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4 Ideas to Renovate Your Restaurant on a Budget

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | 4 Ideas to Renovate Your Restaurant on a BudgetSo it’s time to renovate your restaurant and your creative juices are flowing steadily. Where to start? From bar stools to wall art, there are ways to change the entire look of your dining room and entrance without breaking the bank. Use these four ideas to renovate your restaurant on a budget.

Murals and Wall Art

Murals and wall art may be among the least expensive ways to renovate your restaurant. You may want to invest in updating your interior walls with interior paint beforehand. Or, you may just want to invest in wall art and murals as your new paint job.

There are several ways that you can do this. A mural as your new interior paint could be so striking that it catches the attention of the entire city. Put out an inexpensive ad when it is done and showcase the artist that did it.

Put the mural in a place that captures attention as soon as people walk in the door. They will be impressed before they even see the menu.

Black is the New Black

If you eat out a lot at places other than your restaurant, you may find that some of the finest places have a lot of black motifs and coloring. Black is the new black. It can be done elegantly. Black walls with dark woods and trims can bring a mood to the place that give your dining room a level of seriousness.

You don’t need to paint a morbid picture here. Black bar stools against a chrome bar with a few plants will give your restaurant a sleek and elegant look.

Speaking of Plants…

If you don’t have a large budget for renovating, bringing some landscaping inside the restaurant is a wonderful way to spruce it up. You can incorporate fresh plants on every table, or in key corners of the restaurant.

A way to do this on a budget is to incorporate large sections of planters that will have one landscape idea. One example of this is by having a long planter with modern grass that could serve as a stress reliever for your diners. A living wall of plants is not only a way to update our space, but also a fascinating conversation piece for your diners. In addition to being beautiful pieces of décor, living walls and planters will also help the air quality of your restaurant.

Layered Lighting

A unique way to manage your lighting in a manner that is en pointe with today’s trends is layered lighting. So you may want to start with ceiling lighting that is track lighting or recessed in the ceiling. Add a layer in the space by hanging wall sconces that are a few inches below that.

You can do the same with a small lamp at each table, accompanied by a candle or two that is a few inches shorter than the lamps. The concept of layered lighting is to provide adequate lighting that creates mood, but also enough lighting for your guests to see what they need to see.

Get Creative

When you are renovating or updating your restaurant, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. A wall mural or new landscaping can change the entire face of your dining room in a very affordable way. New bar stools may be the only thing you need to change the entire look. Get creative, and you will see the expense doesn’t have to be extravagant.

How to Start Your Post-pandemic Financial Spring Cleaning

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Post-pandemic finances|How to Start Your Post-pandemic Financial Spring CleaningAcross the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought nothing but economic volatility, social unrest, and widespread unemployment. The financial challenges have significantly affected the personal finances of millions of people. As vaccines continue to roll out and things are somehow returning to normal for some countries, many are still financially recovering from the recent economic shock.

Despite the many hurdles caused by COVID-19, the financial uncertainty has inspired people to save more and slow down their usual spending habits. Many turn to banks to open savings accounts and earn bigger interests. This gave them a strong financial foundation for their future and stability regardless of the economic situation.

But as businesses are starting to reopen, experts say that people will be spending money to compensate for the lost time during the lockdown. These include things they haven’t done for a while, such as traveling, shopping, and dining out. Whatever adventure you’re planning for these days, it’s still important to have a good hold on your money. To help you in your post-pandemic spending, here are ways to be more financially secure.

Step back before moving forward

Before starting your financial spring cleaning, take time to evaluate how the pandemic affected your family and finances. Think about the financial adjustments you’ve made during the pandemic and decide whether you want to retain or let go of those new habits.

For example, many have to give up gym memberships in exchange for free workout tutorials on YouTube. Would you reapply for a membership or continue working out from home? If you can reap the same results without spending more, you might as well pocket your money.

The same rule applies to those who frequently order fast food meals or dine in at restaurants. Did you learn how to cook a variety of dishes during the pandemic? Will you still order or go out to eat? Or would you rather keep the money?

At the same time, don’t forget to reassess your new spending habits during the pandemic. These habits may include the use of food delivery applications, the knack for online shopping, and other activities that cost you more money. Take time to identify all these behaviors and determine which ones are worth keeping and which ones to let go of.

Stop making comparisons

Did your friend already book a vacation outside the country for the summer? Did you see your neighbor’s Facebook post about their recent kitchen remodeling? Whatever everyone’s doing right now, the last thing you want is to let yourself get drowned from envy. In other words, don’t let comparisons eat you away and your money.

Making comparisons is a slippery slope and won’t do anything good. Doing so will make you start noticing the things you lack and be less grateful for what you currently have.

