FREE ClickFunnels 3-Day Summit Event!

I’m SO excited to announce that ClickFunnels is hosting a 3-Day Virtual Summit Event next week! 

 They've gathered 30 incredible marketing experts from different fields to talk about a really cool topic that will hit home with a LOT of entrepreneurs... 

 A few months ago, Russell sent an email to over 100 ‘Two Comma Club’ marketing experts… 

 Inside the email was just ONE burning question... 

 That question became the loaded topic for his 3-Day Summit Event, which is designed to rapidly build your business in the next 30 days! 

 You can get ALL the summit details (dates, the awesome topic, speakers, etc...), and register for the FREE event here...

3-Day Virtual Summit

The answer to this ONE question has the power to catapult brand new entrepreneurs (or entrepreneurs who find themselves back at ‘zero’) straight into the Two Comma Club in a matter of months (and for some, they did it in just weeks)! 

I can’t wait for you to attend this 3-Day Summit, and see what’s in store for you during this incredible FREE event! I'll be there for sure! 

Get your free 3-Day Summit ticket here:- 3-Day Virtual Summit 

6 Easy Ways to Grow Website Traffic From Instagram

WITH its stunning visuals and easy-to-use platform, it’s no wonder why Instagram is the fastest growing social media app with over 300 million users. When it comes to generating website traffic, Instagram is the perfect solution.

Want to start using Instagram for your business or blog, but aren’t really sure how to go about it? Check out these 6 easy ways to use Instagram to increase your website traffic:

1. Brand consistently across all social media accounts

Brand consistency is essential when it comes to building your business and its website. Why? Because it adds strength to your brand if people are able to recognize it right away. Use the same photo (such as your logo) as your profile picture on all of your social media accounts.

If you have a personal brand, rather than a company brand, consider using an image that is clear and consistent with the message you wish to convey. Headshots, a picture you have taken, an example of your work, or a behind-the-scenes photo – the possibilities go on and on.

2. Pick a username that matches your business name

It’s great to get creative with your branding, but it’s important to use a username similar to your business name to make it easy for people to find you in search results. You may certainly like “WemakethebestcoffeeEVER”, but that really won’t do much for your business. It would be confusing to some people, and it would not stand out in search results as being YOUR business.

Your username should match the username associated with your other social media profiles and branded website. Use the company name (or your name, if you are your own personal brand) for the name. Make sure to include the URL to your website, along with a 150-character bio. You want to get your message across, but not seem too stiff and serious. If you have branded hashtags, this is a great place to include them.

3. Get creative with captions

The captions for your uploaded content should tell a story that engages your audience, and compels them to find out more by clicking through to your website. Get creative with your captions, since they allow you to really give some insight into your image, make it relevant to your followers, and (hopefully) make your followers smile or become interested in what you have to offer. Plus, it’s the best way to tie things back to your business, since you can always include a URL at the end. Learn how to incorporate emjois for added emphasis and to give your captions a more personal touch.

4. Connect with other users

Just like blogging builds a business’ customer-brand relationships, so does engaging with followers on social media.  Since consumers are far more likely to go with a brand they know and trust, you want to engage with other users as much as possible.

There are numerous ways to interact with other Instagram users. Options include everything from tagging other accounts, to sending private messages. Interacting with others will build your brand, increase your audience reach and, boost your website traffic:

Tag others:

Instagram allows you to add tags before you share your content. You just tap the Tag People option, tap on the photo to add a tag, and then type in the user’s name. Once you have tagged other accounts in your content, other users are then able to tap on that photo or video to see who was tagged. This increases audience reach and builds brand-to-brand relationships with others in your industry and/or niche.

Mention others:

This is similar to mentioning on Twitter, and is a great way to generate website traffic and increase your brand’s reach. Type in the @ symbol, followed by the first letter of the user’s  name. This will bring up a list of people to choose from, but you can also just type in the name on your own. You can do this to give a “shoutout” to another company, customer, or brand, or to reply to someone’s comment.

Like the content of others:

Liking other users’ content is a super simple way to connect with other businesses and consumers. Just double-tap the image, or tap the heart button under the post. The user will get a notification that you have done this, and they are likely to check out your profile and return the favor. If you have listed the URL to your website on your profile, this will generate more traffic to your site.

Leave comments:

Leaving a comment is also a great way to connect with others. Just type in a comment hit Send, and you’re good to go! Leave something thoughtful, helpful, or long, and this will ensure your comment and username stands out among the rest.

