How To Grow Your Business In A Competitive Industry

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Grow Your Business|How To Grow Your Business In A Competitive IndustryThe business world is one which is highly competitive, which means that a company must always be looking for ways to grown order to stay ahead of the competition. Even if you are the most successful brand in your industry, you can be sure that the competition will be looking for innovative ways to grow and knock you off of your perch. This can be stressful as it means that the work never stops yet it is also exciting and a great way to refine your business, earn more money and dominate the industry. Here are a few different ways that even a big company can grow.

Expand

One of the most obvious ways to grow a business is to expand into new areas. This can be particularly effective if you are scaling into areas with less competition as it can be much easier to dominate the local market. This could involve expanding overseas, which is an exciting process but one with many hurdles to overcome.

Diversify Product Range

It is also worth considering your product range and seeing if there are any gaps in the market that you can fill. Your target customer will come to your business because you can provide a product that they want/need so think about what their other wants and needs are to see if you could be providing other products too.

Attract & Retain Top Talent

It is impossible to grow a company without the right people powering the operation. You need to make sure that you are attracting the top talent with competitive wages, bonuses, and a pleasant working environment and retain these top performers with job satisfaction and career development opportunities. When you can attract and retain the top talent, it allows you to delegate and focus your efforts on the big picture.

Create & Share Content

In today’s internet-drive age, it is important that you are creating and sharing content online. This is a way of promoting your brand, showing your expertise, and providing value to your target customer. There are many different types of content to consider, including:

  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • How to guides
  • Interviews
  • Product demonstration videos
  • Case studies

It is important to share this content on social media and to use this platform to directly engage and communicate with your target customer.

Promote Customer Loyalty

It is easier and cheaper to retain customers than to acquire new ones so this needs to be a key area of focus for businesses. In addition to providing a high-quality product/service at good value for money and with excellent customer service, you can keep hold of your customer with the use of a customer loyalty program.

Attracting New Customers

Although easier and cheaper to retain customers, you will also need to attract new ones if your company is to grow significantly. Fortunately, there are many different ways that you can attract new customers to your business with the most effective strategies being promotions and deals that can entice them away from their current provider. Additionally, if you are able to get recommendations from existing customers then this can be highly effective. This is possible through customer referral programs and by seeking customer reviews, which can then be used on social media and on your company website.

Improve Customer Experience

Ultimately, in order to grow you need to provide a good experience for the customer yet this is an area that is often overlooked by businesses. How you improve the customer experience will depend on your operation but it could involve making changes to the buying process, reducing shipping fees, going the extra mile and being friendlier to customers.

Ramp Up Marketing

One of the most effective strategies for growing a business is to increase your marketing efforts as there is always more that could be done.

Digital marketing is important for increasing your visibility online and is particularly important if you are operating in a highly competitive industry. You should always use reputable digital marketing agencies for the best results.

Traditional marketing remains important, especially if you are targeting customers in the local area. This could include TV/radio adverts, print adverts, attending trade events, sponsorship etc.

Form A Strategic Alliance

A strategic alliance is a smart business move which can help a company to access an entirely new market, increase brand awareness and grow while forming important business relationships. The key to a successful strategic alliance is finding the right business – this should be a company that has the same target customer but is not a direct competitor. A florist, for example, could form a strategic alliance with an event planner or wedding dress shop where they can recommend each other to their customers and offer discounts.

Improve Project Management

Successful project management can drive growth and help a business to achieve their goals, yet it is an area that many companies struggle with especially larger ones where the risks can be higher. There are a few effective strategies for improving project management, including using medicated project managers to oversee the operation and utilizing the latest and best technology. Places like Catalyst for Business highlight the value of technology like ringless voicemail where you can deliver pre-recorded messages into a voicemail inbox which can help you to market your customers more effectively.

Stay Current

There are constantly new trends, technology and other innovations coming to light in the world of business and taking advantage of these early can be critical for growth. It can be challenging to stay current but it is possible by reading respected publications, reading blogs, joining online communities etc.

