If you’re a small business owner, we can pretty much guess that you wear (at least) 9,000 hats every day. Maybe it’s because you feel that you don’t have the budget to hire anyone to take some things off your plate, or maybe you’re one of those business owners who can’t let anything go because there’s no way anyone else will ever care about it as much as you do. Others think they can probably just do the work, and even if it’s not perfect, it can’t be that hard. Sound familiar?

Well, research from the American Psychological Association shows that when you multitask, or manage multiple projects at once, you can experience a 40 percent drop in productivity. Your projects take longer to complete, and you increase your overall stress levels.

Also, most small businesses usually start out with little or no overhead. But let’s be real, expenses build up a lot faster than revenue in the beginning. We’re not saying you should increase expenses unnecessarily by outsourcing tasks you’re capable of accomplishing, but the fact is, some areas require more expertise than you probably have.

(Brief pause for the nobody-can-do-it-better-than-me guy to have a good silent scream.)

As a small business owner, you can find good help by turning to freelancers or small firms as a less expensive source of assistance, and their expertise can help you realize that maybe you’re spending money in the wrong areas, or the amount of time it takes you (or an inexperienced employee) to do something is costing you way more in the long run. Before you hire one or more full-time employees to take over specialized tasks, consider outsourcing as a more cost effective alternative.

You don’t need to outsource everything, especially if you really are trained in a specific area, but we’ve put together a list of 5 areas we think would serve the average business owner well to outsource.

1. Accounting & Bookkeeping

This is a big one. If we had to choose one thing to tell you to outsource, this would probably be it. It’s really important to leave accounting to a professional. Having an administrative assistant or someone else handle accounting who isn’t well versed or trained in software or basic accounting rules is like playing roulette with your finances. When handling the finances for your business, you really can’t afford to make mistakes, and outsourcing is a great way to prevent that.

An experienced freelancer or accounting firm can save you a lot of money in the long run because they know what pitfalls to avoid and what tactics can be beneficial. If you’re a business owner trying to manage your own payroll, for example, and you’re not familiar with tax regulations and requirements, you could have a lot of issues or fines down the line with the IRS which can be more costly than simply hiring a professional.

2. Market Research & Branding

Market research is extremely important to the growth of any company. In-depth research on your industry or target audience can provide your business with important information for current and future strategies. Outsourcing this to an experienced individual or firm and having them build a set of customer profiles can help you make more informed decisions about your branding and marketing.

It’s almost impossible for business owners to view their business from an outside perspective, and so often they make branding decisions based on personal preferences and not market research. Basically, as a business owner, you’re too close to your business to see it the way others do. When you live in your business every single day and know the ins and outs of your industry and, it’s hard for you to know what an audience who has no previous knowledge about your business wants or needs to hear. So, enter the professionals!

3. Social Media Marketing

In 2018 there are so many different social platforms to choose from and each of them requires a lot of attention, so outsourcing social media can be invaluable to business owners. Professionals can develop a strategy, write strong content, and building up your following. Social media experts can give you a huge bang for your buck, helping you skip the expense of hiring someone full-time or taking other employees away from their job to do something they’re not really good at. (If we see one more cat meme from Karen in accounting….)

4. IT

Let’s just say you have a tech-savvy employee who you think can handle any IT issues that come up. That’s awesome, and not necessarily worst case scenario, but it’s definitely not best. If you outsource IT, technicians can fix issues faster and therefore save you money. But that’s not where the real savings are. A good IT company will help you put better systems in place to cut down on the number of issues you have in the first place, so your employees can get more done, without wasting company time waiting on the internet to work or an old computer to boot up. Also, IT companies can help you improve your data security, which minimizes your chances of experiencing a costly data breach. (You can read our blog to learn all about what a data breach can do to hurt a company’s reputation and, therefore, sales.)

5. HR / Staffing

Ooh, This is a good one. Everyone wants good employees, but how do you know who will be good and who is just really good at BS-ing their way through an interview? Not every business owner is experienced in hiring, so outsourcing HR to a professional can help your business attract great talent, weed through applicants to help you find the best fit, and also help you retain the good employees you already have.

Some mistakes in HR, made by someone who isn’t really trained in the field, can hurt employee retention and lead to costly fines. Leaving HR responsibilities in the hands of an employee who switches back and forth to HR on an as-needed or part-time basis, or who isn’t sufficiently trained in HR matters, can cost you dearly. Firms that specialize in compliance to HR regulations can be a huge asset to you to protect you from lawsuits or other unneeded expenses.

It may feel like HR isn’t an option for you as a small or medium-sized business owner. But even if you don’t have the budget to support a trained, full-time HR team, outsourcing tasks to an HR firm is a great idea that ultimately saves you money.

Conclusion

One misconception about handing off tasks to people is that it’s expensive and out of reach for small businesses. But, you don’t have to hire 6 new full-time employees to get these important tasks done the right way. You can outsource for a fraction of that cost. While there will be some cost associated with it, it won’t necessarily break the bank, and will often save you money in the long run.

There are a lot of areas you can outsource, but only you know which areas you need help with. Look at your finances, your team, your processes, and the work you are juggling yourself on a regular basis. And then really consider outsourcing the areas where you or your team struggle.

Simply said, outsource your weaknesses, so you can have the time to hone in on your strengths and kick booty at those.

In last month’s blog we spent a lot of time telling you how to talk about something besides yourself and your product on social media, but this month we’re going to pull a fast one on you and focus on how to do just the opposite. At the right moments anyways. We’re not changing our position here—we still think you shouldn’t constantly be shining the spotlight on yourself—but we are saying that when you do, you need to make it count, especially in the age of #communityovercompetition.

