Investing in customer relationship management (CRM) software is absolutely essential for small- and medium-sized businesses that want to up their sales performance. It helps sales departments understand their clients, tailor their marketing efforts, and more.

Marketing automation was once a technology reserved for mega corporations and enterprise-level businesses. Fortunately, the IT industry is making business tools cheaper and more accessible all the time. Nowadays, if you’re a small business owner, you’d have to be crazy to pass up all that marketing automation has to offer.

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have changed the way we interpret the word social. Whereas it used to mean just catching up with a friend over tea, being social online now has blurred the lines between friends and customers. But far beyond the “big three” lies dozens of untapped social networks.

It's astounding how celebrities manage to amass millions of followers and gain thousands of likes for posting a photo of their shadow. Companies of all sizes would go crazy for that kind of exposure, but rarely do their wishes get granted. But not all hope is lost, start small and take baby steps with the help of Instagram’s recently-announced tools that help make the process of establishing your company’s presence an easier one:
Business profile pages
Previously, it was hard for Instagram users to distinguish an account belonging to a business from one that is dedicated to cats, but with the Business Profile feature, that’s a problem of the past.

The words “free publicity” bring joy to the ears of many SMB owners. You don’t have a big marketing budget, so you need to find ways to cut costs as much as possible. Luckily Facebook has you covered. There are several ways you can promote your business on the world’s biggest social network that won’t cost a dime.

You know social media marketing can be valuable for your business but, simply put, you just don’t have the time for it. And besides, you’re no social media expert, so the whole process itself can be unnecessarily long as you try and figure out what’s most effective.

When it comes to social media, figuring just what, if any, value it offers your business can be complicated. There is no exact science when it comes to figuring it out and even experts disagree as to just what is and is not important when measuring the value of your company's social media.

If you’re not considering YouTube for your business’s marketing strategy, you’re truly missing out on one of the most powerful marketing platforms out there. YouTube gives you the opportunity to establish your business’s unique brand and personality through video.