All posts by Steven

The 5 Benefits of Insurance for Entrepreneurs

Steven on April 22, 2021

As an entrepreneur, you have a lot on your plate when it comes to responsibilities. From choosing your brand name to gaining your first clients, the slow uphill battle can feel a little overwhelming, causing you to forget a few things along the way. One of the responsibilities you definitely shouldn’t forget is getting insurance, as it provides an array of benefits even to the smallest businesses – here are five of them.

1: To Land Contracts

Landing contracts is an essential part of business for many entrepreneurs. If you’re a personal trainer, for example, you will want to work with as many clients as possible, and to do this, you must show that you are professional and trustworthy. That is where insurance comes in. By showing potential clients your proof of insurance, they will feel much more secure working with you, as it shows that you can cover unforeseen expenses.

Fortunately, you don’t need to print out a new certificate each time you want to show proof of insurance, as you can get certificate of insurance in moments online. By using a COI, your client won’t have to wait.

2: To Attract Employees

Attracting employees is essential for any business wishing to grow. There are many ways to appeal to more candidates, with one of the most important being having the right insurance to cover costs. It’s an incentive that matters to employees, as they want to know that accidental injury costs will be covered.

While you might still attract candidates without the right insurance, you are less likely to keep them around, and employee retention is crucial for any business. The answer, then, is simple – find business insurance that covers you, your company, and your employees.

3: To Avoid Getting Sued

No business wants to be on the wrong end of a lawsuit, but it often happens, and in this situation, it’s better to be prepared. This is crucial for entrepreneurs, as they are less likely to be able to afford the lawsuit, especially in the early days. Most entrepreneurs can’t afford to pay off lawsuits the same way big companies can! Whatever the case is, by being insured, you protect your business from losing lots of money or even going under.

4: To Cover Property Damage

Property damage is common in all types of businesses, so it’s better to prepare for this unfortunate situation. By having the right business insurance, you ensure that damage done to a property you’re working in is covered, making sure you don’t have to dig into your profits.

5: For a Better Brand Image

As an entrepreneur, one of your missions is to create a positive brand image. An eye-catching logo, engaging social media posts, and a professional-looking website are obvious choices when it comes to improving this, but being insured can help, too. It shows clients and customers that you are a reputable and professional brand, increasing your chances of getting people to work with your business.

Digital Branding

Properly Rebranding Your Website, Social Media Accounts, and More

Steven on April 21, 2021

Changes often take place not only outside, but also in the depths of the company’s internal business processes. Modern successful organisations are constantly improving and strive to keep up with the times. This creates new products and services.

Processes often require both internal and external renewal of companies. Most often this is noticeable by external changes since they immediately attract attention. However, a huge layer of work is hidden in the internal aspects.

What is rebranding

Rebranding is a set of actions taken to change part of the internal business processes and external perception of the brand by the target audience.

There is a common misconception that rebranding refers exclusively to the external visual components of the brand, such as the logo and corporate identity. But this is nothing more than a redesign.

Re-branding is also often confused with repositioning, assortment changes and planned brand evolution. In fact, rebranding can include all the above elements and most often implies not only external changes but also significant internal transformation. It may relate to the ideology, mission, values, structure and quality of the company’s business processes.

Rebranding can affect such areas as brand positioning and its philosophy, changing visual components and their presentation, creating new services.

Why is the rebranding necessary?

First of all, this process is necessary for solving new strategic tasks. For instance:

Radically change the range of goods or services;

Go to other product categories;

Change or significantly expand the target audience;

Use a fundamentally different approach to pricing;

Enter new markets;

Improve your reputation.

Also, virtually any brand must naturally evolve and develop, otherwise, it will be doomed. Starbucks is a good example – just look at the dynamics of their logo change.

In some cases, one can observe protracted rebranding races. Competing companies are actively competing for the audience’s attention in the media and advertising space, points of contact with the audience. When one of the competitors is noticeably updated, then the others also need to correspond to the changes in the market.

Mobile operators are a good example. They are constantly introducing new concepts. If earlier this happened more at the level of external visual solutions, such as logo, corporate identity and interior design of communication salons, now the range of changes affects the most unexpected elements of activity.

