Ways to Keep Your Creative Team Inspired

Leaders face a challenge in ensuring that their teams continue to deliver fresh ideas for their brand. Furthermore, although many brands depend heavily on agency partners to produce creative output, this skill should never be entirely outsourced. No matter the size of your team or company culture, these strategies might be able to help shake things up at your organization and set your creative team on a great thinking path ahead!

Encourage missions

Make your team inspired by challenging them with missions. Doing the same activities every day can be very mundane and unproductive for your team; encourage them to take time away from desks and screens with a purposeful mission. Cultivate curiosity in your team!

Disrupt patterns 

Some of the best ideas may come to you when your body is in motion! Human beings are prone to sit in their typical seats and be at their comfort zone, so encourage them to resist the urge and step out of their comfort zone once in a while! Additionally, make them see the world in a “different view”. The goal here is to help your team members disrupt their current pattern. Therefore, give them ownership of ways so everyone is bought in.

Get in with the new

As we said before, cultivate curiosity in your team! By doing this it helps to shift the perspective of your team members and allow them to be more open to possibilities. Encourage your team members to share experiences with one another, through any on/off-site activity where everyone can put his or her new skill into play.

Be flexible

It is a natural reaction to try to over-manage someone when you see their enthusiasm, however, it’s not usually the right response when dealing with creative personalities. This is because by managing a creative team is to accept that everyone has their peaks. No one is always on time, therefore, give people the flexibility to work during the periods they’re feeling the most productive, creative and inspired.

Explore new mediums

Try to venture beyond the platforms you already have now like Facebook and Twitter by testing ideas. Have you ever thought about expanding to mobile apps or engagement on-the-go like bite-sized content? See your creative team as master storytellers and try to expand how they would be able to tell a story through these platforms. Keep in mind that these would factor in emotional connection and sensory engagement as it is a vital tool to keep your team inspired too!

Lastly, a good manager should lead by example. If your team needs to be creative, you should also have to set a very good example for them. You are a creative thinker after all – be sure to demonstrate and share your ideas! Use creativity tools and participate in thinking activities; this will also help your team be inspired and take part in as well. Don’t be shy and encourage creativity among those around you!

Ways Leaders can Reduce Anxiety in Workplace

During these unprecedented times of uncertainty and stress caused, many people are seeking their employers and peers for help to ease their anxiety regarding their work. We are now probably in the most stressful period where most of us face great uncertainty on all fronts; economic, political and financial factors due to the pandemic. Leadership is important as leaders should be there to take away the uncertainty. Companies of all sizes should have leaders who are able to convey certainty so that everyone would be in good hands. 

So, how can an organization or leaders in an organization help calm anxiety for their employees? 

Listening 

Just knowing that you are being heard eliminates a great deal of uncertainty. Hence, it is important to have a platform where employees are free to express their feelings. 

Know your priorities 

An individual must understand what tasks need to be done first. Thus, you must do what is important and that could make you save up a lot of time and stress. It would be a waste to devote your energy on something that isn’t important. 

Develop a strategy 

By learning how to develop a strategy you can plan on how to accomplish a task. Write down steps that you and your team need to do in order to reach your goal. This will also save you a lot of time in the long run, thus, reducing your stress and anxiety. 

Communicate clearly 

Everyone on the team needs to be on the same wavelength. Hence, your team needs to be present and the last thing you would want is your team members to assume that they know what is needed wrongly. Talk to your team members daily and be sure everything is running according to plan and that you are up to date. 

Prepare for unexpected circumstances 

Things can happen and might take everyone by surprise. Just be mentally prepared and be flexible, when unexpected things happen, learn to deal with them immediately. Instead of getting stressed out, being prepared for surprises is important when being a leader. 

Stay on top of everything

Refrain from putting things off when you can do them instantly. There could be unexpected situations where it needs your attention so being on top of your tasks allows you more mental room to deal with unexpected situations.. 

There should be no assumptions 

There shouldn’t be any assumptions made while being an effective leader. Be aware of what’s happening around and ask questions. Communicating with your team members is a vital tool that would help you lead a successful business. 

To end, being a leader can be scary and stressful, but thus, establishing a plan to deal with anxiety in the team is vital to the success of a business. So it is important for you to be able to take care of yourself and others in the process. 

Podcast: On Being An Entrepreneur

Tune in to Hello Mentor podcast to learn from Jenn Low , the founder of Wanderlust + Co who started the international business from her bedroom.⁣ In this podcast episode, Jenn shares personal stories and memorable lessons throughout her entrepreneurial journey – from her part-time job in Australia until today. Topics such as being a compassionate leader, being gritty, luck and more were discussed in this episode. She shares behind the scenes of the fashion accessories industry and useful tips if you’re looking to start a business in this industry.

