Category: Business

A small business faces many difficulties that its larger counterparts may be able to bypass with a sizable investment. Still, the greatest threat doesn’t come from the places you expect it to come from. Your competitors may try to use some foul tactics to slander your brand, yet, this is something you’re probably prepared for. Your audience may be suspicious towards the offer you present them with, yet, this too, is something you should already have a plan for. The thing is that the greatest problems come from where you least expect them; here are five such examples.

Putting all your eggs in one basket

First of all, it seems natural, even intuitive to put all your hopes in a single, most profitable service/product. However, what happens if this product fails to resound as strongly as you thought it would? Where do you go from there? This is why it’s a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Try to diversify your products, diversify your investments and create an additional stream of revenue that you can fall back on if the situation appears to be too grim.

Over-investing

Warren Buffett once said that if you start buying things you don’t need, you’ll soon be forced to sell things you do need. In other words, over-investing can be incredibly dangerous for a small business, even though on paper, it’s supposed to save you money in the long run. This long-run mentality is the bane of small businesses, seeing as how they invest in trends that will pay themselves off in 10 years, while 90 percent of small businesses fail within the first five years of their existence (most of them fail during the first year). By spending work capital on long-term investments, you’re seriously endangering your cash flow. In other words, do this only when absolutely necessary.

Ignoring the security of your headquarters

Small business owners are so preoccupied with the issue of cyber-security, that they often forget to physically protect their premises. Installing a smart lock, a surveillance system and a reliable fence are just some of the trends you need to implement. Moreover, the risk of employee-theft can be just as great, which means that ensuring the security of your headquarters needs to start from within. Latest video management system provides the ability to deploy a surveillance that can truly support business needs.

Taking unnecessary risks

If your company is on the right path, the last thing you need is an unnecessary risk. Sure, a threat can also be an opportunity, however, expecting an overnight success is not the mindset of an entrepreneur but the one of a gambler. Entering a venture without proper research is not unlike picking a number on the roulette wheel and hoping for the best, which is why it is to be avoided at all times. Instead, take a more careful approach and be content with the fact that your revenue, workload and business are gradually increasing, even if it takes years and decades for them to meet your initial goals.

Teaming up with the wrong people

Lastly, not a lot of people can start a business on their own. We’re not just talking about the finances but the administrative part of running a business, as well. Now imagine if one-half of your company decided that the direction you set isn’t necessarily the best one out there. What if they decided to start dragging your business in a different direction? Teaming up with the wrong people can spell doom for your company, which is why you need to keep both of your eyes open when picking partners, managers and even employees.

As you can see, threats come from the most unlikely of fields and while some may pose an immediate threat to your brand, others might take years to manifest themselves. Sadly, when it comes to fragile small businesses and startups, they all lead to inevitable failure. Therefore, understanding, recognizing and fighting them efficiently needs to become the ultimate goal of every entrepreneur.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family.

 

 

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This is a guest post written by Jason Morris.

Business start-ups can take a lot of courage and that’s why it is best to cover every angle before beginning your venture. It’s paramount that you have everything set and ensure that you know what tasks you have ahead. As well as some of the obvious steps, we will also highlight other subtle details that can easily be overlooked when starting a business. Let’s get started.

Write a Business Plan

Starting your own business is never something that’s done on a whim and it takes a lot of organization. Once you have considered your product/service and how you wish to market it, you will then need to consider how realistic the business idea is and if it’s viable for you to create.

Prior to an official business plan you will want to write down a SWOT analysis, assessing your strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. What will you specialize in and what elements of the strategy are vulnerable?

Once you have delved into what you are looking to offer, you will then need to begin the business plan process. Start writing down a short description on the business you wish to start, the market itself and future opportunities. It’s important to then extend on this information and look at potential marketing techniques, the company concept and the financial outlay. Your finance plan will consider grants, start-up cash and how much you forecast for the first year and onwards.

Organize Your Finances

It’s no good starting a business without scope, you will need to see opportunities for profit, although that won’t happen overnight, you will want to strive for this within the first few years.

