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It may still be warm outside and you may not be ready for your 2010 summer to end, but if you are in ecommerce and you are planning to sell product to holiday shoppers this year it's time to start putting those holiday plans together. If you don't start now you are liable to get lost in the dust and your competitors will capture the sales that were meant for you.

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I think the biggest mistake small businesses make in marketing is making everything so difficult for consumers to understand that they don't get it.

Small businesses often make the mistake of trying to compete with the "big dog" companies that have larger marketing budgets. I daily watch small businesses try to market like big companies, when in fact they've missed the core components that will get a person to buy their products or services. My first piece of advice is stop trying to compete with the "big dogs" - find your own niche and your own market and become one of the big dogs.

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It's so easy for the confusion to begin when you start talking about advertising, marketing and sales. Truth is most individuals don't understand the difference. The good news is there is a difference and each of these components have a part to play in the success of a company. Today, I want to clear up the confusion.

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I love that I learn from my contributing writer Guy Bergstrom.  He's a public relations professional that gets it and makes things so easy to understand.  For example, I'm often asked to speak at events and I love doing it, but I am always looking for ways to be more organized and even more effective. Guy must have understood my plight, because he  recently wrote an article on how to organize a short speech on an index card.  I love it.  It's simple, it's effective and it's easy!

If you are needing to do a 3 to 5 minute speech in the upcoming weeks, I think you will find his advice very helpful - you won't want to miss this. Guy shows you how to focus on the meat of the speech and organize it so that your audience gets value out of the time you spend with them.   Learn how to divide your speech into three parts on an index card. If you are not doing a speech soon bookmark it I promise you'll be glad that you did.

Marketing is changing and if you are stuck in the old patterns of marketing you may be taking your business down a destructive path. Consumers want more engagement and interaction from those that they buy from. Our consumers have faced an overstimulation of marketing messages over the last several years and now in order to get their attention you must do something different.

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I started in the online world nearly 13 years ago.  I will tell you that back then businesses saw online marketing and ecommerce as an option, not a necessity.  That's changing and it's changing at a rapid pace.  The businesses that were early adopters of the online marketplace reaped the benefits, but now they are seeing many of their competitors sneak up behind them and sometimes even stealing a part of the market share that they have built over the years.  These businesses can't be surprised after all their competitors have started to realize the value in ecommerce with 94% of people shopping online.

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Mobile marketing sounds exciting. It's another way to for us to reach consumers and perhaps the best way, since most of us are never 10 feet away from our cell phone.

Frequently, discussions regarding SMS and mobile applications surround us, but what's the best way to break into the realm of mobile marketing?

I had the same question, so I called up Mike Craig at Ruxter Mobile Marketing, located in Kansas City, and bribed him to sit down with me for a cup of coffee so that I could get the answers many of you are seeking.

Mobile marketing seems out of reach for some, and the thought of the potential cost can make many of us shy away from it, but don't. At least don't until you hear what Mike has to say about mobile marketing.  After you've read my interview, I think you will have a clear picture as to whether mobile marketing is for you, and you'll have an idea of what it will take for it to be successful.  Learn the basics of mobile marketing for the small to medium size business.

It is true we all make mistakes, but are you making marketing mistakes that are costing your company hundreds if not thousands of dollars? There are common marketing mistakes that companies make in every marketing campaign. They are so common that they almost always go unidentified. Learn what the top 5 marketing mistakes that businesses continually make are and how you can avoid them. Common Marketing Mistakes

Are you over communicating with your clients and customers?  This is becoming more of a problem as new communication tools are introduced to our companies.  We are using email, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and RSS Feeds. Have you ever considered how many messages you are sending out using all these marketing vehicles?  It may be time to consider that while technology has made us more efficient perhaps it has also made us less effective.

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I don't know what it is about this time of year, but it always seems to be the time that people transition in their jobs. They get promoted or move to another company. My correspondence is flooded with marketing job questions. What kind of education do I need? Is this the right salary for this job? How do I find my marketing dream job?

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