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How To Create Canva Designs In Bulk

How To Create Canva Designs In Bulk

by | May 23, 2023 | Business, How To

Utilise “Bulk Create” to Save Time on Repetitive Designs. If you’re working on designs for business cards, invitations, certificates, labels, or anything with minor text changes (such as names, dates, or numbers), you can save valuable time by using the Bulk Create feature. This allows you to create multiple versions of the same design with ease.

Step 1: Accessing the Bulk Create tab

Go to the Bulk create tab to get started.

  1. Select a template or design you want to use for bulk creation.
  2. From the editor side panel, select Apps.
  3. Under More from Canva, select Bulk create.

 

Step 2: Importing data for Bulk Create

You can add the data to be used for Bulk create using different methods. You can enter data manually and connect images, or upload a CSV file that includes the data. More on these below.

Entering data directly

If you prefer entering data manually, you can do it from the Bulk create tab.

  1. From the Bulk create tab on the editor side panel, click Enter data.
  2. Delete the sample data by clicking on Clear data.
  3. Enter or paste the data into the table.
  4. If you need to add more columns or rows, click on a table cell.
  5. Click Accept to proceed.

Connecting images

You can also connect images you’ve uploaded to Canva. You can then assign these images to elements in the design covered in Step 3 below.

  1. From the Bulk create tab on the editor side panel, click Enter data.
  2. From the table, click Add data to add a new column.
  3. Select Image.

Click the + icon on the cell to find the image or video you want to upload.

Uploading a CSV file

Comma separated value (CSV) files are text-based files that allow data to be saved in a table format. CSV files are usually made using spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers.

To save or convert a spreadsheet into a CSV file:

  1. Open the spreadsheet with the data you want to use for Bulk create. If you don’t have a spreadsheet yet, you can create one using the spreadsheet programs mentioned above.
  2. Check that the data is in the correct order and in clearly labeled columns.
  3. If you’re using Google Sheets, click File and then Download. If you’re using Microsoft Excel, click File and then Save As. If you’re using Numbers, click File and then Export To….
  4. Pick the .csv file option as the document type.

To upload a CSV file:

  1. From the Bulk Create tab on the editor side panel, click Upload CSV.
  2. Select the CSV file with the data for Bulk create.

See Step 3: Connecting elements below for the next steps.

Step 3: Connecting data to your elements

After uploading the data, the next step is connecting it to the elements on the design. For example, if you’re creating a business card design, you need to connect the “First name” and “Last name” elements to the correct columns from the data table.

  1. On the page of your design, right-click on the element you want to connect.
  2. Click Assign data.
  3. Select the data field you want to connect the element to.
  4. If you’d like to attach an image, you need to add a frame element. You can add a frame from the Elements tab of the editor side panel.
  5. Repeat from Step 2 until you’ve connected all columns. If your design has multiple pages, go to the page with the element you want to connect and repeat from Step 1.
  6. Click Continue to proceed.

Step 4: Creating designs in bulk

The final step before bulk creation is to select which data to use.

  1. Select the data you’d like to use. All data is selected by default. You can untick the data you don’t want to use.
  2. Click Generate. Once done, the pages created in bulk will open on a new tab.
  3. Check if the pages are generated correctly. Adjust the elements as needed.
How your business can grow its returns with email marketing

How your business can grow its returns with email marketing

by | May 8, 2023 | Business, Customer Service, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing, Mailchimp

Email marketing gives you immediate access to your audience by allowing you to send your content directly to their inboxes, which can lead to increased conversions and brand loyalty.

According to research email marketing has the highest return on investment than any other form of digital marketing.

Here are some best practices for using email marketing in your business:

The first step is to build a list.

You can’t market to anyone if you don’t have their contact information, and the best way to do that is by building an email list.

You want to develop an offering of some form that entices your target market to subscribe to your list. For example; a retail store may offer a discount on their first purchase, and service-based business might offer something that showcases their expertise and gives their audience a sample of how their services will benefit them. Give a solution to the most common problem your target market may have.

Send emails with personalized content that engages your readers.

Personalised content

  • is more effective,
  • helps build a relationship with customers, and
  • helps you stand out from competitors.

Personalised emails are more likely to be read and acted upon by your customers, which can increase customer satisfaction levels if used appropriately.

Automate where possible

When someone signs up to your mailing list, create an automation where you welcome them and introduce your business and services in more detail so they can get to know you.

Some kinds of automation you can also add that have great ROI (return on investment) are

Anniversary or birthday emails – make your audience feel special. Sending a birthday or anniversary email is a wonderful way to make a customer feel special. You can add an incentive for them to buy products as part of their birthday wishes, for example: when they spend $50, they will receive a birthday gift valued at $30.

Abandon Cart or Recovery emails – often people can get distracted on a website and forget to finish their purchases, a simple email saying you held their items for them can see purchases completed.

