Making Small Business Instagrammable

As the world knows it, Instagram is a powerful tool; it is where many celebrities and famous personalities chose to dwell. Even the retail industry perceives it in that way thinking that prominent brands can only survive and thrive in that place where as small businesses have no chance. The size of the company isn’t exactly the basis of whether it can get value from it because even small business can benefit from the opportunities that it offers.

Here we’ll discuss some of the strategies on how small businesses can get the most out of making their own Instagram account:

One good benefit having an Instagram account for small businesses is that they can reach and engage with their followers on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other sites here altogether as Instagram allows you to link your other profiles to it so your new posts can also get published to those accounts automatically.

Instagram also have a Stories feature where you can compile multiple pictures and videos into a “story” that disappears after 24 hours, similar to Snapchat stories and Facebook’s MyDay. This component has a lot of potential but small businesses needs to be creative and do experimenting to see how can they can use it better.

Instagram is also generous with reporting tools which you can use to see all of this information from a single dashboard and track it over time. Data presented by these tools can give a company an idea of what type of content is attractive to their audience. It also specifies the style of photo or filter as well as the hashtag. This will guide small businesses to improve their social media posts and lean towards using strategies that are enticing to their target market.

Instagram engagement through comments can also bring in valuable information about customer feedback on a particular post, product or the brand in general. It requires time and attention but its byproduct can be used to strengthen the business’ relationship with the consumers and improve their operations and management.

Have you heard of Influencer Marketing? It’s something that has gone increasingly popular in Instagram. It is being widely used to connect with people through an established personality (not necessarily a celebrity) because there are now non-celebs who were able to garner a fan-base consisting of thousands to millions of engaged followers. Employing them to endorse products which is cheaper is now being considered and done by many small businesses. Investing on them is equivalent to investing on advertising your product to the number of people who follows them.

Aside from that, small businesses should also be aware of the use of hashtags which are being used in replacement for keywords as it is also being used to increase the visibility of brands to people who are still unaware of them.

If you want a more straightforward strategy, you just can look for Instagram ads and see how they will work for you. It’s something that you can invest into and works online just like how traditional advertising works in the real world.

Instagram may be a big world. But we have to remember that everyone and everything is somehow a small part of something big but our size doesn’t always matter because sometimes what matters is the size of what we do and its effect to the people around us.

 

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Beating the Holiday Season Rush with a Successful Shipping Strategy

Holiday season is one of the busiest days of a retailer; aside from securing purchases, he/she must also secure that all the sold products are shipped on the scheduled date assuming that they are gifts for the celebration.

Shipping period is crucial and must be taken seriously as it is key to keeping the trust and loyalty of the consumers. However, there will be challenges during the big day especially on holidays. So, here we will discuss how you can be better prepared and how you can overcome shipping issues to deliver your customer’s packages on time.

First, let’s tackle the three default shipping methods available.  The free, the flat rate and the local pickup. It is important to offer your customers options so they have alternatives in case one of these doesn’t work for their situation.

But, if you’re wondering what is best preferred, it’s safe to say that obviously, people love free shipping and it is an effective strategy to encourage purchases. In fact, studies show that majority of online shoppers are motivated to buy more products if free shipping is available. But, if you decide to offer a free standard shipping option, you might as well want to provide rush or special shipping for an additional fee. Apart from this, there are various of other shipping options that you can consider offering to your customers based on their needs.

Now we proceed to talking with a Shipping Carrier. They also play a big role as they directly influence rates, arrival times, and delivery quality. There may be different carriers to attend to different needs but there are some general considerations including the location, the products, the available shipping rates, tracking, insurance and even the holidays.

There may be times that you will need to use multiple carriers such as when some of your items might have special handling requirements, or you might need to use different carriers for some countries that you ship to. On instances like these, you can allow your customers to choose between shipping methods or use extensions.

Once you have set up your shipping rates and methods, you should now let customers know the last day they can purchase a product in order to receive it before the actual holiday such as Christmas, Black Friday, etc. This should be in line with the cutoff dates for your chosen shipping carrier.

Meanwhile, in terms of international shipping, you should have a flexible schedule as it often takes longer and there is a tendency that international holidays will affect your shipping times.

