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Get Control of Your Company’s Spending With Procurement Options

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Procurement |Get Control of Your Company's Spending With Procurement OptionsTaking control of the spending your company is doing may not be easy, but it’s extremely important. Companies that are spending too much often find that they’re not successful in keeping costs reasonable. That can lead to overruns that really cut into their bottom line. It may also lead them to charge more for their products, which could drive away customers. In more extreme cases, bad spending habits could even drive a company out of business. But you have the opportunity to avoid those kinds of issues. Here’s how.

Make Sure You’re Working With Quality Sources

The sources you’re getting your products from are important. Not every company has quality sources, and companies that aren’t getting the right sources may find that they’re not providing what they need to their employees or their customers. As your company focuses on its procurement needs, you can change that, and make your company more successful. Understanding what you really need to purchase, where to get it, when it’s needed, and other factors all go into procurement decisions.

These decisions shouldn’t be taken lightly, by any company. Making a bad decision can quickly end up costing your company more than you expect, even if the product or item doesn’t seem to be that central to your business. Small things like office supplies, for example, can really add up if the quality is bad, people keep taking them, or you’re paying too much for them because you’re buying for convenience and not value. Taking a look at all your company’s procurement decisions is the place to start.

Don’t Settle for Less Than the Best Terms

It’s not just about price when it comes to procurement. It’s also about the terms you’re getting. That can really affect the value, especially if you’re paying high rates of interest or the shipping costs are too expensive. There may be other ways to get what you need, so it’s vital to shop around for better terms. If you aren’t shopping around, you’re probably spending too much. Over time, even small amounts of extra expense can add up for a business and cause serious problems. Proper procurement helps to avoid those types of issues, but it may not be able to eliminate them completely.

Make Sure You Know What Customers Want

Understanding what your customers want is a big part of proper procurement. You could be getting the best deal on everything you’re buying, but if you’re not giving customers what they’re looking for, that really isn’t going to matter.

It’s unfortunate, but many companies ignore what customers really want, in favor of what the company thinks those customers want. Those two things are often not the same, and both the company and the customers lose out in these types of situations. Procurement solutions that help you work with customers and give them what they want are very important.

Look for Ways to Save Without Losing Value

Savings should be part of your procurement strategy and solution, but you also don’t want to get so focused on spending less money that you lose out on value. Getting good value matters, since your employees need it and so do your customers. Focusing on a strong level of value, and then finding solutions that are based on that value at the lowest total cost is one of the best ways to source items your company needs. It takes some time to research and do this, but it’s definitely worth the effort for your company.

Talk to Your Employees About the Products

Asking your employees about the products you have can really give you some insight into whether those products are good quality or not. Employees are the ones who work with these products all day, and they probably have a lot of insight. Especially for employees who’ve been there a long time, the knowledge of your products is probably pretty high. Rather than just hope those employees are happy, your procurement strategy may be improved by working with them and asking about issues and concerns. If there are significant problems, making procurement changes may help to solve them.

Choose a Solution to Keep You on Track

Because not every company understands how to handle procurement correctly, it may be important to find a solution that’s going to keep your company on track. There are options for help and support, including software that can guide you and help your company make the best decisions. While it may not be right for everyone, it’s a valuable way to help most companies continue to move forward. No matter what kind of solution you choose for procurement issues, making sure you’re giving customers what they want and need should be the main focus of anything your company has to offer.

The Lowdown on Influencer Marketing and How You Might Use It for Your Restaurant

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Influencer Marketing|The Lowdown on Influencer Marketing and How You Might Use It for Your RestaurantAs the owner or manager of a restaurant, it’s natural that you’re flat out looking at many of your business’s everyday operational components. However, to achieve tremendous growth and turn your restaurant into the powerhouse you hope it to be, it’s vital to market the brand and its wares. One option to consider is influencer marketing.

Many hospitality entrepreneurs haven’t gone down this path yet, but it can be an innovative and often lucrative marketing tactic to test out. It’s time to learn the basics of influencer marketing and how you might utilize it in your venture.

Understanding Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing refers to situations where people, influencers with an extensive profile and the ability to affect how a brand gets viewed, promote and sell products or services. The idea of businesses partnering with well-known names and faces isn’t new, as it’s something that’s been around for decades. However, today’s influencer term relates to those who have a large following on social media and use this audience to market wares online.

Organizations can pay influencers for their voice in different ways. For example, this can be done with monetary payments or with free products, discounts, or other incentives. The benefit for businesses in using influencers is that their followers trust these people. In turn, influencer recommendations and other content get taken seriously, and people are more likely to make a purchase or complete some other call-to-action.

Consumers place much less trust in traditional advertising campaigns now and often don’t pay much attention to it at all. Trusted brand advocates can help cut through the noise, though, as their content is seen, by their followers at least, to come from a place of authority.

