business optimizer
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If you haven’t connected with Kompani Group lately, you might be missing out on some of our most effective solutions for growing your business, strengthening your market position, and enhancing your brand.
So, let’s catch up – with a quick Top 5 summary of what we’ve been working on lately, and how we can leverage our expertise towards helping you achieve your business goals.
Our experience and expertise have been acquired from helping build and grow hundreds of companies across multiple industries, as well as from building our own portfolio brands. Our main focus is always to empower our clients and brands with effective solutions, know-how, improved processes, training and tools that immediately generate measurable results.
Place yourself in good Kompani and success follows.
SEO Guidance Document
Search Engine Optimization – everyone talks about how important it is, you know it’s a big deal for your business… but you’re still not sure exactly why, what, and how to implement it for your company or brand. Sound familiar? It’s a more common situation than you might think… allow us to help shed a little light on the topic.
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Given the importance the US plays in today’s world economy it is of vital importance for any successful company to operate in that market to become a key competitive player at international level.
This service portfolio is aimed at companies with a successful track record in their home markets that are considering expanding into the US market.
Our approach is completely different from that of traditional market entry consultancies in that we do not just consult but we actually implement and execute on those ideas in the US. By working with us you do not become our client but our partner so your success becomes our success.
[Read more…]We’ve come a long way since the only digital footprints businesses left were a website and email address.
It used to be that an email signature and a sensible correspondence policy were enough to prevent an embarrassing incident. Worries about hacking and data breaches were minimal… sometimes even nonexistent. Now, it’s more than likely your brand is online in dozens, if not hundreds, of ways.
Your own website, search engines, media and news stories published online, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, Pinterest, Snapchat, any number of “check in” apps, perhaps your own business or brand app, Yelp! and other independent review sites, online tutorials, message boards, maps, Amazon and other retailers, the number of possibilities is staggering. What’s even more mind boggling is the fact that people no longer need to find their way to a computer to access them – mobile devices and smartphones mean your online reputation is available at a second’s notice to anyone, anywhere in the world.
Even at Kompani Group, we have to consider our online reputation in ways hardly anticipated by most other businesses.
Every project we work on has the potential to reflect positively or poorly on how we’re perceived. Likewise, every impression or experience our clients have while
working with us builds or tears down our desired reputation. And, we do the same on behalf of a number of clients each and every day — so we know how challenging it can be — and the tactics that best solve problems and simplify the process.
We believe in a process methodology that we have been improving and refining for more than 15 years.
A common perception is that a company has to diligently assign resources to each and every possible media outlet. While this does allow a high level of control over any and all online communications, it’s not the only effective approach.
Software developers have gotten wise to the ever-expanding monster that is social media, and created apps and tools to streamline things. A number also include helpful analytics to let you know how your social media strategy is (or isn’t) performing with your target
audience, and what simple changes you may consider to get better results.
CROWDBOOSTER – compiles Facebook and Twitter information and lets you analyze impressions, total reach, engagement, and alerts about users that may be interested in your products or services.
SOCIAL FLOW – scans and optimizes your data to help you refine Facebook and Twitter messages and content so that it’s sent to the right users at the right time.
BITLY – you’ve likely already encountered a shortened url link in your daily news feeds and social media feeds, but subscribers can also access real-time analytics, bookmarking for favorite sites and pages and even click tracking.
EVERYPOST – wouldn’t it be nice to write a post once and have it appear on all your social media sites at once? That’s exactly what the Everypost creators thought, too. So now, you can enter a single post and the program does the work. It will even shorten posts to a tweet-friendly 140 characters.
SPROUT SOCIAL – similar to Everypost, Sprout Social manages, posts, and analyzes multiple accounts and allows you to schedule posts, monitor activity through a streaming inbox, and track metrics over time.
HOOTSUITE – one of the most popular management tools currently available, Hootsuite offers the ability to execute multiple campaigns across multiple platforms from a single dashboard. You can also track conversations, click through, campaign results, schedule
posts, and view built-in analytics.
