Business Advice – Slinky Life

How to use storytelling in your social media content

Alright, social media savants and storytelling enthusiasts, gather ’round! We’re about to embark on a journey through the magical world of storytelling in social media. It’s gonna be more exciting than finding out your crush likes your 3-year-old Instagram post at 2 AM!

But first, let me spin you a yarn from the social media trenches. Picture this: It’s 2017, and I’m managing social media for a client who sells… wait for it… artisanal, hand-crafted toothpicks. (Yes, that’s a thing. No, I don’t know why people need fancy wooden sticks to pick their teeth, but here we are.) We were posting product photos and specs like there was no tomorrow. Engagement rates? Lower than my motivation to go to the gym in January.

August 15, 2024Business Advice, MarketingBy Slinky Life

Online Business Strategy

A well-rounded online marketing strategy will give you the competitive edge you need. Your digital marketing strategy is just as important as any of your other core business processes because most of your customers are online, and that’s where you need to be to advertise your products and services.

How does your business intend to maximize online tools and platforms for its marketing and customer relationship goals? That’s what your online marketing strategy contains: a thorough step-by-step plan of everything that needs to be achieved in terms of goals. These can be long-term or short-term, or both. It is an all-encompassing plan that details the water resources you require to take specific steps and achieve specific goals that are integral to business success.

Business success is a broad term because to each business, success can mean different things. For some, gaining simple large scale numbers in terms of sales over the short term is the primary goal. For others, a more long-term approach to authority building and relationship management might be considered the goal, which will ultimately deliver more consistent long-term brand growth, and possibly expansion over different geographical areas.

February 15, 2021Business Advice, MarketingBy Slinky Life

Our Top 8 Law Firm Marketing Tips

Law firm marketing is essential for lawyers and law firms throughout the world. If you are in charge of online marketing for a law firm, you may be struggling to find effective marketing streams and to get a decent return on your marketing investment.

Don’t worry, this is normal for people without very much law firm marketing experience. This is why we have put together a list of our top 8 law firm online marketing tips. Read on to improve your marketing success dramatically!

Branding Is Key

Without good branding, your online marketing efforts will never be as successful as they could be. Make sure that you have a clearly defined brand and that you are consistent across the internet.

March 10, 2018Business Advice, Legal AdviceBy Slinky Life

What Is A Business Activity Statement (BAS)?

When it comes to doing your own tax return, there are a lot of things to think about. In an ideal world, you would complete your tax return as accurately as you can, both to avoid fines for non-compliance and to minimise the amount of tax you have to pay. However, this isn’t always done. The main reason for mistakes on your tax return is simply a lack of knowledge. Unless you choose to use an accountant to do your tax return for you, you need to make sure that you understand every aspect of what you are required to do.

If you own a business, no matter what its size, you will probably be required to complete business activity statements (BAS). You are required to complete a BAS if your business is registered for GST, no matter how big or small it is.

January 19, 2018Business AdviceBy Slinky Life

How to Make Sure You Can Provide For Your Family

Once you become a parent, suddenly you have a lot more responsibility and some of that is financial. The cost of raising a family seems prohibitive these days, but if you have a financial planner to help you make the most of your income, it will not seem as high.

Financial planning is something that many people don’t understand and hence, don’t attempt. Even those that understand finances don’t always plan their own for the best, because few people can know everything about mortgages, tax, superannuation, investments and so on. It takes someone who is an expert financial advisor to devise the right plan for you.

Don’t accept a generic plan as it won’t take into account your specific goals and circumstances. The best financial plan is one that is made just for you. It should not only take into account your present needs, but look to the future. You may want your children to attend private schools and top universities so that their education is one that will take them in the life direction they choose.

February 24, 2017Business Advice, RelationshipsBy Slinky Life

Budgeting For Your Next Car Service

The modern world is expensive. We’ve all got things like rent or a mortgage, phone bills and loan repayments to deal with, which can make one-off expenses hard to handle. Unfortunately, getting your car serviced and maintained can lead to some pretty big bills, especially if you’ve got a luxury vehicle or a 4wd.

