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Tag: small business software

Striven’s Winter 2024 Triumph: G2.com’s ERP Standouts Unveiled

Posted on by Scott Hammer

We are thrilled to share that Striven has once again demonstrated its prominence in the ERP sector, marking a significant achievement in the Winter 2024 ERP Awards on G2.com, a renowned platform for business software evaluations. This recognition is a reflection of not only our groundbreaking technology but also the commitment of our devoted team and the continuous support from our valued customers.

G2.com, every quarter, shines a spotlight on the industry’s leading solutions, as voted by the most crucial judges: our users.

Let’s celebrate our remarkable accomplishments for Winter 2024:

  1. Best Results, ERP Winter 2024: Striven leads the way, showcasing our exceptional outcomes in the ERP domain.
  2. Small Business High Performer, Americas, ERP Winter 2024: In the small business category, we’ve outperformed many, attaining a prestigious ranking.
  3. Momentum Leader, ERP Winter 2024: Demonstrating our dynamic progress in the ERP field, we’ve secured a leading position.
  4. High Performer, Americas, ERP Winter 2024: Our performance in the Americas region has been recognized, earning us a top spot.
  5. Mid-Market High Performer, Americas, ERP Winter 2024: Among mid-market players in the Americas, Striven has emerged as a high performer.
  6. High Performer Mid-Market, ERP Winter 2024: In the mid-market segment, our performance has been outstanding, securing us a notable position.
  7. High Performer, ERP Winter 2024: Across the board, Striven has been acknowledged as a high performer in the ERP landscape.

These accolades on G2.com directly mirror the Striven team’s perseverance, innovation, and hard work. More crucially, they highlight the invaluable input, confidence, and collaboration from our user base and customers. Your reviews, testimonials, and constructive criticisms have been pivotal in our incredible journey.

We are dedicated to continually redefining the capabilities of an ERP system. The road ahead is filled with more innovation, enhanced functionalities, and increased support to optimize your business operations. Anticipate more exciting updates, features, and advancements as we forge ahead together.

To our customers, partners, and the entire Striven family – your involvement in this remarkable journey is greatly appreciated. Here’s to many more milestones, triumphs, and mutual growth!

Discover the Benefits of Employee Work Flexibility Solutions

Posted on by Eleanor Hecks

Work flexibility can save businesses thousands of dollars yearly, increase employee satisfaction and improve the customer experience. Workplace policies like flexible scheduling and remote positions have tangible benefits that revolutionize jobs. What are some of the top benefits of flexible employment and why should companies embrace them? 

Higher Productivity

Work flexibility can significantly improve productivity by empowering employees to build a schedule that works for them. Everyone has different times when they work more efficiently throughout the day. Some people perform best early in the morning, while others are more productive at night. 

A flexible schedule policy allows everyone to work at a time when they will be at their most productive. It also reduces distractions and stress from doctor’s appointments and family commitments. Employees can more easily take care of these things if needed and better focus when working. 

Additionally, some employees are more productive outside an office environment. For example, people with ADD, ADHD or OCD may find offices distracting and stressful. Working from home affords more peace and efficiency. 

Work-Life Balance

Work flexibility is transformative for work-life balance. It allows employees to save time on commutes, adapt to needs in their personal lives and spend more time with their families. A flexible arrangement is among the top three factors influencing job-seekers’ employment choices today. 

Employees with some say in their hours and job location can build a schedule that works for them. It allows them to get the most out of their day at home and work. As a result, they can take care of important personal matters without negatively impacting their jobs. 

Flexible work policies are especially helpful for families. Many schools now allow hybrid learning arrangements, which means parents must be home while their children attend class remotely during the day. Hybrid and remote options give people the needed flexibility for situations like this, as well as everyday family matters like activity schedules and sick days. 

Increased Employee Loyalty and Engagement

Retaining top talent requires creating an environment that supports employees’ needs. Work flexibility shows that a business cares about its workers’ health, time and work-life balance. It also builds the foundation for mutual trust between company leaders and employees. 

Workplace flexibility has a real impact on employees’ success, as well. It improves engagement by allowing them to build a schedule optimized for their peak productivity, which results in higher-quality work. For example, research shows that financial businesses that used flexible policies improved service quality by 23% due to higher engagement. 

Flexible work builds trust and support for employees, encouraging top talent to stay. It also results in higher engagement on the job, creating tangible benefits for businesses and their customers. 

Improved Health and Wellness

Employees are less likely to let serious health and wellness issues go unresolved when they have a more flexible schedule. Most doctors’ offices are only open during the week, so employees may be reluctant to take time off to schedule an appointment when needed. 

Work flexibility lets employees shift their hours or projects to make time for self-care and doctor’s visits. Flexible schedules and remote work options also allow more time for wellness activities like jogging and yoga. As a result, people can take better care of themselves, improve their performance at work and reduce sick days. 

More Diverse Teams

Work flexibility can open up new hiring possibilities. Remote and hybrid environments allow businesses to recruit from a larger geographic talent pool. As a result, they can find employees they might not have met otherwise. 

Businesses can build more diverse, high-talent teams when their work environment is accessible to more people. Flexible hours and location make a job more appealing and functional for a larger number of employees. These workplaces can build more diverse teams, powering creativity and a better customer experience. 

