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What are the Best Sectors to Invest in the UK Stock Market Now 2020?

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StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective Article |UK Stock Market|What are the Best Sectors to Invest in the UK Stock Market Now 2020?There’s no doubt that global stocks have endured a difficult time in 2020, largely on the back of the coronavirus outbreak.

The categorisation of Covid-19 as a global pandemic certainly sent shockwaves throughout the global marketplace, with the FTSE 100 crashing by a third from a peak of 7,634 in mid-January to below 5,000 on March 23rd.

Despite a subsequent and sustained rebound throughout Q2 and Q3, experts are now predicting a steep correction and further crash as the threat of a second wave of infections rises throughout the world. With this in mind, what are the best sectors to invest in and why are they poised to deliver a viable return?

Why are Stock Options Still Viable in 2020?

In simple terms, the stock market crash of March undermined and devalued a number of high-profile shares, without challenging their status or profitability in the long-term.

This trend was best observed amongst tech stocks, with relevant indexes such as the Nasdaq Composite tumbling by more than 4% recently and yet to scale their pre-pandemic highs. The S&P 500 also declined by 2.8% last week, as tech stocks faltered and saw their value proposition falter.

Despite this, the big-tech market and its individual stocks are fundamentally strong and well-established, which means that such equities will once again grow in value once normal market conditions are restored.

This creates a small but tangible window of opportunity for investors to buy variable cap stocks at a significantly reduced price, before selling these on for a profit in the future.

Sectors and Caps – Picking the Right Investments

Of course, not all sectors and markets have been created equal, which is why some have performed significantly better than others during the last six months, and determining the best stocks to buy now will depend on market trends.

For example, supermarkets and e-commerce brands have achieved huge growth since the start of the pandemic, with the virus thought to have added £5.3 billion to online sales in 2020 so far. Both of these of these sectors are also poised to deliver growth in the long-term too, so they’re ideal for investors with a more patient outlook.

Some technology markets have also thrived during the coronavirus outbreak, particularly those based in remote communication. Take Zoom, for example, which has forecast a potential 300% revenue increase in 2020 and represents the ideal short-term option.

Beyond this, you may also decide that midcap stocks are ideally suited to the current investment climate, with these entities having performed demonstrably better than others since the FTSE 100 crash on March 23rd.

This is part of a wider and more historic trend too, with dedicated research showcasing that midcap stocks have also performed consistently better than others during periods of ‘systematic risk’ since the mid-1990s.

As a result of this, investing in mid-cap stocks (which boast an average market cap of between £2 billion and £10 billion) is a great way of optimising profits and minimising risk during significant peaks and troughs.

Choosing Equity Funds Over Indices and Individual Stocks

One of the best ways to target mid-cap stocks is through an equity fund, which offers considerably less risk and higher potential profits than both indices and individual shares.

The reason for this is simple; as such funds are naturally diverse and feature multiple holdings from an array of carefully selected markets, while they’re also carefully managed and directed by skilled managers such as Downing’s Rosemary Banyard.

With this example, you can also access a fund that’s focused primarily on small and mid-cap stocks, while simultaneously targeting UK stocks that are capable of delivering sustained and tangible returns.

Of course, the key is to identify the right equity fund to suit your risk profile and outlook, while also seeking out an option that’s tailored to your profit expectations.

Measurement of Success in Business

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StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Article |Success in Business|Measurement of Success in BusinessSuccess in business can be a difficult concept to grasp. Success means different things depending on your industry, your products, your market and, most importantly, your goals. But just because it’s a broad concept, doesn’t mean there’s not a methodical way to measure success.

The crux of measuring success in business is quantifiable, trackable metrics. It’s all well and good to feel like you’re doing a good job, but if you can’t prove that to your shareholders that feeling isn’t much use. Knowing how to measure your business’ success rate can improve how you fare against competition and determine how quickly your business grows. Here are a few of the most common ways businesses measure their success, and some tips on how to implement them in your work practices.

