How to tell potential customers about your website

You’ve done the hard part; has built his vision of a MedSpa business. You invested in having a good website built but… nothing happens.

The phone does not ring to book new appointments.

But why don’t you get any business from your website?

It’s because you have to make sure your potential customers know you exist!

The easiest way to do this is to have a website that is both beautiful AND functional.

How do you let potential customers know that you have a website?

If you’re just starting out and not sure what your next steps should be, here’s a checklist of 7-step tips you could be doing now to start promoting your website and get the results you want:

1. Make sure your website is search engine optimized (SEO).

97% of people will learn about a local business online and don’t want to miss out. It’s not as intimidating as you might fear. Here is a simple process to help send your web/SEO person to work from:

What services do you offer? Body modeling. If you were searching the internet for something similar, what words would you use? How to get rid of stubborn fat? Make sure that these keywords, in this case, stubborn fat and the phrase sculpt the body they are on your website and in the metadata.

By optimizing your website pages using keywords, phrases, links and more, you will be better positioned to reach your customers. It can be intimidating, and you always have the option of hiring an SEO expert so you can focus your attention on your business.

2. Create a blog and write posts regularly.

Business blogs are a wonderful way to not only connect with your customers, but also drive traffic to your website. Remember the keywords we just mentioned? Writing articles specific to those keywords is a great way to drive targeted traffic to your site.

Blogging also has the advantage that search engines know the site is still up because you frequently add new content, videos, and images to your website.

When writing a blog, it’s important to remember that this is a way to connect with your audience and provide them with information that they might find useful or interesting.

The goal is to share that information on social networks, which, in turn, will attract more people to your website.

3. Participate in social networks

Along with a website, you should have social media accounts specifically for your business on the platforms where you know your ideal target audience is hanging out. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

These accounts allow you to connect with customers one-on-one and interact with potential customers. The more you engage with these platforms, the more interest and brand visibility you will create, which will drive more traffic back to your website.

Follow those who are in your target market, as well as influencers who share the same customer base as you. Stay within your geographic area as well. Following someone who lives in Toronto will not help you get dates in Vancouver!

Participate with the intention of helping and offering useful information. This will build your credibility as an expert in your industry and begin to create an important “know, like and trust” factor that is needed to attract customers.

4. Embrace the power behind your brand

Brand recognition is an important and often overlooked component of attracting potential customers to your website. A big one is using a branded email address.

Be sure to use your domain name for your email address at everybody of your email correspondence. That way, with every email you send, you’ll be advertising your website URL.

It’s an easy way to make your website known to the world while maintaining an aura of professionalism.

5. Install a branded electronic signature

Speaking of emails, take your efforts a step further by having a professional-looking e-signature to accompany every email you send.

Include your contact information, address, and an easy link for people to click to view your services and schedule an appointment.

6. Remember your printed and promotional materials

Be sure to include your website address on all printed and promotional materials you use for your ongoing marketing and advertising efforts.

From business cards to letterhead, banners and social media ads, it’s important for everyone to know where to go for more information about your medspa services.

7. Encourage referrals.

Your existing customers, friends, family and associates can be an amazing promotional tool for you. Don’t be afraid to ask them to tell others about you. Make connections with vendors and other professionals in related industries who might be a source of referrals for you.

Use a referral incentive program as your way of thanking them for sending you new customers.

Tackling your business’s online presence can be intimidating; But you don’t have to do it alone!

Hiring a professional website developer who can also help you with these additional tactics to extend your brand reach can help you relieve stress and create a high-performing website that gets you what you want.

for your success,

Suzanne

Whiteboard videos are widely used to fulfill different communication purposes. Research shows that whiteboard videos dramatically improve learning. They engage, educate, and entertain, all at once. How?

Before we find out, let’s first understand how people try to understand a complex concept when they first learn it, and what tools best help make the learning process effective.

Mindset when learning a Complex Concept

Most of the new concepts are extensions or variations of existing concepts. When learning a complex concept for the first time, we tend to create mental associations of it with the concepts that we have known for a long time. This tendency to correlate existing concepts with what is being learned helps us absorb and consolidate new information in our memory better and faster.

The tools that best help explain a Complex Concept

Visual representation

Understanding a complex concept often requires us to keep multiple ideas in mind. Visual representations (diagram/graph/image) help to do exactly that. Remember how we were taught ‘endurance’ in science class? We still remember to represent ‘resistance’ with a wavy line that was intended to indicate ‘interruption’. It is not like this? Using a visual representation method, a complex concept could be condensed into an understandable representation, making it much easier to relate to and remember the concept.

