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Professionals have been arguing for decades over the age-old question of how often to email a marketing list. On one side are those who believe contacting readers more than once a month is a no-no. On the other, we have those who think daily emails are best for maximizing profits.
Who’s right? Let’s find out by looking at several factors.
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Svetoslav Dimitrov
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According to ProfitWell, 80% of future profits come from just 20% of existing customers. So clearly, any effort to keep yours engaged is a worthy investment, and loyalty programs are one of the oldest and most popular ways to do that.
Put simply, such programs retain existing customers by rewarding them for interacting with your brand — typically via points, discounts, perks or free products. Research from Yotpo in 2019 found that 67.8% of buyers equate brand loyalty with repeat purchasing. It’s not surprising, then, that brands have created associated programs to encourage repeat purchases.
Here are some proven program categories:
If you have a credit card, you’re likely familiar with points programs, in which you spend a certain amount to get a number of points. These are usually convertible to cash, or store credit in the case of retail brands. Starbucks has one of the most popular in the world: You use an app or card to pay for orders and earn points. In the U.S., customers can start redeeming rewards once they hit 25 points (or “Stars,” as the company terms them). The brand also runs yearly sticker-based points programs during the holidays in select countries, which encourage customers to collect a number of stickers to get a limited-edition Starbucks planner.
Related: How Brands Can Turn Short-Term Rewards Into Long-Term Loyalty
Paid or premium programs encourage customers to pay a membership or subscription fee in exchange for benefits. Perhaps the most recognizable example in this category is the Amazon Prime subscription, which rewards members with a free membership in its streaming app, free shipping within the U.S. and other added value.
Some retail brands like Barnes & Noble have membership programs that grant members discounts on items and early access during sales. To get customers to sign up for a paid loyalty program, the key is to offer something that’s perceived as valuable and useful, and among the highest-performing examples of associated apps were recently listed by AVADA.
Tiered loyalty programs follow the same concept as points-based examples — the difference being members are given different rewards as they reach each tier, rather than everyone getting the same. Such programs present members with a specific status name each time they climb up a level.
For example, most airlines have tiered loyalty programs measured by miles. Qatar Airways, the flag carrier of Qatar, has a Privilege Club for its frequent fliers. New members start on the lowest tier, called “Burgundy,” followed by “Silver,” “Gold” and “Platinum.” As members progress, they earn more privileges and perks. For example, once members hit the Silver level, they get lounge access, while one benefit of the Platinum tier is a no-charge allowance of 55 pounds of baggage every time they fly.
Member programs in other industries might offer good student, safe driver or good credit discounts, along with referral rewards, VIP status and other perks.
Related: 7 Ways Leading Companies Boost Repeat Sales
Action-driven loyalty programs encourage customers to interact with your brand beyond purchasing. For example, they might receive specific points on a first purchase, but to progress as a member they need to like and share your social media pages. To drive members to action, it’s best to also include tiers in these examples.
A winning example in this category is Adidas’s action-based loyalty program called the adiClub, wherein members are encouraged to shop and post reviews, complete a profile on the website and sign up for a run. Members climb tiers and unlock more privileges and rewards as they earn points. In time, they become brand ambassadors — supporting the company on a more holistic scale.
Cash-back programs are similar to points programs but with more instant gratification. Many credit card companies offer them and typically reward members between .25% and 5% per eligible transaction. Most companies have partner merchants and a minimum-spend amount before cash-back is granted.
Related: 3 Ways to Build the Rewards Program Customers Want
The key takeaway is that instead of competing for attention in a crowded marketplace, it might be better to focus efforts on the audience you already have. For hundreds of brands spanning dozens of industries, customer loyalty programs have proven to be an effective strategy for retaining customers, boosting relations with them and increasing brand affinity.
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Nick Brogden
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You’ve probably heard it said that the greatest investment anyone can make is in themselves, and this is unquestionably true. Certainly with respect to business, before you can effectively engage in anything or with anyone, investing in yourself is mandatory. This process can consist of reading and attending conferences and seminars that cater to your niche or industry — learning from people who are already crushing it and/or enrolling into a mastermind of like-minded individuals who have the same or similar goals.
We all know that growing any business is not an easy feat. However, there are several ways to make incredible things happen along the way, and they all start from within.
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Jose Flores
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Only recently, just before the pandemic, it seemed big companies were on a roll. A few “superstar” companies were dominating software industries and reaching their tentacles into multiple sectors. Market share was concentrated in much of the economy, the performance gap between large and small companies was widening and people were forming fewer new businesses. An article in Harvard Business Review reported concerns that “a lack of competition was strangling the U.S. economy.”
Many of those worries have begun to fade. We’re seeing a historic surge in new business creation and a shrinking performance gap between big and small businesses. The pandemic, with its “Great Resignation” and “Quiet Quitting,” was only a catalyst, accelerating an inevitable change — inevitable because that’s the nature of large organizations. They can’t sustain dominance for long, and indeed the profitability and longevity of big companies have been shrinking for decades. The superstar companies, now suffering from depressed stock prices, are laying off thousands of talented employees, giving way to smaller firms that are still hiring.
While this is a striking change of events, it follows a cycle that has existed since the beginnings of capitalism. By looking back at previous cycles of creative destruction, in which large firms have risen only to fall to scrappy smaller competitors, entrepreneurs can find many lessons that are applicable today.
Related: How Looking Back at History Can Make You a Better Entrepreneur and Leader
The first lesson is that large companies tend to grow complacent the more successful they become. This provides an opening to smaller companies that are hungrier and more ambitious.
For example, the East India Company, chartered in 1600 and arguably the world’s first big business, once operated not only ships and warehouses but armies of soldiers to enforce colonial exploitation. Enjoying a monopoly on imports of tea and other staples, its power was so great that Adam Smith devoted a large section of The Wealth of Nations to criticizing its heft. Yet the company became a victim of its own success, eventually declining as its leaders enriched themselves, got caught up in politics, and stopped innovating.
The same lesson applies today. As soon as large companies think they’re in a solid situation, they relax and start enjoying their position. That’s the perfect time to enter the market with an innovation or a fresh way of thinking.
The second lesson is that entrepreneurs can still beat out larger companies even if they lack the same connections to power. History shows that “right” can often beat “might.”
Consider the example of wealthy Robert Livingston, who funded Robert Fulton’s successful invention of the steamboat in 1807. Livingston used his connections and wealth to gain a monopoly of the ferry business between New York City and New Jersey. But scrappy Cornelius Vanderbilt, with no social standing or education, dared to challenge Livingston’s privilege and won a landmark Supreme Court case, Gibbons v. Ogden, striking down interstate monopoly charters. Thanks to Vanderbilt’s relentless push for efficiency and lower costs – and the new country’s distaste for government-backed privileges, he gained the capital to improve not only ferries but ocean-going ships and then railroads.
Vanderbilt proved that companies that rely on personal connections often become over-confident, believing themselves protected from competition. This makes them vulnerable to smaller competitors who are willing to call out their unfair practices.
By the end of the 19th century, steel had become fundamental to the economy, and Andrew Carnegie had the biggest and best factories. Like Vanderbilt, he had rapidly expanded by keeping costs low and reinvesting profits. The remaining steelmakers were so concerned about his moves into their markets that they pressed J.P. Morgan to buy him out for the then incredible price of $480 million.
