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April 12, 2022

5 Things You Can Learn from the Canva CEO

Hello Business Owners!

At just 34 years of age, Melanie Perkins is one of the youngest females to run a tech company valued at over $1 Billion and she has been named the second-wealthiest woman in Australia. The company that she co-founded, Canva, was recently valued at $40 billion in 2021.

From selling scarves in a market to creating a multi-billion-dollar empire, here are 5 things you can learn from her success:

1. Give Back

After its recent $40 billion valuation, Canva decided to give a 30% stake in the business to a charity that aims to eliminate poverty. This equates to a massive donation of $12 million. Obviously, we aren’t all able to give away billions of dollars, but we can always start small.

At Bizsquare, we hope to use our little means to do the greater good. You can do the same as well – consider donations to charity, providing time or services to organizations pro bono, or even partner with another platform and contribute towards a cause. Giving back can also be viewed as helping build a positive reputation around your brand (among many other benefits), whilst helping those in desperate need in your local community and around the world.

2. Never Give Up

Trying to raise capital wasn’t easy for Perkins, especially when she was based in Australia and approaching U.S. investors – for many abroad, Australia is the “land down under” — a place too far away and too risky to invest in. When Perkins first attempted to raise money for Canva, she was told no more than 100 times. But this didn’t stop Perkins, she kept persevering for more than three years until she met investor Bill Tai. Although he didn’t invest in Canva, he played a vital role in helping Perkins and her partner Cliff Obrecht connect with people who could help them grow their business.


We all face rejections, even for me myself, but it is completely fine. Changing your perception when you receive a “no” in business can be quite liberating, it is all about your mindset. Think about it, it’s just statistics: If I call 20 people, one person will likely say yes.

Canva Founder

3. Listen To Your Customers

As entrepreneurs, we all think we have an excellent business idea — and often we’re right. But what really solidifies the idea and makes it successful is listening to your potential customer’s feedback and building solutions that help support them. After feeling frustrated that working with design programs was too complicated and engaging a graphic designer was relatively costly, Perkins started Canva.  Prior to Canva, Perkins and Obrecht had founded Fusion Books, which allowed users to create and print their own yearbooks. They listened to their customers about what worked and what didn’t, which allowed them to then go on to successfully build Canva to where it is today.

We must realize that as entrepreneurs, our business will continue to grow and evolve over time. It’s our customers’ insights that will help you take our business to the next level. What we initially started out will eventually transform into something else, and we shouldn’t be stuck on the original concept that we created.

Canva Yearbook

4. Implement Your Values Within Your Business

Perkins and Obrecht have strong moral values, and they ensure those values are represented in Canva’s mission as well. In fact, it’s even written into Canva’s user guidelines. They even went as far as saying: “If we believe in our sole determination that your use of the Service is being used to discriminate, especially if based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, ancestry or national origin, we may permanently or temporarily terminate or suspend your access to the Service without notice and liability for any reason.”

At Bizsquare, we firmly believe in Transparency, Consistency, Quality, Integrity, and Social Empowerment. Publicly sharing the values that are embedded within your business’s culture will not only resonate with your customers but also attract more members to your community.

anti discrimination

5. Have Faith In Your Own Business

At just 19, after putting her college degree on hold, Perkins hit the road to try and raise funding for her big idea, but she was continually rejected. It’s during these darkest times that you need to rely on your self-belief, which will get you through no matter what life throws at you. Many times, Perkins had to believe that she could make a success of what she was setting out to achieve.

Entrepreneurs often forget this lesson, and it’s something that we can all do. It could start with a simple daily affirmation or vision board for practicing creative visualization. Building a successful business will not be easy, but remember, don’t ever be swayed by naysayers!

Entrepreneurs

Dreams can come true, and miracles do happen.

We hope these pointers can inspire you to set your business up for success! 

April 12, 2022

How Can You Drive Digital Leads?

Attracting new customers and/or driving further sales are undeniably one of the top priorities, if not, the top priority for many profit-driven businesses. However, it is not as easy as it sounds, and especially more so within the digital space – with customers fragmented across a multitude of devices and media platforms. So, how can you drive further digital leads and ramp up your sales?

This is where the AEC Framework comes into play, where three things need to happen for you to successfully drive digital leads. Attract. Engage. Convert.

𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓

Obviously, the first stage would have to be attracting your customers. In essence, you would want to have visibility, traffic, views, and to effectively reach your customers. To do so, you might want to consider using these methods:

• 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

SEO helps in your organic search rankings, giving your business much more visibility in search engine result pages. Some tips we have would be to get your website in good shape (speed, relevant and valuable content, ease of navigation, etc.), have good backlinks from quality websites, and consistently update your online business profiles (websites & social media) with relevant and updated content.

