It’s important to stay positive at work. If you stay positive at work, it increases your productivity and creates a healthy environment for everybody around you. Not just you, everyone meets with so many challenges during work but if one is not careful, work-related stress might arise resulting in mental and physical problems. Soon it will also affect people around you.
According to a report, 80% of workers feel stress on the job. Getting fired is easy as no one can cope with a stressed guy. In that situation remaining stay positive is the key to success. Make colleagues around you happy and can guarantee job security. Here are some of the tips you need to observe in order to stay positive at work.
Staying organized means you will manage and achieve your duties on time. Be creative in your work and divide heavy work into small manageable tasks. Engage people to brainstorm and get ideas. Stay positive and identify your strength. Disorganization becomes overwhelming hence reducing your motivation to work brings dissatisfaction and sometimes drives away your confidence.
Organize Daily Task
Get a break
Normally, in a day we work for 8 good hours. It is not healthy to work continuously because our minds get exhausted. Instead, take a break from your desk, walk outside either to get fresh air or cold water. It is very easy for your mind to wear out and chances of losing focus are very high. Motivation also goes down. When mind refreshes, we can work productively and stay positive.
Avoid Carrying Work at Home
There is time for everything. After spending eight hours at work, we need time for ourselves and our families after work. You are very likely to lose morale of going to work the following day if we continue carrying office work back at home. We should create time for our hobbies. Whatever task you did not complete that day, it is always advisable to prioritize it the following morning. Our minds are programmed to work in a certain manner.
Establish a Cordial Relationship with Co-workers
Relationships are very important as we need each other at work and even outside the working environment. It promotes efficiency and work become easy when your relationship is good with colleagues. You will always have somewhere to run to and get support when you are in need. Stress levels realistically will go down and you will stay positive.
Be a Team Member
Team Member
Avoid being rigid and selfish with your ideas. Avail yourself to support your colleagues in their jobs. Dot let them ask for your assistance. Create an opportunity to know what other people are doing, give them your skills and probably once they understand, they will not bother you anymore. They will give you ample time to do your stuff.
Volunteer to Take Up Tasks
Some employees lose focus when they take volunteer jobs as a bother. Gain more experience from every work you do. Take up tasks by yourself instead of waiting to be assigned. Opportunities might by-pass you. Remember, most of the time voluntary work is more recognized. Who knows? Your boss might decide to consider you for opportunities that may arise or get promoted.
Concentrate on One Task at a Time
I know one of the strengths employee’s looks is the ability to multi-task. Yes, it is good, but you need to work on one task at a time. This way, you can’t get confused or afford to lose focus. You might take up several tasks and fail to complete them which is a waste of time.
Definitely, we can’t be perfect all the time. Sometimes we make mistakes like typo errors or slip verbally in meetings. Whatever you did wrong cannot stick to people’s mind forever, admit, learn, correct and move on. Aim to improve and people will not remember the mistakes anymore.
Keep Personal Problems to Yourself
Life is full of problems. When we have personal issues, we tend to extend them in our place of work. This diverts our attention and start behaving funny and unbearably at work. This can hinder your productivity for the day.
Appreciate Your Accomplishments
It is important and healthy to appreciate yourself when you bring any task to accomplish. Sometimes it is not a waste of money to take you for a treat. This makes you proud and encourages you to do more and more. Let opportunities look for you only to stay positive at work.
Be aware of the good things in your life. Push yourself to do more each day. Describe yourself and your life with positive words. Surround yourself with positive people.
What are examples of positive attitudes?
For example, positive attitudes can include:
It is looking adversity in the eye and laughing
Getting what you get, and not pitching a fit
Enjoying the unexpected, even when it’s not what you wanted originally
Financial record keeping is absolutely paramount irrespective of the size of the business. Typically, most newer businesses will have trouble keeping and maintaining accurate financial records. Self-employed and freelance work can be even trickier. This can quickly become an issue when it comes time to report taxes for the quarter or year. One major challenge that comes with smaller businesses is the separation of personal and business expenses. Business expenses can oftentimes be written off at tax time, and there are several free tax tools that can help with that. One of the easiest ways to keep expenses separated is to open a bank account separate from your personal account for accurate reporting of business expenses.
According to a survey, 82% of business fails due to poor cash-flow management. Business can grow well without technical hitches. Are you experiencing challenges in terms of keeping proper financial records? Here are some basic points that you need to consider How to keep Business and Personal Expenses Separate.
Personal and business accounts are two separate things. Each of them has got its own expenses. Separating accounts means you can measure each one’s independence. Reconciliation is easy by reviewing bank statements. Filing of taxes becomes a simple task.
Separate Personal and Business Receipts
It is definite that in both business and personal business, transactions will be made. It is important to sort and keep expenditure receipts separate. Financial accounting becomes very easy. When it is time for auditing your business, auditors will not bother with personal receipts. Priority will be given to business receipts hence saving time.
Acquire business credit card
Business Credit Card
Credit cards are very convenient. They keep you safe from carrying a lot of cash which is a security threat, especially to third world countries. Record keeping becomes efficient. Tracking of expenses is done by use of statements. Some credit cards give a summary of transactions yearly, therefore, saving time when filing returns. Withdrawal is done anytime when you are in need of urgent cash. They offer protection when purchasing. Credit card companies are ready and willing to take up disputes on your behalf. Enjoy low-interest rates and money is controlled effectively.
Establish a Business Budget
Always learn to stay within the limit. Never chuck money out of business aimlessly that you are sure you would be able to return. This situation can be avoided. The shortfall of a business do occur and most of the time you get yourself surfacing using the personal money. Budgets ideally should be developed based on earnings of the current business.
Notify Family on Business Status
We stay with people that depend on us in so many ways. Therefore, finances both personal and business involve quite a number of people. Make sure you are at par with family members and speak the same language at all times as far as finance is concerned.
Understand Business Expenses
Understand Business Expenses
It is important to understand operating expenses of a business. This includes costs of insurance, business supplies, rates for the taxes, costs for rent, and costs for repairs. It is prohibited to take out money from a business for things like food and family entertainment. It doesn’t matter how you keep good records for this but this doesn’t count at all.
Separate Home and Office Matters
Home and office are two separate things. Even if you have created an office in your home, it does not warranty you to use business funds to cater to house utility bills. Costs can be shared between both lines.
Keep Record of Business Items Usage
Sometimes due to limited resources, we cannot afford to have separate resources for each. There are times that we are forced to use personal things to run business errands. The Proper log should be kept to track on the expenditure and share the relevant cost.
Seek a Professional Financial Advice
Financial Advice – Audit Report
It does not mean we are stupid when we don’t understand some issues around us. Open up to a financial professional the moment you realize some areas are not okay. This is their area of the profession and is assured they will come up with a workable system to fix your issues.
Pay Yourself Worth Salary
Demands for life are many but we should not take out of business what we don’t deserve. The business will operate at a loss. It is easy to keep the proper budget for both personal and business expenditure hence proper financial accounting records.
Conclusion
Let us remain disciplined when operating a business. Maintaining proper records help business to run smoothly. Cash flow projection and statements are also put in an orderly manner for easy tracking. Hopefully, above ideas will help you to keep your business and personal expenses separate. Share this article with your friends and comment your thoughts.
How to Keep Business and Personal Expenses Separate?
Open a separate bank account and a credit/debit card for that account and it should be solely used for business expenses. Same goes with your personal account and plastic cards, that they should not be used for carrying out business expenses.
Why is it important to separate personal and business finances?
A significant reason to keep all personal and business finances and expenses separate are for tax and tax deductions.
How to separate business and personal expenses?
Obtain an EIN
Incorporate your business
Open a business bank account
Apply for a business credit card
Pay yourself a salary
Separate receipts
Understand the difference between personal and business expenses
Many of you must have heard the word “Dropshipping”. Your friends must have been telling you again and again. Many other people must be talking about it around you. But you have no idea what they were talking about. So let’s face it.
According to a report 27% of online retailers have adopted dropshipping. We will tell you about dropshipping which can be an amazing business opportunity for you. If not, it will still be better to know about this term. Before getting directly to how dropshipping works, we will be knowing what it is.