Social Filters: AR Shopping

The new in-trend — Augmented Reality in shopping and retail. AR shopping enables customers to engage with brands and products via digital experiences that allow them to try on, try out, interact, or personalize their product virtually. (Deloitte Insights) Different brands are starting to implement this fresh way of bringing shopping to a more realistic manner into the home of consumers. 

But How Does It Work?

Visual Credit: Sephora Virtual Artist | HEATHER ADORNA

Sephora

You may be familiar with this trendy and feel good makeup brand among the Millenials. Sephora introduced the ‘Virtual Artist’ through their app and it uses facial recognition technology to allow customers to digitally try on products. Through a face scan, customers can try different shades of the designated product and instantly purchase it, if it’s to their liking. Customers can also take up makeup tutorials as the app will digitally overlay a simulated look on the customer’s face. 

Visual Credit: IKEA Launches Augmented Reality Application | Architect Magazine

IKEA

IKEA’s app – IKEA Place, implements augmented reality by allowing you to test out furniture virtually. By taking a picture, the app automatically measures the space, then provides recommendations on furniture that fits in the space.

Visual Credit: Nike app uses AR and AI to scan feet for perfect fit | Dezeen

Nike

Nike Fit, Nike’s feature app, allows users to determine their true shoe size. To enable the app’s functionality, users will have to point their phone’s camera to their feet and the app will determine their shoe size. The shoe size is then saved in the app for future in-store purchases, as the employee could simply scan the QR code in the app and retrieve the customer’s shoe size. 

Amidst the pandemic, with the rise in online shopping, more consumers have trusted their retail needs online as compared to before, and this also means that retail brands and online shopping platforms need to upgrade customer experience as well as the user interface in order to satisfy the needs of consumers. Hence, AR shopping has definitely helped elevated the needs of consumers of testing the physicality of a product. Although most products still can’t be touched through the screen, with AR, brands are strengthening consumers’ trust in terms of product quality and brand engagement, by allowing consumers to experience the product in a simulated format. 

According to Worldpay’s survey, 95% of people in China have used virtual or augmented reality in the past three months. The research also highlights that 84% of Chinese people believe VR/AR to be the future of shopping. (Josoren)

To conclude, AR shopping is indeed here to stay and we will certainly see the immense growth that it will bring for retail businesses, especially after the pandemic.  

Maintaining a Good Company Culture

What is a ‘company culture’? Company culture can be defined as a set of shared goals that characterize an organization. It describes the way people in an organisation work and what values they believe in, where the company is headed and what they are doing to get there. Company culture also encompasses a variety of elements that includes the work environment, leadership style and ethics.

How does it work? It can be deliberately expressed or cultivated through the results made over time by employees that understand the outcomes and the nature of strong company culture. Most companies do have a team-based culture that emphasizes participation while others have formal, traditional and hierarchical management. If you work at a company who values traditional management, your job responsibilities are much more defined, however, there may not be opportunities to advance without going through a formal promotion. Whereas at a casual workplace, employees often have the opportunities to take new projects as time permits. 

Company culture is important to employees because they are more likely to enjoy their work when their needs and values are being met. Furthermore, if you work at a company with good company culture, you tend to develop better relationships with your coworkers and be more productive outside of work together. If you work at a company that does not embrace company culture, you are less likely to take pleasure in your work. Company culture is also important to employers because workers who fit in with the company are likely to not only be happier but more productive; they are also likely to stay with that company for longer which reduces the turnaround and associated costs of training new hires. So how can you make sure that your company culture grows and scales as it can be hard to maintain? Fret not! You may be able to maintain a good company culture if you:

  1. Be Punctual to Meetings 

There is no substitute for hard work and everyone will always look up to their leaders for example. However, employees should know that no matter how hard they work; they should always be punctual or earlier the better. 

2. Show Transparency & Trust

Make sure you find ways to measure how transparency flows within your organization! Whether it is through your leadership interactions or employee feedback; leaders should be able to connect with employees and to their culture. 

3. Have an Out-of-Office Team Building 

A strong work culture requires everyone to be connected. Ways to help build the strength of your team includes after-work activities such as dinners, or even weekend productivity. Moreover, having activities that would help create a team of competitors would also help strengthen the bond as employees would work well together and create synergy. 

4. Create Core Values 

Define your company’s core values as it’s important for your employees to reiterate them constantly rather than just filing it away. In addition, by creating these core values it would make employees and leaders work well together in a harmonious way. 

5. Get to Know Your Employees 

By making yourself accessible to your employees you will help keep the company culture strong. Although it’s hard to maintain personal relationships with a large group of people, you can at least commit to remembering their first names. Show genuine interest and active listening and you’ll have a respectful and positive company culture. 

