A snap shot of how we can help you create content that resonates with your audience and grow your business in meaningful ways.

Whether you are starting a new business or want to expand an already thriving one into new markets, you will need an effective marketing strategy. With so many ways to promote who you are and what you do, you don't need to come up with flashy ideas or gimmicky stunts. In fact, sometimes tried-and-true methods are the best ways to build brand recognition.

Here are seven effective marketing strategies to help you expand your business in 2020.

1. Know Your Audience

One critical factor in deciding how to create effective marketing strategies is knowing who you are targeting. Every demographic will need a different approach. For example, you wouldn't try to build a better relationship with Boomers on TikTok any more than you would try to reach Millenials with an ad in the local newspaper.

2. Set Your Goals and Budget

These two things go hand in hand, and it is essential to make sure they are both realistic. It may be tempting to set the goals super high, but there is very little chance of you meeting them unless you have a budget to match. It is also important to allocate how much goes where.

Don't just say there are XXX dollars for marketing. Sit down and decide how much you will spend on Google Ads and various social media platforms. That way, you can keep an eye on spending and adjust each quarter accordingly.

3. Use Social Media To Your Advantage

Understanding how to use social media to reach your target audience is paramount. However, not every social media channel will work best for your company. So, figuring out how to use social media and tailor your campaigns to your demographic will be one of the most effective strategies you will have.

4. Remember That Content Is King

You can have a huge budget and have created the perfect target audience template. However, if you don't have great content, you aren't going to get anywhere. You need to speak to your audience in a way that resonates with them.

So, make sure you have great content and graphics people on staff who know your voice and message. This is how you will make sure they keep everything on-brand.

5. Blog Like Your Life Depends On It

Blogging can be a great way to keep your audience up to date on all the latest news from your company, on top of any new projects or products you will have coming out soon. It is also a great way to expand on any social media posts.

However, most importantly, it is a great way to showcase your expertise in your field. If done well, blogging can be a great way to engage with your customers on a deeper level.

Building Effective Marketing Strategies

It is important to have effective marketing strategies from the start of your business. You also need to revisit them from time to time and update them as technology advances. That way, you stay up with all the trends on how to reach your audience.

For more ideas on how to market your new business or help you plan a great event check out our blog.

Connecting to consumers in this modern age of technology is easier than ever. With so much digital and easy-to-share content, brands need to make sure their content reaches all of their potential customers, no matter where they are. That is why localization services are so important.

Thanks to translation programs like Google Translate and countless others, you may ask yourself, "Why do I need to shell out for a localization team"? However, localization is more than just about translating the words, as it turns out.

Let's look at seven reasons you should hire a localization team for your digital content.

What Are Localization Services?

Localization services translate content. It is more than a translation service than something like Google Translate. It considers things like slang, grammar, sentence structure, and regional differences. This means they translate any content you give them for a specific market.

For example, if the Central American market interests you, you would want to hire localization teams from all five countries to ensure your content speaks to the target audience in each of those countries. Or, if you are, say, a French company looking to break into the American market, you should consider different localization for each region in the US, as each has its own slang.

So, let's look at some of the reasons why you should consider hiring localization services.

1. It Helps Brands Look Consumer-Focused

When your company is willing to spend time and money on localization and getting the content out in as many languages as possible, it makes it look like you are eager to put the consumer's needs first.

But it isn't just about getting the content translated. It is also about taking environmental factors into account. It is about knowing not to promote summer clothing to Australians in July or cute sundresses to Russians in January.

2. It Encourages Engagement

If more people can read and understand your social media posts, they are likelier to comment, share, like, and subscribe. This is even more likely if your posts display a certain amount of cultural sensitivity.

Many big-name brands have created some pretty big (and humorous gaffs) localization mistakes, with Pepsi being one of the most famous. In the 60s, the soda created the tagline "Come alive with Pepsi," which translated into Chinese as "bring your ancestors back to life." And while yes, mistakes like that will be shared across the internet, it won't be for reasons you want.