Reasons for rebranding

The market and competition are constantly changing, the target audience is maturing, its values and needs are being transformed, and the next generation is growing up. All these factors must be taken into account in strategic marketing planning, otherwise, the success of the brand will be temporary.

It is necessary to constantly monitor changes in audience preferences and respond to them in a timely manner.

When is rebranding needed and how to know when it’s time to do it

The vision of business development has changed significantly;

The reputation of the company has deteriorated significantly;

You need to switch and focus on working with other segments of the audience;

There has been a change of owners or management team who want to change the direction of their activities;

A merger or acquisition transaction has taken place;

The brand is morally outdated and does not correspond to modern market realities;

The company does not systematically fulfil the assigned tasks and does not achieve; necessary goals;

The target audience or its key consumer segments have changed;

Very serious competitors appeared on the market and the brand became non-competitive;

When starting a business, the wrong target audience was chosen, the main direction of the company’s activity was incorrectly determined, or the brand was initially built incorrectly;

Consumers have lost interest in a product or want a variety of choices;

From the very beginning, the company’s products were not in great demand in the market.

Types of rebranding

Depending on the tasks set, rebranding can be complex or partial.

Complex rebranding is a total change in a company or project. Often, rebranding goes so far that the new organisation is unrecognisable compared to the previous version. In this case, a ubiquitous transformation takes place: a new design, logo, style, rejection of low-margin products and services, an improvement in the assortment, and new corporate ethics. But usually, the main line of business of the company does not change, as its client audience.

For example, the management of a law firm changed the name, design, logo, redesigned the website and focused on civil matters, but did not give up legal activity. This is a complex rebranding.

Partial rebranding is a change in a separate part of the company. For example, updating the logo if it is associated with unpleasant emotions, incidents, images, or even resembles another large corporation. Or a redesign of a product’s packaging in order to increase its awareness and make it more noticeable, which means increase sales. In this case, a specific task or problem is solved.

Rebranding stages

Marketing audit

Includes an analysis of the current state of affairs in the company. Find and evaluate strengths and weaknesses against the background of competitors. Be sure to study the current customer base: loyalty and trust of consumers, the motives for choosing a company, their demographic characteristics.

They also assess the company’s slogans, logo, design – what associations they cause and how this affects the level of customer confidence.

In addition, the audit program includes an analysis of the company’s resources: industry size, industry trends and prospects, sales channels, department functioning, leadership style, market positioning and finance.

Only in this way, it will become clear what to work on. With the help of an audit, you can find out whether a comprehensive rebranding is necessary or it is enough to limit yourself to point changes.

Brand repositioning

At this stage, a “road map” for rebranding is being developed, namely its terms, budgets, stages of changes. The concept of rebranding is also being formed – the main message and renewal tools. And, of course, this is tested, and only then implemented.

Rebranding of the corporate style

Change of style and all kinds of attributes (logos, packaging design and trademark) based on the road map and developed layouts. The look of the company is changing – a new strategy of communication with customers comes into force.

Interaction of the new brand with the audience

Social media rebranding

Clients get acquainted with the updated brand, evaluate the first results of the rebranding.

Social media rebranding tasks:

Increasing product awareness.

Forming an active and loyal social media community around the brand.

Solution

Development of an SMM strategy for the development of brand communities in all necessary networks. In the new design concept, use images that grab the attention of users and generate brand interest and useful content for users.

Website rebranding

The redesign work goes through six stages.

1. Analysis of resource indicators

Study of typical users and their needs. To understand the atmosphere and general style of the company, visits to the client’s store or office are possible.

2. Drawing up a concept

Generation of ideas for the website redesign. What will it look like? How does it differ from competitors? How to achieve maximum usability?

3. Text optimisation

Creation of high-quality, selling text on the home page of the site, which is optimised for search engines.

4. Design layout (site drawing)

5. Layout of the resource

6. Programming

7. Transferring the design to the site and embedding it in the CMS.

When adjusting the appearance, web designers from Sydney advise you to take into account the “convenience” of the resource:

Readability of the text

Visual perception (does the site look good)

Usability or ease of use (simplicity of the site structure, loading speed, etc.).

