How to Ensure a Great Turn Out at Your Brand’s Next Event

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | How to Ensure a Great Turn Out at Your Brand's Next EventAre you planning a big event for your business and wondering how to go about promoting it effectively in order to see a decent turn out? Here are some helpful tips to aid you in generating the highest amount of interest at the lowest possible price.

Leverage social media

R. Couri Hay Creative Public Relations company insists that your most powerful tool when it comes to promoting an event is social media. Even if you do not have a sizeable following to start off with, fear not. The majority of social media platforms offer paid advertising opportunities that will allow you to maximize your reach and hone in on your target market with extremely detailed targeting. The paid advertising can be customized to suit your budget and offers accurate, interesting metrics to assist you in tracking your progress.

Focus on multifaceted marketing

While social media is your most powerful tool, it isn’t your only tool. In order to see the results that you are hoping for, you will need to create a multifaceted marketing plan which outlines how you intend to use each available tool to promote the event. Fix up your website and ensure that the event information is front and center, have a large sign made for outside your business premises, have flyers made, send out a mass emailer, and contact a PR company to help you spread the word even further.

Consider hiring an influencer

Ultimately, it does not matter how well marketed your event is if the event itself does not come across as appealing to your target market. Go the extra mile to truly give them a reason to attend. Aside from freebies and epic entertainment, a great way in which to do this is to hire a relevant influencer to host the event or to announce their attendance. For instance, if you own a shoe brand and are launching a new design, invite a popular fashion blogger to promote and attend the event, and perhaps to give the opening address. His or her fans will be keen to see them in public, and will trust their opinion, therefore making it more likely for them to come (and bring their friends!).

Report back

It is absolutely essential that you provide an insider’s look into how your event went down and just how successful it was – even if it wasn’t. If you can make it look as though it was unmissable and that everyone who was there had a wonderful time, people are much more likely to show an interest in attending the next event that you host. Also be sure to encourage all attendees to speak about their event experience on social media using a specific hashtag. You may even wish to run a competition in order to amp up the engagement even further, such as a competition for ‘best dressed’ at the event via Instagram.

Now that you know how to effectively promote your event, it is time to get working on making it the success that it was always destined to be.

How to Make Your Management Process More Agile

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Agility|How to Make Your Management Process More AgileIn contrast to startups, which often experiment until they gain their footing in the market, established businesses are notoriously slow to change.

This is unfortunate because we’re currently experiencing the biggest global upheaval of any time in history since the industrial revolution.

In order to adapt to a climate charged by automation, market shifts, and globalization, companies need to evolve to meet changing priorities and conditions.

That’s how you maintain your competitive edge.

It’s the essence of agility.

Why Agility is Important for Your Business

Agility is defined by McKinsey & Company as “… the ability of an organization to renew itself, adapt, change quickly, and thrive in an environment characterized by rapid change, ambiguity, and turbulence.”

This is often driven by necessity during a major paradigm shift, but the need is also present during market fluctuations and other upheavals, major and minor.

It’s no longer the domain of tech companies, as industries from manufacturing to finance are entering a tech-driven phase.

These transformations are shaped by:

  • The introduction of disruptive technologies
  • Fast-evolving business environments
  • Rapid information democratization and digitization
  • Competition to find and recruit new talent

When a business prioritizes adopting an agile business model, they’re better able to weather business downturns and see challenges as opportunities for growth and innovation.

Agility allows your company to:

  • Empower employees
  • Adjust strategies to meet goals
  • Meet unanticipated events with confidence
  • Respond to uncertainty with speed and flexibility

In order to become a lean, flexible company that can rise to the top of your market, you must be willing to take a critical look at procedures and enact change, infuse staff with the ability to take ownership of successes and failures and embrace a new corporate mindset.

If you want to improve your company’s level of agility, ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Where are we struggling, and what can we do to change this?
  2. How do we implement an agile mindset to incorporate both sides of the productivity equation?
  3. How can we embed a more customer-centric focus on our corporate culture?
  4. How can we empower our employees to take greater accountability for outcomes?

Part of this process takes a bit of self-awareness and honest assessment.

The rest can be gleaned by mirroring companies that have successfully achieved greater agility.

Factors That Contribute to Business Agility

While 90 percent of the most successful enterprises feel that agility is critical to their success, only 26 percent of corporations feel that their company has achieved the level of necessary flexibility.

What’s more, a survey conducted by Korn Ferry for Focus found that only 74 percent of the respondents who felt agility was critical incorporate it into the hiring/promotion process. This number drops to 66 percent of peer, non-WMAC enterprises.

What are the traits that define agile corporations?

You’ll find that the best of them exhibit the following characteristics.

#1 They Support Employee Engagement

Transform your workforce from a team of individuals who wait for orders to a cooperative force that acts proactively to make decisions.

You should obtain feedback and involve staff members in the decision-making process.

