Business

7 Things Your Business Should Do to Welcome New Hires

Did you know that the Department of Labor predicted approximately 6.6 million job openings in the US in 2019?

This is an all-time high and as employers are looking for skilled candidates, approximately 45% of them will be raising the starting salaries.

This is good news on both sides – as an employee, you have plenty of job openings available and as an employer, you’ll be able to attract a plethora of new talents.

At the same time, you can also do more to accommodate new employees and make their stay a more comfortable one. You just have to learn how to properly welcome new hires. This is not difficult and it can make a great first impression on your new personnel. As you probably already know, the first impression counts a lot.

Top Things To Do To Welcome New Hires

By welcoming your hires the proper way, you will be able to establish a better relationship with your new employees right from the start. They’ll also get the idea that they are valued at appreciated from the very first day. Here’s what you can do to make that happen.

1. Give Them A Tour of the Office

This is probably one of the most important things to do. Everything is new for your fresh hires and by giving them a tour of the company, they get the chance to learn a lot in a short time.

For example, walk your hires to the kitchen and show them the amenities in there such as from where to get fresh coffee, where is the water cooler, etc. Don’t forget to mention where the bathroom is as well. It can be quite awkward for new hires to ask for bathroom directions on the first day and you save them the hassle.

You should also explore the company with your new hires, letting them know where their office is, where is the office of their superior if they have a question, etc. Lastly, the new hires should also be acquainted with emergency response planning, so they know what to do in case of an unfortunate emergency.

2. Introduce the New Hires to Their Coworkers

This is also a good move because it makes new employees feel at home. You should introduce the new hires to a few coworkers who might share the same job description with them. By doing so, the new hires know whom to go to if they have a question.

However, make sure that you don’t introduce the new hires to each company employee because this can be quite stressful. Let them get acquainted with the other people along the way.

3. Have Everything Set Up for Them

It’s recommended to prepare the office for your new hires right from the start, so they can get to work immediately. For example, have a computer and phone ready as well as a brand new office and chair. It would be great to add a notebook on the office too and other supplies they might use such as a printer, calculator, etc.

Not preparing the office space in advance will eventually make the new hires feel uneasy. They’ll eventually have to stay and look around while you make preparations for them and this is totally unprofessional.

4. Take Them Easy on the First Day

The first day at a new job is usually the most stressful one. There are so many new people and so many new things to learn. Keep this in mind and cut your new hires some slack until they get accustomed to their new job.

Ideally, you should give your new employees something to do right from the start, but those tasks should be simple. New hires are always ready to show off their skills and you should give them this opportunity.

5. Tell Your New Hires Where They Can Go For Lunch

Chances are that your new employees are new to the company location as well. They probably didn’t have time to inspect the area and look for a coffee shop, a restaurant, an ATM, etc.

Again, you can save your employees some hassle by presenting them the location at length. You can pinpoint nearby restaurants, coffee shops or even a gym, for those who want to work out during their lunch break. Best of all, take your new employees to lunch on the first day and they’ll definitely appreciate the gesture.

6. Talk With Your New Hires A Lot During the First Day

The first workday is usually filled with anxiety for most new hires. This is normal, but that anxiety must be eliminated. You can do that by encouraging your new hires to talk and ask questions whenever they feel like.

Talking with your new hires often will also make them feel valued and appreciated at the new workplace. You should do that a lot during the first day and continue this habit in the subsequent days. By doing so, your employees are more likely to remain loyal and be more productive in the long run.

7. Assign A Mentor to New Hires

Some of your new employees might be hired to do complex and important tasks. It would be ideal if you can assign a mentor to these people to help them along the way and to avoid costly mistakes.

A mentor could be an experienced colleague who has done that particular job for years. He will be able to make the new employee accommodate easier. Make it clear that the freshman should ask as many questions as possible to learn the ropes quicker. The mentor should also be an experienced and patient worker who can handle these questions.

Now It’s Time to Put These Tips into Practice

As you can see, it’s not that difficult to welcome new hires at your workplace. You just have to look at this process from the employee’s perspective and treat him/her as you would like to be treated.

If you liked this article, don’t forget to share it with your fellow business partners and friends, so they can learn a lot from this too.

How to Drastically Cut Expenses in Your Small Business

Sources show that 82% of small businesses fail due to cash flow problems. Money problems are mainly caused by poor planning, overwhelming expenses, and low revenue.

When it comes to small businesses, every penny counts. This means making any possible cuts on expenses and improving productivity wherever possible. It is often much easier to balance the books by lowering business spending than increasing income.

To keep your business thriving, here are five tips on how to drastically cut expenses.

1. Stick to a Business Budget

Careful budgeting is crucial in managing finances. Cutting down on expenses begins by planning the available resource and predicted revenue. This gives you a clear idea of how to spend the funds that you already have and prepare for the future.

