Traditional vs digital marketing, which is better? Neither is. The fact is, you should be using both.
Used right, your traditional marketing campaigns will boost your digital marketing success and vice versa. The only way to achieve maximum marketing success is to use both strategies.
How is this accomplished? Find out below.
The following guide will explain the relationship between these two different marketing strategies. It also offers practical tips and examples of how to make these two beasts cooperate for greater success than you’ve ever seen!
Read on to learn all about it.
Printed Links
Lesson 1: stop thinking “links” are just for digital content. They’re not.
All of your printed ads should always “link” your audience to your digital campaigns in some way. We’ll explain with a few practical examples below.
Print With QR Codes
With QR technology, your magazine ads and advertising signs within public reach can literally link to a digital advertising platform. You can and probably should include a QR code on every printed ad your audience can aim a phone at.
What should these codes do? More important is what they can do. They can fulfill any digital CTA you can imagine.
“Scan here to join!” “Order here to get yours in 3 days!” “Download the app and get 10% off your next visit!”
Besides, why wouldn’t you do this? People love to scan codes for digital goodies. According to recent statistics, 11 million US households will scan a QR code this year.
Geotarget Your Digital Campaigns Through Print
One of the best applications of this technology is the ability to geotarget your digital campaigns via your printed ads. Simply have billboards and sign ads in a specific location point traffic to one of your digital ad campaigns.
This way, you can have your digital campaign reach the geographically-specific audience you want to target. Or, at least, it significantly increases your chances beyond locally-targeted online ads alone.
Furthermore, you can combine digital geotargeting with your billboards for a marketing double-whammy. That is, set your geotargeted digital ads to display on mobile devices in the same vicinity as your billboard to make sure you don’t miss anyone.
Alternative Digital Invites in Print
With or without QR codes, you can use your print ads to get the word out about your SMS marketing club. As an alternative to a QR invitation, simply print a text code. Example: “Text YES to 0403 for more information/to receive exclusive discounts/to hear the latest updates.”
You can also refer your print ad audience to your web address or YouTube channel. Or post a hashtag phrase at the bottom of your poster to link it to your social media marketing strategies.
From Your Website to Their Door
Now, let’s try linking in the opposite direction. Direct mail marketing gives you a better chance of marketing success with your website traffic. Specifically, it gives them one more option of how to receive your marketing messages.
Next to your website’s email newsletter signup, include an invitation for your printed newsletter. You can also offer catalogs, weekly sales ads, coupon books, or magazines with exciting content related to your brand and niche. You may even want to partner up with one or more other companies on a mutually beneficial publication.
Traditional vs Digital Marketing: It’s Not a Choice
“Traditional vs digital marketing” is a marketing myth. It’s an agreement, not a competition.
Stop choosing one or the other. Choose both. To truly excel at marketing, keep this guide and follow these tips.
If you found this guide helpful, click below to share on social media.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/Traditional-vs-Digital-Marketing-Why-You-Dont-Have-to-Choose.jpeg11252000StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-17 16:00:282020-02-17 14:58:39Traditional vs Digital Marketing: Why You Don’t Have to Choose
Every day there are hundreds of new start-ups getting ready to launch. It has never been a more perfect time to test your ideas than now.
Entrepreneurship, owning a small business, or even going freelancing, is exciting and has never been more possible than it is now. There are a few key things that you should have in place before you launch a start-up, or at the very least, consider the implications for your business.
There is almost nothing that you can’t have as a service right now, from cloud solutions to fax from email. All of these things will make running your business easier and more manageable.
You can set almost anything up from the comfort of your own home, or if you prefer the local coffee shop. You don’t even necessarily need more than a few hundred dollars or less. Here are some essentials that you should consider.
Team
While you might be starting a business entirely by yourself, or simply freelancing, you still are going to need a team. It is important to note that this team could be a list of incredible tools to help you do your job better.
