by Sherron Lumley. Who, exactly, are you? Amidst a veritable sea of sales pitches that consumers must navigate daily, that’s the essential question they are trying to answer when it comes to your small business. But if your company’s message is muddied or constantly shifting, connecting with potential customers in a way that reinforces trust and credibility becomes difficult, if not impossible. “The world has changed,” says Sander Flaum, former chairman of Euro RSCG, one of the world’s...

There is a lot of disagreement about what’s meant by the term “influence.”   In the old bricks-and-mortar world, influence referred to the ability to sway people’s beliefs or actions.  The people wielding the influence were usually recognizable names. Defining Influence Influence in the online world still has to do with impacting behavior, but influencers – now sometimes called “e-fluentials” – can be almost anybody.  Further, social influence doesn’t just affect buying habits, it can...

As a small business, you can think of endless reasons that you don’t need to worry about branding. You may tell yourself: “Branding isn’t necessary for small businesses.” “I’m too busy.” “I can’t afford it.” You tell yourself these things, and yet you still feel a little uneasy. You know that your business needs an identity. So what do you do? First, it’s important to understand what branding is and is not. Branding is not a logo. Branding encompasses much more than a symbol, name or...

Part I: Three reasons in favor. By Reed Richardson. During the past year, the business world has been significantly reshaped by a new discounting phenomenon, one that combines the ubiquity of traditional coupon clipping with the power of social networking. These new “social coupons,” offered through websites like Groupon, Eversave, Adility, LivingSocial, eWinWin and several others, promise participating businesses access to a plethora of new, local customers, while offering consumers...