Contributed by Alyssa Peiser There isn’t much doubt that marketing matters immensely for your brand, your business, your end-of-year numbers. It is why major brands pay the big bucks for Super Bowl spots or why you get postcards in the mail about the new dental clinic opening near you. It is why huge amounts of market research and psychology is applied to figuring out which color is most apt to make you hungry (think the red and yellow of McDonalds) or the soothe you (like the cool blue tones found in a lot of medical offices). But WHY does it…

Contributed by Kim Jennings-Eckert How do you hold your sales team accountable? Do you base it strictly off quantity sold or clients in your portfolio? In my experience, businesses tend to view sales as $ transactions. Of course! We are in business to make money and if quotas are met, then business is good right? BUT – and you knew it was coming - Do you have employees that struggle to meet their sales goals? Or, do they just make their goals at the end? This is a common problem among many salespersons. I’ve been in sales for most of…

If you’re unsure of what graphic design entails, see The Lowdown On Graphic Design. Good, professional graphic design really does matter and unfortunately a lot of small businesses notoriously underestimate the power it holds. Why do we find it so important? It can make you stand out, it can make you memorable, it can build trust and it can save you money in the long run. 01. First Impressions Matter We may hate to admit it, but first impressions matter. Whether it’s a website or a logo or brochure, consumers are paying attention. Do your color choices scream “dated”? Does…

Contributed by Logan Rhea What Is It? Why is it Wrongly Underemphasized in Small Businesses? And Why You Shouldn’t Just Design It Yourself.  More often than not, I run into someone who asks me what I do for a living and when I tell them I’m a graphic designer I either get one of two responses: “Oh, that’s cool. So, what does that mean?” or, my personal favorite, “Oh, nice! So you design websites?” There are a lot of facets to graphic design and that can make understanding what it fully entails (and why it is important) not always easy.…

Contributed by Taylor Burkhalter READ THIS ARTICLE TO LEARN HOW TO GET 10,000 INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS OVER NIGHT! Just kidding. It doesn’t work like that. Growing your follower base takes time…and strategy. You may not be able to recruit a bunch of new followers over night, but you can grow your following faster by implementing a few different strategies. Not every business has the potential to attract a gargantuan following on Instagram. If you’re a vacuum cleaner store in Wynne, Arkansas, chances are you probably won’t hit a million followers – you just need the right followers! Pop Quiz: Is this…