Most Recent Blog Posts

Better Marketing Through Science

Washington girds for health care vote. The passage of President Obama's health care plan looks increasingly likely, with a vote possible over the weekend. Most of the coverage has focused on the big picture, particularly a report by the Congressional Budget Office that says the bill will lower the deficit by $138 billion over 10 years, while insuring an additional 32 million Americans. So what would passage mean for businesses? For small companies, probably not much. But companies with over 50 employees that do not provide health care coverage would have to pay $2,000 for every employee who receives insurance that is subsidized by the government. Continue Reading.

Palm Needs A Hand

Palm's latest quarterly report is out and the news is not good. Smartphone sales are in the dumper, with only 408,000 units sold. Ouch!  Continue Reading.

How Banks Make Business Loans

Banks look beyond credit scores. Before the recession, business credit scores were often the biggest factor in determining which companies were eligible for loans and credit lines. But banks no longer trust the scores as an indicator of a borrower's ability to repay. Instead, as the Wall Street Journal reports, large lenders are looking to cash flow and collateral. "It's a lagging indicator," a commercial banking executive at Bank of America tells the Journal. "We are underwriting more on a traditional basis. We look at the full picture." Lenders continue to look at owners' personal-credit scores as an indicator of character and "intent to pay back." Check out our recent Case Study, When Your Bank Stops Lending, which looks at an audio technology company whose bank cut its credit despite the fact that the company hadn't missed a payment in three years.  Continue Reading.

A Cautionary Tale Of Too Much Technology

File this under OMG. Or perhaps, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should". In Austin, Texas, some 100 cars were "hacked into" and mechanically disabled with their horns honking incessantly. So what happened? Continue Reading.

Mobile Location, Location, Location at SXSW

I've just returned from this year's South By SouthWest (SXSW) Interactive Festival and I bring news of import to all small businesses looking to attract local, in-person audiences: Get Mobile Now. This year's festival of all things geeky and early-adopter-esque was filled with a vision of the future ' location-based services such as FourSquare, Gowalla, and, to a lesser extent, Loopt, BriteKite, Google Buzz Facebook and Twitter were being used by attendees to find hot spots, action, and most importantly, their friends. And, in the process, funneling customers to businesses that were popular with the crowd. Continue Reading.

GrowCo.: 5 Sales Myths of Fast Growth Organizations

I'm listening intently at this GrowCo. session to Tom Searcy, founder of Hunt Big Sales, and co-author of RFPs Suck. I was excited about this one because I too feel the same about RFPs! He's talking about 5 Sales Myths of Fast Growth Businesses. Continue Reading.

Fake Steve Jobs Gets a Sitcom Deal

Tips from Inc.'s GrowCo Conference. Following up a day that included presentations by Jim McCann, George Foreman, and Amy Simmons of Amy's Ice Cream, Inc's GrowCo conference wrapped up on Tuesday with advice from the entrepreneurs behind Rosetta Stone, Method, and College Hunks Hauling Junk. Tom Adams, Rosetta Stone's CEO, told the story of his company's recent IPO and encouraged attendees to "dream big." "If I can do it," he said, "anybody can." Eric Ryan, co-founder of the home cleaning supply company Method, said that if you are a business owner who doesn't consider yourself a marketer, the rise of social media will prove you wrong. "Everyone needs to think like marketers now." And College Hunks Hauling Junk co-founder Nick Friedman advised entrepreneurs to pay attention to the little things when building company culture. "Sit down with your employees at least once a quarter," he said. "And remember to say 'Thank you." Continue Reading.

New Printable Postage Sheets

Postage website Endicia recently announced the availability of printable postage sheets by DYMO. After registering for a free account on Endicia.com, users can use the self-adhesive label sheets to print U.S. Postal Service-approved postage from their PC or Mac using any printer. There is no monthly fee; users pay only for the stamps they print. Endicia's software determines the right amount of postage for packages based on weight, destination, and mail class. The printable postage sheets are available at Endicia.com for $7.90 for 10 sheets. They also are available at OfficeMax and Staples.com. A special roll version of DYMO stamps can be used with premium models of DYMO's LabelWriter printers.  Continue Reading.