How to Be Productive: 10 Ways to Actually Work Smarter

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Let’s be honest. We all want to know how to be creative on days that seem completely dreadful and leave us feeling totally uninspired and stuck. Either the words just aren’t coming or the visual concepts are unreachable.

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How to be simultaneously productive and creative

Between the Mad Men era of creative freedom and rebellion against traditional structure and C-suite disciplined productivity, it’s easy to misconstrue that the two cannot and should not cross. Productivity and creativity are mistakably seen as mutually exclusive lines of thought. However, after a deep dive to uncover the top tips and tricks to both productivity and creativity, there is common ground for proper alignment to implement what we’ll refer to as “productive creativity.”

The Process

Productivity Says: Set a system to achieve your goals

Creativity Says: Give yourself the freedom to play, not just work

The foundation of effective productivity is to set a repeatable system or process that bites away at your goals bit by bit. For example, running a marathon is a goal, but training five days a week for five miles each day is the process to reach the goal. That’s productivity at its finest.

However, if you only allow yourself to work within a process – it may end up maddening. Allow yourself time to run free without needing to hit exactly five miles for that given day. In an office, this can be done by setting aside time with no goal in mind, no deadline to hit, and just allowing yourself to express yourself in whatever way you see fit.

The Struggle

Productivity Says: Invite struggle and lean into it

Creativity Says: Embrace constraints

The struggle in the pursuit of productivity is the very thing that breeds more productive habits and patterns in the long run. By leaning into struggles, we learn to overcome them and better adapt in the future, resulting in more efficient systems.

In parallel, creativity calls to embrace constraints to lead you outside of thinking within a singular train of thought. Embracing constraints allows one to remove the limitations of a box and run with a new thought process to overcome the very constraints that were set to prevent the creativity it manufactured.

By merging the inevitable struggle of new processes and constraints, you lead yourself to overcome creative block and develop a more effective system over time.

Just Ask

Productivity Says: Ask for help on things you don’t understand

Creativity Says: Ask new questions

Increased knowledge stems from the willingness to admit you lack it in order to learn it. Or as Francis Bacon stated, “a prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”

Productivity begs us to ask questions for things we don’t understand. This guides us to not guess in our choices but to understand and expand on our knowledge to better apply productive action.

In a similar fashion, creativity flows from asking new questions. While productivity can increase by asking questions, we get creative with new thought processes by asking different questions to the same barriers and constraints.

Decisions

Productivity Says: Make data-driven decisions

Creativity Says: Try something new and borrow ideas

Research and data are pivotal in implementing productivity that will last. Without it, we are shooting in the dark to develop a system that may not last. By developing data-driven decisions, we can remove the variable of failure exponentially with proven results through research.

On the other side of the coin, we should always be looking to expand our mindset to try something new within those decisions. If we limit our decisions to what we believe is right, we are fooling ourselves and limiting ourselves to a single world view. However, if we hold to developing decisions backed with data, but open ourselves to new methods of going about those decisions and implementing them, we can highlight both productivity and creativity.

Email Marketing Made Simple: A Step by Step Guide

Email marketing has been around forever—and for good reason. It’s the most direct and effective way of connecting with your leads, nurturing them, and turning them into customers, consistently winning out over all other marketing channels.

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The Importance of Email Marketing by 2020

Some are ignorant enough to believe that “email marketing is dead”. Is there any future in email marketing for small businesses?

Short answer: YES!

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Scalable and Cost Effective 

There are about 5.6 billion email accounts to choose your target market from, according to Hub Spot. By implementing an effective email marketing strategy, you can reach more individuals than other media channels, while adhering to a small budget. Campaign Monitor’s research shows that for every $1 spend on email marketing, it returns about $38 in return on your investment. That’s an incredible 3,800% ROI.

Personable

Email marketing is highly customizable and can be broken down into separate lists with messaging personalized to each of your target market segments. Marketers that use segmented campaigns have noted up to a 760% increase in revenue, according to Hub Spot. By developing unique messaging for each segment, you create highly relevant value propositions and personalized messaging for each customer that will drive interest and, ultimately, sales.

Automated

Not all aspects of email marketing can be automated, but the process overall merges with automation effectively. By creating automated marketing through actions such as drip campaigns, you can improve timeliness of your marketing efforts, while reducing costs.

Measurable 

Through proper email marketing software, there is no guess work. Software programs, such as MailChimp, provide email tracking to see the open rate, click rate, if they converted on your call to action, and even how many people unsubscribed. With the right software, email marketing is measurable over time to better understand successful campaigns and better ways to reach customers through email marketing.

Email marketing is highly influential and a great way to directly place your brand in front of potential customers. With a noted 760% increase in revenue by companies that have used segmented email campaigns, it’s crucial to have effective email marketing strategy. 

What Will Customer Advocacy Look Like in 3 Years?

