Personal branding takeaways from Adenike Oyetunde
[bctt tweet=”We share lessons from Adenike Oyetunde’s successful personal brand story, which is inspiring audiences.” via=”no”] Personal branding expert, and Forbes contributor Glenn Llopis says; “A personal brand is the total experience of someone having a relationship with who you are and what you represent as an individual”. The boom of social media has also come in handy for personal branding. This is seen by individuals taking over the social media space (thankfully social media can afford us all our mini reality show) for self-promotion. Individuals may be as inauthentic, but their pages are curated to take on a persona. This goes by the Dramaturgy Theory by Goffman, where personal branding is regarded as a self-presentation. It is an act or drama in itself classified into the ‘front stage’; a premeditated image for everybody, and a backstage; the authentic self (not for everybody). Goffman’s theory seemed to have paid off a lot more at the onset of social media, when social media tended to be only for solidifying public image. Now social media content that get the most engagement are those of pages that have the ability to be vulnerable. Rather than centered on a premeditated image, they have a human face, add value, and connect genuinely with the audience. [bctt tweet=”The social media content that get the most engagement have a human face and add value” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Let’s talk about a successful personal brand story, Adenike Oyetunde, who has been up and about her authentic self and is inspiring audiences. Introducing Adenike Oyetunde Adenike Oyetunde is a spirited lawyer and on-air-personality. She was diagnosed with Osteogenic Sarcoma (cancer of the bone) at age 20 when she was in her second year in University. Adenike eventually had to accept the Doctor’s diagnosis and go for a limb amputation, after refusing to admit that she would live without one of her limbs for the rest of her life. Adenike’s personal brand message: Inspiration It’s rather a sad one to have your limb amputated but Adenike is such an energetic, happy, and inspiring soul. I like this statement she once made: “I, my name is Adenike Oyetunde, and I am living my life like it’s golden.” Adenike admits to the news of amputating her limb dropping like a bombshell, as the Doctor was as direct as possible. She had to even be the rock for her family because her parents didn’t take this so well. “I actually saw my dad crying… I would have to not cry before my mum because she was going psychotic.” Adenike’s is a case of courage and radiating so much positive energy. Yes, this was her source of strength, to pull through those times. Adenike survived it and now uplifts the world. Her message is such an inspiring, and uplifting one. She takes to social media every day to radiate light. Here is what I love about her -she’s a fun, free-spirited, warm and a good-natured soul. Brand authencity: Her social media is such a fun and relatable place The soul of Adenike’s social media page is in its spontaneity. It is not curated and comes with a ‘random’ vibe. Every Wednesday on her page, she shares funny witty randomly curated words from social media on ‘Wordy Wednesday’. Adenike sounds so relatable on social media, you would think that you have met her in person (and yes you have). Adenike also shares stories of upliftment. ‘Miracle Mondays’ are Mondays where she shares stories of people who have had miraculous interventions on social media. The warmth of her personality shines through all the time. And therein lies the authenticity of her brand. [bctt tweet=”The authenticity of Adenike’s brand lies in the warmth of her social media personality” via=”no”] Impact This is Adenike’s watchword, I think. She is like somebody who lives for everybody else; selfless. One of my initial encounters of Ms. Adenike was during one of her social impact causes, when she was raising funds for a cancer patient on world cancer day. Adenike is so passionate about spreading the word on cancer and other social causes. She recently launched Amputees United for amputee-activism, and January this year she began the gratitude jar challenge for people to tell their gratitude stories on social media for the 365 days of the year.
