Business management – The cornerstone of a successful entrepreneurial career

Education can help propel entrepreneurs towards their goals and help them climb the corporate ladder. If entrepreneurship is your dream career, determine if you want to get an education.

The right program will give you the necessary knowledge, and encourage you to draw upon your potential, as you learn how to build new ventures. Indeed, you do not need formal instruction to become an entrepreneur, but it does help to have a solid background. Many institutions cater to the needs of individuals who want to explore their entrepreneurial leanings. This means that you can get a good education.

Take A Summer Course in Business Management

More and more top educational institutions are offering classes during the summertime. Why exactly? Because they want to help students stay in the studying mode. All they want to do is to come to the assistance of people who wish to expand their knowledge base. Maybe you are wondering if you should sign up for one. You are not quite sure that this is the best decision. of course, it is. It is just that you do not realise it yet. As a business management student, you will learn about the many sides of management and gain insight on how to become an exceptional leader.

If you want to make the most of your summer, join a Cambridge summer program. The best-performing schools in Cambridge teach students about the management of organisations, not to mention that they cover topics such as finance, marketing, strategy, and leadership. If you have a good understanding of the fundamentals, you will understand the related concepts. If you are the type of student who can handle a fast-paced class, there will be no issues. The fact of the matter is that a summer school is a great option for anyone who is focused on a future career.

Are you thinking about attending a summer school in 2019? Here are some things you need to consider when making your pick:

1.     Where You Will Stay

If you have your mind set on attending a summer school in Cambridge, look for adequate accommodation. The educational institution may not have something arranged for you, so you will have to look for a place to stay. You can live on your own or share a room. It is best to choose the former option because it will give you a taste of university life. If you are offered the opportunity to live and learn in university accommodation, do not say no.

2.     International Prestige

You will want to go to a summer school that enjoys international prestige. This matter later on, when you start your own business. Taking the courses of an educational institution of international prestige is a great thing to have on your resume. Others use rankings and prestige to determine whether or not to work with you.

3.     Style of Teaching

Summer school is slightly different from regular school. To be more precise, summer schools use teaching strategies that actually appeal to learners and improve engagement. Generally speaking, participants are encouraged to speak their minds and be active in class. Lessons are interactive and this is possible thanks to technology. Make sure that the summer school you will be attending makes use of EdTech such as augmented reality, 5G, and so on.

How Will Studying Business Management Help You?

Business and management degrees often come together. These subjects are studied in parallel because they complete one another. If you have a pretty good idea about business and management, you can get a job immediately after graduating. Take your education seriously and you will have much to gain when you will put what you have learned into context. Studying business management is, without our exaggerating, a useful experience. These are the advantages that successful learners cultivate.

Developing Essential Communicational Skills

The corporate world has changed a lot in the past years, change being triggered by simultaneous shifts in technology. Every entrepreneur needs to be able to communicate effectively. The problem is that not everyone can share ideas. Preparation and education will set you ready for the business world, so there is no reason to worry. You will learn how to write a convincing report or draft an email that gets read. You can ask and receive honest feedback, which will help you be a better communicator. To pass with flying colours, you must analyse cases, respond diplomatically to conflicting opinions, and get your point across.

Learning A Little Bit About Management

Management is an essential part of everyday business organisation. Since the organisation is made up of people, so you have to deal with them, whether you like it or not. These people come from various backgrounds. What is more, they have opposing views and opinions. If you are not capable of managing the people in your team, your business is doomed to fail. At present, business programs focus more on managing individuals, interpersonal relations, and communication. You will know how to create a dynamic environment, while at the same time achieve your personal objectives. Look for classes that will help you advance your entrepreneurship carer.

Mastering the Art of Budgeting and Creating Financial Forecasts

When you learn about budgeting finances, you learn from people with industry experience. You will understand what things are supposed to go into the budget, so you will never feel guilty about doing something. In a business management course, you will learn everything there is to know about budgeting for business. Additionally, you will be taught how to create financial forecasts. This very important part of doing business helps you make the right management decisions.

