Handle Your Business

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, are urging Americans to visit their local small businesses on November 26, 2011, for the 2nd Annual Small Business Saturday.

“By shopping locally, we are able to find the unique gifts to show friends and family we care about them during this holiday season,” Sen. Landrieu said. “Thanks to Small Business Saturday last year, small businesses saw an increase of up to 25 percent in sales on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I can only imagine the success we will have this year if we spread the word.”

“November marks National Entrepreneurship Month, and there is no better way to support our nation’s small businesses than by visiting them on November 26th – Small Business Saturday – in an effort to help boost their sales,” Sen. Snowe said. “I often tour Main

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There is a dramatic paradigm shift for acquiring new business opportunities for advertising agencies, digital shops and PR firms. Agencies need to rethink their approach to new business and intensify their focus on inbound tactics, such as creating magnetic content that will attract prospective clients, rather than relying on the traditional interruption model which consumers are responding to less and less.

MarketingSherpa reported in a CMO Study, 80 percent of decision makers said they FOUND their vendors (not the other way around). Inbound Marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers.

Most agencies are spending the majority of their new business efforts on “Outbound Marketing” tactics such as direct mail, cold calling, email blasts and other efforts that push their message out to a wide, diverse prospective client audience.  Their pro

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A small business loan is exactly what is says on the tin – a loan for a small or even a start up business to help fund the business. These loans may be taken out by existing small businesses that are looking to expand and grow and need a cash injection to enable this to happen. Alternatively they may be taken by start up businesses in order to get the business set up and get the equipment etc. in place for the business to get off the ground.

Traditionally small business loans have been taken out from big name banks who have offered the services of small business advisors and loans that meet the needs of a wide range of businesses. However, these days it can be more difficult to get small business loans from traditional banks due to the increased restrictions that have been put into place by banks.

If you are looking to go to the banks for a small business loan you will need to be armed with a solid business plan either relating to your start up business or relating to the expansion plans of your existing business. T

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Most folks consider the Small Business Lending Fund a disappointment.

Designed to provide up to $30 billion in cheap capital to community banks for use in making small business loans, the program only provided $4 billion. Most of the banks that applied for this capital were rejected.

So given this record, what does Senator Mary Landrieu want to do? She wants to give the program another shot.

Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat who chairs the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, announced today that she wants to develop a Small Business Lending Fund II.

“Until this recession is at a distance in the rear-view mirror, I believe that this committee has an obligation to turn out time-tested as well as new and innovative programs to get capital into the hands of small businesses throughout our country,” Landrieu said.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, whose department handled the SBLF, told Landrieu that he’d be happy to work with her on this.

Geithner was the only witness at the committee’s hearing today, which focused on the Small Business Lending Fund and the State Small Business Credit Initiative. That pr Read full post…

Is being rich stopping you from being a part of Roth IRA? Well, the new plans are right here for everyone who have always felt bad that they couldn’t participate in the most reliable retirement plan at roth-ira.org. The government on its initial grounds have thought that the Roth IRA will be helpful mainly for the people who earn an Adjusted Gross Income of $101,000 a year (if single or $169,000/year filing jointly), but on the contrary, people from all walks of life have found the Roth IRA beneficial for the advantages they offer over the other IRAs’.

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No Bullshit Social Media is a new book that I highly recommend for ad agencies. It is hype-free advice on how to use social media marketing for business and contains a wealth of statistics, illustrations and case studies. The books insights will be of practical help to your agency and clients.

The reason your agency needs social media is that it can drive real new business opportunities and will provide a serious step up on your competitors. 

The book is co-written by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers.

Ive known Jason since starting my own consultancy back in 2007. He understands ad agencies having previously worked for Doe Anderson, a regional agency in Louisville, KY. J

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