Retail-format Experimentation Picks Up Retailers will try to make cheaper, smaller footprints work. More Collaboration Small businesses that can work with complementary businesses in their town or industry will be more likely to thrive. From Entrepreneur, here are ten predictions for the trends that will most affect small businesses in the coming year. Volatility Ahead Small businesses need to have flexibility in their long- and short-term plans as economic uncertainty continues to be a major issue. billion and is expected to quadruple again by 2015. Services Head Offshore U.S.-based MORE >>

These guides are always a work in progress and it's always a challenge to stay current with the latest and greatest processes and methodologies. We, at ClientBridge , are very process-oriented. We have guides, templates and checklists for just about everything we do. In the past, we have only used these tools for our own projects and client projects. But we decided that there are others who could put them to good use. So we are going to start releasing them to the public. Here's the link to the first set. Website Planning, Strategy and Content Guides. MORE >>

Analyzing that survey allows marketers to understand what does and doesn't work. A social media audit is a survey of the social landscape to find your customers, industry thought leaders and competitors on social spaces. From Awareness, here's an infographic that shows how to do a social audit. View Original Article MORE >>

Buzzwords and cliches exist within any hot business trend, and social media is no different. But some cliches are workable, good advice. From IBM's CMO Site, social media marketing cliches that actually get results. Engage The biggest of social media marketing cliches, "engagement" is critical. Companies can't just send out their message, they must have conversations in the market, listen to customers and prospects, and respond. Monitor Use social media and reputation monitoring tools to follow key market influencers and keep track of what people are saying. Do favors. Support charities. MORE >>

Marketing savvy is what would separate this position from an IT technologist working on marketing's behalf. Marketing has never been more closely coupled with technical tools. Marketing technology poses more than an implementation challenge. Choices in marketing technology affect customer experience. Different pieces of marketing technology must be coordinated and optimized. Real-time marketing requires tools and technical savvy. This article from Advertising Age makes the case that organizations should add a chief marketing technologist position to handle these challenges. MORE >>