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What to Look for in an Online MBA Programs

28 January, 2021/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca Caroe

Every year, a little over 135,000 prospective students apply for MBA programs across the United States. MBA programs are a popular option for those who desire to work in a variety of business fields. As the next group of applicants prepares to begin their journey, it is important to answer one question: which MBA program is right for me? The program you select shapes your professional influences and network. Luckily, since there are a vast number of options, applicants will find a program that best suits their personal and professional interests.

In the COVID-19 world, it is important to investigate strong online programs since you will unlikely be spending much time in the classroom. The following guide is a helpful tool to learn more about finding the best online MBA program. The contained information can help you determine whether the requirements of business school will help you achieve your academic and career goals.

Considerations for Choosing an MBA Program

Deciding to pursue an MBA is a major decision but applicants have additional aspects that must be considered before starting the application process. Before making a concrete decision, create a plan that suits your skills, career goals, and academic talents. The following considerations will help you craft this plan in more detail:

Alumni Network

The strength of alumni networks impacts the school’s perception and reputation, as well as the success of graduates. Questions to ask when reviewing the alumni network include:

Do alums participate in local events?
How engaged are the alumni?
What are the alumni doing now?
What is the size of the network?

Career Services

In addition to providing top educational opportunities and teaching students the skills to become the next business leaders, one of the most important services a school can offer is assisting graduates with jumpstarting their careers. Most MBA programs have a career services department to support all new graduates with career opportunities.

Concentrations

Most MBA’s have concentrations in marketing, finance, human resources, international business, etc. which can help you further tailor your career business interests.

Cost

Cost is probably the most important factor for those considering an MBA. You must find a balance between potential salary and cost when selecting a school. With MBA’s notoriously being a costly degree, you want to find a school you can afford. Average tuition costs for an online MBA can range from $11,000 for a public graduate school to $25,000 for a private graduate school per year. More reputable programs run even higher.

Curriculum

Most programs require students to complete between 55 and 65 credits with around one-third focusing on core topics. Core classes are consistent across all business schools and include a curriculum consisting of financial accounting, managerial statistics, operations, management, business analytics, and the global economic environment.

Location

When considering the location of prospective schools, students must determine whether they wish to work in the same city post-graduation. Networking is a critical aspect of the MBA experience and that hard work can be wasted if you move away.

Reputation

Paying attention to a program’s reputation is critical since those MBA’s with respected professors and renowned alumni will attract attention. Also, the business community knows which schools function as talent pipelines. Rankings give hiring panels and recruiters a sense of how the school prepares graduates for employment.

In your search for the best online MBA program, still consider top schools but focus on any appealing school. Try to learn about the programs you have never heard of since your dream MBA could be at a location you never expected. Use the above considerations during your review to find the best options to meet your personal and career requirements.

Where did All the Freight Containers Go?

20 January, 2021/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca Caroe

The freight shipping world continues to go through its gyrations and disruptions that started with heavy impacts in Spring 2020. Now, in the latest chapter of issues, the cost of freight shipping out of China to overseas destinations has skyrocketed. Combined with a systemic shortage of containers internationally, the price tag on moving a container went from $2,000 at the end of 2019 to a whopping $9,000 per unit. But the demand is not being driven by price-gouging on the service side. It’s a far simpler matter of not having enough containers to move goods with. As a result, inventory that needs to be shipped to meet orders is piling up at the docks because there isn’t enough equipment ready to stock, store and load with.

And locally here in New Zealand the Ports of Auckland have suffered “swamping”

a perfect storm of interconnected disrupting circumstances has caused significant congestion and delays at New Zealand’s ports.

How Freight Containers Move and Why 2020 Was Different

Mechanically, shipping containers have to move in a circular pattern year-round. As goods move out of Asia, the shipping container used to move them relocates to the U.S. or Europe as the destination point. As the cargo boats move back to Asia to pick up more goods again, they either carry inventory headed back to Asia or they move empty units, but the returning container stock replenishes the numbers for new, outgoing orders. However, when 2020 hit with the pandemic lockdowns, the circular pattern and frequency of international container replenishment were disrupted. Instead, thousands of large size containers sat in dock areas at their original destination points without moving back to China and similar. When overseas trade started to pick up again going into the fall, there were few containers to work with and no new ones built fast enough to fill in the gap.

The congestion building up at ports waiting for equipment to ship adds to the problem, triggering more and more delays of freight shipping internationally. And, where companies and clients want their items to move faster, they end up having to pay a premium for that benefit versus waiting with everyone else. Those costs add up and have ultimately contributed to overall container shipping fees jumping 400 to 500 percent in 2020.

