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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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Skin care product reviews: Reliable or fake news?
Elizabeth Donat RetailOnline reviews are the new word of mouth in today's digital age. They shape how we shop, where we eat, where we lodge and how we dress. In terms of the beauty and spa industries, reviews help us form our decisions regarding which skin care products to purchase and where to go to get our favorite spa procedures. Moreover, if you are a spa, medical spa or salon owner, then positive and negative reviews can make or break your business. Because these reviews play such a critical role in our businesses and our everyday lives it begs the question: Are reviews reliable or the new fake news?
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Negotiating commercial leases: Focus on important issues
Dale Willerton and Jeff Grandfield RetailFor many commercial tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While an entrepreneur focuses on marketing and managing, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized salespeople. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate. Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your business, here are two money-saving tips.
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Report: US job losses to China grow, as does trade deficit
Seth Sandronsky Civil & GovernmentThe U.S. trade deficit with China has reduced sharply employment stateside since 2001, according to "The China Toll Deepens," a new report from the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. The finding from the EPI’s Robert E. Scott and Zane Mokhiber "examines the job impacts of trade by subtracting the job opportunities lost to imports from those gained through exports." Their thesis is simple. The bilateral trade deficit in goods between the planet’s two biggest economies is the main cause of the U.S. employment losses that are concentrated in the American manufacturing sector.
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An ill wind blows: Hurricanes and supply chains don’t mix
Delany Martinez Distribution & WarehousingNatural disasters are a huge headache for man-made systems — in addition to disrupting services like water and power on a residential level, they can also bring supply chains to a screeching halt. From flash flooding to outright facility damage, hurricane-proofing your supply chain is a challenge, but one well worth tackling. While you can't predict when and where a hurricane will completely shut down 3PL availability and reach, you can commit to frequent monitoring and communication throughout the storm.
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Tom’s Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville, Ohio, has the scoops
Connie Ulman Food & BeverageJoe Baker, ice cream maker at Tom’s Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville, Ohio, and an employee since 1977, gets up early every morning to bring guests the scoop; the many scoops of ice cream, that is. Baker is sole creator of the seasonal flavors and introduced many of the regular ice cream flavors you’ll find at Tom’s. He alone makes about 600 gallons of ice cream a week. Baker started with the company in 1977, as clerk, while still in high school. He then became assistant manager to Bill Sullivan, who also began his career at the store while in high school.
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The online war on professional beauty products, and how to fight back
Elizabeth Donat RetailWithout many people taking notice, during the summer of 2017, Amazon drastically changed how it sells beauty brands to their millions of online shoppers. According to Kiri Masters of Forbes, Amazon no longer requires beauty brands to go through a strict approval process before being allowed to list on the site. Now, brands apply to be sold under one of three categories: luxury beauty, professional beauty, and indie beauty, once approved. This means, as spa professionals, we now have another major online retail outlet to compete with in terms of how we stay competitive in terms of sales of professional-grade skin care products.
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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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JUUL comes under federal scrutiny amid meteoric rise
Dr. Denise A. Valenti Civil & GovernmentJUUL Labs, whose product is an electronic smoking/vaping system, recently achieved the fastest "decacorn" valuation ever — over $10 billion in the first seven months of its first venture capital round. This is reported to have been four times faster than Facebook and five times faster than Snapchat. This comes at a time when the use of electronic cigarettes for inhaling nicotine and marijuana by teenagers is increasing at an alarming rate. The JUUL product has an appeal to adolescents and teenagers as it can be used without detection.
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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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