Poor Employer Brand ‘reduces prospective job candidates by half

Business research conducted by LinkedIn suggests that employees value firm’s reputation and brand more than just the financial compensation. Business analytics revealed in the report, says more than half of respondents would refuse jobs from firms without job security or able leadership at corporate strategy level. Thus firms which do not invest in corporate training of employees are potentially losing more money in fresh recruitment than training costs. Flexible work arrangements and sound work-life balance are critical.

A Successful Disruption Requires Customer Feedback

In order to be successful in the present business scenario it is crucial to incorporate disruption within the corporate strategy. Few firms have successfully disrupted the existing business models with Uber being the chief success. The biggest reason often cited for Uber’s success is the business research they put in to generate feedback and using it once generated. Some learnings can be derived from Uber’s methodology. After every interaction with user, they generate feedback. They only pose questions whose possible answers can be executed which they end up doing anyway. Feedback is one of the most important metrics they track using business analytics. For most businesses, a Net Promoted Score or NPS can be great method for peer to peer sharing with Survey Monkey being among the top success stories.         

Shopify CMO: The Secret to Modern Marketing is Data

Digital marketing used to be the niche activity which was being performed by a few firms until very recently. Now the rise of the Chief Marketing Technology Officer (CMTO) is further proof that marketing research is not complete without data and business analytics. In fact, meaningful data is now the ultimate gold all firms are chasing. Majority of marketers today are now emerging from technology based backgrounds such as engineering or coding. Canadian firm Shopify exemplifies this new culture as they have tied up with Facebook and Pinterest for a new form of digital marketing where they have issued buttons which can be bought and during this process further data is generated. 

Boom in ‘Voluntourism’ Sparks Concerns Over Whether the Industry is Doing  Good

The concept of volunteer tourism has generated numerous travel jobs spawning a sub industry in itself. The intentions are positive as tourists mainly from the developed world travel to developing countries to engage in activities which seek to help local people in different ways. Unscrupulous middlemen are getting involved in fleecing foreigners while engaging in illicit trade in the regions. This has alerted tourism authorities who feel a proper regulatory body is required to monitor the activities. Management training will then be provided to the firms operating in this sphere so they can manage professionally while at the same time help in what ought to be a noble task.

Why You Should Stop Trying to get SEO for your Business

Within the world of digital marketing, debate rages on the status of SEO and whether it belongs to marketing, journalism or PR. In truth it is a combination and in fact journalism is now getting infiltrated by marketers conscious about keywords. As per business research conducted by LinkedIn, SEO is now a much more prominent feature of job descriptions rather than titles. SEO remains relevant till Google keeps altering its search algorithm. SEO is now no longer the preserve of the technical team of web experts, instead it is an integral part of marketing and even PR. The SEO people need to be more social and interact with bloggers on regular basis. Thus firms offering these services are offering bundle of SEO with PPC and PR.

Tourism, Social Media Work in Symbiotic Relationship for Businesses

Tourism firms and boards are increasingly making use of social media for the purpose of digital marketing. Social media is enabling real time sharing of tourism activities and in some ways travel has become a narcissistic preoccupation, taking advantage of which these channels are acting as outlets for travelers to tell their stories to others. Business research suggests that Instagram is the most popular channel and is especially convenient as it can be easily synced with both Facebook and Twitter. Special hash tags are being created per tourism event. Social media also helps travelers stay connected with restaurants, souvenir shops and other utilities thus generating good number of travel jobs.

12 Components of a Digital Marketing Strategy

To execute a digital marketing strategy best, certain components are essential. The website must align with the brand, be mobile friendly and incorporate specific landing pages to generate leads. Business research has found email to be the most efficient proponent of this field. The content must educate and inform the potential users. SEO must be incorporated at corporate strategy level. It must have a positive footprint on social media. However, paid ads cannot be ignored and they have to be run simultaneously. A good part of the marketing process must be automated else duplication of work is common. Webinars must be frequently held to engage customers. Videos work best on smartphones and for the youth. Business analytics must be gauged to understand overall picture. Leads must be managed as appropriate for every segment. Finally the sales tools must be sound including brochures, presentations, mobile applications and crucially management training of sales personnel. 

Japan’s China Driver Tourism Boom

In spite of the traditional thaw in Japan- China relations, tourism inflows have increased significantly between the two. Chinese tourist arrivals to Japan has increased to double the previous year, thus spawning numerous travel jobs. This has partly been possible due to the weakening Yen and the rise of duty free shops in the country. The growth of the Chinese middle class has fuelled increasing spending patterns among the people. Japan’s gain has been seen as a loss for Hong Kong which has seen numbers decrease due to the tensions with mainland China thus adversely impacting tourism jobs there.

