Astute marketing is all about recognising the wants and needs of your core demographic and embodying certain elements in your marketing campaign. Today, the priorities of the younger generations have challenged marketing professionals to act and change the way they advertise quickly. Indeed the opportunity to rapidly transition to new social roles and channels can be of immense benefit to any business that caters to young people.
Not surprisingly, this ability to predict and adapt can be much harder to implement than it is to suggest. So,which marketing strategies will resonate with the younger generations and correlate with you business goals at the same time?
Social media is where you will find the younger demongrapbhic, but there is little point in wasting your time and spreading yourself thin across all of them, because some of the platforms will be more effective than others. Facebook used to be the key one to target, but a survey in 2020 found that Snapchat is the most widely used and important social network for younger people - 34% of US teens. The next most popular was TikTok, with 29% of US teenagers hanging out there. This is where you need to be concentrating your efforts primarily. Look at how similar brands and businesses advertise on tiktok and use that as inspiration.
Create fresh and relevant content
The younger generation don’t want tired content that has had no real thought put into it. They want relevant, up to date content that align with their beliefs and experiences. Going back to TikTok - what are the viral videos doing? Is there a way you can incorporate these into your own content? For example, if you are a clothing business, look at the dance trends (Fortnite style ones are big news still!) and look at having your models dancing while wearing your clothes.
Consider your brand reputation
For want of a better word, the younger generation is more ‘woke’ than ever before. They care greatly about equality and injustices, the environment and things going on around them. They are much more likely to purchase and feel represented by a brand who has the same beliefs and ethos. Again, look at your core beliefs - are you eco-concious or committed to racial equality? Can you really push this message in your marketing? Be careful not to ‘greenwash’ though; consumers are not stupid. They will see through any messages that are not authentic and you can come off worse.
Don’t discount influencers
While older generations often turn their nose up at influencers, they can be well, influential for the younger generation. Look at who they look up to and see if you can reach out to them. If you can’t, or your budget does not quite stretch that far, try to understand what it is that makes them so popular with your demographic and try to replicate that.
The younger generation are more demanding, more woke and have their eyes open to marketing. Make sure you understand their needs and beliefs and align your marketing strategy towards this.
A lot of business owners are completely insular. Whether it’s because they don’t trust others to help or because they’re stuck in their ways. Some simply don’t think others will care as much as they do. They’re probably right. However, when you enlist someone else's software, or knowhow, you’re a customer...and they’re a business owner too, who cares about their own business. So technically they’re in the same boat. You can really bump your business up to new heights by using people who have a deeper expertise in a certain area than you. You know your business, your product and your services, but you won’t know too much about other areas. These tips can help you take that leap.
Software Solutions
You won’t know about all the different elements of software available to you and your business. There might be some out there you’ve never heard of. If you’re a teacher you might not know of software for teachers to manage classroom laptops, and if you work remotely you might not know of the viable and cheaper alternatives to microsoft Teams and Zoom. A business analyst will be able to help you here. They know what works best for businesses and if you haven’t spoken to one yet you might find there are tools and tricks out there which you can buy which will cut down on process time, or make things easier for you and your employees. More importantly, it can make things easier for your customers.
Doing taxes isn’t easy. If you’ve just started out and don’t have too much to think about then you might be fine. When you’ve got a lot of money running through your business, the problems begin to start. Think about hiring an accountant to properly formulate everything and ensure you won’t get into trouble with the relevant tax authority. In a similar vein, you can just hire a tax specialist right off the bat. It costs money but getting it all right is worth it. Plus, there may be some deductibles or grants that you’re entitled to which you don’t know much about. You could end up saving even more money. Even if you just have a consultation, it’s worth doing that bit of research to get there.
Market To Success
Marketing isn’t easy. A lot of business owners will take things into their own hands and to be fair, a lot of them are quite successful. But as your business takes off, marketing becomes a secondary to the actual work you’re trying to do. This applies to pretty much all businesses. You grow with the marketing you’ve done and take your foot off the gas to focus on the business, then the orders start to slow. The important thing to mention is that there are experts in every field from Amazon, to alibaba and beyond. Marketing is different in each niche, so it depends what you want to target and from which industry you’re operating from. Help marketing means you get to focus on your business while the orders still come in.