Or it could be things like a virtual assistant, managed IT, or other friend answers that have skills that you don’t. This will allow you to take on much bigger jobs earlier on. Are you likely to know a few people who fit the bill, so have a chat earlier on and see if they would be prepared to get involved with projects that much their skill sets.
Project Management
You are going to be in charge of all of the projects. Until that is, you reach such a point where you need a project manager to help you stay on track. Luckily there are plenty of online project management tools that can help you manage a team of freelancers, schedules, timekeeping, and even invoicing. Some of them provide much of the services for free.
You’ll need to decide what really suits what you’re doing. When it comes to taking things like meetings, you can do this via Skype and FaceTime. Many of these tools are free or offer a free limited option, which means there is no excuse for ducking a meeting.
Online
The very basic of letting people contact you, see your portfolio, learn more about you will be your online presence. The first thing you want to do is claim a domain name. Try to use something easy to remember, relates to your business, can also be used on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites.
You can typically purchase a domain name from the same place as you intend to have your website hosted. You may decide you do not need a full website package because you can build a website yourself. This is entirely possible with some of the easy-to-use drag-and-drop options or the 1-Click installs from WordPress.
Try to ensure that when you purchase hosting and domain name, you also have email inboxes, support, and access to your Cpanel.
Having all of the basics like these, your tools, your website, and some people in mind that you can work with will mean that you are more likely to start off on the right foot. Laying good business foundations will keep your business stronger through shaky times. Entrepreneurship, freelancing, and small business ownership is exciting but deserves planning and time.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/kelly-sikkema-xoU52jUVUXA-unsplash.jpg9181600StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-16 11:00:412020-02-16 12:18:233 Essentials For Your Start-Up
When people start a business, they all head into it with a mindset of owning an empire that sees growth years on year. Now, unfortunately, reaching the level of a global empire isn’t something many of us will achieve, but there is no reason we cannot see constant growth throughout the years.
In this post, we are going to be looking at some very simple things you can do with your business that can show enormous amounts of growth very quickly.
Why You Are Not Growing
If you have noticed that your business has reached a point where it has hit a metaphorical wall, then the time has come that you need to acknowledge that something is wrong with your business and needs changing.
One of the main issues is possibly that you are allocating your business funding correctly, and you are more than likely spending too much. While you may plan your spending carefully, more often than not, most businesses tend to spend money on things that they just don’t need to.
In the next section, we are going to be looking at a few of these, and hopefully, you will be able make a few changes that see your business start to grow overnight.
Stop Doing Everything
One of the biggest mistakes that businesses seem to make today is that they believe they have to have every department in house. While it used to be the way that your business would require many different departments, the modern world has a solution for this.
You can now take some of your most expensive departments and look at outsourcing them. You can easily find managed IT services and even outside call handlers. If you think logically, you can save up to 80% of your yearly wage budget by simply outsourcing some of your departments.
For many companies, this is a huge amount of cash, once you tackle this problem, think how much your margins change overnight.
Save On The Small Stuff
Other areas you can minimize are things like your workspace and your bills. There are many businesses now opting for shared office complexes. By taking on one of these, you lose the massive bills that come with leasing an office building, and you just pay a set rate monthly.
These complexes are often frowned upon, but the truth is that often they promote so much more productivity than your regular office, and the atmosphere is always amazing.
Sure, these solutions may seem incredibly simple, but you should realize that put together, they can take your business to brand new levels of success. If you are truly looking to make a difference to your end of year figures, then both of these can get you well on your way.
You may also find that once you have started, you will find brand new ways to save money. Just remember, just because you are minimizing doesn’t mean you are failing, it simply means you are thinking outside of the box.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/person-writing-on-notebook-669615-3.jpg10601600StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-16 09:00:052020-03-22 14:39:13How To Minimize Your Business To Maximize Growth
Helping support your staff more in the business can be really beneficial to your company. Looking after your employees and making sure they’re happy at all times is the secret to a productive work environment. Here are some ways to help support your staff more when they’re working for your business.