Rebranding mistakes

For rebranding to be effective, you need to be aware of the typical mistakes of its implementation:

Incorrect change of the name of the company: if you treat the renaming superficially, then the organisation can either be forgotten, or it will be a step backward. You cannot cross out what the brand’s activity indicates. Imagine what it would be like if Burger King was renamed into the just King;

Lack of testing often leads to the fact that reality does not coincide with expectations, and returning everything back is expensive and time-consuming;

The unsystematic nature of rebranding: current and potential customers will be confused, and such uncertainty can only be scary;

Unconstructive management: violation of the term for the development of layouts, incorrect delegation of authority on the issue of rebranding, there are no clear goals and distribution of responsibility, to this we can add ignoring the opinion of employees;

Unreasonable changes in the company’s brand in the form of “wishes” of the management or people responsible for the rebranding.

Conclusion

To successfully change the idea of a brand on the market, you need to carry out a set of measures that affect changes in ideology, positioning, appearance and communication style – in this case, the audience will believe you. Follow these tips, and we wish you a successful rebranding!

Legal Branding

Foster Growth And Customer Loyalty With Actionable Engagement Tips

Steven on April 19, 2021

Whenever a business thinks about customer retention, the first thing that comes to mind is “round-the-clock customer service and support.” Undoubtedly, that’s of utmost importance. But retaining customers is not about customer service alone. It’s about giving them reasons to purchase your product/services.

Don’t find it convincing enough?

Statistically, businesses with impeccable customer engagement strategies retain more than 85% of their customers. Further, more than two-thirds of the profits of any business depend on effective customer engagement practices.

Don’t know where to start? Let’s help you devise perfect strategies for maximizing your business growth.

Create a Unique Visual Appeal

How do people differentiate between two individuals? It’s usually the overall personality that attracts them to connect with either of them more. Similarly, customers engage with brands that have unique personalities. And if you go a little deeper, relatability and memorability act as the crucial elements when selecting a brand.

For instance, many brands, such as Pillsbury, have grown their market thanks to the brand mascot, “Pillsbury Doughboy.” The Custom Mascot Costumes makes the company a playful brand, thereby fostering customer relationships.

And who can forget Disney? Their popularity has only seen a sharp rise all these years. Why? Because they have brand mascots in the form of cartoon characters that are relatable and authentic.

Delight Your Customers With Personalized Strategies

With the emerging technology trends, it’s not complicated to find customer preferences based on their past purchases or buying journey. You can make use of all this factual information and create personalized products for your customers. The idea is to convey that “they are being valued or that customers are important.”

For instance, the eCommerce giant, Amazon, makes recommendations to each of its customers based on their search history or past purchases. And this is what sets them apart.

Don’t Limit Yourself to One Platform

If you are unable to connect with your customers where they are, you might not be able to expand your reach. Agility is the key to running a successful business in today’s ever-changing dynamics. Hence, you must focus on building a presence across all the channels where your target audience is present. Omnichannel presence is the key to improving your customer engagement results.

For instance, if you are a skincare brand, only using Instagram as a platform won’t be a good decision. Having a presence on Pinterest, Facebook. TikTok will improve your customer engagement rates by multiple folds.

Take Advantage of Word-of-Mouth

Irrespective of the drastic changes in customer preferences, one thing has always been constant. And that is people relying on other people’s words to trust a brand or a company. So, why not use this opportunity to turn your customers into your brand advocates.

For instance, you can use their Yelp or Google reviews and showcase them in the best possible manner to attract new customers. This will encourage them to use your product or service.

To Sum it Up

People want to feel good when spending their hard-earned money. And if you give them a reason to do so, they are likely to spend more.

You can project your brand as a socially responsible company and include your customers to increase the excitement for your organization further.

