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Being deliberate and strategic about your content marketing efforts will yield far better results than a series of unrelated posts. Using social media or a blog to promote your brand isn't as simple as posting for the sake of it. Having a solid content strategy takes the guesswork out of what to publish and ensures that the content will resonate with your audience. Successful content strategies should consider the needs and demographics of your audience, the mission of your business, the purpose of publishing the content and more. Here, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their No. 1 tips for creating an effective content strategy for your brand and why these tips work so well.

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Setting relevant and meaningful goals for your company will motivate employees and help boost business overall. The first few weeks of the new year is the perfect opportunity for businesses to reflect on the previous year and set new goals accordingly. By looking at what worked and what didn't, you can understand what changes to make to reach meaningful, realistic and relevant objectives by the end of 2023. Moreover, having goals can help you rally your team for a common cause and inspire greater collaboration and productivity. To that end, 14 Rolling Stone Culture Council members each share one goal companies should set for themselves this year, and why they believe this goal is so worthwhile. If you're looking for inspiration on where to focus your efforts, consider starting here.

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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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Being a wedding DJ is more than pressing play.

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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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It’s never too late to make changes for the better. In the excitement of getting their first business up and running, new entrepreneurs may rush through the website-building process, aiming for speed to market rather than a well-planned design. In doing so, though, they may end up missing a few key components along the way, making mistakes that could cost them in the long run. Even if your website is already live, however, it’s not too late to make some valuable changes. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members discuss some of the mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make when building their websites and what can be done to fix them.

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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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A new perspective could make a big impact on customer satisfaction. When interacting with customers or clients, there may be times when business leaders wish they could switch places with their customers, if only so the customers could view situations from their perspective. With their roles reversed, customers may develop a better understanding of why something went wrong or why certain things are the way they are, hopefully leading to greater customer satisfaction in the end. But while entrepreneurs and customers can’t really switch places, they can share their points of view. Below, nine business leaders from Rolling Stone Culture Council each shared one fact they wish all customers knew about running a business and the impact they think that knowledge would have.

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Building a powerful network can help your business in more ways than one. Networking is not a new concept in the business world, and certainly not to the business professionals who are doing it. But for business owners, forging new connections with other businesses in the same space can often feel like trying to make friends with the competition, and knowing how or when to reach out might not come naturally. But building that network of support is key to long-term business success, and can be especially important during the first few years of growth. So to help demystify the networking process, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council provided their best tips on how to do it right and how to ensure you’re building strong relationships for the long term.

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Music lovers have access to almost every song through music streaming services.

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What is going to make your website stand out and succeed?

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Your employees can have valuable insights, so it’s important they have an opportunity to share them. As the ones who are deeply involved in the day-to-day running of a business, employees often have the best insights about what does and doesn't work in a company. When you’re a leader, figuring out what employees think about how operations could be improved can be a vital part of ensuring your business’s success. Ingraining employee feedback as part of your company’s culture, therefore, can ensure you hear your team’s opinions on a regular basis. To help you accomplish that, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members offered their own opinions on how you can make feedback a part of your company culture and make sure everyone is heard.

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When planning wedding reception events, many couples are forgoing more traditional events to create more time for fun.

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Growing your fan following is more than creating great music.

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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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When you’re caring for your company, it can be hard to take care of yourself as well. For better or worse, "hustle culture" has become popular among the entrepreneurial community. It's sometimes viewed as a badge of honor to be constantly busy and "hustling" to grow your business. However, when you don’t take time away from work, you run the risk of inducing health- and emotional-related issues that could set you back. That’s why it’s important to take time for self-care, especially if you’re always on the go or constantly feel the need to be productive. To help you find balance, 13 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council give their best tips for busy leaders who may have to "force" themselves to step away from their jobs.

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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.

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Free apps, tools and products still need to be highly appealing to entice users to keep coming back. When a platform is free, you might assume everyone will want to take advantage of it. However, if a customer isn't spending their hard-earned money on that tool or app, it can also be just as easy for them to forget about it. It can be difficult to encourage repeat engagement in the era of app overload, but there are a number of ways you can get users to engage with your business’s free platform. Below 11, members of Rolling Stone Culture Council shared the techniques that have worked for them. Follow their recommendations to build a loyal base of repeat users.

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The pandemic required a quick pivot to online events and new ways of thinking about revenue. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many businesses, organizations and artists shifted their in-person events to the online realm. Because these live events were often a big source of revenue, hosts had to figure out how to monetize their new virtual content. However, they quickly learned that making money from online events wasn't always as simple as it seemed. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members shared challenges they've faced monetizing online or virtual content. Here are some lessons they’ve learned about successfully bringing in revenue from digital events like webinars, conferences and concerts.

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Want to share your music knowledge with the masses?

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Scaling your business is a good goal, but it's important to approach growth smartly and sustainably. For many smaller or newer businesses, one of their greatest long-term goals is to scale their operations. As eager as they may be, however, acting too rashly or hiring talent just to fill spots might have unintended negative consequences. Instead, it’s crucial that companies thoughtfully consider their scaling process and go about it in a sustainable manner. This is especially true in the culture space, an industry filled with potential up-and-coming competitors. If you’re looking to scale your business the “right” way, follow these top tips from the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council.

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If your messaging feels inauthentic, consumers will walk away in favor of a brand that's more genuine. Today's consumers can spot inauthenticity from miles away. They prefer buying from brands that are "real" and honest about who they are. However, it’s not uncommon for businesses to unintentionally appear disingenuous in their marketing endeavors, especially if they're just hopping on the latest trends in the hopes of going viral or getting likes on social media. To help you avoid this pitfall, 15 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council shared some signs of inauthentic marketing that a consumer is likely to spot. Here are some things your customers might call you out on and what you should do instead.