How to Share Your Company Story Online

Posted on by Amanda Levine

What is a business story?

A business story is a form of communication that can be used to persuade other companies, sell something to potential and existing customers, help develop new marketing narratives, and position a brand or company in the market among its competitors. Using a business story to accomplish one of these mentioned goals is effective because a story actually engages a person on a much deeper level than simply stating the facts. A story can engage an individual’s brain in ways that facts and figures can not. When a person is reading or observing images that detail logical facts and figures, only the language-processing zone of the brain is activated. When someone is engaging with a story, up to seven different zones of the brain can be activated all at once. The language-processing zone of the brain along with other zones that are responsible for processing images, triggering emotions, and stimulating the senses of touch, hearing, taste, and smell, all are activated when someone engages with a compelling story. The zone of the brain that processes images can actually digest information up to 60,000 times faster than the language-processing zone. This is why using a business story can be a powerful tool in the arsenal of the marketing department of almost any type of business. A business story focuses mainly on the more human side of work, family, and life. Not only does a good story engage better with an audience, but it can also linger in the minds of the people who have engaged with the story for a much longer time than spreadsheets, facts, and figures.

What is the purpose of sharing a business story?

Essentially, the purpose of sharing a business story for any brand or company is to provide your audience with the “why”. Why does your business do what it does? Why are you passionate about your product or service? Why should end-users believe in your brand, company, and/or product? The “why” is in a way your brand’s mission statement. People looking to engage with your brand most likely already know the what and how. They know what you produce or what you offer, and they most likely know how you do it. What they are dying to know is why you do it. This is where a business story can be the most effective way to share the why. The why, or the mission statement, is not only for potential customers and/or business partners, the mission statement is necessary for internal purposes as well. If you were working at a company, would you not also be interested in understanding the company, its core values, and its mission statement?  The purpose of sharing a business story is to explain to both your external and internal audience the mission statement of the brand and/or company. 

Why is sharing your business story important?

The main reason sharing your business story is important is because once you begin to share the personal, you can begin to attract your ideal customers and build real connections between your brand and those customers. Ideal customers are people who believe in the person and story behind the brand, business, and/or product. Millennials and Gen Z are far more invested in aligning themselves with and supporting brands that share their values and/or worldview. There may be many other brands and businesses that share similar products or services and competition can be fierce. By sharing your business story, you can help set yourself apart from the competition within your industry.

What are some examples of business storytelling?

When you are developing your business story, you may want to review some successful examples of how business storytelling has helped position a brand in the hearts and minds of the consumers within their specific market. Some famous examples of successful business storytelling include Land Rover, Burt’s Bees, Patagonia, Warby Parker, Pepsi, and Subaru. Some of their successful business storytelling campaigns may take one of the following angles.

  • Work-life flexibility: Work-life flexibility has become increasingly important in recent years. The importance of maintaining mental health and family/social lives while balancing a robust professional life is a concern of many millennials and Gen Z. Companies that support work-life flexibility for their employees have been advertising this and it has been not only attracting customers but good employees as well.
  • Community involvement: Many brands tout their community involvement and their work with charitable organizations. This approach can empower consumers to support your brand because they are also passionate about the organizations that the brand or business supports.
  • Global perspective: Brands like Patagonia have taken on global mission statements that target some of the largest issues facing the world. Patagonia has decided to tackle the climate crisis as well as environmental and species degradation. 

Whatever framework you want to choose to tell your business story, you may want to consider tying it to a larger idea that can further build connections with your intended audience. 

How to tell a compelling business story

The business story can be used by brands and companies to draft press releases, prepare internal and external presentations at meetings and/or conferences, create content for end-users or employees, and the business story can come in many forms. Whether it be an ad, article, presentation, internal memo, or video, the format of the business story will be much more compelling if it takes the form of a story rather than straight facts. When creating a business story, no matter the format you choose, there are three main approaches to storytelling in business. You can simply use the form of a story to present your message, you can tell a true story or anecdote based on past experiences, or you can use storytelling techniques to trigger the same engagement that stories do. For the first approach, using a story to present your topic can follow particular storytelling patterns. Patterns like overcoming adversity, the quest, the voyage, and the triumphant return, all are storytelling patterns that have been proven to work well to engage an audience. If you choose this first approach, you may want to follow one of these patterns to ensure the highest potential engagement from your intended audience. The second approach, telling a story or anecdote based on past experiences is one of the easier approaches since you are the expert on the events of the story. Also, people like to hear true stories and it could potentially increase their overall engagement if they know you are speaking from a place of experience. However, if you choose the approach of anecdote, make sure your story is relevant and that you can effectively tie your anecdote to the subject at hand. You may risk losing or confusing your audience if the story you are telling is in no way connected to the topic. Here is a quick breakdown of some of the ways that have proven to be effective when formulating a compelling business story.

Storytelling approach: As we discussed earlier, the storytelling approach has three sub-approaches that you will need to consider before developing your business story. It is important to either create a story, tell an anecdote or story based on your experience, or apply storytelling techniques to a different approach entirely.

Social Media: Social media is an excellent way to get your story to a wider audience. You may want to do some research about which social media platforms contain the audience that would best identify with your business story.

