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Why you Should Add a Business Line to your Smartphone

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business line for smartphone

Entrepreneurs often wait until it’s too late to add a separate business line to their smartphone. Using your personal phone number is economical and convenient when a start-up is in its early stages. But when your company begins to develop its brand, getting a separate phone number for business communications becomes very useful, essential really. There are lots of great reasons why you should go ahead and take the leap as soon as possible.

Reasons Not to Use Your Personal Phone Number for Business

Studies show that 75% of consumers say a phone call is the easiest way to get a response, while around 52% who convert following an online search do so over the phone. Having a business phone number for your operations regularly rates better in popularity for consumers, regardless of how digitally linked you are to social media and online mobile applications.

What’s more, many businesses you interact with, government agencies, and other services use your personal phone number for identity verification. Your personal number can provide access to highly sensitive information and potentially lead to identity theft or other online scams.

The list of reasons why you shouldn’t give out your personal number to customers, clients, or suppliers is a long one. Here are a few key reasons to avoid using a personal number for business, in a nutshell:

1. Exposure to online threats like scammers and phishers

2. Exposure to telemarketers and robocalls

3. Your business is tied to your personal number and is difficult to change

4. Limited calling features that don’t scale with company growth

5. Lack of control over additional business lines

6. Personal privacy is compromised as you can always be reached

7. Inability to distinguish between work and personal phone calls

8. Lack of control over work vs. personal time with friends and family

9. Inability to transfer calls to team members when needed

10. Using a personal number for business just looks unprofessional

Benefits of A Separate Business Line for Your Cell Phone

A business phone number is a critical part of your brand identity and provides an essential convenience for customers. 70% of mobile users who look for goods and services online opt for a phone call over other forms of communication. 94% of users call a business after searching for it on their phones. Here are some other great reasons to get a separate business line for your smartphone.

Improve Customer Satisfaction

A phone number used explicitly for your business works to enhance customer service and satisfaction. Customers can get frustrated when they try to get in touch with a specific company, but can’t find their contact information or easily reach you.

If you do continue to use your business number, take care when using it on the internet or giving it out to clients and suppliers. Getting a business line makes sure customers can easily find your contact details and reach you. People can reach out to you and get answers to their queries and doubts.

Reliability and Portability

Whether you own a small or big business, having a business phone line works wonders. It gives your business credibility and works to promote your brand. It’s also easy to transition to a new location, so even if you move your business your customers can still contact you with the same number.

Separate Your Personal & Business Communications

We often change our personal numbers, but your business number needs to remain consistent. By separating business from personal contacts, you can more clearly distinguish calls and messages from friends and family, or from work sources. Also, using your personal number on marketing materials would render all those materials obsolete if you had to change it.

You Can Choose a Business Number That’s Easier for Customers to Remember

Thousands of local and toll-free phone numbers are available across all area codes, so you can get one that’s convenient and easy to remember. A toll-free number will appeal to landline callers especially, and can give your business an added appearance of professionalism, making it a potent marketing tool.

More Control Over Employee-Customer Communications

If your employees use their personal numbers when dealing with customers, you have little control over their communications in your business’ name. Perhaps more importantly, you won’t have access to call records and notes about clients that help streamline efforts among internal teams.

Easier to Maintaining Work-Life Balance

Giving out your personal phone number for business reasons, your personal and professional life can get mixed up. Customers and providers can always reach you, and your privacy gets restricted. Having a separate business line with set hours helps maintain a seamless work-life balance.

Minimize Your Need for New Devices or Hardware

Many small businesses and start-ups begin by using their personal number for business, but as the company grows, having a second number becomes more and more important. If you operate as a solopreneur, maintaining a second cell phone and business calling line can quickly add up in expense.

Why You Should Add a Second Phone Number to Your Cell Phone

Modern phones have gotten more powerful and easy to use than ever, and communications are getting better, faster, and clearer all the time. There’s never been a better time than to try out using a separate business line. There are lots of advantages of having one phone with two numbers, including:

  • Personal privacy: keep your personal information and details safe from your business-only contacts.
  • Work-life Balance: easily maintain separate personal and professional communications.
  • Saves money and time: keeping two cell phones can get confusing and expensive.
  • Mobility: connect with customers and colleagues from home or on the road.