MB Star Motors advise that something like a Mercedes Benz service can cost a small fortune. However, even a basic service on a basic car can cost anything from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending what needs to be done. This means that it’s important to make sure that you include your car services in your budget so that you can afford to pay for them when they come around.

First, Work Out How Much An Average Service Costs

The first thing that you should do is work out exactly how much an average service for your car costs. If you’ve got a basic car that doesn’t need a lot of maintenance, an average service should cost less than $200. However, some cars are a lot more expensive to get serviced, especially if you need a highly qualified mechanic or someone with special skills.

November 26, 2016Business AdviceBy Slinky Life

Understanding Brand Management

We can’t stress enough how important it is to understand brand management. What exactly is brand management? It’s the strategy behind the way you expect people to perceive your brand. This requires the right kind of formula: you want to remain true to your brand, while offering consumer insights. A report from Aberdeen Group and Oracle recently found that 74% of CMOs considered brand awareness to be a top priority.

Understand the Essence of Your Brand

What needs does your product or service solve? What are you trying to achieve? How can you help your visitors? These are all questions that are the essence and truth of your brand, and you need to evaluate them before making any steps forward. Try this brand exercise: answer the following customer question in one or two sentences, as if you were speaking to them directly:

What is [insert company name] and why do I need it?

The answer to this question should clearly state what the brand is, what questions it answers, and what sets it apart from competitors.

September 25, 2012Business AdviceBy Slinky Life

Tips For Pitching the Media

There are many different ways that you can use the media to build excitement about your business. Once you’ve identified the key ways to go about marketing your business to the public, it’s time to start pitching. But this is easier said than done: the media rejects roughly 95% of the pitches they receive. At the start, it seems the odds are against you, but there are a few key things you can do to capture their attention.

Do Your Research

Seems easy enough, but the media are constantly inundated with pitches for products or services they would not normally cover. This is why your research is important: you need to have a thorough understanding of the type of content they cover.

Many publications have an editorial calendar–particularly big name magazines. Once you have created a list of media sources you’d like to pitch, check each website for its calendar. For example, if you run a service that helps empower businesswomen, you may want to pitch Glamour magazine in September for their December “Women of the Year” issue (magazines plan 3-4 months in advance).

Know who you are emailing. Your emails are less likely to get read when you’re sending to a general email and not a personal one. It isn’t hard to figure out the names of journalists who could potentially be interested in what you have to offer. Once you’ve come up with a target list of ideal publications, begin checking out bylines belonging to stories that fit the industry or niche you’re a part of. These are the people you want to reach out to: those who have a vested interest in what you’re promoting.

June 20, 2012Business AdviceBy Slinky Life

4 Steps To Hiring the Right People

The hiring process can be expensive, time consuming, and draining. It’s no surprise that the right team can make or break your company. Hiring the right people, especially in your business’s early stages, is imperative. One mistake, particularly for smaller companies, can prove to be a huge hindrance to growth. Remember: Great companies, services, and products are driven by people.

1.) Create A Marketing Plan
If you create a marketing plan for your business, why not create one for your recruitment process? The goal is to increase the volume of applicants and attract the right people. This plan should include a clear definition of who the ideal candidate is and what you’ll need to do to achieve your goals and bring in those types of candidates. You should also prepare a list of things you’ll need to do to achieve those goals. This list might include creating targeted ads on LinkedIn, a thorough jobs page on your website, or promoting the position via social media and AngelList.

2.) Maintain Culture Fit
Culture fit is something you do not want to compromise. This doesn’t mean that you should hire people that you could see yourself being best friends with; rather, you’re hiring people whose values and interests mirror that of the company’s. By having the same values, it becomes easier to cultivate organic friendships and working relationships. Keep in mind that company culture fit comes first, and social fit comes second. These new hires will also shape the culture fit of the future, as they will eventually have to hire candidates themselves.

January 16, 2012Business AdviceBy Slinky Life