Analogy

Analogy is a powerful tool, especially when explaining a complex concept to a beginner (or layman). Using comparison, a complex concept could be explained briefly and precisely.

How the Whiteboard Animation Technique uses one or both tools to enhance the learning process

The Whiteboard Animation Technique provides the opportunity to build for your target group, a dynamic visual representation (motion graphics). It goes without saying that it is a more powerful communication tool than a static visual representation (diagrams/still images) as it is essentially a video. And we are all used to watching videos (on TV, in cinemas) with great disposition and total involvement. Watching videos equals entertainment.

What’s more enlightening is that since any visualization can be drawn and animated into a beautiful whiteboard video, it gives you the opportunity to develop a perfect understanding of your complex concept by using associated concepts, already existing in the minds of your viewers. Basically, you could use the viewer’s tendency to correlate old and new ideas, to your best advantage, presenting ideas that could be better related and used to explain your complex idea.

Simply put, you could serve the viewers with the closest and most suitable visualization that could help them understand your concept faster and better.

In a way, a whiteboard video recreates the classroom setting. The voiceover acts as a replacement for the moderator of the session and the animation part appears as a series of diagrams that are rapidly drawn (as if in real time), right in front of the viewers’ eyes. This simulates a ‘Learning environment‘ that engages, educates and entertains viewers, making their video-watching experience memorable! Isn’t that what you’ve been looking for? An environment that makes your TG happy to learn about your concept and how they could benefit from it.

Make an amazing whiteboard video and educate, engage, inform, inspire, entertain, or fulfill any other communication purpose of yours with a much better chance of being heard and remembered! Because whiteboard videos are sure to get you recognition!

Cashmere sweaters are loved by many people, especially those who want to look good and feel good all the time. The main reason for his love for cashmere is its ideal combination of qualities. Cashmere is a type of wool that is durable and provides excellent warmth. At the same time, it feels light and silky like a feather.

It actually comes from cashmere goats in Asia, making it completely natural. This type of wool grows very close to the skins of goats, which makes it their perfect protection against the cold. The best cashmere is usually found at the throat or lower belly of the goat. This is why cashmere sweaters are priced a bit higher compared to others due to the strength and comfort it provides to its wearers, plus the fact that it is zero percent synthetic.

There are many types of cashmere sweaters on the market today. But cashmere is not only popular in sweaters, it is also found in gloves, hats, dresses, scarves and coats. However, despite its many uses, cashmere sweaters remain the most popular use of cashmere because it not only provides warmth, but also aesthetically, it looks attractive and pleasing to the eye.

But most people prefer morino cashmere sweaters because it is designed to be both an insulator that brings warmth to its wearers and also to be lightweight, which means it can be very thin and still keep the warmth it brings to the skin. . Unlike other bulky sweaters, cashmere sweaters remain slim on trend, and since they can be easily dyed, you can choose from a wide range of colors to suit your mood or personality.

A cashmere sweater is definitely a very impressive type of clothing. Wearing one will ensure that you feel warm and look good at the same time.

To be hungry? Fire up your mobile app. Do you want to book hotels? It’s on your mobile. Looking for a home? You also have mobile apps for that. Basically, we are surrounded by smart apps and there are dozens for every civic need.

With the New Year, mobile and web technology went through new resolutions, strategies, goals and objectives. Therefore, it cannot be denied that they change rapidly. On the one hand, we have various mobile applications like streaming video, messaging, music players, daily schedulers, mail organizer and online games. On the other hand, the expansion of consumer awareness online has resulted in picky and unpredictable choices. This demands that you quickly learn and embrace the latest trends in mobile app development in 2017. Here are some of the trends you should be aware of:

1. Drone apps conquer the market

Drones are new on the block, but they have already hit the latest business trends. Amazon Prime Air is set to launch the world’s first drone delivery service and we can’t wait to see how the technology works out. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is also clinging to the excitement as its new drone delivery program: Wing Marketplace is on track to deliver food via drone. Drones are also used in agriculture, homeland security, and healthcare. Therefore, web design and development courses are teaching students to create applications that will control drones. Such applications must have the functions to control, analyze and manage the activities of the drones. The drone industry is growing rapidly, so we suggest diving into it as soon as possible.

