Local Branding

Discover the Benefits of Field Service Automation

on December 9, 2021

While field service is as old as the business world itself, there’s been a massive expansion of the field service management industry lately. At this rate, it is expected that the field service management market might reach $5.1 billion by the year 2025.

The reasons behind this sudden boom are quite numerous. A good field service allows businesses to meet and exceed the expectations of their customers, reduce operational costs, and become more competitive. With all of this in mind and without further ado, you should definitely be aware of several benefits of field service automation.

Higher Level of Professionalism

Response time and adequate feedback are key factors in determining your perceived level of professionalism. There are other things that come hand in hand with field service automation, like giving everyone the type of treatment they deserve by automating the process itself. You see, once this type of process gets automated, it becomes far more systemic. By being thorough in your field interventions, you will be deemed as both more professional and attentive.

Digitalization, alongside automation, also leads to the availability of information on any location. If all the data – including the customer ticket, can be accessed in real-time by the field team, they’ll be more informed, and their actions on the spot will be far more effective. This will be evident even to your clients. As an end result, your company’s representatives (in this case, your customer support and your field team) will seem more competent.

Resource Optimization

Highly accurate field services will inevitably lead to much greater resource optimization. With better response time and route optimization, the fuel economy of your field teams will get a noticeable boost. It’s not just about the number of resources spent but the utilization of available resources. This too is something that great field service automation can help you with.

Second, the fact that the diagnostics will be automatic, your team will carry all the necessary equipment for the task at hand. This means that there’s a reduced likelihood that a repeat trip will have to be made. In other words, operational costs involving work-related commutes are far lower. Most importantly, this reduces the time between the client reporting the problem and your field team resolving it, resulting in a massive reputation boost.

Superior Coordination

Your field teams are just a tiny cog in a much greater machine. In order for your field team to do their job, your management, supply acquisitions, production team, and customer support need to do their job as admirably as possible. In other words, a lot of things need to come together in order for field service automation to give the desired effects. With field service automation, this becomes a lot easier to achieve.

One of the reasons behind this is the fact that the majority of field service platforms are cloud-based. This means that your field teams and those coordinating them can access the data they need and edit tasks from their personal devices. This global access makes communication, cooperation, and coordination much organic and nips the majority of logistical issues in the bud.

Greater Customer Satisfaction

One of the first benefits of field service automation is that it provides a much quicker response. As a result, you get better customer satisfaction. Sure, your field team might not be available right away, but just by providing your customers with an accurate ETA of the team, you’ll already ensure a great start. Adding to this, field service automation usually implies better diagnostics, and the successful resolution of the problem becomes even more likely.

There are several reasons why customer satisfaction is so important. First of all, it’s essential for your word of mouth (WOM), including the reviews and ratings you receive online. Second, it builds up customer loyalty. After a single successful interaction, 27% of customers are bound to return. If they’ve had a positive previous experience, chances are that they’ll come back for more. Even more importantly, 20% of your regular customers make as much as 80% of your profit.

Record Keeping

In order to improve your field service, you need to have some data that you can start working with. For instance, you need to have an estimate of the average time it takes your team to get to the target destination, the average cost of the intervention, and some specific feedback about these operations. Remember that a single intervention might not be representative, but you can start drawing conclusions once you have enough data.

Another benefit of field service automation is that it makes storing client history easy and systemic. In fact, when using the right field service automation tool, you can rely on this data to be delivered on-demand. This means that the next time you have to “activate” your field team, they’ll have the previous client data available, which will make this intervention more effective. Moreover, it will help them boost customer satisfaction even further (by giving the client what appears to be preferential treatment).

Insight Into Field Teams

For a lot of entrepreneurs, the question of what field teams do when they leave your premises is no short of a mystery. After all, while you can monitor your staff members personally or by using a remote employee monitoring software (remote workers), it’s quite difficult to make an estimate of the work done by a field team. With the help of field service automation tools, even this is made possible and with much better KPIs.

The majority of these tools have GPS trackers pre-installed, which is necessary, seeing as how fleet management is one of the essential field management aspects. Other than this, the above-mentioned reporting and record-keeping system also do a great job at improving your evaluation efforts. The collection of on-field data with mobile devices carried by your field teams will further enhance your ability to develop a much deeper understanding of the work they do.

Everything On a Single Device

Finally, in order to get more control, you want to centralize your workplace. This can be quite hard when a part of your team is in the office, some are working remotely, and you also have a field team. The collaboration tool might be the right way to go, but field teams definitely need the support of their own. This is why, while you want to keep everything on a single cloud-based platform or collaboration tool, you also want to have service automation software.

Most importantly, you need to adopt a new mindset when it comes to field service automation. You see, when accessing all of these platforms from your mobile device, they are all just a click away. In other words, you don’t have to keep everything on a single platform. Having it all on a single device is good enough. This is especially true if you already use private IM tools to communicate with some of your team members.

In Conclusion

In the end, field service automation is crucial for both your branding and your operational ability. As such, finding a way to improve it and make it more efficient is bound to result in the improvement of your overall business efficiency. While there are a lot of specialized tools to help you out, it is also important that you put field service automation as a priority when restructuring your organization. This way, the results are bound to follow.

