Amy C. Fitzjohn's Blog, page 8

4 Focus Areas To Modernise Your Business

In our ever-changing world, where things can shift so quickly, it’s easy for a business to become tired and outdated. We’ve seen numerous well-known High Street retailers fail in the past year because they sat on their laurels and refused to change. These tips from a contributor will help you keep things fresh, relevant, and modern in your business.

 

4 Focus Areas To Modernise Your Business

 

You’re in the business of providing value to your customers, and it’s hard to give that value if you’re not able to keep up with the latest trends. So in this blog post, we’ll give you some tips on how to stay relevant when everyone else is starting to look outdated.

 

Rebranding

A business logo is the most common way to rebrand, but there are many other ways you can turn your company into a modern powerhouse. For example, if you’re in retail, consider how customers experience your store. Walk through it and evaluate every aspect of what they see: from the colors to the products on display to even the lighting. Even the little details, like how your company name is spelt on the sign outside, can make a massive difference in attracting new customers. Whatever you decide to change about your company, be sure to commit fully and present a cohesive message that will resonate with customers looking for what you have to offer. It’s not enough to just update one small part of your branding – it needs to reach every level of how people perceive your company.

Interior Design

 

Via Pexels

If you’re in an office environment and are looking for ways to modernize that space, we recommend researching trends in interior design. You’ll be surprised at what small changes can do for your business in the long run. For example, if you’re looking for a way to make your office feel more open and spacious, consider using lighter colours or even going with an entirely white space.

It doesn’t take much effort to keep up with these trends; just know the latest in interior design so that it’s easy enough to incorporate into your day-to-day operations.

Online Presence

Your online presence is the perfect place to upgrade your company’s look. With modern design techniques, you can take an outdated site into an engaging and active presence that will invite new visitors to explore. Put yourself in the perspective of a potential customer visiting your website for the first time: what do they see? Is it standard fare, or is there something new and different? A sleek web design can make any website look more modern, professional, and active. A clean layout with well-organized content will put your business in the best light possible. Your online store is also a great place to invest some time into updating its appearance – you never know when someone might be looking for a product you offer!

Company Wear

People have been told to wear formal wear for many years because it makes your company look professional. But times change, trends become outdated, so what’s next? How can you give your business the modern edge without changing who you are or how much work is involved in staying on top of fashion trends? The answer may be more straightforward than you think.

Today, many companies have started to adopt less formal dress codes. Dressing more casually is an excellent way to communicate that you have an open mind and your company will be progressive in its thinking. In addition, casual dress codes make it easier for employees with families or students who might not want to commit the time spent at work looking like they’re ready to go out on a date all the time. Casual dress-codes will also help your company to look more professional because it communicates that you have an open mind and are progressive in their thinking. Plus, when employees feel relaxed at work, they’ll be happier and less stressed out, suitable for everyone! With the right attire, you can still make a powerful impression.

 

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What To Know Before You Start Writing A Book

It’s been a while since I had a book project on the go, but I know the impact writing your first book can have. This contributor shares some top tips before you start your book.

 

Image Credit: Pexels from Pixabay.

What To Know Before You Start Writing A Book

 

The number of people who’ve thought about writing a book is countless. How many people actually try to do so and succeed is much lower. While there are many reasons for that, many people simply don’t know how to start writing their first book.

You might find yourself in the same position. You might have an idea that you firmly believe will be a best-seller if you could only write it. Doing so mightn’t have to be as difficult as you’d think.

Though you’ll need to have a certain way with words, there are a few things you can do to start your novel. If you’re wondering how to start writing your first book, then you’ll need to follow each of the above tips.

How To Start Writing Your First BookMaster Character Creation

While an intriguing plot is one of the core reasons people follow a book, they only do so if they care about the characters. Getting them to do so is quite hard. Before you start writing, you’ll need to have a deep understanding of who your main characters are. What drives them, and what are they passionate about?

Why should readers care about them? You should be able to answer all of these questions, and more, before you start writing. There are several other important questions you should ask. These include:

What do they do?What do they want in life?What are their relationships like?

You can find out how to master character customization in 7 simple steps with bibisco. Once you’ve mastered your characters, you can better tell their story.

Determine The Setting

You might already have a location in mind for your book. Have you thought beyond the superficial things? It’s one thing to say that the story is based in New York City. What your character’s daily environment will be, however, is different.

While you mightn’t describe the setting in too much detail during the story, it functions similar to a minor character. Your protagonist and other characters will interact with it constantly. Knowing what is and isn’t in your setting is essential.

With this, you can plan out the where of plot points, among other factors. If you plan on setting the story somewhere real, you should research that place and know it well. If you’re creating a fictional place, then you should have its building blocks in place.

Have An Event That Happens Later In The Book

Before you start writing your book, you need to know what you’re writing towards. While this doesn’t have to be the conclusion of the book, it should be a plot point. This approach will let you focus on working toward that event.

By knowing what you have to work toward, you can determine the best way of doing so. You can even break this down chapter-by-chapter and scene-by-scene. If breaking things down this way helps you focus and complete these sections, then it’s work implementing.

It’s also recommended that you have the general conclusion of the book already thought of.

