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Business

What to Do if Your Business Has Boomed During the Pandemic

By on

November 11, 2020

- Business

Nothing could be better than having a booming business in the wake of the pandemic. Figuring out how to build from there can be the difficult part. Starting with a few basic steps can make a big difference in assuring continued success.

Pay Off Debt

According to Accion, one of the first things that you should consider doing when your business is booming is paying off your debt. Paying off debt with your extra cash flow can help you be more secure later. You should start by paying off debt that could cost you more as time goes on. You’ll want to start by paying off the debt with the highest interest rate.

You should also build a plan for how you will pay off your doubt incrementally. Having this type of plan in place can help your company not be overwhelmed and properly allocate resources.

Expand Your Business

If your business is doing significantly well, now may be the right time to think about expanding. Start by considering how you want to expand. Maybe you simply want to take on more employees so that you can reach more people in your current target demographic. With so many people looking for work right now, according to Franchise Gator, it’s easier to find eager employees.

On the other hand, maybe you want to focus on targeting a new demographic. If that’s the case, it will be important for you to make a specific growth strategy aimed at targeting the new demographic of customers.

Address Deficiencies

If your business is booming during this pandemic, looking at your business’s deficiencies may not be the first thing that you think to do. But, according to Setmore, times when your business is doing incredibly well can actually be the most opportune moments to focus on correcting inefficiencies.

You should take time to analyze a variety of data from your company including information from your website, your customer service, and how well your employees are able to do their jobs. Analyzing each sector of your company can make a big difference in helping you figure out how to best allocate the added resources you have from your business’s current success.

You’ve made it through what seems like the worst of the pandemic. And now you’re wondering what next steps you should take. Focusing on these specific strategies to expand your business and to minimize potential risks can help you keep moving down the right path.

Read this next: 5 Amazing Benefits of Building a Positive Company Culture

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Uncategorized

How to Make New Employees Feel Like Part of the Company

By on

December 9, 2019

- Uncategorized

Joining a company can feel a lot like being the “new kid” at school, even if you’re an adult. As a boss, you should not only help new employees get up to speed with what their role is and your expectations for them but also help them feel acclimated to the company. These tips will help your new hires quickly feel like they’ve always been a part of the team.

Get to Know Them

A new employee shouldn’t feel like a stranger. Beyond their resumé, you should be looking at what kind of person they are. When they’re getting situated, shoot the breeze with them. Ask them about favorite hobbies and any other interests. Don’t try to ask about sensitive information, and don’t worry if an employee is shy about opening up. Some people need some time before they can really feel comfortable socializing at work, especially with their boss. Showing respect for people of all temperaments can also help employees not feel like they’re being forced into being extroverted. Being able to casually socialize with employees, will boost their mood and their productivity.

Host Team Building Activities

Team building activities allow for some serious bonding to happen. This may be some of your new employees’ first real job, so it’s important to make a good impression and try fun onboarding activities to help get them engaged. You can do trust exercises such as having employees fall back and let another employee catch them. You might also have an outdoor retreat with fun things like water balloon tosses. Your new employees can have some very silly fun while also becoming much better acquainted with their fellow coworkers.

Introduce Them to Others

Let your new employees feel comfortable around others by introducing them to their colleagues and not just the ones who are in their department. Other employees, including other leaders, should be introduced to them. Speak about their experience and point out any accomplishments that they’ve had, even if they’ve only started working fairly recently. It can also make it easier for them to reach out to others. You might be able to forge some new friendships and create some essential business connections by introducing your new employees to those who’ve been on your team for a much longer time.

You can show how good of a manager you are by how well you can help your new employees feel like they’re part of your work family. Have your employees focus on being kind to each other and everyone who joins your company. Everyone starts as a new employee, but that doesn’t mean they have to feel like an outcast.

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Branding, Business

3 Business Concepts That Will Help Not Only Your Business But Also Your Life

By on

November 13, 2019

- Branding, Business

Maintaining a great work-life balance does not necessarily mean delineating clear boundaries between your professional and private life. For many of us, our personal identities have become intertwined with what we do for a living. You can improve your personal life and help increase happiness and satisfaction by incorporating various business principles into your everyday routine. Here are three business concepts that are easily incorporated into your life that will not only help your business but also improve your life.

Measurable Success

What gets measured gets improved in the business world. Why not take that same approach to the things at home? In many cases, you may already do this through things like budgeting, or making to-do lists. Monitoring your activities and setting clear goals or deliverables can not only help you manage your daily routine but also help reinforce a sense of accomplishment and increase productivity.

