How to Boost Traffic to your Small Business

Published on: 06 August 2018 Last Updated on: 12 September 2024

We read about new startups coming up with their services and products on the market almost every day. The story of most of the entrepreneurs is same; a team of hard-working people coupled up and managed to string some money to get off the strip to finally cruise in the field of business.

Unfortunately, most of them have to close up shop for numerous reasons. Being an entrepreneur, one should be able to learn so many things, all at once. Failure teaches a lot, and there’s always a way out of the mess in every field I can imagine of. Some make it to the next level, which is; a small business: one that has steady growth and ensured revenues.

Since a considerable number of people have moved on from the offline world to the digital arena, business firms have to evolve their marketing strategies as well. Failing to do so will only make your business get out of the market in the end. To create a hurdle for failure on your way, the most important thing today is to opt for some affordable digital marketing services. Affordable is necessary to cut the overall costs because initially, most startups do not have enough financial resources.

What digital marketing does is that it attracts people towards the services that you have to offer to them. The four primary pillars that digital marketing works on are content, communication, community, and commerce. Let us circle around these pillars in brief.

Content :

To enhance your visibility to the public, you need to have a presence on the platforms that people use frequently. You must spend a little deal of your precious time and money in buying a website which can be used to reach out to the people. But to be able to generate some customers from there, you need to put some content over there to lure the masses.

Content

Content Marketing does not directly promote the business. If done correctly, it attracts the targeted audience, which can eventually drive to profitable customer action.

Communication :

As it is said; it takes two to tango. Although it does not precisely fit into the context, the rough meaning it carries here is that you must not focus only on speaking. Give the visitors a platform to respond to you as well.

This can be achieved through adverts, personal communication with people who seem to be interested, and social media. With the application of email address at almost forum, there’s a very thin chance that people will not go through yours when they open up their account.

Community :

This again is customer engagement but in a slightly different way. Because of the presence of social media, businesses have the liberty to interact with their audience to understand their opinions about them. Visitors can help you improve your services to an all-new level.

These platforms occasionally make changes to their policies as a whole, so you must go through them every single time they amend. If you don’t manage accordingly, well, get ready for the consequences then.

Commerce :

Regardless of where people choose to buy a product, it all starts with the internet today. A significant number of people search for a product online and read about it in different places to know about it as much as they can before paying for it.

Digital marketing commerce meets the needs of consumers based on how they research and purchase. Review sites are the places where people spend most of their time to read about the products, and then is the online shopping stores. People use multiple applications on their smartphones to look out for the product description as well.

Summing Up :

Traffic is the backbone of every business, and that is why it needs to be taken care of, for better growth. Enterprises survive in the competitive market only when they have enough customers. Note that you must never compromise your quality for quantity.

While there are a lot of things like SEO, SEM, PPC, this article was about what exactly can digital marketing do for your business to grow over the years. Smart and hard work must go hand in hand to reach the top of the business ladder.

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

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Here’s How Staff Augmentation Can Accelerate Your Projects In 2024

