Posts

The Ten Golden Rules of a Successful eCommerce Store

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |eCommerce Store|The Ten Golden Rules of a Successful eCommerce StoreThese days, starting up your own eCommerce store is as simple as clicking a couple of buttons. With the right services, you could essentially build a working website in as little as a few hours, complete with all of your custom-made products and a fantastic website theme. Unfortunately, the ease of making an eCommerce website has created a swarm of subpar stores that are clogging the market, creating an endless sea of competition.

In that sea, there aren’t many eCommerce stores that can actually survive. Unfortunately, the small investment needed to actually create a store means that people aren’t afraid to try and fail over and over again until they hit the jackpot with a lucky idea. So to help you establish a successful eCommerce store without the trial and error, we’ve put together what we believe are the 10 golden rules of a successful eCommerce store. These tips will help you stand out, build your brand and ultimately stand out in a huge sea of competition.

1. Have your own website and email domain

Do not, under any circumstances, use some kind of subdomain for your business such as www.webhost.com/yourbusiness. This is incredibly unprofessional and will scare off all of your potential customers. Furthermore, don’t use an email service like Gmail or Yahoo. Make sure you have your own email domain as well. Both of these tips will make you seem a lot more professional and will greatly improve your chances of success as an eCommerce store.

2. Market on multiple channels and platforms

Make sure you’re not sticking to a single channel or platform when it comes to growing your business and advertising your brand. You should be on many different channels, social media platforms and advertising services to help you spread out and reach a wider audience. To give you a hand, here are some eCommerce marketing tips that you should absolutely follow. As long as you remember to advertise on multiple platforms, you’ll have an incredibly easy time getting your name out there.

3. Hire a web developer

We know that templates can look really pretty and will have loads of customization options. Unfortunately, a template is a template and most shoppers will realize that you’re using some kind of default theme that took almost no effort to make. This doesn’t reflect well on your brand as a whole, hence why it’s vital that you hire a web developer to help you make a good website for your brand. This can be costly, but it’s also a fantastic investment in your brand.

4. Support different payment methods

If your website doesn’t support PayPal then you’re going to lose a lot of business. If you don’t accept cryptocurrency then that’s another chunk of customers gone. Accepting cards should be the absolute minimum nowadays. Make sure you look at the most popular eCommerce payment methods and ensure that you support them on your website.

5. Specialize before you diversify

One of the problems that a lot of amateur eCommerce stores face is over-diversification. They try to add too many products to their website because they’re using a simple dropshipping plug-in, and they try to appeal to too many different people at once. The goal is to minimize the number of products you offer and specialize your brand before you try to spread out and diversify.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |eCommerce Store|The Ten Golden Rules of a Successful eCommerce Store6. Create genuinely helpful content

A lot of eCommerce sites tend to hire general copywriters and will request some incredibly simple articles that have very little relevance to their brand. This is usually a fairly poor way of approaching eCommerce marketing because the content doesn’t provide value to your users. Instead, what you want to aim for is evergreen content that will continue to provide your customers with something helpful to read. This could be a knowledge base of information for your products or even some explanations on how to use the items you’re selling.

7. Make your services work on mobile

Luckily, most modern web hosts and design services will include a mobile-friendly version of your site, meaning you don’t have to do much to support mobile users. However, what you can do to help is optimize images for faster loading, creating larger buttons and links for mobile users to press and potentially having a mobile app for your brand or store. This will open up your business to a huge audience of mobile-only users.

8. Communicate with your audience

It’s absolutely vital that you’re always communicating with your audience. Whether it’s on social media, on your website or even in reviews on a Google Business listing, you should always be happy to speak with your audience, receive their feedback and also discuss what your audience enjoys about your product. This is all valuable information that can be used to grow your project into a successful eCommerce store.

9. Don’t underestimate the power of influencers

Influencer marketing is starting to become one of the best ways for a small brand to spread its wings. It involves contacting influential people on social media platforms and working together with them to promote your brand to their viewers. Some influencers have a couple of thousand followers, while others will have over a million. It’s your job to find out which influencer could best represent or showcase your brand.

10. Maintain a blog on your website

Blogs are fantastic for improving your brand’s search engine optimization and it can also be a place to provide your customers with useful content and informative articles. It’s a great way to improve your brand’s trustworthiness and will provide a lot of value to your customers.

