Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! here are some of the best articles we found in the month of November:
This Entrepreneur Went From Felon to CEO of a Million-Dollar Business. How Did He Do It?
Mario Armstrong says that when people — especially entrepreneurs — lose their way, it’s often because they lose their why. They forget the reason why they chose a particular path in the first place, what makes them special and why the world needs what they have to offer. One great example of this is Armstrong’s first guest on the second episode of this Never Settle season. Roy Castro was a high school dropout and former felon before he turned his life around and became CEO of D.M. Ice Cream Corp. Armstrong also chats with Joanie Demer, co-founder of the Krazy Coupon Lady, and Joseph Brantuk, vice president at Nasdaq, among others. (read more here).
Things You Need to Know Before Investing in Blockchain For Your Business
It’s impossible to open a newspaper, log into your favorite website, or scroll through your newsfeed without hearing about different businesses being influenced by blockchain. With the nearly daily updates on the price of Bitcoin, and discussions about alternative currencies, it can seem overwhelming, confusing, and intimidating.
A question I hear every week is whether or not a small business should start accepting, or investing, in one of these alternative currencies. The fact of the matter is that there are, actually, many alternatives to Bitcoin based on the same underlying technology — blockchain. While the specific trends and currencies may change over time, the underlying technology and implications of blockchain contain several implications that will influence businesses of all sizes. (read more here).
Three Unique Marketing Tips For This Holiday Season
Learn some unique ideas on how to market this holiday season. Create a holiday marketing strategy that puts people first. Appreciate your customers or give to the community. Here are three tips that will ensure people remember you, long after the holiday: Bring Santa to your Christmas open house. Parents can bring their kids for a less stressful, more personal Kris Kringle experience instead of waiting in crowds at the mall. Have everyone sign up for a drawing for a prize, preferably one that involves your product or service. Toss in some cookie decorating with simple sugar cookie cutouts, icing, decorating bags and tips and sprinkles. Make sure to include boxes or plastic containers so they can take their creations home safely. (read more here).
11 Habits of High Growth Companies
Growing a company is no easy task. Just ask the CMO of ClassPass, Joanna Lord, who has worked with seven (yes, I said seven!) startup companies to help them increase and maintain growth at a healthy rate.
Lord currently heads the ClassPass marketing team, and is a key contributor to the company’s recent hockey-stick growth. In the past three years alone, ClassPass has grown to over 200 employees, expanded their services to 39 cities across the globe, and garnered $154 million in funding. So what’s her secret to success? (read more here).
Market Segmentation: The Reason Spotify Is Beating Apple Music
When it comes to marketing your product or service (and even your brand as a whole) you essentially have two different approaches you can take:
Market Your Brand To A Mass Audience (Apple Music)
This option is essentially a numbers game: you’re simply casting a wide net into an ocean of consumers with the hopes of bringing in a big haul. There’s really not much strategy involved in this process; any success you may experience is almost certainly due to the law of averages and a whole lot of luck (unless you’re a monster brand like Apple, for example).
Market Your Brand To A Smaller/Niche Audience (Spotify)
Your other choice is to adopt a more targeted approach to your marketing initiatives. Here, you’re narrowing your focus to a small pool of relatively similar customers and attracting them to your brand with content and offers that are relative to these individuals. Read more here.
If you missed last month’s roundup, we had some great articles featured:
[Small Business Link Roundup for October]
Author: Raya Khashab
Raya is the CEO and co-founder of ezClocker. She is passionate about customers and building products that change the way people run their business. She is also a big supporter of the startup community and helping people achieve their dreams.
