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Direct marketing companies generate a lot of money from creating fancy ad campaigns for businesses. While that is all well and good, the challenge lies in actually measuring results. How much has your brand awareness increased since the campaign? And did you experience an increase in profitability during the campaign's timeframe? These questions are difficult to answer. In some cases, it takes months to analyze the customer response rates to television, radio, and direct mail advertisements.

An Internet domain name is your piece of "real estate" on the World Wide Web. Similar to the offline world, the most important aspect of buying a domain name is its "location." A good URL is a must if you want to make sales and establish your brand. It should be catchy, easy to remember, and relevant to your industry.

Local business phone service can give your company an edge over the competition. It is not surprising that companies that take advantage of this service experience better profitability. First, local phone service enables your company to provide high-quality service to your customers on demand. Orders, queries, and questions are immediately attended to because local phone lines are more reliable than cell phones.

Tighter economic times have made companies more careful than ever with their marketing budgets. However, amazingly a huge number of businesses are still not utilizing cheap and easy tools–right at their fingertips–to help them hone their marketing strategy and marketing effectiveness. Instead, many companies are using out of date practices and reducing the amount of marketing they are doing from fear of lost money. Instead, they should be analyzing what is and isn't working so they can improve and maximize marketing ROI. Surprisingly, even business coaches and marketing consulting agencies are making these costly mistakes. Ignoring data and marketing metrics right in front of you is like complaining you are broke while burning a hundred dollar bill.

The U.S. and worldwide economies are driven highly by the growth of small businesses. Especially with the recent global credit crises, economic downturn, and high unemployment rates, many individuals are turning to operating their own businesses. Many of these small businesses are operated as "Sole Proprietorships." For example in the UK in 2009, sole proprietors comprised over 24% of newly registered businesses and the second largest category. Being a sole proprietor is commonly the case with consultants, contractors and freelancers, but it expands across a huge array of industries. While email has taken over much business communication, establishing a business phone line is essential for the success of these enterprises.

Choosing a winning domain name for your business or venture's website can be difficult. When brainstorming the new website's name, a few core factors or rules should be considered.

Before spending good money to test advertising initiatives or strategies, it is crucial you do good research. The research process doesn't always have to be incredibly expensive or lengthy, but it should be the foundation for any business decision. A great product or service isn't going to be of much value if you don't have advertising skills or an idea of what is working in the current environment. It is always best to bounce your ideas off a marketing professional before testing advertising ideas. If you're on a tight budget, you can also analyze and research what is working for the competition or outsource the research for a few hundred dollars to a third party that can provide an outside point of view.

1-800 and other toll free numbers are no longer just for businesses. Toll free vanity numbers that spell out words now have a wide variety of uses. Advances in technology have created many new ways to utilize phone numbers and lines. As the name suggests, vanity numbers can be used purely to feed the ego, but they can also be for privacy or used as personal marketing tools. Traditionally, vanity numbers have been used by businesses for branding and to differentiate themselves from the competition. You have probably seen numbers such as 1-800-Dentist and 1-800-Comcast. Here are several ways you can use vanity numbers to your advantage:

1-800 and other toll free numbers are no longer just for businesses. Toll free vanity numbers that spell out words now have a wide variety of uses. Advances in technology have created many new ways to utilize phone numbers and lines. As the name suggests, vanity numbers can be used purely to feed the ego, but they can also be for privacy or used as personal marketing tools. Traditionally, vanity numbers have been used by businesses for branding and to differentiate themselves from the competition. You have probably seen numbers such as 1-800-Dentist and 1-800-Comcast. Here are several ways you can use vanity numbers to your advantage:

Most business owners don't even know that a poorly managed toll free number could be causing the company a problem! But yes, your toll free numbers may be mismanaged!