Listen To Their Needs
Their needs should always come first, and as a result, you’ll likely see a change in the way they see the company and the respect they have for you as an employer. Listening to their needs and what they want can be done in a number of ways, the most important being through regular meetings with them on a one-to-one basis. This can be helpful in getting them to talk through their concerns or what they want to change. If they’re seen as a valued member of staff, rather than just a number, that’s going to help build work relations across the company. Try to change what you can in order to make their working environment more enjoyable at all times. Obviously, not everything can be honored, but at least you’re trying.
Improve IT Services
IT problems tend to be something that a lot of businesses have a problem with, and if there are problems with your equipment and staff workstations, then you’ll find productivity levels are going to dip. Staff need to be able to get on with their work with little distractions or disruptions. Otherwise, you’ll find the concentration for them to continue with their work will be severely depleted. IT services & support are in constant supply, so if your current situation isn’t working for you, look at other companies who might be able to help.
Encourage A Work-Life Balance
A work-life balance is one thing that many of your staff members will probably want in life. After all, we spend so much of our time working, it’s important that we are able to get the most out of life outside of work too. Try to encourage a better work-life balance and change the benefits that some of your staff might not currently be getting. A mental health day can be good for those who need a break every now and then to reset the batteries. Being flexible with working from home can also help.
Assist With Company Progression
Company progression might be on the cards for some of your employees, and so if they wish to rise through the ranks, it’s good to help them in whatever way possible. That might be offering them extra training or courses to improve their resume, and it might also be offering promotions and career opportunities both inside and out of the company.
Supporting your staff as a company is important to maintaining happiness levels and overall job satisfaction. So, keep working on ways to make the working environment better. Improve job prospects and encourage a good balance of work and personal life. Improve what’s not working properly and listen to their needs whenever you can.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/group-of-people-standing-beside-chalk-board-3184394.jpg10671600StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-15 15:00:002020-02-15 14:55:22Ways To Help Support Your Staff More
If you’ve never heard of a mentorship program, look no further.
Mentorship programs are often overlooked by business owners because they’re seen as an expense instead of a beneficial investment. You should understand the importance of mentorship because it will help you and your company.
Mentors can provide a plethora of benefits to employees and business owners that allow them to make better decisions and improve their workspace. This will allow any business owner to earn more money in the long run.
Keep on reading to learn more about mentorship programs and what they can do for your business!
What Is a Mentor?
A mentor is someone that can enter a company and guide both the employees and owners. They act as the eyes and ears of the operations because they’re constantly involved with employees and see what goes on daily.
Depending on the size of a company, there may be multiple mentors. The more employees you have, the more mentors you’ll want so that everyone can get mentored equally.
Mentors typically go to school to learn how to deal with people. They’re effective at providing support to others and giving business recommendations when needed. You can learn more about the experience that mentors have if you’re interested in hiring them.
Asking Questions and Getting Advice
One of the main benefits of mentorship programs is that they allow employees to ask a question and get advice whenever they need assistance.
Many employees, especially newer ones, struggle to get the hang of things when they enter a new job. This is because they’ll go through a standard training procedure that all employees do and will be expected to start working efficiently right away.
The problem with this is that each role needs to be trained in a certain way so that employees aren’t confused about what their job is.
Bringing in someone to mentor employees will ensure that they do their jobs consistently and effectively because they’ll have someone that’s always available to answer questions.
Receiving a Different Perspective
It’s important to hear from another perspective before deciding to do something because it helps you guarantee that what you’re doing makes sense.
One of the mentorship program goals that most programs have is to provide unbiased and useful information. Whether a business owner or an employee is looking to hear from someone else, a mentor can give them their thoughts and explain other scenarios.
Improving Key Skills
The main purpose of mentoring is to guide someone through a process by helping them improve their key skills.
