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5 Things That Business Leaders Should Not Compromise On

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | 5 Things That Business Leaders Should Not Compromise OnAs an entrepreneur, if your business is struggling or your budget is tight, you might be tempted to make some compromises when it comes to your operations and the future of your company. However, there are a few elements of your business that leaders should always avoid compromising on at any cost.

Your Equipment

The equipment and tools that you use within your business can make a huge difference to the efficiency of your operations, as well as the quality of the products that you produce. While doing a better job, high-quality equipment and tools also often last longer, which can save you money in the long run. If you are struggling to juggle the quality of the tools that you are using with their cost, a Northern Tool coupon can help you to get the right equipment that you need without spending a lot of money to do so.

Health and Safety

When you do not have a lot of time or money, it can be easy to let health and safety standards slide. However, not only can you be sued and find yourself facing legal action for doing so, but compromising on health and safety can endanger the lives and health of the employees that you rely on, and can damage your reputation. You should make sure that you always take the right precautions by carrying out health and safety assessments and training regularly.

Quality

The quality of the products that you produce can help you to stand out from other brands and can allow you to get more customers. However, many businesses let the quality of their materials and manufacturing processes dip when they are in financial straits as this can help them to save money on elements such as suppliers and equipment. However, rather than saving money by lowering your standards, you should instead consider cutting your product lines to focus on one or two extremely high-quality and coveted products.

Your Values

When you opened your business, you may have created a mission statement that listed all of your values and which you used to promote your business. Even though it can be easy to forget these during business deals and growth, it is paramount that you constantly reflect on why you started your business and what you hope that it can achieve. This will ensure that you do not lose sight of your end vision and that your business still reflects the ethics, values, and opinions that your customers appreciate when they shop with your company.

Employees

The skills and dedication of your employees can make a huge difference to your business and its ability to be efficient and inspired at all times. So, rather than skimping on the skills of your employees, you should put more effort into training campaigns, consider fixing your recruitment methods, and choose to have a smaller team of highly skilled employees, rather than a large office filled with cheaper workers. You will be amazed at the difference.

Boost The Efficiency Of Your Business

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If you’re just starting up a business, it’s vital that you know how to run it as efficiently as possible, you can’t afford to waste even a penny on a poor investment. Knowing what you can do to make sure you’re getting the most sales and income while spending the least amount of money without sacrificing customer and employee satisfaction is key to growing efficiently!

Outsourcing

If you’re looking to take on more work so you can grow, you might find yourself struggling with the idea of all the new workload. Not only would you likely have to hire more employees, but you may even need to invest in new or more equipment; which isn’t always the best course of action! You may find that outsourcing your work to another business is the more cost-efficient way to go about things, and it can be almost anything. If you need deliveries handled, there are services that offer that, if you need chemical testing, there are services for that too! You don’t need to handle the work that’s out of your comfort zone, and it can be passed on to someone who’s already equipped and trained to do it!

Customer relations

The better reputation that you manage to build with your customers, the faster you’re going to be able to gain new ones! Your business can grow from word-of-mouth, and giving your customers something to talk about is a great way to encourage that! Being known as a business with great customer service can take you a long way! There are a number of ways you can nurture and encourage this, but mainly you need to focus on customer service for it to be effective. Encourage your customers to leave feedback after they’ve shopped with you, open up a way for people to publicly view reviews of your business, accept and use feedback from customers to grow in the future!

When buying online, a lot of people will use the reviews to determine whether you’re a reliable business or not, so it’s best you do what you can to make sure those reviews aren’t negative or a deterrent for potential customers!

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Boost The Efficiency Of Your BusinessMeetings

If you have a busy workday, the last thing you want is to be constantly interrupted with different problems, it can really slow down your work process. You can deal with this by holding meetings at the start and ends of the day so people can bring up problems there, meaning your work won’t be interrupted during the day. Not only this, but it allows you to make plans for the next day, and it can be handled effectively without getting in the way of anything.

Management

Proper management is essential if you have many people working in the same place, as it can be difficult to get your work done when you have to make sure everyone else is on track too. Always make sure you have enough management to make sure everyone gets their work done properly, without miscommunication.

How To Integrate Your Offline And Online Marketing Efforts

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, How To Integrate Your Offline And Online Marketing Efforts

When it comes to marketing today, there are many different options available to you. However, most techniques tend to fall into one of two categories; either online or offline marketing. A healthy balance of both approaches is often the remedy to success, depending on the nature of your business. However, you can supercharge your efforts if you manage to integrate both campaigns, ensuring they work together to help one and other. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the different ways you can integrate your online and offline marketing efforts.