Don’t go into a new idea if you’re in lots of unsettled debt that is continuously increasing. In order to qualify for business loans, grants and other financial help you will be required to have a good credit rating. Start touching up on your debt and manage it correctly, there are lots of sources for free debt advice and solutions online.

Also be sure to begin your business sensibly with all your expenses, outgoing and income noted down efficiently.

Look at Competition

It’s no good burying your head in the sand- real competition deserves real recognition. What are they doing successfully? What could be better? That’s where opportunities lie for your business. It’s likely this is what helped you spot the gap in the market in the first place.

When taking a look at your rivals, consider the following:

• What products and services they provide
• The price of their products
• Where they excel
• Where they could improve
• How they could jeopardize your new business
• Why your company will offer something different

Get Advice

Don’t struggle alone, when you can seek help from experts. There are mentors and even specialists who are there to enable a new business. Plus, you should be confident enough to ask others who have been in your shoes before, many will admire your initiative and give you some pointers. You may already know people that will be able to serve you with imperative knowledge. Find out who else has started a successful business and don’t be afraid to pick their brain.

Be Passionate

You should know that starting a business is not simple. It will take a lot of effort and will also consume much of your time. Although it’s key to get the life-work balance right, you will need to invest a lot of time into this project and that’s why it pays to be passionate about the niche and the service that you are looking to provide.

Find a niche that you fully believe and take pride in. This will go a long way and in those rough times where you consider dropping it all. Your love for the business will carry you through.

It’s not all plain sailing but providing you start with these pointers and carry out lots of research you will be ready to start your business in no time. Be sure to write up you business plan, get your finances in check, find a project you love and analyze the competition you wish to go against.

Running a small business isn’t easy. With more and more startups being launched, it takes a lot of hard work to get your business noticed. However, if you fail to grow your business, all those other companies will start to outperform you and make surviving in the market impossible. That said, one of the most important goals you need to set is growing your business. And if you want to do this fast, here are five tips that can really help.

Use social media

With so many people using social media, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have become one of the best places for attracting new clients. And if you want your business to grow fast, attracting more and more clients is an absolute must. That said, you might want to think about creating social media pages for your business. You can use these to share content social media users will want to engage in. Just remember that the more quality content you share, the more users will check out your pages and browse your products.

Form partnerships

When running a small business, it’s also very important that you partner up with the right companies. Of course, identifying those companies is much easier said than done. The best way to start is to take a look at businesses that offer similar but not the same products you do. Contact them and try to come up with a deal that both parties will be able to benefit from. Besides partnering up with other companies, you should also look for influencers in your niche who might want to become your brand ambassadors.

Keep an eye on your competition

Another important thing you should do if you want to take your business to another level fast is keep an eye on your competition. That way, you’ll be able to figure out what types strategies are working well for them. Luckily, researching your competition is now easier than ever. All you need to do is visit their website and social media pages as often as possible. There are also various tools you can use to help this process as well. Besides doing research on your competition, you might also want to take a closer look at companies in your niche from abroad and see if there’s anything you can learn from them.

Deal with problems

Every entrepreneur starts experiencing problems at some point. Your business might be able to keep operating even if you choose to ignore these but overcoming any issues that come up is recommended. For instance, if you’re in the food or manufacturing industry and you start experiencing low voltage problems, turning to power quality experts is a good idea. Also, if your clients fail to make their payments on time, you should turn to a company that offers unpaid invoice collection services.

Create viral videos

The internet has undergone a lot of change and staying on top of the most recent trends is essential to business success. Some of the newest trends could help you obtain loads of new customers in a short time span, which is exactly what you should be aiming at. We’re talking about trends such as viral videos. Creating just one of these can do wonders for your business. Of course, creating a viral video isn’t going to be easy, and you’ll need to put a lot of time and effort into it.

When it comes to business, there’s no recipe for instant success, no matter what niche you’re in. However, with these five tips in your arsenal, you’ll be able to reach milestones that can catapult your business to success.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

 

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Many businesses and content creators struggle to come to terms with the fact that content quality in itself is not enough. A “craft it and they will come” mentality does not cut it since the internet is an immensely crowded place. One has to cut through the noise and the only way to do that is to come up with a smart promotion plan. Otherwise, you would be spending precious resources on posts that do not generate any value in terms of prospects and sales. The good news is that it is possible to spread brand awareness and extend your reach without breaking the bank. Here is how to pull it off.

