Adam Rumanek

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Cut through the noise by amplifying your unique story. Today, it seems that nearly everyone is on social media — and that includes businesses. With the majority of small businesses using social media to reach their audience, there’s a lot of competition when it comes to earning the attention of potential customers. This is why it’s so vital to find a way to stand out and cut through the digital noise. However, beyond creating viral videos or following the latest social media trend, there are a number of other, more meaningful ways to set your business apart. Here, nine business leaders from Rolling Stone Culture Council weigh in on some of the steps a business can take to ensure their social media presence stands out from the competition and engages their followers in a meaningful way.

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You may have to adapt your current business plan. Much like technology, culture can change at the drop of a hat. People’s tastes, what’s “in” and “the next big thing” are constantly evolving, whether in reaction to current events or the latest innovation in a particular industry. Those entrepreneurs hoping to make it in this space must be able to thrive in a changing environment, adapting their business when it’s needed and sticking to the plan when it’s not.  But this isn’t the only way to get ahead in the culture space. According to the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council, embracing the following habits can give hopeful entrepreneurs a leg up on the competition and ensure they find true success in the culture space and their overall careers.

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Your team needs a clear plan of action if they’re going to help you succeed. Individuals aren't the only ones setting resolutions for the new year. Throughout the month of January, even business leaders are reviewing their major goals for the year, setting timelines and creating plans for how to achieve them. Without such plans, business leaders aren’t likely to see success, as it takes intentional effort from them and their teams to accomplish the potentially challenging tasks they’ve set before them.  To ensure you’re setting you and your business up for success in 2024, taking the following 11 steps can be a good place to start. Here, Rolling Stone Culture Council business leaders each suggest one thing their fellow business leaders can do to ensure they meet their goals for 2024 and beyond.

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Even in business, hindsight is 20/20. Experience is often the best teacher — especially in business. Unfortunately, that can often mean aspiring entrepreneurs start out making a lot of mistakes, valuing the wrong things and not considering certain factors that could eventually make or break their business. But while you may not be able to skip ahead when it comes to your experience, the next best way to learn is from those who have taken the same journey before. Whether it’s via a mentor or a best-selling business book, listening to the advice of others can keep you from making the same mistakes they did — and inspire you to forge new paths. To weigh in with the wisdom they’ve gleaned over the years, seven business leaders from Rolling Stone Culture Council discuss the lessons they wish they would have learned before they launched their businesses and why.

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Generative AI might be just the tool you need to improve your business operations. Thanks to recent advancements in technology, businesses can access a myriad of tools and strategies to reach new realms of growth and efficiency. Among these transformative technologies, generative AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming increasingly commonplace, helping users quickly gather information and generate content. However, as with any emerging technology, users may not always understand the best way to leverage generative AI. Below, Rolling Stone Culture Council members share how they've used generative AI to assist in their business endeavors and how they recommend other leaders follow suit.

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Failure can be one of life's greatest teachers. At one time or another, every leader will experience some degree of professional failure. While the experience can be disappointing or frustrating, it can also serve as a powerful teacher, imparting valuable lessons that can shape one's views or career trajectory. If you've experienced failure in your professional journey, know that you're not alone — and you're not down for the count. Below, 12 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share the biggest lessons they've learned from professional failure and the lasting impact of that hard-earned wisdom.

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Niche streaming platform players have and will continue to arrive on the scene—to survive, they will have to think big or the larger platforms could destroy them.

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Succeeding in the culture space often comes down to “who you know.” Whether you’re looking to get your business off the ground or are ready to expand your company’s reach to new audiences, knowing the right people can often be what determines your success. When one person could introduce you to 10 more people and then 20 more after that, or come up with an idea that could bring your product to the next level of innovation, making the right connections becomes of the utmost importance. But when it comes to “who you know,” a little intentionality can make the process of building your network that much simpler. To help, seven Rolling Stone Culture Council business leaders offer their insights on the key to making the right business connections in the culture space and the impact doing so has on your eventual success in your industry.

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Following these creative suggestions for thought leaders can help you gain the authority you need to stand out. In a crowded industry full of experts, standing out and gaining recognition as a thought leader requires a touch of creativity. While expertise and knowledge are essential, it's the ability to showcase your unique perspective and captivate audiences that sets you apart. So, how can you harness creativity to become a standout thought leader in your field? Below, Rolling Stone Culture Council members explore unconventional strategies that will help you make a lasting impact, attract attention and position yourself as a trusted authority in your industry.