Create QR codes to print onto your leaflets – There is only one place to begin, and this is with making a QR code and printing this onto your leaflets, brooches, and so on. You can make QR code designs with ease. By doing this, people will be able to scan the code on their phone and it will direct them to your app or website. They do not have to go through the hassle of typing in a URL or browsing through the app store. It makes it as easy and convenient as possible for people.

Advertise online competitions via print methods – Another option to consider is sending out flyers about competitions that you have running. Users should have to enter these competitions online, meaning that there is a clear connection between your online and offline marketing efforts.

Add an online call to action to your offline promotions – If you are establishing an offline promotion, why not get customers to take the action online? For example, you may send out postcards about a promotion that you have running, and you may want the person to sign-up to your online newsletter in order to gain entry. This is a great way of integrating your online and offline marketing methods.

Get your online customers to contribute to your offline efforts – Ask your online customers if they would be willing to contribute to your offline marketing efforts. For example, if someone has left a great review about your company, ask if they would mind this information being printed in your next brochure. This can act as social proof, proving that your products and/or services are more than worth the money.

Use your online data to support your offline marketing efforts – The final step when it comes to integrating your marketing efforts is to fuel your offline campaign by using data that you have collected online. One of the great things about digital marketing is that it enables you to capture a wealth of different data sets with ease. You can use this information to power your offline campaigns so that you’re getting great success.

As you can see, there are a number of different steps you can take to integrate your online and offline marketing efforts. If you follow the tips and advice that has been provided above, you can give yourself the best chance of making sure that your marketing campaign is effective and delivers the results that you hope for.

Knowing Your Territory: Can You Make a Living Podcasting?

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Knowing Your Territory: Can You Make a Living Podcasting?Podcasts continue to grow in popularity. As a result, there are many people who want to join the individuals who are already taking advantage of this new form of expression. From individual hobbyists who want to share an interest they have while supplementing their income to business owners who want to grow a new customer base and build their authority in an industry, podcasting offers a huge appeal.

While finding a Podcast publishing platform is an important step in this process, it is not the only step that must be taken. If someone wants to find success with a podcast, there are few other things to consider, as well.

How Can Podcasts Make Money?

One of the most effective ways for podcasts to make money is through advertisements. While it may take time to build an audience that will attract the attention of a potential advertiser, it is the best way to earn a profit.

Typically, advertisements are sold by CPM, or cost per mille. This is the fee for every 1,000 listeners. The average rates for podcast advertising are about $18 for a 30-second CBM and $25 for a 60-second CPM.

Usually, advertisement sales will occur directly between the podcast and brand or by using a marketplace or agency. The commission from an affiliated product or program is another common type of income stream for today’s podcasters. With this, hosts will mention products on their show and then give their listeners a custom discount link. After this, the podcast is going to receive a percentage of every sale that is made with a unique URL.

Instead of including advertisements, there are some podcasts that sell subscriptions to their show. This is done by keeping content behind a paywall. For example, there are some crowdfunding platforms that allow subscribers to select a donation tier to get different perks, such as access to episodes early or exclusive content.

Expanding a Podcast Audience to Attract More Advertisers

Today, podcasts are a sought-out way to advertise for brands. Even with the pandemic in 2020, podcast advertising revenue grew by 14.7%. With this in mind, it is clear that this is a great way to generate a new stream of income.

Even though advertisers are going to look at other factors, beyond engagement, interest group, demographics, and more, the size of the audience is still an important consideration. When someone is new to podcasting, they should focus on appealing to and expanding their audience, which is going to help attract more advertisers.

There are a few key components that need to be focused on to build an audience and establish a successful podcast.

Target Audience Considerations

It is necessary for a podcaster to determine who their audience is and keep them in mind during the process. Each time an episode is released, there needs to be a plan to market it. By knowing the target audience, it is possible to create content that will resonate with them.

When it comes to creating a podcast, there are more than a few factors to consider. Be sure to keep the information and tips here in mind to achieve the desired results with the podcast that is created, regardless of the subject matter or the industry that it is being created for.

Attention Social Media Marketers! Here’s What You Should Know about Inclusiveness on Social Media

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Attention Social Media Marketers! Here’s What You Should Know about Inclusiveness on Social Media

At nearly 4 billion users, more than half of the world’s population now uses social media to connect with not just each other but also with brands. Needless to say, your social media audience is an extremely diverse bunch of individuals with varied interests, beliefs, and abilities.

To cater to them all in the best way possible, you’ll need to consider inclusiveness in your social media marketing efforts. People expect the companies they do business with to take a stand – in fact, 70% of U.S. consumers say it’s important for brands to take a stand on social and political issues.

But inclusiveness is not just about taking a stand on global issues. It covers a diverse range of subjects, from racial justice and gender equality to content accessibility and hate speech.

In this post, let’s learn more about these inclusivity issues and how you can address them in your social media marketing strategy.

Go Beyond a Corporate Statement With a Social Strategy

A corporate statement tells your audience about your beliefs, but a long-term social media strategy shows them how your brand is taking real action.

It goes beyond announcing a charitable donation and proves that diversity, equality, and inclusion is a long-term commitment for your brand. Create a social media strategy to highlight your employees’ actions and your company’s ongoing work towards more inclusivity.

For instance, if one of your initiatives focuses on internal education and dialogue about racial justice, you can share the activities that your team is doing with your followers. If your team is doing volunteering, highlight their stories and experiences in serving the community.

To go beyond a mere corporate statement about inclusiveness and demonstrate real action, here are a few things you can have in your social media marketing strategy:

  • Research how issues like racism and gender inequality impact your industry and create and promote content or resources like books, podcasts, thought leadership, etc. on how to tackle these issues.
  • Get your company involved in a movement and frequent volunteering or fundraising activities, and invite your followers to do the same.
  • Learn about your company’s past and existing efforts, and build a plan to convey your employees’ stories and actions on social media..

Use Gender-Neutral Language, Emojis, and Imagery

When addressing a general audience on social media, use inclusive pronouns like “they/them” rather than “he/she” and avoid language biased to one gender, such as “mankind” or “guys”.

Also, when responding to comments or posts, do not assume the person’s gender, but instead, address them by their name or username. UN Women has a comprehensive set of guidelines on writing in a gender-inclusive way.

This extends to the emojis you use, too. Avoid gendered emojis if possible and opt for the default yellow emojis when addressing a diverse audience.

Simply put, using non-gendered and default yellow emojis when engaging with a universal audience, or multiple colors of emojis when portraying a broad audience can greatly contribute to creating a strong sense of inclusiveness in your social media presence.

Furthermore, if you use stock visuals in your social media, understand that stock images are often littered with gender and racial biases, and there aren’t many options when trying to source inclusive images.

Use platforms like nappy and Canva’s Natural Women Collection the next time you need a stock image that truly embraces diversity and inclusivity. And when designing any new marketing material (flyers, banners, icons, etc.), make sure to let your graphic designer know that you’re committed to representing diversity and inclusion.

Create Content That’s Accessible to Everyone

While on the subject of designing graphics for your social media marketing, inclusiveness is also about ensuring all your content is accessible to everyone, regardless of their disabilities.

You might already know that having an accessible website is mandatory today, with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extending to digital properties too. Essentially, an accessible website is one that accommodates all visitors on all devices irrespective of the physical or mental ability of the user.

With an estimated 26.9 million adult Americans claiming they either have trouble seeing or are unable to see at all, if you don’t prioritize accessibility, it’s likely that you’re unwittingly shunning a considerable chunk of your audience from engaging with your content on both your website and social media. Not to mention accessibility is also important to avoid ADA lawsuits, which are on the rise.

To make your website accessible, you can take many steps yourself, such as ensuring logical content hierarchy (with subheadings), adding alt text for all images, adding descriptive labels to form elements, and making your site keyboard-friendly. Making all of these adjustments basically mean to adhere to the ADA compliance guidelines.

For social media, in particular, make sure to create graphics with sufficient color contrast so that the visually impaired can also consume the content. When posting videos, always include closed captions or subtitles.

Also, when posting on Instagram, go to Advanced Settings and then Write Alt Text to add a descriptive alt text for your posts. This way, you make your content more accessible to the visually impaired audience who’re using screen readers.

Remove Offensive Comments

If you haven’t already, sooner or later you’ll receive comments on your posts that are misogynistic, racist, homophobic, or hateful in nature. Such comments that are offensive to any group of people should have no place on your brand’s social media presence.

By not engaging and instantly removing these types of comments, your followers can appreciate your company’s intolerance and firm stance against hate speech. If you are not able to remove comments on some social review platforms, develop a strategy to tactfully respond to such spiteful comments, and demonstrate your brand’s values.

Final Words

Inclusivity isn’t just an HR initiative that’s limited to your workplace — it should be built into your company culture that extends to all your brand messaging and marketing as well.

Sure, it’ll take some time and effort, but working with your marketing team to create an inclusive social media presence goes a long way in increasing your content’s value, reach, engagement, and overall brand image.