In short, your cutoff dates should be based not only on your own processing time but also on your shipping carrier deadlines, and on holidays and on weekends.

You just have to make sure that you clarify your deadlines on your site to avoid any issues with your customers. It’s also a plus if you provide them with tracking information for them to know when they can expect their package to be delivered.

More importantly, you have to do everything you can to make sure that your packages arrive on time as promised because the name and integrity of your brand is what’s at stake. It would be helpful to do extra preparations to make the process faster for you such as printing your own shipping labels, creating an order management process and securing all shipping and packaging materials.

Do all this and you’ll have less to worry about these coming holidays. Know that you are not only doing this for the sake of profit but also to give your customers a merrier holiday season.

 

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How to have Effective Holiday Marketing Campaign Strategies

The holiday season is just around the corner and everyone is becoming more and more busier as it approaches. As for you, you might be thinking what to do with your marketing campaign. Well, I suggest that you also start preparing because doing it early can increase your chances of avoiding procrastination caused by unexpected problems coming up on the last-minute. These holiday marketing tips and promotion ideas aim to help you refine your efforts to ramp up sales during the most profitable time of the year.

Plan ahead, and plan more.

Almost 50 events are now being celebrated around the world during the holiday season. This opens the door for a lot of good opportunities to help improve and establish businesses. This is due to the influx of traffic to online stores which is being motivated by sales and promos. This is such a busy time and it requires brands to be fully prepared or else they will be overwhelmed by the surge of customers or be beaten by competitors. Some of the things that must be secured are easy-to-access FAQs, customer support chatbots, and tested emails and website.

Holiday planning must cover not only a business’ landing pages, email marketing, and ad campaigns ready but also its channel strategy. One must also ensure that everything works smoothly through promo codes/checkout, etc. The initial planning of a successful holiday marketing campaign usually starts in Q2. This may seem too early but know that time can pass by so quickly, so, it is important to allot extra to time to be able to plan ahead of time.

Simplicity is the key.

Holiday planning should not be so complicated. In fact, you can start small with your holiday campaigns, especially if this is your first holiday season as a brand. Base your strategy on the capability of your team and the amount of support you have with your operations. All you need is to be able to come up with an idea which your product or service can give, a benefit and an emotion which draws the customers and helps them remember your brand. The efficiency of how you implement this strategy will determine whether consumers will choose to shop with you for the holidays.

As an additional strategy you can also use social media to connect with customers. With this one, you will have to come up with something engaging that shopper will be enticed to share through their social media accounts to feel like they are a part of something. This tactic helps you build not only a connection but also trust and an audience.

Prepare and Adapt Quickly.

Problems may be inevitable during these hectic times. So, you also have to be prepared to troubleshoot especially for worst-case scenarios. You should secure a team that will remedy any issues on your website, ads and anywhere else. You should also consider reviewing your customer service, shipping, and operations teams to assure that minimal to zero problems will arise in the future. This is also another reason why you have to plan ahead of time; so that you can make changes due to unforeseen issues as early as you can.

Have a Content-Driven Approach.

One of the latest trends in the retail industry today is the use of content marketing as a way to reach customers. Through this, brands are being enabled to offer more personalized shopping experiences to customers such as holiday gift guides and shopping assistants. Adding a content strategy element to your holiday marketing ideas can help you a lot as well, especially if you keep search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. This will encourage drive organic traffic to your website as customers will be able to search for products that you sell even if they’ve never shopped with you before.

Brace for tougher competition.

The greatest challenge that you may face during the holiday season are the competitors which may be doing the same or even better strategies compared to you. But, don’t be discouraged because all you have to do is re-enforce your email marketing to draw more customers to your online store. Make sure that it will give you an edge in communicating the benefits of purchasing with your products and services over your competitors.

Be creative and target an interesting/unique area that you know about your demographic and focus on that rather than do the traditional (easy) holiday-related subject lines. Make sure you have secured your effective retargeting campaigns ahead of the holiday season.

The holiday season may be stressful for some businesses but it can also be filled with enjoyment especially if you have enough preparation and strategy to stand out against your rivals. Remember that it is not about how grand your holiday marketing campaign strategy is but how it can give a remarkable experience to your buyers.