It’s also worth considering the needs of employees with mobility challenges. People with limited mobility or access to transportation are often highly talented but may have more difficulty getting to offices. Flexibility for remote work increases workplace accessibility for these employees. 

Lower Energy and Real Estate Costs

Businesses worldwide spend thousands or even millions of dollars annually on office-related expenses. A remote or hybrid work environment reduces the need for large office spaces. Companies can significantly reduce their costs by adopting more flexible arrangements. 

Research shows hybrid work can save tens of thousands of dollars yearly on office real estate and operating expenses. A work flexibility policy means the building doesn’t need to support every employee simultaneously. Businesses can rent smaller office spaces and purchase fewer desks and equipment. 

Additionally, businesses can lower their office utility expenses by allowing employees to work partly or fully remotely. Smaller buildings use less electricity to begin with, but hybrid employers can also schedule “dark office days” when everyone works remotely. 

Both options lead to major cost savings on electricity, HVAC, internet and more. Less utility consumption also reduces carbon emissions, which helps build a good environmental, social and governance (ESG) profile and supports workplace sustainability. This is especially appealing to eco-conscious employees and customers and can improve your reputation as a green company.

The Transformative Benefits of Work Flexibility

A flexible work environment supports employee wellness, improves productivity, increases engagement, expands the hiring pool and reduces office expenses. Flexible hours and locations can make a monumental difference in the worker experience with tangible business gains. When people have the support to do their best work, customers receive the highest quality service and products possible.

Unlocking Conversion Potential: Strategies to Drive Results Through Email Marketing

Posted on by Eleanor Hecks

Email marketing can still be one of the most effective ways to reach customers and build brand loyalty. While there are pros and cons to keeping an email list, the conversion potential is far greater than through almost any other method. You’ll have a direct line to people who have expressed enough of an interest in your product or service to subscribe.

Here are some of the best strategies to drive higher conversions through email marketing.

1. Choose the Right Newsletter Provider

According to research, emails are the leading reason people buy something, with 44% of surveyed consumers citing it as a motivator. Therefore, investing in creating a newsletter can be a notable strategy for your brand.

However, the way you send a message can make a difference in conversions. Some email newsletter providers garner higher delivery rates than others or provide more extensive feedback on user habits.

The right newsletter provider is the one that you can afford the monthly fee for and has the elements you most want and find useful. Additionally, it must be user friendly. Anyone in the company should be able to schedule a message without a huge learning curve to figure out the system.

2. Build Your List

Email marketing is most effective when you collect a list of people highly interested in what you offer. Building your mailing list may be as crucial as what you actually send out. You want people who are highly engaged and in the market for what you sell.

How do you find them? Start by creating buyer personas listing out the qualities of your typical customer. You can run ads on social media offering a perk if they sign up for your mailing list — perhaps a slight discount, free shipping or other freebie.

3. Set Up Drip Campaigns

Once someone signs up for your mailing list, what happens? The goal is to keep only those people who are highly engaged and likely to convert. In most cases, email marketing service providers base their fees on the number of subscribers. So, while having many subscribers often leads to higher sales, you want to ensure the majority of your subscribers are actually interested enough to convert in the first place.

The best way to narrow down your list is by setting up a drip campaign that starts when they subscribe. Send a welcome email explaining what you do. Throughout a few days and several emails, offer insight into what they gain by being on your list.

In each message, include an easy way to opt out and unsubscribe. Providing an easy out, even after downloading a freebie or other offer, ensures you keep only highly engaged customers and don’t pay for those who never open your emails.

4. Segment Your Audience

Another way to improve your email marketing is by segmenting your audience. By splitting your users into groups, you can highly personalize the offers you send. There are many different segmentation methods, such as demographics or past buying behavior. 

For example, if your analytics show that a group of people click on a particular offer every time you send it and you get in a similar product, you can send a message to the segment of people who loved the initial item.

5. Schedule Emails

While it’s impossible to pinpoint the best time to send emails, your audience will help you see the prime moments for them to receive a message from you. Pay attention to your open rates. If you send a message in the morning, are open rates higher? What about in the evening?

You may find that a particular day garners more click throughs than another. Your email service provider should have an analytics system you can study to figure out timing. The only way to know the best time for your subscribers or even different segments of your audience is by testing and tracking results.

6. Improve Subject Lines

People get numerous emails every day. As they look through their inboxes, it’s easy to click the delete button. Your goal is to get them to open your email and read a bit more. Your subject line is the first impression they have of the campaign. You want to create such an interesting headline that they can’t resist clicking on it.

Some of the things to focus on as you’re formulating a subject line include:

  • Being short and to the point
  • Including action words
  • Being relevant to the offer
  • Making it clear who the email is from
  • Avoiding words or phrases that could be seen as spam

7. Create a Sense of Urgency

The way people generate email marketing is changing, and artificial intelligence (AI) plays a big role in email today. Around 33% of marketers surveyed stated they use AI “to some extent” in their email campaigns. Another 24% said they use it “extensively.”

One thing AI can help with is creating wording that creates a sense of urgency. Titles such as “Limited Time” or “Offer Expires in…” can encourage people to read your message today instead of letting the deal expire before they get a chance to use it. 

How Can You Improve Email Marketing Efforts?

Email marketing is something you should consistently improve until you hit the goals you’ve set for open rates and conversions. Tapping into the power of modern technology gives you a chance to compete with others in your industry and find success more quickly than going into a campaign without the data needed to succeed.