3. It Can Help Test Certain Markets

If you are considering expanding into markets beyond your home one, offering geo-targeted ads can be a great way to test the waters. By localizing your content, you get the most out of these ads. After all, if you are going through all the trouble of creating a great social media campaign for potential customers in another part of the world, why wouldn't you also take the time to make sure it is culturally and linguistically perfect?

4. Your Brand Looks Culturally Sensitive

This one ties in with #1 a bit while being much more. It goes beyond making sure you understand the difference between which products to offer to northern and southern hemisphere consumers.

It means understanding that not all colour schemes will work for every country and every culture. There might be times when using red would be appropriate for a Western audience but not quite what you are going for, say, a Middle Eastern one. This is when localization services can help you send the right message

5. Increased Revenue

Limiting your content to one language means you miss out on potential customers. For example, if your primary language is English, you only reach about 1/4 of the people on the internet. That is a lot of people who could be using your product but aren't.

So, even if you localize your website, mobile site, and a few social media posts into Chinese, you reach over one billion more people. If you add Spanish, you are looking at another half a billion. Some of them are bound to translate into increased profits.

6. Cost-Effective

Like any new service you offer, getting it right the first time costs less in the long run. Sure, hiring a localization team may initially cost a little more, but you save money when you factor in revenue gains and lack of PR mishaps. So, even if it means taking a little more time to prepare a tremendous localized campaign, the rewards you will gain from having more quality time in the market will outweigh any you see by a rushed launch.

7. Better Ad Performance

It turns out that ads targeting local audiences perform better than global ones, making a certain amount of sense. When localized ads share cultural references that might otherwise get lost in translation and help people feel connected to the product or service. Plus, people are far more likely to share content with which they feel connected.

And, as we all know, when ads perform better, profits also tend to rise.

The term "entrepreneur" is thrown around a lot these days. But what does it mean exactly, and how do you know if you are one? Is it just being a self-starter wanting to start a new business, or is it something more?

It turns out there are many qualities these self-starters share, and you can learn from them. Because believe it or not, everything on this list is something anyone can develop.

Let's look at the five traits of successful entrepreneurs and how they help people go into business for themselves.

Passion Drives Them

This one is a given, or at least it should be. Part of what makes entrepreneurs successful is how strongly they believe in and love what they are doing. Staying motivated about something you are "meh" about is hard.

Starting a new business takes a lot of time and energy. There will be long hours setting up a marketing plan or solving those minor issues every start-up faces. Without passion, all the work and time needed to create a successful business will seem like a chore instead of an invigorating experience.

Plus, as we all know, when something you are passionate about succeeds, the feeling you get is better than any financial gain. Because it isn't about the money; it is about breathing life into something they believe in wholeheartedly.

Creativity Courses Through Their Veins

Entrepreneurs tend to see the possibilities all around them. They are natural-born problem solvers. They look at everyday objects and see ways to repurpose them as marketing tools to help businesses grow or assist exciting industries.

They are not afraid of asking "what if" and shun away from the "that is how it has always been done" mentality. They dream big and can make those dreams a reality.

Plus, thanks to their creativity, they can often pull brilliant ideas out of nowhere and come up with more than just quick fixes. You can tell who is an entrepreneur at heart, even in big companies. Look for the person coming up with ideas to simplify the workflow, help productivity, and increase the bottom line with ingenuity.

Determination Is Their Middle Name

One of the essential traits of successful entrepreneurs is that they don't believe anything is impossible. Even if they have to create every tool needed to get something done, they are more than willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

More importantly, people with entrepreneurial spirits aren't afraid to fail. It tends to make them even more passionate about what they are trying to do and their vision.

For them, failure is one step closer to success. They learn from what went wrong, head back to the drawing board, and get back to work. They aren't afraid of tinkering with things to get the desired results; it is part of the process.

They Look On The Brightside

It is easy to get discouraged when things don't get off the ground as quickly as you would like when you start your own business. It is easy to get frustrated when you put in a lot of work to build your dreams and throw in the towel when things don't go exactly as planned. Instead of wallowing in these feelings, successful entrepreneurs realize this is part of the process and try to figure out ways to turn it around.