After Morgan did so, creating U.S. Steel, he failed to maintain Carnegie’s aggressiveness, allowing tiny rivals to expand. Fearing antitrust and preferring stability and dividends to risky growth, U.S. Steel failed to innovate and eventually fell apart with foreign competition and the rise of steel mini-mills in the 1960s.
U.S. Steel’s preoccupation with stability is common among large firms, and it’s an opportunity for smaller competitors to rise up. Consider the many brick-and-mortar retailers that failed to invest in e-commerce until it was too late. They assumed they were safe because of their size, but their failure to innovate ultimately caused their downfall.
Innovation is critical to building and maintaining a competitive advantage — and it gets harder to do as companies succeed and grow. Entrepreneurs, as guerillas, can often find openings of attack against even the mightiest of gorilla companies.
Related: 6 Ways Small Businesses Can Win With Big Corporations
The history of creative destruction shows us that the current travails of Big Tech companies like Meta are nothing new. Large companies tend to fall prey to a combination of hubris and complacency, while ambitious entrepreneurs continue to find openings to take advantage of emerging technologies and market trends.
Energetic commitment and talent will beat resource-rich rivals, as long as entrepreneurs pick their fights wisely. There are two reliable ways of spotting opportunities to do so.
First, as companies get bigger, even well-managed ones must leave opportunities on the table — market segments or product opportunities too small or too different for them to do well in or focus on. These often provide windows of opportunity for small players. Today’s small markets can become tomorrow’s large markets.
Second, new technologies and platform shifts inevitably create openings for nimbler firms, whether in specialized areas such as digital marketing or in transformative areas such as blockchain. Big companies almost never move fast enough.
Finally, in assessing today’s large companies, it’s important to remember that their success usually came from a basic entrepreneurial achievement combined with an organizational mindset. As entrepreneurs grow their businesses, they should be mindful of the competencies they have developed and remain intent on building new ones over time. New competencies — fueled by innovation — will likely increase their trajectory in growth and value.
A modern economy still needs big companies, which are essential to producing goods and services at scale at an affordable price. That’s where they excel. But we also need entrepreneurs to challenge them wherever they fall short — and eventually, replace them as new giants to move the economy forward.
For pundits and other desk-bound observers, bigness might seem inevitable. But bigness also inevitably corrupts. The vitality is not in supposedly “professional” management but in scrappy entrepreneurs.
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John Landry
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Managers are expected to be resilient and take bad feedback gracefully, but these are skills that don’t come naturally to everyone, of course. Being criticized by a team, for example, can be particularly hard for managers to swallow.
These practical steps will guide you through that challenging process, and help turn the tide toward learning and professional betterment.
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Joanna Kulbacka
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In 2008, Kevin Kelly, the founding editor of Wired, proposed the 1,000 True Fans theory. Attract a thousand loyal fans to your Fintech startup or any other business – and you’ll make money. However, this might seem unrealistic for a Fintech startup.
Li Jin, the co-founder of Variant Fund, lowered the initial goal to 100 loyal customers. In her opinion, businesses can succeed by giving their most loyal fans more value at a higher price. Although this number of clients sounds quite realistic, attracting 100 brand followers in a highly competitive environment is difficult. You can achieve this goal with a clear marketing strategy for Fintech startups. Let’s look at the most efficient ways to acquire your first 100 customers.
Related: 7 Things to Consider Before Launching a Fintech Startup
Recruiting the first 100 grateful clients is difficult. The market has strict requirements for newcomers:
The industry has a low barrier to entry
According to Statista, the number of startups in the U.S., EMEA, and Asia-Pacific has nearly tripled in the past 4 years. Consumers like mobile banking apps, so investment in Fintech companies is growing. Project ideas for the financial industry are more relevant than ever.
Users don’t entrust sensitive data to unfamiliar apps.
Users trust financial apps that have a large audience and positive reviews. Although the App Store and Google Play check each platform for safety and quality before publication, not all people buy new products.
A startup should invent a brilliant Fintech marketing strategy to interest users and convert them into loyal customers.
A business doesn’t know how to turn customers into leads.
To make a product visible and demanded, startup initiators must understand their target audience and know how to convert one-time visitors into leads.
An efficient working sales funnel will introduce a product to users and lead different clients to purchase. An advanced Fintech marketing strategy will help to build scenarios of interaction with each customer type to accompany them in sales until they buy a product.
To acquire its first 100 customers, a business should use a proven Fintech marketing strategy. So, here are five ways to acquire new customers:
According to Epsilon, 80% of users prefer brands that offer personalized services.
Project initiators should remember that all customers are unique, adapt software solutions to specific purposes, and personalize marketing messages. Specialists interview users to find out their problems and segment them into groups.
This division of the target audience will help build more personalized communication with customers. Augmenting Fintech startup marketing with AI will help you create targeted text messages and product/service recommendations.
Related: Launching A Fintech Startup? Here’s How We Built Ours
When users are looking for software solutions for financial issues, they search on the internet. By entering keywords, they find relevant material. Marketers can use people’s desire to learn more information and compare apps to build a content promotion strategy.
The main thing is to find keywords that will answer customers’ concerns and create useful content. Write an article comparing several services, and favorably disclose the advantages of your financial software. Create a top list of investment apps mentioning your product. Tell a post-story of a customer who solved a problem with your app, and describe its functionality.
Various content will encourage potential customers to try a free version of the product, sign up for a demo or buy a discounted subscription.
Many studies confirm that product branding has a direct impact on the decision-making process. Navigation, colors, styles, and focus on customers’ values determine whether people buy a digital product.
Everything is important: the message of the text, the font size, the distance between elements and the color of objects. The right combination of these encourages customers to take targeted actions.
Involve experienced UX/UI designers with the knowledge of key psychological principles in creating a landing page. They will place priority buttons so that users can easily find and click them. An advertised object must point at a call-to-action element.
Gamification has attracted the attention of non-gaming app creators. According to Yu-kai Chou, customers feel successful when using apps. This mechanism works just like psychological triggers, making it easier to interact with serious financial programs.
Gamification can become a lead magnet. Surely, customers would be interested in a Fintech platform integrated with a fitness tracker. A bank can give an interest rate of 3% for reaching a fitness goal of 10,000 steps. An offer of investment education in a simulated environment sounds enticing as well.
By cleverly advertising financial product game features (avatars, quizzes, rewards, infographics, etc.), you’ll surprise customers and gain new ones.
Related: 6 Great Content Marketing Examples for Fintech Startups
In 2012, Nielsen found that 92% of people trust word of mouth more than traditional advertising when making purchasing decisions. The situation has not changed yet: Nine out of 10 buyers trust reviews of their friends, acquaintances and other users.
Use referral marketing to reach the target figure of 100 clients faster. It is a powerful mechanism for acquiring new customers. Ask your first users to share positive impressions about your brand with their acquaintances, and offer them a pleasant bonus for that (a cash reward, an individual discount, etc.).
Engaged customers will tell a story of a product/service value better than a marketer will. They reveal the benefits of the brand from the user’s perspective. Conduct a quick survey to find out what rewards your clients want. Work with them until you gain the right number of loyal customers.
