Category: Legal Branding

Investment Plan when Building a Home

Steven on July 12, 2019

While most people prefer buying a fixer-upper and then renovate it, others don’t mind building homes from scratch. This gives them a chance to build their own dream home, and that’s something you can’t put a price on. Still, this sounds like the hardest thing in the world, but it’s really not as complicated as people generally think. It’s all about making a plan, defining your budget, and trying to stick to it as much as you can. So, if you too are building a new home, here are a few financial tips you should follow.

Invest your time in your budget

First, you need to figure out how much money you’ve got and how much you can really spend. Going broke and spending every cent you have is never fun, so avoiding that situation is a must. That’s why you have to define your budget first and know how you’re spending every single dollar. After that, you need to try to stick to your estimate and not spend money you don’t have.

Hiring designers and contractors who understand your budget and respect it is a must. These people will help you save money, if possible, during every step of the process. Also, think about using second-hand materials and resources that are more cost-effective. Finally, don’t forget to create a contingency budget too, in case something bad happens. Unexpected situations can’t be avoided, so you’d better be ready for them. Anything from weather disasters to soil quality could set you back and cost you money, so get prepared in advance.

Invest your money in a proper kitchen

While most people think the living room is the center of every home, the kitchen actually receives more attention. This is where you’ll spend a few hours of your day, preparing healthy meals for your family. It’s also space where you can hang out with your loved ones and even receive your guests. In short, this is an area that makes your house a home, and it deserves a ton of attention.

When it comes to creating a perfect kitchen, it’s all about maintaining the balance. Make sure your cabinets aren’t too huge but are still big enough for all your essentials. Also, pick the right pattern for your countertop because it could easily turn into the focal point of your kitchen. Finally, invest in some new appliances that will make your cooking process easy, enjoyable, and successful every single day.

Invest your energy in the design

Building a home for yourself and your family is something you’re probably going to do once in your life. Therefore, you should make sure this home has everything you need and is perfect in every sense of the word. This means it has to be practical, functional, and, above all, visually appealing. That’s why the design is so important, especially if you’re planning on spending the rest of your life here. Homeowners all over the world, from Australia to the USA, know that and pay attention to their home’s visual appeal.

Creating the perfect design isn’t that easy, though, and you need to get inspired. Follow the latest trends, talk to designers, or consult your friends who have already gone through this process. You could also look into project homes, which is quite a popular idea with the aforementioned Australian homeowners. They could get explore ideas presented by those creative project home builders from Sydney who know everything about building homes. Checking their floor plans and solutions could help you define a design of your own, so look into them ASAP.

Invest your patience in the project

Unlike purchasing a turnkey property that you can move into straight away, building your own home takes time and patience. Houses can’t be built in a day, and the entire process might end up taking several years. This will test your patience in more ways than one, but you should stay cool and committed to your goals.

Building a home from scratch involves a number of different projects, from designing to decorating it, and everything in between. Depending on the size of your construction, you could even be done in a matter of months, if you’re lucky. If not, you could run into problems and holdups, and waste weeks dealing with them. This is why being patient is so important – otherwise, you’ll be under a pile of stress all the time.

Building a home of your own is a big, serious, and complex project. It’s a dream project for people around the world, and something that will give them a home they deserve. However, it’s a project you should definitely not try to complete on your own, especially if you have no experience. But, if you invest your time, money, energy, and patience into this project, it will surely turn into a success!

Legal Branding Local Branding

Real Estate: Risks and Opportunities Associated with it

Steven on July 3, 2019

Real estate industry is a huge business today and making billions of dollars in revenue. The industry has also enabled thousands of entrepreneurs to earn massive profit in their startups. Real estate is any property comprising of land and improvements like buildings, road structures, and utility systems. Some of the best examples of real estate are Dubai Marina Apartments, Palm Jumeirah Villas and Business Bay sky-scrappers.

Types of Real Estate

Real estate can be divided into four major categories based on their utilization and purpose. The main types are Land, Residential, Commercial and Industrial.

Land is the foundation for any kind of real estate, be it residential, commercial or industrial. Land is an unconstructed and vacant piece allowing for the construction and its value is associated with zone and combination with other properties. Property developers buy this kind of property and rezone it with other properties to increase its worth and density.

