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Where to invest your 2019 marketing budget
Emma Fitzpatrick MarketingDigital outpaces every other sector — whether we’re talking about online shopping or overall marketing trends. As you start planning for 2019, you should know that digital’s seemingly exponential growth is continuing, so you should plan on spending more on online efforts. For reference, 82 percent of marketers plan to spend more of their budget on digital media, according to Nielson’s 2018 CMO report. On average, they plan on increasing their digital media budget by 49 percent. To make that happen, 44 percent plan to cut back on their traditional media spending.
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Is your big idea the best idea?
Lisa Mulcahy Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementYou think you've come up with a winning concept that will garner huge profits for your company, so of course you want to get working on its specs ASAP. Not so fast: before going any further, you need to step back and review your idea's merits with an eye toward quality control. According to research, the best concepts have the following factors in common.
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Tech firms vie against range of mobile retail payment systems from banks,…
Bill Becken RetailA half-decade or so since its introduction, Apple Pay continues to dazzle. It's the best-known of the world's mobile phone, contactless payment systems. And, by introducing new iPhones and iPads each year, Apple keeps its devices popular, stirring the Apple Pay pot. Despite Apple Pay's standing, new bank and bank card mobile apps, among others, have also made their mark on retail payments. Considering the advent of Apple Pay's contactless counterparts for non-Apple phones — Android Pay and Samsung Pay — the existence of a variety of services has been the defining trait of the mobile payments scene.
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Will in-store or online win this holiday season? It’s not so simple
Emma Fitzpatrick MarketingEvery year, beneath all those magical twinkle lights and pine-scented evergreen wreaths, it seems like there’s a battle going on. Will brick-and-mortar stores be able to win back customers, or will online shopping beat ‘em? Online shopping is expected to grow this holiday season (as it does every year). This year, people will spend an estimated $124.1 billion online. That’s a 14.8 percent increase year-over-year, according to Adobe research. But even as online sales grow, last year, the majority of holiday sales (85 percent) were still done in brick-and-mortar stores, according to PYMNTS data.
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5 free marketing strategies for small physical therapy clinics
Heidi Dawson Sports & FitnessAs a small business owner, you know that money can be tight, especially when just starting out. You have to prioritize where to spend that precious cash. We’ve all heard the phrase "speculate to accumulate" and in many cases that is true. However, I don’t believe that’s the case with marketing your business. As a small therapy business owner, I have seen how little return there is on shelling out for print and online advertising. These are my top five methods of growing your client base without spending a dime.
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Want to get a room on Airbnb? Being ‘similar’ to the host may…
Linchi Kwok Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementAirbnb, along with other room-sharing websites, provides a cyber marketplace for innovative entrepreneurs to operate a lodging business without following the strict regulations that usually apply to hotels and hostels. For instance, while room-sharing websites provide pricing tools and guidelines to the hosts who are renting out extra space, it is still up to the hosts to decide what price they want to charge for the service provided and whether they want to adjust the price on a regular basis according to fluctuating demands from the travelers. In fact, the impacts of price positioning and dynamic pricing on a listing’s revenue performance or even on the neighborhood hotels’ revenue performance have been identified.
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Use this checklist before posting holiday ads on social media
Emma Fitzpatrick MarketingBy now, you've likely finished your holiday ads for social media — or perhaps you're putting the final touch on them. Either way, before you mark them done, do a quick check to make sure you’re reaching the right people. If you’re like most businesses, the bulk of your holiday advertising budget is allocated to social media. It’s no small chunk of change either. Marketers are planning to spend 25 percent of their entire annual ad budget to target shoppers just during the Thanksgiving weekend, according to 2018 Nanigans data.
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LinkedIn’s best new features in 2018
Emma Fitzpatrick MarketingAs we were talking about last week, Facebook has been struggling. After just recovering from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook announced another data breach. Plus, more businesses may pull ads because the ROI just isn’t what it used to be. Now, we’re all on the hunt for new ways to reach our audience (beyond Facebook). Surprisingly, LinkedIn is proving itself to be a breath of fresh air. Of course, LinkedIn isn’t a new platform. The company recently turned 15, but here’s what is unprecedented: LinkedIn’s levels of engagement.
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Is the Toys R Us revival too little, too late?
Katherine Radin RetailGiven the number of long-standing retailers that have recently shuttered, the news of an almost-immediate revival for one has come as a surprise. Toys R Us has announced that it has risen from the grave — otherwise known as bankruptcy court. With plans for both Toys R Us and Babies R Us to be operated by the very debtors to which the company owed money, and to have the new moniker of "Geoffrey’s Toy Box," both questions and excitement have emerged for how the company will revive itself.
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Is your small business making YouTube videos yet?
Mashaal Ryan MarketingYouTube videos are a great way to get more traffic to your website and social media. If you have an online business, it will help show off your products and services easier, so that your customers are not quite as wary of buying online. If you have a local business, you can now create buzz for your company easier as well as adding the videos into your sales pitch. Are you still unsure of whether YouTube is a good idea? Let’s look at some examples of how successful some businesses can be on YouTube.
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