Growth is crucial in the ever-changing business world as companies are constantly in competition with one another to come out on top. Growth can help your company to earn more money, dominate the industry and find greater success and the above are a few effective strategies to use to help your company to take the next level. There will always be risks attached but it can be incredibly rewarding when changes to the operation deliver powerful results.

Improving The Quality Of Your Service As A Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Customer Service|Improving The Quality Of Your Service As A BusinessThere’s always room for improvement for whatever you do in your lifetime, and when running a business, there should be a constant need to improve the service you are providing to your clients and customers. So here are some tips for improving the quality of your service as a business.

Strengthen Customer Service

Customer service is a very crucial part of the service that you supply as a whole. Without good customer service, you potentially lose out on giving your customers what they need, and that can have a negative impact on the business. Strengthening your customer service can be done in a number of ways. Firstly, look at what you’re already providing in terms of communication and explore new ways of reaching out to the customer and vice versa. Social media is one way that’s enabling both customers and businesses to directly reach out to one another via a direct messaging service or by tagging them in their status. Interaction with customers shows that you are wanting to engage as a company and to develop a stronger relationship.

Look At Quality Improvement If Manufacturing

Quality control when it comes to manufacturing products should always be a priority. Whether it’s offering prepackaged medication or using a more eco-friendly packaging, there are always ways to improve the quality that you’re providing to those companies who are then selling your product to a wider market. You can also look at what your competitors are doing too when it comes to quality control and then adapting these methods to your own but making them better.

Always Ask For Feedback

Feedback should always be welcomed, and if you’re not doing that as a company, you’re blindsiding yourself from improving what might need adjusting or developing. Several eyes are better than just the one, so always reach out to clients and customers to ask for constructive criticism and feedback on how you can improve the services you are providing. It might open your eyes to something you’ve not noticed before and is actually something that’s causing a big problem in the success of your business. So make use of your mailing list and always keep track of reviews that come in for your service or product.

Invest In Research And Training

Two of the elements that can make the biggest difference when it comes to the quality of service is research and training. Investing a budget into these can make a huge improvement on your company as a whole. Market research is always useful to see how your industry has changed and is changing so that you’re able to keep up with the trends and what’s current. Training for your staff is always beneficial and a great way to improve their own career prospects, which could benefit the company massively.

A business that is always looking on ways to improve is one that will continue to have success. Don’t become complacent and always look at ways to strengthen your business and how it operates in every area of its existence.

A Business Blog Should Be 20% Of Your Marketing Strategy

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article | A Business Blog Should Be 20% Of Your Marketing Strategy | Business Blog

If you aren’t interesting as a business you’re not an entity that is going to hold the attention of the masses. They want businesses and business leaders that speak to them, share ideas they feel passionate about too and also, just be fun to be around and interact with. Businesses have got to stop being so rigid and focuses on their corporate images. But how do you do this day in and day out? What is the outlet which can give you this space? Your own business website of course. Your business blog is where your personality has to shine through. In the content you must be able to explain your ideas well but also use it as a platform to build links, create new followers and be able to spread your word around the search engines that people use. Just how big a proportion do blogs take up when it comes to marketing?

Make the news before the news

Social media is like a forest sometimes. It’s so full of content, videos, links and viral adverts that you can be intimidated. However, know that the media companies of the world are dying to hear about you. To become viral you don’t need their own platforms and say so. Your business can make the news before the news even knows. This is why business blogs are so powerful. You can release exclusive information on your blog and watch the media report on it in a heartbeat. But you give your customers and interested potential consumers vital information about an update, a patch, a new product a totally new and improved service etc. The blog is therefore used as a news website for customers to come visit and read what you have to say. It’s a phenomenal tool to communicate with the world in this way.

Almost a quarter

Perhaps the best reason for a business blog to exist is that it’s almost one quarter of the SEO world for businesses. Content and a blog for a business amounts to around 19% of the overall SEO duties and marketing strategy aspects. That is huge. It’s about 1/5 of your overall SEO management requirements. The other aspects are link building, Google plus, social media, on page and off page links, keywords, Google AdWords, YouTube etc. A blog is worth so much to a business because it’s the space where all other marketing aspects can exist together. You can add a YouTube video to your blog, create off page links whereby you use evidence by another media or well respect news company to back up your claims.

