Jason VandeBoom

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11 essentials to consider before you announce your latest improvements. It's always an exciting time when a company is able to roll out new design enhancements for a mobile app, especially one that will include features perceived to be game-changing by industry standards. However, while it is necessary to stay tuned into the latest trends and be willing to accommodate your users' requests and needs, it's also important to know your limitations and consider your organization's strategy and vision. You also need to ensure that you don't overwhelm your customers by overloading them with too many features in one app all at once.  If your end goal is to provide a better service for current and potential clients and customers, here, 11 Fast Company Executive Board members share some key factors to keep in mind before you invest your time and money in the latest design process.

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Don't rush your business decision-making process.  There are certain financial dealings that can make or break a company's ability to thrive—whether the marketplace is up, down, or all over the place. That's why it's so important to put a strategy in place (and stick with it) that aligns with the company's core values, purpose, and longevity. Without that, it's very easy to become distracted by unproven trends and potential investments that may or may not be the best fit for your organization right now. To help leaders become better decision-makers when it comes to business and finance, here, 20 experts from Fast Company Executive Board each share one financial trap that leadership should avoid.

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While social commerce is a powerful tool for building lasting relationships with customers, success requires more than merely having a presence on social platforms.

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Implement these tips to quiet the noisy holiday promo rush and bring attention back to your company.  “Keeping up with the Joneses” seems synonymous with the ability to maintain a successful brand among some of your biggest competitors in a tight economy. Pulling out all the stops, especially during the busy season of holiday advertising campaigns, company leaders are striving to compel consumers to pay closer attention to their business' latest products and services. Based on their own experiences, the experts from Fast Company Executive Board realize that if you're trying to build long-term customer loyalty and strengthen positive brand recognition, sometimes it's not about following the latest holiday trends at all. Instead, it's about understanding what your clients and potential customers need right now and how remaining authentic as a brand can better demonstrate a company's ability to deliver satisfying results that urge people to return throughout the year. Here are 18 suggestions they highly recommend other leaders to explore.

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Consider these 13 design steps recommended by leading industry experts. When you're in the process of developing (or revamping) a company website, you can't be afraid to take risks, break the norm, and add a little more personalization to your brand image—especially if it means reaching out to an untapped market for conversion. But once you've suddenly captured the attention of potential customers and clients, how do you build on that momentum and keep it going? The next step is to offer them substantial information that is engaging and interesting to drive home a clear message of intent. Below, 13 Fast Company Executive Board members each provide one tip for designing a website that will get noticed in today's competitive marketplace.

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By striking the right balance between automation and human interaction, businesses can create a customer experience that is both efficient and effective.

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Business leaders discuss their best practices. In today's marketplace, there's no way around it, no matter what the industry—content rules. But when it comes to attracting new clients and retaining longtime customers, how do you grab their attention without losing their interest every time? Doing so can be hit or miss. It's one thing to simply create general content and it's another to genuinely engage your audience and give them something to look forward to watching and reading on a regular basis. Whether it's a brand newsletter, a company social channel, or a new business podcast, members from Fast Company Executive Board have plenty of experience. They are here to explain 20 methods to encourage your target base to read, watch, hit the subscribe button, and share.

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A successful webinar will engage, educate and possibly persuade its target audience and keep the host top of their mind for their future needs. Webinars have become an increasingly popular tool for businesses to engage with potential clients and customers. However, simply hosting a webinar is not enough to ensure success. To make a lasting impression and achieve desired outcomes, businesses must use best practices to create engaging and informative content that resonates with their audience. Whether it be educational or persuasive, effective webinars require careful planning, preparation, and execution. To that end, 15 Fast Company Executive Board members weigh in on some of their best practices for hosting webinars that are useful, relevant, and valuable for potential clients and customers.

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Strike up a conversation that builds consumer trust about what your company stands for before you start pitching your product or service. Pop-up shops and kiosks can be an effective way for existing companies to engage with potential customers in new ways and generate additional buzz around their products and services. However, before they set up a new retail location, companies must consider several important factors. Setting your temporary retail shop up for success involves factors like choosing the right location, researching your target market, and setting clear objectives and metrics to track progress. Below, a panel of Fast Company Executive Board members explore these items more in-depth and provided guidance on how companies can launch a successful pop-up shop or kiosk.

