Christian Anderson (Trust'N)

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Companies must strive to be flexible and adaptable to remain relevant and competitive. Consumer and cultural interests have undergone significant shifts over the years, influencing businesses in various ways. Remaining agile and responsive to changing consumer and cultural interests is essential for businesses that want to succeed in today's dynamic marketplace, as a failure to do so could result in missed opportunities and diminished customer trust. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share nine tips for how your business can stay on top of changing consumer and cultural interests and the impact they have on the overall business climate.

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From building key relationships to traditional marketing strategies, there are many low-cost ways to attract new customers. In today's highly competitive market, acquiring and retaining new customers is a top priority for any business. However, many businesses struggle with the costs associated with marketing and advertising efforts to attract new customers. Fortunately, there are low-cost strategies businesses can implement to acquire and retain new customers without breaking the bank. These strategies not only help businesses save money, but they are also highly effective in building brand awareness, increasing customer engagement and driving sales. Below, Rolling Stone Culture Council members share 11 low-cost strategies any business can implement to acquire and retain new customers.

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With a business strategy centered around sustainability, brands can attract consumers and increase their bottom lines. As sustainability becomes a prominent topic of discussion, environmentally conscious consumers are actively seeking out companies that align with their values. Because of this increasing concern for environmental issues among consumers, businesses are now recognizing the need to show their dedication to eco-friendly practices. Below, Rolling Stone Culture Council members share practical steps businesses can take to demonstrate their commitment to the environment and eco-friendly policies. From incorporating sustainable materials in their products to implementing energy-efficient measures in their operations, these efforts not only benefit the planet but also have a positive impact on their bottom line.

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With so much noise on social media, a strong and well-planned strategy is the key to standing out. Social media has revolutionized the way businesses interact with their customers and followers. Nowadays, it's not just about selling products or services, but also about building relationships and establishing trust with your audience. This is where an effective social media plan comes in. By implementing the right strategies, businesses can engage with their customers and followers on a deeper level, which can lead to increased brand loyalty and advocacy. Below, 10 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share the different social media strategies any business can use to build better relationships with their customers and why they are so effective at doing so.

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Today, business takes place in all shapes and forms but happens mostly online. So how can a business stay up to date and ensure it doesn't fall behind?

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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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Customer education must be approached with the right tone and content to be effective. Sometimes, customers may be interested in your product or service, but if it seems too complicated or difficult to understand, they may not follow through with a purchase. Conveying information in a simple, concise and fun way can help educate the customer without the need for a long, complicated or boring explanation. Whether you publish an FAQ page or create a short explainer video, it's important to keep your customer interested while making sure they understand the nuances of your product or service. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share 12 effective approaches to customer education any business leader can leverage.

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Your followers can be a huge source of creative and engaging content for your brand if you know how to ask for it. Whether it's fans writing articles for your website or submitting product photos as part of a contest, user-generated content (UGC) has become a key component of many modern brands' marketing strategies. This low-cost tactic can help you crowdsource new content ideas while allowing your audience to shine. Not only does UGC make customers feel more engaged with a brand, but it also supplements brand-generated content, saving your marketing department time and resources. To that end, eight Rolling Stone Culture Council members share smart and effective ways businesses can encourage followers to submit more UGC and make your marketing a little more customer-centric.

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Despite rising costs, there are some simple, clever strategies that can save your business money in the long run. With the cost of goods on the rise, many business owners worry they’ll lose profit by maintaining their current prices or lose customers by raising prices to match the inflated purchasing costs. Though inflation continues to interfere in this way with the day-to-day operations of many businesses, business owners have several options for saving money at their disposal. Below, 10 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their best tips for managing your budget and keeping costs low in the face of inflation.

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As the amount of e-commerce channels and online competitors increase, businesses must choose the right tactics to stand out. The e-commerce landscape has evolved rapidly in recent years as more and more "shoppable" digital platforms emerge. Instead of only being able to make online purchases on a company's website or Amazon page, consumers can also buy products directly through popular social media apps like Instagram or Facebook. Though there are more avenues than ever to get discovered by potential buyers, there may also be a smaller chance of getting noticed among a growing sea of competitors. To help businesses stand out, 10 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their top tactics for getting the most online sales possible.

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Any employee who interfaces with customers should have the right skills to properly and effectively represent your brand. Hiring for any position is rarely an easy task, and it can be even more difficult when you're filling a customer-facing role. Not only does the person you hire need to be a match for your company culture, but they also need the right personality and skills to effectively represent your brand to the general public. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share 10 specific skills or traits they look for when hiring for a customer-facing or public role, and explain why each of these qualities is so essential to an employee's success in this type of position.

