editor, Author at Mediastreet

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Next Time Someone Says, ‘We Tried That. It Didn’t Work,’ Ask Yourself These 3 Questions

March 21, 2022 No Comments

Here’s how to know which strategies are worth trying again

What’s that old saying about not succeeding the first time?

In 2019, my company ThirdLove launched its first pop-up physical retail location–and just a few months later the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Due to pandemic restrictions and our short-term lease, we decided to abandon the strategy–only to try, try again two years later. This time we’re optimizing processes, finding stronger partners, and adapting the store’s design based on what didn’t work last time. The result: a store fitted to what customers told us they wanted, rather than what we thought they wanted.

Failure is indeed the foundation of success–but only if you ask the right questions and iterate intentionally. Otherwise, you’re doomed to Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” For founders and companies who have tried something in the past and are thinking of trying the same thing again, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Do you truly believe in the strategy?

What was the strategy or idea you tried that didn’t result in a great outcome? Was it something you realize now wasn’t a good idea, or is it something you truly believe in?

ThirdLove decided to relaunch physical retail stores not because we really wanted it to work, but because we really believed it would work. Our core belief in 2020 was that the in-person bra-buying experience still had a lot of room for improvement — and that many women want to feel a product before buying it. That belief is still with us today in 2022, and has been proved both qualitatively and quantitatively. Closing the first store didn’t have anything to do with this belief. It had to do with a surprise pandemic and a store design that was based on the first set of ideas, which we hadn’t had a chance to iterate. With that experience behind us, and the belief still intact, we had the perseverance to try again with a new approach.

So, if you dig deep and still have confidence in the original strategy or idea, you have some reflecting to do.

2. What didn’t work the first time?

Just because an idea didn’t work the first time you tried it doesn’t mean it will never work. Have you ever attempted something you really believed in and failed? Ask yourself what went wrong.

For our first store, the plan was for customers to come in, interact with our Fit Finder on iPads, and then try on the best size they’d found using the technology. We designed the store accordingly, having the iPad section at the front of the store, taking up a good amount of space. Unlike a traditional shopping experience, the way the physical product was displayed was not a focal point. And we stocked only a few styles in the backroom for purchase, the idea was that we’d ship the product to our customers from our warehouse.

But it turned out that the majority of women in the store had already used our Fit Finder online. They already knew their sizes — they just wanted to try products on to confirm their size, and walk out with a product. They also wanted to interact with our in-store Fit Experts, not with an iPad. Upon reflection, another big issue was that the first store took much more time and leadership bandwidth than we thought it would. Our team was not full of brick and mortar retail experts, which makes sense, as we were a digital-first company. This was distracting to other work and initiatives for our core business (selling online).

My point is, when you reflect on your first experience trying a new strategy and ask yourself why it didn’t pan out, you’re able to make a more objective decision as to whether it’s something you can (or should) try again. Once you know what went wrong, you have another question to ask yourself.

3. Can you solve those things now?

With an understanding of why you failed the first time at something, you can ask yourself how you can have a different result if you decide to try again.

The solution to our store experience was to draw up a new design based on prior learnings. Importantly: Trying again didn’t mean trying the same approach and hoping for a different result. Our new store relies on experienced Fit Stylists, a robust merchandising experience, and a stocked backroom. As for leadership resources, our new solution was to use an experienced partner who is an expert in helping digital brands launch retail stores. This allowed a small, tight team at our company to focus on the design and merchandising direction of the store, but to let our partner leverage their best practices in store build-out, hiring, and operations.

The combination of our first retail experience and their body of work meant a store designed to our exact specifications, and a much faster, smoother launch process. We understood what didn’t work — and more important, we understood that we could address what didn’t work. If the issues were out of our control, or we didn’t have good options the second time around, that would have been a different story.

The take-two flow goes through three steps: Strength of belief, then past flaws, then present solutions. You won’t be able to transform every failure into a success, but at the very least, every failure should give you information that informs future projects.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Heidi Zak

Co-Founder and CEO, ThirdLove@heidizaks

Sourced from Inc.

In News

Amazon’s never-ending fake reviews problem, explained

March 21, 2022 No Comments

By Laura Hautala

Those five-star reviews are reassuring. But what if a seller asks you to write one – for cash?

Not everything is as it seems on Amazon’s marketplace, where products are rated in a five-star system and a heavy number of positive reviews can help one brand stand out from a pack of competitors. Amazon has acknowledged it has a fake reviews problem, as it struggles to rein in coordinated efforts on other websites to flood product listings with good reviews in quid pro quo schemes that violate the company’s terms of service.

But for shoppers comparing 15 versions of that wireless phone charger or dashcam, the overload of stars and comments — real and fake — can be overwhelming.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. Some Amazon shoppers accept refunds and gift cards in exchange for positive reviews, despite the company’s ban on the activity. The e-commerce giant calls these “incentivized reviews,” because they come from real shoppers who are paid for their positive opinion. Before Amazon banned the practice in 2016, reviewers would often admit they got a product for free in exchange for a review, but the practice is now fully in the shadows.