If you have a new IT employee that doesn’t know how to repair a broken motherboard, a mentor can show them what they need to do. In this case, the mentor would act as a trainer.
Should your employees constantly complain about not knowing how to do things, your mentors will tell you how you can make the training process better.
Venting with a Trusted Person
Although a mentor will often assist employees with tasks, they’ll also be a person that employees can go to when they want to vent. If an employee feels as though they can’t express themselves, you’ll usually see a decline in their work because they’ll feel stressed.
Similar to a counselor-patient relationship, mentors won’t disclose the personal information that’s shared between them and the person they’re mentoring.
Expanding Networks
Mentors give employees and business owners the opportunity to expand their networks by introducing them to new people. Most mentors have worked with several companies, so they can give you contact details and mention you to others.
Even inside a business, a mentor can expand a new employee’s network by introducing them to other coworkers. It’s common for employees to not know everyone within a company, especially if it’s larger.
This benefits business owners because they can start partnering with other companies, and it benefits employees because they’ll be able to interact with more people and feel included.
Methods and Strategies
Every business has a set of methods and strategies that they employ to fulfill their services. A mentor can drill these things into employees, making them better employees as they won’t feel lost when they’re working.
If a strategy is outdated or isn’t working as effectively as it should, mentors will make recommendations to improve the system. They’ll have a better idea of what’s working because they’ll be interacting with various employees daily.
Confidence to Make Better Decisions
Having a mentor gives employees the confidence to make better decisions because they’ll know they can fall back on someone if they mess up.
Their guidance encourages employees to make bolder decisions, even if there’s a lot of risks involved. They’ll do the same with a business owner that’s struggling to decide on something.
Start Looking Into Mentorship Programs Today
Investing in a mentorship program is one of the best things you can do as a business owner because you’ll save a lot of time and money in the process. Instead of having to deal with employees when they’re stressed or don’t know what to do on the job, a mentor will take care of that.
If you own a business, we encourage you to start looking into mentorship programs in your area to help you take your business to another level. You’ll quickly notice that the company is more productive, ultimately allowing you to maximize your profits.
Browse our articles to learn more about mentorship programs and other business ideas.
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Business Programs
Traditional vs Digital Marketing: Why You Don’t Have to Choose
/in Online Marketing and Website Development/by StrategyDrivenUsed right, your traditional marketing campaigns will boost your digital marketing success and vice versa. The only way to achieve maximum marketing success is to use both strategies.
How is this accomplished? Find out below.
The following guide will explain the relationship between these two different marketing strategies. It also offers practical tips and examples of how to make these two beasts cooperate for greater success than you’ve ever seen!
Read on to learn all about it.
Printed Links
Lesson 1: stop thinking “links” are just for digital content. They’re not.
All of your printed ads should always “link” your audience to your digital campaigns in some way. We’ll explain with a few practical examples below.
Print With QR Codes
With QR technology, your magazine ads and advertising signs within public reach can literally link to a digital advertising platform. You can and probably should include a QR code on every printed ad your audience can aim a phone at.
What should these codes do? More important is what they can do. They can fulfill any digital CTA you can imagine.
“Scan here to join!” “Order here to get yours in 3 days!” “Download the app and get 10% off your next visit!”
Besides, why wouldn’t you do this? People love to scan codes for digital goodies. According to recent statistics, 11 million US households will scan a QR code this year.
Geotarget Your Digital Campaigns Through Print
One of the best applications of this technology is the ability to geotarget your digital campaigns via your printed ads. Simply have billboards and sign ads in a specific location point traffic to one of your digital ad campaigns.
This way, you can have your digital campaign reach the geographically-specific audience you want to target. Or, at least, it significantly increases your chances beyond locally-targeted online ads alone.
Furthermore, you can combine digital geotargeting with your billboards for a marketing double-whammy. That is, set your geotargeted digital ads to display on mobile devices in the same vicinity as your billboard to make sure you don’t miss anyone.
