The importance of online marketing

In today's busy and competitive world of business, online marketing is where the major action is now when it comes to buying and selling goods.

Simply put, it is a way of bringing the buyer and seller together to conduct a business transaction online, and where money changes hands when a product is sold, otherwise known as E-Commerce (Electronic commerce).

To promote your business online, you need to be aware of what is known as "Attraction Marketing".

This is where you leverage on the power of the internet to effectively promote your business online through various social media platforms, i.e Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, YouTube, blogs, etc

It is not about using these various social media platforms is the key. Indeed, they are all important. But you need to know what you are doing.

If you are utilising all these platforms but targeting the wrong social media audience, then your effort will have been wasted.

You need to first of all identify your target audience (customers) online before you start marketing them.

If it is something that will most benefit young professionals within a certain age range and within a certain location, then those are the people you need to really send your message to.

Once you have identified your target audience, you need to captivate their attention through writing contents that will provide useful information about your business and products.
You can post contents in your blog. And you can equally post contents in your specific target audience face group page.

You can then include your blog link which will connect them to your blog or website, in case they need to read up more.

Your "marketing content" is your window of opportunity to attract your potential customer to buy from you. Therefore, your content page has to be properly written, with no grammatical errors.

It needs to be full of quality information that appeals to the core of your target audience. Aside from the content that you post, you need to engage your audience by responding promptly to their requests, questions or comments.

Then follow it up by getting in touch with them personally to build a rapport based solely on business relationship.

In addition, you need to quickly learn and adapt to new technology.
If most of your target audience are on twitter or Instagram, then that's where you need to be as well.

Your prospecting needs to be done daily and in the mornings and afternoons. This is the ideal time your potential customers will be able to see what you have posted for them to see.

More importantly, change your marketing campaigns and  contents frequently. Nothing bores people quickly than a repetitive marketing message, or one that hasn't been updated in months.

So be creative and innovate with your content page or campaigns. Add spice and useful quality information that would engage the interest of the customer and make them yearn for more information.

You can also upload videos about what you are marketing online via Facebook, WhatsApp or YouTube.

Finally, it is important to learn the 'art of closing the deal'. However, before you do this. You need to know your business/product inside out.

Your potential customers will test your product knowledge, and you have to be able to respond with thoughtful answers. But only close the deal when you are thoroughly satisfied that you have covered all the bases of any objection.

This is by no means the only tried and tested marketing strategies you can use. You need to keep testing, reworking and changing the marketing strategies that produce goal oriented results for you.

Best wishes

Allowing students to develop their mind through independent thinking

In Nigeria, and Africa in general, culture has always played a significant role in education. It is the belief that every child should go to school and receive quality education which will make them self sufficient when they become adults, and less dependent on anyone to survive.

Invariably, culture also dictated how an individual's life should be planned. It is the acceptable norm that after graduating from high school, the next course of action is to attend University and study for a degree course. Upon the completion of the degree course, the individual is expected to work for money. There is nothing inherently wrong with this line of reasoning.

However, with the gradual passage of time, the dynamic nature of events has paved way for a new paradigm shift. In the new dispensation of globalisation,  entrepreneurship is now the growing trend.

Children can now be taught at a young impressionable age to allow "money to work for them", instead of them  "working for money". And it is by allowing children to think in creative ways for themselves about what they are passionate about to kickstart their entrepreneurial dream is now very important.

Furthermore, after engaging in one form of profession or another, society also determines that the next order of priority is to get married. After marriage, and without delaying too much time unnecessary, the newly wedded couple are expected to start having children.

The afore-mentioned is a prime example of how African culture has shaped individual thoughts right from when a child start attending primary school till the time they get married.

It is doubtful whether the opinions of children were sought at any age by their parents regarding their own choices of what they want to do with their lives. African culture has also been about norms and practices. Elders spoke and the younger ones were expected to obey without raising any form of dissent. Respect and obeisance for elders is absolutely important.

Also, fear and the threat of punishment was used as a tool to mould the behavour of the younger generation. It shaped the nucleus of law and order in the society and any form of rebellion was dealt with. For instance, in Nigerian schools, the norm as it has always been, was the students recognised teachers and lecturers as their father and mother figures.