Amazon has cracked down on the practice, kicking companies off its marketplace when it finds out the seller has broken the rules. In May, it removed listings for electronics sold by Aukey and Mpow amid reports the companies had engaged in incentivized review schemes. Amazon also says it puts resources into removing fake reviews and the accounts that post them, adding that it blocked 200 million suspected fake reviews before they were posted in 2020. A company spokesperson said 99% of Amazon’s actions on incentivized reviews take place proactively, before problems are reported to the company.

“We want Amazon customers to shop with confidence knowing that the reviews they read are authentic and relevant,” the Amazon spokesperson said.

But the problem remains pervasive enough — with many retailers eager to edge out their competitors — that shoppers can’t really tell if the number of five-star reviews on a product is legit or artificially inflated. That leaves consumers unsure of what to believe when they’re up against the prospects of dozens of copycat items in an Amazon marketplace that hosts nearly 2 million sellers globally. Amazon also struggles to identify fake reviews that come from real customers who’ve bought and used a product. Their behaviour looks legitimate, and the same customer might write some reviews that are paid and others that aren’t.

Another major challenge to Amazon is that the fake reviews are often coordinated on social media sites the company doesn’t control. In May, a UK regulator said it would continue scrutinizing these groups on Facebook and Instagram, and noted that 16,000 social media groups that coordinated refunds for fake Amazon reviews had been removed.

Meta, the company that runs those social media platforms, bans the trade of reviews and has automated processes to detect the schemes. The company said that people can report this type of group and that it removes groups and content if they’re found to be in violation of the rules. Amazon also monitors social networks for groups coordinating the reviews and last year reported 6,000 of the groups to social media companies.

The problem has a circular nature. The faster a product can build up good reviews, the more visibility it can get as a “best seller” on Amazon and the faster it can earn the trust of shoppers who’ve never bought from that company before. As that company gets more customers, it also has more people it can solicit paid reviews from, speeding up its ratings success even further.

Here’s how these schemes work, and how they keep themselves going:

Step 1

When a shopper logs into their Amazon account and starts searching for something to buy, a product’s star rating is one of the first things they see. With so many third-party sellers listing products on the company’s marketplace globally, the ratings can help shoppers decide whether to trust products from brands they’ve never heard of before.

The shopper might see a promising hair straightener, cabinet, coffee maker, toothbrush — or really anything — from a brand that has some hit products on Amazon’s top sellers lists. The brand’s positive reviews might help the shopper trust a product that they could otherwise buy from a name brand.

Since positive reviews are so central to sellers’ successes, Amazon’s ban on reviews in exchange for refunds aims to keep these reviews trustworthy.

Step 2

After buying a product based on positive reviews, an honest shopper might get recruited for a fake review scheme in a couple of different ways. In the first scenario, the product arrives in the Amazon smile box, and the customer notices a card with a QR code or a website printed on it. This is so common no shopper would blink, and the link might lead to a regular customer support website that’s above board.

However, it might also lead the shopper to a group on Facebook or another social media site where the brand offers up more products for review — in exchange for a refund.

The second scenario is more direct. The card in the package might directly offer a gift card or PayPal credit in exchange for a positive review. If the shopper follows through on the offer, it will add an “incentivized” review to the listing for the product they just purchased.

Step 3

On a Facebook group that’s coordinating positive reviews, shoppers will see posts from page administrators announcing new products that need reviews on Amazon or another online marketplace. This situation can lead the shopper to leave positive reviews for the brand’s other products, including newer products that don’t have as many reviews yet.

The shopper might also invite their friends to the group, recruiting more people to write reviews in exchange for products.

Sometimes multiple brands use the same group to trawl for reviewers. Once shoppers are in this world, they might receive private messages or friend requests from unrelated companies looking for more people to review their products.

Step 4

In either scenario, the shopper writes a positive review and then sends proof to a representative of the company. That could be in an email or private message on Facebook. They may share their PayPal details or accept a gift card in return for their efforts.

Facebook group administrators try to make themselves available to shoppers as much as they can, sometimes adding group members as friends on the platform and keeping them apprised of when they’ll be available to answer questions or process refunds.

Step 5

When a new Amazon shopper goes online and looks for products in categories sold by the third-party seller, they’ll see even more positive reviews. Even if the product is genuinely good, it will rack up positive reviews much faster than it would if it relied on traditional marketing and refrained from offering refunds in exchange for reviews.

The ever increasing number of positive reviews on the brand’s listings might convince the shopper to trust the product. They buy it and then find a card inside with a QR code or website on it.

And the cycle continues.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that 99% of Amazon’s actions on incentivized reviews take place before problems are reported to the company.

By Laura Hautala

Sourced from C/NET

In News

How my company used social media to increase traffic and revenue — for free

March 21, 2022 No Comments

By Zapier

You know who loves to give advice? Everyone. Especially when it comes to marketing. But what do you do when that advice requires a budget—a budget you don’t have? What happens then?

I’m the founder of a small sustainable, socially responsible, and zero-waste fashion label that works with a community of women single parents in North Macedonia. Operating from a country with such limited resources can be, to put it mildly, challenging. I founded the company back in 2013. It started as a marketplace for local designers, which quickly expanded to cover international designers from all over the world.

Four years into it, we pivoted to become a standalone fashion label. The shift was driven by my desire to make a change in the society I lived in. At the time, I was working with a woman-run studio, and the seamstress became a single parent. I was not only impressed by her strength but also inspired by her tenacity and an iron will to provide her child with better circumstances than she was born in.

