The Strategy Driven Guide to Boosting Your Website’s Performance

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, The Strategy Driven Guide to Boosting Your Website’s PerformanceBoosting your website’s performance needs to be your number one priority. Without a great site, all of your digital marketing efforts will be for naught. Imagine, as a user, you see an ad on Instagram. You are interested, click it, and are directed to a website that fails to meet your trust factors. Perhaps it doesn’t work on mobile, or perhaps its design is old and outdated, making it difficult to navigate. There are many different trust factors that online users rely on nowadays before they buy from a new company online.

Boosting your website’s performance isn’t rocket science, but it does need to implemented well and to the best of your ability. You need to ensure your website is secure, that its information is correct, and that downtime is limited. Users do not want to be made a fool of, so ensure your website is up to code. To show them your site can be trusted you need to improve your site and its digital presence.

Understand How Users Are Interacting with It

Google analytics or other tracking tools can be incredibly useful in determining where the problem areas of your website are. A high bounce rate indicates that your homepage or perhaps your PPC marketing strategy are in some way failing. A less than impressive home page can have people click off before they even see your product lists, whereas a misguided PPC strategy can have people who don’t want your site click on your ads.

Conduct an SEO Audit

Understanding how users are engaging with your site will help you address the key problem areas first, but that doesn’t mean you should ever stop there. Go through and conduct a full website or SEO audit to clean up your website, ensure there are no broken links, unnecessary redirects, or now black-listed SEO tactics on your site.

Commit to a Strong Content Strategy

Content is king because it is how customers can engage your website in more ways than just scrolling through your product or services pages. It is how you can become a true resource to your customers, and how you can attract new, organic traffic streams.

Create content that is effective and useful to your audience. Post it on your company blog but also across social media. Keep to a consistent plan, such as uploading a weekly blog post every Tuesday, for instance, and make your content interactive.

Hire an SEO Agency

Auditing your website is step one. It is essential if you want any future digital marketing tactics to work well, because if your site isn’t looking great then getting people to your site will result in nothing more than a high bounce rate. If your site needs a huge overhaul, however, it is wise to hire an Austin SEO agency like Creatif Digital that can help improve your site’s design, SEO, and then work with you to bring more organic traffic to your site through search rankings and PPC marketing.

Your website needs to be perfect, because if there is any hitch in its performance, you can turn away a potential customer in a second. Go through and remove any problem areas, improve it with SEO and content in mind, and know your limits. If you don’t have the resources or skill needed to do this, hire a company who can make these improvements for you.

How to Motivate Your Sales Team: 7 Tested and Proven Strategies

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | How to Motivate Your Sales Team: 7 Tested and Proven StrategiesSales is the core of the business and the team behind it drives the company’s growth and success. They are responsible for the 2 most important things in a business: customers and revenue.

Every business owner or executive should acknowledge the critical role of the sales team in the organization. They should be always motivated, developed, and inspired for them to consistently perform.

Here are proven strategies to make your sales team successful:

1. Establish trust

Trust is a fundamental core value of every organization. The business can’t run effectively without it. Teams can’t work together without trusting each other. That’s why it’s important for a leader to establish full trust across the organization.

Offering full trust to your sales team goes two ways:

  • You will need to win their trust completely
  • You will need to give them your trust 100%

Establishing full trust with your sales team starts with setting the correct and honest expectations. You need to be clear about the following:

  • What’s their objective/purpose in the business?
  • What do you expect them to deliver and in what time schedule?
  • What are their targets?
  • How will you measure their success?
  • How are you going to reward them?

The second step is to let them do their job as salespeople. Lastly, you’ll have to deliver your part of the bargain, which is to consistently work with them to achieve their targets, review their performance and give them their due rewards.

2. Give them visibility to the strategy

Part of what drives the sales team to deliver their optimum performance is to give them visibility of the company’s strategy. It is important that they know where the company is heading and what’s their part in it.

Moreover, enable your sales team to be equipped as they help steer the company’s strategy. You will need to provide them access to metrics, statistics, analytics and every piece of data about the company. This information will help them forecast their output in a timely manner aligned with the company strategy.