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Is your company meeting its bottom line—or consumed by brand network hype?  It's an impressive business talking point to have a million plus people on social media platforms following your brand, but how can company sales and marketing teams turn those likes and comments into actual loyal customers? If you want to keep potential clients and customers regularly engaged and pique their interest in how your company can make a serious impact and meet their needs, you have to provide them with an incentive to learn more about what you have to offer. Below, eight experts from Fast Company Executive Board weigh in on how to win them over and convince them to make a long-term commitment (and spread the word) that will help your organization reach its quarterly goals on a regular basis.

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The market is down, it can be extremely difficult for small business owners to elevate sales opportunities with potential clients and customers or form new business partnerships and close deals at a steady pace. They're competing with some of the biggest players in the industry—let alone other startups—and that's no easy feat. That's why it is so imperative for business owners and their sales and marketing teams to really get to know their current and prospective target audience members so they can meet their needs effectively, and build long-term trust on a solid foundation. By doing so, you'll increase your chances of being the go-to company they can lean on when they are looking for the right establishment and brand to help lead their own business initiatives. Here are nine unconventional ways that leading business executives from Fast Company Executive Board have applied at their own companies to generate more leads.

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Top business leaders discuss the most effective approaches they've utilized to increase their customer reach. Coming up with a winning strategy to build a better brand and increase your company's prospects for steady growth may be a hit or missed opportunity if you're not being intentional about how to attract and retain your ideal customer.  Conducting A/B testing on a regular basis is one of the best ways to sample various marketing strategies until your marketing and sales team can pinpoint what actually sticks with your target audience members the most and why it stands out. Below, 13 Fast Company Executive Board members explain their methods to gaining more traction in today's competing business industries and how your organization can do the same.

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An experience doesn’t have to turn a customer into a passionate advocate in order to keep him or her spending more.

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Evaluating the potential for improvement on these core online-business components is essential to elevating a virtual organization. Launching a successful e-commerce-only business may sound ideal for entrepreneurs on the rise or seasoned business owners, who have been at it for a while and suddenly facing a budget crunch, but it's not as easy as it sounds.  Creating user-friendly access to the products and services mobile customers love, is only one of many first steps to building brand recognition and consistency for clients willing to take the journey with your business for the long haul. Below, 13 Fast Company Executive Board members discuss some practical considerations that can make all the difference when deciding to go with an exclusively online presence to reach target consumers versus traditional brick-n-mortar.

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Integration is an essential element when innovating for the SMB space.

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Holding fast and spreading the word about what your company truly believes in may galvanize new partnerships and potential customers.  To establish a winning brand that has true purpose, make your company's mission personal not only to yourself but your entire team. So stand firm on the core values of your business and surround yourself with the right stakeholders who are willing to champion your brand and help execute its goals. If you're authentically passionate about providing products and services that can solve your clients' problems, your credibility as a reliable establishment in the field will continue to grow.  Below are 15 Fast Company Executive Board members to share their ideas and increase your influence in the marketplace. 

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While email marketing can provide a great ROI, it has to be done the right way to make an impact. By 2025, the number of daily global emails sent is expected to surpass 376 billion. That's why a good email marketing campaign has to stand out from the noise and truly entice its recipient to open and click through. At the same time, it can't be too pushy or sales-oriented -- you don't want to scare off your customers. Mistakes are common in email marketing, especially for companies new to this marketing channel. Below, 15 Fast Company Executive Board members give examples of some of the biggest email marketing mistakes they've seen and how you can avoid them.

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Even if you're self-funded, there are affordable ways to recognize and reward your team for a job well done. For a bootstrapped startup, giving monetary rewards to show appreciation to stand-out employees might not be possible in the very beginning. But there are other kinds of rewards and ways of recognizing hard work that experts have found make a larger impact than money. From shout-outs in all-hands meetings to creating dedicated "kudos" Slack channels, startup founders have created innovative and effective ways to show their appreciation for their employees' hard work without going over budget. Below, a panel of Fast Company Executive Board members provides their best cost-effective ideas for recognizing employees for their excellent work.

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Here's how department leaders are breaking the conversation barriers to improve their team relationships. To encourage ongoing dialogue, and inspire an employee's enthusiasm about their contribution to the job, a leader must be relatable, humble, and willing to show up to support their team on a daily basis.  Revealing a sense of humanity and their commitment to staff in the workplace also demonstrates their openness to receive feedback. This, in turn, empowers employees to stay engaged when given a voice—to brainstorm collective solutions that make the organization even better. Below, 13 Fast Company Executive Board members share their best practices to spark some safe, transparent, and meaningful discussions in the office.

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The right automation slots into the way you’re already doing business and helps you get more growth from the sound instincts you have.

