Monthly Archives: November 2024

More than just a trophy: Why awards matter to a business

I recently had the honour of representing Silverfin at the Computing Cloud Excellence Awards where we proudly took home the trophy  for ‘Best Use of AI in the Cloud’.This got me thinking about a conversation I had recently in a networking group I’m part of, where someone posed an interesting question (or two): do awards really hold any value outside of the event itself? Are they seen as meaningful, or just  a bit of fluff? The general consensus was that while it’s nice to have a shiny plaque on the wall or a new trophy in the office, and the brief mention in the press that often comes with it, the real question is: it can an award actually make a difference to your business?In my opinion, I think it does. Awards absolutely can mean something more—not just to the business, but to the people within it and the customers who buy from it. An award may not close a deal in isolation, but the validation it brings can certainly open doors and spark interesting conversations. Boosting team morale and motivationLet’s start with the team. When a company wins an award, it’s not just recognition of the business—it’s recognition of the people who make it tick. Whether it’s a sales team smashing their targets or a product team delivering best-in-class technology, that award is an acknowledgement of their hard work. And there’s nothing quite like seeing your team light up with pride when they hear, “We’ve won!”The boost in morale is undeniable. It motivates people to keep pushing, to exceed expectations, to innovate—because now there’s a tangible reminder that their efforts are being recognised beyond our immediate bubble of customers and shareholders. More than that, it builds belief. When a company is publicly celebrated, it reinforces to the team that they’re part of something special. It’s no longer just talk in strategy meetings about ‘being the best’—it’s proof that they actually are.A stamp of credibility for customersFrom a customer’s perspective, awards offer an invaluable stamp of credibility. Let’s face it, consumers are bombarded with options and are always looking for something that sets one business apart from another. An award gives them a shortcut to trust.If you’re competing with a larger firm that has more resources, an award can be a real leveller. It shows that, despite your size, your work is top-notch. You can compete on a larger stage, and people outside of your business are willing to vouch for it. That’s not something customers overlook. In a crowded market, an award helps you stand out, creating a point of differentiation that no amount of clever marketing can quite match.The long-term benefits of awardsIt’s easy to think of awards as a one-off win, but they have long-term benefits. They feed into the story of your business. Every win is another chapter, another milestone that shows growth, commitment, and consistency. It’s a narrative you can use in marketing, sales pitches, and recruitment (everyone wants to work for a business leading the way forward!). Customers are drawn to businesses with a proven track record of excellence, and nothing showcases that better than an award—or a series of awards!Building a culture of excellence Internally, the sense of pride and belief compounds with each success. Once you start winning, you set a standard, and people naturally want to maintain or exceed it. It creates a culture where excellence isn’t the exception—it’s the expectation. And who doesn’t want to build a business with a true culture of excellence?So, for me, awards are about much more than recognition—they’re a signal to my team that their work matters and a message to our customers that they’re choosing a business that stands out, leads the way, and is innovating in ways their peers are not. Awards inject pride, motivation, and belief into your workforce while giving you an edge in a competitive marketplace.So, next time you have the chance to put your business forward for one (such as the Elite Business Top 100 SME’s Awards), don’t just dismiss it as fluff or a mere exercise to push out another social post. It might just be the boost you need to take your company to the next level. Share via:

5 key data mistakes that could be hurting your online business

Today’s brands know that, in the face of an increasingly crowded market, delivering an outstanding ‘in the moment’ customer experience can help them stand out from their competitors. But, as Adobe’s 2024 Digital Trends report revealed, with only 26% of customersdescribing their digital experience with a brand as “excellent”, it’s clear that many brands have a long way to go before the CX they deliver matches customer expectations.
Companies are sitting on a goldmine of customer data, but which common customer data mistakes are causing potential customers to take their business elsewhere? The 2024 study, conducted by Adobe, reveals the common customer data mistakes to avoid, as well as insights into how that hard-earned customer interaction can be transformed into a lifetime of loyalty.