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The way you respond to an online complaint can make or break your brand, so it's important to have a solid response strategy. Building an online presence across multiple social media platforms, websites and search engines is essential for any modern business. However, being a part of the digital realm also opens you up to online complaints from unhappy customers. It can be difficult to know how to handle a negative review in any environment, but with the added visibility online reviews have, the response you give will ultimately weaken or strengthen your reputation. To turn negative feedback into a positive brand experience, follow these tips from the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council. Below, they discuss what businesses should do when they find themselves on the receiving end of an online complaint.

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The key to modern employee retention really isn’t a secret at all. At a time when employees are leaving their jobs en masse, it can be challenging to maintain your top workers. Employees today are more comfortable quitting a job in search of something better, so if your business doesn't meet their expectations, you might be struggling to fill several suddenly open positions. Having committed, long-term employees helps with overall production speeds and cultivates a positive work environment. So with advice like listening to employee feedback and creating individualized success plans, 11 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their "secrets" to employee retention and why these strategies work so well.

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There are countless lifestyle brands on the market today, so you'll need the right elements to stand out as a memorable one. Lifestyle brands have become popular with celebrities, influencers and entrepreneurs alike, with platforms like Instagram or Facebook serving as their ideal place for sharing small snippets of their lives. Whether they’re centered around everyday life or an aspirational dream, these lifestyles form the basis for marketing a business’s products or services. But to make a lifestyle brand work, entrepreneurs need to develop a strategy with all the right components in place. To that end, 12 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share the ingredients entrepreneurs will need to craft a true lifestyle brand that will help them connect with their ideal audience.

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A diverse workforce doesn't happen accidentally — you need the right recruiting strategies to bring different types of candidates in the door. Over the years, the movement for increased diversity in the workplace has picked up significant momentum. Having a diverse team offers businesses a variety of perspectives, allowing for increased innovation and problem solving, while also increasing employee engagement and brand reputation. In most cases, building a pipeline of diverse job candidates requires intentional efforts at the recruitment level. To help you achieve this goal, eight members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share their best strategies to promote a broader range of candidates in your applicant pool.

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Staying autonomous as your business scales up requires a strong understanding of yourself and your mission — and trust in your team to carry out that mission. If you're an independent creator, you may be considering scaling your business. While scaling is a great way to increase your presence and profit, it also often requires bringing other people into the mix — a significant adjustment when you're accustomed to working independently. Fortunately, it is possible to grow your brand without losing sight of your original creative vision. To help, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share 11 tips to help you scale your business while still maintaining your autonomy.

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Content creators have high earning potential in today's market, but they'll need to keep up with new trends as the industry evolves. The creator economy is constantly in flux and changes based on many external factors, including relevant social, political or world events occurring at that time. This has been very clear over the last few years with the Covid-19 pandemic, a party-dividing election cycle and an increase in social justice campaigns. All of this has had a massive effect on digital platforms, and creators stand to gain a lot from the constant and growing demand for relevant content. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members look ahead to share their predictions for the future of the creator economy in the years to come.

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Increasing customer happiness means you’ll gain increased loyalty and sales as a result. It’s true that customers who feel satisfied after an interaction with your brand are more likely to become repeat customers and recommend your product or service to others with positive reviews and word-of-mouth referrals. However, the opposite is true as well. Unhappy customers also leave reviews — though they’re often less than complimentary — and then share these negative opinions with others. It's important, then, for any company to keep their customers returning happy and satisfied. To help, eight Rolling Stone Culture Council members share some key lessons all business leaders should learn when it comes to customer satisfaction.

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The definition of what a leader should be has evolved over the years. With so much shifting in terms of “how,” “when” and “where” we work post-pandemic, special attention must also be given to the way in which we lead. New environments and new expectations make way for new challenges, and in order to overcome them, managers, business leaders and entrepreneurs alike must reconsider what it means to be a “modern leader” in today’s ever-evolving professional climate. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their insights on what it means to be a “modern leader” today and the kinds of traits they expect to see if leaders want to succeed in today’s business world.

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'Grinding' can only get you so far if you don't also make time for yourself. Productivity, “hustle culture,” “rise and grind” — all popular topics when it comes to entrepreneurship, making money and leading a “successful” life. While touted as all positive and necessary things if you want to progress in your career, when taken too far, these positives can become toxic and actually hurt your ability to find real success.  But how can ambitious professionals and business owners move away from this mentality when entrepreneurs are expected to “grind”? Below, 10 Rolling Stone Culture Council business leaders offer their tips and insights for professionals interested in leaving toxic productivity and “hustle culture” behind.

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These tips can help you level up your social media game, regardless of industry. With so many other businesses on social media, getting potential consumers to notice yours can be an uphill battle. One element that you can use to stand out, however, is the quality of your posts. With the right combination of words, visuals and strategy, you can ensure your posts get the level of engagement you’re looking for. To help, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council each list their No. 1 tip for writing quality social media posts. Follow their expert advice to level up your social media game and expand your audience.

