Why Canadians Still Make a Great Choice for Outsourcing The world is an expensive place to do business in, and it won’t be getting cheaper. Yet price consciousness can be a significant problem. Because as companies go mediocre and cut marketing spending, things can spiral downward dangerously. Marketing skill needs to be supported with an…
Small Business Marketing Report Where is small business marketing as we slide into the year 2025? It seems digital marketing is more complex than SMB owners are willing to admit. It appears that fears or reservations about the economy and the effectiveness about digital marketing are holding them back. Of course, if they can find…
Why You Should Hire a Travel Content Strategist 2025 and beyond should present you some great opportunities to grow and profit if you’re strategic and committed to winning. Is doubling or tripling your revenue all that outrageous? I mean there’s a massive travel market out there, and 2025 should be a good year economically for…
Sell My House Now! Now in late 2024, more owners are listing their homes. Everyone’s anticipating the unthawing of the market, and with that, you’ll have more competition for a good price. Prices have plateaued and could fall as a bit of recession takes hold. They all want to sell fast, yet buyers are reticent,…
Toronto Housing Market Report — July What’s happening in the Toronto housing market? Sales are up, listings are up, mortgage rates are down, and there’s a slight relief for buyers with some lower home prices in some areas of the GTA. The GTA remains a treacherous sales environment for buyers and sellers, but mostly for…
Hiring Smartly for a Digital Travel Marketing Role As a travel agency owner, DMO CEO, hotel owner, tour operator or SaaS travel software entrepreneur, you’re tasked with the challenge of hiring the right marketing people. Can a single person have real impact on a small travel company? Is that realistic given you’ve already set sail…
The Power of Iconic Brand Symbols If you’re not up on branding or impressed that brands have any power, you might want to take another look at it. Because a brand is your biggest asset once you build it. Brands have many dimensions, promises, value points, and touchpoints with travel consumers. And your travel content…
Empowering your Tour Business The travel trend is certain. Tours are in big demand and tour companies are becoming much more profitable. Of course, we’re assuming tour company owners are marketing strongly and getting the reach, impact and engagement needed to build an audience that trusts their brand, people and services. On that note, I’m…
Best SaaS Travel Management Software Platforms Personal and business travel will continue to grow in 2024 and through the next 10 years. Opportunities abound for agencies, tour operators, and destination management companies, so serve up a variety of solutions to travel-hungry consumers and business travelers. From Bleisure vacations to eco-tours and corporate team meetings, there…
Travel Content is Your Customer’s Pre-Travel Experience Hundreds of millions of travelers will be envisioning and hoping for their own significant vacation adventures in 2024. Isn’t the most enjoyable part of travel where people dream about destinations and how they anticipate the fun, adventure, stimulation of the journey and the destination? They’re visualizing the sights,…
Top 65 Immersive and Awesome Travel Experiences Across the World to Enjoy in 2024 Looking for an exceptional travel experience, perhaps one specially designed for you? Satisfy your deepest travel cravings many ways on this planet, and why shouldn’t the best be served up just for you? Time to give your travel imagination some room…
Marriott Hotels & Resorts Perhaps the most preferred hotel brand for travelers in the US and across the globe in Marriott Hotels. Marriott Hotels & Resorts is a brand of International-based Marriott International, Inc. in Bethesda, Maryland, and represents a legacy of premium hospitality and diverse offerings. Offering almost 600 hotels and resorts, with more…
Lake Louise Vacations One area of Canada’s spectacularly beautiful Banff National Park offers a truly one of a kind vacation experience, especially for those with an adventurous spirit. You’ve no doubt heard of it, as you’ve been Googling “lake louise vacations” and would like to know more about pricing, attractions, and tours from someone who…
Top Tour Marketplaces Online While traveling has traditionally been slightly passive and relaxing, there is a growing trend to pursue more engaged types of experiences. And some of the packaged experiences are truly amazing. You’ll see them perhaps on ads here on this page, or if you visit the major tour marketplaces which I’ll introduce…
Mountain Bike Manufacturer Marketing The global phenomenon of mountain biking is still in gear. And while some speak of industry slowdowns, there is huge demographic of 12 to 72 year old’s participating in the sport. Research and Marketing’s report forecasts that the mountain bike market is poised to grow by $3.13 billion during the 5…
Is Revenge Travel Done? If you missed out on the phenomena of “revenge travel” then don’t fret. It looks like it’s going to continue for a few more years. And travel prices are dropping. This labor weekend is proof that far from over, revenge travel is putting it in gear for an extended period of…
Are You Ready to Move to A New City? What if you discovered that a move to a new city could really give your life a lift? Would you do it? Could you do it? If you’ve been struggling with this thought before, maybe you need to assess your actual state and figure out if…
What is Weather.com? Weather forecasting is a technical and lucrative business. One of the oldest companies in the weather prediction business is The Weather Channel. Weather.com is web domain (called the Weather Channel) and known as the Weather Company. It’s an American owned weather forecasting and monitoring service which is now owned by IBM. The…
