All posts by Steven

Legal Branding

5 Tips to Increase Productivity in the Workplace

Assuming that the motivation of your employees is their own personal thing that every one of them has to resolve on their own is not just lazy but also quite counterproductive and inefficient. Sure, some people are determined on slacking and there’s nothing you can do about it, however, the majority of your employees are just looking for slightly better work conditions in order to unleash their full potential. Fortunately, with just a couple of tricks on your side, you can make your workplace productivity skyrocket. Here are five such tricks.

1. Restructure your team

The first thing you need to understand is the fact that there are some people who, although decent employees, just don’t work well with others. While their performance might not falter, they might often get into arguments with their coworkers or do other things that make the performance of people around them go down. While firing these people (after identifying them first, of course) would be the simplest solution, in the digital environment, you might have a more humane alternative. Simply allow these people to work from home as telecommuters and you’ll do everyone a favor without having to fire anyone.

2. Show appreciation

When it comes to motivating your employees, all you can do as an employer is show some appreciation for the effort that they’re investing. While some may immediately think about promotions and raises, these aren’t great solutions to this problem. Sure, you give one promotion and motivate them for a couple of days, weeks or months. Still, what do you do the next time they’re in the same spot? Promote them again? Realistically speaking, how often do you expect you can do such a thing? The same thing goes with giving one a raise. Therefore, you need to look for alternative ways of demonstrating appreciation.

3. Minimize distractions

Another thing you can do to boost productivity in the workplace is to minimize the number of distractions that your employees are exposed to. First of all, you should give every person in your employ enough personal space and do as much as you can to make the room soundproof. For instance, you can order rugs online in order to lower the volume of foot traffic across the room, thus making the place both quieter and more serene. Other than this, you can also invest in some silent peripherals like noise-canceling earphones and silent keyboards. This way, you give your entire team a significant boost.

4. Ownership of the workplace

The next thing you need to do is make everyone feel like the company in question is their own. In theory, this means that you should give them some shares in the company, however, there are a couple of ways you can do this even without undergoing such trouble. For instance, by giving them more responsibility or a chance to customize their work hours, you may ensure that your employees take you more seriously. Apart from this, the method of allowing them to work from home (which is something that we’ve already discussed) can be seen as a major reward for some of your employees.

5. Help them out

The last thing you need to understand is the fact that it’s basic human nature to care for your own wellbeing first and then worry about others. Each of your employees is primarily concerned with their own income, job stability and career path. Provided that you can satisfy these three basic needs, it’s completely realistic that you expect optimal productivity in return. If you can just show them how giving their best is in their own interest, you’ll already ensure that your business is in a much better position. For instance, by telling them how good their participation on a major project would look in their resume, you can easily make them want to volunteer for it.

Conclusion

As you can see, all of these methods are fairly simple and their effect on the productivity of your staff is quite self-explanatory. Just keep in mind that motivation isn’t always an intrinsic thing. Sometimes, suitable short-term rewards, work environment and even coworkers may have a strong psychological impact on one’s abilities and motivation. Fortunately, all of these things are something that you, as an entrepreneur, have direct control over.

Personal Branding

How to Revive the Best 90s Fashion Trends

The 90s were, it’s safe to say, a weird time for fashion. If you were a kid in the 90s, you probably remember all the staples – some embarrassing, some amazing, but all of them secretly still with a place in your heart. Well, if you’re longing for the good old days of the 90s, don’t fret! Some of the faves are coming back into style, so you can go dust off the stuff from your childhood closet because we are bringing the crazy-colored freestyle back!

Birkenstocks

When we were kids, we really never paid attention to the shoes our moms made us wear, and later, we somehow convinced ourselves that Birks with socks are totally cool. No matter how you feel about the styling, there’s no denying that the trend is back and Birks are now a trend that is sweeping us off our feet once again. They are objectively very comfy shoes and they are particularly popular for vacations and other touristy activities because you can literally walk for hours in them and they will compliment every casual, street outfit. If you want to really push the limit, you already know that crazy-printed socks are popular now, so go on and slip them underneath to really be a trend-setter.

Mom jeans

Remember when we would literally take the jeans from our moms and wear them even though we never had the hips to fill up the denim? Well, mom jeans are definitely in again with the rise of casual street fashion. You can pull off such an effortless everyday outfit by wearing some mom jeans with sneakers, a T-shirt cropped or tied at the waist, and a bandana around your head to really channel the mom style. But, if you want to be dressier, don’t be afraid to glam it up. Put on a pair of heels, a party top and you are ready to hit the club. Word of advice: keep the bandana to keep with the same energy.