Are you struggling to keep pace with the ever-evolving demands of your Agile projects? In today's fast-paced development environment, scaling your team efficiently is not just an option; it's a necessity. Therefore, you must use staff augmentation, a strategic solution that can rapidly accelerate your Agile project delivery. Discover how integrating skilled professionals into your team can bring unparalleled flexibility and expertise, significantly boosting your project's efficiency. We'll explore the tangible benefits, practical strategies, and insightful best practices to help you effectively scale your Agile team through staff augmentation. Get ready to transform the way you manage your projects and achieve remarkable results. Understanding Staff Augmentation: A Quick Primer Staff augmentation is a flexible strategy for outsourcing the right talent for the right job. This strategy is followed by big firms globally for managing augmented teams. Unlike conventional hiring, which often involves a lengthy recruitment process and long-term commitments, staff augmentation offers a nimble approach to scaling teams. This strategy is particularly beneficial for businesses needing specialized skills for short-term projects or to fill temporary skill gaps. Here’s a breakdown of how staff augmentation differs from traditional hiring: Time Efficiency: Staff augmentation services enable quick onboarding of skilled professionals, reducing the time-to-hire significantly compared to the traditional recruitment process. Cost-Effectiveness: It eliminates many overhead costs associated with full-time employees, such as benefits, office space, and long-term contracts. Flexibility and Scalability: Companies can scale their teams up or down based on project requirements without the long-term commitment of a full-time hire. Types Of Staff Augmentation There are three main types of staff augmentation, which are: Short-term: Typically used for specific projects with tight deadlines or to cover temporary absences. Long-term: Ideal for extended projects where ongoing support is required. Specialized: Focuses on providing experts in niche areas or new technologies that are not present in-house. Understanding these distinctions and the types of staff augmentation available helps businesses make informed decisions about how to effectively scale their teams and meet project demands. This approach is increasingly popular in Agile environments, where adaptability and speed are key. The Role Of Staff Augmentation In Agile Project Management Integrating augmented staff into Agile teams can significantly enhance project management efficiency. In Agile environments, where adaptability and rapid iteration are paramount, augmented staff provides the necessary skills and manpower to meet fluctuating project demands. Impact on Agile Processes and Workflows: Enhanced Skill Set: Augmented staff bring specialized skills that might be lacking in the current team, facilitating more diverse and innovative approaches to problem-solving. Increased Flexibility: They allow Agile teams to quickly adapt to changing project requirements, ensuring that deadlines are met without compromising on quality. Improved Productivity: With more hands on deck, teams can manage larger workloads more efficiently, accelerating project timelines. A practical example of successful integration can be seen in a tech startup that leveraged professional IT staff augmentation to speed up the development of a new software product. Facing a tight deadline, the startup augmented its existing team with skilled developers who specialized in the required technology stack. This integration allowed the team to maintain Agile methodologies, like daily stand-ups and sprint planning, while effectively managing the increased workload. As a result, the product was developed and launched within the desired timeframe, demonstrating the effectiveness of staff augmentation in Agile project management. The key to success in such integration lies in ensuring that the augmented staff are not only skilled but also align with the company's Agile culture and practices. This alignment ensures seamless collaboration and optimal results. Benefits Of Staff Augmentation For Agile Teams Staff augmentation offers a myriad of benefits to Agile teams, enabling them to tackle projects more effectively and efficiently. Here are some of the key advantages: 1. Access To Specialized Skills And Expertise Staff augmentation allows Agile teams to bring in professionals with specific skill sets that may be lacking internally. This is especially valuable for projects requiring niche expertise or for navigating emerging technologies. 2. Flexibility And Scalability Agile projects often fluctuate in scope and scale, necessitating a flexible workforce. Staff augmentation provides the ability to scale the team size up or down based on the current needs of the project, ensuring that resources are optimally utilized. 3. Cost-Effectiveness And Efficiency By augmenting staff, companies can avoid the long-term costs associated with permanent hires, such as benefits, training, and other overheads. This approach is also efficient in reducing recruitment time, enabling teams to focus more on project delivery rather than on lengthy hiring processes. 4. Enhanced Productivity With additional skilled resources, Agile teams can manage workloads more effectively, leading to increased productivity. This also allows for faster turnaround times on projects, as tasks can be distributed more evenly and handled more competently. 