‘Why should start-ups care about the budget?’ – Top 3 budget myths debunked
[bctt tweet=”Time to bust some myths around budgets for business with @StanChart” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Here at SLA, budgeting is not a new concept. I am sure by now we know why we need to set up a personal budget and how to go about it. However, how many of you #MotherlandMoguls spend time budgeting for your businesses? Did you know that there is a difference between the budget and other financial accounts? During Standard Chartered Bank’s Financial Education workshops we have had small business owners give several ideas about budgeting, most of them are misconceptions that we need to debunk. Have you found yourself making one of these statements about your business budget? “As long as I have prepared the financial accounts I don’t need a budget.” “Only big businesses need to do them.” “They always turn out differently.” Read through as we debunk each of these common misconceptions 1. “As long as I have prepared the financial accounts I don’t need a budget.” Here we need to understand that the financial accounts for your business are very different from the budget. Whereas the financial accounts look backward, the budget looks forward. The two do not play the same role for your business. The budget is a financial plan for the forthcoming period while the accounts are a report for a period that has passed. In our view, the budget is more important as it is a predictor or a guiding light for your business. 2. “Only big businesses need to do them.” It might look like only big businesses need to draw up a budget because they handle such huge amounts of money or because they have much more to lose BUT the reason why you need to draw up a personal budget is the same reason why your business needs a budget. It is actually much more important for a start-up to begin the habit of budgeting so that as the business grows the process becomes easier. Start-ups and small businesses are more likely to go bankrupt in the early years and a budget is one of the important tools that can save your business. 3. “They always turn out differently.” Surprise! Surprise! Budgeting for your start-up is a tricky business; things do not always turn out the way you write them down. Your sales estimates are not always right; your expenses hit the roof sometimes. We have some good news for you though, this is absolutely normal! Your business’ budget does not have to be 100% accurate. You should review your budget ever so often to adjust and check on the variances as you get more information. Yes, budgets always turn out differently because they look to the future and we are never 100% sure what will happen in that future; and it acts as a blueprint to ensure your businesses is not groping around in the darkness. As important as it is, a budget works hand in hand with the accounts to help you measure the performance of your business, period after period. It is great to have both documents, and if you need the help of an accountant, by all means, go for it.
Do male ideas rock and female ideas suck? 10 things women founders need to do to get funded!
[bctt tweet=”The statistics on Venture capital funding do not favour women founders” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] You are a young woman, you are innovative, you have many ideas and you just launched a tech startup! Now, you need to get funded to take your startup where you want it to be. You have applied here and there and even made submissions and connections to venture capitalists but you are yet to make any headway and you know the survival of your startup depends on some fresh cash injection. It’s not getting any better because the statistics on Venture capital funding do not favour women founders. You see your business drifting into the number of un-funded women startups and you desperately need answers. Hi babe, are you there? If this is your experience as a female startup founder or entrepreneur, take a deep breath, you are so not alone. It’s no news that Venture Capital funding gender gap swings against women big time as male startup ideas get funded at a 16 to 1 ratio compared to those of women. According to Venture Capital database Pitchbook, Venture Capitalists invested $52.2 billion in male-run start-ups while female-run startups received only $1.46 billion in 2016. This figure paled in comparison to the other years in the last decade causing us to wonder if funding for women-run startups will ever get better. And why is this so? Do male ideas rock while female ideas suck? What do female founders need to do to get their start-ups funded in a male-dominated tech startup ecosystem which tilts towards men statups? Here are 10 things women founders can consider doing to get desperately needed cash to push their start-ups to the next level; 1. Learn as fast as male founders As a female founder, how fast do you learn? Are you comfortable with the things you know year in, year out or do you push your learning barriers to exhaustive levels? When it comes to male founders, we have seen them take drastic steps to get their startups going even if it takes pushing learning boundaries over and beyond their usual capacities. Then a Mckinsey management staffer, Eliam Medina undertook a one month crash course to learn how to code to get the first iteration for his free wills and legal service startup, Willing, up and running. And it is no surprise that more guys learn to code than girls. Data from Girls Who Code shows that computer science learning among women has reduced from 37% in 1984 to 18% presently. And when it comes to venture capital funding, one thing is clear, strong technical teams with a major bias for a technical founder is a good first step to knocking on VC doors for funding and getting their attention. Learning also traverses reading about other startup ideas like your life depends on it and using the successes and failures of other startup