King Holder

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A personal touch can go a long way toward making your customers happy. As their business grows, it’s all too easy for business owners to get swept up in the numbers and forget that there are real people behind their profits. If they want to continue to succeed, it’s key that they make their customers feel valued and that they truly care about them and their experience with the brand.  There are a multitude of ways to do this, from simply listening to customer feedback to providing excellent customer service, but it’s often a combination of methods that makes the biggest difference in how customers feel. Below, the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council draw on their experiences working with customers to offer up seven of the top ways businesses can make customers feel valued and ensure they return to your business again and again.

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As the landscape continues to evolve, embracing these principles will pave the way for enduring success in the realm of athlete marketing and social media.

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To appeal to your customers, you have to speak their language. Nothing is more powerful in communicating your brand’s purpose, mission and vision than your brand’s voice. What you say and how you say it is paramount to how people view your brand and choose whether or not they would like to become a customer. This means if your brand’s voice and messaging aren’t resonating with your audience, you may not be bringing in the amount of sales you need to sustainably grow your business. To ensure you’re not missing the mark, consider the following advice from the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council. Here, they offer their top tips for sharpening your brand’s voice and communicating with customers in a way that they will identify with and appreciate.

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Getting noticed in the increasingly crowded social media realm can be challenging, but there are a few effective strategies that can help. Social media is saturated with accounts for businesses and individuals alike, making it hard to get noticed. However, discoverability plays a large role in driving sales and attracting new customers. Though the task may seem daunting, an overhaul of your team's content creation may be necessary to expand your reach, whether this means shifting strategies or focusing on specific projects. To help, a group of Rolling Stone Culture Council experts share their best tips for businesses looking to boost discoverability on social media in 2023.

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Tackling that "post-holiday slump" head-on is the best way to keep your team's morale and productivity up all year long. During the holidays, it's easy for teams to get swept up in the cheer and overall positive mood of the season. However, as the new year begins and the festivities have wound down, you and your employees may experience a dip in energy. While 12 months of holiday spirit might not be feasible (or even desired), there are plenty of ways leaders can maintain their team's good mood and upward momentum year-round. To help, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer eight strategies for keeping up team morale at the beginning of the year and beyond.

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With so many different people in any given industry, it's helpful to know how to identify the right individuals to network with. When you’re a business leader, connections that are made while networking can open doors to new opportunities and future collaborations. But knowing who to connect with and how to do so naturally can be a challenge, especially with so many potential ways to find and contact other professionals in your industry. To help you, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council experts share their top recommended strategies for how to find the right people to network with. Follow their advice so you can strategically make the right connections to help your business succeed.

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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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Launching a company in today's climate can be intimidating. With countless opinions and possible directions to go, taking a wrong turn is a very real concern.

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Before getting carried away with an exciting new idea, it's important to confirm it makes business sense to pursue it. The start of a new year is the perfect opportunity to take big risks and implement fresh ideas in your business. But the excitement of a new idea shouldn't distract from the need to confirm whether or not the idea is a viable one. Research must be conducted to determine whether the product will perform as well as anticipated in a given market and that consumers actually want or need what you’re offering them. To help get you started, 10 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share some important steps to help you and your team take an idea beyond the initial "excitement" phase.

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As with any other relationship, trust between business partners is paramount for mutual success. When it comes to business partnerships, the right one can often lead to a whole host of new opportunities, such as attracting new customers, diversifying your revenue streams or helping your teams innovate through challenges. When working with someone new, however, there must be a level of trust involved so that each partner feels as though they have skin in the game. Establishing trust takes time, but there are steps leaders can take to help foster that trust from the very beginning. To help, a group of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their best advice below.

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There's a lot of commercial "noise" during the busy holiday season, but these strategies can help your business stand out. One of the most effective ways to draw customers to your online or brick-and-mortar retail store is to create promotions they will engage with. Tying those promotions into the holiday season can help you bring in even more customers and finish out the year on a high note. But with so many competing ad campaigns and discounts throughout the last few months of the year, you'll need to find a holiday initiative that will set your business apart from its competitors. Below, nine Rolling Stone Culture Council members share some holiday promotions that have worked for their teams and why your business might want to replicate them this season.

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In a world of abundant information, it's imperative to learn how to "filter" media and distill it down to what's necessary for your job. Keeping up with the 24-hour news cycle can be exhausting. It's harder than ever to stay apprised of new social media trends, international news and local stories — especially because trends come and go faster than ever before. For those who work in the culture space, it's essential to have the information necessary to do your job well, which means learning how to tune out some of the noise. To help you do this, 10 Rolling Stone Culture Council members offer their tips for keeping up with relevant news in a productive, efficient way.