2. It is the year of small and medium-sized companies

Mobile app analysts predict that the presence of local retailers and small businesses on the Internet is greater than ever before. They are leveraging apps to drive sales and improve brand image in a short period of time. Therefore, there is a high demand for application developers who would develop simple yet efficient web applications for these local retailers. If during all these years you have been in the dilemma of taking web design and development courses or not, this is the right time to do it. Industry experts are focusing on structuring a curriculum that covers the latest trends and topics.

3. Applications for portable devices

Whether it’s a fitness tracker, a smart watch, jewelry or a digital pen, the wearable device market will grow in popularity in 2017. This indicates that there will be a growing demand for mobile applications integrated with these smart devices. Wearable technology provides vast opportunities, primarily for the sports and healthcare industries. Machine learning will also kick in with these apps. To learn what machine learning is, take web design and development courses that cover the latest degrees in technology.

4. More demand for secure apps

We are often hesitant to download apps that ask for access to pictures, contacts, and more from our phone. We hesitate because we are concerned about security and protection. Therefore, app developers must earn people’s trust by ensuring data security for businesses and individual users. Along with the notable increase in the number of online shopping and mobile app usage, cases of hacking and misuse of sensitive information are occurring more frequently these days. This alarming statistic places a high demand on more secure technologies, complex data encryption, and authentication algorithms.

Trends are changing, as are techniques. Live on the cutting edge of the latest trend by improving your skills with web design and development courses, otherwise you won’t be able to outsmart your competitors. The future of mobile applications is very bright and challenging with innovative and revolutionary possibilities. If something remains constant, that is Quality. To stay in the hectic world of app development, embracing the newest techniques is the key mantra.

The goal of the Software Project Monitoring and Tracking Key Process Area (KPA) is to provide sufficient information about project performance so that the project manager can detect variances between performance and plan and take preventive or corrective action. This KPA influences all PMBOK knowledge areas and is most closely associated with the Monitoring and Control process group. As with the other KPAs, software project tracking and monitoring is organized into goals, commitments, skills, activities, measurements, and checks.

goals

The objectives of this KPA relate to and support project monitoring and corrective actions. The goals are for results to be tracked against project plans, for corrective action to be taken when there is a variance between planned and actual results, and for affected groups to agree on corrective action that changes the project plan. All skills and activities support the achievement of these goals.

Performance Commitment

Commitments to this KPA are required at the executive level. The first commitment is that a software project manager be assigned to the project. This commit will be done by default for most IT projects. The project manager responsible for the entire project is likely to be someone who considers himself a “software project manager” or at least has software project management experience. When larger projects require that a subproject be defined for the creation of a software application or system, this engagement requires that a project manager be assigned to manage the subproject. This is an organizational commitment, but it may require that you identify and assign a project manager to manage the software subproject if you are the general manager of the project.

The second commitment is also at the organizational level and is that project management follows a written organizational policy for software project management. PMs working in a PMO or PMC should have such a policy to follow. If you are a project manager leading the charge for CMM/CMMI certification, you should undertake the writing of this policy to govern your project and future projects in your organization.

ability to perform

5 skills are required to meet CMM/CMMI level 2 criteria. The first skill is that the software project has a project plan. The second is that the software project manager assigns work to the project team. This means not only that the project manager defines, organizes, and schedules the work in the project plan, but directs individual team members to get the work done. I believe that meeting the criteria for this skill requires that the software project manager have the authority to direct the work of the project resources for the duration of the project. The best way to officially grant this authority is through the Project Charter that governs the project.

The third capability requires that adequate resources be provided for monitoring and supervision activities. The planning of the activities will be based on the plans and schedule of the project. The budget for resources to carry out monitoring and follow-up activities, which are part of the approved project budget, will demonstrate adequate funding. Skill 4 requires that the software project manager be trained to manage the “staff and technical aspects” of the software project. I would argue that there is no better way to demonstrate this skill than by becoming a Project Management Professional (PMP®) software project manager certified. The Project Management Institute oversees this certification and is recognized worldwide as a leader in the area of ​​project management certification and project management best practices. Certification of your software project manager is easy, as long as the PMI criteria for project management experience are met. As long as they are, the project manager can choose from a host of quality PMP® courses or PMP® exam preparation training products to prepare them for the certification exam. These courses will train project managers in project management best practices and their implementation, as well as help the project manager pass their exam.

The final skill calls for front-line software managers to receive “guidance in the technical aspects of the software project.” CMMI defines a first-line software manager as someone who has direct management responsibility, including responsibility for providing technical direction, personnel, and activities for a single organizational unit. This definition coincides with the PMBOK® definition of functional manager. The front line manager must be educated on the tools, processes, procedures, and standards used for the project.

