Most business owners would say employee recognition is something they want to do, but it’s often overlooked because it is an important but not urgent priority. Production deadlines, customer demands, financial targets and other business activities scream louder and demand your attention, so you tend to focus on putting out the fires and keeping the business afloat.

One thing’s for certain, change is part of running a small business. No sooner do you get comfortable doing one thing, when something changes and you need to adapt. In small business, that’s the way it is, and your capacity to manage change is vital to surviving. That doesn’t mean we like it or that it’s easy, but it’s a skill we need to hone in order to stay competitive and keep up with what’s happening in the world. Managing change involves getting people to believe in you and requires communication skills to help you build support for the decision to change. A good understanding of the psychological and emotional effects of change is also extremely helpful. Whether you’re managing the change in just yourself, or you have a group of people you’re leading through the change it’s important that you understand the 3 three stages of change.

Most of us have had a special person in our lives who made a big difference. The person who when we were young told us we could when we thought we couldn’t, who helped us see things from different angles when we were stuck, who saw things in us that we couldn’t see in ourselves and who encouraged us to move beyond where we were to someplace better.

If you carry on marketing your company the same way you have been doing for years, you’ll carry on getting the same results. Of course, if you are doing incredibly well that’s fine, but most companies’ marketing efforts start to flag after a while. The following list might be just what you need to kick your marketing activity into a higher gear.