Dropshipping is a supply chain management system. In dropshipping, the retailer does not necessarily keep the stock of the good every time. The product is delivered to the customer directly from the wholesaler. People say it is investment free and you can make so much money from it. Yes, it is true, but it cannot give long-term success. There are many apps and websites available which can let you earn for free. But, if they are free, then there must be a big crowd of people who are doing it. And very few unique niches left when there is that much competition. So, I would suggest you create a website and raise your own business to the sky.
How Dropshipping Works?
How Dropshipping Works
Dropshipping is not that tough to understand that you think you it is. Take an example of C (customer), R (retailer) and W (wholesaler). C visits the website of R, which is R.com. C sees an amazing watch for Rs. 1000 and he immediately click at the “buy now” option. After filling details, he gets an email that the watch will be shipped in the next 4 or 5 days. Now, let’s go to R. R receives the order and the payment. He just informs about it to W and pays him Rs. 600 for that watch. W gets to know about the order C just made. He prepares the watch to supply it to C. C gets his watch, R gets his profit and W gets his money too. Everyone is happy. Do you see? R is making money out of nothing. He just took C’s money and bought the watch from W and made a profit. This is what Dropshipping is. But remember, it is not that simple as it seems in the example above. You have to work your butts off in making the strategy to make a profit.
Why Customers Don’t Go Directly To “W”?
What is Dropshipping
I know you must be thinking how stupid that customer is. Customers can directly go to wholesalers’ websites and order directly from there and get an amazing discount. But just imagine, you are in a Facebook group of around 6,00,000 people. Many people post good reviews of the products the admin posts in the group or on his website. Will you go for this man? Or will you directly go to some Chinese wholesaler website and buy from it. You know nothing about that Chinese company. So definitely, it will be so insane to buy from that website. However, on the other hand, you buy that product from that group’s admin. In case, there is something wrong, you can contact him or post in the group at least. But there will be no one to hear you out on that wholesaler’s website. That is why people buy from the retailers rather than buying directly from the wholesaler.
Benefits Of Running A Dropshipping Business
There are many advantages to the dropshipping business. Some main of them are:
1. You can run your business from anywhere in the world. All you have to have is your laptop, your phone and internet access.
2. It is a mobile business because you don’t have to worry about inventory and warehouse management. So, you don’t have to spend money on those investments.
3. There will be no headache for the leftover stock as you don’t own any stock at all.
4. You can easily try a new product without buying it if you want to. All you have to find is the supplier.
5. The shipping takes less time as the product is shipped directly from the wholesaler to the customer. Speaking of which, the retailer also saves so much time as they do not have to manage the products physically.
1. A lot of competition makes it difficult to sell a product. Even if your quality is good, you can’t expect too many customers. Unless you are selling a unique product.
2. You might have to suffer the low margin. As the supplier is doing most of the work, they may ask you for much more money than you expected.
3. You need to have good networks. Although there are many dropshipping suppliers available online, you can’t believe what they are saying.
4. There is no point in your dropshipping business unless you have a good brand identity. If no one knows you, no one will come to you. So you will have to work on building a brand.
5. You can experience times when your supplier will just raise both hands and say I don’t have the stock. In those cases, you can’t say anything but find other suppliers.
Yes, you can start dropshiping on 2020. But the competition is much higher than before. Hence, If you want to do a dropshipping business, please do deep research on this topic first. Furthermore, meet people who are already doing it and also those who have failed in it. Also do the product research and find best products for dropshipping in 2020. Don’t think it’s easy to do this. Moreover, if you want to play it safe, go for free ways to do it. Go for Shopify 14 days free trial and sign up to Oberlo. This would give you a basic idea of how it works. But do not expect much from it. If you fail to make money from this method, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. Try building a brand or a Facebook page with many followers.
Conclusion
The dropshipping business can be started with very little investment. But that doesn’t make it is an easy job. Every work in this world is equally hard. Only an intelligent person makes it easy to do. And intelligence comes from experience. Do dropshipping but also expect failure and loss from it. Learn to make a smart move in this field. Moreover, always have a backup in this business as your supplier can take his step back anytime.
This was our overview of dropshipping which also covered how dropshipping works.Share this post with all those friends who always keep annoying you by telling about easy business ideas. And let them know what a real business is?
FAQs
How do Dropshippers make money?
Dropshipping businesses act as product curators, selecting the right mix of products to market to customers. Remember, marketing is a cost you incur, in both time and money, helping potential customers find, evaluate, and buy the right product.
How much do I need to invest to start Dropshipping?
Though it’s hard to predict the exact costs for any individual business, there are a few items every dropshipping business will need to spend money on in order to get started.
Is Dropshipping a legitimate business?
Dropshipping is merely a fulfillment model, one used by many global retailers, and is perfectly legal. Like with any business, satisfying customer expectations and building a brand that resonates with the right audience is still key to long-term success.
Fundraising is a tough nut to crack for many startups. But with a growing startup ecosystem, networks connecting the investors and the entrepreneurs are increasing exponentially.
According to a report, 65% of entrepreneurs admit they were not fully confident they had enough money to start their business. Here are some practical tips from various investors and successful entrepreneurs which might attract investors to your business. It can help you raise investments to scale your business.
Business Plan to Attract Investors To Your Business
An investor is always interested in the business plan apart from an idea. An idea might be unique or innovative but a business plan is what makes it effective. Your business plan must include details about your target audience, sales forecast for coming years, a problem which you are going to solve, go-to-market strategy and your plan for scaling the business. A most important factor to keep in mind is the uniqueness of your product. In other words, how different is your product and what are the existing problems it is catering to?
Presenting your business model through figures and block diagrams might prove fruitful and productive. One suggestion which many people from the ecosystem advice is, to keep things simple and not to complicate them. Keep your business model realistic, logical and rational. You can also take the help of analytics to derive conclusions about specific grey areas where your product can actually bring a positive impact.
In this age of internet and digital era, having a virtual reach proves to be more productive. Create an account on different social media platforms to maximize your reach. An account on platforms like LinkedIn, Indian Angel network, Quora might also prove useful. If possible maintain a blog, in which your experiences, data, analysis, viewpoints can be published, this would help connect more people with value adding benefits. You can also entertain guest posts from experienced industry people. This might help to attract investors to your business. Whenever a potential investor visits your profile and sends you a connection, accept it and take no time to initiate a conversation with him. The biggest advantage of these sites is, you can follow investors who invested in companies similar to yours and can also track your rival companies. On the other side of the coin, if not handled properly, it might deter your image in a few seconds.
Build Network to Attract Investors To Your Business
“Your network decides your net worth”, a popular saying in the startup world. Before approaching an investor, it is always advised to note down at least 40-50 potential VCs and AVs. To start this, interact with other fellow entrepreneurs who work in the same domain as yours. Interact with successful businessmen and entrepreneurs to know their strategies, mistakes, and experiences. Discuss your idea briefly, business model and finance with them, if any suggestions come from their side, accept it gracefully. Ask them for further contacts, discuss with those contacts and build a network around you. This type of interaction will surely help you in finding potential customers, partners, co-founders, and investors.
Draft a basic email which can be used for contacting different investors via email. Don’t shy away from emailing or contacting. Don’t depress or demotivate on listening to a ‘NO’, because being an entrepreneur one must be immune to rejections.
Present your business idea to your close friends and family. Let them try out your product (if there) and note down their suggestions and reactions. After launching a product or a service, tell your close acquaintances to refer it in their vicinity. Initially, the conversion rate might be very low but marketing is the key. Generally, mouth to mouth marketing is more effective than door to door. If any consumer mails or messages you, reply to him/her and thank them for using your product. Nowadays, building a virtual network is more important than building a physical one.
Confidence is one ingredient which defines or defies a person from success. While presenting your idea and business model it is advised to keep cool and calm. Before presenting in front of an investor, do proper research on that investor. Catching up with mutual contacts or acquaintances also might prove useful.
Some points which will contribute to your confidence:
Emphasizing on why one should invest in your startup along with your short and long term visions will help to grab the attention of investors.
