Do not hold back your business growth

Everyone has some bad habits. But our bad business habits can seriously affect our professional goals and even the profitability of a business.

So when bad habits hinder your business growth, get up - let's fix it.

To help you in this, here I had compiled the common bad habits - which can cause your great loss.

Here they are...

- You Lack trust

- You're not improving consistently

- You don't have the right direction

- You're not in the right place

- You're not marketing

- Your website

- You may not spend enough time on your customer

- You do too much advertisement

Let's learn each in detail...

You Lack Trust

According to the study, 45% of organizations lack growth because of a lack of trust.

Trust is the key element to build your business. If you don't trust others or if you have broken trust, then it's the biggest reason - why your business is not growing.

Lack of trust in leadership is a red flag that your business may have a “toxic” culture.

You may have heard that organizations with great cultures have increased performance. That's because they respect the term loyalty. They trust others and also, they work hard to gain the trust of others.

Believe it or not, but a trusted relationship impacts your ROI.

You're not improving consistently

Continuous improvement is critical to enhancing your business growth. Because the term growth is not possible without implementing the Improvement.

If you want to grow your business then continuous growth is a must. And if you lack improvement then your business is going to suffer badly.

It's because the competition in this era is pretty tough and one cannot win this competition without being open to improvements.

Work hard to improve the product and services of a business, improve your work culture and connect your brand with your ideal buyer.

Let it be anything, there's always room for improvement. Improve yourself, improve your work culture, and include improvements in your daily routine.

You don't have the right direction

If you're trying hard but still not getting results then you are probably not in the right direction.

To attain a targeted goal for your business, planning, and direction is important. Expecting success without proper planning is similar to finding ways in the dark. I know it's a cliche but it's true.

Planning and direction are very important to ultimately earn a profit for the business.

However, it's important to note that planning doesn't mean reaching toward the goal. In several cases, individuals do not have an idea of what to do, as well as how to use their potential. As such, planning should work together with direction.

You're not in the right place

Deciding where to locate a business has always been important. Location plays a huge role in attracting and retaining the best employees, many of whom keep a close eye on where they're based to optimize work-life balance.

Good location decisions can significantly boost a company's long-term performance. Poor ones can cost millions in lost talent, productivity, and capital.

The most important way location affects the success of your business is how easy or difficult it is for customers to reach you.

Businesses that are difficult to go to will often lose their customers. That's why you need to choose a location that will make it suitable for your customer's needs.

To determine that, be sure to understand who your target customers are and how they will come to your place.

You're not marketing

While many people think of marketing being synonymous with advertising, marketing is a broad concept that encompasses a wide range of elements that a company must do to ensure effectiveness.

The lack of proper marketing in any of these areas can impact a company's bottom line.

While your business could grow on word of mouth alone, investing in a diverse marketing plan will expedite the growth you're looking for.

During an unforeseen period like the coronavirus, marketing is increasingly important.

For example, more users are on social media while spending time at home, giving you a chance to communicate service changes as well as sell to them.

Regardless of where you choose to invest, your business will need marketing to grow and thrive, both during current events and beyond.

Your website

The evolution of the internet made internet presence an important element in your business growth. And a credible online impression is not possible without professionally designed, lead-catching, sales-increasing, brand-differentiating websites.

So, if you're lacking a website, indirectly you are hindering your business growth.

Studies have shown that 97 percent of consumers search for local businesses online, while 94 percent of B2B buyers research companies online first.

And, having a business website doesn't require high investment. It just needs you to do good research to hire an expert website developer.

You may not spend enough time on your customer

Most of the marketers focused only on the top of Marketing funnels which requires a good amount of time and money - while they ignore a huge part of the funnel which doesn't require expensive advertising, and it's hampering their growth.

Spend a good portion of your marketing time on your customers.

Customers are essential for your business growth. Connect with not only to generate leads but to build a long term relationship. Give your ideal buyer time an utmost priority.

You do too much advertisement

Doing advertisement is best to grab your ideal buyer, to increase awareness but running too much will cause you an exactly opposite result.

Too much advertising may be turning consumers away. With the evolution of the digitized world, the frequency of advertisement is significantly increased. They're tired of seeing advertisements. They don't want it.

However, it doesn't mean that not to spend a single penny on advertising. Spend wisely. Don't make your customer feel frustrated.

They need helpful content, not a frustrating advertisement.

Conclusion:

As you priorities big goals, mistakes to grow your business, you may avoid some of the common bad habits which Hold Back Your Business Growth.

Improve the above-pointed mistakes to remove common bad habits. Put your efforts to solve these common mistakes for a big change.

Well, if you want to grow your business and want to get some awesome results, connect with Growth Hackers of DesignLab.

