How can Planning a Vacation help you to plan a great Business Venture?

If you are starting out a new business…you may feel as though you cannot take a vacation, as it may be detrimental to your success. However, it seems planning and taking a vacation may be exactly what you need to do. People give a great deal of thought to planning their holidays, and this is something you can reflect when mapping out your ideas for a new business. Not only will comparing the planning of a holiday to the planning of your new business help you to get into the swing of things, the vacation itself will clear your mind and get you ready to defeat any problems which may be thrown at you. We do a lot of thinking on holiday; you may even come up with some new fantastic ideas! Here’s how to take inspiration from planning a holiday in order to help you plan a new business venture.

How Restaurants Can Use SMS Marketing to Increase Profit

Attracting customers to your restaurant requires more than simply letting them know you are there. By taking advantage of the increase in use of smartphones, you can create a relationship with your customers via SMS to ensure they keep coming back to you. Here are the great ways SMS Marketing can help:

Integrate the 'Selfie' into your Marketing Campaign...

The selfie divides opinions: although it is regarded by some as a 'fad' which will pass, it has very real long term value for marketers who are increasingly integrating the selfie into their marketing campaigns - in some cases the main part of the pitch being the taking of a selfie. The pastime’s emergence as a mobile-marketing tool highlights the importance of user-generated content in maximizing the impact and involvement in marketing campaigns.

How To Keep Your Customers Coming Back

You’ve worked hard in obtaining new customers and spreading the word about your small business. But once you’ve got these customers on board, it’s vital you keep them coming back. Normally, amazing customer service and continued engagement will bring them back for more. Here are 7 ways to keep customers coming back to your small business.

How To Have A Successful Monday...

Monday mornings are the most critical part of the working week. They set your mindset for the week ahead, and by kicking off the week positively - you are more likely to feel positive about the rest of the week. There are many things you can do to ensure you go into work feeling refreshed and prepared mentally and physically on a Monday...

How to use your SMS Marketing Campaign to Increase Customer Value...

When creating text messages for customer engagement, it is essential to create messages that will appeal specifically to each single customer. This can be a difficult task: nearly every customer wants something different, yet the aim is to make them all feel special and valued. By tailoring text messages to individuals, businesses have a better shot at attracting new customers through word of mouth referrals while keeping existing clients satisfied.

10 Ways to Improve your Productivity at Work

In a modern, busy world, everyone is looking for ways to work smart and do things more quickly. There are some very easy ways to ensure your productivity is at it’s finest, you won’t believe you didn’t think of them first!

• Define your Most Important Tasks. By taking a few moments to identify the things you must accomplish each day, preferably before the day starts, you will begin the day knowing what needs to be done, and hopefully feeling motivated to do it.
• Don’t multi-task. Scientists tell us that none of us are truly very good at multi-tasking. Working on one thing at a time will make you faster and less likely to make mistakes.
• Create a morning routine.  Defining and sticking to a morning routine can help to ensure a smooth start to the day. If you know you operate at your best when you have exercised and had a good breakfast, making those things a priority will positively affect the rest of your day.
• Edit your input streams. Edit your media streams to only contain the most valuable and important sources of information. This will avoid you getting side-tracked.
• Get to the point. When writing emails, get to the point quickly. A good limit is five sentences or less.
• Do important work. In the classic “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” Steven Covey presents a matrix that divides our activities into four categories: urgent and important, not urgent but important, urgent and unimportant, and not urgent not important. Try and keep within the first two!
• Do similar tasks together. Choose to process your emails once or twice a day at a time that is convenient for you, rather than replying everytime you get a new one; as this can be time consuming. The same can be said for phone calls and meetings, if this is easy to do.
• Eliminate unnecessary tasks. Eliminate anything you can from your to do list; determine if any tasks don’t need to be done, or need to be delegated to a co-worker. By eliminating these tasks, you will already feel as if your to-do list is going down.
• Work offline. If you have difficulty avoiding the Internet’s distractions, work offline or take your work somewhere without an Internet connection. You will find you will focus a lot more on the task at hand.
• Do the thing you want to do the least, first. Prioritize those items you are most likely to procrastinate—your day will go much more smoothly when the phone call you’re dreading or the report you don’t want to write are finished and no longer weighing on your mind.
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How to be a Great Business Leader

Every great business needs effective and successful leaders — those that inspire employees to work hard and do their best for the business.

Put these 7 habits into practice to ensure you are showing the characteristics of a great business leader…

Increase your Word of Mouth Business Referrals…

A good old fashioned word-of-mouth referral is still the most effective way to grow your business. If you have customers who absolutely love your product, they are likely to recommend you to others.

