Nick Throlson, Author at Nick Throlson

Crucial Ways To Keep Your Business Safe

by Nick Throlson | Dec 19, 2016 | Business

Keeping your business safe should be your top priority as a business owner. This means ensuring your business is safe both online and offline. Here are the crucial ways you should be keeping your business safe: Appropriate Safety Gear And Equipment Make sure you have appropriate safety gear and equipment in your workplace. This will depend on the kind of business you have. Eye protection would be essential in a welding business, while a stepladder is important in a store or supermarket. A First Aid Kit Always have a first aid kit on hand just in case. This should be in an easy to reach place, and be clearly marked for employees to find. This should be something they learn about when they first start, but you can?t always expect them to remember things like this in a panic. Health And Safety TrainingHealth and safety training may be important for one member of your team or every member of your team depending on what you do. This is an expense that you need to be able to afford if you want to keep your staff and customers safe. CCTVCCTV can protect you from many different threats. You will not only deter criminals and intruders, but from anybody inside of your organization pulling something shady too. Even having dummy cameras is a better option than having no cameras at all. Alarms/Locks/Extra SecurityMake sure you have all of the appropriate alarms installed, from fire alarms to intruder alarms. Your locks should be sturdy and high quality, and you should make sure only those who you trust have a key. There are other security measures you can take too, like enforcing your windows and ensuring they are difficult to break through. Only Give Those You Can Trust Access To Sensitive InformationMake sure you only give those you can really trust access to sensitive information. You should think very carefully about who you give passcodes to, as well as keys and other important things. You don?t know anybody from Adam, no matter how trustworthy they may seem. Use Strong PasswordsMake sure you use strong passwords for absolutely everything. Ideally, they?ll all be different and have a mix of letters and numbers. There are devices you can use to help store your passwords safely if you?re worried about remembering so many. Protects From Viruses If you use computers, then make sure you protect them from viruses. Keep your software updated and make sure you?re careful about what you do on the computer. Back Up Important Files And Documents Sometimes, no matter how much you protect a computer, you can?t stop accidents from happening. What would you do in the event of a fire or flood? How about if your equipment was stolen? The only thing you can do is ensure you have all of your important files, documents, and information backed up. Using the cloud for this is the best thing to do, as you don?t need the original machine to access the information. All you need is an internet connection.

Pay Attention to These Marketing Trends in 2017

by Nick Throlson | Dec 16, 2016 | Business, Marketing

Every time a new year comes around, it's essential to make sure your business is keeping up with the latest trends. Marketing trends are emerging all the time, and it's important to know what works and what no longer matters. In particular, digital marketing can be affected by changes to Google's algorithms and rules. Any business should keep up with what others are doing in the marketing industry. Although, of course, marketing firms especially need to know what's happening. As 2017 approaches, you can ensure that you're familiar with which trends are continuing and emerging in the new year.

Interactive Content MarketingContent marketing has been extremely important in the last few years. As it develops, many people are starting to take a more strategic approach to it. One of the trends that are beginning to grow is the use of Interactive Content Marketing. This can include a large range of content types that people can use. Interactive content might take the form of quizzes, lookbooks, ebooks, assessments, and calculators. They are elements that visitors to a website can get involved with, instead of simply reading or looking at it. Interactive items can also encourage sharing on many occasions, such as with quizzes.Mobile SEOSearch engine optimization will always be important for digital marketing. However, each year there can be different things to consider. Whenever Google makes any changes, it's essential for businesses to reassess their SEO strategies. Recent announcements about Google's mobile index mean that mobile SEO will need to be examined in 2017. Mobile searches are also growing and have overtaken desktop searches for the first time. Specialist search engine optimization services can help businesses to keep up with these changes. They can ensure that SEO strategies remain relevant in the long and short-term.