What is Community Over Competition?

The idea of community over competition has gained a lot of traction over the last few years among creatives and other professionals, with good reason. It’s an extremely positive movement. When owning a small business, especially as a creative, it can be very difficult to not keep tabs on competition. After all, competitive research is taught in business school. But competitive research is one thing… then there’s continual competitive “research” (aka: stalking), when you look at others as “competitors” all the time and have a high likelihood of becoming jealous, territorial, and negative. And that’s not good for anyone, especially your customers.

The other problem with competitive research is that none of your competitors are doing exactly what you’re doing the way you do it, so they’re not technically your direct competition anyway. (More on that later.)

So here we are, acknowledging just how positive this movement is, but we need to also acknowledge this elephant in the room. While collaboration is a beautiful thing, your livelihood still depends on successfully promoting your business, a business that you really believe in. But we get it. It can sometimes get tricky to know exactly how to support others in your industry, but still self-promote without getting competitive or seeming too pushy.

Here are a few ideas to get you started…

Defining Your Brand Story

“Storytelling” has become such a buzzword in recent years that a lot of business owners have started to ignore the idea, but the story of your business is maybe the only truly unique aspect you have to share. People love and crave genuine connections, and sharing your story is a great way to let people know about you, your day-to-day, the behind the scenes of your business, and ultimately build your brand.

Be Competitive With Your Brand Positioning

This is where things get tricky. “Community over competition” doesn’t mean you can never present yourself in a strategic way. You don’t have to be overly confident or put others down to get ahead, but you do have permission to own the things you truly are great at. The fact is, you have a unique selling proposition. No one is just like you. And just like others excel beyond you in certain areas (and you should encourage them in that), you’re better at some things than others are– so why not promote that? But remember, there’s a way to elevate your strengths without knocking the way others are doing things.

Determine How Your Add Value To Your Industry

Your customers are paying the most attention to your services or products, but that doesn’t mean they’re unaware of how you interact with other businesses in your industry. If you’re using passive—albeit extremely witty—captions to shade others in your lane, it puts a bad taste in people’s mouths. Instead, figure out how you add value to your industry (and by default, your customers too) and focus on expanding that. For example, maybe host a networking event, a lunch and learn, or an instructional seminar for others in your industry. Your peers will thank you and your customers will think you’re awesome, mostly because you are.

Conclusion

The bottom line here is, even if you’re all about celebrating the ???? out of others, you can still be proud of your work and believe in your business enough to promote it. There’s room at the table for everyone, especially you!

A blog about budgets? Really, Tangible Strategies? REALLY?

Alright, alright. It’s not the most fun blog topic we’ve ever tackled, per se, but budget doesn’t have to be a four letter word. If marketing budgets lead to more prospects (spoiler alert: they do), and more prospects lead to more revenue, and… do you see where we’re going with this? Increased revenue is pretty great. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want in on that. So let’s do this…

We talk about how hard it is to run a small business all the time… because it’s true. But it’s not all hard. It’s also so rewarding to offer a product or service you believe in, and to be your own boss! The problem is that just because you’re an expert in your specific field, you’re not necessarily an expert in accounting or marketing, and well, those are kind of necessary to growing a successful business! One big mistake many small business owners make is engaging in reactive marketing instead of proactive marketing. An example of reactive marketing is taking out a Facebook ad because your sales are low one month. Proactive marketing means making your efforts a line item in the budget rather than something you think about when your sales aren’t where you want them to be. To ensure more consistent sales and growth, it takes consistent planning. [Insert cheesy inspirational quote here.]

A good way to make sure that your money is being well spent is to develop a solid marketing plan before you set your marketing budget. Following a plan will help ensure you’re focussing your efforts in the best way possible. We wrote a blog recently on creating a comprehensive marketing plan, so you’ll definitely want to read that if you haven’t already!

If you don’t have time to read that and want a 3000ft view, the basis of your marketing plan should include an understanding of your target market and your competition, how you’ll reach your market, as well as how you’ll set yourself apart from your competition to make sales.

One of the most important facets of your small business marketing plan is—you guessed it—the budget. Your marketing budget is the cost of how you’re going to achieve your marketing goals within a certain timeframe (usually a year).

Many small business owners and managers aren’t sure how much to spend or if the money they do spend will even be worth the investment.

Let’s breakdown the process of how to create a small business marketing budget, so it doesn’t seem as cumbersome or mysterious, and so you can feel confident that your marketing budget will propel you towards your business goals.

1. Start With A Goal

In order to have a great plan or a great budget, you need to know what you’re working towards. So, what do you want? To increase your revenue by 10%? Establish 3 new accounts per month?

Once you have a goal, the next step is to calculate how much money you may need to spend on marketing each month to reach the goal. Whatever it is, it’s going to give you clear direction when deciding on a marketing budget, as well as the KPIs needed to measure your efforts, things like how many customers you’ll need to acquire to hit that goal, or how many leads typically turn into prospects and then customers. (KPIs? It’s all laid out in our Key Performance Indicators Blog.)

2. Figure Out How Clients Find You

One of the best ways to gather user data is through analytics. Most web hosting platforms will provide you with complimentary data, like how many monthly unique views your site gets or which search terms are leading the most traffic to your site. So check with your developer or hosting site to see if you have access to analytics. Online advertising will also provide you with insight into how people are connecting with your ads. Or you could also go straight to the horse’s mouth, aka – just ask your customers!

