As an entrepreneur or business owner, you understand the importance of regularly reviewing your current operations to find areas of improvement. This issue of Business in Action is full of ideas to help you do just that, including a deep dive into the benefits of branded content, a look at the valuable impact of having a mentor, and much more.
In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), you now have access to a wide range of tools that can boost your business’s performance and propel you ahead of the competition. The article inside explores the capabilities of four AI tools that may improve your daily workflows and streamline operational processes.
Branded content has emerged as a dominant marketing tactic that can enable businesses to form meaningful connections and foster trust with their clients. This issue offers strategies for successfully implementing it, including determining your brand’s story, embracing authenticity, and staying committed to your message.
Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned professional, the guidance of a trusted mentor can be invaluable. Inside, learn how to find the right mentor along with the various ways they can provide a fresh perspective, give unique insights, and help you better navigate any challenges you may face.
Leading a business can be rewarding yet demanding, potentially leading to burnout and poor work-life balance. The enclosed article highlights the importance of prioritizing yourself and provides strategies for maintaining your physical and mental health.
What changes are you going to implement this month? As always, it’s a pleasure to send you this magazine.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the way we interact with technology. Where we were once limited to checking the weather or tracking an order on our phones, we now have access to a powerful resource for enhancing business productivity and efficiency. Though there are a plethora of programs, software, and tools available, here’s a closer look at four that may help improve your daily workflow and fine-tune your operational processes.
Arguably one of the most popular AI tools, ChatGPT is a large-language model (LLM) that utilizes a conversational interface to process and generate text in a humanlike way. It can produce both long- and short-form writings, including blogs, articles, emails, social media captions, and even computer code. You simply put in a prompt or question, and the model will provide information, insights, and suggestions or engage in a conversation with you. You can then narrow down your general inquiry to more specific topics to get closer to what you’re looking for.
As you learn to navigate ChatGPT, it learns more about what you need. In other words, the more you interact with the interface, the better it can understand your questions and preferences, allowing for a more tailored and useful experience. With this program, you can do everything from exploring various topics and discovering new information to seeking advice and solving problems.
As of publication, ChatGPT’s basic model is free for anyone to use. It also offers a more advanced, subscription-based version. However, its responses are generated based on patterns and examples from various sources, and its information may not always be accurate or reliable. Make sure you verify information from other trusted sources before using any of the text it provides.
For more info, visit openai.com/chatgpt
Lumen5, an innovative video creation software, empowers businesses to effortlessly generate captivating marketing content for their websites, advertisements, and social media profiles. With this user-friendly tool, you can seamlessly convert your blog posts into engaging videos and share them online. Simply provide the link to your blog, and Lumen5 will extract the copy and images, utilizing an algorithm to match the content with stock images and footage. It then times everything together based on average reading speed. Once the initial video is created, you can customize various aspects according to your preferences.
This tool offers the opportunity to repurpose your existing written content into a fresh format, expanding your business’s reach to a wider audience. While there is a free plan available, it does have certain limitations and includes a Lumen5 watermark in the produced videos. Nevertheless, it provides a valuable chance to explore the software’s capabilities before upgrading to one of the paid plans.
For more info, visit lumen5.com
A distinctive logo is essential for every brand, but it isn’t always easy to create the best one. Looka simplifies the entire branding process, enabling you to craft your brand identity without prior design expertise. Get started by entering your business’s name and your industry. Then select a few logos from a curated collection for Looka to use as inspiration, choose up to three preferred colors, and identify five symbols that correspond to your vision. With this information, the software will generate dozens of initial logo options, which you can further personalize to your liking.
Once you find the perfect logo, you have the option to purchase it for a one-time fee or sign up for a comprehensive brand kit subscription. With the brand kit, you unlock the ability to create an array of cohesive marketing materials that align seamlessly with your business’s identity.
For more info, visit looka.com
Tidio is a powerful customer-service software designed to propel your business forward. Like ChatGPT, it’s a type of conversational AI, but with this tool, you can add chats and chabots to your website. (It also seamlessly integrates with popular platforms like Shopify, WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and more.) This can empower your employees to help your customers more efficiently.
For instance, its chat functionality offers the ability to create canned responses your customer service team can use, along with its AI Reply Assistant, to deliver high-quality responses at a faster pace. There’s also Tidio’s Lyro chatbot, which provides AI-driven answers to customers directly regarding orders, discount codes, and other frequently asked questions about policies and operating hours. This level of automation can alleviate some of the strain on your customer service team, allowing it to focus on more complex issues.