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Customer engagement is key to the success of any marketing campaign. Discover how to drum up excitement and participation in your next initiative. From social media giveaways to local in-store contests, businesses have found innovative ways to spark customer engagement around their marketing initiatives. Regardless of what specific approach is used, it's crucial for businesses to not only capture attention but also create a sense of excitement and involvement among customers. However, leaders may not always be sure of the best way to drive that engagement. To help entrepreneurs and business leaders looking to drum up engagement around a specific marketing initiative, 13 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council shared their expert insights. Read on to discover their best strategies for increasing customer engagement and why they're effective in driving success.

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From being patient to keeping a positive mindset, here are the tips that will help you start a successful business. Starting a business can be an overwhelming experience, and before embarking on your entrepreneurial journey, it's often helpful to receive advice and guidance from those who have been through it before. Below, 12 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share the advice they received when starting out that still resonates with them today. By learning from the experiences of others, new business owners can gain valuable insights and inspiration to help them navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship.

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Resource planning can be challenging, but it's an important step for keeping your budget and operations on track. For new business leaders, it's important to have a clear and prioritized road map for the business’s future, as this will help guide your decisions each day. However, each initiative, project and task requires certain resources — such as staff, funding, equipment, tools and more. Determining how to allocate these resources effectively is key to ensuring your business has what it needs to accomplish your goals. That said, it’s important to regularly assess whether your resources are being used effectively and to make adjustments as needed to stay on track. To help you do this, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their best advice on how to tackle resource planning as a new business owner.

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You can't necessarily buy brand loyalty, but you can earn it with the right customer experience and engagement tactics. Loyal customers are the cornerstone of any successful brand. They stick by a business through thick and thin and support its products or services above all others in the industry. Having this dedicated, repeat customer can be a stepping stone toward increased brand recognition and an increase in profits. However, it takes dedication and effort to convert a casual buyer into someone who sticks by your company for life. To help, a panel of experts from Rolling Stone Culture Council recommend some effective ways any business can turn everyday customers into brand loyalists.

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When applied to business, storytelling can serve as an incredible tool for marketing, pitching, developing thought leadership and more. Storytelling is an incredibly important art form for business leaders to master. After all, a compelling story is often what convinces many consumers to purchase a business's products or services. By crafting and presenting a relatable story, businesses are able to connect in a more personal way with consumers, employees and investors, thereby increasing sales and investment opportunities, improving their thought leadership status and creating brand loyalty. Below, 12 Rolling Stone Culture Council members discuss how to hone your business storytelling skills and why these methods are so effective.

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Artificial intelligence isn't out of reach for a small-business budget — you just need the right knowledge and strategies. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that many people already use in their everyday lives, from facial recognition and social media filters to voice assistants. AI is also extremely beneficial to businesses, as it can save a lot of time and money while improving overall business decisions. Some AI-based business services can come at a high cost, but you don't have to break the bank to use this ever-evolving technology to its full business potential. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share how small businesses with limited budgets can still leverage AI without hiring programmers or bothering with big data.

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Many entrepreneurs are afraid of failing when they first start out, but it's possible to push past that fear and find success. Today, more people than ever are driven to create their own businesses. While the thought of being your own boss and creating something you love can be exhilarating, many entrepreneurs also experience that prickly feeling of fear when they actually launch. After all, the potential for failure is high in the early stages of a startup, and new businesses don't always make it past their first few years. Some people will fold under the pressure while others will rise to the challenge despite their fear. To help you ensure you're in the latter camp, 14 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share how entrepreneurs can overcome the fear of failure and push forward.

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Before you hit that "go live" button, make sure you have a plan in place for a successful social media live stream. Whether it's on Instagram, Facebook or other social media platforms, live video content provides fun and welcome variation to your social media strategy. It allows for more connection between your brand and your customers, and may even introduce a new audience to your company. But there is an art to doing live videos well, and it's important to understand the basics before you start streaming. To help, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their best practices for a successful social media live stream — from ensuring added value to advertising in advance — and how to adapt these practices to your own strategies.

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Sometimes just one question can let you know you’re on the right track. Business is full of tough decisions. During the course of a day, an entrepreneur could find themselves making anywhere from one to hundreds of tough decisions, big or small. While experience and time help make the decision-making process easier for many business owners, they can still often benefit from asking themselves a few clarifying questions. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members each share a question an entrepreneur can ask themselves before making a tough decision to ensure they’re on the right track.

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Tech may be the right tool you need to get ahead. When used correctly, technology has the power to help make people better versions of themselves — whether that’s someone who never misses an event or someone who can be reached at a moment’s notice. This applies to the workplace as well, with an ever-increasing number of software, apps and tools designed to help busy professionals get more done in their day. For many business leaders, properly leveraged technology is the secret to their productivity success. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council leaders discuss the ways they use technology to help improve their productivity or work motivation throughout the day and why these strategies work so well.

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Social gaming is no longer solely about the mechanics of the game.