Fundamental Changes in the Freight Business are Pending

Eventually, the supply of containers will even out again as shipping picks up, particularly now that a COVID vaccine is starting to make its way through societies and reducing the need for ongoing lockdowns. However, that transition back to normality will probably take another year, and shipping logistics in the meantime are going to be hampered on the international level.

Companies have not been sitting idly by. Many of the big inventory movers and freight shipping services have been investing their capital into increased logistical centre resources on the domestic side so they have the additional stock and resilience to handle supply-side shocks as occurred in Spring 2020. It’s been made clear to everyone that, while freight shipping has come a long way in the past decades, it is still very vulnerable to demand spikes, and improvements in container logistics are still sorely needed.

The Bigger Picture of Digital Marketing in 2021

13 January, 2021/0 Comments/in Content Marketing, Social Media /by Rebecca Caroe

I have a good website and products. My social media marketing is not resulting in sales. Do I need a media expert?

Analyse past sales patterns

My view is that whether your social media drives sales or not depends on your industry and your target audience.

For the vast majority of businesses, social media does not result in direct sales. This is because customers are not in “buying mode” when browsing social sites.

And so here’s a quick check which you can do – share it here as well if you want more feedback.

List all the sales you made in the past month(s)
Rank them by value highest $ down to lowest
For the top 20% by value, write down against each one how the customer came to buy from you
Is there a pattern?

So for example in (3) above – you might say they came from your mailing list, they might be a previous customer, word of mouth recommendation, or walked into your shop or know a staff member.

It may pay to do some follow up calls if you can – or to ask every January 2021 customer how they found out about you and see if the pattern develops in the same way.

Know your customers

From this, you will begin to learn more about your existing customer base. What their patterns of behaviour are and how your business gets its sales.

Now, if you think this type of customer ALSO uses social and might be persuaded to buy from you via that channel, this is the time to review your marketing strategy and see if social media could bring you sales.

The Bigger Picture of Digital Marketing in 2021

Three things for you to check first

The vast majority of social “sales” come from paid advertising or retail shop listings on social sites. So you need to review your margins and your advertising budget for 2021 in your marketing strategy before deciding to launch into social media marketing in a big way. Can you afford to both hire a social media marketing expert and buy advertising on social? Or would your money be better spent on the channels you already have which bring in customers from your analysis in the steps 1-4 above.

Content marketing is more than just “social media”. The things you are posting on your social channels could also be put to use in newsletters, website blogs and in-store. So don’t only talk about social media – go broader to review whether content marketing is right for your business.

Consult experts to get yourself quickly up the learning curve. BUT be cautious about hiring people who have worked in big enterprise firms – a client of mine got badly burned using an expert who just spent a lot of money with only $800 return for their multi-month investment in their services. Yes they did take up references – and you should too. Become an expert in how to brief a marketing agency first – this will clarify what they do and set expectations. Below are links to articles which you should read first.

How to write an awesome creative brief

https://creativeagencysecrets.com/tag/how-to-brief-a-freelancer/

What does a modern creative brief look like?

The Cyber Security Job Gap

12 January, 2021/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca Caroe

Concern continues to mount over the shortage of skilled cyber security experts. Companies across the globe, regardless of industry, are unable to source the talent they need to build defences against threats that are increasing in sophistication and volume. There is a disproportionate rise in threat levels and not enough people entering the workforce to address IT concerns, creating a cyber security job gap that seems to have no end in immediate sight. This also applies to marketers – how may martech experts also have cyber security credentials? Not many I’d guess.

A Hard Look at the Numbers

The Information Systems Security Association conducted a survey of cyber security professionals and came to the conclusion that as many as 70% of those questioned believed their organisation has felt the effects of the skill shortage. Close to 45% of respondents believe that the gap has increased in recent years. A marginal 7% believe things are improving. However, another survey estimated that around 4 million trained IT professionals would be needed to close the gap. This many jobs would increase the cyber security workforce by 62% within the USA alone.

A Look at Training Needs

If you haven’t settled on a career field, or you are looking to change to something that offers more job security, you should explore cyber security careers for a number of promising options. Though there are many aspects of security you can focus on, you will need to enrol in cyber training courses and earn your certification in areas of interest in order to get your foot in the door. If you have already been working in IT but haven’t been able to advance past an entry-level position, becoming familiar with the cyber security framework and threats is a great starting place. You can use advanced training courses to help you stand out from others in the field.

High quality training courses are the first step in bridging the cyber security gap, and there are plenty of ways to access this education. College programs, online organisations, and workplace retraining are just a few ways individuals can move into IT security. However, there is some concern that there is little room for real-world application in these programs, making continuing education (while in the field and on the job) another priority. Dark web threats and cybercriminals are evolving as rapidly as the technology they use, increasing the need for up-to-date training at all levels of IT involvement.