Do you want to add anything to this list? Share your worst experience in business growth? And how you fought that?

How to Get Your Digital Marketing Done Faster?

Is Digital Marketing not working for you?

Are you working hard to get the proper results?

If so, keep reading, you'll be able to tackle these digital marketing problems easily with this compiled list.

So here they are...

Make SEO your Best Friend

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is crucial in digital marketing. Without SEO, internet marketing is dead.

While preparing a marketing strategy for your business, incorporate SEO in every stage of marketing. It helps you to rank higher on search engines.

Websites that rank higher get more click through.

SEO increases website visibility and thus promotes brands. It helps in increasing user traffic, conversion rate, thus helps you in increasing your ROI.

Also, Google prefers SEO Optimized websites only.

Incorporate contents strategy with SEO. Incorporate your social media accounts and website with SEO.

Make SEO your Best Friend in every state of digital marketing.

Have a Mobile-optimized website

The tremendous increase in the use of smartphones to grab any information urges everything to be mobile-friendly.

Your potential customers use a smartphone. And, if your website doesn't provide the best experience in the device which they use - then, it has No value. It won't help you to get customers.

Audiences tend to leave the website immediately if it gives a bad user experience, or takes too much time to load and if it isn't a mobile-friendly website.

With the launch of the mobile-first indexing feature by Google, Google's algorithm primarily focuses on ranking your mobile version website. Thus, helps you to increase visibility and user traffic.

Know Your Target Customer

To ensure a bright future for your business, you should connect with your ideal audience.

Every product and service has a particular buyer persona and to ensure the growth of your business, you should know, whom you're targeting.

People prefer brands that have deeper knowledge about their needs. They don't like irrelevant ads, services, or products. They don't want to connect with brands who don't know their ideal buyer.

Thus, rather than target any audience, find out your buyer personas and target those who qualify your buyer personas.

This also helps you to earn a good ROI and helps you to create a credible impression in your industry.

Create an Email list

Irrespective of social media platforms and SEO, in email marketing you don't have fear to rank higher or else getting neglected. You jump on their inbox. You talk to them personally. It's not news feeds or any social media content, thus they feel more confident in replying to you.

According to QuickSprout, email subscribers are 3x more likely to share content on social media.

Also, your customers share their email id because they want you to share useful content, updates with them. So don't spam them.

Work to enhance the user experience

User experience can be defined as the understanding of user needs to help and create products and services that provide a meaningful experience to the customers.

Be it finding answers via search engines, booking flights, ordering food, online shopping, internet banking, or checking with friends, etc. execution of all these needs a good quality of user's online experience, and that makes a huge difference.

For the businesses that want to attract and convert their interests into revenue, UX is the key part of their success and survival.

When you work to enhance the user experience, you're investing in the long term relationship. You tell your customers that they're of utmost importance to you.

Leverage social media accounts

Social Media is a great way to digitally connect and interact with your target market 24/7. It allows you to create a loyal community for your brand.

Now, social media evolved to be one of the most powerful marketing channels for businesses. That's quite logical.

Because every person scans their social media accounts at least once a day. And this makes social media platforms having 3.5 active million users.

Nowadays, even people avoid brands that don't have a good social media presence. Thus if you avoid it, you are wasting an excellent opportunity to connect with your target audience.

Closely Watch Your Analytics

Almost the other end of the spectrum from creativity is analytics, but that's exactly the combination you need for digital marketing success.

Google Analytics is perfect for understanding the critical elements of your website and how visitors navigate through it. If you're trying to learn how to gain insights from Google Analytics, you can use the Google Data Studio to give it a test drive using data from Google's e-commerce site.

For analytics outside of Google Analytics, several great tools exist. You can use individual analytics from each social network (ie. Facebook, Pinterest, etc), you can bring them all to one place by using a dashboard program such as Cognos (from IBM), or you can pay for a more powerful tool to gain more insights

Prepare a well-planned strategy

Digital marketing is an ocean filled with different techniques, concepts, etc. And it's very crucial for your business growth. It can make or break your brand. Thus you must optimize this tool wisely.

Your every stage in digital marketing should be pre-planned, should be wisely chosen. If not, then you'll be going to lose a huge investment.

So, a digital marketing plan must include all the necessary information and be practical. If you dedicate time, care, and resources, the results will be worth it.

If needed, hire an expert.

Don't hesitate about the experiment

When you invest time, money, and effort into marketing campaigns, you want to get the highest ROI possible. This is where marketing experiments come into play.

Don't bound your strategies in rules, regulation. Be open for experimentation. Show your creativity.

Experiment to see what works and what doesn't. It can be a new product, a different type of post on social media, or a new call to action (CTA) button on your landing page.

Experiment. Experiment. Experiment.

But don't be foolish in experimenting. Thus, the experiment wisely.