Local Branding

Top 5 Tips to Make Your Online Business More Profitable

on December 9, 2021

A good idea and an online store are not enough to make money. Given how large the eCommerce industry is, it is natural to see various entrepreneurs and well-established businesses do their best to get a larger share of the market.

Even if you were to take a look at niches that might seem uncompetitive, the perspective changes once you do a quick search on Google and go through all the online stores that appear in the results.

From small stores to known brands, there are a plethora of different options, and consumers have plenty to choose from.

Of course, for someone who aspires to start an online store themselves, this competition indicates hardship, and overcoming other enterprises that had a head start could be so hard that you might lose motivation before accomplishing anything.

Having said that, others managed to start from scratch and create a source of income. And since there are plenty of examples of success, it means that you should be able to do it as well.

Once you have an idea and an online store up and running, you can move to what matters—advertising and driving traffic to the website that will hopefully convert. For that, you will need a strategy and some ideas.

Publish Customer Reviews

Drive social proof and convince shoppers that your goods or services are worth it by providing customer reviews.

In case you are selling your own product, you will need to encourage customers to leave reviews. 

And in case you are dropshipping, you can look to import reviews from other stores using import tools. Look at a detailed comparison of Opinew vs Fera and decide which of these two solid plugins suits you the best.

Now, as for those who do not dropshipping, getting customer reviews can become easier by:

  • Offering them incentives, such as free shipping or discounts on the next purchase after submitting a review
  • Sending follow-up emails asking for a review
  • Providing review templates and letting upload video recordings

Create FOMO

The fear of missing out is one of the oldest methods to drive more sales. People are programmed in a way that they do not want to miss out on good deals, and FOMO drives the impulse to purchase something before it disappears.

Imagine someone visiting a product’s page and seeing that there are only 5 items left in stock. In addition, there is a message saying that the last purchase was made 10 minutes ago and that there are 3 other people viewing the same product. 

It is most likely that this person will not take a risk and add the item to their shopping cart so that they can complete the transaction.

Running discounts for a limited time is another example of FOMO. Announce that there will be a sale on certain goods or services in the next 24 hours, and you are bound to notice a significant increase in website traffic.

Offer Flexible Shipping

Flexible shipping is another aspect of an online business that you can utilize to your advantage. Shoppers who see free shipping next to a product are more likely to buy it. There is a negative psychological effect when you have to consider shipping fees. After all, who wants to pay for shipping and a product at the same time?

It is common to play with prices so that you do not lose profits even if the shipping is free. Compare having to pay 10 dollars for a product and 10 dollars for shipping and having to pay 20 dollars for a product. Naturally, the latter option looks more appealing.

Simplify the Checkout Process

Overcomplicated checkout processes are a hindrance, and they should not exist if you want to make more sales. 

One of the primary reasons behind abandoned shopping carts is the time it takes to go through the checkout.

For one, do not force registration when shoppers can complete the transaction as guests. Also, do not ask for random registration details when an email account and a password are often enough.

The less time people have to spend at the checkout, the more likely they are to complete a transaction.

As a side note, do not limit available payment options if possible. Flexibility is also key, and an online store stands to gain more if it provides multiple payment gateways to its customers.

Promote on Multiple Marketing Channels

The last bit of advice is pretty straightforward. Whether you are serious about making a lot of money or creating a side hustle, you should not expect to profit without promoting the store.

Social media, PPC marketing, emails, and cold outreach, influencer marketing, search engine optimization, guest blogging, and other methods have their pros and cons. Test different approaches and see which work and which do not.

Once you get a better idea, you can build your marketing strategy around a couple of methods and focus on those. 

Local Branding

Tips for Sticker Design

on December 2, 2021

Printing stickers for your business or art is a quick and relatively cheap way to get your brand out there. Customers and clients love getting stickers and putting them on laptops, bags, or even cars to show their support. But a sticker needs to be designed well for it to succeed in the marketing world. If you’re looking in the L.A. area for stickers on-demand, you’ll want to have a ready-made sticker to print. Here are a few design tips for your stickers.

Use Different Shapes

Stickers typically come in two shapes, square or circle. And while something a little off-shape, such as a diamond or oval, may work to catch the eye, non-standard forms work better. Attention is drawn to the unusual, so making a sticker with a unique shape will get your sticker seen more.

If you have a mascot, or your art is of a person or animal, design the shape of your sticker around the shape of your subject. The curves and contours of the art will make the sticker stand out and will invite fun placement on different objects. In a sea of 90-degree angles and perfect circles, your unique shape will stand out.

Keep Font Readable

Nothing is worse than having to squint or tilt your head to read something. Stickers are, by nature, small and already a little difficult to see if there’s text. But using a font that is hard to read or doesn’t allow for more than two words without getting all squished together makes for a terrible sticker design.