Being optimistic that your ideas are excellent and worth exploring encourages action and keeps you from becoming stuck and inactive. It also helps you be persistent when you have a difficult task ahead of you.

Psychology Today's website examined why optimism helps entrepreneurs succeed when the odds seem stacked against them. They found that optimistic people tended to be more creative, determined, and resilient when dealing with setbacks instead of just believing everything will work out for the best. They also found that even when faced with the statistics, those who were optimistic to a fault thought their ideas would succeed more often than not.

This proves the adage that if you believe it, you can achieve it.

They Take Risks

Going into business for yourself is a risky undertaking. And while it is okay to be a little scared, genuinely successful small business owners aren't willing to let a little fear stand in their way.

Instead of letting fear keep them stuck, they see it as just one more thing on the path to success. If they can conquer their fear and take the leap, they have already overcome the first obstacle standing in their way: their self-doubt.

Once again, it boils down to optimism and perception. Instead of seeing the challenges and risks, they see opportunities and potential. They see the rewards waiting for them, not just the hurdles along the way.

Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs

The five traits listed here barely scratch the surface of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. We could have added dozens of others: excellent communication skills, quirky personalities, strong work ethic, etc. However, one thing is certain: at the core of what makes them successful is a strong and underlying belief they will be.

When it comes to Social Media Marketing, Facebook still reigns supreme. With over 2 billion active users and 65 million businesses using the platform monthly, there is no denying the importance of creating and maintaining a page for your small business. Decked out with unique features, including targeting metrics and other ways to reach potential customers, having a business page is a great way to market your company. Unfortunately, figuring out how to set up a Facebook account for your business isn't as straightforward as one would think. Here is a handy tutorial on how to start a Facebook page for your small business.

Before You Start:

Before sitting down and working on your business's page, you must have a personal Facebook page if you don't have one already. This may seem a bit odd but don't worry. The two pages are completely separate. You are only using your personal account to access the pages feature. None of your personal information will be shared on your professional page. All of your business's interactions with fans of your business will be as your business. So, there is no need to worry about your privacy or safety.

Now that you have your personal page, it is time to create your business page.

This is also the time to choose who will have an admin role on the page if anyone else will have an admin role. Clearly, if you are a small one-person operation, this won't be something you need to think about. However, if you are a more extensive start-up or scale-up, having more people as admins means more people to stay on top of things and engage with people as your page grows.

Getting Started:

There are two ways to access the page area. One is through your personal page, and the other, which is far more accessible, is through facebook.com/business. This is the one we are going to use for the sake of simplicity.

Once on the Facebook business main page, you will see two options: business or brand and community or public figure. Be sure you choose the business or brand option.

After clicking on the "get started" button, you will be asked to choose your page's name and business category. Using your actual business name is, of course, ideal. However, sometimes, there are companies from other parts of the world with the same name. So, maybe add your location, like bobsbakerywitchita or chaptersbookstoreie, to ensure you get the name you want.

Once you have chosen a name for your page, it is time to select a category for your company. Start by typing in what sort of business you run. An autofill menu will pop down, allowing you to choose from several selections of industries related to your business. For example, if you type in "bakery," everything from a bakery to a cupcake shop to a chocolate shop will pop up, meaning you can let people know what sort of bakery you own.

The final step in getting started is entering your address and phone number. If you are a strictly online business, don't worry. There is the option not to show your physical address. It will only show which city your business is located in.

Profile and Cover Photos:

Now that you have sorted who, where, and what, it is time to pick a photo. This will make it easier for people to find you and know you are the business they seek. It should be of your storefront if you are a brick-and-mortar small business or your logo.

Once you have your profile photo uploaded, you should pick out a cover photo. According to Facebook, pages with a cover photo perform better than those without. Just like your profile photo, your cover photo should reflect your business. Just make sure the photo you chose is high-definition and professional.

