Business

No matter what industry you’re in, you will need creative thinkers to move your business forward. By encouraging creating space for safe self-expression, you give your employees a place to express ideas that may seem out of the scope of their jobs. From these thoughts may come your best opportunities.

The Power of Safe Self-Expression

When your employees feel safe expressing their thoughts and emotions, you provide a base of shared support that everyone in the firm can access. Not only can this bring some great ideas to the surface, but you can give those employees who may struggle with mental disorders like depression the flexibility to;

• arrange their days so their best mental energy can be shared effectively
• provide those who need some quiet time a much-needed break
• promote authentic engagement in the workplace, and
• reduce mental fatigue

Creativity in the Workplace

None of your employees, even yourself, are robots forging ahead for the sake of business alone. People need the ability to express themselves occasionally and to take some time to care for themselves to move ahead, in much the same way they would need time to consider and tackle new business ideas, so they can fully contribute.

Encouraging your employees to be creative in the workplace is also a great way to encourage employee engagement. Fully engaged employees are;

• more likely to stick around, putting your training dollars to the best use
• willing to buckle down and do what it takes to get through the tough times
• put company resources to the best use
• celebrate their wins, and
• give themselves a break when things go wrong.

How can you encourage self-care in the workplace daily? First off, start at the top. Owners, leaders and managers need to learn to take a mental health break and share that they are doing so.

Mental and emotional rest is the best way to refresh yourself and come up with better ideas than you had the day before, so – demonstrate this to your employees. A of people learn by example, so having owners and managers actively promoting self-care at work, even in small steps, will encourage employees to follow suit.

Secondly, encourage employees to take a break. If you know that an employee is struggling, suggest a long lunch or a walk around the block. Encourage your employees to let people know what their triggers are and what times of the day they are most or least energised. Respect these boundaries.

Simple Means of Self Expression

Allowing some free decoration of the workspace is critical to encouraging self-expression. Also, consider letting employees create a “door closed” sign for when they’re very busy or struggling to focus. This can be anything from a laminated poster to stick to the cubicle wall to a hat or set of headphones that let co-workers know that this employee needs time to think!

This is particularly crucial for new employees. Focusing on the personality of new employees and allow them to express themselves leads to better retention and engagement, for example.

Attending trade shows is an excellent way of keeping in touch with your existing clients, expanding your customer base, and even introducing a new product or product line to the market. However, it is imperative for you to understand that your success in a given trade show will, to a significant extent, depend on the quality of your trade show booth. Therefore, for you to achieve desirable results, you have to get things right from the moment you are picking your trade show display vendor. Below is a rundown of tips you can count on for you to pick the most appropriate trade show display company to work with as you prepare for your next trade show.

Manufacture Location

The location where the booths are manufactured will affect their cost, quality, and shipping duration. For instance, booths manufactured in foreign countries such as China may cost less than those built in the US due to the lower cost of labor and raw materials in China. However, their quality may be inferior, and they can take longer to ship. On the other hand, trade show booths manufactured in the US are likely to be of better quality, and shipping will most likely take a relatively shorter time. Therefore, depending on the quality of trade show display that you want and the amount of time you have to wait for the shipment, then you have to consider where the trade display company of your choice will do the manufacturing.

Communication

Before picking your trade show display company, remember that you are going to need their services in designing, manufacturing, and installation. Therefore, you need to choose a company with people who are ready to work closely with you and communicate seamlessly. If a trade show display company is taking too long to respond to your emails, then that is an early telltale sign that they are not the right partners to work with. Reliable trade show companies such as ExpoMarketing are known for highly effective communication channels. For instance, you can call them or contact them through a live chat on their website any time.

Product Knowledge

If you are new to trade shows, then you need to work with a trade show company that can answer all the questions that you may be having. In other words, your trade show display vendor should have the necessary knowledge to get everything ready for you. For instance, ExpoMarketing has been in the industry for many years, and you can count on their experience and technical know-how to have a trade show display that can help you to achieve your intended results.

Variety of products

If you are attending a trade show for the first time, you need exposure to a wide variety of trade show display products. Therefore, you should go for a trade show display company with trade show booths of many different sizes, designs, and shapes. This will increase your odds of landing the best trade show display possible.

The Takeaway

Overall, it is apparent that trade shows can go a long way in enhancing your marketing approach. If you are looking for a reliable trade show display company to help you with designing, fabricating, and installing a trade show display of any magnitude, ExpoMarketing is the answer. Get in touch with them today for more information about their products and services.

Advertising through mobile is a fantastic way to get the attention of your customers. When people spend so much time on their phones and mobile devices, you’re bound to reach them this way. How do you get the most out of your spending on advertising? Here are 6 tips to help you reach your audience:

Do Your Research

Before you do anything else, you’ve got to find out who your audience is.What are they looking for? Where are they spending their time? If you know these things, you can tailor your advertising to them personally, which should lead to more conversions. Don’t start on an advertising campaign before you do this.

Pick Your Location

Where’s the best place for your ad? It very much depends on your audience, where they hang out, and what you’re advertising. For example, say you’re marketing a mobile app game. A great place to advertise it would be in another game that’s marketed to a similar audience to yours. No one can act on your ad if they don’t see it, so make sure it’s in the right place.