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Preparing For A Bountiful Holiday Marketing

Holidays are always hectic; or at least for those in the marketing field because holiday marketing is an extremely crucial time for every business due to the boom in the spending of their customers which goes far beyond from what they normally spend throughout the year. That’s why businesses are thinking of their own gimmicks to hook the customers from discounts to promos with free shipping included! For years, it was able to excite people and entice them to buy even those who don’t have any initial plans. But the question is for how long will this be effective? And what other preparations should a marketer do to cope up with the holidays? Let’s talk about it.

Planning ahead of time

Planning is the most important thing for marketing in general. Doing it ahead of time is the key to achieve your goals for the season, and help you track your progress a lot easier.

Securing a content plan as well as all the materials ahead of time can help you start early campaigns which can lead to a smoother holiday season. Know that most Christmas ads are successful because they are prepared in advance. Some even do them as early as summertime while others are not thinking about the yuletide season yet.

But what’s more important than having a plan is to be organized because even a well-constructed plan can be left in shambles during the holiday season especially when you and your team are not focused on the crucial elements of your campaign.

Christmas holiday materials such as brochure, flyer catalog must also be designed early as it will be easier to just insert changes or developments than to start entirely in scratch. What’s important is for you to have your big sales and promotions started as early as possible so that your customers will be aware of them and that’s when their excitement will begin.

Launching it too early can be annoying do and there’s a tendency that they will forget it over time. So, timing is also important. In this cause, you must make a clear schedule leading up to your actual big event. There should proper build up and momentum but not slow so it wouldn’t be boring. This schedule will remind you with important dates and targets and help you determine whether they are being reached. You can also have an overview of your entire plan through it so it will be easier to know if it’s feasible.

Preparing your product catalog

Product catalogs provide customers a quick and easy access to information about your products such as their prices along with a short description. This is convenient for them because shoppers don’t have to go to the actual store.

This is also preferable for retailers who sell a variety of products as there’s no way the customers would want to walk all around the store just to look at every single product. This is not only time-consuming but also extremely tiring.

But, with a product catalog, looking for a specific product won’t be that stressful anymore. It can be their guide on what they should expect on various items and which among them are covered with discount. Flyers on the other hand, are simpler. Yet, are also effective in getting your products out there.

Optimizing users’ mobile experience

Your mobile store plays an important role in holiday marketing. So, you need to start preparing it early so your users will have a stress-free experience with it. Check for issues or list down possible issues that may arise and start looking for solutions or troubleshooting backups. Cramming on this aspect on the last minute will be the end of all your holiday marketing opportunities.

Social Media Utilization

Promote your brand on all social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest as this is considered one of the fastest and most successful ways to advertise today.

As a marketer, you can use social media trends to encourage brand awareness, make a sale or interact with existing customers. This is where most people dwell nowadays especially those with money. So, do not forget to let your presence be known.

Wrap Up

Discussing holiday marketing strategies can be really complicated. So, I tried my best to make it as simple and as short thus giving you the explanation above. But this doesn’t mean you couldn’t learn for more. There are still a lot of resources that could help you so don’t stop looking.

Aside from everything mentioned above, another piece of advice is for you to do efforts to really know your audience. Because only through this can you know how to appeal to them.

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What Sells Best Online this 2019

Online selling was such in a boom that it reached the point that most businesses sell almost the same products and all that mattered is the brand and price. So for this year, especially with the incoming yuletide season, let’s have a breath of fresh air and look at some of the freshest and hottest products that you may sell to make your online business standout.

Pixel Art / Paintings

Pixel art are so popular nowadays because of the fresh yet amazing visuals they have brought. In fact, many mainstream online sites show a massive increase of people looking for pixel art products proving that there’s really high buyer intent.

Clocks

This is among the products that will never be out of the limelight. As having clocks does not only help people to manage their time but can also be used as a perfect addition to their home decor. This is why people have developed various creative ideas how they can innovate the simple design of clocks.

Wood Print

Who wouldn’t be amazed with the art of printing out images on wood? In fact, people were so fond of them that they found out how to transfer their wedding photographs into wood or get a landscape paint on wood into their living room. Wood print has created a huge impact on business at it also boosted the industry where print-on-demand is most profitable.

