3 Ways Millennials Can Leverage Their Strengths To Advance Their Careers

The largest factor that separates millennials from previous generations in the workplace is the desire to learn and grow. According to Gallup, 87% of millennials rate professional or career growth and development opportunities as important to them in a job. With limited hours per day, it can be difficult to decide which responsibilities to focus on — especially which will lead to a promotion.

One of the most effective ways to target advancement opportunities is to hone in on our unique talents and use them to our advantage. According to Gallup, our talents are “naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied.” When we invest time and grow our knowledge base in these areas, we can build these natural talents into career-focused professional strengths.

In applying our strengths, we share our skillset in a valuable way with both our supervisors and the organization as a whole. This practice helps us stand out, make an impact, and show what we are capable of as a young professional.  It also feeds our desire to learn and grow in our young careers.

The first step to applying our strengths to our work is to discover what we love doing.

Identify Your Talents

Reflect on what you are naturally good at and areas that have the greatest potential for contribution in the workplace. Ask yourself:

What do people typically come to me for advice on? How do I contribute to meetings? What is my role in a team setting? How do I follow through on projects? How do I influence others to sell my ideas? And so on.

Lisa Cummings, CEO of Lead Through Strengthsrecommends the StrengthsFinder assessment as a shortcut to identifying your natural gifts. Cummings reveals that it “helps you see things about your awesomeness that you hadn’t viewed as special. It also equips you with language to talk about your strengths at work, without feeling awkward.”

If you are newer to the professional space, reflect on your collegiate, leadership and volunteer experiences. What role did you play in those settings and what value did you provide to both individuals and the organizations?

Invest in Your Strengths

After you identify what makes you stand out, it’s important to take time to develop your strengths. According to Dr. Brandon Rigoni, Managing Consultant at Gallup, “We must invest in our areas of natural talent by acquiring relevant knowledge, skills, and experience. Only then can we truly develop strength in an area.” Much of the investment process involves taking time to actively apply your strengths.

Consider taking a course, attending a conference, or volunteering on a new project. Take the opportunity to enhance the areas you already excel in to another level and don’t be afraid to take on a new challenge. Speak with your supervisor about their professional development budget and be open to free and low cost online resources such as: Lynda.com, Creative Live and Udemy. Push yourself further, ask for help, and most importantly: set aside time and space to invest in yourself.

Leverage Your Strengths 

Now that you have identified your strengths and spent time investing in yourself, you need to leverage them for career advancement. The first step is to understand your organization’s vision. Cummings suggests that it is not only important to know your strengths but to also “know the company metrics that matter. Then apply your strengths to push the goals forward. If you can help your team and your boss succeed, you will be valued.”

Take a step back and reflect on what your company is missing. How can you help your boss stand out, and how can you leverage your strengths to provide a solution? Is your company looking to gain new clients, and you have a record for success in that area? Are they looking to recruit new talent, and you have recently brought in new hires? Do they need to implement a new technology solution, and you have experience with the software?

If you’re unsure of where the best use of your talents might be, talk with your supervisor. Be proactive and schedule a time to look at upcoming projects and areas for collaboration. Cummings believes that managers will “want to help you grow your career in the direction of your strengths, yet they can’t easily uncover your hopes, dreams, and wishes without ongoing conversations. Managers love people who share their ideas about how they can help the team reach its goals.”

As millennials, identifying our desire to learn and grow in the workplace is the easy part, but leveraging specific opportunities for advancement is where the real work comes in. “When what we choose to do aligns with who we are, we will be much more likely to stand out and advance. Finding roles in which we can leverage our strengths is the key to happiness, wellbeing, and productivity… and by extension, promotion,” says Dr. Rigoni. Don’t be afraid to ask for growth opportunities and invest time in yourself and your company.