It won’t be easy to get your first 100 clients, but we have pointed out five of the most effective major ways to do so. Start small, test ideas, and use different combinations of marketing Fintech activities. Through trial and error, you’ll discover a working formula for success.
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Alexandr Khomich
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SWOT Analysis assesses and analyzes several aspects of your business to create an effective business plan and marketing strategy. The SWOT Analysis is a powerful tool for evaluating your marketing efforts to create a more robust and pervasive marketing campaign. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Analyzing these four facets of your business can transform and strengthen your marketing strategy going forward.
Related: The Ins and Outs of SWOT Analysis for Marketing Growth
The SWOT Analysis framework measures your company’s competitive advantages and disadvantages and plans for improvements and seizing favorable opportunities for your business. In marketing, the SWOT Analysis is crucial to your marketing campaign’s success and in planning the course of your further marketing efforts.
The segments of strengths and weaknesses are known as the inward stages of SWOT Analysis. This means that you are looking at what you already have done in your marketing campaign, what you are currently doing and what you plan to do to plan a way to give your company a competitive edge.
Opportunities and threats are parts of the SWOT Analysis that look outward, meaning you have no control over these factors, but can plan for them.
When assessing strengths during SWOT Analysis in marketing, it’s important to ask yourself several questions. What are the areas in which your marketing campaign is excelling? Why is your marketing campaign excelling?
Consider customer satisfaction and why consumers are being drawn to your campaign. Also, take into account the advantages you have over your competitor. Analyze the financial aspects of your marketing campaign as well, such as what resources you may have that other competitors do not.
Related: 10 Steps for Creating an Effective Content Marketing Campaign
Assessing your weaknesses is a crucial step in improving any marketing strategy. Take into account why customers may not be returning, what parts of your marketing budget are limited, and what is making you fall behind your competitors. In short, ask yourself what you can improve in your marketing efforts. Consider all the data that shows something may not work at total capacity and learn why certain aspects of your marketing campaign are not practical. Maybe you have a small advertising effort because of a limited budget and limited resources. In what areas do customers feel dissatisfaction? Why is there a lack of conversions? All of these questions and more help to determine what needs improvement.
Analyzing what opportunities are available and in what channels they exist can assist you in planning a marketing strategy to capitalize on these opportunities. It is simply the method of assessing what can help give your marketing campaign an advantage over your competitors.
Are your partnerships and brand advocates sending the right message to your consumers? How can you enhance this message even further? Are there more platforms on which to launch your campaigns and acquire more exposure? Do newer and more effective technologies exist to improve your brand? Considering missed and pending opportunities is a beneficial aspect of strengthening your marketing efforts.
Just as it sounds, threats are the conditions or forces that can hurt your marketing strategy. Threats can present themselves in many forms, such as changes in the economy, the market and technology development. These factors play a role in determining the course of your marketing campaigns, but if you’re prepared, you can already shift how your company will address these changes and use them in your favor. Even a change in current trends can pose a threat to your marketing campaign. Anticipating and planning for these deviations can aid in keeping your marketing efforts running like a well-oiled machine despite external changes.
With all the current data metric technology available, some business owners may wonder why SWOT Analysis is necessary to create a better marketing strategy. Even if you’re using all of the analytical tools in marketing, there is still potential for more significant improvements in your marketing strategy, and that’s where the SWOT Analysis comes in. Because it requires your critical thinking and evaluation skills, aside from just data-driven information, your assessment’s raw honesty can help improve areas that technology can’t pick up on.
Related: 6 Outdated Marketing Tactics You Need to Leave in the Past (Where They Belong)
To get started, you need to know where you can find the answers to all of your questions which typically come from data. Because marketing is a customer-centric effort, it is usually the best place to start. Create polling campaigns for your consumers to determine their level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Check reviews left by customers on pages other than your own such as Google or Yelp. Read marketing blogs and news reports to understand how industry trends are changing and what is happening in the economy. From there, you can start picking apart the information you gather to plan for a more robust marketing strategy.
SWOT Analysis is a measurement of success. It requires brutal honesty when facing the results of your marketing efforts. In marketing, a SWOT Analysis can be time-consuming because it presents so much data, but it gives you the power to make informed decisions. Your business and marketing efforts can continuously improve by using SWOT Analysis.
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Ross Kernez
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Predictive analytics is a field of data analysis that uses past data to make future predictions. By understanding customer behavior, you can better anticipate what they want and need — and therefore create products and services that appeal to them. In this article, we outline seven simple steps for using predictive analytics in your business. We hope these will help you get started and that the insights generated will help you achieve your business goals. In this article, we’ll discuss:
What is predictive analytics?
Why is it important in business?
How does predictive analytics work?
The different types of data that can be used in predictive analytics
Related: How Predictive Analytics Can Help Your Business See the Future (Infographic)
Predictive analytics is a method of using data to make predictions about future events or behavior. It can be used in a number of different fields, including marketing, sales and customer service.
Predictive analytics can be used to predict how people will behave in the future based on their past behavior. This can help businesses plan their marketing campaigns or sales initiatives better by knowing which type of customer is likely to respond well to a particular product or service.
It can also be used to predict how customers will respond to changes that are made to the company’s website or product offerings. By understanding where and how customers are clicking on the website, for example, you can make sure that all information is presented in an effective way.
Finally, predictive analytics can be used in order to improve customer service by predicting which customers are likely to require more attention than others. This allows staff members to allocate their time accordingly so that everyone receives the care they need.
Predictive analytics is a powerful tool that can help you make better decisions in your business. It’s used to predict future events and trends, which can then be used to influence decision-making throughout the organization.
There are a number of reasons why predictive analytics is important in business. Some of them include:
It helps you optimize your operations.
It helps you identify and prevent risks before they become problems.
It allows you to make more informed decisions about pricing, marketing and product development.
It can help you improve customer retention and loyalty by understanding how customers behave and what motivates them.
Related: Why Industry Leaders Are Turning Towards Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics is a method of predicting future outcomes based on past data. By understanding how people behave and what affects their behavior, you can make better decisions about the future. There are three different ways that predictive analytics can work:
Predictive modeling: This is the most common type of predictive analytics, and it uses mathematical models to predict future outcomes. These models are usually powered by data sources like historical sales data or customer preferences.
Predictive segmentation: This is used to identify specific groups of people who are more likely to behave in a certain way. For example, you might use predictive segmentation to know which segments of your customers are more likely to switch brands or spend more money.
Predictive analysis: This is used to understand how various factors (like pricing, product design, etc.) affect overall customer behavior. It can also be used to improve performance by identifying problems early on and fixing them before they become major issues.
There are many different types of data that can be used in predictive analytics, and each offers its own benefits. Here are the four types of data that can be used in predictive analytics:
Demographic data: This includes information about people’s age, gender, location and other personal details. It is often used to predict who will buy a product or service, or to understand customer trends over time.
Behavioral data: This includes information about how people behave, including their shopping habits and preferences. It is often used to target ads and content with the right audience.
Social media data: This includes information about who is talking about what on social media and how this conversation is evolving over time. It is often used to understand which topics are being talked about most frequently and to identify potential marketing opportunities.