Tips For Writing Your First Book

It’s one thing to know how to start writing your first book. It’s another to actually start doing it. You could find that you’re unproductive or simply can’t get the words flowing. There are multiple tips and tricks you can use to stay focused and help you complete your book.

Have A Deadline & Goal: If you don’t have a deadline or goal, then you can never fail or succeed. Having these in place will give you the need to write your book. Have A Synopsis & Outline: Before you start writing the novel proper, you should have a general outline and synopsis.Schedule Time To Write: If you’re planning on writing a book, then plan to write one. Make the time every day or week to sit down and write.

Different things will work for different people. If you find that certain tips don’t work for you, then you can try something else. Finding your writing groove is part of the process, so should be expected when you first start out.

Wrapping Up

If you’re trying to figure out how to write your first book, then you could find yourself at a loss. How do you get your idea onto the page? Following each of the above steps and tips should help you build the foundation of your novel.

You’ll still need to be creative and have a way with words. If you have these, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from writing your book. Planning and patience will be vital. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your novel’s world. Take your time to make sure that everything is perfect.

The post What To Know Before You Start Writing A Book appeared first on Amy Morse.

3 Simple Steps To Avoid Rebrand Mess-ups

Pexels – CC0 License

As I’m in the process of thinking about a rebrand for my business, this contributor content is particularly pertinent.

3 Simple Steps To Avoid Rebrand Mess-ups

 

Rebranding is not an easy task. While some businesses consider it a necessary breath of fresh air and a way to engage with their consumers anew, there’s a lot of work that has to go on ‘under the hood’ as it were, to make sure this process is well-curated. Furthermore, it’s important to make sure we know exactly why we’re rebranding, as we’re certain to lose brand familiarity in the process.

 

Some firms decide to rebrand in order to more adequately align with a shift in direction. Some feel as though their brand has become stale and tired, and being seen as ‘new’ is sometimes as important in a market as being seen to be part of its legacy. Or, perhaps you just wish to better brand so that your firm feels more comfortable ‘in its skin,’ as it were, that is, your marketing material and product line conforms more easily to who you are today, as opposed to twenty years ago.

 

Let’s consider how you can develop this process without messing up:

 

A Total Conversion

 

If you’re going to rebrand, it’s important to make sure that every element of your presence, personal and private, is adjusted. New employee emails set at your domain name, making sure all templated documents host your new logo, making sure email signatures are set correctly, ensuring all elements of your packaging are replaced, and of course, making sure that all public messaging you have, like your social media profiles, adhere to this new standard. Even one reference to your old name (while not the end of the world) can cause confusion.

 

Your Web Presence

 

Your web presence is essential to get right when hoping to avoid rebrand mess-ups. This means using the best website redesign firms to help not only plaster new logos on your website, but confirm your entire website to the spec and personality of your brand today. This visual change and utility effort can help new customers and experienced customers alike see you as a new, worthwhile entity to regard. It can also make sure that you begin to ‘adopt’ the uniform of what your firm has pivoted to, starting anew and making sure the hub of your website is properly handled.

 

Essential, Simple Messaging

 

Essential, simple messaging to your current brand loyalists is important. Sending out a simple but relatively comprehensive document about why you’re making the change, what you hope to achieve in the future, and what customers can expect will be a worthwhile way forward. You can also answer any questions that those aware of your firm might have, such as how their premium subscriptions might be transferred to your new website if you’re still carrying certain products, or what changes to your servicing schedule you may make. In the end, that can make a tremendous difference in helping you message your rebrand with confidence, and do so in a manner that is understood.

With this advice, you’re sure to avoid rebrand mess-ups by effectively owning every stage of the process.

The post 3 Simple Steps To Avoid Rebrand Mess-ups appeared first on Amy Morse.

The Real Reasons Customers Aren’t Buying From You

Great tips from a contributor.

How well are you converting clicks to customers?

 

The Real Reasons Customers Aren’t Buying From You

So, you’ve built what you think is a great product. Items should be flying out of your inventory, but they aren’t. What’s going wrong?

Pexels – CC0 License

 

In this post, we endeavour to find out. We take a look at some of the reasons customers aren’t buying from you and what you can do about it. Check them out below. They might just save your brand.

 

You’re Putting Customers Off

 

You might have a great product, but if something is putting customers off, they’ll go elsewhere. All sorts of things can potentially interrupt the sales process. Here are some examples of what you might be getting wrong:

 

Hiring too many pushy sales staffHaving the wrong values for your target audiencePricing yourself too low or highHosting customers in poor quality premises

 

Improving these four factors can often do a lot to address the reasons why customers don’t want to shop with you.

 

You’re Trying To Please Everyone

 

Trying to please everyone is a big reason why so many companies fail. They think that they have to bend over backwards to satisfy the needs of everyone in the market. But that’s a fool’s game. Nobody can make everyone happy. It’s a much better idea to narrow down your focus and just concentrate on the customers that you can actually win.

 

In your advertising, be more targeted, suggests Address Intelligence direct mail. Seek out individual customers with characteristics that make them more likely to buy from you. Don’t adopt a scattergun approach.

 

You’re Not Listening To Your Customers

 

Failing to listen to your customers is another big no-no, especially in industries where buyers form communities. If you don’t listen, complaints will start to mount and, eventually, everyone will form a negative impression of your brand.

