3 e-commerce options to boost your passive incomes

As an open-minded e-commerce entrepreneur, you must have thought of increasing your passive income. The desire for more money, flexibility, and freedom, must have driven you into exploring new, viable models to build more income. Unfortunately, with the influx of numerous passive income ideas, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for online traders to pinpoint the best.

The truth is; no one would hate a model that churns out a steady income without the need for active ongoing work or constant involvement. However, getting a passive income model up and running is a lot more complicated than you might think. So, when you finally decide to take action, it would be nice to pursue the most straightforward models first.

This article will help you establish innovative systems that deliver passive income into your account with reasonably low effort. Our experts have done rigorous research and found drop-shipping, white labelling, and wholesaling/warehousing to be the easiest e-commerce ideas for passive income.

Let’s get started!

What is passive income

Before we delve into the details of the three passive income ideas, let’s first understand what passive income is.

Passive income is the income you earn without inputting a lot of active work or involvement. Colloquially, passive income is used to define the profit gained with a minimal contribution via a range of ventures that necessitate little daily effort on the entrepreneur’s part.

Passive income is great because it takes the pressure off other income streams. It enables you to maintain a steady income flow even when operating a business with high and low seasons. Even better, earning passive income frees up more time and allows you to engage in more fulfilling ventures.

The major proponents of generating passive income are customary of be-your-own-boss and work-from-home professional lifestyles.  However, it’s good to note that there is no magic to earning passive income. Most of the passive income ideas require a lot of upfront work to deliver desirable results.

Drop-shipping

If you have been keen on the current e-commerce trends, you have probably come across the term dropshipping.  While the concept is relatively as old as the 1950s, the term drop shipping is entirely new. With the proliferation of modern e-commerce sites, drop shipping, which was considered tactical expediency, is slowly becoming a common denominator.

So what is drop shipping, and how can it boost your passive income?

Dropshipping is a unique, cost-cutting retail fulfilment model which enables a business to operate without owning a warehouse, maintaining inventory, or shipping products to the end-users themselves. It is an innovative business model where a retailer partners with a manufacturer, wholesaler, or warehousing distributor.

The role of the dropshippee or the retailer is to procure sales. On the other hand, the manufacture or warehousing distributor is mandated to package the products and ship them directly to the end-user. For the e-commerce sites, dropshipping is primarily a hands-off process where the merchant never handles or sees the product being shipped to the retail consumer.

For starter, breaking into the drop shipping scenes can be a daunting process, but when done right, the benefits are mammoth. One of the salient benefits is that dropshipping is easy to start. It requires no prior business expertise or experience; you only need to understand the basics to get the business up and running. You will learn the rest along the way.

Additionally, dropshipping doesn’t require a huge upfront investment. The entire model requires so little, and it’s easy to run the business right from your PC or laptop. Once you get the business going, the whole process becomes completely hands-off and only requires little effort from you. You don’t have to spend a lot of hours every day running your business; everything happens on autopilot.

Even better, dropshipping is flexible. It is an intriguing business model that allows you to stipulate your own rules and be your own boss. It gives you the freedom to work from any place – home, restaurant, and even when on the move. The opportunity to work at the most convenient times makes dropshipping an ideally perfect idea for the busy entrepreneurs.

On the flip side, dropshipping has its drawbacks. For example, with the model, the manufacturer or the supplier is in complete control of the fulfilment and shipping process. This presents several risks, including:

  • It easy to sell a product that is out of stock since you are not maintaining inventory.
  • When dealing with multiple suppliers, order processing can be complicated.
  • Customer service becomes more challenging.
  • Initially, dropshipping offer slim margins.

White labelling

Amidst the increasing competition in e-commerce today, entrepreneurs are coming up with unique ideas to gain a competitive edge and enhance passive income. White labelling has emerged as a favourite for many entrepreneurs in the e-commerce space.

So what is white labelling?

White labelling is an interesting business arrangement where a business is legally permitted to place its brand name on a product designed and developed by a third-party manufacturer. The prospect of having your brand’s name on a product you didn’t manufacture can be irresistibly endearing. This is because it enables you to distribute and sell top-notch products that you spent no time or money designing and developing.

White labelling is legally permissible, but the parties abide by the pact in anonymity. The idea is to guard the integrity of the intermediary and ensure no retail consumer suspects that one manufacturer develops alternative products.

White labelling is not a new idea in the commerce world, but recently, it has gained widespread popularity thanks to its benefits. The concept has been extensively adopted throughout most industries, from business marketing to food services. White labelling enables you to stand on the shoulders of well-versed manufacturers and provide your customers with high-quality products while maintaining a high ROI.

So, how does white labelling work?

First, white labelling is an arrangement that involves two parties; the original manufacturer and intermediary brand. Under the white labelling agreement, the manufacturer undertakes to produce massive quantities of a commodity. The intermediary or the reseller buys the product from the manufacturer and repackages them.

White labelling is beneficial to both the reseller and the manufacturer. The manufacturer gets the opportunity to instantly sell massive quantities of products to the intermediary at a subsidized price. This means the manufacturer can recoup the investment quickly. On the other hand, when the reseller repackages and rebrands the products, he enhances the product’s value and sells the goods at a profit, while avoiding the hassles and cost of manufacturing.

As the reseller, white labelling can be a great time-saving tool to boost your distribution and enhance your income. The proliferation of this idea is quite evident, and if you have been keen when shopping, you may have noticed products being sold under the store’s own brand. In the e-commerce scenes, white labelling is becoming rampant because it requires few resources, and it is easy to implement.

With white labelling, it’s easy to build a reputable brand and maintain strong relationships with your customers. The arrangement can also be used as a channel to enhance brand visibility on a competitive market. White labelling is particularly rife in the digital market space, where one party handles the backend tasks while the independent agency accomplishes the marketing bit.  You can boost your passive income by white labelling digital products such as software, downloads, prints, courses, and more.

Wholesaling and warehousing

Last but not least, you can boost your passive income through wholesaling and warehousing. The e-commerce industry and B2B market are growing fast. This means the B2B e-commerce is becoming huge and is showing no signs of cooling off.

Savvy e-commerce entrepreneurs have spotted the opportunity, hence the advent of e-commerce wholesaling and warehousing concepts. In recent years, wholesale e-commerce has outwitted manual ordering, and the trend is creating massive opportunities for forward-looking entrepreneurs. Reputable industry player such as Amazon and Alibaba have clearly shown that B2B e-commerce is not a fad, but a phenomenal shift in the future of business.

So how can wholesaling and warehousing boost passive income?

With the B2B business model, you buy products in massive quantities, instead of one-off purchase associated with drop shipping. This means you get incredible pricing for the goods. The model gives you an option to sell directly to consumers for better margins or sell in bulk to businesses for lower margins.

The major disadvantage of this model is that it requires massive upfront effort and investments. This because you need the financial muscles to purchase goods in bulk, house them, and sell them to suppliers, distributor, or directly to consumers.

Final Thoughts

Whether you have a steady paycheck, having a side hassle can be an excellent way to earn financial freedom. In the modern business world, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a model that can deliver passive income more constantly. The ideas we have discussed above are the best for e-commerce entrepreneurs looking to boost their income.

Dropshipping is highly recommended for beginners since it is easy to start and doesn’t require massive upfront investments. On the other hand, white labelling is an incredible business model to enhance your income stream, but might it requires a huge upfront investment.

Besides, wholesaling and warehousing are good, but are not meant for beginners. The ideas are beneficial but require a lot of upfront effort and financial resources. However, when the models break even, they can be a reliable source of passive income.

5 strategies to customize your upsells and crosssells

Introduction

The truth is; finding new customers can be a daunting task. Indeed, if you have been in eCommerce for long, you may have noticed that it is stress-free and affordable to retain an existing buyer than it is to acquire a new one. Estimates suggest that acquiring a new customer is 5 to 25 times more expensive than keeping existing ones.

It’s surprising then how online store owners allocate big chunks of their budget towards customer acquisition over retention. As a savvy business person, the smartest decision you can make is to prioritize increasing the average customer order and lifetime value.

So, how can you attain this?

This can be achieved via up-selling or cross-selling. Up-selling/cross-selling can empower you to increase revenue regardless of your industry. The strategies empower you in two primary ways; make more sales and increase existing customers spends.

What is Up-selling and Cross-selling?

Your loyal customers are willing to buy more from you; all you need to ensure is to push more intelligently. In 2006, Amazon recorded exceptional profits, and the company reported that 35% of its revenues were directly obtained through cross-selling. So what is cross-selling?