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Developing a growth strategy is important, but it takes the right resources and circumstances to make it work right away. If a business wants to grow, it must consistently change and adapt to meet the expectations of the market. Many growth strategies revolve around enhancing your customer's experience, whether that be through increased communication services like live chats or getting involved with non-profits they might align with. Whatever the method, having a solid growth strategy in place, and the resources to execute it, is key for any company. To that end, 14 Fast Company Executive Board members share growth strategies that work immediately and how to implement them. 

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It takes a special leadership skill set to successfully motivate and inspire employees that you don't see in person every day. Managing a remote team comes with its own set of unique challenges, especially for companies with remote employees located in different time zones. Employees may struggle to feel like they are a part of a team when working alone from home all day. They may struggle to feel heard without the option of an in-person open-door policy. They may also feel burned out from merging their work and living spaces. Great leaders anticipate problems like these and know how to respond in a way that benefits all. To that end, 15 Fast Company Executive Board members share their best tips for supporting remote employees. 

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If you build technology or design solutions for others, take a closer look at how your own teams use those tools for comparable tasks.

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How to keep your company's original mission relative to the future growth market.  To avoid remaining stagnant in today's evolving marketplace, an entrepreneur must keep one eye on the pulse of the latest trends and the other on the reasons for going into business in the first place. To stay balanced, the leader should make pursuing innovation a natural part of the company's course in order to survive. Below, 15 members from Fast Company Executive Board weigh in on the path to blending legacy with future possibilities to help their companies thrive.

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Contrary to the fail-fast school of startup thinking, innovation doesn’t come out of a brainstorm session, land in the market, and then either win or lose.

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Set your terms and conditions early to achieve a positive partnership and maximize outcomes. As you continue to network and market the business, you may be open to innovative ventures and exciting opportunities that come your way to boost the company's platform and share its products or services even further. At first glance it may seem like a good idea to join forces with a new alliance in business, but how much do you really know about your potential partner's financial track record, its commitment to customer satisfaction, and whether it shares your same core values and views on what it takes to maintain success in the marketplace?  That's why 13 Fast Company Executive Board members want to point out additional key factors that leaders must consider in the decision-making process prior to signing the next deal.

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10 ways to maintain relevance in an ever-changing digital work environment. In an evolving virtual world, it's important for companies to stay informed about the newly developed system solutions and devices that are there to make the daily operations of a small, medium, or large enterprise run a little smoother. Whether you are a COO executive whose days are filled with back to back meetings, or a middle manager with a team of direct reports and other follow-up responsibilites that take up a good portion of your day, it's not an easy task to squeeze in additional hours to take a deeper dive into why your individual department or entire company should strongly consider investing in the latest platform, software or gadgets on the market.  That's why Fast Company Executive Board members wanted to share their 10 ideas for educating leaders and staff about the current digital technology updates. 

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Do some spring cleaning by finding new ways to stay relevant and up-to-speed in your industry.  With spring around the corner, it's a great time to get your (business) home in order. Maybe the focus is on a complete overhaul of products or services that are still underperforming, or maybe your team wishes to develop a brand new way of reaching current and potential clients more effectively through the digital marketing funnel and sales process. While some organizations are setting up new automated systems or boundaries to help hit their quarterly marks throughout the entire year, others are also playing catchup on a backlog of projects impacted by false starts and stops in the workplace based on the global pandemic. No matter the case, 11 experts from Fast Company Executive Board share the one business cleaning goal they have in mind to produce a smoother workflow operation for their teams in 2022, and why.

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Feeling "stuck" can have a negative impact on multiple areas of your business. Thankfully, there are ways to reignite your creative spark. No matter how successful their company is, it's common for business owners and their teams to feel stuck in a rut. Whether employees aren't as productive or creativity is no longer flowing, these circumstances can cause a drop in sales and have a negative impact on company culture overall.If this feels like the situation you're in, there are some ways to get "unstuck" and jumpstart your business's success. Below, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board shared some tips for sparking unique creativity for your brand in 2022.

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The parameters of competition for talent have changed, and every business will need to rise to the challenge.

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No matter how limited your business budget is, every company should find room for these essential line items. A business’s cash flow, especially during the pandemic, can get thin at times. In these cash-strapped periods, it’s vital for executives to make shrewd money decisions based on company values and goals. While saving money should be a priority in these situations, there are some parts of the business that shouldn’t be undercut. Below, members of Fast Company Executive Board each shared one thing executives should never skimp on, even on a tight budget.

