Tag Archives: startups

Marketing

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Business with Influencer Marketing

Today, the world’s most rising form of marketing is influencer marketing. About 40% of companies have started allotting a huge budget for influencer marketing and 80% believe that influencer marketing helps them achieve their company objectives. With the internet being accessible to almost everyone in the US, plus some of the biggest ISPs like Xfinity and Spectrum internet offering cheap internet, there are a lot of influencers with huge followers online. However, still, most of the people are unaware of how to take advantage of them.

What is Influencer Marketing?

The fusion of traditional and modern marketing methods is influencer marketing. It is a technique that corporations use by working with prominent bloggers, vloggers, or social media users to market their goods and services. These influencers hold a large following and a dedicated audience with which brands can gain recognition and even generate sales.

How does it work?

Influencer marketing is considered to successfully work with companies of all types and sizes, irrespective of whether you are a startup and want to create awareness, or a major company trying to promote a new line or push a particular product to offer. Brands would typically approach an influencer and pay them to make content regarding the products or services offered by a company. The influencer subsequently updates and shares the contents with their social network – typically Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc.

The price is traditionally negotiated and paid before the content has been produced to the influencer –generally based on the following size of the creator and surprisingly not on content quality.

Creating the Plan

Since 47% of users now use Adblock technology, influencer marketing is by all means the fastest and most efficient way of creating premium content for the consumers it is intended to attract. The strategic marketing approach can instantly boost brand awareness and supercharge sales.

Only ask yourself some crucial questions to get going first…

Why Use it?

In a survey carried out by the Keller Fay Party, 82 percent of respondents indicated that they were likely to obey an influencer ‘s advice. And, 70 percent of the young generation prefers goods promoted by non-celebrity influencers, according to a major Cultural Prejudice poll. Consumers are mostly attracted by micro-influencers because they are relevant, intriguing, and amiable – promoted by real people who themselves use and are satisfied by the brand and item. The engagement rates of micro-influencers have been shown to be higher than other big celebrities. Although major celebrities can set a massive network, it is highly likely that most of their followers won’t be in your brand – most of them being passive spectators instead of being active.

Micro-influencers, on the other hand, have devoted followers that are primarily engaged in their work. According to research, 3k to 10k is the ‘top pick’ for marketing, since, the engagement rate is inversely proportional to the audience size.

What is your Objective?

It is important to provide a specific campaign goal as it tells the content creator precisely what you expect of them. The first step towards creating exclusive, entertaining content for your brand is to prepare your approach and to identify your goals. It is all down to discovering out which technique best suits you.

Try to figure out what you want: is it boosting sales? Establish the image of your brand? You want to meet customers who are unaware of your company, or engage in the main target market?

For good quality material, a simple, succinct summary is important. This may be an inspiring vision across the board of your mood, a connection to a website, a discount code, and a submission that builds visibility and dedication.

How To Choose Suitable Influencers For Your Business?

After making a list of influencers, it is about time you find out who is worth talking to about partnering with you. You surely did some of this already while creating the list, but you ought to focus on discovering the right influencers for your company.

You have to deal with trustworthy and appreciable people. People who are effective and match your style and objectives. Therefore, observe their audience engagement, the audience must match well with the people you are targeting. Perhaps you should not spend time dealing with influencers that do not have a strong identity, your best option is to create a positive product experience – growing engagement levels and the impact of your potential relationship.

How To Sustain Healthy Influencer Relationships?

Influencers are smart enough to know how to best utilize their channels to boost the message of a brand in a way that works effectively for their followers. It is also very important to address the influencers with courtesy and compassion while choosing them – it is a partnership after all!

Final Thought

Most of influencer marketing lasts a couple of months only. However, taking the right approach with planning can prove to be extremely successful for your business, fulfilling all your goals be it creating brand awareness or generating profitable sales revenue.

