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The mayor of a small town once wrote to Benjamin Franklin asking for a donation so the town could buy a bell for its town square. Franklin sent money with a note suggesting they forego the bell in favor of buying books for the town library. It is at the library we might find an answer to why so few succeed and why most fail - at anything, at everything.

Help! -I can't Get Out 0f The Box I Put Myself In!"

The fast food industry got the idea for drive-in windows from banks. I guess there was a McDonald's executive sitting at the bank drive-through one day who thought, "I don't think we can fit the milkshakes in these tubes, but..." Netjets, the leader in fractional jet ownership, now owned by Warren Buffet, owes its birth to the vacation timeshare industry. The microwave in your kitchen was not originally intended to go there; its original manufacturer, Litton, believed no consumer would buy it and built them only for restaurants. When was the last time you heard of Litton? What does this tell you?

That successful businesses live or die by cross-industry 'borrowing' of ideas, that inspiration more often comes from outside the box than from within. Ordinary businesses stay ordinary, their owners eking out only ordinary incomes - and working too hard for them - as long as those owners foolishly and stubbornly, mentally stay in their own tiny backyard. Breakthroughs come from bringing fresh ideas, found outside one's own business, in and applying them in new ways. You choose to limit or expand your income by the way you reject or embrace ideas found far afield from your present modus operandi and industry norms.

Odds are, your business lost a lot of customers last year. There are holes in your bucket. And odds are, you can't say for sure how many you lost, who you lost, why you lost them or where they went and are now. If you do nothing different, I can send you this same fax next year too. A great way to make more money is to stop losing customers, beginning with the next one you are about to lose.

Twitter has gained popularity with 330+ million monthly users by offering them an outlet to share their thoughts, pictures and web links. Despite not being as massively popular as Facebook or Instagram, Twitter is gaining popularity among more casual crowds recently and must be taken seriously as a marketing instrument.

It is impossible to deny that Facebook is the most popular and relevant social network in the world. Over its years, Facebook created businesses, innovated internet advertising, and caused a lot (and I mean A LOT) of controversy over private data management.

Instagram is an excellent tool for businesses of all sizes to advertise products and services. Instagram offers a diverse audience to advertise to so it can definitely be worth the investment, especially for a small business! Here’s some tips on how to use Instagram for advertising.

Have you ever wanted to take your marketing to the next level?  You've already done the mailing lists, website creation, and social media marketing? Looking for a little marketing excitement? There are plenty of other things you can do to promote your business that are a little outside of the box. 

It is not easy being a business owner - you have to oversee every part of the operations, manage your employees and clients, and make decisions that can have major consequences. It is understandable that  you clearly  don't have time to micromanage your marketing output. Even worse, it can be daunting being the only one in your business' marketing department. No second opinion. No team support. You need help! Here are some indicators that your business needs a marketing agency.

Everyone loves free stuff, and so should you!

Not all social networks are created equal. Since we reviewed 3 big players (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) on the social network market in our last post, you should take a look at smaller and more specific types of social networks.