Job Hunting in the Time of Coronavirus: Budget-Friendly Tips for Finding Work

Are you wondering how you’ll pay the bills now that your workplace has shut down due to coronavirus? 

Not only are job opportunities limited due to the pandemic, but when you’re short on funds, it’s hard to come up with the cash you need to cover job search expenses. These budget-friendly tips will help you find work during the coronavirus lockdown without going broke.

The Cheapest Websites for Finding Work

Freelancing is a good way to start earning income ASAP when you’re out of work, and freelancing websites make it easy to connect with paying customers. Unfortunately, these platforms also charge fees — up to 20 percent of your earnings in some cases!

To find clients for graphic and web design, marketing, communications, data entry, remote customer service, and other freelance-friendly gigs, look to these free and low-cost websites instead:

• Craigslist: Craigslist is free to use, but watch out for scams. The Balance explains how to tell legitimate freelance opportunities from fake ones.

• Hubstaff Talent: Hubstaff Talent charges zero fees to freelancers and clients, making it the cheapest freelance platform on the web.

• Guru: With freelancer fees of 9 percent for basic users, Guru is more expensive than the aforementioned options but still one of few freelance sites with fees under 10 percent.

• FlexJobs: Instead of a percentage of earnings, FlexJobs charges a flat monthly fee with options starting at $14.95 a month, making it a great choice for people freelancing temporarily.

Budget-Friendly Tips for a Professional Video Interview

Before you can land a freelance gig, you need to ace the interview. While working from home technically means you can work in your pajamas, it’s not the best choice when you’re hoping to impress a client over video chat. In addition to ensuring you’re well-groomed, have a professional outfit ready for virtual meetings. If you don’t have anything suitable in your closet, don’t panic. Even with stores closed, you can find good deals on professional clothing by shopping online with retailers like American Eagle and searching for AEO coupons and promo codes to enter at checkout.

How to Build Your Skills with Free Online Resources

Are you struggling to get hired online? It may be because your resume is lacking. Luckily, there are tons of online resources that let you boost your skills for free. These are the best online learning resources you can use to strengthen your resume:

• Coursera: Coursera has some of the most diverse class offerings of all online learning resources, with course options ranging from computer science to communications.

• edX: With access to courses from Harvard and MIT, edX provides high-caliber online education for free.

• Alison: In addition to free courses, Alison lets users earn certificates and diplomas at no cost, making their online classes a great addition to your resume.

Not sure where to start with online learning? The Muse offers 18-course recommendations for expanding your skills.

Low-Cost Solutions for a Professional Website

A professional website boosts your credibility as a freelancer, but what if you don’t have the funds to pay a professional web designer? When you need to get a website up and running with as little time and money as possible, look to website builders. Website builders combine drag-and-drop web design tools with integrated hosting so you don’t need to be a tech wiz to set up a website. While there are a variety of website builders out there, Weebly offers the cheapest plans for month-to-month users with pricing starting at $9.

Finding freelance work is a great way to boost your income during the coronavirus lockdown, but getting started with freelancing isn’t free. Luckily, there are lots of ways to save money on the things you need to find freelance clients and build a professional web presence. Whether you freelance for a few weeks or start working for yourself full-time, these tips will help you do it at a price you can afford.

Image via Unsplash

Make a brand difference™

Persuasive Wordplay in Animated Email Advertisements

Animated email advertisements by Google. An incredibly well-known company, which began as a search engine but now houses an entire suite similar to that of Microsoft Office. The following advertisement is for their advancement into becoming something of an "all-in-one" company, similar to Apple's "Siri," "Google Assistant" is an assistant to help people complete tasks by only using vocal commands. However, let's see how their advertisement compares to our standards.

Google Assistant Advertisement - Overall Grade: A

ANIMATED:


The animated portion of their advertisement is extremely well made for email-based marketing approaches. Firstly, it's a small portion of the email that's fully animated, creating smaller file size, and therefore, a shorter loading time. 