 

Instead, listen carefully to what customers want. Take time to figure out what you can reasonably implement and what you can’t. Many times, companies find creative compromises that allow them to satisfy customers’ needs while meeting their own at the same time.

 

You’re Not Heeding Their Objections

 

Sometimes customers will outright object to some of your practices. So, for instance, most customers don’t like late fees.

 

Try listening to their objections and then brainstorming to see if there is another solution. Don’t assume that either you or they are right. Just take time to explore all your options so that you can build a better company that has more positive relationships with the audience that it serves.

 

You Have A Problem With Your Sales Process

 

For many companies, the sales process is simple. Problems are rare. However, in others – particularly brands with complex products – it’s more common.

 

If you have a problem with your sales process, then you’ll need to figure out a way to fix it. For brands with complex products, that often means finding ways to better explain to users what it is that you actually do. You need to make your value proposition clear so that everyone understands it.

 

So those are some of the real reasons your customers aren’t buying from you. Make sure that you address them to increase sales.

 

The post The Real Reasons Customers Aren’t Buying From You appeared first on Amy Morse.

A Rant About Single-Use Plastic – Who Will Take A Stand And Make The Difference?

I’m fuming with Asda.In fact, I’m livid with all our major UK grocery retailers.

I went into Asda last week for the first time in months.

Since lockdown, our shopping habits have completely changed.

We’ve managed to successfully avoid the supermarkets, except for occasional visits to top up on store cupboard bits.

We’ve been getting organic veg boxes from a local farm shop, and shopping locally. The family-run corner shop has never had so much business from us as it has in the past year! We even tried Hello Fresh and Mindful Chef meal boxes for a while. However, despite their otherwise excellent environmental credentials, what finally stopped us from using Mindful Chef was the amount of Single-Use Plastic in the meal boxes.

It was a busy afternoon, in Asda. Every till had a queue.

I’m glancing around at what people are buying, and have tried (mostly in vain) to find the couple of items I was after that aren’t packed in Single-Use Plastic.

I find myself getting increasingly annoyed that almost everything in that store is wrapped in plastic.

It’s depressing.What hope do we have?What kind of world are we leaving for future generations?

I find myself quietly muttering around the supermarket aisles that humanity deserves to fail if this is the best we can do. Possibly a little dramatic, but at that moment it was how I felt.

Put simply, we are leaving a legacy of a world choking with plastic trash and the catastrophic loss of natural habitats and biodiversity.

 

Willful Ignorance

The willful ignorance of retailers who refuse to change. Kicking the can down the road for future generations to deal with. Passing the buck to consumers by leaving it up to individuals to make choices, but in reality, the choice is often not there anyway!

On that day, I wanted a loaf of bread. Even fresh bread cooked in store is wrapped in  single use cellophane!

Whether you believe in climate change or not, is irrelevant.

We can all see the trash in the oceans with our own eyes. Our own bins filling with single use plastics. Even if we use the curbside recycling, there is mounting evidence that so called ‘recyclable’ plastic is simply not being recycled at all. It either ends up in landfill anyway or is shipped off to a poorer country who also don’t have the resources to recycle it so it gets dumped or burned.

Whether you believe in climate change or not, it doesn’t matter, do you want to live in a world with oceans full of plastic and skies full of pollution?

We all need to take more personal responsibility, but the lion’s share of that responsibility must fall to retailers who leave consumers little choice but to perpetuate the never ending barrage of rubbish!

 

The Retailers Excuse – Blame their customers

What excuse do the retailers use to justify the mountains of waste they palm off on their customers?

Low prices.

Of course, when big retailers are talking to customers, customers will say that they want low price shopping.

Of course, they will say they are on a tight budget.

I get it, nobody wants to feel like they’re being ripped off.

But at the same time, I strongly believe that the big retailers simply use that as an excuse to compete over the race to the bottom. To boost their own profit margins at the expense of quality and the welfare of people, animals and the planet.

They couldn’t give a damn about the unnecessary waste they create.

They use their convenient assumptions about their customers to justify their blatant disregard for anything but the bottom line.

It’s cheaper to cover everything in Single-Use Plastic and ship it from all over the world where it’s been produced by people living in poverty and pollution.

For the consumers, their destructive processes are out of sight out of mind.

If we don’t see the damage this behaviour causes, it’s as if it isn’t happening.

We don’t see the results of our choices, so we simply don’t care.

It’s easy to think, “Well it’s just one piece of rubbish. One bit of plastic, it will get recycled…”

We justify our behaviour to ourselves.

We do this because it’s convenient. It’s become part of our lifestyle. We’re all busy.

 

But, even when you try to be a conscious consumer the big retailers are making it impossible.

 

Enough!How do we fight back?

We can shop locally, we can shop responsibly, we can get our fruit and veg from veg box schemes or local greengrocers – but at the end of the day there are always products we use regularly and we just can’t get away from Single-Use Plastic.

It’s infuriating and frustrating and debilitating to try and shop responsibly. To try to make a difference. There is only so much we can do as individuals.

The consumer can’t carry the full burden of this on our shoulders.

 

Direct, meaningful action is needed from big business.

 

If we can rely on big retailers to do the heavy lifting, it enables us to make conscious choices.

