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Showing posts from 2017

What Your Customers are Worth (and Why it Matters)

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What is the value of a customer? What profit can they bring this week? This year? Over a lifetime? It may seem like a simple concept, but many small businesses have no idea what a regular customer is worth to their business. This creates two problems: Uncertainty about effective marketing. What is the number of new customers you'd like to attract and what is an appropriate budget to do that? Defining a customer value will guide your marketing strategies! Ambivalence regarding customer retention. With a metric for measuring customer values, you can navigate appropriate parameters for retaining them or expanding their business. Research shows that increasing customer retention rates by merely 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%! Customer Lifetime Value While there are many complex formulas for calculating a Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), a basic approach is to break calculations into five digestible portions, like this: Average Order Value (AOV) . On the

Cash Flow and Marketing: What You Need to Know

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Cash flow is important in the lifespan of any business, but one of the key things to understand is that it's about more than just "money in versus money out." It's a valuable look into the bigger picture of what you're doing, and by having a handle on this aspect of your finances, you can take advantage of business opportunities when they arise. First, you need to understand how every element of your business relates to this cash flow concept, including marketing. To that point, marketing has a very specific relationship with cash flow that you're going to need to be aware of moving forward. Hone Your Budget Yes, it's true that marketing costs can often seem unpredictable. However, working hard to hone your marketing budget can make these unexpected situations easier to deal with. To get started, sit down and think about your upcoming marketing efforts in relation to your other expected cash inflows and outflows. You can't afford to th

Repeat Success is No Small Achievement

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Arnel Pineda never imagined that he would be fronting the world-famous rock band, Journey, when he began singing American rock songs with his friends' band as a teenager. For years his exceptional singing talent had been good enough to belt out songs with club bands doing parties, special events, contests, weddings, and regular appearances around the Philippines, Pineda's home country. However, one evening Pineda was filmed doing his performance with a particular Journey song, "Don't Stop Believin'." The performance, as well as Pineda's accuracy in singing the song so similar to how the original version was sung by the first Journey frontman, Steve Perry, shocked people. It also shocked the guitarist and an original member of Journey, Neil Schon, when he watched the YouTube video as well. One would think that the fairytale story ended at this point as Pineda rocketed to fame as Journey's replacement singer. However, that's not quite how things

Bullies, Burgers, and Buzz

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What do Whopper Juniors and bullying have in common these days? They are both being talked about. A LOT. Recently, Burger King released a three-minute video in honor of National Bullying Prevention month . The viral video revealed that 95 percent of customers were willing to report their smashed, "bullied" Whopper Jr., but only 12 percent stood up for a high school student being harassed in the same store. The "No Junior Deserves to be Bullied" spot received national attention, generating countless online shares and loads of free publicity. One blogger said this: "Yes, this is basically a three-minute Burger King ad. And, yes, it's not subtle. But this PSA is better than it has a right to be, and is certainly more than you'd expect from a restaurant that doesn't really have an ethical obligation beyond selling burgers . . . this weirdly good anti-bullying PSA will wreck your day ." Viral: Why Certain Messages Multi

Ways to Protect Your Brand in the Real-Time Information Age

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A brand is more than just a company logo, and it's bigger than any one particular product or service. Instead, it's the feeling that people get when they think about your company. It's what goes into the instinct they have regarding whether or not to make a purchase. A brand is also massively important in terms of how successful your marketing efforts will be in the long-term. The impression someone has of your brand is something that occurs almost immediately. 48% of consumers say that they are more likely to become loyal to a brand if their first experience is a positive one, regardless of whether or not that experience actually took the form of a purchase. That means your brand must be protected at all costs, particularly in the real-time information age that we're now living in. People are being marketed to from nearly every angle. If you don't work hard to strengthen and hone your brand, you run the risk of being lost in the shuffle. Hope is not lost,

Maintaining a Work/Life Balance: Why Perspective Is Key

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Work/life balance? No problem, right? But then those daily tasks start to add up and your nights start getting longer. You start going in on the occasional Saturday, then the "frequent" Saturday. Pretty soon you're so bogged down with your "to-do" list that you can't even think about taking that vacation with your family. Maintaining a proper work/life balance is a challenge, sure - but it's also a lot easier than you might think. Enjoying Life is a Task, Too When the pendulum that is your work/life balance begins to swing decidedly in the direction of "work, work, work," you start to encounter a few key problems almost immediately. You're trying to do too much at the same time, and the quality of work tends to suffer. You're also getting burned out, which leads to less getting done because you lack the motivation to push on when you need it the most. This is a large part of the reason why experts agree that you should l

Print Advertising Feels Like Printing Money

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Wouldn't it be great if you could print your own money? Life would be so much easier, right? Well, maybe not, but here's a little secret that feels like printing money: print advertising. Print Advertising is Like Printing Money Good advertising can go a long way for your business. Sometimes it's hard to explain what good advertising is, but you know it when you've seen it. Whether it's a heartfelt image or a tagline that makes you think, there's just something about incredible advertising that has a way to move and motivate you. Good print advertising can inspire you to make a change, donate to a cause, or purchase that cool, new tech device. It provides everyone who passes it, holds it, or takes it out of a mailbox the chance to see that printed information. And, since print advertising is often locally targeted, it means that you can create a far more personal connection to your community than you can with digital ads. Every time someone sees

What Leadership Really Means in the Era of Working Remotely

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More employees are working remotely than ever before. According to research conducted by GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com , roughly 50% of the workforce in the United States holds a job that is "compatible" with at least partial telework. Of those people, about 20 to 25% of them actually do work remotely at some frequency. More than that, a further 80 to 90% say that they would really like to work remotely at least part time - pointing to a trend that is only going to get more popular as time goes on. Employees who are all able to work from home (or wherever they'd like, really) sounds fantastic... if you're an employee. But what if you're an employer? More than that, what if you're a leader? How do you continue to do your job of bringing people together to benefit the greater good if they're all spread out over a potentially massive geographic area? The Job Hasn't Changed... The "good news" is that the leadership qualities requir

Your Company's Waste Makes This Man Rich

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Matt Malone would probably be considered an odd fellow and maybe even mentally ill by those seeing him on the street. However, for those who know Malone personally, they might think that he's a genius. Malone is, in modern terms, known as a dumpster diver . That involves essentially going into large dumpster bins and rummaging around to see what people have thrown away. Malone was first introduced to the practice by accident when working in a company that got rid of far too much valuable, working equipment. What he realized at first was that the items were still usable, valuable, and most importantly, functional. However, when he took them home and started making inventions with the items, he realized something more - people wanted what he was finding and were willing to pay real cash for the items. Diamonds in the Rough Today, Malone is at an expert level, finding gems in the rough and converting them into sales of hundreds and even thousands of dollars. In fact, h

4 Productivity Tools That Will Give You Back Your Sanity

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Whether you're working from home or the office, distractions happen, and they can be a productivity killer. Nearly everyone has an example of weeks that you look back on and wonder "What happened? I know I was busy . . . " while still feeling as though you've accomplished nothing. With deadlines crashing down on your head and the constant demands of family and work, it's important to be as productive as possible to maintain your sanity. These productivity tools are vetted by experts to help bring balance back to your life -- while still getting things done. 1. Time Trackers Even if you're not a fan of tracking every task that comes across your desk, a time tracker can provide a valuable way to give yourself mental freedom from specific tasks. For instance, what if instead of tracking the time you're doing something, you track the time when you're not doing something -- like checking email? Set a timer for three hours and (gasp!) close your emai

4 Ways to Incorporate Humor at Work

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Nothing is more embarrassing than telling a joke and having it fall flat at work, but don't let that stop you from adding appropriate humor to the workplace, as it can be a great way to reduce tension and improve overall relations. Having fun with the people you spend at least 40 hours per week with can raise your mood and boost camaraderie throughout your office. Here are some of the top ways you can incorporate humor at work: 1. Hire for Personality and Cultural Fit When you're the hiring manager or simply someone able to have input into hiring processes, try to look for someone to join the team who approaches work seriously, and themselves lightly. This could come in the form of an easy smile, a little self-deprecating humor, or the ability to find the amusing side in everyday situations that others may consider stressful. When you have someone on your team who can inject some fun into the workplace, it gives others permission to crack a smile as well. 2. Enc

Why Educated Confidence Will Carry You Far In Business

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To say that confidence is an important quality for a business leader to have is an understatement. At any given time, your employees are going to be looking to you to make decisions and provide insight. They need to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you're confident in the actions you're taking. You need to know that you've given serious thought to the long, often difficult road ahead of you and that you're making the right move for the right task at the right time. If people can see that you believe in yourself, in your business, and what you've worked so hard to build, they'll start to believe in those things, too. But something many people often don't realize until it's far too late is that "confidence" and " educated confidence" are NOT the same thing. What is Educated Confidence? Trust, belief, faith, conviction - these are all among the most essential ingredients that go into creating a confident leader. But on

You Can Never Have Too Many Purchase Points

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The sales funnel in a business has changed dramatically in recent years, thanks in large part to how digital and print marketing have been married together. The customer experience is now a fragmented one, and if you're only giving your audience one opportunity to buy, you could be leaving lots of money on the table. In truth, you can never have too many purchase points in today's modern climate for a number of key reasons. How Freedom Gave Way to Multi-Point Marketing The internet, in particular, has naturally led purchasing decisions to become more complex over time. Because more information is now readily available than at any point in the history of consumerism, people now spend huge volumes of time researching before they make that move towards a purchase. They're also getting their information from many different sources. Dimensional Research conducted a study that revealed 90% of people are influenced by online reviews before making a purchase. Another study

That Cranberry Drink of Yours Might be 87 Partnership Years Old

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The typical perspective taught in business class is that one must compete against other similar businesses to obtain, hold onto, and grow a market share. And for that to happen, either the market must be new, or someone has to give up some of their market shares to make room for a new business. However, while this "top dog" approach is treated as the norm in capitalism, it's not always the best approach to business success. Making Cranberries Successful The Great Depression of 1929 began because of a stock market crash and a sudden loss of cash liquidity. As a result, both successful and not so successful businesses were destroyed when the crash occurred. However, in 1930, amidst the worst economic condition the U.S. had seen and with thousands out of work, the Ocean Spray Cooperative was started in Massachusetts. This cooperative venture, started by three separate cranberry farm growers, was the result of a smart and realistic realization that going it alone

Millennials Hate your Marketing -- Here's Why (and what you can do about it)

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You've done it! You researched the young adult market, identified their buying power, and now that "just for millennials" campaign has launched and you're waiting for the leads to roll in. But instead, nothing happens. What's behind the lack of attention and response from this coveted age group? Adults under the age of 30 make up about 1.4% of the U.S. population and pack about 1.3 trillion in buying power domestically. This massive market is made up of savvy consumers who are digital natives and who are very aware of marketing and advertising. So, why aren't they paying attention to your marketing? It could be one of these three reasons. You Treat Them as an Afterthought It's a common misconception that millennials, particularly young ones, don't have the money to buy things or that they waste their money on the wrong things, like avocado toast and pumpkin spice lattes. The problem with this approach is that brands who see these young

How to Inspire Those Around You Like the True Leader You Were Meant to Be

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Even business professionals with the best of intentions often make the mistake of assuming that solid leadership is about one thing and one thing only: delegating responsibility. You've worked hard your whole life and you've ascended through the ranks - now is the time when people should start listening to what you have to say, right? Yes, but not in the way you think. You're the Inspiration In truth, employees shouldn't be doing what you say just because you're the one saying it. They should be following your guidance because they want to, they're inspired to, and if given the opportunity, they'd be steering that proverbial ship in the same direction that you've chosen. To get there, though, you're going to have to do more than just bark orders. You're going to have to inspire. Here are a few key things to keep in mind when trying to inspire others. Leaders Who Inspire Support Their Employees in More Ways Than One One of the

Why Patience is One of the Most Important Qualities a Leader Can Have

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The chasm between a leader and a great leader is a deep one. It is one that is often filled with qualities like clarity, decisiveness, courage, passion, and a healthy amount of humility given the circumstances. But one of the major qualities that is essential to leadership that people don't talk about nearly enough is patience. When patience is practiced wisely, it can have a dramatic effect on your entire organization from the top down. The Ripple Effect of Patience In general, patience is more important than just being willing to wait for results. Yes, all people are different and employees need to be given room to move at their own pace for the sake of quality. But, the true benefit of patience runs much deeper. First and foremost, patience shows respect in a way that also encourages productivity at the same time. If you're the type of leader who delegates responsibility but then spends hours each day telling people to "hurry up" or to "get th

Wish You Were More Productive? Try These 3 Tips!

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Being productive means making room for the things you really want and uncovering new and innovative ways to work smarter, not harder. Thankfully, it's a lot easier than you probably think it is. If you want to become more productive, here are a few key traits you should focus on. Take Frequent Breaks to Recharge Yourself Although this may seem a bit on the counterintuitive side, studies have shown that taking frequent breaks throughout the day help to recharge yourself. Our "biological clock" has two basic forms that are dictated by our natural twenty-four (circadian) rhythms and our shorter than a day, but longer than an hour (ultradian) rhythms. Our ultradian rhythms essentially function in 90-minute intervals. This is why it's so easy to go from "firing all cylinders" to "boy I need a nap" and back again throughout the course of your work day. Remember that managing your time and managing your energy are not mutually exclusive. Tak

The Art of Time-Blocking: A Simple Tip to Revolutionize Your Productivity

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Most people just aren't that good at multitasking. Trying to remain focused (and organized) is one of the most significant time wasters, especially in the life of a business professional. When you try to do too many things at the same time, you become a "Jack of all Trades, Master of None." Just when you're trying to get work done on that big project, another email comes in that you have to respond to. You hop over to your email client and suddenly the phone is ringing, or you realize that you have to proof a new design before it heads out the door. It's maddening. Thankfully, there is a better way. By adopting the fine art of time-blocking , you may have just found the simple, yet effective technique you've been looking for to unlock a bold new era of productivity in both your personal and professional life. What is Time-Blocking? At its core, time-blocking is the idea that you should segment your day into clearly defined (and strictly adhered to)

The One-Trick Pony Syndrome

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Have you ever heard the phrase, "a one-trick pony?" Researchers believe the "one-trick pony" phrase comes from an entertainment background. According to research, the earliest reference was associated with circus ponies used to perform a trick or feat that impressed audiences. The ponies involved could do an amazing act, such as walking on their hind feet, but that was all they could do. Eventually, the audiences got bored with the show. In one version of the story, a pony had a dog partner that would ride on it. While the audience got sick of seeing the pony do the same thing every time the circus was in town, the dog gained fame because it learned and began to perform new tricks. In time, the dog became the star, and the pony was relegated to hauling circus carts. Is Your Business A One-Trick Pony? The moral of the story here is not to allow your business to get stuck on only one good thing. It's tempting to think that if you have something good go

What Happened to Summer? Back-to-School Marketing Starts Earlier Than Ever

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The temperature is soaring, steaks sizzle on the grill, and kids play in the pool, but not everyone is thinking summer. Back to school season is starting earlier than ever for big retailers and the impact trickles over into all aspects of marketing. Both Office Depot and Land's End launch back to school campaigns at the start of summer - in some cases before school even ended in some parts of the country. This is a change even from last year; according to AdAge , 2016 saw back to school marketing head into full swing around the middle of July. Time magazine cites the need for retailers to make as many revenues as possible during the highest spending periods as the reason Black Friday, Halloween, and Back to School promotions are being scheduled earlier than ever before. When does Back to School Begin? Big retailers working on the premise that earlier is better have begun pushing back-to-school marketing back each year. Back to school is big business for retailers, since

Indra Nooyi: A Story in Being Yourself and Persistence

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Have you ever heard of Indra Nooyi? Maybe not, but you've probably bought her product at one time or another in the past year. Ms. Nooyi is the CEO of Pepsi-Co., the makers of the popular and well-known Pepsi soda brand. However, her position at Pepsi is not necessarily what is the most amazing fact of her story. Granted, reaching the status of being a Fortune 500 company CEO is huge and significant, but how Ms. Nooyi got her start is the real story. That's because she risked everything with no safety net to fall back on. Some Compelling Advice Indra Nooyi came to the U.S. like so many other great minds, arriving as a student immigrant. Ms. Nooyi jumped to a slot in Harvard's master's degree program in business. However, graduating wasn't her biggest challenge. It was translating her academic success into a result: getting a job. Ms. Nooyi's first real interview was total failure - no connection, no rhythm, no job. However, she received a piece of advic

5 Tips for Effective Direct Mail

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Every day but Sunday, the mailbox delivers surprises. Of course, much of what arrives in the mail is expected, but that element of surprise never wanes. The mail might contain a card from a loved one, a check you didn't expect, or a great offer from a local company, via direct marketing. Successful direct marketing campaigns don't happen by accident, but a small business doesn't need to pour substantial amounts of money into such an endeavor to achieve a good result. That means rather than mass marketing, modern direct mail campaigns concentrate on targeted marketing. When businesses use effective direct mail marketing, they not only boost their bottom line, but add excitement to the routine of picking up the mail. 1. Set Your Goals As a business, what do you expect this mailing to accomplish? Have a firm plan in mind ahead of time. What is your budget for this mailing? What kind of ROI do you think you'll receive? Crunch the numbers before embarking on a direct

4 Essential Tips for Time Management On-the-Go

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It happens to the best of us: you've worked hard to build a daily routine that lets you maximize every second of every day. You've mastered the fine art of working smarter, not harder, and everyone in the office is jealous of your productivity skills. Then, that upcoming business trip (or even vacation) gets slotted on the calendar and threatens to jeopardize everything you've built up to this point. Take a deep breath and relax. Staying as productive as humanly possible while on-the-go is a challenge, yes, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. If you want to make the best use of your time while you're out of the office, here are four simple, yet essential, tips you'll want to focus on. 1) Beware of Those Time Zones You know how it takes everyone a few days to recovery from the hour gained or lost due to Daylight Savings Time? Time zones are even worse for your productivity, especially if you're not a frequent traveler. If you're going t

Lessons We Can Learn From Great Business Minds of Yesteryear

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Business leaders of yesteryear can teach us lessons even today. Cornelius Vanderbilt, who dominated shipping and railroads, John Pierpont "J.P." Morgan, who built a financial empire on investments and banking, Mary Kay Ash, who founded the exceptionally successful company Mary Kay Cosmetics, and John D. Rockefeller, who founded Standard Oil as was America's very first billionaire are all worthy of admiration and have lessons they can teach us. Today, though, let's look at one businessman, in particular, Henry Ford. Who Was Henry Ford And How Did He Make An Impact in The Country? Henry Ford, born in 1863, was a U.S. Industrialist who revolutionized automobile production, which allowed his company to mass produce cars, thus bringing the price down. This, in turn, allowed more regular folks to purchase cars and led to Ford Motors becoming hugely successful. In essence, Ford did more than creating a successful company; he revolutionized the entire transportation