Filling in the Blanks:

Now that your photos and bare basics are up, it is time to fill in the rest. On the left side of your admin page, you will find links to various extras that will help people get to know more about you and your company. While videos and photos will come in time, the most important section to focus on at first is the About section.

This is where you can add your website, about us, directions on how to find you (if you have a physical location), and a ton of more helpful information. It even has a place to put up your menu if you are a restaurant. Remember, the more information you give, the more people will be engaged with your page and business. So, fill out every section relevant to your business because the more informative your page is, the more views it will get.

Quick note: when creating your "about" text for Facebook, keep it as tonally close to the "about us" section on your website as possible. The last thing you want is for there to be a disconnect between the two texts. Your Facebook About Us doesn't have to be as long or as in-depth as your website's, but they should match.

Adding an Action Button:

Facebook's action button can be a great way to get potential customers to reach out or learn more. Just click the button on your cover photo's bottom right and choose from everything from messaging you on Facebook to downloading your app if you have one.

Having a call to action button upfront and easy to find can encourage people to follow up and drive up click-through rates. It also helps to focus customers' attention where you want it to go. Always a big plus.

Creating Your First Post and Getting Followers:

Now that your page has all the information ready and your call to action button, it is time to publish your first post.

The first post is essential for several reasons. It helps you test the waters. It can help get your page's early fans engaged and responsive. But, most importantly, it lets people know your business is now on Facebook. You will want to create a post that interests people and interacts with the content.

You can help people get involved with your first post in several ways. You can have a competition post between two items or ideas, using like or share to see who the winner will be. Or create a poll about several different items or products you offer.

Or you can use impactful or cute images to get noticed. Featuring a visually exciting product is a great way to get people talking about your Facebook page. Or why not add a cute animal?

When it comes to getting followers, make sure you add the Facebook button on your webpage with a call to action for people to like you. Also, don't be afraid to share with your friends while creating an ad. Ads can be a great way to use marketing practices to get your new page in front of the right eyes.

Thanks to Facebook marketing targets, you can create ads that can be as wide or as narrow as you want. You can include age, location, gender, and interests related to your business in the targeting framework. This helps weed out people who wouldn't be interested, allowing you the potential for higher ROIs.

While it may seem overwhelming initially, creating a Facebook page for your business is easy. Plus, in this age of social media and online engagement, not having one can be a massive mistake in marketing your small business.

If you need more hints at starting a successful blog or using social media marketing to your advantage, check out http://blogging.org. We pride ourselves in ensuring all of our page's information is the latest and most up-to-date, ensuring you stay ahead of the curve.

Becoming A Digital-First Bank:
How To Transform Your Digital Presence.

If the last few years have proven anything, fintech is here to stay. With the rise of online financial services and paperless transactions, the need for digital-first banking has become increasingly apparent.

This whitepaper aims to help you identify how to transform your bank into a digital-first enterprise, including reworking your business model, working culture, and the technology which drives all of it.

Smart Bundling and Service Add-Ons

During the early days of the fintech boom, some of the savvier startups made a conscious decision to pick and choose which financial services they would focus on, such as lending or investment advice, rather than trying to tackle it all. This became known as unbundling, as it represented the move away from the all-in-one bundle model traditional banking institutions had been using for years. This meant more significant, more established commercial institutions were no longer leading the market in terms of expertise about the products they offered. Instead, big banks began to find themselves susceptible to the cherry-picking tactics of these new, hyper-focused, up-and-coming digital-first companies.

Since then, there have been numerous examples of banks joining with specialist fintech providers to enhance their services. In some cases, this "re-bundling" allows banks to move beyond the traditional, narrow banking domain to a variety of practical financial add-ons, like investment, insurance (and even parking), in an attempt to help customers simplify their daily routines. This shift from simple banking features to add-ons has been a wildly successful business strategy for Chinese tech giants like Alipay and WeChat. WeChat, which started as a social messaging network, added a payment capability to streamline users' lives. It is now one of the world's most powerful payment brands.