61% of customers state that personalisation would more likely result in a purchase
Only 26% of customers described their digital experience with a brand they have an existing relationship with as “excellent”
Adobe’s Real-Time Customer Data Platform (RTCDP) serve as a key solution for businesses to create actionable, real-time customer profiles

Are you losing customers? Key data mistakes you should not overlook

Not utilising customer data for personalisation 

The study, from Adobe, found that companies that prioritise personalisation achieve ten times more conversions compared to those with only basic personalisation. The Adobe Digital Trends study also found that 73% of consumers would rather do business with a brand that personalises marketing materials such as emails.
By utilising data to create a personalised approach for all customers, companies could be able to drive loyalty with one-to-one experiences as well as identifying upsell opportunities with personalised offers and promotions.
Adobe’s Real-Time Customer Data Platform (RTCDP) plays a crucial role in this process by unifying customer data across various touchpoints, enabling businesses to create real-time customer profiles to deliver targeted messaging and personalised experiences that boost conversions and foster customer loyalty.

Failing to use artificial intelligence for better personalisation 

Artificial intelligence is becoming more prominent within the customer experience journey, helping to analyse vast amounts of data such as purchase history, browsing trends, and social media interactions, to provide deeper insights and more refined customer targeting.  Personalisation also requires a huge amount of content.
Generative AI and tools like Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing, give brands the ability to create the vast number of content variations needed to power personalisation, while maintaining strict adherence to brand guidelines, templates and even tone of voice.
The Adobe Digital Trends study also found that companies have the capability to generate 40% more revenue from personalisation, compared to slower growing organisations.

Failing to supply customers with additional online support options 

Nearly 50% of global consumers have interacted with brands via online support options such as third party messaging platforms, apps and mobile or desktop websites over the last 12 months2. Additionally, 86% of shoppers3 are willing to pay more for an exceptional customer experience, while 64% are more inclined to recommend a brand following a positive interaction.
Today’s customer expects to be able to resolve any customer service issues quickly and on whichever channel is most convenient for them at the time. They also expect that, should they be moved from one platform to another, that their details and the details of their service request automatically travel with them from one platform to the next.
The key for brands is to not only ensure there are multiple options for their customers to resolve their issues, but also to make sure that each platform is connected to be able to provide real-time assistance that fosters loyalty.

Not creating an aligned omnichannel strategy 

Omnichannel marketing strategies can integrate marketing channels such as email, online and social media, allowing customers to move seamlessly across channels. Figures suggest that businesses who prioritise omnichannel marketing see significant benefits, with 80% reporting increased revenue and 72% reporting profitability.
Despite this, Adobe found that 37% of brand professionals fail to implement a strategy that is able to reach customers across every channel.
Adobe’s RTCDP can help overcome this challenge by centralising customer insights in real time, empowering brands to engage with customers at the right moment, through their preferred channels, to drive higher engagement and improve loyalty.

Spelling mistakes in onsite copy 

It’s vital that all onsite copy has been spell-checked prior to publishing, as spelling mistakes in the likes of product descriptions and ordering pages can make a website appear amateur, unprofessional and untrustworthy.
To prevent this, businesses should regularly review their copy for errors and poor grammar, while also ensuring content and copy remain engaging. Adobe’s RTCDP unified customer profile can further assist by identifying friction points in the customer journey, such as where users drop off to help pinpoint particular pages that may need attention.
Sources:

https://business.adobe.com/uk/resources/digital-trends-report.html 

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/marketing-personalization

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/customer-experience

How did Jeff Bezos cause the Washington Post to lose 200,000 subscribers? Take our business and investing news quiz

Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making the headlines. Our business reporters come up with the questions, and you can show us what you know.This week: Amazon.com beat market estimates for quarterly revenue on Thursday, thanks to growth in its cloud services unit driven by growing spending on AI. Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud business, reported a 19-per-cent increase in sales to US$27.5-billion. The Seattle-based company said sales in its North America segment rose 9-per-cent overall to $95.5-billion in the third quarter. But it wasn’t the only firm that beat expectations this week! Meanwhile, what about Elon Musk? Did a judge say he was disappointed in the billionaire’s most recent scheme? Take our quiz to find out.