Continuous Improvement

Kaizen is a Japanese concept where something is incrementally and slowly improved upon each day in order to achieve perfection. There are several different strategies that are associated with continuous improvement, but all of them are focused on improving everything about a business from the bottom up. Whether it’s allocating a few minutes a day towards improving one particular task, or continuously streamlining processes, finding little areas to improve your business and you will help you maximize your potential and are easily incorporated into your life.

Branding

Your business brand is the legacy by which your customers remember you by, and the reputation that precedes you with potential and future customers. Likewise, your personal brand is the way you present yourself, and the way others perceive you. Developing a personal brand is a great way to stay focused on where you want to be down the line. Your personal brand allows you to focus on your uniqueness, highlight your strengths, and identify areas for future improvement.

Business strategies such as branding, continuous improvement, and measurable success aren’t isolated concepts exclusive to the world of commerce. You can adapt these concepts to apply to aspects of your personal life. Take measurements in the household such as budgeting, materials usage, pantry inventory or the like. Find ways to continuously improve your business and your daily tasks. Lastly, develop both a business and personal brand to create a living legacy by which others will identify and remember you by.

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Brand Identity

The Benefits of Adding Your Business to Apple Maps

By on

October 23, 2019

- Brand Identity

Nowadays attempting to locate your business can be a very difficult process for your customers. Not only does their uncertainty of a brand-new location profoundly influence their decision but so does the unfamiliar travel time and location of even getting to your business. Therefore, business leaders are now coming to the realization that they need to place their business on Apple maps in order to ensure growth. The following list entails some of the benefits of choosing this route.

Big Following

Needless to say, Apple is one of the most popular brands in the world. Almost anyone you know has an Apple device on them, and if they have an Apple product, they certainly have access to Apple Maps. Apple Maps can be a viable customer acquisition tool for your business with 1.3 billion active Apple devices in the world. This means that when you include your business into their system, you are also obtaining the eyes of billions of users, many residing within your local area. 

That big following also means that friends can instantly share information about your business with other friends without even having to worry that their phones might not be compatible. Therefore, this is certainly a huge benefit to keep in mind when choosing to add your company onto Apple Maps.

Always Improving

As stated above, Apple is quickly becoming the most popular company for mobile devices in the world. Therefore, it is in their best interest to keep improving on their technology. Recently in 2018, Apple Maps actually went through an entire overhaul of the way the application works and its functions. Incredible detail was added, such as cover, foliage, pools, pedestrian pathways, and much more. This, of course, is a huge benefit for business owners who may not be within the most visible areas. 

Current Apple CEO Tim Cook has stated that his mission for the application is to rapidly make it the best navigational system in the world. These improvements provide business leaders with a tremendous amount of growth potential.

Reach Potential Customers

The inclusion of your company on Apple Maps isn’t simply to allow people to locate you but also to reach potential customers. Often when consumers are looking for something different to eat, they might just type in the word BBQ or Chinese into their Apple Maps app. This process will then, depending on your type of service, provide the customer with a list of businesses within their area depending on their type of service. It is then that your business becomes known to the customer. If your listing is attractive enough, meaning a good number of photos, information, and customer reviews, then your business will stand out and attract them to give your service a try. This, of course, would not have been possible without your inclusion on Apple Maps.

Provides Valuable Data

Although the primary function of Apple Maps is to provide consumers the ability to find an address with the best precision possible, it also holds a plethora of benefits for a business seeking to grow. One of these is the collection of valuable data. As a business owner, you want to know who your shoppers are. Luckily, the app allows business owners to not only edit and improve on their listing but also see who is interacting with their business. This includes who’s calling in, leaving reviews, and shopping. This data can be utilized for marketing purposes as it now allows you to understand who your core base is and the data creates other possible avenues to support your business. It’s a no brainer that catering to a demographic that is more likely to purchase will lead to bigger profits. Data will certainly be one of the most valuable assets a company holds in the future.

Consumer Confidence

Although most businesses are ready at the phone waiting to answer any customer questions, there is no doubt that more and more consumers would rather hear from people who’ve experienced your service than from you. Apple Maps provide just that and much more. Through the Apple Maps app, consumers can get a taste of your business without having to contact you or even step inside. People do this because they want to make sure that they’re not wasting their money on a service or product that doesn’t work. Thus, with enough information, consumer confidence begins to grow with positive reviews or comments, and people will begin to give your small business a chance. 

Options for getting eyeballs on your company will always exist, but there are only a handful of those options that have a proven record of actually getting the job done. Therefore, the addition of your business onto the Apple Maps application is a must for any company which is seriously seeking to continually grow.