Share across social media:

One of the best ways to increase your audience reach, while still connecting with others on Instagram, is to connect your profile to your other social media accounts. For example, if you share an Instagram post on Twitter, you can add tags and hashtags to increase your reach and connect with other brands. Not only does this build relationship, but it makes your brand seem more approachable and “in touch” with the popular technology being used by today’s consumers. This is especially important to do if your demographic is in the 18-year-old to 34-year-old range.

5. Develop a unique aesthetic for your brand

Your Instagram is basically a visual portfolio for your brand. How would you describe your business? Before you post a picture, think about whether or not that photo is consistent with your branding. It’s even better if you are able to upload pictures that contain your brand’s colors on a regular basis.

Take a look at the Instagram profiles for large companies, like Starbucks. The branding is consistent, their logo is prominently displayed, and they keep up with the fun-loving, carefree attitude that really sells their product. Whether you have a day full of paperwork, or one that just revolves around Netflix and relaxation, their brand gives the impression that buying one of their delicious drinks will perk up your mood.

Instagram is a visual-based platform so you will need to plan out a consistent, recognizable brand aesthetic. Choose the best filter (or several filters) to use for the majority of your photos. By going with the same look each time, you will establish a recognizable visual identity that will stand out to your followers. The more your brand stands out, the more traffic will be driven to your website.

You will also need to figure out what type of content you want your photos to focus on. A fashion retailer would obviously want to upload pictures of clothes, a café would upload pictures of their coffee or food, and a tattoo shop would upload pictures of their artists’ work. But, what happens if your content is not so obvious?

Think about what you have to offer your customers and/or clients, and find a way to incorporate that into your branding and visual aesthetic. Come up with consistent posting schedules, but stick to only posting 1 to 3 times per day. Be sure to include the name of your business or URL in all of your photos and captions!

6. Use hashtags

It may seem like hashtags are only used by beauty bloggers or twenty-something-year-olds trying to get more “likes” on their selfie. However, if you’re trying to use your Instagram for your business, then using hashtags is an absolute must.

Hashtags originated on Twitter, and have spread to every other social media channel. The hashtag density on Instagram is actually far greater than that of Twitter, because the success of marketing on Instagram depends heavily on effective use of hashtags.

These hashtags organize and catalog the content that is being shared, which furthers the process of people finding content and contributors. For example, a coffee company may post an image of a fancy latte in San Diego, and then use the hashtags “#latte” and “#SanDiego” when they upload the image to Instagram.

By doing this, that image is then cataloged to allow it to be found by users searching for images of lattes and San Diego. This is how users discover new content, new contributors, and new websites – like yours. Once they find this image, they may decide to share it on their own Instagram or other social media platform, and may add some other tags to it. This would further expand the audience reach of that post and, ultimately, increase your website traffic.

As a rule of thumb, include a caption with every bit of content you upload to Instagram, and include hashtags. While Instagram allows you to include up to 30, it’s best to stick to somewhere between five and twelve. In fact, statistics show Instagram posts with 11 or more hashtags have a higher rate of interaction than those with fewer hashtags.

Putting It All Together

Instagram is an incredibly important social network for business owners and bloggers alike. Not only is this visual app great for retailers, restaurants, and agencies, but it’s also great for individuals building a reputation and personal brand. It fits in well with every type of business, and proves to be a great way to generate more website traffic.

In fact, since Instagram is so popular these days, brands without an Instagram presence risk being ignored, thought of as irrelevant or considered outdated. This is especially true among the younger generation of consumers, a demographic that shouldn’t be ignored.

With so many people using Instagram, it’s important to go through the above list of tips for building an Instagram account that will give you the website traffic generation you’re looking for. Implement these tips, and watch your business boost!
What are YOUR favorite Instagram tips? Have you tried anything in particular that has really stood out as a great way to generate more website traffic? Let us know in the comments below!

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Instagram Dominates Twitter! How to Use Instagram for Business

 If you're tackling the social media arena as a part of your business strategy, you've probably set out on Facebook and Twitter, and possibly either Google+ or Pinterest. Sound familiar? It's just the way it's been done across the board thus far. 

I'm going to cut right to the chase, and make some hefty claims. Instagram has surpassed Twitter, and the way it's growing, it looks to have its eye on global social media domination. It's getting to the point where you almost have to feel foolish if you aren't using it for your business. 