Conclusion:

Digital marketing is not an easy thing. It requires a continuous effort to achieve goals with a mindset to expect challenges.

However, to make it slightly easier, these tried and tested tips will be worthy for you.

Also, if you want to make your business successful, connect yourself with digital marketing experts of DesignLab.

What else should you add to the list?

The History of Branding

In this tech-savvy era, Branding is essential to outstanding your products and services. The power of Branding is like, it can make or break your business.

Not a single business is successful without branding.

It is important to gain recognition, increase business value, gain new customers, and build credibility, increase employees' pride and satisfaction.

Before you dive deep into modern branding, you should know this History of Branding.

How who, and Why this concept of branding generated? The journey of Branding From 2000BC to the 21st Century.

The History of Branding

The term branding was introduced in 2000BC and with the definition as "Branding is all about depicting ownership". 

In the early stages, mostly farmers and craftsmen do branding of their cattle and goods respectively. Later on, many ancient civilizations made use of branding to sell their goods to the masses.

Ancient period marketing was like the opening of a marketing revolution. These days, the main purpose of marketing and advertising is to bring awareness to illiterate people.

Bigger merchants use to do marketing with a kind of pictorial signs and paintings. You can find these ancient paintings or depictions on the walls of the city of Pompeii. Countries like Egypt, Greece, and Rome, offer various options for tourists to explore the ancient period marketing.

After the decline of feudalism, the creation of the functional and cultured community was encouraged. Trade was established between the east and west, craft guilds.

In this middle emerged in business, so to control trade, guilds made it mandatory to brand goods with proprietary marks. 

This era also promotes various new marketing techniques like block-printing, paper money, and a moveable type of printing, 10,000 Chinese characters.

And these developments promote various early branding forms, as printed wrappers, signboards, and printed advertisements. However, printing was still a long process.

Due to the emergence of a middle- class, and the development of English words, German businessman Johannes Gutenberg comes up with the best marketing invention in this era, The Printing Press Machine. And with this, branding got its best fortune.

Demand for advertising, announcing information, and promoting goods, is significantly increasing.

Do you know?

The first English language advertisement was in the form of a leaflet of book promotion.

The first advert appeared in a newspaper in 1625, in England.

The first American advertisement was published in the Boston Newsletter.

With the industrial revolution in 17000, trademarks are essential. The government made it mandatory for all kinds of merchants, to have specific trademarks to show their goods and services ownership. This initiative also helps them to build credibility in the early market after the industrial revolution.

However, advertising agencies began to appear in England in the 1800s. Agencies started building different creative for companies, to reach their prospects.

As many people did not read newspapers, other advertising tactics were used, including the use of banners on hand-held poles, people wearing placards, and umbrellas with signs on them. Companies began to promote their brand names through attractive packaging and eye-catching slogans.

Advertising and branding became more successful with the rise of literacy rates, the invention of typewriters. Due to the use of mass media, and the innovation of telephones, postal networks and railways made communication over long distances easier than ever before.

But the present branding forms changed. Let me move you from the History of Branding to the Present of Branding.

The present of Branding (Breathe the ding the n 21st Century)

The 21st century has seen an explosion of brand offering, which presents the consumer with an overwhelming amount of choice. The appeal of a brand is greater than it has ever been.

Consumers have an extraordinary amount of choice. Thus the brand with a well-known and trusted brand creates touchpoints that help consumers to simplify their decision-making process.

Marketers realized that building and reinforcing the image of their brand is key to growth and profitability. Because, unlike any product or service, proper branding lasts forever.

This makes branding in the 21st century everything.

And this is all due to the evolution of a Digital World. Your brand will receive Zero-value if it fails to build its impression in an online world.

However, it is important to note that having only a good online impression, will also be worthless. Rather one should have a proper balance between offline and online branding.

Here is the list of field to ensure a proper balance between offline and Online Branding

 

- Digital Marketing

- Videos and Presentation

- Exhibition

- Showroom and Office Environment Design

- Signages

- Online Advertising

- Newspaper, Hoarding Advertising

- Website Design

- Print Media

- Brochure/ Leaflet/ Flyers

- Corporate Branding

Conclusion:

Branding is a term that was introduced since the market commences. As time passes, its importance increases and now serves an essential part.

Its presences in the 21st century are like any business without branding is Not Possible. And if you want to increase your brand awareness or want to create one for your business, but don't have any idea, call our experts of DesignLab

Spike your business revenue with DesignLab.

5 Qualities your best website should have

Nowadays, creating websites is an easy thing with readymade temples.

But, are template-based websites enough to market your website? Are they enough to create the best online image with your target audience?

Website is the first impression of your business with the audience, so it should be attention-grabbing and can provide a seamless experience; which isn't possible with readymade template-based websites.

