19: Prophesy is a good line of business, but it is full of risks. – Mark Twain

SAY OF THE DAY: “Prophesy is a good line of business, but it is full of risks.” – Mark Twain… read more

Nov 19: Avoid These 13 Content Marketing Mistakes

The science of content marketing is much bigger than publishing an occasional blog. Custom content has grown into a 43.0billion dollar industry, and even skeptics have to admit that it’s serious business. The best content marketers are wizards who are able to blend writing, multi-media content, PR, social media, and networking into a comprehensive online presence. Read more…

Nov 19: How To Make Social Media Marketing Success

Social media-a requirement for inbound marketing success-holds real influence that continues to rise. A captivating social media presence is essential in the current business environment. Neglect social media, and your business will suffer. You will not be able to optimize your content marketing, website traffic, or lead generation and conversion without social media best practices.

Provide Real Value

Winning social media marketing requires active listening and genuine participation. Read more…

Nov 18: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Who Take Vacations Are More Successful

Nov 18: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 18: How To Do More With Less – Smarter Content Marketing Strategies

The more you know about repurposing content, the more you realize you have a lot to work with. At the same time, the more you know about anything, the more you realize you have a lot to learn.

Dipping into your archive and giving a fresh take on quality pieces is a great way to extend your ROI, but it’s not effective to take the existing newsletter content and paste it into a blog post – it’s lazy. Read more…

Recommended: Viral Video Marketing 101

Nov 18: How to Create an Inbound Marketing Plan for Success

Online business owners have two primary choices for building a customer base. You can invest your time and money in attracting new customers one-by-one, using techniques such as cold calling, pay-per-click advertising and media buys. These techniques are referred to as “outbound marketing” because you must push out your message and hope it falls on receptive ears and generates new customers.

But outbound marketing is becoming less effective due to the growing number of sales messages prospects are exposed to every day. Read more…

Nov 18: How To Be More Creative In Business

To be an innovative entrepreneur, you want to foster creativity in your daily life so that your mind is ready when opportunity arises.

Unusual combinations, sometimes called “remote associations,” are related ideas that may seem unrelated at first glance. They are the essence of creative thinking.

To cultivate creativity, you want to increase your chances of stumbling on an unexpected link. Read more…

Nov 18: 4 Ways To Overcome Fear And Be More Confident

Follow these 4 tips to overcome fear and get to that next level in your business goals:

1) Don’t forget that it’s normal. Read more…

Nov 18: How To Gain Clients Trust – 5 Tips

If you are the owner of a small business looking to increase your clientele, here are some tips on how to build a trusting relationship with your client.

Tip # 1: Be Upfront

How do you put your client at ease when he first comes to your home as a total stranger? It all starts with communication. Read more…

Nov 18: With So Many Social Networking Sites, Which One Is Right For Your Business?

Feeling pulled this way and that by the latest and greatest social site? While you don’t want to miss out on the action, don’t waste time with the “next big thing” unless it’s right for you. With that in mind, below are some guidelines for making the most of your social media forays.

Ignore the chatter about how much web traffic a certain site is receiving each month, and take a look at what your competition is really doing. Read more…

Nov 18: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

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…

Nov 18: 4 Ways To Overcome Fear And Be More Confident

Follow these 4 tips to overcome fear and get to that next level in your business goals:

1) Don’t forget that it’s normal. Read more…

Nov 18: How To Develop A LinkedIn Marketing Plan

Do you want to learn how to present yourself and your business on LinkedIn?

Are you looking for a resource to guide your LinkedIn marketing efforts?

Whether you’re using LinkedIn as an individual or as a brand, the following tips will help you develop a LinkedIn marketing plan and find prospects and leads.

Create a Presence for Yourself

Make sure your LinkedIn account is secure. Read more…

Nov 18: 5 Networking Tips That Entrepreneurs Need to Know

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…

Nov 18: Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. – Will Rogers

SAY OF THE DAY: “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” – Will Rogers… read more

Nov 18: 12 Proven Content Marketing Tricks to Maximize Traffic

Are you sick and tired of the same old content marketing tricks that just don’t seem to increase your traffic?

Today’s audiences are tired of the “same old, same old”, so the time is right to be innovative, take a few risks, and implement some all-new tactics into your strategy.

If you’re risk averse, never fear – while these tips may be unusual, they’ve been proven:

Nov 18: 4 Ideas for a Customized Marketing Strategy to Reach the Right Audience

Reaching the right audience at the right time with the right message is very crucial to any marketer. You already know why you need to do it. The problem is that you’re part of a small team and that there are only 24 hours in a day. What you need is an arsenal of high-impact tactics that are creative, easy to implement, and proven to work.

Nov 17: 3 Tips For Using Promoted Posts To Get Customers Excited

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…

Nov 17: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 17: 6 Tips To Achieve Marketing Goals

Following six tips will help achieve marketing goals:

Nov 17: 8 Things to Consider When Launching an App on a Meager Budget

So, you’ve created the perfect app. Bravo!

