It’s an age-old dilemma. Diversifying your product range can help you meet a broader range of customer demands, but will it spread you too thin? Devoting your resources and energy to a narrower product range may ensure greater quality, value, and market share, but do you risk putting all your eggs in one basket?
Read MoreProduct Range: Is it better to specialise or diversify?
Topics: increase profit, small business, attract new customers, branding, unrealised potential, increase sales, business needs, networking, customer loyalty, trade dollars, marketing
Short-Term Goals to Aid Your Long-Term Business Vision
Businesses set long-term goals to help them measure their success. However, as a business owner, you must also set attainable and specific short-term goals that support the bigger picture. Invest time to create scalable plans that will accelerate your business along the path toward your long-term vision. Here are examples of short-term goals, which can pave the way towards achieving your long-term objectives.
Read MoreTopics: small business, attract new customers, build business networks, branding, goals, networking, customer loyalty, marketing
What You Need to Know About Brand Proliferation
Businesses are always looking for new ways to generate extra income and boost their market share. When a brand develops and markets new brands that are slight variations on similar, existing products, the result is a phenomenon known as brand proliferation. Below, we discuss what you need to know about brand proliferation and how it impacts your business.
Read MoreTopics: small business, attract new customers, branding, barter, business needs, customer loyalty, marketing
It's the little things: Easy ways to increase profits
There are countless theories about how to run a business, and when it comes down to it, every strategy has the same end-goal: increasing your profits. Whether you’re working on brand awareness, innovative product development, or increasing workplace efficiency, the goal is always to increase sales and cut operating costs.
Read MoreTopics: small business owner, attracting new customers, increase profit, increase cash flow, save cash, trade exchange
Three Great New Year's Resolutions for Your Business
Each year seems to arrive earlier than the last, and in a world steeped in new and rapidly evolving technology—smarter AI, leaner management systems, more flexible mobile solutions, and more—we’ve adjusted to the reality that nothing stays the same for very long.
Read MoreTopics: business strategies, growing your business, attracting new customers, increase cash flow, small business, build business networks, increase sales, business needs, trade dollars
What are the phases of a business cycle?
A business cycle is the natural rise and fall of economic growth over a period of time. The cycle is a useful tool for analysing the wider economy, as the upward and downward fluctuations show variations in production, employment, wages, and investment. Understanding the cycle allows you as a business owner to make better financial decisions with the goal of helping your business increase profit despite the downturns. Today we discuss the five main phases of a business cycle: expansion, peak, recession, trough, and recovery.
Read MoreTopics: small business owner, bartercard, attract new customers, business blog, increase sales, barter, business needs, trade dollars
How Bartercard can help you with Market Research
Bartercard is a platform wherein businesses can barter trade their goods and services using trade dollars. Joining this immense online marketplace offers numerous benefits for a business owner just like you. It aids your business by turning your excess inventory, spare downtime, and vacant seats into additional sales—expanding your business and profits.
Read MoreTopics: business strategies, growing your business, small business owner, attracting new customers, strategy, market research
Bad Habits That Can Hold Back Success
Being a small business owner is an enormous task. Much of the operational responsibilities of your business rest on your own shoulders. With so much on your plate, it’s no wonder that business owners often fall into habits that may not always be healthy for their business.
Read MoreTopics: small business owner, bartercard, strategy, starting up your business, small business, business start-up, save cash, business needs, trade dollars, marketing
Are Virtual Connections as Real as Face-to-Face Networking?
It’s not surprising to see a significant shift of practices when it comes to business networking. The world has adopted new ways to network that are no longer limited to face-to-face interactions. For a long time, business owners have attended meetings, events, and Trade Shows to expand their contact base. Today, thanks to fast-paced technology, online networking sites have become common in the realm of making business connections. You can connect with countless individuals in the click of a button. However, the question is, are these virtual connections as valuable as personal interactions? Could they even be more valuable? Read on to find out more about the difference between online networking and in-person networking, and how you can use both to your advantage.
Read MoreTopics: small business, attract new customers, save cash, build business networks, business blog, increase sales, business needs, networking, trade dollars
How are B2B and B2C Marketing Different?
The most basic way that businesses make a profit is to sell their goods and services. To do so first requires that businesses provide a good or service, then to market that product and make sales. However, there are two very different channels that businesses can sell through. Selling directly to consumers, or “business-to-consumer” (B2C) marketing, is an entirely different operation than selling directly to other businesses (“business-to-business”, or B2B).
Read MoreTopics: build business networks, increase sales, business needs, networking, trade dollars, marketing
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