You will no doubt want to study business management. Knowing how to handle administrative tasks comes in handy if you are a sprightly person with a great business idea. As you know all too well, the best things in life are not free. Actually, they require a great deal of work. As an entrepreneur, it is up to you to oversee what is going on. Business management will offer you the tools you need to succeed. Roll up your sleeves and start your wonderful journey!

Things to keep in mind when financing for a property

Buying property can be a very hectic task as it involves many different elements that should be kept in mind.

On paper, the process might look straightforward, but in reality, it involves a lot of stuff that you might not be familiar with. Before actually looking for a financer, you need to do a lot of research work and invest some time it. I have compiled together a few ideas that will create a basic mind map and help you choose a suitable financer.

Think Smartly

The outcome of any result highly depends on the time you have spent studying it. It’s better to do thorough research about a subject instead of regretting your decision in the future.  Your research needs to involve all the essential aspects such as the locality of the property, its importance in the coming future, and most importantly, the terms at which you are getting your funds or loans. You will be able to calculate if you are getting your money’s worth by keeping these things in mind.

Selecting the Right Loan or Mortgage

Buying property is not cheap. Most of the properties cost more than a person earns in a year, and require loans to cover the expense. The next step is choosing a loan that best meets your needs.

1.    Bridging Loans

Bridging loans leverage your current investment properties and give you cash. It is particularly beneficial when you need to buy a property in a short period. The most important thing to look for is the best possible deal. Property Finance Partners – Bridging Loans offers one of the lowest rates in the market and provide very helpful guidance.

2.    Private Lending

Privately lending money is becoming more and more popular because of the recent awareness programs. Private lending is finding individuals that will lend you money rather than going to banks or funding firms. The only thing that concerns most people is the trust that an investor and a lender have to put in each other.

3.    Mini-Perm Loans

These are medium-term loans needed to renovate a property or acquire an apartment. These loans have a high-interest rate and are used as a sub-let until better term loans can be secured.

Finding the Right People

The most important step is choosing a financer who is best in the business and trustworthy. Someone who will put your interests before theirs, get you the best possible deals you can imagine. You need a financer who has a team qualified enough to look into all intricate details which can be easily overlooked otherwise. They might also help you by creating a profitability study which will give you an overall idea of how successful your venture will turn out to be.

In the venture of being a real estate developer, you will be indebted to a lot of people for their help and resources. Instead of getting tangled up with the wrong company, choose someone who truly cares for you. You can click the Property Finance Partner website, one of the most respected firm, to get in touch with its team. Don’t let someone inexperienced handle your property. A good financing group at your side can help you become a successful real estate developer in no time.

AI: The next evolution of the personal touch

Artificial intelligence has gone from being a mystical concept on the periphery of technology to playing a pivotal role in the day to day, from big data processing to self-driving cars.

AI has also developed significantly since Alan Turing’s “Turing Test” evaluated a machine’s ability to behave like a human.

Sandra Schroeter, International Head, Customer Engagement Technologies, LogMeIn explains that with the popularity of AI on the rise, many organisations are evaluating how they can use it to drive the business forward. This can seem like an overwhelming task, but customer engagement could be the perfect door into the AI world. It enables the personal touch to extend across all technology platforms to enhance the brand experience and raise customer satisfaction. There are, however, some prominent misconceptions about AI that need to be discussed.

“Chatbots are best suited for simple customer support experiences”

This is a myth that stems from our past experiences as consumers. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) could be seen as the first generation of bots, specifically voice bots. IVR would collect information via phone and introduce a simple decision tree to help customers find the correct answers and put them through to the appropriate agent. This technology served a purpose, but it can’t be said it was pleasant to use.

The AI of today is far more dynamic and nimbler than the archaic technology it replaced. It can go much further than just sending a customer in the right direction. Consumers can now ask questions, get advice and understand options before making a purchase and hopefully avoid having to make any unwanted calls or visits to a store.

In the age of online shopping and ease of purchase and return, AI-powered chat solutions keep consumers digital, while delivering a personalised experience at scale.