It may come off as a surprise to you that, in reality, this actually means only half of the work is done. The remaining half is to let the world know that it exists.

There is a workable method to increase the reach and visibility of your app. Follow this step-by-step process.

8 Things to Consider When Launching an App on a Shoestring Budget

Nov 17: Facebook And Marketing: 4 Useful Tips For Success

Let’s face it. Facebook and Marketing work very well. Are you getting so tired of reading article after article of people writing about how marketing on Facebook is a waste of time? Whether you are a B2C or B2B company it doesn’t matter. If you are not getting results from Facebook you need to change your strategy plain and simple. Read more…

Nov 17: The Unexpected Pros And Cons of Business Competitions

PRO: Free money to get your business started.

If you win, you could be awarded over $100,000 in cash and/or prizes that you can use to build, hire, and get your startup off the ground. In most cases, there are no strings attached and you don’t have to give up a percentage share of your business equity. Read more…

Nov 17: 4 Ways To Overcome Fear And Be More Confident

Follow these 4 tips to overcome fear and get to that next level in your business goals:

1) Don’t forget that it’s normal. Read more…

Nov 17: 4 Things Entrepreneurs Must Do Before Going on Vacation

It’s that time of year again when you and a lot of other entrepreneurs may be looking at former 9-to-5 colleagues with some envy, as they plan their annual two-week vacation with family or friends.

Can you afford to take two weeks away from your business and have it run as smoothly as it does when you’re in it? If you can, that’s great. Read more…

Nov 17: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

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…

Nov 17: 3 Habits Of High-Performing Teams

What are some common challenges that small business and startup teams face? Long hours, conflicting personalities, not enough space, or too many mistakes?

A business team should undergo comprehensive team training in order to perform at a high level. To help your team become more efficient and effective, here are 3 team-building skills that you should focus on developing:

1) How to be great followers so that they can be great leaders

Good followers know how to listen attentively, ask questions when they don’t understand something, adapt to changing demands from different leaders, and give constructive criticism. Read more…

Nov 17: 3 Ways To Prevent A Mistake From Destroying Your Business

It’s easy for new entrepreneurs and even seasoned business owners to be frazzled and to panic when mistakes happen. As your business grows and employees and partners are stretched thin, the risk of mistakes, errors and accidents increases. Mistakes happen, but they can destroy your brand’s reputation – whether your company has made a billing error, sent an embarrassing email with leaked confidential information, or recalled a bad product.

When mistakes happen, what should you do? Here are 3 suggestions for how to deal with unexpected disasters and keep them from destroying your company:

1) Act quickly and fix it. Read more…

Nov 17: 6 Ways To Promote Your Auto Parts Store Online

Auto parts is one of the fastest growing ecommerce sectors.

Clearly, there’s demand for aftermarket car parts and accessories. But how can an auto parts store increase their sales to reach more customers who want what they’ve got?

Here’s 6 steps to increase your online auto store revenue.

Nov 17: Failing to plan is planning to fail. -Chinese Proverb

SAY OF THE DAY: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” -Chinese Proverb … read more

Nov 17: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Who Take Vacations Are More Successful

Nov 17: Does Your Marketing Strategy Work For You?

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…

Nov 16: Turning Holidays Gifts Into a Marketing Tool – 6 Ideas

Hopefully you’ve already created your annual customer and client holiday gift list. Whether they’ve been naughty or nice, all clients should get recognized in this holiday ritual. But how can you make your holiday gifts do double duty-not only as a “thank you” for the past year’s business, but also as a marketing tool to encourage more business in the new year? Here are some ideas.

Remind them of you:

The simplest way to make your holiday gift a marketing tool is to choose a promotional product with your company’s name and/or logo on it. Read more…

Nov 16: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 16: Using Social Media Influencers as a Marketing Strategy for Better ROI

Influencer marketing has become a prime choice for brands that want to increase exposure and get connected with a larger pool of potential customers.

There’s no question that influencer marketing is a worthwhile pursuit for growing brands. But, what comes into question is the way brands tackle their campaigns. Read more…

Nov 16: Marketing Tips That Even Savvy Businesses Overlook

Remember to listen:

Proactive listening is by far the most underused online marketing tactic. Too many companies have lulled themselves into believing that social-media monitoring is just waiting for someone to say something bad or ask a customer-service question. Read more…

Nov 16: The Real Reasons Why VC Investors Delete Your Emails

1) The email has a worthless subject line.