 

If the only (or at least majority) options on the shelf are plastic free, the problem is solved! It’s that simple!

 

We can do so much as individuals, but it takes actual conscious effort at corporate level to make a meaningful difference to the state of the environment.

I’m talking to you Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi, Waitrose, Co-op… And any number of other retailers.

We can make conscious choices as consumers. Shopping Fairtrade, organic, ethically.

But we can’t control the supply chains, we alone cannot tackle the problem of plastic pollution.

 

Feeling Disempowered

I suddenly felt entirely powerless as I walked the aisles of Asda. It made every small change I was making to reduce the amount of waste I create and in particular single use plastic seem utterly worthless in the face of such an enormous challenge. It was so disempowering and depressing.

Despite making a conscious effort to have zero plastic in my basket, there was no choice but to get fresh bread, made there in their bakery, wrapped in plastic.

It’s fresh bread, baked right there!

Why pack it in Single-Use Plastic?It was still a little warm. It had probably been on that shelf less than 10 minutes.What’s wrong with paper bags?

I tried to remind myself, those loose limes I picked up, that’s one less Single-Use Plastic net going to landfill, but the bread in plastic cancelled that out!

 

One Supermarket can Change the World!

It would take one pioneering supermarket to announce they were going Single-Use Plastic free and it would be a game changer.

The others would all have to follow suit.

One supermarket – any one of them – has the power to change the world.

 

Will one if them please have the guts to do it?

 

Take Action Against Single-Use Plastic

…Look for petitions. Write letters. Give them their plastic back!

We’ve had enough!

 

The post A Rant About Single-Use Plastic – Who Will Take A Stand And Make The Difference? appeared first on Amy Morse.

Being A Little Bit Activist

I want to be more activist when it comes to green business, sustainability, and the environment.  As I’m still not reading any fiction at the moment, most of my recent book choices are along those lines.

More of my thinking, planning, and writing for the next phase in my business has been on how I can bring my love of gardening, my fascination with sustainability and self-sufficiency, and my knowledge as an enterprise mentor together.

The latest book on my stack of environment and sustainability-related non-fiction has been…

The Joyful Environmentalist by Isabel Losada

 

 

A Book Review

Written from the point of view of an average middle-class, city-based, white woman who is concerned about the environment, this book is refreshing and practical.

I can relate. She could be any one of my friends, in another life she could be me.

In the face of the overwhelming challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, it’s easy to feel disempowered and hopeless. But reading this can make even the most hardened cynics feel a little bit activist!

There is so much progress to be made, so much that needs to change, and we as individuals can only do so much.

This book gives the reader an honest, thought-provoking, often amusing, and achievable perspective. Packed with ideas and stories about one woman’s adventures in trying to lead a more sustainable life, it’s an enjoyable read.

Other books on my stack have been on self-sufficiency, ecology and biographies, and manifestos by notable public figures. This book complements that library.

 

What’s Different About This Book?

I like the conversational style and each chapter reads like a series of blogs – which in itself has inspired me to think about my next book project.

The title of one of the chapters inspired the title for this article – ‘Being A Little Bit activist’.

Each chapter is a small story of Isabel’s environmental adventures in her day-to-day life.
From taking a volunteering holiday to plant trees in Scotland, to banging a drum at an Extinction Rebellion rally.

In other chapters, she interviews prominent people in the green economy; businesses making a real difference, such as the CEOs of Good Energy and Riverford Organic.

On Riverford Organic – to me, it seems slightly nuts delivering produce boxes from Devon to London, but I suppose it’s an improvement on lengthy international supply chains of veggies smothered in plastic!

Here in Bristol, I get my fruit and veg boxes from Five Acre Farm at the Tobacco Factory, which is approximately a mile from my house. Someone turns up with a box, either on a pushbike or in an electric van.

With a little consumer research, I am sure there would be similar local veg box schemes across most of the country. Without wishing to take anything away from pioneers like Riverford, we can all look in our local areas to find and support community veg box schemes, independent greengrocers or city farms, etc. I love the work Riverford do, but look for your local equivalent.

 

 

Individual vs Strategic Level Action

In one chapter, Isabel visits a rewilding project on an ancestral estate. The Knepp Estate (As seen on BBC Countryfile) is a fine example of someone with land and resources using it strategically, ethically, and in an ecologically sound way. Literally rebuilding, rethinking, and growing their business model in a radical way.

I wouldn’t resent most of the UK’s land being owned by a handful of landed gentry and billionaires if they all did something like this!

In another chapter, she gets into an all too familiar argument in a coffee shop about disposable cutlery. It’s one of those arguments many of us have probably had in our heads and never said out loud. (I know I have had this argument in my head then smiled politely and walked away!). She describes these experiences with a wry and entertaining voice. It’s refreshing, accessible, and relatable for anyone living a typical British life, trying to muddle along and make a difference.

The argument with the shop ends in it being down to individuals being responsible for carrying reusable cutlery around. In a way that makes sense, but again, it absolves retailers from the ultimate responsibility to make a difference at a strategic level. Instead of passing the buck to their customers!

Are we all expected to carry a backpack around with us full of reusable plates, reusable wipes, cutlery, coffee cup, thermos flask, refillable water bottle, and reusable bags whenever we leave the house? We’re popping out for lunch not scaling Everest!

