Planning a trip to Disney World can be daunting for even the most seasoned traveler. From hotel stays to park transportation to the daunting FastPass system for park attractions, there are many moving parts to consider. And it just adds insult to injury that Disney is anything but cheap. Depending on the time of year,...
The article How to Plan a Disney World Vacation on Points originally appeared on NerdWallet.
MBA students finish school with an average debt of $66,300, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The best MBA student loan repayment option for you will depend on your job, financial outlook and business school you attended. If you’ll qualify for MBA student loan forgiveness — likely by...
The article MBA Student Loan Repayment and Forgiveness Options originally appeared on NerdWallet.
The Wells Fargo Propel American Express® card has unique appeal, offering perks different from those of many co-branded airline and hotel cards. This versatile card’s strongest attributes appeal to frugal types — folks who don’t want to pay a lot to carry a card, and may decide later that instead of traveling they just want...
The article The Most Valuable Perks of the Wells Fargo Propel AmEx originally appeared on NerdWallet.
The fall semester has only just started, but if you rely on financial aid to pay for college, you should get started on next year right now. Why the time crunch? Submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid as close to opening day as possible will increase your chances of getting first-come, first-served federal aid....
The article Be First in Line for College Aid by Filing the FAFSA Now originally appeared on NerdWallet.
In business, there are always choices. Should we do this or should we do that? If we do this, what impact will it have on our bottom line, employees, or customers? If we choose a different approach, what effect will it have on our reputation, branding, or goodwill? If we disrupt the market, will it end up in the long run being positive or negative for our business?
The decisions we make may at times seem obvious and easy, but carefully thinking through our options is a necessity for growth and survival. Consider the following five choices that can change a business:
Certainly, every business needs to know its competition. What is their pricing, marketing, distribution, products or services, after-sales assistance, quality, refund policy, etc. Meeting the competition head-to-head, however, is generally not the key to success.
On the other hand, if a business does not have customers, it really does not have a viable business. So, perhaps, the focus should be on customers. Give them what they want in the way of pricing, delivery, customer service, quality, etc. More satisfied customers will mean more business. All of a sudden, it becomes the competition trying to figure out how to beat you and your business rather than you trying to figure out how to beat the competition.
As a business owner, do you prefer to be a follower or leader in your business segment? Whether your business is retail, wholesale, manufacturing, service, technology, or professional, you have a choice: follow what other businesses are doing or be a leader on the forefront of new ideas, new product or service offerings, a different approach to customer service, or a unique value proposition.
Being a follower might be a more conservative route to go, but will it provide the key elements necessary for you to achieve your goals and objectives? Taking the leader approach can certainly involve more risks, but the rewards can also be much greater.
There is no question that employees are the most valuable asset of any business. Without motivated and dedicated employees, a business is destined to remain mediocre. When owners and managers do not place a high importance on employees, morale is impeded and growth is stymied.
When management understands the important link between employees, customers, and growth, it will facilitate employee morale with good communication, open-door policies, opportunities for growth and advancement, and individual respect. Facilitating employee morale is not accomplished by accident, but through focused and deliberate actions.
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A company culture is hard to precisely define. It’s an atmosphere that prevails within a business about how employees behave, how they interact with each other in and out of work, and how they deal with outside parties, such as customers and vendors. It is about their beliefs, and can even be how employees dress, hours worked, and office configurations.
When there is no real, cohesive culture within a business, employees do their job and little else. When the workday is over, everyone goes their separate ways. Conversely, a culture can contribute to the success of a business. A culture that embraces the vision of business affects in a positive way how employees work and act.
Although every business will have its own culture, a positive culture is essential for success. When employees feel valued with a sense of belonging and loyalty to a business, company value increases.
When there is no opportunity for growth, employees feel stymied in their current positions, which creates a lackluster business environment. Denying employees the opportunity to do things on their own, to implement new ideas, or to try and fail, creates a monotonous situation that destroys any ingenuity that might exist in the workforce.
Empowering employees, however, creates excitement, turns ideas into reality, generates efficiencies, and inspires everyone to reach for higher plateaus. When employees have the power to do something, try something new, or make decisions on their own that are in line with company goals, they become more committed and confident in their work. Empowering employees is a key element in creating a long-term, profitable, sustainable business.