The Rolling Question of a Housing Market Downturn Another year has passed, with buyers and sellers asking whether the housing market could crash? Would that be a good event for buyers, the homeless, and as a launch pad for a 2024 housing market resurgence? There are economists and housing market experts who extoll the…
Ontario’s New Housing Growth Bill — The End of the NIMBYs People across the US and Canada have been suffering through a nightmare without complaint for too long. That nightmare is ridiculously high home prices and rent prices, painful taxes, and a severe lack of housing stock. The high prices are creating a host of…
Are TSX Listed Stocks a Wonderful Investment Opportunity? With the stock market bottoming likely 3 months to 6 months away, investors have an opportunity to explore different investment choices. You could stick with US stocks for their excellent potential. Or you could go with International stocks which generally mean Asian equities these days, given Europe…
Best Canadian Oil Stocks to Buy Oil prices are rocketing, and you’ve been introduced to the best oil stocks to buy on North American stock exchanges, and among the best are Canadian oil stocks. You can find them on the TSX, Canada’s stock exchange. Canada’s wealth in oil and gas will gain increased exposure in…
Why do Prices Rise? Stock market volatility is by no means over, as we enter the end of the imposed economic shutdown. The events of Black Friday help us see clearly what the threats and sell off signals are. It really brings home the potential for a significant sell off and this might prime us for…
Where is Canada’s Economy Headed? A new report on Canadian GDP has more people taking a closer look at the Canadian economy and perhaps reconsidering how they’ll vote in this coming snap Federal election. StatsCan says Canada’s GDP shrank 1.1% in the 2nd quarter of 2021 and has dropped by .4% in July. According to…
San Diego Home Prices Keep Climbing Pandemic or not, San Diego real estate is a much desired thing. House prices in the city of San Diego June rose to an average of $1,080,000 while it was $1,114,122 within San Diego County (up 29% from 12 months ago). The median home price countywide in June was…
Mortgage Stress Test Rules The Canadian government is under pressure to do something about the soaring prices of houses in Canada. To release some of that pressure on itself, the government is replaying an old trick at an opportune moment — to capitalize on the current temporary downtrend in home prices. The Liberal government is…
Bing Search Engine Optimization Any discussion of Advanced SEO and web traffic almost always dominated by Google, but we should pay more attention to Google and Duckduckgo. Although Google provides much more search traffic, with advanced techniques Bing.com can provide some excellent quality visitors and perhaps higher engagement rates. When Google pays out revenue on…
Canadian Real Estate Market Forecast Just like the US housing market, the real estate market in Canada showed remarkable strength in 2020. The Canadian benchmark price increased 8.5% last year, almost five times the rate of 1.8% in 2019. And forecasts for 2021 reflect a continued trend of high prices driven by low mortgage rates,…
SpeedTest 5G Speed Report We’ve all been hearing a lot about 5G for a while now. The technology is so good, it’s created a surge in investment in 5G network technology, and consumer smartphones. In this post, we see how 5G fares against current bandwidth service in 4G, broadband and cellular services. You’ll be surprised…
Best Auto Insurance Quotes Auto insurance rates just keep climbing in 2020, and I’ll bet you’ve done little about that. Even with fewer drivers on the road during Corona Virus, most are paying old rates while insurance companies are seeing low accident claims. If you’re working at home all week or only commuting for a…
Corona Virus Vaccine Stocks The search for a Covid 19 Vaccine for the world’s 6 billion inhabitants continues and we’ve got some great news as vaccine testing trial results are very positive. Hundreds of billions are being invested in vaccine development globally. A large number of BioTech companies are vying to win the world’s biggest…
Okanagan Real Estate 35 years ago I rode my bike across the Rocky Mountains and down into the Okanagan Valley where it was 112 F or 42 C. It was 90 miles of scorching heat but it was the best experience, I loved the character of the region. An experience I won’t forget. I could…
US Economic Forecast Part 2 (Continued from Part 1) China’s manufacturing sector has been declining, particularly of late. The communist led country is suffering the worst economic forecast of the last 50 years. China’s in more trouble than anyone will admit even if they print more money to alleviate the losses. China’s propaganda mills are…
The Future of Real Estate While housing markets in US cities waffle back and forth between market crash and price peaks, homebuyers, property investors and Realtors are wondering how real estate will look 5 to 10 years from now. It’s a certainty that new real estate technology (Fintech and Proptech) will shape the path ahead for the real…
Best Time to Buy a House Right Now? The housing market forecast is still bright heading into the fall season and onto 2021. A strong economy, big demand for houses for sale which offer more rooms, lot sizes and in safer neighborhood is the big trend. The upcoming November election is a big worry for…
Focus: US Businesses In studying marketing agencies in Toronto, one theme really stands out – location is king. Their target client is within a very short distance. Today, it shouldn’t be because a huge pool of interested clients are just south of us. I’ve enjoyed working with US companies, some of them large and some…
