We've all seen businesses have lackluster sales around the holidays, even though they have great products or services that would be useful to their customers and perfect for the season. If you don't want to be one of those businesses, make sure you start your holiday marketing early and prepare your strategy so that when it comes time for your customers to decide on which holiday gifts to buy, you'll already be top of mind. Here's how to do it right.

Whether you're running your own small business or you have to market your company's products, selling during a recession can be difficult. People are worried about saving money; they aren't spending frivolously and throwing cash around on impulse buys like some people tend to do when times are good.

A logo is a symbol that represents your company, brand, or organization in the same way that a person’s name represents who they are. Your logo clarifies what your brand stands for and helps potential customers identify you with confidence in your product or service. While it may seem evident that creating a logo is one of the first steps when you’re starting a new business, you may not be aware of precisely what goes into that process and how important this step is.

If you’re like most people, the idea of outsourcing makes you nervous, especially when it comes to your business and its most important operations. However, outsourcing doesn’t have to be synonymous with cheap labor and poor quality; instead, it can help you harness the power of your zone of genius by freeing up your time to focus on what you do best—designing and selling your products or services—while allowing experts who are better at their particular tasks to handle the rest.