How to Set Yourself Up For a Successful Day

1. Get an early start.  This extra time will help you avoid rushing, and therefore starting your day off feeling stressed.  Most markets and businesses open by 9 A.M.  Whether you work from home or commute to an office, the more time you’ve had to digest the day’s news and obstacles ahead, the greater advantage you’ll have over your competition.
   

How do you know if your business can benefit from SMS Marketing?

If you are not using SMS marketing for your business, you may be missing out on a fantastic marketing opportunity to attract and retain clients, build long term customer relationships, and generate business or interest.

How to use the LinkedIn Profile Features to Optimize Your Presence..

Stand out With New Profile Image Options Making your profile visual can be a great way of creating the image you want to portray of your professional self. The trend towards getting more visual has taken over all social media sites and LinkedIn profiles are about to get the same treatment.

How to Create a Solid Business Plan...

A business plan is vital when it comes to starting up a successful company. Some people try to skip this step and jump right into starting the business - but if you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail. A business plan clarifies your goals, and ensures that you don’t miss anything out. It is also highly likely that you will need to show your business plans to your lender (if you need one) and also to get a license.

How to utilise your customers’ increased smartphone use to your advantage..

Smartphones are the new enablers of sharp, savvy customers. Customers are now using their smartphones to carry out real time research to track down the right product or service, at the right price, and at the right place. The question is, is your business prepared for them?

How to increase Customer Loyalty through SMS Marketing

Mobile phones are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, and therefore businesses need to be aware of the massive marketing opportunity that the mobile phone has to offer. Mobile phones have become, not just a communications device, but a personal hub of information; something the consumer has on them at all times, and that they use for pretty much everything. 4 in 5 smartphone users will not leave the house without their handset.

How to Shine in a Meeting....

Do you have a work meeting coming up? Remember that those who succeed are usually those who stand out. Meetings are a great chance for you to showcase your capabilities and gain positive visibility. Follow these top tips to be the one that shines..

How to select the best mobile phone for your business needs...

Business phones can help you run your business, answer emails and work on documents wherever you are to allow you to be more efficient and more productive than ever. It’s important to ensure you have the best business mobile phone for your needs, as this will enable you to be as proactive and business focused as possible on the move.

How to avoid SPAM, and take advantage of quality Marketing Messages.

Spam texts are a modern problem, pestering us with unwanted adverts and offers, often from dodgy companies. Yet it is possible to fight back, report them and minimise the amount you receive.

The Rise of the Text Message..

Wow, who would have thought it has only been 20 years since the first text message was sent? How did we ever live without them? The first text message was sent on the 3rd of December 1992, when 22 year old British engineer used his computer to wish a Merry Christmas to Richard Jarvis of Vodaphone. The first text messages were free, and could only be sent between people on the same network.

Although text messages started life as a free service – because operators hadn't figured out how to charge for them – it was quickly realised there was money to be made from texting as the number rose dramatically. By February 2001 the UK was sending one billion texts a month, which at the standard 10p-a-text charge meant the business was raking in about £100m a month. There are now a huge array of networks for the consumer to choose from.

The days of letters are long gone, and we can send someone a text message within 10 seconds. As mobile phones became modernised, text language was first brought to life. The early mobile phones only allowed 160-characters, and caused adults to complain that kids that lost the ability to spell correctly with abbreviated words such as 'l8r' and 'b4' being used.

By 2003 exam markers had grown concerned about text language being used in answers; a 13-year-old girl wrote an essay in text shorthand, which said in part: "My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc." (Or in longhand: "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three (!) kids face to face. I love New York, it's a great place.")

Popular TV programmes such as The X Factor and Britain's got talent began to use SMS as their main source of votes in 2005. Businesses also use text messaging in order to contact their customers, with a success rate higher than email marketing. Nowadays, text messaging is the most popular method of contact for daily communication, with at least 58% of UK adults doing it once a day. 97% of text messages sent will be read straight away and responded to within an hour. Short messages are also emerging onto social network sites, and through companies such as WhatsApp, who allow people to contact each other free when they have their data or Wifi activated. 

However, the text message is still the most popular form of short message, and it’s going nowhere!

How to increase your business leads through Mobile Marketing...

With mobile users on the up, a great way to attract business leads is through your mobile platforms. There are a few simple yet highly significant ways in which to ensure you lure those customers in.

The vital traits of an Entrepreneur...

Starting a business is hard work, and if you only enjoy a few hours of work per day, it's not for you. If you seek a challenge, are willing to take a risk, and want to chase the potential rewards that having your own business would come with, then read on... you may the traits that are recognised in the majority of Entrepreneurs..

Why YOUR business needs a presence in the intensifying mobile market...

It is a known fact that Mobile Marketing is a massively emerging way of getting your brand and business across to your customers. With 90% of mobile phone users sleeping with their phones next to their beds, and 60% of mobile phone users checking them hourly, there's no escaping the constant buzz of information which is fed through to your personal device.