Chokers

Oh, the edgy beginnings of our rebel years. Everyone had a choker, whether it was a DIY from an old piece of cloth or lace, or whether you bought a “real one” made of velvet and with proper clasps. Chokers fizzled out for a long while, only being worn by people who wanted to express a more edgy or goth part of them. But today, they are back in a big style and you can find them everywhere. They were definitely an LA staple back in the day, but you can now find the best choker necklace in Australia and all over the world. If you want to stay away from looking goth, go with something that isn’t black – a soft color like pastel pink will do the trick just fine.

Fanny packs

These were so incredibly practical and who was it that said they weren’t cool anymore?! Well, they did, and fanny packs literally died for a good decade. But now they are back and my God is there a big debate around them. Most people who have a problem with the comeback of fanny packs are just complaining about the way they are worn. Tossing them around your shoulder like a quiver doesn’t do anything to flatter your figure. Just wear them around your waist or hips like they were intended to be worn and everyone will be happy.

Scrunchies

Your hair will no longer have to suffer the tight grip of elastics – spiral or otherwise. The original, fabric-covered scrunchies that were amazing both for your hair and as a bracelet are now back in style and people with long hair everywhere are rejoicing. Do keep in mind that scrunchies aren’t exactly discreet, so make sure you are matching them to your outfit and rocking hairstyles that work well with an exposed tie. You might want to stock up on them while they’re popular because they might go out of style and out of stock soon.

So whether you’re a 90s’ baby longing for your youth or just a gen Z who wants to experiment with styles that are from previous eras, these styles are great for everyone, and if you’re nervous about going all out and trying something big – start with a scrunchie and learn about sustainable fashion.      

Local Branding

Learn About the Benefits of Outdoor Adventures

As a parent, it is your responsibility to expose your family to the gift of nature. Children love outdoor activities; introducing them to refreshing activities can have a lifelong impact on them. Allow them to have various experiences with nature so that they can share stories, have aspirations, and learn first hand about natural sites and mechanisms. You can enjoy nature through the following activities that will not only help you explore endless bounties, but also discover new vibes in yourself:

Choose Your Travel Destinations Easily

When it comes to outdoor activities, a few things, if taken care of in advance, can make your travel much easier and enjoyable. For instance, getting your camping spot ahead of time. There isn’t a greater feeling than driving straight into your campground and knowing you have your own spot waiting for you. You can get set up your camping spot and then set out for strenuous activities planned for the day.

You might find navigating on the web and on the road both dreadful. But now, software such as campground reservation software from Astra makes camping so much easier. This software was built to help campground owners and campers in various ways when it comes to campground properties. It has made the following features instant: searching, reservations, online booking, and property management. This is done by integrating them all into a single program. Astra makes interactions between campground owners very convenient. It also helps streamline important processes with strong accounting and financial capabilities. It allows users to view and manage campground availability by map and grid.

The fast-paced world you live in today has made certain processes less time-consuming. Almost everything is undergoing changes in favor of going instant. This explains why automation is important. It saves businesses time and helps them operate with greater efficiency. With less human errors and improved interactions with customers, business owners aspire to generate higher revenues.

Fishing

Fishing has traditionally been a big part of American culture. It is a family activity enjoyed by adults and children alike. Introducing your children to fishing is important as it can teach them some great techniques such as casting a line, preparing the bait, and reeling in the fish. A fishing trip is ultimately full of lessons as children get to learn and operate fishing equipment, they learn to be patient as they sit and wait for the fish to pull on their fishing cable, and they learn nautical terminology and the basic functions of the boat. Not to mention, the whole process of reeling in fish and cooking it for dinner carries a strong message that hard work pays off.

Hiking

Hiking is a good way to connect your family with the outside world so that they can get past the tech addiction and experience actual obstacles and learn how to get past them. Hiking is a combination of struggles and adventures. It teaches you how to push your limits, reach your goals, and taste the fruit of your hard work. Alongside, the beauty of mountains, hilltops, and trees fills your eyes with dazzle. You develop skills like climbing, setting your pace, testing your stamina and learning how to bypass hurdles. Hiking is an opportunity that teaches you how to look after your loved ones too. You stick together as you climb higher and higher.

Kayaking

Kayaking is a perfect way to get to know a beautiful mountain lake. Kayaking also proves a good way to introduce children to the water at an early point in life. As for older children, they not only get to paddle around the lake, learn how to navigate in tough conditions, but they also get to jump into the water at various points and swim around. In addition, you can bring the elderly family members along with you and enjoy the trip as you build beautiful memories. Kayaking is suitable for people of all ages.