Contact us to build your brand and capture the attention of your audience! 

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Personal Brand

Are You Making One of These 3 Reputation-Killing Mistakes?

By on

July 17, 2019

- Personal Brand

Reputations are earned, not meted out at random. If your business is going to have any longevity, you have to gain a reputation for being trustworthy and able to evolve as necessary. Without a comprehensive brand strategy, you could be unintentionally sabotaging your reputation in all kinds of ways, such as committing these three mistakes.

Poor Advertising

Advertising is how you communicate with your customers, but you need to make sure that you’re doing it in a constructive manner. As The Loomis Agency explains, great ad campaigns can propel your company to new levels of awareness. Bad ad campaigns can be disastrous. Some of the unwise decisions can be a tone-deaf address of political issues, an offensive message, or just a generally confusing presentation. Sometimes, these bad campaigns can give your company publicity through how poorly thought out they are, but you shouldn’t try to find success on the back of flack. It should come from actually having something customers want to buy or use. 

Mismanaging Data

So much personal information is entrusted to companies, but if that information isn’t protected properly, your reputation can be left in tatters. Merchant One says that PCI compliance can be an overwhelming and complex thing to achieve, but securing your customer’s data and letting them know they’re safe is key for business success. Consumer privacy laws need to be respected, and you need to make sure there aren’t any gaps in your security. Even if your system is 99.9% protected, that .01% that’s exposed could open the floodgates and lead to chaos. The safety of your customers’ data should never be considered optional. 

Ignoring Reviews

Not every positive review is going to be useful, and not every useful review is going to be positive. While it’s counterproductive to try to please everyone, you should note trends in your feedback. Monitor your reviews and reply to customers. Focus on the ones that actually seem to have something constructive to say. Don’t listen to the reviews that are just effusive or critical, especially not the ones that are just trying to be inflammatory. Instead, look for ones that have a good balance. They should be able to outline what you’re doing well and what could be improved.  If these mistakes haven’t yet killed your reputation or if your business doesn’t seem like it’s in any real danger, don’t think that you can just sit pretty. Being willfully ignorant of what makes a business successful won’t help. You shouldn’t only be influenced by what others think, but you should certainly be aware of their opinions, especially if the general consensus is that you’re making the wrong choices or not making choices at all. If you need help developing your brand, check out what we can do for you!
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Brand Image

How to Link Google Reviews to Your Website (and Why This is a Good Idea)

By on

June 18, 2019

- Brand Image

Google is an indispensable aid to small businesses. Of course, you want potential customers to be able to easily find your site and your services. Once you have a customer, though, that shouldn’t be the last connection between you and Google. In recent years, Google Reviews has become increasingly important in maintaining your clientele and attracting new customers. In fact, it’s been proven countless times that reading reviews heavily influences service choices. Let’s look at how you can add Google Reviews to your website and take advantage of its power.

What is Google Reviews, and How Can it Benefit You?

Google review links are direct links that customers can use to write a review where others will see it. With a direct link, customers can post a review of your business in just a matter of seconds. The reviews can be as simple as one to five-star ratings, or your customers can leave detailed descriptions of their experiences with your business. While there certainly isn’t anything wrong with a quick five-star rating, customers who elaborate on their interactions with your business will give new site visitors a clearer idea of what you offer and a much better chance of turning them into future clients. Google Reviews’ algorithms also can give a boost to your search ratings, as the more positive the reviews, the higher your local search ranking.

Ways to Add Google Reviews to Your Site

Naturally, you want to inspire customers to leave comprehensive (and positive) reviews on your site, but don’t think that providing that space will be complicated to implement. Google allows you to connect to reviews directly through its Google My Business section (formerly Google Places). When someone Googles your business or searches for it within Google Maps, reviews will be automatically displayed within the search without the consumer having to go directly to your site to see them. Third-party platforms such as WordPress offer easily installed plugins that not only encourage reviews but can also store the reviews on your website itself, rather than having to depend on Google to keep them visible to your site visitors. Upgraded widgets can tie together reviews from other search engines and display only top rated testimonials. If you want to be more proactive in soliciting reviews, you can send customers a link to Google Reviews’ submission form.

The Good, the Bad, and the Misunderstood

If you’ve ever read any business reviews, you know that no matter how impeccable the services provided are, someone will be negative. Sometimes it’s just trolling, sometimes it’s a misunderstanding, and sometimes…well, maybe it was indeed a service breakdown. Considering that businesses with two or more negative reviews can lose up to 44 percent of potential customers, it helps to be able to offer your viewpoint as well. Google My Business allows you to respond to negative reviews, with your responses as easily visible as the reviews. If the issue was a genuine service error, an apology and offer to make things right can go a long way towards easing minds. However, you don’t want to get into an argument with a reviewer or provoke trolls to new creative heights. If that’s the case, a simple “I’m sorry for the inconvenience” should handle it, although if things escalate you can certainly take other measures. Ninety percent of consumers read online reviews and influence buying decisions, so you’ll want to make sure that you respond quickly and tactfully. In fact, unhappy consumers are 70 percent more likely to use a business’ services if the business responds to their negative reviews and solves the problem complained about.   When you make it easy for your customers to spread the good word about your product or services, you can gather data about what’s going well and what needs improvement. Even better, you can sit back and watch your business grow. For all your brand management needs, let us help — contact us today!
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Uncategorized

Why Education is Key to the Success of Your Startup

By on

June 11, 2019

- Uncategorized

Profits for an entrepreneur rise by 5.5% with an education. Becoming effective, knowing the market, and driving success are keys for financial success. There are those who would tell you that experience is enough. However, a strong educational background gives you access to a powerful knowledge base. These are some examples of how you can apply the tools you learn from a solid education to your business.

Education Gives You More Options

You are not going to get anything done if you know little about your industry. By having a degree in a related field, people are more likely to take a second look at you. While many schools are different, degrees are meant to be a standardized form of mentorship across all areas. You are more likely to hire an accountant with a degree as opposed to someone who tells you he or she has the experience. By extension, people are more likely to take your coding startup seriously if you have a degree in a computer-related field. A college degree also teaches you a lot of applicable skills that you might not be able to learn elsewhere.

Education Creates Connections

When you go to college, you are likely to make some friends. Whether those people are your fellow students or professors, the friends involved in your mentorship are excited to see you grow. Making connections is an important step in establishing your startup. In fact, connections are one of the reasons Daymond John calls education the “key to success.” Cramming a bunch of future financial advisors, biochemists, and lawyers into the same space is a lot of talent. Even those seeking similar degrees have a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. These are experiences that you don’t have. These people can provide you with anything from a new perspective to a new business partner.

Education Gives You New Experiences

According to the Association of American Colleges & Universities, many people make the mistake of going to college for one reason—to get a better job. You already know that college brings many types of people together. These people often get to do things that they normally wouldn’t have done without college. Studying abroad and internships are a few good examples. These unique experiences can add more dimension to your business. Startups need those with strong educational backgrounds to bolster the knowledge behind the scenes. With a general business degree, they are introduced to the idea of critical thinking and leadership strategies. These experiences and resources are necessary to ensure awareness of the best practices to ensure success in your startup. An important part of starting a business is establishing a solid brand identity. Are you struggling to develop one? Let us help you.
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Uncategorized

3 Tricks to Up Office Productivity

By on

May 28, 2019

- Uncategorized

It can be dispiriting to be at work and see your employees dragging their feet on their tasks. It can also be seriously bad for your business. You can only remind tell your employees to pick up the pace so many times. You have to find ways to make them do so in a way that works for everyone. Use these strategies to encourage your employees to be more productive.

Set Goals

The best way to be productive is to have a tangible goal to accomplish. If your employees don’t know what the ultimate purpose of their work is, they might have trouble being productive. Be transparent with your employees about what needs to be done and why. Hold staff meetings and one-on-one discussions to elaborate on what each step needs to be. Having this kind of understanding will make your employees feel like there’s a much greater purpose to their duties. Work is made much more fulfilling when employees know that there’s actually something to come from the effort that’s put in. Source: 7 Tips for Effective Employee Goal-Setting to Boost Engagement and Productivity

Enhance the Surroundings

Our minds are sharpest when we let our senses be stimulated. Your office set up is important, as it can determine how invigorated your employees feel. If you don’t believe this, imagine trying to get work done in an office that’s completely devoid of any kind of decoration. You don’t want to overwhelm your employees’ sensory input. Just find ways to enhance their senses that will make them more motivated. One option is aromatherapy. Aromatherapy works by targeting specific feelings and emotions that the scent attempts to bring to mind. Consider bringing in things like candles or diffusers to let magnificent scents travel around your office. Source: doTERRA vs Young Living (Review After Using Both Oils)

