Category Archives: business

Small businesses, startups included, are not known for having endless marketing budgets. Usually, their resources are allocated to more practical aspects, like day-to-day operations and maintenance, sales operations, and employee benefits. Marketing becomes part of their priority only when they are expanding, in order to reach more audience or try new markets.

However, with the help of the Internet, there are now new ways to make a name for your business even when you’re just starting up. Through tapping into social media and other platforms to connect with large numbers of people online, small businesses can start their own marketing campaigns and one way to do so is through influencer marketing.

Influencer marketing, from the term itself, is the approach that focuses on individual influencers, rather than your usual marketers. Influencers range from well-known celebrities to experts in niche topics of your industry. You could include knowledgeable bloggers with a sizable following, or social media personalities that tackle topics related to the industry you are in.

Maybe now you’re wondering if influencer marketing would work for your business. Take a minute to think about how well your brand is engaged online: how many followers do you have on your Facebook or Instagram account? How often do you update your accounts, or post something new for your followers? If your answers are leaning towards dismal numbers, then perhaps you should consider going with the influencer marketing route. And no, this is different from social media management.

You’re not getting another person to handle your accounts or post updates about your brand. What you’re doing is targeting influencers with thousands of followers to talk about your products or services and promote them to their followers. Their influence is what you’re after, and just like any other marketing campaigns, your aim is to attract and engage the right audience, only this time, these are the influencer’s audience too.

To have a simplified understanding of what influencer marketing is, refer to this 4-step process:

Step 1 – Identify the experts in your industry, specifically in your chosen niche/field. Learn how well-connected they are, to see if they are influential enough to be an influencer for your business. Come up with as many as you like, so that you’ll have an extensive list of potential influencers before proceeding to the next step.

Step 2 – From the compiled list from the previous step, make a shortlist of those who are closely related to your business. These people should be complementary to your business, meaning, they are targeting the same audience bracket, as well as their reach, and their tone. It would help if you could find some that have the same target audience as yours so that they won’t have a hard time selling whatever product or service it is you are offering.

Step 3 – Start building a connection with your influencers. First step is to follow whatever platform they have so that they’ll know that you are connected through the same industry. Formally introduce your business, and express how well their blog/page resonates with your brand. State that you are looking forward to working with them in the future and are open to discussing a partnership. Share their content on your end, so that they’ll know you’re positively considering them as an influencer.

Step 4 – Once you’ve formalized a connection or partnership, you can now start to create content with them. These could include videos, posts, info graphics, and other items that they could share with their followers. This would be something related to your brand and will be promoted by them in whatever platform they have.

Why is Influencer marketing effective?

This type of marketing works simply because it helps you go directly to your target audience. Unlike typical marketing, which is like casting a net in a wide ocean, you’re cutting through all the unnecessary noise of your usual advertising efforts. From the get-go, you’ve identified influencers whose audience are quite similar to yours, so running campaigns through them would assure you that the ones on the receiving end are at least interested in what you’re offering. This method would be like casting a net on a commercial fishing pond, wherein you are highly likely to catch something.

But of course, it still takes a lot of work for this kind of campaign to work. Going back to Step 4, you’ll need to coordinate with your influencer in order to create a content that will capture your audience. You can’t just go and ask your influencer to say something about your brand and tell your audience to buy from you. Just to give you an idea of what they can do, here are some of the tactics that influencers usually employ:

– Your influencer gives you precious blog space so that you can write a content that’s related to their blog theme, and find a way to mention your product. In a way, you’re projecting yourself as an expert, and it builds trust from influencers’ audience, drawing their attention to whatever your brand is offering.

– You create a content for your own platform, but this time, you’re using your influencer as a subject matter expert. By interviewing your influencer for your own content, their audience (fans, followers, etc.) will likely go visit your site to see the content. You can also ask the influencer to promote it by sharing the URL on his or her accounts.

– The influencer will create a content that includes your product, either as a part of a tutorial (how-tos, FAQs, etc.) This can just be a subtle mention of your product as an ingredient, or as a material to whatever they’re creating. The influencer can also allot a post especially for you, to review your product or service. If they’re pleased with your brand, their followers would know about it and most likely try it out, too.

Final Word

Going back to the original question, should I get an influencer for my small business? The answer is obviously, Yes. It’s a great way to make your presence felt in a jam packed industry, and hopefully, help you make a name even when you’re just starting out. You can couple influencer marketing with other marketing strategies like mobile marketing in order to achieve best results.

