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7 Inbound Marketing Mistakes Your Business Must Avoid

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Inbound Marketing|7 Inbound Marketing Mistakes Your Business Must AvoidAs the world continues to battle COVID-19 and continue with vaccination efforts, many business owners are left wondering how to promote their brands in a post-pandemic world. There’s no denying that inbound marketing is the way forward for many organizations.

After all, inbound marketing enables businesses to get a better marketing ROI and boost their bottom lines. However, some entrepreneurs aren’t doing inbound marketing correctly and end up wasting their time – and money.

You’re likely reading this article today because you want to make sure your inbound marketing efforts aren’t for nothing. With that in mind, take a look at these common mistakes that you must avoid the next time you launch an inbound marketing campaign:

1. Not Having a Strategy

It might surprise you to learn that many businesses end up with lackluster inbound marketing campaigns because they don’t have a strategy or plan. Instead, what they have done is throw some content out there and hoped for the best.

You shouldn’t ever launch an inbound marketing campaign without having a strategy in place first. In other words, you need to have clearly defined goals so you don’t lose focus and you can measure your results easily.

2. Not Having a Long-Term Plan

You may decide that you have a strategy and you’re planning to use B2B lead generation as part of your campaign. But, you only want to run your campaign for a short period. The thing is, your business is a long-term operation – not something that will stop next week.

Instead of chasing quick fixes to draw in more customers and generate brand awareness, you need to have a long-term plan for your inbound marketing campaigns. For example, how would you like to promote your products and services in the next 12 months?

3. Writing Lackluster Content

If your inbound marketing campaign involves directing people to your website, what do you think might happen if they look at your content right now? Will they feel impressed enough to follow through your CTAs, such as subscribing to a newsletter or buying something?

Or, will your audience take one look at your content, laugh, and forget your brand even exists? You need to make sure that you offer high-quality, relevant content for your prospects to read. It goes without saying that your content should also be engaging and valuable.

4. Not Focusing on Your Target Audience

The reason you are performing inbound marketing is that you want to attract a specific group of people. Your goal is to have them do something, like visit your website or give you a call and ultimately spend their money with you.
That sounds like a simple strategy. However, things become complicated when entrepreneurs, companies, and other organizations fail to focus on their target audience. Instead, they end up targeting the wrong people.

Make sure you have a clear focus with your inbound marketing campaigns. You need to know who it is you want to attract, and you must know why you want to attract them. It’s worth taking the time to understand your target market and what drives them.

5. Not Doing Any Research

It’s no secret that the key to any good outcome in life is by conducting the right level of research. The same concept applies to inbound marketing campaigns; you wouldn’t spend money on your marketing without researching what will return the best ROI.

With that in mind, you need to always conduct plenty of market research and determine which methods will work best for your business and niche. Don’t assume that certain marketing methods that work for someone else will automatically work for you too.

6. Forgetting to Analyze Your Results

It might shock you to learn that many companies spend money on their inbound marketing campaigns yet fail to do any proper results analysis. They might see an increase in sales or interest in their brands, but they don’t understand how or why that has happened.

That’s why it makes sense to conduct plenty of results analysis to ensure your inbound marketing campaigns are working. When you analyze the results, you can then tweak your campaigns by making the right adjustments for an increased ROI.

7. Not Having a Social Media Focus

Lastly, did you know that some companies spread themselves too thin across social media platforms by signing up to literally all the leading social networks? When they do that, they don’t realize that they’ll need a team of people to manage all those social media profiles.

Sign up to the social networks that you feel will significantly benefit your business. Don’t spend your time signing up to all new or obscure social networks, hoping to cast a wider net to your target audience.