The pretense of this advertisement is the sentence, "Have Google -blank- it." Putting different words in place of this "blank" is effective in that it's able to give examples of what the audience can do with this specific product. In giving multiple different uses for the Google Assistant, more people will buy into the idea of using it, because they can see a practical use for the product. Having the text move quicker and quicker as the animation goes on before replacing the changing verb into the slogan is smart because it gives the audience a sense of there being many, many more options available, and that there isn't enough time to look through them all. This is smart as a way to also lead into the ending, where the slogan appears.

The bold statement of "Make Google do it" is extremely effective in that it's able to very simply explain what the entirety of the animated advertisement had been trying to say; essentially, that Google, or Google's Assistant, can do anything you ask it to, and that all you have to do is tell it to do so. It's a smart way to tell the audience that they need to "Make Google do -blank-" in a way that doesn't sound like a command. If it were phrased that way, fewer people would be inclined to listen, even just a little bit, because people don't like being told what to do. However, with the email advertisement saying that they should make Google -blank- it, the audience doesn't feel as if they're being commanded, but that they can tell Google what needs to be done.

To finish off the animated advertisement with the logo for Google's Assistant is extremely smart, especially coupled with the fact that it is the only color in the entire animation. Having it be the only splash of color helps to make the logo stand out, as well as making sure that the audience remembers it from the animation. Considering the logo is also used within Google Assistant itself, it's good that it's in the advertisement to give the audience and customers a tie-in to the product itself.

STATIC:

The rest of this advertisement is great, considering that it came up in time for spring. The imagery of someone pruning a tree, getting it healthy for spring, is not only a great juxtaposition of the monotony of black, grey, and white (minus the Google Assistant logo, of course), but it also brings in the color green as a focal point, which is not only associated with nature and life but also money and wealth, slightly inspiring imagery of Google Assistant being a product that will help someone's life be prosperous. "Spring into action" is a really cute way to blend in the time, and give a reason to begin using Google Assistant, which we'll mention soon. Through the statement, "tidy up and make way for what matters most with help from your Google Assistant," one can assume that the email advertisement is alluding to the fact that, in spring, many people participate in spring cleaning, in order to have a clean start for the rest of the year. This can also be helped through the fact that they're advertising a completely hands-free version of the AI, meaning that the audience can be cleaning with their hands, and begin searching things, create reminders, and more, simply by saying a vocal prompt. 

The final part of the email advertisement states that Google Assistant can be available across different devices, which not only helps sell their product to people who maybe have multiple devices that support Google Assistant, or at least, try to send a subconscious message for people who don't have multiple devices, to perhaps look into buying some for the upcoming seasons. 

Overall, the grade I've given is simply because I believe that every aspect of this animated email advertisement is absolutely wonderful. The subtle psychology behind the wording of the slogan, the color aspects of the animation, the color of the static image below, the wordplay on the season, and the slight advertisement at the bottom; everything works cohesively together, and it's orchestrated into a beautifully simple, yet complex advertisement that is succinct and persuasive.

Related Content: Using Free Email Accounts for Business (Podcast: Morning Joe with Gibrón) 

Animated Email Advertisements and Color Theory

We continue our examination of animated emails from top brands by taking a look at Olive Garden's National Breadstick Day advertisement. Olive Garden is a well-known restaurant known for its home-style attitude, its never-ending garlic breadsticks, and its amazing salad dressing. The following email advertisement was for National Breadstick Day, trying to get their newsletter followers to "celebrate breadsticks" at their nearest Olive Garden.

Olive Garden National Breadstick Day Advertisement - Overall Grade: B-

ANIMATED:

This specific advertisement is alright. The animation itself is choppy, almost looking like stop-motion, which could potentially be in order to add to the homemade feel that the restaurant likes to advertise. The way that the breadsticks are crawling off the plate is definitely a plus, though, because it seems to imply that everyone at the table is taking the breadsticks and that everyone wants some. The composition of the advertisement is very good, though, having the plate of breadsticks in the center as if the reader were looking down at their table, then having their signature salad in the upper lefthand corner and what looks like a soda in the upper right. 

