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Thursday, May 31, 2018

Technopreneurship: What it is and What it is Not


​Technopreneurship: What it is and What it is Not

Let me begin with a basic understanding of all the terms in this rather ambitious header! An entrepreneur is a person who identifies an opportunity, converts it into a product or service, estimates earnings and profit and builds a successful business with it. A technopreneur starts out with nothing but an 'idea'. He defies existing practices and systems and thinks of doing things differently. He creates a product or solution that uses the heft and capability of technology to change the way something was traditionally done. He succeeded admirably. For e.g. The founders of Uber thought (IDEA) of a different way to call a cab, used the power of technology (built a GPS integrated app) and completely changed the economics of the taxi/cab industry.

A start-up, according to Wikipedia, is an entrepreneurial venture which is typically a newly emerged business that aims to meet a marketplace need by developing a viable business model around a product, service, process or a platform. An ecosystem refers to the environment in which the business operates – including competitors, consumers, resources, government regulations, political, economic, cultural and social variables, all of which have an impact on the way a product is designed and used and the business entity is run...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/314142

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Monday, May 28, 2018

Five Unbeatable Tips for New Start-ups to Build a Strong User-base


​Five Unbeatable Tips for New Start-ups to Build a Strong User-base

To ensure that a startup doesn't miss a single customer is a challenge. The competitive start-up industry involves identifying the users, making them understand and appreciate the value of the products or services, engaging them with the offerings and finally retaining those users. So, in a way, the innovative start-up owners are looking at the entire consumer lifecycle which begins with consumer acquisition and ends with consumer retention.

In the fledgling stage, one of the key worries of a start-up is to build a strong user-base. So, how to build such a robust clientele? Here are five ways which one can explore to develop a robust user-base.

1. Develop Differentiated and Value-added Product ...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312898

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Friday, May 25, 2018

4 Ways Digital Marketing Is Influencing User Choice & Customer Acquisition


​4 Ways Digital Marketing Is Influencing User Choice & Customer Acquisition

The 21st century has witnessed the greatest revolution: The Internet. As the world changes steadily, so does the market. So how do MNCs, startups and other companies realign their marketing strategy to their own benefit?

Civilized society has always been driven by curiosity and progress. As we progressed, we had a few defining moments, which accelerated our historical timeline and the product is the current age, our time, our present. We catapulted our own growth and pushed us far beyond the ordinary. Although each invention or discovery has a very important contribution, none has been so globally inclusive like the Internet. The interconnected web has transcended its importance and now controls our life, our thoughts and our opinions.

When internet was conceived, it was primarily used for communication. The electronic mail took telephones and fax machines head on, beating them in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness and reduced time consumption. However, we are the manipulators of our own inventions. Soon the world realized that this technology can be scaled and used in businesses, marketing & advertising among other ventures. The circle of demands and supply did the rest. The world hasn't been the same since the late 90s and won't be the same ever again...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313955

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

A Primer on 3 Types of Email Autoresponder Campaigns


A Primer on 3 Types of Email Autoresponder Campaigns

Whenever one of your prospects or customers clicks on a link and makes a purchase, signs up for a newsletter or membership in your program, or even when first subscribing to receive your email, there should always be a response sent via autoresponder from you to show your appreciation for their efforts.

Simply put, an autoresponder is software or SaaS (software as a service) that sends a sequence of emails to a person who has taken some action. You write the emails, enter them into the autoresponder system, set the action that triggers the sending of the autoresponder email series, and also schedule when each effort goes out.

Following are the three types of autoresponder campaigns you might want to consider setting up:

Sequence emails

Don't presume that just because readers bought your ebook that this is all they want to know about. For instance, if your ebook was about canning fruit, you could do a sequence of emails, with one on the best types of cookware to do canning with, the next email on types of natural pesticides to use on your fruit in the garden before picking them for canning, a third email on how to optimize soil mixtures for best fruit production, and so on.

You could set up a whole automated sequence email campaign on just that leading to a landing page for your new book that incorporates all that information — and more. You can call it, "The Complete Guide to Growing and Canning Your Fruit." The goal with sequence emails is to keep customers interested in the information you have to share – and the products you have to sell...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/311048

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Five Ways You Shouldn't Miss Out on Digital Marketing as a Start-up


Five Ways You Shouldn't Miss Out on Digital Marketing as a Start-up

Gone are the days when businesses were owned by affluent moguls of the world; it is the age of start-ups and everyone is doing it. As is the case with something that finds existence and operation in excess, only the organisations doing the whole start-up job properly, witness success in their respective markets. With the ultimate ease of access that the age of information provides, anyone can start a venture based upon a well thought out niche. The basic idea behind a start-up flourishing is the way in which it adds or will add value to the lives of its customer base.  

The competition is high, the frequency of business operations seeing their first days is huge and everyone knows about the power of digital marketing and social media. However, what they do not understand is that even if everyone is doing it, if you do it just right, if you have that edge over them, their regular efforts will amount to nothing compared to one solid effort on your part as an organisation...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313742

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Monday, May 21, 2018

17 Incredible Employee Perks of Successful Companies (Infographic)


17 Incredible Employee Perks of Successful Companies (Infographic)

The key to a successful company comes down to its employees. And what better way to cultivate positive morale around the office than offer some awesome perks. At least, that's what a number of today's most successful businesses have figured out. Just take a look at companies like Clif Bar, Dropbox, Airbnb, Starbucks and more.

These companies have discovered that the better and more on-brand perks you offer, the stronger your company culture is. At Clif Bar, employees are literally paid to go to the gym and also have the opportunity to take advantage of a 40-foot rock climbing wall in their office. Employees at Dropbox are encouraged to jam out in their very own music rooms installed in the offices. Airbnb gives each of its employees a $2,000 travel budget and Starbucks offers to pay for its employees' college tuitions.

Of course, as a small business it can be hard to offer some crazy and costly perks to employees, however if you get creative and think about the specific things your employees enjoy, there are a number of opportunities out there. Whether it's scheduling a regular weekly staff soccer game or offering free bagels on Mondays, for some inspiration, check out Get Voip's infographic below for more incredible employee perks of successful companies...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313680

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by Idham Azhari

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Five Key Factors to Consider When Starting a Second Startup


Five Key Factors to Consider When Starting a Second Startup

In today's era, the word "Entrepreneurship" has become the most widely discussed term amongst the younger generation. Technology has played a pivotal role in shaping up the start-up ecosystem in the country and has created numerous opportunities for the entrepreneurs to enter into this space. While starting your first venture is a once in a lifetime experience, starting your second start-up also requires a lot of thought, correct attitude and leadership. When you enter into the space of launching your second start-up, there is a lot of consumer expectations and pressure that awaits you. Regardless of your first start-up being successful or not, one irresponsible step and you will face criticism from all the corners which at times shakes your leadership quality and positive attitude that in turn affects your start-up's growth. Maintaining a steady growth structure and abiding by the values that you had in your previous start-up helps you to overcome any such challenges that may come in your way.

According to me following are the five key factors that one should consider while starting a second startup.  

  • Choose Your  Industry Wisely

Armed with the experience from your previous venture, one should tap into a sector that is not freely utilised and explored. The success of your start-up is heavily dependent on the industry itself. Entrepreneurs who choose the wrong industry often face numerous hurdles in their path and on the other hand, entrepreneurs choosing the right industry have a more easy and eventful journey of growing their start-up into a successful business. Major factors entrepreneurs should keep in mind before choosing the industry are experience, knowledge and interest in that industry. Your drive and determination to see your second start-up becoming successful increases if you are passionate about the industry. Apart from this, it is important to have considerable amount of knowledge and experience in the industry as even if your first venture was successful, one cannot guarantee success if you are expanding your horizon into a new industry.        

  • Work On Your Finances

As this will be your second startup, you are quite aware about how money plays an important role in the business. Unfortunately, running out of cash is one of the biggest reasons why businesses fail across the world. From day one of starting your start-up, one should set up a cash flow management system, and should make sure that all financial systems are in place. Some measures such as submitting invoices on time, taking prompt actions if payment is delayed, etc. should always be followed by the team.

  • Reinvent Your Thought Process

When starting your second venture, one should keep a fresh and new thought process as what might have worked for your old venture, might not be the best for your second one. Reinventing your thought process on the same lines as your new venture surprises and engages the audience as well as gives your venture an individual brand status. Reinventing your business model and marketing strategies leads to you having a better perspective of your market and increases your chances of having a better grasp at various ideas from the very beginning.

  • Set a clear goal

In spite of you having prior experience in starting a new venture, one should not take that to his head and avoid starting things haphazardly. You should have a clear set of goals with achievable timelines so that everything runs smoothly and you along with your team has a concrete and straightforward path to build your business. Before starting your new venture, you should know what you are aiming for and build a road map for the directions on which your second venture will be based on. Being a successful entrepreneur gives you a new kind of freedom when you are starting your next one, but what needs to be kept in mind is that success is never guaranteed and one must have a solid plan in hand to ensure constant growth of your business.