That’s when I made the decision to make Bastet Noir, a socially responsible brand. And as the business grew, so did our community of women single parents. Today, we’re proud to say that we work with five woman-owned studios, operated by either women single parents or women micro-entrepreneurs.

What used to be a small, local business has grown into—granted, still small—a global brand with customers from all over the world.

We used every tool in our toolbox to make it happen with virtually no budget—just a pipe dream and persistence and will to make it real. Here, I want to talk about what we did on social media to make it happen.

The power of social media for a local business

Even if you don’t choose to invest in social media, you should still have an up-to-date presence. One way to do this is by automating your brand’s social media, doing things like automatically sharing all new blog posts with your followers.

As a bootstrapped company operating from a country with limited resources, our marketing budget was—and still is—practically non-existent. Everything we make is reinvested back into our community of women single parents, so throughout the years, we had to think of creative ways to attract customers. Social media was one of the most successful.

Succeeding on Instagram without a budget

Ok, let’s rewind for a second. When we started out back in 2013, Instagram still wasn’t a thing. That’s why it took us a while to get to our desired target market in the United States. When we finally got on the platform two years later, it took us almost a year to decode it and figure out a way to grow and attract the right followers.

Since we weren’t located in the U.S., our first few hundred followers were based in Macedonia. The only way to target the U.S. was to pay for ads—which we, of course, didn’t have the money for. So how did we make it work? Through a lot of trial and error, yes, but most importantly, by establishing a captivating and powerful story behind the brand.

All of our posts and stories aligned with the narrative we were trying to tell. The gist: we were a sustainable, zero-waste, and socially responsible label that worked with women single parents in North Macedonia, and we helped these women earn much more than the industry average monthly income of $300. In addition to the storyline, the feed needed to have an aesthetic that would be recognizable for our brand, so we chose several color tones that best represented our label.

We planned our content a month out, which gave us time to hone the copy and research hashtags (we found that sustainability- and small business-related hashtags were our first priority). For all of this, we used the social media planning tool Later, which helped us a lot, especially with the visual part of how the feed would look.

Next, we attempted to bridge the gap between our social media strategy and our content strategy. We began by using People Map to create a list of the women we wanted to cover on our blog. The app helped us target editors, writers, social media managers for fashion magazines, and women entrepreneurs, all located in the U.S. Once we found their profiles, we found their emails—either from their Instagram profiles or using Rocket Reach.

Note: Be sure to follow all applicable rules around cold emailing prospects and give people ways to opt out of continued communication.

We composed an email to each woman, explaining our business and personalizing it to each recipient to demonstrate our interest (for example, we mentioned what had impressed us about them). Most of them didn’t respond back, but the ones that did were more than happy to extend their selfless help: we got a number of women to do interviews with us for our blog series, Cool Faces of Bastet Noir.

Since all of these women worked for publications like Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Business, and Elle, this enabled us to gain credibility. And since most of them shared the stories on their social media accounts (including Instagram), we started getting engagement from their followers. We even got traction on our website, since they were sharing the links on their feeds and stories.

Since advertising wasn’t an option due to lack of funds, this was the only way for us to utilize the power of influencers. Our entire investment was the production of the piece and the shipping cost to send them the outfit—and all we asked for in return was a few photos of them wearing the pieces, so we could include them in our blog posts.

You can start small even on social. To help, here are three workflows that can help you automate your Instagram for Business account so you can focus on the more personal parts of marketing.

Using Reddit for marketing

Reddit is a bit tricky because many of the communities prohibit advertising and, of course, anything they consider spammy, like sharing discount codes, links to your own website, and even introducing your brand. That means you need to engage with the community on another level. Start a conversation, answer questions, and show that you’re an authority on the topic. Then, if they’re interested in learning more about your brand, you can share links. If you do it before someone asks, you risk being banned from one of the most engaged internet communities.

We joined a few subreddits, including r/findashion, r/ethicalfashion, and r/Etsy, but r/FemaleFashionAdvice was the most important one for us. This community has 1.7 million members that we knew would be interested in our brand. We started talking with people on various threads, mostly giving them styling advice. This gradually evolved into me posting photos of my outfits, wearing Bastet Noir of course. People started asking where I got some of the items, so I shared links to the website. And that did the trick: we saw a tremendous increase in traffic, and orders started rolling in.

How to use YouTube for free marketing

We only started working with YouTubers at the beginning of 2020. I guess you could say we arrived a bit late to the party, but in our defence, we truly believed that we weren’t able to afford their rates—which was true to a point. A YouTuber who has more than 10,000 views on a video charges at least $3,000 for a 30-60-second brand mention. And that’s just for a mention, not a dedicated brand video. For a brand like ours, it’s way too expensive.

Instead, we decided to see if anyone would like our clothes enough to promote them for free. First, we prepared a list of hundreds of YouTubers whose styles we believed matched our brand aesthetic. We found them by searching on YouTube for keywords like “minimal style,” “ethical fashion,” and “environmentally friendly fashion”—and several variations. Most of them didn’t even respond back, which makes sense. But the ones that did were so taken by our cause that they selflessly offered to cover our brand.

