Twitter for business relaunched

Twitter has relaunched its business platform; Twitter for Business.

The relaunch includes best practice guides and case studies from companies such as Porsche and Hubspot. The site has been redesigned to make it easier for anyone to use; either a seasoned marketer or a small business owner.

Encouraging businesses to utilise Twitter is pretty simple, getting them to advertise and spend is more difficult and the relaunch of this platform lends itself to the idea that Twitter wants to be a bigger advertising medium than before.

Twitter has also released the video below outlining some quick tips to enhance your Twitter usage.

Small business owners not focusing on marketing.

In a recent survey by Pitney Bowes it was discovered that the majority of small business, from a sample of 500, did not have a marketing plan in place, with only 20% saying they did, whilst 35% admitted to dealing with marketing on an ad-hoc basis.

The study went on to find that SME's lose focus and prioritise low level tasks over marketing, including buying the stationary, cleaning and office repairs coming before marketing.

Whilst multitasking is important, it would appear that many are concentrating too much on the day-to-day running and not looking at the bigger picture. Always difficult when you are running a small business.

Those that are marketing tend to favour print ads, whilst email marketing is still strong.

Read their full report here.

Bloomberg Businessweek offers Euro crisis relief

Bloomberg Businessweek magazine has offered some light relief from the Euro crisis. We feel a brick wall may also be appropriate!

Another successful night at the B2B Marketing Awards 2011

The B2B Marketing Awards 2011 were a great success last Thursday, 24th November.

For the fifth year The Think Tank managed the awards event on behalf of  B2B Marketing Magazine and it all went very well. The theme this year combined a 60's lounge atmosphere with the glitter of Las Vegas, setting the scene for a fun and enjoyable night.

Jack Whitehall took the stage to entertain the audience and present the awards and after a great dinner and 'refreshment' many headed off to the after-show party until the early hours.

Well done to all the winners and a big thanks to all The Think Tank team for running another successful event.

Google to charge businesses for Google Maps APIs

It was announced yesterday that Google will begin charging app developers and businesses who host Google Maps APIs on their website if they exceed 25,000 visits a day. In its blog post announcing the changes, Google said no site exceeding the limits will stop working immediately but it does offer three firm solutions: reduce usage limits, pay for the excess or upgrade and buy a Maps API Premier license.

The excess usage charges, reported in the media to be around $4 per 1000 users, will be enforced in early 2012. Thor Mitchell, product manager of Google Maps API said in his blog post, “We understand that the introduction of these limits may be concerning. However with the continued growth in adoption of the Maps API we need to secure its long term future by ensuring that even when used by the highest volume for-profit sites, the service remains viable. By introducing these limits we are ensuring that Google can continue to offer the Maps API for free to the vast majority of developers for many years to come.”

It is thought that the fees will only impact around 0.35 per cent of user accounts. To read Thor Mitchell's full blog post click here, or visit the B2B Marketing website.

Five ways to double your profits - Real Business Article

IronmongeryDirect doubled its profits this year, turnover is up 25 per cent and the firm has just moved to bigger premises - a great success story.

Raising the profile of the company within the business press is one of the objectives of the PR campaign that The Think Tank has been managing for IronmongeryDirect over the past couple of years.

Looking for opportunities to communicate the impressive growth and success of this business in a very challenging market The Think Tank secured a feature article for MD Wayne Lysaght-Mason in Real Business Magazine looking at five secrets to fast growth.

This great opportunity follows articles and comment in a range of business publications, including Marketing Week, raising the profile of the business beyond the Construction and DIY sectors.

Click here to view the full article.