It’s that time of year! The 20-somethings drink too much at the holiday party, you book your ski season Airbnb, watch Elf and The Holiday, and reflect back on the year behind you. And as is custom here on Forbes I look at the year ahead in customer experience. In my customer experience predictions for 2015 I highlighted multi-channel customer experience, self-service, social customer support tools, how-to content, and increasing c-suite attention on customer experience. As for my customer experience predictions for 2016 I discussed video customer service, mobile CRM technology, on-demand agent technology, internet of things, and big data. Guess what? All of those things are still hot! In fact customer experience has never been hotter. Read more…..
The end of the year is a good time to reflect on your business’s progress over the past year and plan how you want your business to develop. Do you want increased success in the coming year or the chance to enjoy the success you’ve achieved more? These top 10 New Year’s resolutions are designed to help you do both – strike a better work-life balance and increase your business success in the new year. Read more…..
If you haven’t noticed, Millennials have been on the rise. They are now the largest living group according to the Census Bureau. Because so many Millennials are in charge of buying decisions, the world is changing and business trends for the upcoming years will have to cater more to this generation. For an audience that craves success and technology, here are 10 strategies you may want to consider revamping for 2017. Read more…..
How can you get more visitors to your website? What can you do to stimulate traffic? Here’s a checklist of 37 items you need to consider. Many of these you may be doing already; others you meant to do and forgot about; still others you’ve never heard of. Of course, a great deal has been written about this. You’ll find many articles about website promotion on our site.
This article is designed to introduce you to website promotion — getting consumers to come to your website. It gives you the basic information, which you can then explore through links to other resources, many of them free. As one of our most popular articles, this was revised most recently on April 19, 2011.
While I’m not breaking any new ground here, I’ve tried to summarize some of the most important techniques. Read Moore…..
A big part of developing an executive or CEO brand is deciding what role thought leadership should play in your brand. Start by considering the impact a thought leadership strategy could have on you and your organization. How can your thought leadership goals align with your larger organizational goals? Being a thought leader doesn’t happen because you declare yourself one; it happens because your audience, industry and the world at large say you are. The process of getting there requires forethought, planning and execution. Start by considering the following.
Once you’ve made a case in your own mind, it’s important to engage the support of senior management or your board of directors. Since there are always costs, time and effort (PR, branding, marketing, consulting etc.) involved in pursuing a CEO thought leadership strategy, it’s a smart move to get buy-in before you start down the path. Read More…..
Marketing and branding are not always cheap for small businesses. While it is very essential given the very early stage of a business, branding and marketing a new business is an effort that has to compete with several other efforts in the startup. Nonetheless, there’s no other way around running an effective marketing strategy for your business.
Whatever says a new business cannot take advantage of the exceptional possibilities that effective branding and marketing can attract to business? While you do not have to go overboard with your spending like an already established business would, there are strategies that you can implement with effective results.
Let’s look at the top branding and marketing strategies you can use to stimulate the growth of your new business. Read More…..
I value LinkedIn more than any other website. I would gladly give up access to Facebook, Twitter, or my vice, Reddit, before I would let go of LinkedIn. Whenever I mention this, people think I’m crazy. You might be thinking that right now. Well, it’s probably because you’re not taking advantage of everything that LinkedIn can do for you or your business. Time to level up.
If you think of LinkedIn as a large database of resumes and nothing else, you’re so wrong. It’s a rich source of information and a social network. If you’re in sales, and you’re not using LinkedIn, I’m shocked. If you’re hiring and not using LinkedIn, I’m even more shocked. Read More…..
You already know that content marketing is one of the most valuable marketing strategies you can use for your brand. It doesn’t cost much time or money in the startup phase, and it has the potential to bring an enormous return. And all of that is great. But how, exactly, do you know how much of a return your content marketing is bringing? What if you end up spending more money on it than it’s worth? Read More…..
There are potentially hundreds of ways you could promote your new Web design business and build up your portfolio. Assuming your target clients are located in a small geographic area — for example your home town — there are a number of ways you can drum up their all-important custom.
1. Get listed
This is one of the most basic methods of business promotion. List yourself in as many business directories, yellow pages, and local business Websites as you can find. Many of these will list your company for free, though some might require you to pay a small fee. This type of promotion is well worth the time and investment, as most people consult these publications when looking for a designer, plumber, electrician etc. You see the point.
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When we want to make something great happen in our business (and life)–no matter how big or small–it is easy to assume that it must be done quickly, right now. The tick-tock of the clock weighs heavily upon us. We soon become acutely aware of precious time slipping through our fingers. As entrepreneurs, we become preoccupied with the idea that to be successful we must be Superwoman (or Superman) and make it happen right now, today, or yesterday! This thinking is reinforced by society and mainstream media; it is the traditional self-development ideology that is “chocked-full” of seize the day mantras and painful reminders of the fragility and reality of life that faces us all. Now I am not saying this type of encouragement is wrong. In fact, I am a huge believer in putting yourself on the line — just going for it! For it is often the reluctance to do so — fueled by fear and unhelpful ego chats — that blinds us of our true potential. But what I am acknowledging is that diving in “right now” as though your life and business depends on it is not always the best approach in every situation. Read More…..