Sight-seeing

Sightseeing is a highly inclusive activity that proves to be interesting and enriching. Visiting tourist spots like museums, monuments, and national parks help you learn a great about facts. You acquire tons of information and terminology that adds to your general knowledge. Likewise, your children also get the opportunity to explore what they have mostly just read in textbooks. Sightseeing broadens your horizon and gives you a new perspective on many things.

Camping

Camping helps remove fear from children’s minds, which is the first step towards building self-confidence in them. The highly competitive world requires children to learn and develop socially by taking risks, thinking straight, and resolving problems. To do so, exposure to settings that are outside their comfort zone is necessary. Taking them to camp helps them learn survival tips such as setting up a tent and gathering firewood. They also get good exercise from hiking and climbing. As children camp in beautiful, serene locations they get to test their strengths, discover their weaknesses and fears, and develop a strong interest in the real world.

With campground software and plenty of things to do, you are ready to begin your adventure in the great outdoors. You had better get packed—nature is waiting!

Digital Branding

Benefits of Using a Press Release Distribution Service for Your Business

The Internet has drastically changed the way people get their news and information. In fact, most of them get important updates from their favorite companies through social media.

These days, many businesses have recognized how social media and digital marketing strategies are powerful tools in improving profits and statistics. However, they tend to forget about press releases, which are equally effective in rallying desirable numbers. When done right, press releases can have a huge leverage on your audience’s brand opinions, as well as potential investors’ financial decisions.

Why Should You Consider Press Release Distribution?

Say you’ve decided to include press release writing into your company tasks and budget. You can either reach out to media outlets on your own, or you can also enlist the help of a press release distribution service. A distribution service is highly recommended when you have big announcements, such as a change of leadership or a new product announcement.

What are the Benefits of Enlisting a Distribution Service?

Services like Pressat press release distribution make the job of getting desirable media coverage a lot more efficient. It can also give you a lot of search engine optimization (SEO) benefits when you put out well-written press releases.

Listed below are the benefits of sending your press releases to trustworthy distribution services:

1. It Attracts Positive Publicity

Regardless of how small or big your company is, press release distribution can make your business look good to every kind of audience. You may not always have an explosive kind of story to tell, but you constantly have stories that are worth telling. There will always be magazines, journals, blogs, and other media that will be interested to share your story.

Distribution services have a wide network of media outlets, so you can be sure that your press release will reach more audiences compared to when you choose to distribute it by yourself.

2. It is Relatively Inexpensive

Businesses usually have an in-house press release writer. Hence, press release distribution usually isn’t that expensive since the only thing they need to do is to get your story to their various media connections. Compared to advertising, press releases are a lot cheaper, and it’s a lot more likely to widen your brand’s reach.

For a small investment, it can give pretty decent returns on your investment when you do it regularly. You may not see the results immediately, but you will surely benefit from the good effects of positive publicity when the time comes.

3. It Improves Brand Awareness and Visibility

Press releases are one of the best ways to put your brand on top of people’s minds. If you’ve made your press release campaign as part of your marketing efforts, your audience will always be in the know about your brand.

This can be especially helpful for small companies. Although marketing strategies can help you communicate with your target audience, press releases can also capture the attention of credible media outlets––which leads us to our next point.

4. It Boosts Your Company’s Credibility

Once your story gets shared by long-established and trusted media outlets, people are a lot more likely to believe that you’re a field expert. If you are just starting out, it is very essential that you establish yourself as someone who is very knowledgeable in your field. That way, your audience will be a lot more likely to trust you and get your products or services.

Being a field expert can also be good with your public relations strategy. When a story related to your field comes up, you’d be the one that they will turn to for comments and opinions. Hence, people will also recognize your expertise in the same manner as your media partners.

5. It Reaches the People You Want

Because press release distributors are able to widen your company’s reach, it can attract all the types of people that you would want on your side. We are talking about your target market, potential employees, and investors.

When your company’s stories consistently make it to media outlets, people are a lot more likely to follow your story and what you’ve been doing. They will be interested in what happens next, and they will be enticed to stay with you.

Conclusion

Press release writing can be one of the best strategies that you can ever add to your marketing campaign. If you are currently not well-connected with established media outlets, a press release distribution service can get your word out to the right people. They know exactly who to contact when it comes to sharing important stories with the world.