Internet, Marketing

Step by Step on How to Set Up Your Business Blog

The beauty of the blog is its ability to connect a business with its audience. That could be its customers, its stakeholders, its clients or even its employees. A blog is an excellent choice of online content that can drive traffic towards your product or your services, entertain readers and promote your brand.

If your business doesn’t have one, it could be that you haven’t known where exactly to start.

Come up with your idea

An idea might be good, but if you don’t believe in it, will you put the work in to make it a success? Your blog premise should be coming from your heart, something that you are passionate about, compliments your product and entertains the reader.

Something ground-breaking wouldn’t hurt, but it doesn’t always have to be complicated. Straightforward content like answering frequently asked questions or listicles, articles in the form of a list, are often useful.

Decide on your platform

If you already have your own website, you will probably want to start your blog there, on a new page. Make sure it is evident from the home page and a distinctive part of your brand – the blog could have a slightly different font or web design to the more “business” parts of your site.

If you’re creating your blog from scratch, there are several easy to use platforms you can choose from, for example, Blogger or WordPress.

Choose your writer

Maybe you are a wordsmith yourself, and within your business, you have the time to sit down and get creative. If you do, fantastic. If not, you might want to hire a blog writer or, if that isn’t financially viable, pay writers on a freelance basis to do so. If there is a budding blogger in your ranks already, offer them the opportunity to show off their knowledge and flair.

Alternatives to in-house writing are explained by Click Intelligence with guest blogging a popular option. Whoever it is uploading on your blog, their content should be tailored to your company, creative and engaging.

Promote your blog

Once your blog is up and running, you want people to read it. You’ve had the bright idea, your product is golden, and your writer is talented. That’s all going to waste if nobody is paying any attention.

Improving your social media presence will help provide you with a platform on which you can share your blog. If you already have an active social media channel, use it to share out your blog using hashtags and linking to relevant pages. This will improve the chances of your post being seen and, hopefully, clicked on.

Getting guest writers or doing interviews is another excellent way to promote your blog. If somebody has been interviewed for one of your articles, they are sure to share it in their circles and increase your reputation. You should also post regularly so that people don’t click on your blog and see that it hasn’t been updated in months and forget about you.

Conclusion

Blogs are an easy but exciting way to converse with your audience, drive traffic to your website and keep your brand fresh. Remember to be creative and produce a varied range of content. Once there is a decent number of posts on your blog, your audience is more likely to come back again, or spend longer clicking around your website. Most of all, make it a fun part of your business.

Marketing

Best practices for writing a follow-up email

Technology has certainly changed the way we talk to and reach out to established and potential customers (and family and friends, of course). Sure, we can “talk” to them broadly when it comes to websites and social media—letting everyone in on events and news and important information. But email has replaced a lot of the one-on-one conversations we used to have on the phone or in person. And email has become a great way to introduce, or to re-introduce, oneself to those potential and established customers.

That’s why one of the worst feelings is when you reach out to someone and don’t hear anything back—just silence. There are lots of questions that probably race through your head. So what do you do—abandon email as communication the second time around? On the contrary: Sending a followup email is something you can and should do, and can do well. This graphic explains it.

When They Don’t Respond, Here’s How You Write a Follow-Up Email

Startups

10 Valuable Entrepreneurial Skills You Won’t Learn in Business School

A top business school might provide an overview of management principles and training

about how to handle challenging situations. After you enter the real corporate world, however, you need to know more than just the basics if you expect to overcome difficult situations and achieve success.

Let’s take a look at the skills you must acquire if you want to stand out:

Effective Listening

You likely learned and practiced speaking skills during your MBA program, but the skill of listening is all too often overlooked. Contrary to popular belief, speaking and listening are of equal importance when it comes to effective communication. Because many managers fail to truly listen to their team, developing the skill of listening effectively will help you rise to the top.