10 Winning Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Posted on by Jamie Cohen

In today’s fast-paced digital world, a savvy online presence is no longer optional for small businesses. It’s crucial. As a small business owner, you’re likely looking for effective ways to reach potential customers and grow your enterprise in this bustling online marketplace.

Digital marketing strategies can be your game-changer here. This arsenal of tactics will help you connect with your audience at the right place and time—the digital space where they spend most of their time. So, let’s dive into some proven digital marketing strategies that could boost your small business.

From SEO optimization to social media management, email marketing to content creation—we’ll cover all these success strategies in this article. We’ve got you covered whether you’re just starting or looking for fresh ideas to revamp your existing strategies!

Welcome To Digital Marketing

Welcome to the exciting world of digital marketing! If you’re a small business owner, this guide is specially tailored for you. It’s time to dive in and explore the potential of online marketing for your enterprise.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing, simply put, encompasses all those strategies that use internet-based platforms to promote products or services. This includes social media advertising, email campaigns, content marketing, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The beauty of it? You can reach your customers directly on their smartphones and computers—wherever they are!

Here’s a quick breakdown:

  • Social Media Advertising: Leveraging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to promote your product.
  • Email Campaigns: Directly reach consumers through their inboxes with personalized messages.
  • Content Marketing: Creating valuable content such as blogs or videos that drive traffic to your website.
  • SEO: Optimizing your website so it ranks higher on search engines.

How Can Digital Marketing Help Your Small Business?

You might be thinking: “That sounds great, but how does it help my business?” Well, let’s break down some ways digital marketing could be beneficial for you:

  1. Increased Visibility: With the right strategies in place, more people will see what you offer, which means more potential customers!
  2. Better Engagement: Digital channels allow two-way communication with clients; making them feel heard enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  3. Cost-Effective: Unlike traditional methods like TV ads or billboards, online advertising generally provides a better return on investment (ROI).
  4. Measurable Results: One significant advantage of digital platforms is they provide detailed analytics about consumer behavior—invaluable information when shaping future strategies.

Whether creating an engaging social media campaign or optimizing your site for Google searches, there’s no limit to what effective digital marketing strategies can do for your business! So, buckle up and get ready to navigate the digital marketing landscape.

Understand Your Targeting Audience

Embarking on your digital marketing journey? It’s essential to start with a clear understanding of your target audience. Knowing who you’re trying to reach forms the backbone of any successful marketing strategy.

Small businesses often make the mistake of thinking they need to appeal to everyone. But that’s not true. Instead, you can create more effective and tailored campaigns by honing in on a specific demographic or group.

Think about it: You wouldn’t talk to a teenager in the same way you’d communicate with a senior citizen, right? So why should your digital marketing strategies be one-size-fits-all?

Let’s break down some key steps:

  1. Identify Demographics: Age, location, and gender are all essential factors that influence consumer behavior.
  2. Understand Interests and Behaviors: What do they like? What are their hobbies? The answers could lead you straight into their inbox or social media feed.
  3. Know Their Challenges: If you understand their problems, it becomes easier for you to present your product as the perfect solution.

Remember: A clear understanding of your target audience will help shape every aspect of your digital marketing strategy. From the platforms you use for promotion (TikTok for younger audiences, perhaps?) to what kind of content resonates best with them (funny memes or thought-provoking articles?). Keep digging until you genuinely “get” who they are—because everything else falls into place once you do that!

Build a Fast Website

Let’s dive right into one of the most critical aspects of digital marketing strategies for small businesses—building a fast website. Speed matters and it’s not just about ensuring visitors don’t get bored waiting for pages to load. In fact, the probability of a visitor bouncing from your website increases over 30% with a 2 second increase in load times. A snappy site is just better for business.

Ever wondered why speed is such a big deal? Here are some reasons:

  • User Experience: It’s no secret that today’s internet users expect instant gratification. A delay of even a few seconds can cause frustration, leading potential customers to abandon your site.
  • SEO Ranking: Google has clarified that page speed impacts search engine rankings. The faster your website, the better chances you have to rank higher.

You’re probably thinking, “Great, but how do I make my website faster?” Well, there are several ways to improve your website speed:

  1. Optimize Images: Large image files take longer to load. Ensure you use the correct file format and compress images without compromising quality.
  2. Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network): CDNs cache copies of your web content in multiple locations worldwide so they can be delivered more quickly to users far away from your main server.
  3. Enable Browser Caching: This allows visitors’ browsers to store copies of individual web pages so they load faster on subsequent visits.

There’s no denying that having a fast-loading website is essential to any successful digital marketing strategy for small businesses!

Add Conversion Points

Getting your small business noticed online is one thing. Turning those eyeballs into active customers? That’s a whole other ball game. One of the most effective digital marketing strategies for small businesses is adding conversion points to your website.

Contact Forms

Let’s kick things off with contact forms. A great tool, it’s like an open invitation for potential customers to reach out directly to you. This allows them to ask questions, request quotes, or just get in touch. Plus, it can be a goldmine of valuable customer data. Just remember:

  • Keep it short and simple
  • Only ask for the necessary information
  • Make sure it’s easy-to-find and user-friendly

Phone Number

Next, we’ve got phone numbers – an often overlooked conversion point that can work wonders if used correctly. It provides immediate access to your team and adds a human touch that many online businesses lack. Here are some pro tips:

  • Display your number prominently on every page
  • Consider adding click-to-call functionality
  • Include hours of operation if applicable

You’d be surprised how much difference a visible phone number can make!