What motivates a customer to take an advocacy action? This question grows more and more important as the buying process grows more customer-centric. But the truth is that there are so many advocacy actions customers can take, and in so many different contexts they can take them, that an equally important question to consider is this: what will customer advocacy look like in 3 years? 

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As a marketer, you have a lot on your plate so you might be thinking “customer advocacy? I can’t add another thing to my to-do list!” But customer advocacy is necessary and will help you tick off a few more things off your to-do list in a shorter amount of time…

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Just like every team has a fan base, so does every company.

From the moment you start a business, your goal is to find customers that believe in your company and will support you by not only buying your product or service, but also convincing others to buy your product or service. If nurtured properly, these customers can develop into brand advocates. Brand advocates are dedicated customers who help build your brand and shine a positive light on your brand for others. Brand advocates often promote companies through ‘word of mouth’. This can be sharing information about your company in person or online often times using social media. Not to be confused, brand advocates differ from employee advocates because you have a bigger risk of losing them to a competitor.

Follow these few tips to build a brand advocacy program so you can leverage your fans in the most effective way:

• What is your goal? 
• Do you want more reviews on your social media channels? Are you trying to get more sales? Make sure you have specific goals for what you want your brand advocates to help you achieve.
• What kind of fans do you want representing your brand?
• You should have criteria that helps you narrow down your advocates to help you focus on the ones who will help your brand the most. You should also have a select few that you focus on maintaining a strong relationship with.
• Do you have a signed partnership agreement with your advocate?
• You should. This should contain all terms and conditions of your agreement with your advocate and have a clear mission for them.
• Do you have a relationship with your brand advocates?
• Focus on maintaining and growing your relationship with your brand advocates. Check in with them periodically and continue to engage with them.

Brand advocates are a great way to prove loyalty to potential customers. They can make a difference in someone’s buying decision based on what they say online about your brand. Building and maintaining a relationship with them can help your brand both short term and long term.

About Teleos

Based on Teleos’ proprietary T5 Analysis, the Agency guides businesses in how to communicate the benefits of their products and services to the needs of potential customers. Teleos crafts end-to-end marketing solutions that define the brand, resonate with audiences, and creates marketplace momentum. We know that design is more than pretty: it’s how a business works.

Employee Advocacy on Social Media: What is it and How to Do it Right

Employee advocacy is the promotion of an organization by its workforce. This could mean that employees share information about specific products or campaigns. Or, it can mean that employees share the company culture online. This can help boost brand reputation and make recruitment easier.

Employee advocacy can take many forms, but the most common and effective channel is social media. The reasons why are simple…

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6 Ways to Get All Employees Active in Social Media Marketing

By now, most businesses should value and recognize the importance of their brand actively engaging in social media marketing. Many of these platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, etc) are not going anywhere anytime soon and provide you access to the people that matter most for what your company does or sells.
Any marketing strategies that do not value the importance of social media are truly missing out…

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Every company has a story to tell, and social media is a great outlet to share it.

When building your company’s social media presence, it is important to remember that a large part of social media growth comes from having employee advocates. An employee advocate is someone who engages with your company’s content to showcase its initiatives and help create brand awareness.

Guidance for an employee advocacy program must come from leadership. There are simple steps leadership can take to assure their employee advocates are taking steps into the right direction to showcase their company in a positive light. Each platform requires an expressive tone that caters to each platform’s audience. For example, LinkedIn is business focused and professional while Facebook is more personal and community driven, and Twitter and Instagram can be targeted to either depending on the product or service you are selling.

Below are steps that employee advocates can take to showcase their company’s initiatives and help create brand awareness:

1. Employee advocates should keep their profile picture and personal information up to date and professional on all platforms if showcasing the company.
2. Employee advocates can share or “retweet” company posts to their personal pages. However, when sharing posts from their company’s page to their personal page, it is important that they keep in mind what else they are sharing around the company’s posts and that captions are professional and in line with the original content.
3. Employee advocates can engage with their company’s content by liking and commenting on their company’s social media posts.
4. Employee advocates can create posts on their personal page sharing an experience in the office or at an event. It is important to remember to tag the company’s page.
5. Employee advocates can share industry related articles that are relevant to the company’s mission.

To help promote these initiatives, companies can incentivize their employees to become strong employee advocates by offering gift cards, cash bonuses, or extra PTO.

Employee advocates are a great resource to share your company’s story, check back in next month to learn how to use your network of customers to share your story.

About Teleos

Based on Teleos’ proprietary T5 Analysis, the Agency guides businesses in how to communicate the benefits of their products and services to the needs of potential customers. Teleos crafts end-to-end marketing solutions that define the brand, resonate with audiences, and creates marketplace momentum. We know that design is more than pretty: it’s how a business works.

Business owners need SEO, marketing, and a strategy that will catapult their company into the limelight.

