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How To Bring Innovation Into Your Small Business

It would only stand to reason that a smaller, more agile company should be best positioned to create the most revolutionary ideas. Well, this isn’t necessarily so. Lacking several key ingredients, such as money for R & D, available staff, and a lack of vision that big companies can make happen, small businesses are discovering that their challenge lies in learning how to innovate in spite of, and sometimes because of these facts. A recent study by Erik Hurst and Benjamin Wild Pugsley of the University of Chicago called What do Small Businesses Do? discovered that fewer than 50 percent of new business start-ups were born from a “new idea”. Additionally, they learned that most of these new businesses are essentially more of the same, offering an additional coffee shop, bakery or tax service to a marketplace stuffed with these services. Not much innovation, greater competition, and little chance at exponential growth.

So precisely what does it take for a small business to go from the ordinary to a business that is leading innovative ideas in their space?

4 Strategies to generate a culture of innovation in your business!

  • Encourage innovation – Rewarding your employees with tangible perks for helping to try new and innovative initiatives is an easy way to help launch your company’s venture into innovation. Try to create a buzz around discovering new and better ways to conduct  business and improve products and services.
  • Understand your markets’ needs and desires – Keep up with current trends and ideas in your market. Make sure to be hooked in to all the news and views that are effecting your company, and take action on what you hear and see!
  • Connect with existing customers – So that you can truly understand what may be a great idea for your customer, you have to talk to them. And even more than that, you ought to keep the conversation centered on customer’s problems, and shape your ideas to provide those solutions!
  • Be ready to try new things! – Don’t be afraid to be innovative. A shining demonstration of a company ready to fill a need is Behance.net, a Web-based platform for creative works, where artists can show their work regardless of their resumes, seeking to turn more ideas into reality.

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How A Flat Design Can Make Your Website Really Pop

Everything comes full circle, even web design. You might not have noticed it yet, but there’s a brand new trend in town, and its name is flat web design. It’s capturing the industry, and the thing is it’s really been around since Microsoft introduced it in 2006.

So what is it that makes a “flat” web design?

Flat design is simply a design devoid of drop shadows, gradients, and textures that have ruled web design for a few years now. Flat design employs brighter, solid colors and a lot of “white space”. Typography often figures noticeably into flat design.

Why the rebellion from 3D to flat design?

There are several reasons why this is taking place, but possibly the most compelling reason is that it’s an invention born out of necessity. The 2D environment that designers often have to work in, in this ever-more mobile world, necessitates economy of scale.

It’s become more and more difficult to cram all you might want onto a 4-inch screen, making a 3D simulation somewhat counterproductive and incompatible with a great user experience. Having a flat design pages load faster, are less bulky and are more responsive. In a competitive world in which you have a few short seconds to win over and hook your visitors, every second counts.

Trend or is flat web design here to stay?

The jury is still out on that, but suffice it to say that if it is a trend, elements of it may be hard to dismiss quickly. Apple is rumored to be considering a flat design for the next operating system, the iOS7. If it does turn out to be a fad, the simplicity and user-friendly functionality of flat web design might give it a lengthier shelf life than you might think!

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4 Smart Tips For Using #Hashtags Effectively

4 Tips for Using #Hashtags Effectively

Know what a #Hashtag is? If you’re not a social media expert, and especially Twitter, you may not have a clue just what a #hashtag is. No need for that being the situation any longer. A hashtag is a # followed by a word or phrase to perform a number of functions. Twitter users affix hashtags to tweets as search conventions, a method of categorizing, and marketing tactics. #Hashtags may also be used in other social media platforms.

#Hashtags guidelines

Be certain to do your standard due diligence and see if the keyword you’d prefer to use is not being used somewhere else. This is as easy as doing a little research (a search on Search.Twitter.com) to ascertain if that #Hashtag will be a good option. Also, don’t try to make hay with deceiving #hashtags, even if they may be seriously trending. This will almost assuredly blow up on you. One more thing: be sure to proofread before you make that #hashtag!

4 Ways to win with #hashtags

  1. Make your #hashtags short and direct – Keeping it brief and direct is the best way to win with #hashtags. If you wish to combine more than one, fine, but don’t string together a small army of them, as that will actually annoy readers and label you an amateur.
  2. Make them #hashtags to remember – Remarkable #hashtags are far more likely to be shared widely. Give some thought to this and you might get your wish and have it go viral.
  3. Use them on multiple social media channels – A #hashtag isn’t much use if it’s not shared. Although started on Twitter, #hashtags have become employed across multiple social media channels including Facebook, Google , LinkedIn and Pinterest. This assists to instill the #hashtag into the minds of their audience.
  4. Use keywords – If you can. It’s not necessarily possible, but try and work in your brand or primary keywords.

Creating and making use of memorable #hashtags can keep your brand and conversation before your social media audience, and help perpetuate your campaigns. Give it a try today!

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Founded in 2004, Godspeed International is a business consulting company primarily working with coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs. Our consulting services include business development, lead generation, sales funnel development, … [Continue reading...]

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