A sound game plan

To reap benefits, one has to put in consistent effort over a longer period of time. Random promotion activities every now and then are not the way to go. Instead, come up with a comprehensive content promotion plan. One of the main objectives should be to garner loyalty and trust, which lays the foundation for building a following. Remember that these are long-term goals, not immediate gains. To reach them, conduct thorough research and develop a deeper understanding of your target audience. Find out how and why it interacts with brands and their content via major online hubs.

Once you figure out to whom to promote your content, you have to decide where to do it. Amidst all the channel saturation, social media is the real king.  To gain its royal favor, you have a lot of ground to cover, but feel free to start small. Promote a new piece of content via social media and carefully measure the effects. It will probably not be great because algorithms are designed to bring you diminishing returns after the initial impact. Most social media posts usually last around eight hours and then they get buried under a mountain of other content.

Social platforms

So, the top of the funnel must be filled constantly or at least more frequently. If you want to save time, repurpose old content and simply post and promote it again. To make it appear fresh, add new quotes, images, questions, and facts. Note here that visual content is a mainstay of successful content marketing strategies. Thus, steer away from the tired old “roundup” posts and generic blocks of text. It takes more to hit it big. And the more you share the same post, the more prospects you drive your way.

Furthermore, assemble a social sharing schedule to make the timing work to your maximum advantage. Learn how to create early buzz and excitement around your posts as well as the brand in general. You cannot go wrong with holding social media contests. Take this chance to tap into the amazing value that is user-generated content. Invite people to submit their pictures, videos, and articles. Winners can receive a gift such as a prepaid visa card, USB, vouchers, early access to products, or some other type of promotional item.

Influencer marketing and other options

Network diffusion is one key aspect many people overlook. Do not make that mistake: influencer marketing is one of the most powerful promotional tactics. To get started, locate important influencers and trusted experts in your niche field. They can help you gain exposure, even if you do not have any brand recognition yet— one share from them tends to produce a cascade of subsequent shares. Of course, to make it happen, you must foster relationships with important figures. This is a fine art that takes time to master.

Finally, once influencer marketing is in place, you can explore other forms of promotion, such as guest blogging, outreach/PR, paid search, display ads, email marketing, and syndication. Their synergy could produce incredible results. Namely, at one point, the effects have to kick in. You have an army of brand ambassadors in your camp. They will actively share your content and work wonders for your content promotion strategy. Until then, of course, you have to do the heavy lifting alone.

Smart prospecting

Never neglect the second part of the content marketing equation, one which allows you to get your work in front of people and spread the word. You cannot expect all the spoils and accolades to roll in on their own. For better or worse, pressing “publish” and then calling it a day is a thing of the past. So, forge a solid content promotion strategy, identify your audience, and make yourself visible in the avenues it uses. Your efforts are likely to pay dividends in the form of driving more traffic, prospects, and leads. Start building and growing an engaged audience now. Reach that critical mass and go viral. The sky is the limit from there.

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman is an entrepreneur, currently based in Melbourne and a regular contributor to bizzmarkblog.com. She assists clients in growing their personal and professional brands in a fast-changing and demanding market environment. Covering finance and investment topics, Lauren strongly believes in holistic approach to business.

 

How are you promoting your content?

In the last couple of years, more and more people have decided to give running their own business a go. If this the case with you and you’ve been in the world of entrepreneurship for some time, you might be looking to grow your small business. That said, we compiled a list of 5 hacks that will really help you grow your small business.

Automate everything you can

We live in the age of technology and so many time-consuming tasks can now be automated. And if you want to take your small business to the next level, making the most of automation technologies really is a good idea. Since there’s almost no other area of running a business that requires more time and energy than accounting, investing in an accounting automation software is recommended. Moreover, automating tasks such as service bookings and social media efforts can also turn out to be pretty fruitful. Keep looking for new automation software you could have some use of as these are being released quite often.