Activities

Activities requested by CMM include:

1. Use the project plan to track activities and communicate project status. The plan should be updated with information on completed work and made available to project stakeholders. Your MS Project file will meet this criteria and convert your WBS/Schedule into various formats that can be accessed by stakeholders who don’t have MS Project on their desktop.
2. Project plans are reviewed according to a documented procedure. This procedure will be your Change Management plan, or Integrated Change Control System (ICCS). The various components of the project plan specify how the ICCS approved changes/change management plan will be implemented. The activity also requires a review of the revised project plan.
3. Commitments to external groups and any changes to those commitments are reviewed with senior management in accordance with a documented procedure. In the context of monitoring and supervision, this activity will be described in the project’s change management plan.
4. Approved changes to the software project are communicated to members of the software engineering group and other software-related groups. Your change management plan, or communications management plan, should describe this.
5. Work product sizes or changes to work products are tracked and necessary corrective action is taken. CMM uses the word “size” to refer to the number of lines of code, .html pages, or documentation pages produced. The idea is to compare the actual size with the estimates in order to identify the actions needed to correct the estimation procedure and future estimates.
6. Effort and costs are tracked and corrective action is taken when necessary. The cost management portion of the project plan will govern the tracking and control of expenses and identify how corrective actions will be identified. The change management plan governs how changes to cost estimates are to be made. Since software development projects are often not directly driven by budgets, this can be accomplished in the time management plan for the project.
7. Critical computing resources are tracked and corrective action is taken when necessary. These will be tracked, along with other project resources, in the resource management plan.
8. The schedule is tracked and corrective action is taken when necessary. The Time Management portion of the project plan will describe how this happens, including discussion of early and late delivery dates in the plan.
9. Technical activities are tracked and corrective action is taken when necessary. Technical activities refer to the methods, procedures, and processes used to develop and test software. Test activities will be described in the quality management plan. Most of the methods, procedures, and processes associated with software development should be captured in the Configuration Management plan. Activities not covered by the Configuration Management or Quality Management plans should be described in a separate plan.
10. Project risks are tracked. This is achieved through the Risk Management plan.
11. Measurement data and replanning data are recorded. This includes estimates and data associated with estimates, as well as data that measures work completed. The estimates will be captured in the WBS and the schedule. Estimation tools and methods such as function point analysis (FPA) will be described elsewhere.
12. The software engineering group conducts periodic internal reviews to track technical progress, plans, performance, and plan-related issues. The software engineering group includes the front line managers and the software project manager. This activity is covered by their weekly status review meetings.
13. Formal reviews to address achievements and results are held at selected project milestones. These formal reviews will correspond to your gate reviews.

3 steps to reach your ideal customer with video content

Is video a part of your marketing strategy? If not, it has to be! Why? Well, consumers are now comfortable with video marketing, and many now expect it from brands they know and trust.

I know it took me a while to get comfortable with the video, especially the ones that required me to get in front of the camera! But there are plenty of ways you can make videos, so if you’re camera shy, fear not, you don’t need to be a video star to get started.

The truth is, having a well-written product description, a catchy paid ad, or a slick landing page is no longer enough to satisfy much of your target audience. According to a recent Wyzowl survey, 84% of respondents said they were convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.

Now, maybe you are stating that yes, you focus on video marketing. That’s great! But do you have a strategy based on your ideal customer profile, or are you just throwing out content in the hope that something will stick?

According to CISCO, video traffic will be 82% of all global consumer Internet traffic by 2021.

Here are some benefits of video marketing to further convince you that a carefully crafted plan pays off:

• You can create awareness about your product or service.
• It’s a smart way to engage/entertain your target audience on your website/social media
• It helps to clearly explain your product or service to people.
• You contribute to customer retention if you offer valuable advice and recommendations.

It’s time to seize the opportunity to use this essential but often overlooked marketing tactic.

Here are three steps to creating a video marketing strategy that will increase engagement, leads, and sales.

1. Choose your channels.

Not every brand should create YouTube videos, and not every small business owner should put videos on the home page of their website.

For example, I have found that Twitter is the best platform for sharing our blogs and articles, but Facebook is the best for connecting with my target audience through video. Could making Facebook Live videos be your ticket to the hearts of your customers?

