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The Small Business Marketing Trap

Most small business owners judge their website content relative to how close it sounds to the way they would have said it themselves. That standard makes no sense for businesses trying to get found by AI search engines. AI search rewards two things above almost everything else: how recently a business published and how consistently it publishes. In this story, a jewelry store analogy offers the clearest way to understand this vital concept in our rapidly changing marketing landscape.
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First Things First: There's an Order to Profitability

The building blocks of profitability are clear and they even have a required sequence to them. But without knowledge of the building blocks - or awareness that these building blocks even exist! - your marketing can underperform for years (or decades).
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Principles of Graphic Design

Most small business owners are doing a lot of graphic designs themselves. But without understanding graphic design principles what you save in time and fees will cost you in results. This 36-minute video will help you understand the basic principles of graphic design. Whether you are doing your own graphics or working with a graphic designer understanding these concepts will most certainly improve your marketing efforts.
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Radical Inclusiveness - the Competitive Edge

In a business climate where competitiveness and innovation are everything equality and diversity in the workforce are important keys to success.
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Outstanding Customer Service is a Culture Thing

The question of how to deliver the outstanding customer service consumers expect is easy to answer but harder to implement.
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    Reflections
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    Ethics

    What is Fairtrade? Fairmined?

    People often confuse Fairmined and Fairtrade. Here's a simple guideline to help you sort them out.
    Merchandising

    What Price Brand?

    Brands are the glue that holds a relationship together, and not just in marketing.
    Marketing

    Are You a Great Merchant or Just Shopping?

    Every product category must evolve to stay relevant. Great merchants are masters of product evolution.
    Retail

    Trade Shows Are Strategic ... Stop Making Them Tactical

    Branding

    Still Playing Dress-up in Your Parents' Clothes?

    Most people don't know where to start with branding. They're not even sure what it is.
    Management

    Everything I Need to Know About Sexual Harassment I Learned in Kindergarten

    Sexual harassment isn’t about sex. It’s about power.
    Management

    Cinderella Teams and Giant Killers

    Small businesses have a distinct advantage that large businesses do not have, and one of the things we must do is exploit this advantage to the maximum extent. What is it? Our ability to be flat, networked, and flexible.

    Tell Better Stories

    It's not enough to sell a product or a service any more. You must also be able to tell the story. The Pip Storytelling Deck is a tool we use at the Werx Brands to construct and tell better stories. You can be a master story-teller too!

    Order Yours Today
    Management

    Getting Employee Reviews Right

    An annual employee review process can be a powerful driver for business growth and innovation. Unfortunately, in most companies it's not used for that at all. Here's how to improve.
    Management

    All of the Responsibility, None of the Authority

    Here are some of the key structures that are absolutely necessary when converting to a more team-based organization.
    Management

    Karma Crackers in My Soup

    Push people because you owe it to them, not because they’ll appreciate it – because they won’t.
    Management

    Don't Play a Zero Sum Game

    Selling is understanding what a customer needs, then providing solution to their needs. A good sales effort tells the customer what to decide.
    Management

    Being a Better Leader Part 3: Be a Student of Business

    To be a better leader, be a student of business. This article gives advice on what areas to study and where to go to find that information.
    Management

    Criticism: The fire in the forge of great leadership

    A great leader goes beyond those characteristics to combine a blend of intense personal will with great humility.
    Management

    Simple But Not Easy

    Though being a good leader is hard work, the components are simply common-sense.
    Management

    Surviving Tough Times: Part I

    The Jewelry Design Professionals’ Network (JDPN) invited Andrea Hill to prepare two presentations for their members and students, to help them manage their careers and business during the Covid-19 crisis.
    Management

    Change Mismanagement

    The types of changes you should – and should not – make during a recession are the same types of change you should consider during a strong economy.
    Management

    Sit. Crawl. Walk. Run. Stairs. The Strategic Process

    If you follow a logical, tested, practical strategic process, you can implement all the strategic building blocks your company needs to be competitive and successful.

    Video

    Check Out Our Youtube Channel!

    Go to our Youtube channel and pound that SUBSCRIBE button!

    We post a lot of videos: business educational, inspirational, motivational, and even lots of software/technical. You don't want to miss it, so subscribe to our Youtube channel today, and get alerts when we post new content.

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    jewelry industry, supply chain

    marketing, strategy

    branding, selling

    ethics, personal development

    marketing, management

    Strategy

    Branding

    "The tricky thing about hope is to not confuse it with optimism." Rebecca Solnit

    At the end of the day, we all have to fight our demons alone. And I think that's the source of loneliness. If you spend your whole life insisting there are no demons to fight or hiding your demons or determined to fight them in private, you end up existentially alone.

    Perfectionism is a luxury for (starving) artists, or artists with benefactors. The rest of us must learn the difference between being in love with our own ideas and being in love with progress.

    I sometimes wonder what our country would be like today if Christians had thrown themselves into eradicating poverty or inequality with the same energy they invested in fighting abortion.

    Well, Catholics pray to saints," I mutter to myself as I begin my nightly prayer to RBG.

    Don't get FOMO over unicorns in the news. It's not usually the first person with the idea who makes the money, or even the first person who invests the cash. The person who invests the discipline is always the one to bet on.

    Society and Culture

    Follow Social Articles

    My Granddaughter's Heroes

    It Really is up to Women

    Education 3.0

    You Don't Own Me

    Stupid, Egotistical, or Both?

    Cynical? Just a Little

    Trump Defined

    The Oldest Game in the (Rule) Book

    You Can't Have it Both Ways

    And Now for an African-American First Lady