This article was originally written for LinkedIn Pulse.

[Bonus at end of post - download this list in a PDF.]

Most people think that automated marketing just means email marketing, but nothing could be further from the truth. To illustrate the difference, here are a few ways you could be using automated marketing right now.

It's critical that you understand this: by transforming your website from the equivalent of an online brochure to a strategic part of your business, you can not only increase revenues and/or decrease costs, but also make your business more valuable and desirable to a potential buyer.

Your website could literally be the tiebreaker in selling your business and setting you up for the future.

Questions to ask yourself:

Welcome to The Ave!

Vineland Downtown Improvement District in the city of Vineland, New Jersey, held their brand launch party on October 20 with over 300 excited people attending. In my 20 years of being in this business, Vineland is one of the most involved, positive communities we've ever worked with.

The number of volunteers involved is inspiring and they range in age from youth to retirees. They understand that the city is theirs, and they're not just waiting for change to happen. They're making things happen!

Ask writer Dennis Cooper and you'll find that the answer is Yes.

Cooper had hosted his blog on Blogger.com since 2002, only to find on June 28 that his 14 years of work had been deleted by site owner Google, with no explanation. Making matters worse, they also deleted his Gmail account.

You may not know it, but we're already in the Third Wave of the internet, or the Internet of Things (IoT), as it's come to be known.

Yep, that's right, and if your business is typical of most, you're still stuck at the end of the First Wave – at best.

You're probably thinking “not only do I have no clue what the Third Wave is, but I don't even know what the First and Second were.”