A budget is only useful if followed precisely. Practice a high level of discipline and avoid deviating from the laid-out plan. This way, your expenses will remain predictable, and you can easily find areas to make cuts.

2. Digitize Your Business Operations

Use technology to your advantage. With inexpensive and convenient technologies like VoIP and cloud computing, you can drastically cut down on communication, labor, and time expenses. You could even have virtual offices such as Hoxton Mix, and outsource work and services at relatively low cost.

Entire departments or roles can be made redundant by simply automating mundane tasks such as virtual assistance, data management, and emailing.  

3. Cut Down on Energy Consumption

The cost of energy keeps going up, and it amounts to a large portion of recurrent expenses. Find ways to reduce your power bill and bring your costs down. The cheapest way to do this is to go green.

Begin by installing solar panels to generate free electricity. You could also modify the building to consume less energy by improving natural lighting and replacing inefficient electrical systems. The initial cost of changing the energy infrastructure may be high, but it pays for itself in just a few years.

4. Ditch the Print Media

On average, an American office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of print paper every year. Now, multiply that with the average cost of paper and the numbers go way up. Sadly, most of this paper ends up in the shredder or the dump.

And that’s only looking at papers alone without the added cost of ink, printers, and other stationary supplies. Transition to a paperless work environment and make huge savings. Use digital documents on computers and smartphones instead of printed reports, receipts, invoices, and postal mail.

5. Maximize Employee Productivity

Use incentives to motivate your employees to be more productive. Introduce training, rewards, and performance evaluation schemes to boost the employees’ morale and increase productivity. Don’t waste labor expenses on an under-delivering workforce.

Try New Creative Ways on How to Drastically Cut Expenses

These five ways on how to drastically cut expenses should guide you to making significant savings on your business’s running costs.

However, don’t stop there. Find other ways to cut more expenses depending on your business model and operations. Identify any cots that the business could do without and cut them off or reduce them.  

Keep in mind that decreasing expenses requires a certain level of commitment and flexibility to cope with the changes.

Explore our blog for more business tips.

Why Your Business Needs Hosted PBX

As a business owner, you need to make sure that your customers can reach you at any time. You also want to make sure that your privacy is protected by not having everyone call your cell phone.

That’s one of the reasons why you’d turn to a PBX phone system. You have a professional phone system that handles all of your telecommunications needs.

Want to know more about what a PBX is and why you should consider a hosted PBX? Keep reading to find out.

What is PBX?

The big question at hand is what is a PBX? It stands for private business exchange. It’s a voice-over IP system that allows large and small organizations to have multiple phone lines without having to install a landline for every employee.

When you use a PBX, you are using the internet networks for voice communication as opposed to traditional landlines.

Reasons to Have a PBX

PBX has become a major business telecommunications tool. With this type of system, you can do many things that you wouldn’t be able to do with a standard landline system.

For example, if you have someone sending a fax, the PBX can direct it to the right number without you having to install a dedicated fax line.

You can also have a dial-by-name directory, which can be great for your customers and vendors who have a specific person they want to reach.

It’s also easy to set up and operate, which give your staff flexibility to forward calls and transfer calls. It’s a better system for you and your customers.

Benefits of Having a Hosted PBX

Now that you know why you need to have a PBX at your business, you have one more decision to make. That’s how your PBX will be hosted.

Remember, a PBX system works like a website because you have information running across a network. That means that you can opt to have your PBX hosted in the cloud with a third-party provider or have it hosted on your premises.

There are a number of advantages to having your PBX hosted in the cloud. These are the top reasons you should consider.

1. Cost Effective

If you were to host your own PBX on your premises, you would need to make a big investment. You would need to invest in servers to operate the network in-house.

You’d also need to make room in your office for those servers. The more lines you have or plan to have, the more space you’d need.

You’ll also need to hire staff to manage and maintain those networks. There are hiring costs and not to mention the wrong hire would cost your business big time.

Looking at a hosted PBX, you can eliminate those concerns. You have another company managing the servers, they already made the infrastructure investments in servers, and they have the staff in place to maintain them. You just pay them a fee to host the PBX.

2. Better for Your Sales Team and Remote Workers

A hosted PBX allows every member of your team to have access to the network, no matter where they are. This is great news for remote teams and sales teams that are on the road all of the time.

The alternative is to have them use their cell phones to accept and receive calls. That can cause confusion for your customers and vendors, especially when there are different area codes and

They won’t know who they’re calling and what time zone they’re in. Instead, you can have your customers call one number with the proper extension. That gives your business a more professional look and feel, too.

3. Easy to Scale with Your Business          

Are you worried that your business fluctuates too much and you’re going to wind up with too many unused phone lines?

That’s often a concern for many seasonal businesses. They may have a full staff during the holidays, but the summers are slow and it’s the perfect time for people to be on vacation.