Legal Branding

A Guide on How Timeshare Exit Companies Work

Steven on April 19, 2021

According to KwikChex, a consumer rights organization, thousands of timeshare owners lost more than £8 million to timeshare exit scams. Many people fall prey to the companies that approach them, promising an easy way out. The problem is that selling a timeshare, ordinarily, takes a lot of time, has more complicated processes, and might be difficult finding a buyer. Hence, many rushes without taking a second look when someone promises better terms. Don’t fall for common scams! You can take time to learn how timeshare exit companies work. This article tells you more about the nature of genuine companies and more.

Legit Companies Offer a Guarantee

There are a bunch of timeshare exit companies interested in scamming people of their hard-earned money. That is why you must know how to differentiate a legit timeshare exit company from a scamming company. For example, a legit timeshare exit company will offer you a guarantee for the service you are looking for. One thing for sure is that you are looking to get out of a timeshare. You want to free yourself from things like maintenance fees and excessive charges and start saving your money. Hence, a legit timeshare exit company should be able to offer you a guarantee that your timeshare will be canceled.

Timeshare Exit Companies Offer Experience

One of the things that set apart a legit timeshare exit company from cons is the experience they have amassed over the years. Part of the company’s responsibility is to assess the quality of your timeshare, the market trends, and the possible value of your timeshare. For a company to assess your timeshare and factors that will help market it, it should have a proven track record handling similar cases.

So, the best place to look is to check the reviews before you work with any company. You can read reviews on emerging and top companies like Centerstone Group to assess the pros and cons of picking them. Go for a company with proven experience and reputation where you are less likely to get conned.

There are other Alternatives to Timeshare Exit Companies

There are several options that you can explore when canceling your timeshare. You can opt to go it alone and list your timeshare for sale or rent. This can be done via reputable listing companies. You can also engage a lawyer who offers timeshare exit cancellation services. However, you can be sure that the two options will either take a long time before you see actual results, or you will not get the assistance at all. This is where timeshare exit companies come in to offer proven alternatives to other less promising alternatives. If you are considering canceling your timeshare, you may rest assured that a legit timeshare exit company will be resourceful to you.

Final Remarks

If you no longer want to pay the maintenance fee or do not have time to travel and utilize your timeshare, the best thing to do is to cancel it. You can exit by renting it out or reselling. However, that is not always an easy thing to do. That is why a timeshare exit company can help. We hope this article has explained how it works and how you can find a legit timeshare exit company.

Legal Branding

Building your Brands Foundation

Steven on April 19, 2021

Branding has always been vital for businesses of all sizes and scales. Even as marketing budgets have taken a hit during the pandemic year, branding continues to be a significant investment for new and existing companies. After all, you have to make sure that the audience can see your brand, listen to its voice, and set it apart from the others in the industry. To make the initiative a success, you need a strategy that works today and only gets better in the future. Here are some ways you can build your brand’s foundation.

Consolidate on your mission

Building the foundation of your brand requires focus on the core mission and values of your company. You may want to prioritize revenue generation instead of staying true to the objective that got you started. But consolidating your mission should be your top priority, and you need to stay a step ahead of the customer expectations while defining your mission. Your aim should be to serve the customers, even if your brand has to move away from the money-making mindset in the short term.

Step into the customers’ shoes

The best way to keep your brand visible is by stepping into the customers’ shoes and understanding their needs. Pick their pain points and find ways to address them with your offerings. Center your marketing around the audience rather than on your business. Once you show people they matter to your business, you will not need to do much in the name of branding.

Communicate critical information

A brand must stay in touch with the audience at all times and communicate critical information. Customers love brands that go the extra mile with transparency. It is vital to showcase the information on your website so that consumers know what to expect. You can collaborate with a brand design agency to work constantly on your marketing messages and customer communication. Staying in touch brings transparency in interactions, which is the mainstay of branding foundation.

Show empathy and compassion

People look for compassion and empathy even as they set out to buy products and services. Brands can do their bit by showing they care during tumultuous times like these. Offering empathetic content is a good start as it makes your business more human and relatable. You can go the extra mile by providing value-added services such as free goods and no-cost delivery. They will stick to your brand even when things turn better.

