Going green dramatically benefits businesses – it should be central to their coronavirus recovery strategy
While the overall benefits of “going green” are readily apparent, we found it interesting to see these added suggestions for furthering your business’ green initiatives as the world economy continues to cautiously reopen after the Coronavirus impact of 2020. Try these four “greening” methods as your company ramps back up in the post-pandemic world:
- Go after smaller markets that embrace green practices
- Motivate your employees to adopt green initiatives in their work and daily habits
- Investe and engage in sustainability programs
- Focus on energy efficiency with your equipment, buildings, and vehicles.
Read the full article at: theconversation.com
Green Marketing To Grow A Reseller Channel
“Going green” is an oft-used phrase, but many small businesses have difficulty working environmentally conscious practices into their operations – especially in the services industry. Determining how your customers can use your green services to meet their business goals, however, is a clever approach to eco-marketing (where you, your customers, and the environment all win) that we’d love to see more often!Metro Sign & Awning, a Sales Renewal client, wanted to increase referrals from architect and general contractor partners, so they created a content marketing campaign around white papers that explained the benefits of environmentally-friendly, energy-saving business signage to the customers of architects and general contractors. By helping their partners attract customers interested in green signage, Metro was able to grow its referrals from them and deliver many more environmentally beneficial signs.
Read the sample white paper at: www.metrosignandawning.com
SBA launches free online digital learning platform for female entrepreneurs
Starting your small business can be hard for anyone, but women especially struggle in the entrepreneurial field, which has traditionally been male-dominated. The SBA is working to level the playing field with a new platform that offers FREE educational resources to women
Read the full article at: www.kold.com
10 Strategies to Get More Reviews and Compete in SERPs
Reviews have been an important for online businesses since the beginning, but they're even more important now.
Consider:
- Consumers require an average 40 online reviews before believing a business’s star rating is accurate (up from 34 in 2017)
- 85% of consumers think that online reviews older than 3 months aren’t relevant
The authors propose mulitple strategies to use to get more reviews for your business, here are their best:
1. Deliver an Outstanding Customer Experience (if you're not, don't bother with getting reviews)
2. Ask Every Customer
3. Respond to Positive and Negative Reviews
4. People Have their Preferences, Select Sites Customers Use
5. Make Leaving A Review Simple
6. Time Your Request
7. Automate Requests
8. Play the Long GameAnd finally, when creating an online reputation management program, it's important to understand the important difference between 1st and 3rd party reviews
- 1st-Party Review: Feedback or testimonial given directly to your business by a customer. The business owns the content.
- 3rd-Party Review: Feedback given to a 3rd-party review site like Google or Trip Advisor. The site owns the content.
Read the full article at: gatherup.com
Meet the Woman Who Made Studying the Multicultural Consumer a Priority
Research is a cornerstone of any marketing plan – just ask one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, Cheryl Grace. Her commitment to using multicultural consumer segment data has helped propel her beauty brands forward with informed marketing strategies that speak to a much broader audience than her competitors. Find out what data types can be relevant to your business, and how to leverage that data in your own marketing strategy, in the full article.
Read the full article at: beautymatter.com
‘Thumb-Stopping,’ ‘Humaning,’ ‘B4H’: The Strange Language of Modern Marketing. – The New York Times
How up-to-date are you on marketing buzzwords? Check this collection out to see.
Our fav: Thumb-Stopping!
Read the full article at: www.nytimes.com
12 Ways Service-Based Businesses Can Take Advantage of the Holiday Season
The Young Entrepreneur Council has some advice for service businesses and how they don't have to sit on the sidelines during the holiday shopping season.
It's no secret that product based businesses can get a lot of attention and extra sales during the holiday season. Because of that, professional services can often overlook the opportunities for a boost in revenue during the shopping season, but there are different tactics and strategies to implement that can help them get a “piece of the pie” too. Read on for some examples offered by Entrepreneurs that service-based businesses can implement for the holidays.
Read the full article at: smallbiztrends.com
Coronavirus: How small businesses can boost holiday sales in 2020
Many consumers will do most of their shopping with local retailers. Small businesses need a digital plan to stay close to customers amid coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly seven in 10 small businesses see the winter holiday season as a top sales opportunity for their business, according to The Visa Back to Business Study – Holiday Edition. Small businesses have already faced unprecedented challenges in 2020, and the holiday season appears set to bring plenty of its own, amid a shaky economy and continued concerns about another wave of coronavirus infections. Read more to learn what all small businesses should focus on to ensure a successful 2020 holiday sales season.
Read the full article at: www.cnbc.com
5 evolving marketing strategies for the COVID-19 holiday season
This year, with so much uncertainty due to the pandemic, many marketers are wondering how to evolve their strategies for a holiday season that will be like no other. The marketing strategy that was right just a couple of months ago isn’t anymore.
Results from a new Adobe study of 1,000 consumers aims to help marketers understand how to prepare for what buying habits are ahead:
- 75% of shoppers are keeping with their holiday traditions but there'll be less demand for new brands
- 40% of consumers are looking for “distraction marketing” – messages that take them away from Covid realities; especially for Gen Z & Millennials
- With few places to go, 70% of consumers are saving more than they did pre-pandemic and most are looking for marketing that helps them find a good deal
- Buy online/pickup in store continues to grow at a staggering rate: 259% in 12 months
Read the full article at: blog.adobe.com
CEO confidence rebounds, fueled by decreasing pessimism, improving prospects for revenues [Q3 2020 Vistage survey]
Signs of life in the economy and an increase of business activity has led to an increase in confidence of small and midsize business CEOs. The Vistage CEO Confidence Index rebounded to 82.8 in Q3 from 62.5 in Q2.
Source: myvistage.com
Factors that contributed to the rebound from last quarter include (#5 is a doozey):
- 32.5% improvements in revenue expectations
- 29.2% improvement in profitability expectations
- 28.3% increase in investment plans, largely driven by a significant decline in contraction
- 25.4% improvement in workforce plans
- 10.1% improvement in expectations for the U.S. economy – from 93% of CEOs being pessimistic to 83% (still a worryingly high number)