Get on social media

If you’re running your own business, you probably already know how important social media is. However, if you’ve just created social media pages for your business and you use them only from time to time, they’re hardly helping you move forward. What you need to do is make sure you find ways to create quality content you’re going to share on your social media pages. That way, you’ll give your followers something to engage in and help you spread the word about your business. Besides quality content, you also need well-designed visuals for your social media pages.

Discourage multitasking

Take a look at your office and if you see any of your employees trying to multitask, you might want to discourage them from doing so. Even though it may seem like multitasking helps your team members get more work done, it actually makes them less focused and more likely to make mistakes. Therefore, if nobody in your office is multitasking, you’ll get more work done and help your business move forward. One of the best ways to eliminate multitasking is creating a no-cell-phone policy in your office. Getting rid of all the office clutter you can also be quite effective.

Get your office design right

Another thing that can help you grow your small business is your office environment. The better you design your premises, the better your employees are going to perform. However, designing the perfect office isn’t as easy as you might’ve believed. It’s very important that you let in enough natural light, since it can help everyone in the office stay focused. Most modern-day offices have break rooms so deciding to incorporate one such well-designed office for your employees does make a lot of sense. Also, investing in quality shelving can help you keep your office organized, which is always a good thing.

Hold 15-minute meetings

No matter what kind of business you’re running, meetings are a necessity. Still, traditional meetings tend to be too long and tiresome, and avoiding them as much as possible might be a good idea. So, what you can think about doing is holding 15 minute meetings on a daily basis. Short meetings like this are a great opportunity to provide your employees with all the information they need, without sacrificing their time and energy. Of course, long meetings sometimes can’t be avoided, but try to limit these to only at the beginning and at the end of large projects.

With these 5 hacks in mind, taking your small business to the next level is going to be a lot easier. Just don’t forget to keep improving your products/services and you’ll have nothing to worry about.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

 

Do you use any of these hacks? Let us know!

There are many reasons why only one in ten startups actually finds its feet. So many failures are usually caused by not having a sound business idea or plan, or perhaps the market changes and becomes unfavorable for a company trying to break into it. Still, one of the main reasons is always related to the people behind the idea.

It’s true that the most responsible person is the one whose brainchild is a company wishing to grow. However, they can’t be alone in this process. A lot depends on all those involved in the daily operations of the company, which means it’s vital for every entrepreneur to recruit the right people.

So, what is it that they need to know and do in order to attract the best talent?

Look for people who fit and can contribute to the company culture

It’s not easy to define what company culture is, but we are all fully aware of its existence. If you’re the person in charge of recruiting, you need to find those people who can work in an atmosphere that you wish to have and who can improve it. You need to look for those who will cherish the working environment you’re offering and be able to thrive in it. It’s only when people feel secure, relaxed and appreciated that you can expect them to give their best. So, some candidates might have impressive resumes, but you need to take into account the fact that they might not be able to deliver in the given circumstances.

Make use of modern technology

It’s now easier than ever to collect information about potential employees since most of them are present on various social media channels. An insight into their posts can tell you a lot about the person you’re thinking of hiring. LinkedIn is particularly useful because it’s a CV platform on its own. Also, you shouldn’t forget to run a background check and get useful police clearance for every shortlisted candidate. This way, you’ll know if they’ve had some problems with the law that you might not be aware of.

Look for recommendations, but avoid friends

Ideally, the perfect candidate will be recommended by someone you trust and who understands what kind of person you’re looking for. You might want to ask such people for help, but only if they are in the same or relevant line of business. However, be careful about hiring friends. Although you may feel much more confident having a trustworthy person by your side, you need to know that it’s much harder to give friends a negative feedback or even fire them. Also, in case your business fails, or simply suffers, you can expect your friendship to be tested.

Select carefully

Making the right call when it comes to hiring is one of the most important tasks for every entrepreneur. If you make a mistake, you’ll not only lose a lot of time trying to find someone to replace the underperforming employee, but you’ll also notice that your business operations are affected and slowed down. Always go for the best possible option available and don’t settle for mediocre talent.