Active and fresh

A business that doesn’t publish blogs can seem kind of dormant. Unless someone is actually following your business on social media, they won’t be seeing you anywhere else other than the search engine results page. Your blog can appear in the search results with great SEO techniques employed so you cover that base as well.

Content isn’t just about getting material out there, it’s about sharing your personality as a business with the consumer. It’s also a great way to make news before the news reports on you.

Stretch Goals, The Field, and Choosing the Best Path

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article | Stretch Goals, The Field, and Choosing the Best Path | Stretch GoalsStretch goals are intended to push the organization to higher levels of performance. They stretch all teams and the individuals in those teams. Stretch goals can rarely be met with incremental changes, thus, management and staff must be dynamic and creative in planning how to meet the goals. This situation can be intimidating, but it is the ideal scenario for you to shift your career in a new, more desirable direction. There are two key components to help you make the shift: understanding how the Field works, and discerning the work activity you most enjoy – regardless of “normal expectations” for your position.

Defining the Field, Understanding Its Drivers. The Field – which is also referred to as “quantum reality” – is a matrix of electromagnetic waves that permeate everything. “So what?” you may ask. Consider the following reality as proven via scientific experiments and measurable observations: i) at the base of all physical matter are tiny electromagnetic energy waves, ii) as two electromagnetic waves intersect, they exchange data, and iii) communication in the Field is instantaneous. This reality means that all living and innate matter in our world are connected every single instant.

Okay, so how does one use this massive web of connection to choose the best path in a stretch-goal environment? Think about the basic formula that underpins all success in the workplace – to achieve a high performance rating, you need to understand how your boss thinks, what their expectations are, and what their goals are to attain a high rating from their superiors. Once you understand this, then you can design an effective performance plan. It is the same with the Field: understand what is important to the Field, then you can proactively engage the Field to aid in directing your career path to higher levels of success.

Why the Field supports you. What is the top priority of the Field? Expansion. Everything in the universe has a drive to expand – humans, animals, plants, bacteria, even the universe itself. At the individual level, the human feeling of “excitement” is most closely aligned with expansion. Why? The Field is connected to all things, so it is aware of your strengths and how those strengths can best help it expand. Thus, when you are focused on an activity that you enjoy (that you look forward to, that excites you), the Field gives you a clue you are on the right track via the feeling of excitement.

So find a comfortable spot at work – or even head to your favorite coffee shop – and review all your work activities, ranking them by how much you enjoy the activity. Be sure to include activities or skills that you have been wanting to learn. Next pick the top activity (or top two, not more) and create a plan around that activity, quantifying how your efforts will increase productivity or drive efficiency.

In the Field, a Low Risk. Your unique stretch-goal-plan is – in quantum reality – a low risk. This is because you have centered the plan around what excites you at work, and when excitement is combined with venturing into new territory, it will invariably lead to your growth as a professional. Thus, you grow personally, your wider team is challenged and grows with you, and the project itself will be productive. Put another way, each of these aspects expands – and, thus, the Field expands.

The Fringe Benefits. What about the other goals in your overall career plan? The good news is that by focusing so much energy on just one or two areas, your plan/project will create a larger momentum that will inevitably demand the demonstration of other skills. Besides the leadership and innovation capabilities you show in putting forth the plan, the additional skills of project management, team management, communication, selling, leveraging diversity, conflict management, and budgeting will likely be demonstrated.

Stretch Yourself, Stretch Your Boss… Expand the Field. In creating a plan that will stretch yourself in an area you enjoy, you will also be stretching your boss. They will need to acknowledge the merit of your plan, they will need to consider how best to sell the idea to their superior(s), and they may need to think about who else on the team will perform the duties they had expected you to be doing. All of that is a fantastic challenge for your boss. They don’t want a boring job; else they would not have accepted the promotion to manager. Besides, like you they may be a bit intimidated by the stretch goals, so you will be helping them with an innovative idea for meeting leadership’s expectations.