Moreover, Tidio provides insightful features such as the visitors section, which gives information about each of your website’s visitors, including their source, their location, and what pages they’ve visited on your site. This knowledge can help you engage more effectively with potential customers throughout the sales process. Tidio offers a free seven-day trial, allowing you to experience the product and explore its capabilities firsthand before committing to a paid plan.
For more info, visit tidio.com
TAKE ACTION:
Test out one or more of the above AI tools to determine if your business’s current workflow or operational processes could benefit from utilizing it.
Though hard-sell advertising has seemingly ruled forever, the tide has swung dramatically in the twenty-first century to branded content. By understanding the value of this powerful tool and how to properly utilize it, you can elevate your business to new heights.
To fully comprehend what this strategy is, it’s helpful to first understand what it’s not. It’s not a hard sell that relentlessly pounds home the point of why you need this product now. And it’s not product placement, a tool that was prominent in the nineties on shows such as Seinfeld.
Instead, branded content flips the script to a values-centered model. Sir Richard Branson predicted this shift about a decade ago when he said, “The brands that will thrive in the coming years . . . are the ones that have a purpose beyond profit.” Those three words—purpose beyond profit—summarize branded content in a nutshell. With skepticism more rampant than ever, you must win over your audience and earn their trust by showing that you genuinely understand their values. And branded content is the vehicle that will bring your purpose-driven message to life for them.
Branded content has been flooding the global market for years, so you’re sure to have seen it—even if you didn’t realize it.
For example, back in 2011, Coca-Cola came up with a brilliant branded content strategy: it shifted the focus from its product to the person holding it. How? By personalizing its bottles. In doing so, it minimized its iconic logo and made the consumer’s name the focus. Something so simple yet effective was an ingenious way to get people talking and sharing stories of finding their names on a Coke bottle.
Another classic example is Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign. This years-long effort was wildly successful because it artistically touched on a common pain point for women: dissatisfaction with their looks. In one six-minute video, called Real Beauty Sketches, a forensic artist draws women based on their own descriptions and then on a stranger’s description of them. The aha moments when they are shown the paired sketches effortlessly yet powerfully illustrate the point—you’re more beautiful than you think—on their own. In fact, that tagline (and the Dove logo) doesn’t even appear until the very end of the video.
The effect? You know you’re watching a Dove video (it’s right there in the video’s name on YouTube), but you get so lost in the gripping story that it feels like poignant advice from a close friend. In all, “Real Beauty” doubled the company’s sales in just three years, and Ad Age named it the top campaign of this century. That’s the impact of branded content.
Fortunately, getting the ball rolling on this marketing technique is relatively straightforward. Here are four tips to help you create effective branded content.
Determine your story
Many companies know their products or services inside out but fail to share the stories behind them. Consider your core values and what they represent, then ask, “How can people automatically associate them with our brand?” Think of Red Bull, whose series of adventure videos showing people doing the impossible have garnered tens of millions of views. The visuals of these amazing feats seamlessly convey the company’s slogan: “Red Bull gives you wings.”
Once you’ve determined the story you want to tell, you can lay out a game plan for how your organization can communicate it through copy, videos, or podcasts. Ideally, you would use all of these mediums, but anything that can be easily shared, especially on Facebook or via an influencer on Instagram, should be prioritized.
Shift your focus
To implement your branded content, you may have to subdue your instincts. As hard as it may be to accept, the story is the hero here, not your product or service, which means you must convey the value of your overall brand rather than pitch the product being sold.
It’s all about storytelling. To get your audience to eagerly embrace your brand, you must make an emotional impact and demonstrate that your values align. However, you can’t connect with people unless you understand them; the better you know and engage with them, the greater the relationship will be. What are their wants, concerns, fears, and unmet needs, both for themselves and for the world at large? Heavily research your target demographic, and consider polling or surveying them, a surefire way to make them feel their voices are being heard.
Be authentic
By nature, people like stories, but when it comes to branded content, those stories should be fact, not fiction. The consequences of not making them so can be critical, a lesson many entrepreneurs have learned as a result of tying their businesses to social causes they didn’t wholeheartedly support. Most consumers today, especially in the coveted younger demographics, crave authenticity and loathe being sold to. They’re looking for reasons to trust your brand—so give them what they want.
Commit to your message
Stay consistent with your story’s message across all your channels to reinforce your purpose and values. Doing so half-heartedly—in your videos, for example, but not in your mission statement—likely won’t cut it when it comes to getting people to know, like, and trust your brand. They’ll see right through you, and it will hurt your brand’s reputation.