Build consumer and employee trust

Trust is perhaps the most significant element of a brand’s relationship with customers and employees. Making safety the top priority in consumer-facing operations will fortify their trust in your brand. Employees will also see your brand as a credible employer if you show that their well-being matters. If you want a solid foundation, take a holistic approach that covers both customers and employees

Branding creates the big picture of your business, which makes it a critical investment. Just a little fine-tuning can go a long way in strengthening its foundation, so pick these measures and get started.

Digital Branding

Outstanding Branding: How The Right Brand Can Set Your Business Apart

Steven on April 16, 2021

Strong branding is at the center of every successful business. When you see the Apple logo, you know exactly who they are and what they do. That’s because they’ve built an iconic brand of simple, safe, and minimal design.

The knowledge you instantly have about the company when you read their name or see the logo shows just how effective branding can be at setting a company apart from the competition. That kind of instant recognition is what you need to strive for in your business, whether you’re building computers or the next skyscraper.

Achieving outstanding branding comes to a few basic steps, so let’s talk about how you can build a brand that sets you apart from the competition.

Start With A Story: Explain Why You Do What You Do So Customers Can Connect With You

One of the first steps involved in building a successful brand is finding the right way to tell your story. You must explain why you thought your business was needed, and how you feel you can offer valuable solutions to customers. This has to be done in a way that makes the customer’s needs the focus.

Let’s say you run a construction company that regularly builds schools in rural areas. When explaining why you started your company, you could cite noticing that there was a need for critical infrastructure in underdeveloped areas and feeling the need to do something about it.

This shows that you pay attention to the needs of communities and customers, not just what makes you money. That being said, you’ll also make money from the approach. 83% of companies that believe it’s important to keep customers happy experience financial growth.

To support you and promote your brand, customers have to know what your message is. Explaining what it is you value gives them the tools they need to define your brand in a positive way in their mind.

Inspire Feelings: Build A Connection With Your Customers By Appealing To Their Emotions

Think about commercials for a minute. How often do you see one that tells an emotional story, where the product is barely mentioned? They get you invested in the short story they’re telling you, and then casually drop their product or logo at the end.

This approach works, according to the Institute of Practitioners, who found that ads with emotional content lead to twice as many sales as more logic-based ads. Basically, people are more likely to use how they feel about you to make a buying decision than they are to use facts. This reinforces how important emotions are when it comes to defining a brand.

Someone who remembers you as “the company with the commercial about hiring homeless veterans to do construction” is more likely to buy from you. Activating that kind of emotion also increases the chance of an ad going viral, as people are more likely to share advertising content if it triggers good emotions.

Find a version of that approach that works for what you do, and use it to build a brand connection.

Create Community: Give Your Customers A Place To Turn For Advice And Answers

Humans like to feel supported by other humans. That’s why customer service is a 350 billion dollar industry, and companies annually spend 1% to 2% of their earnings on customer retention programs.

Despite all the money spent on this section of business, it’s often the simplest solutions that make the biggest changes.

Let’s use the example of a construction business again and get some more ideas on branding a construction business. If you build a Q&A or general advice section on your construction website, people will land there for answers even if they don’t know about your company.

They come to learn more about flooring or installing a sink, and they find helpful information and stick around to learn more. That gives you a chance to build a connection with that person. You can allow other customers to weigh in with advice, and even take the next step and gain more knowledge in the field yourself.

Making yourself more professional reflects well on your brand, so set aside some time today to improve yourself. If you’re in construction, you can take practice exams to get your contractor’s license. This is not only a segment of the Lean Business Model but it’ll open up more business opportunities, and it’s a move that gives you more knowledge about your industry to pass on to your customers.

The strength of the community you build will depend on the commitment you make to it. The goal is to create a space where you, and others, can come together to share a positive experience that’s beneficial to potential customers. They’ll remember that, and that’s how a brand reputation that sets you apart gets built.

The key to outstanding branding is to make moves that set you apart from your competitors. Take these steps to build a more personal relationship with your customers, and a better future for your business.