Digital Branding

How Proper SEO Can Help Boost Your Brand Better

Improving your company’s brand awareness among its potential clients is a necessary step in hitting your numbers goal. When more people are able to recognize and trust your brand, it’s generally a lot easier for you to establish your credibility within your chosen niche. This can be challenging at first, but with the help of experienced search engine optimization (SEO) companies like rankfire.agency/, you can certainly penetrate the target market that you’re after.

Employing effective marketing strategies becomes all the more important if competition exists. In order to stay relevant, you have to make sure that people will choose you among all the other companies that offer similar products or services. That’s where proper SEO comes in.

SEO as a Marketing Booster

Before, SEO was plagued with marketing shortcuts like keyword stuffing. People kept on sprinkling keywords on their pages and sacrificed content quality so that search engines could pick up what their website talked about the most. This may have helped brands get better search result rankings, but the Internet eventually evolved with the people who constantly use it.

Now, SEO techniques have dramatically improved: it now focuses on high-quality content and user engagement. When you do it right, it will attract all the right customers, which eventually converts their loyalty into desirable numbers for your brand. Listed below are some reasons why proper SEO can shoot your brand’s image right to the top:It Helps Create Niche Posts

 

Nowadays, it has become a lot easier for businesses to connect with their audiences through their social media platforms. To ensure that you get to keep the interest and loyalty of whomever comes across your brand, you can create niche posts with the help of SEO so you can target them specifically.

This is especially useful for small businesses, as the content’s specificity can help them get ahead of their competitors. Although being very focused with your content doesn’t exactly cast a wide net, it actually gives you a higher chance of attracting new customers––and engaging with the ones that you already have on your team.

1. It Makes Your Posts Very Specific Using Long-Tail Keywords

This one is connected to the first point. Long-tail keywords allow you to get in touch with more specific audiences. For example, if your business involves creating custom-made hiking packs, you should focus your SEO efforts on ranking for “custom-made hiking packs prices” (long-tail keyword) as opposed to “hiking packs” or “custom-made hiking packs” (short-tail).

In this manner, it’s easier to filter out those who are really interested in what you have to offer as opposed to those who are just looking for general information.

2. It Enhances Your Brand-Related Content

A reliable SEO company can improve your website’s content such that it is able to reach the right audience at the right time. It helps establish your place in the field as a reliable source of information, products, or services. If you focus on producing quality content even for just a few loyal customers, then more people like them will gravitate towards your brand.

Once you figure out how to satisfy the information and product needs of your audience––and ranking high on search engines at the same time––your brand will definitely be known for the better. Many people will begin to see you as a brand that knows what they are doing, and knows how to follow through.

4. It Helps You with Link Building

SEO also takes care of creating content that will appropriately link back to your website. With the existence of various social media platforms and online forums, employing proper SEO strategies can help you gain traction among various online communities. When done right, this can grow your audience organically.

5. It Promotes Your Brand Image

The ultimate goal of any brand awareness campaign is to promote a desirable brand image. Consequently, this will boost not only your website traffic and audience engagement, but also your sales.

But what role does SEO play in this? If you focus on all the keywords that you want to be connected to your company, SEO can be a powerful tool in influencing your audience’s perception of your brand. The more that they associate important keywords to you, the more that they will choose you over your competitors.

Conclusion

SEO is just one of the many marketing strategies that can boost your brand among your target market. However, when you get it properly done, the right people will always find you through a quick and simple Google search.

SaaS Branding

5 Reasons Your Startup Will Fail

Creating your own company/startup can be an exciting endeavor. However, there is a 90% chance that your startup will fail according to Forbes

That’s why proper planning and avoiding the traps that so many new businesses fall prey to is critical to your success.

Today, I want to address five reasons that your startup will fail (and what you can do to avoid failure).

1. You Know It All

Know-it-alls can be a pain in the …

Not only will business know-it-alls refuse to listen to advice, they also think they can do everything. If you fall into this category, we wish you the best. 

No one is great at everything, no matter how much you may believe you are. 

We all have weaknesses somewhere, and acknowledging your shortcomings and finding people who are strong where you are weak is critical to building a successful business.

Do not try to run a startup with a know-it-all attitude. Instead, try to figure out where you are weak at and bring can help to strengthen your company. Yes, it will cost you money, but it will be worth. If you do not want your startup to fail, get past the idea that you were the only one who can make this company succeed.

2. No Marketing Plan

Another reason most startups fail is the lack of a true marketing plan. 

While Facebook is a good advertising platform to work with, just saying “We’ll advertise on Facebook” is not a marketing plan. It’s a marketing idea.

The fact is that some startups believe in just “winging it” and their plan is to figure things out as they go. 