3. Establish SMART goals

SMART stands for:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Realistic and
  • Time-bound

This is a basic methodology for goal setting. It is critical to establish smart goals with your sales team in order for them to know what are you expecting from them.

Work with your sales team to agree on a defined daily, weekly, monthly and/or annual sales objectives. The key is to have a limited number of objectives or goals that are aligned with the company strategy. Then, enable with them tools that will help them track their goals against their performance.

4. Put in place an effective reward system

Sales teams are driven by rewards. They perform more when they know what they’re getting in return. That said, it is highly critical to put an effective reward system to keep your sales team inspired. For example, come up with an enticing commission agreement and/or sales incentives.

Some of the key elements of an effective reward system are the following:

  • A specific result or quota that will let them earn the rewards
  • A clear process of how the reward will be earned
  • Timeline of when they can earn and/or when the reward will be given
  • Ability for the individual to choose the type of reward they want to receive

Enabling your sales team to choose the type of reward they want will keep them excited. Start by sending out a survey to every individual so you’ll know what their expected reward is.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | How to Motivate Your Sales Team: 7 Tested and Proven Strategies5. Make your sales team fall in love with the company

This is rather difficult but once successfully pulled off, you’ll have the best succession plan in the company. Moving your sales team away from the employee mindset and offering them the idea of being ‘company owners’ is critical.

Get them involved in building the company’s mission, vision and core values. Steer them away from being stimulated by their paycheck and let them become passionate about their contribution to the company. This may or may not work with all the individuals in your sales team but at least you’ll know who among them is truly involved.

6. Allow them to be flexible and proactive

Your sales team doesn’t become sales rock stars overnight. That said, allow them to be flexible enough in achieving their targets. It will require you to provide consistent guidance and follow through with their output.

On top of that, encourage your sales team to be proactive in all areas. Let them explore new angles and come up with out-of-the-box ideas. Moreover, encourage them to freely present these ideas and implement them.

7. Provide them with opportunities and growth

It is critical to provide your sales team with enough opportunities for growth. This will keep them stimulated knowing the fact that they know where they’re going if they become successful in the company. Keep in mind that a salesperson wouldn’t want to be a salesperson forever.

Putting a clear development and growth plan for the sales individuals is one of the required duties of a leader. There should be a clear and defined path for a salesperson to go to the next level in the organizational structure.

Conclusion

Motivating your sales team is a top priority. It requires diligent thought process and involvement with the team. Moreover, upgrading their performance will require time, consistency and commitment. These effective and tested strategies can help you build a successful sales team that’s always inspired and motivated. These should be an integral part of the core priorities of the company.

Adjusting to the New Consumer Norm through Multichannel Strategies

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Adjusting to the New Consumer Norm through Multichannel Strategies
 
The last decade has been a consistent wave of change for the retail industry, with countless stories of traditionally profitable brick-and-mortar stores closing their doors to in-person customers. Around the US, more consumers are opting to do their shopping online, highlighted by a recent survey from comScore and UPS. Of more than 5,000 consumers surveyed, 51% shared that their purchases are predominately completed through an e-commerce site as opposed to a physical location. Those numbers are up from 47% in 2014 and 48% in 2015. This growing trend has some retailers with heavy in-store business models shaking in their boots. However, opportunities abound for those willing to put in the work.

Keeping up with the digital landscape of retail today is no small task. It begins, however, with an understanding of two tactics used by consumers around the world to conduct their shopping. Both webrooming and showrooming are becoming more prominent among shoppers, and the retailers able to withstand the digital disruption wave recognize the importance of each.

Understanding Webrooming and Showrooming

The process of webrooming is simple in practice. Consumers utilize the internet to research products and goods they want to purchase from the seemingly endless number of suppliers. They are able to compare product reviews from other customers, see the specifications of a product, and get a feel for pricing from retailers all with a few clicks of the mouse. However, webrooming requires a consumer to make the final purchase in-store. Many consumers still find the traditional retail experience helpful in making purchase decisions, particularly for big-ticket items, but they are relying on online details to help guide their decisions at the start of the process.

