This post is republished from my original article on the Amex Open Forum website. It is part of “Small Business Friday” on this blog, where I share ideas and marketing techniques specifically to help small businesses stand out. To read more articles like this, visit the “Small Business Friday” category on this blog. When thinking

This post is republished from my original article on the Amex Open Forum website. It is part of “Small Business Friday” on this blog, where I share ideas and marketing techniques specifically to help small businesses stand out. To read more articles like this, visit the “Small Business Friday” category on this blog. In any

This post is republished from my original article on the Amex Open Forum website. It is part of “Small Business Friday” on this blog, where I share ideas and marketing techniques specifically to help small businesses stand out. To read more articles like this, visit the “Small Business Friday” category on this blog. Over the

This post is republished from my original article published on the Amex Open Forum website. It is part of “Small Business Friday” on this blog, where I share ideas and marketing techniques specifically to help small businesses stand out. To read more articles like this, visit the “Small Business Friday” category on this blog. There

This post is republished from my original article published on the Amex Open Forum website. It is part of “Small Business Friday” on this blog, where I share ideas and marketing techniques specifically to help small businesses stand out. To read more articles like this, visit the “Small Business Friday” category on this blog. There

In life we expect outgoing people to be better at tasks like networking or sales. We use terms like "extrovert" and "Type-A personality" to describe what many of us believe to be true about many of the people we work with … that seemingly natural parts of their personality make them ideal candidates to do

You might have noticed a trend in more and more marketing, where large brands are featuring real people and actual employees in their ads. The end of the new Intel ads feature employees singing the well known "Intel bong" – the four note chime at the end of their ads. Best Buy uses their employees

Across my marketing career I've been involved in dozens of campaigns and marketing efforts that included some sort of sponsorship. Most marketers love sponsorships for the simple reason that they are packaged campaigns that are relatively low effort to implement. Someone else is doing something like an event or running a great organization and you

Let's be honest – the web isn't always the easiest place to create trusted relationships. After all, the personal cues that we might use when meeting someone face to face don't apply. You never know who may be behind the keyboard in any online conversation and there are plenty of unscrupulous characters ready to take

As time goes on, one of the more interesting trends that continues to happen with surprising regularity is how frequently new business models and ways of doing business are emerging through social media and online tools. In many cases, these trends are helping to reinvent how businesses sell and consumers buy all kinds of products.