To give you an idea of ​​which platforms might be best for your small business, here’s a quick breakdown:

• YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world (after Google, which it owns). You will find a wide variety of industries and topics on this platform.
• Twitter is generally used more as a news site than a social networking site, and content has always been largely consumed on mobile devices.
• LinkedIn is an ideal point to share more professional material. LinkedIn claims that people say it is 3 times more reliable in delivering valuable content, compared to other social platforms.
• Facebook: According to Facebook, there were more than 3.5 billion live streams in 2018. Since 2016, Facebook Live streams have doubled each year.
• Snapchat is growing rapidly and is generally associated with a younger user base (think millennials).
• TikTok is also considered a platform for young people; statistics show that approximately 50% of the global audience is under the age of 34; 26% are between 18 and 24 years old.

So where is your ideal client?

2. Plan your content carefully.

I’m not telling you that every word has to be written, or that you can’t do an impromptu Facebook Live in response to a current event.

But before you record your message, ask yourself a few questions. Will this footage add value to your customer’s life? Does it represent the voice, tone and mission of your brand? Are you succinctly explaining yourself and providing a clear call to action?

To find the answers to these questions, always go back to your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This will tell you who your target audience is, from their age range and occupation, to their lifestyle and pain points.

As part of determining your ideal customer profile, you likely created buyer personas as part of your initial branding strategy. If you haven’t yet created brand personas to define your ideal target market, contact us to find out how we can help.

And it’s not just about what you say, but how long it takes you to say it. A big part of your video marketing strategy will determine the length of your content. For example, research shows that Instagram videos should be around 30 seconds long and YouTube around two minutes. BuzzSumo found that the highest-performing Facebook Lives are between 15 and 20 minutes long.

By creating a calendar and planning your time ahead of time, using this tactic will be easier and more effective. You won’t be fumbling around for ideas at the last minute or shooting things that don’t resonate with your target audience.

3. Try it and try it repeatedly!

Many small business owners are intimidated by the idea of ​​recording content to share with their customers.

But you don’t need a big budget, fancy equipment, or movie-star looks to be successful. What you do need is the ability and willingness to listen to your customers.

Just like you would with a display ad campaign or landing page, you need to look at your data to determine what works and what doesn’t. You can see the performance of a campaign by measuring things like:

• Engagement rate: This measures the interaction someone had with your content, including watch time and whether or not they skipped over.
• Game rate: This is the percentage of visitors who actually clicked play and started watching.
• Sharing socially: This shows how many people share your images on social platforms.

A/B testing can be a valuable way to see things like what works best at what time of day, which channels are best for specific content, and what length your target audience prefers.

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READ: Your 2020 guide on how to get the most out of video marketing

In recent years, we’ve seen a massive increase in video content appearing online, and there’s no sign of it slowing down.

From creating webinars to including short clips in emails, a video marketing strategy is a must if you want to truly engage with your audience to improve brand awareness and increase leads and sales. Here are three trends for 2020 and beyond.

Read more on our website.

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Video marketing has gone from being a nice thing to having. It’s worth your time and effort to create compelling and engaging images that will keep your customers coming back for more.

But no matter what comes to mind, remember that today’s customers deserve and demand empathy-based marketing. Learn more about empathic content marketing here, and happy filming!

To achieve exceptional performance and productivity from your staff, you must work on your power of influence. It’s a fact that leaders who are good at influencing get things done faster and with minimal effort. When you become a positive influence for your people, you will notice a change of mentality among them, as they will feel highly motivated, enthusiastic about their work and take on their responsibilities. Reaching this state is no easy task and will require you to develop the following three skill sets.

Know your destination before you start your journey

The influence is intangible since it depends a lot on the way people think. The way a person thinks will drive their behavior, which in turn affects their feelings. As a leader, you must be influential in your thinking so that you can change the mindset of the people you lead. An example of this is the late South African President Nelson Mandela. When he was released from prison after 27 years on fabricated charges, his main intention was to unify the nation that had been marginalized on racial grounds. To do this, Mandela committed South Africans to appreciating each other through sport and other activities in order to eliminate any form of mistrust and misinformation between his people of different racial backgrounds.
To have this kind of influence requires that you have a clear aspiration of where you want to go and why you want to go there. Once you are clear on this, you need to work on your empathy to understand what your people want and how you can sync this with your own aspiration. You can achieve this by building a relationship of trust with the people you lead, so that they see you as someone who is always there for them through thick and thin. Once your people trust you, they will follow you wherever you want to go.