founders to your advantage. Who best is adopting this technique to create exciting startups than male startup founders, from 99designs to 99taxis, 99bitcoins, etc. Nikki Durkin, founder of defunct startup 99dresses has definitely seen men transform her failure into breathtaking successes which are also foundational to catching the eyes of investors. As female founders learning about one new idea a day can boost your strategy direction which gives investors the impetus to go with your call. 2. Have an idea arsenal and pick the best Consider why you started your startup in the first place. Was it out of your own need or a real need? While this may be tough to evaluate, candidly, it is best to have an idea arsenal. Your idea arsenal should be full of ideas which not only resonates with you but ones with real and researched needs with an addressable market size. Go beyond the scope of ideas for start-ups meeting only the needs of women. While this is not bad in itself, the venture world is run by men and they sometimes get lost when it comes to women specific ideas and don’t know why they should be investing. From this collection you have created, pick the best and launch it first. By the best, I mean the one with the most validation from prospects, possibly millions of people who will find this startup useful to them on probably a daily. This means that people can pay for what you have launched and the possibility of this is exciting to any venture capitalists. [bctt tweet=”The venture world is run by men & they sometimes get lost when it comes to women specific ideas” via=”no”] 3. Fail fast by launching other startup ideas Far from what most people who go into tech may think, creating a successful startup is not a Disney fantasy tale. The best startup founders did not necessarily hit it big on the first idea they launched. To put it in clearer terms, a lot of them ran with more than one idea. Stackoverflow founder, Joel Spolsky and his team had Trello and FogCreek up and running alongside. He opined that by chasing multiple ideas at once, anyone of them could succeed into the big leagues. Female startup founders need this perspective and be ready to fail fast like most of their male counterparts. This is because, no matter how lucrative an idea may seem, the time may not be right for its mainstream demand. This happened with all the devices created prior to Apple’s iPod and that should be the target of any female founder who wishes to be trolled with funding instead of actually chasing after it. 4. Spy for the extraordinary Venture funding, no matter how scarce they may be to female founders, can never shy away from the extraordinary startups run by women. Why is this? We have been ushered into a world of constructive and collaborative disruptions across industries all over the world, mostly spearheaded by technology. From Uber to Airbnb, Snapchat, Convene, and Spotify, we have seen tech ideas break the
Why should you budget for your business?
[bctt tweet=”Ever wondered how multinational organisations control their financial calendars? It’s simple” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] “I was always running out of money, constantly struggling and missing my orders was the order of the day. Having my lights turned off, sometimes in the middle of a client presentation was not surprising anymore; all this because I had either forgotten to pay the bills or I had no money to pay, the devil is a liar”. Rosanne told us. In small businesses, these kinds of confessions abound, and most of the time, they are blamed on external forces or things beyond our control. Have you ever stopped to wonder how a big organisation, with thousands of branches across the world, hundreds of suppliers and millions of customers can control their financial calendars, knowing exactly whom, why and when to pay? The answer is; they meticulously prepare and monitor budgets, which helps them figure out these details. Since budgets have served big organisations well, we have misconstrued them to be a tool for big organisations. Yet, by the very nature of small businesses, the scarcity of funds, the reliance on the founder, and the advantages of a budget means that these small organisations need them most. Yet we find that most micro businesses don’t maintain budgets and struggle through financial management like dream walkers. If you have experienced any of the symptoms below, either in your personal or business life, then you are suffering from a disease called lack of a budget and you should immediately take the steps provided below to return you’re to good health. Symptoms of lack of a budget Run out of money unexpectedly Unable to pay for emergencies such as medical Unsure whether you can afford good business opportunities Have too much money lying around Losing suppliers due to your inability to pay them Unsure whether things are going well in your business, you have no idea where you stand Receiving reminders and chasers for payment from tax authorities, suppliers etc. Unable to identify business decisions such as when to increase your prices or hire more staff. Not knowing when to talk to your bankers about loans, investments or deposits. To remedy these symptoms, you need to start preparing budgets, it is as simple as ABC. In upcoming articles, we will be teaching you in length. The phases or stages that you should go through while working on the budget for your business. How a budget influences important business decisions. Debunk the myths around budgeting in the article and guide you towards changing the mindset on why we must budget. Simply put, a budget is a plan on how to earn and spend money. Maintaining a budget, updating and monitoring it often will help you avoid all of the above financial pitfalls that can harm your business. Stick around and reading all articles in the series -as well as any other on budgets- to enable you to master the budgeting process. Remember, failing to plan, is planning to fail.