Business Etiquette

Corporate executives have noticed that MBAs do not immediately adhere to business etiquette upon entering the workforce. They underestimate the importance of manners, personal appearance and interpersonal etiquette which makes MBA graduates seem too casual and entitled. If you want to climb the corporate ladder, you need to develop superior interpersonal skills that fall in line with corporate business etiquette.

Career Goals

After graduating from business school, you might be ready to take on the world and achieve success as quickly as possible. If you are rushing to hit a specific benchmark, the overall quality of your work will suffer as you constantly switch jobs looking for everything to click right away.

That’s why it’s important to stay focused on your goals and realize the amount of investment in time and effort required to achieve them. During the first few months of your new job, complete every task to the best of your ability and with enthusiasm. No task is below you or not worth your time if it supports your career goals.

Computer & Internet Literacy

Nowadays nearly all work is completed on a computer or over the internet and new employees are expected to know how to use technology. Employers often discover that MBAs might know the ins and outs of Microsoft PowerPoint, but fail to grasp the advanced capabilities of Excel. Likewise, MBA graduates know their way around Facebook and email applications, but need to improve their use of LinkedIn and search engines.

Teamwork

Out of the skills on this list, working on your teamwork abilities is arguably the most important. The corporate world is very competitive which tends to turn people into self-involved and overconfident employees. Invest yourself in team projects by successfully completing all tasks assignment to you and reporting back to your other team members.

Fortunately, you can get a boost from technology to improve your teamwork skills. Take advantage of business management software to collaborate and organize the final work product. You can also suggest other sales management tools to streamline order processes. When you lead your team to complete high quality work, senior management will truly be impressed.

Patience

If you can practice patience during your first few years with a company, you’ll be better off in the long run. Many MBAs sign on as management trainees only to later complain that they are really just in a continuation of business school. Bear in mind that you are now on salary so any learning you can do on the job is a bonus.

Resilience

A common mistake made by highly talented MBAs is to switch companies as soon as things get challenging. It’s easy for MBAs to boast about a competing job offer, but much harder to deal with the challenges present at their present company. You must prove your loyalty to the organization that hired you. Loyalty in this context is not about the number of years you’ve been employed, but the contributions you are making.

Humility

It might surprise you to learn that humility is one of the most sought after attributes in recent MBA graduates. While employers review potential MBA hires to find the best and brightest, many new employees make the mistake of appearing over-confident. Resist the urge to show off and instead be respectful of senior management and listen to what they have to say. Expressing ambivalence or resistance will get you nowhere, whereas humility will help you learn and improve.

Gratitude

We should all be aware of those who contributed to our success, including professors, mentors, colleagues, and family members. It is your responsibility to express gratitude to those that have helped you and remain in contact throughout your career.

Too often, MBAs forget about the people who assisted them when they achieve a bit of success. Being grateful says volumes about your character and is directly reflected in your professional attitude.

Individual Social Responsibility

Your business program likely discussed the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, but you should also be practicing Individual Social Responsibility (ISR). Every corporate professional, as well as every citizen in general, should find ways to make their community better.

Volunteering and giving back is something you can do today so don’t put it off until your retirement. Practicing ISR comes in many forms, including: restoration of public land, education for the underprivileged and support for the elderly.

Whether you’re fresh out of college or have been in the business world for awhile–these tips will never go out of style. If you keep these tips in mind you’re likely to be a successful business man or woman for years to come.

 

————————————

Author Bio: Susan Ranford is an expert on career coaching, business advice, and workplace rights. She has written for New York Jobs, IAmWire, and ZipJob. In her blogging and writing, she seeks to shed light on issues related to employment, business, and finance to help others understand different industries and find the right job fit for them.

General

How to Create a Winning Daily Routine

Imagine, for a moment, some of the most famous business people of the recent age. Take Steve Jobs, now deceased, who was the face and genius behind Apple for decades. He was always, always in a black turtleneck and jeans whenever he was in the public eye—and when he was at work, too. The same with Mark Zuckerburg, genius behind Facebook. He’s always in jeans and a hoodie.