Personal numbers are not meant for doing business, not to mention they lack professional calling features. Getting a phone number for your business is affordable, is a great idea for companies of all sizes, is convenient, and safeguards your personal data from scammers. A virtual phone system will allow you to put up a professional front with a very low cost.

Adding a Separate Business Line to Your Mobile Device is Easy

Many great business line mobile apps are available on Google Play or Apple App Store for iPhone and iOS. Mobile calling apps also provide essential extra features, such as voicemail transcription and auto-attendants. Incoming calls have a characteristic ring so you’ll always know who is calling. Operating a virtual business phone system helps you easily expand to additional team members. It doesn’t matter what hardware you use: smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, office IP phones, or traditional landlines. All your business phone lines will be linked to one single number for anyone who calls in.

You can sign up for a free trial of most business calling apps to get a better idea of how their features can work for your business. Tiered pricing plans are available for businesses of all sizes. Bring your business calling into the 21st century by adding a business line to your smartphone today.

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

The Ins and Outs of Financial Projections and Why They’re Essential for Your Business

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Do you have a solid grasp of the financials of your business and your future financial goals? Financial projections can be used as both an internal planning tool and a way to communicate with stakeholders, helping you make the best decisions about where you want to take your company. This article will take you through the process of creating accurate financial projections. 

What are financial projections?

Financial projections are an essential tool for any business owner or entrepreneur and provide valuable insights into your company’s future. With accurate projections, you can see where your business is headed and how it will grow or shrink over time, depending on your assumptions. 

The best thing about this type of planning is that it’s flexible. If something changes, like a new opportunity or challenge you didn’t foresee, you can adjust your numbers accordingly to accommodate these new circumstances. 

What financial projections do I need? 

There are many types of financial projections that might be useful, depending on your company. 

The most widely used ones are projections of profit margins, which can include revenue forecasts and expense budgets. But don’t forget to consider your cash flow statement, especially when planning to scale up your business, as you are likely to need cash available to make significant investments such as purchasing machinery or land. 

And a balance sheet can also help you project future success, as it gives a great overall view if you’re trying to get funding from banks or investors. 

How do I create financial projections? 

A great place to start with this process would be looking at historical data from previous years to have some baseline against which to compare any future scenarios. 

From there, you make assumptions as to what will happen in the future. Don’t forget to document the reason behind each assumption to make sure they’re realistic. 

There are many online resources available for creating financial projections, such as software like Excel spreadsheets. All you need is basic knowledge of how to use the tool, and if you want inspiration, there are plenty of online templates available to help you. 

Do you need help? 

Many financial advisors and accountants specialize in creating financial projections and can offer assistance or answer any questions if you get stuck. 

And if you want to deepen your knowledge about financial statements and what they can do for you, a good option might be getting an online accounting degree. Not only will you learn about financial statements, but you’ll also gain insight into accounting principles and standards. 

By earning your degree online, you can work around your existing schedule so that your work and personal life don’t suffer while you learn. And you will find that it gives you more confidence to handle the financial challenges your business faces.

Financial projections are an effective tool to understand how money is coming in and going out of your company so you can make more educated decisions about where it should go next. Accurate financial projections can help your business find funding, communicate with stakeholders, and grow.


Need help kickstarting your startup idea or getting media exposure for your brand?
Feel free to reach out for a free 20-minute consultation to chat about your business and how I can help! To schedule your time: CLICK HERE

 

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you want to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Two Steps to Launch your StartUp Idea – Don’t Lose Momentum!

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Here is a simple two-step process that will help you get started with launching your startup idea today.

Launching a startup can be an intimidating process. Taking ideas from your head and putting them into an action plan starts with deciding to bring your vision to fruition. Running a startup is no easy task, and launching one isn’t either. For those who are just starting, taking baby steps is recommended to prevent yourself from becoming overwhelmed or discouraged before you get started.

