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Best eCommerce Marketing Tips

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticleAre you currently dissatisfied with your ecommerce business venture thus far?

Maybe you haven’t achieved the levels of success that you know you can reach. Or maybe your little ecommerce shop is bursting with customers and you’re ready to take things to the next level.

Whatever your reasoning may be, just know that there are powerful marketing tips that make it more than possible to grow your e-commerce site by leaps and bounds.

Let’s take a look at our best recommendations for 2017 and beyond.

Create a Powerful Content Marketing Plan

Whether you realize it or not, content marketing is one of the best ways to gain additional exposure for your ecommerce business.

But coming up with a plan might not be that easy.

As you will learn, or even already know, there are a few different ways to approach content marketing. The most effective way that I’ve personally come across is through blogger outreach.

Putting a customized blogger outreach plan into effect will be time-consuming and you’ll have a lot of moving parts.

Instead of leaving things to chance, and potentially creating a system that fails, I recommend using time-tracking software like Clockspot to track everyone working to help implement your plan. This includes tracking the projects of staff writers, freelance writers, project managers, virtual assistants, and anyone else involved in your content marketing strategy. Also, you might want to check some the best live chat software to help your team stay organized.

Why content marketing?

For starters, this is an excellent way to build backlinks to help improve search engine optimization. And once you start ranking in the search engines for your most valuable keywords, customers will find your products a lot easier.

Second, content marketing helps you become an authority in your niche.

By putting out high value content all over the Internet, potential customers will see that you and your company know what you’re talking about. This will help make you an expert in your industry.

Do yourself and your ecommerce site a favor and harness the power of content marketing through blogger outreach sooner rather than later.

Create an Automated Email Marketing Campaign

If you ever want to have an effective e-commerce business, you need to begin incorporating powerful strategies for your ecommerce business.

For many successful ecommerce owners, they look at email marketing as the bedrock of their strategy because it’s a great way to influence your customers to buy the product that they recommend.

Through email marketing, your customers will receive regular marketing messages from you. If you automate this system, they will be in regular contact, hear about excellent products that you recommend, and if you write your emails persuasively, you can convince them that your recommendations are worthy of their time and attention.

Consumers like opening emails, especially transactional ones like welcome emails or cart abandonment emails. That’s the bottom line and it’s never going to change. They look forward to getting emails in their inbox.

So do not hesitate to build up a big mailing list.

Make sure your emails contain helpful information about your products. Answer questions and concerns that your customers might have. And always remember to recommend and sell your products.

To automate your email marketing campaign, make sure you have access to a top email autoresponder. It costs a little bit of money, but it’s a worthy investment that will pay for itself tenfold over the long run.

Diversify Your Social Media Platforms

Right now, you may have a strong presence on one or two social media platforms. And that’s perfectly okay for the moment.

What happens if one of those platforms falls out of favor? You’re going to lose access to a major part of your customer base.

Instead of leaving yourself vulnerable, diversify the social media platforms you post on. By building a strong presence on multiple platforms, you’ll be insulated in case one or more eventually falls out of favor.

Keep Track of Your Productivity Time with Helpful Software

It’s also important to mention the in order to get things organized, you would also need to check out what are the best tools out there that will help you maintain things tidy. Whilst there’s so many apps out there, it’s very hard to suggest a specific software generally, as every business is subjective. Aside from time monitoring, website running and data organizing, there are also packages that will be useful especially to developers, applications that test quality and errors of your app, which basically points out red barriers you need to keep in mind in order for things to run smoothly. See more in this source: https://stackify.com/what-is-load-testing/

Needless to say, if your project runs about application development, these kinds of apps built from devs to devs, are something you, as a developer, definitely must have.

Conclusion

Building an ecommerce business is hard and it takes time and dedication. But if you use these tips, you’ll be on the right path to success for many years to come.

4 Things You Must Do If You Have A Startup

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleIf you are willing to enter the competitive, field and engage in some high intensity battle for the title of a successful executive then you cannot avoid a few things at all costs. You will be likely to go against some of the most seasoned competitors in the market and therefore being aware of the conditions is the need for the hour.

