Independence Day has a lot going for it. There’s red, white and blue, Old Glory, fireworks… maybe a barbeque with family and friends or a concert under the stars. It’s also the only major holiday in the U.S. between the end of May and Labor Day at the start of September, so why not make it the centerpiece of your summer marketing? After all, your customers have shed their winter blues and everyone wants to get out and have fun. Show some patriotic spirit, put the focus on fun consumer experiences and it’s hard to go wrong.

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JoomFuse has changed the rules of membership management. . . forever.

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Most entrepreneurs are autodidacts. That puts the responsibility for our education about our skills, expertise, and industry squarely on our own shoulders.

Going to business school could be interesting although, truth be told, I think I have a business school’s worth of business books on my office shelf right now. No, I haven’t read them all yet but I have a new plan.

As a business owner, you know just having information at your fingertips isn’t enough. It’s the right information at the right time that makes the difference. There are all sorts of ways to get this information— books, seminar and blogs just to name a few.

One of the ways you may not have considered is podcasts. If you’re not familiar with podcasts, they’re live streamed discussions on a variety of topics, usually with a moderator and one or more topical experts.

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Video Marketing Engagement Platform

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One of our colleagues, a member of the Mastermind group we belong to, lives a very busy life, arguably busier than most. He’s a successful serial entrepreneur, most recently a Digital Marketing director for another agency, father of five, and reinventing himself after some health challenges. So when he recommended this productivity app, I listened.

It’s free, easy to use, and perfect for me. It’s called Pocket and it allows me to archive anything online that I want to read, watch, or listen to… later.

There are all sorts of offices. Some are neat and so organized they look like they should be on the cover of a magazine. Others look like the summer home of the Absent-Minded Professor. When it comes down to getting things done though, it doesn’t really matter how pretty or messy your office is. The keys are being able to quickly figure out what you need to get done today and being able to find what you need to make it happen.

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With the lack of any other frame of reference, your prospects will default to a price comparison. An apples to apples comparison. Once they say something like, “The XYZ company will do the same thing for $Y dollars less,” you have virtually lost the sale, because the talk is all about price. When you tell them all the reasons (and they may be good ones) why your pricing is as good if not a better deal, you sound to them like you are making excuses to try to recover the sale. It’s over!

In a previous article, we talked about business-oriented podcasts and recommended several that may be worth your time. If you found the content worthwhile, why not take the next step? That’s right, start doing your own.

There are several great reasons for doing so. It’s a chance to give back to the business community by sharing your knowledge and expertise. In addition, it helps gets your name out there and can lead to networking opportunities and a chance to bring in new clients.    

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 Whether you are a dentist, salesperson or office worker, there has never been an easier way to send a genuine thank you, reminder or follow-up card. Greeting cards can be powerful business tools to help make sure your business clients and customers know just how important they are!

Here's an added bonus: To totally integrate your SendOutCards into marketing campaigns through your Infusionsoft or other CRM, check out Fix Your Funnel too! It's the glue between your SendOutCards and Infusionsoft.

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Recently a small business owner came to us with a lead conversion problem. She gets a solid stream of warm leads opting in for her lead magnet (free trial) but very few convert to her paid product. In fact, a minority of them actually engage with the trial. Sound familiar?

She has followup failure. Not that she doesn’t followup, she does, but clearly what she’s doing for followup is not working.

It’s hard to escape social media these days, especially when you have a business to promote. No matter where you go or who you talk to, you’re reminded how important it is. That couple a little ways down from you while you’re lounging on the beach? Yep, they’re online and they’re potential customers. Are you using all the tools at your disposal to reach them?

One of those relatively new tools is Facebook Live. You’ve heard of Facebook, of course, and you already know how important it can be to your social media efforts. You probably also know that just posting isn’t enough.

Featured Resource this week - Missinglettr

Publishing new blog posts but not getting the attention and traffic you need?

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API is another one of those TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) that we have grown to hate and it does not stand for Apple Pie International. It actually stands for Application Program Interface and one pretty good definition is:

Application program interface (API) is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. An API specifies how software components should interact.

Ok, so now you’ve got it right? No? The definition made it so much more clear, NOT.