Friday, January 28, 2022

StartupNation

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Looking to Boost Sales? Adopt These Top 5 Marketing Tips

Posted: 27 Jan 2022 09:00 PM PST

marketing

As we embark on a new year, developing efficient marketing strategies to drive sales is crucial for your business' growth. Although consumer buying habits changed significantly over the past 18 months, new tools and approaches also emerged to address those changes in behavior and conquer new and existing challenges.

Starting the year off strong will dictate the future of your sales and overall success. Here are five marketing strategies to help engage your customers and boost your sales.

21 Ways to Grow Your Business Online

Connect through promotions

Nothing catches a potential customer's eye more than a promotion, a sale or a good deal on a product or service – especially on a product they've already been eyeing. A successful promotion will not only increase your average order value but also help attract new customers, helping your business grow. This is why it's important to determine the best type of promotion to help you reach your targets and goals.

  • Buy one, get one free: This promotion is extra helpful when moving inventory. It gives the customer the feeling that they're getting 100% off a product instead of both products at 50% off. To ensure success with new customers and lead to a sale, make sure your offer is easily accessible and caters to your audience's needs.
  • Percentage discounts: This type of offer is increasingly popular, often representing an 8.6% conversion rate. New and existing customers are more likely to complete a purchase with discounts on specific products or storewide.
  • Dollar discounts: This type of promotion often outperforms percentage discounts. This is because it doesn't require much thought from the customer, so the value is instantly perceived.
  • Category discounts: If you're targeting a specific audience, offering category or specific product discounts can position your brand in your customer's top of mind, helping you move closer to a sale.
  • New product launch discounts: Early bird or new product discounts gives your offer a sense of exclusivity because you're allowing your customers to preorder a new product.

Capture customer information

When receiving new visitors on your site or store, they aren't necessarily ready to purchase right away. As a business, the smartest thing to do is to capture valuable customer data for online and offline interactions.

Tools for small businesses such as Square allow companies to store a consumer's purchase history and contact information. In this increasing digitization era, business owners need basic data aside from email addresses to engage and start a meaningful conversation with potential customers. A client's phone number can allow companies to directly communicate with consumers and make sure their message gets across.

After identifying the best communication channel to start a conversation with your customers, you can use this valuable customer data to start building a community of loyal consumers. A valued and special customer is more likely to return, proving that valuable promotions are more effective than mass and generic promotions.

The Top 5 Data-Driven Marketing Strategies for Conversions

Implement higher performing channels

The increasing digital adoption in enterprises and users worldwide has pushed businesses to seek new channels to communicate directly and consequently sell to their existing and potential customers. One clear example is social media platforms, where salespeople and marketers apply social selling, a strategy to build brand awareness and start a conversation with target buyers. Although target audiences vary from business to business, it's necessary to assess which channels trigger a response to start building effective communication with your target audience.

To do this, you must find the best channel to help your message stand out against the massive notifications and emails. An effective way to achieve this is through SMS marketing, with a nearly 98% open rate, sure to directly connect with your customers and drive incremental sales. What was once a strategy used by larger companies is now available for small and small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs), representing a cost-effective and more impactful way to communicate with your audience.

Personalize offers and content

One step is to deliver your message via an effective communication channel such as SMS marketing; connecting and getting your target to complete a call-to-action is a whole different feat. This is why gathering valuable consumer data such as purchase behavior is critical to help tailor your message and content. This holistic approach represents a unique and exclusive offer to your customers, tempting them to complete a purchase.

Personalize your deals to make your customers feel more intimate with your offering. For example, if you notice your customer often orders a latte at 9 a.m., you can send a text to remind them to order their coffee the next morning and offer a discount code. The more personalization, the more they'll respond in the future.

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Integrate online and offline shopping

According to a recent study conducted by The Morning Brew, 43% of respondents state that they'll most likely shop in-person post-pandemic. This represents an opportunity for small-to-medium businesses SMBs to bridge the gap between e-commerce and physical retail, offering a practical, safe and easy customer shopping experience.

As consumers slowly start trickling back to stores, you can offer the option to continue to make purchases online and still come to the store if they wish. One way to do this is by providing an online shop and in-store pickup policy or offering promo codes redeemable in both online and physical stores. The ultimate goal is to make the shopping experience as seamless as possible and ensure a sale.

The digital transformation is here to stay, and businesses need to seek valuable data and resources to build on resilience and drive greater revenue to remain competitive. Retailers are no exception to this challenge and must leverage personalization and effective communication strategies to build meaningful relationships with their customers. Whether it's strategically applying individual promotions or communicating through different channels, the tips above are sure to help get a strong head start and boost your sales.

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The post Looking to Boost Sales? Adopt These Top 5 Marketing Tips appeared first on StartupNation.

5 Lessons This Entrepreneur Learned Building a Side Hustle

Posted: 27 Jan 2022 09:00 PM PST

side hustle

Like many entrepreneurs, I knew I wanted to run my own company from early on. I received an MBA, then spent several years in management consulting, which helped me learn how top executives think, what works in strategy and how to run a business. I planned to use this experience to seize future entrepreneurship opportunities, but I also dabbled in entrepreneurship along the way and actually helped start a company while I was still in grad school.

