Tips and Tools – Page 131 – Business Plus Baby

October 14, 2015

How to keep people thinking about your company

Every company owner should want the most substantial exposure possible. If people aren’t thinking about your business, they aren’t spending money either. That means you need to work hard to ensure your brand stays in the forefront of their minds. There are lots of techniques you could try. The ones listed on this page tend to work well.

Use remarketing tools

Google Adwords and other online banner services now offer remarketing tools. It’s a fantastic concept that could work wonders for your brand. The tool waits until users view your website or search for similar topics. Your banners then follow them around from domain to domain. It’s a great way to ensure relevant people frequently encounter your brand.

Hand out business cards

We hate to say it, but technology will only get you so far. Sometimes the oldest concepts are still the best. All company bosses should carry business cards all the time. You never know when you might bump into a potential client or customer. Giving them a car will often mean it gets placed in their wallet. So, they will think about your brand whenever they spend money.

Build a mailing list

Mailing lists are the best way to keep in touch with previous customers and clients. Make sure you send emails at least once every week. You can update people on company news, or present them with your best deals and offers.

Now you know how to keep people thinking about your company, you just have to create your plan. Those three ideas should be enough to help you make a start. However, you need to think outside of the box and come up with original concepts for the best results.

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October 7, 2015

Essential tips for targeting your website properly

All new website owners need to learn vital information about their target market. That is the only way they can tailor their website to the right audience. You need to perform a lot of market research to find out the age, sex, and location of the people who want to buy your products. You should also try to discover facts relating to their interests, other websites they use, and more. Ideally, you want as much information as possible. That should help you to target your domain accordingly. The tips and tricks on this page should offer assistance.

Run surveys

Unless your target audience lives in a certain location, you should start to run online surveys. Ask people who use your website to answer a series of questions for a small discount. People love saving money, and so they are likely to take part. You can also send the same surveys out to addresses on your mailing list. Again, offer them a discount for taking part for the best results. You should ask questions like “how much have you spent on ___ products this year?” You can also ask about the nature of their buying habits. What percentage of their money is spent online? Which other websites do they use?

Tailor your site

From the information you gather, it should be easy to tailor your website accordingly. That is especially the case if you are starting an online shop. Presuming a high percentage of your target market use the same websites, you should take a look. Work out which elements of those domains attract people. You will then identify what encourages them to make purchases. You can then try to replicate those elements to push your website forward. With a bit of luck, your conversion rate should increase. Of course, you can A/B test everything to work out the exact impact of the alterations.

Use specialist tools

There are lots of tools available that should help you to target your website. I use many of them to run my domain, and they seem to work very well. Those of you who provide products and services that aren’t designed for children are in luck. You can use age verification systems to ensure nobody under the age of eighteen can access your site. That means only those from within your target market will discover your pages. You can also block certain countries if you want to go a step further. Those selling in the US alone have no need to market their site to people living in other countries.

Now you know how to target your website properly, there should be nothing standing in the way of success. The only other thing you might need to consider relates to social media. It is possible to target your ads on Facebook and Twitter, so they only reach a certain audience. You should make sure people under the age of eighteen are blocked if they are not within your target market. Most younger people don’t have bank accounts, and so they are unlikely to make a purchase.

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September 26, 2015September 26, 2015

Five top tips for exhibitions and trade shows

Online marketing may be top of your list right now, and it can certainly be effective, but there’s nothing like going out and meeting people face to face. It gives you a chance to build those all-important relationships with prospects, customer and maybe even other businesses with a similar client group to yours.

It also gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your product or service, and for your customers to test or maybe even touch and feel your product for themselves.

However, an exhibition or trade show is a big investment for a small business, so you want to make sure that you squeeze every benefit you possibly can from it.

Here are five top tips to help you do exactly that: Continue reading “Five top tips for exhibitions and trade shows”

September 25, 2015

How to add the personal touch to your office

The Free Dictionary definition of an office is: ‘A room or set of rooms in which business, professional duties, clerical work, etc, are carried out.’ It’s a clinical and functional sounding world, and anyone with personality – which is all of us, right – will want to sprinkle a dash of individuality into the workspace.

Here are several ways to make the office your own. Continue reading “How to add the personal touch to your office”

September 24, 2015September 23, 2015

How technology is changing the way we communicate

Over the years, technology has significantly changed the way we communicate.

Writing a letter and even typing out an e-mail are becoming a thing of the past, as is, it would seem, talking on the phone and even at times, face-to-face conversation, as technology provides us with innovative ways to communicate with each other.

Technology is growing and adapting extremely quickly. It wasn’t actually that long ago when we would write a letter to loved ones abroad (as the phone bill would be astronomical!), or would speak to friends on our home phone to organise meeting up, as we couldn’t communicate once we had left the house.

Although iPad problems can put a stop to this flow of conversation in a way that putting pen to paper can’t, the introduction of smartphones and tablets, and the advancements that have quickly come with them, makes the need to write a letter seem extremely old fashioned. Not only can we now talk and text on the move, we can Whatsapp, Snapchat, write on walls, tweet, Facetime – the possibilities for communication are endless.

But as this 24/7 instant communication via technology allows us to talk to each other more, it also means we are interacting with each other less. As a result we aren’t learning communication skills, which means kids may struggle as they get older.

A lack of vocabulary, which has come about through ‘teenspeak’ such as LOL and BRB – is diminishing even further since they have been able to communicate simply with photos or emojis. Once upon a time we had to type out our feelings; today we express how we feel by inserting a *smiley face*.

As technology has allowed us alternative means of communication it has also changed the way we interact face-to-face in social situations, such as when we sit with friends and rather than speak to each other we are on our phones, scrolling through social media to see what all our other ‘friends’ are up to.

However, it would appear that teenagers are now more confident talking to each other via their smartphones, over text or social media, than traditional face-to-face conversations. Research found that young people felt having a mobile phone made them closer to their friends, with 89% saying it improved their friendship.

The study of 502 people between the ages of 12 and 21 also found that they felt safer leaving the house with their phone, with 76% saying it is because they can get hold of their parents instantly if they need to.

It has also enabled us to talk to those we would never have been able to, as well as allowing instant communication with those across the globe – no longer do we have to hand write a letter, deliver it, wait for it to be received, a reply to be written and the response to make its way back. Now, we can open Whatsapp, see our friend is online, write a message or send a photo and have a response within seconds.

With the speed at which technology is evolving, it probably won’t be long until even these forms of communication are a thing of the past, as new and inventive ways of ‘talking’ to each other become possible.