Economic data: This includes information about economic trends such as inflation rates and GDP growth rates. It is often used to make business decisions based on predictions about future customer behavior.
Related: 3 Steps to Building a Predictive Analytics System
There are a lot of different ways to use predictive analytics in your business, so it can be hard to know where to start. Here are seven simple steps that will help you get started:
Set your goals for using predictive analytics in your business. What do you want to achieve? What outcomes do you want to see?
Define what you need to measure to accurately assess the results of your predictive analytics efforts. Are there any key indicators that will tell you whether your predictions were accurate?
Develop a strategy for how you will use predictive analytics data in order to make informed decisions. How will you use it to improve your business operations?
Train your staff on how to use the data and how it can be helpful in their work. Make sure they understand the data’s limitations and why predictive analytics is important for their work.
Implement a process for monitoring and adjusting your strategy based on feedback from the data-collection process, analysis and decision-making processes. Are there any changes that need to be made? Do they warrant a new set of predictions?
Use predictive analytics technology as part of an overall effort toward improving decision-making across all parts of your business operation, not just with respect to marketing or sales activities.
In today’s digital world, where customer behavior is changing at a rapid pace, you can use predictive analytics to put out relevant products and services that keep customers happy and satisfied. You can also add other techniques to your arsenal as necessary. For instance, you may focus on customer satisfaction by tracking their emotional state while using your product or service. With such powerful tools at your fingertips, you can now be more confident and informed before making any major decisions!
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Piyanka Jain
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One of the most important books my dad ever gave me was Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty by Harvey Mackay. Mackay tells a story about a friend who got a call at two in the morning from someone he hadn’t talked to in more than ten years. The caller was semi-hysterical because his accountant had called him that afternoon and told him he was broke; his company couldn’t make payroll, and if he didn’t retrieve the checks he’d written, there was a good chance he would go to jail. He needed $20,000.
Mackay’s friend offered to lend him a few thousand dollars, but he didn’t give him all he needed even though he could have. Why? Because the connection just wasn’t there anymore. Not only did this 2:00 a.m. caller not dig his well before he was thirsty, he waited until he was dying of thirst before he even broke ground.
The premise of Mackay’s book is that it’s important to build relationships long before you need them. The biggest thing that resonated with me in the book was the concept that a network never sleeps. To this day, that is still a guiding concept in my life.
Here are four simple strategies you can implement to go the extra mile and show people you are interested in getting to know them. Taking the time at the very beginning of a relationship will make the difference. These simple steps apply to building relationships in business and the rest of life as well.
The first step in establishing deeper level connections is to learn and remember people’s names. Make an effort to learn a name the very first time you meet them.
I’m sure you’ve been in social situations where you have a neighbor that moves in. You might ask their name the first two or three times, but once they have lived there any longer than that—five or six months—and you still don’t know, it becomes awkward. It comes across as insensitive not to have taken the time to learn it.
The same goes with teams and coworkers. When somebody first joins your team, you have the unique opportunity to get as much information from them as you can. Open up and be vulnerable, share, be empathetic, understand where they’re coming from, and try to learn all about them. Take notes and establish that deep connection early. If you wait too long to take this step, it becomes more difficult.
If you have ever found yourself at a networking event struggling to connect with the person you’re speaking with, or find it challenging to get beyond small talk, a technique I have used very effectively is called 4, 3, 2, 1. In short, you want to have 4 stories, 3 facts, 2 quotes, and 1 question ready at all times. You may not actually share all of these in every conversation, but having them ready to share eliminates the awkward silence in conversation and invites the other person to share more about themselves as well.
4 Stories: Humans are hardwired to remember stories. Not only does telling a story let the other person get to know you, but when told well, it makes you memorable. Of the four stories you have ready to tell, one should be personal, one business, one should demonstrate a challenge, and the other should demonstrate a time you were successful.
3 Facts: Think about three facts you are passionate about, that are not widely known, and that you think are pertinent and relevant to the kinds of people you speak with on a regular basis.
2 Quotes: Memorize two quotes that inspire you and know who said them. Sharing these can be inspiring and even prompt further conversation.
1 Question: The question should be one you can ask to anyone in the world. This could be a billionaire, or it could be a homeless person on the street. The question I like to ask is, “Knowing what you know now, if you had to do it over, what would you tell yourself twenty years ago?”.
Each person is unique. This is a simple statement, but the more you show genuine interest in your coworkers, your neighbors, your friends, and even your family members, the more likely they are to open up and trust you. Start with questions. What are their personal values? What are their strengths and abilities? Understanding another person’s true motivations can lead to a deeper level of trust. Knowing where others are coming from, and what makes them tick, allows you to better react and respond to their needs.
One of the questions I love to ask when I am in a conversation is, What is giving you energy right now? It’s very open-ended, but when I can understand what matters to people personally, professionally, and in their family life, I know how I might be able to help that person in specific ways.
On the business front, the more I can help a person achieve their goals, the more buy-in I will get as their leader. This is a give-first mentality. Helping someone will make them want to reciprocate.
When I first started at Novartis, I spent a few weeks rotating through various departments to learn more about the company. As a global pharmaceutical company, there was a lot to learn. During training, a customer service specialist spent three hours showing me how Novartis’ customer service operates. Afterwards I wrote a short note to say thank you, expressing how much I appreciated her taking the time to help me get up to speed.
A year later, I passed by the woman’s desk who had provided the training, and she had the card I wrote pinned up on her bulletin board. It touched me so much, because it had taken such a small amount of my time—no more than twenty seconds to write—but was so special that she still had it pinned up a year later.
I realized then how much it matters to people when I take the time to show support and genuine gratitude. When I used to attend a lot of conferences, I would try to tap into the power of handwritten notes whenever possible. When I knew some prospects and clients were staying in the same hotel, I’d send them handwritten letters. Of course, the gesture stood out. After all, how often does somebody at the hotel bring an envelope or a small package to your room or call and say there is an envelope waiting for you downstairs? Each time someone received a letter from me at a hotel, they’d be surprised and delighted. I knew they’d remember that letter for a long time.
The art of building relationships before you need them is only step one; it’s the most superficial aspect of relationship building. These four strategies will help you create a meaningful connection, but they are just the beginning of your journey.
After this step, you must continue investing in each relationship to deepen connection and build trust. Establishing deeper level connections requires maintenance and upkeep, but it’s one of the best things you’ll ever do, both for yourself and for your career.
This article is excerpted from Bart Foster’s book, BusinessOutside: Discover Your Path Forward.
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Bart Foster
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Dry January is just about wrapped, but for the non-alcoholic-beverage industry, returns have been anything but sobering. In recent years, a bumper crop of near-beer manufacturers, booze-agnostic distilleries and boutique-seltzer brands — among other similar upstarts — has reaped the rewards of folks generally looking to dry out or augment their consumption. And as we get deeper into this pandemic, there’s even more of a clamoring for cleaner alternatives that still approach the sensation of an intoxicating pint or snifter.
Courtesy of BrewDog
Entrepreneur spoke with representatives from four companies who went into 2021 with a vested interest in appealing to both passingly sober-curious and resolutely reformed consumers about marketing around Dry January with an eye on long-term customer retention. The bottom line? Their glasses are definitely more than half-full.