When staff feels invested and involved in the success of the enterprise, they’re better able to align themselves with the company’s goals and mission.

However, those goals must be clearly stated and understood by the staff at every level.

#2 They Use Advanced Technology to Enhance, Rather Than Replace, Human Productivity

Between fatigue and inattention brought on by boredom or redundancy, core business functions are prone to human error.

Using automation not only makes your business more efficient – and core processes like cost accounting more accurate – it also saves time and money.

Take inventory management, for example. Overstocking is an issue for many businesses because keeping the right balance of goods-on-hand to meet demand is often a guessing game.

If you don’t have a product in-stock, your customers will find another supplier. Too much inventory, and you’ll end up marking items down just to get rid of them.

With the traditional way of inventory control, the average ratio of sales to inventory is 1:1.43.

Inventory management software offers data-driven automation and takes the guesswork out of ordering stock while freeing inventory and production managers to focus on more critical activities.

#3 They Model Non-Traditional Corporate Structures

There was a time when executives liked to refer to their companies as well-oiled machines.

In a report conducted by McKinsey & Company, the concept of a modern, agile enterprise likens them more to dynamic organisms than static, rigid structures.

The focus is on rapid forward movement without losing stability and working within cross-functional teams rather than adhering to a strict top-down hierarchy.

#4 They Focus More on Developing Leadership Than Managing Staff

Change begins at the top.

In order for an agile corporate culture to flourish, managers have to become more than just middlemen and women who pass on and enforce orders from the decision-makers to the rank and file.

You need to give those under your direction purpose and a vested interest in successful outcomes. This can be achieved by recognizing and developing talent as well as giving staff a higher level of autonomy.

Engage in continuous employee management activities that foster growth and career development. There’s even performance management technology that’s designed to aid leaders through employee training and education. However, nothing beats the personal touch of human-to-human interaction.

Final Thoughts

We’re experiencing a sea change in how business is conducted in the 21st century.

If you want to remain competitive, agility is essential.

Developing even a few of the above characteristics will increase efficiency and return a great ROI in terms of time and money.

About the Author

Joe Peters is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and an ultimate techie. When he is not working his magic as a marketing consultant, this incurable tech junkie devours the news on the latest gadgets and binge-watches his favorite TV shows. Follow him on @bmorepeters

Industry Insights: What are the Top 4 Obstacles That Prevent Business Growth?

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Business Growth|Industry Insights: What are the Top 4 Obstacles That Prevent Business Growth?You can never stand still in business or you risk being left behind by your competitors, but there can often be some obstacles that are blocking your path to future prosperity, all of which are often negotiable if you know how to get around them.

Being able to get what your business needs in terms of new equipment is just one challenge that you have to find a way to face up to and if you can learn from others that have been there before you it could give you the vision to succeed.

Here are some pointers on how to clear some common hurdles that might be stunting your business growth.

Coping with change

As your business evolves and attempts to grow it will become abundantly clear that you can’t always rely on the same format that has got you to this point so far.

Businesses tend to become more complex as they grow and that means you will have to implement strategies that deal with challenges such as communication problems when there are more people in your team.

Innovation can be harder to implement when you have a rigid system that hasn’t changed from how it used to be in the beginning and this is why you need to consider ways to pull everyone in the same direction if you want to enjoy a smoother path to growth.

Not keeping an eye on cash flow

A growing business is always going to be hungry for cash and if you don’t plan for the financial strain that you might be under as the company expands it could easily derail your plans in a very short space of time.

Cash flow issues are a primary cause of business failure and it doesn’t have to be a lack of turnover that causes your cash crisis, as growth spurts are equally challenging to your survival if you don’t manage them properly.

Make sure you have an accurate cash flow forecasting system and use it to predict exactly how much cash you will need at any time to fund your growth.

When you need more equipment

Whether you are running a manufacturing business or operating in the service industry it is likely that you will need to acquire more equipment in order to cope with increasing demand and a growing payroll.

Look at efficient ways to get your hands on these new items and to upgrade your old stock. This could be achieved by browsing auction sites to see if you get the equipment you need for less, and sell what you no longer need.

You might also want to look at arrange equipment finance to help fund your growth plans.

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail

There is a lot of truth in this old business adage and the bottom line is that you can’t expect to overcome any obstacles in your way if you don’t create a viable business plan that shows you how to navigate your way through these stormy waters.

If you set some realistic goals and produce a credible blueprint for success you should find that your path to achieving business growth has a few fewer bumps in the road.

Nine Signs It’s Time For A Career Change

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Career Change|Nine Signs It's Time For A Career ChangeIt’s never too late to make a career change, but choosing when to make the jump isn’t a decision to be taken lightly. If you’re not happy in your current line of work, you need to think about whether you just need a new job or whether it’s time to take your career in a new direction altogether.

