Working from home is not as easy as it seems. Not only are there a host of distractions, but there is your mental and physical health to consider. By not travelling to work every day, it is easy to overlook the physical benefits of getting to there and the social benefits of interacting with colleagues.
So to help you keep productive and sane, here are the Local Pages’ tips for successfully working from home.
We all live incredibly busy lives, often at 100mph without even registering what we’re doing and without being in the moment. We have jobs, there may be children to take to school and take to activities or parties, we might go to the gym, try and have a social life and then spend quality time with our loved ones.
There are a few simple things that you can take on board to start to slow down and maybe have time to think about self care – you might be like me and looking after number 1 goes to the bottom of the ‘to-do list’ every single day.
Switching off
If you run your own business, chances are you have your emails synced with your mobile phone meaning that you are ALWAYS connected to work. You may have a ‘9-5 job’ where you have the same situation. Try not to reply to work emails out of office hours (i.e. after 6pm). We need to be able to switch off from work mode in the evenings and weekends allowing my already busy minds to unwind.
Slowing down
After a break from work or you’re normal routine, it’s obviously going to be busy catching up with emails and client work. For some, a list is the ultimate organisation tool – ploughing through to tick everything off is extremely satisfying! However, we need to remind ourselves that not everything needs to be done right this instant. Something’s can wait until tomorrow, next week or even next month.
Saying no
This leads on from slowing down. Some weeks our diaries are packed with work appointments, life appointments and social gatherings. Stop and think about what you are saying yes to and start to say no to every invite or meeting. We’re not going to miss out. Busy people often find it difficult to just sit and relax some times, doing nothing. Work on this, if only for 15 minutes day but it again allows you start to unwind and relax.
None of these points are new and groundbreaking, but essentially we want to keep that chilled holiday mode going for as long as possible!!
I think sometimes we also just need to take a step back and look at how BUSY we’ve become.
Our Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2018
With 2018 fast approaching we have been exploring New Marketing trends to look out for in 2018.
Here we discuss the 5 trends we believe will be the most influential next year. Let us know your thoughts…
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality is a fascinating way of enhancing a version of reality, created by overlaying digital information onto an image. It allows consumers to not simply imagine but actually see potential purchases & designs in ‘real life’, aiding quicker and slicker purchasing.
Brands are quickly jumping on board. IKEA has rolled out an App called Place, which allows customers to preview furniture in their homes before they buy, increasing conversion and customer satisfaction.
This year the new iPhone 8 and iPhone X have also launched with new augmented reality experiences, which will inevitably encourage social media channels to follow suit with new ways of integrating AR onto their platforms.
There is a wide selection of Augmented Reality tools readily available to help businesses achieve 3 main goals:
With Brands finding it difficult to stand out from the crowd, Augmented Reality is being recognised as a powerful tool within the Marketing world.
Here, at Local Pages we can offer iSmart Photo Augmented reality, technology which allows videos and slideshows to appear through your printed adverts. If this is something you would be interested in finding out more about, don’t hesitate click here to get in contact with us today.
Chatbots
Chatbots are providing customer interface which is instant and can be accessed 24/7, and they are quickly proving to be a successful marketing tool.
The instantaneity of the Chatbots has proven to be popular in a world where customers want issues solved quickly and all answers supplied immediately. These instant messengers save both time and money.
Chatbots also enable businesses the opportunity to customise their own ‘Brand Voice’ and send personalised messages directly to their users/clients, for a truly personable approach, rather than it feeling as though you are conversing with a robot.
In addition, business profitability can also be targeted, with Chatbots providing the opportunity for swift, easy transactions. 47% of consumers have already expressed they would buy directly from a Chatbot (HubSpot, 2017), with 26-36 year olds willing to spend up to £481.15 with a business via a Chatbot interaction (ubisend, 2017).
Between 2016 and 2021 Chatbot marketing is expected to grow at a compound rate of 35.2% (Marketsandmarkets, 2017), so expect to see a lot more Chatbots popping onto your screens!
If you are interested in finding out more about Chatbot Marketing for your Website click here to get in contact with us today.
Videos
The way in which we consume video is changing. Video is quickly becoming the number one fastest growing Ad format in the world and has been doubling Year on Year. By 2020 it has been estimated video will make up 80% of all online consumer internet traffic, becoming the closest medium you get to a face to face conversation with your target audience (smartinsights.com)
As with Augmented Reality, Video Ad platforms are helping Brands stand out from the crowd, and allowing for a longer and conceivably more emotionally driven connection with their audience.
If you are looking at creating a company Video we can help you design, plan and produce one here at Local Pages.
Social Media is also a great platform, allowing businesses a quick and easy way to upload videos and reach a wider audience. We offer social media management packages to support your social media needs, and ensure you are offering up to date and relevant content to get the most out of your social media advertising.