The seasoned competitors will be always on the lookout for opportunities to take down your venture. One mistake and it could cost you years in the race, potentially discarding you from the competition altogether. Certain steps however will ensure that your business takes off in the right manner and thus gains the potential to make it really far.

The right time to begin

Everything has its very own time and nothing happens ahead of the designated time. The right time to enter into any business is highly dependent on the niche of the venture. Owing to the fact that each market has its very own growth pattern, sighting the right time to begin the venture is important.

A core fundamental regarding the aforementioned aspect is to ensure that you have the requisite financial stronghold to take your company forward. If you were short on funds or having a crunch now, then it would be beneficial to wait for the right moment until finances settle down.

Banking in on the competition

This might sound a bit crazy, but in order to take the business off to a global arcadia, you need to be a bit wayward. The competition in the market is fierce and there are thousands of individuals willing to crush each other. Sighting the intensity of the competition, a large proportion of the incipient companies will back down, some will fail and some will never get off to a good start. The key here is to hold on take it slow. The growth initially might be slow and monotonous but you will be able to make it through the rough phases of the competition. You can also read more posts at TodaysGlobalNews.Net.

Work on your social skills

It is vital for any business owner to have the correct socialising skills up their sleeve. The social media for instance is one of the greatest assets to any modern day business. While the social media platforms allow people to be pretentious, your social skills will come into play when you address the public in seminars and business meets.

Developing social skills will ensure that people are drawn to you and will help to instill the wow factor. At the end of the day, a charismatic charm is always appreciated.

Brand development

The initial phase of any business venture is pretty tough and susceptible to fiascos. As an entrepreneur, you need to focus on brand development ahead of maintaining the profit margins alone. The brand reputation will be the deciding factor for the business in the longer run.

A larger brand value will help the business stay afloat and make it a global venture with the passage of time. Profit margins look lucrative but they have very little to contribute to brand development.

Keeping these 4 aspects in mind can help to consolidate the business amidst all of the volatility and help keep the business afloat in the days to come.

Making a Start in Social Media Marketing for Your Business

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticleSocial media marketing can seem like a quick win for many businesses, but if you don’t fully understand how to utilize these platforms, the millions of likes and followers won’t mean much if they are not converting. Many businesses are fixated on high numbers when it comes to social presence, but in fact, engagement is an accurate representation of the quality leads you can expect from this form of marketing. By focusing on the bigger picture, you can implement a precise strategy to make the most out of this vast arena. It’s not enough to just upload content and hope for the best, as most people want to be a part of the brand experience plus if you interact and communicate on a deeper level, this can have enormous benefits for your company.

Take a look at the ways to make a start in social media marketing, so that you can utilize its potential.

Understand what you are trying to achieve

When you create content or promotions for your social media platform, it’s naïve to think that if you just pop it up that people will find it. Feeds change every second, so if you haven’t got anything interesting to shout about, it’ll get lost in the ether. Unless you know what you want to get out of the post, you will have no idea how to measure its success. It could be a simple tally of likes, or how many followers you achieved but delving deeper could identify the engagement level and what type of people are looking at your content.

You can’t be good at everything

You will rarely see one brand doing every platform well. There are so many to choose from that spreading yourself too thin will mean that each may fall under the radar in the long run. Looking at how the different platforms work and what type of people they attract will help you decide on where to focus your efforts. For example, young people love Snapchat and Instagram, whereas professionals will be on LinkedIn, so knowing your audience is key to delivering the right message and not wasting your time trying to promote to people that have no interest.

Make it visual

Posts that are wordy can put people off reading them, but if you have a succinct, snappy message with a high-quality image, you will generally grab people’s attention. You can also use free resources such as MailChimp landing pages to create a call-to-action to share on your social media. This helps to give your audience a specific message such as promotional offers, sign up page or competition entry form in a simple way.