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10 Laws of Social Media Marketing

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6 Clever Ways Small Businesses Can Use Big Data

I’m often asked whether big data can provide the same opportunities for small businesses and independent traders as it can for big corporations. My answer: absolutely! While the average small business has less self-generated data than big players like Google or Facebook, this doesn’t mean big data is off limits. In fact, in many ways, big data is more suited to small businesses because they’re generally more agile and able to act more quickly on data-driven insights. Let’s look at some of the ways small businesses can make use of big data, which I have taken from my book Big Data for Small Business For Dummies.

Understanding what makes your customers tick  

Thanks to big data, small businesses can get a fuller picture of their customers – what makes them tick, why they buy, how they prefer to shop, why they switch, what they’ll buy next, and what factors lead them to recommend a company to others. Companies can also better interact and engage with customers by analyzing customer feedback in order to improve a product or service. Useful data sources include traditional in-house data (like sales data and customer service logs), social media, browser logs, text analytics, and large, public data sets (such as census data).

Social media has become a particularly valuable source of data, making activities such as identifying niche markets and analyzing customer feedback much easier and cheaper. Twitter – where almost all conversations are effectively held in public – is easier to mine than most platforms.

Identifying trends

Spotting and monitoring behaviors and patterns allows us to take a stab at predicting where things are heading, how demand for our products or services will change over time, and what will prompt that change. Until recently, trend analysis and prediction often came down to ‘gut instinct’. Now, big data is taking a lot of the guesswork out of that process.

Trending topics flash across Facebook and Twitter every day, making it easier than ever before to work out what people want. Services such as Trendera and Trend Hunter collate trend data and use it to answer specific questions for businesses. In retail, online and offline customer behavior can be measured to microscopic detail – even down to how someone moves around the physical and online store. That data can be compared with external data, such as the time of the year, economic conditions and even the weather, to build up a detailed picture of what people are likely to buy, and when.

Checking out the competition

In the past, understanding your competition was limited to industry gossip or looking around rivals’ websites or shops. Some might go as far as pretending to be customers in order to find out more about a competitor’s service or product. These days though, you hardly need to leave your desk to find out what the competition is up to; financial data is readily available, Google Trends can offer insights on the popularity of a brand or product, and social media analysis can illustrate popularity (i.e., how often a company is mentioned) and show what customers are saying. Again, Twitter is a particularly transparent place to start. All the information you gather can be compared with your own brand; for example, does your competitor get more mentions on Twitter? How do their Twitter conversations with customers compare with yours?

Keep in mind that it’s also easy for your competitors to glean more information on your business than ever before. There’s no way around this, but you can stay one step ahead by keeping up-to-date on the latest big data technologies and uses.

Improving operations

Big data is also increasingly used to optimize business processes and everyday operations. With any business process that generates data (for example, machinery on a production line, sensors on delivery vehicles, customer ordering systems), you can use that data to make improvements and generate efficiencies.

For manufacturing or industrial companies, machines, vehicles and tools can be made ‘smart’, which means they can be connected, data-enabled, and constantly reporting their status to each other. By analyzing this data, organizations can gain real-time visibility into their operations and look for ways to increase efficiency.

Retail companies are able to optimize their stock keeping based on predictions generated from social media data, web search trends, and weather forecasts. This allows stores to stock up on the most popular items, ensuring they don’t miss out on sales and reducing the amount of unwanted stock lying around.

Supply chain or delivery route optimization is another business process that is benefitting heavily from big data analytics. Here, GPS and sensors are used to track goods or delivery vehicles and optimize routes by integrating live traffic data, and so on.

Recruiting and managing talent       

Data can help you find the most successful candidates, identify the best recruitment channels, and help to better engage existing employees. Most businesses already generate a wealth of HR-related data: absenteeism figures, productivity data, personal development reviews, and staff satisfaction data. As well as this, companies can now access so much more data that wasn’t available before: data from recruitment sites, information from sensors in ID badges, social media data, etc. All this information can be analyzed to gain insights that were never available before.