Infographics: Infographics are a great way to rely a lot of information in a way that is easy to understand and easy to digest.

Videos: Of course, captivating videos with vivid imagery can do wonders to engage and connect with your audience. 

There are many ways to tell a story. Humans have been telling stories since the beginning of the species. However you decide to tell your business story, remember that sometimes keeping things simple is the best way to reach the widest possible audience.

Learn about Kickfurther

People buy the why. Sharing your passion for what you do and how you built your business is a worthy investment. As you begin to grow sales, you may need access to affordable inventory financing. Kickfurther is the world’s first online inventory financing platform that enables companies to access funds that they are unable to acquire through traditional sources. We connect brands to a community of eager buyers who help fund the inventory on consignment and give brands the flexibility to pay that back as they receive cash from their sales. This alleviates the cash-flow pinch that lenders can cause without customized repayment schedules, allowing your brand to scale quickly without impeding your ability to maintain inventory or financial flexibility.

Grow your business today. . . discover affordable inventory financing at Kickfurther today!

Guide to Instagram Influencer Marketing for Ecommerce

Posted on by Amanda Levine

Instagram influencer marketing helps companies build relationships with customers while growing sales. Small and large companies can use instagram influencer marketing to grow their business and build brand awareness. Keep reading to learn how to use influencer marketing on Instagram.

What is an influencer?

An influencer is someone who has gained a large following on a social media platform, website, podcast, or YouTube. They tend to be an expert or possess respected thoughts and opinions about a particular niche or industry. Because of this expertise, and because their followers respect their opinions, an influencer holds some clout with the potential target audiences that companies want to reach. An influencer has the power to persuade and directly affect the purchasing decisions of many individuals with a single post or piece of content. Because of this, many companies have found influencer marketing to be beneficial for their brand.

Different types of influencers

There are many different types of influencers that cover a variety of different niches and industries. The main types of influencers include celebrities like artists, athletes, actors, musicians, and pop culture icons. Influencers also include industry experts and thought leaders, micro-influencers and social media stars, and bloggers and content creators. All these different types of influencers use social media to inform, persuade, and inspire their followers on a variety of subjects. When they use their voice and their platform to inform and persuade their followers about specific brands and/or products or services, they then are participating in influencer marketing. Of all the different social media platforms, by far the most popular platform for influencers is Instagram. Here are some examples of some of the most popular and famous Instagram influencers from each of the previously mentioned categories of influencer types.

  • Celebrities: Celebrity influencers can be artists, athletes, actors, musicians, and/or pop icon stars. Some of the most popular celebrity influencers in the world include Cristiano Ronaldo, Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, Leo Messi, Kendall Jenner, Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, and the Rock. 
  • Industry experts and thought leaders: Industry experts and thought leaders are trusted sources of information for individuals looking for advice and recommendations within a particular industry or niche. Some of the most famous industry expert influencers include Tim “Shmee” Burton for automotive, Huda Kattan for beauty, Richard Branson for business, Chiara Ferragni for fashion, Jamie Oliver for culinary, Mark Fischbach for gaming and technology, Kayla Itsines for health and fitness, and Chris Burkard for travel.  
  • Social media stars: Social media stars are influencers who are only famous for their social media presence and not because they are an actor, musician, or television personalities. Their rise to fame came from their YouTube channels and/or their social media accounts. Some examples of social media stars include Whindersson Nunes a Brazilian comedian and YouTube Star, Eleanora Pons a Venezuelan-American social media star who became famous on Vine, and Nurset, the most popular cooking influencer on the web. 
  • Lifestyle bloggers: Lifestyle bloggers share blog posts about their everyday lives and interests. Because of this, lifestyle blogger influencers are seen by their followers as genuine and relatable. Some of the most famous lifestyle bloggers include Zoe Sugg, Lauren Conrad,  Julie Sarinana, and Jack Morris. 

Within these different categories of influencer types, there are also categories for what type of influencer someone would be considered based on the number of followers they have. Here is a breakdown of those categories.

  • Nano-influencers: 1,000 to 10,000 followers. 
  • Micro-influencers: 10,000 to 50,000 followers.
  • Mid-tier influencers: 50,000 to 500,000 followers.
  • Macro-influencers: 500,000 to 1,000,000 followers.
  • Mega-influencers: 1,000,000 or more followers. 

What is instagram influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is when a brand leverages an influencer to drive traffic and conversion to its brand. Different companies and/or brands may seek the services of a variety of influencers to serve different purposes. Sometimes an influencer can be used to simply increase brand awareness, and other times influencers can be used to directly promote specific products and/or services. Some examples of influencer marketing include sponsored Instagram posts or stories, sponsored blog posts, and sponsored offline events and appearances like meet and greets, store openings, and conferences. 

How does Instagram influencer marketing work for eCommerce businesses?