5 Tips For Improving Productivity and Lead Generation Within Your Company

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Improving Productivity|5 Tips For Improving Productivity and Lead Generation Within Your CompanyOnly those who have managed their own business understand the proper pressure and expectations for a company leader. This is mainly because of you having made all-important business decisions and various families relying on them. Whether it’s a small, medium, or large enterprise, the pressure remains the same for the ones in charge. Operating a business in this regard isn’t easy at all, and this, in many cases, leads to companies becoming stagnant as you get comfortable where you’re at now. This is common and not always the wrong decision; when you’re comfortable and can see that your business model will remain sustainable, why risk anything? With the current economic state and people innovating like they are, it won’t be long before the competition gets even more as the leads get less. You have to ensure you deliver the best service, products, and turnaround times than your competitors. This article will look at five aspects that might increase your efficiency within your business.

1. Outsourcing Relevant Departments

One of the most challenging business challenges is when the finances get tight after a few bad months. After a pandemic like covid-19, many businesses are in this exact position; they need the staff to start working but can’t afford them. With technology on the brink of taking over so many parts, innovative companies are offering other businesses the opportunity to outsource departments to them by utilizing technology. This means you get the job done for a fraction of the price, and you don’t even have to accommodate the cost to the company for various employees doing the same thing.

2. Improving Products

Your product and service will be vital in your path to success. It’s challenging to produce the best quality product or service as a start-up, but after some time, as you develop and learn, you should treat your product accordingly. By continuously creating what you offer, customers shouldn’t even be a thought, and it should be a must. You have to remain competitive within your market; other companies are constantly innovating, so should you. You should also find the perfect balance between price and quality; offering the best quality product at unaffordable prices might not always work out. You have to consider what your competitors offer and for what price and react accordingly.

3. Reliable Suppliers

When you’re a business that uses external suppliers, it will be increasingly important to build and maintain a strong relationship with all of them. If you do well, they’ll appreciate your business anyway. But, maintaining good relationships with suppliers offers you a range of ways to become more competitive than your competition. You should also ensure you find the best and most reliable suppliers for fabrication, Heat Treatment Equipment, and industrial machinery to maintain your operations supply. Your suppliers will have an enormous impact on your business and how effective you’ll supply the demand.

4. Effective Marketing

Marketing has played a continuous role in the development of some of today’s most prominent organizations. In previous years, marketing was measured on how many people you reached; now, it’s measured how many relevant people you achieved. Marketing to the wrong people is pointless, it’s like not marketing at all, and you’ll most likely waste your budget. Let’s look at three effective marketing strategies professionals can quickly help you with.

Google Ads

When you need immediate results with your marketing campaigns, you can look at paid marketing means like Google Ads. Because it delivers near-immediate visitors to your website, it is somewhat more expensive than other marketing strategies. You bid against competitors for the highest ranking on relevant searches from Google. On your website, you’ll need to convert these visits into leads and sales once they’re interested.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has become more influential as more people started using it. On platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and linked in, you can reach millions of potential customers with a simple click of a button. The pricing also depends on your industry and which keywords you’re marketing for. The more companies that advertise to a specific demographic, the more expensive it becomes. However, it’s also an excellent means of marketing if you need immediate results; remember, the time of the month will also have a massive impact on sales in your area.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, SEO in short, is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of your website traffic by making use of organic search engine results. It’s an unpaid means of advertising and should be more of a long-term focus instead of short-term like the previous two. It’ll ensure once you’re ranking well, you’ll have a consistent stream of website traffic without even paying.

Useful things to Consider When Starting a Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Starting a business|Useful things to Consider When Starting a BusinessStarting a business is the dearest ambition of many intrepid and talented individuals. However, before you take the plunge and set out to establish your own company, there are a handful of things that you should take the time to consider carefully. These topics will have a large impact on the state of your business to be and it is vital to your success that you know how you want to handle them before plunging in.

Your Product/Service

First and arguably most important is the product, or service, that you intend to supply through your fledgling company. Without a solid understanding of what you intend to provide and why, you will never be able to take the various steps needed to establish your company and find success in the competitive world of business.

What Purpose Does It Serve? Before you do anything else you should sit down and ask yourself what purpose your product, or service, serves. Without a clear reason for your product to exist, it will invariably fall short and your business along with it. This is not necessarily because there is no market for the product, you simply must understand your own product to have any hope of selling it effectively.