Author’s Bio

Francis Mansueto has been writing for more than a decade now, focusing on Digital Marketing in the last couple of years. He is currently in charge of writing web-optimized content for RingCentral, an industry-leading cloud phone systems provider. Francis is also a voracious reader, spending most of his free time immersed on fictional worlds. You can reach him through Twitter.

Do you love speaking in front of a crowd, inspiring people and have a likeable personality? Then you should consider starting a business as a motivational speaker. Everyone likes a passionate speaker who motivates them to accomplish what seems impossible and fuels them with hope. Motivational speaking is also a business which once you get right, you’ll reap a lot of rewards while leaving an impact on people’s lives.

Big names like Robin Sharma and Zig Ziglar have all built a strong brand in this industry and so can you. Here are the basics of starting out a motivational speaker business;

Getting Started

One advantage of being a motivational speaker is you do not need hundreds of thousands to start. The major capital you need to invest in is yourself. Start by identifying your area of expertise depending on your back ground, interest and expertise. Some places that are most receptive to motivational speakers are;

• Schools (primary, high school and university)
• Corporates
• Churches, etc

You also need to fully invest in yourself and your skills by;

• Developing public speaking skills: strong public speaking skills are a must have for any motivational speaker. You can invest in some lessons and tutorials on public speaking and even though you won’t be perfect overnight, practice makes perfect.
• Gain experience: become an expert in your field by going to school, gaining work experience and trying out new opportunities. Successful speakers have gone through success and failures then talk about what they’ve learnt during their speaking engagements.
• Maximize on your life story: life stories draw people in and make you more relatable.

Build your Networks

Networks and recommendations are what will take you far in this business. Build your networks by joining professional speaking organizations, reaching out to various trade groups, schools and corporates and joining reputable clubs and societies like Rotary.

Market yourself to your networks by creating and sharing business cards, brochures and having a website which should include testimonials and short clips from your presentations.

Build your Brand

Every professional needs to intentionally build a reputable personal brand. However, motivational speakers should take their brand seriously since that is what will sell you. Before you start building your personal brand, take time to think about who you are, what you have achieved and how you want others to see you.

To get your brand out there, have professional headshot images of yourself taken, build your online presence through branded social media pages and a personal website.

With time you can also venture into other fields. Most successful speakers are also authors, T.V show hosts, etc.

Set a speaking fee rate

Determining what your speaking fee should be can be so stressful especially because when starting out, you may have to do some speaking engagements for free. Here are some important questions to ask yourself before choosing a speaking fee rate;

1. Will travel expenses be included? What will be the mode of transport?
2. What audience am I speaking to? Speaking to experienced professionals for example will definitely cost more than a speaking engagement with high school students.
3. Is accommodation covered? As a motivational speaker, you have to travel a lot. Set your accommodation standards from the beginning and don’t accept anything that is not decent.
4. What’s the audience size?

Whatever you do, make sure you do not work for free for too long and don’t underprice yourself. However, the more times you speak, the better you get, the more you should charge.

If you are an author or have DVD’s of your talks, you can sell them during the events.

Get Registered

After you have everything ready, register your company and get the relevant licenses. You also need to get certified by the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) to have an edge in the industry.

Final Word

Would you venture into motivational speaking as a business?

Kenya is a growing nation and everyone seems to be moving towards making it a 24 hour economy. People are either busy at work or at their business. Many are the times that these people need to run errands but they don’t have the time! What could be better than having someone to run these errands for you?

George Kamau is the founder of HCS Errands, a company that runs a variety of errands for people who may be too busy to run them on their own. This is an idea that was conceived by coincidence. As George was busy looking for a job from office to office and getting little to no response he noticed one thing. In most of these offices he visited he would hear of the receptionist either struggling to get someone on phone to deliver company documents or they would be complaining about delays in the delivery of their documents. It occurred to him that this was it! It was time to try and venture into the world of entrepreneurship. Running errands such as delivering packages among other services would be his entry point.

Services he offers include making deliveries/courier services, data entry services, government online related services, banking services etcetera. This is one of those businesses you can start with very little money or literally zero capital. As George himself puts it, “The most important capital in this business is the idea, a positive attitude and commitment. In terms of money you need transport money which was a challenge for me when starting out since I was jobless and didn’t have money, so I would sometimes have to borrow from friends then refund upon being paid.”

