Do you have an email marketing consultant that you work with as part of your marketing? Do you have a healthy relationship with them? While most people are aware of the dynamics of an unhealthy relationship in their personal lives, when it comes to business relationships it can be a little harder to know what is to be expected. You may be getting the short end of the stick and it may be time to move on.

Here are a few signs that it may be time to break up with your email marketing consultant:

You spend a good chunk of money creating great content that is helpful and optimized for search engines. But then what? Sure, you should be getting constant hits from organic search but what about the other ways content can be shared?

There's email marketing, social media marketing and more. You didn’t even think about using social media management companies to boost your content, did you?

Keep reading to learn more about how properly utilizing social media can help resurrect your content from the grave - that is, content buried in Google.

Are you wondering what kind of marketing services you should invest your money in for your business? You hear about all these different types; ads on Google, Facebook ads, PPC, paying for links, etc. But which one makes the most sense and is the most beneficial for your business?

This just in: hiring online marketing consultants may cause significant changes in your health and well-being. A significant number of small business owners have reported less stress, fewer sleepless nights, heftier pocket books, better employee relationships, and actually looking forward to going to work. They credit it all to inbound marketing.

You may have heard already, but recently Google was re-organized to become one division of a new “parent” company called Alphabet. The newly formed parent company will also include other businesses in addition to Google. If you are a business that advertises on Google or relies on an SEO strategy to rank in Google search results, you won’t really be affected by this change.

You may be wondering what this has to do with your business. In this transition, there are a few principles that can apply to any business or entrepreneurial endeavor. Read on to find out some of the things Google is getting right that you should also be doing with your business.

Internet marketing for many small businesses gets put on the back burner and the “more important” stuff gets shoved up front. But then it catches up with you and you realize your business needs to be found online. The answer everyone is talking about: SEO. But what is that really?

Are you looking for something to help save your business? Maybe business is a bit slow and you’re hoping for some more customers? Or your competition is sneaking up on you and you’ve now realized you need to step up your marketing and advertising efforts a bit?

Every day while running a business, you make decisions - small decisions that move projects along, answer general questions, point your team in the right direction - all part of the day to day operations of your company.

But then there are the big decisions, like whether you should create and hire an in-house content marketing team (even one person) or outsource content marketing services to an agency. This is no small decision, even though outsourcing is a strategy used in other areas of running your business.

Understanding your customer base is important. Here at Half a Bubble Out, we provide inbound marketing services and talk a lot about them. If you’re unfamiliar, the quick description is that we think it is best to attract your audience naturally, and this is primarily done through helpful content. If you want a more in depth description, check out this blog on inbound marketing.

Does your business use social media? If it doesn’t, it’s a lost opportunity for you. In today’s society, people expect a business to have an online presence. People are looking for you online, whether it’s reading a review on Yelp, checking in on Foursquare, following you on Twitter or liking you on Facebook. Social media allows your business to make a touchpoint with your audience, build relationships, and give people a way to get to know you.