If you’re using text on your sticker, either as a full quote or just your/your company’s name, make sure you pick a font that is legible and easy to read when small. It’s best to steer clear of any overly decorative or curvy fonts unless you’re only using one word or your text makes up the majority of your sticker design. Using simple and clean fonts helps your sticker stand out and gets your message read.

Maintain Color Coordination

Chances are if you’re making stickers, you’ve already got a brand for you or your company. Which means you have a logo and most likely a website. This means there are colors and designs already associated with your brand. If you’re printing out any marketing material, you want to make sure you keep cohesion with the rest of your brand. Printing out a lime-green sticker may seem like a good idea to attract attention, but if your logo and website are dark blue and silver, you’ll lose the connection, and your sticker won’t be recognizably yours.

Getting your stickers printed on demand is an excellent tool for keeping up with your marketing. But if your sticker isn’t designed well, it can be a futile effort. By utilizing unique shapes, with readable text and colors that match the rest of your brand, you can make quality stickers that represent you and your company.

Legal Branding

Avoiding the Most Common Insurance Frauds

on November 29, 2021

Even if you’re the strongest and most collected person on the planet, you probably feel a bit insecure and unsafe from time to time, but don’t worry – this is quite normal! We all feel like that sometimes, and that’s why it’s important to invest your time, money, and patience into finding the best insurance policy you can find. However, even if you manage to do that, you can still get cheated and become a victim of fraud, and that’s something we’re all struggling with today. Insurance frauds and scams are more frequent than you can imagine, so if you’re worried that you may become a victim of one of these, here are a few tips that might help you avoid them.

Read the fine print

Even though this is one of the most common fraud schemes out there, lots of people still don’t read the fine print as carefully as they should. And since this is where all the vital data is collected and presented together, this is crucial for your insurance policy and its future. So, what you need to do is quite simple – just read the fine print and make sure you know everything that’s on your insurance policy.

This is something very few people do, though, and even those who do end up not knowing why this is so important. But, since this is one of those things that keep popping up as the most common way to commit insurance fraud, you should be aware of your insurance’s fine print and all the things that can go wrong if you don’t read it carefully. This way, you can avoid different frauds even before you sign your policy, which is the best-case scenario for all those who fear they might become victims of insurance fraud.

Ask for proof

There are lots of different ways to get your insurance policy, and going to a certified insurance company isn’t the only way to do so. Even though most people believe that doing this is the only way to go, you can buy an insurance policy wherever you want today, including shopping malls and even gas stations. However, buying your insurance while shopping for jeans or gas might not be such a great idea, which is why you should try to avoid these scenarios as hard as you can.

The reason for this is quite simple – people selling insurance at these unconventional places often do that without having the right to do so. They’re not real insurance agents and don’t work for a proper agency, which is why avoiding them is the only way to go. Just ask for ID proof and you’ll see that they’re not certified and allowed to sell you anything, so be careful and don’t give your money to a random person claiming to be an insurance agent.

Know what you need

With so many different insurance policies on the market right now, you need to be sure of what you need before you see your agent. Some of these policies might seem amazing, useful, practical, and worthy of your money, but they might also come with a few unnecessary strings attached, and that’s never a good idea. That’s why you have to know what you’re paying for and you’ve chosen the particular policy you’re paying for.

Still, if you end up wasting your cash on things you don’t need, don’t worry – you can always as for a refund and get your money back without causing any issues. Even if you pay for the GAP insurance that you don’t need at all, you can retrieve your lost money and spend it on something useful. It’s all a matter of being informed and knowing what’s going on, and if you manage to do that, you shouldn’t have a problem with insurance frauds and other potentially problematic issues.

Get a copy of your policy

Once you’ve created a policy that works for you the most and spent your money on something that you’re going to need in the future, it’s time to relax and start feeling good about protecting your life and well-being with a proper policy. Still, there’s one more thing you have to do – get a copy of your policy and take it home with you.

This might seem like an unnecessary move at first – why would you do that if you’ve done everything right? – but this isn’t about trusting your agent or not, but about keeping yourself safe and protected. A copy of your policy will include all the vital items you need to know, and you’re legally entitled to ask for one, so don’t forget to do that before you go home.

Insurance frauds and scams come in many shapes and sizes, so focus on these things and you’re never going to have a problem with your insurance policy again!

Local Branding

How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Legit Business: 9 Steps to Follow

on November 24, 2021

Many of the best and most lucrative businesses often come to life out of hobbies. If you have a hobby that you’re passionate about and frankly good at, you can consider turning it into something that will bring you a nice paycheck. However, you will need to complete a series of steps to reap a profit from your hobby. If you need some help with the process, here’s how you can get started: 

Check the market

First things first, you need to see whether there’s a market for your goods or services. Sure, your family might be in awe of your cooking, baking or jewelry-making skills, but would they be willing to pay money for it and how much? There were many cases where people loved their hobby, turned it into a business after family and friends said they should go pro, but it turned out, their products weren’t up to professional standards. Therefore, it’s important to do market research and discover whether people are willing to pay for your products or services. Everything you produce should be up to professional standards. 