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Bringing in high-quality business leads doesn't have to cost a ton of money. A business can’t be successful without interested customers, but attracting those customers and their interest can be one of the most challenging parts of launching or maintaining a business. It can also be quite costly to generate leads, and many smaller or newer businesses may have a tighter budget to work with. Even with a reduced budget, there are still many unconventional but effective ways to create interest in your services or products. From collaborating with other business leaders to leveraging data insights, these nine Fast Company Executive Board members shared their expert tips for low-cost lead generation. 

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To truly innovate and tap into your company's full creative potential, you need a diverse workforce with equal access to opportunities. Innovation in business is powered by unique perspectives and new ideas. At the forefront of innovation is diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Having diverse perspectives from teammates who come from different backgrounds ensures that your team approaches a problem from multiple angles and this can lead to faster resolutions. Diverse teams also adapt to changes more easily, reach more potential customers and offer the opportunity for ground-breaking change. As leaders in their industries, the members of Fast Company Executive Board understand the importance of innovating and the role diversity, equity and inclusion play in achieving it. Below, 15 of them shared the most impactful ways that DEI fuels innovation. 

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If you want to grow a successful business and be sure that your clients are satisfied, it's important to track their digital footprint and exposure to your brand—every step of the way. By doing so, you'll be able to quickly address any questions, concerns, or deal-breakers that may come up immediately. This will help in reassuring them that they've made the right decision engaging with your company's products and services.  Below, 14 panel experts of Fast Company Executive Board share practical ways to evaluate your customers' journey (without their direct feedback) and turn things around so you don't lose them.

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In the mobile-first world, marketers need to consider how their message will be received on smartphones and tablets. For many consumers, smartphones and tablets have become the go-to platforms for online browsing and shopping. The smartphone revolution of the last decade has also prompted marketers around the globe to begin rethinking their digital strategies.  To succeed in the modern market, companies need to think about mobile-first campaigns that reach consumers where they are. To help you do this, 12 Fast Company Executive Board members shared their predictions for the biggest mobile marketing trends to look out for in the first half of 2022, and how to take advantage of these up-and-coming strategies.

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Many businesses pride themselves on culture without thinking through the real implications that could have in the hiring process.

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Here are 16 tips to consider before your staff members dive into training for the latest software tools. Technology exists to make our professional lives a little easier. However, when department managers and their teams get too comfortable with the old way of doing business in a familiar pattern or process, it’s never easy to convince them to adapt to the latest infrastructure all at once. If your company is currently pursuing a new digital platform or service, an expert panel of Fast Company Executive Board members share 16 ideas to support each employee’s tech level and learning style.

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There’s more to supporting the missions of nonprofits than just writing checks. Business leaders—and their team members—like to give back to their communities, and nonprofit organizations are an integral part of every community across the country. Whether it’s a school, hospital, charity, or other organization, each nonprofit plays a large role in supporting others. While donating money is always appreciated, leaders may want to do more than just write out a check. Below, a panel of Fast Company Executive Board members shares some creative, truly helpful ways to contribute to the missions of local nonprofits.

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There’s a huge difference in the level of commitment to acting on customer insight—and there’s a huge difference in where it can take you as a business.

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Some regular practices may seem harmless but can hinder your effectiveness as a leader. To build and guide a company or organization takes a lot of good habits, and successful leaders soon learn and adopt practices that help them stay on top of to-do lists, keep their teams engaged, plot smart goals, and balance their personal and work lives. But being a successful leader isn't just about having good habits—it's about avoiding bad ones.  It’s all too easy for a leader to unknowingly slip into bad habits that can hinder success. Some of these habits may deliver short-term solutions, but keeping them up can decrease efficiency, disrupt good working relationships, and even create long-term problems. Below, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board share seemingly harmless habits that every entrepreneur should recognize and eliminate to ensure continued progress and success.

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The holiday season may bring an influx of sales to your e-commerce business, but the right strategies can keep your customers coming back even in the off-season. With the increasing popularity of online shopping, e-commerce businesses look forward to some of their biggest sales of the year during the holiday season. The holiday sales rush is an important source of revenue for e-commerce businesses—especially with well-publicized opportunities like Cyber Monday—but it’s usually not enough to support them for the entire year.  Because every day can’t be Cyber Monday, online business owners need strategies to keep sales coming in between major shopping holidays. Below, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board share advice e-commerce businesses can use to attract customers and bring in revenue during the “off-season.”