The same culture also conditioned the minds of students to accept what they were taught  by their teachers in school without disagreeing openly with the teacher.

In other words, students were being taught what to think and not how to think independently. Any student that questions or disagrees with a lecturer is seen as a rebel and is summarily punished for being audacious.

To make matters worse, even some parents don't give their children the freedom to choose the course they wish to study in the University. Many examples abound of students who were forced to study Medicine or Law, simply because their parents excelled in that particular profession. In the end, some of these children had to abandon the course half way into their degree.

Two reasons accounted for this. Firstly, such students were unable to cope with the demands of the rigorous course having being 'forced' into it by their parents. Secondly, since the students were not passionate about studying the course from the onset, they would not be inclined to pour all their energy and mind into it. The end result would be frustration, depression and a heightened sense of low self esteem.

Be that as it may, the student will also continue to under perform in their studies, thereby denying them the opportunity to really excel in their preferred course of study. Aligned to this, is also the wasted time they would have spent studying a course they utterly disliked.

Evidently, this is a clear case of students that were deprived of the ability to think independently for themselves. This robs students of their creative mind to use lateral and logical reasoning skills. When adults continue to determine what they think is best for children, it can create a divisive wall between parent and child and ultinately lead to resentment.

It is a recognisable fact that the duty of a patent or guardian is to guide the career aspirations of their wards. However, this guidance or advice should not be enforced without soliciting the opinion of their children.

By not doing this, many students will not be able to properly develop logical and deductive reasoning skills that will help them immensely with their personal development.

Added to this, the children will grow accustomed to delegating key important aspects of their lives to their parents, as opposed to thinking objectively and independently on their own.

The school system and parents can help change the cultural mindset of thinking for students all the time. Let children grow up to be confident, assertive and independently minded. But this can only be made possible if they are allowed to exercise their creative mind.

As Frank Zappa noted, he said "A mind is like a parachute. It does not work until it is open".  Children should not only be seen, they should he heard. Let their creative minds speak. As adults, if we take time to listen to the young minds of children, we will learn a lot.

Beyond education: Taking child safety seriously in schools

Child safety is very paramount in school's, not only from a welfare point of view, but from a health and safety perspective as well.

Child abuse is very rampant in schools these days. Teachers who are entrusted with taking care of students in their care are usually the perpetrators. Worse of all, is when the school where such gross acts of child abuse takes place, is in denial of such abuse.

To this end, schools and other key important stakeholders cannot afford to be lax when it comes to the issue of child safety and protection in schools. Each school must have a legally binding Child Protection Policy that safeguards the welfare of all children and students in schools.

By creating a conducive environment for learning, it makes the students, as well as parents more secure and comfortable in the knowledge that they are learning in a school that takes child protection, health and safety and security of all personnel seriously.

Here are 10 practical tips school owners need to embed in their policy for child protection in their respective schools.

1. All teachers,  irrespective of gender, must not touch (as in place their hands casually or in a friendly way) any student,  male or female.

2. No teacher must have a closed door session alone with a student,  with no one else present in the room.

3. No classroom full of students, must be left unsupervised by a teacher.

4. All incidents involving student versus student,  or student versus teacher must be logged and documented immediately on an incident report form, pending the outcome of a full and thorough investigation.

Witnesses must be called to make their own written statements of what they saw, or heard. The incident report and logging must be done the same day the incident occurred with the time and date recorded.

* Whistle-blowers who report an incident must not be punished or victimized.

5. No teacher is allowed to intimidate a student, bribe a student or cajole a student to do what is morally wrong, especially against their wish. Their esteem must not be destroyed at this young impressionable age.

6. During break periods, and end of school,  teachers are expected to be at strategic posts watching the movement of students and monitoring their health and safety.

7. Apart from PTA (Parents Teachers Association) meetings,  schools should organise termly sessions with parents called 'Parents' Day'. This important session affords parents the opportunity to ascertain from the class teacher, and indeed other teachers, how their ward is faring academically as well as any related concerns about their welfare.

8. Students are stakeholders of the school. As a result, each year group must be allowed to elect a student representative (inclusive of school prefects) that will meet on a periodical basis with the school board to address any concerns the students may have.

