Mediaboss Marketing

To gain insight into the most pressing challenges facing small businesses today and how to overcome them, we gathered first-hand experiences from 15 professionals, including digital marketers, CEOs, and business consultants. From identifying existing strengths for strategic clarity to using apprenticeships to solve hiring issues, these experts share their valuable perspectives on overcoming the hurdles small businesses face.

There are countless marketing channels available to businesses today, both online (such as Google, social media, and email marketing) and offline (such as direct mail and referral programs). Choosing the right strategy can be a challenge and can often come at a high cost. Small businesses may try out several paid strategies to see what works, but this can hurt their ROI and limit their investment opportunities.

Personally, when I first started out, I struggled to determine the best marketing strategy for my business. I found that identifying my existing strengths (such as networking as a free marketing opportunity) and utilizing them to generate income before investing in paid marketing strategies was a helpful approach.

Inbar Madar, Founder and Business Consultant, M.I. Business Consulting

One of the biggest challenges facing small businesses today is getting digital visibility. There are so many brands, companies, and products in the online space and so many competitors that a small company should overcome and be visible to a wider audience.

We are still a small company and we're constantly exploring ways to get our brand out there so that people can recognize us through the services that we're offering on the market.

What we're trying to do is create high-quality marketing strategies and use the latest trends and tools to show our services to online consumers. We're using social media channels, forums, bloggers, and media outlets through a Digital PR strategy to promote our brand and our services. With the right tools and the latest trends, such as AI, we can increase our visibility and beat the competitors.

Aleksandra Krstevska, Digital Marketer and SEO Manager, Investors Club

As a small business owner, one of the biggest challenges we face is competition from larger, more established companies. These larger companies often have more resources, such as larger budgets and established brand recognition, making it difficult for small businesses to compete and stand out in their industry.

To overcome this challenge, we've needed to understand our unique value proposition, and the market based on that, then subsequently target niche under-served markets. By identifying our strengths and focusing on our unique offerings, we've been able to differentiate ourselves from larger competitors and build a loyal customer base.

Josh Amishav, Founder and CEO, Breachsense

Building a healthy backlink profile has been one of the major challenges that weve had to work through in optimizing our website for SEO.

As a small business, we have a limited reach and audience, which makes it difficult to attract the attention of other websites and earn backlinks. Also, our social media following or content distribution channels arent as refined as bigger enterprises, making these channels less effective in promoting our content.

We also face a significant level of competition from bigger brands that have already built a strong online presence. This makes it even more challenging to earn high-quality backlinks from authoritative sources in our niche.

James Wilkinson, CEO, Balance One

Organically and authentically increasing the diversity of our staff has been one of our primary challenges as a small business. For many years, our diversity score was below 20%, which we felt was drastically low. To rectify this situation, we adopted Exude, a diversity assessment tool, that has been effective at helping us identify and fix diversity and inclusion gaps across our entire company structure.

This tool also gives us access to diversity resource materials that help us navigate the growing regulations and expectations on diversity and inclusion for small businesses, making it easier for us to comply with the necessary rules. Diversifying our workforce has directly contributed to our increasing revenues over the past few financial quarters, as well as our improved employee retention metrics. Diversity compliance is also at 59% now, and were hoping we can achieve 70% compliance by the end of this year.

Lisa Richards, CEO, The Candida Diet

One of the biggest challenges facing small businesses today is adapting to transforming technology. Small businesses often struggle to keep up with the constant advancements in technology, which can hinder their ability to compete effectively and reach customers. This challenge was faced by our small business as well.

To overcome this, we invested in our digital presence. We started by revamping our website to make it more user-friendly and mobile-responsive and then implementing an e-commerce platform to allow customers to shop online. We also educated ourselves on the latest digital marketing strategies and tools to help us stay relevant and effectively reach our target audience.

Will Gill, Event Entertainer, DJ Will Gill

Many small business leaders are leaning on remote business models because theyre inexpensive and flexible, but they can create challenges with monitoring employee performance. Employers that lean on idle time trackers or screen monitoring can make employees feel micromanaged and policed, while a lack of monitoring can cause performance to drop.