I’ll bet most of those are in the 90% failure pile. 

If you do not have a solid, well-planned marketing strategy, stop reading this article right now and work on a marketing plan for your business (Hubspot has some free templates you can use). Once you have a marketing plan in place, come back and finish this article.

Customer service, customer experience, and brand identity is where so many startups focus, but if you don’t get boots in the door that’s all for nothing.

3. Lack Of Customer Service

Contrary to what you’ve heard, your customer may be wrong

Still, it’s important to give them professional customer service. You cannot let a bad day cost you potential customers (including friends of a bad customer).

If you are unwilling to go the extra mile for ANY customer, then there is no chance your startup will succeed. Businesses do not make money shunning customers; they make money selling products and/or services. Never let a bad customer cost you future business (and they can).

If you have bad customer service, you will not succeed.

4. You Do Not Look Professional

I’m not talking about how you dress day-to-day here (though that does matter). 

Instead, I’m talking about putting your best foot forward from a business standpoint. If you don’t present in a professional manner on:

  • Your website, 
  • Your marketing materials, and 
  • Your communication channels,

then you’re basically dead in the water

Your website MUST be free of grammatical errors and unprofessional statements, your marketing presentation should be clean and concise without a lot of technical jargon used to inflate your company, and your communication channels have to be business-oriented. 

By business-oriented, we mean your email address should end with an @yourdomain.com instead of @yahoo.com, @gmail.com or @hotmail.com. According to Suitebriar, you can get professional Gmail for as little as $6/month with no annual contract, so go do that before you start emailing clients.

While we are at it, you should also consider getting an 800-number rather than a local number … unless your business is exclusively local. 

5. No Money

Without money, it will be almost impossible to market your product/company effectively, provide proper customer service and/or products, and look like you know what you are doing.

We are not saying that you have to have a TON of money, but you need to know how to manage your funds and use the money you do have effectively. In fact, you should spend the majority of your funds on looking professional and competitive. After that, should focus on your marketing plan and customer acquisitions. As you grow you can get your lean office better equipped and reward those employees who were there to help build your business from nothing.

When the money runs out, so will your startup.

Wrap Up

If you want to get past the startup phase, then you should pay attention to the factors I’ve covered today. While these points of failure for startups are somewhat common, they tend to get repeated a lot … so it’s worth taking the time to read, and re-read these common mistakes that cause startups to fail. 

Success only comes when you do what others could not … so start winning!

Digital BrandingLegal BrandingPersonal Branding

Why Is Automation Important in Business

Changes in global trade policies brought increased demand for business to perform high-level complex functions which were labor-intensive modules. The advent of cloud computing and technological advances have made automation a reality, bringing not only quality and consistency but also governance and reliability, improving return on investment by a removal/reducing manual effort which improved operational efficiency.

1. IMPROVED OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY: Particularly in the service industry, automation has given leverage to overcome the traditional barriers between information and communication, by enhancing customer onboarding and engagements that help generate revenues. As per Industry reports, it has been observed that customers prefer a company if they can interact with them. We know the operational cost associated with opening and maintaining a call center. Small business cannot afford to have one, but automated phone lines they can afford to look after their huge client base by providing basic information about their products or services, process payment, and other non-essential queries.

2. QUALITY & CONSISTENCY: Quality is a crucial parameter that cannot be undermined, whereas automation makes sure that all actions are carried out the same way to ensure the consistently good quality outcome, with reliable on-time results. With Automation, generating reports to scheduling social media posts or be it to deliver email marketing campaigns can be performed with ease. Data has become the driving force for contemporary business operations, which has helped firms gain key insight into consumer behavior, audience engagement and their buying patterns. Without automation, it is impossible to think about handling huge amount of data and to safeguard clients and staff information. Automation software’s like BiG EVAL provide data quality solutions for the whole life cycle of data to turn the principle into value in / value out. Hence, automation software has become an indispensable tool for business operations, which can help us maintain, recover and save data This, in turn, can provide a high level of service to your customers at low costs.

3. TIME SAVINGS: Time management is of prime importance when it comes to service deliverables. Most of the employees have been observed performing repetitive tasks which are viewed as counterproductive and boring. Automation can help automate many of these repetitive tasks, which can either reduce headcounts or deploy your employees to do something more important or scale your business. Hence this has two aspects, one that allows to use staff members more effectively and secondly to hire only staff which are necessary, cutting down on expensive outsource workers and extra staffing. Just imagine what a 30% increase in staff productivity would contribute towards business operations?

