Blog
Insights on business strategy, content marketing, and the art of effective communication. Whether you're looking for content marketing best practices, business planning tips, or thoughts on the evolving landscape of professional writing in the age of AI, Anne Corning offers actionable guidance from a seasoned B2B marketing and sales enablement pro.
Do You Need To Do an eNewsletter? (Spoiler: Yes!)
Newsletters build relationships, credibility, and growth. In today’s crowded digital landscape, it’s easy for your marketing messages to get lost. Social media feeds are noisy, search algorithms change constantly, and buyers are inundated...
A More Nuanced View
If there's one thing we've become more aware of in recent years, it's the damage and misunderstandings that can come from stereotyping large groups of people, whether politically, socio-economically, racially, or otherwise. The same is...
Customer Surveys Create Value
I have a not-so-secret fascination with psychology, so some of my favorite classes during my MBA program were those that helped illuminate aspects of human behavior in the world of economics and commerce. I still remember in one of...
Content vs. Content Marketing
In a nutshell, content is the words and images that you use to tell your story, communicate information, talk to your audiences. It can come from a variety of sources both inside and outside of your company. Content Marketing is the art...
Infographics for Fun and Profit
As a bit of a design geek, I love the creativity and visual appeal of a good infographic. As people more and more are tending to scan content online rather than reading word for word, presenting concepts in an eye-catching infographic can...
Keep Your Eyes on These Trends for 2017
Whether you are creating detailed content or innovative social-media campaigns, here are some trends to look out for in 2017. The 5 Marketing Trends to Keep Your Eyes on for 2017
Marketing + Sales Synergy
For four years I ran both the marketing department and sales support department of a B2B services firm. I saw firsthand how connecting early-stage marketing activity all the way through the sales process yielded results. The synergy...
How to Speak Designer
If you struggle to communicate what you want to your graphic designer, here are some tips from the clever folks at TGM Creative in New Zealand. Or take a deeper dive into bridging the divide between marketing and design from Amrita Mathur...
Anatomy of Email Outreach
For anyone who struggles to manage an email marketing strategy or keep generating fresh, impactful email campaigns, here is some great information to keep in mind (with credit to Contently.com and OnlineCourseReport.com). How to get...
Women in the Workforce
Some great stats and information here about women's progress (or slow progress) in today's business world (with credit to All Business Schools):
Putting Gas in the Engine: Financing, Part 1
You've got a brilliant business idea. You've researched your markets and competitors. Maybe you've even written a kickin' business plan. That's all good, but to really get a business going, it is inevitable that you're going to need some...
When to Post to Social Media
To get the most bang out of your social media buck, you want your content to generate exposure and engagement. The place to start is figuring out when you're most likely to reach the largest number of people, whether you're using...
The Social Media Landscape
The post below was written back in 2014, and the social media universe has changed a lot since then! Video content is ascendant in many sectors, and platforms like YouTube and TikTok have taken off as a result. The right-leaning...
What’s the Value of Having a LinkedIn Business Page?
One of my clients recently posed this question to me. The company is in a very networking-intensive field and had felt the pressure to establish a more polished LinkedIn presence to promote the business. But beyond this basic necessity,...
Doing Good While Doing Well: Social Purpose Corporations
Do you have a great idea for a socially-responsible business? Are you concerned about how your company impacts society and the planet? As of June 7, 2012, a new form of business corporation, "the social purpose corporation” (SPC), is...
11 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business
This is brilliant wisdom about the realities of being an entrepreneur. All true, and said much more cleverly than I could by Stephanie St. Clair: 11 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business.
Dipping a Toe in the Water of B2B Social Media
I've been working with some clients recently on setting up social media programs. It can be a bit daunting for a small business to figure out which platforms (Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Pinterest . . .) are a...
A Brief History of Marketing
I recently discovered the show Mad Men—yes, I know I'm way behind the times on this television phenomenon, but running two small business ventures simultaneously for the last few years has seriously cut into my media viewing! If you've...
Accelerating Small Business
The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced a new initiative to set up small business accelerators around the country. Noticing that the bulk (60%) of VC firms and start-up capital investment is focused in just three...
Social Venture & Non-Profit Funding
We've looked at some of the various funding sources for typical growth-oriented start-up ventures. But what about funding for social ventures—companies and non-profit organizations whose primary mission involves social or environmental...
An App for Proposals?
Serial entrepreneur Scott Wilson recently suggested that there should be an iPhone app for writing proposals. If you've ever had to put together a written sales proposal or slogged through an RFP (Request for Proposal) response, you...
Presentation Pitfalls
Slide after slide crammed with tiny type. Incomprehensible graphs. Dorky clip art. Presenters who drone on and on. If you've been in the business world any time in the last 15 years you've surely sat through your share of slide...
Marketing Sherpa
Marketing Sherpa is a repository of information, tips and best practices for marketing in our multi-media, social-networking age.
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur Magazine's website provides a wealth of how-to guides, news, and resources for start-up companies and small businesses.
What Do Start-ups Need Most?
A recent article in the Puget Sound Business Journal asks: "What do Seattle startups need besides money?" If you want to learn more about the other thing they need most (talented people to round out their teams), check out the article....