Hashtags are social megaphones, great for extending exposure. But everyone knows that spamming them on Twitter just leads to less engagement, which is what you should really be after. I'm going to show you how Instagram allows for more exposure without having to sacrifice engagement.

This will be important for all marketers, but if your niche values a younger audience in any way, this is especially important for you!

Part One: WHY Should I Use Instagram for Business?

I'm going to run you through some of the top reasons for why you'd want to Instagram for business. Then, in part two of this post, I'll cover the how of tackling this social arena. 

1. Instagram Surpasses Twitter in User Count

Instagram claims 300 million users while Twitter sits on 288 million. The extreme growth rate of Instagram can't be ignored! 

First things first: The basic user numbers. If you look at the stats that the social networks themselves put out, Instagram has reached 300 million users, while Twitter claims 288 million. 

Monthly users is one thing, but social media moves so much faster than that. So what about users who are active daily? Gregory Ferenstein of VentureBeat has shown in a recent study that Instagram has indeed surpassed Twitter with the percentage of American users that are active daily. 

In fact, only Facebook beats out Instagram for daily users:

I know that 10 percent of Americans using Instagram daily might not seem like a high percentage, and Twitter's 7 percent might not seem like much of a difference, but when you consider how many hundreds of millions of people live in America, these are some weighty numbers to consider! And that's just America, think of all the other Instagram users worldwide. 

In a nutshell? There's a lot of people on Instagram, just waiting for you. Every. Single. Day.

2. It's Not Just User Count: Engagement is Higher Too

On Twitter, any more than 1-2 hashtags per tweet means a drop in engagement. On Instagram, more hashtags usually mean more engagement.

Hashtags are more than just a (somewhat silly sounding) trending phrase, "Hashtag OMG!" They're a way of reaching a much larger audience with a topical post. You don't have to be friends with thousands of people in order for them to see your updates. You just have to add a popular hashtag.

Here's the thought process I went through when considering hashtags...

1. Hashtags show all the people interested in that topic what you've posted.
2. What a great way to spread reach for my posts! I'll use ALL THE HASHTAGS ON TWITTER!
3. People on Twitter don't respond to posts that are spammed with hashtags. I can only use 1-2 per Tweet.
4. My reach feels so limited. If only there was a way I could use lots of hashtags AND increase engagement. 
5. Instagram comes along, and is all: "You can do that here, you know..."
6. #MindBlown

Want some proof? A graph in a post on Buffer by Kevan Lee really shows that "the more the merrier" attitude towards hashtags on Instagram will indeed get you further.

1-2 hashtags? Try 30.

Kevan Lee: "His finding is quite interesting: The more hashtags you use, the more likes your photo will get."

3. Instagram is the Best Network for Reaching a Younger Audience

If any part of your target market is within the 18-29 age group, then Instagram is the best social media choice for you. An interesting post by 19-year-old Andrew Watts, "A Teenager’s View on Social Media, Written by an actual teen" really depicts the social climate for a younger audience:

This point is reinforced by a study done by Business Insider. In this chart, you can see the incredible downward slope of Facebook with US teens, the half-hearted rise and fall of Twitter, and the epic popularity growth of Instagram.

Going forward into the future of social media marketing, this is your audience. The up-and-coming generation is set on Instagram. 

I'd just like to say, this doesn't mean that there aren't people older than 29 on Instagram. It's just that you're most likely to find a solid audience in that age group.

Part Two: HOW to Use Instagram for Business

As with any content or social media guide, your audience is the focus at all times. If you can't give them what they're looking for, they won't look for you.

1. Assess Whether Instagram is Best for Your Brand

When you think about the target market for your brand and the general audience of Instagram, is there any crossover?

You need to think about the compatibility between your website and the user base of Instagram. It could be helpful to ask yourself these questions...

• What do I know about my average site visitor?
• Are they generally older than 30? Or do I have at least some success with people in their 20's or even teens?
• What products do I promote? Are there many images on Instagram based on that type of topic?
• Do my competitors use Instagram? (More on this in the next section!)

If your audience is distinctively over 30, then Instagram might not be worth targeting. You can save time and effort with that tidbit alone. Go to another social network instead.

If, however, you have any audience in their 20s or even teens, then this social environment could very well be important to your brand. Age isn't everything, though! As this is a home of visual media (as opposed to text updates) there are certain niches that thrive more than others. 

A good example of this can be seen in the statistics on Brandwatch. It seems that Instagram is great for fitness sites with a male-majority audience, and also for cosmetics with a female-majority audience.

