Yes- we know it's almost Christmas Eve, but it's really not too late! We know you've been busy growing your business and need a few last minute gift ideas for the wonderful marketing professional in your life, so we did the hard work for you. Have a look below for some gift ideas for the hardworking, modern marketer.

"Savannah Rae's Gourmet Popcorn has been working with United Webworks for almost a year now and it was one of the best decisions this new business has made!

Our [former] web designer left the site 3/4 of the way finished and I had no idea what SEO even meant. United Webworks finished out the website and explained how everything functioned. About 6 months later we had them work on the SEO and our website traffic has increased by almost 40%. 

When was the term "credit card" first used in common parlance?

• 1967
• 1987
• 1887

Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward mentions the use of a credit card by the citizens of the United States in the year 2000. His 19th century protagonist wakes up after a Rip Van Winkle-ian 113-year-long nap to find Americans using what is actually a publically funded debit card. Bellamy's book was published in… 1887!

The history of commerce based on credit has a longer history than you might think. It's a history of change, sometimes drastic. While some countries are still more cash-oriented than others, the West has generally adopted a model of short term debt allowing easy access to spendable capital.

Before the late 19th century, we lugged around pieces of paper, scrip, coins, or even gold dust to exchange for goods and services. Sometimes we paid in kind- a couple of chickens for a tooth extraction or a loaf of bread for a belt buckle. In other far flung places folks assigned commercial value to special stones or seashells.

"Welcome to the Marketers Anonymous Support Group, everyone!" chirped Monica.

It was a typical Tuesday evening for the usual gathered crowd. Most began to shuffle toward the circle of metal folding chairs, nervously sipping ghastly coffee from white Styrofoam cups. Eventually, with encouragement from Monica, all the attendees were seated in an uneasy circle. Twelve pairs of eyes bored holes in the sterile tile floor, traced constellations in the ceiling tile indentations or stared into their now lukewarm "coffee."

"Before we start, I'd like to say that I thought we really made progress last week!" sang Monica. "Thanks for sharing your feelings about Social Media, Kelly. Now, who would like to start us off this week?" The chilly silence lasted only a few seconds before the sound of the double door and a puff of cold outside air announced the arrival of a thirteenth attendee.

Scoop N. Cary sells a lot of snow shovels to his retail customers. In fact his deluxe shovel line has been doing really well, and the Farmer's Almanac is calling for heavy snow this winter. It's December and Scoop is looking forward to the fall selling season. "Maybe this year," thinks ol' Scoop, "I'll finally scrape together enough to finance that stock of lawn mowers."