Guidelines In Starting A New Business

Running a business has many advantages. It will give you additional source of income and once successful, it can even become your main source of income. It will give you the opportunity to learn more things and most of all, it will allow you to showcase your talent. However, all of these would only be achievable if your business becomes successful. Thus, many people are afraid to start one.

But if you want to become a good entrepreneur, you should know that taking risks is one of the first things that you should do. So go ahead and gather up your courage and start a business that you believe in.

Here are some important factors to consider when starting up a business:

What type of business to venture into.

you should decide what type of business you’d like to start. Think of something that you like to do like for example cooking, baking, selling or other stuff that you know you are good at and also has a good potential to click to the market. You should think about this carefully. Do not just go after what’s popular at the moment.

Budget.

it is of course important that you know how much your budget is for this new business. Now, if you do not have enough savings to open or start this business, then you can consider applying for a small business loan. It would help you with your capital and then you can pay for it once money starts rolling in.

Manpower.

You do not have to hire a lot of people. Small group of people who you truly need for the business is enough. You can outsource some services that you need for example creative requirements, web development and other one-time projects. It would help you save time and resources. You can also consider cloud hosting which is a lot cheaper compared to having an entire IT department. It is important to be practical with how you spend your money especially when just starting.

Market research.

next, you should also consider doing thorough research about your target market. Check if there is a large demand for the business that you are planning to start. You should also check for the competition. Competition is OK but you should carefully study if it is possible for you to penetrate the market. See if there are things that you can offer that your competition is not yet doing. Find your leverage so you can break in.

Marketing strategies and promotions.

lastly, you should consider some marketing strategies to help your product or services gain attention from the market. Since you are just starting you might want to think of some promo that will invite them to patronize your business. To do this, apply what you learned from your market research. See what your audience wants and how to tickle their interests.

It is important that you set your mind towards your goals. Yes, you should be careful when it comes to your decisions but that does not mean that you will become a coward. If you know that you have a good idea and that it has a good future, then go for it. The advantages will overcome the setbacks eventually.

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Using Triggered Email Campaigns To Engage Your Subscriber List

You’ve probably received triggered emails in your own email inbox, but maybe you’ve never thought about the impact they have on a company’s email marketing. 

Some of the most commonly seen trigger emails, and the ones you’ve probably received, include purchase confirmation orders and shipping reminders. But triggered emails provide companies with so much more opportunity than just these two transactional touchpoints.

Triggered email campaigns help you interact and engage your customers at all levels of the purchasing journey with content that relates to their actions and behaviors. Meaning they help you reach your customers on a more personal and relevant level.  

To further personalize the experience, you can mail merge your contact lists to segment your emails even deeper based on customer behaviors. Whether you’re welcoming customers to your subscriber list or attempting to re-engage and retain them — automatic email responses can help. 

Setting emails to automatically trigger when a customer makes a purchase or browses a certain product multiple times will give you insight into what products and services they are looking for. Image courtesy of Pexels. 

What is a triggered email? 

Triggered emails are marketing emails that are initiated from a specific behavior, action, or preference. When a customer performs the designated action, an email is automatically generated to follow-up. 

Here are a few examples of what triggered email campaigns can look like: 

Welcome emails: sent to new subscribers to warm them up after they joined your email lists. Share coupons or details around the benefits of joining your list and make them feel welcomed. 

Retention emails: you can identify inactive subscribers and create a re-engagement campaign to prevent them from churning. Retention emails are important because it’s much cheaper to retain a current customer than it is to attract new ones. 

Remarketing emails: many shoppers add an item to their cart and then abandon it. With the help of triggered emails, you can send them a reminder and bring them back to their cart. 

Transactional emails: this can be sending customers a receipt or confirmation after they made a purchase or providing them with shipping and delivery details. 

Personal event emails: collect subscriber birthdates and send them a special coupon or discount to celebrate, or celebrate their anniversary of joining your list. Whatever the case may be, it makes the interaction much more personal. 