Residential property refers to the property that is especially meant for residential purpose. This kind of property is attractive to professionals, family-oriented buyers and investors. This is the most common type of real estate.
Commercial property refers to any kind of land and constructed buildings that are used for commercial purpose. This kind of real estate is a center of attraction for business investors and play a vital role in revenue generation and employment opportunities. Examples include shopping malls, retail outlets, restaurants, and cafes.

Industrial property is the one used for industrial and manufacturing purposes like factories, research, and development, warehousing and logistics. This kind of real estate is also a vital role player in proving investment and employment opportunities.

Risks

Real estate responds to the macroeconomy. This risk, involving scenarios like downturns in the local or national economy is beyond the control of the business owner.
A location once preferred for real estate investment might turn less preferred and vice versa.
An increased supply, for example, the construction of new and better projects in the vicinity might depreciate the value of a property.
Building management companies might change their priorities and requirements, specifically probable for aging properties.

Opportunities

Brokers can use technology to enhance selling experiences like virtual tours, personalized recommendations, and tracking.
Buyers can be more educated by speeding up the sales cycle by knowing what they want and need.
Brokers have many opportunities to earn good money, hence promoting employment.

Digital Branding Legal Branding

Can E-commerce Replace the Traditional Stores in the Days to Come?

Steven on July 1, 2019

E-commerce or the E in e-commerce means electronic, and the selling and buying of services and goods on the internet are known as e-commerce. E-commerce means the disposal of physical goods online, but the commercial transaction through the internet is also e-commerce. Products are made easier to find and purchase in e-commerce. Many have profited through e-commerce. It is estimated that about $27 trillion global sales have been made through e-commerce BY 2020. There are many advantages, and disadvantages related to it that digital marketing services can point out for you. Let’s take a look!

Pro

Saves time

E-commerce helps speeds up the buying process. A customer or consumer saves a lot of time when he’s shopping online, and the time it takes to physically search for the product. The cost of the product also differs from the online shopping there are discounts, and you can easily spot your products and buy them instantly there are many people who always buy their products online hence e-commerce is very successful.

Convenient

Have you notice that when you visit a store, and you have a product in mind, most of the local stores might not have the product. You might have to travel far to search for the product of your liking it is inconvenient, but the online search is perfect, you type the name of the product, and it will appear with the rate and most often than not the price online is better than prices bought from any store. Hence e-commerce is convenient, and you can search for any product, and you can buy it online.

Employee fees saved

When you have a store, you’re bound to have helpers, and they would charge a certain amount. However with e-commerce, the transactions are free, and there is no need for an employee hence you save your money.

Target existing customer

When a customer buys online, he /she will be bound to give their email address and phone number. Hence it gets easier to contact the customer through bulk email campaigns or bulk SMS service, and it is easier for them to shop with you online again.. Hence e-commerce is a convenient way to built customer relationships.

Reviews help customer

The online portal has a free review section, and anyone who has an opinion can comment on the review section. So new customer or the old ones can view the reviews of the products and choose accordingly for themselves. The review also gives value to your online businesses and helps build trust with your customers.

Flexibility

Another great feature of shopping online is that your online store is opened 24/7 and the customer who has no time to visit the stores during the day time has an opportunity to shop for the product online at any time they are free.

Cons

Inability to see products

No matter how tempting online shopping is, it has a drawback. When it comes to buying products we can’t be 100% sure to buy it until we’ve seen it, smell it, touch it and this is missing on online products. We can’t touch them or feel them, and this creates insecurity to us on whether the products are 100% genuine or not.

Late deliveries

Another factor that causes insecurity is when the products will arrive? Usually, the products don’t get delivered on time, and this creates a disparity between the online stores and the customers.

Personal information might get leaked

When we buy online all our personal details will be questioned only until we’ve filled our address, email address, bank detail then only will they confirm to deliver our product this can make us insecure because all our personal information might get leaked and then there could be so many problems that arise.

No free samples

All of us when we visit a store we usually can use testers to see how the products are mainly in cosmetics. When we want to buy cosmetics be it lipstick or eyeliner or foundation the sales girl will give you a tester, and you can apply these products on your face and see if they suit or not but this is easily missing on the online store you can’t receive samples or tester, therefore, this is a big drawback.

