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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article

Top Ways to Promote Your Business

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticleGetting your business to stand out from the rest is something that every company struggles with at some point. With more businesses emerging every day than the last, there is no surprise that this is a struggle that is deepening. However, that doesn’t mean it is impossible. When more people are dealing with the same issues, there are more solutions for businesses of any kind to follow. Whether you are a new start-up hoping to make a storm, or a business giant falling on hard times, there are some old and new tricks you can follow that are the best ways to promote your business.

Flawless website design

When you are thinking of promoting your business, you must always bear in mind that it is not just customers you should be impressing. Investors, clients, prospective employees, and competitors should also be at the forefront of your strategy. Ideally, you should start by visually impressing people. Often, the first thing they will see is your website; moreover, its design. Focus your efforts on building a sleek website that can tell everyone what your business is about from a first glance. You can do this with color, font, and your logo, and it’s best to employ a trusted professional to help achieve your vision.

Regular blog posts

Content marketing is one of the oldest methods of promoting a business. The reason it has stuck around is that it works. If you put out regular content related to business practices and your company’s relation to the wider world, you will be able to put a more human face to your brand. Where content used to mean just the written word, it has now moved on to include high-quality images, sound and video, which you can use to connect with readers more. These are also an excellent way to bolster an ethical message, which is an important business feature in today’s world.

Social media

Having great content is always a plus, but it means nothing if you don’t promote it on social media, as SEO only does half the work. As a tool which is becoming increasingly hard to ignore, you should make sure your business has a presence on every social media platform appropriate to your business, even the smaller ones. Once there, you can engage with your target market, and run advertising campaigns that are guaranteed to help your business make a name for itself. When it comes to selling a product or service, it becomes even more useful.

Marketing influencers

Businesses have always made use of marketing influencers, where they partner with people who can promote their brand or products on different platforms. Where it used to mean having contacts within the press, it now also alludes to those who have a big online following. From bloggers to social media influencers, there are many people you can contact that can promote your product for either a small cut of the business profits or simply a free product. Sometimes, this helps you reach a much larger audience, but it will also ensure your conversion rate is much higher.

Good customer service

It seems that social media is shaping the way businesses promote themselves, and customer service is no exception. Although it’s wise to have customer service providers active on telephones and via email, there are some other ways you can connect with customers. Social media allows businesses to engage with customers in a more efficient, friendly way. There is no better publicity for a business than your customers going on to tell their family and friends about the great care they have received. Make sure you capitalize on this the most by making use of instant messaging services like WhatsApp.

Build a community

Building an online community has never been easier with innovations like social media, but you should also build one in your local area. If your business has humble roots, you should make sure you never pull yourself away from these. Holding charity days and promotional events are just a few ways you can maintain your community at home. Even better is if you document these days on your blog, as this will encourage your online community to grow even more after connecting emotionally with your brand.

An effective pitch

You will be aware of the business ideal of always having an elevator pitch saved in your head. Before you can start giving your pitch out to investors, it’s wise to make sure it’s polished, snappy, and effective. Sitting down and working this pitch out may seem tedious, but you never know when you need to pitch your business. It often happens in times you don’t expect, hence the nickname of being an elevator pitch. If you have a pitch that works, you can successfully promote your business to investors and business partners alike.

Networking

This pitch should also be reserved for special networking events, where you can promote your business to a wide range of prospective investors. It is also great to have if you want to do a one-off partnership with another business. At such events, you should remain cool and collected, but it is also essential to take promotional products with you. Having the right ones made by expert companies such as Dynamic Gift will ensure that anybody you meet is reminded of your business long after you have met them. They are also great to give out to your target consumer market at promotional events.

Free samples or trials

Consumers love free products in all their forms; giving out promotional ones like pens and bags is a great start. What they also love is having free samples of products and free trials of services. These are a great talking point and will create a handy ripple effect among your target market’s friends and family. If they like what they are using, they will more likely talk about it online and come back for more. If they don’t, you can collect feedback and make the appropriate changes to market your product the next time around.

StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures Article

The Big Picture of Business – Pave and Refine the Company Way, Corporate Culture

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StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures ArticleI was at a service counter, and the clerk was bad-mouthing the customers. “I don’t know what their problem is,” he declared. “Every one of them has a problem today.” He then pointed to others standing in line, not yet having been served. He added that “every one of them has a problem.” No, he has the problem and is projecting it on the paying customers. Each clerk at that company makes their personal behaviors the norms at their desks, and this is one of the largest organizations in America.

As customers, we smile and give positive strokes to those serving us. When you say to a clerk what a beautiful day it is, the lazy ones will reply, “Yes, I can hardly wait to get out of here and enjoy it.” The better response would be: “It is a glorious day because customers like you choose to visit us.”