How to handle conflict like a pro
[bctt tweet=”There are many reasons you might have conflict in your business & you need to understand them” via=”no”] The former US president Ronal Reagan is quoted as saying, “peace is not the absence of conflict, and it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” This means that conflict is inevitable: we have it at home, at work, and in our social circles. The moment you have more than one person in a group, the likelihood of confrontation arises. Why? Because of differing views, because of differences in interests etc. If you are wondering if the conflict at your office is normal, wonder not, it is. What is not normal is the degrees to which it can go to as well as the irreparable damage it can cause if it is not dealt with accordingly. If you are a business owner or even an employee, the following tips can help you handle conflict better and foster a positive environment. 1. Understand why you have conflict There are many different reasons you might have conflict in your business. These range from personality clashes; communication gaps; disputes over approaches as well as competition for limited resources. Understanding the triggers from your environment is the most important thing you can do because only when you know what is causing something are you in a position to ‘fix it’. 2. Manage expectations Do you over promise and under deliver? Managing expectations internally is important because people know what they can expect from you and the work environment. Often times in trying to get the ‘best’ talent through the door, business owners make promises that they cannot meet by the time they say they will. This leads to resentment, which manifests in various problems that affect the business owner, colleagues and even customers, rather under promise and over deliver. 3. Draw up a conflict resolution guide In the same way that you would have a code of conduct that you get every employee to sign when they come on board, so too should you have a conflict resolution guide. The contents (and comprehensiveness) are dictated entirely by the anticipation of conflict in your company as well as the gravity of those conflicts. Start simple, put together questions that first and foremost facilitate a reflective purpose. [bctt tweet=”Drawing up a conflict resolution guide could help handle conflicts in the workplace effectively” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] 4. Set rules! Over and above the standard policies and codes of conduct, have rules of engagement that you compile with your team. When they have had a say on for example how they will relate to each other in the office, they are more likely to keep their end compared to when it is a rule from the boss. You can even take it a step further and develop shared values. Make sure you include how ‘we promise to deal with conflict in the office’. 5. Never take sides Yes she may have started with you when you were still a struggling business owner, and she understands the company, but just like everyone else you’ve brought on board, she has a role to play. Everyone who works with you makes a contribution and they all need to be treated fairly and with respect. That includes not being side-lined over another employee. Treat everyone the same. 6. Listen more and talk less As the visionary and not executor, yours is to spend more time listening than talking. Listen to what is not said especially because it is herein that the truth is often times revealed. Listen not to answer but to understand. When your approach is this, people will feel comfortable coming to you, be it for good or bad. And as a permanent effective strategy to conflict management, this accessibility is what you must aim towards. When you take even one of these tips and put it into action, you will be amazed at how much more manageable conflict in your workplace becomes. Remember that peace is not the absence of conflict; it is rather the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. Sometimes all it takes is being proactive and putting systems in place that support dealing with conflict when it arises.
The ultimate marketing plan guide for the service industry
[bctt tweet=”We’ve put together an easy 7-step guide to creating a marketing plan for your business” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] A marketing plan is a written blueprint on how to sell your services to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and build a profitable brand. Together with EM Consulting, we’ve put together a guide to help marketing planning for startups in the service industry. The aim of this guide is to provide a simple process for organizing your marketing efforts to achieve business growth and profitability. Without an intentional marketing plan, business growth becomes a function of luck and individual effort. What is the service industry? Just so we’re clear, this guide is geared towards businesses in the service industry. The service industry consists of businesses that provide services (intangible goods) to other businesses as well as final consumers. Such services include professional services, online services, ICT, tourism, travel, ecommerce, financial services, online services among others. Basically, a service business is one where no goods are produced/ manufactured. Click over to the next page where you’ll find the detailed guide as well as a link to a downloadable template (plus a surprise offer from EM Consulting).