 

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Things like this enrage me. You do everything reasonably practicable to be more responsible and sustainable, yet retailers won’t pull their weight.

Much of this book is based on the individual actions we can take. However, it does show an alternative perspective on the multidimensional challenges we all face and compromises we make, such as:

A rewilding a space that still culls animals for food.Choosing some fabrics over others based on environmental and climate justice rather than just carbon emissions.Energy-saving assessments ignoring emissions in favour of efficiency.

The chapter on how to remove plastic from your home is really helpful. It made me realise how much I have done already, but also what more I can do.

This book is not preachy (and hopefully this blog isn’t either) it’s simply thoughtful. It leaves the reader to make up their own decisions and to make up their own mind.

With a little help from books such as this, we can all make more informed choices and decisions.

 

This is an entertaining read.  Chapters are short and concise. I happily read a couple of chapters in bed each night, reflecting on my day-to-day actions and core values.

It’s a little bit political – but everything seems to be these days – you must choose sides if you want to be a little bit activist!

I’ll be looking for the books listed in the further reading to add to my library.

What are you willing and able to do (and not do) to preserve biodiversity, cut emissions, and generally live healthier, abundant lives without sacrificing the natural environment?

It’s a question to ask of ourselves. But to also ask retailers, small and large businesses, service providers,  policymakers, and governments.

This is a collective responsibility. It can’t be left to individual action, but individuals do need to take action and keep the pressure on.

 

Becoming An Activist

I love the idea of being a little bit activist.

We can all quietly be activists without breaking the law, alienating people, and browbeating them into ‘going green’.

Reading books such as this keeps these issues front and centre in my mind. I’ve found myself being all the more conscious of the willful ignorance around me. Of the lack of responsibility taken by the big retailers who pass their waste onto consumers. Passing the buck and refusing to change because all they care about are the short-term gains for their shareholders.

 

What Can You Do To Be A Little Bit Activist?Vote with your money. Buy ethically, locally, and sustainablyWrite. To MPs, retailers, fill in petitions and call out environmental destruction when you see it. Get involved in the conversation (or start one).Pick up litter. I assume if you have read this far you are not an asshole that drops litter or fly tips!At the ballot box. Perhaps if fewer of us vote tactically and vote Green instead there would be better representation in parliament?Vote with your feet. Walk, cycle, take the bus or the train but avoid using your car where you can. It’s free exercise and it’s less pollution – win-winReduce wastage. Whether that’s plastic, energy, water, food, or other waste. Think twice before you buy something and think again when disposing of itWe can all be a little bit activist, even if it’s from our homes and desks.

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How To Make Your Business Successful With Winning Instagram Marketing Strategy – A Guest Post

Hosting another guest on the blog this week, this time, it’s all about Instagram:

 

How To Make Your Business Successful With Winning Instagram Marketing Strategy

Instagram is one of the most famous social media networks globally available to share photos and videos with your friends and followers. The involvement of people on Instagram increases day by day where it quickly reached one billion active users within ten years. Due to the high engagement, it becomes easy for businesses to reach their target audiences.

People on Instagram publish 100 million photos or videos in a day by sharing their daily activities. Since there are engaging audiences, it becomes an excellent platform for brands to show their products to audiences and increase brand awareness. Achieve success using Instagram with the help of your audiences alone. Businesses from small to large involve Instagram in their marketing plan to gain success quickly.

 

Learn how to achieve success on Instagram with the proper plan and using accurate marketing strategy in the below article.

#1. Use A Business Profile

When you are using Instagram for business purposes, it is essential to convert your profile to a professional account. You utilize the Instagram feature to the fullest only if you have a business account. Some business accounts will have engaging content, but their profile will be incomplete. Audiences ignore such profiles since they can find thousands of profiles similar to them. So concentrate on completing your bio with original content.

Keep in mind that the appearance of your bio reflects in the growth of your brand. Upload your brand logo as your profile picture to recognize your brand wherever your audiences see your name. Choose the username that tells people about the concept of your business. Next is to provide your contact information like email address, mobile number, and location to create trust. At last, is adding links where you want your audiences to land. Your profile remains the starting point in your growth.

 

#2. Find Your Audiences

The recent statistics say that 68% of users on Instagram are female, and most people are under the age of 30. Knowing your demographic is essential to make your content. Determine your target audiences based on age, gender, location, and interest to reach your content correctly. Once you find those accounts, analyze the following points,

 

Type of hashtags they use on their contentThe common location they hang out on their storiesInterested brandsFollowings in their profile.

 

Find their interest by watching what type of content they show higher engagement. You can also concentrate on the same thing with unique concepts to grab their attention. Watch the profile of your competitors to gain content ideas, but you should not publish the same concept. Think of using your creativity and making unique content. Notice the followers of your competitors and approach them individually with your content. If they like your consent, they will convert as your potential follower.

#3. Create Content Strategy

The crucial part of the marketing strategy on Instagram is deciding on posting content. The best tool to describe you and your brand is through the content. Invest your thinking ability, time, effort, and your creative skill while preparing content. The end result of your content must be capable of attracting huge resources to your business. Instagram provides you plenty of ways to make content for your audiences in the following engaging ways:

 

Instagram feed – Post your content in the image format or in a short video of 1 minute. It displays on the page once your audiences open the Instagram application.