When an eCommerce business already has an established product and their existing customers love it, they may seek out an influencer to help market their product to take their sales to the next level. Often, a company will send the product to the influencer free of charge, and depending on the magnitude of the influencer’s following, an additional payment may be made in exchange for their services. The influencer may make a “reveal video” where they unbox the newly acquired merchandise, or they could create another type of content like a sponsored video, Instagram story, or Instagram post. The purpose of their content would be to promote the product as well as provide detailed information about where and how the product can be purchased. Instagram influencers can be extremely cost-effective for eCommerce businesses that may not have the same large marketing budgets that larger corporations have.

Benefits of using Instagram influencer marketing for eCommerce

There are several benefits that an eCommerce company can take advantage of when they decide to utilize the power of influencer marketing. When an eCommerce company uses influencer marketing they can boost their brand awareness, build trust with an audience who may become new customers, reach a niche audience group, improve the quality of your link profile by generating natural backlinks, and prove easy to track performance markers. 

What should I look for in an influencer?

When considering which influencers may be best for your eCommerce business, there are several ways you can judge the effectiveness of the prospective influencer. Here are two of the most important things to consider when your brand is looking to employ the services of an influencer. 

  • Content quality and relevance: Finding an influencer with a large number of followers is a good thing, however, you do not want to be blinded simply by how large the influencer’s following is. Ask yourself if the influencer reaches the people who you consider to be your target audience. Are they relevant to your industry or niche? Do they create quality content that is free from spelling and grammatical errors and that is aligned with the values of your brand?
  • Audience engagement and post frequency: How often does the influencer post content? Do they engage with their followers, or do they only offer one-way communication?  Do they post too much content causing their posts to get lost in the noise? Do they post so infrequently that their followers are disinterested? Audience data that tracks website traffic, time spent on site, and pageviews, can be extremely helpful when making your decision about an influencer.

Lastly, you will want to make sure that the influencer is professional, responsive, and that they understand your goals and expectations. In return, you will want to make sure that you pay them what they are worth. Influencer marketing can have a high return on investment if done correctly. To attract the best influencers within your niche or industry, a fair compensation package should be expected. 

Instagram influencer marketing tips

When considering influencer marketing for your brand and/or eCommerce business you should remember the following quick tips. Remembering these Instagram marketing tips may be the difference between a mediocre and a wildly successful influencer market campaign on Instagram. 

  1. Find an influencer with expertise in your industry or that is relevant to your niche.
  2. Consider asking an agency to find the right influencer for your brand.
  3. Set out all your goals and expectations from the very beginning.
  4. Effectively communicate these goals to your influencer. 
  5. Track all Instagram campaigns closely using all the provided metrics. 
  6. Check out all past campaigns and collaborations that the influencer has worked on.
  7. Make sure the followers of your influencer match your target audience.
  8. Choose an influencer that fits your brand. 

These quick eight tips are simply the most basic steps you can take to increase the chances that your Instagram influencer marketing campaign will be successful. Ultimately, it boils down to finding the right influencer for your brand and the goals of your campaign. 

Learn about Kickfurther

Instagram influencer marketing can raise awareness and boost sales for your company. As sales increase, you will probably need to stock more inventory. The more inventory you need, the more cash you will need. To avoid cash flow problems or lost sales, you may need to access inventory financing. Kickfurther is the world’s first online inventory financing platform that enables companies to access funds that they are unable to acquire through traditional sources. We connect brands to a community of eager buyers who help fund the inventory on consignment and give brands the flexibility to pay that back as they receive cash from their sales. This alleviates the cash-flow pinch that lenders can cause without customized repayment schedules, allowing your brand to scale quickly without impeding your ability to maintain inventory or financial flexibility.

Accelerate your growth, unlock affordable inventory financing today at Kickfurther!

Guide to LinkedIn Ads for eCommerce Businesses

Posted on by Amanda Levine

LinkedIn ads for businesses can help you connect with customers and employees or future employees worldwide. LinkedIn offers a professional platform that allows individuals and businesses to network and grow professionally. If you have been considering LinkedIn ads for your eCommerce business, keep reading to learn more.

What are LinkedIn Ads?

LinkedIn Ads can be an effective paid marketing tool that utilizes the social networks within the LinkedIn platform to help companies build B2B connections, follow up leads, develop online recognition, spread brand awareness, and share content. LinkedIn Ads consist mainly of sponsored posts, however, there are a few other methods of advertising through LinkedIn that companies have found to be effective. LinkedIn is not only for building B2B connections and spreading brand awareness in the professionals market, it can be used to increase sales, find new talent, and be part of the social media scene for any given industry you choose to be a part of. By utilizing LinkedIn, a company, small business, or individual can grow their professional presence and image online naturally and organically.

Why should an e-commerce business consider using  LinkedIn ads?

If you have an eCommerce business, you may want to consider using LinkedIn Ads to generate leads, recruit new employees, increase sales, and connect to other businesses within your industry. Connecting to other businesses within your industry could prove beneficial to help create future partnerships and mutually beneficial transactions. Additionally, LinkedIn Ads can be used to connect to your target audience within the professionals market. LinkedIn as a platform hosts more than 575 million professionals worldwide. Aside from the previously mentioned uses of LinkedIn Ads, generating leads, recruiting employees, increasing sales, and connecting to other businesses within your industry, there are other benefits that we should examine a little deeper. 