These steps can help you gain the momentum you need to get your startup up and running today.

Determine the Goal

Starting with your goal in mind will save you tons of time and energy. Just like taking a road trip, it’s best to have a sense of where you would like to end up. Know where you want to see yourself, even if you’re not sure about the final destination.

Determine what your destination would look like – is it more money, and if so, how much and why? For what reason do you want to make a specific amount of money? Is it the freedom to work anywhere in the world? Maybe your goal is to solve a problem for medical professionals who work in the healthcare industry. Know and understand your “why.”

Once you know your goal, you can proceed with creating a plan of action to achieve it. Most startup failures are due to a lack of clarity – no goals, no vision. A goal will serve as your guidepost and help you kickstart the required action steps to get things moving in the right direction. Most startup founders set out on this journey to make a difference. Startups play a pivotal role in changing our world.

Start with Simple Resources

Don’t let not having a website ready discourage you from getting your business online. We live in a world where social media is a big deal. If you have the name of your business, the official logo, and an overview of what your company does, that’s enough to get going. If you are in the middle of filing paperwork like business registrations, copyrights, trademarks, and similar items of that nature, I would suggest finalizing those necessary documents before going online.

In addition, there are also other tasks you can do that will help position your startup online when the time comes. These tasks include creating your brand mission statement or company overview, determining which social media platforms to use, and registering them. It is also a great time to start thinking about the marketing strategy and the best ways to promote your startup. This level of activity will spur your mind into action. Completing the simple stuff will make way for the next set of tasks you need for a successful launch.

Wrapping up

Hopefully, the steps above have given you some clarity and insight into why it is crucial to take action now on your idea. Even though you may experience levels of uncertainty or doubt, you will create momentum by moving forward. The goal is to start where you are with what you have. I’m sure you may have heard the quote, “An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.” ―Arnold Glasow.

Need help kickstarting your startup idea or getting media exposure for your brand?
Feel free to reach out for a free 20-minute consultation where we can chat about your business and how I can help! To schedule your time: CLICK HERE

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Podcast Recap: Food Truck Culture and Entrepreneurship with Podcaster Ariel Smith

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Ariel Smith, host of The Food Truck Scholar podcast centered around the food truck business, food culture, and black entrepreneurship talks about the inspiration behind her podcast. She also shares several tips and ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to get started on their ventures.

1) Creativity is necessary

Creativity is important but not sufficient for a food truck business to get successful. An entrepreneur should try new foods and incorporate innovation in this business, but some important points must be kept in mind while doing so. As with all businesses, the food truck business also has its own risks and can fail if food quality, customer service, or any important other factor is not paid attention to. Such a mistake can be destructive for the business even if creativity is employed. In short, small factors may have significant effects on the business in the long run and thus must be considered.

2) Significance of the Food truck business

The food truck industry is an important one serving a lot of people daily. It is growing ever more significant as it has the potential to offer the same quality and variety of food that a person enjoys at a restaurant. Furthermore, food trucks cater superior food like lobsters and crabs to people of lower socioeconomic statuses while restaurants only serve such food to upper-class people. This growing significance of the food truck industry makes it a viable business option and promises a lot of opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs.

3) Social media marketing is essential

Social media is an essential marketing tool for food trucks, without which marketing can be said to be virtually impossible. It can help in maintaining a good customer relation, engaging them, disclosing opening, and closing times and routes which reduces the communication gap between the food truck operators and the customers. While many social media sites and apps are available, the most important ones in this business are Instagram and Facebook. The critical points in social media marketing of food trucks are that social media accounts must be updated with new posts regularly. Excellent photography must be employed in the posts about foods and a schedule of time and routes must be communicated to followers and should be followed.

4) Research is a must

Aspiring food truck entrepreneurs should do a lot of research before entering the business because this helps them avoid future problems. A person entering the business must research all the available options and choices and select the ones that cater to his or her needs.