At first glance, it might seem like laziness or lack of caring in those decisions; after all, they’re super smart people who revolutionized the world. But there’s more to it than that. By choosing the same thing—by following the same routine—those tech giants eliminated the precious spare minutes that they might have needed to pick a work outfit. Rigorously following that routine gave them more mental space—and you can do the same thing. Use this graphic to find out how.

 

General

How To Cut Down On Workplace Distractions

Much has been written about the growing problem of the distracted employee who does not complete tasks in a time-effective or focused manner.

There are number of societal and workplace cultural factors at play, and the “problem” of employee distraction can also be reframed as an opportunity to improve employee engagement. For starters, let’s examine some of the reasons people get distracted in the workplace.

People get distracted because they feel bored, they feel disengaged…and often because internal workflow processes are cumbersome, burdensome, outdated, restrictive, inflexible, or otherwise simply do not fit the context they were designed for. They get distracted because their job requires too much multi-tasking, or because they are working longer hours and have external life concerns pressing on them.

Many are under-employed or focusing their time on tasks that others could do far more cost-effectively. Here are some tips for helping employees to sharpen their focus, and for using tech tool to reach performance and output goals.

Encourage them to “eat the frog”

Mark Twain famously said, “eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.”

No matter how hard we try to distribute workloads so that our employees are focused on doing what they enjoy doing more often than not, at best we will only arrive at 80-90% (in a good environment). This means that 10-20% of the time, employees will necessarily be engaged in tasks that make them feel physically or emotionally drained.

These are your “eat the frog” tasks – and they different for every individual. Helping employees frame them this way brings a little levity to the situation – and research shows that people are less anxious and distracted when they get their frog-eating out of the way as the first task. They can then get down to the serious business of enjoying what they do for you.

Use process automation software to streamline work

It is highly likely that your employees are accessing some forms of software packages for e-mail, instant messaging, cloud sharing, calendars, to-do list, mind mapping, and other applications they can access from their desktop or phone. Many of these programs have built-in features that allow for prioritization of work.

More sophisticated versions of project management software, can even replicate high-level scheduling and work prioritization. There are also tools that replicate tasks specific to certain industries. There’s different software tools for invoicing, email marketing, data recovery and just about every other tedious task you can think of.

You should implement these if you have the bandwith. Your employees will be thankful.

Let them design the workflow

Many employees struggle with navigating business processes and systems that were designed for them to use – by someone who never did their job. Worse, they were not consulted in the design, or they inherited the system, or the process once worked but outlived its usefulness in its current form.

Tap into your greatest resource, and let your employees help you identify what should be fixed, and be part of the think tank that fixes it.

Let them switch between tasks to reduce fatigue

Mental, physical, and emotional fatigue are serious issues related to employee disengagement, stress, and burnout. There is evidence from the field of psychology that suggests that deliberate switching of tasks at a set time interval is a far superior strategy to randomly switching back and forth.

Your software platforms or other sophisticated tasklist apps can help you set intervals – 30 minutes on a critical report, 15 minutes to respond to urgent email, let phone go to voice and answer on the hour after a brief walk around the office. Then back to the report, and repeat until finished. Lacking an application, a phone alarm clock will suffice. Even better, if you have an employee assigned to a critical report, assign someone else to cover for them for their simpler tasks.

Otherwise, a person trying to write a report spends 2 minutes on the report, 5 minutes on a phone call, 15 minutes recovering their train of thought, 10 minutes on the report, 3 minutes on the phone, 10 minutes recovering train of thought, etc. Ask anyone who has ever written either a novel or a graduate thesis.

The first strategy may have the “disadvantage” of making people wait a half hour to have their phone call returned, but it will get returned. And the report will actually get written, too. Most importantly- the employee will feel in control of his or her situation and can calmly switch tasks, focusing on what is most important at the moment. Barring actual emergencies, which of course do happen, this is a far more productive strategy.

