Running a business is a tough endeavor. Inevitably, you’re going to run into a situation where you have to make a decision regarding expenses. What do you do in these situations? Do you have to make huge cuts in necessary expenses just to save yourself money, or lay off employees to save a little extra cash?

Thankfully, you don’t always have to take the most extreme approach to penny pinching. There are other, more respectable ways to save money, that don’t involve making huge decisions like the examples above.

Saving a few dollars here are there can really add up in the long run. With that in mind, here are some simple ways that you can save money each year, with only minimal changes in what you’re currently doing!

Negotiate Lower Prices With Suppliers

Most suppliers are used to people negotiating prices with them. In fact, they’re probably more willing to negotiate a price with you rather than lose you as a paying customer, so you have the upper hand in most negotiations. If you feel like you could be getting cheaper prices from your supplier, let them know. Telling them that you could do business with another supplier could encourage them to match their competitor’s prices, too.

Outsource

Need to get some work done, but can’t afford to hire more full-time employees to do it? Considering outsourcing some of your work to freelancers. It could be something like web development, or it could be freelance blog writers. Whatever it is, outsourcing your work will shave off a few extra dollars on your budget, plus, you’ll be getting important work done at a quicker pace, therefore reducing your expenses for time-consuming projects.

You can find lots of great freelance work on sites like Freelancer and Upwork.

Reduce Unnecessary Subscriptions

Do you have subscriptions to software, social tools, or ad campaigns that you forgot you were paying for? It’s easy to subscribe to an inexpensive subscriptions service and then completely forget you have it. Sometimes, this happens when you sign up for a free trial of something, and then forget to cancel it before the trial period is over. A few bucks a month for a subscription may not seem like much but could add up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year in charges, depending on how many you’re subscribed to. Make sure you’re checking all of your expenses, maybe do an internal audit, and eliminate unnecessary subscription services.

Credit Card Rewards and Points

You probably already have a few company credit cards that you use for things like travel expenses for employees, new tech, office supplies, etc. But do you know what your current credit card company offers as far as rewards points for purchases? You could be racking up points that will seriously deduct expenses later on. For example, if you have a credit card that’s just used for travel expenses, and that card earns you a certain amount of points per purchase, you could quickly earn enough points just from using the card to maybe get employees discounts on hotels, plane tickets, dining and more. If you need to do some research on which credit card companies will work for your needs, check out Nerdwallet.

Every dollar counts when you’re trying to save money. Use these tips, and start cutting your expenses today!

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Brainstorming

Brainstorming can seem like a scary thing to do for most employees. It forces them to gather in a room with their colleagues and throw out ideas that may or may not be helpful. It’s intimidating, it’s scary, and it can sometimes result in nothing getting accomplished.

However, brainstorming is one of the most beneficial things you can do with your team. It cultivates good discussions and brings in ideas that you probably wouldn’t have thought of on your own.

If you’re wondering how you can start brainstorming like a professional, we’ve got some helpful tips for you.

Keep People From Becoming “Yes” Men and Women

Inevitably, there’s going to be a few people in your office who are going to agree with every single thing the person in charge says. These people are oftentimes called “Yes” Men and Women. They agree with the boss and lack any type of disagreement abilities which are necessary for any positive brainstorming session. Make sure you challenge those people who are prone to agree with the boss all the time, and try to encourage them to come up with their own original ideas.

There Are No “Bad” Ideas

You’ve heard the phrase “there are no bad ideas” before, right? Well, technically there are bad ideas. Really bad ideas that could cause a lot of pain and distress for your company. But those are usually things like “abandon social media” or “scam all our customers into giving us all their money for a terrible product.” However, when you’re brainstorming, you should never be afraid to throw out an idea that pops into your brain. Even if the idea isn’t the best idea, others can play off of your bad idea and turn it into a good idea instead.

Encourage A Lot Of Ideas

Don’t limit the number of ideas that should be thrown out there during your brainstorming meeting. The more ideas the better! You never know which little nugget of a thought can turn into something grand for your business, so don’t be afraid to rapid fire your ideas to everyone else.

Ban Electronics Temporarily

There’s nothing worse than having a meeting where everyone is distracted by their smartphones, laptops, and tablets instead of brainstorming with the group. Make sure you let everyone know that electronic devices, unless completely necessary, will not be allowed during the brainstorming session.

Don’t Make Them Too Long

Keep brainstorming meetings short and sweet. Whether they admit it or not, people do not like meetings, let alone long meetings that prevent them from getting their other tasks done. Keep your brainstorming sessions short, between 15 to 30 minutes.

If All Else Fails, CAFFEINE

Caffeine rules. A good cup of coffee, or an energy drink, can give you that burst of high energy you need for a brainstorming session. It’s really hard to fire off ideas when you’re running on 5 hours of sleep, and your brain hasn’t quite turned on yet. If you really want to encourage people to participate in your meeting, stop by your local cafe and buy coffee for everyone!

Brainstorming sessions are great tools that can bring in new ideas for your business. Don’t be afraid of brainstorming meetings, and be sure to have them often!

You’ve probably heard the terms inbound and outbound marketing plenty of times during your career. Most of the time, these are terms that marketing and PR people like to throw around just to impress anyone that’s hearing (at least, that’s how I look at it).