Remember: the name of the game, as always, is making your brand rise above the competition, and sharing a story through branded content does just that. Ultimately, you want to form a long-lasting connection through your stories, which will then foster word of mouth, likes, and buzz about your business.
Branded content is a powerful tool. It enables you to make a personal connection with your audience by conveying a shared narrative and vision, making for a natural, mutually beneficial partnership. Don’t get left behind—start strategizing and building your branded content today to reap the benefits tomorrow.
TAKE ACTION:
Revisit your company’s mission statement to see how well it tells your story, then brainstorm ways to use branded content to share it.
Whether you are starting up a brand-new business or are a leader in an already established one, there will be moments when you could benefit from the advice and guidance of a trusted mentor. This individual could be someone who has more experience than you, or they could be a peer. Either way, they can offer you a fresh, objective perspective and provide invaluable suggestions on how to navigate your career, run your business, and overcome any obstacles you might encounter along the way.
When you’re faced with a new professional experience or challenge, a mentor can support and direct you in a way that only someone who is in your field or has traveled a journey like yours can. “I can’t overstate how important it is to have a mentor to help fast-track your growth and keep you accountable,” says Luke Acree, president of the marketing company ReminderMedia. “There are lessons only experience can teach you, but having a mentor can provide a shortcut so you can quickly learn information that might otherwise take years to understand. One of the greatest things my mentor has done for me is help put things in perspective.”
Financial planner Leah Hadley understands this well: she used the insights she received from her mentor to successfully start and manage her two Cleveland, Ohio-based businesses, Great Lakes Investment Management and Great Lakes Divorce Financial Solutions. “Honestly, I don’t know if I would still have my businesses without my mentor,” she says. “She helped me start thinking about important things like marketing, sales, and other skills I needed to develop.”
No matter where you’re at in your career or business, having a mentor can be like taking a crash course in everything you need to know for the next stage. Thanks to their experience, they can clue you in to solutions and tactics you might not have discovered on your own, allowing you to grow further and faster than you may have without them.
While a mentor can boost your career or help you get your business on the right track, it can be difficult to find the one who’s best for you. “Choose your mentor wisely—base your choice not on what they say but on what they have achieved,” Acree advises. “You should never take advice from someone who has a career you don’t want.”
There are many organizations that can help you find a mentor, such as SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer business mentors. On its website, you can browse mentor profiles and contact individuals who are open to a mentoring relationship.
Another good place to search is in your own professional and personal networks. Hadley met her first business mentor at a conference for the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts. She has also formed mentoring relationships with other female business owners through the National Association of Women Business Owners, an organization she’s a member of. While these relationships aren’t as formal as the one she has with her first business mentor, Hadley’s found that they still often provide her with a helpful sounding board.
When starting out with a new mentor, first determine what you each expect from the relationship and how you’d like to work together. “You don’t want to burden someone who’s trying to help you,” Hadley explains. “Ask about the best way to communicate with them, and have them outline their boundaries to help ensure a positive relationship.”
For example, Hadley’s mentor was happy to communicate with her over the phone and through email, so Hadley used to call her about once a month and send her occasional emails. Now that she’s been in business for a few years, she reaches out to her mentor less often.
Since running a business or managing a team requires a wide variety of skills and comes with numerous challenges, Acree suggests developing more than one mentoring relationship. That way, you’ll be more likely to get the advice you need. “I’ve had a few business mentors,” he explains. “I chose them based on their specific expertise and experience. You won’t find one mentor who is great at all things.”
Additionally, your business and career will evolve over time, causing your needs to shift as well. “Initially, I had to learn how to get clients, and then I had to discover how to hire well, manage a team, and make sure all the legal stuff was in place,” Hadley explains. “Sometimes that meant finding other people with those specific skill sets to mentor me.”
No matter where you are with your career or business, having a mentor may be what you need to improve your abilities, solve problems, and work toward success. “As a leader of a multimillion-dollar business and someone who employs hundreds of people, one of the hardest things is feeling unsure about some of the toughest decisions,” Acree says. “Having a mentor to discuss ideas and share strategies with is invaluable.”
You can obviously learn a great deal from working with a mentor, but Hadley suggests there’s as much to gain by sharing what you’ve learned with others. “Your mentors may give a lot to you, so you should do whatever you can to give back, whether it’s by showing gratitude or passing those lessons along,” she says. “Now that I’m more established, whenever somebody reaches out, I’m always happy to talk to them about what it’s like to start a business.”
TAKE ACTION:
Tap into your sphere to identify someone who could be a good potential mentor.
In the roller-coaster world of business, the role of a leader can be a double-edged sword. Leadership offers opportunities for influence, growth, and achievement, but it can also come with immense pressure and responsibility. Its demands can even take a toll on your personal well-being, resulting in poor work-life balance and burnout. To better maintain equilibrium, implement these strategies and practices for self-care.
It’s easy to get caught in the trap of equating self-care with selfishness. But prioritizing your health is one of the best things you can do for yourself and others. Healthy leaders are better equipped to make smart decisions, listen to the concerns of their employees, adapt to change, and help their teams navigate challenging situations. And by investing in and taking care of yourself, you are modeling healthy behavior for your team and fostering a culture of well-being.
When you have a million things unchecked on your to-do list, it can be tempting to just grab a coffee, start working on the day’s agenda, and push through until it’s done. But part of self-care is eating a nutritious breakfast and taking a true lunch break to nourish your brain and body. After all, without proper fuel, you can only keep going for so long.
If your job entails sitting at a desk for long periods of time, exercise is even more important. Moving your body will support both your physical and mental health and ensure that you have enough energy and clarity to get you through the day. And it doesn’t have to be intensive. Find ways to carve out time, even just ten or fifteen minutes, for a walk, a yoga session, or a simple workout in the gym.
Finally, prioritize getting good sleep to prevent the mental fog and physical fatigue that come with exhaustion. Try to end screen time an hour or two before you go to bed to avoid the effects of doomscrolling and blue light, both of which can affect your ability to sleep.
When you are struggling to come up with a solution to a work conundrum, sometimes the best thing you can do is step away from it and engage in a recreational pursuit. Besides allowing you to decompress, this will give you an opportunity to use your brain in a different way, which can either send you back to the problem with a refreshed perspective or directly inspire the answer you’ve been searching for. Having non-work-related interests also prevents you from forging an identity that’s entirely wrapped up in your profession, and sometimes the skills and insights accrued through these hobbies, such as teamwork on the basketball court, can be transferred back to your role in a way that enhances your leadership abilities.
This skill isn’t talked about enough in the business sphere, but it’s a critical one for leaders to have. Leaders with high emotional intelligence are able to understand and manage their own emotions, enabling them to empathize with their employees’ needs and perspectives and become more effective at collaborating, resolving conflict, creating unity, and fostering trust. They’re also more equipped to promote inclusivity and diversity within their teams, valuing their employees for the unique contributions they bring to the table rather than expecting everyone to fit into the same mold.
The best way to improve your emotional intelligence is to learn to identify your emotions and how they impact your actions. When you’re stressed, what emotions tend to bubble up? Consider asking others for feedback on how you react in challenging situations. Does their perspective align with your self-perception, or do you need to be more honest with yourself? The better you can recognize how you’re feeling, the easier it will be to pause before reacting, lead calmly and effectively, and promote a culture of empathy within your team.
Being a good leader requires acknowledging that you don’t know everything. Continuous learning through avenues such as workshops, conferences, and seminars can give you additional tools and insights for upgrading your own company strategies. As a bonus, it can also prevent you from getting stuck in a rut of doing things the same way; listening to other voices regularly will keep your mind open to new ideas and serve as a reminder that pivoting is always an option. Additionally, by seeking to improve yourself, you’ll be a role model for your team, inspiring them to pursue their own personal development.
There are only so many hours in a day, and if you put all your time and energy toward operational tasks, you won’t have the brainpower left to focus on your long-term vision. Part of self-care as a leader is learning to use your resources efficiently. This involves leveraging the strengths of the individuals on your team to ensure each person is contributing to the best of their abilities, which will both free you up to focus on the big company decisions and convey to your employees that you trust them to do their part. In turn, they can level up their skill sets, take on more responsibility, and feel a sense of ownership over specific projects.
If you never show the real you, it will be challenging to build the rapport that is necessary for a healthy team. Operate with openness and curiosity, and encourage the same from your employees. Learning how they think, what inspires them, and how they feel most fulfilled and respected will create a constructive feedback loop, catapulting your company to new heights and preventing the dreaded echo chamber that stagnates businesses.
Prioritizing self-care is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself and your business. By utilizing these strategies, you can boost your own effectiveness while also creating an environment of openness, respect, and reciprocity.
TAKE ACTION:
Evaluate what self-care strategies would help you refresh and develop as a leader.