By shifting performance metrics, we can maximize team autonomy without losing productivity. Consider focusing on goal-based performance measures rather than process-based ones, giving your team the freedom to find their own best remote workflows. Rather than micromanaging how they do things, youre offering the freedom to choose and support them along the way to keep those goals on track.

Shawn Plummer, CEO, The Annuity Expert

The biggest challenge for small businesses is overcoming inflation. It has forced us to raise prices to keep up with rising costs. And whenever prices go up, there is pushback. No matter how much explaining we will do, some customers were inconsolable.

Raising prices to keep up with an inflated dollar is just one of the many costs of doing business. I'm sure that those customers were disappointed to find that they could not find another contractor that hadn't already adjusted their pricing for the same reasons.

Rick Berres, Owner, Honey-Doers

As someone in the SMB financing industry, many clients have voiced that hiring is a major concern. It's not that people don't want to work, it's that many small businesses cannot afford living wages for entry-level jobs.

Inflation has increased the need for higher-paying jobs, and even in states with higher minimum wages, it's difficult to attract talent within their budget. This will either require more financial support and opportunities for the small businesses themselves through programming or grants, or more support to the people they are hoping to employ through assistance with high living costs.

Leveraging AI and expanding non-financial perks could help bridge the gap in the meantime.

Gates Little, President and CEO, altLINE Sobanco

Nowadays, the competition is not just with neighborhood businesses but also massive corporations in other cities or countries. This is the case in every industry, from restaurants to hotels and, in my case, a plastic surgery office. So when a major hospital in our city offered cosmetic surgery, and our numbers dropped, I felt it was game over.

Interestingly, my wife and I were heading out for dinner one Friday evening, and she wanted to go to a local restaurant. When I asked her why not go for a fancy meal downtown, she replied that the local spot had just as good food but was more welcoming. Wow, she was correct. We went to that restaurant often because they were small and friendly. I applied her insight back to my practice.

Nowadays, I make sure that I get to know my patients on a personal level. My staff and I ensure our patients know how much we appreciate them and that they are not just the "next person in line." And it paid off.

Ahmad Ahmadi, Owner, Surgeon, and Medical Director, Avante Plastic Surgery

As a business consultant working one-on-one with private-label brand owners, I've found that a significant challenge facing small businesses today is a lack of financial acumen. Many entrepreneurs don't fully grasp their numbers, including pricing strategies, overhead costs, and advertising spend, leaving them unable to make informed decisions.

In my experience, some brand owners unwittingly lose money with each sale, yet continue to invest in their business. My approach focuses on helping them master unit economics and better understand their financials. By doing so, they can identify growth drivers and potential pitfalls, ultimately leading to smarter business decisions and a more successful venture.

Amy Wees, Founder, Amazing at Home

The upcoming death of the 3rd party tracking cookie is one of the biggest challenges facing small businesses today.

Why is it such an enormous challenge?

Without the tracking cookies, our pay-per-click targeting is much less accurate, resulting in a lower ROI. Our analytics data becomes less accurate (including GA4), and understanding how our prospective customers are responding to our email campaigns gets harder when we can no longer track open rates or clicks.

All of this has evolved, with people using ad blockers and privacy browsers like Brave. The final nail in the coffin will be when Google blocks the third-party cookies in Chrome, which has a 62% share of the browser market.

Diversifying your marketing mix is key. Focus on getting your 1st party and 2nd party data and owning the relationship with your customers.

At Intribe, we've focused on SEO, referral marketing, co-marketing, and testing out new services like Terkel that have allowed us to build our email lists.

Sven Radavics, Founder and CEO, intribe

One of the most significant challenges that small businesses, like ours in the cleaning service industry, face today is balancing quality and growth.

When we started, we had a limited team and each of us was deeply involved in every project. This allowed us to maintain the highest standards of quality. However, as our business expanded, we found maintaining that same level of quality increasingly difficult.

The solution, we found, was investing heavily in regular training, making sure everyone on our team understood the importance of maintaining our standards. We also put in place stringent quality control measures. This journey wasn't without its bumps, but we've maintained our quality standards while experiencing growth.

