Digital BrandingSaaS Branding

A STEP-BY-STEP Guide to creating a SWOT Analysis for your brand strategy

on October 10, 2018

When you set out to build your brand strategy – it’s always best to be number 1 in a new market – then number 2 or number 3 in an already crowded market. But, how do you build a great foundation for your venture?

The answer? A SWOT Analysis.

WHAT IS A SWOT ANALYSIS?

A SWOT analysis of your brand strategy would give you an idea about the strengths (S), weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O), and threats (T) of your brand’s ability to dominate the market.

SWOT ANALYSIS EXAMPLE

Let’s take real-life scenarios. A good friend of the writer named Sameer was starting a business where he would buy journals from India and sell it to the United States through an e-commerce store.

After a lot of research, he found a journal he liked and took his first step towards his goal. Upon the advice of the writer, he followed this step-by-step SWOT analysis for his product.

1 – Evaluate the Strength of your Idea

Sameer first did a quick Google research for the following keywords.

1 – Journals USA Buy

2 – Journals California Buy

3 – Self-improvement Journals USA Buy

4 – Gratitude Journals California Buy

He found some common denominators in the competitor’s websites.

Firstly, he found that there was virtually no copy under any of the products.

Secondly, he found that each of these websites had multiple journals for sale.

So, he found where his strengths lay;

  • He would sell just one journal on his website.
  • He would focus on a benefit-driven copy for his website.

2 – Swallow your Pride and Admit your Weakness

Next, Sameer needed to closely look at his weaknesses.

His biggest weakness was his marketing budget. If he were to take the Ad words route based on the projections, it would cost him close to $25 dollars to acquire a sale.

With a marketing budget of $500, he couldn’t risk running out of capital. So, he decided to explore alternate forms of advertising instead of Ad words.

 

3 – Look for Opportunities in Lesser Crowded Areas

Sameer had been hearing a lot about Instagram shoutouts.

Upon some quick research on Instagram hashtags, he found that the yoga handle has closed to 2 million posts.

Now, coincidentally Sameer practiced Yoga as well. So he decided to put his $500 dollars into marketing his business through shoutouts.

He found the best handles related to yoga and spirituality wrote a quick starter e-book on yoga which he used as a low tripwire offer of about $7 and then created an upsell page with the journal with a tagline “Journal like a Yogi”.

 

4 – Search for threats that can effectively shut you down

Sameer’s biggest threat now was the long lead time that comes with going through the funnel approach.

Upon his first couple of shoutout tests, he found that he got a 2% conversion on each shoutout expenditure.

So, at about $50 per shoutout – he would get close to 5 sales of his e-book. But no one was buying his journal.

He was $200 short and had just about $300 left before he ran out of his capital.

After looking at the analytics on his Upsell page – he found that a majority of the users bounced off within the first 10 seconds.

After a lot of dwelling, he decided to test a down sell page.

So after a user purchased his e-book he would then send them to the Upsell page for his journal.

Once a user clicks away from the page – he sent them to a down sell page where he gave the customer $20 off their first purchase.

After sending about 5000 people to his website – he saw that his tripwire e-book sales remained the same but this time he managed to sell one journal which helped break even on his shoutout expenditure.

This was a promising enough start for Sameer to continue on with this venture.

 

CONCLUSION

A SWOT analysis is just a tool you use to fine tune your business strategy. Do not make the mistake of spiraling down the analysis rabbit hole. An action is the greatest key to finding out if your theories are based on sound results or not.

Result driven advertising should help you here. Closely monitor what effect each one of your USP’s or offers has on your customer. Evaluate your cost per lead and lead time and then go about fine tuning it until you can fully automate the process.

Once you have found a good marketing strategy you need to scale up your operations and the best way for you to do that is to use a CRM software for marketing.

Kapture CRM is a cloud-based marketing SaaS provider that helps you automate a lot of the key tasks in your business.

Kapture CRM customizes its offerings according to the needs of your industry. The cloud-based platform can be used over a mobile application as well that is integrated over both iOS and Android platforms as well. Currently, Kapture powers 500+ brands in 12 countries.

 

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Digital Branding

SEO Ranking – Most Important Steps (Beside Keywords)

on October 10, 2018

Everyone knows what SEO is and its importance in today’s marketing world. However, a lot of people seem to be confused by how exactly it works, and what’s important when writing in this style. So if you want your article to appear at the top of the searches, you are going to need to focus on more than just keywords. Of course, keywords are, well – key; but there are other things to pay attention to, and here they are.

Relevant content

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There is a reason people focus on a single topic (or a relevant group) for their website. Sure, there are some websites – predominantly news focused – that cover a broad range of topics, but if you want your content to be optimized, and if you are just starting out, you want all of your content to be relevant to each other. Posting an article that is completely unrelated to your overall theme will throw people off and they might not return, or they might miss your main message completely.

Dwell time

One thing the algorithms look for is how long people actually spend on your site. If they just click to enter and realize it’s not what they expected then click right back out, it will hurt your rating more than help it. This is why misleading titles and introductions are a terrible idea, and why you should employ reader retention strategies. Nowadays, readers’ attention spans are getting shorter, and the “two-minute reads” are getting a lot more attention, but what happens when you want people to stay longer? Well, giving them more content is the easiest way. As soon as they are done reading the first article, they should be offered several others to choose from (all, of course, with eye-catching titles and intros). This will make sure your reader stays with you for as long as they have time.

Track progress

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It’s amazing how many people think that statistics are just for science and that they don’t need to know any of that if they are just running a website. But let’s say you sign up for some SEO reporting that gives you a report on how you are doing on demand and you notice that there was a sudden drop of reader retention and dwell time. What do you do? You investigate. You look for the exact moment that the drop started and see what was done there. Did a campaign suddenly end? Did you post something that people just didn’t like? Did you hire a new writer whose style just didn’t vibe with the readers? All of these are potential reasons you are losing readers and not reaching the peak of the search page. Tracking everything allows you to combat changes and make everything run smoothly.

Good formatting and proper image size

Opening an article and seeing a wall of text is just not something that people want. You might think it’s a way to trick them into reading all of it instead of just the parts that they are looking for, but then you are missing the whole point of writing. All of your articles should be divided into logical paragraphs with proper headings, clearly distinguishable from the rest of the text. Your image sizes should also be optimized, not only for faster load time but for easier reading. Make sure you check how your article looks on several devices, to make sure that the photos don’t shift something to the side or end up in an incorrect place.

Most importantly, make sure that you are always working on your writing. The better the actual articles are, the more people are going to read them and the more they are going to boost your SEO rating. In the end, everything we do can only bring us up so far, but the main quality has to be in the writing itself.

 

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Digital Branding

The Worst Guest Blogging Mistakes

on October 8, 2018

Each owner of a website that accepts guest blog posts is quite aware of the potential benefits. To begin with, guest bloggers can provide a fresh insight and more information about relevant topics, which increases the popularity of the website. Next, regular visitors to the site are offered an opportunity to enjoy a slightly different style of writing, which they may prefer to the one they are used to. Finally, the more content is created, the greater the traffic to the website, which translates into financial profit eventually… if the guest blog posts are not a disaster.

Many people aren’t careful enough when allowing (or writing) guest blog posts. For some, the most important is that some content is created. This is a major problem since quality needs to take precedence over quantity when it comes to running a profitable website. So, what are the most common mistakes found in guest blog posts that we need to avoid?

Content

People read your blog because they are interested in the content you’ve created. If you are skillful enough when it comes to writing, your readers will enjoy it more, but they are primarily interested in what you write, rather than how. Also, though you don’t want to bore people with your posts, you can’t really expect them to learn much from a short post (under 500 words, for example). So, finding the right measure when it comes to the topic and brevity is the key.

Visual aid

The way a blog is written also influences the impact it has on readership. Having long chunks of text rarely stimulates anyone to read the whole post. In most cases, such texts are briefly skimmed and though they may be informative and educational, the impact is likely to be missed. That’s why many successful bloggers resort to using bullets and relevant images to attract attention to the content. The former allows readers to find relevant information easily, while the latter has a great impact on search traffic since images are indexed by Google. However, make sure your choice of images is organic and relevant for the best results.

Not engaging the reader

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Another common problem is the fact that many posts simply don’t engage readers, but simply present information. This is reflected in the choice of register and lack of questions, especially in the introduction. How many times have you started reading something and gave up very soon afterward, because you were just bored? Every reader wants to feel that you’re writing just for them. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to become too personal, though some people may like it. Sharing personal experience is ok, but the trivial details of your life are hardly a matter of anyone’s interest.

Being too prolific

Although you can’t get traffic without posts, you can’t expect that multiple posts each day will help you achieve your long-term goals. It’s impossible to expect that you can maintain (let alone improve) the quality of your posts with hyper-production. This is particularly true for inexperienced bloggers. You don’t want the posts on your page to show symptoms of burnout.

Avoid blogging for blogging’s sake

The internet is saturated with posts about “how to blog” and your post on the same topic is unlikely to provide any relevant new insight unless you are positive you know something that others don’t. Readers are interested in very concrete topics and have come to your website because they thought they’d find what they are looking for or even be pleasantly surprised to learn something they didn’t expect. This element of delighting the visitor is one of those that make your page stand out among thousands of similar ones.

If you manage to avoid these common mistakes when it comes to guest blogging, you will stand very good chances of making the most of having someone else contributing to the growth of your readership and, consequently, bank account. So, be wise when it comes to using this powerful tool.

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Digital BrandingLocal Branding

Make Your Company More Visible

on October 5, 2018

When it comes to running your business, you want to be as “visible” as you possibly can. What do all the big successful companies have in common? They are all “visible,” and they can even be recognized by just their trademark, jingle, or even colors associated with the company. That is the product of tactful and repetitive advertising, and it can work for your company as well.

Giveaway items are a great way to promote your business for a couple of reasons. They make the recipient feel as if you value them and they will remember that you gave them something in return for nothing. It is a great way to establish a bond, and the giveaway item that you give them will continue to remind them of your first meeting as well as your business. It is necessary to make contact with a potential customer numerous times before they will actually engage or buy something, so your giveaway is doing a lot of the work for you.

Great things to give away include pens, apparel such as T-shirts or hats, food, water bottles, and calendars. These make great choices because they are inexpensive so you can invest in many of them to give out and they are also useful, or they are items that most people would want. There is a fine line here though. You want to spend as little as you can in your “freebies” since you will be giving them all away, and you want to keep your costs low so that you can afford the luxury massage table but you also want your promotional items to be something that people will want to keep around for a while.

If your massage business is just starting out, you have a lot of work to do to obtain recognition and to become reputable enough that you will draw in clients. The hardest part about starting a business is that you are the newbie and you haven’t had the chance to make a name for yourself and your services are unknown. Once you draw in a few customers, you will be able to get the word of mouth advertising started, and the best part is that it is free. It is also the very best kind since most people will take the advice of those they know over an ad that they saw somewhere.

There are a few ways to make your company more visible. You should start by registering for and going to a conference focused on your business. It’s a great way to engage potential customers. You should also branch out and visit local businesses owners to see if they are in need of your services. You could even offer them a coupon or incentive to try out your services. They may even let you put some of your business cards in their office for customers to be exposed to.

It is important to do this in person, as it is more likely that they will take you up on the offer than if you called on the phone. You could also join the local Chamber of Commerce. They often offer monthly events that may prove beneficial to your business. Trade shows are an excellent way to gain exposure and don’t forget to offer freebies and coupons to draw in customers. You could also host a workshop or free seminar. It’s a great way to introduce yourself, “sell” your service and answer any questions that your potential clientele may have.

Items that can be shared are a great concept since it is likely that more potential clients will be reached. Be sure to give out an extra freebie to every person so that they can pass it on. Be sure to include your logo on your freebies and to include a link to your website or social media account so that customers will be able to access more information on your company conveniently. Be sure to hand out referral cards as well. Referral cards will motivate people to tell others about your company since there is something in it for them. It is very important to promote your company when you are just starting out so that you can keep snowballing to success. You don’t want to lose your momentum.

Legal Branding

Why Employers Should Drug Test Their Employees

on September 20, 2018

Drug use in the United States has fluctuated over the years, yet one problem which still arises today is not having a work environment free of the dangers of substance abuse. The problem of drug use in the workplace is still a growing trend and many employers are standing up against the prevention of hiring and eliminating drug-using employees in the workplace through instant drug tests which can be a lifesaving asset for your business.  

The Importance of Drug Tests

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) statistics show about 75 percent of the current illicit drug users in the United States 18 and older are employed – that is an estimated 10 million people. Statistics also show that on a daily basis, at least 42,000 Americans come to work under the influence or even getting ‘high’ while on the job. With marijuana being the most commonly used drug and being legalized for recreational use in many parts of the country, we anticipate the number of drug users in the workplace to only increase unless business owners stand up against hiring any drug user or by cleaning up their current list of employees by enforcing a drug testing procedure in their business plan. The burden of drugs in the workplace will get worse if employers do not take extra measures to protect their businesses to screen new and current employees. It is already estimated that businesses lose approximately $100 billion each year alone from problems arising from hiring a drug user. Not only should drug testing be integrated into the hiring process, but it should also be done every couple of months for pre-existing colleagues. If you’re unsure of which products are best, it’s definitely worth researching various drug test kits, but products similar to the 10-panel drug test are great.

The burden and costs to business owners of hiring a drug user in the workforce include:

  • Higher missing work rates
  • Higher accident rates
  • Higher turnover
  • Less quality and productivity work

Keep the Workplace Safe One Employee at a Time

Drug use can impair one’s judgment, give slow reaction times and is just plain out dangerous and a liability nightmare for some business owners. For some businesses, it can be more of a liability to have a drug user as one of their employees, such as factory worker in charge of an assembly line or an employee who is driving on the job making errands or deliveries, can be disastrous in terms of liability and safety. By incorporating a drug screening plan, your employees are looking forward to staying drug-free and you are helping your business avoid those small mistakes which can cause an accident and lead to serious injury or even death. It’s important for employees to be fully cognizant while on the job and that’s why we’ve incorporated an instant drug screening device to help you and your business.

Employee Performance

Employees under the influence of drugs may struggle to stay on task, come in on time or even do the job right. At the end of the day your business will struggle should you be allowing employees who use drugs in your workforce. A common instant use drug test allows employers to target a strategy to exclude those employees who aren’t reaching their full potential due to illicit drug use, removing weak links and improving their company’s performance by eliminating the weak link. At the end of the day, it’s about your business and you need to protect your asset by only hiring viable workers who can show up on time, do the job as described and aren’t a liability for your company.

Turnover Rates

One of the more common issues is any small business is the amount of turnover rates. By prescreening your employees with an instant use drug test as part of a pre-employment procedure, you are opting in possibly saving your business thousands in extra labor costs in terms of the hiring process, training, and work placement. As big as a problem as turnover rates are for many small businesses, instant use of drug tests are a simple way to reduce the problem prior to any employment agreement between the possible employee and your company. 

A Drug Test Made for Your Business

There is no denying that workplace drug testing offers a careful way to establish the truth of someone’s drug use and as a protection, many business owners have opted in using drug test procedures to screen their new hires and current list of employees. In situations where the employee has a responsibility for the safety and/or welfare of others, and the employer has a responsibility to ensure the employees’ competence is viable for the job, is a strong argument for workplace drug tests to be carried out for both liability and productivity of the business.

However, if a workplace drug test procedure will be carried out, there are some basic ethical principles which need to be taken place to avoid any violation of the rights of the employee.

These include, but are not limited to:

  • Consent: Current and upcoming employees should know, ideally prior to taking the job, that drug abstinence is an expectation to fulfill the job at hand, and the workplace drug test is a planned occurrence in the business and mandatory requirement prior to being hired.
  • Confidentiality: People’s privacy must be respected, including whether workplace drug testing has taken place as well as the result.
  • Disability discrimination: An applicant or employee who is taking medication for a disability is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Prescribed medications may turn up on drug tests, and some drugs that would otherwise be illegal (such as opiates) are legitimately prescribed for certain conditions of users with conditions which are prescribed by a doctor. If an applicant is turned down because of a positive drug test, and the applicant’s medication was legally prescribed for a disability, the company could be liable.
  • Repeat tests should be conducted when a workplace drug test is positive, and your employee should be given the opportunity to explain a positive drug test result to avoid possible discrimination or false positive test.
  • Provide resources on addiction counseling and/or rehab for those who are positive on a drug test.

Beyond the immediate financial impact of reduced quality, productivity, and strict liability caused by drug users in the workplace, there is also the long-term risk of losing market share due to a competitor or a loss in business reputation and credibility. With review sites such as Yelp, Google and Angie’s List to name a few, whatever happens even as a one-time occurrence may have a devastating effect on your business for years to come.

By taking the necessary step to protect your business today, you will reduce a great deal of risk by mandating a drug test on a regular occurrence in your HR department hiring process and current employee roaster. As an investment towards your business, the drug test itself is a minimal cost compared to employing a drug user.

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Disclaimers

*Consult with your local state jurisdiction for further laws on state municipal codes regarding employee drug testing. This website or contents within are not listed as legal advice.