Social media is the fastest way to get that comparison bug. Instead of minding your own business, you’re wasting time on the newsfeed checking your friend’s latest gadget purchase, the new item from your favorite shoe brand, or a super cool room decor. A few minutes more, and you get a twisted feeling in your gut that makes you feel jealous and miserable at the same time. How wonderful would life get if you had all those things?

Marketing advertisements are designed to make you realize the things you don’t have and make you spend money. Ads show up on your feed because of your previous purchases, search history, and the pages you follow. While it sounds scary, you should be bothered about how these things are making you waste money! To avoid impulsive purchases, limit your time on social media or take a long break.

Delay your purchases

You probably spend a lot of time at home for several months, and you’re now itching to visit a salon, buy a new set of pants, or go out with your favorite people. For many, the end of the pandemic means more time to splurge and make up for the lost time.

Delayed gratification was very common during the lockdown – people learned to delay their purchases to save more money and live a simpler lifestyle. But as things go back to normal, continuing to delay the gratification will help you stop your shopping urges. Give yourself at least one or two days before buying. This will give you enough time to decide if the item is something you really need and worth the money.

Amid the sadness, uncertainty, and global unrest, managing your finances may seem tough. But this only takes minimal effort to reap significant money-saving outcomes, which can put you in a better financial position in the years to come. As the pandemic slowly subsides, use the opportunity to reevaluate your spending habits to live a comfortable life, no matter the situation.

7 Growth strategies to improve your bottom line

StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article |Growth Strategy|7 Growth strategies to improve your bottom lineIn business, it’s all about profit and loss. The numbers are important.

A top line and bottom line is a form of that financial analysis. These names are quite easy to form an idea of their understanding for anyone. The top must mean something positive and the bottom must be some bad news. This presumption is not half wrong.

The top line refers to business growth. It’s a measure of a company’s ability to market and sell its products against its competitors. More revenue means that the company has more to spend on advertising, marketing and new product development.

The bottom line, on the other hand, is a company’s net income, displayed at the bottom, hence the name. It is an important indicator of overall conditions in the company’s target markets. However, mainly businesses want to improve these numbers. And by that they mean, they want to decrease the bottom line which is referencing the operational and overhead costs for the business.

Growing revenues and reducing overhead expenses is the simplest way to improve the bottom line. But a lot can be included in this one statement.

Here are some strategies that can help:

1. Adjust Pricing

A customer wants the cheapest product they can find at peak quality and businesses need revenue. There is always a place for compromise.

Re-evaluate your pricing strategy. If sales are high but revenue is low then increase the prices of products where it is fair to both the business and the consumer. If sales are low then try to analyse the reasons that can be changed and decrease the pricing where there is room.

Analyze the price margins and evaluate if the current prices are truly covering the costs of the overhead. Do periodic research on both, the product and business competitors, to keep the pricing optimum with change.

Make sure you are aware of any fees you are paying for using different payment platforms, as these should be forming part of your pricing structure. If you are unaware of the actual cost of the fees, this can eat into your profits. Use a Paypal fee calculator if you accept payments via Paypal to help you set your pricing.

2. Market Smarter, Not Harder

There are various digital marketing services today that help regulate better marketing strategies for the business. Incorporate them.

This is one way that businesses can increase both the top line and bottom line at the same time. Focus on acquiring only the best customers through social media campaigns, and stop spending money on low-value customers. Do some research, think about who is most likely to benefit from your product or service, and then consider how to reach out to that group of people. Market to those customers that will surely invest in the business, not the masses.

Segmented marketing campaigns have a better chance at bringing in customers to the business rather than untargeted trials. Marketing should always be targeted towards people who are most likely to buy the product or services and generate more sales at less cost.

3. Create Conversions

Once the digital marketing campaigns are drawing traffic to the website, the next main thing to do is to regulate the conversion rates for bottom-line growth. Not all the investment should be done on getting traffic to the page, if there is no conversion then the visits are wasted.

Make the landing pages easy to understand and engaging and cover the same points as the campaign that brought the visitor there. Ensure some or the other form of data or commitment from the visitors so that better campaigns can be channelled to them again.

Do not focus alone on getting traffic on the page, after a point those efforts should be shifted towards conversion. Know the shift, and accordingly, change.

4. Upselling and Cross-selling

Cross-selling and upselling are surely very time-consuming practices but they bring significant improvement to the bottom line. Upselling is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase a comparable higher-end product than the one in question, while cross-selling invites customers to buy related or complementary items.

While finalizing a deal with a new customer, suggest other products or services that the company offers that would go well with what they’ve purchased. Upselling is a little harder to do without seeming greedy so make sure to keep the main goal of providing the best value to the customers clear in mind. Customers should never feel like they’re being sold to.

