You don’t have to be a bitter burn-out to get the feeling that in some respects, all the marketing hype surrounding products and services is merely a means to earn money as opposed to providing substance. We’ve seen this in multiple areas, from consultants who promise perfect returns to people who blow hot hair on LinkedIn, sometimes it’s important to look past all of the jargon and see what’s really being said.
It’s not easy to do that when you might not have the means or understanding to cut through such discourse, however. For example, when structuring your business you may notice that consultants, coaches, guides, services, and more reach out to promise you amazing returns no matter the practice they offer.
In order to avoid scams or paying for services you have little need of, it’s important to be mindful of your intentions. In this post, we’ll discuss a few practices you can use to subvert the nonsense, so you can structure your business in peace:
Focus On Results, Not Buzzwords
All those fancy buzzwords and jargon explainers tech companies love to throw around? Most of it is just marketing fluff designed to make them sound cutting-edge. When vetting potential services or solutions, train yourself to tune out buzzwords and parse what you’re actually being offered.
You can ask them to plainly describe the actual results and real-world benefits their offering will provide for your specific business scenarios. If they can't articulate that clearly without relying on hype, or actually discussing how their help will assist your firm in particular, that's a good sgn to move on.
Request Tangible Demos
It's very, very easy for tech vendors to make impressive promises about boosting efficiency 2000% or automating your revenue cycle for disruptive capability in dynamic markets, or whatever other phrase annoying people on TED Talk stages say.
But don't just take their word for it – request (or demand) to see tangible demonstrations of how their product or service actually works using your own data and business processes. Any viable service curated by people who understand your firm should be able to provide real proof of concept for your company, not just recycled showcases anyone could see. That might include showing testimonials to start.
If they’re a new service, don’t worry, you should still request this, because those are the firms trying to work hard on achieving their first client, and if anything they’ll go above and beyond.
Check for Transparency
One surefire way to cut through potential hype is partnering with companies that have a transparent, open approach to their vision of the industry or practices. Look for services like the best SEO agency that proactively document and explain their methodologies in plain language – even on the front page of their website. If a service seems incapable of clearly articulating how they do what they do, it might even show they don’t understand it yourself. After all, they say a mark of true understanding is being able to simply describe a concept.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily cut through that tech jargon, allowing you to structure your business with confidence.
Owning a hotel can be a tough job some days. You’re likely very busy and always have people who are fighting for your time and attention.
You must always be thinking of ways to improve so you can start apart from the rest. Otherwise, you may get caught up going along with business as usual and fall behind. Here you can learn about some tips to consider implementing if you own a hotel.
Keep A Clean Environment
No one wants to walk into a messy and dirty hotel space. Therefore, it’s important that you keep a clean and welcoming environment. Otherwise, you risk guests being dissatisfied and making reservations elsewhere. Make sure that you hire a reliable hotel cleaning staff and that they are performing their jobs well. You want each guest who walks through your doors to be happy and pleased with the ambiance and not be put off because you failed to keep a clean hotel.
Have A Marketing Strategy
There’s a lot of competition in the hospitality business. No one will know about your hotel unless you are proactive about spreading the word offline and online. If marketing isn’t your strong suit then you may want to consider hiring a professional hotel digital marketing agency to help you with this task. It’s an opportunity to attract more guests to your establishment and increase sales. You want to make sure you have a robust website that makes it easy to book reservations. It’s also important that you launch social media pages and engage with your followers in this space.
Be Picky About Who You Hire
Your staff is ultimately the face of your hotel. You want to make sure you are picky about who you hire. Have a recruiting strategy and a good idea of the people you want working for you. You want to have a friendly staff in place that knows how to work with a variety of different people and personalities. You want each guest to feel welcome and valued from the moment they step foot in your hotel. It’s wise that you train your employees so that your guests can always have a positive experience while staying with you.
Study the Competition
If you own a hotel, another tip to consider is to study the competition. There are many choices when it comes to guests booking a room to stay in. You want to make sure that you outshine your competitors and stand out for all the right reasons. Studying the competition may spark some new ideas in you regarding how you want to run your operation. You may also be able to identify their weak spots and be able to fill in the gaps where they are falling short.
Conclusion
Owning a hotel can require a lot of time, effort, and energy on your part. It’s a busy job with a lot of responsibilities. You should always be brainstorming ways in which you can improve and do better. These tips will be a good starting point for you if you are ready to make some positive changes at your hotel.