 

Instagram stories – An excellent and engaging feature launched by Instagram is the stories. People often visit this feature because it is present on the top of your follower’s homepage. Use an exciting idea in making content to get real Instagram story views and improve the engagement rate for your business. 

 

IGTV feature – When you decide to showcase your product features and advantages to your audiences, undoubtedly, you can use IGTV, a long video form, to explain them clearly.

 

Reels – People spend most of their online presence on Reels. It becomes an engaging medium where people can see different content. Make helpful content using popular sound clips and publish it on the reels page where plenty of audiences see your content and follow you.#4. Engage Audiences With Interactive Content

People interact on your Instagram only if it is interesting. The best way to engage audiences is by creating content in a way to interact with you. Encourage your audiences to give suggestions for your business by leaving comments. Conduct a question and answer session to clear the doubts of your audiences and also helps to improve your ranking by the Instagram algorithm.

 

Instead of giving the quantity of content, concentrate on delivering quality content to attract your audiences. Know where and on what your audiences show interest, then make your content regarding the same to grab their attention. Your response plays a major role in extending the interactions. Give a reply to each comment or simply hit like to their comments and show your presence. It gradually improves brand awareness.

#5. Role Of Hashtag

Hashtags remain an essential factor to find you and your content by your target audiences. As a brand, utilize the use of hashtags in each post because they help you in finding new audiences. When people want to see new content, they obviously search the keyword of the content on the search bar. Stuff the relevant hashtags related to your content to get the best result of an increase in followers to count.

 

Hashtags help to boost your brand visibility and increase brand awareness by connecting with new potential customers. Though hashtags are being used on all social media platforms, it gives an excellent result only on Instagram. You can also track the type of content on a particular tag and use the idea on your post to create engagement.

 

Don’t use plenty of hashtags on a single post because it may make people skip your content. The post with five to seven hashtags will be sufficient to improve your visibility and give popularity to your brand. 

Wrapping Up

Instagram provides a great way to reach your target audiences and market your product all over the world. With the correct marketing strategy, you can achieve your goal for your brand on Instagram. Learn the points from the article and make it use your business to stay ahead of your competitors.

 

AUTHOR BIO:

Caterina Taylor is an experienced social media marketer and writer who works at PlanYourGram.com. She loves to work on content creation for social media blogs and has the potential to deliver engaging content on various platforms and networks.

 

The post How To Make Your Business Successful With Winning Instagram Marketing Strategy – A Guest Post appeared first on Amy Morse.

9 TikTok Marketing Tactics To Develop Your Business – A Guest Post

I must admit, I really ‘don’t get’ TikTok!

Maybe it’s because I’m over 40.

Maybe it’s because I don’t have children, but as a social platform it is a complete mystery to me.

When I have clients ask about emerging Social Media channels for marketing their business I have to admit my utter ignorance and refer them on. That’s why I’m happy to host a guest on the blog offering these…

9 TikTok Marketing Tactics To Develop Your Business

Musical.ly and TikTok are similar social media apps that help to create short form videos. It has grown rapidly to reach 800 million monthly active users and 1 billion downloads.

TikTok’s primary goal is to capture and present the world’s creativity, knowledge, and memorable moments directly from the mobile device. It enables everyone to become a creator and encourages their audience through engaging videos.

Who Uses TikTok?

TikTok is dominated by millennials and youngsters with ages between 16 to 24 years. According to the research, 56% of TikTok users are male, and 44% are female. TikTok has gained exponential growth in users, and people like to spend an average of 52 minutes per day on the app. Moreover, 55% of users uploaded their own videos on TikTok, and 68% of users watched someone else’s videos.

In this blog post, I’ll show you 9 incredible TikTok marketing tactics that help to develop your business.

1. Provide Value

Whenever you create videos on TikTok, make sure that they are innovative and informative. If your videos don’t have any value, there is a chance people will scroll past your videos.

Pick something that provides value for your audience, and it can be creative, educational as well as make them fun. Nowadays, many people use different social channels to improve their knowledge and skills. So, it is the best chance to share your thoughts and get higher engagement.

2. Create Beginning Attention

If you promote your brand to larger customers, capturing your audience’s attention is crucial. You need to capture the viewer’s attention to keep your audience engaged till the end of your video. So, it will increase the chance the audience doesn’t scroll your video even, and they watch your videos repeatedly.

Hence, don’t take much more time to tell your story. Go straight to the point in the first few seconds of your video. For example, if you have educational content, make sure to start the video with something like an amazing course/guide guys, which creates interest among your audience to watch your full videos.

3. Hashtag Challenges

Hashtag challenges are one of the essential features of TikTok to establish your brand to the target customers and create a most successful marketing campaign on TikTok. It is also a great way for brands to attract millions of users and turn viewers into long-term subscribers.

If you want loyal followers and viewers to your TikTok account, you need to create innovative and attractive content. Invest your time and put efforts into creating effective challenges that are relevant to your brand and marketing goal. For example, a challenge with hashtags can engage your audiences to create their videos according to your content rules, upload them on their TikTok account, and tag the original creator in the post.