6 ways to improve your stakeholder relationships
[bctt tweet=”In business you need more allies than adversaries, keep your allies happy with these tips” via=”no”] For any business to succeed, stakeholders must be well taken care of. These are your clients, suppliers, partners, investors, employees and the broad community who have an interest in your business. When a stakeholder is not taken care of, the effects can be felt in various parts of the business. Building strong relationships with stakeholders and maintaining them takes effort, time and a well thought out action plan. Below are six tips you can use both to build and maintain healthy stakeholder relationships. 1. Actively build strong relationships from the start You know what you would like to achieve, and you know what it will take to achieve that vision. Share this vision with your stakeholders on a more regular basis than you typically would. Don’t wait for structured meetings, use every opportunity you have with them to get them on the same page. [adsanity align=’alignnone’ id=144658] 2. Involve your stakeholders Yes, it may be your vision but remember its execution and success depends on how enthusiastic your stakeholders are. Ask for their advice. A very powerful question you can ask is, “How can we best serve you…?” the answer is forward looking and guess what, you have a real chance of doing what is asked. 3. Schedule periodic touch-base sessions We sometimes underestimate the importance of staying top of mind, especially where clients are concerned. To support the first tip of actively building strong relationships outside structure, have a structure built in as well. Regular meetings keep you and your stakeholders on the same page and this means you are able to pick up on potential challenges before they even arise. [mailerlite_form form_id=14] 4. Keep your word Do you deliver on your promises? When you say you will call back, do you call back? When you say you will have something important finished by a particular time, do you do it? If you want to build lasting stakeholder relationships, do what you said you would do. Remember it is about your integrity, your trustworthiness and the respect you have for yourself and the other person. 5. Have an open mind When you are after win-win relationships, understand that the job of the other party is not to feed your ego. They will have contradictory opinions, they will say things you don’t like, accept that. It is actually a good thing because the last thing you want is to surround yourself with ‘ego feeders’ who don’t help you grow. Always have the big picture in mind and listen to suggestions, thank people for their inputs and genuinely consider what they have to say. 6. Address issues as and when they arise There is nothing worse than hearing about a ‘transgression’ months after the said event took place. Not only may you have forgotten about it, but also the fact that the other person brings it up says a lot. In keeping with positive relationship building with all your stakeholders, make sure you are open and transparent. If something is bothering you, talk about it and clear the air. When you approach all your stakeholder relationships with the view to continuously improve them, the other party will know it and this will set the bar on how they respond to you. In business, you need more allies and champions than adversaries. For your vision to be realised, you must constantly work on your relationships.
The Art of loyalty: How to build brand love and engagement with content marketing
[bctt tweet=”Few people are loyal to brands, here’s how to get people to love yours with content marketing” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] What brand of seasoning cube was in your home growing up? Right now, if you took a random survey, odds are your respondents will tell you they saw only one brand of seasoning cube. When I surveyed my colleagues -mostly 90s kids- the results match up. Most remember seeing only just the Maggi seasoning cubes or the Knorr seasoning cubes. It used to be that people were faithful to brands because they have a history with their products and services. They bought only one brand of cars; one brand of toiletries or picked groceries from only one store. Lots of factors are responsible for this loyalty; top on the list being limited choices. But that’s beyond the scope of this article. The point simply is that people are buying differently than they did in the 90s or as early as the turn of the millennium. These days, few people are loyal to brands. According to Accenture, only 28% of customers are loyal to brands. When one considers that it costs up to 25x more to acquire new customers than it does to keep one, this trend provides a unique challenge for business owners. For small businesses, the way to level the playing field with tough deep-pocket competition is to build brand loyalty. Customers will return to you come rain or shine when your brand inspires loyalty. How do you solve this problem as a small business? Enter content marketing. Engaging positively and consistently with customers along their different purchase journeys will nurture brand loyalty. This is most true for millennials; 62% of whom feel that online content drives their loyalty to a brand. Triggering loyalty might just be the core of content marketing. What is content