Using Big DataThe use of big data has become increasingly popular in many areas of business. However, many businesses have struggled to make use of it in the past. They can sometimes collect the data but fail to make the most of it. Collecting data from various channels is only the start of using it to improve marketing methods. It's also essential to know how to apply the information to change the way you target your market. It can help to create personalization on websites and other marketing methods. Email marketing can become more personalized using big data collected too.Automation

Marketing automation has also been a significant issue for the past few years. The concept involves automating marketing processes and tasks so that they don't need to be constantly monitored. It frees up time to analyze the success of marketing methods and do various other things. Many businesses have been using marketing automation for a while, but others don't know how to get started. They are starting to understand how they can begin automation and how it will benefit their business.2017 will be a year to watch the continuing development of some important marketing trends. There will also be some new issues to concentrate on for marketing success.

Great Web Design Means Great Branding

by Nick Throlson | Dec 15, 2016 | Business, Web Design

Behind every little facet of your marketing efforts, there?s the underlying energy of your brand. Think of any big company, and you?ll immediately associate it with a distinct personality and set of values. As the owner of your business, you probably have a pretty good idea of its brand, but do your customers? Here are some of my best tips for building up a brand through web design.Think About CharacterDoes your brand have character, or is it something of an empty husk? Injecting a little personality into your brand online can be a big help in defining what it stands for. In today?s increasingly consumerist society, more and more people are defining themselves by the products they own. You can leverage this by shaping your company?s unique character around something that your target market like to associate themselves with publicly. One method of injecting character into a brand that?s been proven to be highly effective time and time again is cutesy, cartoonish imagery. Twitter is a great example of this. Their little blue bird mascot has appeared in countless pieces of media and websites created by fans. There are a lot of variations of it, but it?s always instantly recognizable.Keep it Consistent

If you want your brand to be successful, then you need to do everything you can to make it memorable. What?s the best way to make people remember something? Repeating it of course! After pinning down the right personality for your brand and taking steps to evoke all the right emotions, your next step should be ensuring that your brand stays consistent throughout your website. Keep your colors, typography, visuals, as well as the tone of voice used in all of your written content part of the same distinct thread. All the most attractive (and in turn successful) company websites have a distinct uniform, which is instantly recognizable to any repeat customer. Flick through the portfolio for any online branding company like Flagship Digital, and you?ll see exactly what I mean. Probably the most well-known example I can give is Skype. This company is great at integrating consistent branding elements in all of their public materials. A blue-dominant color palette, 2D cartoon clouds, and distinctive, minimalist artwork around it all are their trademarks.Don?t Neglect your Value PropositionWhenever a new customer lands on your site, it?s going to take them a little while to properly orientate themselves. They?ll need to make sure they?re on the right site, whether or not they?re really interested in it, and swiftly figure out what it?s all about. To speed up this process for them, they need to provide a concise and clear proposition to the site visitor. A good value proposition, if you weren?t already aware, is a short statement in a big, visible location somewhere on the landing page. Ideally, you should keep it right next to your company logo, which will make it the natural follow-up to your customers reading your company name. It may seem like a small detail, but your value proposition is extremely important.