Having the colors of the letters be the light green that they are is both aesthetically pleasing against the dark brown of the table, and is great at connecting the entire piece together as it's the same color as the salad in the upper lefthand corner. The alternating brown color is good as it also connects to the brown wood of the table the plates and whatnot are sitting on, and as a good contrast to the white plate. This is all ignoring the fact that the new logo is made with the same colors, however, and the colors could just be exact color drops from that. The same logic could be applied to those colors being chosen for the logo as well, though. Green is usually associated with nature and freshness, which are good to think of with a restaurant that has a very memorable salad appetizer. Not to mention that it's associated with growth and money, possibly subconsciously telling their customers that they are a very successful company and that they're a good choice to go to. The brown is effective in sharing the idea that the restaurant is friendly, which is a selling point in most of their advertisements as well.

STATIC:

The message below is very clever. Most, if not all, of Olive Garden's audience, love their signature breadsticks, and the company is capitalizing on that. By saying that "one breadstick is never enough," Olive Garden is subconsciously telling its audience that they need to eat multiple breadsticks to feel satisfied, which is good, considering that the restaurant gives unlimited servings. Even the button at the bottom is useful with this, by bringing home the entire advertisement and reminding the audience why it was sent out. By stating "celebrate breadsticks" on the button to the website, they both remind the audience that it's National Breadstick Day, but also make them crave exactly what they're trying to sell.

The grade I've given is derived from the overall placement of the components and the design of the advertisement, but not the animation itself. Even if the point of having the choppy animation was to add to a homemade, stop-motion feel to the advertisement, it seems lazy and uninteresting. The composition and colors were nice, as well as the written message below, which definitely helped boost the grade a bit. Although, no matter the interesting thought development behind it, and the message it may have, this advertisement doesn't make me feel as though I need to go out and get some breadsticks alongside some Olive Garden Italian food, even if it was National Breadstick Day.

Animated Email Advertisements are Instinctively Interesting

As people who frequent pizza delivery services may have heard, “No One Out-Pizzas the Hut.” Pizza Hut is a well-established company with over 11,000 stores across the world, with thousands of people subscribed to their emailing services to gain coupons and the newest, freshest information about the company. With so many people to reach out with simply email, Pizza Hut stepped up its game in October of 2016 with an animated Halloween email promotion.

Pizza Hut Halloween Advertisement - Overall Grade: B+

ANIMATED:

This advertisement is simple, yet effective, especially for parents wanting to host Halloween parties or events. It grabs attention immediately by being extremely dark, contrasting a usually red and white color scheme that Pizza Hut uses almost universally as with their branding. The black is also a considerate contrast to the Halloween orange that is usually used in branding in October. Once the audience is looking, either the bright red text at the bottom will have them reading, or the scary animated red eyes that seem to pop out of nowhere will have them looking at the ad for longer than if it were simply a still image. The animated leaves that move across the image from right to left also keep the audience interested, and if they’ve finished reading the text, bring their eyes back to not only the image of the door but also the beginning of the text. A good addition to this advertisement would be perhaps having the door open slightly, or maybe having it slamming shut after the eyes look around, maybe adding creaking noises or a growl of some sort. I gave this animated advertisement a B+ for its creativity in design for a Halloween advertisement, and the quality of the animation that they’ve included. The best way to improve, in my opinion, would be to add extra movement to keep the reader’s focus for longer or to keep it memorable.  

STATIC:

The effectiveness of this advertisement would be lacking if it were just a still image instead of an animation because some would simply look and move on, perhaps not even reading the text on it. However, with the small moving details, the brain gets distracted and will look to see what information it’s missing that’s causing the movement to happen.

The benefits of having animation in email marketing are more than just eye-candy, it’s psychology, and while I won’t go into too much detail here, it’s similar to what I just stated. Our brains instinctively see motion in order to protect ourselves, so when there is a static image, our brains will more likely ignore it in favor of one that’s moving.

This opens up a world of opportunity with our advances in technology, especially for the best marketing advancements. While some are content with static billboard images, innovators are creating interesting animated email advertisements. As these types of animated email ads are produced and become more mainstream, the importance then turns to not only if an advertisement is eye-catching, but also if it’s pleasant to look at, if it keeps the reader’s attention, and if it evokes the correct response out of who the company is trying to reach. With all of these attributes in mind, creative marketing strategies such as making interesting animated email advertisements such as the Pizza Hut one above are not only effective because they might look cool, but they have a psychological reason to do so. It is only through tactics such as these that the companies willing to keep up with the ever-changing field of marketing will be able to flourish.     