“It’s better to focus on prospects than current customers”

A common but flawed assumption for a few key reasons. First, cost. Acquiring new customers costs, at minimum, five times more than the cost of retaining one, according to Forrester. Also, existing customers tend to spend more the next time they buy and become brand advocates. Therefore, keeping customers happy generates revenue.

Part of prioritising customers over prospects helps to create a more cohesive customer journey, ensuring that they experience the value of what they’ve paid for. A big part of the journey for current customers revolves around customer service and support throughout their customer lifetime. Luckily, there are many ways that AI can help to foster valuable customer relationships.

AI-powered engagement ensures each customer receives VIP treatment, is helped in the right way, and pointed to products,services and solutions that best match their needs. This encourages them to spend more, prompt them to share the brand with others and, ultimately, drive business success.

To become customers, however, they have to purchase something. Browsing and not buying is becoming more common and can become frustrating to organisations. While there is absolutely a time and place for follow-up emails and re-targeting ads, it can be beneficial to strike while the iron is hot.  AI enables personalised outreach to each customer on a site through data gathered about the customer’s journey and knowledge about past interactions that have converted to purchases. This proactive engagement will track back directly to the organisation’s bottom line and add more potential customer advocates to your ranks.

“Technology will completely replace humans”

Yes, technology is important. Contact centres, order management, and other customer-facing teams need to be armed with tools to optimise workflows, drive KPIs and ultimately make the organisation more successful, but technology has to be combined with human expertise. Tech helps to make employees more efficient and effective, but shouldn’t be used to completely replace them.

Just as on the consumer side, the expectation for technology to help make life better is rising among the next generation of customer-facing employees. Customer service and support are key areas where AI makes a real difference. AI-powered search and chatbots help to quickly scale by taking frequently asked questions off an agent’s plate. Modern chatbots deftly handle customer queries in a natural, conversational way, and free up the agent’s time to focus on resolving more complex, high-value customer issues.

AI is a game changer in this area if provided to employees at the right time and through the right platform. It enables employees to become much more strategic in nature and not only solve problems, but also drive revenue and loyalty.

“You only get one shot at the perfect AI implementation”

The possibilities of integrating AI with backend systems is nearly endless. A good AI chatbot solution can integrate data from any source that is accessible through an API, and it can have automated backend processes. However, while these use cases can deliver immense value to an organisation, it doesn’t all have to happen at once. Starting with a simple use case that shows ROI quickly and adding capabilities over time is a great way to get buy-in for bigger projects.

There are many benefits to starting small and growing an AI implementation with a single software solution. Siloed and disjointed experiences make customers feel as if they were working with a different company or brand with each interaction.

Coordinating efforts and insights across the organisation provides a more cohesive experience as users move through the customer journey.

Ultimately, the goal of using a single AI-powered engagement solution across the organisation ensures businesses deliver timely and relevant information to prospects and customers at the moments when they really need it. AI can also provide proactive guidance for agents of all capabilities, drive centralised approaches to knowledge management, and collect insights to help drive additional, ongoing training.

AI and bots can bring many benefits to an organisation, but there are ways to implement them in a methodical way. By defining specific use cases, outlining expectations, starting with a specific project and scaling, it will ensure that AI is an aid to customers and employees where and when they need it. Having the AI touch will be a game changer to the future of business.

The benefits of learning another language while in business

Today’s internet technology has enabled businesses to easily expand all around the world, and at the rate at which these businesses are growing, you don’t want to be left out.

With the changing business landscapes, it would be a great advantage for businessmen to learn a new language.

Although learning another language may not exactly be a walk in the park, there are online learning platforms such as Global Language Services to help you accomplish this. Learn about how this learning opportunity can help you and your business.