  • Engagement:  LinkedIn is a platform that allows your brand and/or company to market the people behind the brand rather than specific products and/or services. A LinkedIn business profile allows a brand to engage with followers, potential clients, and potential partners, while at the same time expanding a business through finding new talent and marketing a company. By promoting your brand through LinkedIn Ads, you can build business connections while giving potential customers and/or business partners an introductory glimpse into your brand’s business story and/or mission statement rather than simply promoting a product or service. 
  • SEO: Since LinkedIn business profiles are extremely authoritative in the Google algorithm, having a profile for your business can have a strong impact on your search engine optimization. When you link your business website on your LinkedIn profile, it can help your business reach better rankings in Google search results. This can help bring your website up from deep in the search results to hopefully in the first few pages of results. 
  • Access: The LinkedIn platform is a network of professionals that is home to almost 575-million users. The LinkedIn professional network can give your brand access to a great number of people to introduce your brand to. LinkedIn also allows a business to easily research and identify companies that they may want to establish direct contact with. The platform can also help businesses follow industry leaders who may host conferences, offer access to educational seminars, and who can offer guidance either directly or indirectly. Access is also about generating leads through the LinkedIn platform by networking within different communities, answering inquiries and giving advice to other businesses within a given industry, and by demonstrating your expertise and extensive knowledge regarding topics that concern your industry. 
  • Content creation: There is a plethora of amazing content on LinkedIn. From presentations to in-depth blog posts to educational seminars and infographics, LinkedIn is an excellent resource for learning more about trends within your industry. Additionally, if you are able to create compelling content yourself, then you can help establish your brand and/or company as an authoritative figure in your industry. LinkedIn provides an atmosphere that fosters the exchange of knowledge and interactions. Additionally, LinkedIn allows you to keep up on all the latest news concerning your industry through the content that is created by other businesses. 
  • A platform to display your business story: If you are looking for a place to showcase your business story or mission statement, LinkedIn can provide you with the perfect platform to do so. A LinkedIn business account is similar to a business card. What is it that you want people to know about your business? Do you want them to know your origin story? Maybe you would like to share your business’s community engagement and general ethos? LinkedIn is an excellent platform to display your business story and the reasons why your business does what it does. 

These are just a few of the many reasons why creating a LinkedIn business profile is an intelligent move for any eCommerce business looking to spread its brand awareness and establish connections within its industry. 

Types of LinkedIn Ads

Once you have created a LinkedIn business profile for your eCommerce business, you can begin to use LinkedIn Ads to create content to increase brand awareness, among many things. Here are some of the main types of LinkedIn Ads that are used on the platform.

  • Text ads: Text ads are an excellent tool if you have a tight marketing budget. Text Ads are displayed along the top and right-hand side of the desktop feed of the intended audience.
    Sponsored content: LinkedIn sponsored content can come in the form of carousel ads, single image ads, or video ads. These sponsored content ads will show up in the LinkedIn feed of your intended audience. 
  • Sponsored messaging: Sponsored messaging lets you create carousel, single image, or video ads that are sent directly to the inboxes of your intended audience. 

These are just three of the main types of LinkedIn Ads that can be used on the platform. Additionally, there are a few other options including dynamic ads. Dynamic ads show up on the right-hand side of a user’s feed and the ads are personalized for the user.

How to use LinkedIn ads for ecommerce businesses

Once you have created a LinkedIn business account,  the first step is to sign up for the LinkedIn campaign manager. After you sign up for the campaign manager, then it is time to create your first campaign. First, you will need to set a clear objective. For example, you can choose from objectives such as brand awareness, website visits, engagement, video views, lead generation, website conversion, or job applicants. After your objective is set, then you need to determine who your target audience will be. You can choose your target demographic by setting a location, language, age range, gender, education level, job experience, and interests. You can even target a specific group within a specific company or industry. Next, pick the format in which you would like to advertise. This is where you choose between sponsored content, sponsored messaging, text, or dynamic ads. Next, create a budget and a schedule. For the budget, you can put on ad spending limits that are daily, campaign total, a combination of daily and campaign total limits, lifetime limit, or a combination of daily and lifetime.  For the schedule, you can choose the dates that your ad campaign will begin and end. Lastly, you will then set up how you would like to track the performance of the ad. Tracking performance can help you make future ad campaign decisions. In a nutshell, these are the most basic steps of creating a LinkedIn Ads marketing campaign. 

How to run an effective LinkedIn ads campaign

One of the most effective ways to create a LinkedIn ads campaign is to create compelling, creative, and engaging content in combination from using the built-in tools that LinkedIn already provides. The campaign manager tool allows you to get very specific about who you would like to target and how much money you would like to spend promoting content. That is the easy part. The LinkedIn Ads campaign tool is effective and efficient in its design, however, if you create uninteresting content, then it does not matter how many people see your advertisement, it will not engage. This is where investing in employing the services of an expert content creator can go a long way to ensure that you are running the most effective LinkedIn Ads campaign possible.