Types of Influencer Marketing

If you’re interested in using influencer marketing for your restaurant, it’s crucial to understand the different ways you might go about this. You can work with influencers by making them long-term brand ambassadors who promote your business, dishes, and dining experience on their social media pages, website, and related avenues. This activity is generally done for a set period, and you’ll want to ensure that the influencer you choose can’t plug any of your competitors while they’re an ambassador for your firm.

When you want to see more direct results, where customers make bookings and dining right away with you, consider creating incentives. Influencers can use them for marketing your latest menu items or deals and get consumers to head into your restaurant. Influencers get rewarded for the referrals they send your way.

You could, for instance, have influencers mention a limited-time coupon or discount code consumers don’t want to miss out on. Influencers make money through affiliate links here, earning a percentage or dollar amount every time someone clicks through to your restaurant’s social media page or website or makes a booking online, etc.

Many restaurants also find they achieve solid results from running competitions and giveaways that influencers promote. If you want to get the word out more about your business and engage consumers, consider having an influencer send a special text message to their database via a mobile marketing platform for restaurants or a sponsored blog post online.

You could also have an influencer attend an event at your restaurant or hire them to take over your social media pages for a period to boost traffic to your website and premises. Find influencers you feel are a good fit for your brand and chat with them about ideas they might have for marketing strategies, too.

Tips for Top Results with Influencer Marketing

To get the most out of influencer marketing, refrain from picking people to work with until you’re clear about your business goals and what you want the promotions to achieve. Then, don’t just go with any influencer you can get to respond. Choose the right person or people with high numbers of engaged followers in your specific niche.

Locate influencers who are likely to have a genuine interest in what you offer and how you do it. For instance, a vegan restaurant would search for influencers who already live a vegan lifestyle and possess animal-friendly values. Put together a shortlist of people you’re interested in working with. Then, try to build a relationship with them before contacting them and asking them to get involved with your restaurant.

Authentic connections help you test if the fit is correct and increases the likelihood that people will respond to your approaches. When pitching, look for ways to show how the partnership can add value to the influencer’s life and projects, not just tick boxes for you.

With so much competition these days in the hospitality arena, anything you can do to make your restaurant stand out for the right reasons is helpful. Approach influencer marketing with a clear strategy to boost your chances of success.

What Is Plagiarism And Why Is It Harmful To Your Blog?

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Plagiarism|What Is Plagiarism And Why Is It Harmful To Your Blog?When you are writing a blog using online sources, it can be all too tempting to copy information online without the use of citations. However, with simple steps, you can begin to make the most out of your blog without the risk of legalities as a result of plagiarism. To help you out, we will be providing you with information on what plagiarism is and how harmful it can be for your blog.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of directly copying or closely copying content that you are using within a paper or content that you are sharing. Whether it be music, videos or a piece of content for school, making sure that you are not directly copying any content will ensure that your work is 100% authentic without running the risk of anyone being penalised as a result. This can also be checked using a plagiarism detector to ensure that you are not accidentally plagiarising content.

Make Sure Your Citing Correctly

In addition to knowing and understanding what plagiarism is, it is important to make sure that you are citing correctly. By perfectly referencing this in the citation and making sure that you are directly referencing the source, regardless of the media that you are using, this can aid you in avoiding plagiarism. In addition to this, making sure that your citation style is correct will allow you to ensure that you do not accidentally plagiarise any work whilst trying to get your own point across with ease.

You Can Be Penalised By Google

In addition to being harmful to you in terms of the potential risk of repercussion in an academic environment, it is important to note that it can be harmful for your blog in terms of Google ranking position. If you have plagiarism within your content, you run the risk of being penalised by Google, this can have a significant impact on the business as well as its ranking position and could lead to your ranking positions being significantly impacted. With ranking positions dropping, this could lead to a drop in traffic and can impact the number of sales. Therefore, making sure you are avoiding plagiarism at all costs will ensure your website is operating correctly and providing beneficial content to your customers.

It Can Cause Many Legal Issues

The final element you need to consider is the legalities that can come along with plagiarising content. With fines, the risk of content being removed and even sentences is some cases, it is important to make sure that you are doing everything that you can to avoid plagiarism as this will prevent you from needing legal teams. This can be additional stress that you do not need when looking to write a paper and therefore all information used within a paper must be cited to ensure you avoid plagiarism.

With this in mind, there are several ways that you can continue to create content whilst avoiding plagiarism, allowing you to get your point across in the best possible way without risking legal issues.

