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Showing posts from May, 2018

Top 5 Ways to Create an Eco-Friendly Workplace

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Many organizations today are looking for ways to become more sustainable. While there are some pretty out-there options for going green , most businesses can find more moderate ways to reduce their overall impact on the environment. Improving the energy efficiency of your office is really only the first step as there are plenty of options such as rescheduling offsite meetings as a conference call and more. See how these eco-friendly workplace initiatives not only tell a great story for the public but also benefit your employees and other stakeholders.  1. Limit Disposables Many offices have a shared kitchen or break room, and you might find them stocked with a multitude of plastic cutlery and plates. One quick way to make your office more eco-friendly is to limit the number of disposables that you use in the office. You can easily encourage staff to use coffee mugs instead of foam or paper coffee cups, spoons instead of stir sticks, and real silverware instead of disposable options

Why Your Marketing Should Be Actionable Above All Else

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One of the traps that even seasoned marketing veterans often fall into involves crafting collateral that has far too much information for its own good. Marketing messages start out simple enough, but as brands continue to grow and evolve, the marketing messages do the same until it can be difficult to remember what that short, sweet, actionable idea was in the first place.  And if you think your marketing has lost focus, just imagine how your audience members probably feel. When your marketing starts to suffer from a lack of direction, it starts to become much too passive. Thankfully, the solution is simple - strip away the noise and focus on the action of it all. This, of course, requires you to keep a few key things in mind. What is Actionable Marketing? Think about your marketing the same way you would something like a call-to-action. A CTA is effective because it's clear and concise. It tells your readers exactly what you want them to do, how you want them to do it, and

5 Ways to Find the Strength to Try One More Time

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to become an Olympic athlete, a NASA astronaut, or a leader in a major organization? The one trait that all of these individuals likely possess is persistence: the ability to get back up, dust themselves off after a fall, and keep trying. No matter your talent, regardless of your genius and irrespective of your education, persistence is often the trait that sets people apart from their peers in terms of their level of success. Succeeding at anything in life requires a great deal of effort over a period of time -- very few people simply decide to be the best at their craft and are able to do it without a battle. How do these individuals find the strength to try one more time . . . repeatedly? 1. Be Prepared Planning for success helps you think through all of the reasons why someone would disagree with your ideas, and also gives you the bulletproof mentality that you're prepared for any question that comes your way. Think of all the reason

Print Marketing Is About Selling Value, Not Services

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There's a common misconception that far too many marketers have that needs to be put to rest once and for all. A lot of people still seem to think that if you're really going to carve out a stronger competitive advantage for yourself in an increasingly crowded marketplace, you need to make your services appear objectively better than everyone else's. You need to talk about how your products are better, stronger, faster, longer-lasting, more cost-efficient, etc. All this to steal as much attention away from your competition as you can. In truth, that is a myth. You shouldn't be selling services at all. You should be selling the value that those services provide. In other words, the thesis at the heart of your print marketing campaign shouldn't be "here's what I can do that nobody else can," but rather "here's what I can do for you." Mastering this approach requires you to keep a few key things in mind. Everything Begins and Ends With

Connecting Your Online and Offline Marketing Campaigns

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No matter the industry your business operates in, it is imperative to connect online and offline marketing techniques. Many entrepreneurs have found that the better they market themselves offline, the more well-known they become online, and vice versa. For now, let's take a closer look at how you can connect your online and offline marketing campaigns to improve lead generation and increase your sales revenue.  Tracking URLs Is a Must Many website development service providers provide a variety of automated analytics that are simple to use and easy to understand. When you market yourself offline through print advertising, it's a good idea to make sure to use unique tracking URLs for the links you provide in your ads and direct mail. In doing this, your web analytics can track how many people are coming to your site via the URLs on your offline marketing. You'll love being able to see how well your offline marketing efforts are paying off, and these unique tracking URLs

Don't Throw in the Towel

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Down but Not Out They say that the difference between baseball and life is perseverance. No matter how hard you swing in the batter’s box, three strikes always mean you’re out. But in the game of life, strikeouts are only assigned to those who stop trying. Feel like throwing in the towel today? We all do sometimes. But consider the words of Thomas Edison , who made more than a thousand attempts before finding the right materials to create the incandescent light bulb: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Or find hope in the words of journalist David Brinkley : “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with bricks others have thrown at him.” The Irrevocable Power of Attitude While circumstances are often beyond our control, we all have irrevocable power over one crucial area: our attitude. Austrian neurologist and Victor Frankl considered himself living proof. His best-selling book, “Man’s Se

How Has the Internet Changed Lead Generation?

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There is no denying that technology has greatly revolutionized lead generation, especially in regard to the internet. Gone are the days of having to cold call prospects and knock on their doors. Sure, these tactics still work, but business owners are continually finding ways for lead generation to be more cost-efficient and effective. For now, let's take a quick look at how the internet has changed lead generation and the many reasons you need to be taking advantage of technology to expand your customer base.  Artificial Intelligence Technology Enhances Lead Generation Thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence technology, you can engage with leads online like never before. In fact, you don't even have to be the one engaging with them. An AI software program can do the engaging for you. Take, for example, if your website offers a chat feature. Before connecting the customer with an actual representative, artificial intelligence software can engage them in a natural-s

6 Over the Top Things to Look for in Business in the Future

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Business isn't going anywhere. In fact, here's where the most probable types of market exchange will happen with customers according to famous futurists: Remember those Star Trek episodes where people used a transporter to go from place to place? In the future, it's likely that business will use something similar to deliver goods, from your printed materials to food to durable products delivered right into a person's room as ordered, bought, and sent from a business electronically.  Michio Kaku sees a technology-driven convergence of thinking, consciousness, and the internet. Instead of thinking of the internet as a tool, people will become the Net by connecting their brain to it for full immersion and interaction, as well as contributing to real-time synergies in information generation and use. Business, no surprise, will become far more intangible as a result, adapting to the mind-environment to keep pace with where the new demand exists. Personal augmentation w

Is Your Advertising Take You Up or Down?

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Marketing and advertising can be quite costly. However, marketing can attract customers and earn you money. So, you need to be asking yourself "is your advertising taking you up or down?" Let's take a quick look at three of the best ways to make sure your marketing efforts are boosting your sales revenue instead of draining your budget for nothing.  1) Keep An Eye On Frequency Rates When Online Advertising online can an effective way to reach a targeted audience. What you want to avoid, though, is blasting your ads multiple times to the same people. The more times the same consumer sees your ad, the more they will become annoyed by it. In fact, when the same person sees the same ad twice, the click-through-rate decreases by 8.91 percent. Seeing the same ad five times decreases the click-through-rate by 30 percent. And once they see the same ad nine times or more, the click-through-rate is cut in half. More important, the cost-per-click rate increases each time the a