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Stand Out in a Crowded Market By Focusing on Organic Growth

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Stand Out in a Crowded Market By Focusing on Organic Growth

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

My partner and I have seen the power of organic growth, even in a significantly competitive market like fashion. Our company, named BJ Positive Wear, was able to create something captivating to our customers within the last two years. I saw a complete transformation of our business in that time, all due to organic growth and the philosophies that we used to succeed.

Even though we had no idea what to expect, we decided from the very start to go in with organic growth being the ultimate goal. We did not benefit from outside help, so we chose to do this. We knew it would take longer, but in the end, every action brought us one step closer to where we are today.

I believe everybody could benefit from focusing on organic growth in a competitive market. If you’re unsure where to start, I will share with you what we did to achieve our success today.

Related: How Thinking Like a Designer Can Unlock Organic Growth

Why organic growth matters

You might not think much of it, but organic growth is the ultimate powerhouse for success. Organic growth is an important area of focus because it encompasses various areas of outreach and focuses on genuinely connecting with the audience you want to reach with your business.

Back in the days before the internet, organic growth was increasingly difficult. People had to do traditional marketing, create posters, billboards and more. Today, my partner goes on social media and shares content.

Social media has so much power, and many people I see and talk to in the business world don’t even grasp the full potential of it. For our firm, social media was what ultimately made us powerful and gave us the organic growth we wanted. You can have the same, and it comes with a few specific steps that we took as we embarked on our journey to success.

Create conversation

One of the essential tips is to create conversation. Organic growth is about engaging with the audience and making them feel a part of what you are doing. Your customer is the ultimate source of direction as a business. Even if you start with an idea for a specific product, you need to listen to the customer and see if what you have to offer is going to benefit them or not.

Create these conversations, and focus on what they say. Even if it is entirely different than what you might have expected, your customer is the ultimate tool for you to spearhead any decision to allow you to further expand and experience growth as a business.

Present value and transparency

Transparency is one of the most valuable tools in any business. If you want to succeed and capture any audience demographic’s attention, you need clarity in your messaging. You must lay out the value for your specific product or service to the audience. Customers like honesty. This is something that I have come to appreciate as a co-founder.

People want to hear exactly what you have to offer. So, don’t leave a mystery. Instead, present your value and be transparent in your messaging. This is what ultimately creates organic growth, but it also leads to another essential aspect of how we were able to achieve our success.

Related: How Transparency In Business Leads to Customer Growth and Loyalty

Differentiate and remain competitive

One of the ultimate tools people often do not tap into is the potential for every social media user today to understand their competition. Everything is publicly available, and there are no surprises. If you find yourself in a position where you are genuinely struggling to remain competitive, point out where you think you can defeat your competition.

When we were focusing on creating our clothing business, we wanted to create something meaningful. Additionally, we wanted to create something that would ultimately stand out compared with every other company we’d seen in the industry. This eventually led me to differentiate and focus on innovating what was already in our market. If you want to succeed, take it from us: You need to determine and figure out what your competitor offers that you can beat and defeat.

Organic growth accelerates when you become a creator

Organic growth is ultimately the most meaningful because it allows you to create conversation and value while remaining competitive with your competition. But there’s something else that many people often forget.

There are multiple kinds of organic growth facilitators in this world. Some people stick to diversification, while others focus on offering something of value that is a necessary product to people. Finally, some people, like our business and myself, become creators.

Why creators stand out and defeat the competition

You can choose any path you’d like to accelerate organic growth, but ultimately, I see the most value in becoming a creator. As a creator, our business built something that truly did stand out compared to other competitors. We focused on innovation first, then differentiated and ensured that there would be immense value offered in whatever we did in the industry. As a startup, I can offer you so much advice, but this is ultimately one of the most important: If you want to see success, inspire people, and become a creator of your own.

You have the power to create value

Creators are essential and stand out because we build value with our products. We value each service we offer, and new business models will be created. We create a massive following and see our company take off in ways we never thought possible. Organic growth accelerates when you are a creator, and this is because you find a way to inspire people.

Be an underdog and stand out

People like a success story. Everybody wants to root for the underdog, and quite honestly, my business was the underdog, but we were also extreme innovators in what we were able to do. If you want to see success in the industry you are part of, then I urge you to consider what you can create to stand out.

Related: 4 Surprisingly Simple Ways To Stand Out From Your Competition

Revisit your ideas and improve them

If you have already begun a product, differentiate yourself and re-envision what you’ve already done. I guarantee you that when you think of something impactful and creative, others will see it and flock to you and your business. They will believe in your mission and see you as inspirational.

Focus your success on your organic growth

No matter your path, you need to consider certain factors if you are a startup. Remaining competitive and finding a way to differentiate yourself honestly is the ultimate goal of organic growth.

For us, especially with how significantly our business grew in such a short time, we don’t owe anybody anything, and it’s a risk we took. We chose to put everything into creating something nobody had ever done, and even in the end, it was far more tiring and more prolonged than we ever envisioned. Still, I promise you that the journey will be worth it in the end.

Hopefully, I provided you with the insight and inspiration needed to take that leap and take a risk. No matter what business you run, I hope you present something nobody has ever seen before, but also attempt to inspire people to follow you, no matter where your journey takes you.



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Twitter Expands ‘Verification for Organizations’ to More Regions

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Twitter Expands ‘Verification for Organizations’ to More Regions

Despite concerns over its radically high pricing, Twitter is pushing ahead with the rollout of its ‘Verification for Organizations’ offering, which enables brands to purchase a gold checkmark for their main account, and verify their employee profiles as affiliates.

Twitter first put out the call for selected businesses to sign up to the program back in January, as part of its broader revamp of verification, which aims to both democratize access to checkmarks in the app, while also establishing a new revenue stream for the business.

Now, more brands in more regions are being invited to register their interest, which could soon see a lot more gold checkmarks and square profile pictures appearing in your feed.

If they’re willing to pay up. Twitter’s currently looking to charge businesses $1,000 per month for the option, which seems like a high price to pay for a different colored tick – and really, not much else.

As per the communications being sent out to businesses, for your $1,000 monthly investment, Verification for Organizations will give you:

  • A gold checkmark on your brand account
  • A square profile picture on your brand profile
  • An affiliate badge, a smaller version of your brand profile image that’s added to approved accounts in the app
  • Affiliates display on the main brand page, which shows all the accounts linked to the main brand profile
Twitter Verification for Organizations
  • Twitter Blue access for all brand and affiliated accounts

So you do get access to all the Twitter Blue features, for your main account and any profiles that you approve as affiliates. But you do also have to pay for each affiliate you register – if you want to approve your staff, and get them both an affiliate marker and a blue tick, you’ll have to pay $50, per month, for each profile you add in.

That seems like a lot – especially considering you can just pay $8 per month to sign your brand profile up to Twitter Blue and get a regular blue checkmark in the app. Maybe Twitter will eventually look to cut off Twitter Blue access for brand entities, but right now, you’re really paying an extra $992 per month for a different colored tick.

Is that worth it?

I guess, Twitter’s hoping that it can reach a critical mass of brands that sign up for a gold checkmark, which will then make it the new gold standard in brand recognition, and in turn, raise questions about the legitimacy of other brand accounts that don’t have that gold tick endorsement. That could force more brands to sign-up to the program, in order to ensure that they’re seen as the official brand entity in the app.

I’m not sure that’s going to work, but that seems to be the principle that Twitter’s going with, effectively using the value of exclusivity that was once afforded to the regular blue checkmark to make the new gold tick more desirable, thus boosting interest.

But it’s a lot. $1000 a month is likely beyond the reach of most SMBs, and it’ll be hard for any brand to justify the expanse, for so little in return.

Some reports have also suggested that Twitter’s giving away the gold checkmark to approved ad partners, as another means to make it a bigger thing, and that could be another effort to further incentivize take-up, by using competitive sensibilities to prompt other brands to want one as well.

Again, I don’t know that it’s the right approach, but Twitter’s, at the least, going to kick the tires on the option, at its current price point.

And it’s coming to more regions – Verification for Organizations is now available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, India, Indonesia, and Brazil.

With a heap of advertisers still not coming back to Twitter, Elon and Co. definitely need the extra money – but do you need the ‘benefits’ that this program provides?



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How Automation Is Reshaping The Industry

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How Automation Is Reshaping The Industry

Krishan Arora is CEO & Founder at The Arora Project, a globally recognized leader in crowdfunding & scaling high-growth ventures.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the marketing industry. As an agency owner myself, I can see in real time how the landscape is shifting under our feet. As businesses seek to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve their marketing strategies, they are turning to AI-powered marketing tools to automate many of the tasks previously done manually.

One of the most significant areas is in the field of data analysis. AI-powered tools can analyze vast amounts of data quickly and accurately, providing insights into customer behavior and preferences that can inform marketing strategies. This includes analyzing customer data from social media, search engines and customer reviews. By automating this process, businesses can reduce the need for human staff to analyze data manually, saving time and money.

Chatbots—computer programs designed to simulate conversation with human users—are also AI tools and can be programmed to respond to customer inquiries, provide product recommendations and even process orders. This tech is becoming a popular option for companies looking to expedite the handling of customer inquiries.

When it comes to marketing, there’s been an emergence of AI tools that can help automate processes around content generation. This includes developing social media posts, email marketing campaigns and even video content. AI-powered tools can generate content automatically, based on preset parameters, reducing the need for human staff to create each piece of content manually. This can help businesses save time and money while ensuring their marketing content is still high-quality and on-brand. In our agency specifically, we use AI tools to help create incredible marketing copy with just a small input of text and to help create strong brands, logos and presentation design files with ease and at scale. These have helped us boost productivity and results, and I highly encourage other teams to adapt to this revolution.

Aside from impacting tasks within the marketing role, AI tools are also affecting the workforce in terms of job skills. As businesses adopt more AI-powered marketing tools, I believe they will increasingly be looking for staff with skills in data analysis and machine learning. As a result, traditional marketing roles, such as copywriters and graphic designers, may become less in demand, while data analysts and machine learning experts become more sought after.

Marketing teams that adapt to using AI in their workflows will have a significant advantage over those that do not. I don’t think this technology will replace humans altogether. What I think will happen is that there will be two cohorts of marketers: one that uses AI to increase productivity and results, and one that does not. Those that do not will have a hard time keeping up with the AI-boosted marketing teams.

As businesses continue to adopt AI-powered marketing tools, it is likely that the trend of role restructuring and new opportunities will continue. However, it is also important to note that AI is not a silver bullet for all marketing tasks. There are still areas in each of these categories where human staff is essential, especially when it comes to developing creative concepts and building relationships with customers.

In conclusion, the use of AI in marketing is transforming the industry. As businesses seek to reduce costs and improve their marketing strategies, they are increasingly turning to AI-powered marketing tools to automate many of the tasks previously done fully by humans. This is leading to job losses in some areas but is also creating new opportunities for workers with skills in AI and machine learning. As AI-powered services continue to evolve, businesses and workers alike must adapt to these changes to stay competitive in the market.


Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?


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Twitter Will Begin Removing ‘Legacy’ Blue Checkmarks from Next Week

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Twitter Will Begin Removing ‘Legacy’ Blue Checkmarks from Next Week

Get ready for the next phase of Twitter 2.0’s subscription revenue push, with the platform announcing today that ‘legacy’ blue checkmarks will begin being revoked as of next week.

As per the above tweet, Twitter’s hoping to boost Twitter Blue and Verification for Business subscribers by prompting them to start paying for their blue tick instead.

Twitter’s also alerting blue tick account holders with this in-stream notification.

That could see some legacy verified accounts paying up, bringing in a few more Twitter Blue subscribers – though the amount that are going to revert to Verification for Business, which costs $1,000 per month, will be far less.

But if Twitter wants to reach its target of 50% of its revenue coming from subscriptions, it needs to take action, because right now, according to analysis, Twitter Blue has around 450k subscribers, which equates to only 0.12% of Twitter’s total user base.

In order to generate 50% of Twitter’s total income, Twitter needs around 24 million users to sign up to the program. So while Twitter Blue is set to bring in more money for Elon and Co. (around $11 million per quarter to be exact), it’s nowhere close to being half of the platform’s intake, which, based on its last revenue report, would be around $590 million every three months.

While it also dilutes the value of the thing that it’s aiming to sell. The problem with selling blue checkmarks, both on Twitter and Facebook, is that you’re charging users for the exclusivity, and the perceived reputational value of having a blue tick, but as soon as anyone can buy it, it’s no longer valuable in this respect.

And as more people sign up, it becomes even less valuable over time, and once Twitter removes the legacy blue ticks, that will mean that the only checkmarks left are those that are attached to accounts that are paying for it, which will make it completely worthless in this respect. At that stage, the blue check is only going to show others that you have enough money to afford it, and that you want to support Elon Musk’s mission to change how Twitter works.

Maybe that has some value in itself, and there are some aspects of Twitter Blue that some users will pay for. Though even then, Twitter’s experimenting with a new option that would enable subscribers to not show their blue tick, if they choose – because even Twitter is moving to acknowledge that it’s not the indicator of reputational or exclusivity that it once was.

And it’ll become less so from next week – while it’s also worth noting that even if every legacy checkmark holder were to sign on to pay $8 per month, and keep their blue tick, that would still only be another 420k extra subscribers, max.

And I suspect many won’t. I suspect, too, that removing the legacy checkmarks will have a negative impact, in that it will see some of those users tweet even less, because they won’t feel as aligned to the platform that has taken away that marker from their account.

This is why selling verification ticks is a flawed strategy, because its growth and expansion dilutes its own value, and undermines the concept of what it is. Sure, Meta’s trying the same thing, but even Meta staff raised this same concern (as did Twitter staff), and Meta at least offers a truly valuable aspect, in providing additional, in-person support for paying subscribers.

But even then, Meta’s approach is also flawed, because you can’t sell reputation, you can’t charge for authority or recognition.

Some will think that’s what they’re getting, but eventually, when they’re the only ones left, I think you’ll find that it’ll be much easier to dismiss blue checkmark accounts in-stream.

It’s a confused approach, which won’t become a significant revenue driver – at least not without some significant additions that are worth paying for. But Twitter’s pushing ahead either way.  

Prepare to pay up, or lose your blue tick, from next week.



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