Learn about Kickfurther

As you grow your eCommerce business, you may encounter cash flow problems. If you do, this is probably a high quality problem, especially once you discover affordable inventory financing at Kickfurther. Kickfurther specializes in providing inventory financing for small businesses. We connect brands to a community of eager buyers who help fund the inventory on consignment and give brands the flexibility to pay that back as they receive cash from their sales. This alleviates the cash-flow pinch that lenders can cause without customized repayment schedules, allowing your brand to scale quickly without impeding your ability to maintain inventory or financial flexibility.

Take your eCommerce business to the next level. . . visit Kickfurther today!

Content creators vs influencers: What’s the Difference?

Posted on by Amanda Levine

What is an influencer? What is a content creator? Is there a difference? In short, yes there is a difference. However, both can benefit and grow your business. To learn more about content creators vs influencers, keep reading.

What is a content creator?

Content is essential for businesses who are looking to compete and participate in the online e-Commerce marketplace. Compelling content has the ability to connect with internet users through advertisements, blog articles, social media posts, infographics, videos, and more. Everything an individual sees on the internet has the power to attract them to your business page or website, and ideally, become a loyal customer and/or a brand advocate. Content is also powerful because it is most likely the first impression that an individual will gather from your brand. The content gives the first impression, and hopefully, it is enough to intrigue the individual. To pique their curiosity in a way that inspires them to learn more. It is then that the content can bring the user to a landing page, website, or business social media profile.  In order for a business to create this creative and compelling content, they may employ the services of a content creator. A content creator is someone who can create the appealing and engaging content that companies need to acquire new customers, followers, clicks, and likes. A content creator has the ability to take a good idea and spin it into content that can be either educational or entertaining or a combination of both. A good idea that is spun well into captivating content has the power to make a positive impact on an audience and generate leads for your brand. Having a skilled content creator on staff, or if you are a good content writer yourself, can be priceless in terms of persuading, informing, and changing the purchasing power of users on whichever platform you are targeting. A good content creator is responsible for telling the business story of your brand or company, and through emotional and mental engagement, tie together potential customers with your product or service. 

What kind of content do content creators produce?

Anything and everything you see on the internet could be considered content. Whether it is on social media, a website, or a display that pops up while someone is playing an online game, it is all content. Content comes in many forms. Content could be a video, blog post, social media post, infographic, image, display ad, podcast, or vlog. A content creator is really only limited by their resources and their imagination. Once a content creator decides what media format they are going to use to produce a new piece of content, they then have to decide where they are going to post the content and who their intended audience is. 

  • Social media: If social media is going to be the platform, which social media platforms would be best for finding the potential customers who will connect most with the content and the brand? For example, a social media platform like Tik Tok may be best suited for a brand looking to attract more of the Gen Z crowd. Instagram may be best for both millennials and Gen Z, while Facebook may be better for millennials and Gen X. Twitter and YouTube are additional platforms worth pursuing that reach a broader audience across age demographics. 
  • Website: If a content creator is creating content for a company website, the content may have to be more specific to the brand and its business story. Additionally, the content may describe products and services in more detail with a focus on how the product or service will benefit the user. The information should be straightforward and direct. Videos and/or infographics make amazing content for websites. 
  • Blog content: Blog content is a powerful tool to bring in potential customers from all corners of the internet. Blogs can come in the form of listicles, how-to’s, pros and cons lists, and educational articles. The main point of a blog is to provide information on topics that are somehow related to your product or service. For example, if you have a website that sells high-powered hunting bows, you could do a listicle of the top 5 fastest shooting bows of 2021 and list the pros and cons of each one. Blog content can provide an incredible amount of freedom when it comes to what kind of information a content writer wants to present and how they want to present it. 

For online content, you mainly have social media, websites, and blog content as the vehicles to present your content. Other forms of content creation do not involve the internet. Content creators can also help produce radio and/or television advertisements as well as print media content like magazines, newspapers, and billboards or poster displays. 

Benefits of working with a content creator

Hiring a content creator has many benefits. A content creator can focus on creating engaging content and ensuring it reaches the widest audience possible while a business owner can focus more on other aspects of running the company. Also, content creators tend to have a high return on their investment as opposed to having a business owner or another employee create content. A content creator knows how to stretch a budget to achieve the greatest impact in targeted messaging. Additionally, content creators are much more efficient at creating the content that is needed to reach people. 

What is an influencer?

An influencer is someone who has the ability to affect the purchasing decisions of social media users because of their authority, knowledge, position, and/or relationship with their followers. Typically, the relationship between an influencer and their followers occurs in the bubble of a specific niche. Brands and/or companies can work with influencers to help their brand positioning, to help establish the brand as an expert in the market space, to sell products, and to offer special discounts and promotions. 

What kind of content do influencers produce?

Many influencers choose video and photography as their primary source of content. The content then is shared across social media platforms and potentially YouTube or Vimeo. Video has the power to display appealing content that is entertaining and educational. Influencers can also go “live” on a variety of social media platforms to help with product launches, special promotions, and contest/user engagement campaigns.