Let them have unstructured downtime

Employees are people, too. They need time to disengage, and recharge. Instead of policing internet usage for example, allow them to take a few minutes to watch a [suitable for work] video that will brighten their mood. Or take a walk with a camera. Or go to the gym at an odd hour. Or grab a cappuccino with their coworker to run an idea by them. You get the idea.

Unstructured downtime is not just good for business, it is good for human beings, too. Remember that employees only function well when they are healthy. Mental health matters for that, too. You need to give employees time to decompress to cut down on stress and anxiety, otherwise you lose them to mental health disability or another company.

Encourage employee collaboration

Allow employees to offer their expertise to others, and seek others to help think or work through something that is tricky stuck, innovative, boring, or otherwise perfectly suited to collaborative endeavors. Also ditch the “only work within your job description” mentality.

You might be surprised what someone whose hobby is photography, or video game design, or calligraphy- might contribute to your corporate culture and customer service. Providing good communication platforms for employees to find and share with each other is an instant productivity booster.

Encourage process feedback

Many times, something is not working for an employee – but the supervisor does not know about it because the employee does not feel encouraged to speak up about it. Or the supervisor does not communicate it to management. Or management does not take action, etc. Creating a culture conducive to process feedback is an effective way to improve employee focus – because those daily frustrations add up.

An employee is likely to continue giving his or her best if their concerns are listened to, acknowledged, and, most importantly, addressed. An easy way to facilitate this type of feedback is to build it into your business process management software function.

Marketing

8 Ways to Strengthen Your Awesome Brand Online and Offline

1 Comment

Your company’s brand is a work in progress, so it’s important to always look for ways you can improve it. Whether you are refining your messaging, choosing a consistent color scheme, or finding your voice on social media, strengthening your brand is an ongoing project that happens on- and offline.

How to Strengthen Your Brand Online

Learning the most effective ways to do both can help you build a stronger brand for your company overall, which can help you keep your customers coming back while reach out to new ones. Here are a few tips to help you build up your brand online:

1. Blog Frequently

Blogging is crucial for any business seeking to reach new customers online. A well-maintained blog can keep your business at the top of search engines, which makes it easier for potential customers who need the services you offer to find you.

Focus on creating high-quality, engaging and relevant content for your target audience, and add new content regularly. Consider guest blogging on related sites, or extending such an invitation from your site to industry professionals. Your blogs can showcase your expertise to potential customers and could help them decide to seek out your services.

2. Create a Social Media Presence

Social media offers businesses a simple, effective, and low-cost means to stay in touch with their current customers and to reach new ones. Create profiles on the sites most likely to be used by potential customers, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.

You’ll be able to easily share content, post updates about your business, or address complaints as they arise. This can help to build a strong connection between your business and its customers, since they will be able to interact with your business directly and can see that their concerns matter to it.

3. Share Testimonials

A glowing testimonial from a previous customer can provide dividends for your business for years to come, especially if they are famous or well-known in your industry. Many customers determine where they will make a purchase from based on online reviews, and a collection of testimonials could help to win their business.

A testimonial provides your business with social proof and gives potential customers a chance to learn about your services and expertise from people just like them. Ask some of your customers who were especially satisfied to leave you a review, and consider posting them on a special section of your website.

4. Find Your Personality

Consumers today are more likely to frequent a business that has a recognizable personality than one which has a bland or generic voice. It may take some time, but finding your business’s unique voice can help you better connect with customers and provide them with a personalized experience.

Every business is different and will have its own way of appealing to its buyer personas. Take some time to experiment and create a unified voice for all of your communications which speaks to the customers you are trying to attract.

Whether you opt for a snarky, social-media savvy persona perfect for reaching millennials or a more reserved, sophisticated persona which can connect with professionals getting ready for retirement, finding the right voice for your company is crucial to building a successful brand.