Live Chat

Finally, there’s live chat—an increasingly popular tool among small businesses aiming for superior customer service and increased conversions.

Live chat offers real-time assistance without disrupting the browsing experience, hence why users love it so much! To make the most out of this feature:

  • Ensure you have dedicated staff available during peak hours
  • Personalize responses as much as possible
  • Use automated messages sparingly (no one likes talking to robots all the time!)

Incorporating these elements into your website design helps convert visitors into leads and creates multiple avenues for engaging with prospects—ultimately boosting sales. The magic lies in finding what works best for your industry and audience.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is where you’ll want to start when you’re looking to improve your small business’s digital marketing strategy. It’s all about optimizing the content and HTML source code of a page on your site. This can include things like:

  • Title tags: These appear in search engine results, so they need to be concise and descriptive.
  • Meta descriptions: Although they don’t directly affect rankings, they influence click-through rates.
  • URL structure: Keeping URLs short and filled with relevant keywords can aid visibility.


Don’t forget about using keyword-rich content within your site as well! But remember, it’s not just about stuffing as many keywords into a page as possible. Google values relevance and quality over quantity.

Off-Page SEO

Next up is off-page SEO, which refers to actions taken outside of your website that impact its rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs). This often comes down to backlinks—links from other websites pointing back to yours.

Building a solid network of high-quality backlinks isn’t easy, but it can boost your online presence. Guest blogging or collaborating with influencers in your industry are just two ways you could achieve this.

Create Helpful Content

But let’s not overlook the importance of creating helpful content. If there’s one thing Google loves more than anything else, it’s fresh, original content that provides real value for readers.

Think blog posts, infographics, video tutorials—anything that keeps visitors on your site longer and encourages them to share what they’ve found with others. 

Remember:

  1. Quality trumps quantity every time
  2. Engage with readers by responding promptly to comments
  3. Update older posts regularly

Incorporating these strategies into your digital marketing plan will help drive traffic toward your small business in an increasingly competitive online marketplace!

Local SEO

Your small business deserves to be found online. That’s where Local SEO comes into play. It’s a unique approach that helps companies promote their products and services to local customers right when they’re looking for them.

Google My Business

Google My Business is your new best friend in the digital marketing world. This free tool allows you to manage your business’s appearance on Google Search and Maps. You can include important details such as your address, hours of operation, and contact information, all of which make it easier for potential customers to find you. An optimized Google My Business listing means increased visibility on the web, more foot traffic, and ultimately a boost in sales.

Reviews are King

You’ve probably heard it before: reviews matter. But did you know that 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses? And nearly 90% trust these reviews as much as personal recommendations. These stats demonstrate that customer feedback is vital in shaping your brand image online.

  • Encourage happy customers to leave positive reviews
  • Always respond professionally to negative comments
  • Showcase standout testimonials on your website or social media channels

Remember: each review contributes towards building trust with potential clients!

Local Directories and Citations

While we’re on visibility, let’s talk about local directories and citations. These are places like Yelp, Yellow Pages, or TripAdvisor, where users go to find businesses like yours.

Ensure you have consistent NAP (Name Address Phone) data across all platforms:

  1. Correct any outdated information
  2. Add high-quality photos
  3. Write compelling descriptions about what sets your business apart

Each citation increases the likelihood of being found by potential customers!

Differences between SEO and Local SEO

Think of SEO like a global competition—everyone vies for coveted top spots in search engine rankings regardless of location. On the other hand, Local SEO zeroes in on attracting customers in your immediate vicinity. It’s about dominating the search results for local queries like “hvac near me” or “best hvac in [your city].” Strategies for these terms take time and patience. Luckily, local SEO companies exist that focus on HVAC and other small business types to help busy small business owners.

Embrace local SEO as part of your digital marketing plan—it could be the game changer your small business needs!

Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising should be a key part of your digital marketing strategy if you’re looking to grow your small business online. Why? Because PPC is an effective way to drive traffic, increase sales, and boost your online visibility.

Google Adwords

Google Adwords is the most popular platform for PPC advertising. You’ve probably seen these ads when you’ve done a Google search or browsed websites with display ads. They can be potent tools for small businesses because they let you target customers based on keywords, location, and more.

Google Search Ads

Google Search Ads are the ones that appear at the top of the search results page. These are highly visible and can quickly attract potential customers’ attention. They’re instrumental when people are actively searching for products or services like yours.

Google Display Ads

Another component is Google Display Ads, which appear on websites that participate in the Google Display Network. This is where visual appeal comes into play! Engaging images or graphics can make these ads stand out and catch users’ eyes while browsing different sites.

Here’s what makes them unique:

  • Reach: With access to over 2 million sites in the network, your ad could potentially reach 90% of internet users worldwide.
  • Targeting: You have control over where your ads appear based on factors like demographics and interests.
  • Flexibility: Choose between various formats, including text, image, interactive, and video ads.