Sources:

Pizza Hut Statistics

No One Out-Pizzas the Hut

Brain Evolution

Content Creators Consider Great Content Controversial

By the nature of creating content, it takes much longer to create content than it does to consume it.  So if we assume that only humans can create content that is going to be valuable, then there will never be enough humans to create enough content that not even one person will consume.

Source: Are We In A Content War? 

Content. Content. Content.  
Without content, we have nothing to share, argue, or boast about.  Content marketing has many goals – mainstream media has mastered how to move consumers from one isle to the next looking for the products that move them emotionally.

Think about the last time you were on the shampoo aisle... your eyes moving up and down, left and right, in search of that "one" word or special phrase and attractively shaped packaging that has you thinking... "This one will transform my hair and even make my hairstyles look better, even though I have nappy hair." This proves that creative package design plays a key role in the product's success.

Creating Great Marketing Content
To move consumers, you must be moving.  This requires motivation, purpose, and passion.  There are 3 tasks your marketing content must do to be valuable:

1. Create a question. 
2. Provide an option.
3. Deliver with impact.

We all know that "mainstream media" is really a reflection of prevailing waves of thought, influence, or activity. But, choosing the right words (ammunition) to be compelling is where the action begins.  Your content can be shocking like the power of the Shamwow towels that hold 12 times their weight in liquid and will not scratch surfaces. Or, perhaps something that "satisfies" like a Snickers candy bar which has the power to take you from a sour puss to a superhero in just one bite.

In any event, you want to win, it's often very important that you have a good plan, proven ability, and lots of training.  It's true when NFL superstar, Tom Brady says "You are the sum of your training." In the Under Armour commercial.  If you enter a battle with poor artillery, weak soldiers, and a sketch rather than a plan, chances are that you will fail.  The same is true when entering the content war. 

Why fight a losing battle with your fingers crossed? 
You have great content creators just beyond a few keystrokes of your computer keyboard.  You would be out of your mind to race at NASCAR with only a few late-night road rage rendezvous, no sponsors, and a factory-built automobile – a big waste of time, energy, and money.  

Contact professional content marketing creators to gain exposure for your local business or national communications campaign to win your battle with great content marketing.

Make a brand difference.™

6 Tips for Marketing Your Small Business

Don't feel like reading? Listen to 6 Tips for Marketing Your Small Business via blogcast | 6 min.

What does it take to market your small business like a professional?

In a normal situation, you wouldn't hire a plumber to install your light switch.  So why would you as a business owner, try to create a logo, program a website, design a brochure, manage numerous social media profiles, create eye-catching email messages, measure Google Analytics, write and publish articles online, generate links to your website, design postcards, edit and publish online videos, select the best photography to represent your companies brand, write a press release, conduct research and stay in tune with new marketing opportunities… need I say more?  

In a nutshell, creating and maintaining a working marketing plan takes the BEST (balance, expertise, strategy, tenacity) of marketing consultants, and that's exactly how Oevae Marketing Consultants was born.  As Muhammad Ali once said, "It's not bragging if you can do it."

Chances are, if you wanted to be a marketing consultant, graphic designer, or Internet marketer, you wouldn't be reading this post.  On the opposite hand, you probably are very good at doing what you have been trained to do. You are intelligent and capable of learning new things, but those things should be in your field of expertise.

Catchy and unique marketing solutions for small business brands

Over 13 years ago, we noticed that many small business owners were capable of producing a basic brochure using Microsoft Word or Powerpoint, creating a website using a click-and-build platform, and even sketching a logo.  However, all of these pieces of their branding puzzle did not fit together to deliver a consistent brand message to consumers.  Most attempts left the business owner frustrated and using what they had until they found a source to create something better, and many called upon Oevae to create catchy and unique marketing solutions.

6 tips to help you become effective at marketing your small business

1. Get the know-how

Knowing what not to do when it comes to marketing is as important as knowing what to do. Let’s face it, the evolving world of marketing can be pretty tricky to navigate on your own. So ask an expert before you go jumping into building that click-and-build website.

