Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. In any business, the critical aspect is its marketing. Sometimes marketing requires creativity such using gifts for potential customers. The following contributed post this therefore entitled, Marketing With Gifts.
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There are lots of different strategies that companies can employ in order to market effectively. Obviously, which one is best depends on the business themselves because every business is different and so what may work for one business may not be very effective for another.
Nevertheless, there are a few marketing strategies which seem to be widely adopted by a whole host of different types of companies in different industries. One of these strategies is the distribution of promotional gifts. This is a method which has been effective for a long period of time, which is obviously a testament to how successful it is.
However, the success of such a strategy depends on what promotional products a company decides to opt for. Therefore, bearing this in mind, this blog post aims to give businesses a helping hand by revealing some of the best promotional items and gifts and why they are so effective.
One of the most widely used promotional products is a pen. There are two main reasons as to why this is the case. The first reason is that they are relatively cheap to produce; this is especially the case in comparison to other types of promotional items. The second reason is that a pen is an item which is always needed and so the company will become ingrained in the individual’s mind that is using it. Moreover, a pen is also something which will advertise a company for many months and even years to come.
Another option which is a great idea to consider is that of promotional bags. Reusable bags are something that always comes in handy, especially when a lot of supermarkets now charge for individuals to use the plastic carrier bags. And in addition to this, more and more people are caring about the environment, so this is something that they will appreciate. A final point worth noting is that the advertising potential for this product is huge as the bag is not something that will only be seen by the person in possession of it, as all the people in which the person passes on the way home after doing their shopping will see it too.
In addition to bags and pens, another great option is to go for promotional mugs. After all, who doesn’t love a good cup of tea or coffee when they are working? Moreover, everybody else at the place of work will see the mug as well and so they will take note of the company in question.
A final product worth considering is mouse pads. Gifts such as this are unique and they appeal to consumers more because they are not something that they would expect to get from a business. Moreover, it is obviously something which will come in extremely handy as all people need one.
All in all, promotional gifts are a great way to market a business. Nevertheless, it is highly important to put some serious thought and consideration into what products to have distributed.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Career Discussions. The medical industry is unique in that you directly affect the lives and health of people. In this regard, even the simplest error or mistake can be fatal and costly. What kinds of errors are there? The following contributed post is entitled, Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make in the Medical World.
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When you work in the big wide medical world, there isn’t much room for error. When a doctor , surgeon, researcher or nurse makes a mistake the results can be catastrophic. If you’re working in the medical industry you need to be able to minimize mistakes and keep your business running smoothly. This is not only for the sake of your patients, but your reputation will be on the line too. Every human has made a mistake at some point in their life, but it’s not often to the detriment of another life. The medical world will always be full of ups and downs, but as long as you can keep a level head, you will succeed with minimal errors.
Translation Errors
When you’re working in the medical sector you will often be faced with documentation and devices that are written in a different language. You can’t afford to look up these kind of translations on the internet so click here to find highly specialized document translation services. You can be sure that your information is specifically translated by a professional so that you minimize mistakes in your establishment.
When a patient is overlooked or misdiagnosed it can put your entire career in jeopardy. Of course, this type of thing happens all the time in hospitals and surgeries, but how can it be prevented? Make sure every single person who works for you understands each protocol for diagnosing patients. If there is any dispute or ambiguity somebody senior should step in and give their opinion on the patient’s condition. When you’re more thorough in a medical environment it helps your patients to receive the best care possible.
Failing Employees
In the medical industry there will always be a handful of employees who slip through the cracks with their skill sets. You need to make sure you never allow unqualified or dangerous people into your working environment. Thorough checks should be carried out before giving anybody a job. You could even start people on a probation period if you’re unsure. Implement training programs so that every everybody always feels supported.
Missed Opportunities
There will always be new clinical trials that your establishment wants to try out. Although they can be risky when medical treatments go wrong, it is always good to give them a try whenever possible. You will never be able to enhance your knowledge if you don’t step out of your comfort zone from time to time. Assess each situation as it arises and you will always know you did your best.