Benefits of working with an influencer

There are numerous benefits to working with an influencer for your brand. First, an influencer can help establish your brand as an expert in your niche as well as build trust between your brand and the people that respect the content and recommendations of the influencer. Second, an influencer can quickly improve brand awareness across multiple platforms reaching a wide audience. Third, an influencer can enrich your content strategy and help you consistently provide new content while you are busy developing your own. Lastly, influencers can effectively reach your target audience in ways that your brand could not on their own. Their expertise and knowledge on the subject, product, and/or service is well-respected and appreciated by their followers.

Content Creators vs. Influencers: how they collaborate with brands

Influencers are technically content creators in some aspects, however, there is a distinction between influencers and content creators that has been established. Content creators possess particular skills that provide them with the ability to create high-quality digital media content. Influencers can create content, however, their expertise is more about connecting with the audience with their personality and expertise rather than the quality of the content they create. A content creator and influencer can collaborate to create the compelling content that a brand needs to reach its target audience. 

Which option is best for your business?

You may be wondering if an influencer or a content creator is best for your company. Ultimately, if you have the budget for it, you may want to consider using both in tandem with one another. A content creator can come up with ideas of how to utilize an influencer properly. The influencer and the content creator can collaborate to truly create some powerful content for your brand. If you do not have the budget for both, it may be best to weigh the pros and cons of each option. An influencer can be a powerful partner that can help bring awareness to your brand, however, it may be limited in scope to only one social media platform for example. A content creator can also bring awareness to your brand, however, they can do so across multiple platforms while using a variety of media formats to engage the widest audience possible.

Learn about Kickfurther

Regardless of how you choose to grow or market your business, if it’s an effective solution, it will work. At some point, you may need inventory financing to support growth. Kickfurther is the world’s first online inventory financing platform that enables companies to access funds that they are unable to acquire through traditional sources. We connect brands to a community of eager buyers who help fund the inventory on consignment and give brands the flexibility to pay that back as they receive cash from their sales. This alleviates the cash-flow pinch that lenders can cause without customized repayment schedules, allowing your brand to scale quickly without impeding your ability to maintain inventory or financial flexibility.

Unlock inventory financing and grow your business today. . . visit Kickfurther!

5 Content Marketing Tips for Growing your Ecommerce Business

Posted on by Amanda Levine

eCommerce content marketing can help boost traffic to your website and products. If you have been considering investing in content marketing, it all begins with a content strategy for eCommerce marketing. There are several elements that may be included in an eCommerce content marketing plan; for example, SEO keywords can be used in product descriptions. Keep reading to learn content marketing tips that can help grow your business. 

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a different approach than traditional marketing. Instead of always directly selling or promoting specific products, content marketing focuses on building and retaining a loyal audience that is attracted and engaged by a brand’s online presence and content. Content can come in the form of blog posts, relevant articles, videos, infographics, photography, simple text, podcasts, and more. The content can be educational, entertaining, or a combination of the two. The main idea of the content is to attract new viewers and retain old ones. Content marketing helps to promote brand awareness while providing viewers with the business story and/or mission statement of a company. Many people may know what you sell and how you sell it, but what they really want to know is why you sell it. You can convey so much more to an audience through content marketing rather than traditional marketing. By building connections with your audience and engaging with them, you can set your brand apart from the competition. You can build a loyal audience that will think of your brand first the moment they are in the market for something that your company offers. Satisfy those customers with a solid product, excellent customer service, and a touch of personalization, and they then can become fierce brand advocates for your company and products. When content marketing is done properly, it can convey expertise while making clear the ethos of a particular company. Not only should content marketing be done properly to demonstrate expertise, but it should also be done consistently to foster relationships with potential and existing customers. Consistent and engaging content has the power to make your audience feel like they are a part of your organization and that they are also invested in your success. 

Why content marketing for eCommerce businesses is important

Content marketing for eCommerce businesses is important because we live in a digital and social media era where a large majority of people receive and consume information differently than in previous decades. Millennials and Gen Z are much more likely to consume information like news, entertainment, and advertising through social media, podcasts, blogs, vlogs, and other forms of digital media. Even the older generations like Gen X and Baby Boomers have embraced the digital media revolution. As an eCommerce business, to not participate in content marketing is to seriously handicap your ability to reach a wide range and great number of potential customers across multiple platforms and in all corners of the globe. For example, on Facebook alone, there are over 2.89-billion monthly active users, YouTube possesses 2.3-billion users, and Instagram contains 1.386-billion active users. To not participate in content marketing is to deny your eCommerce business access to this massive digital global marketplace. 

Benefits of content marketing for eCommerce businesses

Having a well-developed and strategic content marketing plan has numerous benefits for an eCommerce business. Content marketing can help a business engage with its audience while building a long-term and loyal customer base. Aside from these benefits, there are several other benefits that need to be considered as well. Here is a breakdown of some of the most important benefits that content marketing can provide to an eCommerce business.