Similarly, some major fintech brands, such as Revolut, have added traditional core banking services to their specialized focus areas. Marcus, Goldman Sachs' fintech subsidiary, is another example of a harmonious blend of fintech borrowing traditional banking services to offer consumers the best of both worlds.

From a bank's point-of-view, this partnership of innovative bundling traditional banking services with useful add-ons supplied by fintech startups allows them to continue being the customers' primary financial institution by offering better product features. This approach means they are far more likely to attract and retain customers, thus keeping a strong profit portfolio. Interestingly, some fintech startups, which were initially envisioned as direct-to-consumer brands to compete with banks, such as TransferWise, have begun to recognize the need to partner with larger banks as a way to reach out to their more established customer base.

Digital-First Banking for Digital-Savvy Customers:

We believe the digitalization of banking will create a future where Digital Hubs provide vital financial services.

Digital Hubs are platforms with which people would interact, like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant. It is the consumer's gateway to their financial life. Data can be collected over time to predict the consumer's situation and financial interactions. This means their needs will be anticipated and, where permission has been given, acted on.

How to become Digital-First:

Two or three years ago, new digital technologies and how their application could reshape banking services were primarily a topic of discussions at conferences, experiments at the Innovation Labs of bigger banks, and think pieces in financial blogs and news outlets. They are now necessary for larger banks who wish to stay competitive within the financial world.

Digital leaders are increasingly adopting these new and innovative technological advances to gain a market advantage to stay relevant. The market transformation towards being digital-first is well underway.

The actions necessary to become a Digital-First Bank fall into two categories:

• Strategy & Propositions: defining future business models to drive customer value.
• Delivery & Operations: developing organizational capabilities to deliver new propositions with speed, agility, and efficiency.

The Staying Power of Digital First Banking

One thing is certain: current business models are quickly becoming irrelevant, as their cost-income ratios are too high and the velocity of change too low. This is why, as introduced in this report, business models need to be transformed to incorporate and even changed to put digital banking solutions front and centre. For example, neobanks and challenger banks that adopt a digital-first business model where the entire organization is entirely digitized. This approach to bringing new products and services to the market in a digital, rather than paper, format is taking the financial world by storm. Existing banks that can adopt a digital-first business model and adopt agile practices, including focusing on niche markets on top of standard banking packages, can move forward and continue to grow in a lucrative way. Whereas banks that refuse to adapt to this new digital-first approach to banking run the risk of becoming obsolete or, in the best-case scenario, merely a service platform for other, more modern financial institutions to profit from

There is something appealing about using big names in marketing and public relations firms, and rightfully so. They have spent years working hard to earn that reputation and renown. Running the gauntlet can be daunting and challenging, but thankfully, companies were willing to give them a chance. Here are four great reasons why you should do the same and hire a small PR company.

Who You Meet Is Who You Get:
When you hire one of the more prominent companies, you often meet higher-ups only to have your account passed to one of the junior account managers. This isn't possible with smaller firms. The person who pitches you is also the person who is in charge of your account. They are the one who hears your initial desires and continues to work with you the entire time, even when your PR needs to change and grow. You build a strong working relationship with them, and in turn, they have a better understanding of you and your company from the very beginning.

They Still Have Something To Prove:
Smaller PR firms can't simply rest on their laurels. They don't have any. Every new client gets 110% of their efforts because their success is directly linked to your success. Every bit of great press for you is just as crucial for them. It is their calling card, the proof they can get the job done. On top of that, smaller PR firms will work harder to ensure you get precisely what you want, often coming up with new and inventive ways to create buzz about your business.

More Bang For Your Buck:
This reason is closely tied to the one above. Smaller PR firms tend to be far more reasonably priced than their larger counterparts. Since they don't have the reputation or overhead to warrant higher fees and retainers, smaller firms are a much more cost-friendly way to raise brand awareness for your company. Every cent in business counts, and nobody understands that more than small businesses. So, it makes sense to go for a PR firm because they are in the same boat as you and know how to work within your budget.