I quickly discovered starting and scaling a company isn't easy. As I looked for ways to further my knowledge and create impact at greater scale, I left my startup to take a job at CVS Health, which continues to be a great opportunity. In this role, I can build programs and products that I am passionate about with the resources and scale of a major corporation. So now, I'm at a period in my life where I am working a full-time job and building a company on the side.

As one of the largest healthcare companies in the country, working with CVS has helped me gain a deep understanding of the U.S. healthcare industry and especially the great challenge posed by high rates of chronic disease, including diabetes, heart disease and metabolic syndrome.

While striving to improve the healthcare system at work, I was becoming personally interested in and practicing intermittent fasting to improve my own health at home. The more I experimented with fasting and learned about its potential to address some of the greatest problems associated with chronic disease, the more I realized that it was the entrepreneurial breakthrough I was looking for.

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Taking the work home

My 15 years of experience in the corporate world and time running my previous startup taught me what it takes to launch good products and services, and the challenges associated with getting people to adopt new ways of life.

Specifically, it takes a large investment to educate, market and sell to people in order to change behavior. Unlike medications or dietary supplements that often require deep pockets for marketing, intermittent fasting requires no products. While great because you can do it for free, it also means no commercial engine can help to drive adoption.

One day my wife introduced me to a product that was designed to help with fasting. I tried the product and realized that products could improve the fasting experience, but these particular products didn't align with the science that makes fasting work. I soon started experimenting with different types of supplements and diet products to help people find success with intermittent fasting. This led me down a deep rabbit hole of science as it relates to health and personal wellness. I knew I could engineer a better diet product as I toiled away on the project on the weekends.

I started talking about these new fasting products and the benefits of intermittent fasting with friends, family and former colleagues to see what they thought of the idea. The results spoke for themselves. I was shedding pounds and looking healthier than ever. Interest in the business quickly grew as I began touting the success of fasting. That's how I knew it was time to officially launch Fastwell.

What I learned from my side hustle

Starting Fastwell and essentially becoming an entrepreneur on the side hasn't been easy, and I have learned quite a few lessons along the way. Following are the top five that I hope will help all the people who are side hustle entrepreneurs, just like me.

Experience saves you time

Having prior experience working in major corporations and with a previous startup really helped. It saved me time, as I didn't have to learn a completely new area or the basics of starting a company – including raising money, structuring the entity and finding and incentivizing the right partners.

Build the right team and delegate

As a side hustler, I am not concerned about owning or controlling 100 percent of the Fastwell brand. In fact, it's essential that I can share responsibilities, and the potential profits, with a few key partners. Their skills and support are critical to getting this company off the ground. Everyone on the Fastwell team is in a position to work for free in their spare time, so the team also isn't as concerned about short-term profits as they are in seeing the idea reach its full potential.

Use your own capital, if you can

Having a full-time job means a having a good paycheck, which allowed me to use my savings to get things started, rather than depending on investors who are usually hesitant to hand over money until they see some traction.

Through personal funding, the Fastwell team has been able to develop the brand and generate results before reaching out to investors. Plus, having a full-time job has given me the financial security to start a company without having to worry about how to support a family.

Passion drives motivation

Part of the motivation to start Fastwell was my own personal experience and passion for the product. Everyone on our team has come together with our own personal experiences of how fasting has helped us personally. The observation that fasting is a low-cost and natural way to address chronic disease is my strongest motivator to work late hours and on weekends to make fasting more accessible and easier for all.

Be smart with your time

Working full time and starting a business in my off hours has taught me how to be more judicious with my time. As a team, we are extremely selective when taking on projects and pursuing ideas.

This has also driven how we think about our business model. Fastwell is a direct-to-consumer product business, which allows a high degree of automation and outsourcing. Other business models such as health services and B2B products are incredibly operations and sales intensive, which requires a much greater investment of time. So, it's important that your business model is well suited for the side hustle.

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What's next

It has been a long, interesting journey, but thanks to my experiences in the corporate world and the support and passion of my team, my company has continued to grow and help people successfully adopt an intermittent fasting lifestyle.

Being an entrepreneur on the side is not just possible, it's my way of life.

Originally published July 17, 2020.

The post 5 Lessons This Entrepreneur Learned Building a Side Hustle appeared first on StartupNation.

Entrepreneurial Spirit Drives a Mission to Connect People With Popongo

Posted: 27 Jan 2022 09:00 PM PST

America truly is the land of opportunity, especially to people who grow up in third world countries and fight adversity every day while seeking to create a better life for themselves and their loved ones.

Creating Popongo was one such opportunity, a chance to challenge myself as well as fill a need and connect  people.

As a Jamaican native, I dreamed of going to America to do something meaningful with my life. So, I traveled to West Yorkshire, England, to acquire an education then went back to Jamaica to start my professional career. I later moved to Denver, Colorado, and have worked in the world of banking and real estate as a partner and co-CEO of a company called Legacy Management Group since 2004. In this role, I spearhead a program that helps veterans and community heroes like teachers, police, firefighters, medical professionals and social workers acquire housing.