5. Focus On Core Business Augmentation frees up internal resources, allowing teams to focus on core business activities. This is particularly beneficial for smaller teams or startups, where internal resources are often stretched thin. Overcoming Common Challenges In Staff Augmentation While staff augmentation offers significant benefits to Agile teams, it also comes with its own set of challenges. Addressing these effectively is key to leveraging the full potential of this strategy. 1. Addressing Skill Gaps And Training Needs One of the primary challenges is ensuring that augmented staff possess the right skill sets and are up to date with the latest technologies. Regular training and professional development opportunities are essential to bridge any skill gaps. 2. Navigating Administrative And Legal Considerations Augmenting staff often involves dealing with contracts, legal compliance, and administrative tasks, especially when hiring internationally. It's important to have a clear understanding of these aspects or work with a partner who can manage them. 3. Ensuring Quality And Performance Maintaining the quality of work and ensuring the performance of augmented staff can be challenging. Setting up key performance indicators (KPIs), regular performance reviews, and continuous feedback mechanisms can help in monitoring and maintaining work standards. 4. Cultural And Communication Barriers Augmented teams might face challenges due to cultural differences and communication barriers, especially in a remote working environment. Encouraging open communication, cultural sensitivity training, and team-building activities can mitigate these issues. 5. Integration With Existing Teams Ensuring seamless integration of augmented staff with existing teams is critical. This requires clear communication of roles, responsibilities, and project goals, along with fostering a collaborative team culture. The Best Staff Augmentation Practices In 2024 If you want to make the most of staff augmentation for agile project management, here are some necessary practices that you must inculcate: 1. Maintaining Clear Communication If you wish to have a strong team that gets theory work done on time with zero errors, having clear and open communication channels is a necessity. Having proper communication between all the members of the team is necessary for development. This is because it facilitates everyone in the team to work together and solve any issues that may crop up. Moreover, open communication improves team bonding, which is crucial for all team members to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This helps the team leaders to make better decisions regarding the allocation of work according to everyone's strengths and expertise. Therefore, use team communication tools like Slack, Asana, Trello, Skype, and Microsoft Teams. 2. Clearly Define Job Roles To get the most out of staff augmentation, you must define everyone’s job roles. If all members of your team know what they must do - and what they shouldn’t do - to get the job done, it prevents chaos and conflicts between your team members. Moreover, having clear job roles will make everyone's daily tasks clear. In addition, having a job role comes with various expectations. Therefore, it will help team leaders better measure the performance and efficacy of team members. 3. Learn How To Use Project Management Tools If you want to lead a project from initiation to its completion, you and your staff must use the best project management tools in 2024. Project management tools provide better documentation and storage of all work done by your team. Moreover, this helps in staff augmentation since many outsourced employees might be from other countries. Therefore, giving them limited access to to your sheets will help you better track and manage their work. The best project management tools in 2024 are Trello, Jira, and Microsoft Office 365. 4. Encourage Documentation-Driven Development How do you know that an outsourced staff member has done their work? No word of mouth will be tolerated here. The only permissible proof is proper documentation of your work. Therefore, team leaders and managers should encourage a work culture where all staff members (especially augmented staff members) must have proper and updated documentation of their daily work. This will help you keep track of everyone’s work and help you asses future actions and strategies. Conclusion: Scale Your Agile Team with Staff Augmentation In conclusion, staff augmentation emerges as a powerful strategy for scaling Agile teams, addressing skill gaps, and enhancing project delivery efficiency. This approach provides a pragmatic solution to the dynamic challenges of modern project management, offering flexibility, specialized expertise, and cost-effectiveness. To recap the key benefits: Access to a global talent pool for specialized skills. Scalability to meet fluctuating project demands. Cost savings compared to traditional hiring. Increased productivity and efficiency. However, it's important to approach staff augmentation with a strategic mindset. Choosing the right partner, ensuring cultural and process alignment, and effectively managing augmented staff are crucial steps towards success. Additionally, overcoming challenges like administrative hurdles, quality assurance, and team integration is essential for a seamless experience. Moreover, following the best staff augmentation practices will help you manage and track everyone’s work. In addition, it also facilitates clearer communication with outsourced staff members as well. Read Also: Top Ways Contract Management Software Helps to Mitigate Contract Risk Why Should I Get Started With Event Management Software? Which Marketing Mix Element Deals Specifically With Retailing And Marketing Channel