Give it a try

It’s more than possible to earn money from your hobby without starting a proper business, which means you can try it out before investing more money and time into it. For instance, you can start a part-time business or run your small business around your day job. This will allow you to notice any issues and actually see if you’re willing and able to commit full-time.

Make a business plan

If you love your trial run and want to move forward, you must create a solid business plan that will include your current business situation and plans for the future. Many people choose to skip this step, thinking that they already know their hobby well enough, but if you want to take things to the next level, you always need good planning and assessment. 

Choose a smart domain

Today, it’s practically impossible to run a business without having a website where people can check out your products and learn about your services. It’s also important to choose a name for your domain that will make sense for your business, as well as attract attention and stay in people’s memory. A great way to stand out from the competition is to choose a .me domain and completely personalize your website name. With this domain, you have a world of possibilities to create something that will be easy to remember and awaken intrigue, which is exactly what your business needs. 

Work on branding

If you want recognition, you need good branding. You need a good business name and company logo that will tell the story of your business philosophy. Your logo also needs to look good on your materials like the website, business cards, and ads. It’s also important to strike the colors that resonate well with your target audience. It’s best to hire experts to come up with the logo, but you can also use programs online that can create one for you—you just have to pick a name and colors. 

Create an elevator pitch

If you want to grow your business and reach many people, you need to come up with a pitch that can share your business plan in only a few seconds. Here’s what a college tutor might say: “I’m a college tutor who helps students get into college. Usually, students need to conquer the ACTs, and I can help them do it. Thanks to my help, students can raise their scores by 14 points. Do you know someone who might require my services?” Come up with a pitch for your own business. 

Take care of the legalities

You need to determine your business structure (like a sole proprietorship or LLC) to formally create your business. In case you can prove that you have a business and not a hobby, the IRS will give you business tax deductions. 

Handle your finances

If you want to start any business, you need to report your income and start paying taxes. Create a separate business bank account and hire an accountant (or invest in accounting software) to keep track of your finances. If you notice you’re struggling at the beginning, you might need to reduce your spending to provide enough cash flow into your business. 

Invest in marketing

If you want to only sell to your immediate area, you might go without marketing, but if you want to make a living out of your business, you need to invest in marketing and reach a wider audience. Marketing should be a part of your daily business activities, so create a solid plan, identify your optimal customers, locate them and attract them to your business. 

If you want to make money doing something you love, turn your hobby into your business. Treat it like something serious, and money and customers will come, especially if you employ these aforementioned tips. Now that you’ve figured out how to turn your hobby into profitable business, it’s time to make sure you get your employees their payslips especially if they’re working extra hours via the paystub generator with overtime.

 

Social Media Impacts Your Company's Brand
SaaS Branding

WordPress Vs Shopify: Which Should You Choose?

on November 18, 2021

You’ve been looking for a way to sell your products online, but you don’t know where to start.

You’ve heard of WordPress, but you don’t know if it’s for you or what the benefits are. Shopify is another option you’ve considered, but it seems a little more difficult to use and quite costly than WordPress. What should you do?

In this post, we’ll compare both of these options for you, starting with the benefits of each and then continuing to break down how both work, their pros and cons, and whether or not they are the right choice for you.

WordPress

If you ask any WordPress development agency, they will advise you to go with WordPress. For good reason, of course. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that can be used as a blog, website, e-commerce store, and more. It’s completely free to install, and you can create a user account from WordPress.org in minutes.

WordPress offers many customization options that make it easier for you to add or remove features depending on your business needs or preferences. You can also add plugins that extend the functionality of your website beyond its standard features. There are over 48,000 plugins available for free on their website that you can download to your WordPress site with just a few clicks.

WordPress is also fully compatible with eCommerce websites, so if you want to sell products online, you have the necessary tools at your disposal. These are called WooCommerce extensions, and there are thousands of them available for free. As long as you have a domain and hosting, which we’ll talk about later in this post, you can add an eCommerce website within minutes.

Pros:

WordPress is completely free to use, and they make it very easy for you to add features to your site. In addition, there are 48,000 plugins available for free on their website, from which you can choose. 

Cons:

WordPress doesn’t have a lot of built-in features, and many templates and plugins are outdated, making them impractical to use. In addition, hosting isn’t free, which will cost you money.

Shopify

Shopify is an online store platform that works very similar to WordPress, but it has more features straight out of the box. For example, you don’t need to use any plugins or customize your website for it to work. It’s also pretty much plug and plays; install the software, connect your domain name, and you’re all set to go.

The costs of Shopify are $29/mo for standard plans and $79/mo for the Advanced plan. You can register a domain through them or elsewhere, depending on which hosting option you choose. There is no contract, so you can cancel whenever you want, and they allow you to create 30 products for free without having to pay.

Pros:

Shopify is straightforward to set up and start using, has plenty of great themes & templates, and offers 24/7 support. It’s also much easier than WordPress if you’re not tech-savvy.

Cons:

You have to pay to use Shopify, and the $29/mo plan is pretty expensive for someone who has little to no experience with creating websites.

Who Is This For?

WordPress is the better option two for beginners and experts alike. You can use it very successfully as an eCommerce website without paying $29/mo.