Digital Branding

5 Startups Trends To Look Out In 2021

Steven on April 15, 2021

The pandemic-struck 2020 has put all of humanity on a rough patch but for the tech industry. Start-up firms embracing new technology innovations like AI and Robotics are gearing themselves from the setback. The transition from office to work from home format is making cybersecurity and cloud storage thrive like never. Some business sectors are finding it challenging to stay afloat. However, this year shows some potential sectors that will rule the future.

Innovation and inclusion are bringing up rapid changes in the start-up ecosystem. Technology is not the only disruptor; remote working is pushing new strides in personalizing interaction and communication. Let us look at five promising start-up trends that will change the business complexion.

1. Artificial Intelligence

Whether it is marketing tools, digital ads, and analytics, AI is powering a considerable chunk of business initiatives and service platforms. 63% of people are active users of Artificial Intelligence unknowingly. AI is not a robotic device, as it may sound. It creates human-like intelligence in machines and assists you in your decision-making, creative assignments, and pattern recognition. AI works as background support to help you make faster decisions and efficient system processes.

Ecommerce personalization, yield prediction, cannabis industry are some areas showing the exponential power of AI. That’s why you can buy weed in bulk online and predict stock markets of marijuana by leveraging AI.

2. Remote Working

According to a research study, 36.2 million Americans will work remotely by 2025. Remote working is not an experiment anymore but an alternative way to work across multiple domains long-term. Technology advancements like broadband and internet and office tasks’ digitization are doing away with daily commuting. Many start-ups worldwide are switching to remote working to bring down the fixed monthly office rents, equipment cost, and space wastage.

Remote working helps a firm build a larger talent pool and is a viable opportunity to save money and use funds in the best possible way. It also helps remote workers stay happy and more productive.

3. Industry 4.0

Hailed as the ‘Internet of Things (IoT),’ Industry 4.0 is the Next Industrial Revolution for start-ups. It is a well-coordinated system of machines, computers, objects, and people engaged in transferring data over a network. The Industrial IoT (IIoT) market predicted to reach $123B in 2021 will power Smart Cities, Connected Car IoT projects, and other limitless applications for the industrial world.

4. Hyper-Personalization

Seen as the next step to personalized marketing,Hyper-Personalization uses real-time data and AI to furnish user-relevant service and content. Marketers use personalization and push notifications in email marketing campaigns to gauge purchase behavior trends, transactional history, and other data. Companies in automotive and real estate use personalization in official mails to greet email recipients and start a dialogue. It helps a marketer know user engagement and get suitable conversions.

5. Voice Recognition

Also called speech recognition, voice recognition is a hardware device that helps decode the human voice. It performs commands without the help of a mouse, keyboard, or any other buttons. Automatic Speech Recognition software programs recognize the voice converting the speech to text. ASR programs are finding their way in several industries such as telecommunications, healthcare, and hands-free computing. To enable voice recognition, you must have a sound card and a headset or a microphone and voice recognition support software.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit most business sectors, but the tech industry is witnessing plenty of new start-up trends to enhance customer experience and delight. Now is the time to think of self-driven cars, virtual reality eye examinations, and much more. With such technological advancements on the near horizon, 2021 will be an exciting year for world citizens.

Legal Branding

How colour can impact your brand’s perception

Steven on April 15, 2021

Colour has always been an important marketing tool. It’s an overlooked differentiator that brands can use to attract potential customers. Lots of brands are inextricable from the colour used in their branding: can you imagine Coca-Cola without the red?

Different colours have been shown to impact consumers differently – with our own unique history of experiences, biases and cultural leanings muddying the effect.

Either way, colour can play a pivotal role in influencing the way we think about a brand – in both positive and negative ways.

We’ve tried to illustrate the subtle role colour plays in shaping our perception of brands by diving into the associations many of us have with the colours red and green. The strongest, most consistent brands have a firm grasp of their brand identity and use colour accordingly.

Red

Red has been shown, time and time again, to elicit a strong response from the observer. It is almost always associated with excitement, action and passion. Some examples of organisations that use red prominently in their branding are Coca Cola, ESPN and Levi’s.

The sports network’s choice of red is easy to understand: sports impact the observer in much the same way as the colour red.

Red is also often linked with appetite, which makes it unsurprising that it’s such a mainstay of Coca Cola’s aesthetic. For that reason, it’s also popular within the fast food industry.

Because it elicits such strong responses – both positive and negative – organisations are advised to consider their use of the colour carefully.

That is because, for many consumers, red is associated with a sense of danger, pain and aggression. In the right context, this can be a powerful motivator. The UFC, for example, features red in its branding.

However, if you opt for a red-dominated logo without fully understanding all of the myriad implications, there can be unwanted consequences: creating unintended links in the mind of the consumer.

Green

As humans, we have a relationship with the colour green that has been ingrained in us for thousands of years. There is a very real link between green, health and happiness, which is why it is invariably used by pharmaceutical companies and organisations with an environmental or health conscious bent.

Forward-thinking, eco-friendly brands have long relied on green to energise their visual presentation. When you think of green in marketing materials what do you think of?

Fresh, organic produce from the likes of Asda, Waitrose and Whole Foods. And the green in all of their logos gently nudges the consumer into making that association.

Even if your brand doesn’t neatly fit into one of the niches you would typically associate with the colour green – like the health, food or fitness industries – you can lean on the colour green to create some positive associations in the mind of the consumer.

Land Rover, while not exactly a champion of the environmental cause, nevertheless utilises green to generate an association with the environment.

The idea being that Land Rover vehicles are at home in even the most rugged surroundings.

Lighter shades of green are synonymous with serenity, safety and calmness. Opting for a darker shade of green conjures an image of luxury and exclusivity. Harrods is an example of these deeper shades being used to great effect.

Ensuring that your choice of colour marries up with your brand’s ideals is so important. The wrong choice runs the risk of alienating the share of the market that you are hoping to capture.

Digital Branding

IT Upgrades: What Small Businesses Should Consider

Steven on April 13, 2021

If you have been asking this question – when should I upgrade my IT infrastructure – it is probably the time for you. For most business owners, the typical timeline for rightly performing infrastructure is 3-5 years. Within these years, the technologies can pace up exponentially.

However, even if you’re considering an upgrade for your business, you cannot just go about with anything. Indeed, you need to be sure that the technology you’re choosing is the latest within your budget

In this article, we have outlined some of the important factors to consider for the same.

Safely Discarding The Old Devices

First things first, you need to get rid of the old technologies that your business currently uses. A lot many business owners do not consider the safe disposal practices for their IoT devices. It not only has an environmental impact but can also threaten your business safety. For example, if you do not delete all your business data from the devices, they can possibly end up in the wrong hands. And it needs no mention how this could be detrimental for your business.

Considering The Latest Security

Once you’re done with the safe removal of the technologies you used, the next thing to do is consider new equipment. It also includes upgrading to the latest safety features for your business. The power of the internet not only empowers business operations and productivity but also makes them vulnerable to online attacks. It could include anything from Trojan attacks to phishing, and even identity theft. Having top-shelf security systems in place can prevent any such calamity for your business.

Enquire About The Downtime

During the upgrading process, it is very likely that your online operations may have to face downtime. This could potentially affect productivity, and may even lead to surmounting losses in no time. To put this into perspective, think of how many hours of work would you be losing as a result of upgrade downtime. Not just that, think of how much downtime can you afford. Ultimately, the goal is to choose technologies that offer little or no downtime at all. This should keep your business floating, while the upgrades are being implemented.

Do Not Miss On The Longevity Factor

Last but not least, is to consider how long would the latest technology last for your business. Of course, you cannot be investing in technology upgrades year after year. You need a solution that should at least get you through the next 5 years, before needing any overhauling changes. Moreover, you should also consider whether you wish to purchase the new technology or lease it. The former should give you complete ownership and may also reduce your cost down the line. On the other hand, frequent upgrades to the technology won’t require further investments when you choose the latter.

In a nutshell, upgrading to newer technologies is not an option but a necessity. However, it is imperative to make the right choices when undertaking the upgrades. It’s not only the operations of your business but also its reputation that is at stake.