That would be a big concern if you have to commit to having traditional landlines in your office. With a PBX system, it’s very easy to add and eliminate phone lines or transfer them to another employee.

It’s a great solution for small businesses that know that they’re going to grow quickly. You can scale your phone lines up as you add more people to your staff.

4. Reliable

Reliability and excellent communication are the hallmarks of the customer experience. Without those two things, your customers will leave your company and go to your competitor.

With a PBX system hosted on your premises, you’re really leaving the reliable communications piece to chance. If something goes wrong or if the power goes out, your phone lines go out with it.

A hosted PBX solution will keep the lines of communication open no matter what is happening at your office.

5. Updates Happen Automatically

When you have the PBX hosted on your premises, you’re ultimately responsible for installing any software updates. Failure to do so will result in the entire system becoming unstable.

Not only that, not updating your software could result in a vulnerable system that hackers could exploit. That can mean you have a lot of unwanted users and outbound calls on your network.

A hosted PBX takes care of these updates and offers the latest security patches to make sure that your system is always running smoothly.

Hosted PBX for Your Business

In the business world, swift communication is often the difference between thriving companies and struggling ones.

You can’t afford to leave your business communications to chance. That’s why a hosted PBX solution makes sense. You can adjust it with your business, it’s reliable, and incredibly cost effective. It’s really a no-brainer for a business of any size.

Do you want more great business tips? Come back to the blog regularly for more great articles that are sure to help you grow your business.

In the Business of Selling Tours? Unique Ways to Promote Your Tour Company

International tourism is a widely popular industry, and the US is right in the thick of things. In fact, tourism spending in America has risen to $210.7 billion in recent years, making it one of the most lucrative sectors of the US economy.

When people visit awe-inspiring US venues, they’ll likely want to go on a tour. Group tours are the best way to see everything at a tour site, including areas with restricted access. Plus, they give people a lot of information about the place they’re visiting to make sure that the experience is both educational and memorable.

Whether you’re looking for international tourism business ideas or local ones, whether you’re looking for customers to tour a national park or an office building, you’re going to need some good marketing.

Here, we’re going to give you some awesome ideas to get your tour business off the ground!

Think About Your Type of Tour

There are a lot of different types of tours that you can offer, all catering to different audiences. If you’re trying to entice international tourists to come to check out a famous monument or natural wonder, you’re going to want to market in both more languages and on a broader platform.

On the other hand, if you want to market something for a niche audience, you’re only going to need to get the word out to others in your niche. Want to offer tours of a work plant? Websites like https://www.plant-tours.com/ are great models to look into if you want to have great marketing.

Basically, as with most businesses, the first step to marketing is identifying your target audience and making strides to connect with these specific individuals.

Partner With Other Businesses

One way you can market to a lot of people is by partnering with other businesses. This can mean that you will be doing business with another company that offers things you can use on tour.

For example, if you want to hire a business to cater lunch while on your tour, you can ask them in exchange to advertise for your tour to customers in their restaurant.

Partnering with other businesses could also mean offering mutual discounts. This would mean that people would be given specific coupons when on your tour to go and use the services of another business in the area that you have partnered with. Likewise, the business would be giving out coupons and flyers advertising discounts for your tours.

Basically, partnering with another business means that you’ll be establishing a mutually beneficial professional relationship with a company that operates within a different niche than you do!

Include Images on Websites

Did you know that 64% of people are visual learners? Well, it’s true!

This means that when you’re marketing in flyers or online, you’re going to want to use images and graphics to promote your business. Think about including some shots of the most interesting parts of your tour. Photos of people having a good time while in your venue are also great.

If you’re marketing online, also try including videos and snippets of a virtual tour. These media are sure to leave potential clients wanting more by making them curious… thus causing them to book a tour of your site.

Use E-Marketing Strategies

Since online marketing is so important in today’s day and age, let’s elaborate a little more on what e-marketing entails.

The first thing you need to do is design a website all of your own. This will make your business look professional and knowledgeable. It’s also a great place to include a section where people can book tours and contact you. Don’t forget to also include a review section where satisfied customers can recommend you!

To get this website to target the right people in your niche, search engine optimization (SEO) services are a must-have. These will get your website in front of the eyes of your target audience since it uses key words that people have searched to show them relevant information.

Since most people also are on social media like Twitter and Facebook, setting up pages on those platforms is also a great idea. People can follow and share your pages to get them on the screens of other interested parties.

Give Out Discount Codes

Another great marketing technique is giving out discount codes!

When people have had a great time and finished your tour, hand out discount codes at the end. These discount codes will give deals to the person that they give them to if they book your services, too. Since the people giving them out will have had a positive experience, you’re bound to get more customers who are in for a discounted, well-priced good time.

You can also give people discounts on future tours for giving out the coupon code! Just make sure that you offer a way to know who referred to new customers, and you’ll end up with a lot of satisfied people looking for tours at low prices.