With just a couple of the right tools for your organization, the media sphere becomes way less complex and far less daunting. But even the best app won’t tell you what to say, how to say it, or how to respond to others’ feedback.
As far as we are concerned, results are not the goal, but a part of the process. By examining results, we can determine the next most important steps to continue optimizing the organization. As long as the business exists, you’ve got competitors to lead.
This is something every business and every marketer wrestles with on daily basis. However, the answer almost always relies on three components:
What are you trying to get people to believe about your brand? If it’s not based in reality or truth, you can expect a lot of backlash. You can almost count on negative feedback, a lack or drop in followers and re-tweets, and a general lackluster performance on things like click through, event attendance, or other promotions.
HINT: Always lead with your actual strengths, however small they may seem. This will not only resonate better with your audience, but help carve out your own individual market niche that’s yours and yours alone.
It can be tempting to see what happens with different messages on different media at all times. However, the idea of “testing” works best with some limitations. For example, if you’re trying to get shares of a coupon or event invitation, it can be counterproductive to offer a certain incentive to some social media platforms and not to others. Likewise, if you lead with “come to our event” on some platforms, don’t confuse the issue by talking about your new hires in another. Stay focused on the intent of each message so your audience knows what it is you want them to do.
HINT: Pick a single “theme” or message for the week, and stick to it. Then direct all messaging and communications towards that approach. The following week, re-align with your latest objectives.
Just like reality matters in helping an audience adopt a message, so does repetition. When you’re constantly switching up what your brand stands for, people can begin to think you stand for nothing at all, which is hard to recover from. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to say the same words over and over again – thus boring your audience to death – but you should at least have your brand ideals in mind as you create content. If your key attribute and brand advantage is quality, then there should be an element of that present in all your communications. That could be simply well-shot, well-lit photos, it could be attention to proper grammar or it may even be the style or tone you use with each post.
HINT: Consistency not only helps make your message clear, it makes consumers comfortable with your brand.
When you look in new places and your search different sources of information, it’s surprising what can be learned about a brand – even if it’s been around for years.
In a perfect world, online reputation would be a simple input-output equation. What you decide to put into your messaging would be exactly how people would accept it. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Today, you put a message out there almost as a suggestion.
The public now waits for someone (or many someones) to “vet” the message and affirm its truth. And this is how online reputations are built, through a careful exchange of input-output-feedback-re-input, in a constant loop. So your company’s task, then, becomes one of relating to the audience, not just throwing messages at them.
YOUR WEBSITE SHOULDN’T JUST “convey” information – it should keep a running dialogue through blog entries, news updates, press releases, content marketing, and more.
IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO SIMPLY have a Facebook page – you should be using it to promote events, post pictures, and reply to customer comments or feedback.
COMMENTS ON REVIEW SITES SHOULDN’T be left to sit unanswered – thank people for their positive feedback and work to resolve any complaints so others know you’re committed to their satisfaction.
CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TO POPULAR message boards where your brand, products, or services, are discussed. If allowed by that particular forum, participate in discussions regarding customer experience and establish a rapport with other members. These people have the power to become brand ambassadors or your worst enemies.
BE AWARE OF WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING in the world around you. No one cares about a new widget release on the day of a huge natural disaster (unless of course your widget can help).
MAKE SURE YOU’RE BEING SENSITIVE to different groups, nationalities, ethnicities, cultures, genders, and more. If your current brand image is consistently offensive to one group, think of ways you may adjust it to be more inclusive or appropriate.
ALWAYS TAKE THE “HIGH ROAD” when it comes to disputes. A simple apology and offer to try and make up for a bad experience is all that is ever necessary in the eyes of reasonable people. You won’t always be dealing with reasonable people, however. So don’t stoop to their level. Simply reiterate your apology and make-up offer (a discount, a free giveaway, an upgrade) and then leave well enough alone.