CryptoCurrency is skyrocketing the time is now to get into the future we all know the dollar bill and coins are old news they will still be accepted currency but digital currency is a much-needed thing to regulate a lot of money is to be made.
I recommend using the leader CoinBase.com recommend holding your currency in a Digital wallet.
Website, web app, or mobile app — how should your business show up on the web? In a mobile-first world, you might think a mobile app is an obvious choice. However, in many cases, there are also big advantages to building a web app instead. Here's how to decide what's right for your business and how to get started developing your first app.
Web apps: Websites, amplified
Yes, web apps are technically websites. But web apps do so much more than your standard business website. While websites deliver information, web apps provide interaction and personalization. Examples of popular web apps include Gmail, Pinterest, and Trello.
Does that mean every business should opt for a web app over a website? No! If your needs are primarily informational, a mobile-friendly website is enough. Plus, with a custom WordPress site, you can utilize plug-ins to create whatever functionality you need.
When to go mobile
Web apps offer a lot of advantages over mobile apps, including:
Affordability.
Discoverability.
Accessibility.
Easy to update.
Nonetheless, sometimes a mobile app is a better choice. If you need a full-screen experience, the ability to send push notifications, or the native functionality of mobile devices (e.g., camera, GPS), opt for mobile. Mobile apps are also a great way to encourage customer loyalty for frequently-used services — think Uber or retail rewards.
So you want to build an app ...
You've settled on a mobile or web app for your business. Now what? These steps will bring your app idea to fruition.
Goals, audience, and objectives
A clearly-defined vision is key to developing an app that's both user-friendly and useful. Once you've established the app's purpose and target audience, define key performance indicators. These may include:
App downloads.
Active users.
Session frequency.
Session length.
Conversion rate.
Brand awareness.
Sketching
A basic sketch-up helps a developer bring your vision to life. Sketching lays out the user interface and flow of an app and provides the framework for an app's user experience. You don't need to be an artist or a developer to start sketching your app. Sketches are merely a simple way to flesh out your app idea.
Hiring an app developer
Cost is the first thing on most business owners' minds when hiring an app developer. However, there's more than the bottom line to consider.
Project scope: Mobile or web? iOS or Android? Simple user experience or complex? Make sure the development team you hire has the right skills for your project.
Portfolio: Testing apps in a developer's portfolio is a great way to get a feel for their work, particularly user experience and interface design.
Communication: Finally, you need someone you work well with and who can work efficiently with others on the development team.
Pricing
Will your app be free, paid, or freemium? If you charge for your app, will it be a flat fee or a subscription? Keep in mind that app sales aren't the only way to generate revenue. Ads and in-app purchases generate revenue even for “free” apps.
Testing and monitoring
Thorough testing ensures the public sees only the best version of your app. However, the work isn't over once your app launches. Ongoing monitoring lets developers fix problems before they impact your business.
When measuring an app's performance, do so from the user's perspective. End user experience monitoring lets teams monitor launch time, response time, crashes, and other important user experience metrics from the user's point of view. Unlike device performance monitoring, which instruments the device, implementing end user experience monitoring requires instrumenting your app with an SDK or mobile wrapper before releasing it on the app store.
Marketing
The biggest obstacle to a mobile app's success is getting people to download and use it. Customers don't search app stores the same way they Google, so businesses have to get their apps in front of consumers' eyes another way.
This includes pre-launch marketing to build anticipation, such as teasers, sneak peeks, and content marketing, as well as post-launch marketing in the form of reviews, search ads, and notifications.
Mobile and web apps are excellent tools, but they’re not right for every company. If a mobile-friendly website is a better fit or you’re not quite ready to make the leap into app development, contact Web Guy Nick to learn how you can create a functional, dynamic website using WordPress. With an engaging, responsive, and mobile-friendly WordPress site, you can grow your business and stand out from the competition.
A lot of people are skeptical of coaches in general, and this is understandable in some cases. The lack of regulation on who can call themselves a coach these days is one of the reasons for that. But when the coach is properly qualified and has your best interests in mind, then it could be the perfect recipe for success.
You do, however, need to have a real desire to grow and a gap between where you are now and where you want to be for this relationship to bear fruit. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why you should consider working with a business coach right now.