4. GOVERNANCE & RELIABILITY: Automation can handle complex work, eliminating hours of manual work without any error. One of the prime concerns with companies is to avoid human errors. Automation has not only brought expertise but also reduced processing errors. Making an error would mean operational loss with high penalty or compensation, also putting reputation at stake.

5. REDUCED TURNAROUND TIMES & COSTS: Leveraging automation would mean, teams, spend less time creating tickets, working on them and eliminating unnecessary tasks. Manual work is synonyms to perform one task at a time which is labor-intensive and need long hours, which would increase the overhead cost. Automation helps streamline the process, increase accountability, transparency and centralize processes which in turn helps to optimize the flow of information throughout, example – production, billing, servicing and more. Hence, we can claim it as the key ingredients for any company to grow and serve more clients…

6. BETTER COLLABORATION: Creating and maintaining several spreadsheets, account data is no easy job either, let alone retrieving any specific information out of them on time. Automation platforms increase transparency into business operations by consolidating data in such a way that at any point of time one can figure out the performance of the organization as well as the of the team members. Even though the implementation of automation is not cheap, need dedicated developing team who can respond to challenges posed by the change in market trends and requirements, and there are no immediate returns, still, automation is a necessity to sustain in the market.

Automation and predictions

Experts believe that there will be a complete re-embodiment of chatbot features with enterprise expectations. From being just providing simple service desk functions, chatbots may have voice and chat enabled cognitive knowledge engines that can address a range of customer requirements. Automation coming in aid to governance and compliance will be a reality, for example, EU’s GDPR will enforce organizations to automate their processes to enhance their accuracy, speed, and governance. Such encouragement will initiate setting up of automation centers by the enterprises which will be a move towards governance and compliance. Risk management, auditing, controlling and change management activities will gain prominence. For any automation please check Wyzebulb for connecting all your apps.

Legal Branding

How a Blog Influences Business Marketing Strategies

The digital world has become quite a noisy place. For brands, this means that the struggle to stay on the surface, memorable, and noticeable is now greater than it has ever been. It’s not just that other companies, your competitors that have come to take over a slice of their digital pie, it’s also about individuals who clog the internet’s arteries with the content of all sorts, making it much more difficult for people to find your content which actually delivers value. 

Any brand’s marketing strategy serves to overcome these complex hurdles, and it’s never a simple strategy with a handful of approaches that delivers results. Any marketing expert will tell you that paid ads alone have no chance without the support of organic engagement, ongoing content creation, email campaigns, social media, and many other digital marketing features. This time, let’s focus on how your blog impacts your marketing outcomes and how it can help you preserve your brand’s relevance.

Build authority around your brand

When Microsoft speaks about internet security and shares their tips on how to make your online behavior safer – the entire world shuffles in its seat and listens up. This kind of authority is built over decades, and it takes time to take the throne of any given industry, and even more to retain it. You might not have the scope, or the reach of Microsoft and similar players, but your goal should nonetheless be the same, to become a leader in your field.

Blogs are a perfect tool for just that. Blogging has become a key resource for defining and refining your brand’s voice, one that lets you show the world how useful your products or services can be without directly selling them. That is why marketers use blogs to build trust in the brand’s given industry so that they can leverage that trust down to the line to increase sales, subscriptions, social media participation, and more. 

Increase engagement rates

Your marketers thrive on engagement. When they spot a content piece that spikes your customers’ interest and gets them talking and discussing relevant topics, they’ll be all over your content team to deliver more, equally effective content. Why? Because ultimately, engagement on your website and on social media profiles where you share your blogs, lead to greater recognition from search engines, better SERP positioning, and more visibility.

When people start talking about and sharing your content, more people will see it, share it, and talk about it. This incredibly brilliant cycle of engagement helps your marketing team spread brand awareness through your blog posts, and increase your chances of conversions. 

Boosts conversion rates 

And this is where marketers truly flip of pure joy at the mention of successful blogs for any brand. All the resources you invest in a wide array of marketing tactics serve a common goal: to get more visitors to become your customers. That, however, cannot be done with the help of a single isolated blog post, no matter how successful it may be. It takes dedication, consistency, and creativity to constantly deliver blog content that shows just how relevant your brand is.

To achieve such creativity and consistency, many brands work with a reputable digital creative agency to take over their content creation needs and create a blogging strategy that will complement their entire marketing output. Only a well-rounded marketing approach, sealed with a blogging strategy, can boost conversion rates consistently and on a long-term scale. Each effective call to action you add to your blog has the potential to turn your readers into buying customers. And each time you write a gripping blog with valuable information, you slowly qualify those leads one at a time. 