Your medical business will always be your pride and joy, so don’t allow any mistakes to slip under the cracks. Put adequate training programmes in place and hire the right people for certain jobs. Whether you’re training new interns or hiring someone to translate documents, every level of the chain is extremely important. Missing out on one important stage could cost your business and reputation. Don’t leave room for errors and you will never have to worry about picking up the pieces.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Career Discussions. In some instances losing our jobs is in our control and in other instances, it is beyond our control. In either case, it’s important to think about what you would do should such a circumstance arise. The following contributed post discusses this and is entitled, How Would You Cope With Losing Your Job?
The world of work has changed dramatically. In our grandparents and parents eras, you’d often get a job after leaving school or university and work that job until you retired. Industry and businesses tended to be long lasting, and job roles in general were much more secure. These days, things change quickly. The speed that technology advances means that companies have to adapt, and the roles that exist within them change to match. Companies have higher rates of failure for this reason, and so none of our jobs are quite as safe as we’d like to think. No one likes to think about being made unemployed, but if your company goes under, you get made redundant or you get sick or injured then it’s something you’ll have to face. ‘Hope for the best but plan for the worst’ is a good mindset to have here, here’s what you can do to get yourself in the best position if this were to happen.
Save and stockpile Having money saved in general is no bad thing. Often in life, big expenses will crop up from time to time, and if you have a ‘buffer’ it can prevent a situation from becoming a lot more stressful. Aim to have at least three months of rent/ mortgage, bills and other costs set aside in the bank. That way, if you do lose your job you have everything covered for a few months while you find something else. A new job won’t always come right away, so by having this money set aside you don’t risk falling into debt or arrears or even losing your home. Another thing you could do is stockpile long lasting food items, toiletries, cleaning products and other home essentials. Fill up your pantry with staple items- tins, jars, dried grains, herbs and spices and you have a number of meals you can make if you’re short on cash for a while. Fill a cupboard upstairs with kitchen and toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, soap and cleaning essentials for the home. At least that way you don’t have to struggle during leaner times, particularly if you end up losing your job. You don’t need to go mad and stock up as if the zombie apocalypse is imminent. But grab a few essentials when they’re on sale and store them away, you might be glad of it one day.
Get insured Having health, dental, home, pet and other kinds of insurances means you’re not left out of pocket if the worst were to happen. Insurance costs might seem like something you can cut out of your budget if you’ve recently lost your job, but it’s now you need them more than ever. If you do need to make a claim you’ll be so glad you had them in place.
Have an alternate source of income Having a side hustle, a way to earn some extra cash (even better if it’s from home!) can make your situation a little easier if you lose your main source of income. Whether it’s from freelancing, blogging, a Youtube channel or a home business, you at least have some cash flow coming in and can cover your basic costs. It can take some time to get a side hustle established to the point that it’s earning regular money, so don’t wait until you’re at the point that you really need it. Start today, work it in your spare time and use it as a way to boost your monthly income. That way, it’s there if you need to rely on it later down the line.
Improve your CV Improving your CV means that if you do lose your job, you’ll find it easier to get something else. Don’t just rely on the experience from your current role, there’s plenty more you can do. Why not do an online course in a subject that’s linked to your career path. You can study online, from home in your spare time so it doesn’t have to be a huge commitment. You could take up some voluntary work, or even start a hobby that would look good to employers. For example, if your chosen career requires patience and logic you could start at a chess club. If if requires teamwork, a team sport would look impressive.
Ensure you’re claiming the money you’re entitled to There are various benefit and welfare schemes out there, make sure that you’re claiming everything you’re entitled to. There are certain benefits that you don’t need to be out of work to claim, for example military spouse benefits and child benefit that you get regardless if you’re entitled. But sickness, disability and job seeking benefits could all apply to you depending on the reason you’re out of work. Be sure to check and claim the money that’s owed to you.
How would you cope if you lost your job tomorrow? Do you have any systems in place that would make the process easier?