  1. Brand recognition and increased brand awareness: Content marketing allows you to be consistent in the delivery of the message behind your brand. Quality content can build emotional connections with followers as well as increase brand awareness.
  2. Better customer service: Content marketing can be used proactively to answer any questions or concerns that potential and existing customers may have about your brand, company, products, and/or services. By creating detailed product pages, instructional videos, and informational articles, you can empower potential and existing clients to do their own research and learn everything there is to know about your products before making an informed purchase.
  3. Cost-effective: Content marketing is much cheaper than traditional marketing and it ultimately reaches more people and generates more leads. Digital content can be shared and reposted multiple times on social media and blog posts, and if the content is insanely entertaining or interesting, it could potentially reach millions of users when it is shared. Traditional marketing avenues stop being effective as soon as there is no more money to keep the ad running. Traditional marketing methods like radio and television cannot be easily shared between users the same way content can.
  4. More enjoyable: Traditional marketing has a way of being annoying, intrusive, uninteresting, and pushy. Content marketing is more about attracting an audience by creating compelling content that they choose to see.
  5. Better SEO and traffic generation: By creating quality content and targeting specific markets with specific keywords, you can improve the SEO of your website and drive more traffic to your site by increasing your ranking in Google search results. 

There are far more advantages than disadvantages when it comes to utilizing content marketing for your eCommerce business. Again, to not participate in content marketing is to severely restrict the number of people your message can reach. 

Types of Effective eCommerce Content Marketing

There are many types of effective eCommerce content marketing methods. By creating informational blogs, captivating videos, or educational infographics, you can relay a lot of information in a way that will be well-received and leave a lasting impression. No matter what type of content you create, by using storytelling, you can help your brand build emotional connections with potential and existing clients that may convert to sales in the future.

5 content marketing tips to grow your eCommerce business

If you are new to the idea of content marketing, you may be a little overwhelmed with all the information that is available on the subject. Which methods are tried and true? Is there a wrong way to go about content marketing? How do I know if my content is engaging? Even if you are familiar with content marketing, these are all reasonable questions that an eCommerce business may have. Here are 5 content marketing tips to remember when you are hoping to grow your eCommerce business.

  • Identify target demographic / buyer: Before you create any type of content, you should know your product inside and out as well as identify who your product is made for. Identifying the potential buyer can help you to focus your content marketing efforts in ways and in places that can be the most effective. 
  • Research and develop content: Your content should work to help establish your business as an industry leader, and you as an authoritative figure that can be trusted for specific insights into the industry. In order to do that, you need to research and develop your content so that it is conveying the exact message you wish to convey. 
  • Identify specific goals: When you are creating content, you should have specific goals in mind. Do you want this piece of content to increase brand awareness? to drive traffic to your site? Maybe you are looking to increase the number of followers you have? Your content should be created with a specific end-game in mind. 
  • Tell a story: Content that simply tries to sell a product or service can be boring, intrusive, and/or annoying. By using storytelling, you can help your audience build an emotional connection with your brand that will leave a much longer impression than a typical product ad. 
  • Measure results and track performance: Measuring and tracking the performance of your content is the only way to see what works, what doesn’t, and what you can change in the future to improve the quality of your content and reach more people.

Learn about Kickfurther

Creating unique content is just one way to help grow your business. As your business grows, you may need access to inventory financing. At Kickfurther, you can explore inventory financing that is up to 30% cheaper than other options. For small businesses or new businesses, accessing inventory financing can be challenging. Kickfurther was founded  by an entrepreneur with the mission to help other entrepreneurs secure the inventory financing they need without it costing a fortune. 

Accelerate your growth, unlock affordable inventory financing today at Kickfurther!

5 Ways to optimize your end to end supply chain

Posted on by Amanda Levine

What is end-to-end supply chain optimization?

What is an end-to-end supply chain? An end-to-end supply chain consists of an integrated process that starts with the design of a product and the procurement of the raw materials necessary for manufacturing. After procurement comes scheduling, production, distribution, and then the final link in the supply chain is the delivery to the customer or end-user. The supply chain can be extended beyond the final delivery to include potential events such as processing returns, shipping replacement parts, and making repairs, servicing products, or selling and shipping accessories. 

An end-to-end supply chain concept is different from a traditional supply chain because it integrates all supply chain functions. Having an integrated supply chain and visibility across the entire supply chain allows businesses to provide a smooth and efficient customer experience. A traditional supply chain may not have the same type of integration as an end-to-end supply chain. Additionally, each of the functions within a traditional supply chain is handled separately. This can cause inefficiencies and limit the overall performance of the supply chain. Now that we know the difference between a traditional and an end-to-end supply chain, how does a business optimize an end-to-end supply chain and what does supply chain optimization mean? End-to-end supply chain optimization can be boiled down to one word, integration. In order to properly integrate a supply chain, a business may need to consider investing in a quality enterprise resource planning system. An ERP allows a supply chain manager to view real-time information from every link in the supply chain all at the same time. Once an ERP has been set up and integration has been well established, then further optimization will naturally follow. End-to-end supply chain optimization essentially is the actions of a supply chain manager, or the results of supply chain integration, that help to make a supply chain more efficient by reducing the waste of time, money, labor, and other resources. An optimized supply chain allows companies to maximize gross profits, lower operating costs, and create the ideal customer experience all while balancing the costs of distribution, inventory, manufacturing, and transportation. 

What is the purpose of supply chain optimization?