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Kenny Herzog
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The video platform TikTok, created in 2016 as a continuation of Musical.ly, has gained exponential popularity in the past few years — garnering around 1 billion monthly active users. Its videos, which were once only used for dances and memes, have since adapted to a wider audience spanning ages, interests and even platforms. Business-to-consumer businesses have already adapted to TikTok, with companies such as DuoLingo and RyanAir finding great success on the app.
But can TikTok be taken seriously enough to be used with business-to-business companies? Here’s how the app is being used for B2B businesses today and why this might be the next social media channel for you to add to your marketing strategy.
Related: Here’s Why Not Being on TikTok Is a Huge Mistake
When used correctly, TikTok can target a niche audience on a small, controllable entry-level budget. As competition on the platform is relatively low for many niches, it offers B2B marketers the opportunity to control the narrative for their subject matter topic.
Because there aren’t many B2B businesses on the app, the low competition gives you an innovative opportunity and allows for more experimentation. For example, B2B marketers can tap into their business’s niche — and get decent organic views and engagements. According to Social Insider, TikTok’s average engagement rate is 5.96%. Meaning, that the engagement on TikTok far outweighs the decreasing engagement numbers from Instagram and Facebook.
When it comes to B2B, marketers use TikTok for three main reasons:
But is your B2B company the right match for TikTok?
Related: I’ve Helped Over 50 Businesses Scale Their TikTok Followings. Here’s What I Taught Them.
TikTok is a young, experimental platform, and there are still many unknowns. As a marketer, make sure to enter with the right mindset. That is how you will get the most out of the platform.
If all of this sounds interesting to you still, here are a few more parameters to determine if TikTok is the right choice for your brand.
Related: 10 Telling Examples of the Power of B2B Influencer Marketing
So you’ve decided TikTok is right for your business and are ready to dive into the platform.
However, maybe you’re just a bit daunted by the app and don’t know where to begin. Here are the basic criteria for what the algorithm favors — and that will give you the nudge towards success.
And as social media exists for people. Here are a few criteria to follow to ensure that you’re creating engaging content for your audience.
Ultimately, TikTok can be a difficult platform to do well for B2B marketing — it takes a bit of creativity and experimentation to succeed. However, the app is constantly evolving and attracting new people. It offers marketers the unique opportunity to get their brand known quickly and in a creative way. To stay ahead of the curve, it can pay off to invest in the app today.
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Megan Thudium
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Over the past few years, the real estate market has been capricious and intimidating even for professional investors. But if you’re interested in getting into real estate in 2023, you can do so with a little help from Mashvisor, a one-stop shop to help you find traditional or Airbnb properties to invest in.
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Whether you’re looking to diversify your portfolio, start a side hustle, or completely change your career, you can get a lifetime subscription to this useful platform for just $29 as long as your order before 11:59 p.m. Pacific on January 9.
While the pros use vast amounts of data and spreadsheets to crunch the numbers and find diamonds in the rough all over the country, Mashvisor combines months of research into 15 minutes. Using all the available real estate data, Mashvisor gives you instant analysis of a property’s potential returns and what you’ll need to do to outperform the rental market. The interactive and automated features allow you to type in any city of interest and immediately get an overview of the investment opportunities in the area. Using interactive filters, you can find the perfect investment property for your situation, with all listing information sourced from reliable places.
REtipster writes, “The real strength of Mashvisor is that it saves time (A LOT of time) when looking for and analyzing properties.” Who doesn’t want to save time?
If you’re interested in amplifying your investment portfolio in 2023, you can trust Mashvisor to give you the data you need to make informed decisions about the U.S. market. Get a huge discount on a lifetime of a handy real estate tool thanks to this New Year’s offer dropping the price to just $29.
Prices subject to change.
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Entrepreneur Store
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If you don’t foster this skill, you’ll fall behind the pack financially and professionally in 2023.
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Ben Angel
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Facebook is in trouble. Social media platforms need constant growth to survive, but Facebook is no longer growing. In fact, it’s losing users. As Facebook’s core platform slowed down, Mark Zuckerberg made the fateful decision to shift focus to the metaverse, going so far as to change the company’s name, mission statement and stock ticker symbol to reflect this new direction.
The public response was swift and decisive: People don’t want the metaverse, and especially not a half-baked version from Facebook. Even among those who are excited about the potential of virtual reality, there’s a sense that Facebook’s technology is decades behind the leading edge. And so people are leaving Facebook. Today, META’s stock is down around 70% from its highs.
This exodus will have a profound impact on digital advertising. Facebook has long been the go-to platform for marketers looking to reach young people, and its targeting capabilities are unrivaled. But with Facebook no longer growing, and with users increasingly spending less time on the site, businesses will start to look elsewhere for their digital advertising needs.
As a result, brands will need to find new platforms to reach their target audiences. They’ll also need to put greater importance on user privacy, as the public is no longer willing to tolerate Facebook’s cavalier attitude towards data. In addition, given the Facebook-fueled rise in ad blockers, brands will need to find ways to reach people that don’t rely on traditional display advertising.
Related: 4 Digital Advertising Predictions You Need to Keep Your Eyes On
When Facebook first launched, it was a novel way for businesses to reach their target audiences. There was nothing else like it, and so businesses flocked to the platform. But now there are many other social media platforms, and businesses will need to spread their advertising budgets across multiple sites.
This won’t be easy, as each platform has its own quirks and capabilities. For example, TikTok is popular with young people, but it doesn’t have the same kind of targeting capabilities as Facebook. And while Instagram is owned by Facebook, it has a very different user base and set of features.
Advertising on Twitter is an entirely new can of worms. Following the platform’s acquisition by Elon Musk and the subsequent removal of content restrictions put in place to appease advertisers, Twitter is now a Wild West of sorts. Many advertisers have pulled their budgets from the platform, but those who remain are finding that they need to adjust their strategies.
Google is another behemoth that brands need to consider. While it’s not a social media platform, its search and display advertising businesses are still enormous. Like Facebook, however, advertisers face fake news and bots on Google. The company is also embroiled in antitrust investigations, which could lead to stricter regulation of its advertising business.
All this is to say that brands need to be nimble and adaptable in the post-Facebook world. They need to be willing to experiment with different platforms, and they need to have a clear understanding of each one’s strengths and weaknesses.
Related: What to Post on Each Social Media Platform: The Complete Guide to Optimizing Your Social Content
As people become more aware of the ways that their data is being used and abused, they’re increasingly demanding more control over their personal information. This is especially true of young people, who are growing up in a world where data breaches are commonplace.
In response to this, brands will need to start respecting user privacy. They’ll need to be more transparent about how they’re using data, and they’ll need to give users more control over their personal information. This will require a fundamental shift in the way that many businesses operate, but it’s something that needs to be done if brands want to stay on the good side of the public.
I’ve written before about the rise of zero-party data. This is a new kind of data that users voluntarily share with businesses, such as through quizzes, surveys and sign-ups. This data is incredibly valuable, as it allows businesses to get to know their customers on a much deeper level. Unlike third-party data, which is often inaccurate and outdated, zero-party data is fresh and accurate.