  • What is cross-selling:

Cross-selling is defined as a solid sales strategy used to drive increased sales by proposing complementary or related products to the one the customer has committed to buy. It is a tactic used to encourage customers to purchase anything in combination with the primary product.

For example, if a customer offers to purchase a printer, it would be cross-selling to propose the purchase of printing papers. Cross-selling should be structured to improve the shopping experience. As a result, the products and services you recommend to the customer should add more value to the initial purchase.

  • What is up-selling?

On the other hand, up-selling is an effective sales tactic used to encourage the customer to purchase an upgraded or expensive version of the initial product. The idea is that, if a customer has selected a specific product, it can be stress-free to convince him/her to consider an upgraded, or marginally different option.

For example, if a customer has offered to buy sunglasses, upselling could mean proposing sunglasses with UV protection or polarized lenses. In this case, the customer may be tempted to buy the sunglasses with uniquely polarized lenses since they offer extra protection to their eyes. Given a choice, many customers go for the premium versions. This impact sales figures directly and is a vital tactic that adds value to customers and boosts the bottom line of business.

 

5 Strategies To Customize Up-sells and Cross-sells

Cross-selling and up-selling are two reliable and time-tested sales tactics that can bring unprecedented benefits. The problem is, today’s customers can easily see through the line “you may also like…..” brush the statement aside and purchase the initial product. Nowadays, it’s becoming increasingly tricky to up-sell and cross-sell. For this reason, to derive any significant benefit from these tactics, you should be smart enough.

Here are some tactics to help you customize your up-sell and cross-sell strategies:

Put Customer First

As mentioned earlier, today’s customers are intelligent and knowledgeable and can easily read your up-sell and cross-sell strategy. If you are not careful with your message, the customer will interpret your up-sell/cross-sell to be another dirty and dishonest sales tactic.

So how do you do it right?

The first thing is; put your customer first. Take Mr. Jeff Bezos, for long Amazon.com has been the archetype of cross-selling and up-selling. Mr. Bezos once said that the reason Amazon has been successful is because they put customer first.

The strategy to successful cross-selling and up-selling is understanding your customers. What do the customers want? What do they value? Understanding your customer enables you to provide suggestions that add value and improve customer experience. And, the customers will be delighted and feel sincerely thankful for the suggestions. As a result, they will most likely, purchase the initial product together with a few of your suggestions.

Be Honest

Honesty is critical when up-selling or cross-selling. To succeed in your up-sell or cross-sell strategy, you need to be transparent and upfront with your customers. Customers hate being coaxed into a sale, and anything that sounds sneaky could end up ruining the customer relationship.

The more open you are in the sales process, the more likely the customer will trust you and stick around. Be transparent about the pricing, contracts, and the benefits the customers will get from the additional products and services. Take an upfront approach and talk to your customer about the investment they need to make to enjoy the benefits.

Also, it would be nice to break down the pricing to dispel any concern the customer might have about hidden or vague charges. You should also be honest with yourself and ensure that the deal you are offering is worth the customer’s time and yours too. Do due diligence and pinpoint the benefits the customer will get, if you cannot find any clear advantage, abort the plans.

Better still, define the target customers. Understand that not every customer is the right candidate for cross-selling and up-selling.

Demonstrate Value

Once you determine how the up-sell and cross-sell options will benefit your customer, you’ve just set the ball rolling. Next, you need to demonstrate the value the product or service will bring to the customers.

Today’s customers love investing in a business that offers a justifiable proof of a possible benefit. For this reason, you need to back up your claims with tangible evidence. Even some of your loyal customers will need some convincing to trust your up-sell and cross-sell options.

So how do you demonstrate value?

One of the best ways to show the value of your up-sell is providing quick wins. If you are selling a software product, you could give the customer a free trial of the upgrade. This will give the customer a taste of the benefit they will get from the purchase. A free trial will require less effort, but it will directly demonstrate the value the customer will gain.

In addition, you can utilize testimonials, case studies, and positive reviews to show a potential customer the long-term value they will gain. Whatever the strategy you use, make sure it demonstrates the instant value the customer is likely to achieve by using the additional product or service you are proposing.

Do not overdo it

Once you launch your up-sell or cross-sell plan, avoid overdoing it. Customers don’t like being deliberately sold to. For this reason, if you bombard them with numerous up-sell and cross-sell options, you will most likely change how they perceive your brand.

The idea is to be tactful and find intelligent ways to present the up-sell and cross-sell options in tactics that improve the overall customer experience. Giving customers too many additional options is counterproductive. This is because the more offers you give the customers, the more problematic it becomes for them to decide what to buy. To succeed, focus on the most appealing and relevant 3 or 4 up-sell offers.

Most importantly, avoid proposing products or services that proliferate the customer order value by over 25%. Take this example, if the first product selected by a customer costs $75, do not suggest an upgrade or an option that costs over $100. This is a rule of thumb; it’s quite simple, but when done right, it’s effective. Up-selling below 25% boosts your chances of boosting the average customer order value.

Reward Loyalty

Last but not least, always reward loyalty. It is an amazing experience to close an up-sell and cross-sell deal. Closing the deal is the ultimate goal, but that is not the end of the process. Customers love being appreciated, and it’s your obligation to reward their loyalty.

Of course, it’s not an easy feat to convince a customer to spend extra money, on top of the amount they already spent on the primary product. On the other hand, it takes a lot of trust and loyalty for the customer to accept your consultative guidance and spend more. For this reason, your customer deserves a reward.

Take the initiative and present your customer with a reward to demonstrate your appreciation. This could mean giving the customer discount code, a gift, or sending them a thank-you note. Rewarding loyalty is a way of encouraging the customer to shop in the future. By nature, human beings are obliged to reciprocate any kind gesture. If you reward customers for shopping from your store, they will most likely return in the future.

Conclusion

In summary, here some of the things to remember when cross-selling and up-selling:

  • Communicate clearly with your customers.
  • Be proactive
  • Understand your customers and pinpoint their needs
  • Tailor you up-sell and cross-sell options to the customer needs
  • Keep innovating.

These, together with the tips we’ve highlighted in the article, should help you come up with a ground-breaking cross-selling and up-selling strategy. Remember; convincing customers to spend more on your brand should not be a daunting task. While strategising for up-selling and cross-sell can be tricky, following our tips will most likely increase your chances of success.

Always, keep finding what works best for your business and don’t shy away from taking risks. Practice makes perfect, and with time as you hone your up-sell skills, you will improve the take-up rate on your cross-selling and up-selling offers.

 

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How To Implement The Ultimate Customer Experience That Boosts Sales

Let’s face; today, customers are spoilt for choice when buying a product/service online. Just look around, innumerous e-commerce stores are offering the same products as you do. With nearly limitless options, customers have an enjoyable ride, but for businesses, it means cutthroat competition.

It’s ethically and economically fit for a business to provide topnotch products and services. However, nowadays, customers remember details of their shopping experiences far better than the quality of the product/service that they purchased. This means, how you treat your customers is more important than a marginal difference in quality or price of the product.

In fact, product quality should not be the only reason customers visit your store. The quality of the product should be a bonus of exceptional customer experience – an experience customers want to repeat and even share with their friends. Implementing an outstanding customer experience strategy increases customer satisfaction while reducing customers churn.

Even though people talk about creating great customer experiences, only a few deliver one that is unique. Creating remarkable customer experiences entails, three vital aspects which include:

Personalization

Personalization is one of the most critical aspects of exceptional customer experience. Personalization is about giving customers a dedicated experience that is unique to their needs. However, giving each customer a personalized, VIP treatment is easier said than done because businesses serve many customers and have endless product listings to offer.

To deliver personalized customer experiences, businesses must rigorously examine each customer to discover:

  • The best communication channel to engage them.
  • The customer’s interests
  • The most pressing customer’s need
  • How customer needs can be met.

You should try as much as you can to discover the characteristics of each customer. Numerous programs can help you understand your customers including Survey Monkey, HubSpot, Insightly, Google Forms, Crazy Egg, and KISSmetrics. Once you pinpoint the individual attributes, you can combine the details to engineer a model that will deliver a satisfying brand-customer relationship.

With customer characteristics at your fingertips, you can implement algorithms that use the information to recommend tailored offers for each customer. That said, you should not focus so much on your product/service offer, but more on the demands of your customers.

For example, if you are promoting the latest model of a pressure cooker, and come across Eva who is interested in an Instant Pot, you should recommend the latter even though it is not your brand’s flagship product. Suggesting a product that is in line with your customers’ expectations, results in increased customer engagement.