  • Do you find yourself complaining about your job all the time? Do you find yourself unhappy at work, regardless of which company you work for? If your family are fed up of listening to you complain about why your job is terrible and you find yourself searching for truck driving jobs instead of working, it’s a clear sign that all is not well and it might be time for a new challenge.
  • Are you more stressed than usual? All jobs have some amount of stress occasionally, but if you’re stressed most days at work, this isn’t good. If you find yourself taking your stress home with you and you’re struggling to shake it throughout the evening, a change is probably a good idea.
  • Are you bored at work? If you’re struggling to find any motivation to get any work done and are procrastinating in order to put off large tasks, there’s probably a problem. Your job might not always be fun, but if you’re bored all the time, make a jump to something new.
  • Have you been in the same job for a long time? Most jobs naturally change and grow over time, or your career should progress. If you’ve been stuck in the same position for a long time and have no real idea of where you want or should try to go upwards to, you might have exhausted your interest in your career path. If you’re struggling to make a plan for progression that interests you, this is a good sign that its time to move on to something new.
  • Do you dread going to work? If when you wake up in the morning, you immediately start dreading getting to work, this is a clear sign that you should be moving on. If this dread is creeping into your Sunday nights too, don’t hang on any longer than you have to and instead try to make a switch to something that keeps you excited and interested.
  • Do you think about quitting a lot of the time? If you’re forever drafting your resignation letter or fantasizing about how you’ll tell your boss you’re quitting, then you should start seriously looking for something else. We all have bad days at work, but if everyday you think about when you can quit, you shouldn’t stay.
  • Are you feeling burned out and tired? If you’re tired out all the time, it could be fatigue caused by work stress. If you’re overworked, you could easily end up becoming burned out. Burn out can occur when your job has become too demanding for you, or you can’t shake off work based stress. Burn out can become very nasty, so if you feel this coming on, it’s time to step out and move on to something else.
  • Are you under-performing at work? If you’ve lost interest in your job, it can be very hard to motivate yourself, meaning your performance might slip. If you’re struggling to concentrate at work, this won’t help your job performance either. You can also guarantee that if you’re away that your job performance is sliding, then your boss is probably noticing that something is wrong too. It might be better to take the step to leave your job and do something before you get pushed out for poor performance. It will be much easier to find something new if you left your last job on good terms instead of being fired.
  • Are you finding excuses not to go to work? If work is the last place you want to be, you’re probably finding all kinds of excuses to do anything else. Perhaps you’re taking more sick days than usual, or have booked a lot more vacation days than you normally take, or are asking to work from home more often, this is a clear sign that you’re unhappy in your current job.

Making a career change is a big leap, but you can do it. If your career isn’t fulfilling anymore, then a change of job might not be enough to help. A new line of work can push you to develop new skills, leaving you a lot happier in the long run.

How do tax changes affect you?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Tax Reform|How do tax changes affect you?Politicians of any experience and caliber love to talk about tax reform. Why should you care? As you already know, tax reform is a change in the current tax code. That includes the way taxes are collected as well as the amount of taxes you will pay. The keyword here is “you”. You are the taxpayer and therefore any change in the current taxation system will have a direct effect on you. Another reason to stay informed about any changes in the tax law is the change in the way taxes are managed and distributed after they have been collected. Your money will be managed by the local or federal government. The way it is done and the places your tax money will be designated to will have a major effect on you on many different levels. If you want to learn more about how tax changes will affect you, go to juliogonzalez.com or read more below.

What are some of these effects?

If the current tax code is simplified enough, you may be able to get your own tax return done. That translates into a few hundred dollars savings annually directly to you. Being able to understand the taxation rules and regulations will give you the confidence to file on your own. If you currently hire a professional out of fear to make a costly mistake, you will be able to save that fee by doing it yourself.

The major goal of any tax reform is to improve and streamline tax collecting processes. Depending on what exactly is changed, you may see effects like lower taxes that you have to pay. As a business owner, you may experience a change in the way you can make business expense deductions. As a homeowner, you may get more or fewer rebates for energy-efficient improvements done at your house.

Tax reform would also call for language simplification when dealing with the IRS. The plain language throughout will help you understand exactly what you are dealing with.

Tax reform will provide taxpayers with the necessary tools to plan ahead. It is especially valuable for self-employed people. The current code already has some tools on how to estimate the amount you will end up paying at the end of the year. However, more improvements will allow you to estimate your tax goals. You will be able to enter your goals like “pay zero” or “get a return” and see how much you will need to put in to meet a certain goal.

Tax reform will provide you with the tools to foresee and prepare for a tax bill or avoid paying a penalty. As we know, the current IRS administration is often ineffective when helping its main customers. Most people don’t feel like figuring it all out on their own. Tax reform will provide more resources for the current IRS. As more webinars by the IRS on how to use the system become available, you will be able to use those tools and save more time and money.