Once again, that's not to say that these are the only niches that it's good for. You'll have to think about your website audience specifically to figure out whether Instagram is the best for you.

2. Study What Your Competitors are Doing

If your competitors are on Instagram, what do their posts look like? This could be a good place to start planning your own social content.

Studying your competitors on Instagram will give you a fairly good indication of the type of content that's trending in your niche. When I asked freelance writer and social media expert Kristi Hines about the most important element for anyone wanting to use Instagram for business, this point was the focus. 

"The best thing to do when starting out on an Instagram marketing campaign is to see what your competitors are doing first.

After visiting a few of your competitors' profiles, you'll get a good sense for the types of images and videos that get the best response from your target audience.

You'll also see if they use branded hashtags, contests, and other strategies to engage their audience.

I'd also highly recommend a tool called Rival IQ.

It will allow you to quickly research the best your competitors have to offer on Instagram (and other social platforms)."

- Kristi Hines, Freelance Writer

So that's definitely worth looking into. See what your competitors are posting, figure out how effective that reach would be for you, and think about how difficult it would be to create similar media. If it seems worth it, why not give it a go?

3. Try Posting. Measure Success. Adjust Tactics. Rinse and Repeat.

Yep, trial and error. Once you've got an idea of what you're competitors are doing, it's the only way to set out with your own content.

Start small, and try one or two things. Build a list of trending hashtags in your niche (ones your competitors commonly use or similar that have a large following), and then create a couple of images or an easy-to-make short video that target those hashtags. Put them out there, see how it goes. 

There are a lot of tools you can use to track the success of your Instagram campaign, such as Iconosquare. 

Try one that appeals to you, and use it to figure out what works well, and what you could ditch without loss.

I'd love to know: Do you use Instagram for business? Have you found it useful in your niche? Comment below if you do, or if you would like to know if anyone else in your niche has found it to be successful.

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7 Email Etiquette Rules to Send By

 Etiquette doesn’t just apply to your table manners; it applies to email marketing too. These unwritten rules of the email world are worth reviewing. You don’t want to offend your customers by making an email faux pas, right? We didn’t think so.

Here are seven email etiquette rules that your small business should follow.

1. Always get permission

Just because someone handed you a business card doesn’t mean he or she wants to get emails from your business. You need permission from each and every customer you email. 

2. Make it easy to unsubscribe

Your customers should be able to easily unsubscribe to your emails. The CAN-SPAM laws require this option on every email you send. Don’t worry though, if you’re sending content that has value, your unsubscribe rate will remain low.

3. Make sure the content is error-free

Nothing stains your reputation faster than an email full of misspellings and grammatical errors, says Chas Hendricksen, a marketing analyst at technology company Benchmark Systems.

Your customers have high standards, so don’t let them down. Use spell check and proofread your email more than once. Remember, spell check won’t catch every error, so read carefully to make sure you haven’t mixed up words like “compliment” and “complement.”

4. Check and double check your links

You don’t want to send an email with broken links. Not only does that defeat the purpose of your email and potentially cost you sales, it also drops your credibility as a company.

“The entire point of an email campaign is to generate business,” Hendricksen says. “People want to be able to act instantly to your message. It is your job to provide them with a quick and easy way to do that.”

5. Send short and concise emails

Short, snappy emails help time crunched readers. Even if you’re sending out your company newsletter, you can offer “teaser” information with a link to the full newsletter. Take a look at the promotional email below. The retailer gets its point across with less than 40 words.

6. Your subject line should relate to the content

Don’t be deceptive with your subject lines. If your email is about an upcoming sale, say so in your subject line. You can get creative with your subject line, but don’t try to trick your customers into opening the email. Customers don’t respond well to it, and it’s against the CAN-SPAM law.

7. Keep it classy

You want to convey a professional image. To do that, don’t write in ALL CAPS, it looks like you’re shouting at your customers. Don’t go overboard with things like symbols and exclamation marks, either. It’s just not necessary.

At its core, etiquette is all about being polite. The same rule applies when you’re emailing. Be courteous and respectful of your customers and their time. Make sure your company is putting its most polite foot forward, and you’ll see success. Want more email marketing etiquette tips? Check out our infographic.

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How to Make Your Email Campaign More Clickable

The makeup of an email newsletter can vary tremendously. Some businesses include entire articles in their emails, others send a list of headlines with a teaser paragraph and thumbnail and some just list out headlines.