Offer attractive package

Most startups don’t boast a budget big enough to be able to offer new employees the conditions they would have in a well-established company. However, if you can’t put together an inviting and attractive package, you can’t expect to attract the best talent. The package should not include only the salary, but bonuses and perks, as well. You need to offer promotion opportunities and chances for your employees to continue their professional development if you want to keep their motivation high.

Finding the best possible candidate for your startup is not easy, but it’s necessary. That’s why you have to approach this task with the utmost care and invest significant effort.

Author Bio:

 

Carolin Petterson is a Business Lady/Content Marketer and contributor for a number of high-class business and marketing websites.

 

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Most small businesses don’t make it beyond the first year. Every startup creator needs to worry about more competitors than ever and the changes in technology are putting additional pressure on businesses as well.

If you want your business to succeed, you need to put systems in place that will allow you to rise above the competition and grow the company quickly and smoothly. This can be accomplished only if you know what makes your startup unique and who your customers really are.

Prepare to increase capacity

Setting up a business takes a lot of money and preparation and business owners usually borrow just enough to open the doors, keep the lights on and operate on their own for the first month or so. It’s a mistake to approach the business in this way. In fact, there should be plans to expand the business from day one.

It is an additional cost and sometimes that can be challenging, but try to expand your capacities both in terms of infrastructure and manpower. That way, you can grab any opportunity that comes along and step into the big shoes right away.

Finding a strategic partner

New startups can benefit greatly from finding a strategic partner that can help them out during their first year. Strategic partners are a much better option than taking out larger loans because getting tied in with a bank can be troublesome for small businesses.

A strategic partner is someone who will buy your products or services in bulk in exchange for cross-promotion and thus help you combat the uncertainty that comes with starting and running a new business.

Advertising

Advertising efforts need to start right away if you want your business to be set apart from the competitors and get noticed within the business community. This can only be done if you know your customers and which of their needs aren’t being met right now.

Building and maintaining a brand, doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor that will require you to take out long-term loans. In fact, promotional products, such as promotional caps, USB drives and mugs, could be the most effective ways to market a business and they are rather inexpensive. If these items contain your logo and some basic info, they can go a long way in promoting the company as long as you put them in the right hands. Another excellent and also essential advertising/marketing method is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which can be done with very little expense if you learn to do it on your own.

New streams of revenue

Relying on just one revenue stream is one of the most dangerous things a business can do. That means that any problem that might emerge with that revenue stream can completely stop or even destroy your business.

There are numerous ways of handling this problem early on. The simplest option is to try to offer additional services or products that will generate income independent of your main line of work. However, this isn’t available to everyone, since it requires resources. Another way to go is to streamline some of your services to the industry you’re working in and create a business-to-business side of your work.

There are no clear rules on how to make a business a success. However, there are problems that all businesses face and preparing to deal with them early on can help a startup avoid some of the common mistakes and grow exponentially.

Author Bio:

 

Carolin Petterson is a Business Lady/Content Marketer and contributor for a number of high-class business and marketing websites.

 

Any comments or questions?

Leave them in the comments section below!

 

Sound business organization revolves around figuring out the most effective systems and procedures and putting them in place. So, you do not need a hefty budget to make sure your operations are running like clockwork. Do not waste time boiling the ocean. Find a way to make changes with minimum friction and avoid jeopardizing the quality of your work, service, and offerings. In other words, master the art of doing more with less. Get your priorities in order, allocate resources accordingly and spur sustainable growth.

Office purge

A good place to start your organizing efforts is the physical work environment (or if you work from home, the same applies). Take a good look at your environment and identify sources of clutter and disarray. Keep desks and workstations neat with all the necessary equipment and supplies close at hand. Digitize the office as much as possible to reduce the amount of paper you hoard. Bear in mind that employing smart, vertical storage solutions is a great way to facilitate uninterrupted workflow. This tidying up process will enable everyone to perform at the highest level and minimize distractions.

Financial house cleaning

Furthermore, make an effort to get your financial house in order. Establish a system for tracking and recording expense receipts. Consider implementing accounting platforms and apps to make your life easier.  Dive into data to anticipate holes in the cash flow and patch them up. To pull it off, proactively manage invoices, billing and payments –programs such as FreshBooks are of great help here. Oh, and do yourself a favor and remember to prepare for meeting tax obligations well ahead of time.

