Does your growth strategy include getting outside your comfort zone?

Growth happens outside your comfort zone. Let me say that again, growth happens outside your comfort zone. That means two things, you need to get outside your comfort zone to grow and you need to learn how to rely on others.

In this video we talk about  developing your business through strategic marketing activities. Take a listen and list some ideas that may pertain to your business. Here are some suggestions:

Create a working social media campaign with links, reposts and posting calendars

Develop and implement a referral farm

Identify and implement a working sales funnel to attract and convert customers

Develop a method to up-sell or re-sell to existing customers

Build a solid ongoing, repeatable marketing strategy

By |2016-11-01T10:20:08+02:00April 16th, 2016|Bruce on Business, Business Resources, Marketing|0 Comments

How to make your clients happy.

Happy customerIt is crucial for every business owner to realize the importance of nurturing relationships with clients. Not only do these people provide the revenue coming into the business but there also is a great feeling that comes with contributing to the success and happiness of your clients.

Part of growing a successful business is caring for your customers. Realize that we are in times where an unhappy client can share their opinion with the masses through social media and that can negatively affect your business. That’s why it’s even more important than ever to create an excellent experience for your customers to help develop your company’s relationship with them into love.

So, how would you know whether your clients are happy or not? Well, you would not know unless they or someone lets you know, right? You need to interact with them and review their feedback very often.

Below are 3 tips on how to make your clients happy.

1. Always listen to your clients.

When you have a conversation with your clients, it’s important to truly listen and take into account what changes your business should make from the feedback you will be getting, and then follow through.

2. Respect your clients and their views.

It’s very important to be respectful of a customer’s mood when trying to resolve an issue they have with your company. Keeping your patience is key to giving your customer the time to air out their issue. Don’t come on too strong even if they are wrong.

3. Talk to your clients genuinely

Don’t act as a nameless or faceless business; genuinely talk with your clients as a person representing the business. Address your customers by name, and tell them your name at the very beginning of your interaction.

Remember that a happy client normally tells 4 to 6 people about your company and its customer service. So, making your clients happy is another way to significantly influence the word of mouth about your business.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:09+02:00March 23rd, 2016|Marketing|0 Comments

3 pillars of building your business online

get-business-online-site-logo1When you go into business, you need to ensure you build a unique and profitable brand market. Market your brand effectively and have online presence. Online presence is important for a business to grow.

Here are the 4 pillars of growing your business online:

1. Website
Have a great website. A great website should be able to convert browsers into buyers. It must connect to your audience instantly and build a relationship with them.

2. Marketing
Marketing is about bringing and sharing your services with the right audience. Your product will remain unknown and useless if you don’t market it properly, so market it!

3. Communication plan

Have a clear and effective communication plan. Videos, blogs, newsletters and emails will bring a steady stream of traffic your way. Communicate what you offer in a way that will make your audience say “I got to have that now!” Every business online needs to get traffic to it’s site, but  profitable traffic is the most important.

4. Social Networks

Another way of increasing your online presence is to go the the social media route. Run ads through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or other ad networks. Many businesses have done very well on these social network platforms.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:09+02:00March 8th, 2016|Marketing, Social Media|0 Comments

Marketing VS Advertising

Marketing vs AdvertisingSo, what is the difference between Marketing and Advertising?

Most of us do not know the difference between marketing and advertising. It seems like it’s two terms used to describe the same thing. The difference can be confusing, indeed. While these two concepts are vital in your business and work interchangeably, they are not the same and their roles are different.

Let’s first look at the definition of these two terms:

Marketing – It is a systematic planning, implementation and control of  business activities intended to bring together the seller and the buyer for the mutual exchange or transfer of products.

Advertising – It is a paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor. It is essentially spreading the word about what your company has to offer.

Now, how do we market?

When you market your product or services, you need to have studied your target audience. You need to know what their needs and wants are.

Marketing is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. It is about meeting the needs and wants of customers.

It is is a business-wide function – not something that operates alone from other business activities. It is about understanding customers and finding ways to provide products or services which customers demand.

And, how do we advertise?

Advertising is a communication of your brand to your target audience. It essentially includes the placement of an advertisement in the media. Print, television, radio and the internet are all venues that can communicate your brand to potential buyers. It requires budget because putting an advertisement in the media need to be paid for.

These two concepts are slices of a bigger pie in your business. They work together towards the bigger goal.

 

 

By |2016-11-01T10:20:10+02:00February 16th, 2016|Marketing|0 Comments

FREE Marketing workshop

Marketing workshop posterYou are invited to attend one of our next FREE, no-commitment required, Entrepreneur Look-In Sessions, where you will have time to share and network with others at the same business development stage as yourself, and listen to some of our ideas. We have programmes on offer that will assist you to get your business on track and steaming towards success.
We have two sessions this week with places on both:

• Wednesday 10th February 17:00 – 18:30
• Thursday 11th February 12:30 – 14:00

Remember: “Growing your business is our business”.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:11+02:00February 9th, 2016|Marketing|0 Comments

You do not want to miss our next Lunch ‘n Learn session

Our first Lunch ‘n Learn session for this year was well attended. You do not want to miss the next one next month.