Understanding how the expansive properties of the Field work, combined with a focus on the top one or two work activities that excite you, ensures the design of a successful stretch-plan. It also raises your awareness of potential opportunities that may arise – whether those are hoped for or unexpected.

Stretch goals are not obstacles to success, they are unique opportunities to customize your path and accelerate your success. Embrace and use them to stretch yourself, stretch your boss…and expand the Field.

Rejection Epilogue. If your boss rejects your stretch-plan, this is not a failure. Remember that the Field is connected to all things, so it will be keenly aware of your focused and organized vision for expanding your career/team, and by default the Field itself. After the rejection, maintain a positive “can do” attitude and keep your eyes open for other development opportunities. Perhaps a mentor will ask you to join their team, perhaps someone outside the company will offer you a job, or perhaps your boss will ask you to lead a brand-new project in an area that you find exciting. As long as you focus your stretch-plan on an activity that you enjoy, the Field will not be able to help itself: It will notice your effort, and, one way or another, it will respond.

About the Author

For 28 years John Jay McKey has been a student of success, building and leading data analysis teams in the banking sector, a Big Four accounting and consulting firm, the Office of Inspector General, and a multinational Fortune 50 company. While commuting from Chicago to Washington DC to work for the OIG, Jay had a personal epiphany that led him on a deep dive into the world of quantum physics. That journey resulted in the writing of Leverage the Field for Success, which explains how one can use what scientists call the universal energy field, the zero-point field, or simply “the field,” to support and accelerate one’s success and/or the success of their team.

How Much do Software Developers Make in 2019?

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article | How Much do Software Developers Make in 2019?
 
Software developers have always been in high demand, but in 2019 the appetite for developers has just increased as new innovations and applications emerge. With this high demand comes a corresponding rise in salary expectations.

So how much can a software developer expect to make in 2019?

It’s not a simple answer. Not all software development jobs are alike; some are more specialized than others, which is reflected in their pay. But there are so many different types of software development specializations these days that it’s a challenge to keep track of them all and how much they pay.

That’s why we’ve put together a handy table below, with the most common types of software developer roles as of 2019 and what they earn.

StrategyDriven Talent Management Article | How Much do Software Developers Make in 2019?

*All figures based on Ziprecruiter estimates

Notice how in the above chart that the more specialized roles are able to receive a much higher average salary than the more general roles as they get more experience. The outlier seems to be blockchain developers, who receive disproportionately higher starting salaries due to both their rarity, the difficulty of the subject matter, and the current hype surrounding blockchain development.

AI and machine learning developers have similarly high salary prospects. The starting salaries mentioned in the chart are misleading. Actually, only a small percentage of jobs pay at this low range. Salary ranges begin to spike at $78,500 – $91,000 for AI developers (19% of jobs) and $70,500 – $100,499 for machine learning developers (17% of jobs).

The starting salary of cyber security engineers is also misleading. 30% of surveyed cyber security engineer jobs actually begin at the $83,000 to $108,499 range. This reflects cyber security’s vital role in an increasingly digital world, especially in large-scale enterprises with massive amounts of data.

Video game developer salaries in 2019 are also higher than in more general developer roles, however, there is a culture of overwork inherent in the industry which is a definite trade-off for anyone seeking a position in that field.

Note that engineering roles have slight but significant job differences from your standard developer: engineers don’t just code. Software engineers help develop processes and apply engineering principles to solve client needs, which means understanding the big picture and taking a strategic approach. It requires an additional skill set beyond mere programming and is reflected in the salary. The right software engineer will help ensure your development projects don’t fail, which attributes to their high demand and salary requirements.

So there you have it. We hope this chart will be helpful in either choosing a career in software development or switching to a different specialization in mid-career.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Shane ZilinskasShane Zilinskas is the Founder and CEO of Los Angeles software development agency ClearSummit, and the Co-Founder and CTO of TuneRegistry, a music rights SaaS platform. He also provides consulting services to startups and enterprise companies. Prior to working in the agency space, Shane built news media backends and part of the FAA’s air traffic control system. He has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from UVA. He has a passion for efficiency and combining the best tech and design to solve complex problems.

Twitter: @clearsummitapps