5) Deciding and planning

A person willing to enter the food truck business should decide and plan everything as soon as possible. He or she should know the category of food they want to serve and whether it would be pre-prepared or will be prepared in the truck. It should also be decided if they plan to buy or rent the truck, and if someone else is working for them on the truck, how credible and trustable is that person. Most importantly, the person must build a following on social media accounts way before launching the business so that he or she knows that people are actually going to buy the product.

6) Passion is vital

Lastly, passion is a vital ingredient to enjoy success in the food truck business. It is not as easy as it seems and there are days when a person must work in very harsh conditions with patience and effort and such a contribution can only be made by a person who is working for his or her passion, not just for earning a quick buck.

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

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Could Home Office Improvements Lower Your Tax Bill?

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Discover more informative content by checking out the Keetria blog and podcast.

Planning updates to your home office? If you are doing so to support a small business, you could be in for potential tax savings. Tax planning and accounting services can help you make the most of these savings and also help you avoid issues with the IRS. It also helps to know upfront which expenses and updates can be deducted and which can’t. Check out this list of possible home office credits:

Some or All of Your Internet Costs

When it comes to self-employed tax credits, you can typically only write off things that you absolutely need to run your business. You may be surprised to learn that this includes either all or some of the fees you pay for your home internet connection. If your family utilizes the same connection for other tasks, like online learning, you can only deduct a percentage of the cost.

Many of Your Digital Security Expenses

Keeping your connection protected is a worthwhile endeavor, especially if you plan on storing personal information on devices or doing your taxes online (for instance). Without proper security measures in place — including antivirus software and a VPN — your information could end up in the hands of online criminals. Plus, you should be able to deduct any related expense.

Dedicated Home Office Space

If you’re creating a dedicated workspace at home, you could be eligible for the home office tax credit. This deduction can trip up many small business owners, but as long as you use your office exclusively for conducting business tasks, you should be okay.:

Keep in mind that employees who receive a W2 from their employers are not eligible for the home office deduction. Even if you work from home full time and have a dedicated home office, if you receive a W2, you cannot claim this deduction.

Direct Expenses Related to Your Business

Did you have your new home office carpeted? Or did you buy new office equipment and furniture? If your space qualifies for the home office deduction, you may also be able to write off these additional expenses. All of these costs should qualify as direct expenses for your small business. You just need to have receipts and documentation to prove as such.

Repairs Needed to Update Your Home Office

Other potential tax breaks you can take include those that offset the cost of needed repairs to your home workspace. Once again, taking these detailed deductions requires clear documentation and quite a bit of work. This is why so many small business owners may be better off taking a simplified home office tax credit to save themselves the time and hassle.

General Improvement/Repairs for Your Home

Okay, so you can’t claim most updates and home improvements on your business taxes. However, if these improvements add value to your home or are made to accommodate a family member with a disability, you can use related deductions to save on your personal returns or if you decide to sell your home in the future. For instance, if you finish an attic to create more bedroom space and free up a room for your home office, these expenses should qualify.

To make planning for these home improvement projects less overwhelming, websites like Angi provide a simple way to connect with the services you need. For example, if you’re looking for a handyman, you can find a top handyman near me and easily check whether they’re certified and how many ratings they’ve earned. You can also see which services offer deals and coupons, so that you’re not only lowering your tax bill, you’re also saving money on the costs of home repairs.

Business Owners Should Beware

There are quite a few ways that making home office or general home updates can save you money come tax time. As you may have noted though, we used a lot of terms like “may” and “could” throughout this guide. That’s because taking advantage of these money-saving deductions does require some professional savvy. If you are interested in maximizing your savings without triggering an audit, consider working with a professional tax preparation service.

Making improvements to your home office can increase your productivity. It may also help you save on your tax bill, depending on the sort of updates you make. Your best bet is to consult a professional accountant as you plan your project and certainly when you complete your taxes.

 

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

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Podcast Recap: Business Growth Strategy & Execution with Mal McCallion

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Growtion Founder & CEO Mal McCallion shares valuable business growth strategies and startup activities he has gained over the years. Over the course of his career, Mal has been involved with the launch of national brands such as Zoopla and Primelocation. He’s also contributed to the development of dozens of small-to-mid-size enterprises (SMEs). To listen to the full SOB The Podcast interview check out the video below. Here, we share 7 key takeaway points directly from the interview.