marketing? “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action,” – Content Marketing Institute. If you received an e-mail update from your spin class instructor this morning, you’ve been exposed to a form of content marketing. If you’ve read a guide on “how to make Bantu Knots when your hair is only two inches long” – that’s content marketing. Combined with a top-class customer service, content marketing will create a community of rabid fans around your brand. [bctt tweet=”Customers will return to you come rain or shine when your brand inspires loyalty” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] How do you begin? The first step is to outline your typical customer journey. There are many frameworks that explain the process from consumers’ awareness of your brand to transactional engagement with it. My favourite is Google’s “See, Think, Do, Care” framework. Understating this funnel helps you shape your message for the right customer in the right context. If you had a business selling lactation cookies, your communication at the “See” stage is to “all pregnant women.” At the “Think” stage, your communication is to “pregnant women or new mothers who are unable to lactate naturally.” At the “Do” stage, your communication is to “New mothers who want to buy lactation cookies right now”. Finally, at the “Care” stage, your communication is to “new mothers who bought and are taking lactation cookies from me.” At the last stage of the process, the goal is primarily to build loyalty. But nevermind this, elements that build loyalty should be baked into content at every stage. Shared value To consistently infuse brand loyalty triggers in your content is to develop and share content that is useful and conveys shared value. Shared value is about focusing more on people and their beliefs and less on your product. The focus on the product is why many contents from brands are ignored. According to a Corporate executive Board (CeB) study published in 2012, most consumers say that they were loyal “not to companies, but to beliefs.” From the text on your landing page to the call-to-actions on your ebook, your beliefs (and that of your audience) should shine through. [bctt tweet=”Content that engenders loyalty is more than a blog post, find out more here” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] The types of content that engender loyalty Content that engenders loyalty is more than a blog post. Although those play a big role, loyalty-driven content marketing is driven by a deeper understanding of your customer motivations, their engagement behaviors, and your company goals. Some of the short examples I will proceed to share may not fit snugly with your brand, but you can deploy them based on your specific needs. 1. Culture blogs Culture blogs reveal the safe internal conversations of a company. For our example with our lactation cookie company, a culture blog could be “Why we keep our cookie cutter in the top drawer” or “What our new teammates taught us about cookie counting.” Or consider this super-honest culture blog from Buffer; “What We Got Wrong About Self-Management: Embracing Natural Hierarchy at Work.” The core idea of culture blogs is to put the culture, beliefs and thought processes of your company on full display. Culture blogs (like all other content types) can be deployed at every level of the customer journey but are suited for the “See” and “Think” stages. 2. Newsletters Newsletters are one of the most profitable pillars of content marketing. Emails have been known to provide an overall higher conversion rate when compared to other content channels. They can often provide functional purposes along every level of the consumer journey. You can use them to share product updates or nurture your leads. How ever you use them, ensure that you are helpful. 3. Product marketing kits What series of content will help your consumer live better, do their jobs better or increase their preferred variable of customer success? Combine them into one big digital folder (or ebook) and share with your audience. These kits are more instructional than sales-y. They have high production value
10 tips for excellent customer service
[bctt tweet=”Customer care can make or break a business, here are 10 tips to win at customer service” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Do you remember the last time you had an unpleasant experience with a service or product? Of course, you do. As paying customers, we’re looking to get value for our money. Yet we may find that at times the service or product fails to live up to the sales pitch. Perhaps the company does not answer emails or phone calls, the staff is clueless and disinterested, or you are given the run around when you called to report a problem. It does not matter how low your prices are, if the customer service is poor you will still lose out on repeat business. When you have outstanding customer service; happy customers are more than willing to pay for quality and a pleasant experience! Excellent customer service is what will set your businesses apart and improve your sales figures. Here is how to improve customer service for your hustle. Get your staff trained It is important to ensure that your staff members are trained in how to interact with customers and how to solve problems in a professional manner. You may want to train your employees on the following; Greeting and