Some interesting statistics on abandoned cart emails by Moosend

  • A staggering average of 69% of online carts are being abandoned by users 
  • 45% of cart abandonment emails are opened; 21% of all are clicked on, while 50% of the users clicked purchase. 
  • Shipping-related reasons contribute to over 60% of carts being abandoned. 
  • Setting up an automated cart abandonment email is a great way to lower your cart abandonment rates.
  • Offer free shipping to really boost the conversion of your cart abandonment emails.

Perhaps incorporating free shipping more regularly in your marketing offers could be a great conversion for your business, obviously, you would have set guidelines around this such as minimum spend amount, or limited time offer. 

Consistency

Send out a regular newsletter is important, this can be weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Consistency is key. Your target market has given you permission to be able to email them, so don’t allow this opportunity to be missed. Life gets busy, so being consistent is a gentle way of reminding your audience you are still there if they need you!

Content

Make sure your content is valuable to your audience. It’s a privilege that they’ve allowed you to email them directly, so treat them with that same respect. Where possible throughout your content, don’t be afraid to insert their first name.  

When creating your newsletter, create the value of sharing your content and showcasing your expertise.  

Whilst we have AI here to help you along, only YOU can make it a personal experience for your audience. 

Need Help?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the whole process, then feel free to reach out to me for assistance. Creating opt-in, automations, funnels and newsletters is one of my specialities.

Some wise words for you

David Newman says “Email has an ability many channels don’t: creating valuable, personal touches—at scale.”

Ramsay Leimenstoll says “A small list that wants exactly what you’re offering is better than a bigger list that isn’t committed.”

Ann Handley says “Make the customer the hero of your story”

Karl Murray says “Focus on growing your list all the time as newer subscribers are more engaged, adding to healthier open rates and ROI.”

12 tips to deal with time sensitive tasks

12 tips to deal with time sensitive tasks

by | Apr 5, 2023 | Business

Always leaving things to the last minute?
Struggling to meet those time sensitive deadlines?
Sick of sweating over it all?
Constantly wishing you’d organized your sh*t earlier?

Do these questions sound like you?

Time to change.

All successful and strategic businesses are not working in the NOW, they are actually months and some even a year ahead. Whilst we might be in the current year, successful businesses are already working on their products and services for next year.

For most businesses, trying to get ahead isn’t always as easy as it seems. And constantly facing time sensitive deadlines can be a repetitive cycle.

Here are 12 tips for what you can do when trying to meet those time-sensitive deadlines.

  • Backward Planning – Work from your deadline backward to identify how much time you have to get tasks done (realistically).
  • Buffer Time – Bring your internal deadline forward so you can allow more time to review and address any errors or missed components.
  • Break it down – List down all tasks in the project that need to be done.
  • One step at a time – Do not try to do everything at the one time as it will just lead to disaster. You will achieve more and have great progress completing one task at a time.
  • High priorities first – Identify which tasks you have are the highest priorities, and do those ones first.
  • Delegate – Determine what tasks can be delegated or outsourced, so you can focus on the important priorities.
  • Support and Expertise – Bring in support or experts to address key areas outside of your skill set.
  • Communicate – Keep communication strong with your team on what needs to be done and who is responsible for what. Maintain communication throughout the project so everyone is aware of where things are at. Use project management tools such as ASANA, Evernote or Basecamp to have a central communication point.
  • Focus – Focus on one section at a time.
  • Time – Ensure you block out adequate time to complete each task.
  • Commitment – Make sure you have not overcommitted.
  • Feedback – Take the time to get feedback from all those involved, including the client. This will enable you to learn and grow for the next deadlines.

Never be afraid to ask for help when meeting a deadline. You always want to make sure you are delivering to your client’s expectations. And always follow them up to ensure everything they need has been presented and ask if they have any questions for you.

Why email marketing is a MUST for any business

Why email marketing is a MUST for any business

by | Nov 8, 2022 | Business, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing

Why email marketing is a MUST for any business

If you’re like me and have a business, then you know that marketing is one of the most important parts of running it. And if you’ve been around for any length of time, you’ve probably seen a lot of the same old stuff when it comes to marketing: Google ads, Facebook ads, print advertising…and so on. But what if I told you that there’s a form of advertising that can help your business stand out from all the others? What if I said this form of advertising was proven to bring in more revenue? The answer is email marketing—but don’t just take my word for it!

Email marketing gives you intimate access to a customer’s inbox.

Email marketing is the most personal and intimate of all digital marketing channels.

Email gives you a direct line to your customers.

It’s the only channel that can be personalized to each customer.

You can use email to send targeted messages to specific customers, or broadcast a message out to all customers at once, depending on what type of campaign you want to run.

Email advertising is proven to make money.

Email advertising is one of the most cost effective ways to advertise. According to a study by McKinsey & Company, email marketing has a higher return on investment than other forms of advertising. When it comes to digital advertising, there is no denying that email has been and will continue to be one of the most effective ways for marketers to get their message in front of their target audience at scale.

Email marketing can be more effective than other forms of advertising

There are many reasons why email can outperform other forms of digital marketing and why you should consider using it as part of your overall strategy:

  • Email is more targeted than any other form of online media (including social). This means that your audience is more likely to be interested in what you have to say because they’ve opted-in or been actively “marketed” towards this content through previous interactions with your business (e.g., newsletter signup).

Email gets people clicking through your website.

You can’t just send out an email and expect people to click through your website like they used to. The key is to have a call-to-action (CTA) in your email that encourages people to click through. This helps you turn more leads into customers, as well as increase the number of sales you make from each lead.

The best way for businesses to use email marketing is by creating newsletters and promoting them on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, or even LinkedIn if it’s more appropriate for your business. You should also include a CTA in these emails that encourages people who receive them to visit the website or sign up for other services offered by your company.

For example: “Learn how we did it here.”

You get an invaluable opportunity to re-connect with inactive customers.

The best way to re-connect with inactive customers is by sending out a newsletter. This is an incredibly effective way to re-engage with your audience and let them know about new products, services or promotions that are happening. By doing this you’re reminding them of what your business has to offer and how it can benefit them.

You can also use newsletters as a way of thanking people for their support or loyalty over the years, which will help build up trust in the brand name going forward. Another great thing about using newsletters is that they’re easy enough for anyone on your team to create!

Email marketing lets you reach customers in a personal way that other media don’t offer.

One of the biggest advantages of email marketing is that it is a personal medium. When you send an email to someone, you are directly reaching out to them, and they know that it’s coming from YOU. There’s no middleman involved; no third party who may or may not be delivering your message in the way you intended.

Email also gives you more control over what information gets sent out. For example, when someone signs up for your newsletter or other updates through social media channels like Facebook Messenger, they might have to accept several permissions before receiving any messages from your business—and even after accepting these permissions, there’s no guarantee that all messages will get through anyway!

With email marketing campaigns, however, everything goes straight into the inboxes of people who have already granted permission by subscribing via email address or phone number (or both). And if some of those subscribers decide later on that they don’t want any more information from one company? They can just unsubscribe—no hoops required!

I encourage you, if you haven’t already, to implement your email marketing from an opt-in sequence to regular newsletters and special broadcasts for special events.  If you have any questions about how to get started or what tools are best for your needs, feel free to contact me here.

Why email marketing is important to your business

Why email marketing is important to your business

by | Oct 21, 2022 | Business, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing, Mailchimp

Email marketing is still alive and well, with over 12 billion emails sent every day. It’s not going anywhere. Email is a great platform for personalized messages to reach your customers and potential customers in their inboxes where they’re most likely to respond. In this article, you will learn why email marketing is vital to your business’ success, as well as how to get started with it if you haven’t yet!

Personalization.

Personalization is the key to getting your emails opened, clicked on and read. In fact, personalization has been shown to increase open rates by up to 80%.

It can also help you connect with your audience by showing them that you’ve taken the time to learn more about who they are as individuals.

Branding.

Email marketing is an effective way to build your brand.

It allows you to connect with customers and demonstrate that you care about their needs. By building a relationship with your audience, you’re creating trust and loyalty, which will allow them to feel more comfortable purchasing from you in the future.

This sense of trust and comfort can also help your business stand out from competitors who are trying to get noticed in this crowded market by using flashy ads, gimmicks or slogans that don’t really mean much for consumers (or even make them laugh). If a consumer trusts an email because it’s coming directly from someone within the company they know or has been recommended by someone they trust, then they’ll likely be more willing to give that particular business their attention than one whose only selling point is having a catchy tagline!

Customer retention.

Email marketing helps you keep in touch with your customers. You can send them deals or newsletters to remind them of your products and services. You can also use email marketing to get feedback from customers on what they like and don’t like about your business.

This is a great way for you to learn about which parts of your business are working well, so that you can improve them in the future!

Audience development.

Email marketing is a great way to grow your audience. Email is one of the most effective ways to engage with customers, especially if you want them to take action and buy something from you.

Email marketing is also a great way for brands to get their followers’ attention on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social media marketing allows businesses to engage with customers in real-time conversations by posting updates about new products or services as well as sharing industry news that may be relevant for their followers/customers

Revenue.

Email marketing is also an effective way to generate revenue. For example, consider the following statistics from Case, who has conducted a study on email marketing:

  • Email is one of the most effective channels for generating revenue with each email campaign generating an average of $39 in sales.
  • On average, email marketing generates 126% more ROI than other channels like search engine optimization and social media marketing.
  • Email marketing can help you increase revenue by up to 200%.