• 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬

Aside from having an updated, organized and well-designed website, you might also want to consider setting up a social media account to post interesting yet relevant content on a consistent basis, possibly attracting more people and in turn, driving higher sales and/or more traffic to your website. Depending on the social media platform, it could be eye-catching photos, visually pleasing infographics, or attention-grabbing article titles, as long as it garners the right attention! As such, valuable content creations of any kind and quality graphic designs are vital in attracting the right audiences for your social media platforms. Go ahead and embrace the difference in your creations!

• 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠

This would be a good complement to both methods above. Google Ads (Search Engine Marketing) to complement SEO, and Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn ads to complement your Social Media Platforms. It will definitely help to grow your online presence and increase brand awareness, significantly augmenting the outcomes of the above 2 methods.

𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐆𝐄

You’ve got the visitors now, and it is up to you to retain their attention. This is where you would have to keep them engaged.

• 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 & 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭

It could be interesting social media posts, informational blog posts, captivating video clips, email marketing, or anything that offers them some form of value in return for their time spent! Unless you’re confident you can do better than the professionals, you might even want to consider taking up professional graphic design or videography services to help create both engaging and visually appealing infographics and videos to maximize attraction and engagement potential. Remember to also analyze your content consistently across your digital platforms, (page views, clickthrough rate, time on site, return visitors, shares comments, etc.) and optimize them over time to maximize the chances of your content being consumed!

• 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

In addition to retaining their attention through your posts, do remember to encourage them to leave replies and reply to your audience as much as possible. Don’t forget to make landing pages and comments accessible to all your audiences as well! Interacting with your audiences will not only help you to gain some customer insights on how you can improve your current strategies but also help to establish good relations with your audience, paving the way for further engagement.

𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐓

Congratulations! You have now reached the stage of conversion, where it is time to look for signals of purchase intent. You can now provide relevant call-to-action along with promotional offers after your content has been consumed. Some metrics you can look at would be the opening of emails and clicks within them, requests for consultations or quotations, successful registrations for events/webinars, etc.

If you’re still unsure of your ability in driving digital leads, a digital marketing agency may just be the solution you need. They all possess their own specialties and the know-how to operate and execute effective strategies within this digital revolution, it all boils down to finding the right agency suited for your needs.
April 11, 2022

Is Branding a waste of money?

You may have heard some successful brand stories and how successful branding makes these brands stand out from the crowd. But you may wonder, what exactly is BRANDING, and is it even important for your business?


Is Branding my business just a waste of my money? The short answer is no!

In essence, Branding is the nuanced art of actively shaping your brand. It is the way a company communicates itself both visually and verbally to create a memorable impression on consumers and become instantly recognizable to them. It is an intangible concept and yet it forms a very clear idea of what a company does based on its values and identity.

Branding brings about 4 key benefits for your Business:

  • Branding Increases Business Value

Branding is important when trying to generate future business, and a strongly established brand can increase a business’s value by giving the company more leverage in the industry. This makes it a more appealing investment opportunity because of its firmly established place in the marketplace. The result of the branding process is the brand reputation and brand value. That value can mean influence, price premium, or mindshare.

  • Branding Generates New Customers

When a certain perception of a brand has been established in the market, an uncontrollable chain of propagation begins. Word of mouth will pass the perception on and reinforce the brand image further. If the brand reputation is positive, potential new customers may come into contact with the brand, having an already-positive association in their mind that makes them more likely to make a purchase from this brand than from the competition.

  • Creates Trust Within the Marketplace

A brand’s reputation ultimately boils down to the amount of trust that clients can have in it. The more you trust a brand, the better your perception of it, the stronger its reputation and, thus, the brand itself. Strong branding means there is a positive impression of the company amongst consumers, and they are likely to do business with you because of the familiarity and assumed dependability of using a name they can trust.

  • Improves Employee Pride and Satisfaction

When an employee works for a strongly branded company and truly stands behind the brand, they will have a higher degree of pride and satisfaction in their work, which can translate into better leadership, more involvement, and better products and services. Employees are also the first line of communication for any brand. Employees that have a good association with the brand will perpetuate that perception further down the line to the clients and partners they interact with.

Finally, to address the elephant in the room, if you have the right product fit for the market, Branding, if done right, will not be a waste of time and money but instead, help to differentiate your business from competition and reap the 4 key benefits mentioned above!

After all that has been said, we present to you our client’s success story along with her testimonial – Chopstix & Rice’s Branding & Marketing Journey – where she experienced exponential business growth through our professional Branding and Marketing services.

Faced with pandemic restrictions, a dwindling customer base, and battered sales, Mdm Loji was at her wit’s end, until she enquired about our services on Facebook in late 2020.