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When business growth slows or remains stagnant, there's often an important lesson to be learned. Most leaders strive for business growth and equate growth with success. While it's true that business growth means an increase in profits and customers, that growth can be hard to achieve, especially at first. If your business isn't growing as fast as you'd hoped, there may be a deeper reason for it — and uncovering that reason might lead to a valuable lesson. To that end, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share 11 things you can learn from slower business growth and why these are such important lessons to absorb.

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Media appearances are excellent ways to raise positive awareness about your brand, but you'll need to make a great impression first. Getting press for your business helps your public relations tremendously, whether it means being featured on a podcast, an Instagram Live or even a news segment. Giving a face to the business helps humanize the brand and also allows you to share more explicit insight into your company's values. Making a good impression is key, but the pressure of a live video or audio segment can be nerve-wracking. To help, 14 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their tips for making sure you're prepared to represent your business well.

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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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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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Despite a high volume of competing events, there are ways to ensure your gathering leaves a lasting impression on attendees. In the early months of the pandemic, businesses attempted to make their newly virtual events memorable experiences. As in-person events have made their way back onto people’s calendars, these same businesses are now searching for ways to make their next in-person event immersive while exceeding industry standards.  Luckily, businesses have plenty of ways they can plan a memorable event, regardless of the audience size or location. To help, 10 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer tips to make your next event the talk of the online (and offline) sphere.

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There's always room for more creators and artists — you just have to know how to market yourself. With more social media platforms available than ever before, influencers, artists and content creators have multiple blank canvases ready for the taking. However, all these options may leave new creators unsure of where to begin with their brand promotion strategy. While it's easy to daydream about amassing hundreds of thousands of followers and "going viral" overnight, effectively growing your social media presence requires thoughtful planning and a strategic approach. To that end, 10 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council provide their best advice for new content creators who are ready to showcase and promote their brands on social media.

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Before you commit to a business partner, make sure they bring the right skills and traits to the table. As in any other partnership, a business partnership can bring incredible value -- as long as it's the right fit. If not, the relationship could become detrimental to the success of the company. That's why entrepreneurs must carefully consider whether a prospective partner will complement their leadership style and the business, or whether it's best to find another solution. If you're seeking a new business partnership, make sure your potential collaborator has these 10 critical essentials, as recommended by members of Rolling Stone Culture Council. 

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A leader’s mindset can make a huge difference in how well a business succeeds during times of uncertainty. The business world can often feel like a roller coaster with unpredictable ups and downs. While it's easy for business leaders to stay positive during the good times, it can be harder to keep that same attitude when the going gets tough. Cultivating the right mindset can help leaders better navigate challenges and have a greater appreciation for the victories. If you're looking for a boost of positivity, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share their tried-and-true strategies for staying positive no matter the external circumstances.

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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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If innovation is your goal, you need creativity to flow freely throughout your organization. Industries that rely on constant innovation need leaders who are able to foster creativity among their teams. However, it can be difficult to feel creative all the time, especially in an office setting. Getting out of the office, meeting new people and sharing ideas with others are just a few ways that team members can find that creativity again. Below, 11 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share these strategies and more that have helped them effectively encourage creativity among their employees.

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Truthful feedback from your team — both positive and negative — is essential for continued growth as a business leader. Honest and transparent teams are likely to succeed for the simple fact that they value an open dialogue. If your team isn't on the same page about your plans, projects will suffer and the business may lose the momentum it needs for growth. This is why, as a business leader, it's critical to ensure you're receiving constructive and helpful feedback from your team. To help you make this a priority for both you and your business, 12 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council discuss their best tips for leaders.

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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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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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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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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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To get noticed, you’ll need to provide something worth noticing. With so much advice and content out in the world already, audiences are having their attention pulled in all sorts of directions, not only making it difficult for them to find true value in what they consume, but also making it challenging for thought leaders to get noticed.  But if you run a business or want to make a name for yourself in the world of thought leadership, rising above the noise is key for success. To do so, consider the following advice from the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council. Their insights may give you that boost you need to stand out from the competition.

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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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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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It'll take more than a little convincing to show your customers your business is the "real deal." When you start a new business, one of your greatest challenges is convincing potential customers of your credibility. They need to know that your business can be trusted and that the product or service they’re paying for will be high quality and delivered in a timely fashion. Convincing them of this is the first step toward gaining them as a potential lifelong customer. But the process for convincing a customer that you’re a credible business is not necessarily straightforward, as different customers will consider different factors, and no one element will likely be enough to change their minds. This is why the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council listed out their top strategies for proving the credibility of your business below. Implement one or all of these tips to see a change in the way your company is viewed.