You may be surprised at how much your business development plan can benefit from looking at what the Army does well. Here are three things the Army excels at, and the lessons they offer for you and your company:

When it comes to strategic communications, success requires that you be aware of what others see and hear and how they respond to you. Author Stacey Hanke suggests these tips to communicate more effectively, no matter where you are:

Use social media tools to capture innovative ideas from customers—and tighten the loop on product development. Example: Men’s clothing company Bonobos ran a “Tweet4Trunks” campaign via Twitter ...

The cover story in this month’s issue of Training & Development magazine is “Metrics and Measurement: Do They Matter?” The article argues in favor of measuring success in sales training and performance … vs. (I would guess) NOT measuring it. The fact that the headline is phrased as a question implies that there are people who are AGAINST measuring the results generated through sales training.

“In this economy, you can't afford to trust your web presence to a template-based design," says Daimon Caulk, principal with Modal, Inc. "Sure, you can find templates for verticals, but they say nothing about you. Simply changing the logo, colors and adding text does not make a site right for your specific business or the way you want users to experience you and your business.”

There are many different kinds of direct email marketing messages that a business can send to subscribers. Emails can be promotional, informative, and/or inspirational, says Steve Adams, vice president of marketing for Protus.

What keywords bring searchers to your web site? Is Google having any problems accessing your site—and if so, what can you do to make it more search-engine friendly? Find these answers and more with Google Webmaster Tools.

After nearly 3 decades in marketing, I’ve come to the conclusion that the easiest job in marketing is market research.

How can long-standing business owners and first-time entrepreneurs survive these tough times? Author Jay Arthur suggests that you avoid these five business plan development mistakes:

Experts say e-newsletters are one of the greatest strategic marketing communication tools available for owners of growing businesses. Here are 10 suggestions to create an e-newsletter that will improve your business:

Web site templates tank when it comes to search engines, according to a Washington, D.C.-based search marketing guru. Why? Duplicate content and image-based design.

BlackBerrys, iPhones and other smartphones are driving an increase in on-the-go Internet use. That’s part of the reason that local search visibility is so crucial to your business.

According to Steve Adams, vice president of marketing for Protus, the secret to meeting your goals for a direct email marketing campaign is to try and see things through your customers’ eyes:

A woman on a talk radio show admitted to stealing sugar packets from her local Starbucks. But she expressed no shame. Indeed, she felt the theft was justified by the outrageous prices Starbucks charges for a cup of coffee, calling her pilfering a “condiment subsidy.”

A blog can help you rank higher in search engines, attract more traffic to your Web site, create repeat traffic, and generate leads and sales. Here are five ways to use a blog as part of a niche marketing plan:

Did the entire first decade of the 21st century pass without your company getting serious about online marketing? If your organization doesn’t have an online strategy to speak of—no web site or a skimpy one, no social-media strategy, no e-mail list, no e-newsletter—you can still catch up. Marketing expert Seth Godin recommends venturing forward with these strategies:

I am obsessed with not wasting time and being as productive as I can. After all, my income is directly linked to my ability to produce quality work at a rapid rate.

In these uncertain economic times, your business probably has some strong prospects who have yet to take the next step and become customers. Here are five steps you can take to nudge them into action, without a significant marketing investment:

My theory has long been that the replacement of the telephone and face-to-face meetings by e-mail has increased the average American’s writing skills considerably, especially in business. But journalist Janet Malcolm thinks just the opposite is true.

When it comes to permission-based email marketing, offering content of value can significantly boost your open rate. Here are five more tips to help your opt-in email marketing strategy make an impact:

You can manipulate statistics to prove just about any point you want to make in your copy.

Right now there are potential customers trying to decide whether or not to choose your business. As part of a business development strategy, here are some areas that can differentiate you from the competition:

Every day, 61 million local searches are conducted online. Clearly, if your business isn’t visible in search results, you’re losing out to competitors that are visible.There are many ways to make your business search friendly. But one of the quickest, easiest and free ways to boost your search visibility is by making smart use of “tags.”

Erin Ferree, founder of elf design, offers these brand-building tips for building a better connection with customers:

A radio commercial for a financial services firm talked about how their investment advisors could help ensure financial security for “older senior citizen folks.”