Tech tools of the trade

Technology is a big game-changer for small businesses. It allows them to enter the big leagues and advance by strides. There are numerous applications, from using business intelligence programs to support decision making, to hiring virtual assistants and monitoring employees via solutions like Xnspy. And in case you need to take care of a fleet of vehicles, check out car GPS tracking tools to foster transparency across the board and streamline management tasks. Whatever you do, avoid staying behind the competition.

Optimizing customer service

Next, focus your attention on customers, the heart and soul of your business. Firstly, make sure that you use proper channels to reach them and try to send consistent messages. There are various platforms you can take advantage of to automate management across touch points and make the interactions smoother and more effective. Also, have a dedicated team for these tasks, as well as for social media profiles. In this day and age, they can be utilized as powerful customer service tools.

Smart marketing strategy

Speaking of digital media, you also need to structure your marketing campaigns in this realm. Narrow down the focus to fewer networks in case you notice that your activities do not bear fruit on some of them. Put together a content calendar to schedule posts for maximum exposure. Note that it is also possible to manage content beforehand, with the help of various handy tools.  Finally, optimize your online presence to boost visibility and ranking in search engines.

Get on the fast tracks

If you really mean business, it is time to get organized. This is to say you should try working smarter instead of just pushing harder. First off, purge your office and manage finances better. Make the best use of resources you have at your disposal and fine-tune your organizational structure. Automate some of the core processes to save precious time and money. Rest assured that all the time and money you invest today will pay dividends down the road. You will be able to make a real difference and lay the foundations for success in 2018 and beyond.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

 

Are you using any of these tips?

Small businesses used to thrive on their standing in the community and word of mouth advertising. These are still very useful and there’s nothing that can replace them, but they are no longer enough if you want your small business to succeed.

You need to have a marketing campaign that is equal to those of big businesses, at least in terms of organization and planning. As soon as you start working on your business plan, you need to bear in mind how important your marketing efforts are going to be.

Live Streaming

Pivoting to video is the trend that’s taking over all media organizations including the news, and marketing is going to have to follow suit. This is a very simple tool for keeping your viewers engaged because it seems to be unedited and unscripted (and sometimes it actually is.)

It’s also one of the cheapest marketing options out there, especially because it allows you to rely on the videos submitted by your users and customers. That way, you’re getting free promotion and showcasing your product as it’s being used at the same time.

More Personalized Campaigns

The data your customers leave online can help you make your marketing campaign much more personalized. Broad campaigns that are made to capture as wide an audience as possible aren’t as effective as they used to be. The users want to see that a brand cares about them personally and that it values their loyalty.

These campaigns don’t necessarily need to be more expensive. Since most of the shopping is done online, marketing efforts could be automated. The creative work still needs to be done by people, but all the infrastructure-related work can be arranged inexpensively.

Influencers

The campaign needs to be adapted to the channel it’s using. This requires additional work and makes the companies really focus on what the strengths of their business and their product are. When you decide to use social media as the main focus of your campaign, you need to create a message that’s suited to them.

For the majority of social media, that means choosing the right influencers to support and promote your business. Their influence doesn’t have to expand beyond social media and the industry, but it needs to be felt where it matters.

Offline Tactics

It often feels like online branding is all there is and that your business will do fine if it focuses only on social media and blogs. This is not the case for the vast majority of companies. You still need to try hard and get to the customers that don’t spend most of their time online.

For those working in the corporate world, promotional products are the easiest way of doing this. These products need to be something your clients can actually use, like promotional USB drives or notebooks and office supplies. Just make sure to place your logo and relevant info where everyone using the product can see it.

B2B Marketing

It’s important for a small business to diversify its sources of income. That way, it can avoid risks and have something to fall back on, even if there are a few rough months in terms of sales. One of the ways to avoid this is to sell some of your products directly to businesses in your industry. Selling in bulk could provide you with an additional income and a plan B.

