Whip-smart brand positioning drives revenues for enterprises from Apple to Zappos. But for growing organizations, cutting-edge marketing can feel like a luxury. The Small Business Association suggests companies budget 7 to 8 percent of revenues for promotion, yet the average small business allocates just 1 percent. 

That’s a shame, given that marketing brings in more money than it costs. A Nielsen study revealed an average return on investment of $1.09 for every dollar spent getting offerings in front of clients. Remember, that’s an average. With a little planning, marketing can deliver serious returns for even the smallest of startups.

Think short-, medium- and long-term, and know what you should and shouldn't be changing.

These are extremely difficult times, and making it more difficult is that these are uncharted waters full of speculation, self-appointed gurus and presumptive forecasts, leaving business owners unclear on what they should or shouldn't be doing with their business.

Trying times demand innovative measures for online and social media marketers.

Yup, things have changed. You don’t have the same resources you had a few weeks ago, and your kids are now your most unproductive co-workers ever — with no HR department to complain to. So, what can you do when you don’t have the resources you’re used to? You get resourceful.

We are in the midst of a "black swan" event that will have drastic, global economic consequences. No company is immune.

As the world scrambles to make sense of and respond to the coronavirus threat, leadership will be tested in unimaginable ways. Each day brings jarring new information that requires system-wide response.

As businesses shift to remote working setups, here are top tips for staying productive and connected.

This week, thousands of in-office workers will experience their first foray into the world of at-home work, as large and small businesses try to manage the threat of COVID-19 by asking their employees to work remotely.

Act now to ease upstream and downstream impacts.

Many have speculated about whether the current coronavirus outbreak will spark an economic recession. Renowned venture capital firm Sequoia Capital recently shared their experience of best practice, advising that, “Having weathered every business downturn for nearly 50 years, we’ve learned an important lesson: Nobody ever regrets making fast and decisive adjustments to changing circumstances.”

Whether or not the novel coronoavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, end up inciting an all-out recession, the prudent entrepreneur ought to make sure they are prepared and ...

If you’re a consultant, LinkedIn is the platform to master if you want to build a strong professional presence and consistently grow your business. With more than 80 percent of social media-generated B2B leads coming from LinkedIn, and an extremely easy way to reach your audience, learning how to effectively leverage this platform could be vital to scaling your company.

As more and more businesses go remote, these are ways to be more effective and efficient on conference calls.

Update: Since this story originally ran, the worldwide coronavirus outbreak has made video conferencing an essential component to keeping businesses running. This story originally ran in 2017, but the advice is as relevant as ever.

Did you know the moment someone looks at your Instagram, they immediately form an opinion based on your profile picture, bio, and what the rest of your feed looks like?

First impressions are just as important online as they are offline. When meeting someone in the physical world, they can gauge how they feel about you in a matter of seconds. In the digital world, it’s even less.

This year, for the first time, federal tax forms ask about your bitcoin and other cryptocurrency activities. Here's a look at the implications for your income taxes.

Cryptocurrency is digital currency, or a “digital representation of value,” as the IRS puts it. You can’t see it, hold it in your hand, or put it in your wallet. It’s been in use for over a decade and has grown in popularity over the last few years.

Take charge of your feelings, and start overcoming obstacles.

Nobody is born with limitless self-confidence. If someone seems to have incredible self-confidence, it’s because he or she has worked on building it for years. Self-confidence is something that you learn to build up because the challenging world of business, and life in general, can deflate it.

Being successful often means learning from those who have already achieved their goals. Having a mentor is an amazing blessing to an entrepreneur, but not everyone can find one in person.

If you haven’t yet found your personal business guru, here are 21 tips for young or aspiring entrepreneur to help get you started.

Here's what entrepreneurs need to do to avoid costly mistakes down the line.

Many people aspire to start their own business, but succeeding in the commercial marketplace is easier said than done. Companies led by inexperienced people unfamiliar with the legal requirements they need to fulfill are particularly susceptible to failure.

"Arriving late" is the biggest meeting taboo, according to the survey and infographic.

Would you rather attend a bad meeting or... Go to the dentist? Talk politics at family dinner? Watch C-SPAN in a waiting room? Call Comcast? 

If teeth cleaning, table fights, nonprofit television or on-hold music sound better to you, you're not alone: When employees were posed the "would you rather" scenario, these were the top four responses, according to a survey of 757 U.S. workers in 2019 (conducted by SurveyMonkey and commissioned by Google Calendar extension Clockwise). 

Over 30 percent of people spend more time with their phones than they do with their significant others. Here's how we use that time.

It's very likely that you're reading this story on the thing you spend the most time with: your phone. A survey from Reviews.org found that over 75 percent of people consider themselves addicted to their phones.

If you Google "time management," you'll just under 5.5 million results. You might notice some common themes within those results like using a calendar, learning to say "no," delegating and prioritizing your health. Techniques like following the 80/20 Rule, blocking out distractions, eating frogs in the morning and planning your schedule in advance are often mentioned.

Expressing gratitude completes the feeling of connection with others.

I know when people hear the phrasean "Attitude of Gratitude” they are going to think, “yeah, yeah, sounds like more New-Age psychobabble. Where are the hard facts?”

I agree that hard facts are important. To prove their importance, here are some sources who argue pretty convincingly about the science of gratitude’s positive impact:

When you encounter a stock for a worthwhile price, you will know it.

What does it mean to buy a stock "on sale?" In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Phil Town explains when to buy a stock to get the best return on investment.

If you're looking for a stock on sale, Town emphasizes that you must practice patience, withstand the flow of emotions and resist fleeting impulses.

Kathleen Griffith, founder and CEO of Grayce & Co, talks about her approach to setting performance goals.

On this episode of The Playbook, Kathleen Griffith, founder and CEO of Grayce & Co, shares her thoughts on:

Related: You Can't Learn to Fly If You Don't Jump

Getting media mentions builds credibility, increases your favorable exposure online and adds extra luster to your brand.

Regardless of your title, industry or territory, most of us could use more positive exposure. Getting media mentions builds credibility, increases your favorable exposure online and adds extra luster to your brand. Who wouldn’t want these benefits?

To find financial success, you need to invest in your support system.

Are you staying true to your New Year's resolution? Vitagene reported that 14.8% of New Year’s Resolutions are to ‘save money.’ While this a great resolution, there might be a better one: make money and grow your profit margins in new and uncharted ways.

Venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term “unicorn” to describe startups worth more than $1 billion in 2013, and in the following years it’s become a part of the business world vernacular. And as VC firms pour money into promising startups, achieving a unicorn valuation has become increasingly less rare. 

The best ways to react when your team members seem uninspired and unmotivated.

Every small business owner aspires to grow, but that process involves challenges that are not easily fixed just by talking about goals, budgets and weekly tasks. Sometimes, a subculture of dissatisfaction creeps in, and employees start to feel uninspired and unmotivated.