When business owners create products or services – and the marketing plans to sell them – they often base their decisions on what customers tell them. But which is more important: What customers say? Or what they actually do? more

In this age of social media and digital everything, you can’t afford to be a website weakling. If your competition has a killer online presence, and you don’t, you lose. Today’s consumers look online more than ever before. Even business owners who think they don’t really need a “best in class” website are missing more than they think. more

When Groupon first hit the scene it put the spotlight on a massive new market and inspired countless copycats. But many local businesses lost money with the Groupon deals model, which often requires losing money on the initial offer in hopes of making it up on additional sales and return visits. more

Despite its massive reach and wide adoption, Facebook remains baffling to many small-business owners. Facebook itself has never really understood small business, and hasn’t done a great job explaining how biz owners can use it to grow sales. more

LinkedIn has become the most common social media tool used by companies on Inc. magazine’s 2012 Inc. 500 list, according to a study released Tuesday by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. more

It is indisputable that the Internet, with its ever-expanding base and social media platform, is an important aspect of any marketing scheme. But a new study indicates that good old-fashioned networking in person is still valuable and vital to the success of both small- and new-business owners. more

The biggest leap for Cathy Demain Mann was going out on her own after 10 years of working for someone else. “The back-up support – with everything at your fingertips – was gone,” said Mann, the owner of Creative Impressions Inc. more

It’s Saturday night around 6 p.m. Early dinner for Jessica, Gabrielle and me. more

I’ll be spending the month of August in Paris with my family. I can’t describe how wonderful it will be. My goal is to finish a book, take in the culture, enjoy my family and think. more

I’m traveling to Warsaw, Poland, next month to deliver two public seminars. After a couple Skype interviews, I discovered that although the United States and Poland are 5,000 miles and many, many cultures apart, our sales needs are the same. more