Two of the major focuses of my blog are Career Discussions and Technology. Several new and novel technological innovations are under production and are coming online. One is robotics which are projected to soon impact every facet of world economies. It’s important to understand how robots will impact our world going forward. The following contributed post is thus entitled, The Surprising Professions That Could Be Replaced By Robots.
We’re all aware, in this day and age that most things are run by technology and that it’s overtaking more and more aspects of our daily lives. However, although there’s always a plus side to technology being able to manage things in our lives, such as making things more efficient and taking away the need for us to do everything on our own, there’s still the downside, and one of the main downsides is that many of the professions that we’ve come to rely on being done by people are now slowly seeing more technology, AI and even robots being introduced and changing how these jobs are done.
Most of us know that there are some professions that just make more sense to be run by technology and that it’s safer and better for human involvement to be taken out of these, however, in this post, we’re going to share with you some of the most surprising ones that people wouldn’t really expect to be replaced by robots, but that are slowly moving that way.
Lawyers:
Being a lawyer is still one of the best and most esteemed jobs out there to have, but as anyone who’s ever worked with one knows, they are expensive, and although most of the aspects of a lawyers job isn’t going to be overtaken by robots anytime soon since it still needs that human interaction, there are definitely parts that can be automated and done by robots and this is a big risk to those who work in this profession since this is going to impact a lot of the services they can charge their clients for. Only time is going to tell just how much automation by robots is going to impact the lives of those who wish to become or already are lawyers, but it’s definitely not immune from AI and it’s something that lawyers should be aware of so that they can make the necessary changes in the things they learn for their jobs to make them more desirable to clients.
Data Entry Professionals:
Data entry is something that’s considered to be a repetitive, and therefore, quite a boring and monotonous task, so it’s not really surprising that with all the technology we have today that data entry is something that someone’s found a way to automate and have replaced by robots. However, this certainly doesn’t mean that just because robots are taking over your job that they’re automatically going to be doing it better than you – after all, technology still makes mistakes, so as long as you’re able to adapt and perhaps change the role of what you do, for example, oversee the work the robots are doing, then you could find that you’re still able to keep your job with a little bit of a different role.
Taxi Drivers:
You may think it sounds crazy to consider the idea that a robot could overtake something like driving, but people who work as taxi drivers, Uber drivers, etc, are slowly going to find themselves being replaced by robots and driverless cars as this technology becomes more of the norm. Of course, this may not be the norm for quite some time to come, but if we’re being honest, then we know that’s definitely where the world is going, so it’s something that we need to prepare for. This doesn’t mean that if you drive a taxi or work for Uber that you’re going to be out of a job soon, it’s just something that you should be looking to adapt with because it’s always better to be prepared for these changes that are inevitable with the rise of AI and overall technology.
Engineers:
Due to the nature of different types of engineering, it was always going to be one of the first professions to embrace AI and robots in the workforce since the very idea of engineering is to make things work better and to grow with technology. Whilst engineering is going to be one of the main industries that sees this dramatic shift towards technology, robots and automation in the daily workforce, it doesn’t mean that engineers are going to be eliminated completely – it’s just some things that are able to be done more quickly and efficiently by robots, but when it comes to things like designing Statewide Bearings’ range of linear motion products, people are still going to be very much the preference for doing this kind of work, so it’s really not something you have to worry about too much until the technology is built that can do this better, and at the moment, it’s just not here.
Journalists:
This is probably one of the most surprising ones in this list because writing is something that humans do, and as much as technology is great, we know that it doesn’t have emotions and that’s what makes great writing, storytelling, and hard hitting journalism, so most people would really struggle to believe that something like an algorithm or robot would be able to write an article to the same level that a human would be able to, but this is actually proving to something that’s perfectly possible.
However, this doesn’t mean that journalists need to start worrying about their jobs – if they’re willing to move with the times and actually work alongside the robots and embrace automation and AI, then this could actually help journalists do their jobs better and create content that’s even more personalized to the reader, so this could essentially mean that in the future, instead of reading the same paper that everyone else is reading, you could be reading one that’s completely personalized to you thanks to the advances in technology that allow for the creation of this kind of content.
