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How Digital Marketing Impacts Business Growth

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There were an estimated 3.9 billion Internet users in 2017, according to data compiled by Statista. Indeed, the vast majority of people no longer get their information from traditional media, but instead search for information on the Internet using various devices, including desktop computers, tablets, and mobile devices.

If your business isn’t implementing the latest and most cutting-edge digital marketing methods (such as search engine optimization, content marketing, influencer marketing, and social media marketing), then you’ll lose out to business competitors who’re more adept at adopting — and harnessing — the best practices.

Listed below are some of the reasons why your company should adopt some of the latest digital marketing practices to stay ahead of the competition.

4 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Dynamic Digital Marketing Strategy

Google Search is the way of the future

Google’s search engine now represents 90.46% of the global search engine market, and the site receives over 63,000 searches each second on any given day. Even if your company has an official website, if it isn’t showing up on Google’s search results, you will be losing out in terms of revenue, customer acquisition, and business growth.

Coupled with the fact that Google’s search algorithm is getting better at understanding the nuances, intent, and context of its users’ searches means that it’s getting better at serving accurate and relevant results to its users.

But how do these developments impact your business? Well, for starters, if your site lacks the information that users are searching for, then Google is highly unlikely to rank your web pages in its search results. And even if your site is updated with the right business information and contains great content, if it isn’t optimized correctly, it’s not going to attain the rankings and traffic that will positively impact your business growth.

SEO helps drive traffic and conversions to your site

Now more than ever, a dynamic and cohesive SEO strategy is needed to keep your website positioned strategically on Google’s unpaid (or organic) search results. But what exactly is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. The discipline consists of multiple strategies, best practices, and actions that are utilized with the end goal of improving your website’s position on the search engine results pages (also known as SERPs). There are two types of SEO: on-page and off-page. The former consists of elements you can control on your site to improve your position on the SERPs, while the latter consists of actions done on other websites to boost your site’s position on the SERPs and overall authority.

If your business lacks the expertise to devise and implement a viable SEO strategy, then you’ll need to hire a great SEO specialist or outsource the task to a reputable digital marketing firm.

Content marketing drives profitable customer action

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing “is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

The practices and objectives of content marketing are closely aligned with inbound marketing, which is a business methodology that aims to attract customers to products and services by serving them useful and actionable content at every stage of their journey to becoming loyal customers.

Great content comes in the form of blog posts, white papers, downloadable reports, videos, and other types of consumer media that prospective customers will need to educate themselves to make informed decisions—one of which is opting to become loyal customers and advocates of your brand.

An effective content marketing strategy will require the expertise of seasoned editors, writers, and content strategists. And these professionals will need to align their goals with those of SEO specialists to drive targeted traffic to your site and web assets. As with SEO, if your organization lacks the expertise or bandwidth to accommodate a content marketing strategy, then it’s best to hire specialists or outsource to the right digital marketing firm.

Social media marketing strengthens your brand

Billions of people around the world now use social media platforms to connect with others, reach out to brands, and consume media. Facebook—the world’s largest social media website—now attracts 2.41 billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2019, according to Statista. Facebook users harness this platform not just to connect with others in their circle, but also to discover and engage with brands and companies, and consume entertainment and other media.

Instagram, another popular social media site that deals with pictorial and video content sharing, has one billion monthly active users, making it the third most popular social media site after Facebook and YouTube. Considering the sheer number of eyeballs that can be found on these platforms, your brand or company cannot afford to remain anonymous on them.

A strong and engaging presence on social media can help your company achieve the following:

  • Boosted brand awareness
  • More inbound traffic
  • Improved conversion rates
  • Increased brand loyalty and authority
  • Improved search engine rankings

The immense rewards aside, social media marketing requires great ingenuity, creativity, and dedication to drive results. You’ll need to hire the right specialists or outsource the work to an awesome digital marketing or social media management company if you want this done right.