Always focus on short and crisp PPTs, well illuminated with pictures, diagrams, charts, tables and bullet points. Refrain from copying and focus more on originality.
Another point to be noted is, always be proud of your idea and never ever doubt yourself, your team or the idea.
Be more optimistic and don’t get panicky.
Answer all the questions in a simple manner, don’t let your one answer counter another. Stick to the basics, your idea, your vision, and your current scenario.
Don’t bluff or speak unwanted things.
Keep yourself open to suggestions and don’t be afraid to speak up if any suggestion or advice overlaps with your ideology or ethics.
Generally, investors want to see an expected return on their investment. Investors want to get their money back with an annualized internal rate of return. Investors are interested to invest money into growing businesses so that they can make money.
How do investors get paid?
Investors get paid according to a preferred way which is settled between the startup and investors. They can be repaid on a straight schedule, they can be paid back based upon their percentage of ownership, or they can be paid back at a preferred rate of return.
Conclusion
Finding investor is not that tough job if you know about pitching. If you can show better, they will invest better. However, each and every investor have his own way of dealing with entrepreneurs. Some invest in the startup idea, some invest in the business plan, whereas some invest in the team. So, you either need to get better in all the aspect or pitch to the investor which suits you the most.
So you have launched your startup, it’s a dream come true and you are definitely excited about it. You may have found some customers as well, but the most difficult part is to have enough customers so that you can sustain your business in market and drive profit as well in future. Invest wisely in your sales team, as they will play a major role in this trajectory. There is no direct formula like invest X amount of money and you will get Y number of customers, if there was, it would be much easier and less challenging. Alas, this is not the case. There is a lot of competition in the market today and there are thousands of ways to market your business but you will need a unique one if you want to be ahead of everyone.
According to a report, More than 1,200 startups came up in 2018. In this competitive world, where all companies are competing for being at the top in their industry against their rivals are enlarging their users or customers by doing best marketing strategies, So it will be very difficult for any startup to stand out among this competition. We know, that going for the startup is not a cup of tea and it is important to utilize monetary resource effectively at the right place. People believe that spending more monetary resources on marketing can help them gain an ample amount of users or customers. But, that’s not true! It all relies on the creativity that you lay in your marketing approaches. Every company follows a similar type of marketing strategy but if you want to stand out you need some unique approaches that can able to boost up your growth in terms of users or clients. Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz and a renowned leader of the digital world, says marketing after creating your product wastes energy, time and money. Marketing firs ensures a loyal and active audience so that when you do debut your product you will be able to get feedback right away.
In 2018, it is safe to assume that your target group is bombed with messages, notifications, spams and click ads all the time. The trick to arrest their attention for more than 10 seconds and make a room in their memory to be recalled at the right time is a combined effort of your authentic intentions and creative methods.
Wasting time along with your another promoting guide? Why? You already recognize the fundamentals. And you’ve in all probability detected the recommendation 1,000,000 times; produce a mission statement, notice your audience, produce awe-inspiring content and promote. whereas there’s undoubtedly additional to that than that, you get the gist. What your startup extremely desires area unit some innovative promoting ideas which will set you except for competitors and build customers come back to you. which will sound easier aforesaid than done, however you’ll be off and running when you re-examine these five uncommon promoting ideas for startups. Here are some uncommon ways startups can conquer the mountain and be on their way to growing like never before.
Reach out to a specific community
Community – Startup Marketing
If you want to build a user base fast, you need to have a clear understanding of what your ideal customer looks like. You need to have a fundamental understanding of your product and the community you’re targeting. Youth is the biggest user of just everything. Companies dig into the most creative ways possible to sell their products and make it a trend. You can then create a piece of content creatively and specifically for this community and can find huge and quick success. The basic idea lies in how well your product connects with the community at the target. Relevancy is the key here.
Use your product for the social cause
If you’re looking for something highly creative that will skyrocket your brand to success, consider using the product itself for a social cause. People these days love to see how a person is towards everyone else, there was a time when business was purely an act of selfishness. Its 21st century and people need to have trust in your brand and that can be built easily by doing something good. People take pride if they’re told about the product or service they use to contribute to human or wildlife funds. It does make them feel good about the product they use and the brand they’re associated within an indirect way.
Create a video that simplifies your product or service
Create Videos – Startup Marketing
Creating a video that explains your product in the most simplified way is one of the fastest ways of growing your fan base. Making a creative humorous, video that gets into the head of the viewer. The video shouldn’t be a regular advertising one then it’ll be pointless to call it a self-explanatory video. However, this can be a modified form of advertising and publishing your product.
Trust always works!
This is definitely the oldest and purest form of promoting and advertising used by businesses since the world began. While it may bring slower results than radio or television, it still works very well and solidifies customer for life. Because people are becoming increasingly suspicious of paid advertising, this old method becomes the most reliable way to market down product. I still think this remains one of the most trusted methods in the world today. When a customer is happy and satisfied with a product or service, there’s a natural human tendency that they are likely to share this experience with people in their circle of trust and influence – family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and sometimes, strangers.
How to attract customers?? The satisfied customer is one of the most effective marketing and advertising tools a small business can ever have. Satisfied customers become foot soldiers, evangelists and advocates for your business. It is amazing how many of your satisfied customers will go to great lengths to promote, convince, protect and defend your business outside. This is so effective and powerful that many successful businesses rely solely on this method to advertise and market their products and services. One of the biggest business empires like the TATA group. is the best example here. So, how exactly can your small business grow an army of passionate customers, who will advertise your product free of cost? The first and most important step is to sell a product or service that really works and provides great value to anybody who uses them. If a product or service delivers on its promise and does more than what it says, it’s a winner! Most people buy products or services to solve a problem or satisfy a need. Nothing will make a customer happier and more satisfied than getting a product that makes a very challenging problem go away. They’ll scream your name from the Everest top. Most times, it doesn’t really matter how large or deep-pocketed your competition is you can grow a successful business with great customer service. People like to buy products and services from businesses that treat them with respect. People love to be given attention and treated well and will always return to enjoy that beautiful experience again. Don’t forget, customers spend their hard-earned money on your products. Don’t you think they deserve a big “Thank you’ with a wide smile on your face? People hardly forget a great customer experience and will happily tell other people about it.
Give your customers a reason to advertise and market your business but sometimes this doesn’t come automatically, you have to encourage, motivate or incentivize your customers to do it for you, so that brings me to my last but not the least effective way to market your startup.
The more people they refer to you, the more free products, services and discounts they will enjoy. Referral codes and links are used a lot these days to attract customers. We all come across these kinds of codes and links and we do refer it to our WhatsApp contacts and others. It’s a very rapid way of growing business these days but this one is completely based on the quality of your product and service. One more method which is very popular is
Creating contests and lucky draws
The reward should be large enough to trigger their interest and make them take action. It’s a win-win method that always works. Everybody loves to win. It’s not just always about the prize you win, it’s the thrill of getting lucky or beating other people. Call it ‘ego’ or whatever you like, but it always works. Let’s also say you start an interesting contest, to spread it you can use various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Even though many of them will not win the grand prize, they will still be interested in finding out more about your products and services. But make sure you can comfortably afford the prize you plan to give out. Draw out a reasonable budget and stick to it. It makes no sense if the money you make from selling your products during the contest cannot cover the cost of running it.
Be as much as creative as you can with your Business Card
A business card represents your firm and is one of the most effective ways to reflect your business. Most of the startups mainly focus on the flyers and other advertising material; instead, investment time, cost, and builds a unique card. Mostly, we can see very popular templates business cards, which are less attractive and will not give an impression on first site, instead choose the best as you do not know when someone will share your card to a prospective client.
Give group specific discounts
Generally, what we see is a business offering huge discount, but did we thought that these discounts benefits all or only some group. Therefore, throw a sale focused more on different groups instead of a regular one. This will help your client feel privileged and boost your sales. Advertise the incentives and let them know you have plans for all of them not just for a few. Focus on quality instead of just the quantity.
