[TheVOICE] Small Business Saurday, Marketing & Startups

A lot is going on in the world of startups, business owners and entrepreneurs. Here are some great articles you should read from the week of Novemer 11, 2012.

CEO Blog Nation

1. Making it Big in Business Starts with The Belief You Can (via Rescue a CEO): According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, seven out of 10 new employer firms survive at least two years, half at least five years, a third at least 10 years, and a quarter stay in business 15 years or more.
2. What You Can Do for Small Business Saturday (via Rescue a CEO): One of the busiest weekends for shopping would have to be the weekend following Thanksgiving. In the US, small business owners will offer really good deals and discounts for shoppers. This day is commonly known as the Small Business Saturday.
3. 80+ Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs & Business Owners [Answers] (via Rescue a CEO): Marketing is extremely important to businesses. As good as a product is, it is important that entrepreneurs and business owners are able to promote their products to potential customers and clients.
4. 6 Business Struggles Entrepreneurs Face & How to Avoid Them (via Rescue a CEO): My first business venture failed, so later in college, I started working with a 2 man business as a bookkeeper. Because their business was so small, I wound up doing a lot of different type of work for them, and I discovered incredible similarities between the challenges they faced and the challenges I had faced in my business: In fact I started to realize that their challenges, my challenges and the challenges that entrepreneurs I connect with daily all have a lot of similarities.
5. Small Business Saturday is Tomorrow [INFOGRAPHIC] (via Teach a CEO): 3 years ago American Express has celebrated small business with a day dedicated to “shopping small” called Small Business Saturday®. This year is no different and American Express has created an infographic in order to build awareness about the day.

1. Marketers: You don’t need ‘big data’ when just a little data will do (via VentureBeat): My top tip to marketers: don’t boil the ocean. Very few marketers have access to data scientists for data mining. So don’t seek to create your own giant database — it will just go stale before you benefit. Instead, be pragmatic and look for quick wins.
2. And Now We're At The Point Where Startups Are Running Out Of Cash (via Business Insider): Now that the companies are starting to fail, the talent is being gobbled up by bigger, more established companies that need smart people to continue changing the world.
3. Ideas are Cheap (via Scott’s Blog): Sitting on an idea won’t get you anywhere. Beginning to execute on it will get you somewhere, one way or the other.
4. Consistent marketing, creative selling are key to maximize holiday sales (via Washington Post): This guest post from Mary Ardapple is the owner of  Apple's Bakery  in Peoria, IL.
5. Social marketing becoming increasingly valuable for small businesses during the holidays (via Washington Post): This guest post is courtesy of Dawn Casale and David Crofton are owners of One Girl Cookies, a Brooklyn, NY-based bakery with locations in Dumbo and Cobble Hill.
6. Five tips to help you capi­tal­ize on Small Business Saturday (via Washington Post): Early predictions estimate that this year will eclipse the 100 million Americans who shopped at local merchants on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2011.
7. Here’s how to build a red hot business-to-business startup (via VentureBeat): B2B-oriented startups have to contend with challenges that consumer-focused startups just don’t face. Here are my three fundamental tips for startups, which are based on the lessons I have learned during my career.
8. Gary Vaynerchuk on Social Media's Multiplier Effect (via Entrepreneur): Gary Vaynerchuk, entrepreneur and author of “The Thank You Economy” shares his views on the return on investment when it comes to social media. He calls his approach: “customer service on the offense.”
9. 6 Tips on Marketing Your Online Content (via Jeff Bullas): There are many ways of doing content marketing but not all methods yield the positive results! Here are six tips to get you started on marketing your own content.
10. Is the iPad Changing the Way We Shop? Or Is the Way We Shop Changing How We Use the iPad? (via Forbes): But maybe that’s just me. I didn’t see that many people holding up tablets to scan products and/or take pictures of items to send to someone else, but I did see a few.
11. Entrepreneurial Resources to Help Women Business Owners (via Small Business Trends): Last month was National Women’s Small Business Month – one of the fastest growing segments of the small business community.