Startup Central
How To Use Blogs To Build Your Brand
Published
1 year agoon
Branding is a very important aspect of business, big or small. By using an effective branding strategy, your business could have an edge, especially in competitive markets. The process of creating a unique name and company image in the customer’s mind is a delicate one. Businesses utilize different tactics and strategies to create a brand that people like. For ordinary people, branding is just a business buzzword. Businesses on the other hand, see branding as a new way of selling something. If your branding efforts are not paying off, blogging could be a tool to help you improve.
Creates an Online Persona
Branding experts want to achieve what is known as “franchise in the mind”. When you think of soft drinks, what brand comes to mind? How about insurance? Companies like Coca-Cola, Allstate, and Amazon spent millions of dollars to achieve franchise in your mind. In today’s information loaded market, being identified easily is very important and blogging is a good way to achieve this goal. Blogging enables businesses to tell stories about your brand so that the consumer becomes familiar with them. Blogging allows for personalization. It’s like putting a face to your brand.
Allows For Conversation
Blogging is about engaging your customers. It is about speaking to them and encouraging them to respond. By utilizing this personal conversation, you are getting to know each other and building trust. As you build this trust, relationships can prosper on a more personal level.
Helps Build Connections
One of the advantages of branding through blogging is connecting more personally with your target audience. By establishing relationships, you can influence how people think about your business. Your connection is what makes your blog successful. When you share yourself – experiences and expertise – people will begin to trust you and your brand.
Cost Effective
Many brands like to blog because they are inexpensive to deploy. You don’t have to be a professional writer or have a degree in journalism to start blogging. All you need is time and the willingness to share what you know. Aside from this, launching a blog can be inexpensive depending on the platform you use. For example, Blogger is free and so is the .com version of WordPress. As your knowledge in blogging increases, you can utilize tools and customize your blog so that it looks professional.
Allows For Word-of-Mouth Advertising
When people talk about your blog to their friends, this is word of mouth advertising. Your readers become your evangelists and help you spread your message throughout their network. A viral word-of-mouth marketing is the best possible scenario. There is no dollar value that can be assigned when you can get somebody to talk about your business in a positive light.
A helpful and humanized blog that encourages good relationships with customers can forge real connections between businesses and people. This helps enhance brand resonance and brand loyalty. If you want new ways to build your brand, try blogging.
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Business
2020 Cyber Week Deals for Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Published
2 months agoon
November 29, 2020Are you looking for the best deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? We understand 2020 has been quite the rollercoaster. So, we compiled a list of Cyber Week deals specifically for growing your business. Here is the ultimate list of marketing, sales, lead gen, and SaaS tools you don’t want to miss.
*Bookmark and revisit this page for updated Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions.
Analytics
Brand | Savings | Duration | Description | Promo Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
Howuku | Lifetime Deal | Lifetime | Heatmap tool | DIGITALTHINK |
Websignals | Lifetime Deal | Lifetime | Social mention, listening & media monitoring tool. | DIGITALTHINK |
Wincher | 90% OFF | 3 Months | SEO rank tracker | BLACKFRIDAY2020 |
Two Minute Reports | Lifetime Deal | Lifetime | Create a complete report in 2 minutes. | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Capturly | $99 | Lifetime | Optimize your website | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Pulno | 30% Off | Monthly | SEO Audit and Website Analysis | BLACKFRIDAY19 |
Business Development
Brand | Savings | Duration | Description | Promo Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
HR Partner | 50% OFF | Lifetime | Employee records management | BLACKFRIDAY2020 |
nila.tech | 5% OFF | Lifetime | Chatbox Builder | NILA5 |
Fesh | 80% OFF | Annual | Shopify Alternative | friday2020 |
CallHippo | 20% Off | Monthly or Annually | VoIP | BFCM2020 |
TimeCamp | 25% Off | Annual | Tracking app for projects and tasks | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Apploye | 25% Off | Lifetime | All-in-one time tracking, employee monitoring, scheduling, and payroll management software | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Design
Brand | Savings | Duration | Description | Promo Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
Penji | 50% Off | 3 Months | On-demand graphic design subscription | CYBER2020 |
Glorify | 93% Off | Lifetime | Ecomm Designing Tool | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Brand | Savings | Duration | Description | Promo Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
SalesHandy | Up to 50% Off | Annual | Email Automation Tool | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Timetoreply | 40% Off | 6 Months | Email analytics tool | oAspJ1Vq |
SendX | 40% Off | Annual | Email Marketing Software | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Constant Contact | 20% Off | 6 Months | Email Marketing | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Finance