Vancouver – Canada’s Golden Child is Growing Up Many of my US clients have commented that they believe Vancouver is the best city in the World. It might be hard to argue against because not only has Vancouver become more beautiful, it’s also become an economic powerhouse. Vancouver has the type of issues you find…
Digital Marketing Forecast What could be more fun for a digital marketing agency owner, marketing strategist, digital marketing specialist or entrepreneur than understanding their market and where the opportunities for growth are? There’s a lot of non-sense in expert forecasts, from bitcoin to wearables to virtuality reality and the Internet of Things. These may be the shiny…
Lucrative Canadian Real Estate Market Spilling over into the US Before Corona Virus plague hit US shores, foreign buyers were a big factor in the US housing market. Foreigners were buying up US properties and the biggest increase is coming from Canadians. Even NAR’s Chief Lawrence Yun was surprised by the growing demand from Canadians…
Property Management – An Intelligent Strategy for Realtors While market health varies across US, Canada, UK and Australia, there is one certainty in the world of real estate — there are too many real estate agents and brokers. This situation is being resolved as we speak. As mentioned in the post on the future of…
Are Solar Roofing Installations a Powerful Selling Feature? We know how expensive hydro is becoming for the average homeowner. Power generating companies are in big debt and will have to keep raising prices to their diminishing user base chasing more homeowners offgrid. And power companies are highly polluting which does not jive well with the mandates…
Vacation in Banff and Lake Louise, Alberta Canada Many vacationers actually struggle to choose between a warm tropical vacation or a trip to a ski resort near a mountain town. And then there’s the summer vs winter conundrum. This post might sway you to choose a place that’s more vertical in nature offering more of the…
International Business: Showing Up on the US Radar There’s never been such a grand opportunity to export goods or services to the US. It should be one of your key goals. For the minimal amount of cost, the upside potential is huge. Stellar Canadian tech startups that have boomed recently in US or global markets include…
What is Going on With Vancouver’s High Home Prices? Where is the Vancouver housing market headed for 2020 and 2021? Some are calling this latest jump in prices a recovery of some sort. Yet, it seems rather sudden. Is this bubble sure to burst? It was only 10 months ago that Vancouver home sales dropped…
How to Avert a Toronto Housing Market Crash? Toronto’s real estate market overheated in 2017 due to housing availability problems but what resulted in 2018/2019 was not a crash. The Toronto market is resilient. Why is an impending Toronto housing crash a disaster for us? The economy may crash creating unemployment and mortgage defaults, scare…
Positive Outlook for Montreal Housing Market While the Toronto housing market and Vancouver housing market struggles with government regulation and crash talk, Montreal seems to be waking from a sleepy, negative period that made it appear undesirable to outsiders. The changing perception of Montreal’s political stability might be the key driver of home sales here…
Canadian Real Estate Buyers Guide! Buy or sell when the market is moving. With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Bill, the US economy is surging. Tax cuts mean Americans will have more money, yet the US real estate market isn’t as attractive anymore. US real estate prices may fall while the US dollar is falling…
Toronto is a Mecca for Low Cost High Quality Tech Talent Hidden by the drama of Toronto’s housing market, inappropriate government action, big debt, and International trade threats, something amazing has been happening in Toronto, Canada. Major US tech companies are making plans for locating in Toronto. Microsoft, Uber, Google are among them. The reasons…
Cheaper Mortgage Rates What’s the immediate forecast for mortgage rates? Lower and perhaps even lower. If you’re buying a home or condo in 2018/2019, you’ll want to buy your mortgage in the next 6 months. The economy is improving and mortgage rates will rise. Shopping online means time saved, no sore feet, no parking hassles or…
The Canadian Economic Forecast The International Monetary Fund says Canada is the leading G7 Country How odd is it in 2018, that a country on the verge of trade wars, real estate collapse in its major cities, flat wage growth, mediocre job growth, merciless consumer debt, and a sagging national housing market would be cited…
Wild and Wacky Real Estate Market The GTA real estate market is the best it’s ever been. Endless buyers and sellers. And prices have risen 14 to 18% in York, Durham, Toronto, Mississauga. Home sellers are getting whatever they ask. The US real estate market is growing well too. Is all this prosperity going to last? Realtors…
Wine Art – Amazing Artist Leanne Laine is an internationally renowned artist in British Columbia, who has been producing astonishingly beautiful artwork since the beginning of the last recession (and before). I talked about fascinating people with the intention of finding and introducing them to you. Here’s a fascinating person creating art in the world’s favourite city. Proof…
Rocky Mountaineer Train Trip When you talk about epic, best life experiences, Canada’s Rocky Mountains are one of the first to come to mind. Travelling through these mountains is a visual feast with quaint mountain towns, clean pungent mountain air, brilliant colors, amazing wildlife, soaring snow capped peaks that your mind can barely comprehend. Whether…