2. Make your customers' priority number one

Understanding who your customers are, what makes them like your company, and what they really want or value, and obviously staying in touch with them after you hand them the receipt, keeps you in their mind as a prominent source.

3. Know your target market

‘Everyone,’ I repeat, 'everyone' is not your target! Targeting your marketing activities directed at the people who need and want your service or product is the secret to creating quality inquiries and getting prospects to open their wallets or tell their friends about your business through social media.

4. Remember that marketing is not advertising

Don’t make the common mistake of thinking that advertising and websites are the only two ways to attract more business. Your small business can be marketed in literally hundreds of ways, so it's a smart decision would be to schedule a discussion with a marketing expert to know what you can do and then eliminate the ones that won’t work, or that you can’t afford, now.

5. Set sales goals and targets

Marketing really is about numbers. Marketing efforts that won’t directly or indirectly bring in new business have absolutely no point. A marketing consultant can help you define what your realistic goals should be in terms of revenue, expenses, profit, number of inquiries and, of course, the number of new sales.

6. Memorize the four P's of marketing

Getting your product, pricing, placement strategy (distribution), and promotional strategy moving along and working together is crucial to good marketing.

Do it right the first time

Wayne, a friend of our founder told a story about his success as a Regional Manager of a popular grocery store chain.  As the regional manager, Wayne would often be called upon to visit a store that was losing money. Wayne's responsibility was to keep that from happening.  Wayne said inevitably, he would uncover the same issue at every location - the store manager would have instructed an employee to repair or create something that they did not have the expertise to do effectively. Therefore, when the problem persisted, the store manager would repeat the process. This pattern would cost the store more money and ultimately become a reflection of the store manager's inability to generate a profit.  Wayne said, "I would analyze the issue, call a professional to do the job, and solve the issue for good."

The truth about marketing small businesses

Mounds of time, effort, and money are saved in the long run, if you connect with experts to do what they do best.  

At Oevae, we have become a virtual marketing department for our clients.  We know that you need no-nonsense marketing strategies to secure a greater return on your money. We apply clever marketing plans and ideas without breaking the bank, or your back.  There's no one-size-fits-all solution. Every small business is different — the marketing plan and tactics for a Speech Therapist are entirely different from those of a Wedding Planner. However, the process of building a plan, sticking to it, and applying the time and resources it needs is the common secret to success in marketing.

Make a brand difference.™

Consultant Shares Mojo Behind Website Facelift

The popularity of creating a dot com for your business has evolved to many websites in need of a facelift. The website facelift, like the human facelift (rhytidectomy) is a procedure used to make your website look more appealing by removing old programming and design wrinkles and enhance graphics with or without losing your brand recognition.

The website facelift is the role of your marketing consultant and brand manager or creative director. It's also a good idea to run your plans by the business owner before you start tinkering around with the brands image.

"If you are the business owner, you know how important it is that your businesses image reek with honesty, credibility, value, and intrigue. When you first had your website built, much like the date you were born - everything was beautiful. But as the years have past, much has changed on the outside and the inside - the same can be true for older websites"

The website that brought you new customers just 3 years ago, may be running out of steam as new points of distribution are created and innovative technologies (Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, Digg, orkut, befo, Netlog, Flash, iPhone apps, Android, etc.) become more mainstream - many innovations may not integrate well with your website graphics, programming language, and marketing of your current website. So, how do you get your website's mojo back?

Fig. 1 (Dustcollectorco.com - Before Website Facelift)

Fig. 2 (Blastequipmentco.com - Before Website Facelift)

You might need a website facelift if your website looks like Dustcollectorco.com or Blastequuipmentco.com (Fig. 1 or Fig. 2). These websites were built more than 4 years ago. Though they both have great content, they both are very heavy in the text department. This text is valuable, however the way it is delivered needs to be updated and bring take advantage of some new innovations.

The steps you take can very like the wind, but there is a course of action that leads to a new website you can again be proud to own. There are 3 basic steps that business owner's can take:

1. Look at your competition; visits websites that "you" would feel confident if they represented your companies brand, mood, and appeal.
2. Ask the professionals to examine your website; locate a website designer and Internet marketing consultant.
3. Make a decision; let go of what has stopped working and promote your brand.