  • Build a Great Team

The prime need for your second venture to reach a level of excellence lies in the expertise and the innovative offerings given by the brand to the consumer. With the pressure of the expectations on your shoulders, employing fresh minds in the business would help create an innovative idea for the brand and would contribute to an upsurge in the business. It is important for an entrepreneur to have a dedicated team just like his previous venture with whom he can communicate the mission and vision of the company. An organization cannot accomplish its goals with the hard work of only one person, but the combined efforts of the team boosts the growth of the company and push it more towards success every day. It is a leader's job to get the right people, put them in their right roles, and guide them on the process of doing their best work...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313439

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

This Growth Hack Can Improve Your Customer Ratings


This Growth Hack Can Improve Your Customer Ratings

Customers are forever going to be the primary factor in deciding if your business succeeds or not. With technology, many services have come into place to ensure customers are gained, retained and happy as a result. Customer Relationship Management also called CRM is a field which is upgrading itself every passing moment, and with technology, it is helping gain new customers and retain them more comfortably.

The CRM industry is worth $25 billion and growing every year. With the power of technologies such as Open Source and SuiteCRM, top notch customer service is provided and the customer remains happy...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313373

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by Idham Azhari

Monday, May 14, 2018

3 Branding Secrets for Ecommerce Success on Amazon


3 Branding Secrets for Ecommerce Success on Amazon

When was the last time you purchased something from Amazon? If you are anything like me and most Americans, it probably wasn't very long ago. In fact, in certain cities, you can have products delivered to your front door within hours of placing the order. Amazon has become the "everything store" that everyone knows and trusts, so using the platform to sell is a must for most ecommerce stores.

Selling on Amazon has become a popular hustle, but with so many companies competing in a crowded market, how do you stand out? How do you compete with multimillion-dollar ecommerce empires and build a successful business through Amazon? I'm a big believer in asking those with situational knowledge for help, so I asked Damian Prosalendis, a Fulfillment By Amazon expert and renowned consultant for Amazon stores, what he thought about the secrets to Amazon excellence. His answer was simple: The key lies in your branding -- the image you portray that (hopefully) people learn to recognize and trust. Here are a few tips on building a strong brand to drive success on Amazon, straight from an Amazon pro.

Why brands are so important

What is important to consumers today? They value visibility, quality, trust, credibility and customer experience. Today's consumers care more than ever about where they invest their dollar; they are picky. Most people will choose a brand they trust over a lower priced item from a brand they don't know or don't trust. That's why your brand is one of your most valuable assets as a business owner.

Without branding, companies selling products can only compete on price. You will be forced to compete with big brands by decreasing your profit margins. Even at that lower price, your product may not sell. Shoppers reward authentic and credible brands by choosing their products over the other options, regardless of price...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313253

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Friday, May 11, 2018

You Got Promoted to Be the Boss of Your Former Team. Now What?


You Got Promoted to Be the Boss of Your Former Team. Now What?

In a perfect world, promotions would come with congratulations and acceptance from new employees ready to follow your every decision and hang on your every word. These employees, once previous peers, would wholeheartedly believe you were the obvious choice for the leadership role you've acquired.

In the real world, promotions often come with challenges leaders don't expect. Being promoted from a position of equality to one of leadership can challenge, even threaten, the influence previously established between colleagues.

According to Genesis Advisers Chairman Michael Watkins, 90 percent of mid-level executives have been promoted to lead their peers. The hardest part of management is learning to supervise former peers and friends, 20 percent of 2,200 CFOs surveyed indicate...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312080

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Google Maps goes beyond directions


Google Maps goes beyond directions

Google  today announced a new version of Google Maps that will launch later this summer. All of the core Google Maps features for getting directions aren't going away, of course, but on top of that, the team has now built a new set of features that are all about exploration.

"About a year ago, when we started to talk to users, one of the things we asked them was: how can we really help you? What else do you want Google Maps to do? And one of the overwhelming answers that we got back was just really a lot of requests around helping users explore an area, help me decide where to go," Sophia Lin, Google's senior product manager on the Google Maps team, told me. "So we really started digging in to thinking about what we can really do here from Google that would really help people."..

https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/08/google-maps-goes-beyond-directions/

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by Idham Azhari



Virus-free. www.avg.com

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Here’s How to Quit Your Job Without Being a Jerk and Burning Bridges


​Here's How to Quit Your Job Without Being a Jerk and Burning Bridges

After searching for months or years, you finally landed your dream job. You couldn't be happier. The hard part is trying to muster up the energy to finish your last couple of weeks at your current position after you've quit your job. Although you don't have much longer to go, every minute at work feels like torture. You're at a point where you feel like you just can't take any more.