Amazon and Netflix are good examples of brands that have mastered the art of personalization. Consider Amazon; the company has one of the biggest e-commerce inventory and a huge customer base. To put this to perspective, Amazon has an overwhelming catalog with over 500 million product listings in the United States alone. However, regardless of the size of this e-commerce giant, Amazon is able to make personalized suggestions to every customer.

Same can be said about Netflix. With over 1,500 TV shows and over 4, 000 movies, it’s still easy for each customer to find an appealing episode on this platform. The company uses algorithms to suggest movies or TV shows that a customer may be interested in.

Do not underestimate the power of personalization as it is a critical part of customer experience.  A study report by KPMG revealed that companies that deliver tailored experiences to their customers reap benefits such as higher revenue growth, increased customer loyalty, and improved brand reputation.

Recognition

Often, many businesses concentrate on making new sales and overlook existing customers. What they forget is that existing customers can keep a business thriving and propel it to greater heights. Every customer whether new or existing should be the attention they deserve.

As you may notice, recognition spurs tremendous loyalty into the customer base and unlocks the potential for repeat businesses. Recognizing customer enhances customer experience and increases the value of future purchases.

So how can you recognize your customers?

Recognition entails following up your customers in a way that lets them know you care about the purchases they make. Follow-up is a complex process that starts once a customer makes a purchase. The process borrows a leaf from personalization, and it requires you to understand the customer’s preferences.

Here are some ways to recognize your customer:

  • Send a “thank you” note immediately after the sale. Try to find out if the customer is satisfied with the product or services you offer.
  • Reward your customer – One of the best ways of recognizing your customers is rewarding them. Create a loyalty program that provides customers with exclusive offers, gifts, and discount. Studies have shown that 58% of customers buy from brands whose loyalty program they belong to. Besides, a study by Harvard Business School established that loyal customer purchase more, and refer friends and families.
  • Remember special occasions – Another excellent way to recognize your customer is sending them personalized messages during their special event. This could mean calling them, sending an email, an SMS, or a card. Personalize the message and follow it up with a surprise gift, where possible.

 

For example, if you offer internet services to Eva, the message could be something like: “Happy birthday Eva, as you turn a year older today, XYZ celebrates you with 2GB FREE data bundles….” You do not have to spend a lump sum, be creative and come up with unique ideas that make the customer feel special.

  • Pass helpful information – You can also show your customer that you care by sending helpful information. For example, if you come across a new book, an article, or organization that might be helpful, make a call or drop a note to inform the customer. Moreover, when you have new offers inform the customer at the earliest.
  • Send longtime customers personalized handwritten notes frequently – Handwritten notes render a more personalized feeling. If a long-term customer has not dropped by your office for long, send them a handwritten note. Something like “I was dispatching a batch to Kenya, and your name just popped up into my head. How have you been?”

 

Besides if you meet a longtime customer at a business forum, follow up your discussion with a note. “I was inspired by your insights at Areto Business Forum. I will call you early next week, to schedule a meeting for further discussion.”

Tap into emotions

Many customers are stimulated by emotions to shop. But regardless of this, customers buy to satisfy their needs. Whether they are buying for an occasion or special event, customers look for channels that connect their shopping experiences with these events, and that is where empathy comes in.

Empathy is vital to delivering an exceptional customer experience. Empathy is defined as the characteristics of identifying with, and understanding of the other person’s feelings, situation, and motives. To deliver exceptional customer experiences, you must understand the emotions of your customers.

Studies have shown that a business that is empathetic to its customer needs retains customers with ease and grows its bottom line rapidly. So how can a business be empathetic?

  • Create emotional connections with your customers

    – Incredible customer experience is achieved when a business connects emotionally with its customers. Generally, emotions form the approaches that drive decisions; a study by the Journal of Consumer Research found that 50% of an experience is based on emotions.

 

When customers feel emotionally attached to a business, they become loyal and shop more from that business. As a result, businesses that optimize emotional connection sells 85% more than competitors.

 

Here is a good example of how a business can be empathetic. When Zappos realized a customer had failed to return a pair of shoes in time due to her mother’s demise, they organized for the return shipping, for free. As if that was not enough, the next day, the company sent a bouquet and a note with their condolences.

 

In summary, emotionally engaged customers are much less sensitive to price, more likely to recommend your product to a new customer, less likely to shop around, and three times more likely to shop again.

  • Make every employee support customers

    – Empathy is expressed by the people behind a business. Therefore, to deliver excellent customer experience, it is vital to train employees and managers to relate to customers wisely.

 

This could mean organizing training workshops, creating an online community, or having a convention to teach employees how to show empathy to the customers. This way, your employee will be able to put themselves in the customers’ shoes and give solutions that make the customers feel valued.

 

For example, before Apple opened its first retail shop, it sent all its retail managers to a training hospitality seminar. The manager acquired vital skills that enabled them to serve customers intelligently. To date, the hospitality paradigm is the spine of Apple’s customer service, and it’s anchored on the fulfillment of needs, sincere greetings, and a sendoff that includes the customer’s name.

  • Other things include practicing proactive empathy, reviewing customer experiences, soliciting feedback from customers, and responding to negative experiences.

Conclusion

Customer experience is critical, and will progressively grow in importance. Global brands have embraced customer experiences as a tool to improve business and have continued to set the bar higher. This coupled with the growth in technology, promises a bright future, and it’s upon you to implement this vital component. Stay abreast of the latest customer experience (CX) trends and improve your practices to refine the journey.

 

 

 

 

7 SALES-BOOSTING TIPS FOR NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS

The nutritional supplement industry is hypercompetitive, and it exhibits no signs of cooling off. In fact, it’s anticipated the industry will continue budding aggressively with new companies sprouting every day. This means the plethora of sports nutrition vitamins, supplements, and suchlike products in the already flooded market will continue competing for the ostensibly infinitesimal market share.

On the other hand, the increasingly knowledgeable consumers are spending precious time researching to acquire new knowledge to discern authentic and fake products. For this reason, customers have become sensitive to the marketing content and anything that evoke memories a fake product is quickly trashed. To outshine your competitor and remain true to your customers you must come up with a genuinely distinctive concept to drive your marketing campaign.

Your marketing tactics must be precise, informative, and highly accessible to an extensive population. The strategies should help your brand stand out and remain highly differentiated from the rest of the pack. Here are 7 sales-boosting strategies that you can utilize to market nutritional supplements and breathe fresh air into your brand.

Establish a differentiator

You have spent massive amounts of resource (time and money) researching, creating, and promoting your nutritional supplement. You don’t want to be outperformed by other products, or worse; be confused for a product that has grossed a bad reputation. To stay on top, you must come up with a unique concept or a differentiator. Something that will deliver vivid and expressive value, not just a quirky feature or an abstraction.

Nutritional supplement launch statistic has found that only one out of seven products gains lasting success. In addition, a highly differentiated and effective nutritional supplement has five times greater probability of success over ordinary products. For this reason, your product stands a better chance of exceptional success only if it features a differentiator; maybe in its effectiveness or the way it’s produced. Highlight the exclusive strength of your product to create attention and boost profitability.

Once you find the unique position for your brand/product, aim to deliver efficacy. Nothing ruins a nutritional product faster than the failure to stay good to your claim. Any promise made on the label must be backed up with authenticity to enhance customer experience and foster trust. Otherwise, any lie will be disseminated across the internet, and it won’t take long before your product is dead.

Be innovative

Let’s be realistic, most of the nutritional supplements out there are copycats; either in the way, they are packaged or formulated. If you can deviate from the norm and develop an innovative edge over your competitors, you will get impressive sales results. However, any ground-breaking marketing tactic for nutritional supplement calls for unprecedented patience, taking your time while planning is absolutely essential.

Additionally, to attain successful positioning, your product must deliver results not gotten from others. Its benefits should be easy to understand, better, and relevant with regard to the target consumers. Remember your product has to prove itself and outshine what is already available. Being innovative makes it easy to achieve this and capture customer’s attention which in turn gives the product the opportunity to beat others to the punch.

Be true to yourself

Your prospects are only passionate about their fitness and health. They are in search of a nutritional supplement that can give what they want. On the other hand, you are in the nutritional supplement industry because of passion for health and probably the desire to help others. Your story should shine through in the veins of your product.

Your story and links to a healthy life can inspire others and make them want to seek viable solutions. Delivering authentic emotional quality and showing connections to your nutritional supplement can be the turning point for your prospects. It can establish a personal connection between the customer and the product and open a steady sales funnel.

There are many nutritional supplements on the market offering that same value that you are. But by remaining true to yourself and telling a genuine story awakens the customer’s interest and permits your humanity to drive sales. It makes you an ambassador for your products whereas the connections make customers feel like a family.