Include a question like, “How’d you hear about us?” on an interest form for prospective clients, or have your team ask those who call in, or even add a pop-up to your website. Wherever people keep telling you they saw you, focus more money there in the future.

3. Consider Your Revenue

Once you’ve created your fiscal plan, it’s time to determine the size of your marketing budget and allocate your funds. A common practice is allocating a specific percentage of your gross revenue to your marketing costs, but there are also a few other factors to consider when setting your budget (like your growth stage).

As a part of your overall small business strategy, you should always create projections for your yearly sales. These projections will help you decide on a marketing budget that feels doable. According to a recent industry survey, most small businesses spend around 10% of their annual revenue on marketing. However, if you have a new business, you’ll likely need to spend more than a company that’s already established. A bigger budget in the beginning helps build brand awareness and get your name out there!

4. Pick Your Platform(s)

If you’re a business owner, you know you’ve got to have an online marketing presence, but the options can seem endless… between Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media (a number of platforms), AdWords, and more, the marketing dollars can add up really quickly.

It’s unrealistic for a small business with limited budget to compete in every area, so you’ve got to figure out which one works best for you. It’s so much better to focus your efforts and resources heavily in one or two areas, rather than trying to do it, which most often results in minimal results or success.

So, where do you fit in online? Good question. Well, if you’re a restaurant, you need to be on Yelp, but a Snapchat account isn’t so necessary. Who are your customers? If the majority is older than 40, we’d go with Facebook. If under 35, Instagram is where your customers are most likely to be!

Conclusion

We hope this made you feel LESS overwhelmed and not moreso. ????

Putting together a marketing budget will help you in the long run to stay on track with spending. It will also help you see which efforts have a better ROI, so you can adjust accordingly as your audience changes or grows.

Regardless of where you spend your marketing dollars the main takeaway is to plan for your marketing in advance instead of treating it as a last minute thought.

If this all still seems overwhelming, there are some great online resources that can help to point you in the right direction, like free online marketing budget templates. We’d also love to help answer any questions you have, or help you map out your KPIs and budget for marketing, if you don’t feel like you have the capacity for that!

But the end of the day, you need to know that Ryan Gosling thinks you have what it takes. And we do too.

If you’ve never heard the words “Accessibility” and “508 Compliance” in regards to web design, you’re not alone. As a business owner, it can be quite intimidating to learn how to run every single facet of your business, especially areas like finances (ugh) and design (fun, but quite a learning curve!). Now add on U.S. laws and codes your website must comply with, and things can get overwhelming… fast. (And don’t even get me started on all this GDPR stuff…) But seriously, follow after me…. Breathe in, now breathe out, and repeat as necessary.

That’s why we’re here! We’ve got your back. And we hope that by the end of this blog post, you feel as informed as possible about these extremely important aspects that should be implemented into your website design.

What Is Accessibility?

Simply put, accessibility is making sure that your website or app works for the physically disabled, whether they’re blind, a paraplegic, an amputee, or they have some other physical impairment that makes it difficult or impossible for them to use a keyboard or mouse in the usual way.

What Is 508 Compliance?

Section 508 of the U.S. Code is the law that enforces website accessibility. A good summary of this law is: “the use of text labels or descriptors for graphics and certain format elements. (HTML code already provides an “Alt Text” tag for graphics which can serve as a verbal descriptor for graphics). This section also addresses the usability of multimedia presentations, image maps, style sheets, scripting languages, applets and plug-ins, and electronic forms.”

If you have absolutely no idea what that last paragraph said and you’re thinking, “That’s all greek to me.” It’s okay. While all federal government departments and agencies—as well as any organization receiving federal funding—are required to have websites that are 508 compliant, not every business is required to be completely 508 compliant. (Whew!)

Why You Should Care

Even if your business isn’t *technically* required to be 508 compliant, we think you should still care deeply about your site’s accessibility for a few reasons. First, as we’ve already mentioned, it’s a good business practice to make yourself available to as many people as possible. It’s also good to show kindness and inclusivity to those with disabilities. Finally, just as a worst case scenario, you could get a fine from the government if you’re a business or organization that’s required to be 508 compliant. If you’re not in that category, there could still potentially be a lawsuit from web visitors with disabilities involved, as we’ve seen in the past with big companies like Target not having an accessible site.

Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, actually said, “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”

Think about it this way: almost all businesses, stores, and public venues have wheelchair access by ramps. This is mostly because they are required to, but it’s also because as a society we highly value equality and inclusiveness. Not to mention, it’s just plain bad business not to be accessible and get as many potential customers as possible.

So if brick and mortar businesses are placing high value on this, why are there so many websites with content that those with disabilities have trouble accessing? Unfortunately, there is still a chasm between people without and people with disabilities online, because of a lack of awareness about accessible online content. It’s like there are proverbial stairs and curbs in the way of disabled people accessing websites that others may visit often and even take for granted.

Maybe you didn’t realize that, because it’s not something you or anyone close to you has dealt with. No worries. We’ve all been there!

Think about it this way: have you ever been frustrated when your internet was EXTRA slow one day? Or if a site malfunctioned when you really needed it to work? Or even if the site had really bad user flow? Of course you haven’t. You’re an angel. ???? But for the rest of us, frustration often leads to a negative view of a brand, and that leads to bad business.

Take it from the famous Elle Woods, “Exercise leads to endorphins, and endorphins make you happy, and happy people just don’t kill their husbands. They just don’t!”