Before you give in to the urge to be mean to everyone or leave without warning, think about your actions. Many people have been where you are right now and survived, so you can, too. Just take it a day at a time, and focus on the next step in your career path. Here's how to quit your job without being a jerk and burning bridges...

https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/how-quit-your-job-without-being-jerk-burning-bridges.html/?a=viewall

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Monday, May 7, 2018

Why Startups Focused on Solving Social Problems Are Attracting Investors


Why Startups Focused on Solving Social Problems Are Attracting Investors

Blackrock put the business world on notice when Chairman and CEO Larry Fink proclaimed, "To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society." People called it a watershed moment on Wall Street. With $6 trillion in assets, Blackrock has the clout to make chief executives listen – and change ideas about what 'good business' means. Now, in order to drive significant social impact, they need to lead by example. The world is watching.

First, though, it is important to acknowledge that the concept of businesses "doing good" is open to interpretation. The idea is nebulous. It can be applied to almost anything, and often is in the business world. Startups looking for funding, and especially those pressed for resources, may try to wrap themselves in social impact language to appeal to both investors and customers without living up to their promise.

Such inconsistency between words and actions dilutes the idea that business can be a force for good instead of greed. Making public commitments to social good without action to back them up sets a dangerous precedent. Failing to follow-through diminishes credibility and significantly increases the risk of customer mistrust...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/309076

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Friday, May 4, 2018

7 Money-Saving Content-Marketing Tricks Every Marketer Should Try


7 Money-Saving Content-Marketing Tricks Every Marketer Should Try

 5 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Content marketing is one of the most popular and cost-efficient marketing strategies available, but that doesn't mean that it's cheap. If you want to execute a high-quality strategy, you'll need to invest heavily, either in in-house personnel or experienced external firms capable of producing excellent work.

Thankfully, there are some money-saving tricks you can use to cut your costs without sacrificing the quality of your campaign, but you won't find too many people talking about them -- either because they don't want to share their secrets, or because they can be exploited and used the wrong way.

I've found the following seven strategies to be incredibly useful, and I hope you will too:

1. Reuse your old content.

I know what you're thinking: This is a bad idea. And it is, if you do it the wrong way. Let's say you had a successful blog post a year or two ago about some evergreen topicin your industry. Obviously, this is a piece that had the power to attract lots of people to your blog, or earn you more than its share of conversions. So why not revisit that power by reposting this content?

Obviously, you can't just repost the same article every month and hope to see new results. But there are viable options. As long as you wait at least a year before reposting, you can probably get away with a total republication...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312577

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by Idham Azhari


Virus-free. www.avg.com

Thursday, May 3, 2018

6 Tips on How to Engage Your Customers Through Social Media Strategy


6 Tips on How to Engage Your Customers Through Social Media Strategy

Once upon a time, the only online presence a startup needed to worry about was a website. Not long after, a Facebook business page became another virtual necessity. Next came Twitter, where news is so often reported -- and even made --before anywhere else. And there's more: Nowadays, if you're a business that relies on visual branding, an Instagram account is a must. Moreover, if your customers are B2B, LinkedIn is a platform that's only growing in importance.

An effective social media strategy can be a boon to virtually any startup or business. But, where do you start? Based on my experience advising entrepreneurs on how building an effective social media strategy can increase the value of their online business, here are six tips to get your social media strategy on the right track.

Stick to a publishing schedule.

When it comes to developing a successful social media strategy, consistency is essential. Entrepreneurs are busy people. It can be easy for you to let days, or even weeks, fly by without publishing a new Facebook post or tweet. That's why a commitment to scheduling is so important. If your audience members can't count on your business to deliver relevant content in a timely manner, you'll find it difficult to keep them engaged.

Luckily, there is an abundance of social media manager apps out there to help keep your content calendar on track. Two of the most established and powerful are Hubspot and Buffer. Both handle scheduling across a number of platforms and offer "forever free" plans so you can get your social media calendar up and running at no cost.

Maintain a consistent voice.

For an effective social media strategy, timing is not the only area where consistency is important. Vital to your brand's health is uniformity in voice and messaging across all your channels. The brand persona on your website -- in emails and on social media -- needs to be kept consistent; otherwise, you risk confusing and alienating your audience...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312787

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by Idham Azhari



Virus-free. www.avg.com