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No entrepreneur starts their business journey knowing everything, so it helps to have some hints from those who have walked the path before them. Every entrepreneurial journey comes with a learning curve—one that is likely to include both missteps and victories. Experience may be the best teacher, but it doesn't necessarily have to be one's own personal experience. By getting advice from others who have taken the journey before them, entrepreneurs can gain insights that smooth some of the bumps in the road ahead.  Following the right advice can save you from making some of the big mistakes that have cost other entrepreneurs wasted money, time, and energy—and help you make smarter decisions that will shorten your path to success. Below, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board share the financial advice they wish they’d received prior to starting their businesses.

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The growing popularity of livestreamed video content can give businesses a great new way to connect with customers. Many social media platforms today have a livestreaming function, including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Patreon, and others. When used correctly, livestreams can be a fantastic way to connect and build relationships with customers. They’re a tool to help answer questions, advertise new products, and engage with customers on a personal level. One of the best uses of livestreaming is using it to build a community around your brand. Below, 14 members of Fast Company Executive Board share some of the most effective ways to use livestreaming—including their own positive experiences.

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A conversation with an underperforming employee is a delicate situation that must be handled with care. As a leader, it's important to be able to have tough but necessary conversations with employees. When an employee isn't performing to their full potential, leaders must guide them the best they can and work with them to find the root of the problem. It's certainly a challenge to have these conversations, which can be uncomfortable and awkward for both parties. And if they're not executed properly, your conversation could hurt your relationship with the employee, causing further damage to their morale and performance. To help you have constructive conversations with employees who need some coaching, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board have shared one thing a leader should never say or do when meeting with an underperforming employee.

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How to use customer experience automation to the best of your ability.

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You can't improve what you don't measure, so make sure you're keeping an eye on your customer experience metrics. A business can't survive without happy, paying customers. That's why measuring customer experience is vitally important for any business that wants to grow—and it doesn't have to be a difficult metric to pin down. There are proven methods for determining how your customers feel about your service, and leveraging one or a combination of them can help you pinpoint both what you're doing right and areas that need improvement. Below, eight members of Fast Company Executive Board share some specific ways businesses can measure their customer experience. Follow their advice to gauge how satisfied your customers are with your product or service, and then use those insights to improve.

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Every professional story includes some mistakes and missteps—including the stories of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders. Mistakes are an unavoidable reality of everyday life, including in the business world. The key to success is not perfection but bouncing back from mistakes and learning from them for the future. Some of today’s most successful entrepreneurs faced significant stumbles and setbacks before striking gold. The members of Fast Company Executive Board have also overcome their share of obstacles during their professional journeys. Below, 13 of them reveal their biggest missteps on the road to success. The lessons they learned from them are among the many reasons they’ve gotten where they are today.

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Today’s consumers want to engage with the human beings behind a brand, not faceless corporations. “People buy from people.” It’s an adage that has never been more true than it is in today’s digital age. The online economy places near unlimited options at consumers’ fingertips. Even so, people crave real connections and a personal touch in their customer experience. Businesses must develop ways to reach people on a human level to convert online connections into sales. Both B2C and B2B companies will see better results if they’re able to show the human beings who drive their brands. Below, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board discuss ways business leaders can humanize their brands, no matter what product or service they sell.

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Research shows that the pandemic has disproportionately affected the well-being and careers of people of color, and employers need to implement measures to mitigate that impact. Throughout the pandemic, numerous news stories have reported the outsized impact of COVID-19 on people of color—not just in terms of health equity but their overall well-being and career trajectory. While business leaders can’t control the course of the public health crisis, they can work to mitigate any negative secondary outcomes for their staff. One way to do this is to ensure that team members of color have the support they need to continue to grow in their careers and maintain a healthy work-life balance, both now and beyond the pandemic. To help business leaders achieve this, eight Fast Company Executive Board members share their insights and advice below.

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Artificial intelligence has the potential to streamline everything from data science to content creation. Artificial intelligence has broken the boundaries of the tech world to become a focus for businesses of every stripe. Articles on the business benefits of AI feature regularly in publications devoted to any and every industry. Small-business owners reading all the ink on AI may think, “That’s great for the big guys, but there’s no way I can afford to set up or use AI.” But they’re very likely wrong about that. In today’s market, you don’t need an in-house IT team or deep tech skills to realize the productivity boosts and cost savings of AI. Existing tools and low-code platforms make tapping into the power of AI an achievable goal for businesses of any size and expertise. And you might be surprised at AI’s flexibility—there’s much more AI can do for your business beyond powering a website chatbot. So what are the ways small businesses of today are leveraging the power of AI? Below, seven members of Fast Company Executive Board share the ways they—and you—can see big benefits from this ever-expanding tech tool.