Bring people to your platform
Advertise, but do it in a way that one is forced to try your business once. For example, advertise in newspapers, but add a line, try your luck with spin wheel, you may get discount up to 100%. One will never deny to try it out and this is the way that customer grows. If you are a startup that provides services, give your client to try their luck, you may offer to provide a next service at a discounted price according to the offer they get. Something is always better than nothing, this quote may be old but is one of the effective ways today also.
Host a contest and give away free stickers and t-shirts
Everybody loves that. Host a contest and distribute t-shirts and stickers, this will also cover up the word of mouth marketing, never underestimate the power of this marketing. This is a free referral program that will build trust among the users and bring more customers together to your platform. Once they are on your platform, bribe them with cash, and give them free cash in their accounts for new customers. They can’t deny a platform built on trust and offering them discounts.
Send handwritten notes to your customers
Talking with your customers directly is very effective and can bring you more customers on board. Everybody likes to talk about him or herself and when you send a hand-written note to them with their order, they will feel privileged and will be willing to use your service for next time also. They will also praise your business for being special to them.
Show up unexpectedly!
Find out where your audience is and show up when they are not expecting. The show up could be of the product itself, a merchandise branding the startup, or a business card. ‘Accidentally’ leaving behind a pen with your FinTech company details at the banks, putting up Bumper stickers around the city, commissioning a graffiti to grab the eyeballs are just some creative ways to reach out. Find the ways suitable to your startup by asking people in your industry what grabbed their attention recently and work around the themes. Look deeply to understand where you customer is investing the time. Don’t feel shy about this and get your name out there in as many ways as possible. Literally, be everywhere!
Collaborations, Collaborations, Collaborations!
Collaboration – Startup Marketing
From Nike x Kanye West Yeezy to Uber x Spotify, collaborations are the new age formula to expand and impact. Identify the ways you can partner to create exciting campaigns or offers, run small samples to see which is getting active results, align it with the company’s vision and shoot! Nothing gets people more excited to see two forces coming together to their rescue.
Don’t underestimate the power of Social Media
Social Media – Startup Marketing
Although you must have a digital presence through your own website, Facebook page, Instagram page, Twitter handle, but so do all your competitors. Once again, identify where your customers spend time online and make a way to show up there. Partnering with a well-known expert with an influential following on Facebook, collaborating with an e-commerce to automatically add your product’s mini pack on every purchase are just some ways you can gain traffic on your page. Digital world is a mad jungle with unimaginable potential, so put your creative hat on and tap the popularity of already established ‘influencers’ and brands to draw your own success and build trust with the new audience!
Show that you care
An individual is more likely to trust a new service provider or product if it is suggested by a friend, relative or co-worker. Find a way to these conversations that your buyers can have with potential new buyers and mention you in appreciation. Referral programs are a huge hit for the obvious benefits but think beyond the gain. A brief follow up call to your customer to inquire their satisfaction with the service, a thank you text with a reassurance that you are available to them in the future, a birthday/anniversary email with a small incentive on the next immediate purchase can take your brand goodwill a long way.
Associate yourself with a good social or environmental cause
The new age customers are very sensitive to their impact and showing that you care about your impact can leave a great impression on them and build a caring, trusting relationship between the two. Be aware of any big events that happen such as a natural disaster and ensure the customer that each business you get will also convert into an act of help. This can make others see you in a great light, and bring more people to associate with your business! Once your business grows, you will experience greater freedom to spend big on marketing campaigns but don’t lose sight of the unconventional ways of impacting people to stand apart in the crowd.
Trade shows For the marketing of your startup
You need to attend the trade shows and conference which will help you to get connected with the people and interact with them and talk about your product. you can able to build large community with them. There are many companies which follow this strategy such as Google itself is an example of this strategy. Every year Google organize programs for the developers and not only that they also invite the young developers around the globe.
Relate your product with some social work
This is the best way to promote your startup at first when you include your product in the some of the engaging social work. One of the examples of this is Paytm when demonetization was implemented in India the one application that was used the most for the digital transfer of the currency was the Paytm and it gives the huge boost to the Paytm company in terms of the users. Apart from this during the critical time, they also give cashback offers.
Yes, instead of paying to the other sources for getting new users for your product you can directly pay to the new user directly when they sign up in your site you can give them the reward of $10 or 100 rs. The best example of this is Paytm and Paypal during the demonetization also Paytm was giving money for signing up and also if you invite your friend and relatives through your referral code they will also get the reward and you will also get a reward. Even Paypal also use this approach to get an ample amount of users in their earlier days and this strategy really worked for them.
Hosting contest
Hosting a contest on your site or website can get you users as while participating you can ask them to sign up for your website first and then participate in this contest. This brings a lot of audiences example for Hypster application which uses this strategy in which people can participate in the contest by signing up and making videos and according to this you can easily able collect flames and this flames you can easily convert in the money and thus this application have increased the number of user in short time period. All in all, there are many techniques which you can use for the marketing online and offline both approaches are available but to stand out from your rivals you should use the approaches which is used rarely. Marketing strategy should be creative and out of the box, thinking should be used so that your startup can boost as well as stand out and can able to set an example for the other marketing strategy makers and rivals and also to your users or clients.
Build a weird Bedfellow
You’ve in all probability detected that after upon a time M&M’s were offered a major role in E.T. The provide was turned down, that the film went with Reese’s items instead. whereas that hiccup didn’t take away M&M’s from grocery shelves, it did facilitate build Reese’s items a particularly standard candy. The idea here is that it’s not about to hurt your startup by teaming up with associate surprising partner or place to market it. It may be one thing as straightforward as showing off your product in a very video – suppose Snoop Dogg carrying Tommy Hilfiger within the 90s’ – to delivering brewage to fans at the OppiKoppi competition in Republic of South Africa via drones. In either case, you’ll be sound into a special audience.
Be all over
This doesn’t mean simply blogging or being active on social media – that you must be doing anyways. It virtually suggests that to be all over. you would like to be that complete that folks notice once they’re walking down the streets. Even if they don’t recognize what your startup will, they’ll acknowledge your name. Some examples would be commission a mural on building and covering the streets with chalk, paint or displays. you’ll conjointly make-up bumper stickers and t-shirts and provides them to workers or as freebies at events. they’ll not be the foremost uncommon, however an ingenious shirt not solely lets individuals have the prospect to diverge, it’ll build others wish to leap on board – suppose Zaarly shirts floating round the Bay space. In short, don’t be invisible. Get your name out there the maximum amount as potential.
Be a Hero and Save The Day
At some purpose you’ve scan that a business ought to be donating cash or sponsoring a charity. It simply makes your startup look sensible. And whereas that’s all well and sensible, you’ll continuously take that to subsequent level by being a hero to your community. For example, there was a brewage gate campaign during which individuals may get their train ride with empty brewage cans following Carnival. However, the cans had to be from Ambev‘s Antarctica brewage World Health Organization saw the simplest way to spark a utilization program. One more cool example from Brazil was the Rescue Drive campaign. killer Chevrolet drove around searching for normal driver and so offered them a free take a look at drive so they may build it to figure, home or where they needed to travel. Over in Asian nation, billboards were used as shelters for the homeless within the “Other Side” project.
Show Some SkinWell, not virtually
Unless that’s the type of attention you’re searching for. we have a tendency to meant metaphorically. this suggests giving your startup a temperament. think about dollar Shave Club. The startup launched a beta version in Apr 2011, however it wasn’t till March 2012 once everybody noticed the razor-blade subscription service. A risible ad that includes co-founder and CEO archangel Durbin took off leading to 12,000 orders within the 1st two days and also the company’s web site blinking inside the primary hour. The ad was funny, however conjointly introduced individuals to the corporate and also the man World Health Organization contains a love for shaving at an inexpensive value.
While paying attention to and interesting your customers area unit important techniques in every and each of your promoting campaigns, you actually wish to boost the bar and build them desire a region of the team. That’s what the Karl Lagerfeld Store in capital of The Netherlands achieved in 2013. The store equipped dressing rooms with iPads and a wall-mounted touchscreen and camera. the concept was to own customers to share their new appearance with social media and email contacts. there have been conjointly Instagram-style filters that would be accustomed produce a lookbook. It absolutely was fun and interesting and an excellent thanks to promoting the complete. And it achieved that by creating the shoppers desire they were a region of one thing larger.