RESPECT YOUR COMPETITION. Don’t use social media to throw darts or insult others in your industry. Nothing good can come from it. Likewise, don’t feel the need to reply to others’ unprofessional remarks about your brand.
More than any other aspect of your business, your online reputation is deeply personal. It should not only reflect the things you do well, but also the things you believe in and hold meaning for you and your employees. At Kompani Group, we help uncover what those characteristics are, and then also help you leverage those traits across the right platforms and strategies for maximum performance.
We also assist brands in using their social media presence to control challenging or crisis communications. For instance, when a clean energy client started to focus more strongly on solar energy, we not only tailored their brand to include solar in the name, but we also built out their online blog and news areas with press releases, white papers, and a number of content marketing pieces that are now being picked up and re-used by multiple industry publications.
Similarly, we’re helping a designer floral décor brand promote its products in a timely manner across social media platforms to help increase exposure. And, we can do the same (and more) for you.
Brands are living entities. They interact, they communicate, they inspire… just like people, pets, and other things we name. That means that the products, services, and companies represented by brands deserve a name with as much thought and meaning as we’d put into other living beings.
Our process recognizes the organic development of naming and matches it with solid research, thinking, and strategy to create names that matter. When done well, names will make you think, smile, connect with other ideas, and create a sense of belonging that you, your team, and your clients can all relate to.
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Since we launched Kompani Group over a decade ago, clients have come to us for a variety of reasons. Some wanted strategic advice on how to navigate a particular set of issues. Some wanted a new website. Some wanted lead generation or SEO support. Many were looking to outsource their marketing department altogether. Over the years, some clients have gotten pretty creative in how they work with us and we thought we’d share with you some of those ideas for how to best leverage a company like Kompani Group.
For Companies With Less Than $100 million In Revenue
The cornerstone of outsourcing: do what you do best and outsource the rest. Companies, especially those under $100 million in revenue, typically have some core competency; they specialize in a particular product/service. They are subject matter experts in their particular field. But, rarely are these companies also experts in what their product/service is not. If this is you, and you are trying to manage everything internally, you are then at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to the other fundamental elements of a business: Branding, Marketing, Information Technology, Operations, Accounting, Strategy, and Business Optimization as a whole. These are all functions that can be sourced out.
Harvard Business Review recently published an article about a study they did based on how 27 CEOs allocated their time over the course of a business quarter — 24/7 for 13 weeks.
We found this study valuable in how it highlights both the dilemmas that arise in different areas of an organization and describes various means of coping with them. While CEO is a very specific role in an organization, many of these lessons can be applied to managers in traditional corporate hierarchies and any number of roles in organizations that have done away with traditional management structures. Read about our key takeaways on Medium.
The big “talk” in the industry has been that Facebook is “killing” business pages, or that it’s making a play to push all companies and advertisers towards a paid advertising model. That would mean anyone who’s been using the platform on a free basis to stay in touch with customers and promote product news and other information… would now be out of luck because Facebook has said “Pages” are going to index lower if they don’t create meaningful interactions for the audience.
It all started with this blog post the company made a few days ago https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/trusted-sources/
The good news is – it’s not all doom and gloom. Yes, businesses will need to be even more strategic about what they choose to share and how they choose to share it, but at Kompani Group, we always tend to believe that’s a good thing for brands.
With recent news releases about Equifax and Yahoo data breaches, along with so many others this past year, this message to our clients seems somewhat timely. In recent months Kompani Group took steps to secure all of our client websites with SSL – Secure Socket Layer – a technology used to encrypt data being transmitted from browser-to-server. Once reserved for ecommerce websites that transfer credit card information or health provider websites transmitting patient data, SSL is now being utilized to secure all varieties of websites.
We took these steps of our own accord for two reasons: 1) Security, plain and simple. 2) As security is an increasingly important tenet of websites, a secure website is now also a factor Google uses in determining rank position in search results. Google wants to deliver its customers to secure locations, so having that ‘s’ in the https:// is now one of the variables they use to qualify sites.