Since these emails are activated based on something the customer did, you can expect to see improved metrics around these campaigns. That’s because you are reacting to something the customer just did and the follow-up emails will be relevant to them based on this action. 

There are a number of benefits to using triggered emails. From reaching customers at specific lifecycle stages to sending them appointment reminders — they each have their own benefit. Image courtesy of Pixabay. 

3 Benefits of Triggered Email Campaigns.

Beyond providing you with another touchpoint to interact with your customers, triggered emails are a great marketing tool for a number of reasons. From improving campaign metrics to boosting revenue — there’s a triggered email for everything.

Let’s take a look at three benefits companies can expect to gain by using triggered emails.

1. High Open and Click-Through Rates.

When compared to other email marketing tactics, such as newsletters and one-off promotional content, triggered emails boast impressive open and click-through rates. 

This is because the content that is being served to them is related to something they just did. Meaning the follow-up email is relevant and most likely beneficial to them. For example, if a customer made a purchase and received a confirmation email, they are likely to open it and make sure their order is processed properly. 

Relevancy is very important in email marketing and using triggered emails will help you provide information that is pertinent to your customers.

2. Provide More Relevant Content.

That’s a perfect segway into the second benefit we’ll look at in this article. Personalization and relevant content are extremely important in email marketing. In fact, 78% of consumers say personally relevant content will increase their likelihood to make a purchase. 

You have a big opportunity to hit your customers with the right content, at the right time when it comes to triggered emails. Creating a triggered email based on a specific action or behavior will make your emails more relevant to what they need at that moment. 

From there, you can continue to engage your customers at the level and learn more about your customer preferences along the way.

3. Increased Revenue.

As mentioned above, many customers are much more likely to make a purchase if the content they receive from a company is personally relevant. Thus, adding trigger emails can help improve your revenue numbers. In fact, they can generate 24x more revenue per send when compared to traditional batch-and-blast emails. 

Here are a few different kinds of triggered emails that can directly increase your revenue numbers: 

• Abandoned cart emails for products customers left in their shopping cart
• Back in stock emails to let customers know a product they previously looked at or saved is now back in stock
• Abandonment emails based on customers browsing the history
• Price drop notification emails to let customers know a product they previously viewed or liked is now on sale

Providing your customers with more relevant content will help keep them engaged and keep them looking forward to your emails. Image courtesy of Pexels. 

Are triggered emails right for your strategy? 

Triggered emails are a great way to provide your customers with a personalized experience based on their actions and behaviors. You have the ability to connect with your customers at the right time, with the right content – and with content, they want to be receiving from you.

With triggered emails, you now have the opportunity to add relevant touchpoints throughout the entire customer journey. So start improving the customer experience while increasing your revenue potential by implementing triggered emails from the welcome campaign through post-sale notifications. 

If you haven’t already incorporated triggered emails into your strategy, now’s the time to dive in!

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Why Online Privacy Can Make Or Break A Business

The recent surge in cases involving high-profile data breaches and consumer information misuse such as the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal has made users warier of the state of their data privacy while using the internet. As a result, internet-savvy consumers are paying a closer attention to the privacy features of sites they visit before making use of them. 

This should be a wake-up call for any business even if it is offering high-quality products. The repercussions of a data hack can be dire, from fraud to identity theft. Consumers are becoming more enlightened on the issue and this can make them snob sites that don’t seem secure. When traffic to your site is compromised, your business is affected negatively. 

One mistake a lot of business owners do not consider is the impact of third-party data breaches. You may be confident that you have done everything in your power to secure your processes. However, what about the other companies that you work with? This is something that you need to think about carefully as well. Whether you pay for a cheap VPS for hosting your eCommerce site or you use an external delivery provider, you need to make sure that you choose with care and that they prioritize security as much as they should. You will still be to blame if something goes wrong that has an impact on your business. 

With that being said, below, we are going to delve into online privacy deeper, providing further information on how this can make or break a business.  

Privacy Policy Violations.