Deciding between these two options depends on how much money you can spare, whether you’re willing to learn WordPress and how comfortable you are with coding. For example, if you had $29/mo to spend, Shopify could be used instead of WordPress because it’s much easier to set up and has excellent support available 24/7.

WordPress is free to use, and their support forums are incredible if you need any help (and you will). Although they don’t offer phone calls or live chat, you can post your questions on the forum and receive detailed answers within hours. They also have very comprehensive documentation available for all of their features, making it easier for you to learn how they work.

If you have no coding or website-building experience, Shopify is the easiest option available to build your eCommerce store. All of their products are plug-and-play, so you don’t need to customize it at all if you don’t want to. The only feature that Shopify doesn’t have is the ability to create your own plugins. However, if you know how to code or are willing to learn, WordPress is much more powerful and allows you to add features that Shopify doesn’t offer.

What Are The Costs?

So now let’s look at what it costs. As we mentioned earlier, starting an online business with eCommerce requires both a domain name and hosting.

Domain Name: A good one will set you back around $10/year. Shopify includes a free .com address with their Standard plan ($29/mo), but if you want to own your domain, it doesn’t cost anything to register one yourself or through GoDaddy, for example.

Hosting: Hostinger is a great tool. According to their website, the cheapest hosting option is $3.92/mo, and it allows up to 10,000 monthly visitors, which is incredible value for the volume of traffic.

WordPress Hosting: If you’re using WordPress, Bluehost offers a great-value hosting plan at $4.95/mo, giving you up to 50,000 monthly visitors and a free domain name (if you register through them).

Shopify Hosting: All Shopify plans come with unlimited bandwidth and storage and allow for unlimited products (which can mean huge numbers). You can choose your plan based on what you think will be best for your business.

The Final Verdict

WordPress is free, flexible, and relatively easy to use once you learn the basics. The themes are beautiful, and there’s a huge community online that’s willing to help if you get stuck or confused at any point. WordPress also gives you the option to customize your site as much as you want and even create custom plugins.

Shopify is easier for beginners and offers a more user-friendly experience, but it can get pricey if you pick their most expensive plan. However, if you’re not an expert at building websites or don’t know how to code, Shopify is by far the simplest option and will save you a lot of time and effort.

WordPress is more powerful, but it takes longer to set up and intimidate people new to coding or online eCommerce. However, if you’re willing to invest the time learning WordPress, we recommend that you choose this over Shopify because of its flexibility and power.

Ultimately, both options will allow you to create a beautiful and successful online business, so choose whichever makes the most sense for your budget and skill level.

Content
Legal Branding

11 Scientific Benefits of Plastic Packaging

on November 15, 2021

Using plastic is ultimately the best for your business. It offers many benefits backed by studies and research. It simply boils down to proper use and aggressive placements of recycling policies. Read on to learn the many benefits of using plastic packaging. This post will help you make the right decision of using plastic packaging in a sustainable and environment-friendly way.

 

1. Plastic packaging is safe.

Plastic is still primarily used today because it is the safest packaging option available for businesses. Its unique chemical make-up allows for seamless packing of goods without the need to worry about dangerous shards and toxins. You can be sure that all your packed items remain fresh and pristine if you opt for plastic packaging. You can expect that your goods and items will arrive safely to your customers.

 

2. Plastic packaging is durable.

Plastic packing does not easily break. It has long polymer chains that are hard to break and damage. Packed items that need to be protected and kept safe remain in pristine condition when protected by durable plastic. Shipping companies still choose plastic as their main form of packaging as it allows for smooth transport with no problem whatsoever when it comes to durability and reliability.

 

3. Plastic packaging is hygienic.

Every food, pharmaceutical, and medical company still use plastic for their packaging because it is 100% hygienic. Plastic can secure that all items remain 100% safe and free from human intervention. Plastic packaging fully complies with European Union requirements on safety. Life-saving devices that need to remain clean and safe at all times before human contact is always placed in plastic packaging. In the manufacturing of creating plastic, companies will use antimicrobial masterbatch to control the build-up of bacteria on the surface of plastic products, resolving in a safer product.

Plastic jars with lids available throughout Australia are used by many businesses because they are ultra-hygienic and environment-friendly.

 

4. Plastic packaging is secure.

Plastic packaging is highly secure. With its unique design and transparency, customers can easily see if goods are still safe and in superior condition. Plastic packaging can have child-resistant closures and a tamper-evident design. If your goods are packed in plastic, you can be sure that it remains fresh and air-tight. You can also be secure that no other substances and additives can mix with your goods if you pack them with plastic. Plastic is water-resistant so your items can easily remain dry at all times.

 

5. Plastic packaging is customizable.

Plastic packaging is easily customizable. You’d have an easier time marketing your goods and services if you use plastic packaging. There are no limits when it comes to the design and color that you can place on plastic. You can go minimal or ultra grand on your design.

 

6. Plastic packaging is lightweight.

You will save on shipping costs if you use plastic packaging. You’d be able to ship more if you use plastic packaging because no additional weight will significantly be added. This is not the case with other packaging options that can be so heavy that shipping becomes extra costly. Your consumers will also have an easier time handling your goods if they are packed in plastic. Your goods will be very easy to lift and transfer from one place to another.

 

7. Plastic packaging is energy-efficient.

This is the case because less fuel is needed to transport lighter objects. Plastic is light-weight so you’d use less fuel in transporting it. You can always be proud that your business practice is always environment-friendly. A yogurt placed in glass weighs 85 grams. Such is too much if compared to yogurt placed in plastic that only weighs 5.5 grams. With plastic packaging, you’d get to ship more goods and save more on shipping costs.

 

8. Plastic packaging combats food waste.

Did you know that almost 50% food waste comes from households? This is something that can be easily prevented by using plastic packaging. Plastic makes it easy for everyone to combat food waste because everything is kept fresh for longer periods. You can be sure that less food is wasted because plastic packaging ensures that all stored goods are safe from contaminants. Plastic ensures that stored food remains safe for consumption for extended periods.

 

9. Plastic packaging allows for wise use of resources.

You can proudly claim that your business is environmentally-friendly if you use plastic packaging. Today’s plastic packaging is all engineered to be recyclable and reusable. If humans didn’t start using plastic before, there’s no imagining what resources we’d have used to pack goods and items in a safe and hygienic manner.  Plastic is ultimately the most resource-friendly material in the market.

 

10. Plastic packaging has very low environmental impacts.

Plastic is not the problem. Oil and gas usage are. Plastics only account for 1.5% of oil and gas use. It is nothing compared to the massive amount of negative environmental impacts that the oil and gas industry contributes. With the plastic industry leading the way in pioneering for innovations and advanced recycling protocols, it can be safely said that it is here to stay.

 

11. Plastic packaging is highly recyclable.

Plastic is the easiest packaging material to recycle. Consumers can be taught to reuse and recycle any kind of plastic packaging. The world is now entering a new frontier where everything needs to be recyclable and environment-friendly. This is the case because the earth’s existence depends on it. Using plastic is the way to go if your business will adopt sustainable packaging solutions that zone in on reusing and recycling all kinds of packaging. Your consumers will love you for it.

 

 

Branding
Digital Branding

Social Media Marketing Tips For Startup or Small Business

on November 11, 2021

Starting a business is difficult, and it can be even harder if you’re on your own. There are so many things to keep track of, which is where some good social media marketing tips come in handy. You might be wondering what social media has to do with your business’s success rate. The answer is everything! If you have an effective social media plan in place, you can increase your brand awareness and make a lot more sales. Here are some great social media marketing tips for startup businesses or small businesses.

Make your business goals

The first step to social media success is knowing what your goals are. Are you trying to make more sales? Get more people to like and follow your page? Or do you want to increase your brand awareness? Whatever it is, be sure that those goals are clear before you begin. If you don’t set goals for yourself, you won’t know whether or not your social media campaign is working. It’s better to first figure out what you need from your social media campaigns and then start working on it.  

Plan out your week 

Once you’ve made your goals, go ahead and plan out what you’re going to do to reach them. If one of your top goals is getting more page likes, then spend half of a day each week trying to get that done. You could post an ad about the benefits of following your page on multiple platforms or advertise a contest where people have to like your page before entering. There are many ways for achieving this goal, so try brainstorming some ideas before getting started. Prepare a dedicated calendar for your social media and focus on creating quality content throughout the schedule. It will help you stand out from the others.  

  

Create engaging content 

Facebook marketing

One of the most important aspects of social media marketing services are creating engaging content that people want to share with their friends. If you’re looking for some inspiration, try taking a look at what your competitors are posting and see what they’re doing right. Also, keep track of what kind of content people responded to in the past and you might find that they enjoy videos more than images or that they enjoy humorous writing over serious topics. Doing this little research will help you gain more traction for your social media handles.  

Create ads for social media 

If creating engaging content is difficult for you, then one option would be to create ads instead. Ads require less thought but can still get your point across and help boost your page likes or social media following. You could also hire someone on Fiverr to create the ad for you! However, if you want to save some money, there’s always Google Adsense which allows you to host 

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Analyze who your customers really are 

The next step in your business’s social media marketing plan should be figuring out who your ideal customer is. What age group do they fall into? Where do they live? How much money can they realistically spend on whatever it is you sell? This will help determine how often and where you post content so that the right kind of people see it.

Master the basics of social media 

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Finally, don’t forget to master some of the basics of social media. You should be used to Twitter by now, as that’s probably where most people go to buy and sell things these days. Facebook is another great platform for selling your products, but make sure you know how sponsored posts work before going crazy with ads. Once you’ve mastered those sites it might also be a good idea to try Quora or Reddit as well since there are a large number of potential customers on those websites too. 

Do competitor research 

Once you’ve got some good content that you know is engaging, take a look at what your competitors are doing. You can do this by simply searching for their company on any of the social media platforms. If they’re not already following you back, consider sending them a message asking if it’s okay to check out their page and see what they’re up to. This is a great way to gain inspiration about future posts or learn about new ways to target potential customers. It will help you understand the latest market trends to gain more attention from the audience.  