Crashed site

This can happen at any time the site could crash logging your customer out and with the crash of the website ts possible the customer might log in somewhere else and buy their products elsewhere

Competition

There is fierce competition on the internet, with the increment in online markets there are so many stores to choose from, and it is unlikely you’ll find just one store that caters to your needs. Since there is fierce competition, it becomes so difficult for consumers or customers to choose the products online. Not one or two, but there are around a hundred if not a thousand stores and it is a tough call for the customer.

Briefly

Therefore e-commerce is a great medium as it has so many advantages, but there are many drawbacks too. The new thing is online shopping, and the old has been replaced with the new. Some so many customers would like to shop online and build a customer –client relationship with the online stores. The online store helps get the customer what they’re looking for at a cheaper rate too. So to say that online shopping is the new thing is fair. People trust their clients, and they usually buy products from the same store. E-commerce helps the customer shop online, and they also build trust and relationship with the customers.

Finally

Finally, it is to be mentioned that with the increase in the online store, the bigger the competition is, and this helps in confusing the customer. Most of the customer might shop online and buy the products at a cheaper rate, but not all customer is the same. Some might want to experience the products first hand like touching the product, smelling it, see it. These kinds of customers don’t shop online but prefer local stores, therefore, e-commerce is a success, but it has a lot of drawbacks too.

Legal Branding

Is Switching to Credit Card Transactions a Good Choice for Small Businesses?

Steven on June 26, 2019

This may sound surprising; however, even today, several businesses do not use a credit card. They are losing out on many customers because of this reason. Even you may have issued a check to a grocery store or paid for a nice dinner with cash at a good restaurant.

Most small business houses state they like to accept cash, and their reasons are understandable. In fact, recent research shows that the volume of cash operations for businesses is growing intensely. If you are a businessman and wish to switch from cash operations to credit card operations, you can easily increase sales and profits simultaneously. Contrary to the popular belief that credit card transactions are complex, there are credible credit card processing companies to help you. They will undertake the onus to conduct the credit and the debit card transaction for you. They will make it simple and secure. All you need to do is search for a credit card processing company that is reliable and tailor-made to meet and match the needs of your business. However, first things first, know why to switch to credit card transactions and how this change can impact the future of your business.

Reasons why you should switch to credit card transactions

Given below are the key reasons as to why you should switch to credit card transactions-

Improve cash flow- More and more consumers are banking on their credit and debit cards for payment. As a business, when you start to accept credit card payments against the purchase of goods and services, you are expanding your customer base to a very large extent. Moreover, this change will help merchants shorten the time they take for funding giving birth to more cash flow that is essential for the growth of the business. When you use a fully integrated credit card processing service for accepting credit cards, the deposits are made into your account within 24-48 hours reducing the costs and the time of transporting bank funds and accelerating payment cycles.
Accurate accounting- Note that cash payments do not leave behind a paper trail and so it becomes harder to reconcile the accounts. In the absence of a paper trail, it becomes harder to keep the accounts organized, and it helps you with IRS audits. If you only conduct cash transacti0ns, this sends a red flag to government officers that raise concerns about your omitting income. If you diversify payment options, you will leave behind paper trails that help you to improve your ability to reconcile business accounts and keep in sync with IRS reports.
Increased purchases- There have been reports that customers spend approximately 18% more when they pay with credit cards. Those that spend with cash generally are very cautious as they have limited money. However, with credit cards, people do not have limits, and this is why they are able to spend more on services and products.

Experts in the field of credit card processing Nadapayments says that if you conduct a cash-only business today, you are creating a lot of friction in the minds of the consumer when the transaction is being processed. When you are managing transactions with a credit card, this mental friction is reduced, and there are fewer thoughts that come in the mind of the consumer when it comes to buying the product or not. The difference between cash transaction and credit card transactions is that the statement is generated much later. Financial experts say it is due to this delay that consumers overspend. Customers might have poor habits when it comes to spending but come to think of it; this is good for the business at large. If you are a business that sells apparels, perfumes, lotions, and other daily items, this trend of spending without thought is good for your business.

Improve customer service

When customers buy more of your products and services, you get the chance to improve customer service for them. This helps you as a company to reach out to the consumer with a personal touch. Credit card transactions are not only convenient for a customer, but they provide them with additional choices, flexibility, and accelerates the speed of transactions.