Thomas Giarraputo, Vice President, Executive Cleaning Services

AI is infiltrating a myriad of technical and creative careers (including mine, freelance writing). While I think there's ample opportunity to thrive alongside AI, many business owners struggle to learn how to go about it.

Meshing technology with the human element has always created learning curves for businesses: the internet, email, automation, and social media, to name a few. Now, with a technology that has a high potential to completely eradicate many employees, many businesses are keen to fight against AI instead of embracing and integrating its advantages healthily.

We're on the cusp of a new learning curve, and the stakes are high. It's important for businesses to explore this technology with caution. Finding ways to integrate AI with human staff while striving to understand AI's short- and long-term implications will be key to its advancement.

Alli Hill, Founder and Director, Fleurish Freelance

I believe that one of the biggest challenges facing small businesses today is recruiting the best talent. As a growing non-destructive testing company, we needed to employ more qualified technicians, but really struggled to find people who could adopt our company's values.

In the end, we decided one part of the solution was to create our own apprenticeship scheme to enlarge our team with "home-grown" talent. As we handle the training, we set expectations at the very beginning of the course, ensuring that our company values become embedded throughout the business. To date, five apprentices have qualified with us, while another three are in training.

Matthew Conway, Managing Director, NDT Group

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The biggest challenges facing small businesses and how to ... - Arizona Big Media

If ever we needed proof that we need to be best friends with Priyanka Chopra Jonas as soon as humanly possible, then lets just say her choice of a drink on a night out is it.

Im a big fan of a martini, the Citadel actor told us during a recent game of Ask Me Anything. Im just out in like one. I like a very dirty martini with olive juice my husband [Nick Jonas] makes a mean one. But Im also a big cosmopolitan fan cosmo for if I want multiple. Martini if I just want one.

The actor, who recently welcomed her daughter Malti Marie with her husband of three years, recently touched down in London to celebrate the release of her latest Prime Video series, Citadel. The series sees Game of Thrones alum Richard Madden and Chopra Jonas star as top spies, Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh, respectively, who work for a spy agency named Citadel which has had the memory of its agents erased. The pair are forced to fight back against the now powerful Manticore crime syndicate thats growing in influence.

Claudio Lavenia//Getty Images

Despite her characters world-class spy credentials, it sounds like a life of espionage isnt exactly for Jonas. Id make a terrible spy I cant lie, she said. I can act, Id probably be over acting because Id be so nervous that Id get caught, then arrested and probably killed. And dying is a no no in a profession, and Id prefer to not die. That would be nice.

Jonas, who is known for roles in the likes of Baywatch and Love Again, spent a year-and-a-half of training for her Citadel role and practising stunt scenes. Ive done about 80-85% of the stunts myself. It required us to stay agile and fit like an athlete, she shared. Workouts, training... we had a whole stunts studio with rigs, weapons and combat training. I was really happy when I wrapped and ate pizza I didnt work out for months. It was awesome.

While her go-to favourite spies are Sean Connery and Daniel Craigs iterations of James Bond, shes clearly a fan of another familiar action film star. I also love Angelina Jolie as a spy, she said. I would tell her all my secrets.'

When shes not acting in front of the camera and leading her Anomaly hair care brand, the actor loves curling up in bed with her husband. My perfect date night just doesnt happen often enough. My perfect date night would be snuggled in bed, watching an amazing movie, eating awesome takeout. But in bed. My husband isnt a fan of that, so we dont do it, she joked.

MEGA//Getty Images

From the role shed love to play in a The Devil Wears Prada remake to stealing Christian Louboutins from the Citadel set, you can watch the rest of Chopra Jonas Ask Me Anything interview at the top of this article.

Citadel is out now on Prime Video.

Deputy Digital Editor

Katie OMalley is the Deputy Digital Editor, at ELLE UK. On a daily basis youll find her managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and social media content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals, implementing new digital strategies and compiling endless data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. Since joining in 2016, Katie has written features on everything from sex addiction, and the use of tear gas during protests to virtual cuddling, friendship fade and access to contraception post Brexit. Her list of interviewees over the years include those with Oprah Winfrey, Benedict Cumberbatch, Reese Witherspoon, Emma Stone, Zoe Kravitz etc.