Get More Tourism Business Ideas

It can be difficult to make it in the tourism industry. If you use good marketing strategies, include enticing pictures on your web page, and cater to the specific customers in your niche, though, you should do just fine.

Now that you know the best tourism business ideas, visit the content strategy section of ArticleCity. We’ll help you come up with more unique and effective ways to promote and grow your business.

Have fun getting out there and showing people around!

Tutoring Ads 101: How to Effectively Grow Your Tutoring Business Online

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 brought more attention to tutoring, but tutoring has been an important learning tool for years.

If you’ve noticed the need for tutoring and want to fill it, you know you need to drum up customers. While referrals are a great source of leads, that doesn’t help if you don’t have anyone to refer you yet.

One of the ways you can gain more attention online is through tutoring ads. Continue reading this article to learn how to advertise your tutoring business online.

Setting Yourself Up for Success With Tutoring Ads

Whether people are trying to find an online math tutor, someone to help their kids through science or history – you need to show up for your specialty. If you only want to tutor in one subject, you can still make a good amount of money.

Speak to Your Audience Directly

Avoid the marketing mistake of talking to everyone in your ads. If you speak to everyone that wants a tutor, you’re not going to get attention.

Think of the exact person that you want to help. Is this person an 8th grader that is having trouble with math? Maybe the person you want to help is someone trying to improve their SAT score.

While you should think about the student you’ll be tutoring, you should also keep in mind that the parent is most often the one paying. Speak directly to the parent when you’re writing your ads.

Offer an Outcome

Before you run your ads, check to see if they offer an outcome. Many tutoring ads simply say something like, “tutoring for xyz city” or “Math tutor in xyz city.” While the ad is descriptive, it doesn’t give the person an idea of what result they will get when they work with you.

If you’re tutoring in math, then your ad could say something like, “Help your child improve their math test by one grade.” Make sure you’re confident in whatever claim you put in your ads because people will hold you to it.

Choose the Best Place to Post

When you’ve honed your ad and are ready to post, you can put it on sites like Craigslist and the local classifieds.

Check to see if the local schools have a specific site you can post your services as well. The more places you have your ads, the more likely it is that you will be able to snag a good tutoring job.

Promote Your Business Through Content Marketing

If you decide you want to add content marketing to your strategy on top of tutoring ads, you can drum up even more business. If you are a solo tutor, you may even have to bring in some help.

The internet allows for a wide variety of opportunities. We have put together an article library to help you get the most out of those opportunities. Check out our articles on content marketing strategy today.

Bite Into Better Business: 9 Masterful Dental Marketing Tips

Let’s face it. Nobody likes visiting the dentist.

In fact, worldwide, 1 in 5 people are afraid of going to the dreaded dentist! 

Because of this stigma, more than any other field, dentists need to market their practice well. If they don’t, potential patients may look for somewhere that seems more up to date. Or they may avoid going to the dentist altogether.

Dental marketing is more than just sending an appointment checkup postcard and having an ad in the local newspaper. But what are the latest dentist marketing ideas for 2019? We’ve done all the research, so you don’t have too.

Brace yourselves, it’s time to bring your dental practice into the 21st century.

1. Begin with a Brand

Before you start creating a marketing strategy, you need to define your brand. A brand is like a trademark. It will run throughout your entire marketing venture both now and in the future.

It all begins with a logo and design palette that is unique to your dental practice. This design should run throughout your website, merchandise, printouts, clinic decor, and more. When a person sees your branding, they should be able to recognize your practice without needing a double take.

2. Picture Perfect Printouts

Although many of these dentist marketing ideas are online, printed handouts still have their place. Nothing can replace the convenience of sticking an appointment card to the fridge, after all.

Send postcards to new potential clients in the area. Or remind existing patients of their appointments. You could also send announcements of new procedures or services available.

You can also use business cards, flyers, and other printed items to market your brand. It is always beneficial to have a few printed items for older customers who may not be online savvy too.

3. Straight to Their Inbox

Another dental marketing idea is emailing. Emailing is a great (and cheap) way to keep in contact with current and potential patients.

Send out a monthly e-newsletter. But don’t make it all about you. Add dental tips, new technologies, research, discounts, and funny dental jokes. 

Emails sent in this way work as gentle reminders without being overly pushy.

4. Get Your SEO On

Have you ever wondered why your website isn’t coming up high on Google search engines? It’s probably because your website isn’t SEO friendly.

SEO (search engine optimization) is content that drives people to your website by listing your page in search engines. To get noticed, make sure your website is full of SEO content.

For example, when searching for a dentist many will type “Dentist in (location)” into Google. If they see your website listed on the first page, they will be more likely to choose your clinic. But how high you feature in Google depends on your SEO score.

5. A Killer Website

One of the most vital dental marketing tips is to have a killer website.

Your website is the online version of your customer lobby. If it looks dated, disorganized, and unwelcoming, the customer will walk right out. The same applies to your website.

Setting up a website isn’t as easy as you might think. As mentioned, there is SEO to think about. There are also keywords, blogs, mobile optimization, bots, and more.

Can you handle all that?

It’s always best to hire a dental marketing specialist to create your website. Marketing firms, like Somnowell Marketing, are experts in creating websites for dental practices. They can help you to stay ahead of the game and not get left behind.

6. More Than Words

More than reading, people love watching videos. Bring your dental practice down to earth by using videos featuring real people. Here are a few trending video ideas:

• Patient testimonials (a powerful word of mouth method)
• Dentist answers commonly asked questions
• How-to videos
• Behind the scenes
• Meet the team (make it real)

This is one of the best dental marketing ideas that can help you develop a personal connection with your clients. This personal relationship will then lead to trust, recommendations, and loyal patients.

7. Go Viral

No dental marketing plan is complete without using social media to the full. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, and more. There are so many different ways to use social media to grab attention.

Here are a few dental marketing ideas you can use on social media:

• Behind the scenes snapshots
• Update patients about events, deals, and more
• Dental quotes, puns, and jokes
• Create a printed Instagram-sized frame so your patients can have a photo after their session.
• Social media contest with a cool prize. For example, a “best smile selfie” contest.
• Facebook Ads (targeted towards specific audiences)

Social media is a cost-effective approach to market your dental practice. It’s one of the best ways to engage with old patients and new.

8. Word of Mouth

Every customer that walks into your dental clinic is a potential marketing opportunity. People love to talk and recommend places (or warn them where not to go).

And it works. 92% of consumers believe recommendations from people they know over other forms of advertising. Make sure to encourage those recommendations!

You can do that by giving referral bonuses. For every referral that makes an appointment through their recommendation give the patient a bonus. This could be a discount or a gift.

The benefits are two-fold. As you’ll have new patients flocking in and old patients staying engaged and connected with the clinic.

9. Online Reviews

Online reviews are another dental marketing idea that plays on word of mouth. Encourage your clients to write online reviews. This will build up your online reputation, and you may also find areas to improve.

There are many online tools that can help you manage reviews. But sometimes the patient can forget to review when they get back home. Try a kiosk feature in the customer lobby so that they can fill in an immediate review before they leave the practice.

Don’t Get Left Behind: Follow these Dental Marketing Tips

It’s clear to see that dental marketing has jumped headfirst into the 21st century. To make sure your practice doesn’t get left behind make sure to follow these 9 dentist marketing ideas. If you do, you’ll have new patients lining up at the door.

Now you know the drill with marketing, what’s next? An important step is getting yourself up and running on social media. Check out this article to find out how to start a killer social media campaign.

The Power of Text: What Is SMS Marketing, and Is It For Your Business?

Did you know that the open rate for SMS is nearly 98%?

Because SMS can offer such incredible open rates, it can be one of the best ways to reach your target audience. But if you want to use SMS to market your business, you may have doubts about where to begin.

You might be unsure of how to get the phone numbers for your campaigns. You may also worry about the kind of messages you should send people, once you have their phone number.

This post aims to provide you with some clarity on how SMS marketing works. Once you’ve read this post, you’ll be able to comfortably answer the question “What is SMS marketing?”

Let’s begin!

What Is SMS marketing?

SMS marketing is a means of marketing that’s based on you sending text messages to people. SMS (short message service) is just another way to describe a text message, and the two terms are interchangeable.

This method of marketing works well, as people carry phones with them everywhere they go. This then makes it easy for you to reach your target audience, no matter where they are. 

Additionally, a text message often demands more attention than an email. This is usually down to the fact that not many other companies are using SMS marketing to contact customers.

It’s also worth noting that the notification for a text message often differs to the notification for an email.

SMS notifications are often more audible and can cause the phone to vibrate, whereas emails might not allow for this to happen. Following this, SMS marketing can produce better levels of engagement. That’s because people will quickly check their phone, upon receiving a promotional text message. 

What Can You Do with SMS Marketing?

The way you use SMS marketing is going to depend on your business and the kinds of services you offer.

For an offline business, SMS marketing can be an incredible way to increase foot traffic.

You can use SMS marketing to notify customers of new products you might have in store. Once customers are aware of these new products, they may visit your store to see what is on offer.

You could even use SMS marketing as a means of distributing coupons.

For instance, if you own a pizzeria, you could use SMS to send people a coupon every weekend. In doing so, you may be able to increase the number of people that order a pizza from you, instead of a competitor.

Of course, the concepts mentioned above can also be applied to an online business too.

You can use SMS marketing to promote the release of a new product within your eCommerce store. Or you can use SMS marketing to generate sales, during certain events. An example might include promoting a coupon that’s associated with a particular time of year, such as valentines day.