Digital Branding

The Groundbreaking Impacts of AI and Machine Learning on Marketing

on September 19, 2018

How AI and Machine Learning Can Revolutionize Marketing

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are two of the hottest buzzwords that are dominating the discourse in business and academic spheres. This is rightly so because AI and machine language have enormous possibilities and applications for various sectors. Essentially, AI and machine learning are a new way of creating problem-solving systems that will have the ability to become self-aware, at least in the distant future.

Marketing being a prominent industry, where AI can play a substantial part and bring revolutionary results. In recent years, there has been a palpable influx of AI-powered advanced data analytics tools (based on machine learning algorithms), growing availability of sophisticated data sets, and an informed decision making based on big data. Machine learning, on the other hand, has extensively changed the landscape of digital marketing by focusing on personalization, behavioral targeting, micro-targeting, and other marketing parameters.

Here is how AI and machine learning will impact marketing:

Processing of data for the success of online marketing

Effecting marketing is utilizing popular platforms to market and sell products; successful marketers have consistently done that. First, it was email marketing, then they depended on Google to advertise their products, and then came Facebook and being used as an important tool. Currently, Instagram and Snapchat are prominent platforms. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are great at working and processing data. As an example, a machine learning system can process the customer behavior of a particular demographic by analyzing which customers can come back and likely to purchase. When this insight is combined with marketing automation, potential customers could be converted by sending them an ultra-relevant deal. Also, in online marketing, when content marketing agency distributes customized content with the help of AI-powered tools to the right audiences, then it is a win-win situation for marketers and customers.

Extreme personalization

Intelligent automation and machine learning will help future businesses personalize and humanize engagement and reach the maximum number of audiences more effectively. Marketers will readily integrate machine language and AI personalization solutions into their strategies. By doing this, they will be able to deliver exponential accuracy and better results, which will immediately impact their bottom lines. Furthermore, AI and machine learning will help businesses personalize offerings as customers shop, optimize their journeys and click paths, and better predict what they want next. This ultra-personalization will result in even greater conversion rates. Online shoppers are increasingly expecting a customized experience now and they want retailers to know their preferences. Thus for online businesses, it is extremely important to customize their online shop with powerful web hosting platform in order to meet customer expectations.

Chatbots for great user experience

Chatbots are already performing certain tasks such as chatting with a user through a conversational interface. So the most advanced bots will be powered by AI and machine learning, helping it to understand complex requests, personalize responses, and improve interactions over time. Since communication is increasingly becoming advanced and chatbots are its new extension. They are taking over social media marketing and allowing marketers to engage with users in terms of content consumption, customer service, and transactional engagements. Chatbots are available to companies of any size, which gives small businesses an opportunity to compete with established brands.

Predictive delivery

Predictive delivery utilizes machine learning algorithms to deliver consumers highly researched, specifically targeted product recommendations, wherever they engage with a brand. 35% of Amazon.com’s revenue is generated by its recommendation engine. Interaction taking place between brands and consumers, whether through e-commerce sites, social media, or in-store, will be stored and tracked down using AI. Predictive solutions then analyze these insights and determine the most logical steps, and finally predict actions that specific consumer profiles will take. Predictive engines will be highly instrumental in creating and executive personalized marketing strategies. These solutions will be fully developed and rendered through mobile apps. Predictive delivery is important because consumers have become more tech-savvy and brand awareness and they are also becoming more cognizant of their options.

Wrap up

There is still a long path to tread since we are in the early days of AI’s influence on consumer behavior. We have yet to hand over our obsession of making decisions to machines. As AI-powered systems become more powerful, reliable and sophisticated, we’ll all start to “outsource” more of our consumer search and choice set construction tasks to AI and machine learning. It is, therefore, critical to understanding AI and machine learning and their powerful potential to shape marketing.

Local Branding

Branding in Bulk: 4 Steps to Successfully Spread Brand Awareness to a Large Audience

on September 18, 2018

Promotional products are a valuable resource for businesses of any size. They help to increase brand awareness and they help you stand out from your competitors, all while successfully targeting the right customer. Customers love getting free items that are useful to them, and you reap all the rewards by staying front-of-mind with anyone that sees the item. Purchasing a few promotional products is one thing. When you really want to see the benefits of them increase exponentially, you purchase promotional products in bulk. To make the most of your marketing budget, you need to follow these four strategic steps:

Set a Clear Objective

There are many reasons to implement a promotional product campaign, and the one you choose will play a role in the type of product you should select. Is your company looking to simply increase brand awareness and spread the word about your organization? Or do you want to increase sales by a certain percentage as a result of the promotional product blitz?

Choose the Right Promotional Product

There are literally hundreds of promotional products available, offering everything from pens to tote bags to USB drives and beyond—but not all of them will work for every business model. To determine the one that will work the best for you, ask yourself these three questions:

  • Who is your target audience? How do they spend their time? What do they do while they are at work? After evaluating these things, you can select a product that will be beneficial to them in their daily lives. Crazy products can get your attention, but it is the functional products that actually get used and help spread your messaging even further.
  • What message do you want to spread? Are you setting the tone for the brand of your business? Do you just want to get attention? Choose a promotional product that fits the quality and appearance of your brand. Every detail matters. A cheap pen will relay to recipients that you are a cheap company, while a classy pen that writes well will help you be known as a top-class brand.
  • What relates to your company? While all promotional products will have your company name on them, if you want the biggest bang for your buck, you will want to tie that product back into your marketing message. Ex: If your company helps to solve a problem, you could give out a Rubik’s cube. Then you could put a catchy phrase on it, such as, “We are here to solve your pest control problems.”

Start Small Before Going Big

After you have gone through the analysis process and determined the ideal promotional product for your company and target market, test your theory. The last thing you want to do is invest your full budget from the get-go only to determine your analysis was wrong. Start small, make sure your hypothesis can be proven, and then start your massive distribution.

Include a Way to Track Success

One of the most challenging aspects of promotional products is tracking their effectiveness. But there are some things you can do to keep tabs on your ROI:

  • Create a landing page for the product that only promotional product recipients have access to.
  • Include a unique promo code to use on your website.
  • Create an email address specific to each product so you can see what people are responding to.
  • Ask customers how they heard about you when they visit your store.

By taking the time to thoroughly investigate your target market and then choosing a product that they will love to use, you can experience great success by using promotional products in bulk.

Legal Branding

Drunk Driving – The Worst Way to Mix Business and Pleasure

on September 16, 2018

Alcohol consumption is ingrained in contemporary business culture. Movies like the Wolf of Wall Street glamorize the idea of mixing business with booze. However, socializing after work can have devastating consequences.

Could a DWI End Your Career?

According to Tyler Flood, Criminal Defense Attorney, many professionals aren’t aware of the seriousness of a DWI.

High profile corporate positions require employees to be outwardly reputable. DWI convictions reflect negatively on organizations. For this reason, high-profile positions are only tenable by employees who can pass rigorous background checks.

How To Behave When Mixing Business With Booze

Socializing after work shouldn’t be avoided entirely. Employees who remove themselves from social events, risk the stigma of ‘not being team players.’ All that employees need to remember, is not to let their hair down completely.

Rules for Surviving Boozy Office Socials

Drunk driving convictions can jeopardize the employability of even entry-level workers. The first rule of socializing is, therefore, to always leave car keys at home.

Consider Participating without Drinking

Office socials are a fantastic way to better connect with colleagues. However, socializing doesn’t have to include alcohol. Instead, consider choosing soft drink alternatives. Doing so will often command respect from peers and higher-ups.

Keep Your Professional Cool – Even if You Don’t Want To

Crossed communication wires are the number one reason behind alcohol-fueled altercations. In office contexts, there will always be someone with opposing views to your own. In this case, remember to project the same professional persona you do at work, during even informal get-togethers.

Like it or Not, Your Boss is Watching

There is always someone at the office Christmas party who takes things too far. You never want to be that person. Employers, clients, and supervisors will pick up on poor etiquette. As far as they are concerned, you still represent your company, even when not officially on duty.

What to do When Things Go Wrong

When mixing business with booze, you need to be on your best professional behavior. Sadly, other people around you might not be.

  • If you see a colleague who seems to be testing their limits, politely pull them aside and advise that they call time on the evening
  • Never stand for behavior which would be considered inappropriate in the workplace
  • If you find yourself at a DWI checkpoint after an office social, follow the advice of Tyler Flood, Criminal Defense Attorney, and know your full rights

Drunk Driving and Roadside Sobriety Tests

Intoxilyzer breathalizers used by police aren’t 100% accurate. Also, when submitting to chemical blood tests, drivers have the right to have independent tests performed within 2-hours of the original.

Even if you are sure you are under safe driving limits, police tests may show false positives. In this case, always seek professional legal advice immediately after a DWI charge.

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