The Marketing Mistake Small Businesses Make When Things Slow Down When business slows down, every expense suddenly gets more attention. Owners look at payroll, subscriptions, equipment purchases, vendors, and overhead while searching for places to reduce costs until...
How to Effectively Use AI Marketing Without Letting Robots Rule the World Artificial intelligence has changed marketing faster than almost any technology we've seen in the past several decades. Today, business owners can ask AI to write a blog, generate social media...
If you've ever looked at your website analytics and seen traffic increasing while your phone remains quiet, you're certainly not alone. Many business owners assume that more visitors automatically translate into more customers, so when inquiries don't increase...
After years of resisting, I reluctantly heeded the recommendations of friends and colleagues and started watching AMC’s Mad Men. Set against the backdrop of a Madison Avenue ad agency circa 1960, the show features major moral failures on the part of every character....
Queso Dip, made by combining Velveeta Cheese and canned Rotel tomatoes looked great on the television commercial. In fact, the ad convinced my husband and me that we should purchase the ingredients and serve along with chips for dinner. And that first bite was...
(This column first appeared on ROTWNEWS.com on January 1, 2011 and in The Press Enterprise on January 14, 2012.) For our family, 2011 marks the year our daughter, Lauren, and her fiancé, Kyle, got engaged. Atop Coit Tower in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve, Kyle...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on December 19, 2011.) One of my family’s Christmas Eve traditions is a White Elephant Gift Exchange. For the uninitiated, the cruel process goes something like this: Purchase a gift worth $5. Wrap it up so it looks...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on September 12, 2011.) My family and I survived another move. Although we're still unpacking boxes and, in the process, have uncovered more junk than the professional organizers on Hoarders, things are finally...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on July 31, 2011.) As an only child, I was a little late to the sharing party. Playing at home, there was no need to go halves or wait my turn. So when my classmate, Charlotte, grabbed the Colorforms from me during...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on July 18, 2011.) Overall, I'm a very safe driver. In fact, if you ask my kids, they'll eagerly tell you how irritating it is that I so closely follow the rules of the road. I drive the speed limit, observe stop signs,...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on July 3, 2011.) In the checkout line at Costco recently, one of the customer service members noticed that the contents of my cart could feed a small country. So he suggested I upgrade my membership to executive...
(This column first appeared on June 19, 2011.) For the past two years, we have bitten the financial bullet in order to buy annual passes to Disneyland for family Christmas gifts. Selecting the handy dandy interest-free monthly installment option, we don't buy the...