There are many things to think about when using social media to target new and returning customers. By utilizing these platforms and creating content that is interesting and shareable, you will begin to see excellent results both in engagement and sales. Like all marketing efforts, this aspect can take time to grow so unless you’re one of the very few lucky ones to get that moment in the viral spotlight, you’ll have to be patient and persistent.

Great Ways To Improve Your Work Environment

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Being a business owner, whether it is a small company or a larger one, is one of the most challenging activities, which is one of the reasons why not everyone can launch a business and make it work long-term. Entrepreneurs have a lot of commitments and daily responsibilities to take care of; besides having the necessary knowledge and skills to start a business, one has to be truly organized and know how to establish relationships with workers. As no one likes working in a disorganized environment, it is important to make changes to the workplace. It is a well-known fact the productivity of the employees is often linked to the environment where they have to perform their tasks.

Optimizing that space and making it look and feel as comfortable and welcoming as possible should be the main priority for business owners. Making a small investment is worth it in this case because your workforce will appreciate your effort and your company will benefit a lot from that. Contrary to popular belief, improving the work environment does not always involve spending large amounts of money. With the help of some simple yet effective tips, business owners can improve the mood, drive, and performance of their workers.

Hire Great Team Members

In order to be able to make a business work, it is essential to hire the best professionals out there. The hiring process is the first step to creating a great work environment. Generally, professional people have a positive attitude and know how to handle difficult situations. If you already have a team of workers, you might want to take some time and assess their work performance. Don’t be afraid to let go of those who are not good enough for your company. You want to avoid hiring toxic workers at all costs as they will easily transform the general atmosphere from a normal one to a negative one, which will decrease the productivity of your workforce. Let poisonous employees go no matter how hard it is for you.

Improve Communication

Working as a team leads to success. As a business owner, you need to be careful when communicating with your team members as your message can be misunderstood. A simple way of motivating workers to become better is by making them feel valued and giving them positive feedback. Your employees need to understand that their work is very valuable and it contributes to the success of your business. Moreover, they need to be able to establish connections between them and know how to communicate effectively. Improving communication is simple if you keep your employee’s feedback in mind. Ask them how they feel about this aspect and think of ways of showing gratitude for their work.

Create a Comfortable Office

One of the most important aspects that provide great results is the office where your employees perform their work. You need to make sure that little aspects such as lighting and office furniture are comfortable enough for your workforce. Working in a clean, organized office can have great effects on the team members and their relationships with both you and each other. For example, you need to allow employees to work in a comfortable place, whether it is a certain area of the office or a standing desk. If the furniture of your office is considered “bad” or “uncomfortable” by the workers, they will be less productive. A virtual office is a great option in this case because they are a lot cheaper and provide all kinds of facilities.

Add a Nice Smell

According to academic studies, there is a close relationship between certain scents and memories. They found that certain scents can have a positive impact on people. Although different people can react in different ways to certain smells, there are subtle scents that add to the overall atmosphere. Therefore, if you’re working with traditional office space, you can add a few flowers and plants to each corner of the office. For a fresh and clean atmosphere, you can count on air fresheners. However, opening windows or burning a scented candle has a great effect as well. A cheap bouquet of fresh cut flowers works wonders in any office. It does not only elevate the aesthetics of the place, but it also provides a fresh smell.

Schedule Breaks

Breaks are an important part of the workday. Most workers tend to stare at their screen for a long period of time without taking any breaks for their eyes. You should encourage your employees to take regular eye breaks each time they get a chance. Even a few moments of looking away can make a big difference for the health of their eyes. At the same time, it is just as important to step away from what you are doing. When you step away from your work and focus on your surroundings, you come back with a fresh pair of eyes and mind. You can create a relaxing room where workers can play games, chat or listen to music while they are on their lunch break. Make sure breaks take place often in so that you can prevent burnout.