As user privacy becomes more important, brands will need to start collecting this type of data. They’ll need to find new ways to engage with their customers, and they’ll need to invest in the necessary technology. This will require a significant amount of time and money, but it’s something that needs to be done if brands want to stay relevant in the post-Facebook world.
Related: The 5 Best Digital Marketing Strategies to Empower Your Business
The most successful advertising campaigns of the future will be those that manage to break through the clutter and capture people’s attention. In a world where people are bombarded with hundreds of marketing messages every day, this is no easy feat.
One way to do this is with interactive content. This is content that requires people to take some kind of action, such as answering questions for a style quiz or responding to a poll measuring interest in a new product. Because interactive content is more engaging than traditional display advertising, it’s more likely to capture people’s attention and get them to take notice of your brand.
Facebook’s sheer staying power has meant that many brands have been slow to catch on to this trend. But with the platform’s decline, they’ll need to start experimenting with new types of content if they want to stay ahead of the curve.
Ultimately, the demise of Facebook will have a profound impact on the world of digital advertising. Brands will need to find new platforms to reach their target audiences, and they’ll need to put a greater emphasis on user privacy. In addition, given the rise in ad blockers, brands will need to find ways to reach people that don’t rely on traditional display advertising.
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Vlad Gozman
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LinkedIn is an untapped opportunity for entrepreneurs that are looking to stand out in a cluttered marketplace. For over 20 years, the platform has grown into a thriving social media ecosystem for business leaders to connect with customers in their networks. Today, it’s one of the best personal branding channels for entrepreneurs to position their expertise and attract a much wider defined audience.
As an entrepreneur, LinkedIn is your entryway to making authentic business connections that lead to growth and sales. With over 8.2 million C-level executives on LinkedIn, it’s the right place for you to spend your networking time. It offers you access to connect to business leaders with the potential to boost your visibility and credibility in front of these important project decision-makers.
Content is the main ingredient to make this happen. And you have to post quality content that is insightful, educational, original, and personable — to stand out in this crowded space.
Here are the five types of content you can post on LinkedIn for more growth and visibility, which will position you as a thought leader in your industry while also placing your expertise above the competition.
Related: When LinkedIn is Good for Entrepreneurs, and When It Isn’t
Before you can publish content, you have to establish your main brand message.
As an entrepreneur, defining your main message takes personal reflection. Your message is one-half: the core service that you provide and how it helps your clients. The second half is about you: what makes you unique, how you help clients and your defined expertise in a specific topic. How do you want to be known in your industry? What is the main story you want to tell?
Defining your brand message is the first step. It’s the core ingredient that can turn unsuccessful content into thriving, sales-generating content. Once you have the core message, you can start defining sub-topics that you can eventually turn into written content.
Your main message will be a centerpiece of your content creation, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have the opportunity to write content outside of your core. A collection of content around your main message, personal interests and your brand’s success stories — that content is what translates to long-term growth.
You need all the pieces of this working formula.
Every entrepreneur has a different comfort level regarding what they share on social media. Some like to share a lot — and some like to keep certain topics private.
That is absolutely okay, but your boundaries need to be determined early on. Mainly, because personal content does perform well on LinkedIn, but it’s a slippery slope for many.
You will have to get personal on LinkedIn, but it’s within your power to determine how much. Remember, you want to both entertain and educate your audience. Both pieces are important to reaching your LinkedIn goals.
Related: 7 Ways You Can Use LinkedIn To Blow Up Your Brand
Here are five types of content that you can start publishing on LinkedIn today.
Related: 3 Ways to Supercharge Your LinkedIn Marketing Today for Tomorrow’s Growth
These are five topic ideas that you can start using on LinkedIn today. Your success on LinkedIn is greatly dependent on posting a collection of educational and entertaining content. Take these ideas — and write your own topics to get started.
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Megan Thudium
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Teamwork is essential to any successful business, as it allows employees to pool their skills and knowledge to complete tasks more efficiently and effectively. But, just having a team of employees is not enough to guarantee success. To get the most out of your team, you must encourage successful teamwork within your organization.
Let’s discuss six ways to do just that. With these tips, you can foster an environment of collaboration, trust and understanding that will help your team reach their potential and drive success for your business.
Related: The Importance of Teamwork and Collaboration
When it comes to successful teamwork in your business, one of the most important elements is having clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Each team member must understand their role and how they fit into the bigger picture. Having well-defined roles will allow each team member to take ownership of their own tasks and understand how their work fits into the collective success of the entire team.
Before any work can begin, it’s essential to identify each team member’s skills and experience and assign specific roles accordingly. Make sure each team member is aware of their duties and responsibilities, and don’t be afraid to give them room to explore their talents and use them to benefit the team. This will help ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal and promote collaboration and camaraderie amongst team members.
When defining roles and responsibilities, it’s important to consider how individual skills can complement those of other members. This can mean assigning more complex tasks to those with more experience or expertise while giving simpler tasks to those needing more time or guidance. By doing this, you are ensuring that everyone can contribute to the team’s success in their own way.
Finally, ensure that you create a system for tracking progress and providing feedback. By setting deadlines for tasks and providing regular feedback to each team member, you are ensuring that everyone is held accountable for their work and helping them improve their skills. By defining roles and responsibilities, you are laying the foundation for a successful team that will help your business thrive.
Related: How To Increase Employee Responsibility — Regardless of Where You’re Working
Teamwork is essential for any business to succeed, but fostering collaboration and cooperation among your employees can be difficult. Set clear goals and objectives that the team can work towards together. Doing so helps give everyone a sense of purpose and direction while also helping them stay on track and avoid getting sidetracked by other tasks. When everyone understands what they are working towards, they will be more likely to collaborate and come up with creative solutions to any problems that may arise. Establishing clear goals and objectives can also help to motivate the team, giving them something to strive for and measuring their progress against.
Teamwork is essential to any successful business. To foster an atmosphere of collaboration and success, it is important to encourage creativity in your team. Here are a few ways to get your team thinking outside the box:
Teamwork is essential to the success of any business. Encouraging successful teamwork starts with celebrating successes and recognizing individuals and teams for their contributions. Celebrating achievements, big or small, helps to create a positive and productive atmosphere in the workplace and will help to motivate and engage employees.
Related: How to Set Goals and Celebrate the Successes
When building a successful team, encouraging healthy conflict is essential. Healthy conflict encourages team members to think critically and view issues from multiple perspectives, which can lead to innovative problem-solving. To promote healthy conflict in your team, provide an environment where everyone can express their ideas without fear of being judged or attacked. Encourage active listening to ensure everyone feels heard, and consider setting ground rules for respectful communication. Inviting an outside facilitator to lead the discussion can also be beneficial in ensuring that dialogue remains constructive.
Regarding teamwork, it is crucial to recognize that failure is essential to learning and growth. If a team works together to complete a task but fails, it can be a valuable opportunity to learn from mistakes and to try something different. Leaders should encourage the team to discuss what went wrong and brainstorm ways to do better the next time. This dialogue will help build a culture of open communication, collaboration, and problem-solving.
Additionally, when a team experiences failure, leaders should provide recognition for any hard work and contributions made by individual team members. Doing so will help ensure that even when projects don’t end up as expected, everyone can still feel a sense of accomplishment for their effort.