Customer service must be constantly addressed and improved. Above that, Customer Focused Management needs to be implemented, meaning that all actions and decisions should be tied to customer outcomes. Above that, corporate cultures need to be fine-tuned, in order to avoid situations where customers are put on the defensive or made angry.

Corporate cultures are rarely nurtured. They evolve, meander and veer off course. Biggest cause of the problem is where individuals bring certain demeanors and behaviors to the company, and these traits often erode the positive and pro-active actions.

Warning signs for sluggish corporate cultures:

  • Where people take on negative attitudes.
  • Where employees spend too much time on what is best for them, instead of the customers.
  • Where mid-managers buy the hype of the marketing slogans but stonewall the progress that would enable the company to live up to its claims.

A company’s way is built, nurtured, recognized and implemented. In steering company cultures back on course, I recommend several steps in the process:

  • Discourage street talk, slang and trite phrases out of the mouths of your staff when interfacing with customers.
  • Write your company’s own service lines. Do not harass customers with tired questions like “are you finding everything.” Instead thank them more often and early in the transactions.
  • Declare personal cell phones, on-line shopping and the like to be off-limits in locations where customers are. They cannot see distracted employees, nor should your company tolerate it.
  • Hold training about personal demeanor.
  • Show individuals how they embody the whole of the organization.
  • Cut the weeds who will bring down the standards of the company and cast doubts on your team.
  • Celebrate great customer outcomes.
  • Honor the employees, who in turn honor the organization.
  • Since 92% of all problems in companies stem from poor management decisions, do a better job of training managers to be leaders.
  • Always recognize the Big Picture aspect to all business decisions. Each one influences the other and the whole of the enterprise.
  • Always remember and trust that the customer is king.

Everything we are in business stems from what we’ve been taught or not taught to date. A career is all about devoting resources to amplifying talents and abilities, with relevancy toward a viable end result.

Business evolution is an amalgamation of thoughts, technologies, approaches and commitment of the people, asking such insightful questions as:

  1. What would you like for you and your organization to become?
  2. How important is it to build an organization well, rather than constantly spend time in managing conflict?
  3. Who are the customers?
  4. Do successful corporations operate without a strategy-vision?
  5. Do you and your organization presently have a strategy-vision?
  6. Are businesses really looking for creative ideas? Why?
  7. If no change occurs, is the research and self-reflection worth anything?

Failure to prepare for the future spells certain death for businesses and industries in which they function. The same analogies apply to personal lives, careers and Body of Work. Greater business awareness and heightened self-awareness are compatible and part of a holistic journey of growth.

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article

Promoting Your Business The Right Way

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticlePromoting your Florida business is critical to your long-term success. Good marketing means that people will hear about your business and that adds to your customer base. Before you can get into any complicated marketing tactics, you need to make sure you cover the basics and start off by promoting your business the right way.

The Right Sign

The biggest misconception in business is that only companies that rely on foot traffic need to invest in a good sign. If customers cannot find your business, no matter what you do, then you will have a hard time growing. You need to talk to a reputable Florida sign company to get a professional sign that is not only easy to see, but gives your business some personality as well.

Social Media

Ignoring social media as a business owner in today’s world is the same as ignoring the telephone Yellow Pages in the 70s and 80s. If you were not in the Yellow Pages, then your business did not exist to customers. Social media is free and it is where people go to find the businesses they will buy from. You need a social media presence and you need to be active with your social media accounts.

Word Of Mouth

You could pay for hours of television and radio commercials, but that will not be as effective as getting a small army of people to personally recommend your business to their friends and family members. Create a referral program that gives your customers a small financial reward for recommending your business and you will see your revenues soar.

It takes time to grow a successful business, but it also takes a lot of smart marketing ideas. Before those marketing ideas will take off, you need to focus on the basics. Once you get your business name out there to the right people and create ways for people to easily find your business, your other marketing programs will start adding plenty of revenue to your bottom line.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article

The Importance of Having a Cohesive Marketing Strategy for Promoting Your Business

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticleAs a business owner, your marketing strategy needs to be cohesive if you want to market your business successfully. Here’s why you need to have cohesion as an Internet marketer and some ways you can go about it.

What is Cohesive Marketing?

When we talk about cohesive marketing we are referencing the need to bring all your platforms that promote your business together under one main strategy. This gives you a better return on your investment or ROI and helps to keeps things consistent. In the marketing world, you can’t just fling out ideas and hope they stick, you need a strategy. You may hop on a new trend but find that it doesn’t do much for your business. You need to find a strategy that works for the needs of your business and then bring everything together in a cohesive way so you’re not all over the place.