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Priyanka Chopra Jonas On Husband Nick Jonas' 'Mean' Martini, Her ... - ELLE UK

Not all of Blaine County is filled with flaming liberals! There are some wealthy conservatives among the crowd. State Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon spoke at an event in Sun Valley and met several of them. The next day at a large breakfast, many wrote checks to the state GOP.

The Republicans and conservatives of Sun Valley have also been very good to President Trump. Stacker.com compiled a list of the communities in Idaho that have backed Trump by putting money where their mouths are. Its based on donations adjusted for the population. Sun Valley is the kindest place in Idaho to the Trump campaign. Burley is the only other place in south central Idaho that made the list.

I know a businessman in Burley and hes the most full-throated Trump supporter Ive ever encountered. Many business people know the former President has a keen understanding of regulations, meeting a payroll, and surviving the lean times.

Trump is seeing support from pockets across the state. From small towns to larger communities. But mostly from the smaller locations. Arco, Orofino and Melba are on the list.

I didnt see any communities from Twin Falls County among the top 25. Am I surprised? Not at all. Some of our local Republicans believed Mr. Trump was too over the top in 2016, and Im sure they havent changed their minds, even though many approved of his policies. These are the same Republicans who tell me they wish he could be a better moral exemplar.

If hes his partys nominee next year, they'll get behind him.

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The Idaho Towns Bankrolling Donald Trump's Campaign - News Radio 1310 KLIX

If youre an equine enthusiast with an entrepreneurial spirit, launching a horse business online might be a perfect opportunity to turn your passion into a career. But starting a horse business can be challenging, especially if youre doing it online. However, with the right mindset, approach, and tools, you can create a thriving online stable startup. In this blog, well explore some tips and tricks for launching a horse business online.

When launching an online horse business, its crucial to choose a specific niche to focus on. You cant be everything to everyone, so its essential to pick a particular area where you can specialize and excel. Some popular niches include horse training, horseback riding lessons, breeding, horse accessories, and apparel.

Its vital to research and evaluate your chosen niche thoroughly to determine its potential profitability, competition, and target audience. Conduct market research and analyze your competition to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and unique selling propositions.

Once you have identified a potential niche for your online horse business, its time to evaluate its profitability. You can start by analyzing the size of the market, the demand for your products or services, and the potential revenue that you can generate. Its also important to consider the cost of running your business and the potential profit margins.

Another important factor to consider when choosing a niche is your target audience. Who are the people that you want to reach with your products or services? What are their needs and preferences? Understanding your target audience is crucial in developing a marketing strategy that resonates with them and drives sales.

When evaluating your competition, its essential to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and unique selling propositions. What are they doing well, and what can you do better? By analyzing your competition, you can develop a strategy that differentiates you from them and provides a unique value proposition to your customers.

A business plan is essential for any startup, including an online horse business. It outlines your goals, strategies, target market, budget, revenue projections, and other critical aspects of your business. Your business plan should also include a marketing plan that outlines how you will promote your business and attract customers.

In todays digital world, having a website is essential for any business, including a horse business. Your website will be the central hub of your online business and your primary tool for promoting and selling your products and services. When creating your website, make sure it is user-friendly, visually appealing, and mobile responsive.

Its also crucial to optimize your website for search engines by incorporating relevant keywords and phrases, meta tags, and descriptions. This will help improve your websites visibility on Googles search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract more organic traffic to your site.

Building an online presence is essential for promoting your horse business and reaching potential customers, for this you need to have a proper gmail setup with Gmass. Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, are excellent tools for building an online following and promoting your business. You can use these platforms to showcase your products and services, share industry news and trends, and engage with your followers.

In addition to social media, you can also participate in online forums, groups, and communities related to your niche. This will help you establish yourself as an authority in your field and attract potential customers.

When creating your website, its essential to ensure that its visually appealing, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly. You can also consider search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to improve your websites visibility on search engines, such as Google. This will help potential customers find your website when searching for related keywords.

Another useful tool for promoting your horse business online is creating visual content. You can use free online tools, such as Canva, to create eye-catching graphics and images for your social media posts and website. Additionally, if youre selling products, you can take high-quality photographs of your products to showcase their quality and features.