In this video, get to discover the story and personal perspectives of Mdm Loji, the owner of Chopstix and Rice – a humble Nasi Padang eatery at Orchard Towers – who embarked on a branding and marketing journey with us a year ago. As a result of our brand and marketing project, the business at Chopstix and Rice improved dramatically despite the ongoing pandemic and it was even acquired by one of the top F&B groups in Singapore, all within a span of 1.5 years!


Don’t just take our word for it, take hers.

If you have a strong desire to build a successful brand and yet, you are also constantly plagued with the question: “How can I achieve it?”; look no further and let us help you.

Consult with us today FOR FREE to learn more on how you can rejuvenate your business. You may very well just be our next success story.

April 11, 2022

How You Can Improve Your Social Media Marketing

If you’ve been posting organic content or ads to several social media sites for quite some time, and you still have almost zero to no engagements for all your posts, you’re not alone! Many small businesses around the world also struggle to increase engagement and followers on social media.

 

It is common knowledge that a Digital Marketing agency (Social Media, Creative, Branding Agency, etc.) would be able to help you create, develop, maintain or even improve your online and social media presence through their practical experience, aesthetic designs, and creative strategies – just with varying levels of effectiveness. However, if you still insist on executing Social Media Marketing by yourself, we have some helpful tips for you below to improve your social media marketing and rock your Social Media pages!

1) Content Creation tips

Content Creation is the creation or contribution of original and relevant content to any media – Social Media in this context – for consumer consumption. All content created would have to be of quality and ideally, bring some sort of value to your consumers, such as showing them how they can solve their problems or educating them with new knowledge, etc. In essence, it should benefit them and keep them coming back for more!


Some other general guidelines to follow include:

2) Videography tips

It is important to get your video content right as it gives you a good opportunity to capture your customers’ interest within the first few seconds. You should not hesitate to use videos to complement your content creation efforts, especially when online videos would make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022. Here are some tips from us to create effective yet captivating social media videos:  

3) Graphic Design

Aesthetic graphic designs can help better attract customers to your content and even effectively convey your message or brand story in the form of images, illustrations, or infographics. Be bold, Be creative, and embrace your designs! Most importantly, keep it simple. Some tips and tricks for you, even if you are a total newbie at designing:

In conclusion…

With more than half of the world using social media, Social Media Marketing is useful for your business, and you cannot ignore it – but it is not easy to execute effectively. If engagement and/or conversions matter to you, you’ll have to do more than simply just posting poorly thought-out sentences and/or pictures.

There are no “secrets” or “guaranteed ways” to improve your social media presence, but those tips/tricks listed above are extremely helpful in helping kickstart your social media growth journey and would help contribute positively to your social media marketing efforts.

Hopefully, you have gained some insights on how you can improve your social media marketing and we wish you all the best on your journey towards social media growth!

If you wish you learn how you can improve your Social Media Marketing, you can also check out Mattherns Media, out Branding & Marketing arm!

April 11, 2022

How does a Marketing Agency help a Business?

Before we answer that question, you have to first, understand what exactly is a Marketing Agency. Marketing Agencies can come in various specializations and disciplines, such as Full-Service agencies, Creative agencies, Brand consultancies, SEO agencies, Content marketing agencies, and the list goes on. In essence, Marketing Agencies are fundamental service providers helping your business to plan, design, and execute marketing strategies and/or activities to achieve your business goals.

In this post, we would like to highlight 4 ways (out of many) a Marketing Agency can help a Business by:

  • Serving as a Brand Consultant
  • Videography Services
  • Graphic Design Services
  • Social Media Marketing

1) Serving as a Branding Consultant

A Branding Consultant, or a Marketing Agency which provides this service, deals with the fundamental strategic orientation of a company and its brand, redefining its brand positioning and communicating that change to customers. Through this service, your business would be able to attain a competitive advantage along with a differentiated brand identity and marketing strategy, which would strengthen your market positioning and take it to the next level. It is no doubt, a complex recipe for success; but if done right, you can potentially surpass your competitors and stay on the right track!

This service generally includes market research, brand audits, augmented brand strategies along with the respective new guidelines, and is complemented with accompanying marketing collaterals, such as videos, visuals, designs, and digital content – which would be touched on in the following points.


2) Videography Services

When it comes to content, video marketing is increasingly more important. Whether it’s on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook, consumers love videos! Videos are able to better evoke a whole range of emotions than any other marketing materials and they make great storytellers. As a result, videos possess a higher ability to grab the eye’s attention and it is a perfect opportunity to promote your business while your audience is glued to the screen. Videos also serve as a great complement to your marketing and brand collaterals, helping to increase your brand awareness and support a variety of marketing and business goals, etc.