Showrooming is the opposite process. Instead of browsing for a product online first, consumers visit a brick-and-mortar retailer to get a real feel for a product. They may ask an associate or employee questions about its functionality, future sales on the product, or other specific concerns they have about the item itself. Without making the purchase, the consumer then heads home to do his or her shopping online. They complete similar tasks as the webrooming buyer, just in the opposite order. Ultimately, a product is purchased online, not in-store, leaving some retailer concerned about the future.

Both webrooming and showrooming are increasing in popularity among consumers, as more retailers move their businesses online. However, retailers with physical store locations can compete, so long as they have the right strategies in place to do so.

Adapting to the New Normal

Businesses with physical store locations are not completely out of luck in this new era of digital shopping. Retailers must embrace the new normal by implementing tactics to capture the attention of consumers both online and in-person. This can be done by using online price comparison sites. Through these digital tools, consumers have the ability to compare the prices of products from a multitude of retailers, alongside helpful customer reviews and product specifics. Retailers that do not participate in these sites may lose out on both webrooming and showrooming buyers in the long run.

In addition to being included on price comparison sites, retailers must come up with a strategy to boost their online presence. In both webrooming and showrooming instances, consumers are leaning heavily on the digital experience they have access to through a particular retailer. If a retailer’s site is not easy to use or it does not offer free shipping or in-store pick-up options that are convenient for the consumer, business will move elsewhere. It is also necessary to implement a mobile strategy, where a retailer’s site is optimized for mobile use, including purchase options and price comparisons when needed.

Retailers with physical locations can also stay on pace with e-commerce competitors by creating an in-store experience for consumers that cannot be matched. Using technology to help consumers find what they are looking for in stores, having knowledgeable customer service associates, and a clean, organized environment all play a critical role in consumer satisfaction when visiting a store. While this may not help in the transition to showrooming, webrooming consumers are likely to remain loyal to a retailer that provides a one-of-a-kind in-store experience.

The boom of e-commerce is not necessarily a threat to the retailers that can keep up with modern approaches to engaging and enticing customers. This, however, requires an understanding of current and future consumer behaviors as well as the right strategies to keep customers coming in the physical door.

Setting Up a Brick and Mortar Business from Scratch

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Entrepreneurship | Setting Up a Brick and Mortar Business from Scratch

The majority of us become employees when we head into the world of work. This makes sense. From a young age, we are asked what we want to be when we grow up and are given ideas of different employed positions, no matter how outrageous or unlikely they might be – footballer, ballet dancer, fire fighter. When we head to school we are encouraged to get qualifications to show off on our CVs rather than the focus being placed primarily on the actual skills that we pick up along the way. This makes sense. Being employed makes for a relatively comfortable lifestyle. You have contracted hours, guaranteed pay, annual leave, and other privileges. However, it’s not necessarily the best option for all of us. There are alternative career paths out there and one of the best tends to be setting up your own business. Setting up your own business means becoming your own boss and determining exactly what direction your company will take. You can specialise in the area that you like and keep the majority of your profits for yourself – nobody else will be getting rich from your hard work. But where can you start on this journey? Well, one of the most lucrative areas to get involved in is retail. So, let’s start there!

Creating an Appealing Product

When you get involved in retail, you are going to have to provide the market with an appealing product. You need to come up with something that people are willing to part with their hard earned cash for! This is going to be a long and arduous process, but once you have a final product, all of the effort will be worth it. Identify a gap in the market, think up something that can fill it, and conduct a little market research to determine whether consumers would be interested in what you’ve come up with. If you get the go ahead, you can manufacture the product and bring it to reality!

Ecommerce vs. Brick and Mortar

The next decision that you need to make is how you are going to sell your products – you need a base where customers can find you and process sales. The main decision is ecommerce vs. brick and mortar. Now, Ecommerce is appealing for various reasons:

Cheaper to Setup – to set up an ecommerce store you only really need the help of a web designer and a product photographer. You could also call in a writer to come up with your captions, blog posts, and other written material. This is consequently extremely low cost.

Cheaper Operation – once you’ve setup, operating online is cheaper to run in general. You don’t have to fork out for commercial property, you don’t have to fork out for commercial overheads, and you don’t require as many staff.