Information is regarded as one of the most powerful tools for businesses. Companies utilize the information gathered from users to improve their products according to the consumers’ needs. This helps give them a competitive advantage as they are able to give the customers exactly what they need. Consumers give out this information with the confidence that it is being utilized for their own benefits and won’t be shared to any third parties without their consent. However, the desperation for higher profits is driving these companies to abandon their privacy policies at the expense of the users.

Advertisers and marketers cough up big sums of cash in order to promote their products or services. Your personal information is of utmost value to them, and they’ll go out of their way to get it. Details about your gender, age, online activities, medical records, financial status and location are all used to customize the adverts that you recieve. Many consumers are usually left puzzled after specific ads pop up conviniently promoting the products or services they need at the moment. The consumers are usually unaware of the unethical model of operation utilized by the marketers.

Companies that pride themselves on providing quality free products are the main culprits when it comes to privacy policies misrepresentation. It is by no means easy to run a successful online operation without any source of capital. Instead of making money from the products they offer, they sell your personal information to make more and more profits. Some businesses also work in cahoots with other businesses in unrelated industries and exchange consumers information for free so as to help each other expand their market’s reach. The violation of privacy policies, which were created by the companies themselves, is quite unfair and shows that most businesses don’t really care about their customers.

Impact of Online Privacy on a Business. 

The rate at which more and more companies are suffering data breaches is unsettling. Stopping cyber crime perpetrators is proving to be impossible as they always seem to be one step ahead. However, most consumers are of the opinion that hackers continue to triumph since most organizations are negligent and don’t give much precedence to data protection. A 2018 research carried out by Veritas Technologies showed that more than 36% of the customers are unsatisfied with how businesses safeguard their information. As a business, the importance of protecting consumer information cannot be overlooked. The Federal Trade Commission and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have made sure that there will be severe consequences for businesses that misrepresent privacy policies and those that fail to protect consumer information. The GDPR was put in place to give the European consumers more power over the information businesses collect, and penalties for non-compliance came into effect a couple of years ago.

Some consumers want the penalties increased and have also pledged to impose sanctions themselves on non-compliant companies. Dealing with consumer imposed sanctions is no mean fete for any company. Customer loyalty is what drives a business, losing it can mean loss of revenue and ultimately business closure. Some of these sanctions include boycotting the company’s products and services, encouraging friends and relatives to do the same, posting negative company reviews online and promoting rival companies.

Businesses that put in place tougher measures to improve privacy will not only be in good books with their customers, but they will also be shielded against hefty fees that will most likely bring down their competition. It doesn’t matter how big or small your establishment is, you cannot afford to be modest with online privacy. 

We hope that this blog post has helped you to understand the role that online privacy is playing today when it comes to businesses and their success. Online privacy needs to be at the forefront of everything you do. You cannot afford to cut corners when it comes to something as serious as this. If you do, you could actually find that you do not have a business left. After all, such incidents cause monumental reputational damage and they can also be so expensive that a company is no longer able to survive. It is a serious matter, and this is why it deserves a very serious approach! It’s time for you to review your online privacy efforts today.

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Do You Have What It Takes To Make A Success Of Your Business?

Some would say that when it comes to being an entrepreneur you simply either have it or you don’t. Many would argue this point and say that there are necessary skills that can be learned and attitudes that can be adapted, especially if you are entering into a business that you feel passionate about.

However, it is fair to say that some aspects of entrepreneurship are just part and parcel of who you are and other things can be learned and picked up over the years and through experience. 

Many people, however, whether they have the skills and attitudes of an entrepreneur naturally or not, might have a dream to run their own business. It might be an idea that has sprouted from nothing and been nurtured as you have thought of all the aspects of it. It just might be that you like the idea of having a business as it could give you the financial freedom and the work and home life balance that you crave. Whatever the reasons, you need to ensure that you have what it takes to start a business and to be a successful entrepreneur.

So here are some of the questions to ask yourself and some of the things to think about when it comes to starting your own business.  

What’s the plan?

Ideally as an entrepreneur you will have some form of plan in place to help you get to where you need to be. So it might be time to start thinking about what you can do to ensure that you make the dream a reality. Get a business plan together, write down the things you want to achieve and the goals that you are setting. Think about every aspect of the plan and how you can make it better. It might help you to determine what your next move is going to be. 