Get Help with Your Advertising

Whatever you’re looking to advertise, it’s best to choose a company with the experience to help you do it. Companies like Broadplace have ample experience in mobile advertising, so they’ll be able to help you put together a great campaign. They’ll also be able to track metrics such as who’s clicking on your ads to help you narrow down your focus and see who you’re reaching.

Try Geo-Targeting

Geo-targeting is directing your adverts towards users in a certain area. This is perfect if you’re trying to attract local customs, or if your audience is mostly located in one area. This helps you get the most out of every impression. This will become more common soon, so use this chance to get on board.

Use A Call-To-Action

A call-to-action is something that compels the customer to click on your advert. This could be a money off deal, a limited time offer, or a buy-one-get-one-free deal. Whatever you use, tell the customer to take advantage of it right now. This helps you get more clicks and more conversions.

Make It Social

Did you know customers are three times more likely to share a post online through their phone than their computer? This is the best time to encourage your audience to share your message. Many companies do this by offering prize draws, entering anyone who shares or tags friends in their posts. Give this a try with your next campaign.

These are some tips that will make your next mobile advertising campaign a smash hit. Do your research, get help from a professional ad company, and encourage your audience to share your message. You’ll be reaching a whole new group of people in no time at all.

To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.

In order to discover a few new marketing techniques will can increase your business’ sales and profit, simply continue reading.

6 Business marketing tips that are well worth trying out:

1. Reuse information from your previous marketing campaigns

As an example, you may want to reuse information from one of your business’ blog pieces to create a marketing video. Or you may want to reuse well shot images of your business’ products and services which you’ve posted on your website, to create new social media posts for your business’ various social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

2. Use competitions to attract attention

An easy way to attract attention to your business’ social media accounts is to use simple competitions, to encourage individuals to follow your accounts or to make purchases on your business’ website.

As an example, you may may want to run a competition which offers individuals the chance to win a new product which is due to be released in the coming weeks or you may want to offer your customers the chance to win the back the value of their last purchase with your business. You may even stipulate that entrants must follow your business’ social media pages or sign up to an email subscription list.

As most individuals have a tendency to be tempted to win something for nothing, you should have no trouble attracting plenty of entries. You may even be interested in offering double entries for individuals who share your original social media post on their own social media account.

3. Try to win an online business award to post on your social media pages and website

If you manage to win an online business award in your industry, you may may be able to advertize your award on your social media accounts and your website. If winning an established business award seems a little far fetched for your business, you may want to start up your own business awards for businesses in your city or area.

As a bonus, if you start your own business awards, you may form valuable industry contacts with other businesses in your industry who aren’t in direct competition with your business and offer different services or products to your business.

4. Carefully use guerrilla marketing techniques

If you haven’t heard of the term guerrilla marketing, it involves using street advertising to market your business’ online presences. As an example, you may want to use chalk to write your business’ social media handles on the pavement outside your real life store. Or you may want to put up give out business cards that have your business’ website and social media links, printed on them.

5. Create a monthly or weekly newsletter

One way to keep your customers well informed of new products and services as well as sales is to create a monthly or weekly newsletter, which you can encourage your customers and followers to sign up to.

6. Make sure that your emails and newsletters offer valuable content

If your emails and newsletters offer valuable content, individuals will be far less likely to unsubscribe from your business’ marketing emails.

Hopefully you’ve discovered at least one new marketing technique which you believe can increase your business’ sales and profits.

In order to take control of your business’ finances, it’s a great idea to work on budgeting for your business’ future.

7 Business budgeting tips:

1. Overestimate your business’ operating costs

One of the worst mistakes which you can make, when it comes to creating a realistic, workable budget for your business is to underestimate your business’ operating costs. Remember that it’s always a better idea to slightly overestimate your costs than to underestimate your business’ costs and to run out of funds to run each area of your business effectively.

2. Make sure that your business has an emergency fund available

It’s well worth ensuring that your business has a healthy emergency fund, which is kept seperate from your business’ day to day accounts. Having an emergency fund available, may come in handy if any unexpected costs arise or if you want to upgrade your business and to take your business to the next level.

3. Make sure that you’re not getting overcharged by your current supplier

Even if your business has a long term supplier, who you’re used to dealing with, it’s always a smart idea to get quotes from other suppliers who may be able to provide your business with the same quality product as your current supplier for a much lower price.

4. Try and predict how your sales numbers may change in the next 12 months

One way to create an accurate budget is to try and predict how your sales numbers may change over the next 12 months. As an example, when you look at your business’ sales statistics for the last 12 months you may notice that your sales increase in the months that lead up to Christmas or that you sell more products or services during a particular season such as summer.

5. Save a set percentage of your profit

It’s well worth deciding on a set percentage of your profit, which you’ll save in your business’ emergency fund, each year. If your profits are particularly healthy one year, you may also want to increase the amount of money which you save for a rainy day or to take your business to the next level.

6. Make sure to work on paying off your business loans

Your end goal should be to have zero debt. As you know it’s also wise to pay off your loans as quickly as possible, in order to avoid paying high levels of interest on your business loans. So it’s a great idea to invest a fair amount of your business’ profits in to getting on top of your business debt.

7. Make sure to review your business’ budget on a monthly basis

instead of setting a year long budget and not looking at your budget for 12 months, it’s a wise idea to review your business’ budget on a month to month basis. As you may have to tweak your budget, multiple times over a calendar year.

So if you’re a business owner who is looking to budget for the financial future of your business, it’s a great idea to implement many of the budgeting tips listed above!