This Week in Small Business: 2015 Digital Marketing Insights, Tools, Tips and more

news you can use

As we draw the curtains on 2015, we double down on data and digital marketing. We’re also still debating the strength of the economy, nationally and worldwide.

Leadership, management and productivity

Airlines are proving that passengers are willing to spend more after having a customer service experience via Twitter, so don’t overlook this valuable communication tool.

Meetings. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. See how they relate to your culture’s organizational leadership.

If we allow ourselves to be distracted, it can kill productivity. Here’s how one successful owner of a $20-million luxury brand fights distractions.

Bad online reviews can haunt your small business almost forever. Devise a strategy to counter those complaints.

Trying to fund expansion? Discover how to find SBA real estate loans for your small business.

Marketing and sales

Data driven marketing is where it’s at today. But you need to be using the right data to make any real progress.

With so many brands competing for consumers’ wallets, it’s critically important to make the best use of social media to pitch your brand.

Everyone is doing content marketing, but for real success you need to be sure your content is better than what your competitors are publishing. Analyze the competition. Also, avoid these four content marketing mistakes.

Review this checklist of 10 great blogging tools and find the ones that will work best in your small business.

For many small business owners, their financial success is tied to the success they have growing their opt-in email list. Be sure you’re doing everything you can to grow yours.

Have you established a healthy tension between sales and marketing in your small business?

2015 saw Periscope and Meerkat launch. BLAB also made its debut. Discover five ways to use BLAB in your digital marketing program.

Entrepreneurship, startups and innovation

Start ’em early. Here are five ways to teach your kids to be entrepreneurs.

Attention entrepreneurs: Are you making any of these 14 mistakes with your digital marketing?

Politics, government and the economy

If you operate a “cash-only” small business, you need to read this cautionary tale about how the IRS caused major problems for Nick’s Roast Beef.

It looks like Big Apple small business owners are generally optimistic about revenue growth and hiring. Will the rest of the nation follow suit? (If this NFIB infograhic is on target, the answer may be, “No.”)

There has been a lot of attention paid to global trade pacts in 2015. But if the world economy stumbles in 2016, that might be an even bigger story.