Expand the customer base

In recent years, it has been seen that with credit card transactions, the customer base can be increased. In fact, most people in recent times like to make purchases with their credit cards only. They find it convenient to carry cards in their wallets over bundles of cash that can be cumbersome to handle. Moreover, with credit cards, e-commerce, and online shopping become convenient as customers can shop from any place at any time. If you are a small business, it makes sense to have an online presence so that customers who have credit cards can make purchases conveniently without hassles at all.

Use the right credit card processing service company

When it comes to credit card transactions and using them for your business, choose credit card processing companies for your business. Several companies help small businesses with credit card processing; however, never jump to the first company that comes your way. Check the credentials and the online ratings and reviews of the company to get an idea on their pros and cons. Find out their fees and most important check whether they have any hidden charges or not. Switching to credit card transactions is a boon for your business, and with them, you effectively are able to expand your business with success.

Last but not least, make sure that the credit card processing company that you choose for your business is in sync with your business needs and requirements. In this way, you effectively are able to develop your business and grab a competitive edge in the market. Moreover, you can also improve brand visibility when you work on customer service. When the switch to credit card transactions are made, you can improve lead conversions and increase returns on investment with success!

Digital Branding Legal Branding

5 Steps for Creating Your Brand Strategy

Steven on May 17, 2019

Wherever you are in your eCommerce journey, it is vital to put brand strategy to work for your business. According to Simon Sinek, best-selling author of Start With Why, “people don’t buy what you do [or sell], they buy why you do it [your brand].”

Your brand tells the world who you are, why you exist and what sets you apart from the crowd. Do branding well, and you create a conversational marketing strategy where your business takes on a personality of its own, communicating with customers at an emotional level.

To help you find the voice of your business, we have created this brand strategy guide to take your business to the next level.

The 5 Step Plan for Building a Winning Ecommerce Brand

Think of your brand as the foundation of your eCommerce business. This is the first thing your customers are going to notice, and what it says about you can make a huge difference between being passed up for the competition and getting that first-time conversion.

1. Evaluate Who You Really Are

The first step to building your brand is to evaluate who you are and how you want to operate in the marketplace.

Customers want to buy products from companies with integrity. That doesn’t mean that you have to offer your customers the world. Just make sure that you deliver on the promises that you make.

Authenticity should be the driving force while you forge your brand. Keep it at the forefront of your strategy as you work through the remaining four steps.

Whoever your brand is, think about the kind of customer that brand will resonate with. Think about how they will identify with your brand and your core values.

If you want a perfect example of this, look at Apple. Their slogan “Think Different” had college lecture halls filled with MacBooks by the mid-2000s. They built their brand on innovation, on something different than the “stuffy” windows computers businessmen were using. This appealed to a lot of creators, young people, and those in an alternative industry.

2. Get into the Mind of Your Customers

Who will you be selling your products to? You’ll want to use detailed statistics and demographics, delving into your ideal customer’s mind to see what triggers them to buy.

Below are some questions to consider.

What do you know about your current customers?
What is the age, gender, household income, marital status, education level and occupation of those who could benefit most from your products?
How will the personal habits (values, lifestyle, and personality) of your customers influence their buying decisions?

If you have a customer base now, create a survey and send it out. The more you know about your ideal customer, the easier it is to sell your products to them.

From here, you can create a marketing persona or a symbolic customer that represents your customers as a whole. When you have all of that information and the marketing persona, think about who that person is when you write copy, create visuals, or craft your marketing messages.

When you write for that person, it’s going to feel more authentic with your brand voice and for that customer. Build your marketing around your customers’ wants and needs, and they will become loyal to your brand.

3. Identify Your Core Values

Earlier, we discussed the importance of authenticity.

Now, it’s time to identify the core values of your business. How do you want to treat your customers? Or put another way: How do you want your customers to view your brand?

Your core values will determine how your company is going to operate the business from day to day. Also, think about whether or not your core values represent your products and brand. For example, if you’re promoting a luxury product that’s meant to be high-quality and on the upper pricing scale, using flashy red sales vectors is going to destroy that image. You wouldn’t want to seem cheap.

Below are a few ideas to consider.

Honesty in advertising
Respect for customers
Promptness in fulfilling orders

What is essential to your company? Make sure your values are sustainable so that you can remain true to your brand.