How does this apply to you? We thought it was obvious! Happy webpage visitors return more often and buy more, and happy customers don’t kill a business. They just don’t!

Heavy Hitters

Here are some of the most important aspects of accessibility that we think you should consider for your own website.

1. Color Contrast

Guideline 1.4.3 – Contrast (Minimum) – “The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1”

The first is the color contrast between text and background, because those who are colorblind will have a hard time determining different colors. Your text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. Here’s a really useful tool for figuring out your contrast ratio. So, thin light text and a light background would make the content hard to read for certain people. You may have to adjust your colors ever so slightly (or majorly), and maybe add a dark overlay and/or a drop shadow here and there when putting text over an image to achieve this. It’s okay, drop shadows are totally “in” right now!

2. Color As The Only Indicator

Guideline 1.4.1 – Use of Color – Color is not used as the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.

Unless you’re a designer, you’ve probably never thought about how using color to indicate important information or to direct users to take action could be an issue. If color is the only indicator, those with colorblindness will never get the cue. For example, if a product or a service time is unavailable, don’t just make it in a red font, while making available times green. Yes, the red and green fonts would be an obvious indicator to users without vision impairments; however, someone who is colorblind wouldn’t be able to see the difference. A quick fix is simply adding an icon or some other text indicator of products or times that aren’t available. Easy peasy!

3. Flashing Lights (& Words)

Guideline 2.3 Seizures: Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.

Guideline 1.2 Time-based Media: Provide alternatives for time-based media.

Guideline 2.2 Enough Time: Provide users enough time to read and use content.

One of the more well known design elements that affects accessibility is flashy and bright images that can cause epileptic episodes. It’s best to consider that when choosing design elements. Another thing is fades. They. Look. Awesome. But users with dyslexia, ADHD, short term memory problems, or cognitive delays that affect reading comprehension might find it hard to read headlines that fade out. Even if you think the fade is slow enough, it may not be to some people. Since “enough time” is very vague and impossible to calculate, a creative solution could be to include a control that allows users to stop and start the animation so they can read at their own pace.

4. ALT Text

Alt text is a good way to make your website more accessible. It was originally intended to serve as a placeholder for graphics that didn’t load properly, but it eventually caught on as a way for screen-reading software to pick up descriptive labels so blind people could have a description of website images. It’s best practice to provide descriptive text for every image on your website by using alt text. In HTML, you can provide alternative text for images by adding alt=”your description of the image” within the image tag.

5. Specific Link Titles

People with vision impairment often use screen readers to visit websites. If they know where they want to go within the site, it’s pretty common for them to quickly tab from link to link, skipping over explanatory body text, just like we all do. So, “Click Here” is way too vague for a link title because it gives them no indication where they’re headed. Instead of “Click Here,” use a description of the page they’ll visit such as, “Call Us Today!” or “Register Now.”

It’s also important that you try to avoid using images for links, which are hard for people with low vision to no vision to interpret. If you absolutely want to use an image as a link for aesthetics, you should definitely provide alt text to tell disabled users where they’re going.

Conclusion

To sum it up, accessibility matters. A lot. And it’s in your best interest as a business owner—and in the best interest of your clients and potential clients—for you to have a more accessible website. One serious misconception about accessibility is that it always compromises aesthetics. There isn’t anything about being accessible that necessarily makes a design look ugly. Anything that you can do with web standards and other best practices can be done in an accessible way, so don’t fear, you still have plenty of room for creativity and excellence in your design! Excellence + inclusion = ❤️

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve announced a summer internship opportunity beginning in May of 2018. Get the details below of the program available, and if you’d be a great fit for it, send your resumé and cover letter to hello@tangiblestrategies.com.

Creative Content Internship

This summer, we at Tangible Strategies are offering an internship position like no other. We’re calling all interdisciplinarians (you know who you are)—photography students with a passion for sculpting, graphic designers majoring in world history, creative writers who macramé on the side—get the idea? Our Creative Content Internship Program is best suited for individuals with a knack for communicating brand messages in new, innovative ways, whether that’s through engaging illustrations, interactive social media campaigns, or gripping photography. If you’ve got that interdisciplinary itch and a love for growing local businesses, this is the internship for you.

Ideal candidates are located in the Greenville, SC area, are seeking an agency-setting summer internship, and have both aptitude and experience in design, copywriting, and/or photography.

Responsibilities
Specifications
Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications

 

In order to be considered for the internship position, students should submit their resumés and cover letters to Anthony Reese at hello@tangiblestrategies.com.

How do you measure the success of your small business? If we could guess, we’d say you probably typically focus on sales and revenue. (Which, by the way, is a great place to start.) But we’d like to propose that you don’t stop there.

A great way to assess the success of your small business is by measuring key performance indicators, or KPIs. In the world of tech/e-commerce/digital startups, this is a super common term, but maybe as a small business owner you know little to nothing about KPIs. Maybe the mention of measuring statistics online has your heart beating fast and has you typing the web address to Wikipedia as fast as you can. Step away from the Wikipedia. And don’t worry. We felt the same way about all this at first.

If you’re a small business owner, we know a few things about you automatically. First, we know that you care A LOT about what you do. Second, we know that you’re an extremely dedicated and hard working person who wants your business to thrive. If that’s you, we’ve put together a super non-intimidating list of key performance indicators you can start thinking about or maybe even tracking!

What Are KPIs?

A KPI is a measurable value that helps a company know if they’re reaching their business goals successfully or not. Organizations often use KPIs to analyze metrics from specific platforms. KPIs can measure financial performance, operational and internal processes, sales and marketing, and customer satisfaction (among many other things).