Focus on your ears not your mouth

The Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium said: “We have two ears and one mouth, so we must listen more than we say.” The power to influence is based on your power to listen objectively and sincerely. When you listen to what your people have to say, you are inadvertently building a meaningful long-term relationship. Also, when you start to listen, you will also create buy-in for your ideas, as your people are prepared to listen to you in turn, and in this process, you could synthesize their views with yours and work towards a win-win situation. win that benefits everyone. . This will then decrease the conflicts that stifle productivity and efficiency. Entrepreneur and billionaire Richard Branson is a big advocate of listening and he succinctly said, “Listen, take the best. Leave the rest.”

Learn to persuade like Aristotle

The last set of skills to be a good influencer is to master the art of persuasion. The difference between these two seemingly interrelated words is that influence is more about building relationships, trust, and achieving long-term goals, while persuasion is more about being transactional, competitive, and achieving short-term goals. As a leader, you sometimes need to take this position in that the circumstances you face require you to come up with a quick plan of action that doesn’t allow you to negotiate with and influence your people. This is where you need to work on your power of persuasion. However, if you have implemented the above two skill sets, persuading people to achieve your short-term goal would not be a problem.

Aristotle, in his work ‘Rhetoric’, identified three important factors that you should focus on when you want to persuade someone. He calls this: ethos (credibility), pathos (emotional), and logos (logical). Fundamentally, what this means is that the first thing you need to persuade is by using your respectful, honest, and credible character (ethos). The next thing is to persuade by appealing to their emotions by giving them an imaginative impact of how they will benefit if they do what you are asking of them (pathos). One caveat here though is that this can be subject to abuse and as such you need to be careful in taking into account the last factors which is to persuade by appealing to their intellect by giving them the relevant facts and figures which allows them to make a decision on whether they would want to go with you or not (logos). As long as this is done with credibility (ethos), you will successfully achieve your end result.

Ultimately, as a leader, you are in charge and how your people perceive you is largely based on how positively and passionately you can influence them. This is when you leave a lasting legacy.

Arianna Huffington, founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, the sixth most popular online news source, details the state of the nation’s middle class. Her new book is titled “Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream.” She reads her perspective and see if she agrees.

Third World America it is presented in five sections, with Chapter One echoing the title of the book. It is packed with stories and statistics highlighting the decline of the American middle class. How do you define “middle class”? Self-definition is used, says Huffington. “If you consider yourself middle class, are middle class.”

The nation’s fading industrial base, eroding educational system, and decaying infrastructure all contribute to the decline; as is high unemployment, where one in six Americans is unemployed or underemployed. He meets Dean B., who, at age 35, was laid off from his IT job in February 2009 and is still unemployed. Kimberly B. sold her wedding ring on Craigslist to pay her family’s utility bills.

Huffington further explores the plight of the middle class, citing fear as a predominant emotion. expunged 401(k)s, dwindling pensions, prolific foreclosures, and signs of a future Social Security collapse; feeds anguish. Many now believe that reaching the middle class is a matter of luck, not unlike a prize in a scratch-off lottery ticket.

America’s infrastructure is crumbling, declares Huffington, with insufficient state and federal funding. Roads, power grids, waterways, railways, and bridges are some of the casualties. Some water pipes, originally laid during the Civil War, are working dangerously.

Think back to August 2007, when the Interstate 35W steel truss bridge over the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis collapsed; killing 13 people and injuring 145. Previous patchwork repairs proved insufficient.

The nation’s school system is anemic, with the US ranking 25th in math and 21st in science among 30 developed countries; according to the classification of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In 2009, the United States’ broadband connection ranked 15th among industrialized countries.

The decline of the American middle class has been in the making for decades. In the late 1980s, technology, outsourcing and job losses in manufacturing kicked off a reeling middle-class economy with stagnant wages.

The election of Ronald Regan saw the proliferation of free-market beliefs: less government intervention could better determine winners and losers in society. Regan also ushered in the era of the great divide between wealthy Americans and the middle class; which continues today.

Huffington says that an unregulated free market is sooner or later corrupted by fraud and excess. He witnesses the bank bailouts and the Wall Street debacle of 2008.

American politics is broken, as powerful lobbyists and American companies rule Washington. In 2010, three examples of regulatory failures due to corporate pampering were the explosion at the Upper Branch mine in West Virginia; the BP oil explosion in the Gulf of Mexico; and the ongoing aftershock of the financial collapse, including fraud charges against Goldman Sachs. The voice of the middle class is but an echo in the chambers of the Capitol.

Huffington writes animated analogies to prove his points. When he talks about influential lobbyists, he says, “And like a swarm of termites reducing a house to sawdust, wealthy interests and their lobbyists are eating away at the foundation of our democracy.”