Conclusion
In this digital era, there is a huge competition in every industry. Thus you can’t rely on just traditional marketing and advertising, rather you should think out of the box. It’s not about spending too much money for marketing, it’s about to identify your target audience and run optimum marketing campaigns. Hope above startup marketing ideas will help you to craft your marketing strategies. Share your thoughts on the comment section.
FAQs
What are some of the best marketing practices for startups?
This is the 21st century. You cannot expect a good profit unless customers think about you. Although there is nothing like negative marketing, you still have to make people think about you. It can be anything. They just have to think about your brand. And all this comes under the term “brand positioning”.
Brand positioning refers to the reason for people buying your product. Or how your brand is different from your competitors. 89% of B2B marketers say brand awareness and positioning is the most important goal, followed by sales and lead generation. To describe brand positioning, let’s look at some examples. Patanjali is known for organic products, even though they are literally in every product line. Mercedez is known for its class and luxury whereas BMW has its power and performance. If you think brand positioning is important for your brand, then these are some ideas to position your brand in the market.
Helps in making creating decisions more effective.
Targets a specific market.
Creates a well market differentiation.
Things To Remember For Brand Positioning
Uniqueness
To position your brand in the market, make sure you have something unique to deliver. If you are doing the same thing as everyone is doing, then you will be just “another” brand in the market. You don’t want to be that “another” brand in the market, you have to be that “wow” brand in the market. Even though you are not selling something new, add something which will make it unique. If there is nothing unique in your product, then you can make people think it is unique, like just give it a unique look. Remember that people should need your “unique” feature. Because no one needed a juicer which runs while connected to wi-fi. Millions were spent on marketing and launching this juicer. But the investors faced a very big loss. So, don’t solve the problems which are not there.
Brand strategy
Brand Strategy
The brand strategy or the tagline you use for your product should be relevant to your product. If the customer has your tagline in his/her head but doesn’t remember your brand, then how can they even buy your product.
Make It Clear
Your slogan or tagline should always be clear and easy to understand. If the customers had to think too much to understand your brand, then there is a strong possibility that they are going for another brand, even for that brand which has no slogan at all. Just make it easy to understand, thinking that all your customers are stupid.
Differentiable
Point out the difference between your brand and the competitor’s one. Your customer should be able to make his/her decision quickly. They should not need to do a deep research to decide the brand they want. Focus on your selected category, and of course, your strength.
It Should Be Recognizable
You have to make your brand recognizable. Create an amazing logo. Add awesome features to your product which scream for attention. People should quickly remind of your slogan and your advertisement as soon as they see your logo anywhere. Make people think of your brand again and again.
Create A Buzz
Create an advertisement which can be controversial. Not in a negative way, but something like funny or which can touch people’s emotions. Just make sure people talk about it. Giant companies do not advertise to show their product, but all they want is to create a buzz among people. It is strongly possible that Patanjali’s messenger app, “Kimbho” was launched just to create a buzz. When people talk about a brand, they get attracted to that brand. For instance, imagine you go to the market to buy a chocolate, in the days when “kimbho” messenger launched.
You might ask for Patanjali’s chocolate. Why? Because you want to talk about that buzz. You will subconsciously try to show off your general knowledge and your humor. Be Updated Keep analyzing the new trends on social media. Create something which is very popular among millennials. It is more or less similar to creating buzz. As of these days, you can focus on creating memes. Try to make it funny, because if you can make them smile, you can make them buy.
Being funny does not mean you make fun of your customers. If anything makes your brand creepy, customers may talk about you a lot, but will never come to you. The following image says it all.
Re-frame The Market
Use the brand to re-frame the market to what it actually looks like , by being creative and solving a problem which the product is not fulfilling. This will give the product more visibility than the other products, making it more on the shelves or more on the talks.
5 Ways to Get Your Customers to Actively Promote Your Brand
Entrepreneurs are fanatical with their creation. They time and again set out new goals for themselves and then make sure that those are achieved. In the start-up arena, there are some doctrine principles which are responsible for the overall success. Entrepreneurs today understand the value of their brand. Entrepreneurs are perusing something called as branding strategy, which till now was completely neglected. Companies today are spending with deep pockets on marketing, advertising, public relations and more. The best way to promote your brand is to let your customers do it for you – and the only way to do that is by addressing the pain points of the customer by giving them a practical solution to their pain points. Once this is done by anyone, the customer will go on his rooftop and do nothing but will shout your name.
Differentiate your brand
Anyone and everyone want his or her brand to be different and stand out. Brands say that they want to be different and distinctive in the eyes of their customers, but in reality, the brands just want to align themselves with their competition. To differentiate from others, the enterprise can depict themselves as an enterprise away from its competition or rival. Over a period of time, if the same continues combined with disciplined efforts, the brand can be marked different. Standing out from the competition is not making them enemies. But, with persistence, the consumer can make out the difference noticeable.
Focus on loyalty
A customer or a consumer telling about you to someone is in the Last leg of his experience. It starts with brand familiarity coupled with loyalty. The sky-scraping cost of bringing in fresh business compared to retaining existing clients is unquestionable. Increasing the customer retention can extensively heighten the profit bar. Customer loyalty schemes are an effective way to improve your customer retention levels. If you want to build a loyal clientele – the trick is simple, keep the customer satisfied. Apart from that, the customer needs to be rewarded. A loyalty scheme can be used to incentivise and delight the customers.
Create a community
Build Community – Brand Positioning
Having a customer community built offers the customers a hub to interact and support one another. Customer communities are platforms for customers to unreservedly exchange opinion, reactions and pose questions about products and services. A highly busy customer community helps to improve customer retention and encourage acts of advocating. These customers community acts as a news source about products and company and a place to gather tips from the users. Customer communities also breed ideas to improve products or services. Giving the customers a say on a product or service gives them a deeper connection with the company. These days the community can be online. This increases preservation rate and overall profitability.
Incorporate Feedbacks
Getting and generating feedback from clients is the most important thing for a business builder. It helps the company at all levels of brand building and management. It helps in knowing the existing position of the business in the market and also helps in the future prospects of the business. Feedback helps clients and entrepreneurs to communicate with each other. Most of the feedback is to draw the data about the sales, performance, drawbacks about products and services. Owing to thriving technology and internet, the importance of feedback has been highly soared. Internet has become the principal instrument for promoting business and branding. It plays a pivotal role in reaching to the mass and endorsing products beyond the international boundaries.
Make it easy to be an evangelist
Consumers have a hell lot of things to do. The last thing they would do is to be an evangelist. Even if they become, they won’t go out of their way to evangelize or promote your brand. So it has to be an easy task for them to do it. The easiest way to promote evangelist is to give as many as opportunities. The same can be done with contests, discussion opportunities on the social media channels of the brand. The participant has to be rewarded in some or the other way.
These tips are not the only way to make the customers work for you. But these tips will equip your startup by starting the community of brand evangelists. Also, it is important to understand that every customer you make cannot be your brand evangelist. However, with efforts in the right direction, a community of brand evangelists is certainly to make a huge difference and would be certainly effective on the profitability.
The soul of every business is their customers. Your customers can make you or break you. Even though the inflow and outflow of the customers are the basis of business but having loyal customers is also essential. Loyal customers are the reason a business or a brand becomes what it is. So, here are a few small but highly impactful ways in which you can make customers loyal to your brand.
Making personal relations
Treating your customers like your family is the way to get them to like you and your services. Getting to know your customer will give you an idea about their likes and dislikes which will eventually help you in serving them better. It has been found in a recent study that the customer remembers the first and the last part of your conversation. So it is very important for you to strike a conversation on a happy cheerful note and also end it in a happy goodbye. Send them greetings on their special days. Or if you find out anything they like, mail it to them. This will only take a little effort on your side but will have a big impact on your customer.
