Tips for Productivity

If it seems like more and more is added to your plate and you struggle to get everything done, you may be struggling from productivity paralysis. Don’t worry; some of the world’s top leaders face a similar problem. Inc. Magazine recently asked them how they stayed productive. Here are some of their secrets.

Larry Page: Cofounder and CEO of Google
Page found himself in too many meetings that he had no desire to be in. His solution: dump his assistant. He said that it was easy to ask his assistant to set up a meeting, but people find it harder to ask him directly, hence fewer meetings.

Richard Branson: CEO Virgin Group
When asked how he became more productive, Branson had a simple answer: work out. He said working out gave him four additional hours of productivity a day.

Stephen King: Author
While he may not be one of your typical business people, he has sold over 350 million books. He strives for consistency by trying to write at least 1,000 words a day.

Gary E. McCullough: CEO Career Education Corp.
Former United States Army captain, McCullough gives people half the time they ask for. You want an hour of his time and you will get 30 minutes. He says it forces people to be more clear and concise.

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Gain New Business Through Effective Communication

If you look at what makes a business successful, you’ll probably notice that the company understands how to communicate. Businesses need to tailor their communications to several audiences, such as employees and vendors. But communicating correctly to potential customers will likely mean an increase in sales.
Prospects need to know that you exist and that you offer unique products and services that can help them. Since June is Effective Communication Month, here are some tips to help improve your communications with your potential and existing customers.

Choose a channel please.
The technology of recent years has literally given you access to dozens of ways to reach your target audience—a website, Facebook, Twitter, direct mail, e-mail, signage and billboards, to name a few. You need to understand your target audience to know which of the communications channels will more effectively reach them, and within your budget.

We hear you loud and clear.
You will most likely choose more than one medium to reach your audience. It is now important to make sure you message is consistent across all of them. If a person looks at one of your direct mail pieces, then they should feel a similar tone and design on your website. This helps people remember your company and build your brand.

You have two ears and one mouth.
So often in conversation we focus on the speaking part. But we all know that listening is the number one rule of effective communication. Ask current customers how you’re doing, what they like about your business and how you can improve. Through this you will improve your customer relationships and find ways to better reach new customers.

Take Care of the Employees that Take Care of Your Brand

When starting a company, many small business owners expend much energy to come up with the right name and logo. But to have an effective brand, you have to get the entire staff to make that logo mean something. Building a brand takes good, committed employees that are living what your marketing promises. In order to hire and retain employees that you want representing your brand, it takes a good corporate culture. Here are some ideas for creating a good work environment.

Get Flexible
The society of yesterday created the social norm that you must clock-in at 8 and stay until 5. In today’s world of connectivity, we can work virtually anytime from anywhere. If your business model can support flexible hours, that can be attractive to many employees. For instance, parents may have to bus children based on their schedule of activities. Or if you have creative people working for you, their creative ideas may spark in the evening. The point is to focus on the quality of work employees produce rather than when it’s produced.

Hang Out
Employees that work with people they enjoy can make employees more accountable because they don’t want to let down a friend. Create an environment conducive to a little fun outside the work day. Plan a company bowling tournament, go to a baseball game or grab some appetizers on the way home. Even a quick outing in the middle of the day is a welcome retreat. Take your team out to grab a cookie, a cup of coffee or walk around the block.

Perk Up
Sometimes it’s the little things that count. Think about a budget for some amenities in the office. Bring in lunch on occasion or have a potluck for employees to share their favorite recipes.

Dress Up
Some companies require a specific dress code because customers expect a certain look. A banker is going to wear a suit and tie to be taken seriously. But if you have employees that don’t have a lot of face time with customers, consider a more relaxed dress code. This gives employees a chance to show their personality through their wardrobe. Maybe one of these hot, summer days you can spring a surprise shorts day on your employees.

Knock, Knock. Who’s there?

Most of us like a good laugh. We want to be entertained. While there are several approaches to create advertising, humor often gets people talking. Adding humour to your marketing can increase brand awareness. Here are a few ways you can leave your customers laughing.

Get a sense of humor
When you use humor in advertising, you’re typically creating brand awareness and buzz for your business. So you need to understand your brand essence. This is the heart and soul of your brand. It’s what makes you think of Disney as “family fun entertainment,” or Hallmark as “caring shared.” Your advertising efforts—and your humour—should reflect the emotional connection you want your customers to have with your business.

Ruffle some feathers
You’ve figured out your personality, now you need to know your audience. Comedy is a risky business. There’s a fine line between humorous and offensive. But you can’t play it safe if you want the buzz. Understanding your audience will help you determine how close to the line you can go. Humor in advertising usually provokes attention so expect the phone to ring. If you’ve done your job, the majority of calls will be for more sales.

Make me laugh
Ask any comedian. Comedy is no easy business. You can leave them laughing or completely tank. You may want to turn to a professional copywriter to help you set the right tone for your business. Consider testing your marketing with some of your current customers before sending it out into the world.

Humor in advertising can be employed in any medium, whether it is direct mail or radio. Social media is a great platform to test out your humor. Most people visit social media sites to be entertained so get out there and knock ‘em dead.

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It Can Be Taxing Keeping Up With Facebook

Seems like just when you understand how to use Facebook to market your business, they change something. Here are some helpful tips to keep up with recent changes on Facebook.

Page Upgrade
If you’ve been to your Facebook Page for your business within the last month, you’ve probably noticed the changes to the layout. The most obvious are the five photos across the top of your page. If you don’t have interesting photos showing, you’ll want to load some now. It’s the first impression visitors have of your company. Also, check to make sure all of the tabs that were across the top of your page are in working order, now down the side of the page.

Question
There’s a new way to share on your Facebook Page through asking questions of those that like your page. What a great way to get valuable information about your customers. Consider asking a question a week. Make sure it’s engaging so people will want to participate.

Check-in Deals
Deals is the latest addition to Facebook Places, which allows customers to share that they visited your business. Now you can reward those loyal customers with deals to help boost in-store traffic and build customer loyalty. You’re probably used to the loyalty punch card concept for frequent customers. Now you can run a similar program through Facebook, and all of your customers’ friends will know they stopped by and got a deal. Make sure you’ve claimed your place and linked it to your page so you don’t confuse your customers.

Don’t forget to remind customers of your Facebook presence through all of your printed marketing materials.