Key performance indicators give you the answers you need in order to know how to move forward with your business. But before you can get useful answers, you have to ask the right questions. It’s important not to waste time in your already busy schedule getting answers to questions you don’t care about or that won’t help grow your business.

Choosing the KPIs to focus on all boils down to a having good grip on what is important to your business, or in other words, “What is your why?” Once you figure out who or what you’re going after, you’ll be able to decide which KPIs you should start measuring.

To get you started, we’ve put together this handy dandy list of KPIs we think might be important for you to track along with a little more information about each.

1. Customer Acquisition Cost

Customer Acquisition Cost, or CAC, is the cost of getting a prospective customer to buy your product or service (also known as your cost for marketing). Your CAC can be easily calculated by dividing the total you’ve spent on marketing during a certain period and dividing that figure by the number of customers acquired in that same period. So, say a company spent $1,000 on marketing in a year and acquired 50 customers in that year; their CAC is $20.

Like we said, as a small business owner, we know you’re passionate and you love what you do. These are really great attributes that can make you a successful entrepreneur. However, a common pitfall of many entrepreneurs is that they can sometimes be too optimistic and assume everyone else will automatically “get it” and love their product or service as much as they do. Loving your product or service is great. This will help you sell it in an authentic and exciting way. However, one thing you have to be careful of is to not underestimate the cost it will take to convince people who’ve never heard of you to love your product and eventually become new customers.

Sometimes business owners are shocked at the amount of money needed to acquire customers through things like SEO/SEM, PR, Social Media Marketing, direct sales, channel sales, etc. And many businesses fail because they don’t pay attention to their CAC or find a way to get their CAC low enough. Successful businesses, on the other hand, are not only aware of their CAC, but they actively brainstorm and execute ways to lower that cost, or adjust their product or service cost to increase their margins.

2. Customer Lifetime Value

Unfortunately, a lot of business owners overlook Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), even though many agree that it’s a key factor in determining the present and future success of a business.

The lifetime value of a customer is basically the gross margin you can expect to make from that customer throughout the lifetime of your relationship. A big pitfall for many businesses is when their CAC (which we just talked about) exceeds their CLV, while successful businesses will have a CAC that’s not just less, but considerably less than their average CLV.

So, it’s important to come up with a good plan to find out your CLV as soon as possible. Measuring the net profit that you’ll make throughout your relationship with a customer is super important because it helps you realize how valuable they are—or aren’t—to your business. And once you realize which customers are valuable and why, it will ultimately help you properly focus your time, energy, and resources on going after that person and others like them. It’ll help lower your CAC because knowing who you should be targeting helps you spend less money targeting individuals who don’t ultimately turn into customers.

Hopefully you’re starting to see how all of these are connected and could thoroughly help you build a successful business model.

3. Traffic-to-Lead Ratio

Now that we’ve focused on some high-level, generic key performance indicators, we’ll focus on some more specific examples of KPIs that relate to individuals elements of your marketing efforts. Your Traffic-to-Lead ratio addresses the performance of your website specifically and is calculated by dividing the number of visits to your website in a particular timeframe by the number of leads generated over the same timeframe. For example, if you have 100 website visits in a month and 10 of those visitors contacted you, your traffic-to-lead ratio is 10:1 (a 10% conversion rate).

The traffic-to-lead ratio is important because in analyzing your site traffic, you may discover that you have a great conversion rate, but your overall traffic could be higher. If this is the case, you may decide to invest in pay-per-click advertising or organic traffic-generation methods. Or you may discover that you’re reaching a large audience but have a low click-through rate. In which case your action step would be to re-evaluate your target audience or optimize your site’s copy, calls-to-action, and images.

4. Social Media Engagement Conversion Rates

Let’s say you’re one of the lucky ones, and your marketing and social media campaigns are working, your website traffic is high, and people are super supportive of your brand. But maybe your actual sales figures don’t seem representative of your traffic numbers, and things just aren’t adding up. This could be caused by a couple of things. For example, maybe visitors are getting half way through a purchase and then backing out, or maybe they’re viewing a couple of pages of your site but ultimately leaving. It’s important to figure out why, but it’s also super comforting to know that you’re not alone.

(Tangent, if you’re not one of the lucky ones who has great social media engagement, check out our blog on social media engagement for some great tips on how to boost it.)

Although social media now accounts for more traffic to websites than organic search, conversions from social media traffic are lower across the board. According to statistics from Shareaholic, “social media is now the No. 1 driver of referral traffic to websites, responsible for 31.24 percent of the total. In fact, social media traffic has an average conversion rate of 0.71 percent, which is very small compared with search’s 1.95 percent and email’s 3.19 percent.”

One thing that can help your conversions from social media traffic is to give your audience an incentive to purchase. Strong calls to action, such as flash sales or promo codes, are a great way to boost conversions. Another important way to boost conversions is to share your content and offers multiple times. It’s something psychologists refer to as “the mere-exposure effect,” which means the more exposure we have to something, the more we notice it and the more we begin to like it.

So in short, if you want your audience to grab onto your message or your product, it’s important that you regularly expose them to it by posting about it often. In fact, Buzzsumo recently researched over 100 million articles and found that resharing content can boost engagement by 686 percent.

5. Landing Page Conversion Rates

In short, a landing page is a page within your website that’s sole purpose is to drive conversions. It’s focused on one goal, and it’s optimized to achieve it as many times as possible.