How Will it Be Delivered? The way that customers will receive and use your product, or service, is an important consideration. Is it a local business? Do you have the capacity to deliver your product? What impact will your customers’ area have on your ability to provide your service to them? These are all questions you should be considering.

What Makes it Unique? Fitting a niche is, more often than not, what will truly spell success for your business. If you see a hole in the market that you are able to fill, then you are likely to find a dedicated and grateful audience who will remain loyal to your product. So, taking the time to ensure your product has a strong unique selling point (USP) is well worth the effort.

Your Marketing

Once you’ve decided on and given proper consideration to the product that you intend to sell through your business, the next thing that you have to think about is how best to market your product. An effective marketing strategy is key to building a successful business and there are a few important aspects of your marketing strategy that you should definitely decide on before committing yourself to anything.

Target Audience. Your target market is an incredibly important thing to nail down and comes hand in hand with the niche that you decided on for the product you are selling. By knowing who you need to be marketing your product to, you can lighten your workload significantly while still achieving standout results in terms of customer conversions. This is the power of a well-considered target audience.

Web Presence. On top of your target audience, a powerful tool to boost the efficacy and impact of your marketing efforts is to focus on building a web presence. Through this you reach a far wider and more reliable market than most other forms of advertising. In fact, it has been suggested that the vast majority of buyers will interact with the digital landscape before making a purchase.

Building Brand. Lastly, your brand is a vital aspect of any business. Your brand is what your customers associate with your company and often the quality and memorability of your brand will contribute significantly to the potential sales that your business can make. Customers form strong emotional connections with brands and these connections not only drive business, but also motivate loyalty.

Customer Service

A vital area of business, regardless of what kind of company you are running, is the experience of your customers. Without a positive customer experience, you are unlikely to gain any repeat custom or recommendations and your business will swiftly fail. Effective customer service is the key to guaranteeing a solid customer experience, meaning that if your customer service is airtight, chance are that your customers will have a good time.

Effective Communication. Communication is the backbone of customer service and is why services such as a virtual answering service for your business can be an incredibly beneficial investment. By ensuring that customers are given consistent and reliable access to a genuinely helpful and effective customer service team, you can ensure that customers are far more likely to trust your business and invest more financially than they otherwise might.

Problem Solving. Part of this incredibly beneficial customer service experience is a willingness and ability to solve any and all problems that your customer might be having with your product. Solving these problems will help to maintain and even boost customer satisfaction, improving their overall relationship with the business.

Your Startup Costs

Finally, the last important thing that you will need to take time and consider is the cost that you are going to incur in setting up your business. Depending on what you are planning to sell and how, you are going to spend varying amounts to get your business off of the ground, so it helps to consider closely what your initial costs are likely to be.

Facilities. Does your business need to have any specific facilities to operate properly? If you have aims to hire employees then you are surely going to need and office, and if you need to produce merchandise then you will need facilities for that too. Investigate how you could most easily provide the facilities you need to make your business a success and that will give you a baseline for this cost.

Equipment. Additionally, if you are producing merchandise or simply crunching data, you are going to need some decent equipment to get anywhere with the work. From computers for desk work, to high tech machinery to produce products, there are all sorts of potential pieces of equipment you might need. Be sure to research this ahead of time.

Staff. Workers are an invaluable aspect of most industries and, although you could probably get by without them initially, you are almost always going to want other people working with you to make your company great.

The Benefits of Great Customer Service

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StrategyDriven Customer Relationship Management Article |Customer Service|The Benefits of Great Customer ServiceGreat customer service is an incredibly beneficial thing to any business for a whole range of reasons. This article aims to highlight why exactly you want to provide a great customer service experience and what the benefits will be if you do.