The main purpose of end-to-end supply chain optimization is to increase gross profits by reducing waste and operating costs, increasing efficiency, and balancing all the expenditures related to the distribution, inventory management, manufacturing, and transportation of a product. Aside from this main purpose, there are many benefits to implementing an action plan to optimize the supply chain of any business. Here are some of the most impactful benefits that a business may see with a well-optimized supply chain. 

  • Reduction of operating costs: Reducing operating costs is one of the most impactful benefits that an optimization supply chain can bring to a business. The first way operating costs can be reduced through supply chain optimization is by increasing process efficiency to save on transaction execution and labor costs. Additionally, businesses may be able to identify repetitive, duplicated, and redundant processes to automate them, further reducing labor costs. Second, supply chain optimization helps keep prime levels of inventory to always meet customer needs while reducing how much capital is tied up in inventory. Last, infrastructure costs can be reduced and more easily managed by optimizing warehousing, logistics, and delivery processes/ 
  • Increased revenues: Supply chain optimization increases the number of perfect orders. Perfect orders are when a customer places an order and all the correct items are picked, packed, and shipped on time and up to the customer’s expectations. Perfect orders lead to customer satisfaction, increases in re-ordering, customer retention, and customer avocation, all of which can boost future revenues. 
  • Track and improve supplier performance: Enterprise resource planning systems can provide real-time data on the performance of every supplier that a business has. This allows a supply chain manager to track which suppliers are performing well and which are underperforming. They can also identify where bottlenecks and hold-ups may be occurring in the supply chain and address them. This type of information can be used to improve supplier performance and make strategic sourcing decisions. 
  • Integration: Supply chain integration allows a supply chain manager to have total visibility and transparency in every link of the supply chain. This can help create constant improvements in operations and planning. Improvements can be made and performance can be tracked in many components of the supply chain including sales forecasting, cash-flow management, on-time delivery, route planning, credit control, margin measurements, and disaster recovery. 

These are just only a few of the many benefits that an optimized supply chain can bring to a business. Supply chain optimization should be a major concern for any business owner who is looking to increase revenues and decrease operating costs. 

Tips and best practices for supply chain optimization

Optimizing a supply chain is not something that occurs overnight. It takes many hours of planning, studying performance metrics, and identifying potential inefficiencies to begin to develop a cohesive strategy that can be used for supply chain optimization. Here are some quick tips and best practices to remember when exploring ways to best optimize the supply chain of your organization. 

  • Create a supply chain task force: It is important that you have leaders from all the different departments within your company come together with supply chain management to discuss ways to optimize the supply chain in a way that aligns with the goals of the entire organization. Having interdepartmental communication related to supply chain optimization ensures that everyone is on the same page and that they are all active participants ready to implement a clear and cohesive supply chain optimization strategy. 
  • Use technology to streamline processes: Within an inefficient supply chain are many repetitive and routine tasks that are completed manually. Manual processes are not only inefficient at times, but they can also create a lack of visibility within the supply chain. By utilizing supply chain management software, a company can improve coordination between supply chain processes, increase the visibility of the supply chain as a whole, and reduce the amount of time wasted on manual processes that can be streamlined and made to be fully automated. 
  • Tend to supplier relations: It is not enough to find suppliers who provide the best materials at the best prices. A supply chain manager should be examining supplier performance metrics constantly to identify any potential issues or bottlenecks in the supply chain. Supply chain managers should also have strong communication with each of an organization’s suppliers as well as establish clear goals and expectations to continuously improve the efficiency of supplier processes. 
  • Inventory Control / Inventory optimization: Optimizing inventory quantities involves a business taking a look at the true cost of holding and storing inventory. Holding and storing inventory for long periods of time can cost a great deal of money. Optimizing inventory quantities includes forecasting and demand planning in order to have the proper amount of inventory at all times. The balance lies in having enough inventory to fill every order, but at the same time, not holding and storing the inventory for long periods of time, which doing so can eat directly into profits.
  • Logistics: Another part of supply chain optimization is working with transportation companies to ensure your supplies are coming in when you need them and that your products are successfully reaching your customers promptly. Late and/or lost shipments are easy ways to give customers unsatisfying experiences with your business. Unpleasant experiences and negative reviews can do a great deal of damage to the reputation of an eCommerce business. 

How Kickfurther can help

Controlling inventory and running an efficient operation is critical if you want to operate a lean business. While it may require investment to put systems in place to manage inventory and supply chain, they are well worth the investment in most cases. As you analyze supply chain and inventory you may determine you need more or less of certain products or processes. Enjoy the process of building your business and watching it flourish. When you hit obstacles, find solutions. At some point, you may encounter cash flow problems or the need for inventory financing. Kickfurther is the world’s first online inventory financing platform that enables companies to access funds that they are unable to acquire through traditional sources. We connect brands to a community of eager buyers who help fund the inventory on consignment and give brands the flexibility to pay that back as they receive cash from their sales. This alleviates the cash-flow pinch that lenders can cause without customized repayment schedules, allowing your brand to scale quickly without impeding your ability to maintain inventory or financial flexibility.

Optimize your supply chain and grow your business. . . unlock affordable inventory financing today!