Google Local Service Ads

Last but not least are Google Local Service Ads designed specifically for local businesses offering field services such as plumbers or electricians. Here’s why they’re worth considering:

  1. Visibility: These ads appear at the top of search results—even above traditional PPC search ads!
  2. Trust factor: Businesses listed here are “Google Guaranteed”

Investing in PPC marketing can provide a significant return for your small business. But remember, it’s not just about spending money on ads—it’s also about optimizing them to ensure they reach the right people at the right time.

Create a Blog

Building a blog isn’t just about writing and sharing your thoughts with the world. It’s a strategic tool for your small business, opening doors to numerous digital marketing strategies. But let’s break it down further.

Stay Relevant

In today’s fast-paced digital world, staying relevant is key. It’s not just about keeping up with trends but also being able to provide fresh content that aligns with these trends. A blog lets you do just that.

  • You can talk about industry developments
  • Share your perspective on trending topics
  • Or even give behind-the-scenes insights into your own company

The key here is consistency—always keep the content rolling!

Stay Helpful

Your blog isn’t simply an outlet for self-promotion; it should offer value to its readers. Think of it as providing solutions or guidance rather than pushing sales.

  1. How-to guides
  2. Tips and tricks
  3. Comprehensive tutorials

These are all great examples of helpful content you could include in your blog posts.

Drive Traffic To Your Service Pages

Blogs can bridge potential customers and your service pages, gently guiding them toward making a purchase or booking an appointment without overtly selling anything.

You might write up case studies showcasing how past clients benefited from your services or delve deeper into explaining what each service entails—both excellent ways to drive traffic where you want it most! Remember, while direct promotion has its place in blogging, subtlety often wins the race here.

By incorporating these strategies into your blogging efforts, you’re creating engaging content as well as laying out breadcrumbs that lead potential customers right back to you—like Hansel and Gretel, but without the scary witch part! So dive headfirst into the blogging world and watch as this simple yet effective strategy transforms how you approach digital marketing for good.

Content Marketing

In today’s digital age, content marketing has become a game-changer for small businesses. It’s your opportunity to reach out to your audience, engage them with compelling stories, and ultimately convert them into customers.

The beauty of content marketing lies in its versatility. Whether you’re crafting engaging blog posts, sharing informative infographics, or creating captivating videos—the sky’s the limit when it comes to content creation. Here are some key points you should consider:

  • Quality over Quantity: Your audience values high-quality content that provides real value. So don’t just churn out articles; make sure each piece of content is well-researched and insightful.
  • Consistency is Key: Keep a regular posting schedule. This helps build anticipation among your readers and improve visibility on search engines.
  • SEO Optimization: Incorporate relevant keywords into your text but avoid keyword stuffing. Remember: you’re writing for people first, search engines second.

Now let’s talk numbers. According to HubSpot’s State of Marketing report:

  • Businesses who prioritize blogging claim 13x more ROI
  • Content marketing gets three times more leads than paid search advertising

These figures illustrate how effective a solid content marketing strategy can be for small businesses.

Another crucial aspect of successful content marketing is understanding your audience inside-out. Knowing their preferences, needs, and pain points will allow you to create personalized messages that resonate deeply with them.

Content Marketing isn’t just about producing tons of material; it’s about providing genuine value to your audience through quality work tailored specifically for them. And if done right, it could be the magic sauce that takes your small business from obscurity into the spotlight!

Social Media Marketing

Now, let’s dive into the world of social media marketing. It’s a realm teeming with potential for small businesses like yours, offering an opportunity to connect directly with your customers and expand your reach. The key is knowing how to navigate this digital landscape effectively.

One critical aspect of social media marketing is choosing the right platforms. You’ve got options galore, from Facebook and Instagram to Twitter (X), LinkedIn, and more. Your choice should hinge on where your target audience spends their time online:

  • Facebook attracts a broad demographic and offers robust ad targeting.
  • Instagram appeals mainly to younger users who love its visual content.
  • Twitter (now X) is ideal for timely updates or customer service interactions.
  • LinkedIn caters primarily to professionals and B2B companies.

Another key strategy in social media marketing involves creating engaging content that resonates with your audience. This might include sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of your business, offering valuable tips related to your industry, or posting user-generated content that showcases real customers using your products.

Don’t forget about the power of paid social media advertising, either. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer sophisticated targeting options that let you precisely reach your ideal audience based on factors such as age, location, interests, and more.

So there you have it—a crash course in social media marketing for small businesses. With these strategies in your digital toolkit, you’re well-equipped to make a splash online.

Just remember: it’s about making noise and listening to what your customers are saying. So, engage actively with them on these platforms; their feedback can be invaluable as you refine your approach.

Email Marketing

For small businesses, you’ve got to love email marketing. It’s a robust digital marketing strategy that shouldn’t be overlooked. Think about it: most of your customers check their email daily, if not multiple times a day. Using email marketing effectively, you can reach out directly into their inbox and grab their attention.

Email marketing starts with building an audience list—those who have expressed interest in what you offer by subscribing to your emails. Now, here’s the catch: these subscribers aren’t just random people, they’re potential customers interested in what you’ve got to say or sell.

To build this list:

  1. Offer something valuable like free eBooks or discount codes as incentives for signing up.
  2. Promote your newsletter across all channels—on your website, social media platforms, and offline events.
  3. Make the signup process easy and quick. No one likes long forms!

Now that you’ve got them hooked, let’s keep them engaged! Consistently sending high-quality content is invaluable for maintaining meaningful relationships with your subscribers while subtly promoting your products or services. Mix in a CRM solution and your business will boom.

