Companies claim to design stellar business logos for half the price. How good are they? We put four services to the test.

To some business owners, a well-designed logo is a worthwhile investment, a hallmark that subtly speaks volumes about a company’s prestige, authority, or coolness. Even small companies have spent as much as $25,000 to $50,000 for logos from famous designers. And yet, there’s no shortage of websites offering to whip up a logo for as little as a few hundred bucks. These online services — often formatted as contests in which many designers compete to fill a client’s logo needs — are controversial among designers, who fret that stolen work worms its way into the offerings or that, without the guidance of a traditional design firm, clients often make lousy choices.

Continue reading →

The aesthetic of your product and its labeling can have a huge impact on sales. If you’re DIY branding, here’s how to find the right colors.

Ten years ago, Heinz unveiled a new type of ketchup that became an immediate success.  It sold seven million bottles in its first seven months and gained international attention.  It became so popular that when it sold out of some supermarkets, people actually auctioned it off oneBay. So what was so special about this ketchup? Did it taste better? Not at all. Was it made out of better ingredients? Nope.There was one difference. It was green.

Continue reading →

No Pain, Lots of Gain

Most of us chase success by working hard, sacrificing our personal lives and even our health in an all-out pursuit of Mammon. But it doesn’t always have to be that way. For a fortunate few, it doesn’t mean a Harvard MBA or years spent perfecting a new drug. It just means doing as little as possible and still making more money than you ever dreamed of.

Continue reading →

It comes in many forms, but all of them are essential to your business.

Is your message, product or service worth talking about? We certainly hope so, because a recent study conducted by eMarketer.com concluded that 53 percent of online traffic comes from recommendations made by family members and/or friends. This confirms what guerrillas have always known: Positive word-of-mouth “buzz” is the best advertising money can’t buy–whether offline or online! So every single business person in the world should be spending a great deal of their time strategizing ways to acquire and retain profitable customers using word-of-mouth marketing–especially since the internet makes it so much easier!

Continue reading →

When revenue hits a rut, consider these tips to help you jump-start your sales.

In this highly competitive marketplace, it’s vital to keep your marketingcampaigns fresh, new and on target. This fall, kick your marketing into high gear with this seven-point checklist.

1. Reestablish Listening Posts
Smart marketing relies entirely on understanding your customer. You need to know not only who they are and what they buy, but why they buy — and why they choose to buy from you. Redouble your efforts at dialogue through socialmedia, message boards and blogs. And get direct feedback from customers or clients, or via your front-line salespeople.

Continue reading →

As more and more people start or consider starting their own business, it is important that they understand the core steps that are required to launch successful ventures. These steps include spotting, assessing, selecting and executing upon opportunities.

Spotting Opportunities:
The first step to entrepreneurship is identifying opportunities. The entrepreneur must be able to spot an unmet need. Oftentimes this need is seen through an inefficiency in the market – something that doesn’t work quite the way the entrepreneur would like it to. As a result, the entrepreneur figures out a potential solution and the opportunity is born.
Continue reading →

Create an ad that does your business justice with this advice from our advertising expert.

The key to choosing a good advertisement begins with deciding what you want your ad to highlight. Are you trying to sell a specific product or are you trying to sell your business as a whole through your brand image? To answer that, you need to understand what the four main types of advertisements are:

Continue reading →

Types of Business Opportunities

The FTC describes the most common types of business opportunity ventures as follows:

• Distributorship. Refers to an independent agent that has entered into an agreement to offer and sell the product of another but is not entitled to use the manufacturer’s trade name as part of its trade name. Depending on the agreement, the distributor may be limited to selling only that company’s goods or it may have the freedom to market several different product lines or services from various firms.

Continue reading →