You Feel a Need for Change
If you feel like you’re stagnating and could be doing more, then it might be a sign that you need a coach. Sometimes, you may not know in which direction you want to go. A coach will help you focus your efforts and see what you should be concentrating on right now to get to where you want to be. They will help you establish a clear road map, and help you set actionable goals for yourself.
In some cases, you might be in the process of expanding but are having difficulty surrounding yourself with the right people. In others, you might not know how to reach them, or you're finding yourself in an increasingly competitive market and don't know how to keep up. In this case, a coach could give you some indications as to where you might need to improve and the processes you'll need to put in place to stay competitive.
You’re Struggling to Balance Your Business and Personal Life
If you have a significant other or a family, then one of the common issues is work/life balance. Without a balanced life, there will be a breakdown at some point, whether it’s on the personal or business side.
Business owners have to learn how to be selfish. Not in the sense that they shouldn’t care about what anyone else says, but instead, they should make sure that their needs are met before they start thinking about the needs of others. This also doesn’t mean that you have to be neglectful, but it can be difficult not to be when you don’t know how to establish this balance in the first place.
You have life coaches like Jennifer Dawn who specialize in whole-life business coaching that will be able to look beyond your business and look at the personal level to see if there might be any gaps that need to be filled. The emotional needs of you and the ones close to you still need to be attended to, and neglecting them will be felt on both the business and personal side, so you can't have one without the other.
You Want to Succeed Against the Odds
As you may know already, the majority of businesses in the US fail within 5 years, 80% to be exact. Out of those, 80% will fail by the 10-year mark. That means that only a select few are chosen. Or are they?
The truth is that those who end up succeeding and thriving are those who were in the right markets, and had all the tools needed to succeed. Sometimes, this includes a business coach.
Trial and error is part of growing as an entrepreneur, but no one said that you had to do the failing. Having a guide who went down the same road as you to warn you of upcoming forks will help you make the right decisions without you having to waste time, money, and possibly your business in the process.
As you can see, there are tons of reasons why you should consider hiring a business coach. We suggest you start talking to a few of them to see if you mesh and see what they have to offer.
Companies are always at risk of groupthink. It’s the idea that when a set of people get together, they tend to all veer toward the same conclusions.
Mainly this process occurs slowly over time. People feel that others around them share the same views on a particular topic and gravitate towards them. Eventually, the mirror neurons in their brains start firing, and they take on the views of others - merging if you will.
While this might sound all nice and “kum-ba-yah,” it’s actually bad news for marketing departments. You always need some kind of dissent in your organization waiting in the wings, pointing out how futile or stupid your efforts are. You need that critical voice on your team who tells everyone that they’re wrong.
Now think about your current setup. Does anyone push back against what the majority thinks? If so, you’re in trouble.
In this post, we take a look at some of the ways you can improve your marketing that nobody on your team is talking about. Check them out below.
With the level of fuss about local SEO and regional marketing, you’d think that the old world of dumb mobiles was squarely in the rear-view mirror. But that’s not the case at all. If you look at some of the most successful medium-sized businesses, they’re all using SMS and QR code generator tools to create old-school adverts people want to consume.
Customers remember the good old days when phones first came out. All they did was text and call - and that idea is still popular for many people. So when they get a regular text, they are much more likely to open it compared to, say, yet another spam email.
The concept of social proof is a little tricky to get your head around. Essentially, you’re leveraging the favorable opinion of your company held by existing customers to sell to their peers.
The reasoning goes something like this: people are much more likely to trust customers who they perceive to be like themselves than the company selling the product itself.
Firms, therefore, need to focus their marketing on building social proof through social media and reviews. Right now, those are the two primary channels for constructing a brand that appeals to today’s hyper-skeptical consumer.
You can’t ignore SEO completely. It’s essential. But spending hours worrying about the minor details probably doesn’t represent a good bang for your buck.
When it comes to SEO, common sense prevails. If you can create valuable content others on the internet want to link to, you’ll see your rankings in SERPs rise. It can take a lot of effort and careful planning, but the rewards are often spectacular.
Organic traffic is very lucrative, and many firms try to take shortcuts by keyword stuffing and producing mountains of thin content. But if you can produce something that genuinely appeals to your customers, you can see runaway success. Everyone will be talking about your product.