Each chapter concludes with a profile of a once-successful middle-class American who is now struggling financially. His stories offer gems from the 21st century perspective, including “Stability is long gone, so you better be doing something you love!”

Third World America The title is extreme, admits Huffington, used to emphasize our nation’s possible future without serious reform. She optimistically concludes that our descent into a Third World nation “is not a done deal.”

Americans are known for being positive, progressive people with a positive attitude. Stopping the descent into a Third World nation will not be easy. It will require bold initiatives from the public and private sectors and personal responsibility. Now, more than ever, we must exploit the least utilized leadership resource available: ourselves. We will continue to need the raw energy that only big government and appropriations can provide.

Ultimately, change happens on a local and personal level. Today it’s up to us to help each other and ourselves. She advocates breaking up with the big bank of hers. Executives accepted government bailout, record bonuses paid; however, they are not sympathetic to Americans facing foreclosure. Work with community banks and credit unions instead. The greatest antidote to despair is action; and resilience is key to surviving and thriving in the 21st century.

Huffington reflects the message of Robert B. Reich, said in his book published at the same time, Replica: The nextEconomy and the future of America. Reich, a former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, also endorses Third World America.

A book, presents a voice. Although some will dispute Huffington’s perspective, Third World America It is a reading that invites reflection on the present and future state of the nation.

To stay up to date on Huffington’s view of Third World America, visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/third-world-america/

Strategic planning is a coordinated and systematic process to develop a plan for the overall direction of an organization and the allocation of resources to optimize future potential. Many businesses start with just an idea and a desire to succeed. Sometimes it works; more often, it doesn’t. According to the US Small Business Administration (SBA), the main reasons businesses fail are lack of a solid plan and lack of adequate capital. These two reasons are related, especially in tough economic times. After all, if you don’t invest in a good plan for your business, why would you expect anyone else to invest in your business?

Strategic and business planning is not just a box to check off your to-do list. Strategic planning is the foundation of everything: your business identity, your marketing and sales, your operations, your management approach, and your financing. However, apologies abound for not doing so. Even well-established companies need to stand out from their competitors to grow and improve their margins.

Regardless of the size of your business or how long you’ve been in business, if you’re willing to invest, you may be someone who could outperform the competition and change the nature of our economy through new processes, products or services.

Planning is much more than just a team-building exercise, but one of the benefits of using the inclusive planning process described below is the creation of a strong and cohesive management team. The feedback from my Strategic Planning Workshop is that the process brings out the different management perspectives and structures them into a unified strategy.

My six-step process for building a workable strategic plan is the foundation of my Strategic Planning Workshop.

Eastern Participants – Develop a common understanding of the planning process and the frameworks that provide information about your business. This step defines the general framework for the process and explores alternatives to more fully develop different aspects of the process. Planning team members should come from the functional units of the company (finance, marketing, operations), so they may have different perspectives depending on their area of ​​expertise. The owners’ endgame is an important driver of strategy.

Review your current mission, goals/objectives – Establish the starting point and examine alternatives that can add value to your current plan. Whether your current goals and objectives are loosely defined or well defined, they define your business and how it is run. If you’re not sure where you are, you’ll have a hard time pinpointing your address. I use a three-question, customer-focused exercise to define your current business, and then look at the next 12 months.

When you define your business from a customer perspective, you can make a difference in your success. Growth comes from focusing on customers and consistently delivering value to them. Although strategic plans generally cover longer time frames, a solid plan for the next year is important to have confidence in a three- to five-year plan.

Prepare your situational analysis – Identify market segments, competitors, capabilities, core competencies and opportunities. Instead of trying to tackle big, broad markets, define your niche, and preferably define it for your competitive advantage. To position yourself against your competitors, understand who they are and what their market strategy is.

When you consider your capabilities, you need to do an honest Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. All of your core competencies should be strengths, but does each one add value? Are they unique and sustainable? How important is each competency to your customers? Finally, identify and evaluate your perceived opportunities. Preparing a situational analysis can be an intense activity, especially if you find that you are not well aligned with your customers. If you’re not well aligned, you’re left with the options of finding new customers, developing new products or services that meet customer needs, or becoming a statistic. Over the past two years, we’ve seen some notable examples of companies failing to respond to changing customer needs and wants or changing government regulations.

Formulate your strategy – Brainstorming; develop the industry scenario; full strategic reviews; formulate strategies, mission statement, goals and objectives. “First comes the thought; then the organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then the transformation of those plans into reality.” – Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich.