Finding a Good SMS service

The SMS Marketing platform you use can have a big impact on deliverability rates and how much you can customize your campaigns. 

Ideally, you want to pick a service that caters to your needs.

So, if you deal with a business audience, it might be better to use a business text messaging service, rather than a generic one. Or, if you’re a restauranteur, try to find one that’s designed specifically for restaurant owners. 

By taking this step, your SMS marketing campaigns will be more effective, as the service will offer features that are a good fit for your needs. You can then use these features to create campaigns your target audience will resonate with.   

Building Your Contact List

Before you can run an SMS marketing campaign, you first need to get a list of phone numbers you can send messages to.

But you can’t just buy a list, as you need to acquire explicit consent before you send people SMS marketing messages. Failure to obtain consent may result in you breaking the law. 

One of the best ways to build your list of contacts is by getting people to send you a text message, so that they can join your list.

You might ask people to text a keyword to a specific phone number. Once people do this, they’ll be on your list and you can send them relevant marketing messages.

If you want to improve your odds of success, it’s essential you give people an incentive to join your list.

You can do this by providing people with a special offer, should they join your SMS list. So, if you own a restaurant, you might say that people can get 10% off their next order if they text “offer” to your designated SMS marketing number.

You can promote this incentive to your email list or even on your social media profile. 

How to Get Results with SMS Marketing

Though SMS marketing is relatively foolproof, you may struggle to see results if you ignore certain fundamentals.

You need to make sure you include a call to action in each of your marketing messages.

Though it might sound odd, a lot of people will just ignore your marketing if you don’t tell them what to do. Thus, whenever you send out a message, be sure to tell people what you have on offer and what people need to do if they want to benefit from this offer.

You also want to pay attention to the timing of your messages. If you’re trying to get people to order pizza, you’ll probably get better results by sending a message around 6 PM as opposed to 1 PM.

The Value of Experimentation

If your results with SMS marketing reach a plateau, it’s worth conducting some experiments to see how you can take things to the next level.

You could do this by sending out a range of different offers and then observing which one generates the most engagement.

You might even want to experiment with the time you send your messages. In doing so, you may be able to find a ‘sweet spot’ wherein you’re able to generate the most engagement.

If you’re struggling to come up with marketing experiments, consider taking a look at what your competitors are doing.

By signing up to their text message marketing lists, you may discover a range of tactics that’ll help improve your campaigns.

Of course, it’s worth noting that you can also learn from companies that aren’t your competitors. For instance, if you run a B2C company, it could still be a good idea to sign up to a B2B list.

By studying the tactics used in other industries, you may be able to uncover tactics that nobody else in your sector is using. If you use these tactics, you may experience great results, as your methods will be ‘cutting edge’ when compared to your competitors.

So – What Is SMS Marketing?

Now that you’ve read this post, you should find it easy to answer the question “what is SMS marketing?”

Like all forms of marketing, you’ll need to run many campaigns before you understand the ins and outs of SMS marketing. As you do this, you’ll understand how to get people to join your list and how you can write text messages that’ll generate a response.

SMS marketing isn’t easy, and so you’ll definitely hit some snags along the way. But if you keep going, it won’t be long before you start to wonder how you managed to make money without SMS Marketing. 

Need some help attracting customers to your business? Check out this post to learn how PPC marketing can help you reach your target market. 

Business Hack 2019: Top 7 Reasons SEO Website Design is Vital

If you’re a business owner, you know having a website is mandatory in today’s digital age. No one wants to get in touch with a company until they’ve had the chance to do some research on their website.

More importantly, how are folks finding out about your website if you’re not taking advantage of SEO techniques, better known as search engine optimization? 

SEO website design is important not only so people can find you easily on Google, but also so your website can achieve the high rankings needed to climb the top of the search results. 

Here are a few reasons why SEO web design is important, and why your company needs it today.

1. It’s Easy to Find Organic Traffic

Think about how most folks find the websites or information they’re searching for. Chances are, they type in a few words or a term, perhaps with a zip code or the words “near me”. Google, or the search engine of choice, then directs them over to a variety of websites that meet these criteria.

If you’re lucky, yours can be among them.

Using SEO connects you with people who are looking for solutions to their problem. Getting organic customers through SEO is not only a low-cost way of increasing business, but it is also effective to boot.

Check out a few ways to maximize SEO efforts on your website with little effort for a great return. 

2. SEO Website Design Makes it Easy to Convert Customers

Potential customers like to see that they’re dealing with an expert who can help them with their problem. By targeting certain terms, writing in-depth about them, and including additional information, you can build audience confidence in what you have to offer. 

Since you’re already showing up in search engines while presenting helpful information about a subject, potential customers will assume you know what they’re looking for and how you can make a difference.