We hope that these ten golden rules have given you a different perspective on how you should run an eCommerce store. We know that creating a website to sell goods is incredibly easy nowadays, which means that you’re undoubtedly going to get a lot of competition. However, setting yourself apart from these no-effort stores is simply as long as you’re willing to invest some time into it.

How to Overcome Any Challenge Your Business Faces

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Challenges|How to Overcome Any Challenge Your Business FacesEvery business ever created has or will almost die. A mistake is too costly to make, and as a result, your entire future is put into question. It is not a matter of if in these situations, but when. A new competitor with a disruptive business model might come your way, or a more significant competitor might take what you’re doing and simply do it better.

There is an infinite number of problems you will face as a business owner. From customer complaints to new policies. From budgeting to sourcing. You cannot prepare for all of them because there are simply too many to predict.

What you can do is prepare your business and yourself so that you are ready to face any potential problem. To start? Follow this guide:

1. Hire a Consultant Before Times Get Tough

If you want to help prepare your business, then the best time to start is right now. Don’t put out fires one by one, set up a sprinkler system to tackle all your issues from the get-go. When you start a new business, you are going to feel out of your depth, which is why hiring a consultant can help you minimize risks and grow your business.

Just remember to choose the right consultant. General business consultants can be useful, but nothing will beat a consultant that knows your industry inside and out. If you are in the life sciences industry, for example, then you are going to want to hire life sciences global consulting and solutions. It’s as simple as that.

2. Build Up Your Business Credit ASAP

Small loans that can easily be paid off will work towards building your business credit. You want to improve it and its history fast. It is the best way to make sure that you can get the funding you need in the future.

3. Have an Emergency Fund

Emergency funds aren’t just for personal matters. You should put money away either in a savings account or an investment account so that you can cover any down deposits or other costs in the future. The key is that the account this money gets put into should give you interest. If you just have the cash lying around, you cannot capitalize on it over time.

4. Have All Your Records in Order

You will need to have all your records in brilliant order because one day, there is going to be an issue where you need to prove one far off payment for some reason. Invest in quality software and cloud computing so that you can not only keep track of all your data, expense, payments, and other information but that you can do it safely and securely.

5. Always Keep Learning

If you want your business to succeed, then you can never stop learning. You need to be on top of trends, policies, technology, and so much more so that you can steer your company in the right direction and keep it relevant for years to come.

What Helps You Excel As A Keynote Speaker?

/in /by

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Keynote Speaker|What Helps You Excel As A Keynote Speaker?If you’re someone who has plenty of experience in running a business and you bring insight or expertise that others can find useful, then there is a career that could very much use that to fuel a career that involves mostly sharing those experiences. Also known as being a professional speaker or a public speaking career, being a keynote speaker means that you are essentially paid to give talks on topics that you have an authority on, but it doesn’t just mean that alone. It’s not just a career, but a business you have to manage, and here are a few tips that can help you learn how to manage that business and excel.

Have something to talk about

A lot of people love the idea of standing up on stage and giving a rousing, inspiring speech that talks to the hearts and needs of the audience. But there’s has to be some substance, some sizzle to the steak, as well. Look back on your experience, and see what you can draw from to serve as the fuel of your talks. Find your niche, and don’t try to be too broad. If, for instance, you worked in-depth on digital marketing, then you can bring the perspective of someone who can speak with expertise on how marketing is crucial to businesses.

Be able to sell it

Even if you’re not speaking on your career as a marketer (because maybe you never had one), you are still going to need some marketing skills in order to excel. Once you find your authority, find your niche, and know what you’re going to talk about, you then need to be able to sell it to other entrepreneurs, decision-makers, or department heads. You have to be able to look at who your audience is (or will be) and figure out what their needs and perspectives are. You then have to look at how to frame your expertise to make it seem vital from their perspective, which means being able to walk a mile in their shoes.

Practice your public speaking

This might seem like it’s too obvious to cover, but a lot of people get into speaking gigs without really taking the time to work on their on-stage presence. You can have charisma coming out of over pore of your body, and be a reliable authority on the topic that you’re going to be talking on, but you don’t know how well that’s going to translate to your stage performance until you try it. As such, you want to make sure you’re sharpening your body language, your rhythm, and other public speaking skills. Public speaking groups like Toastmasters are great for helping you get that practice and working on your public speaking skills.

