Posts by

Matt Smith

CEO of 1406 Consulting which provides solutions for business owners looking to take advantage of the ever-expanding digital landscape.

Get Positive Customer Reviews
6 Tricks To Get Positive Customer Reviews

One of the million-dollar questions many owners of small businesses find themselves asking is how to get their customers to leave reviews or offer feedback. Not only is this crucial information for the betterment and growth of the business, but it gives potential, future customers inside information about how your company operates, what your products or service is like, and how you served others.

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How to Grow a Small Business Using Social Media Marketing
How to Grow a Small Business Using Social Media Marketing
As a leader or owner of a small business, you’re always looking for ways your company can compete with larger competitors that often have a larger team and budget. One edge over your competitors that you may be neglecting is the power of social media to generate qualified sales leads for a small business. 
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6 Traits Of A Small But Mighty Team (and how to build one)
6 Traits Of A Small But Mighty Team (and how to build one)

There are countless ways you could describe each member of your team and how their characteristics influence the company's persona. Maybe your team members tend to be high-energy, cohesive, and pros at customer service. Perhaps they're data-driven, goal-oriented, and analytical. One way or the other, the success of your business is based heavily upon the team of people you've chosen to make it happen. 

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The 5 W’s Of A Successful Company Event That Everyone Will Love
The 5 W’s Of A Successful Company Event That Everyone Will Love

When it comes to planning your company’s next event or outing, there is a lot to think about. You want to plan something that will promote team building and boost office morale, while also allowing coworkers to mingle in a fun, stress-free environment. You’re in charge of creating an event that people will actually want to attend and is good for business, will boost productivity, and will address common workplace issues in a neutral environment at the same time.

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Avoid Getting Unfollowed on Social Media
4 Ways to Get Unfollowed On Your Social Media—How To Avoid It

As a small business owner, you understand the power of social media in the success of your business. If you haven’t already, you’ll quickly see the impact of social media’s expansive reach and how it can take your message, service or product to a large, yet specifically targeted audience. If you’ve had a Facebook or Instagram account of your own for years, you have a basic understanding of how it works. You also know what things cause you to finally say “enough already!” and search frantically for the “unfollow” button. Social media is a popular method to reach your target audience, but used incorrectly could do more harm than good. Here are the four things that you could be doing right now to drive your audience nuts and result in a decreased customer base, and some tips on how to fix it.

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Avoiding Business Time Wasters
The 6 Biggest Time Wasters All Small Business Owners Need To Avoid

The key to profit is productivity, and if you and your employees are wasting time on unnecessary tasks, like phone checking and emails,  it could be costing you. Did you know that on average, Americans check their phones 80 times a day? And that a study done by Carleton University found that employees spend a third of their day checking and responding to emails? Here are the six biggest time wasters that could be hindering your startup’s success:

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Blog Lead Generation
How a Good Blog Accelerates Lead Generation For Your Small Business

When you're in the midst of starting up a new business, it feels like there are an overwhelming number of things on your "To-Do List" for getting off the ground.  From business plans and marketing strategies to hiring employees, picking a workplace, and focusing on your branding, starting a small business is a big deal. In all of the craziness, many business owners overlook a crucial element in reaching their audience, expanding their brand, and increasing their online presence: blogging. Maybe the thought of writing something that your audience will want to read is enough to make you break out in hives? Or for those who like to write, blogging can get pushed to the bottom of the “To Do” list because it seems like a time-consuming task that doesn’t produce a measurable ROI.  But your startup needs a blog!  And not a half-done blog that you update as an excuse to avoid some other task you like even less. Your startup needs a solid, relevant, and consistent blog to accelerate lead generation!  And with a few easy setup tricks using the right marketing software or website analytics tracking, you'll know EXACTLY how much ROI you're getting from the time you invest.  Here’s how it works: 

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Build Your Sales Pipeline
3 Simple Steps to Build Your Small Business Sales Pipeline

Small businesses face unique challenges when it comes to marketing their company to a wider audience and building a sales pipeline of qualified leads. You may find that limited marketing resources make your business feel at a disadvantage when compared to major players in the industry. But don’t worry, you’re not alone. You can overcome this challenge by using 3 simple but effective marketing techniques that generate higher quality leads for nurturing through the process of inbound marketing.

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Social Media Platforms You Should Target for Small Business Marketing

Think social media campaigns are only for the big brands with thousands, if not millions, of followers and fans? Convinced you need massive internal resources to even get started? Think again!

Not every social platform makes sense for every business, so it’s important to understand which ones to target for growing your small business, while offering also customers an outstanding social media experience.

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