Wrapping up 

By keeping these tips in mind and using them for inspiration, you can increase your sales through social media marketing even if you’re just starting out. It doesn’t have to be difficult! Use this information wisely and you’ll see an increase in the amount of traction to your business. Starting early with social media is an advantage for small businesses and you can gain a competitive advantage out of it.  

Social Media Impacts Your Company's Brand
Digital Branding

7 Secrets to Run a Successful Video Marketing Campaign

on November 4, 2021

2021 is here to end, and it’s clear that video marketing is going to stay for many more years to come. Videos are not only easy to create but also capture audience attention more effectively than plain text. Moreover, it is also seen that videos are shared more than any other content type. This is the reason why every marketer is putting explainer animated video into the picture. 

So, if you haven’t created any video yet for your business, then it’s time to get going. Also, if you are already using it but didn’t get the expected result, you need to kick it up. For video marketing, monetized YouTube channels are so helpful to grab the audience’s attention. Are you also thinking the same? If so, then in this blog, you will see some cutting-edge techniques that will help you to give a boost to your video marketing campaign. 

Tips for creating a successful video marketing campaign

Let’s begin… 

1. Keep it short and crisp 

Today only those videos are successful if they are both short and sweet. If your video is as long as a long 30 minutes episode, then there are 90% chances that you won’t be able to get the expected result. Nowadays, no one has much time to spend on useless tasks. That’s why, if you don’t offer them content as per their expectations, then you won’t be able to engage viewers right away. 

Generally, successful video content is about to be completed within 1-2 minutes. So, if you are planning to create a video, make sure you consider its length. Also, if you already have long videos on your bucket list, then try to make them shorter and optimized so that they can be promoted on different social platforms. 

Add high-traffic and relevant keywords in the title

Say if you are from a marketing background or creating videos, then you might be familiar with the term SEO. Focusing on SEO while creating a video is another approach to getting excellent results. To get your videos ranked higher on the first page of search engines, you need to ensure that the keywords for which you want are added in the title. 

Just as a blog post, your video title is also essential for ranking on Google. So, whenever you create a title for your video, make sure you keep it under 66 characters, which includes your target keyword. Also, you need to check that the title is engaging and drive qualified leads. 

Try to use category tags

Another tip that will help you to make your video campaign successful is the appropriate category tag. Many people think that category tags do not affect the searches, but they do. Whenever you choose your video tags, they should be the same as the keywords you target for your video. 

Basically, there are two tags that you need to focus on, that is first tag and secondary tags. Try to keep your first tag as precise as possible. Also, the secondary tags are gradually broader than the other. 

Using accurate keywords and phrases is a great way to increase the chances of searches. So, make sure the tags that you use for videos are directly related to the title and context.

Follow a proper posting schedule

Many organizations did not see good results because they were unable to connect with the audience regularly. Are you also making this mistake? If yes, then you need to ensure that each video that you create is posted in the right way. 

By sharing regular content, people will get more attracted and linked with your brand. Thus, to ensure that each post has its own presence, you need to create a posting schedule as it will inspire the audience to come back and see more video content. This approach will be highly valuable if you are planning to launch your product or something exciting. 

So, what are you waiting for? Start establishing your business by sharing constant, engaging, and informative video content. 

Add customer-generated content 

Have you ever noticed what that extra thing that is making the videos successful is? From my experience, I realized that customer-generated content is one factor that is common in all high-performing videos. By adding customers to the videos, you can easily engage them towards your site and inspire them to make purchases. 

This tactic is highly effective because people love seeing themself in the content, and the probability of sharing the video also increases. The higher the number of shares, the more people will view the content, which will ultimately lead you towards your goal. 

Include an appealing call to action

For making your video campaign successful, you need to ensure that each video you create includes a responsive, simple, and engaging call to action. Adding this step to your checklist will inspire people to visit your site or download some resources or even view your social feed. 

Say, if you don’t want to add a particular content or an image, you can also instruct the viewers to take the desired action just by speaking. 

Customers enjoy videos if they find something informative. Thus, start adding excellent calls to action and see a good spark in the conversion rate. 

Evaluate video performance

Last but not least tip is evaluating the success of videos. Many of us keep on creating content but forget to analyze whether the audience actually likes the generated content or not. This is the reason why many brands are unable to see their video marketing unsuccessful. So, if you don’t want to be one of them, I would recommend you analyze the performance of videos.

To understand the performance, you can use Google Analytics to understand how your videos are performing. Say if any video content is not effective, then you can make the changes accordingly. Always remember, the more the analysis, the better the performance. 

Conclusion

Videos are an effective marketing strategy and have the power to thrill conversions. Indeed every video is not powerful, but hopefully, the above tips will allow you to make it highly productive. 

So, are you ready to make your marketing life much easier with awesome animated videos? Go ahead.