The best email content can vary depending on what works best for YOUR business:

  • Regular newsletters updating company news
  • Blog post summaries
  • Special offers or sales
  • Event invitations

Remember, it’s not just about pushing sales; it’s also about providing value and nurturing relationships with your audience.

5 Biggest Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make and How to Avoid Them

Posted on by Veronica Agrella

“The art of marketing is the art of brand building.”

—Philip Kotler

If you look outside your window or take a stroll around the neighborhood, chances are you’re going to see at least one corporate billboard or any other advertisement piece. If you’re running some errands or just lying down on the couch watching TV, it’s possible that, at some point, you’ll receive a telemarketing call. If you check your social media, it’s a fact that you’re going to see lots of merchandise. If you perform an online search, you’ll encounter a few sponsored links at the top of the page. Yes, marketing is everywhere.

Yet, some business owners still fail to recognize the importance of promoting their companies the right way. In this article, you’ll discover the five biggest marketing mistakes small businesses make and how to avoid them and strengthen your strategy (and your sales).

 1. Seeing Marketing as an Unnecessary Expense

This can be considered the biggest marketing mistake small businesses can make for one simple reason: everything else stems from there. As cliché as it may seem, the right mindset is what sets successful enterprises apart from the struggling-to-keep-the-doors-open businesses. The ideal perspective, in this case, is seeing marketing as one of the most valuable factors for your company.

Marketing is what gets the words and brand out there. If your business isn’t seen, or even worse, if it’s portrayed incorrectly, your products or services won’t sell the way you expect them to sell.

A marketing strategy has the power to generate value for small businesses over time by turning leads into customers and, hopefully, customers into evangelists, boosting sales as a result. By reshaping your perspective, you can understand that well-executed marketing campaigns drive new opportunities — even during turbulent times.

As crucial as seeing marketing as a necessary ally is, it’s equally important to comprehend which tactics and approaches to adopt. This is where a marketing plan comes in handy, and this is where many small businesses fail once again.

2. Not Having a Well-Structured Marketing Plan

Even if business owners overcome the first mistake and decide to invest in marketing, things will go wrong if they don’t know exactly what to do and what steps to take in order to accomplish the established marketing goals.

For this reason, every and each marketing strategy should be outlined in a well-structured marketing plan. In short, this document serves as a framework for every marketing decision made toward achieving business goals. In general, you must ensure that the following factors are included in your plan:

  • the business’s ideal audience, or buyer persona, and exactly what they’re looking for
  • the specific budget allocated to all marketing efforts, such as building an adequate website, investing in marketing collateral, creating marketing campaigns, publishing content, etc.
  • the pricing strategy based on cost, value, and competitor analysis
  • technologies that will improve the overall strategy, such as Client Relationship Management (CRM) and Email Marketing software
  • metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for measuring the performance of all marketing campaigns, such as Cost-per-Conversion (CPC) and traffic from organic search
  • an action plan and a schedule to promote the business.

Having a documented marketing strategy in place not only helps address financial costs but also improves the quality of spending in the right channels and materials. Plus, it helps new employees to be informed about the company’s marketing strategy and follow up on past marketing actions.

3. Lacking a Robust Online Presence

One of the biggest marketing mistakes small businesses make in this technological era is lacking a robust online presence. Small companies can prosper locally, of course, but they limit themselves from leveraging the digital possibilities of being discovered by numerous clients from other cities, states, or countries and earning more. Besides, a robust online presence has many paths to help a company:

1.  Competitive advantage: A digital marketing strategy helps you differentiate the products or services you offer, besides allowing you to effectively communicate to a broad online audience the Unique Value Proposition (UVP) of what you’re selling. This way, you gain an advantage over the competition, and consumers may be drawn to your company instead of buying something from other businesses.

2.  Value generation: Another way to use the power of a strong online presence is to educate potential customers through a content marketing strategy instead of only trying to sell to them. In short, powerful content generates powerful results, and when potential clients see value in what you’re providing, they become more inclined to make a purchase.

3.  Authority increase: A corporate website helps drive authority and trustworthiness among visitors and potential clients, and ignoring this fact could be devastating from a marketing point of view. Besides using a responsive and mobile-friendly website, it’s possible to use different social media channels to increase authority and drive positive results, such as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. Plus, through a well-structured inbound marketing strategy that uses SEO tactics, it’s easier for consumers to find your business online, which assists in generating brand awareness.

By establishing an online presence, you give potential clients a chance to get acquainted with your company and learn about the products or services you’re offering whenever they want to without the need to set foot in a physical store.

In fact, there is a study demonstrating the impact of online research before concluding in-store purchases, with 82% of smartphone users performing online searches related to the purchases they are about to make in brick-and-mortar stores.

4. Reaching Out to the Wrong Audience

Targeting the inappropriate audience can result in all of the other factors being wasted, no matter how great your business’ marketing campaigns, logo, or message are. It’s important to note that the ideal audience must be discovered through data analysis, not through a “gut feeling” or an unfounded notion about who the clients are. Targeting the masses is also not ideal because you end up spending more and making fewer sales conversions.