Producing captivating and valuable video content, however, requires professional planning, production, and editing, which is what a Video Agency, or a Marketing Agency which provides this service, would be able to do – bring your stories to life and effectively communicate the desired message across through professional, captivating and valuable video content.


3) Graphic Design Services

Visuals play a huge role in today’s competitive world of business, and the first impression matters. Visuals not only play an essential role in creating a strong first impression, but it is also crucial in creating a strong brand identity – just take a look at Apple and Coca-Cola for example. Great design can greatly enhance the value of your marketing collaterals and effortlessly set your business apart. Whether you have a small business or are running a large corporation, your logo, the look of your website, the mobile app, or your digital marketing collaterals all help your business stand out from its competition and help convey the underlying message of your intended concept and idea through visuals. And what is it that differentiates your business from the others; it is the unique visual.

Unsure of what design best suits your business or brand, or have absolutely no design or artistic background? Fret not as a Design/Creative Agency or a Marketing agency providing Graphic Design Services is able to craft out beautiful and bespoke graphic designs best suited for your business/brand!

4) Social Media Marketing

With billions of users on social media platforms, it offers immense opportunities for business growth, and you can’t afford to not leverage these platforms.
 

Be it organic posts or paid social media advertisements, you would be able to potentially reach out to hundreds or thousands (sometimes even millions!) of people, and it is up to your content and strategy to connect and engage with the right audience, therefore, driving further online traffic and increasing sales.

A Social Media Marketing agency or a Marketing Agency providing this service would be able to help create suitable and comprehensive social media marketing strategies for your business, comprising of social media calendars, creative marketing content, lead generation & funnelling, social media analytics, reports, and insights, etc. and help your business achieve long-term growth.

There is a myriad of other services provided by Marketing Agencies in general that are not touched on here, including but not limited to Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, etc.; but only 4 particular services were mentioned – yes that’s right, these 4 services are the ones WE specialize in.

Our Strategy Management and Branding & Marketing arm, Mattherns Media, aims to unleash business potential through digital marketing optimization, social media campaigns, branding, and marketing development strategies. We firmly believe that every brand has a story to tell and through our profound insights and killer strategies accompanied with bespoke marketing collaterals of premium quality – captivating video content, striking brochures, and unforgettable brand logos – we seek to help brands attain differentiation, strengthen their market position, and drive long-term growth. We also understand the ins and outs of Social Media and we are ready to harness its power in this shifting digital landscape.

In all, we recommend you focus on doing what you do best and leave it to us, the dedicated marketing professionals to grow your business exponentially!

March 28, 2022

How to Effectively Structure a Landing Page for Your Business

Creating a landing page might be fairly simple to do so, but making it into a compelling one that maximizes conversion might be an entirely different story.

 

Here are 7 tips on how you can work towards creating and structuring your killer landing page:

1) Eye-Catching Headline — Grab their attention and introduce your offer, what do you do exactly?

3 SECONDS – that’s all you have when people visit your page. Get them hooked right from the start. Tell them who you are and why they should trust you, answer those questions through your headline.

2) Hero Personality — Don’t be shy, flaunt the best photo of yourself.

This provides a human touch and conveys a message to the lead that they are not talking to a robot but a real person, giving them the ASSURANCE that they are in trusted hands.

3) Social Proof — Perfect bait for your leads, don’t let them bounce off your page.

Give your leads a GOOD REASON why they should stay and scroll down the page to learn more about your offer.​ Social proof serves as a reinforcement for your brand credibility and substantiates your claims within your landing page. It is vital to make your customers feel good and confident about their next purchase.

4) Pain Points — Your leads are now ready to listen to what you have to say.

Show them their biggest PROBLEMS through crisp copywriting, and position yourself as the SOLUTION to their problem. Keep your copywriting legible and straight to the point; you may also want to evoke emotions from your message, if relevant and appropriate.

5) Impactful benefits list — You have sold the customer emotionally, now comes the part for the ‘logic’.

You need to SUCCINCTLY answer the questions: What’s the process? How can it help.

6) Customer Testimonials — Quality over quantity, do away with the fabricated customer testimonials!

Show GENUINE customer testimonials, improve its customer perception through quiet design and easy-to-read fonts.

7) Final CTA — Customers are engaged and possibly more motivated to solve their problems.

Guide them on what to do next and convert them with.

Piece these 7 tips together and this is what you will get!

These are the 7 simple but important tips (out of many) on how you can structure your landing pages so customers can go from becoming stranger-to-paying clients.​

 

Here are some tools you may want to consider for your landing page design:

Do note that this is just an overall guide and you are not limited to strictly following those 7 tips.

 

If you have any doubts about how you can create a brilliant landing page or website suited for your business needs, feel free to reach out to us!

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