I was honored to come to America to pursue my business goals and kick-start a successful career. It is a privilege to help people in need secure opportunities for a better quality of life for themselves and their families. Since relocating to America, I have independently invested in several other business ventures outside of my full-time job. I am constantly looking for new opportunities to challenge myself and make an impact on people's lives. Popongo is my newest and most fun venture so far, which I successfully launched during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Fulfilling a need – creativity spurs inspiration

During COVID-19, we all found ourselves looking for ways to fill the day. When social distancing became acceptable, some friends and I got together for a backyard barbecue. I brought the most popular outdoor game on the market, and we did not play it for very long. It was relatively boring because we did not find it to be very challenging. The next day, I looked at other lawn games and quickly realized there were not many appealing options available. I decided to challenge my creativity and figure out a new game that would appeal to the masses. I was on a mission to develop a game that would be exciting, challenging and engaging – a game that was just as fun to watch as it was to play.

Popongo was born.

The development of Popongo and a celebration of culture

The development of Popongo was slow and methodical and took months. Figuring out how the game would look and the logistics of how people would play it was a long and slow process, but it was so much fun as it came together bit by bit.

How the game works: Players take turns tossing foam balls into multicolored cups that have different point values. The goal is to collect as many points as possible and be the first to get to the winning score that was set at the beginning of the game. If you're ahead, stay focused because your opponent can sink a great shot and take over the game at any given time. Popongo is a game where anyone can win no matter how often or little you have played.

Wanting to celebrate my Jamaican culture (my beautiful, proud people), our Caribbean neighbors and our African roots, I made a meaningful decision to incorporate color representations into the design of the game. The Jamaican flag is black for the people, yellow for our golden sunshine and green for our amazing, luscious vegetation. The red represents our African roots and the blue our beautiful blue waters and skies that we share with our Caribbean neighbors.

It is an amazing feeling knowing that fellow Jamaicans can share my pride in our culture and celebrate it by playing this game I invented. My dream is for Popongo to become an entertainment staple in homes throughout the world. My main mission for the game is to connect people and provide opportunities to create meaningful memories.

They say that innovation is born out of necessity, and I couldn't agree more. As a businessman in the corporate world, I'd never spent much time inventing something for the sole purpose of entertainment. But what I learned quickly was that the principles that exist in my world are the same principles that exist in the gaming world—personalization and community are key for success.

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Building relationships and enhancing a sense of community

Trust is the backbone of every consumer decision, no matter the product or the sector. The way to make sure that your community can trust you is by showing up. Not just when you need something or want to make a sale, but all the time. Let customers see you as a person, not just a business owner, and they're much more likely to buy or refer others to you.

Living in Denver, there's no shortage of community events. From the farmers market to the Juneteenth Music Festival, I've made it a priority to show up as a community member and as a Popongo advocate. When the nearby school hosted a free haircut and back-to-school supplies event, Popongo boards were there to entertain the kids. It's not about sales; it's about relationships. Getting to know the community and letting the community get to know me is the only way I can hope for success.

A study by Annex Cloud found that 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know. The importance of community is higher than ever for business success. If you're looking for a quick way to scale your business, start by building relationships with those you see at the grocery store or at the next high school sports game. There's no magic formula. It's just about reaching out a hand and becoming someone that everyone can trust.

What it takes to succeed from the entrepreneurial perspective

The success of ventures like Popongo is a direct result of hard work and tireless dedication. I achieve my goals with determination, as well as with the support of the people I actively build relationships with over the years.

To be successful, I recommend:

  • Setting goals and vigorously working toward achieving them.
  • Networking with fellow entrepreneurs and like-minded people.
  • Playing an active and engaging role in your community.
  • Building and maintaining relationships with people who positively impact your life and have the capability of supporting your dreams and goals.
  • Constantly challenging yourself to see what you are capable of and exercising creativity as you strive to fulfill needs and find solutions.
  • Always show respect to everyone whoever they are – an associate businessperson or the person who delivers your mail. My mom always said, “It is not a visa that gets you through this world, son, it is good manners."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said, "Heights by great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night." This quote resonates with me because I learned at a very young age that nothing in life – nothing amazing in life – comes with ease. We are responsible for the effort we put into both our successes and our failures.

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The post Entrepreneurial Spirit Drives a Mission to Connect People With Popongo appeared first on StartupNation.

Work Smarter Not Harder With These Tech Upgrades: Watch the Dell Webinar

Posted: 27 Jan 2022 12:57 PM PST

If you missed our webinar with Dell Technologies on hardware that won’t hold your business back, it’s not too late to learn what upgrades you need for optimal efficiency and cybersecurity.

Watch the webinar with Dell complex solutions specialist Katy Drozd to learn more about Enterprise IT products and how they can improve and protect your business:

For more on beefing up your cybersecurity, check out this episode of TechBytes.

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The post Work Smarter Not Harder With These Tech Upgrades: Watch the Dell Webinar appeared first on StartupNation.
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