Today’s leaders around the world cite culture and employee engagement as one of their top organizational challenges. They are in a position to identify and assess the need for change in their organizations as certain issues are only evident like a tip of the iceberg. In order to kick start organizational change management, leaders can do these two things. Constantly Ask Why? Why do we do it this way! If “That’s the way we’ve done it always” is the answer, it’s time to delve deep into underlying issues that are waiting to be addressed.Consult an expert from outside and allow them to experience your firm for a while. They might be able to bring out the existing flaws. New perspectives always end in benefits. Organizational Change Management Factors contributing to failure: Management behavior does not support changeEmployees’ resistant to changeInadequate resources / budgetOther obstacles Organizational culture eats organizational change for breakfast, lunch and dinner- so, don’t leave it unattended. Mind-set Shifts for Organizational Transformation From profit to purposeFrom hierarchies to networksFrom controlling to empoweringFrom planning to experimentationFrom privacy to transparency The transformation journey can’t rely only upon technology innovations as innovations are a result of in-depth factors including mind-set, behavioral constructs, leadership and culture. The most profound business challenge we face today is how to build organizations that can change as fast as change itself. – Gary Hamel An Employee always tend to think and fear “My boss does not like me!” This mentality stops him/her from expressing his/her thoughts freely. This is a definite do-harm factor for the firm as suggestions from employees are valuable as they stem from their work experiences. Be it inter personal or even judgemental, an employee must be given a free hand to sincerely express his point of view. Culture defies strategy The key is to make your employees happy. Happy employees perform better. To make them happy, you just have to do one important thing as a leader. Listen. Listen. Listen. You can be straight forward, treat them like friends in order to create a great atmosphere. By doing this you are extracting their potential with ease. They come forward with excellent suggestions for the good of the company. Employee experience is all about emotional connect. References. Mindset Shifts For Organizational TransformationCulture and...

Digital marketing is an essential part of any business, but even more so for charities. This blog post will explore some ways you can use digital marketing to maximise your fundraising efforts by leveraging several effective digital marketing strategies. Who is your audience? Before you begin with anything else, you need to know who your audience is. What do they want? What questions do they have? How can your charity help them, and what will resonate most with their experience and needs? Once you know these things, then it’s just a matter of creating content that addresses those specific issues and concerns. Marketing agencies such as Eleven Marketing can be useful in this sense because they can help you get the most out of your budget to really reach the people you are trying to reach. This is useful because not only is budget often a constraint when it comes to raising awareness of your brand but spending your money in the most effective way possible can be difficult if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Get to the root of your cause It’s easy to think of reasons why you and your team should be passionate about your cause, but do those same people who will be donating share that passion? If not, then why should they care? What is it exactly about your cause that makes it something worth donating time and money to rather than another charity? Make sure you’re always asking yourself these questions so that you know what to focus your marketing efforts on. One of the best ways to leverage digital marketing is through storytelling.  You can use storytelling in a variety of different ways – especially when it comes to getting fans involved with their favourite causes. You can also do this by leveraging influencers, sharing stories about people who donate, or by creating a story and sharing it.  All of these methods can draw in your audience and create a closer connection between your charity and the people who support you. Positive social media engagement Social media is essentially an endless hive of buzzing activity. It’s also a place where your brand can be seen by potential donors and, more importantly, by those who already support you. The question is, how do you make the most use out of social media? What kind of content should you share that will actually get people engaged with your charity? One of the most popular ways for charities to use social media is by sharing positive or inspirational stories. People are much more likely to share positive content with others because it leads to them feeling good about themselves. If you can create a digital marketing strategy that aligns with this mindset, people are far more likely to share your information and spread the word about your cause. Build a useful website Another effective digital marketing strategy you can use is building a useful website that provides people with the information they need to know. It’s like having your own personal assistant that’s always available and ready to answer questions 24/7. So, what kind of content should you be sharing? It’s best to stick with articles about specific things people will be looking for when they visit your website. For example, if you’re a cancer charity, then you can post information about symptoms of cancer or how to find a specialist close...

Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) is the backbone of internet traffic. Well-implemented SEO helps Google search engines to correctly classify and rank your website. This, in turn, means that you’ll appear higher in relevant searches, increasing traffic and visibility. Many of the practices associated with SEO are well known, but mistakes are just as common and can have a detrimental effect on your site’s performance. #1 Keyword stuffing Keywords are important. They help Google to classify your site correctly, ensuring that it appears high in relevant searches. Keyword stuffing, on the other hand, is bad. Properly optimized content will contain two or three highly relevant keywords, dispersed and occurring naturally throughout the text. Stuffed content will contain tens and, in some cases, even hundreds of keywords crammed into the text without context. Not only does keyword stuffing affect the readability of content, but it’s a sure-fire way to get yourself flagged as a spammer. Some content producers struggle in this area, so it’s useful to hire SEO specialists like https://www.altagency.co.uk/services/digital-marketing/seo/ . They’ll find the best keywords for your site and ensure that those keywords are implemented correctly, avoiding overkill. #2 Bad linking Links are contagious. A good backlinking profile that includes links to relevant, high-quality sites will see your own content classified in the same way. Links to low-quality spammy sites (or hundreds of irrelevant links scattered across your content) tell Google that you’re a spammer too. This, of course, leads to a poorer ranking and decreased traffic. Keep your links as relevant as possible, and always link to authority sites like newspapers and specialist websites. Not only does this ensure value for your readers, but it lets Google know that you’re focussed on informative content. Remember that value is key. Give your readers information they can use (in the form of good content and good linking), and traffic will naturally follow. #3 Neglecting mobile traffic Mobile traffic now represents a vast portion of all internet usage, and search engines know this. Sites optimized to perform well on mobile will inevitably and invariably rank higher in results. Sites appear differently on mobile and tablet than they do on desktop, and it can be difficult to manually optimize for every platform. Fortunately, responsive themes make the process much simpler. Responsive themes do just that: they respond to the device they’re being viewed on. They’ll adjust how your site appears between mobiles, tablets, and desktops, ensuring that it functions perfectly across them all. #4 Duplicate content While there’s nothing wrong with writing content around a similar theme, duplicating the same material will eventually see you penalized by Google. Search engines and their users want fresh, new content. Simply taking an old article and rewording it slightly won’t be enough to fool them. Worse still, avoid so-called content recycling software that promises to automatically rework previous posts so that they appear new. Search engine algorithms are extremely advanced. They can tell the difference between new and old content, and they categorize websites...