Alternative Digital Invites in Print
With or without QR codes, you can use your print ads to get the word out about your SMS marketing club. As an alternative to a QR invitation, simply print a text code. Example: “Text YES to 0403 for more information/to receive exclusive discounts/to hear the latest updates.”
You can also refer your print ad audience to your web address or YouTube channel. Or post a hashtag phrase at the bottom of your poster to link it to your social media marketing strategies.
From Your Website to Their Door
Now, let’s try linking in the opposite direction. Direct mail marketing gives you a better chance of marketing success with your website traffic. Specifically, it gives them one more option of how to receive your marketing messages.
Next to your website’s email newsletter signup, include an invitation for your printed newsletter. You can also offer catalogs, weekly sales ads, coupon books, or magazines with exciting content related to your brand and niche. You may even want to partner up with one or more other companies on a mutually beneficial publication.
Traditional vs Digital Marketing: It’s Not a Choice
“Traditional vs digital marketing” is a marketing myth. It’s an agreement, not a competition.
Stop choosing one or the other. Choose both. To truly excel at marketing, keep this guide and follow these tips.
If you found this guide helpful, click below to share on social media.
3 Essentials For Your Start-Up
/in Starting Your Business/by StrategyDrivenEvery day there are hundreds of new start-ups getting ready to launch. It has never been a more perfect time to test your ideas than now.
Entrepreneurship, owning a small business, or even going freelancing, is exciting and has never been more possible than it is now. There are a few key things that you should have in place before you launch a start-up, or at the very least, consider the implications for your business.
There is almost nothing that you can’t have as a service right now, from cloud solutions to fax from email. All of these things will make running your business easier and more manageable.
You can set almost anything up from the comfort of your own home, or if you prefer the local coffee shop. You don’t even necessarily need more than a few hundred dollars or less. Here are some essentials that you should consider.
Team
While you might be starting a business entirely by yourself, or simply freelancing, you still are going to need a team. It is important to note that this team could be a list of incredible tools to help you do your job better.
Or it could be things like a virtual assistant, managed IT, or other friend answers that have skills that you don’t. This will allow you to take on much bigger jobs earlier on. Are you likely to know a few people who fit the bill, so have a chat earlier on and see if they would be prepared to get involved with projects that much their skill sets.
Project Management
You are going to be in charge of all of the projects. Until that is, you reach such a point where you need a project manager to help you stay on track. Luckily there are plenty of online project management tools that can help you manage a team of freelancers, schedules, timekeeping, and even invoicing. Some of them provide much of the services for free.
You’ll need to decide what really suits what you’re doing. When it comes to taking things like meetings, you can do this via Skype and FaceTime. Many of these tools are free or offer a free limited option, which means there is no excuse for ducking a meeting.
Online
The very basic of letting people contact you, see your portfolio, learn more about you will be your online presence. The first thing you want to do is claim a domain name. Try to use something easy to remember, relates to your business, can also be used on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites.
You can typically purchase a domain name from the same place as you intend to have your website hosted. You may decide you do not need a full website package because you can build a website yourself. This is entirely possible with some of the easy-to-use drag-and-drop options or the 1-Click installs from WordPress.
Try to ensure that when you purchase hosting and domain name, you also have email inboxes, support, and access to your Cpanel.
Having all of the basics like these, your tools, your website, and some people in mind that you can work with will mean that you are more likely to start off on the right foot. Laying good business foundations will keep your business stronger through shaky times. Entrepreneurship, freelancing, and small business ownership is exciting but deserves planning and time.
How To Minimize Your Business To Maximize Growth
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenWhen people start a business, they all head into it with a mindset of owning an empire that sees growth years on year. Now, unfortunately, reaching the level of a global empire isn’t something many of us will achieve, but there is no reason we cannot see constant growth throughout the years.
In this post, we are going to be looking at some very simple things you can do with your business that can show enormous amounts of growth very quickly.