Become a requisite resource

There is no denying, more and more consumers of nutritional supplements are buying products online. However, this doesn’t make it easy to sell online even when all the other aspects are met. Customers are spending a lot of hours researching before making the buying decision. To boost your sales, your e-commerce channel must be an indispensable educational resource to the consumer. Pass true value by explaining how your product can enhance the wellbeing of the customers. This way prospects will find it easy to make informed decisions while on your website, thus they will most likely buy your nutritional supplement.

Leverage smartphone technology

The advent of smartphones has made it easier for customers to buy products through mobile devices. Do not ignore this fact, when marketing your nutritional supplement. Most Android and iPhone apps are generally developed to aid the consumer, but they can also influence your experience with the customers.

One way of leveraging the smartphone technology is creating mobile-friendly versions of your website. Include promotions via QR codes on your product package to give past customers who are mobile users an incentive to return. Besides, you can create a mobile application that enhances your credibility and allows your prospects to learn more about your product.

You can also implement, informative chat boxes to allow customers to ask questions about the product. By answering all customer questions, you will create intimate interactions and enable customers to make buying decisions quickly.

Do not underestimate the power of video marketing

Does your budget allow you to have professionally created infomercials designed to air on televisions? This may be time-consuming and demand a fortune of investment, but when implemented impeccably it can boosts sales remarkably. The television commercial gets your product in front of many eyes, and if it’s authentic, you will have to increase the production to sustain the demand.

However, if you are budget conscious, create your own YouTube channel. Marketing your product heavily via YouTube is an easy tactic to create awareness. The modern culture is very visual and using expertly produced videos can be an exceptional strategy to catapult your product to the next level.  Post short videos explaining how every facet of your product aids the well-being of your customers. Make sure the videos are short and include a little humor to keep the viewer grilled to the end.

Master social and local media

Another great way of boosting the sales of your nutritional supplement is creating awareness via social media. Create Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media accounts. Make sure your product logo and branding are the same across all the social media platforms and website. Accounts alone won’t bring followers; post click-worthy and shareable content that will make the product stand out. In addition, comment on other similar Facebook pages and retweet followers who share content relevant to your product. This will bring attention to your social media account which you can use to engage consumers and promote your product.

Better still, you can leverage the power of local media and magazines. Take time to create catchy ads that can be posted in newspapers, magazines, and over the radio to create awareness. The approach, editorial teams of beauty, fitness, medical, or health magazines and request to have your ads posted. These are time-tested channels that can raise product awareness to boost sales.

However, the wealth of advertisement on social media platforms, radio, magazines, and television make marketing challenging. For this reason, it wise to utilize every avenue that is available, to increase the chances of achieving desirable results. Also, utilizing an omnichannel marketing tactic can help you harmonize all your print ads with a digital blog or online web. This way, credibility will shine through, and customers will learn more about your product digitally.

Conclusion

It takes consistency and effort to keep your nutritional supplements on top in the highly competitive market. Consumers rely heavily on marketers, and by utilizing these strategies, you will be driving home your message to create brand awareness and increase sales. When implemented properly, the strategies we have highlighted above will be completely indispensable to the success of your brand.

 

Top 7 Useful Tools to Help Increase Your Engagement on Twitter

With over 320 million active users, it’s hard to ignore Twitter as a social media tool. Whether you want to offers services for a wide reach or get local traffic, you need social media as your marketing tool. Twitter improves your brand since users can follow and engage with organizations of interest.

This brings us to the power of Twitter followers and the number you have. It’s only natural to be judgmental on the number of followers on your Twitter account. So what can you do to increase your Twitter followers? Continue reading and you will find some very useful tools for Twitter.

Leveraging the power of Twitter requires some third-party application that complement the features lacking in the main app directly. There are a variety of tools that are designed for a specific use, but most of them are sloppy while others are bombarded with ads. Examining all these tools can be a daunting task, but we have done the hard part.

Here are the top seven twitter management tools to help increase your followers.

HootSuite

HootSuite is among the most favorite tools when we talk of Twitter management, and it has continued to gain popularity amongst the social media elites. With over 10 million users, it’s easy to understand why it’s on our top list as a useful tool to enhance your social media strategy.

To enjoy the benefits of this tool, you have to rely on its engagement features. It is a freemium tool which means that you can use the free plan if you have less than five profiles to manage. For advanced options, you can subscribe to the Pro version of unlimited social profiles at only $5.99 per month.

HootSuite allows you to re-tweet across multiple profiles automatically. It’s also easier to reply to multiple messages and mentions with one click from your dashboard. For the user, this is a great way to track followers who are engaging with you on the social network and makes it easy to respond to each chat.

HootSuite is also a great tool that helps you identify your audience. You can create, import and share lists of things you want with a specific audience. For customer service Twitter accounts, pre-written response feature comes in handy. It allows you to respond to requests quickly.

To leverage the power of this tool, check for regular updates to ensure you keep your audience engaged. This is a good way to enhance a quick response which grows your brand and increases your followers.

AgoraPulse

AgoraPulse is among the fastest growing social media tools that work for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, along with LinkedIn. It has been of great help for social media experts with an array of features that works across the major social media platforms. Most experts widely accept it because of it’s easy to use interface that has much to offer for Twitter users.

AgoraPulse has also become popular thanks to its unique features that allow you to schedule different posts and social media calendar on when to post your tweets. For repeated sharing of the same content, it has a feature for repeat schedule posts. It’s also easy to monitor your clicks, tweets, and mentions from one screen.

This tool allows you to use different templates to reply to a wide array of tweets. The team feature allows you to assign tweets to users. You will also be able to monitor tweets with the monitoring feature and even share content to your blog or website. It’s is easier to manage multiple Twitter profiles with this tool.

If you want to delete spam messages or get rid of trills, AgoraPulse is the best option. With all these exceptional features, it’s hard to ignore this social media tool for your Twitter activities.

Paper.li

Paper.li is another unique tool that has taken Twitter engagement to the next level. It allows users to collect a list of tweets and curate them automatically or manually in a news format making it easy to share information on your Twitter account. With over 200 million informative articles published daily on Paper.li, it’s no doubt that it’s a great place for reading and sharing content for individuals and professionals.

This tool also singles out tweets and hashtags with ease making engagement fun. If you want to collect some of the top tweets from your followers or know who mentions a certain hashtag, Paper.li is the best option.  It’s also a good way to drive traffic to your sites that are mentioned by top users. This can be a great boost for your brand.

SocialOomph

Among the best Twitter engagement tools, we cannot miss one of the users’ favorite SocialOomph. It is another freemium tool that allows you to schedule daily tweets, extend your profile, track keywords, and so on with unlimited amounts of Twitter accounts. For advanced features like tweet through email, Facebook scheduling broadcast DMs, manage DM spam, get others updates via email, and more, you can subscribe to the professional packages for $29.97. In addition, you can automate the following capability for your followers and also send a welcome message to new followers for an extra $3.97. Again, you get to choose a plan that suits what you need to keep your Twitter engagement fun and attract new ones.

Twitter Analytics

For better engagement and understanding of your audience, you need twitter analytics tool. It helps to identify your follower’s past successes as well as failures and try to provide the right strategy. Some of the key benefits you get with this tool are ease of access and understanding, built-in tools that save time, complete accuracy, and multiple units to views your account effectively.

Understanding these benefits goes a long way toward ensuring your followers remain engaged. But make sure you provide valuable content as more tweets geared towards informing people is always better. With a variety of tweets, it’s easy to make a good impression to your visitors and as a result, you receive more profile visits during that period.

Twitter Analytics proves to be a handy tool that helps users enjoy a significant upsurge in the number of followers. In addition, it’s easier to identify the user who follows your tweet consistently, adding a comment or retweeting regularly and you can acknowledge him or her as the “Top Follower.” With a valid strategy and quality updates, these tools give you the best experience with your twitter activities, while providing guidance on top tweets, top followers, top mentions, and more.

Buffer

The buffer is described as the smarter way to tweet. In fact, it’s a great alternative tool for users who enjoy tweeting in short tweets. You can schedule tweets and allocate time for posting each one of them. Although it’s an ideal tool for people who tweet in a chunk, too much of it may drive away followers. For this reason, you need valuable tools to ensure your tweets are distributed efficiently.

The interesting thing about this tool is that after scheduling your tweets, you can post them at the most active time of the day. Distributed tweets across specific active time of the day tend to convert better, and Buffer allows you to get the best experience with your followers while balancing your tweeting schedule to maintain your engagement with your followers.

Buffer is also a freemium tool with an allowance of about ten free posts including one account on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you want to track the number of clicks, retweets, potential reach, mentions, as well as favorites for every tweet sent, Buffer is the best option. For a start, you can choose the free option, but if you want to enjoy additional features, you can subscribe to the Pro plan.