Do you have the right skills?

Let’s talk about skills. Many entrepreneur success stories start with a background of nothing. No real education, no qualifications to speak of and yet some of those people have become self-made millionaires off the back of entrepreneurship. However, there are things you can do to get basic skills along the way. It might be that you like the idea of going back to school to maybe learn some things about business. Or maybe taking on a degree that you can study at home in some form of business or specific lead subject. Skills can often be seen as being able to manage people, to be respectful and to also be passionate about what you do. Often these things are all there anyway, they just need to be reawakened. 

Do you have the right attitude?

Attitude is vitally important to how you go about your business and with that you need to ensure that you have the right sort of attitude for business. This tends to be someone with a positive outlook on life with a go-getting approach to things. You don’t believe in something that won’t happen and feel passionately that it will, and you can make it happen. You accept that things don’t just land at your feet and you have to go out and get things yourself. Does all of that sound familiar? Then it just might mean you have the right attitude and approach for starting your own business. 

What about forgotten aspects like logistics and packaging?

Sometimes as entrepreneurs you can be so focused on the starting point and think less about what you need to do in terms of fundamental elements of running your business. This could mean things like packaging and logistics. If your business is handling hazardous materials, you need to ensure labels and the correct wording is used. This is to avoid anything that might involve a hazmat incident taking place. You also need to think about the presentation side of things. A lot of the excitement is within the opening of the package, so have you got that’s covered? Last of all, logistics and delivery methods. How quick can you get it sent out? Are you charging the right amount? Often it is the small things like this that can cause big stumbling blocks as you start to run your business. 

Do you have the drive and passion to succeed?

Being an entrepreneur might mean that you have a knack for making money, creating something and bringing it to market or just have that certain eye for starting and running a business successfully. It is so broad but what it can sometimes come down to is whether you have the passion for what you do, the drive to make it happen and the belief it will succeed. 

Are you a problem solver?

There will always be issues within a business that need resolving. Complaints from customers or trades people, problems arising with accounts or the general day to day running of a company. The long and short of it is that an entrepreneur is a real problem solver. Do you have what it takes? Often there will be things that can be put into place to ensure that you can solve these problems effectively. It might be that you need to think about a CRM system so that customers can be remained in contact with and that notes get left just in case there is a complaint. 

Are you a “think outside the box” sort of person?

Many people are starting businesses up these days. Many people have ideas, but the harsh reality is that a lot of start up businesses end up failing in their first year. You don’t want to be one of those people. This is when you need to think outside of the box to help you stand out and be different. It might be that you need to come up with a social media or marketing strategy. Something that helps your business to stand out from the crowd. It could be that you need to think about how you showcase your persona, how much you network, how much you advertise, and what makes your business different to others. Are you a “think outside the box” sort of person?

Is your business idea unique?

A business doesn’t always have to be a fresh and new idea. Your business idea may be presented in a saturated market, but that still doesn’t mean that your idea can’t be unique. You need to think about what your USP is. Your unique selling point will make you stand out from competitors and be different. It could be you as the owner. Using your personality and face to humanise the business. It might be the way you do business or sell your products. Think about what could make you different to others?

Can you handle the pace?

Finally, do you have what it takes to handle the pace? It can be rather fast paced, and things move quickly in a business environment. Many entrepreneurs find that they keep up or even think ahead and prepare for the future before it has even come to light. This means being aware of new business trends. What works well and what doesn’t. What you can do differently and where you need to make the changes. The pace of any business is fast, but you need to be one step ahead. 

Let’s hope that this helps you believe in yourself a little more and make the step into the world of business or working for yourself. 

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2 Marketing Trends That Have Staying Power

The importance of marketing your business effectively cannot be ignored.

Below, we assess two marketing trends that have not gone anywhere, and won’t be going anywhere. 

QR (quick response) codes.