Know your customer
If you have a blog or a site or any other social media account of your business, make a note of what kind of customers does your business or brand attract. Get to know about their likes and dislikes and then post content on your sites according to that. If you are a beauty brand, posting easy tutorials and looks with your products can be good. Similarly, if you are a clothing brand, styling tips etc. can be done. Also keep posting about the various offers so that your customers are not left uninformed. Also, communicate with the customer in a way they prefer. If your customer wants to communicate through email do it. If they prefer social media attend to their queries there. Keep all your options open.
Invest in your customer
Invest in your Customer
If you have a regular customer that visits you or uses your services, try knowing theirs likes and dislikes. Research about them and then do things that they least expect like send them small gifts as a thank you for their loyalty. Or give them a free upgrade if you have a customer upgrade program. You could even give them small goodies or small things like hand written notes with every purchase. This will not only make your customer fond of you but this will also help you gain more customers. If you do not want to invest in giving them anything, you can always provide your customers with special services like the first preview to your latest collection, or bend some of your policies for them if they have a genuine issue.
Take customer advice and feedback seriously
Feedback – Brand Positioning
It is very important to take customer feedback on your services. But it is even more important to implement those feedback in improving your services. Also, having a FAQs section on your websites or blogs where customers can resolve their queries and give you feedback is very helpful. If you have employees who take care of the customers, ask them to be on proper behavior and solve customer issues without creating any problems.
Maintain quality
The most important part of keeping your customers loyal is maintaining the quality of your product. Many companies sell good quality products at the start of their business and then degradation the quality to earn profits. This only helps in making short term profits. Because your customer keeps leaving you and in the end, you have no customer to earn profits. So it is very important to maintain the quality of your product throughout so that people want to buy it again and again.
Conclusion
These were some roads to brand positioning. You can use some of them, or all of them, it depends on your business. Digital marketing is the ultimate tool for brand positioning. Although, these were some ideas from our side, you can also comment on your one below. And also, keep exploring new ways to position your brand. Brand positioning helps you to reach the potential customer. And also remember, being at number 2 is not very bad. But, keep trying to come in 1st position. If there is too much competition in the category of your product, then create your own subcategory and position your brand.
With these little changes in your public dealing methods, you will have a strong loyal customer base in no time. If you know any hack to make customers loyal to your brand please comment down below!
FAQs
What is customer loyalty?
Customer loyalty is the act of choosing one company’s products and services consistently over their competitors. When a customer is loyal to one company, they aren’t easily swayed by price or availability.
Why is customer loyalty important?
Loyalty can stem from many things, but in general, a loyal customer will associate favourable experiences with a brand, therefore, increasing their likelihood to make repeat purchases with that business. Loyal customers spend 67% more on products and services than new customers.
How to gain customer loyalty?
Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty
Make customer service a priority
Reward your customers
Ask for advice and listen to it
Offer conveniences
Don’t just ask for money
How to maintain customer loyalty?
Provide outstanding customer service
Reward customers with special offers and discounts
We constantly see people and companies collaborating with each other to bring about successful outcomes. However, it is not as easy to work in collaboration with people and companies as one might think. When one starts working in collaboration lots of things come into play. Many compromises have to be made in order for the partnership to flourish.
According to a report, 70% of business partnership fails. But fret not, here we are with amazing tips to help you establish a successful and healthy business partnership which will help you and your partner grow to great heights. Read on to find out how to have a successful business partnership?
Two people cannot work together if they have different mindsets. So it is very important for both the partners to think on the same lines for achieving the same goals of business. Sitting face to face and getting to know each other better is the key to a successful partnership. If your goals clash or your ways of thinking do not match, then there is a huge possibility of disputes which can bring losses for both the parties involved.
Respect your partner
One doesn’t partner with someone unless they can see a profit involved. If one has established a partnership with someone either the company is extremely successful or of some advantage to the collaborating party. Your partner has overcome numerous hurdles to reach high levels of success; hence, it is not a good idea to consider your partner less than you in any aspect. They might be having knowledge about strategies that you do not know about.
Therefore, it is advisable to make this relationship a give and take one. Respect the capabilities and capacities of your partner. Also, any partnership, be it business or personal, is based on trust. In order to trust someone, you need to know them better. So, take time outside of work in knowing about each other’s goals and develop an understanding of each work ethics.
When two big and successful companies or organizations collaborate with each other it is mandatory to form a team that will look after the terms and conditions of the partnership and manage the transactions that take place between the two partners. This team will serve as the bridge to facilitate relationship building and consistent communication. Maintaining healthy partnership takes both time and capacity, so, it is important to appoint capable staff that can ensure success of the partnership.
Keep assessing the profits
Profit Analysis
Regular assessment of the achievement of goals and the profit that is coming from the collaboration should be done. Proper statistical data should be analyzed and any sort of issues should be resolved quickly and precisely. Constant analysis of the numbers can give a clear indication of whether the collaboration is profitable or not. A partnership that does not benefit anyone should not be continued any further.
Be compatible
Two partners with the same type of skill set are of no use to either company. One does not have to essentially have everything in common. Having a comparable relationship is what makes a business partnership successful. If you lack something and your business partner has that skill, they can provide you with assistance in that field and if you have a certain skill set that they could benefit from then you can assist them with it. It needs to be a healthy relationship where skills and knowledge can be equally shared. Each partner should realize the potential of the other and team up in a way that both can profit from it.
Define your roles
For any partnership to flourish every individual involved needs to know their roles with accuracy. If the roles are not clearly laid out work processes would become chaotic. It will be difficult to come to a conclusion if everyone starts acting like the head of the company. To avoid any commotion of this kind, clear roles need to be set for everyone and everyone should respect their tasks. Interfering in other work may cause disputes making the partnership suffer and often leading to its downfall. Apart from keeping these in mind, working meticulously to reach the goals as put down during the establishment of the partnership will help in making the collaboration bear fruits of success.
Conclusion
Building a Successful Business Partnership is a long-term process. It can’t happen overnight. As long as you progress, you will find different challenges and you need to overcome those to make your partnership successful. These are the important keys to successful business partnerships. I hope the above tips will help you to build a successful business partnerships. Share your thoughts on the comment section.
The main objective of any partnership is to bring together the resources and skills of multiple business owners so that they can operate with more efficiency and can even reduce competition in the market.
How to have a successful business partnership?
6 Tips for having a successful business partnership
An influencer is someone who can influence the lives of others or a group of people. An influencer is also capable of changing the world for the better. Influential people have more power to create movement and change than others. According to a survey, 17% of companies spend over half of their marketing budget on influencers. Although, the effect can be constructed from daily activities, hard work and networking. An influencer is usually a person who has critical thinking, is intelligent and highly respected in a particular field.
However, it does not rule out the possibility that you can be an influencer. In the world of influencer marketing, with the use of instagram, snapchat and other social application you can become an Influencer. If you are wondering how to become an influencer then this article will provide you with the foundation to start up your role as an influencer and inspire the masses.
Build Connection with other Influencers and professionals
The first thing that you are doing so you can be an influencer is establishing a connection. The more connections you make, the more well known you become. Moreover, you can establish a connection with your colleagues, your clients, your friends, and your family. Furthermore, your connection with colleagues or your client can specify the success or failure. By building a good connection with your colleagues or your employees it create a motivating personality in you. Thus it gives you the authority to demonstrate your thoughts and perspective to others and they would be bound to listen to you because of your self-created dynamic personality.
Embracing Diversity
The success can be achieved if you have a good teamwork. Do not discriminate against any individual in your team. Embrace them, whatever their background is, you must accept it. Despite their differences in religion, ethnicity, and culture, you still have to unite them and work along with them.
Having a Passion for Competition
The spirit is one of the most important things in the face of competition, and passion will take you on the path of success. For that, you must have a burning passion for competing. You must have the ambition to win the competition in a healthy way. The competition has no meaning if the participants do not have the spirit and are cheating.
Collaboration is the key to becoming an Influencer
At work, collaboration is very important. Your willingness to collaborate with your subordinates reveals your personality. They should trust you because you are easy to reach out to and honest with your perspective. Communicate clearly to work closely with your subordinates. In addition, you also have to listen to the opinions of others. A quality of a good listener would benefit you immensely to become a great influencer. Develop a strong interpersonal communication skill to expand your influencing reach and to bring the best out of you.