Chefs:
This is another area of upcoming automation and AI tech advances that’s really going to be surprising for a lot of people, and although it’s certainly not the end of chefs as we know them, things are definitely changing – perhaps for the better, which is of course going to depend on your perspective. For example, places like Burger King and Mcdonald’s have been hiring people since the beginning to carry out tasks like flipping burgers and take customer orders simply because in the past these were jobs that needed to be done by humans, but now there’s far more technology that can do this, and in many of these locations around the world, this technology has already been implemented and is proving to work well. Now, this doesn’t mean that there’s no longer a need for people to work in these places, but they can work more efficiently alongside technology.
When we think of more traditional restaurants, similar technology is being introduced – whether it’s ordering from your table using an iPad instead of having a waiter take your order, or even having robots take over some of the tasks that a chef would normallt do, it’s a great example of how people and technology can work well together.
Financial Analysts:
Like those who pursue a law career, anyone who works in the financial services or banking sectors may think they’re going to have a job made for life, but these industries are fast seeing technology and AI automation creep in. The reason why financial services are seeing such a big boost in this technology is because it really helps get things done quicker, more efficiently, and more effectively and accurately than humans can.
Although it’s predicted that over 30% of banking sector jobs will be lost to AI within the next 10 years, this doesn’t need to mean the end of a career – but simply adopting a different approach and moving with the advances instead of away from them.
Customer Service Professionals:
With more and businesses operating online and 24 hours a day, the need for solid customer services processes is increasing, but since nobody can be online 24 hours a day and hiring a team to work these round the clock hours is going to be a bit of a hassle – not to mention expensive, unless you’re some massive company, then automating this is a great idea, and luckily it’s becoming more common for tools and apps, and even AI technology or bots to be able to completely manage your customer service for you.
Medical Professionals:
At first glance, this one may seem completely crazy and even scary, but it’s honestly a much better thing than you probably think. The reason being is that medicine and the whole healthcare industry is one where we absolutely want to see as much advance as possible, and although there’s never going to be anything that can replace the role of doctors, nurses and medicine, there are certainly things that can be brought in to make, not only their jobs easier so that they’re able to focus more on the patients they’re caring for, but also this technology benefits the patients.
In some hospitals there are now robots that come in and carry out tasks like dispatching medication and bringing it to patients, taking meal orders and bringing food, but also helping with things like surgery so that these procedures are less invasive and make for shorter healing times than in previous times. The use of AI and robots in medical care is one area where it should definitely be welcomed.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of success and a key area of focuse is Career Discussions. At some point or another, most of us have to look for jobs. In addition to having the appropriate qualifications, its also important to make your searches as simple as possible. The following contributed post discusses this and is entitled, Simple Ways To Narrow Down Your Job Search.
When you’re looking for a new job, there is no point in applying for roles that you are unlikely to get. There is no point in trawling job sites that don’t contain the positions you are looking for. There’s no point filling out endless application forms for a job that, considering who you are as a person, are never going to fulfil you.
Instead, you need to narrow down your job search, so you don’t a) waste time with applications and interviews for jobs you aren’t suited to, and b) don’t end up in a position that you are likely to quit in several months time.
To narrow down your job search…
Think about the kind of jobs that would motivate you. What kind of job will get you out of bed in the morning? What kind of job would you enjoy doing? It might be a job that allows you to follow your passions. Or it might be a role in a career where you can help others. Whatever it is, think about the jobs that will excite you, look at the appropriate job sites or do a Google search for companies near you, get the qualifications needed, and then start applying.
Think about the skills you possess. When you know what your skills are, you will then be able to target those vocations and industries that you know you are suited for. So, if you have a head for numbers, you may be eligible for accounting jobs. Should you have a flair for cooking, you might want to consider a career in catering. You may have picked up skills in both your personal life and work life, so list them, and consider the types of jobs you could apply to. You might need to get extra qualifications, but as many jobs offer these as part of in-job training, you might still apply if you know you have skills particular employers will be interested in.