“We don't have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.” You can have a smooth ride or a rough ride or be gone forever amidst the cacophony. It all depends on your understanding as to how the process works and how you shall progress taking all the odds into account. “Start With Your Brand’s Why” Why – Brand PurposeHow – Brand VisionWhat – Brand Mission Here I list the Basics of Brand Strategy for a better understanding before delving into the power of the magic wand that Instagram holds to promote your business. Why –Why are you in business?Value Proposition – What do you offer?What’s so unique about you?Target Audience – Who is it for?Visual Appeal – How does it look like?Messaging – What does it feel like? The crux is anyone can sell a product. But can you create a memorable experience for the customer and lure them to come back again and again? Apple, the technology giant has surpassed many of its competitors by employing story telling to invoke the emotion of the customers  and add sensory dimension to overall delivery and make it less like shopping. “Successful companies in social media function more like entertainment companies, publishers, or party planners than as traditional advertisers.” You have to remember this when you want to win big in Instagram. Key Instagram Metrics Reach – The number of unique views Impressions – The number of views Website taps – The number of times someone has tapped through to the link in your bio Call-to-Actions aka “CTAs” are important in social media, in ad campaigns, in digital display or in search ads. They help guide the audience to your goal and increase visibility of an offer. Here are 7 CTAs to use in Instagram without moderation!  Double tap if you …Watch our stories for…Send me a DM if you…Tag a friend who…Click the link in the bio to…Follow for more!Share with your friend who… 5 Instagram Growth Tips Interact 30 min dailyMake your account SEO optimisedStay active and interact with the communityShow up everyday and stay consistentUse optimized hastags The best way to start out your Instagram branding strategy is by looking at the content you’re creating. Come up with the best strategy for ensuring your content has a similar look and feel across the board. (@sproutsocial) Use a rainbow or ombré look throughout your Instagram feed.Stick with a single focus color for all of your content.Find a photo edit effect or filter you like and use it for all images evenly.Create a pattern with graphics and photos throughout your feed.Put together a grid where your photos have elements that overlap. Usually the color palette for a colorful theme is: blue, pink, green, red, orange. You can’t go wrong with this color combination. All these colors will be around you in summer! (@thepreviewapp) Think about a tropical getaway: blue sky, blue water, pink flowers, pink sunsets, green trees. Always plan your content ahead of time and use a content calendar to organize your thoughts. Its not wise not to have a content plan and randomly publish a post. Consistency is the key in any social media platform and Insta is no exception. Slowly you’ll see your audience building up – those people who are truly interested in what you have to offer and these people are your “Insta Warriors” who will help build your brand by spreading the word across their network. Many pre-made design templates are available for download that you can instantly edit and customize to suit your needs. (@ksioks) This blog post introduces you to the basic concepts of...

Startups are famous for moving fast and breaking things. This approach, disrupting the incumbent market with new ideas and new products or services, has created some of the world’s largest and most powerful businesses. And it’s something that you should focus on as you’re building your fledgling company, ensuring that you’re constantly adding talent and experience to your team in order to drive your brand further. Here are the key roles and skills to bring on board in 2022 to help your business expand rapidly in a post-pandemic world. Finance One of the key considerations that all startups have is where they’re getting the next big investment. So far, you may have been relying on personal funds or investment funds that you’ve been able to secure through funding rounds. But in the future, you’re going to need to increase your cash reserves in order to maintain a constant cash flow. And that’ll mean bringing in a finance lead to help balance your firm’s books. This can usually just be one individual with experience working in startups who will be able to help you apply for further funding and reach out to investors to secure your next grant of cash. How to design your startup so that it is attractive to investors!  👇 👍  Marketing Getting your products or services seen by millions of people is a constant priority for your firm. You’ll know that effective expansion is all about click to your website and clicks on the magic “Buy” button on your sales pages. And to achieve that, you need savvy marketers. Now, startups are usually composed of no more than a handful of employees, and effective marketing teams are usually ten people strong. So you’ll want to initially outsource, to experts like SEO Ibérica, to build your early campaigns. Then, once you’ve grown in size and stature, you’ll be able to consider hiring an in-house marketing team to go it alone. Operations An operations manager will help you and your teams work effectively and efficiently. This is often a godsend for startups that they didn’t necessarily know they were missing. There’s a fair amount of chaos in a startup, as a small team juggles a large number of responsibilities. But an experienced operations officer will be able to make all of your lives easier, spotting where there are inefficiencies and other things holding you back from peak productivity. IT And finally, there can be no successful startup without at least one individual on the team who knows their way around digital technology. Whether that’s an app developer who is going to build a new digital arm for your business or a web designer who’s always able to make tweaks to your website in order to bring in more views, you need that tech knowledge in-house and available in the working week to help you build up your firm. Hire experience and ambition in this role – and a certain amount of creativity – so that you’re able to outcompete other brands and their outdated digital infrastructure. Hiring as a startup is difficult, and sometimes it’s preferable to outsource. But as you grow, here are four areas you should consider recruiting within to make your firm successful in...