QR (quick response) codes have taken the online marketing world by storm. They are really starting to flourish. The concept first came around in Japan. It operates as a machine-readable optical label. Every code is unique and they are being successful because they enable you to combine in-store with the online world, and this is a must if you want to be successful. With this, you will be able to turn up the heat on your conversion rates, turning one-off visitors into lifelong fans. 

You can read how to make a QR code to find out more. The QR Reader is available free and it is typically already installed in phones. Once the app is installed, all the individual needs to do is scan the code, which will be displayed on a poster anywhere that you have chosen to display it, for example, in your store. The person will then be directed to your Twitter page, Facebook page, your website, or anywhere else you have decided on. This works effectively because it means people do not need to go home and look for your company, which requires effort and they are unlikely to do.  

When a QR code poster is developed, it is typically more beneficial to have it pointing to one of your social media pages. This is because social media is soaring in effectiveness and popularity at present. You will be able to gain more Twitter ‘followers’ and Facebook ‘likes’. 

Responsive websites.

One in five people across the world owns a smartphone, accessing the net through it. If your website doesn’t display well on those devices you’re losing a large part of your potential audience. Below are three great tips for responsive web design to use when using a site builder or hiring a website developer. 

When building a new website, think mobile first. Before designing your website for desktop or laptop screens, consider mobile user experience first. Mobile has become more relevant than desktop, as consumers move to these devices. Focus on how users will interact through mobile first then build out the design to larger screen sizes. 

Next, try to understand what mobile means for your consumers. Consumers will interact with content and sites differently on a tablet or smartphone then they will on a laptop. Websites can use analytics to try to understand why users are visiting the website via mobile and how these users interact with your site, compared to PC users. Mobile users may want to get information faster, as such you should feature search bars more prominently and keep them visible above the fold. 

Finally, you should become familiar with using Media queries, a feature in CSS3. This helps your content to respond quickly to various device conditions and ecosystems. Media queries will check the resolution of a device quickly, as well as the orientation – portrait or landscape – and the screen dimensions. It will then figure out the CSS rules that are applicable with regards to loading your content onto the device in question. 

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A Feeling Of Belonging – It’s Priceless In The Workplace

by Shawn Murphy, author of “Work Tribes: The Surprising Secret to Breakthrough Performance, Astonishing Results, and Keeping Teams Together“

Companies are offering everything from craft beer in the break room to free onsite gyms in an effort to attract and retain workers. However, they may be missing the one thing that will deliver happier, more loyal and more productive employees: a sense of belonging.

Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. Throughout human history, a sense of belonging has been ingrained into our DNA. The comfort of friendships and the safety derived from being part of a community have always been one of the most powerful forces shaping our human experience.

But in an increasingly divisive society, that desire to feel wanted and welcomed and valued is growing stronger. The workplace – where employees spend a majority of their day – offers the opportunity to fill that need for workers.

At the same time, providing employees with a sense of belonging can also drive better business results. Research on belonging from high-performing companies like the Container Store, LinkedIn and Barry-Wehmiller show that relating to employees as people – and not just resources to get work done – can lead to tightly-knit teams that deliver breakthrough performances and astonishing results.

So how do you create a sense of belonging at work? Here are things to think about:

1. Make them feel valued.

An employee’s curiosity to learn the nuances of his or her job – whether it’s making adjustments in a sales technique or honing the ability to stay calm when problems arise – should be treated with the utmost respect. It needs to be encouraged – and required – in any team seeking astonishing results. Without feeling valued by our coworkers, the story we tell through our performance will be disappointing and we leave our gumption, passion and commitment behind. When contributions go unacknowledged, no one shows up to work feeling enthusiastic.

2. Give them a sense of place.

To feel valued and to believe that we are right where we need to be can bring a calming influence on how we work. Hunter Powell, a principal in one of Barry-Wehmiller’s companies, observed the significant influence of feeling valued: “Let people flourish in their own way. I think it’s so easy for a leader of people to impose their will (and push employees to do things) their own way.”

