Startup Advice

Link Building Isn’t Lead Generation — But It Helps

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Finding Customers• Startup Advice / April 12, 2019

Links can't be your sales strategy, but they can bring leads

Lead generation is the heart of business growth. You need to drive new customers into your sphere in order to make conversions and build loyalty. When businesses talk about lead generation, though, they rarely address the role of link building. Instead, they emphasize increased lead generation through local marketing, better CRM, and predictive analytics. Without the layer of link building, however, businesses are undermining their lead generation strategy,…

4 Automation Tools That Won’t Break the Bank for Small Businesses

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Startup Advice / April 2, 2019

Automation can make or break a small business — but not necessarily its budget

When you hear the word “automation,” what do you picture? A self-driving car? A factory free of human workers? In reality, those applications represent an exceptionally small share of small business automation. The production and operation functions are actually the two least automated functions, according to a QuickBooks study released last April. So what are small business leaders automating? Among the 66 percent of those using automation tools, most…

Big Business Strategies That Small Companies Can Emulate

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Startup Advice / March 26, 2019

Some strategies benefit businesses of all sizes

Big businesses are big for a reason — they’re getting something right, usually when it counts the most. Moreover, they’ve already found their footing after making it through the early days of uncertainty and instability. That successful leadership journey alone counts as an invaluable lesson for smaller business owners. You can learn a lot by studying exactly what big businesses have done right, even if their circumstances might…

The Missing Tools: 4 Things Your Lead Generation Strategy Is Missing

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Startup Advice / February 22, 2019

Is your business living up to its potential? Among small businesses, the answer is almost always “no.” That can happen for a number of reasons: Owners are too anxious to take risks, fail to focus, or haven’t cultivated a strong network. Luckily, there are simple tools that can help your business overcome these barriers. These four tools enable small business owners to take control of their lead generation…

4 Signs You Should Swap Your In-House Agency for an Outsourced CMO

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Startup Advice / February 7, 2019

The in-house agency, like most marketing trends, has had its share of leaps and starts. In 1986, Bank of America led the way with its internal agency, Enterprise Creative Solutions; in 1987, Fidelity Investments followed, founding Fidelity Communications and Advertising. Then, as quickly as it had come, interest in internal agencies waned. It wasn’t until the early 2000s, with the proliferation of mobile and digital marketing, that the…

4 Project Management Tips To Deliver Large, Complex Projects On Time

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Startup Advice / January 23, 2019

Large, complex projects are twice as likely to be delivered late, go over budget, and have missing critical features. You can use the best project management tools on the market and still fall behind. Avoid a dismal fate for your next big project with the following project management strategies: Get your project managers PMP certified If you’ve hired a skilled project manager without Project Management Professional (PMP) certification,…

Office Manager Beyond Your Budget? 4 Tips to Patch One Together

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Startup Advice / January 17, 2019

Just like human beings, startups that grow up go through “teenage” years. No longer is the founder’s basement an acceptable workplace, but office rental costs aren’t exactly within reach, either. That sole salesperson has an assistant now, but can two people truly be called a “department”? Perhaps the most awkward part of business adolescence, however, has to do with office management. With two or three, it might’ve been…

8 Reasons You are not as Successful as You Should Be

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Career Advice• Entrepreneurship• Startup Advice / December 24, 2018

Early on in my career, I had a roadmap of where I was going. It was actually pretty ambitious. However, things didn’t go the way I planned. Now, I consider that this situation was for the best. But, there were moments when I wondered why I wasn’t as successful as I had expected to be. After some self-reflection, I determined that I was not as successful as I wanted…

Putting Video to Work For Your Small Business

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Startup Advice / December 21, 2018

Textual content has a place in digital marketing, but in terms of efficacy, it’s quickly taking a back seat to visual content. In particular, video content is rising to prominence as a powerful medium through which small businesses can engage and convert viewers into customers. Why Putting Video to Work for your Small Business Matters Video isn’t just another type of content – it’s the highest returning content…

Why ‘Sales Operations’ Could Be the Key to Scaling Your Company

by Kimberly Zhang / ⠀Startup Advice / December 12, 2018

Salespeople are great at selling. They’re less great at all the things that surround the sales process — things like filling out spreadsheets, hunting down pricing and contract information, and figuring out how to use complex tools. Even the sellers who are great at these tasks are more useful to their organizations in the field or on the phone. Sales operations teams handle the busywork of selling and…

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