Author: Maria Novak Dugan

Copywriting is critical for the growth of your business whether you’re at the head of a startup or leading a company that’s been around for decades. However, copywriting may be an aspect of your business that you have been ignoring. Here are three reasons to take notice and put energy into making sure your business copywriting is effectual: Copywriting can make or break communication Whenever…

Employment branding is the term commonly used to describe an organization's reputation as an employer and its value proposition to its employees, as opposed to its more general corporate brand reputation and value proposition to customers. An employment brand is the market perception of what it's like to work for an organization. In other words, it's the image that your prospective, current and past employees…

Businesses are moving away from mass, “push”-based marketing and toward more personalized, one-to-one communication with consumers through the many channels and on the many devices they use. The effectiveness and ROI (return on investment) of print media and television ads are on the decline. This is a function of technology and culture, where mobile Internet access has greatly enhanced shoppers' deal-hunting abilities. Smartphones and tablets…

“I know my business and I have a website, but I don’t understand SEO.” Does that sound like you? For many small businesses it’s a big job just to keep up sales, maintain customer satisfaction, and grow year-by-year without having to consider the regular optimization of a website. Particularly for businesses that do not sell online, the small business SEO (search engine optimization) strategy that…

We all hate getting spam mail so it’s hard to admit that email advertising is effective, but study after study show that it’s a low-cost method of obtaining new customers and generating repeat clients. According to SalesForce.com, the average return on investment for every $1 devoted to an email-marketing campaign is $44.25. That’s a very revealing statistic considering that sending an email is absolutely free.…

Does every day seem to be a mad rush from the moment you get out of bed in the morning to when you fall back in bed at night? You’re not alone. Many people say they are always in a hurry throughout their day. Wouldn’t it be great if you could rush a little less?  It seems the world operates at a frantic pace, and…

Imagine this: one day you’re on page 1 of Google. The next day you do not appear until page 14. You don’t even know what hit you but it hit you hard. This scenario happens in real life, and in most cases, business owners are left confused and wondering what happened. That’s why a Website Audit Report is a must. What is a website audit?…

You’re in a new business meeting, a closing situation with a late-stage prospect, and the client is enthusiastic. “Great, I’d like to do this. Get me a proposal.” You write up your proposal, send it over and follow up by telephone. Voicemail. You leave a message and promise to follow-up the next day. Again, voicemail. You send an enthusiastic email. Nothing. Days slip by. Then…

Almost everyone who dreams of starting their own business knows they need to create a business plan. However, that’s often where many people stop. When you created your business plan, what did you do with it? You actually have the basis for the next step, which is creating your marketing plan. Without the plan of how you are going to market your business, the business…

In business, the results you get can be relatively proportionate to the effort you put in. So far so good, but a problem arises when people don’t do anything or do the wrong thing to try to get results. Far too often, people will play the blame game. “I tried this to get more business happening and it didn’t work and the same with that,…