The students can also make suggestions to the school board on what can be improved in the school (i. e. School meals, School projects, etc).

9. Periodical lesson observations (usually quarterly) must be done by Senior teachers for other teachers in the school. This is an important needs assessment based exercise that forms part of the key performance indicators (KPI) of a teacher. This is to ensure that students are learning properly and to ensure that they are fully engaged in the lesson.

An independent observer is able to gauge the self esteem of students, particularly if they are not favourably disposed to the teacher delivering the subject. Further investigation may reveal deep seated underlying issues that is impeding the learning of the student.

10. Lastly, several CCTV cameras must be mounted in school corridors,  playgrounds, other prime spots within the school as well as outside the school premises.

In addition,  a loud piecing security noise gadget must be installed in several locations of the school as well.

In the event of a security breach beyond the control of the security guards in the school, the gadget needs to be activated to ward off the dangerous activities of intruders or criminals (e.g. Child abusers or kidnappers) and to protect the health and safety of students and staff.

The power of positive thinking

Thinking skills is one of the most underrated interpersonal skills. If you need to attain any thing in life, you need to get into the habit of cultivating good thinking skills.

Daily positive affirmations helps to boost your self esteem and confidence.  It will improve your mood, make you feel good about yourself, and make you stay focused. When your mind aligns well with good positive thoughts, it filters out negative thoughts and declutters your system of all forms of negativity.

Why then don't a lot of people practice it often? As Henry Ford rightly observed, he said "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it".

Everyday, try and think postive thoughts only. Always strive to have a positive, mental and emotional attitude towards life, about yourself and people.

7 powerful positive thinking skills

1. Watch your emotions

Use emotional intelligence to gauge the level of your emotions. Deny yourself the opportunity to be sad, moody, or allow your mind to be affected by negativity.

2. Never allow people's opinion to define you

Choose the people around you that will always infect you with positive affirmations. The people that speak positively to you are the ones that add value to your life. Never allow anyone's opinion to dictate your life. People's biased opinion of you is not a factual assessment of your capability.

3. Mind what you listen to

Be careful of what you listen to at all times. Never allow negativity to filter into your mind and dominate your thoughts.

4. Say words of afffirmation

At all times, endeavour to say positive words of affirmations to your self. Words carry power and they can accomplish good things.

5. Try new things

Get yourself busy and be creative. By being creative, it allows your brain to think in a different way.

6. Read books on motivation

Always try and read books on personal development and motivation. It expands your mind and enables you to think more positive thoughts. Your spirit will be lifted when you read about success stories of other people.

7. Be focused

In order to think good thoughts and achieve your dreams, set S.M.A.R.T goals to keep you focused. As you accomplish each goal and move to another goal, your self esteem levels will go up.

7 Tips on how to create your corporate brand

Every school or indeed, any business, needs to have a corporate identity. Just like every individual has an identity, your business also needs to have one. And it needs to be well branded.

You can build your brand on a tiny or big budget, depending on the target audience you are communicating with.

The major reason why your business needs to have a brand is because your brand is an integral part of your corporate identity.

Your customers need to know you and what you stand for, and it is your corporate identity that communicates this.

Finally, in content and delivery, your brand also needs to have a unique corporate identity. Your logo, images, website and marketing materials, needs to have a uniform and complimentary feel about it in terms of colour.

For instance, GT Bank, AIRTEL, and Nestlé have strong corporate brands due to the effective use of complementary colours.

7 ways to create your brand

1. State your core values

Clearly let your customers know about the values of your company and how this translates into doing business with your company.

Your corporate identity must communicate trust, integrity and credibility in the eyes of your customers.

Customers first buy 'into' your company (i.e, core values, mission and vision) before they buy into what you are selling. Once you are able to create this trust, your corporate brand will gradually become a recognisable and well respected one.

2. Be unique

In the first instance, the only reason why you are in business is to offer a service or sell a product. The only way to stand out from your competitors is to be unique. If you can't do this, then don't compete.

Even though Dell Computers, Hewlett Packard and Apple Plc all compete in the same market, each company is distinctively different in its appeal to their respective customers because of their unique brands.

