Agapi Helps During COVID-19. Here’s How…

covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic.

These are trying times for all of us! Social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine; these phrases are now part of our everyday vocabulary as we try to keep everyone safe and healthy.

But many are also enduring very difficult times. Many businesses have had to close their doors and lay off their loyal employees. Businesses that have been able to remain open struggle with learning to function with remote staff as their employees learn to work from home. There has been loss of income and governments around the globe are spending enormous amounts to try to ensure that people can survive.

Agapi can help you with this huge paradigm shift. We have experience helping businesses during transitional times. Take a look at our video to learn more.

Watch here, or watch on YouTube.

Please stay safe and healthy! We will get through this.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

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Focus, People!

focus people

Are you focused?

What happens when you lose your focus?

As a business owner, there are likely times when you lose your focus. Maybe you have too much going on to be able to be effective…

Today’s post is a rebroadcast of a podcast done with Frank Thomas of the Small Business Tips Show. You’ll find that the content is as relevant today as it was when it was originally broadcast. Listen in and glean some tips.

For more tips on how to improve your business, catch my videos on the Agapi YouTube channel, like on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.

Listen here or download the podcast.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

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How Much Should Your Marketing Budget Be?

marketing budget allocation

It’s important to set a budget for marketing.

Do you have a set rule for marketing budget allocation?

Or do you just allocate marketing whatever is left after all of the projected business expenses for the year have been set?

USBA suggests 7% to 8% for small businesses. However, you can shoot for up to 20% if you really want to smash it hard in the marketplace.

A survey from the CMO Council, on the other hand, comes with similar results with 74% percent of marketers allocating 4% to 6% of their annual gross revenue to marketing, while only 2% apportion more than 20%.

The size of your marketing budget will fuel your marketing efforts, and so if you’re in a very competitive industry, and most especially if you’re in the early stages of your business, then you should really have a strong budget.

How do you structure your marketing budget?

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

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Boom Your Business And Beat Bigger Brands

compete with bigger businesses

Are you a Small Local Business?

Size doesn’t matter when you are offering bigger value and personalized services. What you need is to create more visibility online for the people who are looking for what you provide.

What are the advantages of being a small, local business that will enable you to compete with bigger businesses?

Here’s a short list:

Technology Tools

In no other time has technology made it easier for us to do business, communicate, promote, and expand our businesses on such a far-reaching scale. The Web, SEO, and Social Media Marketing allow us to market our businesses in the same way that bigger brands do.

Flexibility with Changing Conditions

Small business owners have way more flexibility to make immediate and necessary changes that are essential to dealing with changing local market conditions. For big businesses, recommendations go through many levels bureaucracy before decisions are made at the top. Execution suffers the same delays down to the personnel on the ground.

Personalized Customer Service

You have the opportunity to deliver personalized, unexpected and exceptional customer service.

How does it feel when you are served by the owner of a restaurant that you often dine at, and get asked if the food is good and what can they do to improve their menu?

There is something very warm and fuzzy feeling about local interactions for both owners and customers.

Access to Digital Marketing Expertise

There are no longer barriers to accessing digital marketing expertise when you can hire an expert by the hour to oversee your marketing strategy and activities.

Contact us if you want to seize the opportunities that digital marketing can offer and reclaim your domination in your own territory.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

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Better Engagement With Live Chat

live chat

Live chat is here!

And now it is something that even small businesses can use.

The thought of adding live chat to your site used to be quite intimidating! Aside from the cost of the technology, there was the angst of making sure someone from your business was available to respond; the alternative was to hire a third party to interact on your behalf.

Well, things have changed!

Watch today’s Marketing In A Minute video to learn how live chat technologies have changed and are a tool that all business can now use.

Please join us now, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you won’t miss any of our upcoming tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Yes, Big Brother Really Is Watching!

big brother

It’s 1984 all over again!

George Orwell was right.

Back in 1949, George Orwell published the now iconic novel, “1984”, predicting a time when our movements and our lives were tracked.  And, like many sci-fi novels, the predictions have come true.

Our current technology is a wonderful thing, but remembering that it has another side to it will make you use it more sensibly.

Are you putting everything out there?

Watch today’s Marketing In A Minute video for our tip on using technology wisely.

Please join us now, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you won’t miss any of our upcoming tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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It Is Written!

write it down

Did you write it down?

Write it down to make it real!

Whether you are creating a marketing plan or making plans in other areas of your life, be sure to write it down.

Our Marketing In A Minute video today explains how this helps you achieve your goals.

Please join us now, and consider subscribing to our channel so you won’t miss any of our upcoming tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

What’s In A Name?

what's in a name

What does your name say about your business?

When creating and building your business, choosing the right name is an important first step.

How your business is found – and how it is perceived – often hinges on the choice of name. Prospects need to know how to find you, and your name can play a big part in accomplishing this feat.

Our Marketing In A Minute video series continues today. Please join us now, and consider subscribing to our channel so you won’t miss any new tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube:

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Why Your Site Needs To Be Mobile Responsive

mobile responsive

Are you sure you are mobile responsive?

If not, you are not only on the radar for Google penalties, but are also losing potential clients.

We have shared the news about how Google penalizes non-mobile responsive sites, but beyond rankings, you could be losing business.

Today, we wanted to share with you an infographic from GoMobile Solutions that shows clearly why your site needs to be mobile.

See the infographic:

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

5 Ways To Ensure Your Content Is Effective

effective content

Is your content being read?

We are all familiar with that proverbial saying, “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a noise?”

Well, we can apply the same question to our content.

You can spend all kinds of time, money, and effort compiling and posting content, but if no one reads it, what’s the point?

Creating relevant content that speaks to your target audience, as well as presenting it in an attractive and easy to read format is critical to gaining readership and loyalty online.

We have put together five questions to ask yourself to ensure that your copy is effective and is being noticed by your target audience.

Check out these 5 questions:
              • What does your homepage tell people about what you are offering? Always try to think like a first-time visitor to your website. Make sure that your homepage is designed in such a way that it clearly represents your brand and your offerings. This will ensure that visitors to your website will know immediately if this is a site that they wish to explore further.
              • Is your content written for consumption by the average reader, and free of jargon? Every industry and profession has its own jargon. We converse regularly with our colleagues and our peers using this jargon. But sometimes we can get so used to speaking in these terms that we forget that those folks not involved in our industry or profession don’t understand what that terminology means. If your clients and prospects understood this jargon, chances are they wouldn’t need you. Make sure you are communicating in plain language to your prospects and clients.
              • Does your choice of language within your content “speak” like your target audience speaks? Aside from simple common sense and personal experience, there is times of research out there that proves that when you communicate in the same terms and language is your intended audience, you create a better rapport. By building this relationship, you build trust and community among your audience, which translates to more readership and a loyal client base.
              • Are your calls to action effective? Content without a call to action is nothing more than an article or an advertisement. Let’s face it, 99% of us are using online methods and strategies to promote our businesses and convert visitors to customers. Make sure that you would include a clear, effective CTA within your content. Measure the effectiveness of your CTAs with the use of analytics and software tools such as heat maps and content analysis.
              • Are you effectively communicating your unique value proposition? Differentiation of your business from all others offering the same or similar products or services is the key to building your business and keeping clients. Review your website content regularly to see that your message is clearly defined. But sometimes we are too close and can’t really see how it is being perceived. Consider polling some of your clients to see if they believe that a first-time visitor to your website could define and describe your UVP in their own words

 

  • Until next time…

    Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

    If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

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