Other Business Benefits of Digital Marketing

Improves Lead Generation

A cohesive and dynamic digital marketing strategy that utilizes the right methodology and marketing methods will result in improved lead generation for your business. What’s more, most digital marketing methods are far cheaper than more traditional marketing outlets, such as buying ads in magazines or booking TV airtime for commercials. The rewards, on the other hand, are considerable, as you could potentially reach a global audience of thousands or even millions.

Improved Conversion Rates

If you’re using digital marketing to successfully guide your leads down the conversion funnel, the end result should be improved conversion rates. Another great thing about digital marketing is that you can use data and analytics tools — such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Kissmetrics — to better understand your website users. By objectively analyzing your traffic information, you can make adjustments to your conversion funnel and better understand what makes your target audience tick.

Strategy Is a Process

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article | Strategy Is a ProcessFor as long as the word “strategy” has been in use it has been represented as something mythical. Many seminal articles have been written that describe what business strategy is, what it’s not, how to know if you have a strategy, how to test your strategy – and the list goes on. Even for those companies that understand the process, some do it very well and some do it very poorly.

Why has the process of developing and implementing a business strategy been so hard for businesses to utilize? Foremost is that, because the concept has been so misunderstood, many companies believe they have a strategy or — even more dangerously — they’re implementing a strategy by relying on erroneous ideas about what constitutes strategy. These include such persistent myths as:

  • Our people are our strategy
  • Customer service is our strategy
  • Our brand is our strategy
  • International growth is our strategy

None of these is a strategy! Some represent unfocused hopes, while others are just platitudes.

For example, having employees implement a strategy to provide customer service is simply the orthodox (table stakes) element that organizations must deliver to remain viable. Providing standard customer service doesn’t separate an organization from its competitors in the eyes of the customers. Furthermore, absent very carefully designed guardrails, each employee will decide what constitutes ‘good’ customer service.

Strategy is a process that, at its core, consists of designing and implementing elements of the organization that will draw customers past your competitors, allow you to charge more than your competitors and/or provide you with a cost advantage.

Regardless of how you decide to approach strategy in your organization, do it with an understanding of what really works. This means taking a logical, research- and practice-based approach to defining, crafting and executing organizational strategy.

Strategy is still mostly art, but by remaining disciplined and analytical about the elements, your company will be far ahead of your competitors.

Apply these guidelines in your process-oriented approach to strategy:

1. Strategy starts external to the organization. A winning business strategy must focus on why customers really buy a product or service from an organization, and what distinguishes that purchase in the eye of the customer. This requires taking the perspective of the customer.

2. Bring conventional operations up to the median expectation. Assess what is orthodox, or the table stakes, for the organization in the eyes of the customer. Focus on those parts of the organization that are below the median expectations and are frustrating to customers. This may involve ensuring that employees are doing their jobs and doing them well. Exceeding the median expectation for standard elements of business is simply wasted money.

3. Identify the organization’s competitive advantages. While half of business strategy is maintaining conventional operations at or slightly above the median customer expectations, the other half is focusing the entire organization around true competitive advantages. To identify your competitive advantages, list all current and potential elements of the business that will encourage customers to go past your competitors and buy from you. Analyze each of them with some version of Resource-Based Analysis to determine those that constitute a true advantage. A business needs to have two or three true competitive advantages.

4. Optimize organizational structure. The next step is to develop operational plans that address every element that survives your resource-based analysis, along with every orthodox element that’s determined to be below median expectations. Implementation of strategy is difficult and often frustrating, particularly when employees don’t understand why a structure has been put in place or how it will work. Strategy can only be implemented by the employees of the organization, therefore it’s best to have employee participation in the process so that they embrace the approach.

5. Rework the mission around the strategy. Aligning the entire company around the strategy requires a unifying mission. An effective mission statement must be short, simple, specific to the organization and able to focus everyone’s energy. A great check on the quality of the mission statement is the leadership’s ability to design metrics that measure each part.