Why You Are Not Growing
If you have noticed that your business has reached a point where it has hit a metaphorical wall, then the time has come that you need to acknowledge that something is wrong with your business and needs changing.
One of the main issues is possibly that you are allocating your business funding correctly, and you are more than likely spending too much. While you may plan your spending carefully, more often than not, most businesses tend to spend money on things that they just don’t need to.
In the next section, we are going to be looking at a few of these, and hopefully, you will be able make a few changes that see your business start to grow overnight.
Stop Doing Everything
One of the biggest mistakes that businesses seem to make today is that they believe they have to have every department in house. While it used to be the way that your business would require many different departments, the modern world has a solution for this.
You can now take some of your most expensive departments and look at outsourcing them. You can easily find managed IT services and even outside call handlers. If you think logically, you can save up to 80% of your yearly wage budget by simply outsourcing some of your departments.
For many companies, this is a huge amount of cash, once you tackle this problem, think how much your margins change overnight.
Save On The Small Stuff
Other areas you can minimize are things like your workspace and your bills. There are many businesses now opting for shared office complexes. By taking on one of these, you lose the massive bills that come with leasing an office building, and you just pay a set rate monthly.
These complexes are often frowned upon, but the truth is that often they promote so much more productivity than your regular office, and the atmosphere is always amazing.
Sure, these solutions may seem incredibly simple, but you should realize that put together, they can take your business to brand new levels of success. If you are truly looking to make a difference to your end of year figures, then both of these can get you well on your way.
You may also find that once you have started, you will find brand new ways to save money. Just remember, just because you are minimizing doesn’t mean you are failing, it simply means you are thinking outside of the box.
Ways To Help Support Your Staff More
/in Managing Your People, Talent Management/by StrategyDrivenHelping support your staff more in the business can be really beneficial to your company. Looking after your employees and making sure they’re happy at all times is the secret to a productive work environment. Here are some ways to help support your staff more when they’re working for your business.
Listen To Their Needs
Their needs should always come first, and as a result, you’ll likely see a change in the way they see the company and the respect they have for you as an employer. Listening to their needs and what they want can be done in a number of ways, the most important being through regular meetings with them on a one-to-one basis. This can be helpful in getting them to talk through their concerns or what they want to change. If they’re seen as a valued member of staff, rather than just a number, that’s going to help build work relations across the company. Try to change what you can in order to make their working environment more enjoyable at all times. Obviously, not everything can be honored, but at least you’re trying.
Improve IT Services
IT problems tend to be something that a lot of businesses have a problem with, and if there are problems with your equipment and staff workstations, then you’ll find productivity levels are going to dip. Staff need to be able to get on with their work with little distractions or disruptions. Otherwise, you’ll find the concentration for them to continue with their work will be severely depleted. IT services & support are in constant supply, so if your current situation isn’t working for you, look at other companies who might be able to help.
Encourage A Work-Life Balance
A work-life balance is one thing that many of your staff members will probably want in life. After all, we spend so much of our time working, it’s important that we are able to get the most out of life outside of work too. Try to encourage a better work-life balance and change the benefits that some of your staff might not currently be getting. A mental health day can be good for those who need a break every now and then to reset the batteries. Being flexible with working from home can also help.
Assist With Company Progression
Company progression might be on the cards for some of your employees, and so if they wish to rise through the ranks, it’s good to help them in whatever way possible. That might be offering them extra training or courses to improve their resume, and it might also be offering promotions and career opportunities both inside and out of the company.
Supporting your staff as a company is important to maintaining happiness levels and overall job satisfaction. So, keep working on ways to make the working environment better. Improve job prospects and encourage a good balance of work and personal life. Improve what’s not working properly and listen to their needs whenever you can.
Why Professional Mentorship is a Highly Underrated Business Tool
/in Managing Your People, Talent Management/by StrategyDrivenMentorship programs are often overlooked by business owners because they’re seen as an expense instead of a beneficial investment. You should understand the importance of mentorship because it will help you and your company.