How to Strengthen Your Brand Offline

While making effective use of the Internet is crucial to the success of any business, keeping your brand strong offline is just as important. Whether through stunningly designed business cards, elaborate print collateral or full production television commercials, brand strengthening happens at all levels:

5. Define Your Brand (in Opposition to Competitors)

What makes your brand different, or better, from your competitors? If you don’t know this, your customers won’t either. Placing this front and center in any marketing campaign can help you easily distinguish your business. This can also provide inspiration for your marketing efforts.

You’ll be able to highlight some quality of your business which is superior to your competitors, and can inform potential customers of what you have to offer, especially if you are new to the market. Buyers could immediately take an interest in your business and see what you have to offer.

6. Keep Fonts, Colors and Logos Consistent

Your customers need to be able to quickly identify your business from your competitors. The last thing you should do is confuse them with multiple color schemes, too many fonts, or chaotic logos.

Choosing a consistent font, color scheme and logo can help to make your brand more recognizable to customers and can make your own marketing efforts easier. You’ll have fewer moving parts to keep track of and can better build campaigns around a definite aesthetic, feeling or lifestyle, which itself can serve as inspiration for future campaigns.

7. Create Your Niche

Part of what makes a marketing campaign a success is its specificity. Focusing your marketing efforts on baby boomers getting ready for retirement isn’t nearly as effective as focusing on professionals with advanced degrees in the same age group who require financial consulting services to prepare for retirement in the next ten years.

Limitations can prove to be powerful aids when it comes to finding clients, as you’ll be able to automatically filter out many people who won’t be interested in your services, and can instead focus on the handful who are actively looking for your services.

8. Set Deadlines

You could have an endless well of ideas for your marketing campaign, but if none of them come to fruiting, they won’t be worth anything. You can easily spend too much time modifying your original idea to try to cover too many angles at once, and come up with a campaign that lacks a clear focus and which is ineffective at reaching any particular audience.

Setting a deadline can help you focus your efforts on a handful of ideas without losing control of them.

Building your brand is a long-term project, and it’s not uncommon for companies to change their brand multiple times. Don’t be afraid to experiment in order to find the brand that best suits your business, but always make sure each element contributes to a complete experience for your customers.

———————————–

With over 18 years in business, Silkcards specializes in unique and beautiful print that reflects a brand’s image and makes a positive first impression.

Applications, Mobile

This is How Uber Exactly Works & More Interesting Stuff!

 

You don’t call a cab anymore, you call an Uber. The taxi giant has taken the world by storm since its inception in 2009. Started as just another start-up, Uber has now become a synonym for taxi or cabs across the globe.

However, the fascinating part is that it doesn’t even own any taxis that run on the streets under its name.

Uber is basically a mobile application that connects passengers with drivers for here. Let’s try to find out how the app works

  • Requesting a cab: A passenger installs the Uber app on his smartphone and can request for a cab at any time through this app. A passenger has the option to either ride instantly or to schedule the ride for later.
  • Matching: As soon as the passenger makes the request, a notification is sent to a driver who is free and is in the near vicinity. The driver has the option to accept or reject the ride. If the driver accepts the ride, Uber sends the passenger’s details to the driver and the driver’s details to the passenger. The driver then reaches the location of the passenger, picks him up and drops him off at his destination. If, on the other hand, the driver rejects the ride then the notification is sent to another driver who is also in the nearby area.
  • Ride & Tracking: Customers/Passengers can track the cab when it is on its way to pick them up and the ETA is also showed to the passengers on the app screen. The meter starts as soon as the passenger sits in the cab and can be tracked by the passenger as well.
  • Payment: Once the ride gets over, the passenger makes the payment in cash or via online wallets, whichever he prefers.
  • Rating: After the ride, the passenger has the option of rating a driver. Ratings allow other people to know and trust the driver before booking a cab.

To know more about Uber, check out the fun facts filled infographic developed by Unboxing Deals below.

Uber Story