1) Importance of execution

Mal places a lot of importance on the execution of an idea or a plan. His own organization-growing is a blend of growth and execution; the philosophy behind it is that execution of growth is more important than mere theories. He believes that a theoretical plan that only relies on knowledge but not on actual practice or implementation is destructive for startups. So, he considers an executable plan a very important part of a business or startup strategy.

2) The essential aspects of growth

The three essential aspects of the growth of a startup or business are product, marketing, and sales, the rest of all the business operations are of secondary importance and if these three aspects are executed with perfection the other operations also become quite easy to handle. The product should be made while keeping the target audience in mind which helps in increasing sales and promoting word of mouth marketing among people. For the second step, marketing, social media is very important as it helps to gain a following and promote a sense of brand among potential customers. Lastly, sales are also essential because a common mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs do is that they hope that marketing would be enough for selling their product which, unfortunately, is a wrong notion.


3) The importance of Why

The main question that every entrepreneur or businessperson should ask himself is that why they are doing something. This applied in every single activity of business from meeting to management to marketing to customer relations to investor relations it is important to ask yourself that why are you doing this? This helps in clearing the vision as well as connecting with other people who share the same vision. It also helps in minimizing the distractions that surround a person.

4) Building a relationship with the customer

Building a relationship with the customer on a personal level is very important because that builds the reputation of the company and helps in better satisfying the customer as they feel themselves being considered important in it. A story or narrative around the product is very important; this helps in attracting customers who have the same vision as you and helps in gaining their trust.

5) Common mistakes of entrepreneurs

The most common mistake among entrepreneurs and business people is that they get carried away by the distractions that their environment offers. The immense amount of information that surrounds a common person in this age makes it very difficult to be decisive and this, in turn, can lead to a person pursuing a lot of different goals at the same time, which ultimately is destructive for the person or the organization. This is why the three important aspects of a business product, marketing, and sales have been mentioned which if focused on can help minimize distractions.

6) Steps of sale

Important steps of sales have been mentioned as the identification of the potential customers, engaging with them through social media or any other means, converting them into followers, and then, the most important step, urging them to actually buy their product.

7) Words for aspiring entrepreneurs

Lastly, he mentions that the pandemic has brought many opportunities for aspiring business professionals and entrepreneurs. The importance of working remotely and online has grown significantly which has made its effects on the business world giving rise to these new opportunities. People who want to be successful should recognize them and try to innovate their business accordingly to succeed in this domain.

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

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4 Tips for Making Your Way in the Sharing Economy

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This is a great time to start or grow a small business. With the rise of collaborative consumption as a viable economic model, people are inventing brand-new ways to earn a living and reshaping the world of work. It’s much bigger than Uber and Lyft; people are using phones and computer-based apps to find all manner of peer-to-peer work. Airbnb and Couchsurfing allow you to rent a room in someone’s home. You can also locate pet sitters and custom crafters online. There are even apps where you can hire someone to make you soup when you’re sick. Human ingenuity has no bounds; if you can imagine it, you can monetize it. However, it just takes the right setup and planning to become successful in the sharing economy.

The following tips from Keetria can help you find your footing in the sharing economy.

Understand What You Need to Do

Thanks to the gig economy, you don’t need to be an experienced entrepreneur to run a successful business today! As long as you find a platform where you can offer your services and find your first customers, you can start your own business. First, you’ll need to work out a business plan and preliminary budget. These documents will come in handy should you ever decide to apply for grants or look for a business partner.

After you’ve sorted out these important documents, think about how you’ll pay yourself and any staff you hire. It’s important to keep your business and personal finances separated, and you need to dogear funds to send to Uncle Sam on a regular basis. You should also set aside money to pay for health insurance, retirement, and so forth. A payroll app like Quickbooks is the easiest solution. It will remind you about paydays and tax deadlines, allows you to do things like generate payroll on the fly, and even provides you with free direct deposit. The easier you can make it to tackle mundane and complicated concerns like payroll, the better!