interacting with customers Answering the phone Staying calm in a crisis Managing emotions in a difficult situation Solving problems in a professional manner. Capitalise in effective and reliable training tools and on-going refresher courses. When staff members are properly trained, they feel empowered and motivated to serve to the best of their ability. Create a welcoming environment Companies who create a personalised service not only attract new customers but are able to retain their customer base. Invest in friendly, patient and courteous staff. Sometimes it’s the little things that matter such as offering a cold glass of water on a hot day, comfortable seating in the waiting area or a children’s area with toys for example can go a long way towards winning them over. In order to make lasting connections with customers, it is very important that the staff exude an authentic personable feel as opposed to animated robotic performances which may come out as fake or acting and put off the customer. Know your products/services It is important that the staff know your products and services in and out, how they work and how they benefit the customer. Be aware of the most common questions customers ask, and know how to articulate the answers that will leave them satisfied. Keep your points clear, simple and leave nothing to doubt. This way you will also be in a position to assist them when they run into problems. Persuasion skills are also valuable in excellent customer service. This is the ability to convince interested customers that your products are right for them. It is also important to honour your commitments, do what you say you will do, for example if you offer a guarantee then you must honour it. A sure-fire way to ruin your relationship with a client is to go back on your word. Polish your internal organisational systems Set clear goals and expectations so there are no misunderstandings, regularly communicate with your staff and find out what challenges they experience. Rectify problems and maximise on your strengths. Have a clearly defined and uniform company culture. An organisation that is disjointed and at loggerheads with itself will soon show its cracks to the outsider and can never succeed. All involved must pull together to one direction. It is crucial to have a well-defined organisational structure for communication and decision-making purposes. [bctt tweet=”Build trust by focusing on customer relationships and not sales” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Know your customers Know your target market very well; what they look for in a product and what their buying habits are. This will put you in a great position to not only match their needs but exceed their expectations! Build trust by focusing on customer relationships and not sales. Think long term when dealing with customers. By keeping customers happy, they will be loyal and through word of mouth, will do the marketing for you. It is also very important to be able to read your customers, whether face to face, via email or over the phone. Apart from what the customer is saying out loud, some basic understanding of behavioural psychology helps you to look and listen for subtle clues about their non-verbal communication, what they are not saying, their current mood, patience level, personality etc. This will go far in keeping your customer interactions positive and fruitful. Get customer feedback and solve problems Remember the customer is always right. Invest in easy and swift communication channels such as a suggestion box, customer surveys and feedback forms. Besides asking them directly, you can do this by putting a suggestion box, customer surveys, feedback forms where customers can report back about your service and offer suggestions. Offer many different ways for your customers to contact you: like phone, email, and your business’s social media pages. Also ensure management is easily accessible and reachable to resolve any matters when the need arise. Use the feedback to create a better experience and improved service. Use social media wisely Capitalise in well run platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where you can post about your current specials, discounts and new products around the clock. As much as social media can build your brand, posting recklessly can easily tarnish your image. Engage with customers responsibly, with great diplomacy and prudence. In the event of any complaint whether received publicly or privately, acknowledge the problem, apologize, even if you think you’re right, accept responsibility, adjust the situation with a negotiation to fix the problem and assure the customer that you will follow through. Your customers will appreciate this! [bctt tweet=”Treat employees as you would treat your customers & more tips to improve customer service” via=”no”] Look after your staff Treat employees as you would treat your customers. Employees take on
Top-level website changes that will turbocharge your business SEO