A Look at Factors Impacting the Gap

The cyber security landscape is constantly changing, and with those changes comes a critical need to continually assess talent and educate those entering the profession. Surveys of current cyber security professionals indicate there are several factors contributing to the skill gap. These include:

• IT workers don’t have a specific career path

• Lack of access to basic cyber security certifications

• Inability to find a mentor or rely on peer support

• Difficulty landing a cyber security internship

A majority of IT workers started their careers handling more basic security functions and IT roles, yet as the threats rose and companies were left exposed, many of these individuals were thrown into more advanced roles without proper training. Other professionals thought of moving into cyber security for the career potential, yet they didn’t spend the time systematically developing their skills. Proficiency, when learning on the fly, can take years. This on its own becomes a major security threat. Formal training reduces this liability.

Another factor is business executives’ lack of awareness of the importance of information security. Without a top-down approach to education and instruction, cyber specialists within the company may be trying to handle both operations and the instruction of their peers. This scattered response leaves too many areas unaddressed, and those who could succeed in a cyber security role may never get the opportunity to learn. Organisational priority toward cyber threats and security should make training a priority both for those coming into the company and those already established in their positions.

A Look at Your Future

As an IT professional or someone looking to make a career in the IT security field, you don’t need to wait on a company to send you to school or walk you through their cyber defence program. Your career advancement is your responsibility, and you can give yourself a better reputation over the competition when you enrol in cyber certification courses on your own. Look for programs that emphasise practical, hands-on learning.

Your education will increase your hiring potential and help bridge the gap in cyber security jobs.

Brainstorming Brand Names

8 December, 2020/0 Comments/in Branding /by Rebecca Caroe

Brainstorming brand names is hard.

As a B2B Copywriting expert, here’s my copywriting method.

Brand names require a different approach

Start with blank paper and write down ANYTHING.

One line per name choice.

Dump down any words which could be part of your brand name.

Then do individual words – and create 2 and 3 word phrases with those words in.

Then stop. Take a day off.

Next day do some research – go to forums, reddit, amazon and read reviews people write for products in your niche, for podcasts, books and discussions. While reading, write down any phrases that seem to jump out at you as having resonance.

Add these to your list – one line per name choice.

Short list brand names

Now comes the narrowing down part. Create a short list and write one option on each separate piece of paper.

Hang them around your room. Every time you walk in or out look at them… add ticks to the ones which resonate. Get familiar with them, edit them, add new ones that occur to you.

When you have a short list of 3, ask your trusted friends what they think. Listen carefully to their replies.

When you have a short list of 2, ask the public what they think. Listen carefully to their replies.

Make your final choice.

Further Resources

Generate Business Domain Name Ideas That Give You a Competitive Edge

How to name your new business

How to Create Brand Name Ideas

How much work does going viral take?

13 November, 2020/0 Comments/in Social Media /by Rebecca Caroe

I like being flattered as much as the next social media expert. [I’m not a guru by the way].

And responding promptly to media enquiries is best practice.

Here’s an example of a social media agency running a project which wasn’t quite what I expected. Learn from my mistakes.

Anatomy of a viral social campaign

When Claire Divas approached me the request was nicely written.

I suspect English is not her first language – copywriting for sales success is a course she could usefully complete. That apostrophe is a killer giveaway as is the word eager – which is commonly used in Indian English. And it turns out it is not “her” site, it’s an agency business.

I’m doing an Expert’s Roundup interview on my site and I believe social media enthusiasts 
and specialists would be eager to know your answer to this question:

What Are The Effective Tips For Online Business To Get Viral On Social Media?

It looked good. On topic and the right audience of enthusiasts. Going viral with a post about going viral seemed like a nice proposition.

Turns out I’m one in 130+ people quoted

Does it betray trust to find you are hard to pick out in a crowd? Who will actually read one hundred and thirty different so-called experts advice?

So how did the campaign plan look

Write to a lot of people with a simple request
Set up a form to collect their answers
Curate images and biography information
Send chasing emails.
Write a summary article with a catchy title.
Tell everyone what you’ve done

So far so good. You can copy this campaign structure.

Put the reader first

The scope of the campaign structure is good – best practice.

The selection of experts is diverse. And this is where the problems start.

Think about the reader – I think that she will find it hard to get value from what’s written here. It’s too diverse, too broad and you have to trawl through a lot of content to find that one snippet of “gold” that will answer your question.

Self-evidently Trollishly [hideous name btw] want a lot of people to promote and link to their content [that’s a no-follow link].