As a business grows, the culture inevitably changes constantly. In order to keep up with the changing of personalities, employees should be involved in what culture would be. Employees nowadays have become very interested in ‘lifestyle benefits’ that would best respond to their circumstances and aid a healthier work and life balance. A poor workplace culture could cost the employer money and could result in employee stress, poor health and absenteeism. Therefore, working hard to achieve a good culture is not only beneficial for the employees, it is also good for productivity for your business. Employees are the core of any business so make sure they know that they are valued – A great workplace needs support from all team members but in particular from those at management level. Clear and committed leadership will be a crucial tool in maintaining great company culture. Make sure you as a leader understand the culture and achieving it effectively by communicating and upholding values.

Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces are a type of e-commerce platform where products or service information is provided by third parties. It is often known as an electronic marketplace. Whether it is a website or an app, online marketplaces facilitate shopping from various sources however it does not own any inventory, their business is present to other people’s inventory to a user and facilitates its transaction. This is one of the major appeals of online marketplaces as they profit from charging a commission from each transaction with either a percentage or a flat fee. Some of the best widely known online marketplaces are eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Alibaba, Rakuten and so much more. It is also known that online marketplaces can be dated back since 1995 when eBay and Craigslist were founded. In addition, marketplaces are growing at a very rapid speed as analysts predicted that it would account for 40% of the global online retail market in 2020. 

There are some big advantages of an online marketplace and the reasons vary as businesses would rather sell via online marketplaces as that it is an additional source of revenue. Furthermore, this allows companies to internationalize its business and cut marketing costs. In addition to this, online marketplaces are a great way for customers to compare prices between brands and generate trust between their brand and customers. Customers would most likely purchase from an online marketplace as it provides a wide range of options. The future of your business’ success on an online marketplace is to focus on your niche as giving the customers what they want via online would also enhance their customer experience. 

The world’s biggest online marketplaces are on a rapid upward trajectory as 50% of all e-commerce sales take place online like Amazon and eBay. According to Foot (n/a), marketplaces contribute $1.7 trillion to the global economy each year and in the United States alone, Amazon accounts for an estimated 44% of the country’s e-commerce market share. Moreover, if you’re looking into getting into the online market to increase sales, setting up on a new marketplace is a great way to increase and boost your exposure as you may want to expand your brand worldwide. 

The emergence of digital discrimination has often made shopping online requiring a leap of faith. There are also challenges when it comes to online marketplaces, one of them being that it is harder to overcome information when you can’t hold a certain product. Secondly, online sellers can be arguably new to the business and over time reviews and feedback from customers are extremely crucial as it has allowed e-commerce sellers to build up reputations. Various websites have the seller’s discretion over whom they do business with on the basis of looks or even just a name. Although most marketplaces have more or less rigid rules of acceptance when it comes to sellers, their system isn’t as simple as we think. With search engines, marketplaces have some products that do stand out above others depending on algorithms. 

There are different types of marketplaces and each marketplace is unique as it offers different services, catalogues, public image and cost for retailers. There are five main types of online marketplaces according to Saleslayer, there are on-demand, managed, community-drive, SAAS, and decentralized. Firstly, on-demand is known to be one of the most common marketplace services as it offers instant response to users’ demands like Uber or Deliveroo. Managed on the other hand is a type of B2C and B2B e-commerce marketplace that manufacturers and distributors offset their products in a platform managed by a third party; which also manages the sales and sellers’ commissions, Amazon and Rakuten are considered the most used marketplace among customers and retailers combined. Moreover, community-driven is engaged with smaller sellers and artisans who personally manage their sales, deliveries and customer service, like Etsy. SAAS is free and open software that attracts small businesses who want to build their website inside a bigger platform; this requires more technical knowledge and maintenance effort as it may not be entirely free. Lastly, decentralized uses a P2P (peer-to-peer) system that allows anyone to sell and buy anything without third parties being involved. This could be concerning as it can be used as a platform to also sell illegal merchandise. 

Many shoppers use online marketplaces as their search engine, this way it allows your company to make a presence across channels. The increased digital visibility will make customers more confident in buying products online. In addition to this, your clientele who knows your brand will continue recommending it and you may end up getting a new demographic of users and new sales opportunities. Furthermore, adding sales and distribution platforms to your e-commerce strategy would go on with ease thanks to online marketplaces as they can store and ship your products however you like. 

If you are looking into using this strategy with online marketplaces, make sure to study and research the types and think about which one would suit your company and products best and would likely be more profitable. Online marketplaces enable you to operate around the clock, any time constraints and problems with international trading hours would be removed. Therefore, this allows new opportunities for overseas sales thus, providing new trading partnerships with supplies. In conclusion, whether you’re getting ready to launch your product through e-commerce or have been selling online, online marketplaces should definitely be considered as a part of your strategy as it can be relatively painless to get started with this business model. Although it may seem daunting at first, once you start to experience the potential of selling through e-commerce on online marketplaces you’ll probably never look back.