What works best, in terms of engaging recipients and getting people to click? We asked Stephanie Miller, vice president of member relations at the Direct Marketing Association. As a digital marketing expert, she helps businesses connect with the people, resources, and ideas they need to optimize their response and revenue.

Her first message: there’s no magic bullet that solves this question. However, here are five strategies that will help you arrive at an email campaign that works for best your audience.

Think about your users

It may seem counterintuitive, but putting an entire article in a newsletter can create a better experience for your readers. They can open your email on their computer or mobile device, read your content and then delete or forward it when they’re done. Most businesses want to strike a balance between the user experience and the needs of the business. “It can be a really good experience but, of course, you don’t have any clicks to be sure that they’re reading anything,” Miller says.

Listing a series of articles and links instead of entire posts seems like a solution, but it’s not always the user-friendly option. “You risk people skimming and not clicking on more than one article or not clicking on any articles because they’re on their device and maybe it’s just kind of clunky. Then they miss the content,” says Miller.

Sending too much content can also be stressful for some audiences, especially if they’re busy and don’t have time to read everything.

Explains Miller: “You really have to think about the experience and think about, ‘Is my objective to get the content and create a good experience that’s content-driven, or is my goal to drive them to a website?'”

Test everything

The best layout for your specific email newsletter depends on your audience, and the best way to determine an ideal format for yours is to test several options. “You don’t know what’s going to work best, so you test it,” says Miller. “You can certainly gather ideas and try some best practices, but you never know for your particular audience what’s going to resonate.”

Tracking the rate at which recipients click on the links in your emails over time is one way to test how changes affect audience reaction. Running split tests—where half of your readers get one format and the rest get another—is another way. Talking to your readers, via surveys, on the phone during support calls or in person at events is also key: ask them whether or not they find value in what you’re sending them and why. Use that feedback to guide your decisions and modify your newsletter layout, if needed.

Be relevant and consistent

Email subscribers like to know what they’re getting. If a reader finds a subject line intriguing they expect to be able to find that content easily when they open your email. Make it difficult for them, or worse yet, create a misleading subject line, and you’ll leave readers frustrated or annoyed.

Smartly segmenting your list, or targeting specific groups in your list with highly relevant content, is another way to make sure the recipients of a particular message are interested in the content, which will boost the rate at which they click.

Make links visible

“You want to make sure that your content is visible with images turned off,” Miller points out. Making sure that you have links within the text of your email for your readers to click even if the images, such as a call-to-action button, don’t load is essential.

Have any advice of your own to add? Share away in the comments.

This post contributed by guest author, Yael Grauer. Grauer is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer and editor. Find her online at Yaelwrites.com.

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5 Savvy Brands on Instagram And What Makes Them Successful

The human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than it can manage with text. Instagram has made the power of visual storytelling accessible to businesses and individuals, boasting over 700 million active monthly users and delivering an engagement rate of 4.21% per follower, around 58 times higher than the engagement per follower on Facebook.

• More than 80% of Instagram users follow a business on the app
• 30% of Instagram users have purchased a product first discovered on the network
• Instagram photographs on site increase conversions by 24%
• Visitors from Instagram stay on a website for an average of 192 seconds, longer than that on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
• In March 2017, more than 120 million Instagrammers visited a website, received directions, called, emailed or sent direct messages to learn about a business

Sources

yotopo Instagram Data Benchmarks for 2017

Instagram.com

Instagram-press.com

For B2C businesses in particular, Instagram can provide the highest impact simply because products and certain services – hospitality, pet care, personal care and fitness – lend themselves naturally to the image- and video-oriented medium. As is the case with any social platform, some brands have been savvier in their use of the visual-based network and earned a solid following along the way. Here is a look at five.

1. Desigual

Desigual is a Barcelona-based clothing brand focusing on vivid patchwork and graffiti art designs. As you would imagine, their Instagram account is filled with flamboyant splashes of color and leggy models, but beyond the necessities of fashionable promotions, Desigual does an excellent job of curating their feed with imaginative and expressive photos that imprint brand USP strongly- the product is the hero in this case, not the model or celebrity wearing it. The brand also encourages followers to contribute their experience with the #mydesigual hashtag.

2. VMware

Cloud computing and virtualization software provider VMware isn’t the sort of brand you would expect on Instagram. There is no way you could make enterprise software look sexy or build an emotional connect with a cloud storage appliance. And that is why VMware’s Instagram page features instances of company culture, values, events, community participation and the rare nerdy meme. Admittedly, their Instagram follower count is measly- 10.4k versus 266k on Twitter. But it does a great job of conveying the ‘cool’ and lighter side of the company, which can be immensely valuable for talent acquisition and reputation enhancement.