And that will give them a ton of good SEO and incoming links and publicity as people quoted amplify their message to their audiences.

What I got wrong

What irritates me is that I didn’t ask the right questions of Trollishly and of myself at the start of the project.

How many experts will be quoted?
How many people in your audience are B2B
Will the links be do-follow back to my website and social profiles?
Will this audience become businesses prospects for me?
What is the ROI on my time?

Rebecca’s advice on the shared expert post

I fell for their pitch. I didn’t qualify the opportunity well enough.

And look at what they published – the pink circled website and social media details of my business are an image – not hyperlinked at all. So going viral is not what they actually delivered for me.

I feel exploited….

P.S. I could have found much of this out with a little research. The menu items on their website include “Buy Instagram likes”. Tells me everything I need to know about the quality of their business.

Ecommerce retail product coherence

3 November, 2020/0 Comments/in B2C, Marketing ideas /by Rebecca Caroe

Asking the right questions is key to getting the most out of an ecommerce retail marketing adviser.

Web traffic to online store

Giving “free” advice on the Manaaki forum, I showcase where and how online retailers can improve a lot of their business without a lot of cost. One question asked was

I need help with increasing traffic through my online store on my website.

I would like to add to more products but if there is no interest on what I’ve already put up, then I’m unsure if I should proceed further.

The questions look good – but when I did basic research into the site, the other social media profiles and the product set, it was clear that the author was not asking the right questions.

Online Product Mix

This site sells a book and some note cards.

The description of the products are accurate, but not aligned to any obvious audience, nor do they connect together – why does an author sell note cards?

I did some research and I could see why – she’s an artist AND and author.

The images she creates are her social media publicity and the “experimenters mindset” she identifies with gives a clear alignment with an audience of searchers.

So far so good, but the website and the social media profiles are not aligned. There’s no connection between what she does on each and so without that logic, the customer won’t see any reason to go from one to the other. If you like her social media pictures, there’s a website selling a book = disconnect. And the reverse.

You need your product-set to have coherence – they must sit together logically. A website that sells milk and furniture doesn’t work because few people just buy those two things together.

Can you build other products which are related to your book which allow the customer to step up a “ladder” of purchases? This allows the customer to buy one thing and it’s obvious what the next thing they should buy.

This is a great test for any ecommerce store.

You need entry level products, you need larger ticket and high priced items and a pathway from one to the other. And if possible, you also need replenishables – things which can be bought over ad over again.

Let me share a way you can check your ecommerce store has a good product set and is aligned with your target audience along with the marketing you do. Read on.

Assess your competitors

Go and find websites for your 4 favourite competitors. Analyse them.

What are their websites like? What products do they sell? How are the home pages laid out?

Draw a ‘wireframe’ of their website home page and identify each block of the page and what it is – this is a photo – this is a buy button – this is a link to the top 3 products etc…. You will quickly see a pattern and a logic to a nicely designed website. You don’t need to know what the ‘rules’ of good design are – but you do need to be able to explain to a friend why you like each site.

Search for “shops / brands similar to….” and find sites you don’t know and do the same analysis.

You are trying to work out who their customers are and to answer the same questions above. Write all this down in a spreadsheet so you can compare them. Then ask a friend to check your work and see if they agree.

Now you have an idea of where your website matches up with these design rules. Make any changes you need so your site is laid out better. And who is YOUR customer? When you know your audience – re-write your website as if you are speaking to one person who is your ideal customer persona.

Online retail merchandising

After doing your website audit, now review your product mix.

Can you build other products which are related to your number one best seller which allow the customer to step up a “ladder” of purchases? So they buy one thing and it’s obvious what the next thing they should buy is. Keep the list of products short and concentrate on a range of price points as well as the ladder of purchases.

There’s a lot of work in here – pace yourself, small actions done regularly are a good way to make progress.

Read the case study answers where I suggest products to add to the range and also low cost marketing tactics for promoting the brand, head back to Manaaki.

Are business cards still relevant to marketing?

2 November, 2020/0 Comments/in Data /by Rebecca Caroe

As a child I was fascinated by business cards.

Rebecca’s discarded business card storage boxes

My curiosity was piqued when I was earning some holiday money in my father’s office doing admin and filing. His business partner, David, had a corner office with a deep windowsill. It had a tiled surface and every couple of feet was a small stack of business cards. I had never seen anything like this before and while he was not looking I picked up a pile and started to leaf through the stack reading each one.

When he came back from lunch I asked him what they were and he explained that this was how business people exchange their contact details. I asked him if I could have some and he was surprised.