4. Make Use Of Trending Tracks

TikTok is always the best channel in the social media world because it’s always filled with new content. When you see someone posting new content on TikTok that is perfect for your business, use that video and use it for your brand in your own way. People are more likely to see this type of content, so you can quickly boost your followers and viewers by using trending videos.

A TikTok algorithm is designed to help you find trending videos through the For You page and Discover page. These are the two viral sections of TikTok to find trending videos, songs, creators, and hashtags in your industry.

5. Play With Right Tools

One more exciting and essential thing to attract potential customers is creating high-quality content and using the right tools to edit your videos. But, it doesn’t mean you need a profile camera or work with professional creators to create your videos.

If you want to gain massive likes for TikTok videos, you have to create high resolution videos that capture your audience’s eyesight. You can also use TikTok editing tools and features to show better content and give a professional look to your videos.

Pro Tip:

A successful video is based on four key factors, it includes:

Attention-grabbing video – there are lots of features available on TikTok to impress your audiences, such as duet, lip syncing, reaction videos, and challenges.Song – Songs are the best strategy to amaze your followers as well, as they will help you to become famous on TikTok. You can see new, trending songs on TikTok using the For You page and the app music library function.Caption – You should add a short caption with valuable information to receive enormous viewers to your videos.Hashtags – Hashtags help to categorize your content and make it easier to discover your content to wider people.6. Collaborate With Influencers

Collaboration – is the most significant factor that will help your profile to grow exponentially. Many content creators have constant stress for creating engaging and most appealing content. So, you can collaborate with the most popular brands and use their products to create better content.

Nowadays, many people looking for influencers or celebrities recommend purchasing products. So, you can easily show your brand to the target audience, generate traffic, and boost revenue.

7. Interaction Is Key

Watching videos on TikTokis not only helps you to create a successful marketing campaign. Interacting with your audiences and potential followers is the key to building your community and getting thousands of views for your videos. Once you reach your target customers, you have to interact with them by hitting likes and commenting on their videos.

But Don’t forget to create meaningful comments because user engagement is born with interaction. Comments are the most significant way to interact with your followers directly, and you can also encourage them to comment on your videos.

8. Use TikTok Advertising Opportunity

Similar to hashtag challenges and influencer marketing, paid advertising opportunities are a great choice to promote your business to the exact customers. TikTok offers several ad options for brands to expand their brand reach and gain more popularity. It includes,

Infeed ads – It is a 9 to 15-second long advertising option that appears in between videos in the For You feed.
Brand takeover – These ads appear in the form of images or videos, and TikTok allows only one brand takeover in each category per day.
Top view ads – It is a video ad format, and it appears when the user opens the TikTok app. Top view ads take up a whole screen and allow up to 60 second videos.
Branded effects – It allows advertisers to create video filters that are similar to Snapchat’s branded lenses. These branded effects are available to users up to 10 days at a time.

9. Understand The Right Metrics

TikTok offers a great option for every creator and marketer to switch to a pro account that will help you to access the analytics section. These analytics provide valuable information, which can help you to understand your profile and brand performance.

Once you set up the TikTok pro account, you can see the analytics tab in your profile. It shows three unique sections:

Profile
Content
Followers

By using this tab, you can see the in-depth results over the past 7 to 28 days. You can frequently check your statistics for developing your business and perform better in the future.

 

Author Bio:

Alison Williams is a social media content writer who works at Flatfitty, she is an experienced social media analyst, and her passion is to contribute to engaging content for authority blogs and websites. You can also visit her online at Twitter.com!

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The Right To Work From Home: Good or Bad?

I happened upon an article in my MSN newsfeed…

I like the fact that it’s not immediately obvious of the source of articles on MSN. It strips away our inbuilt prejudices to particular publications.

As I read this article, I found myself enraged by Digby Jones’s comments – my first thought was, “imagine working for this guy, what a toxic boss he would be.”

I admit a small chuckle to myself when I tracked back the link and discovered it was that horrible right wing rag the Daily Mail, no surprise there then! (see, prejudice – I’m big enough to admit it!)

However, finding this roundup article in The Week has got me reflecting on the seismic shift in the way we do our jobs and run our businesses post pandemic.

 

 

Office Life will never be the same again

On the one hand, I can understand Digby Jones’ argument that people working in the office are ‘seen’ so are more likely to be noticed. There is an argument that homeworkers will be subject to discrimination. (Discrimination that would disproportionately affect women who may be more likely to be care givers and work from home.) However, I  argue changing organisational culture would be the solution to this, rather than adopting a one size fits all approach.

I also resent his suggestion and sweeping assumption that ‘working at home’ is code for ‘skiving off’.

It’s a viewpoint that no doubt would appeal to those readers of The Mail who like to snootily pass judgement on ‘other people’ from inside the blinkers of their own superiority complex.*

(*I’m not suggesting all readers of the Daily Fail are like this – how very Daily Mail of me would that be if I was to cast such sweeping aspersions – but there will be a hard-core of readers who hold this world view.)

Making sweeping assumptions that homeworkers are lazy is demonstrably untrue. If it were, the entire economy, all social fabric and civilization as we know it in the UK would have entirely collapsed in the past 18 months!

Don’t forget, those homeworkers are often key workers. Without them, food and medical supply chains would have collapsed. The vaccine rollout would certainly have been far less successful without NHS workers coordinating logistics from their spare rooms and sofas!

