Branded building: does your workplace match your message?

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Branded building: does your workplace match your message?It’s tempting to treat your company’s branding as an afterthought or, at least, largely limit your branding efforts to social media and digital media content. That would be especially understandable if your operations are largely online-focused, with few customers visiting your physical workplace.

However, preserving consistent branding throughout, not just your online presence but also your office can pay off handsomely – here’s why, plus what you can do to align your branding in this way.

It’s easy to lose track of your supposed mission

Even if you have typed out your company’s mission statement, printed it out in large text and then framed it all for prominent display, your staff’s promotional efforts could still veer off-course surprisingly easily. After all, there’s so much of which you need to keep track…

That “much” includes not only the digital content we have just mentioned but also ad campaigns and marketing materials such as posters, flyers and brochures. If you have different people working on different aspects of the branding, it can soon drift into incoherence, perhaps before you notice.

Consequently, your brand – or whatever it still comprises – could confuse customers, clients and even people inside the company, right up to the executive level. Hence, as advised in an Entrepreneur article, you should put together – and, across all of the company’s departments, distribute – a brand guide touching on subjects like the brand’s voice, tone, colors, iconography and fonts.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Branded building: does your workplace match your message?Apply subtle but clever visual flourishes in your workplace

In your office, the little things can make a surprisingly large impact. Consider the words of New York-based digital communications professional Betsy Rohtbart in a Forbes piece; she posits: “If your logo is a circle, why put it on a square door? If your logo is a square, why put it on a rectangle tag?”

Along the same lines, she asks: “If your name is long, why shrink your font to make it fit the sign on the building?” The implication is that you shouldn’t feel under pressure to decorate your workspace in the “traditional” way, as succumbing to this pressure could see you missing out.

Your company’s culture should be reflected in the workplace design – and that culture concerns the firm’s values and beliefs, not simply its logo or branding colors. Perhaps you could put up a photograph from when your team participated in a charitable endeavor?

Why is workplace branding so important, anyway?

That question could still have played on your mind if few consumers or clients visit your company’s offices or make it past the reception area. However, as indicated on the Metropolis magazine’s website, office branding can imbue your workers with a sense of identity and connection.

Therefore, it can help to ensure that those workers are all moving in the same direction – and, in this way, genuinely helping consumers or clients. You can further encourage this by investing in luxury office design to create a space that reflects a specific lifestyle and where people truly aspire to work.

Winter Is Coming, So Protect Your Business With Its Very Own (Fire)Wall

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Game of Thrones fans across the world have spent years marveling at Jon Snow’s dedication to his all-important wall. While business lessons are probably few and far between in Game of Thrones, his dedication to keeping his country safe is one that any company should take on board. You might not need a physical brick wall outside your office, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still use a wall of some kind to keep your company safe.

Virus and spyware protection services like those offered by Charles are a first port of call for any company that wants to keep their data and customers safe. And, once you put managed security services like these in place, you can bet that a firewall will soon follow.

Unlike Jon Snow’s physical wall, Wikipedia describes a firewall as ‘…a network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules.’ But, what exactly can a security measure like this do for your company?

Your first line of defense

The GOT wall is the first line of defense in case of attack, and your business network firewall is no different. Viruses or malware on a business computer can have a catastrophic impact on your company’s operations and reputation. In fact, malicious malware that steals customer information could cripple your company altogether. In a sense, a firewall works as a shield against attacks like these. Whether you put one in place or trust a managed security service to do it for you, this is a way to improve security with little real effort on your part.

A way to stop anyone getting in (or out)

Like any good wall, a firewall provides a solid support to stop things getting either in or out of your company network. Strong firewalls will inspect the flow of traffic both ways, monitoring and blocking viruses as and when they arise. A firewall can also prevent unauthorized websites to ensure no unwanted pages find their way into your office. As well as keeping your company safe, then, a well-installed firewall can keep distractions like social media and personal browsing well clear of your work environment, and can make for increased productivity all around.

pasted image 0 5A safe place from which to spot trouble

Our GOT favorites continually patrol their wall for any sign of trouble, and this is yet another benefit that a firewall can bring to you. Far from just blocking viruses as they arise, a firewall can work wonders for foreseeing and even warning you of coming trouble. For instance, any firewall will log potential intrusions or unauthorized activity, thus allowing you to check out possible problems before they arise. By foreguessing and blocking malicious applications, your firewall can even do a pretty good job at its own patrol out of office hours.

For these reasons and more, a firewall is vital for security in any business setting. As a company owner, you should, therefore, go forth and be the watcher on the firewall.

Do You Need Help With Your Marketing?

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Do You Need Help With Your Marketing?It is no surprise to anyone in the world of business that marketing is such a hugely important thing to consider. If the marketing is right, then the business itself is going to be a success, whereas if it is not right, you can’t really tell what is going to happen at all. But knowing that and actually perfecting the art of marketing are two very different things. There might be many occasions in your business’ life when you need a little help with your marketing, and that is something that most people will find, so you are absolutely not alone. But it is good to know for sure when you need that help, so that you can seek it out in time and make the most of it. In this post, we’ll look at a few of the clearest signs that you might need some help with your marketing.