Every action in a business has some type of consequence. When making a decision, consider wisely what will produce the best results, not only for the short term, but for the long term, as well. It can often take just as much effort to produce a negative result as it does to produce a positive result. Direct your energies, therefore, into those areas that have the potential to produce the most positive business results.
RELATED: 5 Lessons I Learned About Business by Playing in a Band
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I have recently gotten more actively involved in retirement planning and investing for my family’s future. In my research, I recently stumbled upon the YouTube channel of a real estate entrepreneur and investor named Graham Stephan. Graham is a young guy—he’s only 26 years old—but he’s absolutely killing it with his YouTube channel where he offers advice on finance, investing, entrepreneurship, and more. He has over 1 million subscribers, and for good reason.
Usually I am skeptical of internet gurus. We’ve all seen these shady “get rich quick” schemes and people promising to teach you how to make lots of money online. Graham Stephan is something different and better than all that. He’s knowledgeable, credible, and fun to watch, and anyone who’s an entrepreneur or who wants to get better at marketing themselves can learn something from him.
Here a few reasons why I believe Graham Stephan is successful on YouTube.
Graham Stephan’s video content is unique, and he actually delivers substantive commentary and compelling insights; you can tell that he’s put time and effort into every video and he’s really trying to give you something “real.” Most marketers out there rehash the same stuff they have heard elsewhere. The world of content marketing is getting overrun and polluted by too much mediocre content—spammy, insincere, and recycled content that doesn’t really help improve your life. I’ve read and seen way too much content, where afterwards I’ve felt like I wish I could have that time back.
In each of his videos, Graham starts by asking viewers to “like” the video if we like what we see. And he flat out tells us why: the YouTube algorithm rewards interactive content, so if we want to support his videos, “like” them. The thumbnails in his videos have silly faces, and he is upfront and says that he does the silly faces for clicks—he’s actively trying to engage a bigger audience, even before they click the thumbnail on his video.
He lets you know why he does everything. This is a refreshing change from other online “gurus,” who often act like they have secret superpowers or a mysterious black box of manipulative marketing techniques. Graham is more low-key: “Hey, if you enjoyed my video, why not help me out with a like?”
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While most “finance gurus” out there record themselves talking into a laptop camera in their plain home office, Graham Stephan’s videos have high-end production value. He started creating YouTube videos for fun because he enjoyed camera work and video editing, and he was spending 40 to 50 hours per week making videos, even though they weren’t making any money.
You can tell that Stephan puts a lot of thought into the creative side of YouTube video making. His videos have slick editing and clever cuts, and even if he is just recording a video of himself at a laptop in his kitchen or home office, he uses intriguing camera angles and soundtracks to make the videos entertaining.
You know how so many financial and business gurus are slick talkers who pepper their speeches with weasel words and BS? Graham is not like that. When he makes factual statements, he will show the supporting evidence. And with opinions, he provides his logic behind them. He’s really quite self-effacing and open about his own mistakes, struggles, and learning experiences. He’s open about his vulnerabilities—he has a video where he talks about his struggle with social anxiety. Perhaps most importantly, he shows the math behind his successes.
For example, in this video on how he became a millionaire by age 26 by working in real estate, he explains step-by-step how he got started in the real estate industry, why he decided to skip college, how he built relationships with real estate agents and found a niche in the market where he could make money even though he was young, how he gradually started making sales and making big commissions on million dollar homes, and how he started investing in his own rental properties. He shares the real numbers at every step of the way, and he’s believable—because he’s not exaggerating, he’s not being shady, he’s just being real.
Will Graham Stephan’s career path work for everyone? Well, of course not—not everyone has the same strengths as Stephan, not everyone can get into the lucrative but competitive Southern California real estate market, not everyone likes to spend 50 hours a week making YouTube videos for zero money, and not everyone can be—or wants to be—a millionaire by age 26. But what almost ANYONE can learn is how to improve their marketing skills.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t know Graham Stephan, I have no affiliation or business relationship with him, I have no financial stake whatsoever in people clicking his videos. I’m just really impressed by his work and I wanted to spotlight his videos as an inspiring example of content marketing at its best.
