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Your Small Business Questions, Answered
Send us your questions on challenges you face in your business. Journalist Karen E. Klein will interview experts and distill their insights into answers.
Recent
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Marketing
From Bloggers' Wrath to Foodies' Delight: Saffron Road
Adnan Durrani's brand aims to appeal to U.S. Muslims who seek halal food and to non-Muslim Whole Foods shoppers hungry for ethnic meals—or merely healthy food -
Profiles
Finding the World's 'Best' Social Entrepreneurs
B Lab releases its second annual list of standout businesses that balance profits with social missions -
Marketing
Online Sellers Experiment More With Brick-and-Mortar Shops
Online businesses are opening brick-and-mortar locations to build brand awareness and test new retail strategies -
Technology
How Small Businesses Use Big Data
Startups and small companies are finding ways to use voluminous data sets to gain insights into customers, employees, and products -
Marketing
How to Run an Effective Social Media Program
Which platforms work best? Manage them yourself or delegate? Spend time or money? As social media grows in influence, businesses need to answer these questions -
Marketing
Small Businesses Still Aren’t Spending on Online Ads
A new survey shows that despite big investments to tap into local advertising markets, Main Street isn't advertising much online -
Taxes
Tax Reform, Angels Slow Investments, Nasdaq's New Private Market: March 7
A daily roundup of the most compelling stories about small business and entrepreneurship -
Profiles
Beyond EBay: Coupon Clippers Grab Online Deals to Resell Overseas
A growing number of resellers in the U.S. are using online deals to buy coveted products at steep discounts, then flipping them in overseas markets -
Advice
A Branding Exercise for Your Business: Write a Book
Start with the title. If the process shows your business doesn’t stand for much, that'll help you improve your marketing -
Profiles
Startups Shake Up the Sleepy Vibrator Market
In 1902, Hamilton Beach patented the first vibrator for retail sale. A new breed of companies is now launching "more mature" designs -
Marketing
'Dish Mobs' Aim to Benefit Local Restaurants
Cash mobs have inspired thousands to open their wallets in support of local shops. Now restaurants are getting some love -
Marketing
Groupon Boycott: Reacting to Its Gun-Related Deals Suspension
The daily deals behemoth recently halted gun-related offers. One gun store owner is asking customers and other business owners to boycott the site -
Marketing
Reality TV Casts Main Street as Its New Star
Once considered too dull for television, small businesses are now routinely subjects of shows seeking drama from the mix of money, risk, and personality -
Profiles
Beyond Webvan: MyWebGrocer Turns Supermarkets Virtual
Buying diapers? Don't forget baby food. Supermarkets leery of Amazon and Wal-Mart are feeding a Vermont software business that handles online ordering and virtual promotions -
Advice
Selling Banana Slicers (and More!) With Gag Reviews
For small companies with limited marketing budgets, earnestly promoting gag reviews and spoofs online can pay off big
Read
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Marketing
It's Getting Harder to Make Money on YouTube
More than a million video makers have signed up for the site's ad revenue-sharing program, but ad rates have been falling -
Profiles
"We Buy Gold." How Shops Are Faring, Post-Gold Crash
Despite cratering prices and a clientele that sold while the selling was good, small businesses that deal in gold aren't going to disappear -
Advice
Marketing Secret: Think Form, not Just Function
Everything your company does sends a message to its customers, so it pays to invest in improving how products and services work and look -
Technology
How Small Businesses Use Big Data
Startups and small companies are finding ways to use voluminous data sets to gain insights into customers, employees, and products -
Marketing
How to Run an Effective Social Media Program
Which platforms work best? Manage them yourself or delegate? Spend time or money? As social media grows in influence, businesses need to answer these questions -
Marketing
Twitter Wants Small Businesses to Buy DIY Ads
The site opens self-service ads to anyone in the U.S. to compete with Google and Facebook for Main Street ad budgets -
Profiles
Finding the World's 'Best' Social Entrepreneurs
B Lab releases its second annual list of standout businesses that balance profits with social missions -
Marketing
From Bloggers' Wrath to Foodies' Delight: Saffron Road
Adnan Durrani's brand aims to appeal to U.S. Muslims who seek halal food and to non-Muslim Whole Foods shoppers hungry for ethnic meals—or merely healthy food -
Advice
Integrated Marketing: If You Knew It, You'd Do It
The glut of places to advertise makes it easy to confuse customers with contradictory messages. Execute a strategy that integrates all your efforts -
Advice
Corporate Social Responsibility: Distinction or Distraction?
Showcasing the ways your company helps society is good marketing if they are aligned with your mission—and potentially damaging if they’re not -
Advice
Breaking Into the Energy Drink Business
First, determine how to raise the $100,000 you'll likely need to launch your product. Then evaluate whether to hire a consultant or go it alone -
Profiles
Startups Shake Up the Sleepy Vibrator Market
In 1902, Hamilton Beach patented the first vibrator for retail sale. A new breed of companies is now launching "more mature" designs -
Advice
Great Product. Now, How to Sell It?