Buffer is an ideal tool for tweeting and you schedule a time to commit to other activities.

Commun.it

Commun.it is a significant marketing tool for sending thanking notes to your followers the moment they retweet a certain post. If you have seen followers sending you “thank you” messages for a retweet or “welcome” texts when you follow them, then they are using this tool. It’s also a good way to find your most engaged follower and schedule tweets for a specific time.

The free plan allows you to engage with twenty people which is enough to know the efficiency of your marketing campaigns on Twitter. Of all the Twitter tools that are effective for social media management, Commun.it is a handy tool if you want to automate activities on your account and increase engagement on your profile.

Conclusion

Over to you. Getting started on Twitter can be daunting, but these tips should help you get started and extend your reach in no time. The key ingredient is to keep your Twitter feed active. In the beginning, you will have few followers and you may see less engagement, but keep on posting and using the right tools and you will grow your following steadily. Create a schedule for tweeting and stick to it for effective results.

 

 

 

 

8 Surefire Ways to Inspire and Lead Your Team

Inspire. The mention of this word triggers a set of reactions especially for people who know of a teacher or mentor who brought out the best in them and showed the inner power they have. In business, change is accompanied by stress, uncertainty, and anxiety in those it’s directed to and those implementing change. Certainly, change has an impact on motivation and performance. When you motivate your team, success is achieved. So, motivation is a critical part of the team building process but a challenge for the team leader.

Unfortunately, most leads are out of touch and fail to connect with their employees, focusing solely on their interests. This is more common with leaders that still try to use a “one-decision-fits-all” approach to earn trust and stimulate team performance. But, this style works for a short time but eventually damages credibility.

Leaders need to understand that in the modern workplace, there does not exist a single-interest recipe to make employees perform better. Rather, it’s how to capitalize on their talent and motivate them for a long-term impact and results.

To get started, here are eight ways to inspire individuals and teams to perform better.

Share your vision with your team

Let each member of your team know the collective vision of the company. This will guide them to know what they are working to achieve. It’s one way to ensure the members are motivated and actively become part of all the activities.

But how do you communicate this vision to your team?

Well, you need to start by identifying your audience and communicate your vision to them. Leaders in a team are responsible for translating that vision into simpler language that team members can understand.

You can also use logical reasoning with an aim of inspiring your team members. In this case, you need to emotionally appeal to your team to get them to understand what they need to do to achieve good results.

Let them focus on what they are good at

Micromanagement is something most leader and managers struggle with. We understand that some leaders may see themselves as a perfectionist or see the need to keep a close eye on your team to ensure everything is flowing well. But in reality, it does more harm than good.

Employees want to feel that their bosses trust them to get the job done with minimal supervision. This calls for delegation of tasks depending on the teams’ ability. Task delegation is key to leveraging everyone’s skills and increase the team’s value. You need to give the team members the space to learn new skills and succeed. When you delegate, you free your time to focus on other sectors that can improve the team.

Assign tasks based on individual strengths. It’s about recognizing a great skill and potential and making the most out of it. In the end, you will start seeing results with a team that is motivated to do what they are good at.

Encourage Teamwork

The secret recipe to motivate your team is to know their strengths. People appreciate when they know their leaders understand their behaviors and aptitudes well-enough to work with them. How a team converses determines the success, you will achieve. If there is no open communication and respect, it will be hard to collaborate with them.

The results your company gets is a direct replica of how well you communicate and interact with your team. Collaboration drives a team. Also, make sure you pay attention to their needs. Great leaders take time to know each employee and in return, they will be motivated to achieve more if they know you have their best interests at heart.

When it comes to task delegation, give ownership of projects to specific people in your team. Ensure, you create projects that will foster collaboration to avoid those that may lock up your team members in a solo situation. Don’t forget to create a structured time to share ideas and thoughts about how the team is fairing. These techniques will help your team grow and produce great results.

Model personal growth and teach responsibility

For decades, leaders have concentrated on a responsibility to foster performance. While this technique is part of the recipe for success in a team, it’s when a leader help to promote personal growth and development of their team members that better results are achieved.

Be the kind of leader that mentor and guide their team. Great leaders understand that they need to develop trust and reputation of being true to their word. Encourage the need for networking and performance development groups and forums. For instance, you can enroll in training forums for your employees or get some inspirational books to help them advance their skills and grow in their profession. Whatever effort you make is worth to foster personal growth in your team. It shows them that they can count on you when they need guidance in their work.

Challenge your employees with realistic goals

According to Locke, a Professor at the University of Maryland people’s level of productivity increase when they have well-outlined goals with proper feedback. Locke’s theory is widely applied in different fields in business, making setting goals and motivation a key part of running a team.

Leaders need to drive their team towards achieving a specific set of goals that are challenging but realistic at the same time. This helps your team to set objectives they need to achieve in a certain project and develop a solution to these challenges. Such leaders know how to measure the performance of their team, and what to adjust to meet their goals.

Identify and deal with frustrating issues

Productive team members are happy and satisfied with their work. Great leaders understand that if they invest in their workers, they will be motivated to achieve their goals faster.

The first step is to identify unsatisfied members of your team and address their issues one on one. Identifying an unhappy employee is tough since the signs are often refined. But, if the leader is keen to understand each member, it’s possible to note some common indicators that can help you identify a problem and address it right away.

If you notice strange behaviors like underperformance or resistant to training, you might have to get to the root of the problem and address it immediately. Dissatisfied employees affect productively and morale of the entire team. Don’t assume that the employees are okay or assume you know the reason behind their unhappiness. Always do your research, talk to them and be open to the possibility of issues you may not know are affecting your team. Sometimes, it may be problems unrelated to work. Gather as many details as you can before deciding on how to approach them.

Show Appreciation

Who doesn’t like compliments? I do and so do employees. Leaders should invest time and energy to improve their team. They should show appreciation and gratitude for a task well done. With such recognition of good work, you can be certain that your team members will work hard to exceed your expectations.

They need to know that you value their commitment to what they do. Recognizing their efforts shows that you value their presence and what they do does matter a lot. Saying a simple “thank you” or having a reward system for your team will go a long in keeping the team motivated.

In this case, you can write a handwritten appreciation note or offer rewards to them. Also, spare time and spend with your team member both in and out of the office. Send an appreciation note to your team and see the benefits.

Respect your team

In addition to appreciation, show respect and admiration for the efforts put by your team to achieve results. People want to feel respected in their workplace. But as much as respect is important, you need to create the ground rules for how respect is earned.

In the current world of fierce competition, there are many people yearning for recognition; some do it for the right reasons while others have a different agenda. Leaders should be aware of people who want to outshine in a place where team collaboration is needed. As much as such individuals want recognition, such an attitude may put the team and the entire company at risk.

Train your employee about the benefit of working as a team and respect each other. When they recognize the benefits associated with respect, they will be inspired by your example.

Conclusion

Being a leader is often seen as a tough task, but it’s very rewarding if you apply the right strategies. The most important of them all is to inspire your team to improve their skills and reach the specific goals of your organization. Inspiration should be an integral part of your recipe for success. It should be a constant behavior, triggered by multiple ways to ensure your employees feel part of your vision and that you genuinely value their presence. These leadership techniques will see you transform your team to be the best they can be.

 

5 Killer Strategies to Build a Profitable Dating Site

In this era, the Internet has enabled people to communicate faster and quicker. For this reason, online dating sites have become a popular place for single people to meet and find their partners. Building your internet dating website can be a great way to earn extra money. But it takes time, hard work, and creativity. First, you need to ask yourself if you’re looking for another project to work on during your day off, or if you’re interested in building an online business.

Dating sites have the real potential of making money as businesses. They also help people hook up and find true love. The dating market is increasingly becoming crowded with sites like Tinder and Dragon-backed Double taking a huge stake in the dating industry. Tons of apps have sprung up and the dating scene is shifting from the traditional monthly subscription websites to freemium apps.

With such a huge competition and sensitivity of the dating industry, you will need to have a realistic business plan. Plus, you also need to concentrate on a professional, safe, and transparent product.  So, if you’re planning on starting a dating website, here are five simple ways you need to consider.

Find the Right Niche

The most important element when starting any successful business online is identifying your target market. At this point, there are huge players in the online dating world like Match.com, PlentyOfFish, etc. They have a huge following making it hard to gain ground in the overall marketplace.

With such an array of popular market players, you need to offer outstanding services that make you stand out from competitors. Building a site that targets specific tastes and needs of your audience is a good way to establish your target audience and succeed in the dating industry.

