We’ve all been there, when you buy something at a cheaper price and later find out that you made a very bad choice. Whether you are buying a product or a service, quality comes at a price. The perfect storm of ‘cheap and efficient’ hardly ever coincide. The same theory applies for marketing, invest in a marketing team that cares about you, not your contract.

The world of public relations can be summed up in three words: chaotic, wild, and tedious. Don’t get me wrong, public relations is an exciting facet to the marketing mix, but it isn’t for everyone. After personally delving into the world of PR and having several press releases published, let’s take a look at a few key takeaways from my recent experiences.

What are some reasons why you would shy away from looking into an outsourced marketing firm? Is it cost? Is it a bad experience previously? Or is it simply not trusting anyone outside the confines of your business?

Marketing is one slippery slope to take on. No matter how much time one can invest in understanding marketing, there will always be more to learn, especially with technology leading the way and evolving ever so relentlessly. With that being said, let’s take a look at some common problems that businesses come across when outsourcing marketing.

Finding the right work-life balance can be one of the most challenging feats to achieve for both businesses and for professionals in the workplace. Many times it seems as though we find ourselves on either side, either too focused on work, which affects our personal lives and relationships. And on the other hand, we may get too wrapped up in our personal lives that we let it affect the way we work. In this article we are going to take a look at what drives this work-play balance, and what it could do for you.

Feeling confident that your sales team has a process in place? If not, it might be time to examine your sales and pipeline process. Far too often we see businesses have great marketing and lead generation success, but end up with no real customers. Fortunately, we are going to examine what a proper sales process looks like and how it can feed your lead generation and lead conversion rates.

You have already created the ad script, the ad objectives, and the ad design...and you’re probably thinking “once this gets posted we are all set to start seeing results”. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. In most cases, developing an effective ad is much more than just aesthetics. In this blog we will examine 5 key drivers of best practice advertising.

Do you really know your internal brand? What the people in your team think about the company, management and each other - and how that is portrayed outwards?

Today I decided to be brave enough to ask my team in Atlanta what our brand is internally. I asked them to be truthful and to not be shy in saying what they personally think my internal brand in their office is.

I was surprised, impressed and felt like we had all done something right because their thoughts on our internal brand were everything I would dream for a company I worked for to have.

Have you ever felt like you are caught simply doing what is trendy or routine? Once success is trending in an area, everyone flocks to it. It might be time to separate from the pack and find your creative side, especially when it comes to marketing. Here are a couple ways to ignite the imaginative side of your brain:

Have you ever walked up to an electrician and told him “I think you should cross those two wires?”...the answer is probably no. Why is this? Because in that situation you are not qualified to make that sort of suggestion and he is the expert. However, in many businesses - especially small ones, everyone offers up their ideas freely on what marketing should be doing.

Here are 3 reasons why you should not let this happen to your business: