Business owners and marketers spend a lot of time getting customers to opt-in or subscribe to their email newsletters and lists. However, they often don't exert the same effort to ensure that these customers they worked so hard to get stay engaged. And then they are puzzled (and annoyed) when that "unsubscribed" notification shows up in their in box.
What's more exciting to a baseball fan than the start of a new season? To many, it's the start of fantasy baseball season. Indeed, some might argue (and have) that fantasy baseball, where individuals manage hand-picked teams of MLB players and compete against others using player statistics to score points, has become more popular than Major League Baseball.
IT and security experts discuss why companies and consumers alike should be careful about deploying ‘smart’ appliances and devices that connect to the Internet and offer steps to protect against security and privacy threats.
Companies spend tens of thousands of dollars (or more) promoting their brand, trying to create a positive image. Yet often they treat customer support, which can be a customer's first point of contact with the company, as a necessary evil. Many businesses make it difficult for customers to get the help they need -- creating a negative impression.
Consumers today want it all. They want the convenience of shopping online but they crave the visual, emotional and physical experience of touching and trying on (or out) items, which they get by shopping in store.
In today's fast-paced world, where it seems almost everyone suffers from some degree of ADD, it is harder than ever for companies to get people's attention. This applies not just to consumers (prospective or existing customers) but to employees as well. So what can you do to improve your internal (employee) and external (customer) communications, so that people will pay attention to, read and respond to your messages? Dozens of marketing and communication experts share their nine top strategies for improving business communication.
What separates the good, or the great, project managers (PM) from the just so-so? The answer: How they handle problems when they arise and they prevent them from derailing deadlines and the budget.
Security breaches again made big news in 2014. Yet despite years of headline stories about security leaks and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and repeated admonishments from security professionals that businesses (and individuals) needed to do a better job protecting sensitive data, many businesses are still unprepared or not properly protected from a variety of security threats.
If only senior IT executives had a crystal ball. Then they would be able to see what software they would need, or want, to license -- and could plan and budget accordingly.
It's that time of year when people start thinking about what they are going to do differently or change in the new year. So what should ecommerce businesses resolve to do, in terms of improving their website's design and content, in 2015? A number of online business owners, Web designers and digital marketers share what they think are the top seven design and content resolutions every ecommerce business should think about -- or resolve to do -- this coming year.
Keeping morale and productivity high during the holiday season (between Thanksgiving and just after New Year's) can be tough. The pull (and stress) of family and holiday shopping can cause workers to be distracted, or lose interest. As can going to work while their coworkers take vacation days.
How can social media help businesses drive traffic to their ecommerce or bricks-and-mortar sites this holiday season? CIO.com posed that question to dozens of marketers and social media experts. Following are their top seven strategies for how to use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube to engage customers and get them -- and their friends -- to check out (and hopefully buy) your holiday offerings.
Every organization wants its salespeople to be successful -- that is, close more sales. Yet ask many salespeople and they will tell you that their organization often makes it difficult for them meet their quotas, requiring them to do lots of administrative work (e.g., enter data into a CRM system) or not providing them with mobile tools.
The holiday season is upon us. And if you are planning to entice shoppers into your online or bricks-and-mortar store via email, you need to make sure your email marketing campaigns stand out from the hundreds of other holiday email offers.
As many first-time entrepreneurs know, or have found out, getting a traditional bank or even an SBA loan to start a new business isn't easy. So where else can you go to fund your dream? Fortunately, today entrepreneurs have many options than ever when it comes to funding their new business or business idea, many of which are less difficult to obtain and less expensive than a bank loan.