If you’re not taking advantage now, it’s time to start.

3. It Improves Social Media Ads

Social media is one of the most common ways for all companies to advertise. Many people take to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to find more information about a company, product, or service.

The same SEO you put to work on your blog posts and website can come in handy on social media, too. Knowing what key terms to target and how to apply them across the different platforms can help you gain additional followers with minimal effort. 

Before diving in, make sure to brush up on the use of hashtags in social media, and how they’re used across each platform. 

4. All the Cool Kids Are Doing It

Although peer pressure was something your parents taught you to avoid in childhood, anything goes as an adult in the business world. It’s important to keep on top of what the competition is doing, or risk getting left behind in the dust. 

Staying on top of trends means you can keep your website up-to-date and ready for consumer consumption before others catch on to what you’re doing. This can make your company seem even more appealing to people since you’re staying ahead of the trends.

Take a moment to view what your competitors have up their sleeve. Then find out more about how SEO design can improve business and help you grow. 

5. Updated SEO Website Design Makes it Easy to Convert Mobile Users

When working with search engine optimization, it’s important to test it and ensure it works on mobile devices, too. With so many people opting to access a website on their phone or tablet, you’ll find yourself losing out on leads, potenital customers, and even interested parties if your website doesn’t have SEO that reads well on mobile.

Once everything reads well across all devices, you can feel confident you’re ready to improve business and develop the clientele and connections you need for success. 

6. Improving Ranking is Easier When Using SEO

Climbing to the top of the Google search results is every webmaster’s dream. You want to be the go-to for folks who need help but don’t know where to turn. 

Google favors sites that are SEO optimized, putting them closer to the top. Avoiding issues such as Blackhat techniques (an industry name for dishonest practices) and focusing on delivering a quality website that targets and helps customers is the way to go for success. 

If you’re not using SEO in your current website design, you’re missing out on the free promotional opportunities that come from being closer to the top of Google results. 

7. You Can Build Connections With Others

SEO is more than standing out and looking at the top of your game. It’s necessary to develop relationships in order to increase your rank, too. 

By taking advantage of hot SEO trends, such as using external backlinks, you’ll not only promote other websites but can focus on creating relationships with the owner. Having an additional expert guest post or even mention you on their website goes a long way in obtaining credibility and getting your company’s name out there. 

Exchanging links and growing your profile makes it possible for others to see your business. And after all, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right? 

Discover More

Now that you know the benefits behind SEO website design, it’s time to get started. Between gaining new customers, building business connections, and creating a whole new name for yourself within your industry, you have nothing to lose.

Curious about learning more? Check out our blog post on how to make your website stand out. 

How to Get Your Business Out There? Content Marketing 101 Guide

Launching a new business online? Good luck – the competition is tight.

You’ll need to learn how to get your business out there. You need to fight tooth and nail to grab higher ranks on Google’s search results.

The good news is there is a legit solution. Whatever business you have, we’re sure that content marketing can get your name out.

70% of businesses that perform content marketing are more successful now than last year. Brands know that online content marketing is a powerful strategy.

Even then, what is content marketing? Why use content marketing and is content marketing effective?

Don’t worry, we’ve got all the answers you seek.

Want that extra visibility and a business that people come back to? Keep reading below to discover more:

1. What Is Content Marketing?

There are many definitions of content marketing that look like they’d work on books. If you’re a business, you don’t need that. Here’s a more precise explanation that you can use in your business.

What is content marketing? Content marketing is a long-term strategic technique that emphasizes customer relationship. It lets you focus on your target audience with high-value content that they can use day to day.

Your content should have a few crucial elements for it to work. These are:

• Relevant customer content
• Consistent value over time
• Care to your audience

At the end of the day, your goal is to choose you over the competition. By using your content for long-term value, you remind people that they need you. This content is a way for you to foster loyalty, which then gives you better lifetime customer value.

2. Understanding Pain Points

The primary strategy for online content marketing revolves around three specific points. These are not the end-all. Rather, these core concepts will help you make a custom style for your content marketing business.

The first point is to understand the customer’s pain points. Customer pains are the problems that they experience every day. These pain points keep them up at night, looking for a way to solve them.

As an example, if you’re doing Veterinary Marketing, you would focus your content in reminding people of their daily pet pains. It sounds weird, but knowing people’s pains and reminding them is a way to tug their interests.

Why use content marketing like this? That points out to the next step.

3. Resolving Customer Pains

Why is content marketing effective? It’s because of this second point.

Once you know people’s pains, the next step is to resolve their problem with your content. This may be in the form of a guide, a step-by-step overview or a recipe.

Online content marketing revolves around being helpful. You want people to keep coming back. If you’re a vet, this can be how to treat dog mange or potty-training cats.

What is content marketing good for is making content that resolves problems. If people deem your content helpful, you build trust and loyalty in them.