How To Market Yourself At A Convention

by Nick Throlson | Dec 15, 2016 | Business, Social Media

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Trade conventions are great marketing opportunities, allowing you to network with other businesses and promote your services to those who may be interested in your area of trade. But how do you stand out amongst all the other companies and stalls present? Failing to advertise yourself properly could make it a wasted trip. Here are some ways to make the most out of a convention.Check competitionBefore going to the event, you should receive some information detailing where your stall will be and which other businesses will be attending and located around your area. Research these businesses before going to a? convention. If their trade is similar to yours, they are your main competition! Find out what it is that makes your service stand out from theirs and make that your selling point at the convention public speaking tips. For example, if you're a health and fitness convention and the gym equipment your company sells is cheaper than your competition's? market your stall as? budget gym equipment that everyone can buy? or something along those lines. If your services are more expensive, market yourself as? luxury? or ?professional?.Creative signageDon't let your stall blend in with others. A great way to do this make?sure your signage creative. Invest in cardboard cutouts, creatively-shaped signs, and big colorful banners. And of course, your signage doesn't have to be static. Did you know that you can hire pedicabs for convention marketing? These mini vehicles are sure to stand out. Other ideas involve wearing branded t-shirts, hiring a mascot-like figure to carry a sign around and offering branded bags.Make a speechAll conventions will have an area for talks, whether it be a business convention or a trade convention. Talks can be educational, motivational, promotional or a blend of all three. Communicate with the organizers in advance about the opportunity of giving a speech. Public speaking can be daunting, but it?s the best way to stand out at a convention. Instead of having to give the same lengthy spiel to every passer-by, you can save it all for your talk and tell anyone that visits your stall in brief that you will be on at a certain time. Whilst you may want to shout about you and your business, the best talks commonly aren?t wholly promotional. Use it as a chance to inform people of your area of expertise, or to give advice to fellow businesses, on top of promoting.Tweet regularlyMany people at the convention will be using social media, whether they?re other businesses or members of public. Let people know of your presence by taking to Twitter. If you?re giving a talk, tell people what time it will be one. Take a picture of your stall so people know what it looks like. Shout about the convention well in advance so that people who follow you on Twitter already can come visit your stall. Keep on top of convention news and what things are trending and link your business in with this.

Web Wizards: Use the Internet Like a Consumer, Not a Business

by Nick Throlson | Dec 14, 2016 | Social Media, Web Design

Let?s be honest for a moment: the internet is important to any business and if you don?t use it you?re losing potential customers. Whether you?re a brick and mortar store selling socks or a Michelin star restaurant, you have to use the internet for a variety of different things.In the modern age, almost everyone has a smart device of some kind and everyone looks online for news and reviews about almost everything. People can search up a review of your restaurant, on the socks you produce, or the quality of the doormat in your office. As long as someone has been to your establishment, they?re eligible to write up a review of your business.Even if you don?t have a brick and mortar store, your services are no good to anyone if someone hasn?t taken a chance to use you. Just think about it?are you more likely to use a service with 1000 reviews, or buy from a company with 0 reviews and feedback? Unless you like to take a gamble, then you?re almost always going to go for the company with more feedback and reviews for safety reasons.Welcome to Your BusinessBe it advertising, taking bookings or delivering products across the world, your website serves as the digital front door to your business. If your entrance is filled with advertisements, shoddy writing, clashing colors and incoherent blabber, then your customers are going to turn tail and flee. However, if there?s a cozy environment, clear and concise writing, and complimentary colors that are easy on the eyes, then your consumers will remember your address and keep you on their list of competent businesses to interact with.Take great care when designing your website. Hire a professional if you need, consult an artist, or even ask your friends and family what they think?every opinion counts, even ?bad? ones. Don?t turn your nose up at a friend who says ?the site looks weird??don?t just assume that your friend doesn?t understand your website because they aren?t an art student or they haven?t studied the colour theory that you?ve painstakingly applied to your website. Don?t get annoyed when your parents think that your website is ?too colourful? or they have comments like ?I don?t know how to find x? because chances are, they?re going to be the average type of audience to browse your website. You can?t plan your website and design it like you?re engaging in professional discussion and interactions all the time. Good design is simple enough to be understood by everyone, so don?t get too carried away with creating a minimalistic or avant-garde front page to impress people.When in doubt, consult professional designers about your problems. There are specialized services such as POET Media detailed here. Just keep in mind this golden rule of simple business designs: make something that a customer would use, not an art appreciator.Me! Me! Me!We, we, we. That?s all business seem to talk about on the internet. Take a look at the following phrases:

We ensure the highest standard of quality when...
Our team of well-trained staff are capable of?
We have multiple awards in the field of?
Our experts have years of experience?