Here’s an example from Chloe Kian and one from Cat Creature. These reviews and their support helped us bring in more traffic to our website and create brand awareness—and as a result, we saw increased revenue.

Using Pinterest for eCommerce marketing

Pinterest is the best social media platform for discovering new things to buy. Since the platform itself is highly visual, people usually go there to organize their shopping lists—that makes it great for any eCommerce brand. And if your store is on Shopify, you can use the Pinterest app to get what they call rich pins, which means that the description and price on Pinterest will be pulled directly from your website.

The best way to increase followers and get repins is to use shared boards, community boards made usually by Pinfluencers (yes, that’s a thing). And how do you find these boards? You can do a little Google search, or you can use PinGroupie like we did. PinGroupie lets you find and filter boards according to categories, number of followers, and other criteria.

If you decide to lean into Pinterest for your marketing, here are 5 tips for using Pinterest for business.

We’re currently members of about eight boards. The most important one for us is called Fashion + Friends, and it has more than 600k followers. The beauty of these boards is that, once you’ve been approved by the admin, the things you post appear on the feed of every follower in that board. That means millions of potential customers around the world—without investing a single dime. These boards sent traffic directly to our site and also helped us rank higher on Google.

One tip: go for boards with more than 10k followers. Boards with fewer followers probably won’t do you any favours—they’ll just sit on your profile and collect dust.

And there you have it: that’s how we used our no-budget social media strategy to increase traffic and get sales.

This article by Daniela Milosheska was first published on the Zapier blog. Find the original post here.

By Zapier

Sourced from TNW

In News

5 Tips for a Killer Small Business Facebook Strategy

March 16, 2022 No Comments

By Sammi Caramela

If you’re just getting started with Facebook for Business, here are five tips for your small business Facebook strategy.

Facebook is a great platform for small businesses to market their brand and engage with consumers. The platform offers countless features to utilize and opportunities to connect with prospective clients and customers. If you’re just getting started with Facebook for Business, here are five tips for your small business Facebook strategy.

Take advantage of Facebook Live

Facebook Live allows you to broadcast in real time to go behind the scenes of your business, show off your products and/or services, or simply connect with existing customers while introducing yourself to new ones. Going live on Facebook, which can be done on a mobile device, desktop or laptop, is a great way to boost engagement and get more personal with your audience, which builds trust and credibility. Promote your upcoming livestream via email or on your website or other social media channels so people know to tune in.

During your livestream, it helps to have someone else monitor and reply to any comments that might come in. You can go live directly on your business page or in a Facebook group, which will provide a more exclusive experience for members.

Use Facebook for customer service

Many customers turn to social media to voice concerns or ask questions, expecting to receive immediate help. Facebook and its Messenger app are great platforms for resolving customer service issues. Here, you can provide any necessary information that a customer requests, respond to direct messages or comments on your page and resolve any problems a customer might bring to your attention. Doing this publicly will also show your customers you are proactive in addressing their concerns.

Providing a space for your customers to connect with you directly will make them feel more involved in your brand.

Promote your content on Facebook

Facebook is a great place to share relevant and valuable content for your consumers. From blog posts and product information to news about your brand and upcoming events that you’re hosting, publishing updates, photos, videos and other forms of content will engage your audience and keep you top of mind.

When deciding what content to share on your Facebook business page, consider your target audience and what they’d like to see. For instance, if you own a restaurant, consider sharing blog posts with recipes, photos of your dishes or upcoming deals you’ll be offering in-store.

Optimize your page for engagement

In 2018, Facebook announced that its algorithm would prioritize content that sparked “meaningful interactions” among users and their connections, and it continues to do so to this day. Therefore, your business’s Facebook page should encourage interactions with your visitors, such as asking thoughtful questions to elicit comments and responses. Providing a space for your customers to connect with you directly will make them feel more involved in your brand.

Another option for engagement is adding a call to action on your page and in your posts. Your CTAs can range from asking a customer to visit your website or make a purchase to simply following your Facebook page or commenting a response on a post.

Analyse your stats

To ensure you’re on the right track with your strategy, analyse the following Facebook statistics against your goals to establish a benchmark and future progress.

Impressions: Your impressions tell you the number of times your audience has seen a specific Facebook post.
Reach: Your reach describes the number of times a new user sees your content.
Engagement: Your engagement measures how often someone interacts with your posts. This includes both positive (e.g., a user commenting on your post) and negative engagement (e.g., a user hiding your post).
Page followers: As the name suggests, page followers count the number of users who are following your Facebook page. It helps to track and analyse this stat over time.
Video performance: Your video performance tells you how many people are watching and engaging with your videos.
Pages to watch: The “pages to watch” section of your analytics overview shows you how your page measures up to your biggest competitors’ pages.
Local: If you’re a local business, the “local” tab tells you information and demographics about customers in your area.

Learn more about marketing your business on Facebook in our guide.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images/Tirachard

By Sammi Caramela

Sourced from CO

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

In News

How to Write a Really Great Mission Statement, Step-By-Step

March 16, 2022 No Comments

By Taran Soodan for QuickBooks

A business plan defines how you’re going to run your business (yes, also important), but a mission statement helps you define that passion and purpose.

Just because your business is small, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have big dreams. Starting your own small business requires taking risks, working long hours, and, most likely, making some personal and financial sacrifices.