Like the human facelife, the website facelift may have a bit of discomfort in the first few weeks as you get use to the new look of your business. Sometimes there are new technologies related to how you manage your email or how your website content is updated, but many new advancements and innovations make owning and operations of your small business more manageable than just 3 years ago.

Fig. 3 (Dustcollectorco.com and Blastequipmentco.com combined into 1 Flash website with updated brand)

In Fig. 3, Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, you see the first screenshots from the recent re-launch of Dustcollectorco.com and Blastequipmentco.com websites after the webiste facelift. In this case, our client took our suggestion to combine 2 older websites into 1 micro website. The website facelift brought a new logo design, new programming language and a rich user experience. Like a new baby, there will be growth and enhancements in the months and years to come, but now the client has a website (business storefront) that "reeks with honesty, credibility, value, and intrigue..." – now the website is more marketable and stands out among the competition. So when the opportunity exists, the first impression appeals to visitors.

Fig. 4 (After Website Facelift with Flash animation and enhanced layout to increase visitor experience)

Fig. 5 (After Website Facelift with advanced navigation and Flash animation to free user ability browse website)

Small business owners can benefit buy using advance experience software like Adobe Flash for websites. Although Flash has not made it to the tiny screen (mobile) just yet, Google has made it clear that significant strides in the ability of Google's search engines to index Flash content. This makes Flash an even brighter solution for your website design than anytime in dot com history because Google and Adobe have a growing relationship.

Get your website mojo back with a website facelift by Oevae Marketing Consultants, "the best marketing consultants in the world" – ask Google.


Make a brand difference.



Reference
Envirosystems Group
Oevae Marketing Consultants
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

Best name to use for your business

The name of your business is found in what you do best. Starting a lawn service? So are a bunch of other folks. Who cares? The best name you should use for your business has nothing to do with the other folks doing the same thing as you, that is to say, if you consider them the same as you. 

If this is true you might consider joining the other folks... take your ideas and your goals that way! If you consider that your brand is not like the other folks and you do something that you know people need but you have a twist. Read on. 

The best name you can use for your business can be really easy to find, but just because you like it, the people who read it may not. Take for example the word Oy Vey, /oi ˌvā/ is a Yiddish word used now by actors, celebrities, and most anyone who knows what the word means, and it may in fact be a part of your heritage... you use the word to replace "oh my goodness!" or "Oh no!" in general. You really wouldn't name your company that. Not unless it was the core of what you do best! Oy Vey - the word is the name of my marketing firm because our creative is just that. The word, when said describes what our clients like best about my firm. The clients say that they are overcome with our imagination and creativity... were even sometimes over-the-top and could use a chill pill. All in all the clients either really like our work or say "Oh no."

Oevae Marketing Consultants - which is pronounced like "Oy Vey Marketing Consultants" is a fun name that peeks at imagination, creativity, seriousness, and heritage (everything you want from a solid marketing firm). It is not an offensive name. It means as much as Apple is to iPod. This is the core relationship your business name should mimic in structure. Think of the movie IRON MAN. Why not GOLD MAN?  Gold is what you want to have and it has great value, right? It is if you are starting a Cash For Gold business, but not if you need protection. Then you want iron. Right?  Who would win the fight? IRON MAN or GOLD MAN and which is easier to replace. 

"When I began to talk to folks about Oevae ten years ago, I knew most of my conversations would not belong so, I had to get right to the punch line and make sure it brought them a pinch of joy." – Gibrón Williams

I'm thinking by now you are starting to understand how to name your business. And, if I'm correct, you understand that you understand why you need to think about your clients and how you will communicate how or why your brand is the best choice for them and not that of your competitors.

"Oevae" was a word that described me.  I am the core of my business.  I make the creative. Even my business card has my title as "Head Honcho."  So I call the shots.  Some are great and some are not so great. 

Whenever you need more insight or you want help marketing your business you can send your marketing questions to answers@oevae.com or please follow me @oevae on Twitter. You could also follow this blog and stop trying to be a Super Hero. I'm here because sometimes all you need is a little help. Gibron T. Williams is the Head Honcho at Oevae Marketing Consultants – Best marketing consultants in the USA - ask Google