For instance, Tastebuds focuses on matching the user with their favorite music genre while Uniform Singles is built for people in the military or emergency services. Consider unique characteristic for different people including vegetarians, food lovers, smokers, or anyone else who is part of your potential target audiences. Remember that the narrower the social group you focus on, the more conversion you will have.

Choose a Business Model

At some point, you will want your website to create some income for you. So, dating sites can work on either a subscription model or advertising or a combination of the two. For instance, PlentyOfFish.com has over 30 million members because of their friendly site that enables free ads, but it doesn’t match the profitable subscription option used on Match.com which has a little over 1.3 million paying subscribers with annual revenues of over $350 million. So, if you plan to go for a subscription model you stand to make a profit. But if customers have to put up some amount to use a site, you need to have the best tools and services in place.

If you’re planning to start off with a monthly subscription, it would be wise, to begin with, a free trial for the first users. This is because you may have a few users and offering a free trial will attract more members that may become potential subscribers later on. In addition, it’s also important to have limited offers and discounts to attract more users. For instance, users of Match.com are entitled to a free membership for a month if they don’t find love within six months. New subscribers on the site are given three days of free unlimited membership.

All this require patient since users won’t come rolling in once your site goes live. You will have to wait for a while before you can break even and start making a profit. All this depends on the amount you decide to charge. It should be affordable to your target audience. You will also need to incorporate other ways of making money such as advertising revenue or an affiliate partnership.

Appeal to Customers and Create a Friendly Environment

No one is interested in a dating site with few or no people. So, you will want to put up a strong marketing campaign. Include some incentives to get more signings for your site. Start with your single friends and get them to sign up their contacts to the site. It’s upon you to choose whatever preferences that suit your visitors. But, keep in mind that all these members are human beings with feelings and emotions. Most people might be new members or people who have had previous bad experiences, so it is important to create a warm environment that makes online dating a fun experience. Members are allowed to express their feelings and don’t judge.

If you have a subscription-based business model, you can offer discounted membership to the first few people that sign up. With the right audience, you will have an easier time promoting your site on other channels. Keep in mind that you will also get members through word of mouth, to create an app or site that is easier to use.

Select High-Quality Software

If you are like most people, choosing a high-quality software with all the excellent features on the market can be a tedious process. Although what you need is just a computer to start, the basic understanding of software and creating websites is crucial to the success of an online business.

In the real sense, the construction process of the website or app will need great skills from an experienced website builder. In this case, go for a reliable hosting provider. You don’t want all your hard work and resources to go to waste, so hosting should be among the top things on your bucket list when creating a dating site. Remember that not all hosting providers are optimized to provide excellent results, so do your research before making a decision. You will need to outsource other services like instant messaging, e-commerce, spam detection, and moderation. Keep in mind that an average looking dating site will not attract many users and may turn off potential customers.

Site Advertising and Promotion

A successful online dating site requires to rank well in search results. It is therefore important to create a search-engine-friendly website focused on key dating terms that are frequently searched by users every day. The process may be time-consuming with a lot of resources spent, but it will be worth the effort when you start getting those leads.

Search Engine Optimizations tactics that you need to use are creating high-quality and engaging content with relevant search terms related to online dating, use of meta-titles on your pages, inbound and outbound links, etc. You can always learn more about SEO through useful materials on the internet. It is important to understand the basics to rank your site on search engines for different keywords.

Once the site has enough subscribers, you can dive into PPC advertising. Pay-per-Click is an advertising model where advertisers pay to get their ads displayed only when users click on them. In this case, advertisers have to set their bid for the advertising campaign or specific search terms. In other words, they choose an amount to pay per click. The campaign involves placing some ads on specific points on your website on the first page. It lasts for a short period depending on the agreement between you and the advertiser. It’s another great source of income.

Promotion

While you start building your site, there are other key things you need to consider to make the process easier. Include special features in different levels of membership such as Gold, Silver, or Platinum. That provides additional features depending on the user’s membership level. Also, include discounts for users who have subscribed for long periods and split them into a month, three months, and six months.  Make sure you have linked your dating site to social media sites, like Facebook, Instagram, etc. It will expand the pool of users. Don’t forget to include a unique feature to make communication private and anonymous, so that users cannot reveal their personal information to potential partners they have just met recently. Once the site is running successfully, you can have added a couple of short success stories with photos or real partners that have found love through your dating site.

Conclusion

You can go on and on with the essential strategies needed for a dating website, but these will surely get you started in your journey of building the profitable dating site. Ensure you have a safe and reliable payment method with a trusted company to avoid frauds against the user who may send personal information online. You can also include a section where users can log in and leave complaints of issues threatening their security.

When you apply these tactics, you will start getting positive results on your site with increased members. It will help you grow your business.

 

 

 

Consumer Electronic Brands: 7 Proven Marketing Strategies

When it comes to consumer products, it’s clear that most of them have quickly transformed into smart, digital, or cloud-based thanks to technological innovations. Frequent shifts on the internet have made it hard for tech brands to grow fast to the next level. Of course, there are there are great marketing techniques for consumer electronics brands, such as experimental marketing and attending the largest consumer electronics show. But how can the tech brands attract the attention of potential customers in today’s competitive world?

Well, many brands have no idea what marketing strategies they should apply to increase their sales. Ideally, an effective lead-generation and marketing process should help you generate a substantial number of potential leads for your business. It should also reach a large target audience as well as track the number of leads your company gets. In the process, you will be able to measure the cost and ROI and know what marketing tactics to use. But this requires a lot of planning and strategy to achieve success. You need to have solid marketing strategies for your business.

According to recent research, a well-planned brand marketing campaign brings approximately three times the leads compared to any other outbound marketing strategy. All this at a reduced cost. Isn’t that great? Yes, it is, but what are some of these marketing tactics that prove to drive traffic to your tech brand?

Here are the seven most effective marketing strategies for consumer electronic brands you need to use to get impressive results.

Understand your Market and Audience

A great way to increase your consumer brand reach and visibility is to enhance your engagement within the industry. First, you must know and understand your market well. Know the exact audience you will be targeting with your marketing campaign.

Join social media groups and search for electronic niches to target. There are so many social media platforms with hundreds of people willing to connect with you and promote your purpose. Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo answers, Quora, etc. are just some few examples where you can ignite a conversion on your market and get some good response.

For a start, go for one that you’re familiar with such as selling iPhones and connect with the community. Then you can start promoting your iPhone brand, and you have a better chance of succeeding in your business. It’s a simple marketing strategy that many marketers ignore. Don’t fall into this trap, identify your audience and match their demand with the right services.

Email Marketing

Personalized email marketing is an effective marketing tactic these days. In fact, it’s described as the cornerstone of consumer brand marketing. Most people who visit your site will not make a purchase immediately. Unfortunately, many businesses are hesitant to try it because they fear their marketing outreach emails may be seen as spam. But if you follow the right email marketing guidelines, be assured of a clean email that can reach your potential customers on time.

When it comes to personalized email broadcasting and marketing, you need to have a target audience. You can use interactive content features such as photos, videos, GIF and more depending on your interest in your target audience. You can also offer something like a free service trial, a free digital download for software, site membership, a seat at a webinar, a coupon, etc. Make sure your email text stand out and geared towards helping your customers so that they can’t wait to subscribe to your email marketing campaign.

Invest in Social Media Marketing

Use of social media for your business is a broad step that can elevate you to success.

Research shows that 67 percent of potential customers seek customer support from social media platforms, and 33 percent prefer to use social media rather than the telephone. Ideally, if people cannot find your electronics brand on social platforms, they may end up in your competitors’ hands especially those with social media channels.

Having social accounts makes it easy for customers to find you. Many businesses are now realizing the need to invest in marketing campaigns to grow their social media audiences.

For instance for Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, you can use banner ads to target users. Ads excel through advanced targeting. They allow you to narrow down to a specific target audience based on location, sex, interests, online behavior, and other behaviors.

Twitter now has social advertising options through promoted tweets which can get you a huge following.

Instagram users and followers of great influencers in different industries are looking to buy something new such as trendy electronic gadget promoted by these individuals. When you build an active audience, you can build a reliable sales channel.

In the end, the idea should be investing in identifying potential customers and how to approach them.

Paid Social Promotion

For businesses looking for accurate results, paid promotion on different social media platforms works well. With social media accounts, it’s easier to target a large audience with paid ads and banners. It’s a great way to market your content to potential customers who are interested in your product and want to be associated with your brand to contribute towards building a loyal customer base in future.

A great example of paid promotion is Facebook Ads. Many small and mid-sized consumer brands have an advertisement campaign on Facebook. It’s one of the most affordable and active way to market your brand to any audience.