How to Recruit Star Talent on Social Media

Social media today has become among the top sources for recruitment especially MBA jobs. Before recruiting the corporate strategy must be clear as to what kind of employees are needed and where they will fit best at. Social media gives peek into personal lives and that may be good meter to gauge employability through studying traits. Only those people must be recruited who are already aware and believe in the product / service the firm is offering. Online trade groups and forums offer perfect arena to conduct market research on potential employee profiles. Focus groups and niche clubs exist on the social media from where recruitment can be easier.

Hiring in the Digital Age

The art of recruitment has been complicated due to digitization, yet the same also provides opportunities not available formerly. Certain procedures must be incorporated into the corporate strategy of the firm’s recruitment policy to get best possible results. As per business research conducted by Glassdoor, the average number of days to close a placement has doubled in just a few years. Thus patience is key. One must use aggregators like LinkedIn especially for management jobs. While posting is free, the paid subscription allows much faster and more efficient filtering. Recruitment advertisements need to be written more crisp these days especially as keywords have become crucial. As with digital marketing, similarly in the process of hiring, consistency must be maintained. So ‘management consulting’ must not veer to ‘managerial consulting’ as this small change will make it that much more difficult to identify right candidates. Finally, recruiter must be prepared to face plethora of applications as its far cheaper and easier to apply and take a chance than it used to be. There exists template formed responses which must then be sent to the applicants post quick filtration.

Must-Have Metrics for Digital Marketing

In order to succeed in digital marketing and traffic generation, use of certain metrics has become essential. Page views and unique visitors must be graphed. Sources of traffic to the website must be known. The mobile phone as a source of data generation as well as lead conversion must be utilized to the hilt. Click-through Rate works especially well on Google Adwords but can easily be replicated on other platforms. The cost per click is an essential metric to study the return on investment the client is going through.

 14 Must-Have Metrics for Digital Marketing

Certain metrics can make the process of digital marketing much more result oriented. While conversion rate being used as a parameter too judge may appear too much a product of sales orientation, ultimately its importance can’t be overstated. Cost per lead gives the marketer useful data on the return on investment. Bounce rate is an effective tool to study content attractiveness of the client’s website. Average pages per visit gives the marketer information on chances of conversion as someone visiting more pages is more likely to be converted to a customer. On the other hand, average time on site is the data generated by business analytics that measures the amount of time spent on website by potential customer. It helps in ranking websites as per Google’s algorithm. Cost per page view is another useful tool for calculating ROI. Return visitors shows the success of the client’s loyalty programmes. Google business analytics metrics need to be monitored as it provides insights on visitors, their lifestyles, requirements and demographics they represent. The most crucial metric to finally determine customer ROI is the acquisition cost. It provides us with Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) which helps evaluate individual customers. Revenue may be optimized accordingly. 

 Toyota Museum Breaking Records as Tourists Flock to Nagoya

Japan, the land of Kaizen has ensured increasing travel jobs through the spurt in tourist numbers at the Toyota Museum in Nagoya. Business research conducted shows this is the second most visited museum in Japan following the Nikka Whisky Distilling’s distillery in Hokkaido. As per Toyota’s corporate strategy, certain steps have been taken to attract greater numbers of Chinese tourists. It has educational aspect and people can study the history of the corporation from the earliest of times. This information comes in the wake of the expo conducted in 2005 in Nagoya post which tourism did not hit those highs, but now recovering well. 

 Don’t Set Process Without Input from Frontline Workers

The people who set corporate strategy are usually the ones with clipboards, checklists and compliance measures. Their philosophy can ultimately be traced to Frederick Taylor who founded the idea of scientific management and standardization. While this philosophy ran the test of time, the new set of managers proved to be not so hands-on and reliant on charts or manuals. Thus the IT stream got utmost importance as computers could now standardize and check for gaps in the business procedures. Yet gaps are now emerging and it is crucial for the strategists to develop plans in accordance with procedures understood best by employees who handle customers. Thus is it crucial to engage and empower the men and women on the ground. Process experts must not be seen as distant or bureaucratic.

 Will you Ride the Millennial Wave?

Business research conducted by Pew suggests that a significant segment at workplaces today is coveredby millennials between eighteen and thirty four years of age. They are taking control of the environment and thus it is crucial for corporate strategy to inculcate their views in order to survive the next major revolution.They value flexibility at work and embrace change. They possess a more positive outlook towards work and expect to be measured on productivity rather than hours at workplace. Offers at entrepreneurship boost them majorly. Their corporate training must include technological innovations. They also prefer being associated with ethical organizations. Telecommunicating is also very popular with this generation.