Tweaking your business model

Data can even become a part of your business model, leading to exciting new ways to generate revenue. Facebook, for example, is free to users but has historically generated income from advertising. Now the company is capitalizing on the huge amount of data it has on its users, by making certain data available to businesses. Some of this data is available for free but some of it you have to pay for, creating a new income stream for Facebook. There are many opportunities now for small businesses to monetize the data they are generating by providing value added services or selling data to customers or third parties. One of my clients is now using data from inbuilt sensors to dynamically adjust maintenance cycles depending on how much their customer use their product.

Big data analytics in small companies can start by simply using all the big data that we are now surrounded by and that other companies give us access to. Ignoring the big data revolution is a very risky approach for any small business to take. I recommend that every small and medium-sized business develops a big data strategy to identify the opportunities and threats it is facing from the global data explosion.

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POWERFUL MARKETING SOLUTIONS THAT WORK

5 Creative Marketing Solutions That Will Work In 2017

Solutions come in every flavor. Every client has different pain, and it’s 

an agency’s job to seek out and offer solutions. Once the pain has been 

established, the solution is what will solve or compound the problem. 

Great agencies can put creative thoughts into a campaign and make it 

memorable. Here are 5 creative marketing solutions that will resonate 

with the consumer in 2017.

1. Don’t tell your consumer about you, but how your 

product can benefit them.

Always be thinking about your personas and have empathy to how they

are thinking. This is the reason Rocket Mortgage has taken off. The fastest 

simplest mortgage from your phone. Now that is what the consumer wants 

to hear. Apple didn’t make billions by telling people what they are, they 

told people of the experience they could have.

2.  Technology is driving innovation.

Let me give you an example of this, Amazon Echo is scheduled to sell 41 

million of the cylinder-shaped units by 2020 and retailers are lining up to 

create branded skills that prompt consumers to buy their products from 

their kitchen. General Electric will start selling a branded LED lamp with 

Alexa built in or 1-800-Flowers has found a way to order by just asking 

Alexa to send flowers to an address. Don’t forget, a new market could 

come from technology driven design.

3. Engage your target consumer, NOT YOU.

What a simple solution that most CEO’s get wrong. Today more than ever, 

each sector of consumers, such as Boomers or Millennials, want to be 

spoken to differently. You may or may not agree with it, but each generation 

has a different language. A great example of this is borrowed from an 

article from business2community.com:

While snowboarding attracts huge audiences, the organizers of X Games 

knew that the tricks pulled by athletes were bewildering to most casual 

viewers.To combat this, an app was created that tracked snowboarders 

live as they made their runs and whenever a trick was mentioned by a 

commentator, the viewer could see an explanation instantly — for instance, 

a ‘Double McTwist 1260’ is two flips and 3.5 spins. The campaign saw 

site visits climb by 72%, pageviews by 99% and time spent by 57%.

4. Now more than ever, be inventive with your marketing 

efforts.

The clutter of advertising today is remarkable, but there is always room for 

something new. It sparks interest, shares well and the PR goes far. Let’s 

take Coke, as a brand, how do you get a bump of 2.5% from past years of 

a steady decline? They created a unique, sharable experience by adding 

human names to their bottles and cans. The second wave of this campaign 

allowed customers to go online and personalize a bottle to be sent with free 

shipping.

5. HIRE the right agency.

It’s possible today that you aren’t getting the results because your agency 

or in-house team has quit learning or is not willing to take risks. Your 

brand depends on stirring the pot, which keeps your company thriving 

and excitement within your culture. Smaller agencies have become very 

popular again because the attention to detail and making your dollars go 

farther has become the mainstay of these smaller digital agencies. If you 

need global reach, maybe a medium or large agency is the right fit. But do 

yourself a favor and start the conversation.

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Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook

How To Build A Strong Startup Brand That Stands Out

There is an abundance of opportunity in the market for startups, which means there’s also an abundance of competition.

In the crowded marketplace, setting your startup apart is crucial to its survival and success.

They say reputation builds brands, so it is vital for you to nail your first impression and create a positive perception in the mind of the users.

While excellent design, a captivating logo, high quality services and products all promote the brand, it’s the positive image of your business that helps build a strong, standout startup.

Your brand image resonates with the users, builds loyalty and lets you stand apart. So when it comes to delivering your public presence, attracting users, and building your business, you want a great start.

Here are 7 tips to create a strong startup brand keeping in mind the current trends:

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1. Define your brand purpose, not just its promise

Every brand makes a promise, but in a market where consumer confidence is low, it isn’t about the promise but about defining your purpose.

Outline the reasons for launching your business, highlight what makes your different from your competitors and what is unique about your product or service.

Take IKEAfor instance, it’s a furniture company with a vision that is to ‘’create a better everyday life.’’ Define your brand using a vision and mission to appeal to both existing and potential customers.

A blog at HubSpot shows examples of some great inspiring mission and vision statements and how they can help your business.

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2. Maintain brand consistency and cohesiveness

Once you have your image set, you want to ingrain it in the minds of the target users and make sure you maintain it. Keeping your message consistent across all your digital platforms will keep your user from getting confused and establish a sense of trust.

Every element of your marketing should cordially work together to enhance and embody your brand’s personality at every platform.

This blog shows examples of businesses with stellar, consistent branding for inspiration.

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3. Create connection through an emotional voice

To be successful brands need to create an emotional connection and build a relationship with their audience. Many users rely on a product to evoke emotions. Many make purchasing decisions based on emotion as well. Using this strategy, people believe they are part of a larger community.

Don’t keep sharing your dry corporate endeavors but rather push messages that appeal to the emotions of your users.

This great blog by Creative Work Marketing talks about why your brand needs emotional branding and how its adds to the success of your business.

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4. Create creative and original content

Content and content marketing go hand-in-hand. Branding a startup is all about marketing good, useful and fresh content. You should always aim for high-quality, unique and relevant content.

When you think of Red Bull, you think of an energy drink for the adventurous. Because Red Bull has done excellent branding using videos, the Red Bull blog and social media campaigns that engage and interact with users.

Blogs are a great way to drive traffic to your website, boast your search ranking and establish a brand’s position. Social media marketing is one of the most important tools in branding a startup today. Make your content so great that your target audience has no choice but to bow down to your brand’s greatness.

Another powerful tool for branding that’s on the rise is video marketing. Videos allow you to create and share remarkable content for your users in an interesting, memorable manner.

Here’s 11 tips by experts on creating shareable content that is both creative and original.

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5. Cultivate enduring customer loyalty

Customers are the foundation of any business, and loyal customers are the ones that keep your business running. So make sure that your cultivate loyalty among your followers, consumers and patrons.

You can build loyalty by talking to them; be it a personalized thank you note, or you listen and ask for their experiences online as customer reviews or testimonials. Be sure to foster conversation on your social platforms. Offering quality service is another formula to create loyalty.

You can also find ways of rewarding your top customers and show your appreciation. A great blog on Forbes discusses 4 steps to cultivate insane customer loyalty to get your business thriving.

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6. Keep a flexible approach                

                     

Can your company pivot easily if necessary? Can you adjust to new circumstances? Can you alter your dream startup idea to meet new expectations?

These are all important questions of flexibility. Startups face all sorts of new challenges and being flexible can be a major advantage. Flexibility allows you to make adjustments to new generation’s expectations from your business, changing trends and keeping up with the rapid, evolving world of technology.

Taking an example of Old Spice, the perfume for men, it found a way to connect to both old and new customers, and build a strong brand by maintaining a flexible approach.

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7. Hear and be heard: Offer great customer service

Train all your employees on effective customer communication and service. A well-mannered communication with your users will go a long way in winning trust and loyalty.

Zappos, a popular shoe manufacture excels at customer service. It has a separate department that addresses customer queries, as well as, a segment on its website called Zappos Insight which includes FAQs, videos and more mediums of communication to assure and service the customer.

Here are 11 excellent customer service stories from brands that get it right.
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