Officials at the Small Business Administration (SBA) report, "seven out of ten" new employer establishments survive at least two years and 51 percent survive at least five years.

Small business owners I know tend to blame the bank, the government or their partner.

Here are key reasons that I have heard from business owners as to why their business failed:

"The math didn't work."
"The owner got in his/her own way."
"Poor accounting."
"Insufficient marketing or promotion."

Yes, marketing, which if not done correctly, will surely weigh down a business and could even sink it. How can I make this observation? Well, just ask the customers (or ex-customers would be more appropriate). In many cases, they have a better understanding than the owners of what wasn't working. Here are questions that each small business owner needs to honestly answer with marketing and public relations:

1. Do you promote your business and your products, services and capabilities or do you keep a low profile? Small businesses often minimize the importance of promoting the business properly. In fact, many of them don't even focus on promoting their products and services at all.

2. Do you have good branding where your business reputation precedes you (i.e your business is known to be good in something)? Or, do you have a bad reputation instead? There are small businesses that do not make use of the full-spectrum of marketing activities. For example, they choose only to advertise but ignore publicity-related activities such as product launches or issuing press releases. Another fault:  business owners try to do all the marketing themselves to save expense. You wouldn't pull out your own teeth, would you? Get a professional to assist.

3. Do you over-promote your business by taking credit for what you didn't do in the business arena? Or, do you over-estimate what you are capable of delivering? For those who do embark on marketing initiatives, many promote their products and services too aggressively and end up generating ill-will among their prospective customers.

4. Are you aware of who your REAL customers are or do you just think there will always be a "revolving" door of customers? Yes, there are small businesses that forget about the importance of customer-relationship management in ensuring long-term sustainable sales. Results: they find themselves stranded with a huge revenue hole when key customers abandon them.

5. Are you over-reliant with your customers? In other words, take advantage of them? Remember, a negative image will be generated towards businesses which make false promises or claims to their prospective buyers in order to make a sale. Read more.

iPad's arrival

When the iPad first arrived on the scene, there was concern that magazines would have a hard time breaking through all the video games, movies, countless apps and all the other media available to consumers.

Turns out people are spending more time than ever reading on tablets and e-readers. And, the good news: Consumers want MORE magazine content.

We would like to hear from you about your magazine experiences, so please comment below.

Other key findings:

89% want magazine apps to have standardized functions and navigational features.
70% are interested in the ability to buy products and services straight from digital magazine editorial.
59% said they are spending more time reading digital magazines since getting a mobile device.
55% said they sometimes tap on ads in electronic magazines.

- source: The Association of Magazine Media-Commissioned Study by Affinty as reported in Adweek

Think Before Turning On Electronics

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We take the time to find information that will support you 

Redundant Communication Pays Off
A study of six companies shows that 21% of managers without formal power send redundant messages - for example, an email message after a face-to-face meeting - compared with just 12% of managers who have formal power. But the powerless managers get tasks done faster and with fewer hiccups; managers with power appear to assume that employees will follow their requests, say Tsedal Neeley of Harvard Business School and Paul Leonardi of Northwestern University, interviewed for the "Defend Your Research" feature in the May 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review.     Read more.

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