Once you create a good reputation and expertise with customers, that’s where you go to the next step.

4. Leading To The Buying Cycle

Why use content marketing? Here’s the thing.

The end-point that you want in content is to convert or sell your product. Your goal is for people to see you as a premier authority within your niche. Your content accomplishes that for you.

Once your target audiences are in their prime, you want your content to lead to your buying cycles. You would want to present your product offers as a solution to their problem. By doing so, you’re creating a desirable product.

5. Is Content Marketing Effective?

Is content marketing effective? That depends on how you treat the entire process. You would want to make sure your first steps are useful.

To understand your customer’s problems, you need to create a buyer’s persona. In online content marketing, a buyer’s persona is your avatar for your ideal customer. This includes:

• Age Range
• Gender
• Geolocation
• Income bracket
• Family Size
• Wants
• Needs
• Problems

The idea is to create the ideal customer that you think would buy your product, whose problem you can resolve with your content.

6. Creating Valuable Content

Once you know the people that will be your target audience, the next step for your content marketing business is to generate appropriate content. You would want to list as many topic points as possible.

You would want to make them long and informative. You aim to guide people on how to resolve their problems. You want content in varying lengths, depending on what you want to provide.

1000 words should be your bare minimum for listicles. You also want 1500 words or more for comprehensive guides. These blogs, videos, and images tend to get more traffic due to their comprehensiveness.

7. Other Forms Of Online Content Marketing

There are many more types of content that work. Why use content marketing like these? That’s because not all people like reading.

In this case, use different vehicles to convince your customers that you can help them. Use social media to reach out to them.

Use instructional videos and video marketing content to engage your customers. Use paid advertising to create an active outreach to your target customers.

Attract people to your website, using your helpful content as the motivator. Track how your content is performing with analytics from both Google and social media. This is a way for you to know what works.

Create different versions of your ads and pitches and test which one works the best. A/B testing is a good method of testing your campaigns.

This Is How To Get Your Business Out There

What is content marketing? It’s how you use your content to build ties with your target audience. If you want to know how to get your business out there, you need online content marketing in your repertoire.

Are you looking for more helpful articles on how to grow your business? Feel free to check out our other guides! From optimizing your PPC tactics to the best wealth building strategies of the super-rich, everything is here.

Piping the Town: 7 Plumbing Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Business

If you’re one of the more than 120,000 plumbing businesses out there, you know how crowded the market is getting. While the demand for plumbers is rising, so is the number of businesses.

This can make it difficult to stand out from the crowd. If you want to raise awareness of your company and get more customers, you need to dive into the world of plumbing marketing.

We hear you: You don’t have the budget to hire an agency and you’d rather deal with a backed up toilet than the ins and outs of marketing.

Don’t stress! We’ve got the perfect plumber advertising guide that will make you a marketing pro in no time!

1. Build a Website

This is a basic one but it’s better to address it. You won’t survive in the modern world without a website.

There are services, like WordPress, that provide easy-to-use templates. All you have to do is plug in your relevant information and you’re good to go.

2. Be Social

Getting a social media account is second in importance to getting a website. Over half of marketers report that using social media boosted sales.

A basic Facebook account is a great place to start. Remember to take a few minutes out of your day to add content and engage with customers online.

3. Ready for Reviews

Once you’re on social media and listed on Google, you’ll start racking up reviews. Addressing all of them shows potential customers you care and gives them a good feeling about using your services.

Remember to always keep it professional and don’t pick fights with negative reviews. Give angry customers a customer service email to take their grievances offline and deal with them directly.

4. Referrals

Referrals are a great real-world way to generate sales and earn repeat business. A plumber marketing referral doesn’t have to be complicated, it could just be a percentage off.

For example, if a customer refers a friend, the friend will get 10% off their plumbing and heating service. The customer also receives a 10% discount off their next service — a win/win/win!

5. Community Oriented

Attend community meetings to drum up business. Showing up at town halls, school meetings, and corporate promotional events with business cards in hand helps get the word out.

6. How-to Videos

Entertaining and education your customers makes your brand seem authentic and knowledgeable. Making how-to videos is a great way to promote your business and educate people about common plumbing problems.

Don’t be shy — just talk about what you know and it’ll all come naturally.

7. Work on Word of Mouth

Ultimately, former customers and their opinion of you will be the best plumbing marketing company you could ask for. That’s why delivering exceptional customer service is so important.

If your customers are unhappy, try to resolve their issues politely and quickly. If they’re happy, ask if they’d submit a testimonial or review to your website or social media accounts.

Plumbing Marketing Made Easy

As you can see, plumbing marketing doesn’t have to clog up your brainpower and drain all your time. These simple tips and tricks are sure to make a difference in your business.

Want a little — or a lot — of help? We’re here for you!

We’ve got tons of digital plans to boost your business. Contact us and find out how we can help market your company!