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The key is to address the overwhelm early and to find manageable solutions. No entrepreneur is immune to burnout, and when the stressors of work and leading a business get to be too much, it’s important to find healthy ways of coping. Without these methods, it’s all too easy for your business to become overwhelming, which can lead to a loss of passion for your work or even poor mental health. As busy business leaders themselves, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council have dealt with their fair share of overwhelming situations. Below, they offer up some of the methods they use to cope and explain why they recommend these methods for any burned out business leader.

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There are a myriad of fresh ways to get the word out to potential customers. Coming up with a business idea, building a product or service line and designing a website are all vitally important steps to getting a business off the ground — but they’re only the first steps. In order to truly have success with any business, you’ll need to drum up some positive publicity to help get your business noticed and get new customers through the door. Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can go about earning positive publicity, and if one way isn’t providing the results you desire, you can simply move on to the next. Below, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their top creative ways to drum up positive publicity to help get you started.

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When you feel like your creativity has dried up, these resources may get your thoughts flowing again. As many creative minds will tell you, creativity isn’t something that is just “always on.” Rather, creativity comes in waves, ebbing and flowing each day in what can often seem like random intervals. When you run a business that relies on innovation, however, it can be difficult to wait for inspiration to strike. To get your creativity flowing, you’ll need to seek out your own sources of inspiration. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council experts share their own go-to sources of inspiration and how you can regain your own creativity by leveraging them yourself.

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Grabbing your audience’s attention starts with an intentional strategy. Since the advent of platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and others like them, companies have been trying to find the secret behind some of the internet’s most viral content in order to reproduce it for themselves and garner some major attention. While at times what content sparks such engagement may seem totally random, deeper study indicates there may be similarities after all. To shed some light on the “recipe” behind most viral content, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share 10 characteristic elements of this type of content and what businesses need to focus on if they want to “go viral” themselves.

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You can’t grow your business without facing a few obstacles along the way. Leading a business often comes with its own unique challenges, some more difficult to navigate than others. What separates great leaders from good ones is the ability to face those challenges, overcome them and come out stronger and wiser on the other side. No matter the challenge, there’s always a lesson to be learned that can either overwhelm you or help your business grow. But learning those lessons can often be a challenge in itself. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council leaders detail the lessons they’ve learned from some of the most difficult business situations they’ve faced and how they became all the wiser for it.

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Running a business shouldn't always be about selling. The holiday season is all about giving, and just because a business is for-profit doesn’t mean it can’t participate in doing a little good for its community. Whether their focus is on local communities or a larger cause, businesses big and small can do their part to show their customers (and their employees) that they care. As business leaders in the culture space, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council understand how important it is for businesses to come together with their communities, especially during such a charitable time. Below, they recommend 10 ways other culture businesses can give back this holiday season and bring a little cheer to others.

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By using tech intentionally, you can improve your business and the niche in which it operates. Technology at its best serves as a helpful aid to businesses, entrepreneurs and everyday people looking to improve the way they function day to day. But simply using technology won’t affect much change. Those who really succeed are those who know how to leverage technology intentionally, incorporating it into thoughtful practices that could eventually turn into innovation for their business or even their industry as a whole.  Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share some of the ways in which they’re leveraging technology to improve the success of their businesses in their space.

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You don't need a brick-and-mortar store to make a lasting impression on your customer. By taking advantage of lighting, scents, displays or direct customer service, retail has a straightforward way of creating a memorable experience for its customers. When your business is online-only, however, you don’t have a physical environment to leverage — but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to “wow” your customers. Below, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council recommend nine methods for leaving a lasting impression on your audience — and all you need to get started is a little ingenuity.

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These brands are great examples of how to tell your story right. Effective branding occurs when a consumer can think of a company and an image immediately comes to mind. These companies can evoke certain feelings and produce certain thoughts in customers’ minds all while telling a story well enough to convince those customers they need that product or service. All of these elements are what make a brand memorable, and to achieve that status for your company, you’ll need to study other successful brands. To help you, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council shared a few examples of brands that really nailed their respective stories and how they did it.

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Location-based targeting can help brand leaders hone in on a specific market.

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As people slowly gather together again, customers will expect new experiences from venues. Entertainment venues were hit particularly hard by the pandemic, and as restrictions lift and venues start opening up again, business owners and patrons alike are understandably excited to get back to a more “normal” routine. But after everything that’s happened, will customers want more of the same or will they expect a few changes? As each business owner makes this determination for themselves, there are a few ways they can adapt or innovate to freshen up their old model and give customers something even more exciting to look forward to. Below, 12 leaders from Rolling Stone Culture Council share some of these strategies and explain why they’re good ways to find new success in the coming years.