This is where you differentiate yourself and find ways to beat the competition. Some companies have done poorly in the down economy, but others have grown and prospered because they had a strategy that was responsive to change. Small businesses have an advantage over their larger rivals because they can move faster to respond to change and implement new ideas. This step definitely requires some thought, but the rewards can be substantial. Remember that many of today’s great companies were founded during a recession. Other small companies proved they had value and were acquired by a larger company.

Prepare your implementation plan – Define action plans, schedules and budgets. Action without a strategy is wrong. A strategy without action is a waste. What specifically needs to be done to achieve your goals and objectives? Who should do it and what other resources will they need? When do you have to do it? Actions should be broken down into measurable steps according to a timeline and assigned to specific people. How are you going to finance your plan? Your implementation plan is your basic reality check. If the schedule is unrealistic or you do not have the necessary people, resources or funds; What adjustments can you make to achieve your goals?

Prepare for monitoring – Establish metrics and a monitoring schedule. Once you have established what needs to be done, you need to define how you are going to measure progress towards meeting your goals and objectives and how often. Monitoring should be frequent enough that corrective action can be taken before critical dates are missed. Monthly progress reviews and quarterly strategy reviews may or may not be enough. Setting minimum, target, and broad goals can also be helpful. Remember that the plan is not set in stone. If your reviews show that something isn’t working, change it.

I generally recommend using the SCORE business plan outline that was developed for start-ups but can be easily adapted for established businesses. The questions answered during the planning process feed directly into the sections of the business plan: Description of the business: what do you do? Products/Services – What do you sell? Marketing Plan – how are you going to sell it? Operational plan: how will you carry out the daily operation? Management plan: how will your business be managed and by whom? and the Financial Plan – how will you finance the business?

As you go through the steps of developing your strategy and preparing your plan, it is important to keep the endgame in mind. Although no one can guarantee the success of your business, good planning builds a solid foundation for your business and minimizes risk to you.

Communication is always one of the most important and vital strategic areas for the success of an organization. You may have the best or most innovative products or services, but if your internal and external communications are weak, then the demand for your products or services is of personal concern. When communicating the value of your products or services, you want to focus on how they will benefit your customers.

When planning your strategy for integrated marketing communication, or IMC, you’ll want to engage in a dialogue with your customers by inviting interaction through the coordinated efforts of content, timing, and delivery of your products or services. By ensuring the direction, clarity, consistency, timing and appearance of your messages, conveyed to your target audience, these factors will help avoid any confusion about the benefits of your brand, through the connection of instant product recognition. .

When you look at your marketing mix, you’re looking at pricing, distribution, advertising, and promotion, along with customer service. Integrated marketing communication is part of that marketing mix included in your marketing plan. IMC strategies define your target audience, set goals and budgets, analyze any social, competitive, cultural, or technological issues, and conduct research to assess the effectiveness of your promotional strategies.

If companies plan, communicate and follow industry guidelines in an ethical manner, they will most likely earn the trust of their customers and target audiences. There are five basic integrated marketing communication tools:

1. Advertising:
This tool can efficiently deliver your messages to large audiences through media such as radio, television, magazines, newspapers (ROP), the Internet, billboards, and other mobile communication technology devices. This method can efficiently reach a large number of consumers, although the costs can be somewhat high.

2. Sales promotion:
This tool is used through coupons, contests, samples, prizes, demonstrations, exhibitions or incentives. It is used to accelerate short-term sales by creating brand awareness and encouraging repeat purchases.

3. Public Relations:
This integrated marketing communications tool is initiated through public appearances, news/press releases, or event sponsorships, to build trust and goodwill by presenting the product, company, or individual in a positive light.

4.Direct Marketing:
This tool will use email, postal mail, catalogs, encourage direct responses to radio and television, in order to reach specific audiences to increase sales and test new products and alternative marketing tactics.

5. Personal sale:
Schedule sales appointments and meetings, house parties, make presentations and any type of one-on-one communication, to reach your customers and strengthen your relationship with your customers, start this IMC tool.

Decisions that link overall objectives and strategies during the marketing planning phases help evaluate and refine specific integrated marketing communication activities. Before selecting an IMC tool, marketing, product, and brand managers should consider social, competitive, legal, regulatory, ethical, cultural, and technological considerations. One thing you want to avoid when turning on integrated marketing communication tools is reaching inappropriate audiences and causing controversy. That could be detrimental when it comes to building brand awareness and encouraging consumer spending on your company. When marketing managers examine their target audience’s beliefs, emotions, and behavior toward their brand, they can influence their beliefs to drive product awareness, drawing attention to their promotional campaigns.