Inspires loyalty among your customers

Once a purchase is made thanks to all that blogging effort, you have the opportunity to use your content to transform them from one-time shoppers into loyal customers. Unlike your paid ads and other content that’s promotional in nature, your blog is anything but. It has all the potential in this world to instill trust in your readers. And when you consistently deliver content that exceeds their expectations, they will look to you for tips and advice.

Suddenly, your paid ads and your sponsored posts no longer seem so intrusive, now that you’ve earned their trust. They might even perceive them as a useful way to find out about deals and sales, contests, and freebies. Blogs are a potent tool to help give meaning and substance to all other marketing tools you choose to use. 

Solve real customer problems 

Your brand already exists in order to solve a problem for your customer, enhance their quality of life, or provide them with the kind of entertainment they crave. Sometimes, however, your customers need that nudge in the right direction to realize that your brand can have a meaningful role in their life. Enter: blog posts that offer real-life solutions for real-life problems related to your industry.

Not only do you build authority around your brand, but you effectively provide free advice to your readers, who will recognize the value of what you’re sharing. They will also recognize your brand’s place in the problem-solving equation and reach the conclusion on their own, without pushy sales tactics.

Blogging means playing the long game, where you reap some immediate rewards, but the benefits that come later can shape your brand into an industry leader that it aspires to be. Recognize the potential your blog has for your marketing success, and you’ll be able to use it for all other aspects of your business growth, too.

Digital BrandingLegal Branding

How to Invest in Foreign Markets

If you’re an investor, putting your money into foreign markets makes a lot of sense. We all know how important portfolio diversification is and foreign markets may be exactly what you need to spread out your investments. However, this is one of those things that are easier said than done. Anything from language barriers to foreign regulations can become an issue and make your job much more difficult. In case you’re looking for some help, here’s how to invest in foreign markets with stock apps.

Be aware of the risks

One of the first things we have to mention about investing in foreign markets is that it can be quite risky. After all, you probably don’t know much about the markets you’re investing in nor are you familiar with the political situation in those specific countries. Things like this are important since they can affect your investments on so many levels. Although investing in foreign markets comes with its risks, it’s still worth doing because it’s a great addition to your portfolio. However, it’s recommended that you don’t allocate more than 25 percent of your money to them. No matter how much money you invest in these markets, it’s first necessary to do some research, just to make sure you’re making the right decision.

Don’t forget to rebalance

We already said that investing in foreign markets isn’t easy. Still, setting up your foreign investors isn’t necessarily the most difficult part of it. With a little bit of research, you should be able to find markets that look worth investing in and exactly what your portfolio needs. But what comes after is a lot of rebalancing. You can’t just keep contributing the same amount into each of your investments every month. Instead, it’s up to you to keep track of how well each of these markets is doing and rebalance your investments accordingly. These efforts can turn out to do wonders for your investments, especially if you look at it long-term.

Work with the pros

As mentioned above, investing in foreign markets can be tough. The internet is a great place for finding information, but that information isn’t always going to be as accurate as you may think. Even if you do find the right markets to invest in, executing those investments can prove to be challenging as well. The good news is, there are experts like those at ETF who can help you find the best solutions for your portfolio. These companies are specialized in foreign markets and know much more about them than you’ll be able to find online. Turn to these experts if you want to ensure you make the right investments and do a huge favor to your portfolio.

Choose the right stocks

When investing in foreign markets, it’s extremely important to identify the right stocks to put your money into. Have in mind that these aren’t always the stocks that are expected to bring the most income in the next couple of years. Instead, it’s up to you to figure out how much money you’re working with and how much risk you can accept. Once you know exactly what you’re ready to do, only then you can find the “best” stocks to buy in foreign markets. If you’re not sure where to begin, just take a look at the stocks you already own and try not to go with something too different. Coming up with a list of both short-term and long-term goals can help as well.

Try to be consistent

Most rookie investors believe that it’s all about making your investments at the right time, especially when investing in foreign markets. However, trying to sell your stocks just before decline or buy them just before they reach their value increases is usually just a fool’s errand. We’ve seen a lot of examples where “staying in cash” tactic outperformed bad timing by a lot. Therefore, don’t put too much thought into headlines about “Brexit” or financial situation in Greece. Instead, being consistent with your investments should help you perform at your best. If you hear about the next emerging market, don’t just go and assume your timing is right. Do your research and only then consider investing in that specific market.