Email marketing is important to your business because it still works, and it’s always growing and changing to be more effective for all sorts of businesses worldwide.

Email marketing is important to your business because it still works, and it’s always growing and changing to be more effective for all sorts of businesses worldwide.

Email marketing is still effective because it’s personal. The internet has made our lives easier in many ways, but one thing hasn’t changed: people like to feel special. Email gives you the opportunity to make each recipient feel like they’re receiving a message just for them, rather than part of a mass mailing list that could include anyone who shares their name or birthday.

Email marketing is growing because it’s so flexible. There’s no limit on how far your email campaign can go—or how many new leads it can bring!

Email marketing continues to change as technology advances year after year; however those changes are not always immediately noticeable by small business owners who depend on email campaigns as an integral part of their overall brand strategy.

And that’s it! I hope this article has helped you understand why email marketing is still so important to businesses today. We know that everyone seems to be talking about social media, but don’t forget about the power of personalized messages in your inbox. The best part of all? You don’t need anything fancy to get started with email marketing; just sign up for an account with any provider, start building your list now by adding contacts one at a time, then follow these tips outlined above when crafting your next message!

 

 

What is an Online Business Manager and Do You Need One?

What is an Online Business Manager and Do You Need One?

by | Oct 1, 2022 | Business, Online Business Manager

If you’re a small business owner, you probably don’t want to feel like a slave to your company. You want to be able to take vacations, spend time with your family and even take an occasional all-nighter on the couch when necessary (like, um… never). Virtual assistants can help make that possible by handling some of the tasks that keep you chained to your desk. The problem is that VAs often have limited knowledge of how other departments work together in order to create results for customers. On top of that, their expertise is usually limited by what they’ve learned working as an employee rather than as a manager or project manager in their own right.

Virtual assistants are great for handling lower-level tasks, such as data entry and answering emails. OBM’s handle more complex tasks, and offer strategic support to increase your productivity, drive revenue goals and elevate your business.

Virtual assistants are great for handling lower-level tasks, such as data entry and answering emails. OBM’s handle more complex tasks, and offer strategic support to increase your productivity, drive revenue goals and elevate your business.

You may not need an OBM if you only have a one or two employees working for you in your company. However, if you have multiple employees or a large team working together remotely or in different locations throughout the world then having someone at the helm who can help manage those projects is essential.

While a virtual assistant is a time-saver for small businesses, an OBM will revolutionise the way you do business.

The difference between an OBM and a virtual assistant is that the former helps you grow your business, whereas the latter only assists you with basic tasks. An OBM will take on a broader scope of responsibilities than a VA, including:

  • Managing your online presence by promoting your products and services on various social media platforms
  • Optimising SEO for your website to help increase traffic and revenue
  • Creating compelling content for blogs and other marketing materials (including social media posts)
  • Working with designers to create custom graphics for each platform or campaign

The best way to find an OBM is through referrals from existing clients who are happy with their work. You can also ask industry leaders if they know any good candidates.

A virtual assistant costs less than hiring a full-time team member, but the quality of their work may vary depending on your VA’s experience and the amount of training you provide. On the other hand, OBM’s charge more per hour than VAs because they are trained to take over management of your entire business (or at least a significant portion of it) and have extensive experience across multiple projects.

A virtual assistant costs less than hiring a full-time team member, but the quality of their work may vary depending on your VA’s experience and the amount of training you provide. On the other hand, OBM’s charge more per hour than VAs because they are trained to take over management of your entire business (or at least a significant portion of it) and have extensive experience across multiple projects.

You can use VAs for simple tasks like responding to emails or scheduling meetings. But if your company is growing fast, it might be worth investing in an OBM so that they can handle more complex tasks like managing employees and strategic planning.

Virtual assistants often work as freelancers or in retail or customer service environments. As a result, they typically don’t have the experience required to understand how all the moving parts of your business fit together and impact day-to-day operations. However, an OBM has at least two years of experience in virtual business management or project management roles.

Virtual assistants often work as freelancers or in retail or customer service environments. As a result, they typically don’t have the experience required to understand how all the moving parts of your business fit together and impact day-to-day operations. However, an OBM has at least two years of experience in virtual business management or project management roles.

OBM services can help you streamline your workflow, eliminate time-consuming tasks, and manage projects more effectively—all while saving you money by freeing up your employees’ time for higher-value activities.

So, if you’re looking for an OBM, what should you keep in mind? The best way to find one is by asking for referrals from colleagues or friends who have worked with them in the past. You can also search online for companies that offer these services and ask them about their experience with OBM’s, as well as their pricing structure (which should be transparent!). If this sounds like something that could benefit your business and make life easier at home too? Then it might be worth taking a closer look!