Work Hard and be Consistent
Working hard will give you a lot of experience and in turn make you more equipped in becoming a successful influencer as well as a person. Success can be achieved if you are able to maintain your hard work and consistency in the work. In addition, you also have to dedicate yourself to your work. It gets you closer to success.
The talents and abilities need to be practiced on a daily and worked on at every given opportunity. If the talents and abilities are not honed, then over time you will lose your ability because you rarely practiced. So practice makes a man perfect.
Determine your Goals
Define your goals, what you want to achieve from your hard work, what you want to achieve from socializing, meeting with clients, meeting with your team and so on. You should be able to define your goals because with this you can achieve what you aspire.
Do not favor Anyone (Stay Neutral)
Being a neutral person has an advantage. The advantage is that we are not hated by anyone or groups that are around us. Being neutral helps in influencing your audience with your words. Neutrality in a person brings support from the right people to be a leader.
Care about Others
You have to care about each other because people will easily love and respect you if you care and give them attention. They will feel comfortable with you and they will support you in achieving your success.
Have the Integrity of Others
Integrity is such a major foundation of one’s life. If the integrity of a person is weak, it will give negative influence to the layer of that person’s life. To become an influencer, it takes integrity. Respect, dignity, honesty and trust are a fraction of your integrity. For that, you need to increase your honesty. Integrity needs your minute attention towards all the aspects of influencing.
Conclusion
Follow the above simple steps to bring out the best in you to be an influencer and to achieve success and prosperity in your life. Before starting as a influencer marketer you need to learn all the aspects of being an influencer and practice to influence people around you. We hope that this article has brought some positive and informational insights to you.
Frequently Asked Questions- FAQs
Who is an influencer?
An influencer is someone who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because their knowledge, position, or relationship withtheir audience.
The most awaited festival is here! HOLI – The celebration of Colors!
A festival of Hope, Colors, Happiness, and Vigor – Holi 2021 is here with lots of joy and enthusiasm. Where people are celebrating Holi with loved ones, the Indian startups aren’t leaving any stone unturned to make this Holi Season a special one for its clients and customers. From a Holi care kit to over 30% discounts on its products – Check out what these startups are offering this Holi.
Grab the opportunity from these exclusive Holi 2021 Offers by Startups, as the unlimited fun awaits you all!
Pallavi Kolhapure Shah – Founder, Bath element and more
Bath element and more – Holi 2021 Offers
We are offering a Holi care kit which is a combination of all natural and 100% luxurious ayurvedic bath & body essentials which are just perfect to take care of your Hair and skin.
Our carefully curated kit consists of Cold pressed Virgin Coconut oil, Radiance Face scrub and Ubtan and lip scrub. While Cold pressed virgin coconut oil will protect your hair whether coloured hair or uncoloured and also nourish them, the Radiance Face Scrub and Radiance Ubtan will gently cleanse your skin and ensure the skin is well hydrated. Our 100% organic coffee lip scrub will gently exfoliate to velvety soft lips.
Our products are consciously curated –
The Radiance Ubtan & the Body Scrub is curated to make you feel squeaky clean, which is the best feeling to have after a long day spent outdoors. It’s a melange of Nagarmotha, Neem, Sandalwood, Hirda, and Rose which reinvigorates the skin and senses while imparting natural polish. A truly aromatic in-shower experience and truly Indian.
The Virgin Coconut oil leaves your skin and hair deeply nourished and hydrated and acts as a protecting shield if applied before playing Holi. This cold-pressed oil-intensive conditioning treatment penetrates deep inside the hair cells to revitalise dry hair while protecting against noticeable festive damage.
The 100% organic Coffee Lip Scrub has a rich, grainy-like consistency and will patch your pout, condition chapped and flaky lips, and give deli. It is the perfect hint of colour.
Adhvika Agarwal – Co-founder, ORCO
Adhvika Agarwal – Co-founder, ORCO
This Holi season we are offering our customers 30% off on our 100% natural, healthy and certified organic spices, to use in their Holi cooking. The discount can be availed on our website www.Orco.in
ORCO Spices are free of pesticides or any other hazardous chemicals and are hand pounded, hand cleaned and hand-ground on a hand mill(chakki) below 100 RPM, which retains their natural properties like taste, aroma and color.
Our wide range of organic spices and condiments include Organic Chai Masala, Organic Golden Milk Masala, Organic Pink Salt, Organic Kadha, Organic Cinnamon powder, Organic Tandoori masala and all other primary spices used in an Indian kitchen.
The pandemic has shown us the importance of building our immunity and clean eating and this festival season, we provide consumers with the perfect product to stay healthy and eat clean.
Wasif Mohd – Founder and CEO, FreshUp Mattress
Wasif Mohd – Founder and CEO, FreshUp Mattress
Finally, that time of the year has come! Host a holi party at your place this season and flaunt your comfort with delight. But with the COVID-19 pandemic amidst us, would the zeal of this festival of colors be the same is a question of the hour. With the social distancing being the new normal, is the holi going to be the same? Well, the answer to that is yes! House parties are the new cool this season, and for that one needs to revamp the house. One thing you cannot miss out while revamping your home are the mattresses. Mattresses are supposed to be a significant investment for anyone, it comes as no surprise that many people want to find the best mattress within their budget. But for me, it all comes down to comfort. Ultimately, the best mattress for the money still depends on how much you are willing to splurge.
If you’re looking for a budget friendly mattress, go for memory foam mattresses from Fresh Up mattresses. They have some special offer going on, flat 40% on mattresses purchased exclusively from www.freshupmattresses.com. You could specifically go for memory foam mattresses, with a competitive price and multiple layers of different types of foam, it’s a compelling pick for people looking for pressure relief. For a tranquil sleep one must choose a mattress that provides lumbar support.
In fact, they are running discounts on sofa cum beds as well. Sofas cum beds are an ideal way to optimize a less spacious home. It can be otherwise used as a sofa and can be converted to a bed when required. Most importantly you will have to purchase the sofa cum bed from their website to avail flat 25% off. Not just for the festivities and house parties, sofa cum bed is an essential. Why you ask? Because after a long day at work and braving the crowd, pollution and traffic on your way back home, you could unwind on your sofa cum bed and rejuvenate for the next day.
Mr. Pradeep Pruthi, Managing Director, My Bar – Punjabi Bagh
My Bar – Punjabi Bagh Holi offers 2021
The most colorful festival of the year is around the corner and this year, the Holi parties are going to be like never before (quite literally, because of Covid-19).
On that note, if the latest hit plays on your cellphone even before it becomes a hit, and if you know the newest tracks like the tattoo on your hand, My Bar Punjabi Bagh is hosting pre Holi bash, and you just cannot afford to miss it. Groove to the best tunes with DJ Himanshu and make your covid-holi celebration memorable! Also, to cater to your tummies, you can order your favorite food and drinks from their menu at a discounted rate! Seal the deal as this is definitely a not to be missed event to go crazy with your folks to celebrate festivities. My bar is definitely going to enthrall you with some scintillating Bollywood and commercial music, and that’s a promise. Price isn’t an issue because they’ve got you covered with pocket-friendly deals as well. Celebrate this Covid Holi like never before with an exquisite blend of the western music immersed with Indian culture. Bring out the dancing zombie in you. In fact, this pre – Holi bash also has great facilities to make your experience even better by taking all the precautionary measures suggested by the government in order to ensure your safety.
Date: 28th March, Sunday
Timings: 9 pm onwards
Venue : My Bar Punjabi Bagh
Just make sure you assemble your squad to enter the arena of unlimited fun!
Crimes against women has been a worrying scenario all over the world. As we celebrate the International Women’s Day, women’s safety and integrity is an agenda on the portfolios of many campaigns. Amongst others, a corporate setting too can be a place for foul play with women.
Sexual harassment or sexism at workplace has been a key concern amongst women employees. Every company is implied to set up a committee to readdress the same.
How deep does this problem run in organisations? is the committee really effective in addressing this issue? Have they ever faced it themselves? We find the answers to these questions as we speak to the women in the industry.