Most entrepreneurs wouldn’t take the risks without having some kind of passion, core values, or beliefs about improving the world or their community. Oftentimes, it’s the passion, values, and beliefs that drive them to build their start-up—whether it’s creating an app to help families stay connected long-distance or making the world’s most sustainably made vegan pizza.

What Is a Good Mission Statement?

A company’s mission statement captures its purpose and trumpets it to the world. It’s a short statement that articulates the “why” and “how” of the business.

There’s a lot riding on the mission statement. An effective mission statement is a powerful tool for guiding efficient decision-making, creating company culture, attracting and keeping employees and customers, informing your marketing and advertising messages, and helping you build a strong brand.

This should serve as your “north star,” keeping everyone in your company together and working toward the same goal. With a clear view of your mission, you can develop scalable, repeatable operating processes that enable your business to grow in a more or less orderly fashion. Without it, you’re likely to experience communication breakdowns, inconsistent delivery of your products and services, and chaos as you try to grow.

Building a High-Quality Mission Statement

Companies sometimes pair mission and vision statements. Technically, these are two different ideas—a mission statement defines the business’s objectives and how it will achieve them, while a vision statement speaks to the future state of the business, and perhaps even the world. However, some companies combine their mission and their vision into a single statement.

There is no one right way to do it. So before we get started on creating your mission statement, we suggest reviewing some mission statement examples. Start with big-name brands like Amazon, Patagonia, and Coca-Cola. Then check out the brands you expect to compete with so you can get some inspiration on how to write your mission statement. If you’re feeling lost, it’s OK to use a mission statement template to help you get started!

Some brands choose to focus their mission statement on how their company impacts the world, while others stick closer to defining what the company does and how it benefits its customers. One thing to keep in mind is that in a larger company, a mission and vision exercise will typically involve dozens of people and outside agencies to ideate, draft, and polish different versions of the statement or statements until all of the stakeholders are aligned. What you see is the winning, world-class version. No doubt there were other unchosen versions that some people liked better.

The point is, don’t get hung up on perfection. Your mission statement will be unique—just like your company.

How to Write a Mission Statement

The exercise of creating a mission statement can be a powerful one. It’s sure to result in deep thinking and debate about the company, values, direction, and vision for the future. If you plan to make this decision with a business partner or team, it’s a good idea to layout a process ahead of time to ensure that everything is engaged and the debate is constructive.

Decide On a Process

The first thing you’ll need to decide is who should be involved. Is it just you running the show? You and co-owner? A few key team leaders and employees?

While you will probably not want to involve every person in the company, everyone on your leadership team should participate in the exercise and ideally, align on the outcome. You might also want to include customers, board members, advisors, and, perhaps, some key team members. To get the best result, it’s wise to include a diverse group of people that will have different perspectives on the company.

After you get the group together, decide how you’d like them to be involved. Maybe you want to send out a questionnaire to a wide range of people, compile the answers, then present them to a smaller group that will work together to draft the statement. Or maybe you’d like to have a writer take down the answers and create some drafts for debate before you meet.

Set aside some dedicated time for group discussion, but don’t leave it open-ended. Define a process and an outcome. For example, we will block out three hours to brainstorm and draft some options, then we will vote for one. Or, we will vote on our top three drafts and test them on a defined group of stakeholders, collect feedback, and reconvene for a final vote. Appoint a moderator or facilitator to keep the group on track.

If you are a very small company, maybe all you need are three people in a room for a couple of hours. For a mid-size company with several stakeholders, you may need to use some strategic planning, or even bring in an outside firm to make sure all points of view are included.

The Anatomy of a Mission Statement

So, what are the ingredients of a solid mission statement, and what makes it stand out? Here is a breakdown of the three basic elements:

1. Your Company’s Purpose

This should go beyond simply stating what you do. Think of the benefit and impact of what you do. Is your purpose to connect people, make life easier, or improve productivity? What wants or needs do you fulfil for your customers?

2. Describe How You Do It

How you do what you do is part of what makes your business unique. That could include sustainable sourcing, a commitment to diversity, working through partnerships, extra convenience, cost-effectiveness, or serious dedication to customer service.

3. Who You Do It For

Who are your current and desired customers? Are they athletes? Busy moms? Pet owners? Making sure your mission statement identifies your customers helps your customers identify with your mission.

Making It Resonate

Once you have gained clarity on the three basic elements, it’s time to make it sing. There are three keys to doing this:

1. Keep It Short

Less is more. The ideal length of a mission statement is two to four sentences, and no more than 100 words. Remember, this is a central tenet to your business. It’s something you want employees to think about every day. It should be easy for them to keep top of mind, without having to open their employee handbook and read a paragraph or two to refresh their memory. It should be easy for customers to grasp and remember, as well.

2. Keep It Simple

Don’t make people have to think, piece things together, or have to Google a word. (They probably won’t.)

3. Make It Engaging

Smart copywriters make the writing compelling by using powerful verbs to trigger certain emotional responses. Think: “empower” vs. “enable”; “challenge” vs. “question”; “discover” vs. “find.”

There are tons of “power word” lists available on the internet, sorted by the type of emotion they are known to elicit. Simply search for “copywriting power words” and note a couple of your favourites to have on hand while you’re doing your writing exercise. Play around with different buzzwords and see how they change the feeling of your mission statement.