DIY Jewellery

Selling homemade jewellery is one of the most common ways to cash in. People are piling up to purchase homemade jewellery online because of the convenience. Jewellery making – like every other creative business –  takes a lot of time, creativity, skill, and effort. Ideas may not come every time and if you are looking to sell different designs, this might pose as an issue to you. People typically don’t search specific keywords when jewelry shopping. They tend to use general keywords and look for something they like within that category. Some of the latest jewellery trends include Locket Necklace, Cufflinks, and Ear Cuffs

Hair Care Products and Accessories

Hair care or accessories will never go out of style. It just evolves and develop to fit its sister industries such as the fashion and jewellery industry. Another reason why this business is one of the best is because no matter how many years pass, people will always want to take care of their hair and a good number of them will still look to accessorize their hair for different functions, be it for weddings or casual outings.

Stationery Products

Art will always run in someone’s blood. This people who have love for crafts will remain as the target market of this business. Even though technology has made people prefer eCards, online notes, word documents, and emails over physical stationery. ‘Paper and pencil’ crafts still sell, especially in holiday seasons as a result of the personalized feel they bring. This category also has some of the cheapest crafts to make.

Beauty Products

Last but not the least, selling homemade beauty products is another perfect way to turn your hobby into a full-time income stream. There is a variety of hair products, skin care products, or makeup to choose from and they will always make great gifts for people. This market may have some of the most expensive products to create, but it also has some of the fastest selling products.

In the retail industry, some products will remain sellable but some will not. The world is changing fast and businesses are required to cope with it in order to maintain their patrons. Business owners must know the trends to identify what sells best to the customers. Always remember that learning how to adapt and to predict behaviour of your target market is the key.

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Instagram Marketing: How To Make Money Out of Videos Posts and Stories

Many people think that Instagram is only for the rich and the famous to share their glamorous photos and videos. But just like other social media sites, there’s business that you can derive out of it. Even as a small business owner, Instagram posts can be a flexible format for your products and your brand, whether you choose to invest in higher polish or embrace a more organic approach.

So, if you’re not making and sharing content such as videos on Instagram, you could be missing out on connecting with tons of new potential customer especially because most people are already exposed on the social media. Don’t worry, using Instagram as your main platform won’t limit you there. In fact, producing and posting contents from here can serve only as a jumpstart as it can be shared through Facebook and Twitter.

Instagram videos can be posted either on your feed or on your stories which only lives within 24 hours. You can start by posting simple promotions through that to test if your approach and content is effective to entice people and to get feedback if possible. Don’t worry, these Instagram videos don’t have to be expensive, complicated productions either.

In fact, videos shot on a budget can often appear more authentic (and be more effective) than high production videos. You can shoot compelling videos for your brand’s Instagram page on just a smartphone, with the option to edit it using Instagram itself, a computer, or a variety of useful mobile apps.

To start understanding about it, know that there are two main styles of videos that you can share on Instagram. One refers to quick and authentic content while the other is more on the high production and promotional.

It is highly suggest that at first, use quick and easy to make videos first; one that is only shot at your office, on location at your latest pop-up shop, or at an event that your brand is attending. Process it with light editing on your mobile device just to let your audience know your brand is authentic and approachable. It may not be as polished as the usual marketing videos we see online. But it can also gain a lot of engagement because it feels authentic and at home on the platform.

Later on, you can make contents that can be used and reused over time. That is as soon as you have the resources to shoot footage with high production values or have access to high-res footage from an event or advertisement shoot.

While when it comes to content, make sure that it reflects the core values of your brand. You can start by making an origin story about the start of your company, or a branded content that shows your core product line. This kind of footage can be edited and polished into evergreen content that can live on all your social channels and as marketing materials elsewhere for a long time.

Starting from this, your engagements would rise and your followers would increase. You can then start adding additional ads from other products and business that will also give you additional revenue. You can also place ads on other videos especially of well-known people such as influencers to reach more people and make your brand get known even more.

 

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Physical Store Partnerships: It’s Benefits and Everything You Need To Know

Aside from life in general, business is another thing which can be done so much better when there’s company. But unlike friends, business are harder to find and more difficult to return as they hold more on the matters concerning their self interest rather than on personal ties. Though, it can also be good if you try to befriend them to make your relations better.