3. WeWork

NYC-based WeWork provides shared workspace, community and services for start-ups and small businesses. Established in 2010, the company has amassed 135k followers on Instagram on the back of compelling photos that clearly showcase their ‘make a life, not just a living’ tagline. What stands out most is the informal, fun and eco-friendly vibe of the featured workspaces. Sure, WeWork builds creative office interiors, but their Instagram photos communicate a strong human element, showing people and pets in action, along with the occasional peppy motivational quote. Check out WeWork’s Instagram page for creative inspiration and the art of making a big statement with simple, tasteful imagery.

4. Brick Lane Bikes

How many ways can you make bikes and cycling products look appealing enough to plonk down your money? Brick Lane Bikes, a London-based workshop selling bikes and cycling products has the answer. Their Instagram page has 44.3k followers, and each post receives hundreds of likes and a fair amount of engagement. Besides the fact that the store has some pretty neat bikes, including vintage and custom-made products, the quality of photos, creative use of hashtags (#lifebehind bars, #bikeporn, #bikesagainstwalls, #winwin), event promotions, YouTube video plug-ins, customer submissions make for a diverse and appealing page even if you’re not really into two-wheelers.

5. Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic knows how to tug at your heartstrings, show you how much medical technology has advanced, give you new health goals, and marvel at the complexity of the human body. The multispecialty academic hospital also puts the spotlight on patients, caregivers, customer service personnel and CSR initiatives. Their #tbt photos are also pretty epic, giving you a feel for the hospital’s history and heritage.

To build traction on Instagram, curate content with fixed goals in mind. Invest in high-quality photographs and entrust account management to creatives who can make you look good on the platform.

Image credit:Pixabay

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5 Questions If You Launching a New Business

Successful entrepreneurs share some common traits. You have definitely heard about many of these. Passion, motivation, self-belief, flexibility, hard work and networking, right?

But there’s one trait which overrides all – ‘’asking the right questions.’’

If you are planning to launch a new business, you have multiple challenges that stare you in the face. At any given point of time, you’re asking yourself whether you should do something or you shouldn’t do something. In fact, there are millions of questions that you face. But only a few of them actually matter, ones that you should really ask yourself to get started right and lead your business in the right direction. You need to know what those questions are.

Given below is a list of five questions that are essential to your success as an entrepreneur.

1. Is my market segment profitable enough?

Before you start to operate your business, you should find out whether that market offers opportunities for making sufficient revenue. On the surface, the market you pick may look like a promising one. But the truth emerges when you dig deeper and explore. Nowadays, most market segments are highly competitive because they have been so saturated.

Do adequate research and make sure that the market you choose will allow you to build a profitable business.

2. What are my target audience demographics?

Your business can’t win them all. To achieve success, you must reach a specific group of people who have a specific need. The challenge for you, as an entrepreneur, is to identify that specific audience.

It requires you to know as much about your target audience as possible. Once you have collected that information, you’ll find yourself in a better position to reach out to them and make a real impact. Start your research by looking at the key demographics of the geographical location that’s on your radar. Study groups of people in terms of their age, gender, income range, marital status, occupation and education among others.

3. What are the needs of my potential customers?

Now, move on to the next vital piece of information: customer needs. Why would people purchase your product or service?

The answer lies in understanding what your customer needs are. If you are going to start a business in health and fitness, you need to find out what your customers care about. Are your customers looking for home-based exercise? Do they have time to attend a gym? Conduct thorough research and connect with friends and colleagues who are conscious about their health and aspire to lead a happy and disease-free life, for insights.

That way, you’ll be able to craft a product which fits in with the actual needs of your customers and marketing will be easier too.

4. Who are my key competitors?

To beat competitors, you need to know and understand competitors. When you start a new business, one of the first things you should ask yourself is what your key five or ten competitors look like.

Find out who your top competitors are so that you can learn from them and improve your own offer. When you keep a close watch, you’ll always be aware of the changes they make to their marketing and advertising, which in turn reveals new processes and strategies. Use different tools for researching content strategies, display ad strategies, ranking strategies etc. It will help you size up the competition really well.

5. What are my business goals?

Be crystal clear about what you want to achieve from your business – both for the short and long term. Not just business goals, you should also take your personal and financial goals into consideration. Knowing your expectations from day one will help you make the right decisions.

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