When it comes to growing your business, there are a lot of practical ways to go about it, and one that a lot of businesses don’t think about is aesthetics. In fact, the same goes for safety. There’s this push (at least in some online business communities) where a business should save as much money as possible and cut down on costs wherever possible. Two massive things that businesses will cut are aesthetics and safety. Now, aesthetics, like a pretty workspace, is nothing more than a luxury.
While yes it can help boost productivity, it’s still a luxury that's not needed. On the other hand, there’s no excuse for safety. While the COVID-19 pandemic did shine some light on how many businesses didn’t prioritize safety, it’s still sadly a major issue. Well, with that all said, if you’re working on your workspace, it obviously has to be safe.
But if you’re a lover of interior design, even commercial interior design, you don't have to think about picking and choosing just one option. You can have both. Aesthetics boost productivity, but knowing that there is safety boosts morale as well as productivity. So it’s basically the best of both worlds. But where do you even begin? Well, here’s what you need to know!
Design-Centric Safety Solutions Exist
Instead of treating safety features as afterthoughts, incorporate them into the initial design phase. There are so many businesses out there nowadays that combine the two. For example, if you need commercial railings for your business, such as staircases or platforms, these don’t have to look ugly or generic at all.
Overall, you can choose safety equipment and materials that complement the overall aesthetic of the workspace- even fire extinguisher cabinets and water hose cabinets can look stylish. if you walk down any hallway of a luxury hotel, you’ll see that they’re present but not an eyesore.
Even decorative signage can be an option as long as it complies with regulations. Again, design-centric safety solutions exist, and many businesses use them. You can still have a dreamy workspace while still ensuring that every single person under that roof is 100% safe.
Some Signs Can Be Temporary
So, just right above the signage was mentioned. Now, in some cases, there will be requirements for signs. For example, there has to be a fire exit sign, and it needs to be clear. The same thing goes for restrooms and those stickers put on doors that have a high-voltage warning.
Now, you can’t make everything aesthetically pleasing when it comes to safety; hard hats can’t, for example- but that’s fine. Sometimes, you just need to deal with the lack of aesthetics. Now, usually, when it comes to certain signs, such as a wet floor sign, They’re that bright yellow color, and they always show a person falling (hence the warning), but that’s okay. It’s only going to be out temporarily when staff is moping or if there are leaks. So just keep in mind that sometimes, you can’t negotiate on every detail.
Lighting and Visibility are Key
Lighting is another. You need it for work and safety, and proper lighting helps with aesthetics, too. For example, you can incorporate natural light wherever possible to improve visibility and reduce the need for harsh overhead lighting. Additionally, lighting should be strategically used to highlight safety features such as emergency exits or evacuation routes without detracting from the overall ambiance.
Ensuring you can grow your business is about having an inherent understanding of your product. When we have a niche product, something that looks different or feels different, it can seem a tough sell. When it comes to marketing a niche product, there are so many different methods to undertake, including the following:
Understand Your Target Audience
Whether you need to market commercial concrete or unicorn droppings, the fact is that no matter how weird and wonderful a product is, it's worth nothing if you don't understand who you are marketing your product to. Identifying these specific pain points, interests, needs, and buying behaviors will help you to tailor your marketing approach in the right possible ways.
Your Product is Always a Solution
Sometimes, we can't understand what it will actually do until we look at it differently. We need to position the product as the solution to your niche's unique problems. Commercial concrete is something that is used in an abundance of settings, and this means there are almost infinite uses, this then opens you wide to a variety of different problems this product is the unique solution for. Emphasizing how the features, quality, or customization set it apart from other generic offerings gives you insight into your audience and makes for a unique approach to your marketing.
Creating the Right Content
Content creation needs to speak to your niche. It needs to talk directly to them about their concerns and position your brand as an expert so you can then build trust and credibility. The fact is that when you are creating content that is a niche product, you need to have people who understand that niche. Time and time again, we can hire people to create content and know nothing about this niche practice, and therefore it makes more sense to hire people who are from within that industry or at the very least give them the materials so they can gain a proper understanding of the product. Of course, there can be benefits to hiring someone who is not within that industry at all because they will look at it differently. Ultimately when it comes to content creation, you should try both sides of the equation. But whatever method you choose, it always needs to be predicated on the right marketing practices like keyword research and search engine optimization.
Utilize Targeted Marketing Channels
You need to reach your niche audience so how are you going to do this? When you are looking to promote a product to somewhere with a very particular mindset or attitude, you need to go and find where they congregate online, which could be specialized online communities or with certain influencers. They may also follow specific trade publications or attend niche-specific events. Conduct your research, and once you find the right person, figure out where they go, and you will understand a lot more.