Better Sales

One of the main benefits of having a brilliant customer service operation is that customers who are pleased with their experience are far more likely to buy more than customers who are not. This is because mood has a large impact on the willingness of customers to spend money, which means your company wants to take every step possible to provide the best possible customer service so that your customers are in the best possible mood.

An Atmosphere of Improved Communication

By providing great customer service experiences such as a live call answering service to help deal with any issues that may have occurred in the customers experience, you set the foundations for an atmosphere of brilliant communication to exist throughout the workplace. Taking a cue from the employee satisfaction practices, you can encourage your employees to be more open and communicative in the workplace, establishing better communication practices and reducing the amount of miscommunication in the office. This is beneficial as miscommunication between employees can cause some serious issues for productivity and the elimination of these issues should boost employee morale overall.

Customer Satisfaction

Speaking of boosted morale, the process of providing detailed individual care to each of your customers will help them to feel valued and appreciated as the valuable individuals that they are, boosting their mood and helping them to feel more satisfied as customers of your business. This can be a more resource intensive process, but the result for your customers is well worth the cost.

Positive Online Reviews

This positivity in your customers’ mood will last in your customers mind, making them far more likely to write positive and appreciative reviews that will help to bump up the rating of your business online. With this increased rating online, you will be looked upon more favorably by the search engine algorithms and you will likely find more customers. These customers will hopefully be treated just as well and go on to leave positive reviews themselves creating a positive feedback loop that is beneficial for your company.

Customer Loyalty

Further, this sense of value and positivity towards your business that your customers feel could drive them to become loyal lifelong customers that stick with your company permanently. This is incredibly beneficial as these long-term existing customers provide far more value to your business than new customers do, meaning that your company will be able to turn a significant profit from lifelong customers. Additionally, these highly loyal customers are far more likely to recommend your business to their friends and loved ones maintaining positive word of mouth marketing and painting your business in a good light. All of which are highly beneficial as they come at no additional cost to your company.

Creating Great First Impressions in Business

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |First Impressions|Creating Great First Impressions in BusinessMaking a strong, positive first impression in business will help you to attract clients from the very first encounter, so as you can imagine it is really important that you are able to do so.

With that in mind, here are some basic things you can do to create a great first impression in business:

Focus on your workspace

If customers and clients are going to visit your workspace. Whether it is a store, an office, or a warehouse, it would be prudent to make that workspace look as impressive as possible. Whether you fit highly attractive, and efficient MCM panels to your building’s interior, revamp your office space to give it a cutting-edge modern appeal, or simply clean up your warehouse so it looks more presentable, anything you can do to create a good impression in the space you work will be of huge benefit.

Create an amazing website

These days, your website is often the first port of call for many potential clients, so you need to take the time and effort to make that look good too. A website that will make a good impression right now is a website that’s clean and clutter-free, easy to navigate, operational on all devices, and completely intuitive to use. Ideally, it should also be popular with plenty of interesting and informative content.

Be positive and confident

As an entrepreneur, if you want to sell your business to customers and clients, you need to be as positive and confident about your company as possible. You should know your business inside and out and you should be happy to talk to anyone about it in a genuine and enthusiastic tone. If you can’t manage that, chances are you aren’t going to impress very many people with your pitches at all.

Get your customer service right

Customer service is really important. The customer is always right, and when they call a company with a query or complaint, they expect to be treated well. If they do not get a good experience, they will not think fondly of your business – it really is that simple. That’s why you should make sure that you have a multi-channel approach to customer service so that clients can always reach someone, and do so in the manner that is most comfortable for them. It’s also why you should give your team a high level of customer service team to ensure that they are friendly, knowledgeable, and always willing to help.

Behave ethically

If you’re serious about creating a great first impression with your business, then you need to make sure that you, and everyone who is working for you, always act in the most appropriate and ethical manner. Whether that means buying from sustainable suppliers or being honest about what your products and services can deliver. Even small lies, when they get out, will damage your reputation beyond repair, so avoid them like your business depends on it because it just might.

Creating a great first impression is half the battle to business success,so be sure to give it the focus it deserves.