Brand | Savings | Duration | Description | Promo Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
InvoiceBerry | 50% OFF | 6 Months | Online invoicing software | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Marketing and Social Media
Brand | Savings | Duration | Description | Promo Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
LinkHelp | 17% OFF | Lifetime | LinkedIn Automation | LH17 |
Vyper | 50% Off VYPER + Free Instagram Growth Course | Monthly | Build giveaways and referral programs | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Klenty | 25% Off | Annual | Sales Engagement Platform | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Project Management
Brand | Savings | Duration | Description | Promo Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
nTask | 30% Off | Monthly | Project Management Software | BF2020 |
Infinity | 86% Off | Lifetime | Project Management | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Web Development
Brand | Savings | Duration | Description | Promo Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
One Word Domain | $10-50 Off | Lifetime | Domains Database | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Brizy | $299 | Lifetime | Website Builder | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
WP User Frontend Pro | 20-30% Off | 1 Site to 15 License | Registration & Profile Builder | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Dokan | 20 to 30% Off | 1 Site to 10 License | Multi-vendor Marketplace | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
BlogVault | 40% Off | Annual | WordPress backup, staging, migration & security | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Cloudways | 40% Off | 3 Months | Managed cloud hosting platform | CLICK TO ACTIVATE |
Business
Top 10 Black Friday Deals for Digital Marketers 2020
Published
2 months agoon
November 16, 2020Rejoice, agencies and digital marketers! Black Friday deals aren’t just for flatscreen TVs and doorbusters. This year, you can also get ridiculous discounts and offers for software and services to help take your business to the next level. Here are the top 10 hottest Black Friday deals you can take advantage of right now
Penji
We’re marketers, not designers. And hiring freelancers is a time-consuming process I don’t enjoy. Meet Penji. It’s a graphic design service that lets me work with a vetted designer on as many design jobs as I want – for a flat monthly rate of $399/m.
And if that deal isn’t already good enough, here’s their Black Friday promo code to make it even sweeter.
The deal: 50% off any plan 1st month. Use promo code OMBLK50. Code is limited to the first 100 customers. Valid from now until 11/29/20.
SEMRush
All the SEO tools you’ll ever need under one roof. SEMRush’s comprehensive toolbox lets you manage your SEO performance, track daily rankings, analyze your competitors, research backlinks, and much more. They’re rated one of the most reliable and robust SEO tool on the market right now. Prices are usually more expensive than other software, but they’re well worth the investment.
The deal: Get 30% off on the annual SEMrush Competitive Research bundle. Valid between 11/25/20 – 12/15/20. For new users only.
Timecamp
Want a time + activity tracking software your team will actually want to use? Then meet Timecamp. Timecamp has just what you’re looking for. The SaaS software allows you to monitor activities and track your team’s attendance. In addition to tracking, there are over 100+ integrations to the software you’re already using.
The deal: Get 4 Months of TimeCamp for Free! Use this code at checkout: BFDEAL2020. Offer starts 11/23/20 and ends on 12/1/20.
SE Ranking
Marketing agencies and digital marketers are probably already familiar with keyword and competition monitoring software. You’ve probably already heard of SE Ranking for that matter. SE Ranking is a densely packed SEO tool with features such as competitor monitoring, rank/keyword tracking, keyword research tools and backlink analysis.
It even has auditing tools to show you what you need to fix on your website to rank better. We actually use this ourselves and love it.
The deal: Get 30% off ANY plans. There’s also a small chance your membership benefits will double if you’re one of 3 lucky winners after their drawing. Use code BLACKFRIDAY2020 at Checkout.
Email List Validation
Email marketing is great…when the emails actually deliver. Solve your email deliverability issue with Email List Validation. The software lets you verify and clean your email database to ensure you’re only sending it to working emails.
The deal: Get 25% off all plans. No code needed, just visit link below.
OptinMonster
Remember when everyone keeps saying email is going to go away? Yea…here we are 20 years later. And OptinMonster is proving that email marketing is here to stay. OptinMonster helps you convert and monetize your website’s traffic. Get your visitor’s attention with event-triggered popups and capture their interests with exit-intent forms.
The deal: Get 60% off all plans.
SocialPilot
This one is for agencies and marketers managing multiple client’s social media accounts. Put all of your client’s social media accounts on SocialPilot and leave it on Auto-pilot (bad pun I know…) SocialPilot lets you create, manage, schedule, and even finetune all your posts in one place.
The deal: Get 20% off discount on all lifetime plans. No promo codes needed. Just check out link below.
LongTailPro
LongTailPro is for marketers, bloggers, and digital marketing agencies looking for an effective tool to help research and track long-tail keywords. In addition to its robust search feature, you can also track rankings for all your keywords on major search engines.
The deal: Get 30% off all plans with BONUS access to competitor research and SERP analysis tools.