Give Positive Feedback

Hardly anything is a better motivator than positive reinforcement. Employees aren’t going to be productive just because you tell them to do something. They need validation that shows you value their efforts. This should not be effusive or nonspecific praise. If you notice that an employee has improved in a certain regard or they do something that really impresses you, tell them. They should know that you’re proud of them and all that you provide to the office. Source: How to Deliver Positive Feedback at Work Being productive is accomplished by working hard and working smart. Your office is full of talented individuals who might not realize just how much talent they have. As a leader, you need to encourage them to be as productive as possible. These strategies can help to make their workdays far more fulfilling and give them further confidence.
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Brand Clarity

4 Ways to Leverage Your Online Presence to Enhance Customer Communication

By on

March 14, 2019

- Brand Clarity

Keeping people engaged is vital to maintaining your customer base. How you communicate with your customers between transactions can go a long way toward ensuring that future transactions will really occur. Much of this communication is done online as opposed to in person. Here are some ways to use your online presence to build your communications with your clientele.

Your Website

There are many different ways that your website can improve communication with customers. You should be using it to inspire their interaction with you. This is done by a combination of providing information that customers want and responding to customers who contact you. Your business website can ask for reviews, or it can run promotions that encourage responses. People want to feel engaged, so give them the opportunity to do so. This is how a company builds brand loyalty. Start with a professionally designed website, and ensure it has numerous areas that allow for back-and-forth communication with your clients.

Your Blog

Your blog is a valuable tool to start a conversation. When customers see you in the position of trusted information provider, it builds a bond between them and your business. A blog is another way to stimulate and promote client interaction. Encourage your readers’ responses to what you put in front of them. Your customers may come to associate your business with whatever important piece of information they learned, and they may remember that when it is time to make a purchasing decision. You can never go wrong when you’re perceived as a friendly and approachable expert. Customers respect that.

Text Messaging

Since it puts information directly in front of your customers and literally into their hands, business text messaging is a valuable way to communicate. It doesn’t require much effort on the part of the recipient to read and digest the material. In fact, nearly 90% of consumers state that they would prefer to interact over SMS. Of course, you must make sure to use this form of communication intelligently because overuse of this method will turn consumers off. Nonetheless, if you provide certain timely pieces of information directly to customers via SMS, it will encourage their immediate response.

Email

When you use email to communicate with customers, you can exert some control over the conversation through dictating the content. A thoughtful email campaign can get your message in front of numerous potential clients. One advantage of this method is that the clients can read and absorb the message when they are able and have the time. If you use this form of contact, you should make it look as customized as possible to encourage your customers to read the email that you’ve sent. You should also consider directing as much of your incoming communication as possible to be sent via email so that you can have the appropriate time to respond. This could ease your busy schedule. The primary place where you will talk with your customers is now online. If you tailor your strategy there toward communicating in the most effective way, it will be possible to drive new clients to your business.
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Marketing

It’s 2019: Is Email Marketing Still Effective?

By on

February 12, 2019

- Marketing

In today’s increasingly wired world, the use of email plays a pivotal part in many marketing campaigns. Despite the rise of numerous social media platforms, targeted email campaigns are still a valuable component of digital marketing efforts. Here are three reasons why email marketing is still exceptionally effective, even in the year 2019.

When Done Right, Consumers Appreciate Personalization

Unlike other types of hard marketing, emails are easily personalized. By customizing the emails to meet the demands and personal preferences of your customer base, you can more effectively reach the people that you want to hear your message. A personalized email is more likely to be opened than a mass-produced piece of marketing, such as a direct mail piece or targeted social media advertisement. Because email is so simple to customize, you increase the chances that it will be read by the recipient.

Everyone Has An Email Account

With so many new social media platforms hitting the market space each year, their reach is becoming diluted. Although not everyone is on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, most everyone has an email account. In addition, people also tend to check their email accounts frequently. Surveys show 99% of consumers check their email every day, making email an extremely effective vehicle for reaching customers regularly. When you want to reach your customers at a specific time, email is the best choice to customize the exact delivery of the message. This precise timing is not possible with most other marketing techniques.

Higher Rate of Return Compared to Other Marketing Options

One of the primary reasons why email is still a viable option for a variety of marketing needs can be traced back to its high rate of return on investment. Unlike costly direct mail campaigns or targeted social media advertising, email initiatives are value-driven. Savvy marketers understand the importance of getting the most bang out of the advertising dollar. Targeted email campaigns can reach thousands of clients or potential customers for very little cost. Unlike direct mail pieces, email promotions are also easily trackable, delivering a host of useful data that can be harnessed to provide more powerful results in the future. Email marketing has distinguished itself with the ability to continually adapt to changing marketing trends in an effort to stay relevant. As long as this vehicle continues to evolve to meet the needs of marketers, it will remain a viable option for reaching customers for years to come.
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