There are a few tactics you can use to understand who your customers are and the problems they’re trying to solve:

  • conduct a thorough market research
  • assess the company’s website traffic
  • create social media polls to gather more data

With online polls or surveys, for instance, you can find out about your audience’s demographics (gender, age, race, income, geographic location, etc.), discover their pain points, and create a buyer persona.

By defining a buyer persona based on actual data, it’s possible to tailor your marketing efforts to match the interests and preferences of potential customers. In turn, the marketing campaigns and collateral will become more attractive and effective, and the products or services you offer will sell more.

Reaching out to the right audience has one more perk: receiving and addressing customer feedback. Many company owners fail to realize its importance, but feedback is so good to a business that it’s almost unbelievable it’s free. If the majority of feedback received is positive, keep up the good work. Now, if many customers are complaining about one or more issues, you know you have to tweak and improve what you’re selling to satisfy customers, sell more, and achieve that coveted word-of-mouth marketing.

5. Rejecting Marketing Metrics and KPIs

Last but not least, rejecting marketing metrics and KPIs can create a fog in a company’s marketing efforts. After all, if you can’t see things clearly, how will you know if a strategy is working as expected? Ignoring analytics prevents employees from understanding what is working, what doesn’t work, and what can be adjusted to bring in the desired results.

There are many valuable metrics and KPIs to track in order to understand what’s going on, such as Website Conversion Rate, Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), and Return on Investment (ROI). In short, using data is key to assessing the effectiveness of marketing activities and improving results.

Let’s see a practical example: suppose you decided to invest $3,000 in a marketing campaign to generate more leads and conversions for your company. You invested $1,000 in social media, $1,000 in guest posting, and $1,000 in PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Which strategy was the most effective and resulted in more profits?

Data will tell you that and allow you to adopt a strategic approach. For instance, if you found out that one of these strategies had little to no return, you can shift your marketing spending to focus on the other two, generating even more revenue.

Additionally, monitoring, collecting, and sharing data through marketing automation tools also helps you to:

  • keep up with emerging trends and adapt to industry changes, which helps stay ahead of competitors
  • make informed decisions
  • allocate resources effectively
  • promote effective collaboration among sales and marketing departments
  • create transparency and accountability among employees
  • build a data-driven and results-oriented work culture
  • guarantee continuous improvement and sustained growth

Luckily, digital marketing is invaluable in terms of measuring and analyzing information. For instance, Google Analytics and Google Search Console are helpful tools to generate insights related to the corporate website’s visitors and overall website performance without spending too much.

In short, establishing and tracking metrics and KPIs is an effective way of evaluating the company’s marketing efforts because they help to analyze actual data, which allows business owners to change their strategies to match the audience interests and keep on satisfying and retaining current clients while attracting new ones.

For starters, a good idea is to take one step at a time by following the exact order of the topics above, delegating tasks to competent professionals, and improving the marketing strategy over time according to your ever-changing business goals.

How to Retain Great Employees: Top 5 Tips for Small Businesses

Posted on by Veronica Agrella

Are you a small business owner trying to understand how to retain great employees? Well, it’s not a secret that bad employees may harm a company’s growth, while great workers often drive exceptional results and help businesses thrive.

Despite this fact being obvious, many business owners still face the same challenge of retaining and motivating the right talent. Besides impacting the bottom line directly, losing efficient workers has another crucial downside: the cost and time it takes to replace them. Hiring top-talented employees is already difficult enough, and letting them go because of inefficient business processes and culture shouldn’t be an option.

There are many ways to retain high-level talent, but you need to think outside the box and adapt to market changes. In this article, you’ll explore five steps that you should follow to retain talent and help your business grow with their assistance.

The Challenge of Retaining Talent

Looking in the reviewer mirror, movements like The Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting that emerged in the past few years have put pressure on employers.

As workers have reassessed working conditions and decided they want to get more out of their personal and professional lives, small businesses are trying to reinvent themselves to provide more flexible experiences, diverse workplaces, and ongoing opportunities for professional development to attract and retain great employees.

According to the research “The Megaphone of Main Street: Employee Engagement”, published by Score, the main challenge for 60.7% of respondents is hiring the right talent, while for 33% of them, the greatest difficulty is retaining and motivating employees.

For these small business owners who participated in the study, the primary reasons for disengaged professionals are wages and healthcare benefits. These respondents also said that unhappy and less engaged employees cause:

  • Loss of productivity, according to 41.7% of the respondents
  • Loss of new sales, according to 22.8% of the respondents
  • Loss of clients due to lack of service, according to 18.9% of the respondents

Over time, all these factors reflect on the business growth and morale.

It’s worth noting that increasing wages isn’t the only solution. Employees also want to work in environments that foster a positive work culture, offer professional development opportunities, and leverage flexible work options. These elements, in turn, have a positive impact on small businesses’ bottom line.

How to Retain Great Employees and Help Your Business Thrive

Some businesses are facing a talent shortage worldwide, and the low unemployment rates in the UK and US reflect why some workers are demanding higher wages and more benefits. On top of that, there is a broad skills gap in many areas, especially in the technology field, which requires offering training to professionals in order for them to update skills related to working with machines and AI. The scenario doesn’t seem promising.