There have been plenty of environmentally-friendly brands that found that their practices were unsustainable. It’s important to think about sustainability when determining core values, else you’ll end up with a scandal later.

4. Create A Core Brand Statement

Now that you have gone through steps one through four, you need to whittle everything into a succinct and pithy core brand (or mission) statement.

Your core brand statement will be the driving force behind your business, and all your marketing will flow from it. Your mission statement should be clear and memorable but also realistic. You don’t want to set your team up for failure nor let down your customers.

Once you’ve created your statement, send it to all your team members, and ask them to memorize it. It should be short enough to learn quickly – as little as 10 words.

A sample statement for an online jewelry store might be: “To beautify the human spirit with exquisite and unique jewelry.”

This mission statement should appear on your site. It should be present in some form in your copy, your photos, and your marketing messages.

I don’t mean copy it word for word in everything, but you need to have it in mind when you’re creating content for your brand. Your content needs to embody that mission statement at every turn.

5. Publicize Who You Are Across All Channels

Up to this point you’ve

Determined to be authentic
Got into the mind of your ideal customer
Identified your core values
Created a mission statement

Now it’s time to take the brand that you have created and let it speak for itself in all your marketing channels.

Your brand should have a unique “voice” that can be heard in your email marketing automation, social media platforms, and all your web pages. This conversational marketing strategy will resonate with your customers and create loyalty to your brand.

Brand consistency is critical to getting customers to believe in that brand. If you’re communicating in one way on Facebook, another way on your site, and then sending really different emails, there’s going to be a huge disconnect for your customers.

A great way to maintain brand consistency is to create a brand style guide for your company and distribute it to each employee. Think about how copy should sound, what visuals should look like, and variations of your logo and slogan. You want your employees to be on the same page.

A great brand isn’t created in a day. It takes thinking about the present and the future of what your brand might become to really nail it.

It’s also okay not to get it right the first time. While rebranding is difficult and complex, it’s not impossible if you see your brand going in a new direction. The important thing is to get the authenticity right and be flexible to how the market shifts in the future.

We hope this brand strategy guide has been helpful and will take your eCommerce store to new levels of success.

Legal Branding

Time Management Tactics for Busy Entrepreneurs

Steven on May 8, 2019

It is widely believed that if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, then you have to work long hours and weekends to accomplish everything you set out to do. Investing countless hours in building your company to the detriment of your personal time and your health is often praised as the well-trodden path that every successful entrepreneur before you took to achieve their success. However, this really shouldn’t be the case.

As an entrepreneur if you can learn how to effectively delegate the work that you’re not skilled at or those tasks that you don’t have time to complete, and you learn how to work smarter and more efficiently, then there should be no reason why you can’t reduce your workload so that you can spend more time with your loved ones, while still putting in the effort to grow your company and be prosperous. When you can effectively manage your time, not only are you able to get more done in less time, but you can achieve the work-life balance that you need to avoid burnout.

To increase your daily productivity, you need to learn how to focus on one task at a time and avoid multitasking. It is entirely pointless for you to try to do everything all at once. Using some simple tactics and techniques, you can effectively manage your time to increase your productivity, so that you can accomplish more in the time that you have. Here is a practical 5-minute guide to help you transform your work habits so that you can get more done in less time and become a successful entrepreneur.

Working with To-Do Lists

To-do lists, when effectively used, can help you stay on track and accomplish more in less time. However, when it comes to creating your to-do list, you can’t merely place tasks to be completed on the list and call it good. To-do lists are most effective when you prioritize the tasks on the list. One method that you can use to prioritize your to-do lists is the Eisenhower, or Time Management, Matrix.

The Eisenhower Matrix is a productivity tool that can help you sort and prioritize your daily tasks. It is based on the principals of importance and urgency and enables you to prioritize your tasks based on their urgency and importance. The Eisenhower Matrix features four quadrants that all your tasks should fit into, as follows:

Tasks that are both important and urgent (Quadrant I)
Jobs that are important but not urgent (Quadrant II)
Tasks that are not important but that are urgent (Quadrant III)
Tasks that are neither important or urgent (Quadrant IV)

When it comes to prioritizing your to-do list, any task that falls in Quadrant I, you should complete immediately. Those that fall into Quadrant II are tasks that you should plan and place on your schedule to ensure they get completed. Any responsibility that falls in Quadrant III should be delegated, and those that fall into Quadrant IV can be deleted.