Water and Snacks

Work days are long and tiring, and people need to stay hydrated all through the day. Nonetheless, water is a pain to drink for some. A great way of motivating people to drink water while they work is by adding a bottle next to their desk. Water improves brain functioning, prevents headaches and makes you feel fresh. As plain water is boring for some, it might be a good idea to provide workers with either flavored water or lemon and fresh mint so that they can prepare lemonade. Moreover, taking a few short snack breaks is just as important when it comes to improving the work environment and the general atmosphere. Workers are encouraged to disconnect from work, communicate with one another and leave their chairs for a few minutes.

No matter where you work, you need to make an effort to create a comfortable space. These tips might come in handy whether you are a business owner or a simple worker. They can be easily customized to your needs as there is no strict recipe for success.

How a Website Can Drive Your Business Forward

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There are many advantages to having an online presence for your business, even if you don’t plan to sell products online. Today, having a business website is as important as having a telephone number for customers to reach you on, if not more so. Research indicates that 6/10 consumers expect brands to have some form of online content, whether those companies operate on a local or global scale.

If you don’t already have a business site, now’s the time to step into the online world and start growing your brand. Here are five ways a website could drive your business forward and help secure its future.

Your Business Will Show Up In Search Engines

Many business owners swear they get along just fine without a website or social media presence; perhaps you know one yourself. While their claims may be true, imagine how much better those companies could be doing if they took the time to invest in a website. Now that we collect data on what consumers search for (as well as where, when and how they spend their time and money online) we can tailor online content to ensure it shows up in search engine results. Therefore, having a website will improve visibility and drive more sales to your bottom line. For advice on improving your website ranking, read this Forbes article.

You Will Benefit From the ROBO Effect

You may or may not have heard of the ROBO effect, but the concept is pretty simple. ROBO stands for “research online, buy online,” and it stems from the fact that 81% of 18-34 year-olds follow this consumer trend. Think about the times you’ve needed to buy something specific. More often than not, you would have used a search engine and found your way to an online shopping cart. It’s easy, convenient, and the fastest way to assess all your price options. Do you want to miss out on the 42% of global consumers who shop this way? Of course not, which is why you need a website.

SEO Can Boost Your Rankings

With so much competition out there, you will only remain visible online if you use some search engine optimization tactics. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way of making sure your business shows up in Google’s indexes by creating optimized content, building relevant links and setting yourself up as a market leader in your niche. It is possible to learn the basics of SEO on your own, but few business owners have the time and resources to do this. Most will use a third-party company to stay on top of their SEO, website and other Internet profiles. Companies like Data Design Systems will work with your business to create an eye-catching, smart website design with optimized pages and content to ensure you stay relevant. For more information, visit datadesignsystems.com.

Email Opt-Ins Will Grow Your Client Base

Even if you don’t own a website or social media profile, you probably still use email for your business. Having an opt-in button on your site allows you to collect email addresses from clients, industry contacts and prospective customers so you can keep them updated on your latest deals and promotions. You can even automate the process to cut down on manual tasks. The best way to collect email addresses using your website is to create an incentive for people to sign up – perhaps money off one of your products or a gift or trial of your services? An email list could end up being one of your business’s strongest sales tools, so don’t miss out.

Your Business Can Operate 24/7

Your website is essentially a storefront for your business that is always open; this means customers can research and buy products while you’re sleeping, creating plenty of passive income opportunities. What’s more, customers will always have a way to contact you, no matter the time of day. Studies show that the rise of globalization and millennial culture means that businesses need to operate 24/7 to stay competitive. Recent research indicates that three-quarters of consumers worldwide expect their queries to be dealt with on the same day, while half expect a reply in as little as one hour. As a business, you must respond to these changing demands if you want to survive in your market.

Conclusion

Rather than seeing the need for a website as another pressure on your business, you should seize the opportunity to grow your company’s online presence and tap into the millennial market. Having a well-designed, user-friendly website will give your business credibility, making it easier for consumers to find you, shop with you and spread the word about your offering.

The question is not whether you should create a website for your business, it’s when to make that all-important step toward your company’s future.