Sales metrics

This one might seem obvious to many companies engaged with sales, but tracking your sales data is an essential way to determine business success. Naturally, as with any data there are many ways you can go about this. But whether you track the volume of sales, the frequency, the time of day, or which products are most popular, use that data to help measure your sales success rate.

One key tip is to break down your data into various sections. Sales, be they online or offline, generate huge swathes of data that is hard to wade through at the best of times. Trying to use gross data to determine your business success is giving yourself more work than necessary. Instead, think about how you can divide that information into something you can act upon. Take a look at customer demographics, and whether certain products are more popular in certain areas. You can then use that information in a future action, say, developing a targetted marketing campaign, track the change and easily measure its success.

StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures eBook

Net income

Another obvious one, your business profit is a clear marker of how financially successful your business is. Profit is purely the money left over from revenue after expenses have been extracted, it’s a fact of life for pretty much any business in any industry. How you manage your expenses versus your profit will be an indicator of how you manage your business as a whole.

It’s important to have a consideration for profit, even for small businesses and startups. As much as you should expect to be in the red from time to time, you should be consistently planning for profit in other times.

Leads Generated vs Leads Converted

Finding leads is an essential part of most marketing-driven businesses, but tapping the potential of these leads is a different matter. You can find a thousand potential clients a day, but if none of them result in actual clients then your work has achieved nothing.

Karlie Fiorina, a business manager at Essay Service and Revieweal, offers that “keeping track of your converted leads will let you know which of your actions work and which don’t. For example, you may find that your leads from email are far more likely to become customers than those from direct mail. Use that information to direct your resources and attention when it comes to marketing.”

You Can Get Satisfaction

Success in business isn’t just about profit margins, it’s also about how satisfied shareholders are in your business. Yes, some of that will be determined by profit margin, but there are a myriad of elements that can affect how your business is perceived. Satisfaction can be determined through surveys, feedback forms and reviews.

Bear in mind that satisfaction is not a one way street. Birk van der Beck, a career coach at UKWritings and AssignmentHelp, points out that “while customer satisfaction is usually more talked about, employee satisfaction is equally, if not more, important. A satisfied and engaged workplace will be more productive, more innovative and, eventually, more successful.”

Goals, goals, goals

The subtitle on all these points should be about setting goals. There are hundreds of ways you can measure the success of a business, but putting those measurements to use means setting yourself goals. How to set a reasonable but challenging goal is the subject for another article, but make sure you consider how your metrics can inform your future business decisions.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Katherine RundellKatherine Rundell is a business writer at Big Assignments and OXessays services. She writes about business, finance and project management, amongst other things. She is a keen reader and a blogger at Essay writing services reviews.

HVAC Marketing

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |HVAC|HVAC MarketingMarketing strategies have changed over the last decade, no matter the industry, thanks to avid use of the internet. It is not enough to offer quality service or products. People have to know about your business and the best way to do that is through contemporary marketing strategies.

Summertime is coming to a close for some people, which means lots of potential customers will be surfing the web searching for the best HVAC companies to heat up their homes. This is where a great HVAC marketing strategy comes into play. If you are a HVAC company looking to generate new leads and drive conversion, adopting a great marketing strategy will help your business reach its goals.

Growing your heating, ventilation and air conditioning business is simple as long as you focus on creating an SEO friendly website, improving your company’s organic SEO, learning more about Google Adwords, tracking pay-per-click metrics and incorporating the use of social media for your business. These are all the main ways to grow your HVAC business. If you have all of these things, you can be sure that you will garner great, new leads.

Enlist a company marketing company that can handle all of that for you, that way you can focus on what is important which is running your business. A marketing company can build up your website, get your business involved in Google AdWords, improve your SEO and even get you set up with a few social media accounts. Leave the marketing to the experts.