Strategy is not magic, it’s not wishful thinking and it’s not platitudes. Strategy is hard work that requires significant thought by organizational leaders. Utilizing a real process to craft strategy allows the organization to win over new customers and more easily retain current ones.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Chuck BamfordChuck Bamford, Ph.D., is the Managing Partner of Bamford Associates, LLC, a strategy consulting firm that has worked with hundreds of organizations as they develop and implement a compelling strategy. He is an Adjunct Professor of Strategy at Duke University (Fuqua) and the University of Notre Dame (Mendoza), and was previously a professor at Texas Christian University and the University of Richmond among others. He has written seven books. His latest book is The Strategy Mindset 2.0: A Practical Guide to the Design and Implementation of Strategy. Learn more at bamfordassociates.com.

Skills To Look For In A Commissioning Agent

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Commissioning Agent|Skills To Look For In A Commissioning AgentWhen you are undertaking a new building project at your business, you need to decide which building commissioning agent you should work with. In a lot of different ways, the project is going to rest on the shoulders of the commissioning agent. Therefore, securing the services of a premium quality commissioning agent is very important. So, with that being said, read on to discover some of the important skills you should be looking for in a commissioning agent.

Organized – The first thing you need to do is make sure that the commissioning agent is organized. This individual needs to be on top of every element of the project, so that any small mistakes or issues are limited and do not turn into bigger issues. Excellent communication and organization between all of the people involved in order to ensure that the project is delivered efficiently and effectively.

Clear and reliable communication – As touched upon in the former paragraph, communication is also going to be critical, and so this is something you need to look at. A new building commissioning project tends to be an arduous and long process. This is rarely finished without a few unexpected and small bumps in the road, as all business owners. There is also data to collect, tests to perform, materials to secure, contractors to manage, and design work to be done. All of these requires clear communication.

Attention to detail – Aside from this, you need to make sure that the commissioning agent has exceptional attention to detail. Small details that go overlooked can result in big-scale budget overruns at the end thanks to expensive and costly adjustments that need to be fixed. Ask questions to the commissioning agent about how they handle different situations that are probable to arise in order to get a better understanding on this.

Reputation and certification – Last but not least, aside from the skills that have been discussed so far, you need to make sure that the commissioning agent has a great reputation in the industry. You can read the reviews that have been left by others. This is always a great place to start. It is also advisable to see if the agent is certified. You can click here to find out more about the different options available in this regard when it comes to commissioning.

As you can see, there is a lot that needs to be considered when you are looking for a commissioning agent. If you think about the different factors that have been discussed above, you can give yourself the best chance of finding the right commissioning agent for the project you are working on.

Profitable Investments: 5 Tips for Clever and Efficient Commercial Tenant Management

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Commercial Tenant Management|Profitable Investments: 5 Tips for Clever and Efficient Commercial Tenant ManagementAfter purchasing a commercial property and getting on the way to looking for tenants, it can be an exciting time with lots of high hopes. It can also be overwhelming. By following these five tips on the best ways to manage your tenants and property, you will be on your way to successful commercial real-estate investing for years to come.

Set the conditions

Before your tenants even move into your property, it is always a smart idea to lay down some ground rules and expectations for how you wish the property to be respected. Rules about power usage, number of staff, and any other details you wish to include will give the tenants and understanding of how you want the space to be used and having them sign a contract to verify understanding will serve as proof if any future issues arise. Making sure that your conditions are easy to understand and are fair to the tenant will make it easy for both of you to fulfill the needs of the contract.

Understand the property

By understanding any preexisting issues and work done on the property you own, you will be able to record if the tenants you have occupying your space have added any new features or even damaged parts of the property that you put in. Respecting the client’s privacy but also making sure they respect your property promotes a respectful environment for everyone involved. Before even opening the space upt to clients make sure to have the space surveyed and any issues brought to your attention.

Invest in established property

If you are looking to acquire multiple properties and set up several tenant contracts, then having help understanding commercial property investment will allow you to successfully expand your assets and client base.

Making sure you know the differences between property types and what tenants are looking for in your current market will allow you to seek and invest in properties that will suit the needs of your vision as well as satisfy the needs of the tenants who will occupy the spaces.

Be a human

Getting caught up in the money and management side of tenant management may get to your head trying to analyze all the information but treating your tenants like humans will go much farther than signing a contract and never speaking again. By respecting your tenants time and value you can build a stronger relationship with them that ensures both of you are able to professionally and effectively communicate with each other.