Finally, take the time to reflect on what was learned from the failure and use this knowledge to inform future tasks. With this approach, teams can move forward with greater confidence, knowing they have the tools and strategies necessary for success.
The key to successful teamwork is open communication and collaboration. By leveraging these tips, you can encourage effective teamwork in your business and promote a culture of trust and respect. With the right tools and strategies, you can help create a positive environment for teams to achieve success.
Let Hana Retail be your POS system and experience the power of teamwork! Our innovative technology allows multiple users to access the system simultaneously and collaborate on tasks, streamlining customer service and increasing efficiency. With us, you’ll have a POS system that works with your team, not against it.
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Murali Nethi
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Every business will, at some point, experience stagnant sales. When this happens, it may seem like the only way to increase sales is to take drastic measures requiring more time and energy. If you’re a small business trying to get to one million or maybe even five or ten million, ideally, you should have a strategy to reach those numbers. This is how large companies do it. They set sales goals and plan the exact roadmap from point A to point B.
Several years ago, when I set out to reach my first million in annual revenue, the way I approached business growth was like this: If I could make $100 per day, what would it take to get to $150 per day? So, the approach was to try and make a little more money over time gradually. But this is not always easy because, as I mentioned earlier, many entrepreneurs feel like they’ve reached their revenue potential. Sometimes, finding creative ways to make more money can take time and effort.
Before separating from the Air Force, my online business averaged about $300 daily, selling digital products. Later, I began selling exercise equipment and sporting goods. But at some point, I wanted to average $500 per day. I successfully reached that, then tried to grow the business to $1,000 daily. I achieved that, then felt it was possible to make $2,000 daily. Surprisingly, I did that. Ultimately, the business made it to an average of $3,000 daily, approximately one million annually.
How did I do it? I found new leads. In addition to my website, there were five sources of revenue that had a significant impact on my business.
The first hidden source of cash was Craigslist. It started when I would list used or returned items still in good shape. I had so many leads from the website that I eventually listed just about anything popular: new and used products. The cool thing about Craigslist is that any classified listing also serves as an advertisement. I included the company name, physical address and phone number in the footer of all ads. My business saw the entire spectrum of customers, from high school coaches to law enforcement officers. New customers also meant new referrals. Craigslist was an invaluable source of revenue.
Related: Marketing Your Business On Craigslist
The second overlooked source of income was OfferUp, another classified ad marketplace for new and used goods. Ironically, one of my Craigslist customers suggested I try OfferUp. At the time, it was a newer mobile app, and I was surprised I had not heard about it.
As a test, I listed a few items and received several inquiries on the same day. OfferUp had a few features that gave it an edge over its competition by facilitating payments and nationwide shipping. This was a bonus because it made my products nationally accessible instead of just local. The app was a high-quality lead generator and a recurring source of revenue for my business.
The third hidden source of income was Facebook Marketplace. Existing Facebook users can post just about anything for sale and have it shown to a broad audience. I estimate that there were no less than ten daily inquiries for a given item. As a dealer with an endless supply, I would sell the same item repeatedly. Facebook Marketplace was an excellent source of supplemental income.
Related: How to Make Social Media Marketing Effective for Your Brand
The fourth source of income that I unearthed was Letgo. Whenever you can make money without spending any, it’s always a plus. While less of a revenue generator than the resources above, Letgo served as a powerful sales generator. For most sellers, it is free to list an item for sale on the app.
The fifth and final hidden source of income was Etsy. The website features handmade, vintage and craft supplies sold by individual sellers. You will not find classified ads on Etsy because they only sell new products. Although, new products are sometimes made from used or recycled materials.
I discovered that certain items already in inventory could be repurposed and sold on the platform. Etsy’s business model is similar to other sites that take commissions once an item sells. Because of the sheer volume of users, I would have to say that Etsy was always a source of consistent, predictable revenue.
Before increasing my presence on these five platforms, I sold products exclusively online via my main website. I also had a warehouse location for distribution, but it was not always open to the public. At some point, I adjusted and opened a small showroom where customers could retrieve will-call items. When business was slow, I tried posting classified ads. When ad respondents arrived to pay for an item, they almost always purchased additional items. This is where I saw an opportunity.
Related: 5-Minute Mentor: How Do I Get My Products In Front of Customers Online?
Eventually, I was able to open a 4,000-square-foot retail store that was highly successful. But it all started with a simple challenge: solve the problem of stagnant sales. My business experienced dramatic levels of growth when I took proactive steps to find new leads. In the end, getting more eyes on my products was the key to success. I did this by taking advantage of classified ad websites, mobile apps and other resources that ultimately served as free advertisements for my business. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made because it exposed my products to new customers, translating into more sales.
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Justin Leonard
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With 2023 business planning underway, business leaders are setting priorities for the next year and beyond. For some, the focus may emphasize productivity or roll back certain benefits like flexible working schedules.
A high-performance culture improves productivity, bringing higher profits and happier employees, improving talent retention and continuing a growth cycle. A cornerstone of 2023 growth should be building or maintaining a high-performance culture for all businesses. Refraining or forgetting about culture in 2023 is a mistake, as it plays a critical role in company performance.
Related: How to Create a Work Culture That Can Survive Anything
A high-performance culture allows an organization to succeed and grow. This type of structure is good for business and for each employee. Not every high-performance culture will look the same, yet every organization with a high-performance culture values workers and holds their trust in return.
Employees may come to work partly for a paycheck, yet evidence suggests they crave meaning from work and are more productive when they get it. Like everyone, workers want to feel a sense of purpose and mission in their daily lives and enjoying the same at work is only natural.
The best cultures embed their mission throughout the employee experience, honoring and furthering these values daily. These cultures also offer their employees interesting and engaging projects which drive their sense of belonging to the organization. A recent survey by McKinsey showed workers across all levels of income believed having an interesting job was as important as earning a solid income.
Related: How to Develop a Company Vision and Values That Employees Buy Into
Workers feel fulfilled by purpose-driven work. Unfortunately, many employers ignore culture in favor of focusing on profits. Workers need clarification and connection in these types of work environments. In a survey from Gallup, only four in 10 employees strongly agreed they knew what their company stands for and what differentiates their company from competitors. Even for organizations that articulate their values often, management could be viewed poorly if employees do not see the connection between the values and the organization’s actions.
When leaders grow nervous about their businesses’ future, it can feel tempting to ignore culture at the expense of profit. In fact, culture becomes even more important in times of economic uncertainties. In these moments, employees will look to management to set the tone. Without a culture fostering engagement and collaboration, workers could lose productivity to stress and conflict.
Related: Why Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurs Focus on the Bigger Picture
To build a high-performance culture, first, understand how your culture functions. Employees usually understand culture best simply by judging their own level of satisfaction. Their daily experiences are typically defined by coworkers and frontline managers more than company management. Leaders who do not work with frontline managers daily will likely need to speak with employees to understand their experiences.
Signs of an underperforming culture could include low employee retention, low productivity and frequent workplace conflicts. Not every employee will be satisfied, even in the highest-performing cultures, but consistently unhappy employees reflect serious problems. Direct, private conversations between employees and HR can offer insight. If employees seem reluctant to speak candidly, much-needed feedback via surveys can provide ways to track improvement.