RELATED: 12 Small Business Podcasts That Will Help You Sell More
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By Rachel Frederick
Social media can be an incredible form of marketing—and this is not news. It has the potential to reach a large audience, it’s mostly free, and it’s a great way to enhance your brand. Yet it’s so easy to get caught up in the “posting roller coaster” without any real clarity around whom you’re posting for and why they’re following you in the first place.
If you’re struggling to get the conversions you think you should be getting, a lack of clarity and focus is likely the biggest reason why.
What if we start thinking of social media not as marketing, but instead as “maintenance marketing?” As in, social media is most successful when it supports what you’re already doing outside of the platform. Social media will never stand on its own as a marketing tactic. While an interesting post or two might attract followers and a few likes and comments, focused branding, consistent messaging, and a predictable posting schedule is what retains them. In other words, branding is step one, content is step two, and social media is step three.
Start with a solid foundation, position yourself as an expert, and then promote what makes you amazing. I’m guessing this is not the first time you’ve heard that you need to build a solid foundation, and that if you’re missing that foundation, social media has very little chance of helping with your profit margins. Yet so many brands are posting just to post without a content strategy to back it up.
If you don’t have a story to tell, content to promote, testimonials to share, or a business promise worth shouting about, social media won’t help you much in the long run. Let’s back up for a moment, shall we?
Within moments of landing on your Instagram feed, Facebook page, or LinkedIn profile, your visitors should be able to tell who you are. They should be able to tell what you do and why you do it. If they can’t, they won’t stick around for very long. First, find your story, then use imagery, quotes, fonts, and colors to back it up.
So many small businesses are focused on keeping up with their competition that they fall into the shadows. They become followers instead of leaders. Find your story. Find your voice. Find your brand. There is a reason why authenticity is so overplayed right now—it’s a very real, very usable marketing tactic.
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, your core audience is most likely within a five to 15 mile radius of your location. This means that shouting about your amazing cupcakes across all of social media may not be the best use of your time.
Your audience is closer than you think and they’re already paying attention. Don’t get caught stressing about finding thousands of followers when 300 loyal, local ones will serve you just fine. In other words, don’t spend time and money promoting your products and services to Los Angeles when your customers are in Chicago.
The same concept applies to online businesses. Because you have a more widespread audience, it’s crucial that you get super focused on your niche market. If you want to make a lasting impact on your customers and clients, write every blog post, every podcast script, and every email as if you are talking to one single person.
Who is your perfect customer? How much money do they make? What is their family status? What types of hobbies do they have? Create an ideal avatar and market to them. You’ll be amazed at the clarity that starts to come into your marketing efforts.
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Unless you have a customer journey mapped out, social media will not bring you the leads you need to make a sale. It happens time and time again where businesses post similar content day after day after day.
What is a customer journey? It’s the plan you create to get people off social media and on to your website, or into your store. Likes are not conversions and content is rarely a direct sell to a cold audience.
Without a clear, defined customer path, from brand awareness to asking for the sale, social media will be a large waste of your time.
With the 24/7 accessibility of social media, it’s increasingly common for businesses to fall into the trap of making themselves available 24 hours a day. Set expectations upfront that you are a) A real person, and b) have a life outside of your business.
While it’s not uncommon to have one person watching social media accounts 24 hours a day, no one should be asked to give up their entire life for these free advertising platforms. It’s important to give yourself—and your employees—time to rest, unplug, and get away from work once in a while.
As a business owner, make sure you’re setting reasonable expectations and keeping an eye out for any burnout. This is true for both yourself and your employees. More importantly, make sure the outcome justifies the action. What are the metrics by which you measure a successful social media campaign? Do you need to post multiple times a day on multiple platforms? Probably not.
The good news is, marketing continues to consistently be about two things: building relationships and solving problems. How do you make people feel and how are you serving them? If you build your business around these two concepts and use social media to maintain expectations and maintain the life of the amazing work you’re already doing, you’ll find incredible success.
Can you build relationships on social media? Sure. Can you gain a following? Yes. Is social media a useful part of a modern comprehensive marketing strategy? Absolutely. Do you need to post several times a day on multiple platforms in order to make a difference in the world? I’ll leave that up to you.
RELATED: Could Your ‘Facebookonality’ Be Hurting Your Business?
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