The Elevated Read
Explore our blog for valuable insights on marketing, public relations, websites, and AI search for small businesses, nonprofits, and creatives—designed to elevate your business. Subscribe to ELEVATED NEWS for featured articles in our award-winning monthly newsletter.
Sled Dogs Exemplify Leadership
Our five incredible Wintergreen Canadian Inuit dogs were friendly, loving, and docile, but when pulling the sled on the trail, they became determined machines focused on one thing: Pulling. These working dogs demonstrated remarkable leadership and teamwork.
Proactive Crisis Management in 10 Steps
Although predicting a true crisis is nearly impossible, you can mitigate its consequences with a proactive, forward-looking crisis management plan. Consider these 10 steps as a checklist in your crisis management plan.
Connect Your Brand to a Cause & Your Target Market
Once you identify your target audience, you must create content that resonates with them at the right time on the right social channel. (Yes, a marketer's job is tough!) Small businesses can employ low-cost cause marketing strategies to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Developing Domain Authority & Google Search Relevancy
Domain authority is a useful metric to indicate a site's search engine optimization strength. So, what is SEO? And to what metrics do you, as a marketing agency or small business owner, pay attention?
Excelling in the Long-Tail Keyword SEO Game
Long-tail keywords offer an opportunity to improve your site’s SEO for specific market niches. Identifying your company’s strategic long-tail keywords, which should complement your selection of ‘seed’ keywords, may offer a quicker return on your digital marketing investments.
Battle the Burnout Blues in 5 Steps
Have you been hit by the professional burnout bus? Learn to identify the causes and symptoms of burnout and take action with five practical steps to bring your creative side back to life.
Best Practices for Keeping Your Inventory ‘Evergreen’
Every business, whether product or service-oriented, has experienced the impact of limited product or component availability and long lead times. Now is the time, more than ever, to rethink sourcing, stocking, and sales strategies.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Enhance Organizational Resilience
Companies that intentionally pursue a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) culture are more resilient in times of crisis. These companies tend to be more proactive in responding to change, often minimizing or avoiding a crisis altogether.
Manage Your Digital Assets to Maximize Company Value
Good digital asset management practices both protect you and allow you to leverage what makes your brand and business unique.
The Origins of ELEVATE NEXT
Recently, I came across a business card I saved from my very first, real career job out of college at the International Institute of St. Louis. The colleagues, volunteers, refugees, and immigrants with whom I worked at the International Institute more than a decade ago are the ones who inspired me to take a plunge and start ELEVATE NEXT.
Survey Results Highlight the Top 6 Challenges for Small Businesses
Small business owners often struggle with limited resources and with deciding how best to use their cash flow. Read the results of the survey we designed to evaluate the most pressing challenges - or pain points - facing small businesses.
6 Tips for Finding the Right Influencer for your Brand
Develop partnerships with influencers that share your brand's values and ideals. Which type of influencers are right for your business?
Dog-Harmony Lifestyle: A Case Study in Effective Content Marketing
Great content marketing adds value to your target audience(s). Dog-Harmony's lifestyle publication launch is a perfect example.
Achieve Your Public Relations Goals Through Effective Storytelling
A coherent PR strategy to communicate your company's unique story, backed by real structure and measurement, will yield the highest impact on your bottom line.
Extolling the Virtues of the Habitually Late
Leverage technology to reduce tardiness and reframe your view of others who are habitually late. They have the virtuous traits your team needs.
Active Listeners Can Change the World
One of the top traits to look for in colleagues is listening skills. A good listener is skilled at active listening. Why?
Now That You’ve Optimized Your Site - Measure It
Now that you've published and optimized your website, it's time to submit your sitemap for indexing and to track your site's traffic.
5 Digital Marketing Tips to ELEVATE Your Site’s SEO Organically
SEO is not an overnight process. Concentrate on five essential digital marketing strategies to enhance your website’s SEO and engage your target audience’s interest.
Navigating the Due Diligence Process: What Should You Expect?
Due diligence is about confirming the risks and assessing the degree of risk for an acquiring company during the acquisition process. The due diligence phase is the last part of the negotiation process – usually, the toughest part - between the buyer and seller.
Boost Your Social Media Presence by Using the Best Instagram Hashtags
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: Which hashtags should I include in my Instagram posts?