But first, know that it’s not mandatory. However, its perks are too good to miss especially when you are a new business which aspires to expand and grow. Just know that this is equivalent to responsibilities too. There’s also a need to be careful as this venture can also become risky. Here we’ll discuss the things that you have to prepare before, during, and after you partner up with another brand to ensure that it would be a success.

But first of all, let’s know first what the different types of partnerships are for you to know what kind of engagement suits your preference best. You should also think about the nature of your agreement to know how the partnership will work and what your ideal result is.

Sales and distribution agreements

This plain and direct type of partnership is where merchants agree to have sales and distribution sales with other retailers meaning they will have to sell the goods of the other.

Contests

Meanwhile, this is one of the most common type of partnerships where company’s rely on each other as fan base and encourage sales or engagement. These types of partnerships can be observed on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, which make it easy for users to tag, comment, and engage with brands.

Events

Other retailers may also co-host events and programs with organizations and fellow businesses. Here, retailers can team up to share costs, improve exposure, and connect with more consumers.

Social buzz and marketing

These agreements can include promoting or mentioning each other on social media sites, contributing articles or content to each other’s sites, and running joint online competitions, among other things.

These partnerships are just some of the many types of deals that you could enter in with other businesses. But you are free to modify and explore what other retailers have done in your industry to figure out the partnership that’s right for you.

Knowing who you want to team up with

Now, knowing the opportunities available for you, you can now proceed on thinking of a prospect company or business to team up with. It is also better if you will be able to prepare a proposal giving a hint of what might be your ideal nature of the partnership. It is also a way for to you to figure out the best way to reach out them.

Your approach should depend on who you’re contacting as well as the type of agreement you’re looking to get, so it’s important to sort this thing out and prepare to present them clearly to reach mutual understanding with the other party.

You can also make depend on complementary offerings that you may come up with. This can be composed of products and services that work well in tandem (or in groups–like a one-stop wedding shop with florist, caterer, photographer, band, etc.) You can also promote these products and services together. Meanwhile, similar fan base can also be a good touch base. So, instead of competing with one another, why not unite and benefit from each other’s fan base?

There are different ways to find a common ground in business and when used wisely, this common ground can be an asset which would make all involved businesses succeed.

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Why The World Needs Eco-Friendly Packaging and Shipping Alternatives

Packaging and Shipping are both essential in running an online business. But as years pass, significant and alarming change was seen on the environment and these things are some of the contributors on the damage in the planet. This has pushed consumers to be more conscious of their shopping habits so, they’re now looking not only for sustainable products but businesses dedicated to being environmentally friendly in all aspects of their operations.

For businesses, this wouldn’t be a big problem. They just need to allocate some time doing research and planning to find the best ways how they can repackage and ship their products using eco-friendly materials and ways.

Campaigns are on-going all over the world against climate change. Young people, their parents, the working force, corporations and even governments are supporting it. So if you are not one of those who stand with these people and with the environment, then you have to think because you might be putting yourself in a very difficult and risky situation.

As mentioned above, movements are already being hyped up right now. It is being promoted and featured on TV, radio and even on social media and it urges people to do action. Have you heard of teenager Greta Thunberg who started boycotting airlines to lessen carbon emissions? Many people are following her. Soon enough this could also happen on the same industry where your business belongs. So you need to take some actions while you still can. Shipping through planes may be convenient and cheap but there might come a time that consumers wouldn’t want it anymore.

Plastic which is commonly used on packages is also a major problem. Countries are already doing something about it and legislations are on the way to limit or prohibit the use of them. Will you wait till they are fully implemented before you review and do something to change how you pack your products? Are you willing to take the risks of facing fines for violating laws or being boycotted by consumer groups?

The point here is not only to fear the possible consequences of it to your business but to think about the benefits it may bring in the future. By contributing in lessening the damage being done to the planet, you are helping to save it. It will benefit not only the future generation but also the people of your time hoping that it will alleviate the conditions of people’s lives.

Reach out on other consumers groups and participate on partnerships as you integrate eco-friendly measures on your company. This way you are also building bonds with consumers, groups and agencies which support the same cause. Being one with them will surely boost your sales as you will soon be more preferred more than your non-eco-friendly competitors.

It’s not too late to be part of the change. These small steps as working on your packaging and shipping could lead to bigger actions which could benefit not only the environment but your company.

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