Small Business

Building a Brand for Your Small Business

One of the most essential aspects of building a business, no matter how small it is, is establishing an effective brand—especially if you want to make an impression in today’s highly competitive market. But what really does branding mean? And what does it take to create a brand that truly defines what your business really is? Defining Your Brand Think of your brand as your promise to your customer. Its purpose is to deliver a message to your audience, which includes what you have to offer and how your products and services differ from your competitors. Basically, it describes who you are and the image you want people to perceive you to be. However, defining your brand may be easier said than done. After all, it is a journey to your business’s self-discovery. Specifically, it involves defining your company’s mission, your offerings, your reputation, and your qualities. You may have to do some research to find a branding that truly represents your business. Creating Your Visual Brand While a brand is more than just your company’s logo, you’ll want to establish the look of your company by choosing the right image, colors, fonts, and tagline that perfectly represent your ideals. Failing to establish defined brand guidelines is one of the most common mistakes small businesses are doing, which eventually puts all their branding efforts down the drain. Following these guidelines to build a visual brand invokes consistency and gives your brand a clear direction moving forward. Knowing Your Audience If you’re in a rut in developing your brand, you may be failing at getting to know your audience. According to Carfused.com marketing head, Matthew Creole Rees, it is essential to first determine what resonates with your target market before trying to develop a brand. Know your audience by finding out their wants and needs and understanding their habits. This is especially a must for start-ups that are still trying to get their brand across their customers. Using Social Media Social media is a great way to market your brand and to reach out to your target audience, especially for start-up businesses that are still on a tight budget. In this digital age, people spend most of their time on social media, and if you fail to build a consistent social media presence, your business basically does not exist to many. Once you’ve established your presence, the next most crucial thing to do is to maintain it. Being consistent in showing your presence creates a positive impact on your brand’s perception. Your company’s brand dictates the language of your external and internal communication. The people of the marketing team in your company need to know exactly what the company’s brand is so that they can always integrate it in their campaigns and look for better ways to raise the consumers’ awareness of your brand. Going beyond Your Logo Your brand’s logo may create a significant impact on your audience at first glance, but a brand has to go beyond the visuals in order for it to become effective. In the end, it’s not just about what you do but more about why you do it that makes a brand more impactful. A brand should reflect your culture. For example, if you are keen on maintaining a drug-free workplace, get your workers to understand your cause before administering blood drug tests. This way, they will understand the implications of such health requirements, especially in occupations and industries where safety is of the highest priority, such as in operating machinery. Building a brand may seem like an overwhelming phase—and you may think that getting started is already difficult as it is—but it’s maintaining that brand that’s actually more challenging. Read More: How Personal Branding Online Can Help Your Job Search Top 5 Graphic Design Trends For 2017 5 Most Common Challenges Faced Bye Commerce Businesses Toda Tips For Creating Effective Portable Trade Show Displays Source: customlogocases.com

People Management Tips from a Successful UK SME

Many business owners excel at the core activities of their company but can struggle with the supporting functions that come with it. It’s certainly true to say that not every business owner is a natural leader and manager of people, and nor would they consider themselves to be. However, this is something that must be learned, at least until the business is large enough to hire someone who is if the SME is to be a success. So what are the realities of people management for business owners? We spoke to Vasco de Castro, the co-founder and business development director to find out what he has learned about people management during his time at the helm of the new international workplace fruit provider Fruitful Office. 1. Make your team the focus of the business It’s the business owner who has grown the company from the ground up, so it can be difficult to let go. However, once you start taking on staff, it’s important to step back and play a supporting role. The tendency is to think the business is all about you, but it’s the people who work for you that play a key part in creating the business’s culture. Making time for your team on a personal and professional level and listening to any problems or issues they may have is central to the perceptions they form about the business. It’s also important to acknowledge that in their specialist areas, employees may well be more knowledgeable than you. Asking for their input and acting on the insights they provide will help them become a valued part of the business. 2. Let them shine The reason you’ve hired the workers you have is hope that they have the specialist skills you lack, so it’s essential you give them the support and space they need to put those skills to good use. The tendency to micromanage is something business owners should resist at all costs. Understandably, you will be protective of your business, but once you’ve provided clear direction and made your expectations clear, it’s time to step back and let them shine. As Vasco de Castro explains: “In my view, it is the role of the leader to provide the vision for the business and communicate it clearly to employees. It’s then down to the employees to make it happen.” 3. Remember the bad bosses you’ve had in the past When you’re finally in the position to be in charge, remember all those horrible bosses you’ve had along the way and make sure you don’t become them. There are a number of small and simple steps you can take to make your business somewhere your employees actually want to work. Recognizing their achievements, giving them the freedom to make their own decisions, trusting them and actually getting to know them on a personal level all help. However, simply allowing yourself to relax and enjoy what working life has to throw at you has an important part to play in creating a loyal and energized team. What do you think is the key to successful people management in an SME? Do you agree with Vasco de Castro? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

How to Boost Traffic to your Small Business

Content :

Communication :

Community :

Commerce :

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Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

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Here’s How Staff Augmentation Can Accelerate Your Projects In 2024

Building a Brand for Your Small Business

People Management Tips from a Successful UK SME

How to Boost Traffic to your Small Business

Content :

Communication :

Community :

Commerce :

Share this Article

Which One Should You Pick? Cloud-Based Call Centers Vs. On-Premises Call Centers

Benefits of NBFC Business Loans

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Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

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