Think about your current position. If you are currently happy in your career but looking for advancement, you might want to focus your job search on those roles that will advance rather than downgrade your career. There might be roles within other companies in your chosen industry that are more senior than your current position, so rather than trawling the job pages, why not directly approach these other businesses? Or network with others at industry meetings and conferences, as after all, sometimes it’s not what you know but who you know! You might also reach out on social media, using LinkedIn to network with other professionals within your industry.
Think about your lifestyle. Do you have a family to consider? Do you want a better work-life balance? If either of these things is true, you might want to look for jobs that are closer to home. You might want to target part-time rather than full-time positions. And you might want to look for those jobs that will give you greater flexibility for your lifestyle. Narrow down your job search, and look for those roles that will help you meet both your personal and work goals.
Don’t waste time trawling job sites that don’t contain what you’re looking for. Don’t waste your time applying for jobs that are above or below your pay grade. And don’t waste your time sitting in interviews for jobs you don’t want or are not really eligible for. Using the tips in this article, save time by narrowing down your job search, and move into those positions that are better suited to you.
Three of the focuses of my blog are Current Events, Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. The Health Sector touches everything from our personal well-being, to the economies and governments of whole countries. As such it’s important to keep an eye on the sector. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Is The Private Health Sector Where The Money Is At?
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Private health care is something that’s either going to be really familiar to you, or something that’s going to totally be an alien concept. To those of you who receive state funded health care, or the equivalent in your own country, then you will definitely notice a difference between the two. Sometimes you might go private for a really minor procedure that you just can’t be bothered to wait for. Something like a dentist appointment. Your eyes are opened to a much better standard of healthcare, and it’s easy to see why so many are making millions from an investment into the private health care sector. But the current health situations in so many countries at the minute is just poor, so do you think the private health care sector is where the money is really at? Well, let’s do some digging and find out if it would be worth your while to invest in the private health care sector.
The growing market for private health care is definitely one that’s moving at a quick rate. You’ve got countries like the US which is all private health care and all treatments cost. But there are countries like the UK, where funded health care is available, so not as many people go private. But still, more and more are now turning to private health care for better and faster treatment, no matter how much it’s going to cost to do so. Some are going private because they feel in countries like the UK, that the NHS is too stretched to have the time to deal with their issues properly. But the market is also growing, because the price that private trusts are now able to charge, is going up. A more premium service than ever before is being offered, and it’s a luxury that everyone wants a taste of at the minute.
The Investment Needed
The investment needed is going to be rather big, but there are plenty of ways that you could do it. You could start up your own center, employ doctors on a locum basis, and go from there. Of course, it’s just not that easy. There are far more rules and regulations than with any other investment you could have chose. From setting up healthcare payment systems, to ensure you’re working at the highest levels of safety, to keeping to safeguarding rules etc. it’s so complex that it’s not your average investment, but it would more than likely pay off in the end. Or you could just simply invest money in a private organisation that’s already established, and have a percentage back on the investment. There are simpler ways, but they are still both hard routes to follow.
What It Could Do For You In Terms Of Business?
It could give you endless opportunities to make money. The private sector isn’t just going to go away, and if anything, it’s only going to get bigger as time goes on. There are so many private investors at the minute as well, that you’re best off getting your foot in the door before the popularity increases more, and the value decreases.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two key focuses are Career Discussions and General Education. A very valuable and lesser known skill when you start a business or when you get out into the professional world, is the ability to multi-task or manage multiple projects at once. The following contributed post discusses this and is entitled, Managing More Than One Project.
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As a project manager, you are going to face numerous challenges throughout your career. Often, managing one project can be challenging and stressful enough. However, when you add even more projects to the mix, the stresses and strains only multiply. Managing a number of different projects at the same time can most definitely be a challenge. However, if you follow the advice provided below, you should find it a lot easier.
Embrace project management training – There is only one place to begin, and this is with project management training. Project management courses today are designed to equip you with all of the knowledge, strategies, and technologies required to deal with any challenge that comes your way, from remote team management to handling numerous projects at once. It does not matter how long you have been in this career, a refresher course could be just the thing you need to be able to manage multiple projects at once.
