8 Brilliant Content Marketing Examples to Take Your Company Out of the Unknown

If you want to grow your brand, you need a content marketing plan. Why?

Seventy-eight percent of companies that produce effective content have a documented marketing strategy.

That said, there’s no use in creating content if it won’t help you achieve your marketing goals. Instead, you need to know how to recognize great content.

To help ensure your brand doesn’t fade into the background, let me walk you through eight great content marketing examples you can learn from.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is content created and shared for a specific commercial purpose, such as gaining website traffic, increasing brand awareness, or influencing people to buy your products.

A recent survey taken by professional content marketers found the following:

88 percent of content marketers say content marketing is effective for branding.
88 percent of marketers say content marketing is effective at building brand trust.
80 percent said content marketing works to educate audiences.
72 percent said content marketing is effective for lead generation.

The survey respondents said other effective uses of content marketing are driving audiences to events, building loyalty with existing customers, supporting the launch of a new product, and building subscriber lists.

“Content” has a wide definition, including podcasts, eBooks, infographics, and blog articles. Essentially, if it’s a form of media designed to acquire and influence an audience.

How do you know what makes “great” content? One of the best ways to learn content marketing is by looking at real content marketing strategy examples.

My step-by-step guide breaks down content marketing in detail.

8 Content Marketing Examples

While these content marketing examples are all unique, they have something in common: a clear purpose.

Bear that in mind as you read through these examples and you’ll better appreciate how to create successful content.

Without further ado, here’s a look at some amazing content marketing strategy examples.

1. MoonPie: Brand Voice

Content marketing is all about standing out from the crowd. One way to do this is by developing a memorable brand voice.

Why does voice matter?

According to Sprout Social’s research, 33 percent of customers say a distinct personality helps a company stand out on social media, and 46 percent appreciate brands who engage their audiences, so developing your voice is worth a shot.

MoonPie’s Twitter feed is a great example of a content marketing strategy. Not only does every Tweet have a clear purpose, but the brand uses a consistently fun tone to encourage engagement:

Here’s another example. Rather than just posting a product link, the social media manager appeals to followers with a quirky tone:

Content Marketing Examples - MoonPie on Twitter

What’s the lesson here? Refine your brand voice. Here’s how.

Revisit your company’s mission. Your voice should align with your company’s values, so make sure you’re clear on what your business stands for.
Research your target demographic. What is your audience looking for? What do they care about? Use your answers to refine your voice.
Take a look at your most successful content. Figure out what works and replicate this. For example, if your most successful content focuses on, say, your company’s eco-friendliness, create more content emphasizing this value.

2. Gymshark: Video Ad Campaign

Another way to stand out from your competitors is by making video content: 81 percent of marketers believe videos help them increase sales. Let’s break down a great content marketing example from Gymshark.

Gymshark wanted to promote a key message: fitness unites everyone. To do so, they ran the “United We Sweat” campaign, promoting inclusivity, diversity, and overcoming obstacles. They also designed promotional images to accompany the campaign:

The content works because it showcases the brand’s core message: uniting people through fitness. The slogan “United We Sweat” is simple and memorable, too, which helps.

How do you learn from this example? First, think about what makes your brand special. Revisit your mission statement and target market if you need a refresher.

Then, consider your campaign goals. Gymshark wanted to move away from its association with super-fit athletes and instead show why it’s a universal fitness brand. Placing “united” and “sweat” together makes sense.

Finally, keep it simple. When it comes to slogans and taglines, less is usually more.

Need some more inspiration? I walk you through how to write business slogans elsewhere.

3. Nadaré Co: Viral Content

Viral content instantly boosts your visibility, spreads your brand message, and generates more traffic, so it’s a worthwhile goal.

Let me use content marketing examples from Nadaré Co, a jewelry company, as an example of a successful content marketing strategy in action.

Nadaré Co’s founder began posting TikTok marketing content to promote the brand’s unique waterproof jewelry. She now has over 91,000 followers, over 1.3 million TikTok “likes,” and videos watched by thousands of people daily!

The secret to achieving this example of a content marketing strategy?

Post useful, highly targeted videos designed to entertain viewers, answer questions, and solve problems. For example, here’s a video on how to find your ring size, so customers know exactly which ring size will fit them before they order:

There’s also a video advertising the jewelry’s waterproof features and worldwide shipping:

Content Marketing Examples - Nadare Co Advertises on TikTok

Here’s what we can take away from this content marketing strategy example.

Keep your videos short and engaging.
Highlight what makes your brand special in every video.
Use relevant hashtags to improve your content’s visibility and reach.

4. Ridester: Long-form Content

To educate your audience, you need long-form posts in your content marketing strategy.

Research shows that in-depth posts typically outrank shorter, less comprehensive blogs, and the average first-page search result on Google has over 1,400 words.

In other words, long-form content is worth your time and Ridester has some great content marketing examples.

After losing a significant amount of traffic, Ridester prioritized writing long-form content to answer the questions readers care about.

In one blog post, for example, Ridester sets out actionable steps for making more money as an Uber Eats driver. There’s no fluff; it’s comprehensive but concise:

After revamping its long-form content, Ridester saw a 487 percent organic traffic increase and improved its search rankings for 16 search phrases. Cool, right? Here’s how you can emulate this success.

First, use search tools like Quora and Reddit to discover what matters to your audience and what questions they’re asking.
Next, try out Ubersuggest to find the right keywords to target in your content.
Do some competitor research. Where are the content gaps? What questions have they failed to answer? Use the answers to these questions to complete your research.

5. Cricut: Influencer Marketing

Depending on your audience, influencer marketing is a highly effective strategy. Cricut, a DIY crafts supplier, illustrates why.

Cricut teamed up with “New Girl” actress Zooey Deschanel to promote its products. Deschanel, a real-life crafts enthusiast, brings authenticity and fun to Cricut’s content:

As we saw with Nadaré Co, videos are a great way to bring your product to life and build audience trust in your brand. Now, here are some tips for using influencers effectively in any content marketing strategy.

Define what you need help with and determine how an influencer can help you achieve it.
Make sure your influencer aligns with your brand. For example, Deschanel works great for Cricut because she’s a real-life crafts enthusiast.
To maximize engagement, choose campaign-specific hashtags for the influencer to use to promote your products.

You can find influencers through social media keyword searches and influencer marketplaces.

6. Storiarts: User-generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is proof your products work. You’re not paying a marketing team to write ads or promote an item. Instead, you’re letting your products speak for themselves through satisfied customers. That’s why consumers are 2.4 times more likely to say UGC is more authentic than branded content.

Storiarts does this well. Storiarts turned to Instagram with two goals in mind:

Driving sales of its literary-themed products.
Highlighting the brand’s commitment to ending illiteracy.

Users can post pictures of themselves enjoying Storiarts products on a dedicated hashtag, #committolit:

How did this campaign work out for Storiarts?

They’ve grown from an obscure Etsy store, into a recognizable brand with over 82,000 followers and counting.

Want to best take advantage of UGC? Here’s how.

Create a dedicated hashtag on social media. Keep it short and memorable.
Engage with customers who post on the hashtag to encourage participation.
Choose a campaign that promotes your brand’s mission to boost your company’s profile.

Got a goal like ending illiteracy? Tell the world about it!

7. Fire & Ice: Product Videos

Want to showcase what’s so great about your products? Successful content marketing examples often come down to high-quality product videos.

When you create videos as a content marketing strategy, you aren’t alone. In fact, 69 percent of marketers increased their video budget for 2022 per the results of a recent Content Marketing Institute survey.

Videos show your products in action and, ideally, they should answer questions your target audience might have about your services.

Fire & Ice made a video explaining how their air conditioner repair service works.

In just a few minutes, the video sets out what customers can expect from their service and how much it costs. Most importantly, it includes a clear CTA (how customers can book an appointment.)

Content Marketing Examples - Fire and Ice

Here are some actionable takeaways from this example of a content marketing strategy:

Do some market research to learn what your customers want.
Consider repurposing existing content into video form.
Break your videos into sections so viewers can jump to the most relevant part for their query.
Always end with a clear CTA and include your contact details somewhere obvious.

8. Vienna Beef: Web Content

For our last content marketing strategy example, we’re talking about first impressions.

Why? Because first impressions matter.

In fact, 94 percent of consumers decide whether to browse a website based on its look and feel. In other words, when prospects land on your website, you want to set the right impression.

Vienna Beef, a Chicago-style hot dog manufacturer, knows this. After partnering with a digital marketing agency for a website redesign, they:

tripled their website traffic
reduced shopping cart abandonments
increased sales

Here’s the homepage. It’s optimized for sales without being pushy. It’s also vibrant and engaging, with clear links to product pages:

Content Marketing Examples - Vienna Beef

Scroll down and you’ll find links to hot dog stands and local stockists:

Content Marketing Examples - Vienna Beef Store Locator

It’s easy to overlook website design when you think of content marketing, but actually, web copy and design are among your most important content.

My suggestion? Set clear goals. Vienna Beef knew exactly what they wanted from their redesign which is how they achieved it so successfully.

Then, hire a website designer. Effective website design is an art, and if you’re serious about content marketing and conversion, it’s worth the investment.

Finally, run some A/B testing to check which design elements work best. You might find my A/B testing guide helpful.

Content Marketing Examples: Frequently Asked Questions

What is content marketing?

Content marketing involves creating useful and engaging content across all mediums to organically grow your business, boost your visibility, and increase sales.

How can you recognize a good example of content marketing?

Whether it’s an informative blog post or an eye-catching graphic, all good content serves a purpose. It tells a story and reinforces a company’s brand identity. Great content marketing allows a brand to connect with its audience, so look for authenticity, professionalism, and strong messaging with a clear CTA or desired result.

How can you recognize an example of poor content marketing?

Again, it’s fairly easy to spot. Simply look for muddled messaging, unnatural or “keyword stuffed” writing, and content that lacks any clear CTA or purpose. Poorly-timed marketing campaigns which are insensitive to current news always fall short, too.

How can I best learn from examples of content marketing strategies I come across?

Be intuitive. Explore what you think works (or doesn’t work) and why. If you’re impressed by a content marketing example, consider how you can apply the principles such as engaging visual elements and strong brand messaging to your marketing efforts.

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Conclusion: Content Marketing Examples

If you’re serious about growing your business and getting some brand exposure, then you need a content marketing strategy.

Research successful examples, take what works, and identify how you can implement those techniques in your content.

Don’t forget to track your key metrics, too, so you can see what’s working…and fix what’s not.

Struggling to produce the right content for your goals? Check out my consulting services and discover how I can steer you in the right direction.

Have you found any other great content marketing examples? What did you learn from them?

Brilliant! How to Start a Business with No Money and Bad Credit in a Recession

Is it really possible to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession? Absolutely! Pandemic or no pandemic, this is possible.

Learn Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession

Do you know how to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession? We can help you build business credit, even if your personal credit is not so hot.

This is through building business credit.

Building business credit means that your firm gets chances you never felt you would. You can get brand new equipment, bid on buildings, and cover the company payroll. And you can do this even when times are a bit lean. This is specifically helpful in holiday business enterprises, where you can go for several months with merely hardly any sales.

Because of this, you should really tackle developing your business credit. Enhance and maintain your scores and you will have these opportunities. Do not, and either you do not get these opportunities, or they will cost you a lot more. And no small business owner wants that.

You will need to understand what affects your company credit before you can make it better.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Credit History Length Matters

This is basically how long your business has been using company credit. Needless to say newer firms will have short credit histories. While there is not too much you can particularly do about that, do not stress.

Credit reporting agencies will also inspect your personal credit score and your own background of payments. If your own personal credit is excellent, and particularly if you have a reasonably lengthy credit history, then your personal credit can come to the rescue of your company. That is, you did not just get your first credit card not too long ago.

Naturally the reverse is also right. So if your personal credit history is poor, then it will impact your business credit scores until your company and consumer credit can be separated.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Your Payment History is Important

Tardy repayments will affect your company credit score for a good seven years. If you pay your small business (and personal) debts off, as quickly as possible and as completely as possible, then you can make a very real difference when it concerns your credit scores. Make sure to pay on schedule and you will experience the benefits of promptness.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Your Personal Credit Can Influence Your Business Credit

Are you having a bad business year? Then it could wind up on your personal credit score. And just in case your small business has not been around for too long, it will directly affect your business credit.

How do you fix this? By building business credit.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Build Business Credit

Business credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t connect to an owner’s personal credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the solitary employee of the small business. Truly, it is the best method of how to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession.

As such, a business owner’s business and personal credit scores can be very different.

The Benefits

Due to the fact that small business credit is independent from individual, it helps to protect a business owner’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business bankruptcy.

Also, with two separate credit scores, a business owner can get two separate cards from the same vendor. This effectively doubles purchasing power.

Another advantage is that even start-ups can do this. Visiting a bank for a business loan can be a formula for frustration. But building small business credit, when done the right way, is a plan for success.

Individual credit scores are dependent on payments but also additional factors like credit use percentages.

But for company credit, the scores actually just hinge on if a small business pays its invoices timely.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

The Process

Growing company credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A company must actively work to develop company credit.

Nonetheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much more efficient than developing individual credit scores.

Vendors are a big aspect of this process.

Doing the steps out of order will cause repetitive denials. No one can start at the top with business credit. For example, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Business Fundability

A business has to be fundable to lending institutions and merchants.

That’s why, a company will need a professional-looking web site and email address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a merchant such as GoDaddy.

Plus, company telephone and fax numbers must have a listing on ListYourself.net.

In addition, the business telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or similar).

A small business will also need a bank account dedicated purely to it, and it must have every one of the licenses essential for operating.

Licenses

These licenses all have to be in the identical, appropriate name of the small business. And they must have the same small business address and telephone numbers.

So bear in mind, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.

Dealing with the IRS

Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and get an EIN for the small business. They’re totally free. Pick a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A company can start off as a sole proprietor. But they will probably wish to switch to a sort of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to diminish risk. And it will maximize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it comes to tax obligations and liability in the event of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and tax obligations. Nobody else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you run a company as a sole proprietor, then at the very least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the business name. Consequently, you can find yourself being directly responsible for all small business financial obligations.

Also, per the IRS, using this structure there is a 1 in 7 chance of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 possibility for corporations! Avoid confusion and noticeably lower the chances of an IRS audit at the same time.

Starting the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B web site and get a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a business into their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s sites for the company. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

In this way, Experian and Equifax will have something to report on.

Vendor Credit

First you should build trade lines that report. This is also referred to as vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can start to get retail and cash credit.

These kinds of accounts have the tendency to be for the things bought all the time. Like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first off, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are commonly Net 30, instead of revolving.

So, if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts need to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts must be paid fully within 60 days. In contrast to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you made use of.

To kick off your business credit profile properly, you ought to get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. Once that’s done, you can then use the credit.

Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit – It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with hardly any effort. You also need them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

This is vital for how to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Accounts That Don’t Report

Non-Reporting Trade Accounts can also be helpful. While you do want trade accounts to report to at the very least one of the CRAs, a trade account which does not report can nonetheless be of some worth.

You can always ask non-reporting accounts for trade references. Additionally credit accounts of any sort should help you to better even out business expenditures, thus making financial planning less complicated. These are companies like PayPal Credit, T-Mobile, and Best Buy.

Retail Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move to retail credit. These are companies which include Office Depot and Staples.

Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the company’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then move onto fleet credit. These are businesses like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to purchase fuel, and to fix and take care of vehicles. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the small business’s EIN.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Cash Credit

Have you been sensibly handling the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move onto more universal cash credit. These are businesses such as Visa and MasterCard. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

These are often MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are doable.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it if being reported and take care of any inaccuracies as soon as possible. Get in the habit of checking credit reports. Dig into the details, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less than it would cost you at the CRAs.

At Equifax, you can monitor your account at: www.equifax.com/business/business-credit-monitor-small-business.

Update Your Record

Update the details if there are mistakes or the information is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm. For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. And for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any errors in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be fixed. But the CRAs often want you to dispute in a particular way.

Get your business’s PAYDEX report at: www.dnb.com/about-us/our-data.html. Get your company’s Experian report at: www.businesscreditfacts.com/pdp.aspx?pg=SearchForm. And get your Equifax business credit report at: www.equifax.com/business/credit-information.

Disputes

Disputing credit report errors commonly means you send a paper letter with duplicates of any proof of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the original copies. Always send copies and keep the original copies.

Fixing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically itemize any charges you contest. Make your dispute letter as clear as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

Dispute your or your small business’s Equifax report by following the directions here: www.equifax.com/small-business-faqs/#Dispute-FAQs.

You can dispute inaccuracies on your or your business’s Experian report by following the directions here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp.

And D&B’s PAYDEX Customer Service telephone number is here: www.dandb.com/glossary/paydex.

A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit sensibly! Never borrow more than what you can pay back. Monitor balances and deadlines for payments. Paying in a timely manner and fully will do more to raise business credit scores than almost anything else.

Establishing small business credit pays off. Excellent business credit scores help a company get loans. Your lender knows the company can pay its financial obligations. They understand the business is for real.

The small business’s EIN connects to high scores and lenders won’t feel the need to ask for a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your small business for many years to come. Learn more here and get started toward growing company credit.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Looking for Some Ideas?

And we would be remiss if we didn’t give you any business ideas! Here are seven great ones from Shopify which we loved.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Takeaways

Once you understand what impacts your small business credit score, you are that much nearer to creating better business credit which will help you learn how to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession. Don’t let COVID-19 get you down.

Now go get ‘em, tiger!

The post Brilliant! How to Start a Business with No Money and Bad Credit in a Recession appeared first on Credit Suite.

Top 10 Brilliant Ways to Find Recession Startup Funding

The COVID-19 pandemic caught the world by surprise and turned the economy on its head. If you are a business trying to stay afloat during this time, we can help. The Federal government has approved funding through The CARES Act, including the Paycheck Protection Plan. In addition, many states and local organizations are offering their own unique funding options. If you are thinking of starting a business during this time, keep reading for recession startup funding options.

It is Possible to Find Recession Startup Funding, but You Have to Get Creative

During a recession, prices go up, employment goes down, and lenders tend to hold on to funds much tighter. This can make funding a startup very difficult. The truth is, startup funding during a recession is not easy to come by. In fact, many of the traditional option will not work for the majority. Recession startup funding takes a little more creativity.

You may even wonder why anyone would start a new business during a recession. It’s all in your perspective. The fact is, a recession could be the perfect opportunity to start your own business.

For example, if you are one of the many who find themselves unemployed during a recession, you are no longer tied down. You have nothing to lose, and you can use that freedom to start brainstorming ways to find startup funding. The recession can actually be a catalyst!

Despite the fact that there are many, many ways to get startup funding, it is still one of the greatest roadblocks to business ownership. It the first stumbling block most come across, and a recession makes it even bigger. Recession startup funding can even seem like a mirage to some, but it is a real thing. It just takes a little creativity to bring it out of hiding.

Some sources of funding for your startup will not work during a recession. You need to know what your options are, what works for startup funding, and what will work best in your situation. Then you can start looking.

Why Small Business Loans Do Not Always Work, Especially for Recession Startup Funding

With this startup funding source, recession is a huge issue. It can work for some, but the traditional lenders tend to really hold on to their funds tighter during an economic downturn. Since this is the source that most people immediately look to when they want to start a business, you can see why they get discouraged early on. They get turned down for traditional financing and just give up. It can look like that is the end of the line.

Note as well: business lending tends to reduce if not dry up altogether during economic downturns.

There is more than one place to get a business loan however, and some people do not realize that.

SBA loans

These loans are still offered through traditional lenders such as banks and credit unions, but the federal government guarantees them. Since they are not completely reliant on the credit score of the borrower to reduce risk, the required credit score is slightly lower to qualify.

There is a lot of red tape related to applying for SBA loans however, and it does take a significant amount of time. If you do not qualify for traditional loans and do qualify for SBA loans however, it is definitely worth the time it takes.

If you are looking to traditional lenders for small business loans as recession startup funding, you will most likely need to consider SBA Loans.

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.

Alternative Lenders: The Super Heroes of Recession Startup Funding

These are lenders that, as a general rule, operate online. Most of the time borrowers can apply online or over the phone and know about approval within minutes. Funds usually only take 24 to 48 hours to hit their account. Though this timeline does vary among lenders, the point is the process is fast and easy.

They also will sometimes take other factors into consideration if the credit score isn’t fabulous. Length of time in business and annual revenue can play a role as well. This makes it a more accessible source of funding for startups than traditional lenders for many. In addition, repayment terms are often more flexible and manageable.

These types of lenders are easier to work with even during a recession, though an economic downturn may slow them down some, recession startup funds from these lenders will still be more accessible to most than those from traditional banks and credit unions.

Downfall of Small Business Loans for Small Business Funding

Any small business loan is going to require strict repayment and interest. This is harder to manage for anyone during a recession, so keep that in mind when forming your plan of action.

Credit Line Hybrid

A credit line hybrid is basically revolving, unsecured financing. It allows you to fund your business without putting up collateral, and you only pay back what you use.

What are the Qualifications?

How hard is it to qualify? Not as hard as you may think. You do need good personal credit. That is, your personal credit score should be at least 685. In addition, you can’t have any liens, judgments, bankruptcies or late payments. Also, in the past 6 months, you should have less than 5 credit inquiries, and you should have less than a 45% balance on all business and personal credit cards. It’s also preferred that you have established business credit as well as personal credit.

If you do not meet all of the requirements, all is not lost. You can take on a credit partner that meets each of these requirements. Many business owners work with a friend or relative to fund their business. If a relative or a friend meets all of these requirements, they can partner with you to allow you to tap into their credit to access funding.

The Downside?

If you don’t have a decent personal credit score, you’ll need to take on a credit partner.

Bootstrapping: The Ultimate in Recession Startup Funding

You know what bootstrapping is right? Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and all of that. Basically, it’s when you figure out how to use what you already have as startup funding. This could include a number of options:

· Savings
· Retirement
· Credit cards
· Additional mortgage on a home
· Home equity line of credit

If you use retirement or savings, then you can rest easy knowing you don’t have to pay anyone back but yourself.

The Downside to Using Your Own Funds for Recession Startup Funding

The downside to this option is either the loss of retirement or savings, or significant personal debt. If your business is successful, it is not a problem. However, if your business does not do well, you could find yourself with some pretty major financial issues.

If you happen to have access to the amount of personal funds it would take to fund a startup during a recession, you are likely going to struggle with letting go of those funds. It is a definite risk, especially in economically tough times. However, it may be less of a risk than extensive debt. It could also be the only option available.

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a much more viable option during economically stable times. People that do not normally have disposable income may find that they have a little, and would like to help support a startup in return for a piece of the action.

This is still a possible source of recession startup funding, but much less likely. There is simply less “extra” money in the pockets of consumers. It is still worth a shot however.

Popular Crowdfunding Platforms

There are a lot of crowdfunding platforms, but the two most popular are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. While they are very similar in most ways, they do differ in one major way.

For each, you have to set a funding goal. Kickstarter requires the campaign to reach the goal before you can access any of the funds. Indiegogo allows you to choose whether you want to receive funds as they come in, or wait until you reach the goal.

Indiegogo also offers an option to keep accepting funds on the same campaign even after you reach the original goal, rather than having to launch a new campaign to raise more funds.

The Downside of Crowdfunding

A very small percentage of crowdfunding campaigns are successful during the best of times. This shouldn’t deter anyone from trying, but there needs to be a realistic realization that a backup plan may be necessary, especially during a recession.

Small Business Grants

There are small business grants available if you qualify. Most often these are available to certain demographics including:

· Women
· Minorities
· Veterans
· Businesses in low-income areas

If you fall into one of these categories, a quick search could be very fruitful. There are grants available to those that do not fall into these categories, but they are not as common.

There are some grants offered by the government, but most often they are not awarded directly to businesses. Rather local governments and nonprofits disburse the funds. This may involve nothing more than accepting applications and awarding funds based on eligibility until money is gone.

Corporations and professional organizations also sometimes offer private grants as well based on their own application criteria and eligibility requirements.

During a recession there may actually be more options like this available, as the government is looking to help shore up the economy and increase circulation.

The Downside

Grants are an awesome source of recession startup funding if you can get one. However, they are highly competitive and therefore not guaranteed.

Do the Hustle: A Side Hustle Could Be the Answer to Recession Startup Funding

This one is a personal favorite. It could fall under bootstrapping, but in my opinion, it deserves its own category. While you are technically self-funding, this option requires you to work to raise funds rather than using funds you already have available or taking on more debt.

It also, in most cases, requires keeping your day job. When you use a side-hustle to create your own recession startup funding, the process is pretty slow. This is why most do not care to use this option. There are many benefits however.

Benefits of the Side Hustle

The first is that you can gauge the market a little. If you use your business idea as your side hustle, you can get a feel for what kind of demand might be out there. For example, if you want to open a bakery, you could bake breads, cookies, cupcakes, or whatever your specialty may be on the side and sell it. As you do so, you can save any funds you earn to go toward growing your business, and in the meantime, you are gaining a following and making a name for yourself and your product.

Your side hustle does not have to be your business idea at all. It can be as simple as cleaning or babysitting around your day job hours. The point is that you put every penny you earn back for funding your startup.

The Downside

This is a slower option, and some people do not want to wait that long. In addition, with unemployment down during a recession, it may be hard to find one job, let alone a second to use as a side hustle. Even simply things like cleaning houses and cutting grass may be hard, because a lot of people will be trying to save money by doing these things themselves.

Investors: One of the Oldest Forms of Startup Funding

One of the most obvious options, other than small business loans, is to find investors. This would be significant investment from one or a few different people, rather than small investments from a large number of people like in crowdfunding. In addition, investors most definitely invest in exchange for profit sharing, usually in proportion to their investment or a percentage they agree upon from the beginning.

The Downside

You give up some of your earnings. That’s not fun, but it could be worth it for the right investor. Also, during a recession, investors tend to hold on to funds similar to the way lenders do. It is a much greater risk to invest during a recession because of the economic uncertainty that exists.

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.

Partner Up: Two Heads are Better Than One

You could also take on a partner. Sometimes the power of two is way stronger when it comes to startup funding. Where your credit score lacks, your partner’s may be strong. In most cases in life in general, two are better than one.

The Downside

Depending on how the partnership is structured, you may give up some of the managerial control. Just like with investors, you will definitely give up a portion of the profits.

Contests: The Longest Shot Option for Recession Startup Funding

There are contests out there that offer startup funding as a prize. Think “Shark Tank.” You could try to get in on that specific contest, but there are smaller scale contests out there also. Similar to crowdfunding and grants, they are not guaranteed. They are certainly worth a shot however.

Some of them simply award prize money, while others, like “Shark Tank,” award investment funds. Either way, it is money you can use for startup funding that you do not have to pay back.

The Downside

Like grants and crowdfunding, winning a contest is not guaranteed. It could end up being a lot of work for little to no payoff. During a recession, it is likely even fewer contests are available. If you find one however, definitely take advantage.

Bartering

It is difficult to fund a whole business by bartering, but in conjunction with one or more other sources of startup funding, it could be just the burst of energy you need to get you over the hurdle. Basically, it can make the funds you already have from other sources go further.

What does this look like? Maybe you are great at keeping books, and you have a friend that is great at social media. You may offer to do his books in exchange for his creating and managing your online presence.

Maybe your buddy is adept at designing websites, or has a space that will work as a location for your business. You could offer equity in the business in exchange for a website or use of the space.

This is one source of recession startup funding that may actually help be more of a possibility during a recession than in a booming economy. With people holding to funds tightly, they may be more likely to help you out for something in return other than money, as it will help them keep more money in their own pockets as well.

The Downside

There isn’t really a downside to this. It may not fully fund a business, but it could definitely reduce the financial need and help you stretch the funds you do have further. If you can find someone willing, this is a great option.

You Might Have to Get Creative, but You Can Find Recession Startup Funding

Sometimes the traditional ways work, and sometimes they do not. In a recession, the traditional ideas are sometimes even less useful. Creativity can be your best friend. You may have to use a few different sources of startup funding, recession or not. It can take longer than you originally anticipated, but slow and steady wins the race as they say.

If you work on winning grants or running a side hustle, it may feel like you will never finish the race, let alone win. Maybe you applied for loans but could not get approval. Now you are shaking yourself off and wondering if it is worth it. It is. Just keep trying. Consider the recession, though a challenge, to be an opportunity to do something not only different, but bigger and better in the long term. The rain doesn’t last forever, and neither does a recession. By starting your business now, you can be positioned for ultimate growth when the clouds finally roll away.

The post Top 10 Brilliant Ways to Find Recession Startup Funding appeared first on Credit Suite.

Support Remote Working and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

You’re concerned about the coronavirus. So are we. So, we put together 10 awesome business tips helping you to support remote working even long after COVID-19 becomes a distant memory.

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Support Remote Working and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite put on surgical masks and smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! Support remote working to keep your employees safe – plus more ways to refresh your business and marketing.

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Content is King; We’re All Just Vassals (or Maybe Court Jesters)

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about kicking off your content marketing the right way. Inc says the first key point is to own your own content. Oh yes. Oh my God, yes.

What does this mean?

Owning your own content virtually always means your business has a blog and a website. It’s not Wix and it’s not Medium. Content ownership matters because you never know when a platform will implode. Remember: people used to think MySpace would be around forever.

Heh, not so much now, eh?

Here’s another tip we really liked.

Define Your Niche, and Then Broaden It

What does Credit Suite write about? Well, we don’t write about business in the generic sense. Rather, we write about business credit. And there are some natural offshoots to that. That includes these Friday blog posts about marketing. It also includes what it takes to start a business, and how to fund yours.

But we don’t write about just anything when it comes to business. So, don’t expect to get advice about working with foreign exporters here. But that’s okay. There are plenty of other places to find such information.

The bottom line is you don’t have to be all things to all people. For that way lies madness. Get good at your niche!

#9. Marketing for Those of Us with Champagne Tastes and Beer Pocketbooks

The next awesome tip is about marketing for a startup when your budget is, shall we say, less than grand. Young Upstarts notes the old school business card is still a fantastic way to market yourself.

It also has the benefit of being something tangible. Even with fewer gatherings (thanks a heap, COVID-19), there’s nothing stopping you from slipping a business card into an envelope with something you’re mailing anyway. That could be advertising materials or even invoices.

Here’s another idea we loved.

Fishbowl Marketing

Have you ever seen one of these on a receptionist’s desk? It’s one of those things where you toss your business card (there’s another use for ‘em) into the bowl or bucket. You’re entered into a contest for … something.

Of course, only one person (or only a few people) wins. What happens to all those other business cards?

If you said they’re added to a marketing mailing list, then give yourself a gold star. And if they’re just tossed, then what a wasted opportunity!

So, collect the cards. And for the folks who don’t win? How about telling them they’re entered into a second chance drawing or future drawings? Give to get, as we say.

Mailing lists filled with warm prospects are worth more than their weight in gold. The good old fishbowl is an easy way to build one, for nearly no cost.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Support remote working for more than safety and health – it’s great for productivity, too. Plus, nine more fantastic tips!

#8. You Have from the Ground Floor to the Top Floor to Convince Me: Now, Go!

Our following life-changing tip concerns writing an elevator pitch. Business Knowhow lays it all out for us. This is a skill you can use elsewhere in life, by the way.

Maybe the best part of this article is the emphasis on personal connections and tailoring. We believe in value in every transaction here at Credit Suite. And you should, too! Your audience certainly does.

It all starts with understanding what they’re looking for. So, let’s go with a fer-instance.

An Example

Let’s say you sell perfume. A retailer is wondering whether it’s worthwhile to set aside some of their valuable shelf space for your product. An end user is wondering what your product smells like. And they may be wondering if you ever test on animals. And a distributor may be concerned with how well your product is packaged to prevent breakage, and where your manufacturing center or warehouse is.

Telling your end user or a retailer that your product is made in Milwaukee is going to get you tuned out right quick. And telling a distributor that your product smells like lavender and mint doesn’t matter to them unless your packaging fails. Or there’s a spill on the highway.

A Personal Story

Elevator pitches (often in writing) are an integral part of the author experience. In a few moments, I have to convince a publisher that they want to read all 100,000+ words of a science fiction story showcasing the struggles in a society composed of humans, smart robots, and aliens.

This has led me to understanding better about what a publisher (or agent) wants. They want something that sells. That’s their bottom line. So, while they want to know if my book will be a page turner, they’re also wondering what the ultimate readership could be. This helps them figure out how to market it. So, if I tell them it’s a cross between Alien Nation and I, Robot, then they’ve got a much better idea of who might want to read the novel.

This is different from how the story might be pitched to readers. That’s the blurb (you know, the piece on the back cover of a book or in the description section on Amazon). For a reader, I might draw an analogy to current attitudes toward immigration and technology.

You may have a service and not a product. And if you have a product, it’s probably not a book. So, your specifics will differ. But this is yet another area where tailoring will serve you well.

#7. Good Blog Posting is no Accident

So, for our next sensational tip, we looked at creating converting blog posts. Opt in Monster says that breaking up texts makes it more compelling.

That’s kind of why we do it in these posts!

But there’s more than that, when it comes to writing a blog post to help with conversions. We’ll just concentrate on one of the tips in this article.

Bang! Bullet Points to the Rescue

The best things about bullet points are:

They’re easy to read
Readers are naturally drawn to them
They’re a great way to make short, sharp points
You don’t need to even write full sentences
In fact, they’re supposed to be a lot more like headlines
And they break up text beautifully

#6. Creating Bite-Sized Content for Bite-Sized Attention Spans

This tip is so cool, and it works! G2 tells us all about creating ‘digestible’ content.

Did you know the current attention span is something like eight seconds?

That’s less time than it just took me to read the first part of our tip #8 (right before the ‘An Example’ subheading). And I know what it says! The first time you read it, it probably took more like eight seconds to read the first one or two paragraphs.

Yeah, it’s like that. Whoa.

Short, Sweet, and Maybe to the Point

The article focuses on some great forms of short content and how to get them going. We highly recommend reading the article in its entirety. So, let’s talk about one type of nugget-sized content.

Videos

We create business credit videos here. Lots and lots of videos. Some are short, and some are longer. The beauty of video isn’t just that you can get a lot across in a shorter amount of time. It’s also possible to multitask when it’s on. You’re busy. I’m busy. All God’s children are busy.

So, make it easier for your unbelievably busy audience to connection with you and give them short, sweet content mixed in with the deeper dives.

#5. Keep Your Workers Safer and Support Remote Working – Now and Forever

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

And you can help people, too, which is awesome. You can do so when you support remote working.

Effortless HR says when you support remote working, you allow for more employee flexibility. Because the challenge is less to attract top talent these days (although that’s still vital) – it’s keeping them. And keeping them happy.

Of course, this setup reduces operational expenses. Imagine having to only rent enough office space for 15 workers, rather than 30. And if you offer a commuting benefit, you’re only paying for gas or train or bus tickets for 15 people (or whatever the figure is). After all, it makes sense. Letting people work from home means you don’t need to pay someone to commute from their bedroom or kitchen to their spare room or couch or the like.

Let’s concentrate on one terrific benefit when you support remote working.

Look at that Big Candidate Pool – Just Look at it!

That is, when you support remote working, you’re allowing people to work who couldn’t before. The parent with the small child. The caregiver for an elderly parent. And, yes, the person who’s disabled, either temporarily or permanently.

Your employee could be in a wheelchair, and it wouldn’t make any difference versus other employees who aren’t. They could have a child who needs attention. But so long as they get their work done, then things should be golden.

Personally, I love working from home. And I am just about at a point where I wouldn’t even consider a company if they didn’t offer it (don’t worry; I’m not looking to jump ship). But yeah, it means that much to me.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Support remote working for more than safety and health – it’s great for productivity, too. Plus, nine more fantastic tips!

#4. Ready, Set, Makeover!

So, check out this spectacular tip, all about giving your office a productivity makeover. After all, even as you support remote working, you may still have folks who’ve got to be the office. Under 30 CEO notes that your environment can have a serious effect on your productivity. One of their tips really surprised us.

Clutter, Clutter, Everywhere

You may be used to working amidst a lot of papers you’re not working on right now.

Guilty as charged.

Don’t.

And here’s why.

Clutter can actually make you more creative. How? It has to do with being able to make unique and new connections. But that tanks your productivity. Once you’ve got the creative stuff going on, it’s time to buckle down and execute on your ideas.

So, maybe take out those papers and the like, whatever helps you get creative, to start. But then put them away when it’s time to get in gear and get things done.

#3. Initial Traction, then Scaling

So, it’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you scale your efforts. Startup Professionals tells us your first job is to get traction. Of course, you should – otherwise, you won’t have a business!

But once you’ve gotten going, things are going to have to change. This is a part of the natural progression of startup ventures. Things need to slow down and pivot after a while.

Let’s concentrate on two separate tips.

Squeeze Those Pennies!

Can you get a volume discount? Or maybe a few percent off if you pay early? If you can do it, then go for little helpers like this. Get used to looking for the bargains out there. And get used to finding ways to defer payments. Hey, starting business credit is one great way to do that.

That’s one of the reasons why we here think it’s so awesome.

Selling is Everyone’s Job

Just adding sales to someone’s job title shouldn’t be necessary to get them to help with sales. This doesn’t mean everyone is hard selling and cold calling, etc. Rather, it means your employees are company advocates. This can even get into them telling their friends they like working for you (assuming they do, of course). More easily and cheaply attracting great talent is a terrific way to save money.

By the way, the article says to do this and we agree – reward people who help with this! Being a wonderful place to work is a pretty surefire way to convince your employees to tell your pals they, you know, actually like working for you.

#2. Job Candidates are People, Too

Well, of course they are.

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on improving the job candidate experience. Indeed reveals all about treating your future employees better.

It’s hard to hire these days. So, why make it harder for yourself?

I’ve been through a ton of job interviews and the hiring process varies wildly from place to place. This tip really resonated.

Don’t Wait Forever to Provide Feedback

At a certain point, a job candidate will think you’re ghosting them if you don’t follow up soon. At the absolute minimum, please let people know if they’re still in the running. And if they aren’t, then cut them loose.

#1. Is Disruption Compatible with Customer Satisfaction and Process Excellence? It Can Be

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on how industry disruptors can improve customer satisfaction and process excellence. Entrepreneur says these are not mutually exclusive goals. We recommend reading the article in its entirety, so instead we’ll focus on one particular point.

Map and Maintain Your Processes

YouTube is a disruptor. So’s Google. You honestly think they don’t have any processes in place? Of course, they do! Those are processes for everything from hiring to deciding on the color the walls in their offices.

Processes help with workflow. They save time and, by extension, money. The gist of it is – if it’s already been decided, then that’s one less thing to do. So, your business can be Disruption City. Just, stop reinventing the wheel all the time.

So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Support remote working for more than safety and health – it’s great for productivity, too. Plus, nine more fantastic tips!

The post Support Remote Working and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Write More Likeable Social Media and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

Are you looking to write more likeable social media copy? It’s nothing without a thumbs up – so make it easier for people to like what you’re putting on social media. We show you how, plus 9 other awesome tips to help your business succeed.

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Create More Likeable Social Media and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! More likeable social media can get you more prospects and more sales – and we show you how to do it!

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Business Success is in Your Hands

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about running a successful business. HubSpot quotes some sobering statistics. Currently, 9% of American businesses close each year. Yet only 8% of businesses are started each year. And around half of all new businesses close after the first five years.

Still, that means half don’t. So, how do you get into the other half? You know, the good half?

This article is jam-packed with great stuff so we encourage you to read it all. Hence, we’ll concentrate on bits of it.

Offer Benefits for Staff

Now, you may be wondering why I’m zeroing in on this. It’s not necessarily something which businesses start with. Yet, it’s still vital.

Why is it so important to offer employees benefits? Well, some are required by law no matter what. You’ve got to offer jury duty leave. And you need to have workers’ compensation. But there’s another reason to do so.

Benefits help to motivate your employees. And they help your employees with buy-in. Employees are more likely to be loyal to a company with decent benefits because benefits directly help them. Life and disability insurance could help a struggling family more than nearly anything else. Beyond employee loyalty, you’d also be doing the right thing. Can’t beat that!

#9. You Don’t Have to Go it Alone

The next awesome tip is about working with an advisory board. Startup Professionals notes working with an advisory board can help to fill any talent gaps in your organization.

Now, this article is in the context of startups. But there’s no reason why you can’t work with an advisory board even if you’ve been in business for a while. An advisory board can be as formal or informal as you like. They’re essentially people you turn to for advice on your business.

Fill Knowledge Gaps

Gather ‘round for a quick true story.

Over a decade ago (oh my gosh, it really is that long ago), I worked at a startup. It was four engineering students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. And me. You know, Wendy and the Lost Boys.

None of us really understood how to do everything from working with suppliers to doing the books. That’s not to say we didn’t try. And the school provided some assistance. But it wasn’t truly enough.

You don’t need to know everything. And you don’t need to do anything. Cripes, no.

Get help from others – and in this article the biggest takeaway is that a regular, formalish advisory board is the way to go.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Create more likeable social media and win over more customers and prospects. Plus, nine other awesome tips to keep your business humming.

#8. Spending Money to Bring in Employees to Help You Make Money

Our following life-changing tip concerns improving your recruiting budget. Indeed lays it all out for us. First, the budgeting process for recruiting should be going on all year long. And, the truth is, budgeting for everything should probably be more or less constant. Being able to roll with the punches and turn on a dime is good for nearly any aspect of business.

But let’s talk about your recruiting budget.

Examine Your Process and Refine It

So many businesses seem to be stuck in an older mindset when it comes to recruiting. They’re advertising online, yes, but that’s about the only difference between today and 1960.

It’s still vetting tons of resumes, in-person interviews, etc.

So, let me tell you a story.

The Never-ending Recruiting Process

Well, at least it seemed that way at the time.

A few decades ago, I was interviewing for positions and the standard was, you’ll hear in a week or so. Okay.

There was a company which I ended up interviewing with for two separate positions. Both of them said it would be a month before I would hear. So, for the second one, I asked why. And they told me it was to get through the pool of applicants and meet them. All of them.

I asked – how many people are interviewing for this one role?

Oh, forty.

Say what?

That business had never learned to triage its applicants. As a result, the recruiting process had to have been extraordinarily expensive.

Vetting and Meeting and Deciding

To combat this, that business would have done well to vet the applicants and their resumes better. Vetting takes some time. But it’s far cheaper than pulling so many people out of their work routines to meet with over thirty employees who would never work there.

By devoting more time and attention and money earlier in the process, you’ll save money. And you can save cash later in the process, too. After all, just how many people have to meet every single applicant? The first interview should be a second stage of vetting. Your, say, 40 applicants should be vetted down to maybe 20 who get a first interview. And then there should be maybe only 10 – 15 people who make it to the second interview round.

Putting off the big decisions and saving them for the end of the process wasted everyone’s time and money.

Tech to the Rescue

That company – and yours, too – could have used better triaging technology. It didn’t really exist then. But it sure as heck exists now. You may find the expense well worth it, to eliminate less acceptable candidates faster. And then you can concentrate on your best prospects.

Budgeting for such software should help to offset some of the human hour costs. So, be sure to factor that in when putting a final bow on your improved recruiting budget.

#7. Stretch Productivity Without Stretching Numbers

So, for our next sensational tip, we looked at upping sales productivity without upping headcount. LinkedIn says that most salespeople spend about 40% of their time selling. But if you could raise that to 50% for a ten-person team, then you would effectively have the work of 11 salespeople.

Pretty neat, eh?

But how do you do that?

Reduce the Time Spent on Things Which Keep Your Salespeople from Having Enough Time to Sell

Like what?

Well, like onboarding, for example.

How do you reduce the time onboarding? Isn’t it important? Of course, it is.

So, make your salespeople want to stay. And you won’t be onboarding quite so many people.

Another way to save non-selling time is with technology. Are your computers too slow? Do your employees constantly do workarounds to get their work done properly? Then your tech could stand an overhaul.

And our fave was good old outsourcing. Are your salespeople typing up orders, or keeping the common areas in your office tidy?

Why are they?

Pay someone else to do less skilled and mission critical work. Save your salespeople for what you hired them for – selling.

#6. Hello, I’d Like to Sell You Something

This tip is so easy, and it works! Mail Shake tells us all about selling over the phone. This article covers some fundamentals when it comes to any sort of selling – not just over the phone.

The tip I’d like to concentrate on is the one about action. As the article notes, once the writer knew what to do to make sales, he kept doing the same thing. Over and over again.

It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of this point. So, it means less experimenting, perhaps – or maybe not. After all, to be genuine with your prospects, you can’t say the exact same thing over and over again. Treating people individually is the name of the game – just check out our tip #5 for the specifics on that.

Instead, here’s an analogy which should be more instructive.

Free Throws

Have you ever played basketball? Any level, even pickup, counts.

There are a ton of variables in the game, as there are in all sports. Except for in one area (this is operating under the assumption that you’re inside – the outside world has wind as a variable).

Free throws.

It’s just you, the ball, the basket, and the free throw line. Basketball courts are of a regulation size. Unlike baseball diamonds, they have to conform perfectly to certain measurements. This includes court size, where the free throw line is, and the height of the basket. The ball stays the same (if you’re in an all-female league, the ball is smaller, but it’s the same size from game to game and from team to team).

Once you start making free throws, should you change your technique? Of course not. Just ask Hall of Famer Rick Barry.

Sales isn’t perfect. There are variables. But if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

#5. Generate More Likeable Social Media

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

More likeable social media is where it’s at.

Word Stream says treating every platform the same way is a mistake. And so is just tossing any old content out there. Be intentional with your marketing.

Actually, that’s good advice no matter where you’re marketing, or how.

Treating Everyone and Everything the Same is SO 1956

We live in a world of personalized marketing and branding. So, hop on board that train. It’s not going away any time soon.

But what does that mean to your brand?

It means paying attention to your customers’ and prospects’ demographics – and knowing those might not match perfectly. And it means paying attention to what they are saying and doing. If they’re not clicking on and liking cat videos (not everyone does – shocking, I know!), then don’t use cat videos in your marketing.

Here’s a tip which truly stood out for us.

Match the Visual with Relevant Copy

How many times have you gotten a message on your feed from a business? Probably lots of times, whether that’s on Facebook, Twitter, or elsewhere.

How many times did a cute puppy (awwww) accompany a message about buying brooms or taking a pottery class? Hopefully, not too often. And what did you do with those ads?

You probably ignored them. And you may even have felt a nagging, unconscious feeling that those ads were weird, as were the companies serving them.

Your gut was trying to tell you something.

Getting attention for a social media post with a wholly unrelated image can leave your audience with a vague feeling of being cheated. Because you have cheated them, in a way. You promised one thing, yet you failed to deliver on that promise.

Don’t do that.

But what do you do if your product just isn’t that attention-grabbing? Or you sell a service that is maybe harder to visualize, like life coaching?

Adding a Visual to a Concept Which Doesn’t Lend Itself to Visuals

Consider how the NBA team, the Miami Heat, does it. After all, heat is an amorphous concept. And they can’t go with the sun, as that visual goes along with another team, the Phoenix Suns.

So, the Heat did it with an image of flames. Even now, their name has a stylized flame tailing away from the T in Heat. And before, the image of flames was even more pronounced.

There is a team called the Calgary Flames. And they also use images of flames. The Heat can coexist in this space because the Flames are an NFL team. Hence, the Heat’s imagery won’t be confused with a rival’s.

So, consider related imagery and similar imagery. Maybe your life coaching visual can show pictures of the coach/coaches with clients or alone. Or maybe you can go with a more representational concept, like a ladder or a series of stairs, showing how a coach helps clients succeed. Experiment and play with the concept until you find what works.

We suggest reading the article in its entirety as there are plenty of other terrific tips in there.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Create more likeable social media and win over more customers and prospects. Plus, nine other awesome tips to keep your business humming.

#4. Up Your More Likeable Social Media Game

So, check out this spectacular tip, all about better promoting your company on social media. The Self Employed notes that, for example, you should never, ever buy followers.

The article is actually an infographic, and we recommend checking it out.

However – here’s a caveat.

The infographic refers to Klout Score. Which hasn’t been around since 2018. So, take it with a grain of salt. This doesn’t mean the infographic is no longer useful. It is! But we recommend digging a bit deeper and not just accepting every bit of it without some further investigation.

#3. Up Your Website Traffic with Influencer Marketing (Talk About Getting More Likeable Social Media!)

So, it’s not your imagination: this winning tip can increase your website traffic with influencer marketing. Noobpreneur tells us there are a number of ways to bring influencers around to working with you and your brand.

And these don’t have to be influencers with enormous followings. But wait, back up a sec – what’s an influencer?

The Power of Recommendations x 1000

When was the last time you bought a new car, or at least a new-to-you car?

Did you talk to your social circle about it? Maybe you wanted to find out if the new model you were looking at was really worth it. Or maybe you were trying to figure out if you could get a better deal on the other side of town. Perhaps you were asking about features you didn’t have and thought those options might be a good idea.

Whatever the reason, you were talking to influencers. Your personal influencers probably don’t have a million Instagram followers. But you trust them. So, their follower count most likely doesn’t matter to you.

That’s what influencers are. Except these are folks who you don’t know well, if at all. Hence, your degree of trust is different.

Divulge Any Commercial Relationships

In the article, they say you should be paying your influencers. And that makes sense – they’re offering a valuable service which you need. But at the same time, an influencer is supposed to be a trusted recommender. Doesn’t that feel like a paradox?

It doesn’t have to. By disclosing all commercial relationships (you disclose, and so does your influencer), then your audience is respected. They know – or at least they should know – that your influencer isn’t motivated by love, like your Aunt Sally.

Any savvy consumer will understand your influencer would be compensated for their services. But you will attain and retain their trust if you make it clear that your influencer gets some cash for saying your widget is better than your competitors’.

This does beg the question, though – what about when your customers are very young children? If this applies to your business, then I would advice you to use an overabundance of caution when working with influencers.

After all, you probably wouldn’t like it if your kids were overly influenced by someone – or manipulated by them.

#2. Prevent Facebook Ad Mistakes!

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on avoiding Facebook advertising errors. Main Street ROI reveals all about the kinds of blunders which so many fall prey to on the world’s largest social media platform.

By the way, some of the errors involved not properly targeting an audience and not writing the right kind of ad – talk about needing to create more likeable social media!

But beyond that, here’s our favorite tip because we think a lot of people ignore it at their peril.

Don’t Ignore Custom Audiences

It is in Facebook’s best interests for your advertising on their platform to succeed. After all, if your company makes money, then you’ve got more money to spend on advertising on their platform.

And if you do well, you’ll tell others, etc.

They provide a ton of tools to help you succeed. Those tools are free.

So, why the heck aren’t you using them?

The Wonderful World of Custom Audiences

The idea behind custom audiences is to best target the people who will receive your sales messages. There probably aren’t any real universal products out there (I’m not talking about oxygen, which is technically not a product. And I’m not talking about health care, either, which is more like a galaxy of several products and services). So, because there are likely no truly universal products, your audience needs to be tailored in some fashion or another.

Even if you don’t have a perfect handle on the demographics of your audience, Facebook knows the demographics of the people who like your page.

So, target your Gen Xer customers, or your customers of color, or your female customers. Giving people the content they want means, to them, you’ve got more likeable social media content. That means engagement. And it can mean sales.

Think laser-like pinpointing, not blanketing.

#1. SEO, Like Politics, is Local

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on local SEO. Succeed as Your Own Boss says it all starts with Google My Business. Google gives you a ton of free real estate to provide detail about your business. And the search behemoth pulls from GMB when people search for services like yours in your area.

So, why are there blanks in your profile?

Fill ‘em.

You have space to tell Google what you are and what you do – and where you do it.

This means well-defined service areas. Let’s say you’re in Brooklyn. Your service area might be Queens. Or Bushwick (a part or Brooklyn). Yes, neighborhoods count. Make this information painfully clear. Because when someone is searching for your product or service in Park Slope (another part of Brooklyn), you want them to be able to find you!

So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Create more likeable social media and win over more customers and prospects. Plus, nine other awesome tips to keep your business humming.

The post Write More Likeable Social Media and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Beating Imposter Syndrome and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

Have you ever struggled with not thinking you or your business was good enough? Then you’ll want to read on and scoop up our tips for beating imposter syndrome. The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – You Could Be Beating Imposter Syndrome and More Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out … Continue reading Beating Imposter Syndrome and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

Beating Imposter Syndrome and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

Have you ever struggled with not thinking you or your business was good enough? Then you’ll want to read on and scoop up our tips for beating imposter syndrome.

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – You Could Be Beating Imposter Syndrome and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Please Don’t Hurt Me, Customer!

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about the bane of ever businessperson’s existence – handling angry customers. Last week, we looked at turning complainers into promoters. Here’s more on that topic.

The Self Employed says for every brand promoter, you’ll have some 26 brand detractors. Ouch.

As you would probably expect, there’s a lot of harm which detractors can do. And it can be tough to get over that.

One idea is to continue to build as many positive experiences as possible. While you’re not going to be able to please everyone all the time, you can please more people than not. Well done, you could drown out some of the negatives.

But that doesn’t solve them. So, here are some tips for getting to the heart of the matter.

Find Your Complainers and Address Them

What happens when your brand isn’t tagged by the complainer? What if they get really coy, and refer to your business as ‘the company that shall not be named’? Is all lost, in terms of trying to find the complaints and properly handle them?

One idea is to use software such as Daylite, or some other CRM software. The idea is to locate any mentioning of your brand online, and sometimes those aren’t perfect.

Listen to the Complainers

Now, if you’ve been on the internet for more than five minutes, you’re well aware that there are plenty of people who troll. And there are a ton of folks who just complain for the sake of complaining.

But what about the legit complainers? In such instances, your task is to acknowledge that hey, they’re right. And then tell them what you’re going to do about it. It doesn’t have to be anything detailed. Rather, you can say you’re going to review the matter. That’s good enough. But don’t forget to follow up and do just that.

#9. Run the Customer Journey Smoothly

The next awesome tip is about avoiding problems in your customer relations. Main Street ROI notes there are several ways to, well, mess things up.

We’ve covered a lot of similar territory before, so we won’t repeat ourselves. Rather, we’ll concentrate on what we think is the biggest issue.

Don’t Let Leads Slip Through Your Fingers

Have you ever been to a website which you wanted to be at, but somehow you lost the connection? Maybe you got a phone call and clicked away. Or you restarted. Another possibility is you were there for a while and meant to save the information, but something distracted you. And then, oops, it’s gone.

Imagine being on the other side of this. Heck, you probably don’t have to imagine. You’re probably living it. And you may not even know you are.

The Big Net

Those lost prospects are a bit like fish falling through a bigger than normal hole in a fisherman’s net when he’s failed to repair a tear. That fisherman needs a second net. And so, do you.

But how?

Consider adding a lead capture form to your website. You want contact information. So, in return, provide something for free. In exchange for a name and an email address, try providing a white paper to download. Or maybe access to a webinar not found anywhere else.

Not every lost prospect will fall into your secondary net. But it’s senseless to not put out that net and at least try to catch a few of them.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Start beating imposter syndrome today.

#8. Get a Marketing Network Going

Our following life-changing tip concerns networking for marketers. Wordstream lays it all out for us. Connecting to similar businesspeople doesn’t have to mean just going to a networking event and collecting a bunch of business cards. And then promptly tossing those cards into a drawer and not finding them for a year.

We felt the article had good ideas and recommend checking it out in its entirety. So, we’ll showcase just one of their tips.

Be Our Guest

Contact people and ask them to be your guest bloggers! And do the opposite – ask if you can write a guest post for them.

The best part of this tip was to do the legwork in advance, including crafting good headlines. Make it painfully easy for the host to say yes.

A Few Extra Words on Blog Guest Posting, From Us

We’ve taken a few guest posts over the years, and here are a few things we’ve learned.

First, craft guest posting guidelines and refer people to them. Second, craft standard responses to people who suggest guest posts. These should cover instances like an acceptance, an acceptance with reservations, a denial with a chance to resubmit, and a flat-out denial.

Ask for a relevant sample. So, here at Credit Suite, it would be a blog post or article about business funding, business credit, or maybe banking. We’ve accepted some posts about related topics, like business insurance. But the idea is to match our theme as closely as possible.

And determine what your standards are going to be. One thing I have found is that, if the pitch letter has grammatical and spelling errors in it, then the pitch sample probably will as well.

Make your life easier and have the guest poster write up a short bio. And give them a chance to give input on topic, title, etc.

Most importantly, don’t ever be afraid to say no. We’ve only accepted about 5% (if that) of all of the pitches we’ve ever received.

#7. Social Media + Sales = Results

So, for our next sensational tip, we looked at integrating social media with sales. HubSpot says that you can use social media to, for example, prospect for customers. How? Check places like LinkedIn, and find out their location, work history, and any mutual connections you may have.

Plus, people put all sorts of stuff into their LinkedIn profiles. They might be the member of a surfing club. Or maybe they identify themselves as a graduate of Quinnipiac University. Getting talking points and ways to relate to your prospects can only help you.

Here’s our fave tip of them all.

Social Proof on Social Media

What’s social proof? It’s reviews, mainly. What do other people say about your product or service – or your company? Why not share that with sales. Most people love social proof, as it can often feel more authentic than what a pitchman would say.

Consider Amazon. If there are any reviews for a product at all, people read them. And sometimes those reviews make the difference between a sale… and no sale.

‘The sleeves are too short.’ ‘It didn’t fit my window but the company could not have been nicer. They quickly replaced my purchase with the right size and didn’t charge me for shipping.’ ‘It says it’s chew-proof, but my dog took it apart in less than half an hour.’ ‘The coffee comes with a neat little surprise – a small bracelet with stone beads! I’ll give it to my daughter. What a fun little extra!’

For the positive reviews, give them to sales to make the most of them. And as for the negative reviews, see tip #10 – and address them!

#6. Cold Emails, Hot Leads

This tip is so cool, and it works! Mail Shake tells us all about how to best cold email prospects.

We recommend checking out the entire article so instead we’re going to concentrate on one thing.

It’s Not All About You

‘I am writing because …’ ‘You’re on my contact list because I …’ ‘I wanted to tell you…’ ‘Please help me…’

Are you guilty of any of these?

<Raises hand.>

Why should your prospect buy from you when all you can talk about is yourself? Start with them. ‘First off, thank you for …’ ‘You’ve got a great… and I was hoping to…’ See what I mean?

Now, if you could please, go back and reread the first sentence in this article.

Yeah. That’s why it looks the way it does.

Oh and by the way, better cold emailing might just give you the confidence to start beating imposter syndrome – see tip #5.

#5. Start Beating Imposter Syndrome Today

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

It’s all about beating imposter syndrome.

Freelancers Union says imposter is all too common in the world. And we would venture to say that it’s likely to be more common for new business owners. It’s easy to feel you’re not good enough.

Imposter syndrome takes a number of forms, and that includes resisting raising your rates or asking for extra money for scope creep. It also includes taking guff from clients because you feel you need them. Or maybe, deep down, you feel you somehow deserve it.

I know it all too well. Let me tell you my story.

The Storyteller’s Story

I’ve mentioned this before, that I’m a fiction author. And this came from a number of choices I made and actions I took. Of course.

But it wasn’t overnight. It happened after a number of years of writing. This meant putting thoughts on paper and then, later, realizing how cliché or tired they were. It meant throwing prose against a wall, seeing if it would stick.

I belong to a ton of writing groups, particularly on Facebook and Twitter. These groups are filled with folks who lie about how much money they are making. Some are, yes, telling the truth. But a bunch aren’t. They’re also filled with people who claim you can’t use the term ‘author’ unless you’ve been published. That instead, you must say ‘writer’, as if it were a lesser title.

That’s a load of malarkey.

Beating Imposter Syndrome in the Book

So, how did I first get published? I actually won a contest. Normally, I would have been terrified of entering one. Yep, I would have felt I wasn’t good enough. How could I possibly be good enough, with so many awesome authors out there? I had no experience and no portfolio. There was nothing I could point to and say, ‘I’ve been published at ___’.

Nothing. Nada. Zip.

So, for me, beating imposter syndrome meant putting myself out there and saying ‘oh, to hell with it! Let’s see what happens.’ I hesitated before I sent the email. How could I possibly measure up? I didn’t deserve that sort of success. But I sent the email anyway.

And, once I sent it, I second-guessed myself for a few months.

Some Solutions for Beating Imposter Syndrome

Our favorite tip was to surround yourself with people who are further along than you are. This is for the purpose of mentoring, yes. But I like to think it’s also for the purpose of seeing that it’s possible. Know that person was once in your position. And they made it – or at least they’ve made it further than you have.

It’s very encouraging.

And, I might add, ignore the folks who claim you need to satisfy some nebulous, weird ideal which, bottom line, means nothing for your success or your career or industry. Of course, CPAs have to pass exams, and a long haul trucker must have the proper driver’s license. But if someone tells you the equivalent of you can’t be a real ___ without a totally unnecessary ___, then smile sweetly. And ignore them.

They’re only projecting their own insecurities on you.

And, here’s one more thing. When you’ve made it, or at least made it further – do the same for those not so far along as you. Don’t pull the ladder of success up behind you. Throw a rope down and help the next person up.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Start beating imposter syndrome today.

#4. Businessperson, Motivate Thyself!

So, check out this spectacular tip, all about motivating yourself. Addicted 2 Success notes that daily motivation starts the night before. And we could not agree more!

So, here are a few tips, together.

The Night Before

Get to bed early. Yeah, really. That means, binge watch Netflix some other time. We would also add that sleep deficits can be downright dangerous. Try to get more sleep and try to get it early.

But before you turn out the light, plan the following day the night before. This means making a list, and it also means visualizing how to get each task accomplished.

By the way, this should help with insomnia. After all, if your tasks are already written down, and you’ve already considered how to get them accomplished, you might spend less time in bed, worrying.

Here’s one tip, just from us.

Batch What You Can

What the heck does that mean? It means getting your lunches together on Sunday, rather than every morning. It means choosing your clothes for the week, or at least the night before. It may also mean cooking something which will work for you for much of the week, like plain drumsticks, which can be served with mashed potatoes and gravy one night, and with buffalo sauce on another night.

You’re going to need to get dressed on Thursday and make dinner on Wednesday. You’ll have to carry your lunch (or at least snacks) on Friday. And you’ll need to, say, pay for coffee with exactish change on Monday.

Since you already know this stuff is happening in advance, stop behaving as if it’s blindsiding you! It isn’t. So, be prepared, and you’ll be a far happier person. And that will translate into improved motivation.

#3. You Don’t Have a Big Budget; But You Can Still Have Big Motivation in Your Business

So, it’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you motivate your employees – even when the Benjamins just aren’t there. Effortless HR tells us flexibility can be an excellent motivator for people. In fact, parents tend to value it more than a higher salary! So, if you can allow an employee to work from home or later or earlier in the day, do it.

Here’s our fave tip from the pack.

Tradition!

So, this is a neat idea, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot. What can your business do together which won’t break the bank? I once worked for a company which did a potluck lunch once per quarter. People either made something or brought paper plates or soda or the other trappings. Or they contributed a little cash.

Sitting down together was fun and relaxing. It took us all out of our everyday lives for a few hours, every three months. It’s easy to do something like this. And – bonus – how about asking your employees what they want to do?

#2. What’s in a Business Name?

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on naming your business. Crowd Spring reveals all about naming your business properly. We’ve covered similar ground on our blog. There are ways to name your business which can lock you out of financing.

Don’t do that.

This article provides a few other reasons why one name or another could be a pitfall for your business. We suggest you check out the article in its entirety for examples and advice on how to avoid issues.

So, here’s one issue they outlined.

Guilt by Association

Disney recently bought 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures. And they promptly dropped the ‘Fox’ from both acquisitions.

Never mind that these properties aren’t owned by Murdoch (the folks who own Fox News). Disney didn’t want to alienate any potential customers. By dropping the term, they neatly sidestepped that.

For Disney, it was also convenient, as they would have likely been renaming those properties anyway. So, they changed the names to better associate them with the Disney brand. At the same time, they dropped a term which could have turned off some customers.

Smart folks, those Disney people.

#1. Clean Office, Organized Mind

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on neatening up your office. Noobpreneur says too much clutter can make your job harder. After all, what was the last time you just knew you had a piece of paper on your desk, but now you’ll be damned if you can find it?

This is not good, and you know it! So, getting organized makes sense not just to keep your work area germ-free (ish – we all know there are going to be germs) – it can potentially help you keep clients.

Here’s the best tip, we felt.

Paper 1, 2, 3

Your paper should have three potential homes. This can, by the way, work for virtual documents as well.

You haven’t gotten to it yet.
It’s a work in progress.
You’re done – so you file the paper. Or you toss it, if appropriate.

We would argue that you may need to make #2 a little more granular. One idea could be a separate folder or the like for a work in progress where you’re waiting for something from someone else. Or you might want to separate time-sensitive items in pile #1.

You do you. But please, get organized!

So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Start beating imposter syndrome today.

The post Beating Imposter Syndrome and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Stop Being Lonely Leaders and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

A lot of entrepreneurs are lonely leaders. Are you one of them? Then read on, for tips on how to assuage your loneliness and improve your business.

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Advice for Lonely Leaders and More

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Bring Generation Z into the Fold

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about attracting Gen Z to the workplace. You know, millennials. Effortless HR says work is changing and hiring managers need to change with it. This means, among other things, adapting to the millennial way of life. It means political correctness (you know, courtesy) and even safe spaces.

It also means multitasking and digital nativism. What sort of technology did you use in high school and college? Millennials used PCs, laptops, and smartphones. Tech is in their DNA.

Your intrepid blog writer, heh, used pen and paper. Computers were found in a lab and printed on green and white paper with sprocket holes.

Here’s one tip we really liked.

Guided Career Choices

The truth is millennials aren’t necessarily the only people who are having issues with their career choices. Heck, I had no idea what I wanted to do for years. It’s not so easy to figure out what will make you happy for decades. It’s rather like a marriage.

For me, my ideal career hadn’t been invented when I graduated from college or even law school (1986). So, don’t be 100% shocked if Generation Z doesn’t know what will gladden their hearts forever and ever (or at least until retirement). This is also, in part, a function of our gig/specialized/personalized economy. We all want our own choices in this area. And why not? We’re getting our choices in every other aspect of our lives.

So, don’t be surprised if your interviewees aren’t certain of what they want to do with themselves. They might not know what they want to be when they ‘grow up’. And that’s okay.

How do you work with these people? Acknowledge the difficulty in knowing the future. And embrace the unknown. At the same time, don’t treat them just like a bunch of interchangeable parts. They’re people, not widgets. Giving your Gen Z (and all other) employees a measure of autonomy will empower them and give them an emotional investment in your business’s success.

It’ll also take some of the decision-making burden off you. You might even stop being lonely leaders (more on that later).

#9. Lights, Camera, Marketing!

The next awesome tip is about borrowing from the world of media for promotional ideas. Wistia notes we’re already preparing and releasing long form content. It’s a lot like a short form film. You know, the kind that gets Oscar nominations and wins while you’re getting more popcorn?

Er, sorry documentary and short subject film makers. But you know it’s true.

Getting back to the point (and I do have one), the idea is to promote your media like the big media companies do.

So, this may or may not work for your small business. You might not see this as being a viable strategy for a long haul trucking company or a nail salon.

But there was one strategy which should work for any business.

Share Your Positive Feedback, Awards, and Nominations – Everywhere

Chances are incredibly high that you’ve seen film reviews at some point in your life. Of course you have!

Did you mind the filmmakers tooting their own horn this way? Probably not.

So why do you have trouble tooting your business’s horn? Or, if you don’t, then why are you having trouble finding this positive feedback? And why aren’t you sharing it?

Positive feedback can come in all sorts of formats. There are reviews on Google or Yelp. Maybe you’ve got Sotellus or Better Business Bureau feedback.

There is no reason why you can’t share this positive feedback on social media. And if it’s not perfectly tailored to social (maybe it’s way over Twitter’s limits, for example), why not talk to your top customers? Ask them if you’re okay with paraphrasing. Or maybe you can ask them for something short specially for the platform.

Be nice, always. Say please and thank you like you learned as a child. And ask!

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Help for lonely leaders, and more!

#8. Speed Out of the Starting Gate

Our following life-changing tip concerns growing your business during its first year. Entrepreneurship Life lays it all out for us.

Starting a business is an exhilarating, fun, scary, difficult, risky, fascinating wild ride. Fast growth isn’t guaranteed from the get-go. This article has some great ideas for kickstarting growth from the very beginning.

Our favorite tip was strategic planning. It can be tempting to just take any work you can get at the start. And maybe you should, at least at times. At the same time, planning strategy means having an idea of the kind of customers you want, and how much you want to make. Maybe your first clients are, shall we say, problematic at times. Planning means working directly toward easier to work with clients. It may even, eventually, being in a position to fire the clients who are more trouble than they’re worth.

But you still need to plan. Business is a place where you need to be intentional pretty much all the time. And that means here, too.

#7. Digital Marketing to the Max

So for our next sensational tip, we looked at squeezing the most out of your digital marketing budget. The Self-Employed says that your first moves may be a touch counterintuitive. You need to have updated content and a good website which loads quickly. Pay attention to SEO and SEM (search engine marketing – this tends to mean paid search). And connect to a well filled-out Google My Business Profile.

Consider this. A lot of these are free or close to free activities (of course, labor isn’t free). And a faster website or better SEO aren’t just good for digital marketing. They’re also good for sales, potentially pulling prospects down the sales funnel more quickly.

And that never hurts!

Here’s the tip which really stood out for us.

Up the Customer Experience to Infinity

Okay, well, maybe not exactly infinity. But generating and promoting and continuing an excellent customer experience is a valuable form of advertising. One reason is because you can stimulate word of mouth, a very valuable form of marketing. And another is that a fantastic customer experience can give you a reason to suggest customers review your business online.

By the way, even bad reviews link back to your site and can help with SEO.

Just sayin’.

#6. A Business Proposal (Engagement Ring not Included)

This tip is so helpful, and it works! HubSpot tells us all about writing a business proposal. There is a rather specific sequence of operations for this task. While it’s not identical to a business plan, there are some places where the two documents overlap.

The article goes into significant detail, and it adds a template for free which anyone can use. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Business proposals are terrific professional documents. They set expectations and they get deliverables in writing. Are they contracts? Not necessarily – they’re just you proposing what you’re going to do for someone else. But if there’s no contract in writing, they might be reviewed and referred to.

Clear communications are always a good idea. And covering your company in case things go south is an even better idea.

#5. Lonely Leaders – You Are Not Alone

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

You know what they say about the top. There are a lot of lonely leaders out there. Are you one of them?

Young Upstarts says leaders can shut themselves off from others when they become leaders. This is especially the case when they are promoted from within. And that makes sense – after all, now the dynamic with coworkers has changed. If you’ve become your colleagues’ boss, then you probably can’t go out for a beer with them anymore and complain about your boss.

Ewps.

We really liked their idea to bat back questions from the people who report to you with more questions. As in, ask them what they think. And do so rather than spending your nights just looking for solutions. Talk about lonely leaders! And, let’s face it, you’re not being paid for that time. Not to be solely mercenary about it but burning the midnight oil isn’t making you a better leader much of the time. It’s not even helping your bottom line.

An Extra Tip and a True Story

So, there’s one tip which this article didn’t cover. Gather ‘round the electronic hearth, ‘cause it’s time for a true story.

I love channeling my best managers. I’ve had great managers and I’ve had horrible ones. Very rarely, they fell into the middle. But usually, they were in one camp or another.

I also love channeling the opposite of my worst managers.

Back in the day, I had managers who sat in their little ivory tower. They rarely emerged to do anything beyond commuting or getting lunch – which they always got alone or with the other top level managers. This was a law firm and these were the partners. I was fresh out of law school, waiting to hear if I had passed the bar (I did; my coworker who was also waiting didn’t. Sorry, Joe).

The ivory tower guys didn’t know how anything was going unless it was making them money, or not. Did I feel seen? My God, no. Did I feel appreciated? Not even close. Spoiler alert – I was gone in six months.

Connection

Lonely leaders, at least in the case of that law firm, brought it all upon themselves. It would have been easy to open the office door and say hi. This is what small talk is for. Yeah, you might not care about the local sports team or the weather. But it’s a way to connect with others. We spend far too much time at work in our lives to shut ourselves off from all human contact.

And one more thing, although no one wants to think about it. Lonely leaders, you may be working yourselves into an early grave. You may love your business. And you may need the money. But please don’t do this.

It’s not worth it.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Help for lonely leaders, and more!

#4. Top Off Your Productivity Tank

So check out this spectacular tip, all about maintaining optimal productivity. Noobpreneur notes that people work in all sorts of ways. We have differing energy levels at different times of day. Your early bird colleague might conk out at five. Your night owl coworker could be awesome at 4 PM. As a result, and it’s a good bit of advice for pretty much anything in life – know your strengths and play to them.

The best tip in this article was perhaps and obvious one – to plan. How often do you stare at your wardrobe in the morning and are uninspired? Or it’s time for supper and you have no idea what you’re making? Wouldn’t it be easier to plan those sorts of activities in one block?

The same is true for work. Got a bunch of tasks to do? Then figure out priority (or ask). Determine who can help you or who might wait for something from you. Or vice versa. While you’re waiting for something on Task #1, there’s no reason you can’t start Task #2. You get the idea. Mapping this all out in advance makes it considerably easier.

#3. Convert Complainers to Brand Champions

So it’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you convert detractors into promoters. SCORE tells us a score of 6 or less (out of 10) is seen as being the rating of a detractor.

Say what?

Seriously, how often do you fill out a survey and hit 5 or 6 out of 10? How often do you feel such a rating is neutral, rather than negative? Raise your hand if that’s 100% of the time.

(raises hand)

But I digress – back to the action.

The article is great, and it goes into depth about how to find detractors online, even when they don’t tag you or your products. We highly recommend reading it in its entirety so let’s concentrate on one tip in particular.

Fix the Problem or Offer Incentives

We’ve probably all seen this in action at one point or another. You complain about, say, your stay at a hotel. And the hotel responds. They offer you a coupon for a free meal for your next stay. If you don’t want it and say you’ll never darken their door again, they may offer a minor discount instead. Or they might offer to have you join a task force or fill out a survey so as to try to improve future service.

These are great ways to pull a detractor into the promoter camp (or, at least, into neutral territory). Often the value of these incentives isn’t too high. Even if your free meal runs $1000, your detractor spreading all sorts of negatives about you online is often worth a lot more.

It’s a simple cost-benefit analysis.

And the task force or survey idea is pure genius. Give people a say in your future operations. Will you take every suggestion to heart? Of course not. But providing a soapbox can be very empowering to people. Because even your detractors want to feel listened to.

And they might just have something valuable to say.

#2. Cool Down Your Burnout

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on getting over burnout. Entrepreneur reveals all about getting your mojo back. The slideshow is worth looking at in its entirety.

Our biggest takeaway from it was that people – surprise – find different ways to get their motivation back. One thread which ran through all of the methods was to do things for yourself and to focus inwardly. Whatever form that takes, then do that.

So, what do I mean?

It may take the form of getting away or getting exercise. Or it can be getting more education. Another fascinating tip was to talk to people who are different from you. The contrariness can be stimulating.

And through it all, the same message is on repeat. You do so much for others when you run a business. And that can understandably be draining.

So, do something for yourself to get your spark back.

#1. Be Intentional with SEO, Always

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on easy SEO. Copy Blogger says there are a few areas where you might forget – at times – to improve the SEO on a post or page.

Don’t.

We love the Yoast plugin, and we strongly suspect the Yoast plugin is the star of this highly informative article. We urge you to check out the article as there are subtle details and nuances which you should not miss.

So, let’s concentrate on one tip.

301 Redirects

Don’t know what they are? They’re detours for when a post or page is no longer working. But it doesn’t have to be the entire page that isn’t working. And that’s why this tip is so brilliant.

Welcome to the land of the limited-time offer. What happens when your Valentine’s Day (for example) promotion is over? Do you take the page the offer was on down?

Nope! You redirect people.

So, where should you redirect people? The best place is probably somewhere on the site where you have a more evergreen offer. Technically, you could just point people to your next limited-time offer. But you’d be creating far more future work for yourself when the second limited-time offer expires and now you’re left with two pages to redirect, versus just one.

Redirects are also great because your older limited-time offer page might still have SEO traction and even backlinks directing to it. Unpublishing it will lose all of that. Redirecting preserves all that lovely link authority.

Keep. Your. Posts and Pages.

So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Help for lonely leaders, and more!

The post Stop Being Lonely Leaders and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Eliminate Business Failure and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

Do you want to eliminate business failure? Of course, you do! Don’t we all?

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Eliminate Business Failure and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! It’s the Holy Grail to eliminate business failure.

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business starts to fulfill its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Yes, We Really Want You to Get Paid

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about invoicing best practices. Kabbage says creating invoices means you need to be consistent and organized. This means itemizing and it means basics like dates and numbers and project names.

And don’t send an invoice late! You are only harming your own cash flow when you do so. Our favorite tip concerned following up.

There’s a reason why companies send friendly payment reminders just before a bill is due. They want to be at the top of your mind. And, of course, they want to be paid. You should do the same. After all, you want the same thing.

Following up also allows you to have a touch point to the customer. Maybe they need more time to pay. Or maybe they’re ready for an upsell. Don’t just sit in the dark, hoping they’ll pay you eventually.

And, you can always try accounts receivable financing if you need it.

#9. Put it on Video

The next awesome tip is about creating a video sales letter. Foundr notes you can’t just brain dump the first 30 seconds of whatever you think of. Rather, you need to be intentional when it comes to a video sales letter. Because a bad video or script is a lot harder for prospects to forget.

We highly recommend reading the entire article. So, we’ll just concentrate on one tip here.

It’s All in the Script

You are not writing Shakespeare here. It’s not meant to be dramatic. Rather, your script exists so you don’t forget any detail. And it also exists so you can have a good, well-crafted call to action in your video. The article recommends cribbing from sales copy, and we agree!

After all, your sales copy was written by your marketing people. And it must be working – so repeat the process. It’s a lot better than reinventing the wheel.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Eliminate business failure – and more!

#8. Grow, Little Business, Grow!

Our following life-changing tip concerns measuring and achieving business growth. Fundera lays it all out for us. There are a half a dozen growth strategies you can try. And it doesn’t matter what kind of a business you’re in.

The strategies are:

Increase demand through strategic partnerships.
Improve your profit by removing unprofitable products and services.
Boost revenue by improving your conversion rate.
Increase sales by creating a sales funnel.
Fortify your workforce with new recruiting tactics.
Shore up market share with a customer relationship management system.

Consider each of these in turn. They are all ways to get more cash or lose less money. It makes sense to look at them all systematically. We recommend you check out the article in its entirety. So, we’ll showcase one of these strategies.

Remove Unprofitable Products and Services

It can sometimes feel a bit counterintuitive, eh? But recognize that you may be unnecessarily attached to, say, the first type of widget you ever sold.

With your sales figures in hand, take a good, long look at your underperforming products and services. But also consider the costs of creating them. If you make $5 from a $1,000 product, but it takes you only a minute to get that product out on the shelf, then it costs $300 to make that product every hour. If you only make two of these products per quarter, and they both sell, they might be worth it. But also consider the costs of shelf space. Plus, there can be a cost of ‘shelf space’ even if your business is solely online. Maintaining one more selling or landing page isn’t free.

The corollary is also true. If your $1,000 product costs $900 to make, and you make $950 on the product, then it might also be a candidate for weeding.

They’re products or services, not a marriage. You can change them up if they stop working out for you.

#7. Crush It on Instagram

For our next sensational tip, we looked at Instagram marketing (very, very hot these days). Business Knowhow says that Instagram has over a billion active users each month. Yes, that’s billion, with a ‘B’.

Over a third of all US adults use it. So, shouldn’t your business be there, if it isn’t already?

Now, the tips are mainly the kinds which we see for social media of any flavor. That is, be sure to have a business profile, engage with your readers, and track the right metrics. So, we’d like to zero in on the one tip which is more specifically Instagram-centric.

Tell Me an Instagram Story

Stories are a kind of fast-moving, almost disposable content. They don’t last for very long. Still, they get decent engagement – a good 20% get a direct response from users.

The best tip we can tell you is not just to use Instagram stories. It’s also to not take your business quite so seriously when you’re creating them. Hence while, yes, you want them to be brand-correct and accurate, maybe take the sales talk down a notch. How?

Let’s say you’ve got a long-haul trucking company. Your story might be about your favorite stop in Texas. “Hey, Instagram, I’m in San Antonio! Love this town – be sure to check out the Alamo. And if you need anything delivered here, I’m your guy.”

And then, whoosh, it’s gone.

Short, sweet, and to the point.

#6. Sales + Marketing = Best Practices

This tip is so cool, and it works! Heinz Marketing tells us all about the handshake between marketing and sales. Their article outlines seven best practices. We’ll home in on just one of those here.

Practice Empathy and Assume the Best of Intentions

Have you ever worked at a company where there was perhaps a little too much competition between departments? At times, these departments can even turn hostile toward each other. After all, even unintentionally, there’s competition for resources.

Still, you’re all supposed to be on the same page.

When the sales department assumes marketing is hiding all the good prospects, there’s a problem. And when marketing assumes sales isn’t following their directions deliberately, then there’s also a problem.

What to do?

Assume the best of intentions. The first time, every time. This can also get you to contact the other department if everything isn’t running smoothly. Maybe there was a breakdown in communications? These things happen.

Get the problem fixed before it gets bigger. And the start is to assume good intentions and work from there.

#5. Everyone Wants to Eliminate Business Failure

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Look at a new way to eliminate business failure right here.

Success Harbor says business failures tend to come down to five issues:

Misguided intentions
Poor management
Lack of funds
Poor location (obviously, if your business is purely online, this is less of an issue. But you still need to have your goods available in places like Amazon or eBay, and you need to be positioned well on Google)
Unclear plans

Today, we’ll focus on all of these, but from my own perspective. See, I’m a writer. Have I mentioned that before? Well, I am. Published and everything.

A True Story

I hang around with other independent writers all the time. I see people who want to get rich, or who think this will be the perfect job due to their anxiety. Or they feel they will become famous. Or they will be treated well by reviewers and commenters.

Folks overspend and underdeliver. Or they have little to nothing to put into their projects, and it shows. Another issue is when they do very little marketing, or don’t do it well. Or they’re just plain vague about not only what their work is about, but how they’re planning on taking it to the next level.

They also have no idea that they’re not just writing. They’re also starting a small business, like it or not.

In short, they suffer from every single issue in the article.

Sometimes, dear readers, there just plain aren’t enough facepalms.

Let’s Turn Things Around

Maybe we can’t completely eliminate business failure for these folks. But we can make them a lot more likely to succeed, in some capacity.

How?

Manage your expectations. Even overnight successes had to start somewhere. And they’re often nowhere near as overnight as you might have been led to believe.

Also, as they say, don’t quit your day job. A surprisingly small number of books have to be sold for you to have a New York Times bestselling novel. No, seriously. So, that means, while being a bestseller isn’t stratospheric, it also doesn’t make the writer a mint.

And, treat a business like, well, a business. This means budgets and planning. And if you’re up for neither, then you hire someone who is.

Oh, and speaking of locations…

#4. Be a Motivator, Even When Things are Tough

Check out this spectacular tip, all about motivating employees during stressful times. Talk about eliminating business failure right there! Entrepreneur notes that it’s impossible to get rid of all stress. Much the same as it’s impossible to truly eliminate business failure, of course. The basic idea is to lower both, yes?

Beyond being an empathetic manager and encouraging clear communication, we wanted to highlight one rather specific tip.

Encourage Vacations

Does that feel counterintuitive?

It shouldn’t.

Do you remember when you were a worker bee? You probably wanted your vacation time to come sooner. And you probably hoped it was longer than it truly was. Furthermore, you likely dreaded coming back to backlog.

Your employees have those exact same feelings and desires.

If you can’t afford to offer more than 2 weeks of vacation per year, then so be it. You can still make that a better time for your employees. You can be cheerful and encouraging when they want to take time off. And you can assign someone to help alleviate the backlog so they don’t come back to a huge tsunami of work and get stressed out all over again.

Besides, cross training is good for teams!

#3. Put Together Your Business’s Own Personal Think Tank

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you build a high performance team. Logic 2020 tells us this isn’t exactly the same as the people you hire for a work group. A work group solves basic, quantifiable problems. Such as, you need to expand into New Mexico. Or maybe you need to raise production by 20% this year.

A high performance team, on the other hand, is for abstract, creative problems. They might still be tackling a problem like raising production. But instead, they would be approaching it from an angle like adding AI or buying new software. In contrast, the work group would be looking at hiring more workers or coaxing faster delivery times from suppliers.

Here’s our fave tip of the bunch.

Pay Attention to Recruitment and Hire Specialists, Not Generalists

This is a favorite tip because it has a personal angle to your intrepid blog writer.

Because I have been hired to work on problems which were existing for the first time. Case in point: one job was to create a legal vocabulary for a voice recognition product. The team already had medical vocabularies. But they had no idea how to start with legal.

Rather than being good at voice recognition, the truth is, I had never worked on it before. But I knew legal and I knew (still do!) writing. This meant thinking about use cases which I had personally experienced. Those included dictation with spelling and creating legal citations. A lawyer or police officer would have to add new names and street names just about every single day. Contrast this with a doctor who could add the names of diseases and treatments maybe once and then be done.

It’s this kind of lateral, off the wall thinking that you want in your high performance team. It’s one way to eliminate business failure.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Eliminate business failure – and more!

#2. Come on Board, New Employees!

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on your onboarding process. Manta reveals all about what to do with that awesome, high performance team once you’ve hired them.

One way to help eliminate business failure is to treat your employees right. And you need to do so from the very start. This goes beyond education and training and providing regular feedback. Although we’re not knocking those.

Being in a remote work location, we wanted to focus on one aspect of the article.

Employee Social Connections

When I’m in Boston, you’re in Boise, and our coworker is in Biloxi, we aren’t going to go out for drinks after work. Maybe ever.

So, what can we do?

Work toward connections. Part of this is programmatic. That is, you spend time on virtual meetings, and maybe more of those than you would have if you were in the same office. Make it a regular habit to check in and check in regularly.

Another thing you can do is to keep teams from being isolated from each other. We at Credit Suite do this via collaboration using a tool called Slack. You may find other ways to do so.

And here’s a tip, straight from me to you: organize some sort of an employee gathering, once a year. You probably can’t invite everyone, but at least get the team leaders in. Give them the opportunity to get in some face time. Add in some teamwork – and that can be bowling or a trivia competition or whatever. It doesn’t all have to be about work, 24/7.

Your employees don’t have to be close pals and love each other. But they should be at least collegial to each other.

#1. Save Your Startup $

We saved the best for last. One way to eliminate business failure is, of course, to save money. Here’s how.

For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on trimming startup operating expenses. Young Upstarts says there are a few areas where you can cut expenses which you may not have thought of.

One is to negotiate with your suppliers. We agree with this and also see it as a prelude to getting vendor credit with them. Perhaps you could get a trade reference if your supplier likes your business that much (and you have a good payment record with them).

Another option is outsourcing. Could you work with freelancers, or even people overseas? The beauty of this approach is, you can try people out with less risk than a full-blown hiring process. Like them? Then hire them full-time when you can. Don’t like them? Then cut your ties.

So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Eliminate business failure – and more!

The post Eliminate Business Failure and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Support Work Place Mental Health and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

Are you supporting work place mental health at your business? We show you how to make your workplace friendlier for mental health. Plus, nine more awesome tips to close the deals while treating your employees right.

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Support Work Place Mental Health and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! Starting better supporting work place mental health for your employees and more.

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Be Real!

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about building an authentic Instagram audience. Entrepreneur says your aim should be to create a community, and not just a bunch of followers. But the tip we loved was the first one – and it leads directly into the one about a community.

Follow Hashtags to Instagram Glory

Now, the truth is, you can do this on Twitter and Facebook as well. Although, note that on Facebook there’s less of a culture of using hashtags on posts, replies, notes, etc. People use hashtags to cull the tsunami of information they get every day on social media. It’s easier to read enough content to fill, say, an hour, versus 24 hours. Heck, it’s not possible to keep up with everything anyway.

This takes advantage of a truth for everyone. We all curate our social media feeds, or we let algorithms do that work for us. Because none of see everything. It’s physically impossible.

This means your ideal audience is doing so as well. The posts they click on and react to are fueling the algorithm. They’re essentially telling the algorithm what interests them. So, let’s say you have a dry cleaning establishment. People might not be taking about it too much on Instagram. But for those who are, they’re probably using hashtags like #drycleaning and #drycleaner. They may even be using hashtags like #laundry and #delicatefabric or #lookinggood.

As you find these people, engage with them. This means commenting on photos and maybe sending a personal message. But be mindful of the fact that not everyone likes personal messages. And, you probably shouldn’t lead with one. ‘Cause that’s just creepy.

#9. Soften Your Sales for Success

The next awesome tip is about how to use soft selling in your sales efforts. Mail Shake notes that soft selling doesn’t mean passive selling. You are still trying to sell, after all.

Personalization

We have been beating this drum for quite a while, and so have many of the articles we’ve been reading lately. Because of technology, personalization is possible on a grander scale than ever before.

As a result, we loved their comparison between hard and soft selling. For hard sales, you get the prospect’s contact information. But there’s no specifics on that. Whereas for soft sales, it comes from personal contact, such as networking, social media engagement, or inbound marketing.

We are all on the lookout for scams. What sounds more like a scam to you? Is it someone calling you out of the blue with a sales offer, or someone you know, at least a little, making that same offer?

In the next tip, we’ll cover building trust.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Support work place mental health and treat your employees and customers right – plus nine other great tips this week.

#8. Build Trust Brick by Brick in Current Relationships

Our following life-changing tip concerns building trust in extant relationships. LinkedIn lays it all out for us. Of course, we are talking about this in the context of sales. But this could work for your not-so-commercial relationships, too.

Don’t believe us? Then try this tip on for size.

Treat Your Customers as if They Were Prospects

Essentially, as in life, don’t take people for granted!

Kind of a good idea no matter what, eh?

Checking in on existing customers is a great way to build trust and to set the stage for, perhaps, renewals or even upsells. And, let’s face it, you’ve spent a ton of time courting a prospect and converting them to a customer. Abandoning them once the check is cashed is the very antithesis of that.

And how should your customers feel if the only times you contact them are when it comes to getting your hands on some more of their cold, hard cash?

How would you feel?

#7. Perfect That Elevator Pitch for Investors

For our next sensational tip, we looked at avoiding errors in your first meeting with investors. Startup Professionals says that there are eight errors which you should be doing your best to avoid.

Actually, this is good advice for any sort of an elevator pitch, such as when you’re bucking for a new job. We encourage you to read the article and see for yourself. Hence, we’ll concentrate on one tip.

Stop. Talking. So. Fast.

Did you know that the attention span for elevator pitches is just 30 – 60 seconds? And that means about 150 – 250 words.

Any more than that, and you’re just overloading your potential investor. This means two things are in order. One, practice, practice, practice so you don’t lose words to um, uh, and er. And two, consult a thesaurus and find better, more descriptive words if you need them. This doesn’t mean $100 words. Rather, it means being succinct, so long as you can be understood.

That means instead of saying “our product is between blue and green”, you say, “our product is teal”. It’s not just faster and more succinct. It’s also more confident-sounding.

https://creditsuite.wistia.com/medias/94z8msbn94

#6. Empower Your Employees with Productivity Software

This tip is so cool, and it works! The SBA tells us all about productivity software to empower your employees. That’s a great way to support work place mental health, eh?

Our favorite tip had to do with showing big goals to your entire team. We loved that because it gathers all of the trees into a forest. That means it’s time for a true story.

Your Work Matters

Way back when – as in, the 90s – your intrepid blog writer worked as a data analyst for the Legal Department of a large insurance company. This company routinely spent millions of dollars every year on outside counsel. Their list of law firms topped 3,000 firms.

And so, I was asked to do two things – figure out if a firm is being paid fairly and determine if we can let a firm go and get another to pick up the slack.

This meant gathering a ton of supporting information from local offices. It also meant putting together a system for deciding ‘fairness’. Now, this is before much of the internet (we didn’t have access, anyway) existed, so there was no looking up salaries online.

With no information on the big picture, I never learned just how much money the company saved because they ended up with a workable system to decide how much to pay their outside counsel. With no information on the overarching reason for my task, I felt purposeless.

And, you guessed it, I finished the project and left shortly thereafter.

Employees want to have a sense of purpose. Showing them what their work is leading to can do that.

#5. Take the Time to Support Work Place Mental Health at Your Business

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Support work place mental health – it’s the right thing to do.

Entrepreneurs’ Organization says work place mental health is not a subject everyone is comfortable with. But they should be.

Now, keep in mind that the article does not suggest that managers or entrepreneurs need to become therapists. In fact, one of their tips is to bring in a work place mental health counselor. This can be someone accessed remotely.

But here’s the tip we really liked and think should be explored in some depth.

Give Your Managers Training

This is not necessarily to be able to tell if someone has a mental health issue. It’s more to train your management to be more sensitive to the employees who report to them. This means praising people publicly when they do well. And it also means kindly addressing problems early, and in private.

If your employees feel comfortable talking to you about their work performance, then they just might feel comfortable talking to you about their work place mental health. And if you are a sensitive manager who pays attention to your employees, then you may notice when they are feeling off.

Depression Isn’t Just Feeling Down

We would be remiss if we didn’t touch upon this. And it wasn’t covered in the article, but it’s still vital. There are a number of memes flying around which claim that depression in particular is just an instance of temporary sadness or even inattention. As if counting your blessings could cure a serotonin imbalance!

So, keep in mind that an employee suffering from depression might not, to you, look ill. They may be holding it together as well as they can during business hours. But then at home, it all comes out.

And, the corollary to this is also true. An employee who’s down – particularly if there’s a readily identifiable cause – isn’t necessarily a person with mental health issues. That doesn’t mean you can’t offer counseling services, of course. Divorce, death, miscarriage, estrangement from family – these can all make people feel bad, of course.

Supporting workplace mental health means accounting for that, too.

In short, be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Support work place mental health and treat your employees and customers right – plus nine other great tips this week.

#4. Hello, My Name is Email

Check out this spectacular tip, all about how to successfully introduce yourself over email. HubSpot notes that there’s an actual formula to writing an email to someone you don’t know – at all.

This is an excellent article, and we strongly encourage you to read it through to the end. It truly is that good.

So, instead we’re going to concentrate on one of their steps.

Make Your First Line About Them

How many times have you received an unsolicited email that started with – my name is ___? Or it started with – I’m writing to you because ___. You may have sent emails like that. Your intrepid blog writer sure has (oops, sorry).

But it’s an email. The sender’s name is already on there. And it isn’t, then the sender can add their name in their signature line, and they should.

Rather, try opening with a line like – I see that you won the __ prize recently. Or, I just saw your post about __ on ___. Here’s another: I’ve never learned so much from one piece of content.

Then, segue into why you’re writing – and it should be related to your opener. By definition, that means it needs to be related to the recipient. Here’s an idea:

I’ve never learned so much from one piece of content. To that end, I would love to get your quote for a similar article I’m writing.

By the way, this approach could work for anything from sending a resume to contacting someone’s dating profile…

#3. Where Do You Want to Go Today?

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you create a vision board. Score tells us that vision boards are a way to see where you want your life to go. And that can be for either your personal or professional life.

This article concentrates more on vision boards for a personal life. But there’s no reason why it can’t be adapted for professional use.

Consider the Future

For a personal vision board, it might be representations of a place you’d like to live or visit. Or it may be images of fitness or other goals. For professional goals, it could be visuals of success – for you or the business.

What does this spell, in terms of images? It could be a corner office or a picture of a second location. Or it could be an image of a lot of employees.

So, Where Do You Want Your Business to Go?

What are your business’s goals? If you own a trucking company, maybe you want to be the premier provider in Utah. Or maybe you want to hire more drivers or get more trucks. It could be that you have a company you’d like to snag as a client.

Having a visual representation of success can be inspiring to a lot of people. Why not decorate your workplace with a vision board? Talk about supporting workplace mental health, too. Because when you take others’ ideas into consideration, then they can feel a lot less isolated. That might make a difference for someone.

#2. Are You Meeting 401(k) Standards in Your Business?

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on making sure you meet 401(k) standards in your business. Effortless HR reveals all about this essential part of benefits handling.

Our fave tip was about having what is essentially a form of insurance. It’s actually an ERISA fidelity bond. The bond has to be equal to the lesser of $500,000 or 10% of the total investment accounts that you hold. This insurance bond protects your business if errors are found in your management of the 401(k) plan.

Did you know you needed that in order to offer a 401(k) to your employees?

#1. Master the Clock

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on improving time management. Under 30 CEO says better managing your time means you’re that much more likely to achieve your goals.

We’ve seen some of these tips before, to spend your leisure time on leisure, and to stop multitasking. Another tip we’ve already seen is to leverage your commute for minor work tasks (which is technically multitasking).

And while this tip is also something we’ve seen before; we’d like to showcase it anyway because we think everyone should do.

Banish Distractions

Quartz says the average smartphone user gets 63.5 notifications per day. We think this figure is grossly understated.

Of course, this isn’t the only source of distractions out there. But it’s one over which we all have some control. Do you honestly need to know every time someone has commented on a topic you answered in a forum? Or can you wait for a daily digest? Maybe you can skip the notification 100% and just visit that forum whenever you feel like it.

Yes, we all want to know when our appointments are. And we need to know if family are ill or otherwise need us. But do we really need to immediately know how many people liked a tweet?

Go into your apps and any sites you visit, and fiddle with the notification settings. See what works for you. You’ll probably find you don’t need to know everything, all the time, ASAP.

Take back your life.

So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Support work place mental health and treat your employees and customers right – plus nine other great tips this week.

The post Support Work Place Mental Health and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.