After gathering information about employee experiences, HR may wish to prepare a report assessing culture as it stands. Strong cultures should clearly understand which policies contribute to the culture and how to continue them. Doing so will help preserve civilization in the face of future business difficulties or leadership changes.
On the other hand, struggling cultures need to identify the most negative factors of their culture to begin changing. High-performance cultures feature strong leaders, actively engaged employees, ongoing workforce development, strong communication and adaptability. If employees are disengaged, find out whether imbalanced workloads, micromanaging, lack of flexibility or absence of trust could contribute.
During this process, employees also feel their input is genuinely welcomed, which it should be. Psychologically, employees accustomed to a toxic culture may fear expressing their true thoughts, mainly if their frontline managers previously engaged in verbal abuse or insults. Build this trust by taking accountability to admit that culture has not met the mark and protect employees who voice their concerns from retaliation.
Each leadership level, from the C-suite to frontline managers, plays an integral role in rebuilding a company’s culture. The positive vision set forth at the top needs to be actionable. Once the vision has more tangible attributes, through structure and processes, each level of leadership can provide the necessary training and easily communicate these goals on how they translate into the fabric of the company.
A high-performance culture is often viewed as optional. That cannot be further from the truth. A high-performance culture is the backbone of an organization, providing a strong framework for business growth. Moving into 2023, culture should be central to every successful business strategy.
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Steve Arizpe
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Marketers are experimenters. We have to be. Some marketing strategies simply don’t work because of bad audience targeting, excessive competition, cost/reward imbalances or other issues. It’s our job to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
When we figure out that a strategy simply isn’t working, our job is simple: Change the variables to try and make it work or discard it entirely. But what happens when we find out that a strategy is working?
Related: Being a Better Marketer Is All About Embracing Failure
The most straightforward option is to maintain the status quo, repeating the process as consistently as possible to continue seeing the benefits. But if you want to keep pushing for better results and improve outcomes for your business, it’s important to scale that marketing strategy somehow, increasing its effectiveness and giving it greater influence.
How can you scale a marketing strategy effectively?
Let’s start by looking at some of the core options you have for scaling and marketing strategy.
Regardless of if you take one of these routes, all of them or some other route you created for yourself, these are the most important strategies you have for making your marketing scaling effective:
Related: How to Reduce What You’re Spending on Marketing (Without Losing Results)
Scaling a marketing strategy isn’t always straightforward, and it isn’t always guaranteed to work. But if you recognize the key challenges and remain cautious but ambitious, you’ll have a much higher chance of success.
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Timothy Carter
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Once upon a time, my wife Jenna and I and our three kids under ten moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, had another baby, and bought our first house together. This, we thought, is the perfect time to quit our jobs and start a business! [eyeroll]
The idea of our company, Be Courageous, was born during the facilitation of a client session when the team was at odds with each other while exploring the future of their business. This quote from George Prince was on the wall: “Another word for creativity is courage.”
I realized many of us stay trapped in old thinking and actions when we lack the conditions to be creative and courageous.
A question emerged for me, “What would a world with an abundance of courage look like? How can I help create it?”
With my experience in marketing, strategy and facilitation, and Jenna’s in psychology, human resources and operations, we founded our business consultancy, Be Courageous. Every year we’ve grown. Every year our impact has expanded. Every year we’ve learned.
Here are some of our biggest learnings for those of you on your entrepreneurial journey.
Related: The 7 Business Lessons You Should Learn by 30
As any reader here knows, starting and running a business is a piece of cake. Ha!
For real, here is what we learned, having grown our U.S. business of two to a worldwide organization with dozens of clients and 35+ network partners while positively impacting nearly 1 million people in 82 countries.
One of our most in-demand programs with Fortune 500 companies this year has been our training on agile leadership. When you own your own business — the unexpected will happen. A successful entrepreneur adapts to new challenges and situations and creates lemonade from lemons.
We have created programs we never thought we would in response to what the world has needed from us.
Have a solid plan, but be flexible.
Related: These Are the Core Elements Needed to Successfully Pivot Your Business
We aim to activate courage in companies worldwide and align them with a planet-beneficial future. Yours might be to improve humanity’s mental health or lessen people’s stress by building an easier-to-use product. Whatever your purpose is, make sure you’re deeply passionate about it and that it fuels your actions.
Use the strength of your purpose to courage through challenges.
We found more success when we identified and focused on our greatest strengths. We aligned our strengths with our values and the services we wanted to provide to our clients to solve a problem they faced.
For example, my superpower is guiding businesses to realize their potential and future. My kryptonite is getting tripped up in the micro-details of spreadsheets. That’s where Jenna comes in. She leads operations with her superpower of keeping our company financially stable, growing and on the ground. I’m the visionary, and she makes it possible.
Align your superpowers with your business goals and values. Find people who have superpowers you lack.
Related: Find Your Flow Through Deep Work and Unlock Your Superpower
In an exponentially-changing world, having an open mind is the key to running a successful business. Be curious about skills you don’t have and new ways to solve problems. Challenges will arise, but if your curiosity remains peaked, you’ll always get to the solution positively. Ask, “What is the courage needed in this situation?”
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it feeds company growth. (We’re a dog company, anyway, no offense to cats.)
Create a team that feels safe, strong, empowered and able to share and receive ideas. When you foster personal connections with your team and your clients (yes, business is personal), you will thrive beyond competitors who are only in it for the buck.
Develop a positive company culture to unlock the full potential of your team.
Related: 4 Ways Leaders Can Create Award-Winning Corporate Culture
While you don’t want to get bogged down in systems and processes, your business won’t thrive without a solid operational foundation. Get an understanding of legal, financial and team infrastructure.
Stay pragmatic and, as we like to say, “aggressively conservative.” We make leaps, but only with a net.
Develop systems to streamline your business, so you can focus on serving your customers.
Many people make empty promises, which erodes trust over time. It’s far better to over-deliver on your word. Pay what you say you will, earlier than you say you will. We’ve established deep, trusting relationships with our clients. We foster community.
We get callbacks five years after doing one program with a client because we don’t burn bridges; we build them.
Show up with your heart, don’t be a jerk, and honor your word.
Related: Understanding the Burden of Trust for Business Leaders
Never doubt what you can achieve, yet don’t be disillusioned. Approach everyone you can as a holistic human being, putting aside bias. Presume positive intent and look for positive solutions. Expect people to be their best until proven otherwise. And even then, be graceful about terminating any relationships.
Work and live from a place of abundance, not scarcity.
Be thoughtful about who you bring into your organization.
We hire a type of person — not only for the exact level of expertise we need. We hire people in love with our vision. A person who can be adaptive and learn with us. Who is willing to put in the work for a shared purpose.
Hire the right puzzle piece for your vision, not just how they look on paper.
Related: Why Kindness Should Be Part of Your Hiring Process
Owning your own business isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s an ebb and flow of successes and learnings. But 20 years from now, if you look back, would you regret not doing something about your big and burning idea?
Fear will never go away, but when the desire to fulfill your purpose outweighs the fear of risks involved, that’s when you know you’re made to be an entrepreneur.
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Kyle Hermans
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