This also means that some of your marketing efforts need to be focused on the businesses themselves and placed in industry-related publications that have a small readership, but wield great influence.

Mobile Apps

Mobile apps are one of the most convenient ways of marketing your company. They are always available to users and they provide the company with a lot of useful data to work with while making the campaign better. They could also be used to promote content of all kinds and in every medium.

Investing in this form of advertising could be a great move for a small business because it shows that you’re trying to stay on top of trends and make the most of new technology.

New Content

Producing new content in the form of blogs and videos was always one of the most important ways of staying in touch with the audience. Now, there’s a kind of content that helps with this more than any other. It’s educational and tutorial-type videos and blogs that are going to be huge in the years to come.

This content has such an appeal because it provides a value to your readers that they don’t need to pay for and that comes with supporting the brand. It’s a useful tool for both promoting the brand and working on customer loyalty.

Marketing a small business requires a plan and a long-term vision. It’s something you need to work on with diligence and all of your professional skills.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

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The world of marketing is constantly on the move, evolving and shifting. There are certain tactics that worked in the past, but today, they do more harm than good. Some of them can even leave the reputation of the brand in tatters and its customers running to the camp of the competition.

We call them deadly marketing sins because they spell doom for your efforts to win people over and ultimately put a strain on all resources and organizational capacities. The list is long and sinister, but we have narrowed the sins down to those that are the most common and lethal.

Underestimating the consumer 

Consumers are presented with a variety of options on the market and have powerful online tools at their disposal.  They are quite educated and able to sniff out wily marketing. It is quite easy for them to go through multiple sources of information, compare offers, and read customer reviews.

Therefore, it has never been more important to be genuine and honest. Gimmicks do not cut it. For example, campaigns that target women can no longer adhere to the “paint it pink” logic. Recent years have shown that brands cannot publicly argue with customers either: like it or not, they are always right.

Submitting to promotional overload

Nowadays, there are a slew of marketing channels and tools businesses can employ. This is not to say that they should shoot from all cannons. Nobody likes to see an overflowing inbox or a truckload of pop-ups occupying screen space.

It all comes down to building meaningful relationships, not the number of ads you can bombard the customer with. Brands have to realize that the only way to foster trust and loyalty is to add real value with relevant info, great customer service, quality content, interesting events, engaging contests, etc.

Ignoring the competition

Competitive research is an integral part of the modern business game. You can learn a great deal by seeing what mistakes others make, but also how they manage to create campaigns that resonate with their target audience.

Insights you gain that way must be used to form your own unique strategy and flesh out ways of implementing it. In other words, apart from neglecting this dimension, another disastrous thing to do would be to outright copy what your competition is doing. Make an effort to highlight your unique persona and brand.

Putting all eggs in one basket

Digital marketing is stealing the show and it enables companies to achieve unparalleled reach. Still, traditional marketing is far from dead. It allows businesses to avoid the immense noise and crowdedness of the online landscape and easily target local customers.

Take the example of branded promotional USB drives that are exactly the kind of item that delights people in the digital age. You can also opt for other gifts, hand out flyers, make the most of newspaper ads, and create a radio commercial. Finally, remember that no amount of digital claptrap can replace the warmth of face-to-face interactions.

Not measuring results

To figure out what works and what doesn’t, one has to have a solid tracking system in place. Companies that fail to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and take advantage of metrics tools and services are bound to waste precious resources.

In the case of social media campaigns, for instance, it is highly advisable to keep an eye on the number of social signals that the posts generated. Use reports to gauge your performance and fine-tune strategies as needed. It is much better to get back to the drawing board than to stick to ineffective and low-ROI campaigns.

Marketing rites of passage

Marketing is a delicate art. It requires you to influence other people’s opinions and behavior in a way that seems organic and sincere. So, those who don’t want their campaigns to be dead in the water might want to steer away from the deadly sins of marketing.

Center your strategies around customers and always keep your finger on the pulse of what they want and need. Be sterling when crafting campaigns and track your efforts. See what contributes to your goals and dump what hampers your brand. And if you are guilty of any of deadly sins, it’s better to admit it and face the reckoning.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

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