Business Archives - CEO Monthly

Ten Top Tips to Ensure Your Business Is Set Up For Success in 2021

Posted on January 4, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

Research from Yell indicates that despite a difficult 2020, SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises) are feeling very optimistic about their business in the New Year, with three out of every four (76%) business owners confident about the success of their business in 2021.

To help you make sure you’re ahead of the game going into 2021, Yell has shared their top tips to ensure your business is being seen, chosen, and trusted in the New Year.

Get online in 2021 – if you’re yet to take the plunge, the pandemic has meant that getting an online presence is now an absolute priority. There are plenty of options out there, from free do-it-yourself sites, to websites built and managed for you.
Consider how you can adapt your business to offer online-friendly services, look to set up an e-commerce platform on your website, or if you’re in the service industry try offering your services via video conferencing, either on a one-to-one basis or larger group sessions.
Setting up and maintaining social media profiles for your business will be even more important in 2021. With businesses having to adapt and make changes to their operations at a drop of a hat as a result of the pandemic, social media can be a great way to communicate these changes to your customers quickly.
Ensure your business is listed where consumers are searching for your services. This can be done for free on the likes of Yell.com and Google. Yell.com even shares your listing with major media players such as Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, increasing your chances of featuring on the likes of Alexa, Bing, and Apple maps.
Always ensure that your information is up to date. Make sure your latest opening hours, products, services, and delivery information is easily findable by customers and is consistent across all channels.
Download relevant business apps onto your phone – and ensure notifications are switched on – so you get alerted as soon as a potential customer contacts you via that platform, and you can reply instantly to convert the opportunity.
Reviews – a lot of people are stuck at home with more time on their hands, your customers will understand the challenges you have faced this year and will want to help as best they can. Now is the time to reach out to previous customers and invite them to write reviews for your business on Yell.com, Google My Business, Trustpilot etc.
Use the start of the New Year to build a portfolio of case studies. What your satisfied clients say about you will always sound far more convincing than what you say about yourself. Getting new, relevant, and engaging content will help to add credibility and enhance the performance of your digital marketing.
Email marketing is another effective marketing channel that you should consider exploring in 2021. Ensure that your emails come across as helpful and enjoyable, providing content that your audience will enjoy, will build trust and rapport. If you’re struggling to get people to sign up for your emails, try rewarding new subscribers with a special offer, or a coupon to use with your business.
Finally – trust is key – now more than ever, with consumers wanting to work with businesses they can count on. Let your customers know what steps you have taken to comply with Government advice and make sure this is immediately apparent on your website.

With the arrival of a vaccine against Covid-19, we should all feel optimistic about the future and life returning to a semblance of normality – here’s to a successful 2021!

4 Ways to Improve the Conference Room Experience

Posted on October 13, 2020 | by root

Businesses thrive when teams communicate, which is why collaboration is essential for the workplace. Meetings drive projects forward, pull events together and establish plans for the company.

Even if every meeting happens in a conference room, it won’t help if it isn’t productive. Tech issues and outdated features won’t match the fast-paced needs of the modern workforce.

Every company can use these four ways to improve the conference room experience. You’ll prevent future challenges and enhance employee experiences so every meeting is successful.

1. Make the Calendar Virtual

After establishing a new conference room, it’s tempting to tape a paper calendar on the wall. This strategy might work for businesses with only a handful of employees, but larger companies will quickly run into problems.

It’s easier for everyone to access a virtual calendar. It receives instant updates to scheduled or canceled meetings and includes the option to send invites with trackable responses. Various programs offer calendar options, such as:

Google Calendar
Microsoft Outlook Calendar
Apple Calendar

After deciding on a software program that works with your in-office technology, consider granting one or two employees editing access. It will streamline requests and updates to minimize miscommunication errors.

2. Install Adjustable Cameras

Virtual meetings have become a crucial part of office life. Any modern conference room should have a dynamic camera for streaming meetings. It will adjust its angle by pivoting as the speaker paces, zooming for clarity as needed.

A camera might be an investment at first, but it eventually pays for itself. North American business travelers spend $500 per airline ticket on average, which adds up quickly. Instead of traveling for meetings, companies can save money by using dynamic cameras to stream them.

3. Improve Your Furniture

Even with the latest technology, no one can take a meeting room seriously if it has cheap furniture. Employees must feel comfortable to collaborate. Cushioned seats with back support should surround a table that commands the room.

Don’t settle for a table that won’t withstand years of innovation. It should give a positive first impression when people walk into the room. Work with an expert to design a custom table that matches your brand’s aesthetic and speaks to your company’s culture.

People need the right environment to focus on tasks at hand and learn from others. Create an environment that promotes this with furniture designed to strengthen your team and your workplace.

4. Establish Best Practices

After creating a conference room, the last thing every business should do is establish a set of rules. If everyone operates under the same clear guidelines, it’s easy to manage the meeting space. No one will book the room for an entire week or leave lunch leftovers rotting on the table.

Clearly define rules like:

How far in advance everyone should book meetings
Who to contact for IT assistance
Where to dispose of trash

Management can also create social distancing guidelines as needed. Reinforce mask-wearing, chair placement and general conference room rules so everyone understands how to conduct business in the room.

Listen to Employees

After using these tips to improve the conference room experience, listen to employee feedback. An open line of communication will fine-tune the process so it works for everyone.

Top CEO in SEO

Posted on July 1, 2020 | by Kathryn Hall

Actor turned entrepreneur turned influential CEO, Joe Sernio has had a journey that many people would find extraordinary. For the last ten years, Mr Sernio has found himself at the head of one of the most exceptional firms offering a unique and optimized web and SEO strategy for businesses and franchises: Shoreline Media Marketing. As the company celebrates its tenth anniversary, we at CEO Monthly take the time to reflect on what makes Mr Sernio one of the finest CEOs in the SEO business this year.

As the world becomes increasingly digital, and reliant on digital media to help engineer success for businesses and franchises everywhere, the need for optimized websites and digital marketing content is more prevalent than ever before. However, the need was perhaps not as great ten years ago, when Shoreline Media Marketing was founded by actor-turned- entrepreneur Joe Sernio. Mr Sernio displayed exceptional vision to see where the world was heading and founded his company in 2010. He recognised that businesses work hard to get where they are, and it was time that digital marketing companies did the same for their clients. Thus, Shoreline Media Marketing was born.

Now celebrating its tenth anniversary of being in business, Shoreline Media Marketing creates online optimization plans based on each business, and their unique structure. The ultimate goal of most businesses and franchises in the world today is growth, and that can be achieved to exceptional effect with the help of search engine optimization and strategies. Over the least ten years, Shoreline Media Marketing has helped clients to grow their online presence in ways that have proven to be hugely beneficial to the business as a whole.

Mr Sernio’s insight and leadership has allowed Shoreline Media Marketing to position itself as one of the finest, industry-leading businesses working in digital marketing and search engine optimization strategies today. The tight-knit and knowledgeable team that Mr Sernio has surrounded himself with strive to customize plans for each individual client’s particular audience, no matter what size or sector the company in question is. It can be pretty confusing for a new business owner to grasp the complexity of everything involved in web optimization and search engine optimization. That is where the expertise from Shoreline Media Marketing comes in.

From paid digital marketing, such as Google Adwords and Bing Ads, to social media and organic search engine optimization, there is no shortage to the wisdom and knowledge that Mr Sernio and his team can impart upon clients. A key part of the excellence that Shoreline Media Marketing offers is that every employee understands how daunting the whole process can be for those who are new to it. Mr Sernio has cultivated an atmosphere and an ethos of quality over quantity. Everybody strives to build relationships over partnerships. The company was built on a foundation of honesty, quality, and trust, and it has never wavered from those principles.

Perhaps nowhere is there a clearer example of how exceptionally well Mr Sernio has performed as CEO of Shoreline Media Marketing than in the number of awards and top rankings the company has received over the last five years. It has consistently been ranked amongst the top SEO agencies in the country by UpCity and TopSEOs, and it has also won awards for being the Best SEO Agency and Best Web Firm in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Many businesses today will tell you that leads are vital to their business and the success of it. Whether those leads translate into actionable transactions, however, is where a great many organizations can struggle to stay afloat amongst the competition. Through careful brand management, exceptional digital marketing, and superb social media management, Shoreline Media Marketing can take those leads and transform them into something more. With proven and award-winning strategies, and an exceptional leader in the form of Mr Sernio, Shoreline Media Marketing has become a force to be reckoned with in an industry that is only going to grow more popular and necessary over time.