After you’ve prioritized the tasks on your to-do list, you can utilize apps like Clear Todos or Evernote to stay organized and on point. You can create an in-app list before you go to bed at night as a way to clear your head and plan your days so that you can jump into work first thing in the morning.

Avoid Multitasking

Too many people believe that multitasking can help them accomplish more throughout the day. However, multitasking has been proven to reduce productivity by 40 percent. While you may think that you’re really good at multitasking, unfortunately, you are more than likely getting less done, as well as producing sub-par work. The fact is, our brains just aren’t equipped to effectively multitask activities that require brainpower, because our short-term memories are only capable of storing five to nine things at once.

When you are trying to complete two different tasks where each task requires some level of attention and consideration, multitasking ends up falling apart. Your brain just can’t take in and process two simultaneous, separate streams of information and fully encode them into your short-term memory. When information isn’t encoded to your short-term memory, it doesn’t get transferred into your long-term memory for recall later, and if you can’t recall it, then you can’t use it.

If you want to learn how to get more done in less time, then you have to realize that multitasking is a myth. Your brain is merely incapable of simultaneously processing separate streams of information that comes from trying to work on multiple tasks. To start to accomplish more, you need to learn to focus on one task at a time, or what is known as single-tasking. Learn how to commit to your choices and complete a single task before moving onto the next.

You can begin to reform your work habits by utilizing a conditioning method known as the Pomodoro Method, which was developed by Francesco Cirillo. The technique teaches you to focus in short intervals and work with time, rather than against it.

Automate as Much as Possible

Every technological advancement over the last century has been made with the goal of trying to make everyday tasks easier to complete with less effort so that we can free up more space for deep thinking and focused work. For entrepreneurs, automating repetitive tasks can save you substantial time throughout your day and help you accomplish more. Automated tasks will let you skip many of the essential functions that require your attention. Automating a number of the smaller jobs that you work on every day can free up a significant amount of time that you can spend working on more critical tasks.

Most entrepreneurs spend their days crossing off tasks on their to-do list only to realize they haven’t really accomplished anything that will move them closer to their goals and objectives. What makes this worse is that when the essential tasks need to be done, they often feel too tired, drained, and unwilling to work on those tasks. One way to eliminate what is considered ‘busy work,’ is to automate those time-consuming and energy-draining tasks to make room for the high-priority tasks that will help you reach your goals.

Take a look at your daily tasks and consider how much of the daily work you can automate. You might have emails that you regularly receive that can receive an automated response. Or maybe you can automate your social media marketing with the help of tools like Meet Edgar. Utilize the technology that is available to you to help you automate the repetitive aspects of your business. If you don’t know where to start, you can look at tools like, Zapier, or If This Then That, IFTTT, to get some ideas on what you can automate to save you some time so that you can get more done throughout your day.

Delegate and Outsource Non-Essential Tasks

Many entrepreneurs are under the impression that in order for them to be successful, they need to be the ones to do everything in their business. Unfortunately, this only leads to them working too many hours and not seeing the results. To be a more productive entrepreneur and have the time to work on those activities that will help you grow your business and increase your profit, you need to know when to delegate and outsource those tasks that you either don’t have sufficient skills to complete or tasks that are necessary but that don’t help you improve your business. But, you can read about improving customer onboarding.

The biggest struggle for unproductive entrepreneurs is learning which tasks they can outsource and how to outsource them. The best way to determine this is by looking at your daily tasks and figuring out how much money the repetitive, tedious tasks are costing you. If you’ve previously considered outsourcing some of your workloads, but don’t think that there is anyone that is competent enough to do it, you should at least consider testing a virtual assistant before coming to a conclusion. These days it isn’t challenging to find a great virtual assistant if you can over-communicate what exactly you need, as well as being able to define clear expectations and outcomes.

If you have partners or a team, utilize them. Don’t be afraid to delegate some of your work and responsibilities to your team members when you need to. You have to realize that you don’t have to be the superhero of your business. You need to learn how to prioritize what’s essential for growing your business and delegate the rest. It’s all about figuring out how to appoint the right task to the right people. This involves being able to match the requirements of the task you’re delegating to the abilities of the person who wants to complete the task.