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Benefits Of A Standing Desk

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Standing Desk|Benefits Of A Standing DeskWith a rise in home offices, people are starting to understand the benefits that come with incorporating a standing desk in their home office. Sitting down for long hours at a time is awful for your health, can damage your posture and can even relinquish your productivity. With a standing desk, you will be able to keep the blood flowing leaving you motivated and alert while answering emails and joining Zoom meetings.

Standing desks come in a variety of styles and forms. You can choose an L-shaped standing desk, which is great for fitting into corners. If you are looking for a way to maximize your space, you can also choose a double desk. Get your work and your workout done if opting for a standing desk with a treadmill. You can save time and burn calories. If you are looking for something simple, go for a standalone standing desk. More than likely these will be the cheaper options.

The benefits of using a standing desk are endless. It is known to decrease your risk of obesity and excessive weight gain, could lower your blood sugar levels, decrease your risk of heart disease and heart failure, and can also decrease your pesky neck and back pain. Standing desk can also help out with your posture.

Standing desks are easy to use too. If you need to sit back down, you can press a button and the adjustable desk will be lowered for a comfortable sitting position. Make sure you keep your feet firmly on the ground and look straight forward.


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Hiring An SEM Expert: What Skill Set To Look For

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SEM experts are in high demand. Not surprising, given the tremendous growth rate of e-commerce.

In 2018, about 1.8 billion people across the world bought goods online. E-retail sales in 2018 amounted to US$ 2.8 trillion.

B2B (business to business) online sales in 2018 were almost 4 times higher than e-retail. The gross merchandise volume (GMV) of B2B e-commerce in 2018 amounted to US$ 10.6 trillion.

It’s a huge market when we take B2B and B2C online sales together.

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article | Hiring An SEM Expert: What Skill Set To Look For

Ranking by Total E-Commerce Volume 2017: Source

This growth in e-commerce has also fueled the demand for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) experts. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 20% growth in the demand for SEM experts between 2018 and 2028.

What Does An SEM Expert Do?

The core job of an SEM expert has not changed, however. An SEM expert has the responsibility of improving the SERP ranking of a business webpage.

In jargon-free terms, the company website must appear towards the top of a search engine results page (SERP). That’s what an SEM expert needs to ensure. At the heart of SEM is a company’s SEO (search engine optimization) strategy.

The SEO strategy, in turn, involves the following:

  • Keyword research and implementation
  • Content strategy planning and implementation
  • Link building
  • Web marketing with analytics

Categories of Digital Marketing Strategies

Digital marketing can be of three types, at least:

  • Organic: Your business webpage automatically appears towards the top of SERP
  • Pay Per Click (PPC): A paid marketing campaign where you pay the platform every time your ad gets clicked
  • Paid Directory Listing: You pay to be included in a web directory relevant for your business

An SEM expert needs to have the skills necessary to plan, implement, manage, assess, and restrategize as and when necessary, for each of these three categories.

The Skill-Set An SEM Expert Must Have

Two distinct sets of skills are necessary: technical skills and soft skills. Technical skills refer to the specific capacities needed to efficiently and effectively execute what a job position demands. Soft skills are generic skills that determine how effectively a person can work in any position.

Technical Skills

1. Thorough Knowledge of SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) is the foundation of SEM. Without SEO, there is no SEM. An in-depth understanding of how SEO works in different search engines is a non-negotiable skill for an SEM expert.

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Thorough SEO expertise involves the following:

  • Up-to-date knowledge about search engine algorithms for ranking: This is a critical element as search engines keep changing their algorithms. The mode of search engine rankings changes accordingly.
  • How to blend quality content with keywords: This is pivotal to improving organic ranking. It is equally essential for PPC campaigns to be effective. Merely using the researched keywords is not enough.

A seamless blending of the relevant keywords with attractive content is what works. Search engines like Google are smart enough to reject content that focuses only on the keywords.

  • Comprehensive understanding of offsite SEO: Everything that you and others do away from your site to improve the ranking of your website is offsite SEO.