About the Author: Anna Wattson is a blogger and a digital marketing expert working with different brands and companies such as the Christian Internet Marketing Company, a Scented Candles brand, Church Marketing Agency, and many other companies. She’s devoted to helping small businesses bridge success gaps by providing in-depth, actionable advice on digital marketing, SEO, and small business growth. Follow her on Twitter at @annawattson24.

Digital Branding

8 Expert Tips to Produce an Account Based Marketing Content Strategy

on November 4, 2021

If you run marketing campaigns for a B2B company, chances are you have heard of Account Based Marketing.

Also called ABM, it is a marketing strategy meant to reach potential prospects within a target company. Instead of reaching out to an individual, ABM allows you to connect to a group of stakeholders.

This also explains why ABM requires close coordination between marketing and sales to succeed. Add to that content marketing, and you can produce excellent results.

But to make that happen, you need to produce precise content. This can be based on industry, roles and functions of your target decision-makers, or the size of an organization.

That said, here are eight tips that you can use to develop an Account Based Marketing content strategy:

Know Your Target’s “Who” and “What”

Sure, Account Based Marketing means that you are reaching out to a target account. However, every account is made up of a group of decision-maskers.

Before you build a content marketing campaign for a prospect, you need to know who you should target. You also need to identify their roles in an organization.

That’s because a piece of information that matters for a Chief Finance Officer may not matter for a Chief Executive Officer.

However, you should not rely on LinkedIn alone when scouring the Internet to target accounts. You should also look into a company’s annual reports, earning calls, social media accounts, and blog. Doing so can give you an insight into the key issues that a prospect is facing and how your products and services can help solve those.

Use an Account-specific Subdomain

This one is pretty basic but often overlooked.

Whenever you are driving a lead to your website, it would help to use a specific subdomain. Doing so adds a personalized touch. It also makes your prospect feel that you went the extra mile to create an online experience that is unique to them.

As such, it will be inherent for them to engage and interact. That’s called the “power of reciprocity.”

Build a Content-rich Microsite

In relation to the previous point, your account-specific subdomain must have the right pieces of content. This is where having a microsite can come in handy.

Think of your microsite as a content hub. This is where you will organize and present relevant content, third-party data, and resources that will be meaningful to your prospect.

That said, we recommend that you use an ABM platform that can help you build and measure your microsite’s ROI. This includes the number of site visitors, the most accessed content, and how they interact with your data.

Incorporate the Company Name

There is a reason personalization is integral in content marketing. One of which is that it compels your prospect to act.

But do not take our word for it. Let the numbers speak for themselves:

  • 74% of consumers are frustrated when web content is not personalized.
  • 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that provides a personalized experience.
  • Consumers view personalized content as essential.
  • 85% of consumers are influenced to buy because of personalized homepage promotions.
  • Personalized calls to action convert two times better than a standard CTA.

A straightforward way to personalize your B2B offer is to incorporate your prospect’s company name. Instead of saying “Learn How to Improve Company Efficiency,” you can say “Improve Efficiency at Oracle.”

Provide the Right Tools to Your Sales Team

As mentioned earlier, Account Based Marketing requires coordination between marketing and sales. As such, you must be providing your sales team with the right tools.

That’s because they will be the ones who will make the connection with your prospects.

Arm your sales team with guided conversations, including value-driven offers like a product demo. That way, they can get the prospects to respond to them and move them further down the sales funnel.

From there, your sales team can gather critical data about your target account. For instance, they can ask whether a prospect uses a competitor’s products and services and what additional features they would like to have.

Pitch a Web-based Presentation

A personalized, content-rich microsite is fantastic, but they are not meant to drive sales. Sure, they allow a prospect to navigate through your content and learn about what you can do for their business. However, it does not demonstrate how your products and services work.

This is where a web-based presentation comes in.

It is like a “virtual salesperson” that pitches your products and services in a linear, storytelling way. Doing so enables you to control your marketing message and pacing. For instance, you can include how your products and services work and how your prospect can make the most out of it.

Offer a Useful Client Experience

Here’s the thing: Prospect-to-salesperson connections do not always happen. That’s because there are target accounts that would like to gather more information before you can urge them to talk to you.

As such, it would be helpful if you could provide your ideal clients with the right tools and content that can support their exploration. This includes interactive white papers, assessments, and quizzes. Doing so can also enable you to accelerate a target account’s consideration phase.

Track and Measure Your Content

Just like with any content marketing campaign, you should always track and measure your efforts.

For instance, you can measure the engagement levels of each persona. That way, you would know which content fosters prospect-to-salesperson connection and generates sales.

On the other hand, you can tweak or eliminate content that does not produce results.

Still, keep in mind that your analytics will only work if you have well-defined goals and KPIs. So ensure that you have them in place before you run an ABM content strategy.

ABM and Content can Work Hand-in-Hand

The content tips listed above are some of the things you can do when building a content marketing strategy for your ABM effort. Regardless, the key here is to produce highly-targeted content.

Build a microsite or a web-based product demonstration that will be relevant to your target account. That way, your prospects will be compelled to interact with you. It will also enable you to guide them further down the sales funnel.

As a result, you can generate excellent ROI.

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