Find Your Niche

Having a great idea is just the beginning. Do a little homegrown market research and find out if you have competitors. If you do, consider taking one to lunch. For the price of a meal, you can pick up some information about the nature of the work you plan to do and what the market for that work is like. Look around online to see what is doing well in your area and what platforms exist to support your work. Make sure you avoid the most common pitfalls. Businesses fail when they forget both sides have to get something they want. Sharing should be a win-win situation. However, if you provide poor service or fail to solve the problem you’re addressing, your business will fail too. Make sure your focus is narrow enough to make you stand out from the competition and your consumer base broad enough to support a profit.

Create a Workspace

When your jobs come in on your phone around the clock, it can feel like you’re always working. Designating a workspace and work hours can help you balance your life. This can be a room or area at home where you keep your computer, printer and records for your business, but it can also be a place you leave home and go to each day. Individually rentable office space is another big part of the new economy. The point is to have a place where you handle work-related business away from your personal life. This will help you to be more productive during the hours you are working and allow you to “leave work at the office” mentally when you aren’t.

Get Buzz Going

It’s hard to get clients if you aren’t easy to find. Make sure you’re on social media and all the relevant apps and platforms. Think of it as good advertising. You may even want to up your game as you get a little more successful and network with others in related lines of work. Say that you’re running a tidy little shop online making custom wedding cakes. You have a friend who is running her business over on Etsy doing calligraphy and etching glass. Consider working together to throw each other clients; people who want wedding cakes often want engraved champagne flutes as well. These supportive networks can be as important to your success as the very platform you use to market your work, so don’t neglect them.

If you are a successful small business, making use of online apps, social media marketing, and the sharing economy will really help you to reach new customers and expand your brand. And if you’re thinking about going into business, the sharing economy means it has never been easier. Every day brings some new way to find your market, and the future is limitless.

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Why Creativity is So Important for Startup Founders

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Creativity breeds original ideas of developing products and carrying out various tasks. Creative people make new things or find new ways of doing things. A startup founder should possess several skills, and creativity is key among them.

The creative process begins with fragments of ideas. With time and research, the idea is solidified and expanded. Writing is encouraged at this stage. Express your mind on paper; then finally take the steps to bring your idea to fruition.

Bring Something New to the Market

As a startup founder, your main goal should be to bring something different to the market. Can every other new business be referred to as a startup? Hardly. A startup refers to a new business that has put together a definite structure for its operations. With such a structure, the expectation is that you should come up with something that is out of the ordinary. Your startup success will be determined largely by your creativity.

Elevate Your Brand

Have you noticed that some brands take years if not decades to make their mark on the market, if at all, while others are established and shoot into prominence within no time? If you settle for the usual products, and the usual way of carrying out procedures, your brand is likely to fall in the first category.

Once you inject some creativity, your product instantly creates a buzz in the market. People will be falling over themselves to check out this revolutionary product. With social media, word travels fast. Your brand will be on the lips of consumers within no time; held in high regard. Who wants to purchase and use products associated with a high-ranking brand? Everyone! With such a first impression, you already have yourself loyal clients even for future products.

Learn to Take Risks

New products are not always a success. The market may not be excited about your invention as you are. Every time you choose to do things differently, you must be cognizant of the possibility of failure. That’s what taking risk is all about; proceeding even when you’re uncertain about the outcome.

What’s the worst that can happen really? If the market does not resonate with your invention, you can improve on it. Or scrap it entirely and start afresh. Take the feedback and let it guide you along. Startup success is hardly ever instants. The disappointments and rejections are part of the process. This process will teach you to view failure as a stepping stone, and this will anchor you throughout your entrepreneurship journey.

Inspire Others

As a creative startup founder, you inspire those who work for and with you to do the same. They know that they’re not confined to the rigid, conventional techniques of doing things. They can also try out new ideas, whether they work instantly or not. Such a team will be motivated to get to work. A creative environment boosts productivity and enhances teamwork. Remember their ideas ultimately offer creative marketing for your startup, and you stand to benefit in the long run.