Final thoughts

Some say that people are now more ready to take risks when it comes to their investments than they did a decade or two ago. Even if this is true, it doesn’t really have to translate into poor investment decisions. Instead, it means you should be more ready to explore different options such as foreign markets. Still, however, investing in these markets requires a lot of hard work and getting all the assistance that you might need. Do everything right and you’ll ensure you maximize your returns over time.

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Digital BrandingPersonal Branding

Looking for a Better Brand Awareness? Why Launch PPC Campaigns When SEO Fails!

PPC or Pay Per Click Advertising is one of the most effective and affordable ways for a business to generate targeted traffic to the website. In fact, some businesses have found immense success with PPC campaigns, especially in cases where search engine optimization failed to bring them the desired results!

If you examine PPC ads, you will find that it alleviates the stress of the business being listed on the first page. It permits your business to be on the first page of a search engine and get a large volume of targeted traffic as well as visitors. The PPC ads can be seen on the right- hand side of the page results of the search engine. The PPC advertising campaign, if done correctly, can really generate a lot of ROI and targeted audience for the business, especially when SEO fails to work!

Now, the question is when and how can a business launch an effective PPC ad campaign that works?

When you have tried SEO techniques and strategies that have proved ineffective, you can resort to PPC campaigns that ensure you get faster-targeted traffic and results. The following are some top reasons why you should choose PPC campaigns for your business:

 

  • No competition- One of the biggest reasons why you should launch PPC campaigns is because it has zero competition. The process works in a special way, here the visitor searches for a particular product or service on the search engine and the possibility of them finding the product or service they want on the second or the third page is rare. With PPC campaigns, you are able to place your ads on the first page of the search engine results. Moreover, PPC campaigns actually reduce the need for spending on SEO campaigns that take time and long to show positive results. 
  • Better visibility- With Pay per Click campaigns, you are able to get improved visibility on Google. This gives rise to more clicks and sales. So, if you are struggling with SEO campaigns, you can consult experienced and skilled PPC experts to help you get better visibility online and more revenue for your products and services. 
  • Affordable for most businesses- Another plus point for PPC advertising is it is economical for most businesses. You only pay for the PPC ad when a visitor clicks on it. In this way, the business owner is able to save money as unnecessary costs are avoided. If you compare the costs of PPC campaigns in the long run to SEO, you will find they are much cheaper and affordable, even for small business owners.
  • Check whether your product or service has potential or not in the market- With PPC campaigns, you can actually check whether your product or service has potential or not in the market. PPC ads will give you real insights on the potentiality of the product or the service and whether it will succeed in the market or not. For instance, if you have launched a new product or service in the market and still unsure on how your targeted audience will respond to it, clicks on your PPC for the product or the service will give you the correct information. With SEO campaigns, you need to wait for some time to decide on whether the product offers you potentiality or not.
  • Better brand awareness- With the help of esteemed experts in PPC, one can increase the brand awareness of products and services with success. Skilled professionals will manage your PPC campaign to give you the desired results. Experts from esteemed companies like https://siteimprove.com/en-us/ads/ppc-management/ state that even if web visitors do not click on the ad, they will come across the name of your brand. In this way, brand awareness of your product and services increase. Moreover, when people are aware of the brand, you do not have to spend a lot of money on product launches and advertising campaigns to spread awareness. Since the ads for the product are displayed on the right hand of the first page of the search engine, you already create an online presence for your product or service with success. It is a natural method to generate traffic and get results.

  • Get faster results for your PPC advertisement online- With the help of PPC ads, you are able to generate faster results for your advertisements with success. When your ad comes online, and you do not have many visitors, this means that your ad is not doing well. This is where you should make changes to your advertisement. For instance, the ad copy of your advertisement might not have proper keywords or the style of writing needs to be changed. Once you get this instant feedback for PPC ads, you can improve the ad. With SEO, the process will take time to evaluate, and you need to wait for some weeks or months to see results. Changes to your SEO strategies can only be made at that time.
  • Location- PPC experts state that you can get the best results from your PPC campaigns if you target your customers in geographical locations. If you think that your product or service will do really well in another region or part of the globe, target the PPC ad to those customers to enjoy positive results. In a short span of time, you will get results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore, when it comes to PPC campaigns, you will find that you get short term results and better revenue. In case you have launched SEO, campaigns and have been working on it for a long time with no positive results; it is high time that you switch to PPC ads for your business. Like SEO professionals, there are dedicated PPC experts to counsel and guide you in the process. Bank on PPC companies that have proven track records and good credentials in the market. With them, you are able to improve the lead conversions of your business and generate more revenue in cases where SEO fails!