These are the same people we were clapping for from our doorsteps a year ago.

 

Sometimes, home working is the only option

Personally, the 3-days-a-week consultancy contract I am currently working on would be impractical, inefficient if not impossible without remote working.

My clients are scattered across the country from Reading to the Isles of Scilly. (Yes, I have a client in the Isles of Scilly – she has a business cleaning holiday rentals). I’m in Bristol and my colleagues are in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh!

You could argue, that more home working is inevitable in our digital, service based economy. Much as conservatives (with a capital and small C) may dislike the pace of progress and change, several studies suggest  it’s a business model that is here to stay.

 

Who’s Stuck in the 70’s

Far from ‘dragging us back to the 1970’s’ – Digby’s attitude in business is what is truly trapped back there!

The only ‘Furious Bosses’ eluded to in the distinctively inflammatory language of The Fail, will be furious because they can’t micromanage and bully their staff as effectively when they are in another building!

While I can understand Jones’ view that town centres will be like ghost towns. I argue that when you stop viewing it through the lens of the immediate financial effect on business, it as an opportunity to radically shift the way we design and use public and commercial spaces, to benefit everyone.

 

No one has missed the traffic

The best thing for city dwellers during these restrictions has been reclaiming the streets from traffic. I doubt anyone has missed traffic jams and rush hours!

It was lovely going out to quiet roads in Lockdown 1.0. More people passing the time of day on the streets and using our green spaces. Coming home and not blowing black snot from my nose from the abysmal pollution that usually chokes the streets.

In Bristol, a recent study into the health effects of air pollution concluded that around 300 deaths per year can be attributed to exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and fine particulate matter.

Opinion pieces are missing the point

The opinions summed up in The Week fail to recognise the significant benefits to the environment from home working. But, there is a balance to be had.

Working at home full time can be isolating and affect your health in other ways – both physically and mentally.

I’m thankful for the Boost Breakthrough contract I work with on a Friday morning. Once a week I get out of the house and work among colleagues in real life. Much as it’s nice to be cosy at home on a wet day, I miss not seeing people. Or getting out to breathe in that fresher air!

We can and should still have people physically working in our offices in city centres.

For some jobs it’s a necessity. For some people it’s a necessity, depending on their home life and circumstances.

But insisting that everyone does so, all week, when they are able to work (often more efficiently) from home is counterproductive, environmentally damaging and unnecessary.

Let’s not go ‘back to normal’

We simple can’t go ‘back to normal’. Normal wasn’t working. It was destructive and unsustainable.

This is the time to rethink how we live our lives, for the benefit of ourselves and our environment.

We need to build a different economy. One that’s more inclusive and sustainable.

 

 

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An Open Letter of Resignation. Dear Facebook… I Quit!

Dear Facebook

We’ve been working together for a number of years now, but it is time for us to part ways.

It’s you, not me…

We can still be friends. Outside of work I’ll still hang out, it’s where so many people I know and care about gather.

But I hereby tender my resignation as a business.

It’s how I feel.

Resigned and defeated. Deflated and violated.

Recently, my account was hacked.

My suspicions were first roused when notifications popped up that I had accepted friend requests I hadn’t made.

I promptly unfriended and blocked them. I changed my passwords. I thought that would be the end of it.

But no…

The next warning sign was getting 4 emails pop up from PayPal, receipts for transactions from Facebook. Transactions I hadn’t made.

At first, I thought the emails may be spam, so I logged into PayPal and low and behold, I was paying out money to an Ad campaign I hadn’t set up.

The thieves have cleaned out my whole account.

To say I am angry is an understatement.

There are no words to describe the magnitude of anger, of hurt, the feelings of vulnerability and violation, of utter helplessness.

If I’d been mugged in the street I could go to the police. I would get emotional support. I would feel listened to. I would feel like I had done something to stop a dangerous person prowling the streets claiming another victim.

But being mugged online, all I can do if fill in a fraud report on a police website, then enter into an endless maze of ‘help’ and ‘support’  pages on Facebook’s platform that are the antithesis of this.

 

Matter Resolved But Trust BetrayedIn fairness, you did resolve the matter within a few days and I got a full refund.

However, when you feel vulnerable, when you have been a victim of crime, getting an automated email back telling you it will be 2 – 3 working days is neither helpful nor supportive.

Make no mistake, just because it’s numbers on a screen, I have had money that I actually worked to earn, actually stolen from me. My only recourse is to place my faith in the automated systems of a massive US Tech corporation. I can’t even speak to a human. There is no phone number with a reassuring voice on the other end.

 

Breach Of Trust

My trust in you (Facebook) has eroded to a point where I no longer wish to tie my business to yours.

A behemoth of a corporation so far removed from it’s original aim to connect people that they hide behind a maze of online forms.

A corporation so out of touch with ordinary people that it simply takes its users for granted. Allowing itself to be hacked, abused and manipulated for the financial gain of criminals – as long as you make money for your shareholders.

 

It ended well in the end, but I am closing both my business pages.

I’m wary of Instagram as it’s also owned by you and I will never be using WhatsApp for the same reason.

So, goodbye Facebook. You won’t be missed.

 

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