The Latest Tried and Tested Marketing Strategies

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Marketing Strategies|The Latest Tried and Tested Marketing StrategiesWe witnessed unprecedented and exceptional advancements in technology in the past decade. However, what’s more, shocking is how the new technical development penetrated our everyday lives and changed the game for all human activities. From public health to education, every economic sector benefits from technology and is improving day by day. The commercial industry had a similar advantage, and the incorporation of computer-aided business strategies brought the industrial rivalry to the next level. It proves that technological developments are the need and requirement of every business unit, especially marketing.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to consider the marketing department the most crucial one for the business. After all, marketing bridges the gap between the buyer and the seller by determining many essential factors. It decides the prices of the products, places for its accessibility, ways to communicate the message to the customers, and even the product’s features. The marketing department is responsible for the thorough research about customers’ buying behavior, then sharing it to the respective departments of the firm and advertising the product or services. All this and more makes the company’s success heavily dependent and reliant on the effectiveness of marketing strategies. If you’re a businessperson searching for ways to stand out in the industrial competition, here are some of the latest tried and tested marketing strategies for you.

1. CDP Marketing Cloud

For a sturdy marketing plan, the primary step is to consider the perfect tools for your customer’s database. Marketing Cloud is a great option, specially after the launch of Salesforce CDP, as it allows you to automate digital marketing and works with advanced analytics software. Marketing clouds will enable you to collect digital software like CRM, email services, and workflow management. It works wonders in delivering and communicating clear messages to the end customers proficiently.

Customer data platforms collect customers’ data from different sources and then organize it in the most readable way. Incorporating technology in your marketing department will help you become more aware of your customers’ choices and make more informed operational decisions. It is also helpful in keeping customers’ data safe and using it most advantageously.

2. Personalization

With customers’ databases at a single click, it would be imprudent not to stand their demographics and analyze their buying patterns. In today’s date, marketers must personalize the promotional message to capture the attention of a wider audience. Base your marketing strategy on the discoveries you make about your current and potential customers’ mind wishes, fears, and expectations. Personalization makes them feel special and gives them a sincere expression of their respect for their choices.

With the help of automation, you can create and enable adverts that your customers are looking for so that they don’t have to swipe through many irrelevant ads. But, even in that customization, ensure that you are precise and interactive. Marketers need to focus on behavioral segmentation to group audiences into respective categories and target them accordingly. Even if they all fall in similar demographic segmentation, they don’t need to have the same behavior towards your brand, and it’s crucial to understand this difference.

3. Social Media Marketing

Social media has turned the world into a digital sphere, allowing greater access to several things through the internet. It plays a significant role in connecting people, which provides businesses with essential importance to improve their connection with their market base. Social media marketing (SMM) gives companies a way to engage with their current customers and promote their products or services to potential buyers. SSM is enriched with data analytical tools, which enables marketers to gather valuable, relevant data while tracking and assessing the results of their efforts. This type is marketing is beneficial for small businesses because it doesn’t demand a huge budget. You can use organic methods to generate online sales by building brand awareness on various online platforms.

4. Link Building

Designing a website and running it successfully is undoubtedly essential for your brand’s online presence. But it is of no use if there is no optimum web traffic and not enough people visit your website. Start by discovering keywords your customers are likely to look up when searching for a product or service like yours. You can collaborate with link partners, who can help you find high-traffic terms to develop the list of search results. Additionally, you can download SEO software to help you achieve search engine optimization, which would bring people to your website.

Other than improving search results, you can benefit by adding these SEOs on blogs or reviews where your potential customers might be active. When highlighted by your website’s hyperlink, they will likely click on these words and visit your website. You can approach non-competitor websites to feature your articles or add some of your content on their blog sites. This way, even if your website doesn’t make it to top searches, they could help by becoming a channel between you and your web traffic.

5. PPC Advertisement

Pay per click is a type of internet marketing that has proven helpful in today’s date. Advertisers have to pay a certain fee every time their ad appears on someone’s screen, and they click on it. It increases visits to your site, and if it’s interesting enough for the visitor, they are likely to stay and further surf on your website. You can use PPC in search engine advertisements, especially Google Ads, as they allow your company’s name to appear in the search result when someone looks up a related brand. To succeed in this type of marketing, you need thorough research and digging to get to the right keywords. Google charges you less if your content and website are more relatable to the searches, and hence, it is necessary to choose the exact and most relevant keywords.

Conclusion

Research is bringing up excellent marketing opportunities for all types of businesses every day. Due to the high demand for differentiation, marketers are working on their analytical skills to develop out-of-the-box ideas. Luckily, AI and automation prove to be exceptionally useful at taking over manual jobs for human capital to spend more time critically thinking and evaluating the best decisions for their business firms.

5 Convincing Benefits of Sustainable Business Practices

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Sustainable Business|5 Convincing Benefits of Sustainable Business PracticesThe concept of sustainability in business practices has rapidly gained importance over the years. There is growing awareness about crucial issues like global warming and the overuse of depleting resources among the masses. Consequently, people are actively looking for alternative products and services that suffice their needs with minimum negative consequences to the environment.

