how to use data, technology, and manpower to adapt to the 21-century digital business world. a study of what the top tech companies have been doing to keep afloat.
Are You Accurately Measuring Your Company’s Digital Strength?
There are few business leaders around the world not thinking about digital transformation in some shape or form. Whether improving omni-channel commerce or developing digital extensions to product lines, businesses are working out how to drive profitability through digital. But traditional metrics might underestimate the impact of digital, leaving companies vulnerable to aggressive competitors or pure-play disruptors. Many managers are missing digital signals that could help them better compete. Armed with a hypothesis that the stock market was undervaluing digital, we sought to create the largest known repository of digital data on U.S. companies. Our aim was to prove the link between digital strength and shareholder value, and do so in a way that passes the rigorous standards of hedge funds. We looked at the top 1,000 U.S. public companies, mapped every digital property for those companies, collected 75 billion digital consumer interactions per month over a period of five years,…
Importance of Labor Day- Why Even Entrepreneurs Need a Break
Labor Day celebrates the foundation on which this country was built: work. It’s the contributions of workers and laborers that help ensure the prosperity and strength of the nation. No one knows this to be truer than entrepreneurs, the self-motivated risk takers who value personal passion and success above all. Anyone who has ever put themselves out on a limb professionally knows that it can be hard to take a step back from your work and relax, but that’s exactly what Labor Day is for – in fact, giving yourself time to unwind is an important facet of successful entrepreneurship. Here are a few others. Establish a Routine It doesn’t have to look the same as your fellow entrepreneurs’, but you’ve got to figure out a routine that works for you. Set a schedule for yourself based on what’s going on in your own life, and make a point of…
Google’s top searches for 2017
How to define your tone of voice and use it for marketing
The words you use on your website, in your letters, on your products and in your documentation and marketing collateral literally define how people perceive your business. In other words, writing is branding and your tone of voice guidelines are as important as the logo and typeface you choose. Writing is branding Think about the companies you admire. Virgin, First Direct, Google, Innocent, the BBC, for example, all have very clear, distinctive voices. Even the CIA and MI6 have to think about tone of voice. Many clients come to us at Articulate asking for help with tone of voice guidelines and we like to include it as part of a project for any new client that doesn’t already have their own. We’re working on our own right now, which is why this is a burning topic for me. Also, we’re trying to improve our development process. But here’s what we know so far. Do your research The first stage…
Does Income Make It a Business?
Of all the questions I’ve been posed in the last forty years, the one that usually hurts the most feelings is when a business owner mistakenly thinks he or she is an entrepreneur and I correct them. The fact is, most small business owners are just that – not entrepreneurs, not visionaries – just folks who have bought themselves a job. They’ll work for themselves for years and then, after all that hard work, if they’re lucky, they’ll sell their company to some other poor soul to labor for next to nothing for a few more decades. Here’s where some of you cry out, “But Gerber! So-and-so is a millionaire and did it all selling imported widgets online!” NOT an entrepreneur. Still just a small business owner. Income doesn’t make you an entrepreneur any more than owning a sports car makes you a race car driver, and too many people today…
How To Stop The Decline of Small Business Saturday
Right there between Black Friday and Cyber Monday resides Small Business Saturday. It’s a day dedicated for shopping at your local small business. According to American Express (the sponsor of Small Business Saturday), sales were down this year compared to 2016. This year 108 million shoppers spent $12.9 billion, compared to 112 million shoppers spending $15 billion last year. The survey further shows that the majority of small businesses visited during Small Business Saturday were food or clothing related. Much less in retail and specialty stores. You probably saw commercials encouraging you to shop small, shop local. However, the emotion invoked is guilt. Buy small business because you should help small business. Buy local because you should help your community. Well, guilt can take you so far. $12.9 billion, to be precise, but it is declining. While Dan Ariely may claim that buyers don’t always make pure economic and rational…
Small business tips: 10 steps to cashflow heaven
1. Set cashflow targets One way of controlling cashflow is by preparing and maintaining a cashflow forecast. Andrew Johnson, financial controller for telephone conferencing provider Powwownow, advises that this can be updated weekly, to provide an accurate outlook for the next six to 12 months. He says: “Setting targets for the credit controllers is an excellent way to ensure it is given the attention necessary and provides a level of satisfaction and ownership to hit and beat these.” 2. Agree clear payment terms Establishing clear payment terms from the outset is important as Suzannah Nichol, chief executive of construction industry body the National Specialist Construction Council, explains. “If you don’t start off knowing what your payment terms are, it is difficult to know when you are going to get paid, ” she says. “If you don’t know when a payment is overdue, how are you going to manage your cashflow?”…
Portrait of an attractive African American business woman smiling confidently
One Behavior Separates The Successful From The Average
A certain farmer had become old and ready to pass his farm down to one of his two sons. by Benjamin P. Hardy A certain farmer had become old and ready to pass his farm down to one of his two sons. When he brought his sons together to speak about it, he told them: The farm will go to the younger son. The older son was furious! “What are you talking about?!” he fumed. The father sat patiently, thinking. “Okay,” the father said, “I need you to do something for me. We need more stocks. Will you go to Cibi’s farm and see if he has any cows for sale?” The older son shortly returned and reported, “Father, Cibi has 6 cows for sale.” The father graciously thanked the older son for his work. He then turned to the younger son and said, “I need you to do something for…
Facebook Ad Clicks and zero Conversions
Written by Jimmy Ombom I know that every marketer’s goal in Facebook is to get leads from the hundreds of ads running at that site. Yes, it is a great idea to have ads running on Facebook because of the billions of users who use it. Its however sucks to just getting people clicking or liking on the ads with zero conversion. Right? There could be many reason why this happens. Let’s look at how we can avoid this. Reasons why your Ads Do not Work A Bad Product You are selling a product that no one is interested in. Or you are selling it the wrong way. No matter how much you invest in ads, if no one wants to buy it. It will not sell. I keep mentioning that not everyone in social media is interested to buy. Most of the guts are just looking out to…