However, if you want to know how to retain great employees and keep them motivated, you can start adopting some obvious and not-so-obvious options, such as:

  • Offering higher wages
  • Improving the work culture
  • Providing professional development and training
  • Sharing profits quarterly or annually
  • Offering bonuses based on certain criteria, such as overall performance
  • Implementing small perks, such as a day off on birthdays
  • Creating a career progression program
  • Elaborating DEI policies and programs

To optimize your efforts and results, you may talk directly to employees through a Stay Interview to gather feedback, understand their needs, and take action. Sometimes it won’t be feasible to meet all their needs, but improving something as a result of the feedback can get you started on this process and show them you’re committed to valuing their work.

Below, you’ll explore five tips to help you retain and motivate your staff.

1. Offer Flexibility

Providing flexibility allows employees to balance their personal and professional lives, which can boost productivity and improve results. When they have the freedom to attend medical appointments, go to the gym, and take care of their children at their own pace, for instance, the quality of work tends to improve, benefiting everyone involved, including you. In general, you can:

  • Offer flexible hours or flexible days
  • Implement a program in which employees can choose the hours they work
  • Test the 4-day workweek
  • Allow the staff to work remotely

Besides being appealing to workers in different industries, this flexibility often doesn’t cost much money, or anything at all. In some cases, remote work can even help businesses save money. Other advantages for you:

  • It increases employee satisfaction.
  • It helps the staff become more productive
  • It assists in saving money on space and furniture
  • It improves client satisfaction due to the improved work quality

In short, offering flexible work schedules and remote work options is a great ally in retaining talent. I mean, who likes to spend hours stuck in traffic?

2. Create a Career Pathing Plan

Visualizing one’s own career growth within the company is a great tool to motivate employees. The reason is simple: they know they have room to grow professionally and earn more.

Besides being great for retaining employees, having a career pathing plan in place helps businesses rely on a well-structured process that facilitates transitioning from one position to a higher one in the hierarchy or from one level to a higher one in the same job, in case you don’t have many management positions at your company.

In this scenario, you could promote workers based on skills, for instance, until they reach senior positions. If an employee holds a junior quality analyst position and develops new skills, they could simply be promoted to an intermediate position with better pay.

3. Nurture a Positive Corporate Culture

Part of your staff may be composed of Millennials and Generation Z workers. Understanding this is crucial for retaining talent. And why is this important?

Depending on different generations, your current corporate culture may be actually toxic instead of professional. Do you or the company’s managers yell at employees, point fingers when someone does something wrong, or lack an efficient communication system? These factors may discourage employees and make them feel like they’re being constantly attacked by their superiors.

Overall, nurturing a positive corporate culture encompasses many aspects of a business’s daily routine. Let’s see two examples below.

Creating efficient processes and working with efficient tools

If your employees can get things done faster with the help of software, for instance, you should commit to offering the best technologies they can use. In general, it’s possible to:

  • Implement a system that assists in managing the business, such as an ERP.
  • Provide software to manage client relationships, such as a CRM.
  • Use a system to simplify invoicing.
  • Utilize an email marketing software.

Embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)

For some workers, an attractive workplace embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion through DEI policies and programs. Nowadays, employees don’t want to work in environments where coworkers feel free to make comments or behave in ways that disrespect groups of people.

Sexism, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia, among other issues, should have a zero-tolerance policy in your company. Besides the legal issues tied to them, they’re harmful and non-inclusive. Embracing and appreciating diversity, equity, and inclusion also helps you retain young talent and create a brand that truly respects all customers.

If this is a new topic for you and your business, talk to the Human Resources staff to develop a program to adjust the culture and foster a more positive workplace.

4. Develop an Attractive Employee Benefits Program

For small businesses, offering higher wages translates to higher costs, which may significantly impact their survival. While a company should always strive to recognize its employees’ efforts and reflect this in higher pay whenever possible, it must also consider the current resources available.

Before creating an employee benefits program, consider these elements:

  • Health
  • Finances
  • Wellness through work-life balance
  • Professional growth and development
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion

The ideal benefits package should offer a combination of these categories. Of course, there are mandatory benefits that you must provide to employees, such as family and medical leave, health insurance, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. However, the optional benefits are what actually matter when it comes to retaining great talent.

As mentioned in the previous topic, your current workforce may consist of Millennials and Generation Z employees. Overall, they may be interested in benefits that address college debts, for instance. In this case, the company could include in its benefits package the option of paying a percentage of this debt while workers are employed.

Offering time off is another benefit that may lead to higher retention rates and goes beyond higher wages and expensive incentives. As an example, you could offer one whole day off every two weeks or a day off on birthdays.

These benefits improve workers’ professional and personal lives by enhancing their health and well-being. In turn, employers benefit from the boost in workers’ productivity and job satisfaction.

5. Train the Management Staff

Last but not least, train your management staff. All the efforts discussed earlier could go to waste if the managers don’t treat people with respect or overwhelm them to the point where employee burnout becomes a reality in your company.

It’s crucial to provide proper training for company leaders to manage their teams successfully. Good managers not only help to retain great employees but also guide them toward effective leadership.

If managers demonstrate toxic behavior, chances are that the employee retention rate will never reach the desired results. To tackle this issue, consider providing training to current managers or replacing them if the efforts for improvement don’t work out as expected.

Reinforcing positive behaviors in the workplace is a task that small business owners should prioritize. By doing so, it becomes easier to handle conflict, respect individuals, and achieve results that enhance the company’s bottom line.

Now that you know how to retain great employees, you can work closely with the HR department to develop attractive solutions.