[bctt tweet=”Every business needs an SEO strategy, why not share with changing how your website looks” via=”no”] Every business that will grow beyond the street corner needs an SEO strategy; a way for it to get found online. Why? Because online is where 67% of Nigerian buyers start their purchase journey [PDF]. So, your SEO and profitability are not only equally important, they also go hand in hand. What is SEO again? Why do you need it? If you can’t answer these questions, eead Uche Offokoja’s SEO primer; “Is your business ready for SEO?” to get a quick refresher. __ It’s impossible to cover the nuances of SEO in a 1000-word article. If we are being honest, 10,000 words, and we’d only be halfway there. What you’ll read in this article are fundamental aspects of your website you can improve to start ranking on Google, getting seen by your consumers and making more sales. Start with a website audit The first step to creating an SEO strategy is your website audit. Doing this lets you know the specific elements of your website to improve. A professional SEO service will provide a more in-depth outlook for your website complete with SEO competitive analysis, wireframe recommendations plus a search audit. But a great way to do this on a shoestring budget is to use the SEMRush tool. It’s a free tool that will give you an interactive snapshot of your current SEO efforts; your top organic keywords and their positions, what other sites are competing for your position, backlinks and more. A basic audit of one of my favourite websites; Copyblogger.com, returned this: (All traffic to copyblogger is organic and the leading keyword is “how to write an article.” The data points are interactive and you can dig further down to extract more insights). These insights are useful for your content strategy (more on this later) and possible website upgrades to improve usability. Optimize your site for mobile As an extension of your website audit, examine how you are doing on mobile. Google ranks mobile-optimized websites higher in SERPs (search engine results pages). But more important is the implication of this on your visitors. More than 55% of all searches now come from mobile, and if your consumers can’t use your site on mobile, they won’t stick around. To get a good sense of how your website does on mobile, use Varvy. (Copyblogger.com is optimized for mobile, although the site latency on mobile needs to be optimized.) The relationship between brands and customers is not an equal one. Customers have the leverage and you have to be there for them as they navigate their social and transactional realities. To do that is to be available on their mobile phones where they spend a third of their waking lives. I’ll leave Tom Fisbourne of Marketoon to drive the point home; “A well-loved brand that isn’t optimized for mobile may not be well-loved for long.” Speak to your developer about responsive website design to improve your mobile-optimization. Tweet: When last did you do a website audit? Never? Find out why you need one here Develop a content strategy The number of visitors to your page and how long they stay (their dwell time) also affect your ranking. Useful content with high production values is one of the most effective ways to attract and keep traffic on your website. A content strategy doesn’t mean you start a podcast, a webinar and an email autoresponder series at the same time. Start with blogging… Companies with blogs have 97% more inbound links (Source) B2B marketers using blogs generate 67% more leads (Source) Small business with blogs generate 126% more leads (Source) Start your content strategy with keyword research. This helps you figure out real questions and ideas that matter to your consumers. The Google Keyword Planner or the SEMRush tool will come in handy here. Some general ideas for your content strategy: – Develop content for humans and make your content helpful. – Your content strategy should include your content matrix, content calendar and an operational calendar. – Annotate your content with header tags, add outbound links, make your content readable (avoid walls of text), use alt texts for your images, and compress image sizes to reduce latency. – Finally, distribute your content. Suss out a robust distribution strategy that will ensure your content reaches your desired audience. You could, for instance, start sending weekly email to your list or create a social sharing strategy. Are you using popups? Pop-ups: online forms that keep you away from your heart’s desires. Only a few people are a fan. That’s why Google is cracking down on websites that have pop-ups. Such websites rank lower in search engine results pages. Speak with your developer to remove any pop-ups on your website and explore alternative lead-generation elements, including stationary banner ads, stationary sidebar ads, behavior-driven pop-ups or notification style ads. The idea is not to get rid of lead-generation, but to present decent usability. Improve your site architecture Finally, how easy is it to navigate your website? When visitors can’t find what they want on your website, they often leave right away; leading to high bounce rate, leading to low ranking on Google. As a general rule; your website should not take more than four clicks to get to the deepest level. LIke this: The fact is; site architecture is not only great for usability, it makes it easier for search engine bots to crawl and index your website. While SEO is not the goal in itself (sales and profitability are), you’ll often need SEO to get you there. The ideas here will get you right on your way. — This article was written by Gbenga Onalaja. Gbenga is a Content Strategist at Wild Fusion, Wild Fusion is Africa’s leading Digital Marketing Agency.