• It broadens your understanding of the world. When you understand another language, it allows you to read foreign books, newspapers, and magazines, or watch foreign TV programs and movies, which will widen your perspective of new places. Learning about new cultures and languages will help you better understand their people and what or what doesn’t work for them.
• It lets you experience a new culture. Learning a foreign language is like opening a box full of surprises, and one of them is the chance to understand a new culture. This experience will enable you to look at things from a different point of view and let you connect with other people across the globe. It might be helpful for your business to know what’s fashionable in a certain culture, including their styles, music, and traditions. This will also add to your personal growth while you learn to appreciate things you may not have known before.
• It improves your networking skills. Learning a foreign language will help you become more aware of other cultures, thereby making you more flexible and open to other people’s opinions and actions. You can swiftly move across different groups of people and easily make connections. The ability to network is a crucial skill in expanding a business and this ability can be enhanced by learning a new language. It expands your horizons and your ability to connect to new people, which can be helpful in bringing more opportunities for your business.
• It improves your chances of traveling and expansion. Although there are modern tools to help you go around a foreign place without learning their language, it’s a different story when you know how to speak with the locals. Learning Spanish, for example, improves your chances of considering an expansion to more than 20 countries, which speaks the language. A new language introduces a chance to bring your business abroad.
• It makes you feel more empowered. Because learning a new language is not simple, it is considered an accomplishment, which gives you a feeling of empowerment. It makes you feel more confident about yourself, knowing that you can easily communicate with a new group of people.
• It improves your multitasking skills. Multitasking is a vital skill for people in the business world. In a study conducted by the Pennsylvania State University, bilingual people were found to better handle multiple tasks simultaneously compared to monolingual people.
• It improves decision-making skills. If you find it difficult to make your mind up over varied choices, learning a foreign language might make you more decisive. This research suggests that speaking a foreign language makes people more utilitarian by taking emotion out of their decision-making.
• It helps boost self-confidence. Whether you are the boss or an employee in the business world, being self-confident already gives you an edge over others who think of themselves poorly. The ability to speak a new language builds you self-confidence, making you more convincing and resilient to others.
• It enhances your creativity. While learning a foreign language, you will be forced to look for alternative terms when you can’t find the correct term you’re looking for. Doing this will improve your creativity while experimenting with new phrases and words. Creativity can significantly affect your business as you learn to think of new solutions or business strategies.
• It helps enhance your memory. In learning a new skill, you use your brain constantly, which results to better memory. Learning a foreign language works out your brain more often, making it more effective in storing new information. Your strong memory can also help in your business, especially in communicating with people or your employees.
• It helps delay Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Another benefit of being bilingual is better development of brain areas that handle attention and executive functions, which is found to protect you from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Final Thoughts

Learning a second language primarily helps you to open up to the traditions and culture of other people. This new perspective may be what you need to widen your business opportunities that are otherwise beyond your reach. Despite the difficulty, the rewards you can reap for yourself and your business are immense.

How much do life coaches charge in London?

In the past five years, the demand for life coaches in London has been growing and this trend is likely to take off in the coming years.

Having a life coach could potentially be as common as having a personal trainer at the gym in the near future.

Life coaches can help elevate your mind and body to help you achieve personal and professional goals that are instrumental to self-growth and self-improvement. But these services come at a cost which can vary substantially depending on the type of life coach you want and the frequency of the program.

Average Monthly Cost

Hiring the services of a life coach in London can cost on average in between £200 – £1000 a month for a total of three to four face-to-face or phone meetings as well as continued monthly correspondence via email and chat.

In some cases, this cost can be a lot higher depending on what specialized coach you are looking to hire and the goals you are trying to achieve. Some coaching programs are a lot more intense and require a lot more time and energy on part of the life coach leading to a substantially higher monthly cost.

Opportunity Cost

The best way to determine whether a coach is feasible and within your budget is determining the value of what you are likely to gain from their coaching in comparison to what it is going to cost. A life coach is a broad category that can include coaches that specialize in many different subjects, skills, and expertise.

For example, if you are looking for a life coach that can help you unlock your true potential by expanding your network and social circle while strengthening your organization, management, and decision-making skills than paying them a £1000 – £2000 a month is well worth the investment. This is especially true if you are seeking to take your career or personal life to the next level.

Hourly vs. Monthly

Many freelance coaches and coaching companies offer hourly and monthly coaching programs to help you achieve your goals and build self-confidence.