3. Identify your market

You need to identify the market in which you will be competing.  Identifying your audience is different from identifying your audience. Once you are able to identify your market, you will then be able to seek out your target audience.

Mothercare PLC is a  company that identified a niche in the market by selling baby clothes. The company was then able to attract the expectant mothers as the target audience.

4. Branding via social media

You can brand your company by utilising all the various tools on social media. There are a lot of useful social media applications you can use to create a longer lasting brand.

Many of the major corporate companies use social media tools such as Google plus, ads, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Periscope, to boost their brands.

5. Creating content

You need to create quality content for your customers on a consistent basis. Customers first like to be informed about the benefits they will derive from a service or product, before they make a commitment to buy from you.

A global brand like Walmart creates content on Global corporate responsibility reports, annual reports, company news, events and webcasts, product reviews, etc

6. Engaging your audience

To grow and sustain your brand, it is important that you interface with your customers on a regular basis. This practice will foster a much closer business relationship between your company and your customers. Your customers will be happy to talk to you about your products or service.

Positive customer feedback on how you provided pre customer and after sales service leads to customer satisfaction.

You can engage your customers via the traditional method of suggestion boxes, email correspondence or telephone questionnaires.

Global brands like Virgin, Amazon and Google, all engage their respective customers via various social media platforms and networking groups.

7. Offer a range of products

To have a competitive advantage in your market, your company needs to constantly innovate with new products. By offering customers new products and improving on old ones, it makes your brand stronger and competitive.

At one time, Nokia was one of the recognisable brands globally. Despite its great success, Nokia stopped offering new products and this began to affect its sales and the brand.

In 2008, Nokia enjoyed the 9th position as the most valuable brand in the world. By 2011, the Nokia brand plummeted to the 81st position and in 2016, it dipped to a much lower position. The company was eventually bought over by Microsoft.

You can follow me on Twitter @therealolatunde

For more articles, visit my website www.tundeadeleye.com

Goal setting

Unarguably, goal setting helps entrepreneurs to have  a clear strategic perspective of the objective they want to attain. Goal setting has to be S.M.A.R.T (Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound) and have clarity, rather than being vague and unfocused. If the goal is not specific, it will be difficult to ascertain if you have attained them.

For example,it is better to have a specific goal that states "our business intends to increase sales performance by 20% within one year" than saying "We intend to increase sales performance".

To achieve this aim, a specific goal focuses primarily on the following questions:

1. Who are the people involved in setting and achieving this goal?
2. What specific goal do you want to achieve?
3. Where is the location of what you want to achieve?
4. What is the time frame to achieve this goal?
5. Which resources will you need to achieve this goal?
6. Why do you want to achieve this goal?

You can apply these technique to whatever goal you intend to achieve. e.g Starting your own business, losing weight, building/buying your dream house, etc.

Soundbite: Always remember that your 'dream' is a goal with a deadline.

Follow me @therealolatunde on twitter

Staying focused on your journey to success

Until you attain success, you need to be completely focused before you get there. One of the ways you can do this is to always commit yourself to a life long process of learning and personal development. There is no quick fix.

Be focused and know what you are doing, to get you from where you are to where you need to be.

Learn to cut out unnecessary distractions that can make you lose focus. Noise is not the only type of distraction that can make one lose their focus. Misuse of time and engaging in unprofitable work can equally make you lose focus.

Time lost cannot be recaptured. Instead of a credit, it becomes a debit to what you have not achieved that day.

Being focused and committed to doing something is another form of planning. When you plan, you are invariably telling your inner mind, that you will be ready when opportunity shows up.

Proper planning enables people to SEIZE or GRAB opportunity. Lack of planning, is when people MISS or LOSE opportunity. Many people are always Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly (P.O.O.R) because they are not ready to change.

But the important lesson to learn, aside from the knowledge and experience you will gain along the way to attaining your goal, is to remain focused. However you need to keep believing and keep moving.

Even the ANTS in their daily hustles, are focused, they plan and navigate their route, have belief, encounter obstacles, practice delayed gratification, until they accomplish their goal.

So can you.

The best way to make your dreams come true is to WAKE UP and take action TODAY. Stay focused.