It was a curious thing for a 12-year-old to be interested in. He kindly sorted through a pile and gave me a dozen. “There” he said “now you can be a collector of business cards”.

I thought this was a supercool hobby and was sure that none of my friends was doing anything even remotely as interesting.

I collect business cards

Fast forward a few years and of course I’m now a marketing specialist and business to business marketing hangs off databases and your ability to stay in touch with your customers. Business cards are no longer a thing of the past but they certainly are an element of off-line marketing that has not transferred smoothly into the online world.

I vividly remember an early app called bump when you could tap knuckles with another person and exchange business cards through your mobile phones. It was one of those great SXSW digital innovations that really never meet reached the mainstream.

There was another app which I sorely miss which was CardMunch, it scanned your business card via the camera and automatically sent a LinkedIn connection request. Of course it got bought by LinkedIn and they shut it down. Sad days.

But what about business databases?

There are a lot of things that a business could be doing with customer data but I find that few firms actually take advantage of the information they already have let alone the information they could obtain.

Let’s run a quick checklist.

Where do you keep customer data in your business?
Where or other places where data is kept for example in your account system.
Can you pull these into a single place?
How often do you message your customers?
If someone is on your mailing list and that email bounces what happens?
What are you doing to add new names to your database each month and to refine the existing subscribers so that people who do not open your messages are removed or message less frequently?

Get answers to these questions by “mystery shopping” your own firm.

Having good data discipline is a really strong underpinning to a robust business to business marketing plan.

Your job for today

Think back to me as the young kid who thought collecting business cards was cool. Take a look at where your business could collect customer data and what actually happens when you do.

I hazard a guess that there are a lot of opportunities which are extremely low cost, could lead to valuable customer relationships and more sales.

Go get them.

What You Can Count on From a Good Copywriting Service

1 November, 2020/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca Caroe

When it comes to efforts such as marketing, advertising, or social media, crafting the right message is essential. You need to communicate effectively with current and prospective customers. It takes great writing to do that. Penning interesting, engaging, and relevant copy might not be your strong suit. In fact, this may be a time when you look for some outside help. Thankfully, you can find reliable, competent copywriting services to take your ideas and present them to your audience appropriately and effectively. If you’re not sure it’s worth your effort to hire a service, consider the benefits that such a team could offer.

Experienced, Skilled Professional Writers

A copywriting service knows how to write craft dazzling copy, no matter what you’re trying to communicate. Whether you’re introducing a new product or service, whether you’ve got big company news, or whether you’re simply trying to expand your reach and improve your visibility, professional copywriters can bring your ideas to life. Copywriting services don’t employ amateurs who may have dabbled in blog writing here or there, or whose experience is limited to writing college papers. Instead, you’ll be happy to find talented writers who have a proven track record of producing excellent copy for companies like yours. The best services have a team of writers who collectively have decades of experience. These writers are adept at taking your conceptions and putting them to print and electronic media in dynamic ways.

Accustomed to Deadlines

Good copywriters have a lot of skills and abilities. One of the things they’re most familiar with is sticking to tight deadlines and providing a finishing product on time. Experienced copywriting services commit to delivering for their clients promptly. Writers know full well that missing deadlines reflects poorly on their work and reliability. It also puts clients in a bad position. The best services will honor your deadline needs by staying on top of every project, regardless of how complex it might be.

Good Communicators

Just as copywriters need to communicate messages to the audience through powerful writing, they also need to communicate well with the client. The service you hire should be dependable in this way. While meeting deadlines is essential, there are times when unforeseen situations arise and the writer must make adjustments. In these cases, you can’t afford to be caught by surprise. A good copywriter will always let you know the progress of the progress and whether he or she encounters any obstacles. Regular contact is critical, whether that’s through email, messaging app, phone calls, or even an in-person meeting.

Flexible, Adaptable

Just as the scope of a project may change on the writers’ end, you may want to go a different direction at some point too. Budget constraints, changes in your goals or vision, or other circumstances may require you to instruct the writer to do things differently, even after the writer has already started writing the copy. This won’t derail the efforts of the best writers. Instead, the writers will understand your needs and create the winning piece you envision. A professional writer should have the skill to switch tracks right away and continue moving forward, even if there are significant changes to the style or tone of the content.

Worth Your Investment

Paying for copywriting services does require a financial commitment from you. However, you can rest assured that you’ll get an equal or larger portion of what you put into this relationship. By delivering excellent copy, a professional can help increase traffic on your website, widen your customer base, and ultimately help your company’s bottom line.

Now you know that professionals can offer these benefits. It’s a no-brainer to hire a copywriting service today.

Creative Agency Secrets provides copywriting services.