Your Mission Statement In Action

A well-crafted mission statement that resonates with your employees, customers, and partners is a valuable asset to your business. Work to incorporate it in as many places as you can—on your website, on social media and LinkedIn, and in your advertising. Internally it should be prominently featured for employees to see and absorb on a regular basis.

While it should not change often, the world is always evolving, and your business may evolve with it. If you are using it as your north star every day, you may eventually notice that it is losing its resonance and needs to be reworked. If you get to that point, congratulations! Your mission statement has probably served you well and carried you far. Now go and write another.

By Taran Soodan for QuickBooks

Sourced from TheStreet

In News

Demand generation vs lead generation

March 16, 2022 No Comments

Sourced from Boss Magazine

You’ve probably heard of demand generation and lead generation in regards to inbound marketing strategies. However, you might be struggling to differentiate the two. Both…

You’ve probably heard of demand generation and lead generation in regards to inbound marketing strategies. However, you might be struggling to differentiate the two. Both are sales techniques that are used by companies that are trying to generate prospects and sales.

A key difference, though, is that they are both used at different stages of the sales cycle and therefore have independent aims. These strategies are generally used by B2B companies as a way to establish a presence on the market and draw new prospects in so that they eventually buy products and services from the company.

Having a good understanding of both demand generation and lead generation strategies can help your sales team generate qualified leads from an established target audience.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the differences between the lead generation process and a demand generation campaign. We’ll also look at how you can apply these methods to make successful sales.

Demand generation vs lead generation

Demand generation and lead generation are closely linked as one stage follows the other. The aim of demand gen is to spark interest from prospects in the company’s services and products, whilst lead gen aims to establish a relationship with them and convert the prospects into customers and sales.

Demand generation content should create awareness of how your company can provide the solution to a prospect’s problem and therefore create interest in your services and products. Lead generation, on the other hand, is the process by which you turn these prospects into paying customers.

If demand generation is at the top of the sales funnel, then lead generation is at the bottom. Companies usually create gated content as part of their lead generation tactics and then ask for the prospects contact information so that they can receive that information.

Continue reading to find out about both tactics in greater detail and how you can use both to generate leads into sales.

What is demand generation?

Companies use demand generation to create awareness and demand for their products and services. This includes data-driven strategies that are focused on revenue creation. Some examples of demand generation content include blogs, ebooks and videos that are aimed at your target audience.

You could post this content on your website and advertise it on other platforms (such as social media) once you have established your target customer group and know what they will be looking for.

The main goal of demand generation is to raise brand awareness and customer association between their need and your products and services. For example, if a customer has run out of face cream, you want them to immediately think of your company when they go to buy some more.

Thought leadership and a good social media presence are both important aspects of demand generation. The main aim of thought leadership is to establish your company as experts in your field so that when people think of a particular topic or problem, they instantly think of you.

Social media is also a good way to gain a public presence that helps with brand recall. Various sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can all help you advertise your products and services to your target audience.

Sponsored adverts and posts can also lead prospects to your website, where you can encourage them to sign up to a mailing list for more content. This is when you can move on to the lead generation part of your sales plan.

What is lead generation?

The main aim of lead generation campaigns is to turn prospects into paying customers. You can gain their attention through your demand generation efforts and then your sales team can seal the deal through lead generation tactics. One way that lead generation nurtures qualified leads is through the use of gated content.

Gated lead generation content includes things such as eBooks and PDFs as well as courses, free trials and events. The prospect must provide their contact information to your company in order to access these documents and content.

Good lead magnets for lead generation include sign-up content upgrades. For example, you could offer a PDF version of a web page if the prospect enters their email address. Once you have their contact information, you have already established a connection and can nurture this into real sales.

You will have already established brand recall and thought leadership through demand generation, so this is the time to build a relationship with your prospects and help them translate into long-term customers.

What are the main differences between demand generation and lead generation?

Demand generation is used to attract customers to your company whilst lead generation turns those prospects into actual leads and moves them on to the next stage of the sales journey.

You want to create a positive experience for potential prospects during your demand generation campaigns. However, along with brand awareness, you also need to increase conversions by identifying your target audience and creating buyer personas. You then need to think about their customer journey and how each individual persona will experience it.

Lead generation efforts differ from demand generation because these strategies are more targeted. Gated content is a popular lead generation strategy because prospects can only access specialised content once they have given personalised contact information, such as their email address.

Prospects will be expecting relevant and targeted content in return for giving you personal information. Lead generation, on the other hand, provides free information so the content is broader.

A strong demand generation campaign builds brand awareness and nurtures opportunities that will generate high-quality leads and will build your business through increased sales.

How do demand generation and lead generation work together?

Despite their differences, lead generation tactics and demand generation ideas are closely linked and can have a big impact on one another. They are used at different stages of the sales process, which means that they don’t work at the same time. Lead generation relies upon the interest and excitement that demand generation has built for prospects and then converts their interest into actual sales.

Demand generation is at the top of the funnel whilst a lead generation campaign is at the base. This means that you can broadly appeal to lots of prospects with demand generation and then filter down to actual customers and sales with lead gen content.