An hourly plan is certainly beneficial to start with as it allows you to test the program to really get a sense of whether it is the right fit for you. A life coach in London can cost anywhere from £25 – £200 an hour depending on the coach’s specialization, experience, and popularity.

If everything goes smooth initially and you begin to see positive results from the training and regiment proposed by your coach than selecting a monthly model moving forward could be more advantageous. By paying monthly you generally get greater access to your coach and at a more affordable price. This can help you work towards achieving your long-term goals.

Cost Variation

The most highly ranked coaches tend to be a lot more expensive as compared to freelance, part-time or self-proclaimed coaches that can be found dime and dozen on a variety of social media platforms.

It is always recommended to go with a coach that is well-renowned in their profession and have the network and skills to get you where you need to be. Paying a little extra upfront can help you earn and save a lot more in the future with the right coach.

If you’re looking for an elite level life coach in London, then https://michaelserwa.com/me/ should be considered. He is the most expensive coach in the UK, but provides the highest, most exclusive level of service to his clients.

Top 10 reasons to use promotional merchandise

Using marketing merchandise has always been a  good way of promoting a business. However, in recent years, the digital age has taken over.

Thus, most people are either doubtful of how effective marketing merchandise is or rely on other, more modern marketing tools.

But we still believe that marketing merchandise can bring about plenty of benefits. In fact, we can think of ten reasons why everyone should consider it!

1. A form of low-cost marketing

One of the best things about marketing merchandise is that it’s far less expensive than some other promotional methods. Furthermore, other types of advertising, such as TV ads, will stay in circulation for only a limited time. Thus, branded merchandise is more economical, and it tends to give the business more coverage at a reasonable price.

2. It breeds happiness among our current customers

Another great thing about marketing merchandise is that it can also be used for corporate giveaways. These giveaways will not only help our brand keep up with the times and stay relevant. They will also remind our customers that we’re there for them and that we care. Moreover, the merchandise will tell them that they can always come back with more orders, should they need our services again.

Imagine that, for example, you’re selling iced beverages in the summer. You could give people printed reusable straws with these and you’ve got yourself relatively cheap brand exposure. These will at the very least help your brand stay top-of-mind for a season.

3. Longer lifespan than some other traditional marketing methods

What’s incredible about promotional products is that they will continue generating brand exposure for a very long time. How? Well, it’s rather simple. There is a variety of promotional products that we can use — clothes, branded water bottles, keyrings, etc. Thus, all these products can easily end up on someone’s body, in someone’s bag or everyone’s hands. As such, they will be used on a daily basis, always reminding everyone of our brand, which means that we will get frequent and consistent brand exposure.

4. It shows that we care about our audience

Promotional items are free, which means that we’ll provide our audience with useful products they won’t have to pay anything for. Thus, they will be happy, and we will, essentially, show them how much we care about them. That way, the relationship we share with our audience will only grow, as we’ve shown them that we are not reluctant to give back.

5. It helps us become an industry leader

With promotional products, we can be as innovative as we want. What’s more, by giving our customers practical or entertaining products, we will show off a side of our company that’s rather appealing to everyone — the creative side.

6. It impresses exhibition and trade show visitors

Hosting a booth at trade shows and exhibitions is a good way of promoting our company. But add some promotional products to the mix, and we’ll find ourselves surrounded by potential customers. After all, nothing makes a business stand out more than free, branded gifts.

7. It helps us develop company loyalty

Promotional products, especially those that come in the form of clothes with printed logos, can help us boost brand awareness. But what’s even better is that they can also inspire our customers to keep coming back to our brand. Yes — marketing merchandise can also help us build a client base full of loyal customers.

8. It appeals to everyone

Since promotional products come in all shapes and sizes, they also have a variety of functions we can choose from. Thus, no matter if our audience is young or old, we will easily find a gadget or a promotional gift that will appeal to them. Moreover, promotional products are able to attract anyone’s attention, which means we can easily reach a wider demographic.