Mentors can provide a plethora of benefits to employees and business owners that allow them to make better decisions and improve their workspace. This will allow any business owner to earn more money in the long run.
Keep on reading to learn more about mentorship programs and what they can do for your business!
What Is a Mentor?
A mentor is someone that can enter a company and guide both the employees and owners. They act as the eyes and ears of the operations because they’re constantly involved with employees and see what goes on daily.
Depending on the size of a company, there may be multiple mentors. The more employees you have, the more mentors you’ll want so that everyone can get mentored equally.
Mentors typically go to school to learn how to deal with people. They’re effective at providing support to others and giving business recommendations when needed. You can learn more about the experience that mentors have if you’re interested in hiring them.
Asking Questions and Getting Advice
One of the main benefits of mentorship programs is that they allow employees to ask a question and get advice whenever they need assistance.
Many employees, especially newer ones, struggle to get the hang of things when they enter a new job. This is because they’ll go through a standard training procedure that all employees do and will be expected to start working efficiently right away.
The problem with this is that each role needs to be trained in a certain way so that employees aren’t confused about what their job is.
Bringing in someone to mentor employees will ensure that they do their jobs consistently and effectively because they’ll have someone that’s always available to answer questions.
Receiving a Different Perspective
It’s important to hear from another perspective before deciding to do something because it helps you guarantee that what you’re doing makes sense.
One of the mentorship program goals that most programs have is to provide unbiased and useful information. Whether a business owner or an employee is looking to hear from someone else, a mentor can give them their thoughts and explain other scenarios.
Improving Key Skills
The main purpose of mentoring is to guide someone through a process by helping them improve their key skills.
If you have a new IT employee that doesn’t know how to repair a broken motherboard, a mentor can show them what they need to do. In this case, the mentor would act as a trainer.
Should your employees constantly complain about not knowing how to do things, your mentors will tell you how you can make the training process better.
Venting with a Trusted Person
Although a mentor will often assist employees with tasks, they’ll also be a person that employees can go to when they want to vent. If an employee feels as though they can’t express themselves, you’ll usually see a decline in their work because they’ll feel stressed.
Similar to a counselor-patient relationship, mentors won’t disclose the personal information that’s shared between them and the person they’re mentoring.
Expanding Networks
Mentors give employees and business owners the opportunity to expand their networks by introducing them to new people. Most mentors have worked with several companies, so they can give you contact details and mention you to others.
Even inside a business, a mentor can expand a new employee’s network by introducing them to other coworkers. It’s common for employees to not know everyone within a company, especially if it’s larger.
This benefits business owners because they can start partnering with other companies, and it benefits employees because they’ll be able to interact with more people and feel included.
Methods and Strategies
Every business has a set of methods and strategies that they employ to fulfill their services. A mentor can drill these things into employees, making them better employees as they won’t feel lost when they’re working.
If a strategy is outdated or isn’t working as effectively as it should, mentors will make recommendations to improve the system. They’ll have a better idea of what’s working because they’ll be interacting with various employees daily.
Confidence to Make Better Decisions
Having a mentor gives employees the confidence to make better decisions because they’ll know they can fall back on someone if they mess up.
Their guidance encourages employees to make bolder decisions, even if there’s a lot of risks involved. They’ll do the same with a business owner that’s struggling to decide on something.
Start Looking Into Mentorship Programs Today
Investing in a mentorship program is one of the best things you can do as a business owner because you’ll save a lot of time and money in the process. Instead of having to deal with employees when they’re stressed or don’t know what to do on the job, a mentor will take care of that.
If you own a business, we encourage you to start looking into mentorship programs in your area to help you take your business to another level. You’ll quickly notice that the company is more productive, ultimately allowing you to maximize your profits.
Browse our articles to learn more about mentorship programs and other business ideas.