Legal Branding

A Guide to Selecting & Hiring the Right Employee

Steven on April 13, 2021

As a human resource professional, what does it take to hire the right talent to join your team? Well, research shows that getting the best person for a role in your organization requires more than just excellence in academia. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that a bad hire can cost you up to 30% of the employee’s first-year wages. So, you want to pick someone compatible with your company culture but they should also have the right skill set for the job. Here are few tips on how to find the best fit candidate for a position.

Define the job

By defining the position you are seeking to fill, you will be laying the foundation for recruiting and hiring. You need to ask yourself, “Why’m I hiring? Can an internal employee fill the role? What new expertise do I want to bring onboard?” Once you are clear with the role you want to hire for, you should conduct a job analysis. Here, you define the specific responsibilities that the prospective employee is supposed to execute.

A clear job description will be a useful tool to you as a hiring manager as it will:

Provide a clear understanding to candidates of what their duties are
Protect your organization legally as it can defend you for making the hiring decision
Provide a consistent understanding across departments of the job position roles
Help the employees to create goals for career advancements.

Once you have the right job description for the intended role clear, it is time to get your strategy right.

Plan and envision the hiring process

Now, what should the recruitment look like? Who should do what? This is the step where you and your hiring team should come together and plan. Basically, you ought to develop a strategy that will allow you to execute the hiring process with ease and accuracy.

This involves determining where the job advertisement will be posted to onboarding the candidate. Besides, your team should determine who is responsible for each part of the process of hiring employees. This will ensure that the hiring process is executed with fewer mistakes and without wasting time and money. Your social media manager can be tasked with the role of posting the open role on social media platforms and collecting critical feedback that will be crucial in determining how to make the process even better.

A member of the team could be tasked with reconciling the applications and answering the application queries. When everyone has a sense of what they should do, the hiring process becomes easier to execute.

Do a thorough background check

Again, you should look at more than what meets the eye. You want to do the digging even though it can be a time-consuming process trying to figure out exactly how your potential employee has been doing in their previous employment or role. The vetting process involves not only verifying past employment history. It is also about getting a grasp of how they work and who they are as co-workers and employees. There are modern resume tips that highlight skillsets and will absolutely help you in reviewing candidates’ credentials efficiently.

You can use tools and services to help you screen the candidates before hiring them. For example, you can hire background check services to help you get rid of any doubts in the selection process. You want to get every bit of information on a candidate from verifying their credentials to credit checks, driving record checks, employment verification, and more. Getting help where you can afford you more time to focus on other aspects of the selection process.

Ask the right questions

Now that you have the candidate on board, it is crucial to ask questions that will tell you more about the candidate. The questions should also focus on seeking to reveal the character of the individual you are about to hire, whether the potential employee is committed to their future career or not. Some of the questions that hiring managers have agreed to be effective during the hiring process include the following:

What is your natural strength? This question seeks to find out about a particular skill or ability that comes naturally to them. It is similar to asking which of their skills would be rated top five. You will get to learn about their inherent strengths and the potential they will be bringing to your organization.
What are your ambitions? This is a crucial question that helps you as an employer understand the career goals and vision of the candidate. You will also get to find out if their vision aligns with your organization’s. Besides, it is important to know whether you are hiring progressive talents who will constantly seek to develop and equip themselves further.
What kind of expectations do you have? You will get to hear from their side the responsibilities they hope you will meet to be comfortable. With that information, you can successfully determine a point of consensus once you hire them. You may also take the opportunity to guide their expectations.

Let the candidate interview you

Hurray! You are almost there! It is time to reverse the roles and get a 360-degree view of the hiring process. Let the interviewee ask you any questions that they might have regarding the position they are being hired. That way, you will get to see if they have a full understanding of the position and responsibilities that come along with the position. Besides, you will be able to get transparent with the candidate regarding the limits that your organization can go in regards to their expectations.

In a nutshell

Hiring is a crucial process for any organization that is worth its salt. Yes, your employees are a key factor in the success or failure of your organization. That is why you ought to make intentional efforts and be careful as you pick every candidate joining your team. Some of the factors you need to consider are the skills you need for the role. Once you have the right candidate, ensure to ask them the right questions so you can understand their vision and determine if that aligns with your organization’s goals.