Getting a new product from the factory to store shelves can be a minefield for entrepreneurs -
Advice
How Social Media Is Changing CRM
New customer relationship management tools are letting companies communicate with customers rather than just thrust messages at them -
Marketing
Online Sellers Experiment More With Brick-and-Mortar Shops
Online businesses are opening brick-and-mortar locations to build brand awareness and test new retail strategies
Shared
-
Marketing
It's Getting Harder to Make Money on YouTube
More than a million video makers have signed up for the site's ad revenue-sharing program, but ad rates have been falling -
Profiles
Finding the World's 'Best' Social Entrepreneurs
B Lab releases its second annual list of standout businesses that balance profits with social missions -
Advice
Marketing Secret: Think Form, not Just Function
Everything your company does sends a message to its customers, so it pays to invest in improving how products and services work and look -
Marketing
Twitter Wants Small Businesses to Buy DIY Ads
The site opens self-service ads to anyone in the U.S. to compete with Google and Facebook for Main Street ad budgets -
Marketing
From Bloggers' Wrath to Foodies' Delight: Saffron Road
Adnan Durrani's brand aims to appeal to U.S. Muslims who seek halal food and to non-Muslim Whole Foods shoppers hungry for ethnic meals—or merely healthy food -
Profiles
"We Buy Gold." How Shops Are Faring, Post-Gold Crash
Despite cratering prices and a clientele that sold while the selling was good, small businesses that deal in gold aren't going to disappear -
Marketing
How to Run an Effective Social Media Program
Which platforms work best? Manage them yourself or delegate? Spend time or money? As social media grows in influence, businesses need to answer these questions -
Technology
How Small Businesses Use Big Data
Startups and small companies are finding ways to use voluminous data sets to gain insights into customers, employees, and products -
Advice
Integrated Marketing: If You Knew It, You'd Do It
The glut of places to advertise makes it easy to confuse customers with contradictory messages. Execute a strategy that integrates all your efforts -
Profiles
Beyond Webvan: MyWebGrocer Turns Supermarkets Virtual
Buying diapers? Don't forget baby food. Supermarkets leery of Amazon and Wal-Mart are feeding a Vermont software business that handles online ordering and virtual promotions -
Advice
A Branding Exercise for Your Business: Write a Book
Start with the title. If the process shows your business doesn’t stand for much, that'll help you improve your marketing -
Marketing
Avon's 'Lipstick Evangelism' Shows Promise in Poverty Fight
New research about Avon's marketing operation in South Africa suggests that direct selling may provide a path from poverty for women in the developing world -
Profiles
Local Farmers Go Online to Sell Direct to Chefs
Rather than rely on a food distributor or farmers' market, chefs seeking local ingredients can now buy them directly from farmers online -
Advice
Wring the Most Out of a Trade Show
First determine what you want to achieve while attending or exhibiting. Then plan exactly how you'll spend your time and use your resources -
Advice
Breaking Into the Energy Drink Business
First, determine how to raise the $100,000 you'll likely need to launch your product. Then evaluate whether to hire a consultant or go it alone
Discussed
-
Marketing
It's Getting Harder to Make Money on YouTube
More than a million video makers have signed up for the site's ad revenue-sharing program, but ad rates have been falling -
Marketing
From Bloggers' Wrath to Foodies' Delight: Saffron Road
Adnan Durrani's brand aims to appeal to U.S. Muslims who seek halal food and to non-Muslim Whole Foods shoppers hungry for ethnic meals—or merely healthy food -
Marketing
How to Run an Effective Social Media Program
Which platforms work best? Manage them yourself or delegate? Spend time or money? As social media grows in influence, businesses need to answer these questions -
Profiles
"We Buy Gold." How Shops Are Faring, Post-Gold Crash
Despite cratering prices and a clientele that sold while the selling was good, small businesses that deal in gold aren't going to disappear -
Marketing
Online Sellers Experiment More With Brick-and-Mortar Shops
Online businesses are opening brick-and-mortar locations to build brand awareness and test new retail strategies -
Marketing
Small Businesses Still Aren’t Spending on Online Ads
A new survey shows that despite big investments to tap into local advertising markets, Main Street isn't advertising much online -
Advice
Breaking Into the Energy Drink Business
First, determine how to raise the $100,000 you'll likely need to launch your product. Then evaluate whether to hire a consultant or go it alone -
Advice
Marketing Secret: Think Form, not Just Function
Everything your company does sends a message to its customers, so it pays to invest in improving how products and services work and look
Feed
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- Apple Sets a New Kind of Record: $17 Billion in Debt
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- 'Peak Oil' Is Back, but This Time It's a Peak in Demand
- NYPD Plans to Release Non-Toxic Gases in the Subway
- Jerry Brown, California's Grownup Governor
- What Germany Can Teach the U.S. about Vocational Education
- Saturday Night Live Nails the Gun Control Debate
- How Did the World's Rich Get That Way? Luck
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Businesses will collect more than $9 billion by one estimate. Small ventures likely settled more quickly and for less than their larger counterparts
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