After six years of tariffs, small-business owners aren’t eager for more

With former President Donald Trump floating higher and more far-reaching tariffs if he’s elected to a new term, small businesses that sell everything from bikes to beer are nervous about another cost hike that they’d have to pass on to customers.Chris Smith, the co-founder of Virginia Beer Co. in Williamsburg, Virginia, remembers when he first spotted a 5.5% surcharge on a statement from one of his suppliers, a U.S.-based seller of tap handles manufactured in China. The fee turned up in September 2019, after Trump placed 25% tariffs on steel, and hasn’t gone away since.Smith spends anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 each year on tap handles emblazoned with the names of his beers — with about $1,000 of that covering the cost of the tariff. He sells them to distributors that get them placed in bars and restaurants that sell his draft beers, increasing the price to cover the tariff surcharges.“The beer business specifically is a low-margin, high-volume business,” he said. “We don’t have the volumes that a major player has just by virtue of our size.”Any increase in our input costs absolutely affects our profitability.Chris Smith, co-founder of Virginia Beer Co.By contrast, Constellation Brands, which imports Corona and Modelo from Mexico and recently reported about $3 billion in quarterly revenue, has waved off concerns about further tariffs, saying the company thrived under Trump. But smaller operators have less wiggle room, Smith said: “Any increase in our input costs absolutely affects our profitability.”Small-business owners have already been facing tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, most of them from China, implemented by Trump in 2018. The Biden administration, which largely kept them in place, unveiled new levies of its own in May — though experts say they’re mostly symbolic moves in a green-tech standoff. So far, the tariffs in force under both White Houses have cost Americans $79 billion, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated this summer.Consumers who’ve been finding their footing after a historic run-up in inflation — which had little to do with federal trade policy — aren’t likely to have seen tariffs dent their wallets dramatically beyond a few targeted products in recent years, like washing machines or solar panels.But “if you were a business owner and your supply of something from China was directly impacted, then you definitely noticed,” said Erica York, a senior economist at the Tax Foundation.Many of the large U.S. companies facing tariffs have either rejiggered their supply chains to avoid them or else eaten the cost, wholly or in part. Bigger firms tend to have more flexibility to source new suppliers and more leverage to negotiate terms, experts say.Former President Donald Trump calls for a blanket 20% tariff on all goods imported to the U.S.Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP“For the small businesses, unfortunately they’re not in a position where they can absorb those additional costs,” said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, a major trade group.The nation’s roughly 33 million small businesses employ nearly half the nation’s workers and generate more than 43% of the gross domestic product, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates. And it’s small and medium-sized firms that disproportionately bear the burden of tariffs, Gold said; in many cases, “they’ve got to go ahead and pass those costs directly on to the consumer.”That’s what Ryan Zagata, the founder of Brooklyn Bicycle Co. in New York City, had to do. He estimated that 95% of the over 100 parts needed to build a bike are made overseas.“Whether we like it or not, Asia is the bike manufacturing hub of the world,” said Zagata, who raised prices by between 18% and 22% after the Trump tariffs took hold. He expects he’d have to hike further if a re-elected Trump were to impose his promised 20% blanket levy on all imports.In addition to that tariff, the GOP nominee also calls for a duty of at least 60% on goods from China, a 100% tariff on countries that ditch the dollar as a common trade currency, and a 2,000% tariff on vehicles built in Mexico.The tariffs that small and medium-sized businesses have shouldered under the current and prior administrations are “pretty extreme” by historical standards, said Felix Tintelnot, an international trade economist at Duke University. “In the last 75 years, we didn’t have tariff levels anywhere near as high.”Taken together, these proposed duties would be “magnitudes larger” than those Trump implemented years earlier, said York, and could be “massively disruptive to the way businesses have planned their supply chains.” She expects more severe, long-lasting tariffs would have a “chilling effect” on investment and could encourage retaliation from other countries. Even Germany, a key U.S. ally and trade partner, has warned of that outcome.Economists broadly oppose Trump’s tariff plans, saying their main outcome would be higher costs for consumers. Last week, a joint letter by nearly two dozen Nobel-winning economists warned that Trump’s proposed “high tariffs even on goods from our friends and allies and regressive tax cuts for corporations and individuals, will lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.” The Trump campaign has repeatedly dismissed these forecasts, asserting that vast revenue from additional tariffs would fund everything from further tax cuts to new child care subsidies.“These Wall Street elites would be wise to review the record and acknowledge the shortcomings of their past work if they’d like their new forecasts to be seen as credible,” Trump campaign adviser Brian Hughes said in a statement, asserting that tariffs would spur job growth and drive down inflation.San Diego-based entrepreneur Nichole MacDonald said profit margins for her patented, 10-pocket Sash Bag have been thinning in recent years as material and freight costs have jumped, and tariffs aren’t helping.She sells her product — which was mainly manufactured in China before Trump’s 2018 tariffs — mostly online, and its costs went up about 25% in their wake, she said. She has since shifted some manufacturing to India but has largely eaten the cost increases. About 70% of her customers return for subsequent purchases, and she worries about alienating such a loyal clientele with price hikes.