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Keynote Speaker|What Helps You Excel As A Keynote Speaker?Good written communication is essential too

As a speaker, it should be relatively obvious that you’re going to need very good verbal communication skills. However, you’re going to have to be able to write well enough to sell your ideas in the written form, as well. Not only do you have to be able to market your speeches through text, but a lot of keynote speakers will expand into another revenue stream: writing books and ebooks. These books are a perfect opportunity to expand on what you talk about at your speeches, so your speeches can effectively act as convincing marketing material for a much more extensive look at what you work on. You may also be able to sell ebooks to those who may not be able to afford to hire you or attend one of your more public events.

Running a business on the road

The life of a keynote speaker is one that sees you traveling from place to place, often country to country. This might sound glamorous and, often, it definitely can be. There are some very nice perks to networking with decision-makers and thought leaders in your industry of choice. However, it’s also demanding. Look at the tips on running an online business while traveling the world from Northeastern University and pay attention. After all, most keynote speakers do not work entirely alone, they have an admin team that is helping them book gigs and sell books from home, and you have to be able to manage them from afar.

Be loose and be comfortable with your emotions

You might think that having a buttoned-down approach to giving a speech and being able to communicate clearly and concisely are the most important skills when it comes to a career in public speaking. However, it’s empathy and emphatic communication that will really grab the attention of your audience most of the time, and you have to be able to tap into that. Humans naturally crave an emotional connection, so if you feel like you have a swell of emotion coming while you’re making a point, be willing, able and comfortable with hopping on that wave. Gesticulate, raise your voice, and don’t be afraid to tap in humor, or even a little intensity, to help drive a point home.

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Keynote Speaker|What Helps You Excel As A Keynote Speaker?You have to stay up to date

If you want to make sure that your speeches are always relevant, you can’t just rely on the career you’ve had in the past. Your stories are going to lose relevance as time goes on. As such, you are going to want to stay up to date. You can do this by following publications and blogs that speak to your niche and applying your insight into what news and trends you learn about there. But you should also use the experience and network you continue building as a keynote speaker. Take inspiration and borrow stories from your clients and attendees. For instance, if someone comes to you with a problem, speak about that problem and how your method or skills would solve that problem.

Be a good teacher

The truth about keynote or professional speakers is that the vast majority are also in the training business. Much like selling books and ebooks, it’s another way to add a new revenue stream to your repertoire. JobHero outlines the kind of steps you need to take to become a corporate trainer, but often it means getting some sort of certification to teach specific skills that are related to the topics that you speak on. As such, your training career, speaking gigs, and book can all come together as a holistic educational experience that sees you becoming a respected authority on your chosen subject.

Be competitive and productive

In order to truly excel in a public speaking career, you have to be laser-focused on finding new work. Depending on your niche, it can be a very competitive field indeed. What’s most important is that you’re always able to find an audience. As such, you should never turn down a speaking opportunity, even if you’re not entirely sure your audience is your usual one. Learn how to be able to get people together in a room. Networking and marketing both play a huge role in this, but you also need to be able to manage your time well enough to be able to travel from place to place as your work demands it. If you can’t, your rivals will be taking the opportunities you miss.

Keynote speaking is not an easy career. It involves life on the road, a lot of introspection and insight, and being able to hold a crowd’s attention time and time again. But, hopefully, the tips above can help you with that.

6 Ways To Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset Today

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Entrepreneurial Mindset|6 Ways To Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset TodayAs the world wakes up to another day with terrifying headlines, there will be some who will inevitably be feeling the pull of despondence. We’re entering a new dawn, where everything seems to have changed. The old ways of doing things just won’t cut it anymore and the phrase ‘pivot or fail’ is being whispered in the wings of every virtual board meeting.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but what if it’s the first ingredient in a recipe for great success? Followers wait to be told what to do, leaders and entrepreneurs forge ahead with new ways of thinking.

Developing the Entrepreneurial Mindset

How can we change our way of thinking to really build on this idea of seeing things as an opportunity? Developing this mindset takes work, and it’s a skill that needs practicing and honing. It doesn’t come overnight, which is why now might be the best time to start.