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

5 Effective Content Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

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Content Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Content marketing is one of those budget-friendly small business marketing avenues. Unlike traditional advertising where you just put your information out there and hope that it gets to your target audience, here you can track the reach of your advert and receive instant feedback from those who have interacted with it.

Content marketing gives you an opportunity to offer in-depth information about your brand. Your interaction with the consumer goes beyond the sales, and this gradually establishes brand loyalty. Here are some content marketing ideas to start you off:

  1. Create Informative Articles

With article writing, you have an opportunity to not only inform your audience but also boost your search engine visibility through SEO articles. Here you utilize the keywords that are most likely to be used in your niche. For instance, if you deal with skincare products, find out the most prominent topics here. They could include acne, wrinkles, sunburns, blackheads, pimples, and so on.

Create factual, enlightening articles on these topics. Once the search engines lead the readers to your site, they can then view the full range of your products. With time your site will be considered an authority in this niche, and clients will readily trust your products.

  1. Use Audio and Visual Clips

People are sometimes too occupied or tired to read. Podcasts and videos provide an easier alternative of passing the information. One can listen when driving, walking, attending to house chores, or just resting. If you need a step-by-step demonstration, such as a skincare routine, consider uploading a series of photos or a well-edited video that users can watch. Remember to bookmark all your images and videos. Even when they’re shared on other platforms, they should clearly showcase your brand.

  1. Capitalize on Social Media

Facebook and Instagram remain the most visited sites on the interwebs. Visitors may not come to your website, but you can meet them where they spend the most time. Have active pages on Facebook and Instagram at the very least. Interact with your audience often. Provide as much information as they need. Product details, location, prices, delivery terms, and all. Don’t be one of those ‘inbox for price’ marketers. Displaying the full details in plain sight builds trust and is more likely to earn conversions.

  1. Simplify the Numbers

If including the numbers does help your cause, use vibrant infographics to make the information easier to grasp. There are several templates online; all you have to do is insert the numbers and the rest is done for you. A colorful pie chart, for instance, is easier to digest than a cluster of numbers. Bookmark these as well; let them represent your brand wherever they’re shared.

  1. Call to Action

Engage your audience in a way. You can request them to provide their details, fill a form, subscribe, share, and so on. It should not be compulsory though. Just urge them. Some websites do not allow you to proceed before you provide your details. Such blackmail is just uncouth. Should they choose not to take the proposed action, they should still be in a position to navigate the site.

We hope that you can utilize these content marketing ideas to showcase your brand to a larger audience. What other forms of small business marketing have you tried out? Did they work? Do let us know.

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

How to Take Your Leadership Skills to the Next Level

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leadership skills

Whether you work for someone else or run your own business, good leadership skills can have a very positive impact on your professional success. Great leaders have what it takes to guide their teams toward a common goal. Despite common belief, no one is born a natural leader. Anyone has the capacity to thrive in a leadership role with the right education! Check out the following resources from Keetria to take your leadership skills up a notch.

Get a Formal Education

While you don’t need a formal education to become a leader, pursuing a formal degree or diploma can prove invaluable.

  • Formal training will teach you tried and true leadership methods that you can employ in your own business.
  • Attending university is a fantastic opportunity to network with other leaders.
  • At school, you will learn how to think critically and take other perspectives — key traits of any effective leader.
  • Earning an online MBA degree is a great option for working professionals.

Learn on The Go

If you’re short on time, find creative ways to fit learning into your day! Audiobooks and podcasts are great for learning on the go.

  • Listen to podcasts while cooking dinner or cleaning the house.
  • Play an audiobook during your daily commute.
  • Read e-books while waiting for appointments.
  • Find ways to learn on the job.

Improve Your Communication Skills

Communication plays a key role in leadership. If you’re looking to improve your leadership skills, try learning how to be a better communicator.

Learning how to be a good leader won’t happen overnight. Every day, dedicate some time towards learning and practicing the skills that will help you succeed.

Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you would like to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

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