Consumer brands can invest in effective social reporting tools to make the process of creating target Ads easier. Creating the ads is quite easy. Just create a catchy headline, an interesting description copy, an image or short video, and a link.

On Facebook, the Ads Manager makes it simple to run multiple ads. Thus any business owner can identify a winning strategy in placing their ads and reach the right audience without technical expertise. But it needs some patience and persistence, but these social media platforms have the right tools to help you flourish.

Focus on Long Tail Keywords in Your Phrases

If you have an online business focused on consumer electronic brands, you need to know that it’s important to have an effective SEO marketing strategy. In this case, search engines are your key asset that you need to bring quality visitors and potential customers to your website. This means that you need to rank high on search engines for specific keywords.

SEO is a complex subject, and there is something new to learn every day. Although it’s not easy, it’s not hard to crack some basics that might go a long way in finding the right audience for your business. To rank high, you must have a plan in place, execute it and wait for the results patiently. In fact, it can take years to build your rankings, but it’s all part of the process. Most webmasters don’t have the patience to stick to a long-term strategy for years before they start ranking for certain keywords.

However, there are other quicker ways to get traffic from these search engines. Target long-tailed keyword phrases that have little competition compared to popular keywords. This will produce more target customers that will turn into repeat clients.

Target Great Influencers beyond Social Media

If you understand your audience, you know that social media alone is not the only channel to reach out to your target audience. We have a large section of people who are influencer either in business, entertainment, fashion, etc. That means to get even more traffic for your business; you need to bring some of these influencers aboard by contacting them directly.

Look for influencers with hundreds, thousands, or even millions of followers on different social media platforms. Reach out to them directly (not through social media), and ask them to check out your content or product and maybe suggest what the audience might like. Get them interested to promote your brand by sharing with their followers.

Partner with other Local Business Groups

Every business owner loves to be in good cause, and so do your customers. Teamwork is an effective way to combine resources with other businesses to help achieve things you could never accomplish on your own.

The best way to go about it is to target organizations in your local areas. These businesses or groups will help boost your visibility and your prospects will know that you care about the community and want to give them better. This will increase trust, and these customers will choose you over your competitors.

Make sure you work on a complementary arrangement that will be mutually beneficial to both businesses. There is no limit, so you can get involved with any business you want. Just identify a path that is compatible with your business and tap into that gap in a mutually beneficial way.

Conclusion

It’s no doubt that the power of technology is changing the world rapidly.  There are great marketing methods you can use to change the nature of your consumer brand. Most digital marketers understand that marketing a brand is the pillar of every business and it should be taken seriously.

These marketing ideas apply across all kinds of consumer electronic businesses whether you’re looking to start or expand. Furthermore, in such a competitive world, marketing isn’t just word-mouth. You need to have a strong marketing campaign for your online community. Try them and the results won’t disappoint.

7 KILLER TIPS TO MARKETING YOUR APPAREL BRAND

So you have turned your idea into a reality by launching an exciting apparel brand. Bravo! Now it’s time to roll the sleeves and stride your brand to the upper echelon. Marketing has been a major stumbling block to the growth and sustainability of many startup apparel brands. Gone are the times when fashion lines would offer quality to lure customers to buy; nowadays it’s more than that. We are in the heights of cut-throat competition, and without implementing killer marketing strategies, you cannot succeed.

Searching for the best way to promote your brand? Social media engagement and online marketing are the best channels for promoting a newly launched fashion line because they don’t demand vast resources (time and money). Better still, more and more customers are buying apparel online, and it’s much easier to reach your target audience via these ways. If you are looking to grab attention, make connections, and create marketing campaigns that reign, here are seven killer tips to apply.

1. Get a great logo and a catchy tagline

The first option to enhance apparel brand recognition is the business logo. Your logo is a crucial channel that can leave a lasting impression on your target audience and pull them to your products. It’s the face of your brand and how simple or intricate it should depend on your target market. Just think about a sports fashion brand like Nike, their logo is simple but iconic whereas high-end fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci have detailed and multifaceted logos. Contract the services of a professional designer to get an incredible business logo done. At first, the logo might bring an insignificant difference, but in the long-run, it will bring immense benefits.

Having a business logo is a good thing but tying the logo to a catchy slogan, tagline, or rallying cry is remarkable. Get a beguiling tagline that connects emotionally with your audience to add an extra dimension to your brand. Well-known fashion brands have mastered the art of crafting compelling taglines which is a secret to their success. Just think about these slogans:

  • LEVI’S: A style for every story
  • Nike: Just do it
  • Calvin Klein: Nothing comes between me and my Calvins
  • Diesel: Be stupid

 

2. Tap into your audience

Did you know that your brand can be a killer marketing tool? Logo aside, you brand underpins your marketing strategies. However, the backbone of the success of your apparel brand is the target audience. Before you invest in rigorous marketing campaigns, you must know and understand your audience. Knowing what they care about most will set the foundation for an amazing brand and perfect marketing.

The audience is the ultimate resource of raw emotion, pure knowledge, and authentic grit. They are the reason you launched the apparel brand, interact with them and get to the bottom of what they think. Gathering information from your audience can be intimidating, but do not let fear scuttle your ladder to success. You need this data to masterfully implement innovative marketing techniques.

When tapping into your audience you must be resolute.  Don’t make the mistake that many startups make; trying to net everyone. Take a targeted approach and focus on a specific group of the audience before spreading your wings to other segments. The segregated technique helps you grow systematically and maintain cost-effective and convenient marketing.

3. Be exuberant on social media

Everyone appreciates the significance of social media in marketing fashion products. There are numerous social media platforms, and it can be overwhelming to choose where to start. These platforms have become the go-to channels for startups in creating brand awareness and shaping its identity. Whether its Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter you must be smart about how you use your platforms to derive optimal benefits. Just posting products will not be enough; it takes interesting messages to attract, engage, and convert your target audience.

For a start, you don’t need to hire social media executives to market your products on popular social media sites. You can focus on things such as paid Facebook campaigns which target potential consumers and are great for small businesses. The campaigns only start from a few dollars, and they make your debut into the foray of social media recognition more budget-friendly.

However, with time you will have to advance your social media marketing strategies. You will have to rely on unique technical intricacy to come up with cover designs for Facebook pages and Linkedin. Keep in mind, the Return on Investment (ROI) of social media marketing is low for startups and SME’s. For this reason, it’s wise to go for a social media package with a design that marries the trends, your business model, and other aspects that aid your marketing campaign.

Alternatively, leverage the power of social media as a storytelling medium. Be cheeky with all posts and find the most interesting way to express your brand’s personality. Better still, aligning the posts, shares, and tweets with your brand story can be a great sales booster.

4. Find a niche influencer

It’s not easy to do things the way of well-known fashion brands, but you can copy a thing or two from their strategies. Established brands find a niche influencer to promote their brands online. You do not have to go for an A-list celebrity; its difficulty for a startup. We are in a modern epoch of social media celebrity, therefore, finding a good influencer should not be difficult. If you are offering fashion wear, you will be spoilt for choice by the plethora of fashionistas online. On the other hand, if its fitness apparel, approach that friend or person who always posts or shares pictures of them during workout sessions.

5. Leverage video marketing

According to statistics, 500+ millions of video content is viewed on YouTube every day.  More videos are being published on a daily basis, and taking your video marketing to the next level can be a masterstroke. Join the bandwagon and craft cool videos that will engage your target audience and blatantly promote your apparel brand. Deviate from the norm, make videos that will be interesting, instructional, promotional, and engaging at the same time.

In addition, take your game a notch higher and find a YouTube, brand ambassador. If you have the funds, find a well-known celebrity, but if you are budget-conscious scour YouTube and find an undiscovered talent that will help your brand grow. Take the opportunity to nurture the talent, when they make it big your apparel brand will gain the exposure that cannot be achieved through other means. Although this might be a difficult strategy, it brings faster ROI.

6. Do not underestimate customer retention

Many startups are obsessively fixated on acquiring new customers and spend a fortune to accomplish this. They completely disregard customer retention which should be accorded equal efforts and resources as the acquisition. Acquiring new customers can cost up to seven times more than customer retention. However, the results are the direct opposite; if you keep existing customers happy, they will purchase more and more from your store and even recommend family and friends to buy your products. You need to balance between acquisition and customer retention. The cost of a single customer acquisition backed by a fractional retention cost can work magic for your brand.

7. Try discounts and offers

Apparel products are seasonal, and you must hit the chords flawlessly to maintain a steady stream of customers. The success of your business during the low season will boil down to your pricing strategy. Discounts and promotional offers attract eyeballs and are welcome to customers in the fashion sector. Come up with irresistible limited time offers that will trigger shoppers to purchase within the stipulated time window.