Your Products Aren’t Selling

One of the surest signs that you might need to consult a marketing agency is that you just aren’t shifting any products. There can often be dips in sales, and that can be the result of a number of different things, but you need to make sure that you are aware of when it is due to poor marketing. Even if that is not the reason, you will find that improving your marketing is going to make a huge difference to how many products you sell, and for that reason it is absolutely worth looking into anyway. If you feel that you could be selling more, take a look at your marketing and see whether you might need any help with it.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Do You Need Help With Your Marketing?Your Brand Is Unclear

As a business, you need to have a strong brand which people can immediately recognize and relate to. This is central to keeping your business in line with what you want to achieve, and it is one of the things that you are going to want to keep an eye on throughout your business. However, if you have come to realize that your brand is actually relatively unclear, then you might find that it is necessary to step back and allow some marketing experts to take a look at it. If they can improve your brand in any way, you are bound to find that this will improve your marketing generally, and the performance of your business.

You Don’t Have The Time

Marketing wlel takes time, and if you just know that you don’t have the time, then that is one of the things that you are going to need to think about too. That is a time when you are going to benefit hugely from giving your marketing over to the professionals, so make sure that you bear that in mind when that crops up. By giving the work to them, you can keep your eyes on the prize in other places, and hopefully it will all come together in a business that is functioning much more accurately and expertly.

Seven Ways To Prepare Your Business For Expansion

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Expansion|Seven Ways To Prepare Your Business For ExpansionKnowing when and how to take your business to the next level is an important skill for any business owner, whether you own a startup or a nationally recognised company. If you’re successful in your current market but feel like you need more of a challenge, expanding nationally or internationally needs careful strategy planning. Put your business through these top tips to get it expansion ready.

  1. Set attainable goals for your business. Make sure these goals are specific and measurable, such as taking on five new accounts by the end of the financial year, or increasing revenue by $1million in the next six months. Goals you can measure can be tracked so you know if you’re on track to meet target or if you’ll need to push harder to reach them. Set out a plan. How will you get from your current position to the goal?
  2. Can your company manage the growth? Do you have the capacity to manage the planned growth? Can you afford it? Do you have enough staff or will you need to bring in more? Can your suppliers meet a higher demand? Is your office large enough to cope with more staff? Make sure the answer to all these questions is yes before you start to grow.
  3. Do you have the right management in place? You need someone at the reins who is ambitious, driven and capable of taking your business into a larger market. Like Tully Rinckey, consider bringing in a new CEO or other management who can help you to grow. Look for people with experience in growing business who can advise and steer the ship successfully.
  4. Don’t be afraid to adjust the plans. You’ll inevitably learn more as your business grows. The industry may change, or the market may shift direction. Be ready to respond and adjust targets and plans to get there if you need to. There’s no point in sticking hard to a goal that is no longer relevant. It’s important to be flexible.
  5. Be realistic about your company. Are you already established in your field and working successfully? If not, don’t try to grow too early. Focus instead on becoming an established recognised name at your level. Growing too fast won’t help you at all. Is there a demand for what you do? You can’t grow if there’s not enough demand for your business. Some businesses just work better small, and that doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
  6. Does your company owe money? Debt can snowball easily, so before concentrating on expansion try to clear or pay down as much debt as you can. A fresh slate will make growth much easier. A debt snowball method can help you to cut down your debts easily.
  7. Are you already growing? If you’re experiencing steady growth each year, with an increase in demand for your business, this is an excellent sign that it’s time to take things up a notch. Expand with more staff to take on a higher demand for your work and keep things profitable. If you’re not growing, it’s probably not the right time to expand.

Key considerations when building your unified communications strategy

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StrategyDriven Business Communications Article |Unified Communications|Key considerations when building your unified communications strategyUnified communications are a hot topic at the moment among businesses, with a unified communications strategy having the potential to offer huge savings and impressive increases in efficiency if it is done right. To be sure that you choose the right unified communications strategy for your business, read on for our list of key considerations.

How many platforms are currently used in your office?

In your office it is likely that work messages are currently sent between staff on several different communication platforms in the mix of different chats, group messages, and inboxes. In this environment it is easy for important information to be missed or lost, and it can take a long time for messages asking for clarification from upper management to reach the top for a decision. Using a system such as Unified Communications by Gamma you can ensure that all internal communications go through one easy to trace system. This will allow for a vast simplification of the flow of information.

Consider the potential for telecommuting and better video conferencing

A large advantage of a unified communications system which should be considered to the fullest is the ability to revolutionise telecommuting. Telecommuting is another way of saying work done from home and can apply to a huge range of work done in Britain today, especially on the administrative side of the job. In the 2015 PGI Global Telework Survey, an incredible 79% of knowledge workers globally reported being able to work from home at least one day a week. The result of this was a massive saving in money and time for the relevant workers, as well as a reduction in health issues caused by travelling through highly polluted air.

However, in Britain the number of telecommuters is far lower than the global average, even though, with a powerful services-led economy, Britain is one of the countries that could most benefit from a radical rethink of the role of telecommuters. It would also offer massive environmental benefits. Investing in a powerful unified communications network can make a big difference in allowing workers the freedom to produce their best work with a lower level of stress.

If you are able to get an effective level of telecommuting going, you may be able to consider rethinking your whole approach to office space, allowing you to reduce the amount of office space you pay to use and heat without getting any use for. If you have a high level of telecommuting with a pool of employees who are not all in at the same time there is the potential to have a suite of office spaces for hotdesking them in rotations when they are in the office. This can represent a massive saving on office space.

Find the right product set for your unique needs

Each company has different requirements, but different bundles are available. Whether you only need phone communications and data in the office, or want them for any company issued device, or want a single integrated system which transfers documents and sends messages and memos, there will be a unified communications solution for you.