Cross-selling options are a great way to bring the customer’s attention towards other products that usually complement the one in question. Showing statistics like “usually brought together” or “x% of viewers of this product also looked at this” helps convince them of the purchase subtly and also gives them a sense of community.

5. Tighten Credit terms

Credit terms are simply the time limits businesses set for the customers to pay for their merchandise or services received. These are important because cash flow is very important for a business to sustain. Longer credit terms mean the business will have to wait longer for the cash inflows.

This is why the credit terms of the business should be designed to improve cash flow. Having multiple delinquent client accounts is a sign that a company’s credit terms are too loose. This can seriously affect the bottom line and create cash flow problems.

Try revising the general terms and charging late fees or interest on unpaid invoices. Many businesses try to give customers special discounts and coupon options if they choose prepaid options or pay within a specified period through affordable instalment plans. This provides the customer with an incentive to pay quickly which in turn improves cash flow.
can also encourage clients to reliably send in a check for services rendered.

6. Automation

Sure, robots aren’t taking over yet. There are various steps in business that need improvisation so automation isn’t going to replace manual labour. But that is not to say that automation doesn’t still have many benefits that should all be taken advantage of.

It brings efficient work, integrated systems, and better processes. It reduces errors, reduces delays in the business process, improves the speed of customer service processes and helps provide the rest of the team valuable time to focus on other strategic tasks.

Whatever can be automated or outsourced to a trusted service for less money than the cost of the company’s own time should be automated. Initially, an investment in the technologies that enable automation will look like another expense, but the benefits are cumulative and businesses who embrace workflow automation can see big results in their bottom line.

7. Employee Training

With budgetary restraints, most of the time the first thing to move to the bottom of the list, if not completely off it, is employee training. An underrated protocol that businesses usually overlook. But, it has many long-term benefits that go unnoticed due to ignorance.

Having trained professional employees who know what the scope of their jobs are and who are held accountable for their productivity can save companies thousands of dollars each year. Any employee is a part of the team and should be an enthusiastic brand representative, whether in office or not. A strong training program focuses on developing functional skills, improving company processes and streamlining strategic goals.

It assists in ensuring savvy customer service representatives and productive team members. This also helps businesses to understand and track the employees that excel from the ones that may be underperforming.

Conclusion:

Scheduling time to closely examine all company expenses and business costs can truly help realise where money can be better invested. Always calculating the return on investment for every action can truly make a difference in cutting costs and improving the bottom line.

Explainer Video for Your Business: Do You Really Need It?

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Explainer video|Explainer Video for Your Business: Do You Really Need It?Each second, the internet is flooded with thousands of videos. A study predicts that this year 2021, 80% of the total internet traffic will be from videos. This means you’re missing out on a massive opportunity if you’re not using video in your business.

In today’s digital era, you need to convey your product or service in a way that inspires your target market. But how? The answer lies in an explainer video.

What Is an Explainer Video?

An explainer video is informative and communicates best what your company offers. It’s a small animated video that focuses on explaining different types of problems, businesses, or products and services in a simple way. Explainer videos help break down ideas to make them easier to digest.

Imagine how boring it’d be to start talking about the black hole in a traditional way. Your viewers will be leaving before you make your point. In fact, according to Insivia, explainer videos are the most efficient way to communicate a new product’s concept to a potential customer.

Why Your Company Needs Explainer Videos?

Basically, explainer videos come in a complete package that combines moving texts, graphics, animation, or any other form of communication you like to use to describe your business.

Let’s have a look at these four reasons why businesses prefer choosing an explainer video.

1. Grab Attention

Being able to grab someone’s attention in today’s age is an asset in marketing. It’s incredibly difficult to get notice of your target audience. It becomes even harder as a report supports that a human’s attention span is less than a goldfish.

So, to catch the attention of your desired target audience, you’ll need enticing video than traditional web content. When you look at a compelling animated video, it catches your interest and commands you to watch. It’s because the animation in an explainer video awakened your curiosity.

2. Explain Complex Topics

It’s hard to explain every product or service easily as it includes some technical aspects that require a detailed explanation. This is where explainer videos come in. They encourage the viewers to purchase the product by making them understand its use.

Survey says that around 98% of people learned something after watching explainer videos. An animated explainer video lets your audience have fun watching your characters facing problems and how they solve them through your product or service.

3. Retain Information in Customers’ Minds

There’s no point in creating videos if your potential customers don’t get what you’re trying to say. But if you use explainer videos, you can take advantage of its high retention rate. According to a case study, an explainer video of less than a minute has a 77% retention rate.