To enhance your website experience, here I have compiled the list of Top 5 qualities that your website must-have, along with guidelines.

1. Usability

Work to enhance user experience!

Users are the utmost important factor in generating leads. When you design a website to give a seamless experience to users, then only it can easily stand from the competitor's website.

With a large number of websites or options available to your target audience, they can easily leave your website and can move to any other who takes care of the user experience.

Well to avoid it start building a user-friendly website. Use these tips to make one: The website should be accessible to all users

A user-friendly website should be accessible to all kinds of users including the blind, disabled, or elderly. This makes your website available to a wider audience. Use 508 website accessibility guidelines to make one.

Mobile Friendly

The use of phones for browsing is tremendously increasing. So, if you want to increase website visibility then it should be mobile optimized.

You can use the Google Mobile site tester to check this.

Also, to make your website mobile-friendly, create a responsive website so that it can optimize for all devices including mobile.

Planned Information Architecture

Information on your website should be well articulated. It should be easily identifiable to your target users.

Nowadays, the website trying to add various information to it, but it shouldn't be overwhelming. Thus, it's important to spend time in planned information architecture.

 

Error Handling

Error handling and description of on-screen messages are very important for good usability. However, it is often overlooked.

Correct handling of errors at a code level ensures the website is robust and free from bugs. Displaying the right error message improves the user experience and overall usability.

Fast Load Times

In this fast-paced world, no one has time to stop and wait for 30 sec. Websites should be loads within 3 or 4 seconds. Users want everything quickly.

If your audience visits your website, respect their time with fast loading user-friendly websites. A typical customer will only wait for a few seconds for your page to load, after which they will most likely navigate away to a competitor's site never to visit again.

Third-party website plugins and widgets including website tracking, social media, to be some of the most common factors that affect website speed. Try to limit their use.

2. Content

Content is a king and one shouldn't underestimate its power, rather use it properly to enjoy its immense benefits!

Most of the newbies make mistaken of creating modernize visual, sleek websites, with almost less or zero content in them. On the flip side, every bigger brand uses well-articulated content.

Search Engines rank websites to user's search, as per content in it. Website content can be used to convey information to your target users as well to Search Engines.

Here are guidelines to make awesome content on your website

- Clearly label topics and break your text up into small paragraphs. Don't bore your visitors with visually overwhelming text.

- Convey all information in a humanize tone; including chatbots.

- Make it easily scannable.

3. Navigation

No website can be creative if it isn't an easy to navigate website!

 

If your user is unable to navigate all information easily then there's is no use for investment. Because most of the visitors immediately leave the website if they'll reach the information, they want it.

Be sure that your visitors can locate the necessary information as soon as possible, without searching through heaps of extra information. Navigation should assist the user in finding all the information they are after before a call to action can be made.

Here are Pro tips for this

- Cut down the number of clicks into 3 steps to get their information destination. 

- Enable the search facility for easy navigation. 

- Make it clear, structured, and intuitive. 

- Link the logo to the Home Page.

4. Security

A 100% secure website can help you to build a trusted online reputation!

As technology increases, the chances of stealing sensitive information of yours and your user is increased.

If your website doesn't offer good security then hackers, cyber thieves can easily access all data, thus misuse it. So it's your utmost priority to keep all user’s data secure.

If users find a red flag on your website, they'll immediately leave it to never come back again.

Here is thee the pro tip to make your website super-secure:

- Choose the web host which can offer you a web application firewall (WAF) and denial-of-service (DDoS) protection.

- The Content Management system should defend and ensure minimal security gaps.

- Examine and manage third-party plugins and add-ons.

- Set automatic backup.

5. Review and testimonials

Reviews and testimonials can be a good marketing tool!

You're not alone in the market to provide the service, there are many others.

How will you stand out? Why audiences should listen or work with you?

Well, you can answer this simply by showing reviews and testimonials. These reviews not only influence decisions, but they can also influence your ability to get into the search results.

Here are tips for reviews and testimonials on your website

- Don't add take reviews and don't make all 5-star reviews.

- Show your 2, 3, or 1-star review, this will help to create a trusted impression.

- Influence your every to leave feedback.

- Use rich snippets to show testimonials and make every accessible.

Conclusion:

Having a beautiful, attractive website is not enough to increase the ranking of your website; however, a website with all necessary elements embedded in it can do.

And that’s just the tip of it. Creating a high-quality website isn’t a “set-it-and-forget-it” thing. It’s an ongoing process of tweaking, polishing, and testing to create something great enough to rank on the first page of Google.

Well, if you want to make one enhance your business, then connect now with experts of the DesignLab.

Do tell me, what's your favorite quality of a website? And what else you want me to include in this list?