Plenty of proactive companies are shifting and adjusting their operations to incorporate sustainable practices. In today’s ever-changing and dynamic world, businesses no longer have the option of taking sustainability practices lightly if they seek to survive in the market.

So, what exactly is sustainability when it comes to a business? It refers to devising practices and strategies that help make the world better for this generation and the next generations. Nonetheless, it is not only limited to environmental changes that are taking place. By definition, sustainability comprises three significant implications; environmental, social, and economic. Therefore, a sustainable business focuses on its financial gains alongside its impact on the world, particularly the environment and society. Companies have plenty of opportunities to ‘go green’ such as reducing wastage and pollution, using renewable energy and biodegradable materials, community volunteering, and more.

Now, let’s determine five advantages you can gain by making your business practices more sustainable.

Improved operations and lower expenses

Sustainable business practices pave the way for a company’s longevity and survival in the market. A notable benefit gained from adopting techniques such as green manufacturing is cost-effectiveness.

For instance, simple recyclable material for packaging helps reduce costs significantly rather than spending tons on harmful packaging materials. The use of renewable energy alternatives is another prime example of cutting down expenses. However, deploying renewable energy and evaluating its costs and benefits can prove challenging. Fortunately, with the help of demand management, you can track your energy requirements and capacity and control costs. Smart energy utilization will enable your business to curb inflating energy costs and achieve operational efficiency.

Enhanced corporate social responsibility

The cruciality of corporate social responsibility cannot be stressed enough in today’s world. Modern-age consumers favor businesses that promote social and ethical values and support the marginalized. It instills the consumers with a sense of affiliation or positive associations with the company, boosting the brand image and customer loyalty. Therefore, it is wise to work towards a social cause that the target market strongly believes in to forge better customer relationships.

According to a recent article, a growing majority of consumers expect businesses to promote initiatives that benefit and support the people, planet, and plants. It’s known as the triple bottom line approach. The latest study by Accenture highlights the rise in purpose-led brands, serving as an indication of consumers engaging with brands that have a socially responsible image. A perfect example would be Google. It occupies the top ranking on RI’s CSR score, majorly due to high energy conservation at their data center and more than $1 billion in investments in renewable energy.

Better relationship with employees

Employees, like the consumers, also want to be part of a company that strives towards the greater good. A business that practices sustainability needs to take the interest of the employees into account. It is especially true when a company is attracting new talent, particularly the younger workforce, as they are more aware and passionate about social causes.

According to a survey, 45% of employees find a company more attractive if it incorporates sustainable business practices. Retaining a valued workforce is thus also less of a hassle if the company has a positive image in the market. Patagonia serves as a good example. The company persuades and empowers its employees to participate in the green programs and become part of the change. As a result, the company experiences only 4% employee turnover.

Rising demand for sustainable goods

The latest WWF research indicates an astonishing 71% increase in the consumers searching for sustainable and green products. The segment, which used to be a niche a few years ago, is turning out to be a lucrative opportunity for market expansion. With rising awareness about social and environmental problems, consumers are actively looking for environment-friendly products. Whether in fashion, beauty, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, or other industries.

Many international fashion brands such as Levi’s have identified that their industry is one of the most prominent contributors to landfill wastage. Thus, they are working towards making their apparel and accessories more sustainable. It helps the company in attracting a wider audience of customers and ultimately increasing its sales revenue. Another major cause of pollution, the pharmaceutical industry, has also invested more towards R&D in making their operations less environmentally damaging.

A survey by Nielsen suggests that this segment of consumers looking for sustainable goods is likely to rise to a value of $150 billion in 2021. Therefore, companies need to be swift in responding to this rising new market by providing them with precisely what they seek and reap the benefits in return.

Increased Profits and Investments

The above advantages indicating improved revenues and lower expenses suggest a substantial increase in businesses’ net profits, their prime objective. Undeniably, it would turn out to be a favorable outcome for the stakeholders of the company. It can also provide resources for more research and development for implementing better sustainable business practices in the future.

Rising profits signal current and potential investors to invest more in the company. Coupled with the fact that the business has long-term plans for sustainability is an added plus as far as investment is concerned. The concept of socially responsible investments has gained immense popularity. Thus, more investors want to put their money into projects or companies with a broader positive impact and higher financial gains.

Conclusion

The future is undoubtedly green. With the rising awareness of consumers, employees, and investors regarding social and environmental concerns, the market dynamics have changed substantially. With shifting trends, a business needs to be proactive enough to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself and mitigate any potential threats.
Sustainable and green practices are, therefore, both an opportunity and a threat to a company. Businesses that do not recognize this opportunity today might be wiped out of the market soon by the competitors. Along with focusing on conventional business strategies and practices to stay relevant, a business needs to invest in sustainable practices for its long-term survival.