The first thing to know about Indian cooking, said Sanjiv Dhar, executive chef at and owner of Rasoi in Pawtucket, is that chefs can’t just throw together the ingredients, turn the oven up and go watch a football game. more

When it comes to measuring marketing success, many business owners (and professional marketers) prefer to think that results are more magic than math. But that’s just not so. The digital era – with it’s easy (relatively) access to analytics – has introduced a whole new way of thinking. more

Happy New Year! more

When someone tells me to “Have a nice day,” I don’t think they mean it. I think they’re just saying it as a kind of mundane, almost impolite, form of politeness. Forced nicety. Said out of habit, not sincerity. To me, it’s not just thoughtless, it’s also meaningless. Heck, half the time people don’t even look at you when they say it. more

Are you passive, aggressive or assertive? Only one way wins. more

With more than 618 million active, daily Facebook users, 500 million registered Twitter handles and more than 200 million LinkedIn profiles, it’s easy to see why companies from boutiques to big-box stores have realized the importance of a strong online presence in today’s society. more

Small-business owners are continuing to try social media as a marketing channel. But with so many options – and limited time and resources to use them – which ones are working best? more

Marketing is a mystery – at least that’s the way it seems when compared with just about every other company function. There’s plenty of talk about “marketing,” but efforts to nail it down, specifically, usually end in an uncomfortable silence. It makes the point that it’s difficult to get your arms around marketing. more

If a company has customers, then it also has data about them. For some businesses, the uncertainty comes in how to harness that data and leverage it to their benefit. more

«constant ****SDLq»Marketing requires data gathering, analysis, training, testing and discipline – repeatedly if you want loyal customers and repeat sales. Sometimes you get lucky. But it’s risky business to leave something as important as your company’s livelihood to chance.” – John Hebert more