9. It shows how fun our business is

Most promotional products are not only practical but fun to have and use as well. Hence, by giving them away to our current and potential customers, we can show our fun side to everyone. In fact, our business will even be deemed relatable, which can also lead to more brand awareness and more loyalty.

10. It reinforces what we stand for

A brand’s tone is what determines which promotional products we pick in the end. Why? It’s because marketing merchandise can easily strengthen our brand message. Once someone gets a promotional product from us, they’ll immediately know what we are trying to convey and what kind of a business we have. Fun or serious — it doesn’t really matter.

What’s important is that promotional products can convey our brand’s tone in the best way possible.For more promotional products, visit GoPromotional.co.uk.

Author Bio

Richard Larson is the Marketing Manager at GoPromotional, the leading UK promotional keyrings company He enjoys sharing his experience on a range of subjects to enable customers to increase their brand awareness through the use of promotional products.

Beginner’s guide to legally using music in business videos

Business content matters, but the type of content that you pick for your business is even most important.

When people mention “content” to you, you most probably think of the good-old written content. But there is more than this out there!

People have different learning styles and not everybody is ready to digest 3,000-word blog posts. While many take pleasure in doing so and also seem to understand your message, others would rather watch a video, explaining the same concept. So, you have to match your content to different learning styles and personalities.

Now, you can’t have a boring 3-minute explainer video without any background music, can you? This is where music comes in. And if you think you can just choose whatever song you like on the web to beautifully finish off your video content, you’re in the wrong. There are so many legal matters and copyright issues in doing so. But, fear not, this guide will teach you how to legally use music in your business videos, without ever worrying about legal matters. But let’s start with the beginning, shall we?

Why would you use background music?

All types of business videos, from marketing to product presentation and company presentation are proven to get the message out there better when accompanied by music. Still not convinced? Below are three rock-hard reasons why you would want to integrate music in business videos.

• Music influences perception. Depending on how you want your audience to perceive your products or services, you can influence their perception by using the right type of music. Music can instil different views on your company: reliable, comforting, worry-free.
• Music will grab viewers’ attention before the video itself starts.
• It can help brands and businesses create an emotional connection with their viewers. It can also help your marketing team set the mood more accurately. Depending on how you want your audience to feel (excited, emotional, alert) when watching your videos, you can easily achieve it through music.

See, we told you music is a strong tool you can integrate into your marketing efforts! But first, you have to establish which videos demand background music. Otherwise, you risk to throw off all the efforts behind the said video. For instance, while an animated explainer video would be awkward, it could throw off an entire conference presentation. When judging whether you should include or not video presentation music in your content, use common sense. It will help you determine how appropriate integrating music in your content is.

Common misconceptions about music in business videos

People live under the impression that once they find music they like online, they’re free to use it however they want. But, as many have found the hard way, this is highly illegal and you should avoid doing so at all costs. Below are other common misconceptions people have in terms of video music.

• As long as you give credit, you don’t have to worry about legal aspects. Well, this is far from being true. While giving credits is something all artists will appreciate, it offers you no usage rights. So, avoid falling into this trap.
• It’s OK to use any music, as long as you don’t use it to make money off it. This is also false. For artists and copyright laws, it doesn’t matter if you make a profit or not. You will need artists’ explicit permission to use that music in your video content.
• But the Fair-Use Law allows me to do so! Not really, the law allows you to use it for parodies, news, and other video content.

So, if you can’t use whatever music you find online for your business videos, what else is there for you?

What is royalty-free music and how to use it in your business videos?

You’ve heard about this term by now, most certainly. In a nutshell, royalty-free music is the type of music for which you pay once and use it for as long as you like, the professionals at Melody Loops explain.

To choose the right type of music for your business videos, you have to carefully pick a royalty-free music vendor that features a wide selection of categories where you can choose from. This will help you ensure your music for business purposes is exactly what your company needs, and you always send the right message to your audience.

Make sure to only work with reliable and trustworthy royalty-free music vendors. This will help you ensure the music you purchase is actually copyright-free and no legal problems will ever appear when using it.

Besides, reliable platforms will help you ensure all your user data is protected. From name to credit card details, you must ensure everything is in good hands.

Royalty-free music platforms also feature a wider selection of music, whereas new websites can offer users a limited experience. So, again, make sure to do your research beforehand.

Your extra small guide to choosing the right music for business videos

Now that you know why integrating music on some corporate videos is so important, you want to make sure you choose the right type of music every time. Just picking whatever music you find on royalty-free websites won’t do it, so follow the advice below.

• Think of the role your music will have. You want to help you draw attention to the message you want to send, but don’t overdo it. When music is the only thing the viewer notices, you’re overdoing it.
• Intro and outro segments matter. You want to set the mood and to leave a lasting impression on your audience, so pay attention to these sections, too.
• Choose music that speaks to your audience.
• Music pacing matters, too.

If you ever doubt the need to integrate music into your company videos, try to remember the reasons exposed above. It will make a tremendous difference when you choose the right music and integrate it beautifully with video content. Let it speak to your company, and you will see the results

5 ways to get CGI influencer marketing right

CGI influencer marketing is a great alternative to traditional influencer marketing. As it can cost you a lot less and you don’t have to deal with the problems associated with ‘real’ influencers. But you won’t automatically begin generating great results. For this, you need to follow a process that works.

Therefore, to help you get this right I have shared my top tips below…

Learn about your audience:

To get CGI influencer marketing right, you need to first understand your audience. This will help you devise a better strategy and pick the right CGI influencers.

So, spend an ample amount of time gathering as much information as you can about your target audience through surveys, interviews and publicly available data.

Create your strategy:

The next thing you must do is create your strategy. Here, you need to think about what you want to achieve and how you can achieve it by reaching your audience with the right influencers.

You should also consider your budget. This will help you decide which influencers (micro or macro) you can afford and how many posts you can pay for.

You will need to plan the time frame too. It is better to spread the posts over several weeks and months instead of getting them all to go live at once. This will help you easily figure out which influencer got the best results.

Find the influencers:

After you have a strategy in place you can begin looking for the influencers. With CGI influencers you have two options…

Working with existing agencies: If you have a short-term goal, you can simply go to an agency and work with the CGI influencers they have already built.

Create your own influencers:If your goals are more long term i.e. you want influencers who will promote your products and company for years, it would be better to create your own influencers. This will take a while as you need to grow the accounts before you begin promoting the products, but it is worth the investment as you will get more sales for cheaper in the long run.

The effort you put in now will pay in the future. But be careful with this approach as you need to get this right the first time.

You need to remember that you are creating a personality that your audience can associate with, and not just a robot. As Tal Melenboim says here, “Zoe Dvir is our first CGI influencer, she is a young, trendy, and inspirational figure whose message to her followers encourages them to be themselves – “You’re amazing just the way you are”

As you can see he didn’t create Zoe, his CGI influencer, arbitrarily. She has a personality and he developed her to fit into this after conducting plenty of research. She is also very young which makes her perfect for Instagram (the network she has an account on) as it is frequented by younger users.

Get the agencies to post:

If you have decided to work with influencers owned by an agency, you can begin creating the posts. Make sure you place emphasis on the photos here. You need to publish a photo of the CGI influencer using the product. If it is a piece of clothing, the influencer needs to be wearing it. While if it is food you need to show the influencer eating it and so on.

Also ensure that they write some good copy that really sells the product. It should also include a call to action and instructions on how to find the product. But don’t sound too salesy as it needs to be in the influencers’ own words. And don’t forget to add some hashtags as they can increase engagement.

Track post performance:

The final step that will be left for you to do is to track the performance. This will help you filter the influencers that bring results from the ones that don’t. So, you will know who to work with in future campaigns. Also, if you ever decide to create a CGI influencer in the future (or more of them if you already have one) you will have a better idea on the influencer you need to model it around.

Conclusion:

This is the step by step process you need to follow to get CGI influencer marketing right. It will ensure that you get the exact results you are looking for both in the short term and long term.