Keep distractions to a minimum – It is vital to keep distractions to a minimum at all times, but this is even more so the case when you are managing numerous projects at once. You can use tools like this calendar for HR professionals to assist. There are lots of things that can get in the way of your working day. This includes ad hoc tasks, non-strategic meetings, idle conversation, and emails that are not related to the projects you are working on. Ask yourself: is this task something that is contributing to the bigger picture/meeting the project objectives? If not, it is likely that you are simply wasting your time. To cut down on these sorts of activities, you should make sure you only have meetings when essential, use a centralised scheduling process, and schedule breaks throughout the working day.
Improve communication – Communication is critical to the success of any project, and it is even more pivotal when you are working on more than one project at the same time. You must have a robust communication channel and strategy in place for all team members. Efficient communication regarding new developments, changes, and such like, are a necessity, as they are likely to impact the implementation of the project. A group collaboration tool will come in very useful here, but you need to make sure that everyone is using the software appropriately and effectively. It is a good idea to get your team members to provide a status update of every task they are working on per day. This will ensure that everyone is aware of the project status and that all team members are on the same page. It also makes it easy for you to have an overview of each project so you know exactly where each project is.
Hopefully, you now feel more prepared for managing numerous projects at once. While this can seem incredibly daunting, there is no need to stress. Follow the advice that has been given, and you should find it a lot easier to keep on top of everything.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Once you create a quality product, the next step is to figure out how to produce it – specifically the manufacture of that product. The following contributed post discusses this and is entitled, What Every Business Owner Should Know About Product Manufacture.
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You’ve come up with an amazing product design that you know has the potential to be incredible. The design aspect of things has been dealt with, as has the marketing side of things, now it’s time to focus on the actual manufacturing process of the product. This is a somewhat complex part of the process, however, it doesn’t have to be overly stressful, it’s just a case of knowing what steps you need to take, that’s all.
Bearing that in mind, below are some tips and pieces of advice about the manufacturing process.
The first thing that you want to do once the design process has been completed for your product is to create a prototype. Creating a prototype will give you a chance to see how the product functions and to start testing it, it also allows you to have something to show possible investors so they know what they are backing and if it is worth it.
Consider your manufacturing options
Before going to production with your product you will need to decide how you are going to manufacture the product. You need to know if you are going to make the products yourself or if you want to outsource. If you are looking to manufacture to order then doing it yourself would work if you have the tools to do so, but as you get bigger and sell more then you will need to look at upgrading your tools and factory space to meet demands. If you are going to be making bulk amounts of your product from the outset then outsourcing to a manufacturing machine shop will help you to meet bulk orders if you don’t have space or tools straight out the gate.
Get a quote for the price of the project
Before you are able to manufacture you will need to get quotes for the equipment, space, and materials needed to create your product. If you need to have investor backing to make this product a reality then having all the finances in black and white to say what you need from them will make it easier for them to make a decision so it is crucial to know what you need to spend. Also if you go in blind and just throw money at it you could end up spending way more than needed if you have got quotes and researched the pricing more, especially if you are outsourcing some of the work.
It is a very exciting time to have the possibility to get a new product on the market, especially if you are confident about it. Although it is exciting you need to make sure you take your time and plan it effectively to make sure it becomes successful and there are no unwanted problems along the way. If you rush in getting a product out without the correct funds and testing you can end up cutting corners which will usually end in a faulty product and the inevitable failure. If you follow the above tips you will be ready to manufacture and release your product to the world.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two key focuses are Career Discussions and General Education. A skill that’s very important today is the ability to give presentations. Many professionals make it out into the workforce without learning how to give quality presentations. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Avoiding Death By PowerPoint: 5 Presentation Mistakes To Avoid.
Want to avoid boring your audience to death during your next work PowerPoint presentation? Here are a few common mistakes to avoid in order to keep your presentation engaging.
