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Start Your Own Business Online

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | Start Your Own Business Online

To be or not to be is not a question anymore.

Either you “be” on digital platforms or prepare for the closure of your venture.

Running an online business is the need of the hour. Given how a pandemic could shake the entire corporate world’s roots, we can no longer be sure of what comes next. Online business is the safest option to ensure financial security.

The best part?

It gives you the freedom to make money from anywhere in the world. It doesn’t always have to be a tangible product. You can even sell your skills, talent, and educational expertise online. According to Fundera statistics, global ecommerce sales might hit $4.8 trillion by 2021. As for providing services over the Internet, those numbers are on the rise too.

Don’t fret if you are one of the noobs. You can follow a proven set of steps to ensure success when initiating in the online business world.

Here is how it goes:

Find a need and fulfill it

Most people start by looking at a product they are strong at. Instead of analyzing the market, their aim is to come up with a flawless product structure.

Remember, you need to solve a specific problem faced by the people. Plus, ensure there are potential customers for it. Look at how your idea could help people differently.

For example, Google improved the online search process. Netflix provides on-demand streaming media, and Uber is trying to improve the on-demand car service. Although your product or service may not be a must-have, you could still find a way to repurpose it and resolve a dire need.

The Dropbox co-founder Drew Houston speaks highly of such entrepreneurs when he says that the happiest and most successful people he knows don’t just love what they do; they’re obsessed with solving a significant problem, something that matters to them.

Passion, coupled with innovative problem-solving, could beat all obstacles blocking your digital journey!

Write a stellar copy

It doesn’t matter if you have a food business, a construction company, or even a photography studio. Every venture needs and compelling copy to make the desired mark upon its prospects. A good composition will motivate, encourage, and convince your audience to interact with your business.

Essentially, a copy refers to the marketing text found on leaflets, flyers, and billboards. In the case of an online business, it is the content found on your website aiming to understand the emotional impetus behind any purchase. There is also smaller stuff like social media posts and product descriptions, which require incredible copywriting.

Hence, it is imperative to invest in a good copywriter to improve your overall brand image. Your customers won’t consider the magnitude of your operations when going through your website. It is how you string your professional insight into compelling words that can leave a lasting impact on them.

This is one reason why 64% of the B2B marketers outsource their demanding copy needs.

Unlike other paid marketing campaigns, a good copy will continue to promote your online business for a prolonged time.

Use search engines to drive traffic

Online visitors today are using search engines more than ever before. According to the Internet Live Stats, Google processes 40 000 search queries every second on average. This translates to 3.5 million searches per day.

Considering the intense competition online, new business owners must implement a scalable search engine strategy.

Working on SEO and SEM could be your best shot. SEO is a powerful way to drive evergreen traffic atop the funnel. Meanwhile, SEM refers to using paid advertisements that pop up on the search engine results page. Advertisers bid on the keywords entered by the users of Bing or Google when looking for a specific product/service.

Ideally, seeking assistance from local SEO specialists could be your first step when starting your online business covering a certain vicinity. For example, you could get help from a Seattle SEO expert to devise your online marketing campaign if you are a startup in Seattle.

They could help you gain insight into optimizing your website or starting a pay-per-click advertising campaign. The former involves attracting organic traffic to your portal. Meanwhile, the latter (PPC) consists of showing ads instantly on the search engine’s first page. Besides getting you an instant traffic flow, PPC ads will allow you to discover your best and highest converting keywords.

Verdict – Stay in the information loop to maintain relevance

One of the main ingredients to ensure your success in virtual paradigms is – constant upgrading.

If you are planning to kickstart an online business, make sure it fits the current trends. From website design to customer satisfaction – everything has to fall in line with the industrial standards. Each time you feel like you’re drawing apart from the prevalent ideas, work hard to up your game.

We hope you’ll sneak up the search grid and stay there!

About the Author

Evie Harrison is a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences and express herself through her blogs.

Find her on Twitter:@iamevieharrison. Learn more about Evie at about.me/iamevieharrison.