This year’s sessions will be held on the first Tuesday of every month. We highly recommend Lunch ‘n Learn, because, apart from being educative and informative, these session are a great platform to network and advertise yourself or your business. We all know that networking is a really valuable way to expand your knowledge. It helps you learn from the success of others, attain new clients and tell others about your business.

The topic of the first session today was on Marketing, looking into The Importance of Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses. It was such an insightful, well-researched presentation, wherein people walked away with very helpful information on how to go about marketing their businesses.

“I found this session to be so much informative. I thought I knew a lot about marketing, but my eyes were opened to a whole lot of new things today”, said  business owner Vincent Staples who was in attendance.

As you learn how to run a business, it’s always a good idea to add variety to your content marketing strategy. Lunch ‘n Learn is one of the platforms that you can use to source information for the benefit of your business.

One of the the few things that we touched on was the Product Marketing Specification. This is about creating a persona when marketing your product or business. Do you know who your ideal clients are? What are you offering?  Do you have a strategy for turning potential clients into paying clients?

Find today’s notes on www.slideshare.com and learn more about  The Importance of Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses.

We trust that we will see you at our next Lunch ‘n Learn session next month on the first Tuesday of the month.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:11+02:00February 2nd, 2016|Marketing|0 Comments

B.O.B Episode 13 – February – the marketing month

February is the marketing month, a month where people go all out to activate and launch their marketing strategies for the year.

Here at EI, we have packaged all the information about marketing for you this whole month. This is to just help you market your business the right way in order  for you to reach your target audience and grow your business. Remember, growing your business is our business.

In this video we focus on the four key factors you need to address when you do your marketing strategy:

Get to know your product

You need to understand the problems that your product is addressing.

Get to know your customers

Understand the problems that your customers have. Is your product trying to solve them? Understand what they need and want. Make sure it’s the problems that they want to get rid of, and not the problems that they are happy with.

How willing are your potential customers?

Are people willing to spend their money on your product? Are they happy with their problems or are they willing to spend money to spend money on your product to solve their products?

– Learn how to connect with customers 

You identified the problem, and have a solution, so how do you then connect that to customers?

 

Watch the video below for more on this briefly explained key factors about marketing.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:12+02:00February 1st, 2016|Bruce on Business, Marketing|0 Comments

February – the Marketing month

February is Marketing month and we have some special treats for you.
Four workshops lined up to boost your business marketing to new heights for 2016.12642916_10153435760095415_4319329694582910525_n
The more you learn the more you save with our 10% off for every additional workshop you attend in February. That adds up to a total of 60% savings if you attend all four workshops.

Please book now using the link to the Meetup Group below.

4 Easy to use tools to market your business Thursday 4 Feb: 09:30 – 16:30
Marketing is not about the 4P’s or price cutting discounts anymore: our customers are demanding higher levels of service, experience and convenience from their brands. Taking your business into the Blue Water zone requires a different strategy, a new way of thinking. Blue Water Strategies will help with this paradigm shift that will make your business immune to the competition and sales negotiations around price cuts.

Taking your business into Blue Water marketing Thursday 11 Feb: 09:30 – 16:30
Marketing is not about the 4P’s or price cutting discounts anymore: our customers are demanding higher levels of service, experience and convenience from their brands. Taking your business into the Blue Water zone requires a different strategy, a new way of thinking. Blue Water Strategies will help with this paradigm shift that will make your business immune to the competition and sales negotiations around price cuts.

How to woo your customers with Narrative Marketing Thursday 18 Feb: 09:30 – 16:30
Telling stories is part of our African heritage, using stories in our marketing creates African legends. Narrative Marketing will unpack all the tools and techniques required to fill your marketing with exciting narratives that connect to and include your customers into a powerful profitable relationship.

5 Secrets to Pimp your Pitch Thursday 25 Feb: 09:30 – 15:00
Only successful business owners and managers go on to build successful businesses. One of the common traits these people have is the ability to share their ideas with others through an effective, thought provoking presentation. This skill can be learnt and when used will set you aside from those who are unable.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:12+02:00January 26th, 2016|Marketing|0 Comments

Entrepreneur Incubator, World Academy and Spice4Life take online education by storm

The reputable Entrepreneur Incubator and Academy (EI), which offers online education, has joined forces with two other top companies in a strategic partnership geared towards enhancing the online education sphere in South Africa.

With the world and everything in the day to day life constantly evolving, technology has made life easier at so many levels.

It is this quick evolution of technology that has not only led to the necessity for people to continue educating themselves in this fast-moving world, but has also made online learning a preferable option of acquiring education.

