It's amazing how time flies. I can still freshly remember how we started 2015. The year however has been a busy and exciting one. Despite the failures and successes, we should now be looking forward to 2016 and putting things together for more successes.
If you are into any type of business, here are seven ways to boost your activities and generate more revenue in this year and beyond!
1 – Add Videos to your strategies
In today's business world, keeping videos out of your content marketing activities is an error. There’s a lot of compelling evidence suggesting that online video marketing should be a major focus of your advertising and marketing budget.
According to hubspot.com, in 2015, experts believe that video will take up 57% of consumer Internet Traffic, an equivalent of almost 4x as much as web browsing and email. By 2017, this will rise to 69% and 79% by 2018.
There are two crucial phases in video marketing:
- Production of top quality video: This include both audio and visual quality. Once your output is amateurish, you are surely going to face a lot of difficulties in the market.
- Distribution of your videos: This has been one of the biggest challenges in the video production industry. While free platforms like YouTube are playing a big part, experts still need dedicated video distribution platforms like Uscreen with unlimited bandwidth and a huge list of features to facilitate distribution and improve customer experience.
Some popularly used video software include CamStudio and Screencast-O-Matic
Here are recommendations from Ms. Ileane for the Best Webcam and Mic to Use in Your Videos
The webcam is the Logitech C920 and the recommended mics are the Rode SmartLav+ or the ATR 2100.
2 – Create a blog
Creating a professional blog today is no longer a business for the experts. With Content Management Systems like WordPress and the increasing growth in premium themes and plugins, it has become powerfully easy to set up your business blog within hours.
Some folks doing business today still don't see the need for a blog. That's a mistake. Here are some interesting stats:
- B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those that do not.
- Marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13x more likely to enjoy positive ROI.
- Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website.
- Blogs have been rated as the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information.
If you still haven't created a blog for your business, you need one to boost your success in 2016.
3 – Build a list
One of the ways to create a marketplace where you have full control is to build a list. Once you have an email list made up of targeted subscribers, you can always tab into it for traffic, sales, opinions, etc.
There are many ways to attract the right subscribers but what you need to start with is the right email marketing platform. Some of these platforms I can recommend you check out are AWeber, iContact, MailChimp, INinbox, GetResponse (click here to see Deborah Anderson's review), etc.
4 – Use Surveys
Surveys are the most direct ways to put together statistics from your market in order to make informed business decisions.
In the coming year, I recommend running a couple of surveys in your community. Ask your customers and readers strategic questions that will help you better understand their problems and needs.
Surveys results provide a snapshot of the attitudes and behaviors – including thoughts, opinions, and comments – about your target survey population. This valuable feedback is your baseline to measure and establish a benchmark from which to compare results and grow your business over time.
5 – Attend live events
One of the ways to meet the right people and create profitable business partnerships is to take active part in live events. Live business forums, seminars and conferences are being organized everywhere around the cities, creating avenues for connections and market expansion.
You need to buy the tickets and be active participants in these events. Walk up to the right people, create discussions and network with people in your industry. It always pays to meet business-minded people physically, exchange ideas, business cards, take further business appointments, etc.
6 – Be active in your industry
In order to be a pro-active business person this coming year, you have to be noticed in your industry. In today's online world, blogging has made it easy for folks to feature on different websites and be easily attracted to by other readers and website owners.
Through guest blogging and blog commenting, you can literally decide to impose your brand on any active blog and be noticed by both the blog owner and readers.
When you publish awesome contents on other niche blogs, you cannot go unnoticed. While commenting for networking and expansion, you have to add indisputable value in your comments through thorough reading and understand of contents.
7 – Offer free services
People generally like free stuffs, including free services. One of the ways to attract customers is to offer them part of your services free. If they see value in your free services, some will upgrade and add to your income.
These are some of the many ways to boost your business in 2016.
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