Creative Ways to Market Your Business

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Creative Ways to Market Your BusinessWhen opening a business, the one thing that any budding entrepreneur wants is for it to be as successful as possible. Marketing your business to a wide variety of audiences and maximizing the number of people you will be reaching is undoubtedly one way of promoting success. However, as a business owner, you probably understand that the market is saturated with the traditional methods of branding and marketing a business. How can you beat your competitors and get to potential customers first, but vibrantly and innovatively? Fear not, for we have devised a great list of creative ways to market your business. Let your artistic flair go wild and read on for more!

Social Media

The top dog of marketing and branding in the present day! When you understand how to use social media to your advantage and its fullest extent, you are sure to be successful in your attempts. Everywhere you look, businesses are using social media as one of the main ways to connect with their audiences and truly allows you to be creative in what you post. Ensuring that the content is relevant to your services and products and linking to your website – if you have one – will make sure that those visiting your social media accounts go on to visit your website. Social media is also a great tool to use when promoting other marketing avenues that you might be using, leading us to our next suggestion.

Podcasts

Podcasts are certainly something that has increased in popularity in the last few years. There is no right or wrong way to record your own podcast. Knowing what you want to talk about on your podcast and how it will fill a gap in the market while linking to your business will encourage success. The only thing you would have to ensure is high-quality is the audio levels; no-one wants to listen to a podcast where they cannot hear what is being said! If you are interested in learning more about podcast production and how you can make it work for you, consider contacting companies like Jelly Marketing. Experts in all things related to podcast production, you are sure to be in the right hands here.

Using a Mural

Not the most convenient method of marketing, but one that has undoubtedly been successful for some businesses out there and is one way of letting your artistic flair free! Commissioning a mural near your business is sure to brighten your local area while promoting your business to potential customers. Something so bright will catch the attention of those who are passing, without you needing to say much. If you are contemplating using a mural for marketing purposes, make sure that it is short and snappy; you don’t want people to read into it too much. Murals also work well in tandem with social media; if someone has seen a vibrant and beautiful mural, they are likely to share it on social media. In turn, more people will see your mural and know about your business.

What’s more, when looking for other routes into marketing your brand, it is all about trying and testing the methods to see which one works best for you. Marketing and branding your business are not a one-size-fits-all; what might work for someone else is not guaranteed to work for you. Furthermore, you will want to relax! This is meant to be an exciting and creative time in your life. There is a suitable way of marketing out there for you; you just have to find what you like and what works first. There is no rush!

How to Successfully Make the Switch from Brick and Mortar to E-commerce

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | How to Successfully Make the Switch from Brick and Mortar to E-commerceThere are many advantages to either adding an ecommerce store to your business to compliment your brick and mortar store or making the switch completely, closing the brick and mortar outlet to focus purely on online sales.

High streets are struggling more than ever thanks to a very challenging 2020, and many shops are looking at alternative ways to sell to their customers. Ecommerce gives you options. When you sell online, you can sell 24/7, without actually needing to be online all of the time. You can even continue to trade during lockdowns and forced closures. Online, it can be easier. It’s often easier to encourage people to click on a link than it is to walk into a store, it’s also cheaper, both for you and your customers. Online also has the massive advantage of taking you out of your local area. Even very small home-based businesses can use the internet to sell to a much larger area, instead of relying on local footfall and loyalty.

Selling online can be cheaper, easier, and a fantastic way to expand your business. But, making the transition isn’t easy. If you’ve never sold online before, or have only ever done so in a very small way, there can be a steep learning curve. Here are some tips to help you.

Prioritise User Experience

In a brick and mortar store, user experience is everything. With every decision you make, you’ll ask yourself how it affects your customers, and if it enhances their shopping experience. The same should be true online.

In store, you might carefully position shelves, take your time to find the optimal heating and lighting settings, and even consider the volume of your in-store music. Online, you need to think about how easy your website is to use, how accessible it is, how easy it is to find products, to add to basket and to check out, and how customers will get in touch if they need to. You’ll even need to consider how easy your font is to read, and whether the colours that you use are pleasant to look at.