Breaking the 10-20-30 rule
There is a rule that governs the practice of PowerPoint presentations – it was established by Guy Kawasaki and it is known as The 10-20-30 Rule. This rule states that if you want to keep your presentation engaging you should never include more than 10 slides, never go on for longer than 20 minutes and never use a font size less than 30. This helps to keep things short and snappy so that you never overstay your welcome. Unless you’ve been specifically asked to give a longer presentation or to use more slides, try not to break this rule.
Using generic templates and stock images
Many PowerPoint templates are overly familiar to the point that they are distracting. If you want to maintain a unique feel, you’re probably best off not using PowerPoint at all. There are many other presentation platforms that are worth trying out – many of these come with interesting themes to download as found at this list of The 70 Best Free Google Slides Themes Of 2019.
On top of generic presentation templates, avoid using stock images as these too can dull-ify your presentation. Rather than using the same cliched images of employees shaking hands, use images that offer interesting metaphors or images that help to tell a story.
Reading directly off the slides
Any slides you use should be treated as prompts or additional information – they should not be treated as a script. By reading the slides, not only are you not looking at the audience but you’re telling information that they can read themselves (in which case, you’d be better off sending an email). Focus your attention on your audience and try to rehearse what you’re going to say without having to read anything (you can have notes, but you should use these as pointers and similarly not use them as a script). Having to speak to audience can be scary, but it will help you to connect to them and get them interested.
Failing to connect on an emotional level
Some presentations can be a little too heavy handed when it comes to facts and figures. The emotional connection can then get lost and your audience will start to feel that they’re been given a long-winded report. Try to connect on an emotional level by sharing stories and giving relatable information. For example, if you’re giving a seminar on conserving energy in the home, don’t just reel of figures but make people aware of the benefit this will have on their lives and the planet.
Losing track of the presentation’s purpose
Some presentations can end up going off-topic. It’s important to remember the key objective of your presentation and to answer any questions that you raised at the beginning. Your audience will zone out if they feel the presentation has lost its sense of purpose, so don’t get side-tracked.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Regardless of your product or service, unless you properly market it, no one will know about it and you likely won’t make any significant money. Thus the marketing and promoting your business are arguably it’s most important components. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Promote Your Small Business.
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So, you’ve done all of the hard stuff. You’ve set up your business, registered it, got all of your team on board, and you’ve hired the perfect office for you and your employees. However, the enquiries into your services just aren’t coming in as fast as they should be doing, and you need to market your small business to get the customers coming through the door. Whilst it can be difficult to do this sometimes, there are many ways to go about promoting your business, without spending a lot of time and money.
We’ve noted them down here for small business owners!
Social media is the perfect place to promote your small business, and it is one of those things that everybody seems to be using on a daily basis now. Of course, your ads are likely to be a little more successful if your target audience is young people, but nevertheless, the audience on social media really is a varied one. To get the utmost success out of a social media campaign, you need to make sure that your profiles are all consistently marketed and that they look professional, and you should target your ads at the group of people who are most likely to be interested in your services. Outsourcing to a social media consultancy could also be a good idea!
Invest in banners and business cards
Marketing your small business via the medium of print is also a good idea, and creating banners that you can put up in your local area (with permission, of course) is a great way to put your brand into people’s minds, especially those who are likely to use your services. Having professional business cards is also a good idea if you want potential customers to be able to get in touch with you easily, so look into companies like Crescent Printing if you need banners, brochures or business cards. These things really will market your business as a professional and respected company, so invest in some good printing!
Create ads for local radio
If you have a business that relies upon the trade from your local area, then using local radio station to market your brand could really help you to extend your reach. Not only is it beneficial because a lot of people listen to the radio on the way to, and from, work, but it also has the added benefit of being a cheaper option than television advertising. You don’t have to spend too much cash on actually making the advert, and playing it won’t cost you as much, either! If you know what your target audience is (and where they live) then look into the opportunities for local (and national) radio, and see whether this could help you.
So, if you’re a small business owner but you’re not too sure how to promote your brand, try out these simple tips, and you could see that you’re selling more, without having to spend a lot of cash to make it happen! Good luck, and happy marketing!