Have you ever stopped to consider what these terms mean though, and what the difference is between the two? What about the effect it can have on your business?

Well, good news! I’m here to help dissect these words, and hopefully teach you the difference between the two, so you can decide which one works best for you and your business!

Outbound Marketing

First, let’s start with what’s consider the older form of marketing, outbound marketing.

Outbound marketing is defined as “any marketing that pushes products or services on customers.” This includes older forms of marketing, such as trade shows, seminars, email blasts, cold calling, telemarketing, and advertising. It’s marketing that eagerly pursues customers, and puts the marketing directly in their faces.

This type of marketing works for many businesses these days, but it’s certainly becoming more and more outdated feeling in the age of content marketing. That’s not to say that outbound marketing is the wrong way to market your business. Different strokes work for different folks, as the old saying goes, and you have to think about your audience when deciding whether to do outbound or inbound marketing.

Despite it’s outdated model, outbound marketing works well in areas where you are trying to market to older demographics, who might be less concerned with new technology and new ways of being sold to. A large majority of the world still prefers to hear ads on the radio, or watch commercials in-between their favorite shows.

Inbound Marketing

If you want to transform your marketing strategy into what we’ll call the “hip and cool” way to market to people, then you’re going to want to learn how to start doing inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is what’s called “new marketing.” It is a marketing tactic that relies on earning people’s interest, rather than trying to push it on them through traditional forms of advertising.

Examples of inbound marketing include blog posts, search engines, social media, etc. It’s marketing to people by giving them useful info through mediums that they already use every day.

It’s a form of marketing that presents itself in a more down-to-earth, relatable way. It says to your customers, “we’re a business and we’re trying to earn a living, but we’re also concerned about your needs and want to provide you with the best info we can give you.”

Inbound marketing is more geared toward millennial customers, and those who are more familiar with the internet, technology, and are concerned with community building.

Inbound and outbound marketing both have strengths and weaknesses, and it’s up to you to decide which one works with your customers and your business model.

Millennials are known to be one of the most difficult groups to market to these days. Not because they’re uninterested in what businesses have to offer, they’re just picky about where they choose to spend their money. Which is a good thing, because it means they can be more invested and loyal to a particular company if you can attract them.

Depending on who you ask, the definition of a millennial varies, but they are generally categorized as those born between 1985 – 2000. Unlike previous generations, they grew up right in the middle of the tech and internet boom, where the world was becoming more connected than ever before in human history.

That reliance on connectivity is a key factor when considering how to market to millennials. They live in a connected world, and so it makes sense that they would look for businesses that cater to this desire. If you’re struggling with how to market to this generation of consumers, check out a few tips, written by a millennial.

Be Authentic

Millennials look for businesses that exude authenticity. They don’t want to feel like they’re giving their hard earned money to someone who doesn’t actually care about anything besides making a profit. That’s why you always have to be aware of the way you’re presenting yourself to your customers. Authenticity can come across in a number of ways, such as reassuring customers you care about them, aren’t trying to pull the wool over their eyes, or giving them lots of opportunities to communicate with you. Trust me, millennials have a keen eye for spotting businesses that aren’t trustworthy. We’ll find you.

Conquer Mobile

Most millennials aren’t looking at your website on a desktop or laptop computer; they’re looking at it on their phones. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile viewing and isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re going to lose a lot of business. Particularly, millennial business. You’ve got to make sure your website looks good on every device, including tablets and smartphones. If you aren’t sure if your website passes the mobile-friendly test, you can check it here.

Don’t Pander

We don’t like politicians to pander to us, so we definitely aren’t going to want a business to pander. What I mean by this is trying too hard to appeal to what millennials are into right now, and coming off as inauthentic. This goes back to the authenticity section, but it takes it a step further. Don’t overuse slang or trends in your marketing material. A “clutch” or “dope” every now and then is perfectly fine, just do your research on terms first before you include them in your content marketing. Whatever you do, just don’t make the same mistake as Microsoft.

Try Inbound Marketing

Is outbound marketing failing to appeal to the millennial crowd? There’s a reason for that; we’re not interested in traditional marketing. Outbound marketing includes things like billboard, magazine, and newspaper ads, and they don’t work on us. Neither do other traditional forms of selling, like commercials. We’re tired of seeing them, and mostly just ignore them. On the other hand, inbound marketing works astonishingly well. Examples of inbound marketing would be things like blogging, social media, search engine optimization, and other forms of content marketing. Why do these work? Because they aren’t pushing products into our faces and saying “Buy buy buy!!!” Inbound marketing focuses on bringing people to your product or service by giving people something attractive and engaging.

Make It Fun

Last, but definitely not least, make your marketing strategy fun! Millennials like to have a good time, and they expect their favorite businesses to give off that same fun and easy-going vibe. That doesn’t mean you need to take your business less seriously, of course. It just means to remember to not be so uptight and business-like all the time. For most millennials, they want to know that your business has a good sense of humor, and aren’t trying to shove products down their throats all the time. Try to show off your fun-loving side on places like social media and through your emails. These are the perfect outlets for creativity and fun.

Millennials shouldn’t be ignored in your marketing strategy. Embrace what they love, and learn to attract more millennial customers than ever before!