Mangools
Mangools is more than just a keyword research tool. It’s actually 5 tools combined into one platform, making it an amazing deal for marketers. You get the Keyword explorer, SERP checker, SiteProfiler, SERP watcher, and Linkminer all for the price of one.
The deal: Get 25% off
For Black Friday, Mangools gives a 25% discount on its SEO tools, including KWFinder, SERP Analysis, Backlink Analysis, and Rank Tracking. The offer data starts on November 29th.
HelpCrunch
HelpCrunch is a marketer’s wet dream come true. Create chat automations and popups to guide and convert visitors. Have live chat to provide instant assistance to browsing prospects. Create a knowledge base for your customers to find answers themselves. And the list of feature goes on.
The deal: 20% off any plan
E-sports is taking over the world and have gained even more momentum due to stay-at-home orders. This year, the competitive landscape has heated up with games like Apex Legends, Fortnite, Valorant, and League taking the helm.
If you’ve ever played competitive FPS, you’ll know just how important high fidelity audio is. The ability to hear which direction your enemy is approaching from is often key to winning the battle.
Nowadays, you can settle for a wide array of gaming headphones at just about any budget. However, for those who serious about keeping their KD ratio high and absolutely need every last bit of advantage, Steelseries has the answer for you.
The Arctis Pro with Gamedac is a wired gaming headset that offers high-resolution audio through a digital-to-analog converter. The headset works with PlayStation, Xbox, and PC and comes equipped with all the wires you need to get set up.
The Gamedac
Steelseries have upgraded their Gamedac significantly since the last iteration. Connectivity is seamless and instructions are easy to follow. Unlike traditional headsets where you can just plug directly to your PC to get rolling, the Steelseries Arctis requires an extra step.
You can’t just plug directly via USB. Instead, the headset connects to the Gamedac via an unusual micro USB port, and the Gamedac connects to your PC via USB. Once plugged in, the unit powers up instantly and you’re greeted with an intuitive 19-steps tutorial onboard the Gamedac’s built-in LCD screen. This is one of the most intuitive and clever tutorial/instructions I’d ever seen on a gaming headset. No confusing manuals, no complicated wired setups, just plug and play.
The Gamedac is super simplified with just a dial knob and a back button to control everything from volume, mixer, EQ, to various other display settings. Use the dial to navigate left and right. Press to select. And hold down for menu options. It’s so simple, I didn’t even crack open the manual.
The headset
One word I would use to describe Steelseries Arctis – elegant. The design choice here is simplicity, sophistication, yet functional. It’s not edgy, angular, or futuristic like most gaming headsets on the market. It’s design language reminds me of Sennheiser or Bose.
The earcups are spacious and the foam is soft to the touch. The RGB lighting surrounding the earcup is subtle. Unfortunately the RGB simply cycles through the color wheel and the Gamedac doesn’t give any lighting options. It’s also always on and can’t be disabled.
Build quality
Build quality is what you’d expect from a $250 headset. The Gamedac is small and will fit just about anywhere without getting in the way. The headset is sturdy and has a solid feel to it. It’s not heavy, but feels dense. Unlike cheaper headsets where you can feel the empty space inside, the Arctis feels like every Milli-cubic of space is put to good use.
Headband adjustment
I like Steelseries’ unique approach to head adjustment. Instead of the usual telescopic design that lets you adjust the height of each earcup individually, the Arctis’ headband is adjusted via a velcro strap. It’s hard to describe, but the picture above will give you an idea. The tension of the adjusted band creates the cushion for your head. It’s a clever way of providing cranial cushion without a foam padding on the band. The result is a design that’s both simple, functional, and comfortable for hours of gaming.
High Resolution Audio Performance
We decided to put the high-resolution certification to the test. Luckily one of the writers in our office happens to play competitive first person shooters. We tested the Steelseries with Call of Duty Warzone and Apex Legends. Both games are first person shooter where the ability to the direction of footsteps and gunshot is pivotal.
The Arctis outperforms just about any other headset on the market today in terms of audio quality. Everything sounds crystal clear. Explosions sounds like explosions. The surround sound easily identified the direction of gunshots and footsteps. The Gamedac’s ability to easily adjust between voice audio and game audio on the fly greatly enhanced our gaming experience.
Overall, there’s not a doubt in our mind why the Steelseries Arctis is High-resolution audio certified.
Final Verdict
The Steelseries Arctis + Gamedac is a high performance gaming headset for all games, not just the purists. At $250, it’s definitely an investment but definitely one that’s worthwhile. It’s an easy choice to recommend to gamer given the build quality, comfort, high-resolution audio, and crystal clear microphone output. You don’t need to play competitive to get your money’s worth. The high-res audio can heighten immersion in any single-player games.