The best way to maximize your traffic is to optimize the first page people land on. On average, each small business website has just three landing pages, and by tracking your landing page conversions you can stop spending time and resources optimizing pages that don’t turn into conversions, and pour all of your resources into the one that is.

A homepage can be a landing page, or a landing page can be a completely separate page within your website that users land on after clicking an advertisement or social media link. A good landing page always has a clear “ask,” telling visitors what they get and what they’re submitting information for. Studies show that the sooner you start asking for email addresses the better. So, a great idea for a landing page is a highly visual page that asks for the user’s name and email address, and tells the user what they will receive in return.

A great example of a landing page that converts is the homepage of a company called Ipsy. Before you’re able to browse their products, they ask a few questions about your preferences and for your name and email address so they can follow up with emails and deals. What they want website visitors to do is clear, because it’s the only option when a visitor lands on the page.

6. Advertising ROI

Return on Investment, or ROI, is the money an investor in a business earns for the money they’ve invested. Your return is the net profit of your business and is used to measure the success of your investments.

Return on investment is the most common profitability ratio, and there are many ways to determine the overall ROI of your business. But when looking at advertising ROI specifically, your equation would look something like this:

(Sales Revenue – Advertising Cost) / Advertising Cost

So if you invested $1,000 dollars in an ad campaign and saw a $5,000 increase in revenue, your ROI is 400% or 4 times the amount you spent on advertising.

The trick to successfully calculating your Advertising ROI is in determining what portion of your revenue is attributed to a single marketing effort. When advertising, it’s good to use a unique call-to-action to associate with your campaign. Unique website links, single-use phone numbers, or discount codes are all great elements to use when tracking a specific campaign. That way, you can easily measure how many clicks and/or purchases come from a specific advertising campaign and ultimately see if your return on investment is lucrative.

Many people think return on investment is the same as profit but that’s not the case. ROI specifically looks at the money you invested in advertising and the return you receive on that money based on profits from the campaign.

Conclusion

Show of hands if your brain is on major overload right now. ✋???? We know this is a lot of information, but we hope it’s useful and helps you with some ideas of where to start. Measuring the success of your business can be an intimidating task, but it’s an absolutely necessary aspect to regular growth and development. We hope you’ll take this information and run with it in the right direction towards defining your key performance indicators and growing an extremely successful business!

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve announced two summer internship opportunities beginning in May of 2017. Get the details below of the programs available, and if you’d be a great fit for either of the internships, send your resumé and cover letter to hello@tangiblestrategies.com.

Creative Content Internship

This summer, we at Tangible Strategies are offering an internship position like no other. We’re calling all interdisciplinarians (you know who you are)—photography students with a passion for sculpting, graphic designers majoring in world history, creative writers who macramé on the side—get the idea? Our Creative Content Internship Program is best suited for individuals with a knack for communicating brand messages in new, innovative ways, whether that’s through engaging illustrations, interactive social media campaigns, or gripping photography. If you’ve got that interdisciplinary itch and a love for growing local businesses, this is the internship for you.

Ideal candidates are located in the Greenville, SC area, are seeking an agency-setting summer internship, and have both aptitude and experience in design, copywriting, and/or photography.

Responsibilities
Specifications
Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications

 

Business & Marketing Internship

This summer, we at Tangible Strategies are offering our first ever Business & Marketing Internship. We’re seeking strong candidates with a natural instinct for business growth and marketing strategy. Our Business & Marketing Internship Program is best suited for individuals desiring in-depth agency exposure and authentic business management experience. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur with plans of operating a business post-graduation, this internship is a perfect fit.

Ideal candidates are located in the Greenville, SC area, are seeking an agency-setting summer internship, and are currently studying business administration, marketing, entrepreneurship, and/or related fields.

Responsibilities
Qualifications:
Preferred Qualifications:

 

In order to be considered for an internship position, students should submit their resumés and cover letters to Anthony Reese at hello@tangiblestrategies.com.

Website or no website: the millennial question. When you are constantly creating content and trying to advertise for yourself and/or your business, there are so many ways to do it. Do you want people to follow and interact with your brand or do you want people to buy and share information about your brand? Both can be incorporated into websites, even if you already have a strong social media presence. Why not incorporate the information that you already share into a comprehensive web presence with a website? Here are some ways to use your creative content to fashion a website that makes you and your business proud.

1. Easy as 1, 2, 3

One thing to keep in mind is that in the world of social media, engagement is key. You can have hundreds of thousands of followers, but still only a small percentage of people interacting with your posts. If you have a website link in your bio, people can learn about your brand and purchase products or services that they might not normally see on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

There are many website platforms that are easy to use, even if you don’t have more advanced web design skills. If you can hire a web designer, that’s great too! Some reliable website platforms include Squarespace, Weebly, and WordPress (but the more comprehensive versions do have expenses associated with them).

2. Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Everyone is online. And nearly every successful business has some sort of presence, so you want to use this to its fullest potential. Whether you are an amateur artisan with a small business on Etsy, a small business that occupies a niche in the system, or a larger business that tries to attract corporate clientele, your audience is clicking and scrolling and communicating through websites and social media.

One of the greatest parts about having a website is the fact that you can use your website as your building block for your business. Think of your website as your online business card. You can design it the way you want and show people what you and your business bring to the table.

3. Money Matters

From the cheapest website platform to the most expensive logo designs, there are options for everyone in branding and website usage. With that in mind, you need to decide what will be most effective for your business. Are you going for a simplistic and natural look like Squarespace or are you trying to link and archive a bulk information like on WordPress? Websites provide avenues for all of these, so it’s up to you where you want to spend your money.