Despite this hiccup in the beginning George has been able to persevere due to his resilient nature. He adds that entrepreneurship has shaped him up and he is happy that he has been able to create opportunities for young Kenyans with the skills. The young CEO is a proud employer to five other people, two stationed in the office and the rest work in the field “The company has really grown from the time when I would do everything by myself to now where I have people to assist me. To be more effective as a businessperson you need a team of people who understand your vision”

The business has not been without challenges. For one George says entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. “You will find that very few people believe in you. Some view this business as that of the illiterate! It’s up to you to believe in yourself. Work with those who support you strive to be the best and you will see that the doubting Thomas’s will get on board eventually”

George adds that in this business one must remember that the client is king. Provide to their level of demand and ensure your services offer them a solution. He attributes his success to God, hard work and being dynamic. Despite all the challenges he faces he is very confident in his business and sees a bright future ahead. He urges the young people who may want to go into entrepreneurship not to be afraid to start, “Don’t let challenges weigh you down you can start with the little that you have. Use the resources that are within you, visit places that mentor young people like Kuza Biashara and be open to learn.”

If there is one challenge that every entrepreneur faces across the board, it’s being able to stand out from competition. Do you ever feel like everyone in your industry is doing the same thing, sharing the same message, using the same tone and style?

Standing out from competition may be a difficult task but it’s not impossible. There are major brands that have built strong brand identities for themselves and acquired a large share of the target market in their industries.

As a small business, you can still use the same strategies as your competitors but add a unique spin that makes you unique.

Here are 5 ways to do this;

1. Providing Exceptional Customer Service

   75% of customers state that they consider customer care as a true test of a company’s competence. Whatever business you are in, create an environment where your customers don’t want to leave. Great customer service is about making sure your customers feel valued and this does not even have to be expensive.

   Simple things like calling to follow up if a customer’s issue was resolved, listening and acting on customer feedback, calling a customer beforehand to remind them of an appointment they made stand out and make a customer want to keep coming back.

   Another way you can stand out is to be honest with your customers especially if you know you cannot meet a specific need they have. This helps build trust instead of hiding some information or even lying just to make a sale.

2. Offer a Powerful Guarantee

   Having a guarantee is a great way to draw people to your product/service and boost sales. Guarantees communicate your company’s commitment to stand behind the product or service you provide and makes customers more confident in investing in your product/service.

   Examples of popular guarantees are;

   • If your competitor offers 6 months warranty on their product, offer a 1 year warranty.
   • You can guarantee that every call or email query will be handled within 24 hours.
   • You can have a 30 day money refund for customers who will not be satisfied with your product/service.

   Depending on your industry, figure out what guarantees you can provide that will make you stand out.

3. Constantly Innovate

   In this increasingly competitive business environment, innovation is vital to the success of your small business. Being innovative provides an edge and boosts your company’s growth and profitability. Innovation doesn’t have to be a complicated, world changing break through. Even the simple improvements in how you do things can be innovative and stand out.

   Here are a couple of innovative ideas that you can incorporate;

   • Embrace green energy, it’s much cheaper, reliable and cost effective.
   • Improve packaging of products.
   • Find creative ways to organize your workspace
4. Be Easy to Work With

   Having talent, education and experience is no longer enough to survive in today’s competitive economy. Neither is offering the best product/service in the market. Key soft skills such as having a good attitude, having good communication skills influence how likeable you are personally and professionally.

   Here are a few other qualities you need;

   • Be reliable – Being consistent and dependable will help you win contracts and maintain your work relationships.
   • Be honest – In every tough choice you have to make, choose honesty over deception.
   • Have a great 1st impression – Whether you like it or not, people are going to form judgments about you the first time they meet you. Make sure your first impression exhibits your professionalism both in real life and on your social media handles.
5. Narrow down your Target Market

   Narrowing down your target market can be quite tricky. It might not make sense at first since we all want a bigger market so that we can make more profit, right?

   Assuming that everyone is your target market when starting a business is a big mistake most new entrepreneurs make. You end up spending time and money attracting them while your actual target market who needs what you offer doesn’t even know you exist since you are not directly targeting them.

   If you want to stand out from your competitors, narrow down your market, figure out the little details including what challenges they face, what their needs are, where to find them and how to effectively deliver your message to them.

Final Word

Are you an entrepreneur? What do you do to stand out from competition? Let us know in the comment box below.