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A podcast can be an excellent opportunity to gain recognition for your brand if you do it right. It seems that there's a podcast for every subject or interest nowadays, from true crime to financial advice to entrepreneurship. This medium has become a go-to source of entertainment and education for many, which is why business owners are clamoring to launch their own podcast ventures. While many podcasts have had unprecedented success and reach, many more have been made that have flown under the radar, so entrepreneurs considering starting a podcast for their company should do so cautiously and with a few considerations in mind. Below, 10 Rolling Stone Culture Council experts share what entrepreneurs should understand before they invest time, energy and resources into launching a podcast.

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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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Only you are capable of making your own sound. 

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If customers don’t think you’re genuine, they’ll take their business elsewhere. In the pursuit of sales, it can be tempting to try any technique you can think of to market to potential customers and get them interested in purchasing your product. However, this — among other actions — can come off as inauthentic and may actually be a turnoff for potential customers, rendering your marketing efforts wholly ineffective. To avoid this issue, you’ll need to watch out for signs of inauthenticity. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council business leaders weigh in on some of the signs you should be looking out for and what you can do to fix the problem once you find it.

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Speed is key in today’s job market. Finding the right talent can be an exhausting process. Writing the job description, finding the best places to post it, screening resumes, conducting multiple rounds of interviews and more can eat up a lot of a company’s resources and potentially waste a lot of time.  In today’s job market, speed is key when it comes to finding top talent, which means streamlining your hiring process is essential. To help, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their best recommendations for streamlining your hiring process and making it easier on everyone involved.

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With the right strategy, your business can reach a whole new audience. While TikTok has been around for a few years now, many businesses are just now waking up to its massive potential for marketing to customers. Professionals from seemingly every industry — from home repairs to dermatology — are finding fun and unique ways to leverage the popular platform for both educating their audiences and marketing their businesses. But if you’re a business leader who is unfamiliar with TikTok or isn’t sure how to get started, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council have some expert tips. Below, they share their best advice for getting started on TikTok and how it will help make your business more successful.

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Not every influencer is a good fit for every company — and vice versa. Like with any business partnership, an influencer partnership must start with a solid foundation. Relying too much on transactional details may leave your business with a partner it can’t trust, whereas looking at the person as a whole may help you build a better relationship and save you from potential disaster down the line. If you’re unsure about your influencer partnership, consider this advice from the leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council. Below, they list signs that an influencer partnership might not be working out as you hoped and offer tips on what you should do if you spot them.

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Preparing for success tomorrow means taking thoughtful steps today. In business, often the only thing that is certain is uncertainty. You never know if your product will sell or if you’ll make enough money to last another year or if being an entrepreneur is really your true calling. While no one can predict what tomorrow will bring, there are ways you can help to guarantee your business will remain successful no matter what the next day may bring. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members offer their best tips for “future-proofing” your business and explain how these tips will help ensure your business is secure.

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Advertising isn’t the only way to get your event noticed. If you’re a new business trying to drum up awareness or an established business just trying to expand your reach, pop-up events are a great way to get your brand in front of more potential customers. Because of their temporary nature, they’re perfect for creating a sense of urgency and mystique that will draw in curious minds. But how can businesses best capitalize on these events? To help answer that question, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council experts weigh in with their best tips on how to run a successful pop-up event and generate buzz for your business.

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You worked hard on your craft — it deserves to be listened to and appreciated. 

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Diversity isn't always visible, but the way you support it should be. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has always been a topic of concern in the world of work, but it has recently become a major priority for many organizations, with about 79% of them stating they’re planning to dedicate more of their budgets to DEI efforts in 2022. However, it’s likely that these companies will approach DEI in different ways. There are a myriad of ways to support diversity, equity and inclusion in business — especially as a business leader. To help give you some ideas of where you can start, 11 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share the ways in which they’re working to create and encourage more diversity in their particular business niche or industry and why that’s so important to do.

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Take the time to evaluate the situation before you jump ahead. Being an entrepreneur is all about taking risks and reaping rewards. But it’s how you go about taking those risks that defines how successful you are in business. And whether calculated or impulsive, any risk has the potential for a negative outcome. However, with time and experience, it is possible to get better at taking risks and determining whether or not they’ll work out for you. Below, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share some signs you can look for that will indicate if you’re about to make a big mistake rather than a risk that’s going to pay off.

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It's 2022, and employees' expectations have changed with the times. As the world has changed in the past couple of years, so too have employees’ expectations about their work. Employees are putting their personal fulfillment and work-life balance first, which for many has meant changing roles, jobs or even entire career paths. But as the exodus of employees continues, many companies are left wondering how to retain their employees or attract new ones to take their place. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council business leaders offer a list of perks they believe companies will need to offer if they want to improve their employee retention and gain the interest of new talent.

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Finding your way as an artist can be tough.