These are just some of the many types of quotes that you?ll find on a typical business website. Do you notice the complete lack of care about the customer? It?s a shameful display of self-importance that turns off regular consumers. People want to hear about what your business can offer them, not the other way around.Don?t list your achievements like a trophy display on the wall of your living room. You wouldn?t invite guests over then drown them in your achievements while pointing at the items in your display case, so why would you do that to your online guests? Treat consumers with the respect that you want to be treated with. If your customers want to know about your awards and qualifications, then they?ll look that up separately. Your first reaction to a new customer shouldn?t be ?look at my amazing awards!?, it should be ?how can I help you??.So how do you go about remedying your self-important quotes and qualifications list? Remove them. A front page should be welcoming, clutter-free, and easy to read. In many industries, qualifications are required so that your customers know you?re capable of doing the job they need or that you?re able to provide high-quality products. However, you can keep these on a separate page or place them deeper in your website for when the consumer requests more information?don?t shove it down their throats straight away.Utilise images, clean color schemes, reduce the number of words on the page and get your message across using fewer syllables. Consumers are busy people and potential business clients have a lot of work to do, so you need to use clever strategies to draw in customers.Being Social on Social MediaTake a look at any social media account for a big brand and you?ll see the same boring and useless robotic-tone messages that might as well not be there. ?Our products are the best around, try us now!? or how about ?We have a sale! Click this link for more info!?. Sure, there?s absolutely no doubt that a sale would draw in more people?but is that really the point of social media? Another advertising platform? The millions of active users on Twitter seem to think otherwise.Let?s face it, no one is going to add your business?s social media accounts to their friend list if all you do is spout advertising nonsense and boast about how great you are. People already encounter tons of marketing campaigns and commercials in their daily social media feeds, so do they really want to add to that spam by having your account pop up as well? Most likely not.So how can a business utilize social media properly? That?s easy: by being talkative and encouraging interaction between users. Let?s not forget that social media platforms were made not for advertisers and businesses, but for regular people who want to converse, make friends, keep up with old pals, and learn about interesting things that are happening around the world. They don?t care that your business is having a sale in a store on the other side of the world to them, and the fact that you recently won a minor award doesn?t interest them at all.Give your social media identity a personality. Manage it on your own or encourage your marketing team to add some personality to your posts. You want to be relatable, you want to appear human, and you want to engage consumers by interacting with your social media followers. Ask them what they want to see in your new product, encourage people to create hashtags for your services and products, offer technical support through twitter messages so that people can see your company cares about its customers and its public image. Be social?not a robot.Focus on the User ExperienceAs mentioned before, one of the best ways to ensure that your business website is suitable for consumers is to get friends and family members to test it. However, those principles extend further than just design issues and coloring. While a good website can be attractive and informative, it?s useless if there are no systems implemented to actually encourage users to purchase or even consider using your products and services.Let?s use a restaurant as an example. It?s great you have a pretty website with a lot of pictures of your food, an online menu, and even a list of awards that?s neatly tucked away from the front page. You should also have some testimonies, reviews, and of course contact information such as a phone number, email address, and most importantly your address.Sadly, that?s considered the bare minimum for a productive website. You need to make sure that those pictures are up to date and change on a regular basis. Don?t expect your customers to be happy when they see a portion of fries on your website served in a pretty basket but then they find out that you no longer serve fries in your restaurant. Keeping the menu updated with the proper pricing and ingredients is also extremely important because you need to keep customers in the loop. Remember to update your content on a regular basis, and don?t skimp on taking pictures with your mobile phone unless it?s a top-end smartphone with an amazing camera. Hire a professional photographer to take mouth-wateringly detailed images of your food and beautiful photos of your establishment.In addition to just contact information, an online web-service will also get you a big thumbs up from consumers. Allow your customers to book tables, order food online, and even talk live to your staff members. Set up eCommerce services so that your products can be sent across the entire globe. Never limit your audience to just your local area, and keep your quality of service consistent no matter what country you work with.