A critical element in offsite SEO is building links to your page. Google, the most-used search engine, depends on links to determine how relevant your content is. Writing blog posts and guest articles on other sites are methods of link building.

The SEM expert does not need to write. But they need to have technical information like using critical keywords towards the beginning of a post for effective linking. This is necessary to guide copywriters to produce content that works.

2. PPC Management Skill

PPC (pay per click) campaigns are the paid counterpart of driving organic traffic to your webpage. The aim is the same: improving the SERP ranking of your website. Therefore, all the skills needed for SEO are relevant.

However, PPC campaigns involve financial investments. To ensure high returns on investment (RoI), its management needs additional skills as well. Focus on the following when you hire your PPC campaign manager:

  • Marketing Skills including a basic understanding of consumer behavior, consumer segmentation, and trend analysis of targeted consumers.
  • Planning and Time Management to determine how long a PPC campaign should continue, how often the content needs tweaking, etc.
  • Monitoring, Reviewing, and Adapting skills are critical to efficiently and effectively manage PPC campaigns.

B3. asic Knowledge of Programming Languages

The ability to use CSS and to write in HTML is essential for an SEM expert. Some technical understanding of web design is also critical. Without a basic understanding of how websites work, efficient and effective SEM is impossible.

An SEM expert needs to understand technology from the user perspective to be effective.

4. Ability to Work with Data Analytics

Analyzing the numbers and making sense of the statistics are necessary to understand the general trends in relevant search patterns. These become even more critical with paid ad campaigns.

5. Copywriting and Copyediting

The SEM expert need not be directly responsible for generating the content. Without a creative understanding of what works and what does not, it is impossible to guide and refine the content to match SEO needs.

6. Social Media Management

Social media platforms continue to play an increasingly more important role in influencing consumer behaviors. A recent report mentions that 54% of social media users research products on these platforms.

No SEM expert can do their job competently without social media management skills.


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Soft Skills Critical For An SEM Expert

Soft skills refer to competencies that are non-technical, yet critical for effective functioning in nearly any role. For an SEM expert, the must-have soft skills include the following, without being limited to them.

1. Curiosity and the Willingness to Learn

Stagnation of thought is a killer for any marketing position. An SEM expert is ultimately a crucial component in your marketing wheel. The quality of being a lifelong learner is essential.

That presupposes a curious bent of mind, in turn. Without it, an SEM expert would fail to engage in research, which forms an indispensable part of their job.

2. Analytical Skills

Working with data analytics is a technical aspect of the larger analytical skill-set that an SEM expert needs to have. Common usage packs several competencies within the domain of analytical skills. The ability to disintegrate complex information, critical thinking, and problem-solving are the core components.

3. Proactive, Transparent and Effective Communication

An SEM expert cannot work in a silo. They need to work as part of a team. Effective team functioning requires strong communication skills.

More importantly, without proactive and transparent communication abilities, an SEM expert will be unable to judge the aptness of the contents to be used. Contents are meant to communicate – to search engines and consumers alike.

4. Cross-Functional Partnership Competency

An SEM expert needs to function with a multidimensional team addressing different business needs. Without the ability to collaborate and coordinate with a cross-functional team, an SEM expert will be shoddy at their job.

5. Project Management Skills

An SEM expert will likely need to manage several projects simultaneously. That needs strong project management skills. Planning, strategizing, time management, review and prioritization, etc, are some of the key abilities included within project management skills.

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Outsourcing Might Be The Smarter Choice

Partnering with an experienced SEM agency with a proven track record often proves more cost-effective than hiring an in-house SEM expert. You save on overheads and other related costs without losing access to the expertise you need.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Sheryl JonesSheryl Jones is the Sr. Marketing Specialist at Uplers who has a great experience in designing well-defined user journeys across the digital marketing domain. She leverages her digital marketing expertise to help businesses draw significant ROIs.