Too often, entrepreneurs use boring, worthless subject lines in their investor pitches. Read more…

Nov 16: 8 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing May Fail

Today, nearly every business is attempting to become a content marketer. The results aren’t pretty. The noise is deafening and while there’s plenty of great content, every industry is being bombarded with junk-cheap imitations of the idea of content marketing-create original, compelling, helpful content. Read more…

Nov 16: How to Create an Inbound Marketing Plan for Success

But outbound marketing is becoming less effective due to the growing number of sales messages prospects are exposed to every day. Read more…

Nov 16: 11 Ways to Write a Compelling Crowdfunding Campaign

One of the most important aspects of your crowdfunding campaign is the story you tell, as it has a direct impact on the overall impression that your project conveys. In the end, this is what will get someone to become your supporter. Your choice of words can actually make a huge difference in your campaign’s results.
Before getting started, you have to decide if you or your team are the most suitable to do the work. Read more…

Nov 16: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

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…

Nov 16: How To Get Influencers To Endorse And Grow Your Business

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…

Nov 16: Boost Summer Sales With These 4 Tips

A summer slowdown may be something many people want because they expect this to be a season for vacations when the living is easy. Read more…

Nov 16: 3 Tips To Recruit The Best Employees For Your Startup

Nov 16: If you can dream it, you can do it. -Walt Disney

SAY OF THE DAY: “If you can dream it, you can do it.” -Walt Disney … read more

Nov 16: 6 Reasons Why Time Is The Business Owner’s Most Scarce Resource

Nov 16: Maximize Profit From Lean Advertising

The footwear industry has traditionally been a hotbed of memorable advertising, with brands such as Nike and Reebok spending millions to sign athlete-endorsers and hire ad agencies that create spectacular TV campaigns. Eye-tracking technology, facial-expression analysis, and lab experiments help better understand why people choose to view online videos, what narrative techniques keep them watching, and what features prompt them to share videos with friends. Read more…

Nov 15: 6 Smart Email Triggers for Marketing Automation

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…

Nov 15: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

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…

Nov 15: Traditional Marketing And Content Marketing: Can They Co-Exist?

As content marketing continues to grow in popularity, a question being asked more and more is “should I replace my traditional marketing with content marketing?” The short answer is no.

It’s easy to pile onto the idea that print, radio, and even TV are on their way out as marketing platforms – but if they are effective, you shouldn’t give them up. Read more…

Nov 15: 13 Marketing Tips When Using Social Networks

Social media can be a slippery slope. Stretching yourself too thin by trying to be on every site can result in disengaged users. Failing to engage users on the right platforms will only amount to yet another lost marketing opportunity.

Here are 13 best practice tips when using popular social networking sites.

FACEBOOK

Facebook is by far the biggest and most popular social media platform. Read more…

Nov 15: Email Marketing Tips for Small Business

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…

Nov 15: Smart Entrepreneurs Do These 4 Accounting Steps

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…

Nov 15: How to Build a Social Website for Your Business

If you operate a website, you’re no doubt familiar with search engine optimization. Now, add “social” optimization to your to-do list.

A website that’s optimized for social media sharing typically attracts more traffic and sparks more engagement with customers. Read more…

Nov 15: 6 Marketing Tips to Bootstrap Your Startup

Every day we are bombarded by brands fighting for our attention; how can you possibly make your startup stand out? Marketing your startup in today’s competitive business economy is undoubtedly difficult and expensive, but there are steps you can take to make sure your startup gets a good chance at success.

Before you start, make sure you have a firm grasp on two key things. Read more…

Nov 15: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 15: 8 Best Practices to Optimize Your Video Landing Page

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…

Nov 15: Mobile Strategies To Win Over Purchasing Preferences Of Women

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…

Nov 15: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Who Take Vacations Are More Successful

Nov 15: Success unshared is failure. -John Paul DeJoria

SAY OF THE DAY: “Success unshared is failure.” -John Paul DeJoria … read more

Nov 15: 4 Ways To Keep Your Website From Getting Hacked

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…

Nov 15: 5 Tips for Digital Marketing Success

As the world has grown increasingly accustomed to staying connected digitally and on-the-go, nearly all of the more traditional marketing methods have become irrelevant. We’re going to take a look at what digital marketing is, and how you can harness its power to achieve success for your marketing campaign.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the total opposite of outbound marketing. Read more…

Nov 14: Smart Entrepreneurs Do These 4 Accounting Steps

Nov 14: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 14: How to solve one marketing puzzle

Take a look at all of the marketing you’ve done over the last several months. Chances are, most – if not all – was effectively limited to product or service promotion. While offers and advertisements are important, promotions are really at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to building a strong brand. Read more…

Nov 14: How To Maximize The Power Of Twitter – 10 Lessons Learned.

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…

Recommended: Crowdfunding vs Venture Capital

Nov 14: 5 Tips for Digital Marketing Success

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the total opposite of outbound marketing. Read more…

Nov 14: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Who Take Vacations Are More Successful

Nov 14: How To Maximize The Power Of Twitter – 10 Lessons Learned.

Here are ten marketing lessons for successful utilization of Twitter:

Nov 14: 5 Ways To Generate Content That Is King

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…

Nov 14: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

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…

Nov 14: Email Marketing Is Still Well And Alive – 5 Reasons

Despite the importance of Social Media, Email Marketing is still the most powerful tool to connect with people. Everyone has at least one email account these days, whether it be for business or personal reasons. According to The Radicati Group, more than 34% of the worldwide population uses emails – Which accounts for nearly 2.5 billion people. Read more…

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