You want to attract leads through your content, whether that be blogs, social media or videos on YouTube. The next time the prospect needs an item or service, the goal is that they will remember your company because of the content they’ve seen.

After this, you should aim to get their contact information so that you can share specialized content with them through email campaigns in the hope that they will turn into paying customers.

Sourced from Boss Magazine

In News

How to Insert Images Into an Excel Spreadsheet

March 15, 2022 No Comments

By Amir M. Bohlooli

Want to insert images into an Excel spreadsheet with the right formatting? Here’s how to do it.

Images aren’t Excel’s strongest suit, as Excel mostly deals with numbers and data. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t insert images into your Excel spreadsheet. The facilities are there, and just like most other Microsoft Office programs, you can add and edit images in Excel.

You can insert an image into your spreadsheet, and have it move freely there, or you can lock the image to a cell. This way, the image acts as if it belongs to that cell, and whenever the cell is sized or moved, the image moves as well.

How to Insert Images Into an Excel Spreadsheet

There are three main sources you can insert images from in Excel. These sources are your device, the Microsoft stock images library, and Bing. Picture formatting settings in Excel are identical to those in Word and other Office apps. You can add borders, change the transparency, remove the background, and more.

1. How to Insert Images From Your Device in Excel

Go to Insert.
Click Picture and then select This Device.
Browse and select the image you want to insert.
Click Insert.

2. How to Insert Images From the Microsoft Stock Image Library in Excel

Go to the Insert tab from the Excel ribbon.
Click Picture and then select Stock Images.
Enter a keyword.
Click the images you want to insert.
Click Insert from the bottom right.

3. How to Insert Images From Bing in Excel

Go to the Insert tab.
Click Picture and then select Online Pictures.
Enter a keyword. You can also uncheck Creative Commons only to get more results, though the images might be copyright protected. Make sure to confirm the copyright status of the images before using them.
Click the images you want and then click Insert.

How to Insert Images Into a Cell in Excel

So far, the images that you’ve added are freely movable and resizable in the spreadsheet, and they’re not bound to any cells. If you want to insert an image to a cell, for instance, the logo of a company, you can insert the image and then lock it to the cell that you want.

Insert the image you want.
Resize it and then move it inside a cell. You can hold Alt on your keyboard to enable the grid magnet. The image will stick to the cell borders.
Right-click the image.
Select Format Picture. The format picture bar will appear.
In Format Picture, go to the Size & Properties tab.
In the Size section, select Move and size with cells.

Now, your image will move and size whenever the cell moves or its size changes.

Visualize Your Spreadsheet

Charts and graphs aren’t the only graphics you can add to your Excel spreadsheet. Though Excel’s emphasis on data and numbers rarely leaves room for images in a spreadsheet, that doesn’t mean that you can’t insert images into your spreadsheet.

Now you know how to insert images in a spreadsheet from different sources, and how to lock them to a specific cell. Charts are another element you can use to visualize your spreadsheet, and there’s no better time to learn more about them than now.

By Amir M. Bohlooli

Amir is a pharmacy student with a passion for tech and gaming. He likes playing music, driving cars, and writing words.

Sourced from MUO

In News

This Little-Known Psychological Phenomenon is Affecting Your Productivity

March 15, 2022 No Comments

By Anouare Abdou

It’s Thursday morning and you have a report due on Friday. You start working on it, then realize that you have a meeting with your team. After the meeting, your coworker invites you to grab lunch. Your unfinished report is in the back of your mind during the entire lunch, and you are feeling anxious to get back to your desk and finish it. This psychological phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik effect.

What is the Zeigarnik effect?

Simply put, the Zeigarnik effect is the tendency to remember uncompleted tasks more than finished ones.

“The effect relates to four important workplace factors: motivation, learning, memory and task completion. In part, the effect is thought to be of evolutionary benefit, as our brains flag items that need to be completed–thus ensuring our survival,” explains Dr. Joseph Michelli, a psychologist, organizational consultant and New York Times #1 Bestselling Author who has authored 10 McGraw-Hill business books related to consumer behavior and customer experience excellence.

According to Michelli, the Zeigarnik effect is powerful because our perceptions and memory tend to fill-in gaps. “If I were to start to draw a circle but not finish it, your brain would likely perceive it as a completed circle. In essence, your brain works for perceptual closure,” he says. “If we want people to remember important concepts, we can frame those concepts in the form of questions or challenges, which pushes their brains to close the loop and keep the concept top of mind.”

In other words, the Zeigarnik effect causes you to have lingering thoughts about deliverables you have yet to finish because your brain is looking for closure.

How to leverage the Zeigarnik effect for productivity

Now that you are aware of the fact that there are cognitive and behavioral forces that influence your productivity and to-do list, you can leverage the Zeigarnik effect to your advantage. “Many people experience the intrusive thoughts that come with an unfinished or interrupted task, but there are many personal benefits to be gained if individuals learn to effectively channel these thoughts and the internal desire to get the job done,” according to a GoodTherapy article.

So the first thing you want to do is avoid procrastination, as it will only cause you mental distress and affect your productivity negatively. “In a practical sense, the Zeigarnik effect explains why it’s best not to procrastinate on important tasks (because our brains ruminate about unfinished business),” says Michelli.