Don’t Neglect Customer Service

New ecommerce sellers often make the mistake of skipping customer service. But, it’s at least as important as it is in the real world. Make the effort to engage with your audience on social media, reply to emails and messages, and send personalized notes with packages, or emails on dispatch. For a smaller business, relationships are crucial to success, whether on or offline.

Get Visual

One advantage that real-world shopping has always had over online is that you can see and feel the products. You can check for quality and better judge how much you like something.

But, thanks to the development in online visuals, this is changing. Great photos, 3D visualizations, and explainer videos mean that you can offer your customers a much clearer idea of what they are buying. Using a 3d visualization and rendering service from Cadesign form means that you can show consumers exactly what they are buying. Cadesign form can also offer videos explaining even the most complicated products, which are ready to use on your ecommerce store directly, but also on social media, and in your email campaigns for the best effects.

Filming live videos, and Q&A sessions on social media can also help your customers to learn more about your products and business. Excellent visuals give you the best chance to advertise, educate, and build relationships, and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Start Email Marketing Straight Away

Email marketing gives you a great way to form personal connections and keep in touch with your audience. Emails have a much higher conversion rate than social media posts, and give you an easy way to offer a range of content.

But, many businesses neglect email marketing entirely. Perhaps because it takes more effort to build an email list than it does a social media following. It’s worth it, however, and should be part of your marketing strategy from the start.

Get to Grips with Analytics

In store, you can see what is working. You look at sales to monitor conversions, and you can feel how busy your shop is. Online, initial impressions are harder to make, but if you study your analytics you won’t just get a conversion figure. You’ll know how old your customers are, what gender, how long they spend on your site, where they come from, and what kind of content they engage with. Analytics give you a great chance to build a very clear customer persona, which can be a big boost to your marketing campaigns.

With an incredible online store offering great visuals and an easy use interface, as long as you optimise digital marketing strategies and continue to build relationships with your customers, just as you would in the real world, your switch to ecommerce should be a complete success. But, it may take time. Don’t be disheartened if you make mistakes, or it takes you a while to find your audience online. Keep going, learn along the way, and take some risks, monitoring analytics to see what’s working, and you will never look back.

DIY Marketing: Does it Work?

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | DIY Marketing: Does it Work?As a small business owner, chances are you often find yourself in DIY situations. From managing your social media accounts to writing your own blog, there are many forms of DIY marketing. There’s no cap on what you can spend on marketing your product or service. However, to save money people often rely more on DIY than giving this over to the professionals. With that said, just how effective is DIY marketing? Can you reach the same number of qualified consumers when you opt to take care of marketing yourself? What is Digital Marketing? To learn the answers to these questions, and more, read on.

Digital marketing is just one part of overall marketing, but it’s a big one. Most people go online first when researching a product or service and digital marketing takes advantage of this. Digital marketing is the marketing component that relies on using websites, search engines, social media, emails, mobile app, and more to reach consumers and educate them about a product or service. It’s a great way to brand yourself and your business.

Is Your DIY Digital Marketing Working?

Marketing on a budget means you’ll have to do some DIY digital marketing. But how do you know if it’s working? Traffic to your website is one way to know. Are people clicking on links in your marketing emails? Are your Google Ads getting clicks too? These are just some questions to ask yourself after implementing a DIY marketing campaign. Others include:

Are you getting enough of a return on your time investment? In other words, are you getting results for the time you’re putting in? To figure this out, estimate your weekly DIY marketing schedule and multiply that by your hourly rate. Next, take your weekly investment, multiply that by 52 weeks, and divide by 12. You will then need to figure out your KPIs (i.e. clicks, calls, form fills, etc…) and compare the numbers. This should give you a good idea of what you’re getting for the work you’re putting in.

Is marketing on a budget working? If you’re doing DIY digital marketing and marketing on a budget, you can still make it work. The key is to keep analyzing your data, as described above, to ensure you’re getting a good return on investment (ROI). Otherwise, you’re throwing money away that could be used for effective marketing strategies. Some tips for marketing on a budget include:

Become an expert: Create new and meaningful content that answers your reader’s questions and you will see sales increase.

Reach out to influencers: With the help of an influencer, you can reach hundreds of people looking for a product in your niche and the cost is negotiable in some cases.

Giveaways and samples: Giving away a product or sample is a risk-free way for customers to try your product.

In the end, does DIY marketing work? Yes. However, for really in-depth digital marketing that shows the highest ROI, it’s best to leave the marketing up to the professionals. They will be able to strategize a digital marketing plan and then carry it out. Of course, if you love DIY marketing, you can still take on many projects to add a personal touch and be more involved with day-to-day marketing.

How to Grow Your Dispensary Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | How to Grow Your Dispensary BusinessYou are reading this article because you are probably intrigued about what a dispensary SOP is, or you are trying to find a way to improve your current model. The only thing that matters is that you are taking the necessary initiative to get things done and ensure the future success of your business needs. If you are a beginner who isn’t quite certain about the world of dispensary SOP’s, then it is best to start by establishing its meaning. A dispensary SOP is a shortened name for Dispensary Standard Operating Procedures PDF which is the most significant document that is unique to each business because it sets out specific outlines, procedures, and regulations particularly in the cannabis industry. Even though it can be a complex document to formulate, it is the most effective document that you need to ensure that your business’ resources are managed adequately.

What Is A SOP? 

A well-thought-out and professional dispensary SOP will benefit you with acquiring your license but it is the main building block towards your success in dispensary marketing. A strong dispensary marketing strategy will elevate your cannabis business and ensure that it ranks highly because the dispensary SOP provides a step by step manual that guarantees an understanding of the core areas of the business that require standard operating procedures. This is why it is important to establish a dispensary SOP that your employees and management can understand.

What To Cover 

When establishing a dispensary SOP for a cannabis business, you ought to have a detailed assessment of how your business will be able to cover these areas.

Security

The potential for theft and other related illegal activities is high when dealing with large amounts of money. The types of security measures need to be considered alongside the state requirements.

Quality Assurance

Your dispensary SOP needs to detail how it will maneuver environmental, sanitation, and inspection factors. Adequate testing has to be conducted by any of the licensed cannabis testing facilities.

Packaging and Labeling

States have different laws regulating how cannabis products should be packaged and labeled, particularly where products could be exposed to the youth. Safeguarding measures are necessary for children.

Inventory Control

This is also known as “track and trace” in some states. Strict inventory management is a necessity to outline the procedures of handling and storage.

Storage

It is generally separated into the storing of records and cannabis products. Licenses and any required documents need to be stored in a secure place that will enable authorities to see them when requested.

Cash Handling

This needs to be addressed to avoid any potential fraud allegations. Strict practices are necessary for a dispensary SOP.

Making Your Business Known

Once you have compiled an efficient dispensary SOP that covers every area of your business including your founding values, vision, and mission the next thing that you need to concern yourself with is to devise a quality and innovative dispensary marketing strategy. The industry is highly competitive and with more countries relaxing their strict laws around the sale and purchase of cannabis it will become more saturated. This is why it is important to come up with a dispensary marketing plan that can adapt to the current digital age. The advertising laws in this industry are still strict and it makes it a challenge to advertise cannabis freely. Moreover, cannabis is still classified as a Class 1 drug, as a result, dispensary marketing is a major challenge. If your adverts are not being removed from advertising channels, they are too costly for most businesses to afford. As a result of these problems, most businesses have opted to use practical and less costly methods to improve their dispensary marketing challenges – direct mail, mass SMS, and email. However, mass SMS seems to be the most effective option of these three methods of advertising.

Word of Advice 

If you still feel like you don’t quite understand how dispensary SOP documents work or feel as though you might struggle coming up with a unique dispensary marketing campaign, then you can enlist the services of a company that will assist you to come up with great ideas to improve your business to be world-class standard and compete with industry giants.