The timing of your offers and discounts should be on point. The best time for the offers is during the festivals such as New Year and Christmas. During these periods you can compromise on the return expectations since it’s only for a short run. Do your calculations and create compelling festive discount on selected products.

Alternatively, you can communicate the discounts and offers through emails. Utilize your email list wisely and do not get over-ambitious or send too many emails; customers might block you on their email. Also, come up with an interesting excuse for your promotional offer; a line or two that will catch the attention of your target customer and prompt them to take advantage of the offer.

Conclusion

The perceived glamour and fun associated with the modern fashion industry attracts many fashion designers. In fact, the fairytales narrations of success have been the major reason this market niche continues to experience an influx of apparels brands. However many of these brands fail miserably because they do not implement strategic marketing plans.

Don’t sail in the boat of failures! Utilize the tactics above to take your business to a new level. The strategies are effective, but all depend on the execution. If you want any of the tactics to bring the desired results be sure to invest in the right channel for promoting your apparel brand.

Success!

KEY 2018 E-COMMERCE TRENDS

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2018 is finally here! We at Aretosystems would like to wish you a happy new year and a prosperous 2018. We are humbled you have chosen us to be your most trusted e-commerce partner that far. Thank you for being part of our happy community that is taking every e-commerce opportunity by horns. With us, your desire and ambitions to grow are securely empowered.

With the turn of New Year, comes superb e-commerce opportunities. We are devoted to delivering best of the best insights to help you make the most out of every opportunity and succeed. So what are your plans for 2018? What is your strategy for e-commerce success? If you’re yet to make a decision or are at a crossroad, let’s hold your hand and walk you down the lane to excellence. This is your year to make it.

The e-commerce industry has already recorded a tremendous rise. With the pace at which the industry is evolving, only the smartest entrepreneur will survive. We have evaluated key e-commerce trends and technology with you in mind. We have also researched widely and consulted experts to give you the best strategy to align your business with these trends. Ready to go?

  1. Growth is slowly shifting to Asia/e-commerce booms in China

There is no denying; e-commerce has become a global phenomenon. The US market has played a key role in driving the growth of this sector for long. Over the last 15 years, e-commerce in the US has recorded a consistent growth rate of approximately 10%.

Although this has been the norm, the US market is slowly approaching its saturation point. Sales are starting to plateau, and the growth rate is slowly declining. On the contrast, the Asian markets (China) is recording unparalleled growth. According to statistics, the growth of e-commerce sales in China is showing every sign of driving the global growth. The growth is so rapid that, it’s predicted between 2018 and 2019, the sales will double.

Strategy to success

The huge swing towards China has massive implications for e-commerce brands. To be successful in 2018, you need to go international with your brand. This is the year to trash every aspect of complacency. Shipping rates are on the decline, websites are eliminating the relevance of country boundaries, and international delivery is slowly becoming the order of the day. Take advantage of this trend by coming up with well-designed websites, adopting no VAT charges, and strategies that align to the local expectation.

  1. Mobile users/mobile marketing to play a key role/move towards mobile/will contribute more

Mobile usage is slowly becoming the go-to channel for many e-commerce brands. Mobile-driven e-commerce sales are shaping a quiet revolution that is eclipsing the use of desktops by buyers. The use of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) accounts for over 50% of the total web traffic. The rate at which these devices are taking over the e-commerce sector is predicted to increase in 2018.

Strategy to success

As an e-commerce entrepreneur, you need to treat desktop and mobile users with identical seriousness. You should invest in a superb mobile UX to increase the number of conversions on mobile devices. In addition, for high-value products focus on delivering a seamless experience across both devices. This will enables users to make decisions on mobile devices and convert easily on their PCs.

  1. Subscription-based models holds the key to success/gains popularity

The rampant growth in e-commerce technology has brought unprecedented change and opportunity. Every business aspect is moving away from the on website implementation to the reliable cloud-based computing. Everything as a service XaaS is becoming a mainstay in the e-commerce world. Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), etc. are becoming key players in e-commerce.

For instance, Software as a Service has engineered the subscription-based model. This is a highly-effective business model that is offering flexibility to consumers. In addition, it’s allowing massive recurring revenue for business thereby creating a win-win scenario for both parties. Additionally, PaaS has exploded to become one of the hottest trends in the e-commerce business. Just look at an online business like Uber, Airbnb, and Uber.

Success strategy

Adopting a subscription-based model of selling product in 2018 is wise. If you sell products that are regularly consumed, this model will help increase the number of sales.

  1. Using Artificial Intelligence to guide customers

This is a genuinely new trend which is tricky to predict. The trend is crowned by the huge strides made in the technology and internet arena. In the e-commerce context, the trend relates to the customer engagements and how it helps to achieve predicted growth. It is being implemented in the e-commerce business where an intuitive online assistant engages users.

The success of any marketing strategy is to capture the attention of potential customers. But once the goal is achieved, your potential customers will visit your site for more information. How effective your answers are, will reflect the rate of conversion. If you have a built-in intuitive online assistant, your customers will find answers quickly. It helps them to make decisions quickly which leads to more sales conversion.

Success strategy

Any organization looking to succeed in 2018 must examine the effectiveness of AI technology to their business. How can this groundbreaking technology help with personalization strategy and ad targeting? Leveraging this trend will make your digital ad targeting smart.

  1. Messenger app and chatbots

This is another superb marketing technique that helps your e-commerce operate on the front gear in 2018. A bot is defined as software that impersonates the user. In the business world, bots have been implemented to automate repetitive tasks. However, technology advancement has allowed for the transformation of bots into complex systems.

Success strategy

Chatbots offers an incredible way to address some of the complex pain points for your customers. This will eliminate the frictions you experience in your customer services. Although the technology is still at the Juvenile stage, 2018 might be the year its use explodes to popularity. Growth in technology will enable chatbots to perform beyond the rudimentary tasks.  Can you incorporate chatbots into your business systems? Can the trend bring desired results?

THINGS TO AVOID 2018

  1. Stay away from duplicate content

Duplicate content is a killer of any business. If you are still using the product descriptions provided by the manufacturer, you are doing more harm than good to your business. You might end up copying thin content from rouge affiliates websites.

This year, focus on creating original content and aim at using NONINDEX tag on your product pages. If you cannot create original content on your own, seek the help of a reliable content marketing service. This will enable you to draft enticing content that will grab the attention of your potential customers.

  1. Slow site speed

Are you aware that slow site speed can hurt the bounce and conversion rates? An improvement in site speed by a few seconds can mean a massive difference in user experience. If your site speed is not okay, improve today and enjoy increased sales conversion.

  1. Operating without a logo

When visitors come to your site the first thing they look at is the logo. A good logo provides a stunning first impression and can entice customers to convert quickly. Operating without a logo will mean your title is displayed in standard text. This will turn away your customers. Find a reputable designer and have them design a good logo for you.

  1. Lack of or poorly done about us and contact us page

Do not underestimate the potential of the “about us” page. Statistics show that this page falls in the top three of the most visited pages. This means the about us page is paramount to the visitors. The page could be the last resort for customers looking to make buying decisions. If you skimp on this page, you will probably lose many businesses.

Do you use a generic email to your contact us page? This is detrimental to your success. Take your time to create a catchy domain name and a proper email address for your business.

  1. Lack of customer service

Although your target customers are online and require no face to face engagement, customer service is important. Structure your systems and ensures your potential customers get prompt answers to their questions. Also, be well prepared to handle refunds and related returns with ease.

  1. Complicated Check out process

If your checkout process is complicated be prepared to deal with plenty abandoned carts. If you want to record a phenomenal rate of conversion, structure your checkout process well. Once the customer makes the purchasing decision, they should be able to purchase with a few clicks of the mouse.

CONCLUSION

The e-commerce had recorded a rapid growth in the last decade. Although the US market; which has been the major driver, is slowly approaching its saturation, the shift to the Asian market is a beacon of hope to all e-commerce entrepreneurs.  It’s a good signal that e-commerce solution still holds enormous potential for the businesses.

There are many entrepreneurs the arena fighting to win a fair share of the customer base. In addition, customers have the opportunity to change providers effortlessly. To stay relevant and acquire more customers, you need to pay attention to the latest technology. It’s time to take into account the most recent market trends and adapt to the modern customer behaviors.

In addition, you have a task to consider the path followed by the big names like Amazon. This will help you stay updated and easily identify the beneficial emerging trends. This will give you a competitive edge and open your mind to superb innovation that will inspire new business strategies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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