Published By Janet Gershen-Siegel at September 14th, 2018
Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof!
Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.
And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!
#10. Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about creating content and experiences which show your customers exactly what they need to do or buy, change or start. SAAS Genius had some really kick-ass ideas.
For example – not to brag – but we talk about building business credit around here. A lot. But what sort of an organization would we be if we dangled out the method to you but never actually, you know, told you what you needed to do?
Making success easier for your customers is only a part of the process. You also want to make their lives earlier in tons of big and small ways. Consider this. Is your website slow-loading, or confusing to use? Then your customers aren’t going to stick around for it to load or to figure everything out. They’ll just go elsewhere. So investing (often quite literally) in your customers’ success pays dividends down the road.
#9. The next awesome tip is about customer engagement and connection. Kochie’s Business Builders put together six vital must do’s. And – spoiler alert – none of them involve getting on bended knee.
What is your brand’s personality? Is it rebel or magician, sage or entertainer or hero? Understanding your brand’s unique voice will make marketing go all the more smoothly. You’ll know what to write and say – and who to pitch to.
And what is your brand’s culture? This goes to your company’s culture as well. Is it conservative or innovative, or somewhere in between? This will filter down to your relationship with your customers, too.
As for the other four, be sure to check out the article. It’s eye-opening.
#8. Our following life-changing tip concerns something we touched upon a lot last week – artificial intelligence. 60 Second Marketer breaks it down beautifully. AI is coming, and it’s kind of whether you’re ready for it, or not.
So the thrust of the article is that, while artificial intelligence may very well take some jobs, it will also make us all more efficient. That is, your job can get better (although not necessarily at the same firm) with the rise of AI.
What does AI do? One important task is to analyze far more information than a human being could possibly process. Let’s say you have 100 YouTube videos on your channel. Which ones are served to which other channels’ videos, and why? That’s where AI comes in. A good 300 hours of YouTube content are uploaded every second!
You wouldn’t be able to view all of those hours (even with a lot of help) and then parse them and decide where to advertise in any sort of a timely fashion. But artificial intelligence can do this!
#7. For our next sensational tip, we looked at Small Business Saturday, which is coming up fast!
What is it? As Big Commerce notes, it happens the day after Black Friday. It may seem like it’s been around forever, but it actually only dates back to 2010. The concept is a simple one. After shopping till dropping on Black Friday at the big box stores, shoppers are encouraged to go local for the following day. It can be an incredible day for local businesses.
So how do you best take advantage of it? For one, get the word out. And this means not only emailing or messaging customers, it also means building up your mailing lists. Another terrific idea is to make the holiday special for your company. So make it unique by offering something the big box stores just plain can’t.
Are you only online and afraid you’re missing out? Just wait for Cyber Monday!
#6. This tip is so perfect – it works! Red Website Design shared this awesome infographic from Eliv8 Group, and it’s all about essential online marketing tactics to grow your business.
One of our favorite tips is all about analytics (that’s ’cause we’re data nerds at heart). After all, what good is marketing (0r, really anything a business does) if you can’t measure its success? Hence we really love this one. If you aren’t measuring, then how do you know anything’s working?
Another tip we thought was excellent was the one about email marketing. As we all get caught up in using social media for marketing, the truth is, email can be left behind. And that’s not a good strategy at all! Just under 2/3 of all people online use social media, but more than one in eight use email! Email is also a high-converting channel, meaning that more people are likely to buy after an email than a Facebook or other social media post. And the same is true for other social media platforms.
So be sure to check out the infographic as it is truly fascinating.
#5. Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!
Prevent these common things that stunt business growth, and get your business back on track.
Is your business teetering on the edge, or running out of steam? Conversion XL has got you covered. Is your business killing its growth? It may be happening without you even being aware of it.
One of our favorite observations was about there not being enough automation. Think about all of the things that you do manually. Some of these might be well-suited to one form of automating or another.
Automation for the Win!
We already admitted to being data nerds (see #6, above). Therefore, consider the many things you may be doing with Excel. Maybe you use it to keep track of metrics. But what happens when you want to compare one set of metrics with another? If you have a list of sales per city and another list of sales per color of your product, how do you determine how many yellow widgets were sold in Albuquerque?
With a database program (or at least with good, well-written formulas in Excel), you don’t have to sit and count. Instead, the data comes out effortlessly. And the best news is that the degree of accuracy is far greater.
Gimme Speed!
Another tip we loved was about how companies can really be shooting themselves in the foot with slowness. That is, if the competition is moving fast, you’re not doing yourself any favors by taking the laid back approach. Plus, this dovetails rather well with automation. Sometimes there is ramp-up time. But that time investment can be well worth it to automate a slow, repetitive task.
#4. Check out this spectacular tip, all about marketing to the folks born between the early 1980s and the 1990s – those miraculous millennials. There are over 75 million of them! Pixel Productions helps you cut through conflicting advice with helpful tips.
One of our favorites was about treating the millennial consumers like an audience composed of individuals. Hence the old-fashioned concepts of “one size fits all” marketing are out the window. It’s almost like one of those old “choose your own adventure” books, where the reader makes certain decisions which affect the course of the story.
It’s also a lot like video games. A left turn does one thing; a right, another. Your millennial customers want that sort of control over what they get from you, too.
Another tip we loved was to give them more information. Informed decision-making is the greatest tactic for any consumer, and Generation Y is no exception.
#3. It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can fill your bookshelves with the best marketing e-books on digital marketing trends. Soft Script lays out the details.
Some of the usual suspects are here in e-book form, including Buffer, HubSpot, and Moz. Their authority should be known to all. But what’s this? A … For Dummies book? Yes, really! To understand all about business on Instagram, All Lite Books offers a free PDF download. The PDF offers helpful information on everything from reaching an audience to running an effective contest.
#2. Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on digital marketing, courtesy of The Self Employed.
Are you ready for another amazing infographic? This one’s got eleven exceptional tips.
We especially loved the idea of being aware of key industry organizations. For example, lawyers know about the American Bar Association, and actors know about Actors’ Equity. And think outside the proverbial box a bit. Maybe there isn’t an association of the people who make wainscoting, but there is one for house remodelers.
Another excellent tip – as much as it might make you want to curse and throw things – is to respond to reviews. And that even includes the negative ones. Don’t hide from your customers! After all, responding to a negative review gives you a golden opportunity to make it right.
#1. We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on time-saving. Kim Garst put together an astounding list of ways to save time in your business.
One of our favorites was documenting FAQs (frequently-answered questions). This rather neatly circles right back to #10, where we talked about your customers’ success. Giving them the answers to their most common questions so they can get them immediately and don’t have to wait for you? That’s empowering.
As always, listen to your customers! What are they always, to your mind, getting wrong? Something needs to be fixed. And it isn’t them.
So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?
If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity!