Category: Marketing Automation

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Ever wonder what sets successful businesses apart from those organizations that struggle year after year?
The product or service, pricing, industry, market share, and a thousand other factors can impact business success. However, there is one area that if they don’t get right, they’ll never flourish as an organization.
Hiring and retaining quality employees.
You may believe that your customers are the most important aspect of your business, but who is serving your customers? Without a top-notch staff, your product won’t make it to market, and you won’t have any customers to serve.

With high turnover rates across industries, employers are scrambling to understand what attracts top talent, cultivates loyalty and engagement among employees, and encourages them to stick around for the long haul. If your team is experiencing dissatisfaction, low engagement and productivity, and a revolving door in your HR department, you’re probably wondering this as well.
The good news is implementing a talent management program can help businesses of all sizes and employee engagement levels find a sense of balance.
What is talent management?
Put yourself in your employee’s shoes for a moment. What is your employee experience like? What attracted you to the company in the first place? Was there something they could’ve done that would’ve made you even more eager to work there?
Now think about the onboarding process. Were you provided with the training and support you needed to succeed in your role? Are you appreciated for your unique skills and compensated appropriately? Do you believe there are adequate growth opportunities? How about the workplace culture? Do you feel comfortable voicing opinions and new ideas?
All of these questions factor into your employee’s experience and whether or not they remain engaged in their roles, or become disconnected, disheartened, and dissatisfied with their job. When this happens, they aren’t exhibiting the productivity you’re looking for, and it won’t be long before they’re planning an exit strategy.
Talent management falls into three distinct categories:

HR processes that work together to create the best possible employee experience. We’ll discuss this more in the next section.
Attracting, Developing, Motivating, and Retaining top talent for your organization.
Developing High-Performing Employees

“The purpose of your talent management strategy is to attract, motivate and retain your employees,” says Rameez Kaleem, Founder, and Director of 3R Strategy.
“No one factor, such as pay or perks, will enable you to do this. You need to consider your overall strategy to create an environment where employees can thrive and feel empowered to achieve excellence. This includes your approach to pay, benefits, creating a positive work environment, and providing people with personal and professional growth opportunities.”
As a business owner, manager, or HR professional, it’s your job to provide the best possible conditions for your employees so when outside opportunities knock, they can’t help but say “no thank you, I’m happy here.”

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How does talent management fit under the HR umbrella?
While talent management can fall under the responsibilities of a manager or senior leader, depending on the structure of your organization, it may be carried out (at least in part) by your Human Resources department.
Why?
Human Resources is responsible for instituting workplace policies, handling interpersonal issues, and administering payroll. However, many businesses, also have a hand in the hiring process, training, mentoring, and creating the employee experience. Your HR department may shoulder the responsibility of employee engagement, performance, and company culture.
Because of this, it is essential that your HR department is considered a part of the talent management team.
Talent Management Strategy
Hopefully, you approach every aspect of your business, from marketing to sales to production to delivery and follow-up (and everything in between), with a strategy. Talent management is no different. In order to create the most positive experience for your employees, you’ll want to approach talent management with a strategic plan designed to efficiently reach your goals.
There are five steps you’ll want to work through in order to do this.
1. Identify the goals and the metrics you’ll use to measure your progress.
What do you hope to see from your Talent Management program? Are you looking to attract a higher caliber of employees? Are you experiencing extremely high turnover and looking to hang on to your top talent? Identify the talent management metrics that will allow you to track your progress and determine if you’ve reached your goal.
2. Select one or two areas to focus on (at first) before taking on a massive overhaul.
While it would be amazing to improve every aspect of your employee experience overnight, these things take time. Once you’ve determined your goals in Step 1, you’ll have a clearer picture of which area of Talent Management to tackle first. Once you’ve gotten that area optimized, you can move to the next.
3. Consider what sets you apart from the competition.
You’re used to competing for customers, but have you ever considered that you’re competing for talent as well? Just like your customers, your employees (or potential employees) have other options as well. They want to find the best fit and compensation for their skills, and you can bet they’ll be doing their homework.
Know what sets you apart from others and what makes you special. Do you offer special perks for employees? Does your culture make your employees proud to be there? Does your contribution to the community excite potential and existing team members?
Know what makes you different and don’t be afraid to communicate it to potential employees.
4. Identify the specific skills needed to grow and prosper.
Do you already have someone on your staff that can take on this responsibility? Perhaps you’ve got an HR business partner who can take the reins on a talent development program. Or perhaps, a talent manager is the first position you need to fill. Having a person dedicated to this program can help you get the most out of your existing employees, and guide the decision-making process on new hires.
5. Identify and analyze the key performance indicators.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Get specific with the key performance indicators you’ll use to determine your success in this endeavor. Pay close attention to these numbers and if they aren’t heading in the right direction, it may be time to revisit your strategy and switch gears.
The better your strategy, the better your execution. Don’t be afraid to take some time to plan before you dive in.
Talent Management Process
Now that you understand the strategy behind talent management, how do you incorporate it into your own organization? The talent management process consists of six steps:
1. Identify your needs.
If your sink was leaking, you wouldn’t hire an electrician. Before you start posting job openings, determine what roles you need to fill and what skills are required to complete these responsibilities. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be better positioned to create the job description and post the opening.
2. Attract the right talent.
Remember you have a treasure trove of talent at your fingertips. If you have the opportunity to promote from within your company, you’ll do much more than save time on onboarding. You’ll also raise employee morale as your team now sees room for advancement within the company. If you don’t have anyone suitable, then you can look outside of the organization for a new hire.
3. Select the right talent.
This differs from company to company. You may begin with creating a shortlist of resumes, require a test to be taken, hold individual or team interviews, and ultimately leave it to the department manager or HR to make the decision. No matter how you go about it, make sure that you refer back to Step 1 and hire based on your needs.
4. Develop your employees.
This can include onboarding new employees as well as providing ongoing training for your existing employees. When you help an individual become the best employee possible.
5. Retain your employees.
You’ve worked hard to attract the best talent. Now, how do you ensure that they stay with you? Employee retention strategies can include increased pay, extra benefits or perks, rewards or gifts, promotions, etc.
6. Have an offboarding process in place.
No employee will last forever (we’ll discuss that in more detail below), but what do you do when an employee leaves? Get an understanding of what responsibilities they handle and look for a replacement based on your findings.
If the employee provided a great deal of value to the organization, ask them to train their successor so he or she is up and running before your existing employee leaves. You may also want to include an Exit Interview. You can discover a great deal of knowledge about the employee experience when you ask someone on his or her way out.
This talent management process will look a little different depending on your industry and your business model, however, this should give you a good understanding and a solid jumping-off point.
Talent Management Best Practices
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to attracting and retaining top talent. There are a variety of talent management best practices that you can follow in order to be more successful. Some of these are:

Have a strong employer brand. Candidates have choices when it comes to where they want to work. If you want to attract the best possible candidates, develop a strong brand as an employer.
Have a good reputation. Of course, there are always things beyond our control, however, how the world views you is strongly based on how you show up as a company. Do what you say you’ll do and do it well.
Encourage employee referrals. Good people know good people. Ask your existing employees to recommend job seekers they know and trust. Offer them incentives for their help and keep them apprised of how the process is going.
Onboard and inboard properly. It’s a truly horrible feeling to join a company (or be promoted to a new role) and not be set up to succeed. Provide the training necessary for them to be their best selves in the new role.
Provide ongoing training. Yes, they may know how to do their current job, but what are you doing to prepare them for their next role? Most employees want to progress up the career ladder and if you don’t give them the encouragement and opportunity to do this within your organization, they’ll surely go outside it.
Create a talent pipeline. Eventually, every person will leave their role. This may be due to promotion, retirement, opportunities outside of the organization, etc. Prepare for this by identifying star performers and grooming them for promotion. When the time comes that a role is vacated, you’ll have someone waiting in the wings to step in.
Provide performance feedback. No one likes to wonder if they’re hitting their marks and living up to their manager’s expectations. Provide regular feedback and opportunity for improvement so your employees are never in the dark about their present or future.

Your employees are truly the most important aspect of your business and without quality team members, you won’t be able to reach your goals. Implementing a talent management program in your business can help you position your organization as a sought-after employer and motivate employees to stay loyal to your organization.
Don’t be afraid to invest in your people. It will be the best investment you ever make.

Most businesses want to grow and be successful, but what they often don’t realize is that success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes hard work, dedication, and a clear vision of what you want your business to become.
One of the biggest dangers that can prevent a business from achieving its goals is marketing myopia.

In this article, we will discuss what marketing myopia is, what causes it, how to avoid it, and some examples of businesses that have suffered from it.

It often leads to businesses making decisions that are not in the best interests of their customers or that fail to take into account changes in the marketplace.
Top Causes of Marketing Myopia
A Disconnect between The Business and Its Customers
The most common cause is a lack of understanding of what customers really want. This can happen when businesses focus too much on their own products and services and not enough on what customers are actually looking for.
Marketing myopia can also be caused by a lack of investment in marketing research. This can happen when businesses believe they already know everything they need to know about their customers and the marketplace.
An Unwillingness to Adapt
Another common cause is a failure to keep up with changes in the marketplace.
This can happen when businesses become too comfortable with their current products and services and fail to adapt to new trends or technologies.
A Focus on the Past, Instead of Future
Many businesses become myopic because they are too focused on the past.
They may be reluctant to change their products or services, even when it is clear that customer needs have changed.
How to Avoid Marketing Myopia
1. Prioritize customer needs.
A few years ago, my favorite color was red, I ate takeout on a regular basis, and the only plants I took care of were artificial ones. Today, I cook 90% of my meals, I’m a new (and successful) plant mom, and orange is more my vibe now.
As individuals, we know our wants and needs change as we grow. But it’s often difficult for brands to expect the same of their customers.
It would be easier if consumers stayed the same – you’d only have to do market research once, identify the strategies that worked and stick with them. Unfortunately, the truth is more complicated than that.
A couple of months can make a world of difference in consumer behavior.
Take 2020 for instance – when the pandemic started in March, brands were forced to pivot their marketing strategies, and in some cases, their entire business models
Those who failed to realize this shift was necessary and relied solely on prior success likely experienced great financial loss.
However, not every shift is this drastic. Some happen over time.
Take the topic of social responsibility. Ten years ago, this wasn’t a major concern for everyday consumers.
However, today, sustainability is a major selling point for consumers and impacts their purchasing decisions.
You can also look at the online landscape and how users are consuming content. Where blogging was 10 years ago podcasting is now.
This is all to say that keeping your finger on the pulse is key to avoiding a myopic business.
2. Foster innovation within your team.
Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the best way. That mentality is what leads to marketing myopia.
To break out of that, it’s important to create an environment in which your teams feel inspired to innovate.
What does this look like? It’s a combination of big and small actions like:

Inviting new ideas.
Experimenting with various strategies.
Allowing failure and risk-taking.
Hiring diverse perspectives.

By staying open-minded and flexible, you’ll be in a better position to avoid marketing myopia.
3. Invest in competitive intelligence.
One way to stay on top of your game is by keeping up with others in your industry.
Competitive intelligence is the practice of monitoring and gathering data on your competitors through legal and ethical means. This can look like social media monitoring, setting up Google alerts for specific brands, and downloading offers to review content strategy.
Sites like Crayon, SEMrush, and Kompyte are great tools to help you leverage this intelligence into actionable insights to propel your company forward.
4. Optimize your marketing strategy.
When you get too comfortable in your approach, that’s when you risk marketing myopia.
Even if your marketing strategy is working well, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work on optimization. After all, companies like BlockBuster saw immense success – until they didn’t.
The past doesn’t dictate the future. However, it can help inform it.
With this in mind, review your data, take the time to gain insights, and then come up with ways to improve your performance.
Marketing Myopia Examples
1. BlockBuster
In the early 2000s, Blockbuster was the undisputed king of the video rental industry.
But by 2009, the company had filed for bankruptcy. What went wrong?
Many experts believe that Blockbuster’s downfall was due to marketing myopia. The company was so focused on its existing business model that it failed to adapt to the changing marketplace.
As streaming services like Netflix and Hulu became more popular, Blockbuster refused to embrace them. Instead, they clung to their brick-and-mortar stores and DVD rentals, which eventually became obsolete.
2. Kodak
Kodak is another example of a company that fell victim to marketing myopia.
For years, Kodak was the leading name in photography. But as digital cameras became more popular, Kodak failed to adapt.
The company focused on film and prints, even as its customer base shifted to digital. As a result, they lost market share and eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
3. Old Spice
Old Spice is a good example of a company that was able to avoid marketing myopia.
When the company was first founded, it marketed its products exclusively to men. But as the marketplace changed, Old Spice recognized that there was an opportunity to reach a wider audience.
They began to produce new products specifically for women and shift their marketing strategy. As a result, Old Spice was able to avoid the decline that many other companies have experienced.
By staying focused on its customers and being willing to adapt to change, Old Spice was able to avoid marketing myopia.

Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint — a blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of underrepresented business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success.
Podcasts are an excellent way for entrepreneurs to gain inspiration and actionable career advice.
However, entrepreneurs in minority communities searching for podcasts for and about people with similar experiences and identities to themselves may have a hard time doing so.
In this post, we’ve compiled a list of educational podcasts for entrepreneurs in minority groups that are worth listening to gain inspiration and insight from people with shared experiences.

1. Side Hustle Pro
Side Hustle Pro’s host Nicaila Matthews Okome interviews inspiring Black women entrepreneurs that have grown side hustles into profitable businesses. Listeners learn about their processes, failures, and successes and leave with strategies to leverage to help them build their side projects or interests into successful ventures.

 
2. The Diversity Gap
The Diversity Gap Podcast, hosted by Bethaney Wilkinson, discusses the gaps between good intentions for diversity and the actual impact of those intentions. Each episode features guests that discuss strategies and best practices for creating an organizational culture that allows people from all racial backgrounds to thrive at work. It’s a great listen for business owners and entrepreneurs looking to champion DEI at their workplace.

 
3. ¿Quién Tú Eres?
¿Quién Tú Eres?, hosted by Pabel Martinez of Plurawl, empowers Latinx communities to be their most authentic and full selves at work by redefining what professionalism means and looks like in the workplace. Each episode features a guest who defines professionalism and shows how they show up as their most authentic selves at work.

 
4. The Out Entrepreneur
The Out Entrepreneur, hosted by Rhodes Perry, is an interview-based show where Perry speaks with LGBTQ entrepreneurs, business owners, and founders who share insight into their career journeys, building businesses, and actionable advice and inspiration to those embarking on their own ventures.

 
 
5. A Slight Change of Plans
Dr. Maya Shankar is the host of A Slight Change of Plans, where she discusses human behavior and the things that contribute to us becoming who we are. Through conversations with popular guests like Riz Ahmed and scientists like Dr. Ayelet Fishbach, listeners learn more about themselves, others, and how to set goals and lead fulfilling lives.

 
 
6. Queer Money
Queer Money is a podcast about how personal and business finance affects the LGBTQ+ community. Hosts David Auten and John Schneider discuss how they’ve built the life they wanted and achieved financial security and educate listeners on how they can do the same for themselves and their businesses.

 
 
7. South Asian Trailblazers
Simi Shah, the host of South Asian Trailblazers, interviews South Asian entrepreneurs and leaders amid their career journeys and discusses the businesses they’ve built from the ground up. The conversations give actionable insight and advice to those currently forging the path ahead and looking for success.

 
 
8. The Enabled Disabled
Gustavo Serafini hosts The Enabled Disabled Podcast, where he hopes to shift the narrative about disability and entrepreneurship. He speaks about what it does and doesn’t mean to have a disability and interviews entrepreneurs and business owners about their career trajectories and achievements.

 
 
9. iDigress
iDigress, hosted by Troy Sandidge, guides listeners through the world of marketing and gives actionable insight into strategies that can help you grow your business and achieve sustainable, scalable success. Episodes are 30 minutes or less, meaning you can gain considerable insight and tips from an industry expert in a snackable form.

 
 
10. Pow Wow Pitch
Sunshine Quem Tenasco hosts the Pow Wow Pitch Podcast, an interview-based show featuring successful Indigenous entrepreneurs who share their stories and insight to empower other Indigenous entrepreneurs.

 
 
11. Latina to Latina
Latina to Latina’s host, Alicia Menendez, talks to Latinas about their career trajectories and getting to where they are. Menendez digs deep, and listeners hear unique origin stories about business growth and tips and strategies to overcome obstacles and failures. It’s a valuable resource for Latinx entrepreneurs looking to thrive in a system built to keep them out.

 
 
12. Content is Profit
Content is Profit, hosted by Luis D. Camejo and Luis A. Camejo, discusses top marketing leaders and the frameworks and strategies they use to create high-value marketing content that turns a profit. It’s a good listen for any business professional or entrepreneur looking to form a content strategy or update their existing process to draw in more leads and drive revenue.

 
 
13. Native Business Podcasts
Native Business Podcast, hosted by Gary and Carmen Davis of Native Business Magazine, features news, information, and thought leadership from successful native entrepreneurs and Tribal Leaders about their experiences and insights on business, entrepreneurship, and successes.

 
 
14. Choose Inclusion
Choose Inclusion’s podcast description begins with “What happens when a blind man, a woman of color, and a wannabe Latino get together to discuss how diversity, equity, and inclusion can impact business?” Mike Hess, Nina Baliga, and UB Ciminieri have conversations about the different ways that diversity, equity, and inclusion impact business, from developing your own DEI program to being an active participant in workplace events.

 
 
15. LatinX Can
Dr. Jeniree Flores Delgado hosts Latinx Can, where Latinx professionals from varied industries and career paths share advice, tips, and actionable tools for listeners to harness and incorporate into their career plans to achieve their goals.

 
 
16. Blissful Prospecting
JBay, host of Blissful Prospecting, interviews sales experts, leaders, and high-performers to understand how they’ve achieved success. Listeners will get actionable tips, strategies, and advice that will help you harness your full sales potential, capture leads, and land meetings that help you grow your business.

 
Ready to Listen?
Browse through the options on this list and get to listening; the show might just give you the final piece of advice or encouragement you’re looking for to get you where you want to be.

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Inflation makes customers think twice before they decide to open their wallets. And although they are still buying, their behavior has changed. In the eCommerce sector, we observe an inflation-induced loyalty recession that puts marketers in a paradoxical situation: they must increase their effectiveness without increasing the costs of operations. There is a way out of this—the lean way.

 

Customer behavior has changed

 

Many recent studies and surveys show inflation-induced customer behavior changes. Among them, the most significant for eCommerce are:

 

Inflation hasn’t stopped consumers from buying—yet!

 

In the early months of 2022, amid record inflation, US consumers continued to open their wallets. As McKinsey observes, US inflation grew to nearly 8.5% in March 2022, with May 2021 to March 2022 period showing the highest inflation in a decade. Yet, US consumers spent 18% more in March 2022 than they did two years earlier and 12% more than they were forecast to spend based on the pre-COVID-19 trajectory.

Nominal year-on-year growth however was less than that in late 2021.

 

Loyalty is becoming scarce

 

Going by Adobe Digital Economy Index, pre-pandemic online prices were declining at an average rate of 3.9% every year on the back of the 23% increase in digital purchasing power. Not anymore. As per Adobe Digital Price Index, digital prices went up by 2.9% year-over-year.

Now, as McKinsey’s study shows, more US consumers reported switching to different brands and retailers in 2022 than at any time since the beginning of the pandemic—and most of them say they intend to incorporate that behavior into their routines. With inflation at a record high, more people are looking for value; price is at the top of the list of consumers’ motivations for switching.

 

 

Customers are going back to brick-and-mortar stores

 

Shoppers are spending more both online and in stores. People began shopping online in droves at the start of the pandemic when they didn’t have much of a choice. But it turns out that many people enjoy the convenience that e-commerce offers. Even when brick-and-mortar stores reopened, spending in online channels continued to climb. Year-on-year growth in e-commerce was 27% in March 2022 as McKinsey observes; the total uplift in e-commerce penetration, from the onset of COVID-19 until March 2022, was 33%.

On the other hand, according to X-Cart, as of April 2022, American online shoppers spent $5.28 billion less than they did in March 2022.

American online shoppers spent $5.28 billion less than they did in March 2022. 

 

Omnichannel shopping is a new norm

 

75% of US consumers say they’re researching and purchasing both in-store and online. And this omnichannel behavior isn’t confined to a few types of products: consumers are doing it for both food and nonfood purchases across a broad range of categories. What’s more, 45% of consumers say social media is influencing their purchases.

 

 

Experience and values just behind value

 

According to the EY Future Consumer Index for the US, 52% of respondents consider price the most crucial purchase criterion. And with that, 42% percent will only buy from brands that align with their values and provide experience. In fact, Out of the five key broad spending priorities – planet first, affordability first, experience first, health first and society first – experience has seen the biggest increase, doubling in priority since 2020, and is now the third biggest priority when consumers decide on where to spend, while it was the smallest at the beginning the pandemic.

This aligns with McKinsey’s findings. According to them, When choosing which brands to buy, consumers—in particular, younger generations—say that their choices are at least somewhat influenced by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. In general, younger consumers prioritize authenticity and social issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, whereas older consumers pay more attention to health and environmental issues. Today, with inflation driving many consumers to switch brands—value has become more of a motivator than values, so to speak—companies that can deliver on consumers’ expectations for both value and values will be best positioned for success.

That is, of course, if the brand will be able to grasp accurately what values and experiences are in demand in their target groups.

42% of customers will only buy from brands that align with their values and provide experience.

 

Deal with it even better!

 

For all these reasons, eCommerce marketing has become one of the most exciting areas of today’s business world, but it’s also one of the most demanding. Hyper-aggressive competition strategies, skyrocketing customer acquisition costs, the complexities of the omnichannel experience, growing customer demand for individualized relationships, and superior relevancy . . . all these challenges make it harder than ever to achieve acceptable conversion rates and returns on marketing investment.

Ecommerce marketers are also confronted by significant fragmentation and the increasing costs of marketing technology solutions, which of course mean reliance on IT and other difficult-to-find kinds of expertise. The result? Implementation of strategies is slowed, the impact is lessened, and meeting revenue expectations becomes an ever-greater challenge.

In their quest for growth, marketing teams face never-ending demand for more resources, while needing to be lean and differentiated. They deploy “spray and pray” tactics instead of a long-term vision focused on building value. They are absorbed by the constant search for the ideal martech stack setup and new tools instead of focusing on customers.

 

What advice do we see on the web

 

There’s a lot of advice you can read on how to deal with inflation-induced loyalty recession. One of the most common is “raise your prices.” Others include maintaining healthy cash flow. Still others suggest setting “feel-good” prices, being transparent about the price increases, and focusing on value. 

All this advice seems well backed up. But it is hard to maintain a healthy cash flow when the need for extremely aggressive marketing arises and the costs of the martech stack pile up. This is why we advise: “Go lean.”

 

Maximize revenue growth—the lean way

 

To answer the challenges of today’s eCommerce landscape, we envisioned a world where every marketing team can maximize eCommerce revenue growth the lean way. How? By enabling eCommerce to adhere to three essential principles:

Customer Intimacy: Implementing self-learning solutions that leverage zero- and first-party data. The effect: You’ll know your customers better than your competition. Increased loyalty. Authentic customer relationships.Precision Execution: Combining hyper-personalization of the omnichannel experience with clearly predefined processes. The effect: Higher CR, AOV, and CLV. Lower customer churn.Growth Intelligence: Merging human and AI-based guidance to maximize the impact of your time, eCommerce budget, and strategy without dependency on IT. The effect: Full control of your revenue outcomes.

This unique blend is guaranteed to make any marketing team powerful, pragmatic, and lean—and a trusted revenue partner for their CEO.

And the market shows an increasing understanding of the need for such an approach. As the Techrepublic study shows, 90% of marketing firms will capture zero-party data within a year! The reason is obvious: zero-party data allows marketing teams to achieve true Customer Intimacy and go towards the CLV-ROI approach instead of a last-touch ROAS mode, to tighten the bonds with the customers in times of loyalty recession. 

 

Thinking about sending an email blast? Or maybe an email campaign? Not sure what the difference is? In this post, we’ll talk about email blasts, when to send them, and how do it effectively.

With the economy continually shuffling between the highs and lows, small business owners and eCommerce stores are bearing the brunt more than ever. Fear-inducing economic news has raised concerns about an impending recession. Although no one is sure whether the economy will reach a complete downturn, businesses need to prepare as though it is imminent.…
The post How to Recession-Proof Your eCommerce Business appeared first on Benchmark Email.

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One of the biggest myths about burnout is that it can’t happen if you love the work that you’re doing. I am certainly proof positive of the opposite.In 2015, I was celebrating 10 years of working as the head of advertising for the largest eyewear company in the world. On the surface, I actively loved what I was doing. I had fantastic bosses and an amazing team who I learned from every day. I got to work on interesting projects and was given a lot of creative freedom and opportunity to experiment. I was living in beautiful Italy and regularly traveled around the world for work. All in all, I thought I was living the professional dream.But my body was sending me warning signs that things weren’t as great as I made them out to be, signs I unfortunately didn’t even know to look out for. I’ll share more about those in a minute, but it all came to a head when I woke up one morning and couldn’t see out of my right eye. What followed was 10 days of extensive testing to rule out all possible causes: MS, stroke, and other autoimmune or neurological diseases. Finally, when I tested negative for everything else, the doctors concluded that my vision loss might be stress-related. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erika Ferszt 🌟Workplace Wellness Expert (@moodally.wellness) Thankfully, my vision came back after a few weeks of rest—but my drive to return to the way things had been did not. I took more time off to prioritize my health and consider what I wanted to do with the next chapter of my life. Based on my own experience and desire to help others avoid a similar fate, I decided to go back to school to study the neuroscience and psychology of mental health, ultimately getting a master’s degree in Organizational Psychology. Since then, I’ve started Moodally, an app and group training program that uses creative and science-backed strategies to help people better recognize their moods and change them in real time.Throughout my studies, I learned about all the biological and neurological processes that are affected by stress and the dozens of ways it can show up in the body. Looking back, I can now see the warning signs my body was trying to send me—signs I now keep an eye out for as a busy small business owner. Here they are, along with some of the strategies I now use to keep my stress in check in those moments.I Was Waking Up With No Energy Every MorningOne of the clearest early signs of burnout is regularly waking up after a full night’s sleep and immediately having no energy: I’m talking sitting on the edge of your bed, head between your hands, not feeling like you can possibly face the day.For months before I lost my vision, every day felt like a Herculean effort to get out of bed and to get to work. Even though I enjoyed the work I was doing and the people I was with once I got there, getting started each morning took everything out of me.I now know that I was likely experiencing a cortisol plateau. Cortisol is sometimes known as the “stress hormone” because it’s released during times of stress to give you energy to deal with the situation, but it’s also closely tied to your sleep-wake cycle. Normally, you get a spike of cortisol first thing in the morning to give you a feeling of wakefulness. But, if you’ve had ongoing stress, your body has released so much cortisol that it has nowhere to go. Too many people, especially small business owners or passionate creatives, think exhaustion is a necessary part of working hard toward something we care about. While it can happen occasionally from a bad night of sleep or a busy week and not be a sign of burnout, if it’s happening consistently over time, I know it means that something needs to shift so that my sympathetic nervous system gets the down time it needs.I Was Feeling Incredibly Bored With My Day-to-DayAnother common sign that burnout is brewing is a deep feeling of boredom. When I hear people wonder when things are going to change or wish for some sort of disruptive event to shuffle the cards, I often suggest they need to care for their mental health before they make any drastic changes.Even though I was generally very happy with my job, I’d been there for 10 years, and every day was starting to feel the same. On a deeper level, I was getting tired of making billionaires more billions and wondering if there was something more meaningful I could do with my talents. It was getting harder and harder to feel excited about the projects I was working on and continue bringing my best creative ideas. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erika Ferszt 🌟Workplace Wellness Expert (@moodally.wellness) I now understand that this was related to a lack of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter some call our brain’s “reward center,” playing a huge role in pleasure and motivation. When we succeed at something at work, we get a hit of dopamine, which motivates us forward. But, when we do the same thing over and over again, even if those things are successful, we don’t get the same dopamine response because we’ve already done it. That makes it harder to feel motivated to keep showing up day after day.Our dopamine system loves new successes and challenges, so persistent boredom can be a clue that you need to change up your work to avoid getting tired of doing it. Even now, as a small business owner with new challenges every day, this boredom can creep in. Instead of seeing it as a sign that I need to completely overhaul my life, I recognize it as an opportunity to make small tweaks to keep myself engaged in working towards my mission.I Was More Cynical and IrritableFinally, a common early warning sign of burnout is a shift in personality, often causing people to become more cynical and jaded and more easily irritated.Before I lost my vision, I noticed myself dwelling on problems instead of being solution-oriented. Whereas I used to have an attitude of “we can do it!”, I started thinking things like, “I doubt that’s going to work” or “what’s even the point?” It was even worse when someone would ask me for help with something: I lacked the energy or the desire to go to bat for them.It took me the entire process of healing to realize that I was unable to care for others because I wasn’t taking care of myself. I was taking multiple flights a week, sleeping on planes, not eating well, not exercising. In addition to exacerbating my exhaustion and lack of motivation, it meant I didn’t have any spare energy to give to others. If you think of energy like a well of water, I was giving and giving and giving my water until I was dried up, and then getting mad at others for taking my water, instead of realizing the core issue was that I wasn’t doing anything to protect or replenish it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erika Ferszt 🌟Workplace Wellness Expert (@moodally.wellness) Now, when I find myself unable to see solutions or getting frustrated more easily, I know it’s a sign that I probably need to prioritize my own needs.As so many entrepreneurs know, running a business is stressful, and burnout is always a risk. But now that I know these early warning signs, I can turn things around before they get really bad. I can step away for a few hours or days to care for my needs and let my cortisol levels calm down. (Pro tip: Unless you’re saving lives, nothing is truly so urgent that you can’t ask for more time so you can care for yourself.) I can reframe what I “have to” do as what I “choose to” do, which helps me understand what I need to say no to and reprioritize so I have work I’m excited about.  Or I can just spend some time doing something that brings me joy with no other goal than filling my well back up—so that I can go back to the work I care so deeply about refreshed and with a better mind to get things done