If you include a valuable message with your animated explainer video, conversion rates will increase. It will break down the concept or process for your audience and stick to your viewer’s minds. In addition, the viewers will share what they’ve learned due to a higher retention rate, either through word-of-mouth promotion or social media.

4. Increase Search Engine Rankings

Embedding explainer videos can significantly increase website traffic — the most critical factor that determines your success online. If you have no site viewers on your website, you can’t expect more sales to come in the future.

Google likes video. That if you search for a term, you’ll likely see a list of videos on the first page of results. Your website will get plenty of love from Google, and you’ll see a spike in organic traffic if you integrate high-quality types of videos in your page.

Around 1 out of 4 online buyers say that they look for a YouTube video online before purchasing. So if you have an interesting animation video on YouTube, then integrate it on your website, users will spend more time viewing your page. This will give more positive signals to search engines, boosting your site rankings and organic traffic.

Another good thing about organic traffic is that they’re free (you don’t pay for them through paid ads) and are highly targeted visitors. This means there’s a higher chance to engage them with your video content and lead them to buy your products if it gives them value.

Outsourcing the Video Production Process

Video production isn’t only about learning to use specific software. You need to be a master of storytelling, animation, writing a script, and many more. If you don’t have the right skills and experience in your arsenal, you must consider outsourcing the video production task.

If you’re handling different businesses and are short on time, a good video production company like www.dreamengine.com.au has the knowledge and skills to speed up video production. Outsourcing the creation of your explainer video lets you focus on other aspects of your business while a professional videographer is doing the work for you

Diversify Your Marketing Channels

Now that you what an explainer video can do to leverage your marketing strategy. It’s up tointo you to decide whether you really need it or not. But with its tons of benefits, it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t be using an explainer video to diversify your different promotional channels in your business.

Pipe Bending Across the Industries: 6 Practical Applications

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Pipe Bending|Pipe Bending Across the Industries: 6 Practical ApplicationsPipe bending is a metal machining process used to form pipes into permanent shapes. It’s one of the most common post-fabrication procedures, so many people take it for granted. However, pipe bending plays an essential role in manufacturing products for use across a wide variety of industries. Read on to find out about six practical applications for pipe bending.

Pipe Bending in the Aerospace Industry

The aerospace industry faces a lot of challenges because it’s very important to fabricate durable, strong bends that exceed standard specifications. Aerospace companies use pipe bending to produce everything from hydraulic and fuel lines to exhaust systems and even seat frames. Aerospace manufacturers need to work with industry experts like Webco Industries that can provide precision services to ensure that their parts meet industry specifications.

Pipe Bending in the Automotive Industry

Carmakers also use pipe bending to manufacture a wide variety of components, from interior parts to cranking fuel lines. They also need parts manufactured with great precision, but to complicate matters even further, automakers tend to have high-volume demands. Automotive pipe bending is used to make complex exhaust components, hydraulic lines, and other systems designed to fit into amazingly tight places.

Pipe Bending in the Heavy-Duty Truck Industry

Like cars, heavy-duty trucks feature a good deal of specialized piping. Small and precise radius bends are the order of the day, and heavy-duty truck designers tend to use heavier, more difficult-to-bend piping materials like 409 or 304 stainless steel to manufacture fuel lines, engine tubes structural components, and custom fabrications. Because many of the pipes used in heavy-duty trucks are especially large, they must be bent using specialized machines.

Pipe Bending in the Shipbuilding Industry

Shipbuilders use this machining process to create specialized parts designed for marine use. Pipe bending is by far the best way to manufacture hydraulic, fuel, and water lines and the massive exhaust systems used in large merchant vessels. However, even small ships usually feature multiple systems that utilize bent pipes.

Pipe Bending in the Construction Industry

Bent pipes are used extensively in the construction industry. They may be featured in HVAC systems as refrigeration pipes, as structural components in modern buildings, and as architectural accents. Although construction industry clients don’t tend to require the level of precision associated with the automotive and transport industries, they should still work with specialized metal manufacturers who can create bent pipes that will meet their specifications perfectly.

Pipe Bending in the Oil and Gas Industry

The oil and gas industries rely heavily on piping for everything from fuel extraction to safe transport. The pipes used in these industries must be able to withstand extreme environments and exposure to chemicals, which places some limits on the types of materials they can use to fabricate bent pipes. Whether fuel suppliers plan to drill offshore or at mainland oil rigs, they need to work with a metal fabricator capable of bending heavy-duty, corrosion-resistant pipes that will withstand the test of time.

Find a Metal Machining Company That Can Do It All

No matter what industry a client works in, it’s important to find a metal machining company that boasts a full array of pipe bending equipment that can process pipes and tubes of all sizes made from even the most durable materials. When in doubt, ask about the company’s experience working with similar clients to make sure they understand the exact industry standards and requirements.