How Your Business Can Stay Cohesive

When your marketing strategy is cohesive and consistent this helps to showcase your brand a positive light to your clients and customers. There are many ways to approach your strategies such as having a robust email marketing campaign or a consistent social media presence. Whenever you make your next marketing decisions, you should take time to figure out how this is going to fit into your overall marketing strategy. You want to make sure that your customers will receive it well and that it’s showcasing your brand or service in the best possible light.

Social Media

One way to bring cohesion to your brand and your marketing is to maintain the same social media presence across all platforms. You want people to recognize your brand no matter what platform that you’re using. Try to use the same logos, fonts and include the same information about what you’re all about on every platform. You want customers and clients to instantly recognize your brand. When you’re cohesive with your social media presence, you won’t create confusion or send mixed messages.

Email Marketing

You need to learn how to do email marketing if you want to stay in touch with your customers as email can be critical to your marketing strategy. You also want to have a cohesive email marketing campaign and your email marketing messages need to be consistent. You should send them around the same time each month or week to engage with your customers. Make sure you plan out the email before you send it and always give the end user something of value when you send the email so they have the incentive to click the email and read it.

Content Marketing

When designing your content marketing strategy, you should have a good idea of what you want to create and to ensure that that content is always consistent. You want the content to provide some sort of value for the reader and not just random articles. If you stay consistent then the reader is going to know that you’ll have something that they can use each time they visit the site or read an email from you. Have a clear idea of how you plan to share that content, the call to action you want, and what the content is going to be about before you create it. You should have some clear goal in mind with the content you create.

Summary

Your marketing strategy should sync everything up and stay consistent as this is going to give you more value for your dollar and help your business grow. This helps to establish your brand and bring you more customers or clients as your giving them a clear message about your business and what you have to offer.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article

How Your Business’ Digital Marketing Strategy Can Best Utilize Online Platforms

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticleIf you run a business, you will most likely have a digital marketing strategy in place, and this will probably be one of the main methods in which you communicate with your current customers, and reach out to further potential customers as well. Utilizing your online platforms effectively can see you easily boost your business, but to do this, it is important to understand how best to use the online platforms that are available at your fingertips.

Blogging

Blogging is a brilliant way in which you can not only connect with your customers and potential clients but further keep them interested once they are part of your community. Starting a blog or adding a blog as a permanent feature to your website shows potential customers and consumers that you are interested and engaged in current issues and matters, and you are also a company that values customer retention through the means of sharing information. With appropriate consideration, your business can easily develop and start a blog, where you can post informative pieces that your customers can relate to, and learn from. You can keep up with trends by publishing content that is relevant to your customer base, and the regular posts will mean customers are more likely to come back to read more as time goes on. Of course, adding a blog to your website or business will require a certain amount of effort and research, as it will be obvious if your content is not of a strong quality. You should aim for a balance of quality as well as quantity, with varied posts with the aim to inform and entertain your immediate readership. It is a cost-effective way to promote your business easily, and what you stand for, so what are you waiting for?

Social Media Strategy

Your social media strategy is another vital part of your digital marketing strategy that, when properly implemented, can bring in serious opportunity for your business. Social media can even be a free method of marketing, which you can tailor to suit each platform, as different social media platforms cater to different audiences. Instagram, for example, will require a completely different marketing strategy to a Twitter feed, due to the nature of the content you are sharing and the demographics of each platform’s users. The younger generation that has grown up in a digital age will use social media more, so effectively targeting certain age groups with a media strategy that will specifically appeal to them is a great way to boost business and see potential growth.

Unsure as to whether this is the case? Let’s take the travel industry as an example. It may interest you to learn that a whopping 68% of Millennials found inspiration for their most recent trip through Facebook, and 60% through Instagram. These stats go to show the way in which businesses need to market themselves is rapidly changing. Be sure to stay ahead of the curve if you have a business in the travel industry. Through photos, offers, and blog posts, you can maximize interest in your business and be one step ahead of your competition, in this case, travel agents. To find out more about developing an effective social media campaign, check out a professional Facebook ads agency for hotels who can help you to market your venture using avenues such as paid social for hotels, to inspire potential customers on social media.

Conduct Surveys

Conducting surveys and asking for regular feedback is another way to easily further customer retention as well as potentially gain further business. With every visitor to your website, you are essentially given an opportunity to see how your business appears to ‘the other side.’ Feedback surveys are a win-win situation, as not only are you showing your customer base and potential clients or consumers that you care about the experience they are having, but you also gain an understanding of the areas of your business where you can improve. Getting a customer’s perspective can be invaluable in terms of understanding the best way to improve your business for the better.