Being an entrepreneur means doing things first, being there first, and being in the right place at the right time (or at least making the place and time you’re in the right place and time!).

Here are some ideas on how to practice your entrepreneurial mindset:

  1. Get out of your comfort zone – taking a leap of faith is the cornerstone of an entrepreneurial mind. That doesn’t mean going into things blindly though. If you want to run an event, for example, hire experts like cl-events.com to ensure it goes smoothly, and learn from them as you go.
  2. Learn. Every day – Every day is a school day, that’s the mindset of an entrepreneur. Read books, take classes, do courses. Learn and grow.
  3. Solve problems – If you’re presented with a problem, figure out if you can solve it. Did you know that Richard Branson created Virgin Atlantic because his flight was grounded? He was presented with a problem, and he solved it.
  4. Carve out a vision, and stick to it – Whether it’s Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle or Gary Vee’s enviable passion for his vision, it’s up to each of us to carve out our own why, our own goals, our own vision, and then stick to it, no matter what.
  5. Be positive, even when it’s tough – Famous entrepreneur and YouTube legend Casey Neistat once said: “Failure sucks, but the pain that is failure does not exceed the pain that is not trying at all”. Wise words from someone who has built an empire out of nothing but energy and an unwavering positive mental attitude.
  6. Learn to communicate – This one really is a tough one. Communication doesn’t come naturally to many people, especially entrepreneurs. There can be so many ideas buzzing around in our heads, and we can become so fixated on them that it can be difficult to communicate with those around us, but developing this skill is like the hidden diamond in the rocks. Being able to tell others about our great ideas in a way that gets them enthused and gets them on board means we can effectively make our ideas their passions, meaning we can work with people who have skills in areas we don’t.

6 Ways Technology Can Help Companies Innovate Out of the Coronavirus Downturn

/in /by

StrategyDriven Innovation Article |Coronavirus|6 Ways Technology Can Help Companies Innovate Out of the Coronavirus DownturnAs our world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, business leaders must understand that it’s going to be technology that determines which companies survive and build success from this unprecedented event.

The current COVID-19 pandemic may be the biggest “unfreezing event” that our economy has ever experienced, certainly since World War II. To turn a block of ice into a new shape you must first unfreeze it, pour the water into a mold, and then refreeze it again. Human habits work much the same way. COVID-19 has forced us all to behave differently—To unfreeze. Our habits will mold into new shapes, habits and routines that may endure once the current crisis has passed. Businesses routines will have to change too. We are entering a new fluid state that will lead to an unprecedented period of innovation and transformation.

Before COVID-19, the world was already on a path to widespread change. In my book, “The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies Will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s,” I outline the technologies that will drive unprecedented innovation into products and services in the 2020s, creating entirely new business models. The pandemic makes those technologies more relevant now than ever. These technologies are:

  1. Artificial intelligence (AI)
  2. Blockchain
  3. The Internet of things (IoT)
  4. Augmented reality
  5. Autonomous machines
  6. 5G and satellite networks

While some organizations had begun to embrace these technologies before the pandemic, it’s now critical that business leaders keep moving ahead with innovation efforts as we move into a new normal.

With social distancing, we have already seen new behaviors emerge: Increased use of telemedicine, online food delivery services, video conferencing, and home streaming services.

Online schooling is another example. While there has been some investment in online education by various institutions, that’s going to accelerate rapidly as millions of kids are required to learn from home. Educators are installing digital infrastructure, learning how to use it themselves, figuring out best practices on how to get the most out of the medium, training kids on how to use it, and setting expectations for proper use. Once this investment of time, money, and trust is made, a new normal is created. When the current crisis is over, that investment remains, and the barriers to shifting at least some of the curriculum online are already gone. Where it makes sense, digital education may become a common part of all schooling.

This is a clear example of an acceleration. Education’s shift towards digital was already underway. The constraints placed by pandemic only accelerated the inevitable.

The same applies for telemedicine. Here, the issues holding back the shift are not technological; necessary infrastructure is mostly in place. The barrier slowing roll out before the pandemic was that doctors couldn’t bill as much for their time as for in-person visits to a clinic. Expect this challenge to be addressed quickly, and telemedicine to become a more important component of our healthcare systems in the future.

