Scotty Spielman

5 easy steps to improving internet security

If you’re a business owner, it’s important to take information security seriously. As a small business owner in particular, you and your customers are at risk. About 43 percent of all cyber attacks target small businesses, according to smallbiztrends.com. Fortunately, there are several relatively easy—and cheap—steps you can take to protect your information and your... Read More

How to Give a Five-Star Response to a One-Star Review

Online review boards and social media channels have taken the place of the complaint lines of the past. You may think you can ignore negative reviews posted on your site—particularly if there are only a few and the good ones far outweigh the bad. The fact is, you can’t. About 88 percent of customers trust... Read More

Back to the Basics with CRM and Reputation Management

No matter where you are in the business world—just starting, just catching your stride or a long-time veteran—you won’t get any further without loyal customers who trust you. To build up that foundation of trust and to improve on it you need feedback from your customers, old and new. You need a viable Customer Relationship... Read More

How to Master Integrated Marketing

There are plenty of different apps, sites or businesses that offer help for a variety of different marketing features. Keeping track of all of them can be nearly as confusing as trying to tackle them all yourself. Integrated Marketing handles all of that and makes your job—one of them, anyway—much easier. Still, you have to... Read More

How to Optimize Your Business For Voice Searches

Optimize Your Business For Voice Searches “Hey Google….” How many times have you started a Google search that way? If you’re like the majority of Americans, the answer to that question is “more and more often.” Increasingly, U.S. consumers are turning to voice searches to find the services, products or answer to the questions they... Read More

Borrow Ideas From Other Industries To Help Your Auto Service Shop

In the automotive service sector, for example, it’s not always easy to come up with a different kind of marketing idea that will bring new customers into your business and keep others loyal. Fortunately, automotive businesses aren’t the only type out there, and you can draw your inspiration from other businesses and industries. Many service-oriented... Read More

Why is text marketing so important?

Text Message Marketing Short message service (SMS) or text message marketing has advantages over other types of direct marketing. It’s fast, it’s cheap and it’s effective. It also encourages interaction between your brand and your consumers and, for that reason alone, it’s increasing in popularity. In the US, over 77% of the entire population owns... Read More

A Bad Rep Can Cause Hiring Woes

A Bad Rep Can Cause Hiring Woes If your business has a bad reputation, you already know it will cost you lost sales and new customers. It could have another affect, too, that will also hurt your bottom line: it could make it more difficult for you to hire qualified people. If you’re having a... Read More

Refresher course: Get noticed through Google My Business

Google My Business is one of the most useful online tools a small business can access. It puts your name and business name in front of customers who are looking for you nearby—and it also places you on the map when people do searches for other businesses close to your location. These local search results... Read More

Facebook rolls out new brand safety standards

After years of criticism about the types and amount of content allowed—particularly in the political arena—Facebook has taken steps to once again enhance the environment on its platform. Facebook introduced new brand safety controls for advertisers designed to create a “safe environment for users and advertisers” alike. The updates were announced at the end of... Read More

Four social media trends for 2020

It’s hard to believe another year is coming to its end. As we look back on this past year, it’s fun to look ahead and try to predict some social trends we expect to see in the coming here. Here are four: Influencer marketing is here to stay. Perhaps the ‘pay to play’ philosophy social... Read More

Six tips to get your business ready for the holidays

The holiday season is already breathing down our collective necks. If you haven’t already come up with a marketing plan (or plans) to capitalize on the busy season, there’s still time—but you should act quickly. Here are some simple ideas that you can use to let your holiday spirit flow: Create a gift guide. With... Read More

How to schedule Facebook posts for your business page

If you’ve tried to schedule a post for your Facebook business page lately, you’ve noticed that the process has changed. For a while, it was unclear how–or if–you were still able to do it, or if scheduling posts had become part of Facebook’s ‘pay-to-play’ policy–that is, a feature that was once free but you now... Read More

Three types of social media posts you should stop right away

While Facebook has continually provided more products to make marketing through the social media platform easier, they have simultaneously made it even more difficult to improve the organic reach for businesses. Due to frequent changes in its newsfeed algorithm designed to increase the quality of the content in user feeds, marketers have to constantly refine... Read More

How important is ‘drive-by’ web traffic?

By now, you’ve established your business on the world wide web through a website, various social media channels and through search engine optimization. What’s the best way to turn all that digital space into new customers? Pay attention, according to Kevin Steeland, CEO of PISTn Marketing. “To me, one of the number one things that... Read More

Ways to drive more traffic to your business with Google My Business

We recently talked about the new Welcome Offer feature offered by Google My Business as a way to increase engagement and earn new customers. That is just one way the search engine giant is strengthening its business services. Google My Business is also rolling out additional features that will help drive customers to your web... Read More

How to spot a web hosting scam

One of our clients recently received a letter in the mail that caused some concern. It was a notice of from a web-hosting company informing them that their domain name was about to expire and informing them that they would have to provide quick payment in order to keep it up and running on the... Read More

Facebook updates Messenger feature to improve business interactions

Facebook made some changes recently to help businesses and their customers have more valuable interactions. The updates to the business messenger platform are designed to improve the experience for users and businesses alike. “We constantly test and learn on how to improve Messenger,” said Ted Helwick in the announcement from Facebook. “Simply put, we want... Read More

Facebook turns Business Manager to a true ‘Asset’

Facebook has unveiled another change that can help marketers manage their business pages more effectively and efficiently. The Business Asset Group feature will allow businesses to better organize and manage their social media pages. The feature will help business owners distribute the load of social media marketing, which can be a 24/7 operation. “To support... Read More

Google My Business rolls out the ‘Welcome’ mat

The latest upgrade to Google My Business can help you attract and keep new customers with just a couple clicks. Google unveiled an easy new ‘welcome offer’ feature that allows you to provide special incentives for customers who click “Follow” on Google maps, when they find your business. The option is available through the Google... Read More