Stories from the Street

Shop owner makes good on offer for $600,000 in free merchandise
A home furnishings store in the Baltimore area ran a promotion offering free furniture if the Baltimore Ravens returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. When the Ravens' Jacoby Jones did just that, Gardiners Furniture & Mattress was on the hook for roughly $600,000 in merchandise. The pricey promotion was worth it, says owner Gary Mullaney. An insurance policy covered most of the cost, and the deal won the store media attention locally and around the country. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)/You're the Boss blog (2/12)
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Caring for Customers

The 7 sentences you need for a marketing strategy
It's important to create a strategy to guide your marketing efforts, but this strategy need not be complicated, write Jay and Jeannie Levinson in this excerpt from their book "Guerrilla Marketing Field Guide." Your strategy, which only has to be seven sentences long, should address topics such as your target audience and the tools you can use to reach them. Entrepreneur online (2/12)
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Neglected customers often turn elsewhere
The average business loses about 20% of its clients each year by neglecting customer relationships, according to data compiled by customer experience consulting firm 360Connext. Fifty percent of customers will give a business only a week to address a problem before turning elsewhere, and businesses have only a 20% to 40% chance of winning back those customers. MarketingProfs (2/12)
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Other News

Keeping Shop

4 tips to build a stronger team
A quick verbal or e-mail salutation every morning with team members is a simple but powerful way to foster engagement, writes MyCorporation.com CEO Deborah Sweeney. She also recommends sending out online articles with tips that team members might appreciate, remembering to send thank-you notes and checking in often with newer partners to gauge satisfaction. BusinessNewsDaily.com (2/12)
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Managing the Money

5 ways to find additional revenue
If you're looking to generate some extra revenue, look for ways to leverage your company's assets, suggests Jeanne Rossomme, president of RoadMap Marketing. For example, you can sublet some of your space, sell advertisements in your e-mail newsletters or make commission-earning referrals to other companies. SCORE Small Business Success Blog (2/11)
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News You Can Use

Obama calls for legislation to bolster middle class
President Barack Obama's State of the Union address proposed economic initiatives that include raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour, creating "manufacturing-innovation institutes" and increasing investment in clean energy. He said it is the task of today's generation to "reignite the true engine of America's economic growth -- a rising, thriving middle class." Good middle-class job creation "must be the North Star that guides our efforts," he said. The Washington Post (2/12), USA Today (2/13), Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model)/Politics Now blog (2/12)
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Has Obama fulfilled his small-business commitments?
President Barack Obama has highlighted various policies that could affect small-business owners during his previous State of the Union addresses. These articles recap what he has said and evaluate whether he has followed through on his plans. Bloomberg Businessweek (2/12), CNNMoney (2/12)
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Editor's Note

Your SmartBrief has a new look
Noticed a change? SmartBrief on Main Street has the same valuable content but with a reworked design to make reading and sharing stories easier, especially on mobile devices. Have feedback on the change? Send it our way!
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SmartQuote

It has long been said that it takes a village to raise a child and likewise in the working world, it takes a team to run a business." -- Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com, writing at BusinessNewsDaily.com Share: