Category: SEO

To get ahead in business, you have to do all in your power to outwit your nearest competitors. You are working in a cut-throat world, and you can all but guarantee that if you aren’t finding ways to beat your rivals, they will be finding ways to beat you. 

To claim your share of the marketplace, the following tactics should be used.

#1: Give your customers the personal touch 

Don’t use a generic approach with your customers. Don’t treat each person like a commodity. Find ways to add the personal touch in your business, perhaps by using a CRM system so you can tailor your communications to each individual customer when they get in touch with you. Get in touch with them through social media and emails too, and send out personalised recommendations that relate to their previous spending habits. When your customers are treated like human beings, they might choose your business over those other firms who do little to get to know them personally.

#2: Improve your web presence

For starters, ensure your website can be easily found online. Optimise your site for SEO purposes, or outsource this area to another company that can boost your search engine rankings. An excellent example is the data-driven Digital Score as just one such firm that can help you in this area. Then raise your profile elsewhere. Ensure your company has a presence on business listing and review sites. Use link-building agencies to incorporate links to your business on blogs and other websites. And use Google’s ad services to ensure your business is highlighted during the web browsing activities of your chosen demographic. The more times your business is mentioned online, the greater your SEO, and the greater the likelihood that any potential customers will get to hear about your business first. 

#3: Look after your employers

On a moral and ethical level, this should be something you do anyway. However, there are business reasons why you should keep your employees happy and healthy. With a focus on their wellbeing, you will retain their loyalty, meaning you won’t lose your best employees to your nearest competitors. They will work harder for you too and will have a greater dedication to help you meet your business goals. And the better cared for they are, the greater the likelihood of them spreading the good word about your business, and that will do much for raising your profile and boosting your reputation.

#4: Be better than your rivals

Okay, so this is a no-brainer. If you don’t better your rivals, it is understandable that your customers will favour their business over yours. So, think about what you can offer that your competitors aren’t. Look at those customer needs that are being unmet by your rivals and capitalise on these gaps. And within your product or service, look at what you are doing, and ask yourself: How can this be better? When you place quality as a priority within your business, any right-minded customers are sure to favour your business over others.

To survive in business, you need to take your business competitors seriously. By finding ways to beat them, you should find the success you are hoping for. 

The term Influencer marketing grew rapidly by 325% in Google searches in 2017. According to recent findings, 47% of millennials now turn to social media for recommendations and reviews before deciding on a purchase. These figures alone show the importance of this type of advertising and resources are readily available to assist with the process.

Although it seems to be a very popular and new way of advertising, we all know that influencer marketing has been here for a long time. It existed for many years and it has been known as celebrity marketing and endorsements. What has clearly changed in recent times is the people that endorse and promote the brands. Instagram and internet famous people, such as bloggers, or YouTubers etc with a very high reach and a large social media following are now the influencers of our era.

As the use of influencer marketing is increasing by the day, we can witness that this type of advertising becomes even more transparent and brands and influencers are being open about

sponsored posts and brand collaborations. Regulations and rules have been enforced, that influencers and brands need to follow to be compliant for this type of advertising. Consumers are now protected and are always aware of the type of content they see on their news feed.

What is influencer marketing? If we were to define influencer marketing we would say that it focuses on people of high influence, such as YouTubers, bloggers, speakers, journalists and so on. These people’s influence can add value to your product or service. The content they create can vary from testimonials, reviews, or just showcases.

How to choose your influencers?

From a brand’s perspective that wants to advertise their business, influencer marketing can be proven beneficial as far as the right people are chosen for the job. Below you can find a checklist that will help choose the right person for your brand.

Reach

Reach works as an indicator of the unique views of a post or article. Influencers are known for their high reach and this can be a valid metric to choose the influencer you want to work with. It also ensures that your campaigns and sponsored posts will be seen by a large audience.

Specific Reach (Micro influencers)

Another area of influencers that are good to explore and sometimes can be proven more beneficial for your brand, depending on the type of product or service you have, are micro influencers. Micro influencers are experts who engage with a special segment and they have an audience that feels more relatable to them and their interests. Their following is not as large and they can be every day people who can be extremely persuasive and who can drive sales.

Engagement

Engagement is another important factor as it shows how interactive the influencer is with their audience and vice versa. The more engagement per post i.e. comments and likes an influencer has, the better for your social media campaign.

Relevance:

The right influencer should tick the box in many ways as mentioned above but being relevant to your brand is a very important factor. Choose influencers with a profile that is relevant to your brand and matches your brand’s attributes. You might be very fond of a certain person but if they are not suited to your brand and your audience then you should not be identifying with them.

Product user:

It is an add on when the influencer you approach uses your products or services as the endorsements and sponsored posts will come natural to their audience.

How to work with them?

There are so many different ways to work with influencers and this will depend on the budget that you wish to dedicate for this. Below are some starting points to consider when approaching an influencer.

Gifts

You can simply start by gifting them your products or inviting them to try your services. However this type of collaboration will not guarantee that the influencers will post about these gifts or mention your brand.

Sponsored posts / Product reviews

This type of collaboration suits bloggers and YouTubers and mainly influencers that have a website and can talk about your product or service in their own tone of voice. This type of endorsement is best suited after gifting a product so the blogger has tried it and is covering a genuine review. Brands tend to usually check the blog post or YouTube videos produced to make sure that all the right information is communicated.

Giveaways

This is another way to work with influencers that will help increase your brand awareness and social media following. Giveaways work as social media competitions where influencers require the participant to follow back the brand and themselves to enter the giveaway where the winner receives a free product.

As Influencer Marketing is becoming more popular brands will have to make sure that the influencers are following the rules and regulations and always remain transparent. In order to ensure that this type of marketing is profitable you need to be aware to track and analyse the entire process. The above are only some of the ways that you can work with influencers but every collaboration is unique and should be tailored to what you will try to achieve.

Author Bio; Currently working as a Marketing Executive at Design Wizard, Claire is passionate about creating amazing content and bringing people together. Having recently graduated with her masters degree in Marketing she is keen to impact the digital world. Outside of work you can catch Claire taking photos of her rescue dog Storm and checking out social media,

Not only is becoming self-employed a huge decision to make, but it can also be expensive and stressful too. It’s not always difficult to make these changes, but most people report finding some difficulties in the early days of being a business owner. Even if you know your field, and the product free or service that you are producing for others, there will be many aspects to your business that you may not have considered. And a business advisor can help you with these. But what essential things do we need to think about being self-employed? And are there any potential problems you can prevent in setting up your own home office? 

IT solutions 

Your home office will ultimately need a PC or laptop to be able to keep up with the demands of the business. No matter what your industry there are Always business related things that need to be created and maintained via digital recordkeeping et cetera. Some industries require quite a lot of software and IT knowledge, such as photography and graphic design. But you are going to need to find the right equipment for you and your business. When do you know exactly the spec you need to, and you have purchased your IT equipment, it’s important to gain some IT support, to ensure that you aren’t missing anything important.

Storage 

Storing your products, all the paperwork, invoices and purchase orders is an important aspect of business. Once you know your marketing materials are going to be kept safe and secure, then you can get on the road.

Since Security is a consideration when it comes to secure need taking care of your life be heard. But it’s important to switch off and do what you enjoy. Some imaginative storage solutions have been created over the recent years, and not only do we have units that will fit into any space effectively, we also have plenty of learning, developing and growing to do in these offices! Also don’t forget that decluttering, can reduce the amount of storage space needed, if you can tell that you are going to outgrow this storage space quickly, you could also hire a unit Or anything that doesn’t fit your new amazing Home Office.

Decor

Being sat in nice surroundings, that you enjoy, can help with productivity. Studies have shown that if you enjoy the area that you are working in, you are going to be much more productive and produce a much better work. So creating a beautiful decor that you enjoy if your Home Office is actually going to help you in the long run. It doesn’t have to be a full renovation, but just making some positive changes with adding a splash of colour here and there can make all the difference. So if graphics with funny slogans are going to help you along the way then go for it. That is one of the beauties of being self-employed, be able to make decisions and go with it.