Round the Clock Operation – the web doesn’t have opening and closing areas, meaning that consumers can browse your products and make purchases at all hours of the day and night!

Brick and mortar stores, however, have their own individual set of benefits and you can run an online store at the same time as running them!

Better Customer Service – you can interact with your customers and potential buyers on a face to face basis, answering questions more easily.

Fewer Returns and Exchanges – when customers can see and try out what they’re buying before handing over cash, you are less likely to receive return requests and exchange requests. This saves you money!

Setting Up

Furnishing Your Store

You will need furnishings to display your stock effectively. These can include shelves, rails, and other display units. Employ a merchandiser who will be able to give you advice on what types of display equipment will make your store look the most aesthetically pleasing and navigable.

Limiting Movement to Restricted Areas

If there are areas of your commercial property where you don’t want members of the public roaming, you are going to have to take steps to ensure that nobody trespasses. There are different methods that you can use to achieve this. If there are doors that lead to areas with confidential information, staff belongings, or stock, you can place signs on the doors that read “staff only”. If you are worried that people will ignore these warnings, you can add coded locks – permitted individuals can key in the code or scan a registered card to pass through. If there are outdoor areas that need to have limited access, you could make use of used sucker rods to create barriers and fences.

Using Signage Appropriately

Health and safety needs to reign supreme in your commercial property. If there are aspects of the space that pose a risk to people, but cannot be changed, you need to use signage appropriately. If there’s an unexpected step, you will need to make sure that it is highlighted and that there’s a sign warning people of its presence. If there are low ceilings, you need to do the same. You should also use signage to indicate fire exits and fire safety protocol. Then you should invest in temporary signs, such as signs for wet floors.

While Ecommerce may be appealing, remember that you can engage with this alongside your brick and mortar company. Hopefully, the above information will help you to set up a brick and mortar business effectively.

How To Prepare Your New Business For Success

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Entrepreneur | How To Prepare Your New Business For SuccessNo matter who the entrepreneur is or what industry a particular company is in, the overarching goal for a business venture is for it to be successful. If you are currently in the process of starting your company from scratch, there are a few factors that you must keep in mind as you are setting up the groundwork for it.

For starters, the employees are the individuals that make up the business. Thus, if you want high-quality work to be completed at the end of each day, you need to hire individuals that are good at what they do. Next, it is important to craft the perfect brand message, in order to be acknowledged and recognizable by the general public. You will need to maintain your finances, understand your audience, and all in all stick to your business goals no matter what.

Hiring the best employees

Great employees make the business great, and you must make a point of hiring the best as a result of this. Look for people who are experts in their particular field, but also have other attributes that make them a great fit within the larger team.

Craft the brand message

To develop your brand message, you will need to determine what it is you want to achieve with it. What tone best fits your brand? Remember to keep your target audience in mind as you are developing it, as well.

Maintaining finances

Without financial stability, there is no company to begin with. You must always think of new ways to fund your business. Some options for getting the money are through:

  • Investors
  • Crowdfunding
  • Banks
  • Friends or family

Understanding the key audience

Every single company has products or services that are aimed at a particular group in society. This is your target audience, and you need to properly understand and target them if you want to make profit.

Having a strong online presence, both with your website and social media usage, is one way that you can communicate with them. Of course, you will also need to do the proper market research on what it is they will use, based on their everyday habits, and that is where the help of a software development company will come in handy. They can help you conduct the necessary research and collect the data on your audience, in addition to helping you build up the perfect online presence with your website design. Getting expert advice in order to properly grow your business and using the technological tools at your disposal will always benefit you.

Stick to your business goals

No matter what business goals you set up for yourself, never lose sight of them. Consistently work towards making more profit, for instance, and every single new strategy or campaign that you devise should keep this in mind.

Consider the steps that you are taking in order to prepare your business for success, and never forget the big-picture goals. You will not achieve the results you want in the span of a few weeks, or even a few months, but the more you continue to understand the market in which you operate and spread the word about what it is you are doing, the closer you are to becoming widely recognized and used by people.