Your marketing strategy should include the best and most successful strategies. In addition, most business, no matter type or location depend on a successful website, whether it be for bringing in new business, showcasing new products, or sharing valuable information. This is where search engine optimization comes into play.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO can sound like a vague term to those who are unfamiliar with its purpose. For many, it seems like a mysterious process that should be left to a specialist. Proper understanding of the basics of SEO is vital for businesses because it can make the difference between a website’s success and failure. SEO has the ability to greatly improve many aspects of a business, including reputation, authority, popularity, and more. Even product or service quality can be improved as a result of seeking a higher ranking through search engine optimization. This is because your business’s quality standards will reflect online with high reviews on Google and also with backlinking; both of which help to boost search rank organically.

Understanding SEO Basics

Business owners who are in need of website or digital marketing should be aware of SEO basics so they can make sure they are doing everything they can to make their company succeed in the digital age. SEO is, at its most basic definition, how a website is read, understood, and ranked on a Search Engine Results Page, or SERP. SEO is a complete framework that is subject to changes and improvements over time as a result of algorithmic adjustments. There are many different aspects that can impact your website’s rank; including keyword density, page load speed, backlink amount, anchor text, and so much more. Because there are so many priorities to keep in place when creating a website, it’s a good idea to start with the most crucial and then work your way down the list.

At Teleos Marketing, we are experts at prioritizing and so we have provided a cheat sheet for business owners who are looking into utilizing the SEO Framework for a high rank. 

Here is our list of the top 5 SEO keys that you should focus on when you are creating your next website for your business:

1. Do Your Keyword Research

This rule involves a lot of different aspects such as keyword density, title tags, meta descriptions, focus key phrase, alt tags, anchor text, and content writing. Make sure you have them all on your pages and that they are optimized using your keywords for that page. Choose keywords with a mid-to-high search volume and that also have a low competition score. If your website is new and has a low domain authority rank you may need to think about using alternative techniques such as using only keywords with a low search volume until your domain has a higher authority. This is because of how Google prioritizes your website over older sites who have had great SEO for a long period of time. Most importantly, do not use the same keywords for each page because duplicate content is a big red flag for SEO.

2. Focus on the Content

Some of the most major components that make up a quality website are its design elements and its content writing. The goal of a website is to get people interested in your product or service. You want to keep the audience on your site as long as possible to increase your site’s interaction. The best way to do that is to have a clean and simple, yet modern and creative looking page that has eye-catching images throughout. Not only that, but you want to inform viewers and be seen as an authority in your industry. Make sure each page has quality talking points and about 1,000 words per page for best results.  

3. Design for Mobile Phones First

If your website is hard to read on a mobile phone, it could drop in rank by 50% or more in organic traffic. Google can tell if your website is hard to read on phones or other devices. Don’t underestimate the importance of optimizing your website for mobile.   

4. Use Your Headers Wisely

When adding content to your website’s code, use the HTML header tag H1 only once as your main key phrase. All other important keywords should be used as your H2-6. Unlike H1, they can be used more than once. If done incorrectly, Google will have a hard time reading your page and your rank could suffer the consequences.

5. The Faster the Better

Not only does it seriously annoy viewers when your website or its pages take forever to load, but it also annoys search engines. There is a designated amount of time that each page is allotted to be indexed, and if your website goes over the limit, Google’s algorithm could miss key content. There are many ways you can improve site speed and page speed, and the biggest is by making sure your images are compressed to no larger than 200kb.

Conclusion

Understanding SEO and what it is at its core is the first step to comprehending how it impacts your business. We know that SEO is how a search engine like Google determines the top-ranking pages to display to searchers. However, why does it do this? The answer is Google wants to make sure that it’s showing only the most relevant content first to searchers. As a result, SEO is at the heart of digital marketing because it is ensuring a high-quality product or service, and at the same time offers high visibility within the business owner’s market. Luckily for some business owners, constantly producing high quality content naturally improves SEO. High reviews, backlinks, and other positive outcomes will rise organically and make your business look good. However, great SEO can help take your business to the next level.   

About Teleos

Based on Teleos’ proprietary T5 Analysis, the Agency guides businesses in how to communicate the benefits of their products and services to the needs of potential customers. Teleos crafts end-to-end marketing solutions that define the brand, resonate with audiences, and creates marketplace momentum. We know that design is more than pretty: it’s how a business works.

SEO Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to SEO, there’s you, the search engine, and the searcher. If you have an article about how to make vegan lasagna, you want the search engine (which, in 90% of all cases, is Google) to show it as a top result to anyone who searches for the phrase “vegan lasagna.” SEO is the magic you have to work on your article in order to make Google very likely to include your post as one of the top results whenever someone searches for that keyword.

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10 Do-It-Yourself SEO Tips to Save Money

Search engine optimization is not advertising. But it still costs time and money. If you’re short on time but have the money, an SEO agency or consultant is an option. But if you’re short on money, use these do-it-yourself SEO tips to improve your organic rankings.

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