For businesses who are trying to attract a larger clientele, consider hiring a web or graphic designer to show off your brand in a more unique way. For businesses that rely on statistics and products, consider how you can portray those in an eye-catching way. If your website looks impressive, people will remember you. We say not to judge a book by its cover, but with websites and social media, we are absolutely evaluating the friendliness and aesthetics of the pages that we follow and use every day. And the same is true for websites. Consider evaluating your website occasionally with guiding questions to help you determine its efficiency.

4. Catch Your Customer

In an age driven by digital interactions, it can be difficult for users to find your website in the first place. But when they do, it’s your job to make sure they never forget it. Think about how to create content in a way that gets people talking. If a user sees value in your company, they will share that value with other people. Whether it’s a tag on social media, an email sent to a friend, or the topic of office conversation, any buzz your website creates is going to increase your brand awareness. And that’s an invaluable thing.

Think about it this way: if your website delivers a beautiful user experience, where information is easy to find and content is engaging, people are much more likely to want to keep browsing around. Your customers want to see you, your business, and your products/services in a way that encourages others to brag about you to their friends.

5. The Right Place at the Right Time

We know that website creation and management is a time-consuming and tiring job. Guess what we say to that? It’s worth it! Whether you’re coming up with a strategy for the immediate future or the long haul, the way you present yourself online is absolutely important. If you’d like to come in for a consultation (and you can be at any stage in the process), let us know because we’re happy to help!

What’s in a name? Brand recognition, admiration, and connection. That’s why companies like Apple, Google, and Starbucks click so easily in our minds: they have names that are simple, easy, and immediate. Most of these companies, though, didn’t start out with the names that we know and love. We’ll explore how branding can grow a business in this post:

BackRub to Google

Ever heard of a search engine called BackRub? We haven’t either. Ever heard of a search engine called Google? Everyone has. Most people don’t know that the two are one in the same. In 1995 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, Larry Page and Sergey Brin had a meeting of the minds. A year later, in 1996, they collaborated on a search engine called BackRub for Stanford students, but it ended up crashing the servers because it was too large.

Then came September 15, 1997. The two registered Google.com as an official domain, and the rest is history. Larry and Sergey wanted to create a way that people could organize and search information forever, and this is our first plan of attack any time we have a question to answer or a problem to solve.

Even if you didn’t know the origin of the Google name or its process, it’s a household fix. Anything you ever want to find out exists on the search engine, and we are so glad for that. Any aspirations to create an online giant? Take your branding inspiration from Larry and Sergey.

Blue Ribbon Sports to Nike

Have an idea to change the name for your company? Just do it. Nike wins the blue ribbon for one of the most normal-sounding names of all of the first misnomers of these giant businesses. Blue Ribbon Sports was founded in 1964, but not for the reasons that Nike exists today. Onitsuka Tiger, a Japanese shoemaker, used Blue Ribbon Sports as a distributor.

The Nike as we know it became official in 1971. The name Nike comes from the Greek goddess of victory. The genius who coined the Nike moniker was the first employee, Jeff Johnson. Thanks, Jeff, for a catchy and simplistic name, also known by the “swoosh.”

Whether it’s Nike, the swoosh, or the motto, Nike’s integrity remains the same. We love that a company can use its branding powers for good and create a great brand simultaneously. The Greek goddess of victory is certainly smiling down on Nike.

Qwikster to Netflix

Netflix is quick, and so was Qwikster. The admittedly strange name of Qwikster began the empire of streaming video service and even DVD mailing, which was a terrible disaster. It cost too much money, so it only lasted a few weeks.

In 2011, everything changed. Netflix became what we know today: the always-there, endlessly-enjoyable video service where everything on TV lives forever. You can find those childhood gems, those irresistible TV shows, and those obscure documentaries for your viewing pleasure.

What is the branding legacy of Netflix? Will it continue to monopolize the world of video streaming? What would we do without it? It’s magical that we can access that amount of information instantaneously.

Brad’s Drink to Pepsi-Cola

Who is the mysterious Brad? Caleb Bradham, a North Carolina native, was a drugstore pharmacy apprentice with an idea. Bradham’s Drug Store, his pride and joy, became the birthplace of what we know as Pepsi-Cola in 1893. Its original name was “Brad’s Drink,” after the man himself.

August 28, 1898 saw the emergence of the name, “Pepsi-Cola.” Just four short years later, the company was created and even trademarked the Pepsi name. As with most of these businesses, the combination of letters means nothing without the impressive qualities of the brand behind it.

The constant debate of Pepsi vs. Coke is one that will never end, but we applaud Pepsi for its innovation, its branding, and its commitment to humble beginnings. You can still visit the site of Bradham’s Drug Store to see where everything started. Thanks to Caleb Bradham, there is now a soda revolution.

Tangerines and Tangible Strategies

Want to know how we created Tangible Strategies? Check out this Instagram feature on our awesome boss, Anthony. He explains the creative decisions behind Tangible Strategies, the bright tangerine logo, and the memory factor behind names and logos.

Not only do we love the creative process and brainstorming about these fun things, but we’d love to help you too. Here is even more about the new direction our business is taking and our excitement for the journey.

You Name It, We Will Help!

Brand names matter. Whether it’s short and sweet or it evokes the feeling of the brand, the name is important. What did we learn from these brands? Most of these are not words that are in our normal vocabulary, but they stick with us, show us to the brand, and identify the way we associate with the brands on a day-to-day- basis. Do you want to change your business name? We can help!

