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Cont e nt s 0 2 MessagefromtheEditor 0 3 HowWorldAffairsAffectYourBusiness 0 5 AdvantagesandDisadvantagesofOutsourcing 0 7 5WaystoUseSocialMediatoPromoteYourEvent 1 1 BestAffiliateProgramsfor2017 1 3 MakingIdeasHappenforanyStartup r k e ngS t r a t e g y1 0 1 : HowY ourS ma l l Bus i ne s sCa nMa k eI t 1 5 Ma Bi gi n2 0 1 7
1 9 WhatNottodoonYourBusinessSocialMediaChannels
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How World Affairs Affect Your Business By Malik Muhammad World affairs and politics impact business in real ways. It's understandable to focus on cash flow forecasts, market share, new product launches, annual accounts etc. yet overlooking or underestimating the context in which you run your business may directly impact your profit margin. ABC Ltd may sell reasonably priced clothing in a busy shopping centre. The clothes are end-of-line items bought from large retail outlets who import from a Mediterranean country that just had elections. The new government then changed aspects of the former trade policy that places a higher tariff on imports of certain raw materials.
This tariff has a knock on effect by increasing the price of garment manufacture, then the cost to the retail outlet, the cost to ABC Ltd and the cost to the consumer. If ABC Ltd was already trading on low margins, this will reduce their profit even further. The reduction of profit will negatively impact a business in the long run if left unabated. Britain voted in a recent referendum to leave the European Union. This British vote to exit Europe has commonly been termed: Brexit. Plans are currently afoot to negotiate said departure in a timely fashion and one of the major concerns is the extent
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to which global trading relations will be affected. The benefits that resulted from the economies of scale that came as part of a group within Europe have been usurped by perceived national self-interest. Britain must stand alone and politicians are tasked with forging the path ahead.
reflect pre-tax profits of ÂŁ5.7billion in 2016. Considering that this is a 62% fall on 2015; it is compounded by the fact that most of their profits derive from Asia rather the Europe. When banks experience reduced profits; they generally tighten up on lending and wait for an interest rate increase.
As this unfolds; on the other side of the Atlantic the recently elected USA administration led by President Donald J Trump are reassessing American involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This is an agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States which created a trilateral trade bloc amongst themselves. The reevaluation by the USA is to make this agreement fairer in creating / keeping American jobs. The American market is lucrative and American foreign policy regarding aid and trade feature heavily on the agendas of many governments.
World affairs and politics shape the environment for business growth. A quick peruse of local and national newspapers plus tuning in to international news from at least three different sources are useful habits to develop. Attending business seminars in your industry, being aware of government policy changes and keeping abreast of tax implications will give your business the competitive edge as you strategise to improve your bottom line. Business does not function in a vacuum as there are circumstances over which it has no control. These circumstances are often influenced by world affairs and politics. Being aware of both is, therefore, good for business.
Recent trading accounts of Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC)
About the Author Malik Muhammad was raised and educated in Jamaica, read law in London and is the conceptualiser of The Empowerment Mastery System. He enjoys vegan cooking, quad biking, jazz and yoga. He is an after dinner speaker, workshop facilitator and convenes international & corporate inspirational seminars. Malik is the host of online talk show 'Reasoning Sessions' and specialises in sharing self-empowerment strategies with diverse and multi-faith audiences. Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing By Sarra Bejaoui To outsource or not to outsource; that is the question small business owners are facing in modern day business operation. Alternative service providers are on the rise, and their growing popularity has shifted outsourcing from marginalised alternative to viable option for many businesses. There’s no denying, however, that handing over areas of your business to another company is a big step. Before taking the leap into the world of outsourcing, consider the following benefits and drawbacks:
Advantages Reduced costs – When considering any operational changes to your business, budget is usually the place to begin. One of the main benefits of outsourcing is that it can reduce operational costs, depending on your size and the area of your business you choose to contract out. Hiring a service provider to manage your HR and administration, for example, is often less expensive than hiring an internal employee. By outsourcing, your business can eliminate expenses
associated with full-time staff such as training, benefits, paid vacations, etc. Outsourcing to a service provider can also save internal operating costs, as well as free staff time and budget to be allocated to other areas such as personal development. Expertise – Outsourcing gives your business the opportunity to take advantage of experts in different industries. By choosing your service provider carefully, your business can receive expert support in areas that might be lacking or not running as efficiently as they could be. Flexibility – Outsourcing can offer your business increased flexibility because the service can grow and change with your business needs. You may decide to onboard a service provider to support a particular project or increased business activity. This takes the pressure off your management team, allowing them focus more keenly on the core objectives of your business. When the project is completed, you can decide whether to change, cancel or keep your service provider to suit your business needs.
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Disadvantages Managing – While outsourcing can be beneficial to your business in different ways, managing the service provider handling your business function can be difficult. As the operations are no longer completed internally, it can be harder to monitor how these area are running and you can feel a loss of control. Although budget is an important factor when considering alternative service providers, it’s just as important to look at the quality of service these companies offer. Ensure you do your research into potential candidates, looking at their values, reviews and testimonials from other customers. Impersonal – Outsourcing can often feel less personal than having business operations internally, which can make it difficult to build personal relationships. To reduce the impersonal nature of outsourcing, ensure your business understands the strategies and processes your service provider has in place to build effective remote relationships. For example, you may decide to have weekly or monthly meetings to help foster a strong relationship. Quality Control – As with managing
outsourcing effectively, employing an alternative service provider to handle areas of your business, can result in practices being carried out in a way that does not follow your business guidelines. These businesses can have a different standard of working than your internal employees, which can ultimately lead to other impacts on your business in the future. This impact can be minimised during the initial stages of choosing the service provider. It’s important to establish the vision, mission and values of your potential service providers to determine if they are in line with your own. Also, it can be helpful to gain an understanding of how your potential company trains, motivates, and coaches their team as well as their employee retention. This information can be a good indicator of the way they will run your business function and ensure your relationship will be a beneficial one for all. Although making the decision to outsource areas of your business operation can be a difficult, there are a number of considerations to help guide you. By doing your research and evaluating your specific business needs, your business can effectively choose the service provider that will support your business objectives now and in the future.
About the Author Sarra Bejaoui is Co-Founder and Client Services and Operations Director of SmartPA. Founded in 2008, SmartPA is an Edinburghbased business that provides professional outsourced administrative and PA support to SMEs, individuals and large corporations such as Total. Sarra’s role is focused on delivering managed services, training and technology to business communities on a global scale.
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5 Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Event By Dan McCarthy Social media for event promotion is a given. It’s really more of a question of how you use it. If all you’re doing is sending a few posts or tweets, then you are way underutilizing this valuable resource. Here’s a few ways to use social media that really drives your message and gets people taking notice of your upcoming event.
1. The Hashtag Never underestimate the power of Twitter promotion using hashtags. Most social media strategies, after all, involve the hashtag to one extent or another. Some of the other ideas listed below will also include use of the hashtag, so it makes sense to mention it here. Of course, only a person living under a rock wouldn’t know what a hashtag is. It all comes down to how you use it and your ability to turn it into a trend by getting your followers to use it. The rules for a hashtag is pretty simple: keep it short and discernable. A great example is #SFBatKid. It’s short and fairly easy to discern even if you don’t know what the hashtag is about. This hashtag was used for a San Francisco
event in 2013 to honor a 5-year old cancer patient. The child was dressed as Batman and paraded the streets as he took on volunteers and actors dressed as villains. The hashtag went viral and generated a whopping 1.7 billion social impressions. It even got a direct response from President Barack Obama. Of course, the inspirational story had much to do with the success, but a part of it was also due to the simple nature of the hashtag. Photo Credit: Hubspot
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2. Share a Behind-The-Scene Look Let people see what goes into the planning process. People just might be more inclined to pay for a ticket if they can see the hard work and impassioned efforts of you and your crew. This can include a simple photo from a board meeting, or a short video of you meeting up with the venue administrator. This should be approached in a lighthearted manner. If using Snapchat, for example, you can use a funny filter when filming yourself or your staff. This shows that even though you’re a professional company planning a professional event, that you’re all just regular people that don’t always take themselves too seriously.
3. Use LinkedIn When it comes to social media event promotion, people often put all their eggs in one or two baskets.; those two baskets being Facebook and Twitter. Don’t neglect promotion via LinkedIn, though. Many users have acquaintances on LinkedIn that they don’t have on other social networks. Use LinkedIn to reach out to professional contacts, which should make up a good deal of your demographic for an industry related event.
submit published posts. While you can’t directly promote your event, you can use it to establish yourself as a knowledgeable industry insider.
4. Leverage Your Followers Your followers are your greatest brand advocates, so use them to leverage their own followers to build up more recognition than you can ever acquire alone. However, instead of just having your attendees send a tweet to their own followers, look for a more creative outlet. The Metropolitan Events & Production is one company that did just that. It held makeup shows in major cities like Orlando and Chicago. To promote them, they encouraged attendees to upload pics of themselves holding a sign that read: “meet me at the Makeup Show,” along with the attendee’s name at the bottom. The pic was uploaded on various social networks along with the event’s hashtag. All the submitted photos were also eventually uploaded and shared on the event’s official social network page. Photo credit: BizBash
Look for LinkedIn Groups within your niche to join. Get to know the people in those groups and extend them an olive branch for your event, perhaps even offering a discount. Finally, don’t forget that LinkedIn is also a place where you can
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5. Social Media Contest Contests are effective because it creates direct consumer engagement in a fun and rewarding activity. There are so many different types of contests you can hold. Try to keep it simple and don’t make it overly complex. Here’s a good one from the technology company I.B.M Connect. Its event included what the company called I.B.M Champions, which comprised of a group of high-profile business partners, bloggers, and company analysts. During the event, attendees were encouraged to take a photo with the I.B.M Champions and submit them on their social networks using the hashtag #IBMChamp. The attendee whose photo got the most tweets was awarded a prize. An example like the one above is effective because it’s really simple. To get involved, all contestants had to do was take a picture, submit it on their social media, and encourage their followers to tweet it. There’s so many diverse ways of using social media that are just starting to catch on. If you’re an event planner, you can’t afford not to experiment with them if you hope to achieve maximum results. Photo credit: BizBash
About the Author Dan McCarthy has worked in the event management industry for five years and is currently an event manager for the UK-based company JD Parties. His portfolio includes many successful event planning projects for companies across various niches. He is currently a regular contributor for his company’s blog site. Follow him on Twitter at @DanCarthy2.
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Affiliate marketing is a lucrative industry many people are interested in. This group consists of both those who sell services and products, and those who affiliate them. However, the most important component here is the way they all come together. Most commonly, this happens through the affiliate networks of programs. When it comes to this, your choice is quite wide and here are few best affiliate programs and networks for you to choose from.
ShareASale This particular network has over 4,000 programs, which makes it one of the most popular out there. Its strongest feature is its tracking system, which enables real-time surveillance and more reliable payment methods. On the other hand, before using it, you need to be aware of the fact that it has a strong dormant policy. You get charged $25 each month, and as soon as
the account balance comes below this figure, it gets deactivated.
CJ Affiliate CJ stands for Commission Junction, and it is probably the most popular affiliate network out there. The reasons for this are numerous, one of them being the fact that it is one of the oldest companies in business. What people highlight about it are its interface and payment system, and their customer support is not to be underestimated either. Now, what most people are not too happy about is their tracking, as it is not precisely real-time, which causes a lot of confusion and sometimes shows inaccurate results. The monthly charge, however, amounts to less and it is only $10. Luckily, there is no such thing as negative billing, which means your debts will not pile up if you fail to earn a commission.
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Click Dealer
Amazon Associates
When it comes to online marketing and ROI optimization, there is nothing quite like the Click Dealer. By maintaining direct collaboration with advertisers, this network gives a lot of thought to things like personal meetups and loyalty programs. The minimum payment for it is $500 and it supports various payment methods, such as Wire, PayPal and Payoneer.
To wrap things up, let’s speak of yet another amazing affiliate program – Amazon Associates. In the world of eCommerce, there is no one bigger than the Amazon, which naturally puts its affiliate at the forefront. The commission for all sales is 10%, which does not seem much when compared to ClickBank, however, some products have different tariffs. Furthermore, the chances of getting people to buy through Amazon are much greater, which in the end has a better outcome on your profit.
The referral commission is 2%, which is more than fair by the industry standards. On top of it all, Click Dealer has some of the best word-of-mouth recommendations from some of the biggest names in the affiliate marketing industry, like Charles Ngo, who personally vouches for it. ClickBank As for the affiliate programs, it would be plain irresponsible not to mention ClickBank. Just recognizing that it has more than 6 million products in offer and has gained over 200 million customers over the years speaks enough of just how colossal this program is. The reason behind its popularity is a fact that ClickBank gives you as much as 75% of all sales commission and, yes, this also includes recurring payments.
Conclusion As you can see, there are so many great affiliate programs for you to consider in 2017. Whether you want to go with network or program depends on your current situation and long-term objectives, but just knowing you have your options open can make a great difference in the world of affiliate marketing.
About the Author Marcus Jensen is an Australian IT support professional. He’s running his own business, working with companies that outsource their IT maintenance. He often writes about technology, business and marketing and is a regular contributor on several sites.
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Making Ideas Happen for any Startup By Alex Williams You have probably heard the old business mantra – a good idea is worth millions. With all due respect to people who like to toss this saying around, the truth is quite different. A good idea is worth only as much as you are able to make it happen. That is the reason why Tesla, one of the greatest minds in history died in poverty. That is the reason why each year nine out of ten startups founded on good ideas fall into obscurity. Let’s see what you can do to avoid this pitfall and make your ideas reality.
Fix Future Problems Obviously, the first thing you will need is a good idea, and startup-wise, a good idea needs to meet three important requirements: It has to solve a problem – Leisure products/ services are fine, but they don’t have as broad appeal as products/services that make lives easier on a daily basis. Add something new – Don’t be a copycat. Start your own thing and let the others emulate you. Be ahead of the curve – Think of Elon Musk trying to colonize Mars, but smaller scale.
Test the Idea Once you finally come up with something, you have to be aware that your first idea probably won’t be your final idea. To get that more refined final product, you need to put what you came up with to a test. Make a prototype of the product, ask your friends for their opinion, look for the people who have some experience in entrepreneurship and ask for their assistance… Just don’t be satisfied with anything short of stellar.
Name Your Startup It’s harder than it sounds. The name of your startup needs to be short, memorable, onthe-point, it must say something about your company without being too descriptive, and it has to set the overall tone you want to achieve. Also, the name should be “spellable” within 3 tries. Check iwantmyname.com to see which domains are already taken.
Take Notes In these early stages of development, ideas will come pouring to your head – no matter how smart you are, you won’t be able to remember them all. Even those ideas seem
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irrelevant at the moment, be sure to find some colorful sticky notes and put them on the wall. They may prove to be of tremendous value later. If you’re designing your website or product, draw everything before you start making it.
Find a Co-Founder According to recent research, inexperience, unbalanced experience or lack of managerial experience are the three leading causes of small businesses’ failures. On the other hand, other surveys show that the presence of other founder increases the chance of success and brings up to 30% more investments to the table. So, do your best to find an experienced co-founder whose mentorship will help your startup get off the ground.
Make a Rock-Solid Business Plan A good business plan is like a good game plan in sports. In order to make it, you first need to have a thorough understating of your own strengths and weaknesses, know your competition, research the industry and market analyses, set a specific goal, and find a shortest and the simplest way to achieve that goal using the assets you have on disposal. Once you put all these things into writing, you will find keeping your little boat on course in times of crises a much easier job.
Find Investors Or to put it more precisely, find the investors who will be willing to talk with you. Don’t feel discouraged if you don’t succeed the first time – since you are just entering the business arena, you may have to knock on more than 50 doors before you’re invited inside. Once you go face-to-face with an investor, offer them the best pitch you can think of. Be passionate, connect with their own agendas, leave them wanting more, and you will have nothing to fear of.
Do Your Marketing Ideally, by the time your first product hits the market, your anticipated customer base should already have a general idea of what’s your startup all about. If you want to keep the things under the wrap, do your best to at least build hype and create enough buzz. Although an aggressive social media action almost always provides satisfying results, we have to point out that bold, guerilla actions go really well with bold, aspiring startups. Being an entrepreneur is incredibly satisfying. However, the road that leads to that point is riddled with various traps and dead ends. Going down that road is not easy, but it’s not impossible. We hope that these few tips will help you start your journey on the right foot and finally make your ideas reality.
About the Author My name is Alex Williams, born and raised in beautiful Sydney. I am a journalism graduate, and a rookie blogger trying to find my luck. Blogs are the perfect opportunity for presenting yourself to wider audience, getting the chance to showcase my expertise and receiving recognition. I am a regular contributor at BizzmarkBlog.
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Marketing Strategy 101: How Your Small Business Can Make It Big in 2017 By Catherine vanVonno Starting a business is an exciting, yet challenging mission that requires a lot of time, money, and hard work to make it rise above your competitors. The hardest part of a start-up business is making it succeed. If you’ve just started up your very own business but you feel like you’re struggling, then here’s some powerful expert tips on how to drive your start-up towards a successful outcome. Let’s get startedThe last few weeks leading to the new year affects businesses everywhere – whether it boosts your revenues due to holiday shopping or slows down sales because your line of business doesn’t complement the season. For small
businesses, a drop in sales may mean more serious repercussions compared to big companies. Whatever the case may be for your small business, you will do well to gear up for 2017 so that the New Year will also bring new clients and better revenues. Luckily, you don’t have to spend thousands of bucks to increase brand awareness and attract more customers. There are certain marketing strategies specifically designed for small businesses. Before you learn what these tactics are, you first need to consider these guide questions:
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What is the actual size of my market?
When do people buy our products and services? How often?
What marketing possibilities does 2017 hold for our company?
Researching and finding the answers to these questions will help you narrow down your target market. Essentially, you will be able to refine details about your prospective customers and customize your tactics through this information. Here are other details about your target consumers that you should look out for:
Age
Gender
Geographical location
Income level
Educational level
Type of Occupation
After accumulating this information, you are well on your way to refining your marketing strategies for the New Year. Here’s how to do it:
1. Share your knowledge and skills with your audience. As a small or local business, you have a big advantage in audience connection. Unlike big corporations, you don’t have to convince consumers that they can find a connection with you. Consumers tend to feel an instant familiarity with small
businesses because they are confident that they can reach you directly. Use this connection to share your knowledge and skills pertaining to your craft. Make video tutorials or web seminars to post on your social profiles or blog. Welcome comments and answer questions from your audience to increase your engagement.
2. Leverage your local connections. Do you have a bakeshop in your community? Why not volunteer to your local charities and give away cupcakes and bread to the less fortunate? Not only will you help other people, you will also increase brand awareness in your area. You can also contact the local publications and pitch a topic to be published, guest post, or hire their services to feature your business.
3. Optimize local business offers from Google. Google is all about making the world a local community. This search engine giant offers small businesses a wide array of options to put their company on the digital business landscape. Once you have setup your own account in Google My Business, you can have an unbiased overview of your company and check details you can improve.
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4. Invest in your social profiles. Social media is practically free advertising for businesses, and any company owner who does not utilize this potential is not worth their salt. However, it is not just enough to create a profile. You must also wield this marketing tool properly. Are your followers constantly checking in on your local cafĂŠ on Facebook but rarely responding to your Tweets? Prioritize your Facebook account and link your followers to Twitter. Do you have higher user engagement in Instagram than YouTube? Post sneak previews of your videos on Instagram and invite your followers to see the full video on your YouTube channel. The beauty of marketing through social networks is that you can highlight the strengths of your business through different platforms.
5. Publish or improve your blog. There’s no need to pay thousands of bucks to get a spot on magazines or pay a handsome fee to get a business website. Publish a blog through free blogging platforms, invest in its content, and you will soon attract an audience from your social media followers and actual customers. If you don’t have the time or talent to write, hire a highly skilled writer to provide relevant and interesting articles for your readers. This virtual assistance in maintaining a blog leaves you free to focus on other business matters. Follow these marketing strategy course especially designed for small businesses, and watch how big of a difference it can make to your new year.
About the Author Catherine vanVonno, the author, is the President and Executive Director of 20Four7VA, a global Virtual Assistant (VA) Service Provider. She holds a doctorate degree in Applied Statistics, Research Design and Program Evaluation from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and has over 10 years experience in facilitating evidencebased strategic planning, product development, brand management, legislative communications, and medical policy. She is married and has four children. You can reach her at communications@20four7va.com. http://20four7va.com/|twitter.com/20Four7VA
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What Not To Do On Your Business Social Media Channels By Hannah Pennell For most businesses, using social media is a vital part of a successful marketing campaign. It’s a direct way to target the audience with your products or services that can help increase sales. However, if it’s not done right it can have a negative effect on your business. It’s important that everything that’s posted or shared is carefully considered, non-offensive and abides by the rules and regulations of the social platform that it’s on. We’ve put together tips on what companies should not be doing on social media, just before that next tweet goes out…
Buy followers Many businesses want to increase their social presence straight away and some have turned to buy fake followers to do so. There’s no point in doing this as you’ll not have any engagement from them when you share posts and you will not make any sales or purchases by targeting any fake accounts. Instead, focus should be spent on building up a natural audience that can be encouraged by hosting giveaways or striking up conversations with real people on your channels.
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Posting too little or too much Across each channel, it’s important that you share enough content to keep your audience updated and engaged. To monitor how much you are posting, create a social plan and divide it throughout the week and over the weekend. Make sure you never leave posting for long periods of time and ensure that you are present consistently and not just between 9am-5pm! It’s important that you avoid over posting as the audience might think it’s too much and unfollow the channel. If you’re looking for the right amount of posts to share, there are plenty of blogs that will help you find the right balance.
Being robotic There’s nothing worse than coming across a company Twitter or Facebook account that has scheduled posts that would perhaps make you think was a robot sitting at the desk. For many businesses, social media is a great way to express the personality and brand – whether that’s joking with customers or including a couple of emoji’s within an update!
Not reply to negative feedback A lot of customers now take to social to complain about service or products as it’s a much quicker approach than emailing customer services. If you’re subject to a poor comment or review, make sure you respond to it as soon as possible. Handle it in a professional manner; always apologize and offer to look further into their complaint followed with your contact details so they can speak to you
direct. Make sure you never delete any negative comments as it can frustrate the customer and give them ammunition to kick off that you’ve not replied!
Share the same content on each channel Make sure that you have unique, fresh content on each social channel, or your audience will become bored of seeing the same post everywhere! Encourage them to follow you across all channels just in case they miss out on something you’ve posted about. Don’t stick to just sharing pictures of your business, make it interesting with a selection of informative articles, blog posts, gifs, memes and company news.
Being too sales led Using social channels is a great way of promoting your products or new collection, but a constant plugging of it can be frustrating for the audience. Instead share fun, relevant shots of what’s happening behind the scenes or an article about your industry to keep it interesting rather than just sales focused.
Not planning social posts Although we are not saying stop posting spontaneous posts as they are great, but it’s important that the majority of what you're posting in part of a plan. Create a diary of important dates that are important within your industry that you can create promotions and posts around. You could even use a social media planning platform such as Hootsuite that you can plan posts weeks in advance on which is perfect for when you’re not in the office.
This article was produced by Hannah Pennell, a content marketer for Used Kitchen Exchange.
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