Assure future cooperation

Similar to the last point of respecting your tenants aspirations, making sure that your relationship allows for future business cooperation could provide as a valuable asset down the road. Whether they know another business looking for office space or are hoping to expand to another one of your properties the opportunities are endless for positive future cooperation if you respect each other and provide value throughout your contract’s length.
Hopefully these tips help you with commercial tenant management. Good luck!

Finding Your Feet: Your Checklist For Starting A Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Starting a Business|Finding Your Feet: Your Checklist For Starting A BusinessIf you are thinking of starting a business, then this is a great step for you to take towards a new future for yourself. However, this is not an easy task to complete, and you are going to need to dedicate not just time, but a lot of money and resources into making this work. If you are not willing to do this, then you might as well quit now, because you are not going to make it on the market without this level of dedication. But, if you do have this level of determination and you are willing to commit to this venture, then you need to know exactly what you need to get your business started. Keep reading to find out some of the things that we have come up with!

Come Up With An Idea

The first thing that you are going to need is a good idea. Now, this might sound obvious, but a lot of people who are trying to start a business these days don’t think beyond their own company. You need to look at the market and figure out where there is a gap that you can slide into. If you are going to dive straight into an industry that is already crowded, then you are going to have to have an amazing strategy to get customers to choose your new business over an already established one. This is not going to be easy, which is why you are going to be better off trying to find somewhere that your company fits in easily, rather than trying to force your way in.

Having an idea is the first step to creating something great, and you need to have a solid foundation before you try to build on this. To do this, you need to make sure that you have done plenty of research on the industry you want to enter.

Get Started On A Plan

The next thing that you are going to need to do is to get started on writing a business plan. This is going to be one of the most important steps in the process because this is where you are going to figure out what’s going to happen with the finer details of your business. It is going to be your opportunity to get down the details of what you want to achieve, how you are going to do it, what your business is going to be all about, and all the other things that you need to have decided before you can start a successful company.

The sooner you manage to get started on your plan, the more time you are going to have to finalize it if you are looking to progress your business by a certain deadline. Make sure that you are setting yourself goals for things like this so that you have a time frame in mind.

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Starting a Business|Finding Your Feet: Your Checklist For Starting A BusinessFind The Funding

Something else that you are going to have to figure out is how you are going to fund your business. Before you can get up and running, you are going to need to find the correct funding that will keep you afloat. Now, there are a number of ways that you can do this, and one of them is to put the money up yourself. If you have the money spare, you are going to be able to put the money up, have full ownership of your company, and not rely on anyone else to help you out financially.

But, for many people, this is not going to be an option for them to consider, and this is where you need to look at alternatives. Finding investors for your business does not have to be too difficult, but it can take some time. One of the things that you can consider is taking your business to a trade show, where you will find plenty of people who are looking for their next business venture. Make sure that you are getting your business to stand out from everyone else that is there so that you can attract as much attention as possible. This way, you are in a better position for investors to choose your business.

Put Together A Team

You are also going to need a team that will be there to help you launch your business. You are not going to get anywhere on the market if you don’t have a team established before your business launches. A team of hardworking individuals is going to be invaluable to you and your business, which is why you want them on your side as soon as you can. They will be able to help you set up your business, and build it into a success!

Make sure that the hiring process is done thoroughly, though, because you are only going to want people to be part of your business if they are willing to put in the effort. There is no use in having people who aren’t dedicated to helping make the company the best it can be because this isn’t going to work out well.

Marketing Is Essential

Finally, you need to sort out some form of marketing for your business, or nobody is going to know about you. This needs to include social media, leaflets, setting up your own website, writing guest posts on blogs, and so many other marketing methods. Every step on this list is going to be important, but this final step is the one that could make or break the entire company. Without marketing, nobody is going to know about your business, and then you aren’t going to see any profits, and then your business could collapse. We don’t want that, and you don’t want that, so you need to make sure that you have the correct marketing strategies in place, long before the launch of your business.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now know what you are going to need to start your business. Follow this checklist, and you are going to have a higher chance of achieving success!