Almost everybody has been there before (and if you haven’t, you probably know someone who has)—you’ve hired a web developer to build a site for your business, you’re three months into the project, and frustrations are running high. We hear stories like this all the time. Maybe your web developer has become unresponsive. Maybe they’ve promised to deliver a site by a specific date but haven’t followed through. Or maybe your site is already launched, but now it’s malfunctioning or causing security issues.

None of these situations are ideal, but the good news is you can avoid all of them by asking the right questions. We’ve put together a list of the top 11 questions you should always ask your web developer before signing that contract sitting in your inbox.

1. What is your process for building a website?

You web developer’s process can be one of the most telling pieces of information you receive before getting started. Not only is it great to know what each step of the process will be, but how your developer talks about their work method says a lot about the quality of service you’ll receive.

Look for a developer who provides a list of deliverables, each with their own due date. If the only deadline for the project is the site’s launch date, chances are that their communication and reliability are faulty.

2. What web standards do you follow?

This is a question that will quickly separate the professionals from the less reliable. Web standards most commonly refer to the best practices used for building websites. Whether your developer complies with the W3C standards, the WHATWG standards, or the Unicode standards, the overall intention of these organizations is to ensure that websites are compatible across browsers and devices. A web developer who stumbles at this question is one who likely won’t focus on creating a long-lasting website.

3. How easy will it be to integrate additional features/functionality in the future?

Even if you don’t plan to add additional features to your website, asking about the possibilities opens up an opportunity for you to get answers to other questions. If you don’t already know what platform they plan to use for building your website, this is a good time to ask your web developer. For most small business sites, WordPress is the best platform for a new website. More than 18% of all websites are WordPress websites, no doubt due in part to its expandability. Virtually any feature or functionality can be integrated into WordPress, which makes it a great place to build a stunning web presence, even if you want to start with a simple site.

Developers who build websites in other platforms such as Squarespace, Wix, or WebsiteBuilder are limited by constrained functionality. One of these platforms may be a great fit for you now, but as your business grows, you will most likely outgrow them. Starting in a flexible platform will ensure that adding additional features and functionality in the future is possible.

4. Will the site be mobile-friendly?

We know, we know, this seems like a question with such an obvious answer. It’s 2017, after all—who doesn’t build mobile-friendly sites? Unfortunately, an estimated 23% of websites in 2016 were not mobile friendly, and new non-mobile-friendly websites are built every day. Google even favors mobile-friendly websites, so it’s imperative that you assume your developer is keeping up with current trends. Ask your web developer just to be safe.

5. Are there any additional fees to build/maintain my website outside of your cost?

Many website platforms and third-party software (such as shopping cart plugins and advanced contact forms) require monthly or annual subscriptions that will be billed to you. In addition, all websites require an annual domain renewal and a cost for web hosting. It’s good to know what additional fees are not included in your developer’s budget.

6. Who will host the website/own the domain name?

Speaking of recurring costs, web hosting is a detail that developers commonly fail to discuss in their proposal. Many web developers sell managed hosting services directly to their clients at an overpriced monthly rate. Typically, this is an optional add-on to your website agreement, but many developers require that your site has to be hosted/managed by them. Seems backwards that someone else would own your site, right?

7. What search engine optimization (SEO) will be integrated?

Search engine optimization is undeniably something every website needs to have. Many developers will claim to optimize your website after development, but the definition of a fully optimized site is different for everybody. Ask your web developer for specific details regarding what SEO is being integrated. Is your developer adding appropriate HTML tags? Are they optimizing content for readability? Will they research the right keywords and use them appropriately? The more information you can get here, the better.

8. What security features will be included in the development?

With some of the largest cyber security attacks in history happening in 2016, the security of your website is more important than ever. More than 40% of cyber attacks target small businesses. While you may not be hosting sensitive information on your website, a cyber attack can cost you thousands of dollars in website repairs and recovery. Fortunately, simple security measures can prevent your business from falling susceptible to such attacks. So be sure to ask your web developer what they’re doing to secure your site.

9. How will my site analytics and traffic be tracked?

Website analytics are a powerful tool to measuring how people use your website and determining what content is most engaging. Site analytics are easily integrated into websites nowadays, so it’s something that should come as a standard with any newly built site.

10. Will you keep a backup of my site?

Very few web developers guarantee site backups without establishing a monthly service agreement. However, asking for a one-time backup of your site after it is launched is a great way to ensure that your investment is never lost. Regardless the cause, site loss is a risk every small business faces. Don’t allow the only copy of your website to be the one that’s live. If your site does go down, a backup can be restored within hours and get your online presence back to normal.

11. Do you offer technical support/training after the project is over, and how much does it cost?

One of the number one complaints we hear from small business owners regarding their website is that they don’t know how to make updates to it as their business changes. Many web developers now offer training, as an inclusion to website projects, on how to make minor changes. Ask about whether your developer plans to include this and how much ongoing support will cost in the future.

The Takeaway

Investing in a new website is a big undertaking. It’s a commitment on your part that affects your finances, your schedule, and the growth potential of your business. But going through the process of purchasing and building a new website does not have to be a headache. Taking the time to ask these simple questions can help ensure that your new website is a worthy investment that will last as long as possible.

Then again, maybe we’re biased in favor of beautiful websites that don’t break the bank. If you’re interested in a website redesign without a headache, we’re happy to answer any of these and other questions you may have. We’re a fan of small businesses, and yours is no different.