Dr. Shikha Baghi Bhandari – CEO & Owner, Timeless Aesthetics
Dr. Shikha Baghi Bhandari – CEO & Owner, Timeless Aesthetics
Sexism is everywhere and of course I have faced it in my career early on where people were not even subtle about their prejudices. Blatant disregard of my education and skills despite me being a specialist in my field, were simply demoralizing.
To combat that, I excelled in my field and proved to people that I am the best. It may sound sad or unfair that men do not necessarily have to prove their skill like women, but to change people’s views, one must unequivocally become the best in whatever they do.
I am glad to say that I have risen to the challenge and made a name for myself. Now it’s time to inspire the youths and my peers. That is why I am expanding my operations by opening clinics in many cities. This will create opportunity for many who don’t have to worry about roadblocks like sexism or pay gaps.
Hardwork requires more than heart, one must be tough enough to face life’s challenges. Women must work hard to reach certain heights where they get to make the rules. Once that is accomplished, sexism will be eradicated from it’s root.
The most important thing to remember is to not repeat what men have been doing. Our priority has to be equality across the board.
To those who are feeling down, I say this, “Never lose focus and prove them wrong, because you can”.
Unfortunately, but thankfully, I’ve had only one experience wherein a certain client tried to undermine my ability to run my practice based on my gender. That’s when I decided it’s best to cut ties with a client who was more focused on my gender than my work quality. Sadly, I know of several independent women who run successful businesses who have been victims of similar instances.
This is why it’s important that women set the right expectations from the very beginning. It’s also important that women through their demeanour and conduct demand to be treated equally and rightfully. One can be polite yet assertive while putting a point across and these small measures can have a huge impact in the way a team or a client would approach you.
However, for this, it’s also important to adopt a professional conduct while interacting with team-members and clients. This could be in the smallest sense – avoid conversations post a certain hour (unless absolutely necessary), avoid conversations that disclose private matters, be mind of email etiquette; body language; tonality, dressing in a certain way, etc.
Unfortunately, one to many times. Being in the industry I am, its shameful to say that its very common. People are more responsive when it’s a girl on the opposite call, rather than when it’s a man.
Even if the man is a Rockstar in sales, the girl has more chances of getting through because of the notion that has become the untold truth that sexism sells.
As I said, we do everything we can to promote gender equality, and infact we have more male BD’s than female, and we also send our female employee to the production site, so not only they understand what’s happening, but also they become stronger as a person when they are in the field.
Although I was running an organisation, during the initial few days I have experienced sexism. It was evident in the little things that the artisans in my workshop would do, like be hesitant to take orders from a woman and expect a male to be a decision-maker.
When I started my business, it was my passion project but these small things that you face can be bothersome in the beginning. It took me some time to get used to being comfortable in my role and I have managed to train and, even change my workforce wherever necessary.
It was mandatory to make those difficult decisions and hold my ground whenever necessary to make my workplace conducive not only to me but also to other women artisans.
When it comes to business, nothing can fully prepare you for challenges, you have to face them and if you don’t rise above your difficulty it makes your survival in the industry strenuous.
To maintain a healthy and functional workspace, I treat all my artisans and employees with respect and expect the same from them but if I feel someone is being sexist at my workspace, rather than turning a blind eye to it, I chose to have a conversation with them even if it gets uncomfortable.
If I don’t stand up for the things I believe in, I can’t expect anyone else to. I have to be the change I want to see.
I think a lot of women are still hesitant to show their confident side to the world because of the scare of how people will react, I think every woman who works at my organization is given equal rights to voice their opinion and to express their thoughts.
I think listening to everyone and not over talking helps an individual grow, because it helps you look beyond the judgmental instincts that you might have otherwise.
The world has become a more inclusive place now and what matters are the skill set and the dedication to bring to the table, it’s no longer whether you are a man or a woman.
I have never personally faced any sexism at my workplace and I am working towards building a secure environment for every individual who is working with me.
For me, it’s always been an evaluation of a role based on performance and giving everyone an equal opportunity at work. Alongside we have a very detailed clear guidebook for what is considered acceptable behavior.
No, I haven’t faced such issues in my workplace. In general we can’t say it’s not happening in the workplaces but it’s considerably reduced nowaday through awareness programs and organisation’s initiatives.
Women should be strong enough to voice out without any fear if such cases happen in their workplace so that we can take proper action.
In our startup we ensure that we will be alway open to hear such feedback from anyone in workplace and will take action on such cases if it’s reported in our workplace and also its individual men’s responsibility to treat their female coworkers as a friend and ensure their safety, only then we can make sure not to happen in any workplace.
Naina Aggarwal Ahuja – Founder & COO, Talking Point Communications
Naina Aggarwal Ahuja – Founder & COO, Talking Point Communications
I took the plunge as an entrepreneur at quite a young age when most people would rather get into a comfortable corporate job.
My work is all about managing people’s reputations and communicating a brand’s messaging aptly to its target audience. This means I practically work round the clock.
Being a woman makes this a tad bit more challenging given the different things I need to balance on a day-to-day basis – from running the company, being the trustee of an NGO, managing home, and also finding the time to follow my passion.
However, what has kept me going in all these years is my ability to prioritize, set the right expectations across all aspects of my life, and staying true to my commitments.
I think being at the helm of affairs does not have anything to do with gender. It is about believing in what you have set out to achieve and going full-steam ahead with diligence and perseverance. Even during COVID-19, when most business sectors suffered a setback, I did not let it deject me. We kept it going and tried to look for newer avenues in times like these.
Dr. Malini Saba – Founder & Chairman, Saba Group
Dr. Malini Saba – Founder & Chairman, Saba Group
Sexism at workplace happens every day in a lot of small things; it is slow & toxic, a death by a thousand cuts. Positioning at predominantly held male dominated space is not been easy.
I have met the best minds and the worst, frauds and cons, been fooled & bullied, sexually harassed and assaulted. I focus on hiring mainly women to create a culture for women in all ‘boys club’.
The pandemic has intensified sexism challenges that women already face, working mothers have always worked a “double shift”—a full day of work, followed by hours spent caring for children and doing household labour. Now the supports that made this possible—including school and childcare—have been upended.
To curb sexism at workplace was not just about having one issue fixed, we tried addressing all the small things that add up to a bigger problem for women to succeed at work. We allow flexible work arrangements and focus on productivity and results, and not time spent at the desk. We support pay transparency & ensure that there are no gaps in our workplace by doing a wage audit.
We hold regular events, workshops, campaigns and also engage outside speakers to conduct sessions on discrimination, harmful behavior, defending & supporting women and building trust. To liven up these sessions we incorporate them into company retreats or other outings to associate it with fun events. We have expanded our services related to mental health, such as counselling and enrichment programs, and give training to help managers support the team mental health and well-being.
Chahat Aggarwal- Founder and CEO of Impact Study Biz
Chahat Aggarwal- Founder and CEO of Impact Study Biz
Yes, I have faced sexism in the workplace and I can go on and on about it. Sexism sometimes is so subtle that many a time one is left wondering if it really was sexist or is overthinking it. But trust me, 9/10 times it is sexist. And then there are situations of blatant in-your-face sexism. I remember once sitting in a meeting where a man kept talking to the male colleague throughout the meeting whilst completely ignoring me. It was supremely awkward to sit there and be treated invisible.
Coming to the second part of the question. Firstly, we are a women-led company. We have women across all functions and hence, I feel we subconsciously are ingrained with the principles of discouraging sexism in a big way. However, if someone feels they have encountered it, we give them complete right to red flag it then and there. No need for any further process. And of course, we will make sure to look into the matter thoroughly and take the appropriate actions. But luckily, so far our culture has steered us away from all such incidences.
Although this happens to both the genders, women are more susceptible to sexism and workplace harassment. Giving their promotion to a male worker or luring them into an early promotion offer, sexual favours for quid pro quo are some of the common incidents reported by employees.
Sexual harassment at workplace can be unnerving and can jeopardize the confidence and self esteem of the person going through it. An open door policy, a solid readdresal structure and empathy towards the victim are the key essentials to prevent the unthoughtful at source.
Vibhavari Madki