While it’s premature to determine how the world might be different going forward, it’s not too early to take a few educated guesses. Here are some initial thoughts on how things may be different, and how new technology might play a significant role.

  • Robots don’t get sick. All businesses will make moves to improve business continuity and reduce risk. This may accelerate investment in automation technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotics, sensors, autonomous vehicles (e.g. for delivery), and blockchain technology. Self-driving delivery trucks and drones don’t carry disease if properly cleaned. Even governance of operations can be encoded into blockchain networks and artificial intelligence.
  • Better supply chains. As part of a broader risk reduction exercise, we will see companies make moves to build more robust supply chains. Expect many measures here, including requirements for multiple sources across multiple countries, some onshoring (especially for critical components and products) and increased levels of transparency and traceability for goods in the supply chain. New provenance chain technology, based on Blockchain technology, can play a big role here. New automation technologies will make onshoring of manufacturing more attractive.
  • More remote workers. Again, to reduce risk, we may see bigger companies move away from large HQ campuses towards many connected, highly distributed sites. More people will work from home offices. This will constitute a balance between risk mitigation and rapid information flow in organizations. The high-speed connectivity of 5G and satellite networks will be crucial to this shift.
  • Social apps. New apps and services will emerge that help people remain social while keeping their distance. Humans are social creatures. Let’s see which company will be first to capture the world’s imagination with a new social game designed to connect far-flung family members of all ages.
  • A new reality. Virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) technology will likely get far more use. VR offers a powerful sense of immersion, making you feel like you are transported to another place. At a time when that’s one of the things that we can’t do, people will crave the ability to visit distant places and to feel like they share the same space with family and friends. Avatar technology is improving, as are sensors that capture our movements and even our expressions. As low-cost, high-quality AR headsets become available in the coming few years, there is an incredible opportunity for developers to create new social experiences at a distance. Those could include, for example, an enhanced shopping experience in the home or better collaboration between remote coworkers.
  • A race for broadband. The next several weeks will make the value of a broadband connection crystal clear. Yet, broadband Internet is still not available to half the planet. People in rural areas are particularly disadvantaged. Satellite constellations, built by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, LeoSAT, Amazon and others, will bring broadband connectivity to every corner of the earth by the end of the decade, much sooner in many locations. This build-out cannot happen quickly enough.

We live in unprecedented times. It’s too early to call how this all plays out, and we should all expect our plans to shift over time as new information becomes available, but every company must begin to think about the new normal and build their business plans accordingly.

The pandemic has proved that in order to survive, every company must become a technology company. Every company must become a data company. Business operations must be retooled using both process automation and worker augmentation.

A construct that I find useful as a futurist is to ask myself several simple questions in the face of a new force of change: What will stop, what will start, what will accelerate, what will decelerate, and what will transform? Think about how answers to these questions will affect your business in the future.

A colleague of mine, former Intel CEO, Craig Barrett, told me back in 2008 that the best way to weather a recession is to invest your way out of it. That way, when the market turns around you can race out of the gate ready to take fullest advantage of the upswing. No company ever saves their way out of a recession. Innovation will be vital to recovery.

For companies that heed Barrett’s advice and choose to innovate their way out of recession, new technology will be key. As we reimagine products, services, channels, companies, and the entire economy for the rest of the 21st century, six strategic technologies—artificial intelligence, the internet of things, Blockchain technology, 5G and satellite networks, autonomous machines, and augmented reality—will each play an important part.

Every company needs to gain a deep understanding of these technologies and how they might be deployed to meet rapidly evolving consumer needs, to create new channels (that enable remote interaction), to automate business processes, to boost business continuity, and to deliver innovative new products and services that fuel economic growth.

The best way to get out of recession is to innovate your way out of it. The sooner we start to think that way, the sooner we can slingshot ourselves out of our current situation.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Steve BrownSteve Brown is an energetic speaker, author, strategist, and advisor with over 30 years of experience in high tech. He is the former futurist and chief evangelist at Intel Corporation and helps others understand the business and societal impacts of new technologies and how they will shape the future five, 10 and 15 years from now. He is the author of The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s. Steve holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in Micro-Electronic Systems Engineering from Manchester University. He was born in the U.K. and became a U.S. citizen in 2008. He lives with his wife in Portland, OR.