Finally, if you need to convert any of your digital content to a different format, such as converting a PDF to JPG, you can use free online tools. This will help you optimize your content for different platforms and improve the user experience for your audience.

Quality is crucial when it comes to building a successful horse business. Whether youre selling horse accessories, apparel, educational content or offering horseback riding lessons, its essential to provide high-quality products and services to your customers. This will help you establish a good reputation and attract repeat customers and referrals.

Providing excellent customer service is vital for any business, including a horse business. Make sure to respond promptly to customer inquiries, provide accurate information, and go the extra mile to ensure your customers are satisfied with your products and services.

Customer service is essential for building a loyal customer base, and satisfied customers are more likely to recommend your business to others. Therefore, its essential to prioritize customer service and make it a core part of your business operations.

Launching an online horse business can be challenging, but with the right approach and tools, you can create a successful and profitable venture. Its essential to choose a specific niche, develop a business plan, create a website, build an online presence, offer quality products and services, and provide excellent customer service. By following these tips and tricks, you can launch a stable startup that will make your equine dreams a reality.

Read more here:
Online Stable Startup: Tips and Tricks for Launching a Horse Business - Everything Horse UK

My Perfect Stranger: courtesy KBS, Duty After School: courtesy of TVING

Korean dramas are offering a large bunch of fun and intriguing shows to tune into catering to different interests of audiences. The roster of ongoing K-dramas displays a promising collection of drama, time travel, romance, comedy, thriller, and more. Here are 5 recommendations from our end to keep you entertained this weekend.

Yoo In Na has often been remembered as Sunny from Goblin or as Oh Jin Shim from Tough Your Heart, however, this portrayal of hers as Yoon Bora for the ENA drama Bo Ra! Deborah or what is also being called True to Love will surely have her character engraved in your minds. A love coach, Yoon Bora is a successful influencer who ends up crossing paths with Lee Soo Hyuk (Yoon Hyun Min), who struggles with dating. Infidelity and a lot of drama gets the two entangled in this hilarious rom-com drama.

Starring Lee Yeon Hee, Hong Jong Hyun, Moon So Ri, and Jung Yunho in the lead roles, this office drama brings the life of an ordinary woman named Park Yoon Jo with a not-so-special academic background, who ends up working at a PR copany, to life. Her friend, Ryu Jae Min likes to separate his personal and professional lives, causing confusion and a lot of drama in the determined ladys life. Goo Yi Jung is a competent employee in the PR world, meanwhile Seo Dong Hoon is a free-spirited CEO of the agency.

Kim Woo Bin takes charge in this riveting thriller based in a dystopian world. 'Black Knight' startsin the year 2071 when the world has become desertified due to excess pollution, a legendary deliveryman named 5-8 faces off against the Cheonmyeong Groups only heir named Song Seung Heon who wishes to use oxygen as his weapon. A refugee named Sa Wol looks up to the deliveryman who looks after people in his free time and comes across Seol Ah, an officer in the Defense Intelligence Command, who secretly housed Sa Wol, treating him like her family. 5-8 tries to help Sa Wol become a knight like himself.

Previously called Run Into You, this drama brings forth a romance between a calm and level-headed news anchor named Yoon Hae Joon, played by Kim Dong Wook, and a writer aspirant named Baek Yoon Young, played by Jin Ki Joo, who ends up working at a publishing company. The two, time travel to 1987 when they get caught up in a murder mystery and a family tragedy. Finding unexpected connections between themselves, the two develop a bond during their escapade.

This recently concluded drama brings a bunch of high schoolers to the screen as they are thrown in an unbelievable situation during their exam time of the year. Alien-like beings ascend their school premises creating havoc and causing the government to announce compulsory conscription for all 3rd graders in high school. Training in their schools playground and learning how to kill, the students dressed in their uniforms face shocking situations. Meanwhile, their teacher must do whatever she can to try to save them.

Stay updated with the latest Hallyu news on: Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat

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ReKommendations: My Perfect Stranger, Duty After School, and more; K-dramas to catch up with this weekend - PINKVILLA