3. Give voice to appreciation.

More employees put in work hours at home, on vacation, on weekends and during family outings. For this reason, employees need to be recognized when they put the company’s or the team’s interests over their family or personal life. It costs the company nothing and is invaluable when that appreciation is genuinely communicated.

4. Make it contagious.

Positive feelings are infectious. When employees have a sense of well-being, their cognitive thinking and creativity are improved and they are better equipped to respond to stress and setbacks. In the end, a virtuous cycle envelops more people when the focus is on renewing how they are led and creating a place where they feel valued, wanted and welcomed. Such a workplace is one where talented people will want to be.

5. Help them be self-aware.

In the context of the workplace, jelling with others is honoring a code of conduct that contributes to an unflagging vitality in relationships. Employees that are more self-aware can better connect with others, they are more supportive of their team members and they are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses. This self-awareness can help a team bond more deeply and enable them to quickly learn from disappointments and move on from them rather than wallowing in stress and blame.

6. Work it.

Every team player must do his or her part to help the team achieve success. This means that they quickly clean up any relationship discords, regularly discuss their purpose, focus on what’s possible and constantly create clarity. Quite simply, it’s about doing the work, investing the time and being committed to creating astonishing outcomes.

Let me be clear about one thing: We don’t need to make belonging a strategic initiative. It is always available to use in those micro-moments or grand gestures in workplace experiences.

Still, because of human tendencies to make messes, companies do need to be intentional about shaping belonging. The whole of the workforce is likely unaware of how their life is influenced by it. When you decide to co-create a sense of belonging, some might be skeptical. But remember, belonging is something that everyone craves. In a way, that makes it priceless – and a good reason to create experiences for it.

 

Shawn Murphy has nearly 30 years of consulting experience and advising companies on implementing organizational change and culture change. Shawn is currently he Director of Organizational Development and Workplace Trends at a Silicon Valley startup, Bluescape. He is the author of the new book,”Work Tribes: The Surprising Secret to Breakthrough Performance, Astonishing Results, and Keeping Teams Together“.

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4 Ways To Run A More Effective Meeting

Meetings get a bad name these days because they can often be a waste of time and effort. However, they’re vital for many reasons, including sharing information and getting everyone in the company on the same page.

The good news is that you can have more productive meetings when you follow a few best practices. Use the following suggestions to help you get better organized and ensure that your audience walks away feeling like the meeting was worth their time and energy. It’s a wise idea to make sure you invite only the people who need to be there so that your session gets off to a positive start.

1. Have an Agenda.

One way to run a more effective meeting is to come up with an agenda in advance and share it with your invitation list. Write down precisely what you’ll cover, so the attendees are prepared to discuss particular topics. Stick to the agenda so that you don’t quickly get off-topic and refer to this roadmap throughout your conversation. You’ll be more likely to hold to your word and touch on all the points you planned to discuss.

2. Use Technology to Review Goals & Tasks.

You can also run a more effective meeting by using technology to project the status of projects and tasks. For example, you can use OKR software to review what you’re trying to achieve as an organization and see results for how you’re performing. Track your objectives and share them with your team so that everyone can view the status of how you’re doing and are made aware of your business strategy and goals.

3. Leave Time for Questions.

Meetings are sometimes rushed because there’s a lot of information to cover. Therefore, leave time in the end for questions and address any concerns that arise. It’s an excellent opportunity for everyone to review what was said and to clarify any confusing topics. You want attendees to leave the room feeling confident in the new knowledge they gained and that they are able to perform their jobs better after having this discussion. If there are no questions, then take time to go over and review the essential points from the meeting. Be mindful of the clock and try your best not to go over your meeting time.

4. Follow up & Continue the Conversation.

Although your session is over, the conversation shouldn’t end there. Be sure to follow up on the meeting with those who attended. Send out an email that recaps what was said and any action items to do after the meeting. Set up another meeting soon so you can continue the conversation. It’ll allow you to continue to build off of your accomplishments from the discussion. You may want to take notes during the meeting so that you remember to reiterate important details from the conversation in your email. Continue to meet with your group of attendees until you feel the matter at hand has been adequately taken care of and wrapped up.

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