Accountability, Accountability, Accountability:
Even the most careful and astute PR guru makes a mistake every so often. Maybe the bold new idea they had didn't go over well. Perhaps the social media campaign got off to a rocky start. Who knows? However, if the guru is a one-person show, or maybe one of three, it is much easier to fix what went wrong. More prominent firms often have a protocol for dealing with mishaps, which can include going through higher-ups. Doesn't just dealing with the problem sound easier?

It all boils down to the fact that both large and small firms have unique perks to offer clients. However, taking a chance on a smaller PR firm can give you significant returns and a great professional relationship with someone just as invested in you as you are with them.

For Immediate Release
Name of Press Contact: Gillian Bradford

Amsterdam, Netherlands

TomTom Makes Strides In Reliable Autonomous Vehicles.

Since launching its first personalized satellite navigation device in 2004, TomTom has continually made strides in how people get from point A to point B. This year is no different. With two new developments in autonomous driving being announced at the Paris Car Show, TomTom is one step closer to making comfortable, safe, electric self-driving cars a reality.

The first product to be launched is TomTom's Autostream. This new and ingenious map-building service allows cars to create an up-to-date horizon by connecting to TomTom's cloud. By partnering with Baidu and Zenuity, TomTom has engineered a high-definition map for autonomous vehicles while not overloading the device on data, thus making sure you can go wherever the road takes you, all while having access to the latest information on roadwork and updated routes.

"Our early investment in the TomTom advanced map-making platform means that we can continue to deliver revolutionary innovations like TomTom AutoStream. With TomTom AutoStream, we can significantly simplify and shorten the development time for our customers, accelerating the future of driving." Willem Strijbosch, TomTom's Head of Autonomous Driving,

TomTom's MotionQ, a new and predictive way to ensure passengers' comfort in self-driving cars, is the second big announcement from the SatNav company. No one should have to worry about motion sickness or safety when it comes to self-driving vehicles. TomTom has built an overlay on the display, which allows passengers to see the car's movements, from turns to acceleration, before they happen, helping passengers feel safe and secure. This exciting new technology will be available in partnership with Rinspeed Snap, a robo-taxi concept vehicle on display at The Paris Car Show.

What makes both of these products possible is a collaboration with Qualcomm. By combining TomTom's state-of-the-art HD mapping system with Qualcomm's camera technology and GPS data, both companies can ensure their newest technology has every advantage as they move closer to realizing self-driving cars.

Everyone should be able to get where they are going as safely and comfortably as possible. This is why the minds at TomTom continually strive to make reliable, self-driving technology a reality.

Blog Post:

Sometimes Less Is More.

There seems to be a never-ending array of choices in today's busy world. From coffee flavours to jeans styles and everything in between, we spend more time making choices about our purchases than actually enjoying them. So even after you go ahead with an environmentally responsible decision to leave your petrol-burning scooter and embrace the future with a Bolt Mobility electric app scooter, you are faced with so many different colour combinations that it can still feel a little overwhelming.

So, to help streamline your decision-making process, we have narrowed the paint choices from 10 to 5. Choosing from the most popular colours for vehicles, we offer something for everyone, whether your tastes lean more toward classic colours or maybe you want something a little bolder. Plus, there are a variety of rims and seats for you to mix and match, allowing you to find your signature combo. With fewer alternatives, it will be easier for you to go from customizing your scooter's look to zipping around town on it.

Facebook Blurb:
Henry Ford famously said, "A customer can have it painted any colour he wants so long as it is black." Thankfully, we offer you a few more options. In fact, you can read about our new colour choices here:

Press Release First Paragraph:

Fewer Choices Means More Opportunities to Enjoy This Electric Scooter.

Bolt Mobility is making a bold move and reducing its colour options from 10 to 5. After being called "The Tesla of the Scooter Industry," they wanted to make it easier for customers to customize their product. The hope is by limiting the number of colour combinations, clients can design and order products faster. This will give them more opportunities to enjoy the freedom of owning an electric app scooter.