Click here to get in contact with us today about your Video and Social Media needs.
Geofencing
Marketers have already been seeing the benefits of Geofencing technology, which allows the collection of information from consumer mobile devices. The technology allows marketers to learn a lot about their audience and in turn allows for businesses and services to target customers in ‘real time’ i.e. sending a promotional message to the customer when they are within a 1 mile radius, or have been searching their website.
This form of targeted hyper-local marketing will increasingly grow more popular and influential, especially for smaller, local businesses who want to engage with only the most relevant local shoppers who are most likely to spend.
According to plotprojects.com, the click-through rate of Geofencing notifications on Androids is 13.6%, which by far exceeds that of generic push notifications, which are only 2%. This indicates sending relevant notifications at the most opportune time encourages increased interaction.
We truly believe in the power of local marketing and have seen this first hand. As experts in the local marketing business, we have proven that our specialised local marketing generates more leads creating higher conversion rates. Click here to find out more about all our products & services.
Personalised Content
We are expecting to see a growth in personalised content within digital Marketing in 2018. Businesses have already begun to see the benefits of personal call to action marketing. StubHub, an online ticket exchange owned by eBay, reported a 42% improvement when users were given a personalized call to action (accountexnetwork.com).
Personalised content is also best used when different content is targeted to different types or groups of visitors based on their behaviour or other factors. Consumers have different intentions when visiting brands online, and having the ability to appeal to a wider range of people by tailoring digital content to personally appeal strengthens engagement with customers and can have a direct impact on website traffic and ongoing engagement.
As it happens, using Personalised Content doesn’t just mean customers are more likely to engage and buy your products they are also willing to pay more for them too! Consumers truly value a great personalised experience. If that means paying a little more, so be it. A survey from the content marketing institute suggests that 77% of customers will recommend, or pay more for a brand that provides a personalised experience. The better and more personal the experience, the greater the customer’s willingness to spend money on it. If the experience feels exclusive enough, customer will be willing to pay exclusive prices (digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk).
To find out how we can help you with Personalised content for your business website click here to talk to one of our team members today.
In summary, Marketing is becoming ever more complicated, strategic, personable, engaged, technologically advanced and altogether essential to businesses both large and small.
With over 200 years of industry experience we are experts in marketing, generating millions of new leads for our customers over the past 38 years. We can offer you advice on all your Marketing needs, so do not hesitate to contact us today for a friendly consultation with one of our team.
We recommend having a peek on https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics . It makes for a really interesting read, highlighting how powerful & effective Marketing tools can be!
I am a firm believer in the idea that there is enough business for everyone; you just need to go out and get it. Saying that, I don’t think businesses should forget about their competitors all together. There are lots of things you can learn from your competitors:
You don’t need to be worrying about your competition to want to understand how they operate. It’s a great way to make sure you are keeping up. So how you could carry out a quick review of your main competitors?
Choose your top four competitors; look at a variety from your top local competitor to the biggest or best company in the market.
Have a look on their website considering the following:
Have a look at their social media platforms:
Have a look through local and industry magazines:
Now that you have the information, ask yourself how you and your company compare to those you consider to be your competition. What nuggets could you take and adopt to make your image and marketing better?
We hope that you found this blog post useful. Are you already monitoring your competitors? Please comment below and share some examples of how you use competitor research to your advantage!
The kids are back to school and summer is over. We’ve always loved this time of year because it feels like a time to make a fresh start without the pressures we all put on ourselves in January to completely change “this” or “that” about our business, life or career. Here’s a step-by-step guide to ensure you head into autumn motivated and ready to make some changes, and it’s as easy as 1,2,3.
Pause
You might have taken time to do this over the summer, but if not, why not do it now? It could be as little as a few hours one afternoon. Life happens at such a quick pace these days, just having a chance to change your scenery and breathe a little deeper can do you and your business the world
of good.
Reflect
Give yourself the head space to think about the last eight months of the year. Ask yourself some poignant questions and be brutally honest with your answers. What were your goals? How are you tracking against them? Are you on track to achieve what you wanted to in the time frame you gave
yourself? If you are, then great – you should celebrate. But if not, why not? No excuses allowed.
This isn’t an exercise in beating yourself up but more one of reflection. We’re all caught up in the day to day madness that is running your own business, but without taking the time to look at where we’ve come from and where we’re heading you leave no room to manoeuvre, or to change
direction.
Adjust
Once you’ve figured out what’s worked well for you, and what hasn’t, it’s time to adjust. You are the master of your own ship and it’s never too late to change course. Make a new set of goals to reach by year end. Make them SMART.
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time Based
There’s plenty of blogs and articles out there on goal setting and planning. Here are a few to get you started:
We would love to hear from you. Comment below with one of your goals – after all, sharing them helps keep you accountable!