And, if you tend to multitask, awareness of the Zeigarnik effect can convince you to close all your browser tabs and focus on one task at a time. “A thorough understanding of the cognitive intrusions accompanying uncompleted tasks will help workers appreciate that each new task is essentially an interruption of what was previously being done,” shares GoodTherapy.

By choosing to focus on a single task, you are reducing cognitive overload and attacking one unfinished task at a time to clear mental space for the next one.

Additionally, you can trick your brain into constantly innovating thanks to the Zeigarnik effect. “My main tip is to continually ask, What else can I do? If we conclude that a project is done, that project fades from memory. If, however, we want to continue to iterate or innovate, we need to view the project as incomplete–so our brains push to solve the mystery, quandary or challenge,” explains Michelli.

There is one more important thing to keep in mind. The Zeigarnik effect can increase feelings of self-doubt and even exacerbate impostor syndrome, says Jeffrey M. Gabriel, co-founder of Saw, a domain brokerage service.

“In addition to the panic created by having unfinished tasks potentially exposed by managers, workers often feel that they’re not doing their best, which can impact feelings of self-doubt,” says Gabriel. “In fact, the Zeigarnik effect and impostor syndrome may be interlinked. We put an extra emphasis on work we don’t finish, which makes our ‘failures’ seem to stand out more. Surely, we think, a real employee (a non-imposter) wouldn’t remember so many incomplete tasks.”

This subtle factor is, therefore, crucial to be aware of because low self-esteem in the workplace leads to decreased performance. Now that you know that the Zeigarnik effect is a universal human tendency, you can remind your inner critic that everyone experiences feelings of overwhelm around incomplete tasks and that it’s not a reflection of your abilities.

By Anouare Abdou

Sourced from Hive

In News

How to Schedule a Text Message on iPhone

March 15, 2022 No Comments

By Amy Spitzfaden–Both

Can you schedule a text message on iPhone? You can if you know how!

Have you ever wanted to schedule a text message on your iPhone? Maybe you want to send weekly reminders of chores to your family or automatically let your spouse know when you’re heading home. Scheduling a text message makes sure your text will get to your desired person at the desired time. Let’s learn how to schedule a text on an iPhone.

How to Schedule a Text on iPhone

Learning to schedule a message on your iPhone is super handy if you want to send reminders on specific days, or even when you’re performing certain actions, like leaving the house, or going to sleep. In order to schedule a text message, you’ll have to set up a Shortcut to do it, which can be a little intimidating, but it turns out it’s pretty easy! To learn more about iPhone shortcuts, check out our Tip of the Day newsletter. Now, here’s how to schedule a text on your iPhone:

Open your Shortcuts app.
At the bottom of the screen, tap Automation.
Tap the Add icon. If you don’t see the Add icon or have any existing automations, skip to step 4.
Tap Create Personal Automation.
In the New Automation menu, choose your text message’s prompt. In this example, I will use Time of Day, but there are lots of options to choose from.
If using Time of Day, choose from Sunrise, Sunset, or Time of Day to set a specific time to send the text message.
Under Repeat, select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
If Weekly or Monthly, select the day(s) of the week or month. For Weekly, all the days of the week will be automatically selected, so tap any day to deselect.
Tap Next.
Tap Send Message.
In the box that says Send “Message” to Recipient, tap “Message” to compose the automated text.
Tap Recipients to choose your recipients.
Once you’ve chosen your recipients, tap Done.
Tap Next.
Review your automation and toggle Ask Before Running on or off, depending on whether you want your iPhone to ask you before running the automation.
Tap Done.
You can now find this in your Automations tab.
To delete the automation, just swipe left and tap Delete.

Now your text messages should send right on schedule (unless you deleted the automation)!

By Amy Spitzfaden–Both

Sourced from iPhone Life

In News

New report details how Apple forced Facebook to pivot its advertising tech

March 14, 2022 No Comments

By Allison McDaniel

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, reported a 26% decrease in market cap last week, a total of $250 billion. One of the biggest claims Facebook is making to account for the loss of revenue is that Apple’s changes to the way ads work within iOS apps are making it harder for both advertisers and app-makers to track users’ internet behaviour.

A new report from Recode today dives deeper into this situation.

These challenges stem from an announcement made back in June of 2020 when Apple decided to make adjustments within its iOS 14 software update to give iPhone users the ability to opt-out of apps tracking their internet usage. This anti-tracking policy stems from Apple’s core value of privacy being a fundamental human right.

App-tracking is important to advertisers because it allows them to use your information and apply it to ads that are relevant to your interests. The more relevant the ad, the easier it is for advertisers to sell, hence, more money in their pockets. Due to Apple’s privacy changes, ad information has become less relevant for users, which has advertisers on Facebook questioning where their ad dollars are going. So, while Facebook and many of its advertisers are still expected to see an increase in revenue this year, things are going to be a bit harder when it comes to advertising to iOS users.

Facebook is looking to make up for this, however. Through an “aggregated event measurement” workaround, advertisers will have access to metrics for a much larger audience, even as they’re denied information on individual users. While Apple’s intentions are clearly motivated by an intention to remain privacy-focused, many are wondering what the effects of other possible changes in the future will be.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

By Allison McDaniel

Catch her on Twitter at @aamcdani

Sourced from 9To5Mac