The Entrepreneur Incubator and Academy (EI), a company founded by Bruce Wade in 2010, is one of the few that offers, among other things, this incredible way of learning – online education. The aim of this micro-learning methodology is to teach the critical skills for today’s fast-moving life in an easier and accessible way.

Michelle and BruceTo enhance the already much sought after services it renders; EI recently launched a significant collaboration with two successful companies that have the same focus. The World Academy and SPICE4LIFE have joined forces with EI in a bid to present innovative learning and new approaches on how to best manage and develop online distance courses and programmes.

This incredible partnership was launched on Thursday 12 March 2015, at the EI offices in Woodstock, Cape Town.

EI’s Bruce regarded the newly formed alliance as a significant development that would lead to the services rendered by the company being augmented for the benefit of the target market. In an interview following the launch, Bruce explained how crucial it was to have formed a partnership with both the World Academy and SPICE4LIFE, which both bring into the partnership equally valuable expertise and experience in online learning.

“It is important to always look into ways to consistently enhance what we are doing so that we can not only stay relevant but also in order to be able to keep up with the constant changes in the world around us. As an online learning platform, we have always taken the lead and have not shied away from embracing new ways of doing things.

“This new partnership with the World Academy and SPICE4LIFE will certainly take us to new heights and we are looking forward to impact the online learning environment together with the two new partners,” said Bruce.

Omar and SuzanneWorld Academy is an Australia-based company that was founded by Omar Anzur, a former banker.  In his presentation during the launch, Omar explained how his move to establish World Academy was expected to ripple into people getting a platform to develop themselves further through online education.

“I founded World Academy after seeing the power of education technology to empower people around the world to learn and fulfil their potential,” said Omar.

For Omar, this is not only about making money but about making an impact in other people’s lives by making quality education easily accessible and convenient for them. The ultimate aim, Omar said, would be to see as many people as possible having access to education.

“I dream of a world where everybody can access high quality education,” he said.

Omar runs World Academy together with his wife Suzanne Clarke, an accountant, who is equally passionate about empowering and making a difference in people’s lives. Her motto in life is “Each one of us can make a difference. Together we can make a change.”

Making a difference in people’s lives is the common denominator that drives both Omar and Suzanne, and the partnership with EI has seen them being in good company as Wade shares the exact sentiments.

The couple was in South Africa on one of their many business trips, which included attending the launch in Woodstock.

The third partner in this dynamic trio of companies that are set to revolutionise the online learning experience for many South Africans, SPICE4LIFE, also brings great advantages into the picture.

SPICE4LIFE’s founder and CEO Michelle Korevaar, a marketer by trade, is passionate about connecting, informing, and inspiring women in South Africa and the rest of the continent through what she calls “edutainment”.

Her company offers entrepreneurs and communities an opportunity to have a voice and grow their online reputation. The company is not only concerned about providing a platform for online education but it also seeks to ensure that the learning occurs in an entertaining way.

The uppermost objective for Michelle is to make a difference in people’s lives, particularly in the lives of women.

“We have made it our mission not to conform to what will pay the rent, but what will leave a legacy in the hearts of the women who visited our space. The needs of the women come first,” said Michelle in her presentation.

These three companies will work together to implement unique learning opportunities brought by online education technologies. Their passion lies in the developing countries of Africa.

TeamThough they are still operating locally (in South Africa) at the moment, they are looking into expanding and spreading their business throughout the continent. In a few months’ time, they are set to expand their footprint and start similar operations in other parts of the African continent that is in need of such online learning platforms.

The expansion into Africa would provide the three companies with yet another opportunity to fulfil their objective of making a difference in people’s lives as previous research has revealed that a large number of people, particularly those in sub Saharan Africa, have limited access to opportunities for further learning.

The relationship between the three companies started when SPICE4LIFE’s Michelle, who already knew Bruce, met Omar a while ago. Omar told Michelle about e-learning, which is something that interested her and she then introduced Omar to Bruce in a small move that could mark the start of bigger things.

Given their common interests, the three business people then decided to collaborate through their companies since they all are passionate about educating people through the online route.

 

By |2016-11-01T10:20:26+02:00March 17th, 2015|EI Videos, Entrepreneurship, Marketing|1 Comment

Ambassador for Spice4Life

ambassadorBruce Wade has been appointed Ambassador for the Spice4Life brand: this as part of the roll out of the new relationship between Spice4Life, World Academy and Entrepreneur Incubator and Academy. Through this new venture we aim to rehash the way online courses and e-learning programmes are delivered to the end user to South Africa and up through the African Continent.

We will be instrumental in creating content for the World Academy platform using video, animation and e-books in partnership with some of the brightest innovative minds we can find. We are also looking for people with a story to tell, that inspires and supports our vision.

If you would like to contribute to this in any way, please do not hesitate to contact us for a chat.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:28+02:00March 9th, 2015|Marketing, National Pride|0 Comments
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