It can certainly be a tough sell, but when you recognize that a niche product is for a very specific type of person, you can then create a far more targeted approach that will help you stand out and build a devoted customer base.
Whether you call them business owners or CEOs, the people at the top of a business will often wipe their hands clean of any processes and workflows that a business engages in. This is because the people at the top often have more pressing concerns to think about in terms of the overall management of the business.
For instance, a CEO might be involved in making big decisions for a company, such as settling large deals or working with partners to create new products and open new stores. These kinds of tasks are extremely important and it makes sense for these difficult decisions to be made by leaders in the business.
But that doesn’t mean they should completely ignore the inner workings of the business. This is an area where many entrepreneurs struggle, and we’re going to explain exactly why.
What happens if a leader doesn’t understand their business?
Leaders are responsible for understanding all of the workflows and processes that go on in their business. They don’t need to have a deep technical understanding, but a surface-level understanding is essential for effective leadership and decision-making.
Without a thorough understanding of these processes, leaders can often overlook inefficiencies and bottlenecks that may hinder future operations. This can lead to wasting resources or even decreased overall profits. This eventually leads to poor decision-making skills and a lack of accountability which may reflect poorly on the company.
Why leaders need to get a deeper understanding of their business
For starters, a good business leader needs to have a deep understanding of their business for the purpose of making strategic decisions. For instance, if their staff bring them a predicament involving a specialty part such as a kunkle valve, then it’s hard for a leader to make a decision unless they understand what it’s used for, why it’s important, and what the implications of the decision are.
A deeper understanding can also lead to future innovations. Understanding these processes means that a leader can identify opportunities for growth and to increase efficiency. Recognizing inefficiencies, gaps in workflows, and wasteful processes can all contribute to a more streamlined business operation.
The end result is improved customer satisfaction and increased profits–both of which are ideal outcomes for any leader looking to grow their business.
How to gain more insight into your business as a leader
Engage with employees and understand what they do on a day-to-day basis. Whether it’s building the perfect business website or fixing components, even a surface-level understanding can help you gain more insight.
Communicate with employees and make a genuine effort to encourage open communication. This can help your business foster a sense of transparency and you’ll gain valuable insights on different perspectives in your business.
Review your staff using key performance metrics and operational reports, but don’t forget to track individual progress and identify your own areas for improvement as well.
These are all important strategies to use if you want to gain a deeper understanding of your business’s workflows, and they can ultimately lead to a more productive and profitable business.
We have, for some reason, created this narrative that business owners should not be allowed to ask for help when they need it. This goes for pretty much anyone, and it’s a toxic mindset that we seem to have adopted. Why should a business owner be afraid to get the help that they need, when businesses were not meant to be run by one person anyway? It’s absurd that we think this way, and in this article, we’re going to be taking a look at a couple of examples of when you need to ask for help.
Outsourcing To Professionals
There are going to be things that you do not know how to do, and that is okay. You cannot be expected to know every single thing about running a business, or how to complete all of the elements of a business, but that is why outsourcing exists. If there are tasks in your business that you and your employees cannot handle effectively between you, then you call in the professionals.
These are people who are properly trained in that area and have experience achieving results. For example, a large number of companies outsource their entire IT department simply because they can’t keep up with the needs themselves, and there is nothing wrong with this.
Those Who Simply Have More Experience
It’s also important to acknowledge that there are people out there who know more about certain things that you do. As well as this, sometimes your view of your business can become tainted when you spend too long looking at it, so you miss things. It’s important that in these cases you are looking into the services of business advisors or someone similar to get the help that you need.
Getting these professionals involved is one of the best choices that you are ever going to make. They will be able to point out things that you never would have noticed, assisting you in taking your business to the next level.
A Team Effort
The final thing that we want to say is that a lot of the time running a business is a team effort. You should be able to ask your employees for help when you need it, as that is what they are there for. This is especially true when it comes to some of your higher ups like managers and team leaders, as there will be times where you need their input to help your business move in the right direction. It’s not weak to ask for help, especially from those that you hire to help you.
Hopefully, you have found this article helpful, and now see that there is nothing wrong with asking for help, and that it's completely natural. We understand that it can be hard at times, especially if it’s not something that you are used to, but everyone is going to have to ask for help sooner or later when running a business. If you don’t, you run the risk of running your business into the ground!