Use the 2-Minute Rule

The 2-minute rule is a time management method that can help you get more done in less time. It has it roots in David Allen’s bestselling book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. In essence, the 2-minute rule is a method for moving through your day-to-day activities more efficiently. When it comes to the daily tasks that you need to complete daily to make your business successful, the two-minute rule states that if you have a task that you can complete in two minutes or less, don’t wait, complete it immediately. There are so many simple and easy tasks that are put off, that can be completed in two minutes or less, like setting appointments or sending out an email. To help you get more things done during the day, go through your to-do list and tackle any tasks that will take two minutes or less to complete, then move on to your more important, and time-consuming tasks.

The 2-minute rule isn’t just for knocking simple items off your to-do list but can be used to help you beat procrastination and move closer toward your goals. The idea is that if you have a task that you don’t want to work on, spend just two minutes working on it. The idea is that once you start working on the task, you’ll be more likely to continue working on it until it is complete. The 2-minute rule works because of the inertia of life. As Sir Isaac Newton taught us, objects at rest tend to stay at rest and objects in motion tend to stay in motion.

Legal Branding Local Branding

Most Efficient B2B Lead Generation Strategies for 2019

Steven on May 7, 2019

The biggest problem with B2B outreach lies in the fact that a lot of people don’t really understand how it works. On the one hand, there are those who believe it to be completely opposite to B2C, seeing as how “B2C purchases are based on emotions and B2B purchases are based on rational decision-making”. This is, of course, oversimplified, due to the fact that businesses are run by people who are just as susceptible to emotions and impulses. Due to the fact that processes are a tad slower and purchases are a tad more valuable, B2B decisions have a more rational and analytical approach. With that in mind, here are several of the most effective B2B lead generation strategies that you should definitely consider.

1. Start with your social media presence

When it comes to boosting one’s social media presence, a lot of people believe this to be an exclusively B2C strategy. The truth is that they couldn’t be more wrong. Just because your audience is more likely to go to your website straight away rather than do their research on your Instagram profile or Facebook page, doesn’t mean that you can neglect social media presence. As for platforms like LinkedIn, they’re suddenly becoming a priority of your social media activity. While this is not talked about that much, LinkedIn is a platform with a rapidly growing user base. In just six years (between 2011 and 2017) the number of users on this network grew from 140 million to 500 million.

2. A/B testing

You also need to keep in mind that the expectations of people in charge of outreach in other enterprises are somewhat higher than those of individual users. They’re less often unrealistic but are not likely to tolerate bugs, glitches, and malfunctions. This is why it’s best if you were to test any change before implementing it. Also, when it comes to appealing to the emotional side of your audience, you need to understand that it’s still incredibly important. While the very term B2B may make the outreach seem quite impersonal or inanimate, you’re not reaching out to the entity, that is this other business, but to the people who are in charge of it. This means that finding patterns and methods that are to their liking still seems to be quite important.

3. Get your finances in order

Previously, we’ve mentioned the fact that B2B leads are based on numbers and are not that affected by appearances. This is why the first thing they might look at is your credit history, your company’s financial status, and your ability to meet all the legal obligations. Even a hint of failing to pay your taxes may be interpreted as a serious misstep by your potential partners, which is something you want to avoid at all costs. Now, there are some taxes that are applicable to the entire country, yet, there are those that depend on the state that your company is in. A perfect example of this is payroll taxes, which vary from state to state. This means that your NSW enterprise needs to find tax consultants from Sydney in order to ensure that everything on this front is in perfect order.

4. Prepare for voice searches

The next thing you need to prepare yourself for is the concept of voice search. More and more people are using this feature on a daily basis due to the fact that the technology itself has become quite sophisticated. In the past, the engine behind the feature was crude and unable to understand anything but the simplest words uttered in perfect English (in some of the most standard dialects such as the UK, US, or Australia). Nowadays, the technology consults your previous search history, tracks your location, and does an excellent job of recognizing the language you’re using. This, on the other hand, means that you have to optimize for voice searches, and especially dedicate your efforts to voice search SEO.

5. Identify and fix broken pages

Having a broken page on your blog or, worse yet, multiple of them, may result in a scenario where your rank drops and your reputation in the digital world suffers. They may cause you to lose audience, and customers and drastically hurt your conversion rates. It’s even worse if a broken link is on your own domain. Imagine a scenario where a person clicks on a link that should lead to a product they want to purchase only to find it malfunctioning. Fortunately, tending to this doesn’t take that much effort. All you have to do is figure out an adequate tool and start using it on a regular basis.

6. Mobile should be paramount

The last thing you need to consider is the importance of making mobile-friendly pages. First of all, in this day and age, where the majority of people online are browsing the internet on their phones, Google is strict to penalize anyone who doesn’t focus on mobile web design. Nonetheless, just because so many people are using their phones to browse the internet, it doesn’t mean that they’re doing it via a browser. Therefore, it might be for the best if you were to develop an app. Any investment in this area is bound to give you an outstanding ROI.

The very last thing worth keeping in mind is the fact that all of these trends also benefit your B2C lead generation, which makes this a win-win scenario. However, those who want a rapid and reliable expansion need to focus on both.

Legal Branding

The Importance of Branding in the Financial Sector

Steven on March 27, 2019

Considering the fact that the financial industry goes back to ancient civilization, branding is a new concept which has become crucial for success in todays modern world. If you watch old TV shows and movies, you will know the concept of the frontier banker. There used to be just one bank in town, which would be a solid looking building with heavy bars on the windows, and you could go there to simply borrow or deposit money. The bank was always busy as it had no competition.

Today, times have changed considerably as we are surrounded by a wide array of financial institutions, both online and traditional bricks and mortar. There is fierce competition for customers, and institutions have to make an effort on multiple fronts for attracting and retaining customers. They now have to invest heavily in advertising, offering new products and services, while also adding new technology to improve efficiency.

But, where is the brand building? If no one knows who you are, they will not pay attention to your products and services. Your bank will not look any more different from the next one. A brand serves as the identity of the financial institution and represents its values, personality and traits. It distinguishes your business from others, because strong brands are captivating, likeable, memorable and relatable. A strong brand provides you with greater control over your bank’s future because it gives you the power to communicate with your peers, customers and the public.

We spoke with Katherine Rose a branding expert in the financial industry, about some of the ways branding is paramount to the industry, fresh from her latest campaign for logbook loans online lender elogbookloan.uk.

There are a number of ways that effective branding can help in the financial sector:

A strong brand gives you a competitive edge

With a strong brand, a business can create a strong emotional connection with its customers, whether they are individuals or commercial organizations. More than the products and services that are offered by a financial institution, the brand is their reputation, their promise. Not only does it resonate with people, it also helps you become recognizable instantly. When customers see your brand and listen to your message, it becomes easier for them to choose you. This makes a business less vulnerable to competitors.

A strong brand helps to build trust

When it comes to matters of money, trust is vital. Strong brands are perceived by customers as higher value and lower risk. This strengthens a business’s bargaining power when they are dealing with potential partners and vendors. It is also helpful in reducing turnover, fueling employee pride and also attracting top talent.

A strong brand can ease financial pressures

Organizations in the financial sector are also businesses. In fact, they are highly regulated businesses. Increasing regulation, changing tax policies and the need to find new revenue sources and cut costs have made uncertain times for businesses in the financial industry. These risks can be mitigated by a strong brand with goodwill that boosts actual company value and customer loyalty.

A strong brand directly speaks to your customers

Today’s world has become content driven, which means that everyone can now be regarded as an empowered decision-maker. Strong brands can support this fact because they position themselves as useful resources, not just purveyors of products or services. This can be immensely helpful in building customer confidence and trust.

A strong brand can mitigate the pressure of mergers and acquisitions

Due to the numerous benefits that a strong brand can offer, financial institutions that wish to stay independent can protect themselves from unwanted takeovers. A strong brand increases the negotiating power of any financial organization that wishes to merge with or acquire others.

These are just some of the prominent benefits that branding can give a business in the financial sector.

Legal Branding

The Only Guide You Need to Read Before Buying a Business in Distress

Steven on March 2, 2019

The task of putting up a business can be quite challenging, to say the least. As with almost all ventures, starting from scratch is often the best way to go, but also the most time-consuming and it also requires the most effort.

Couple that with the fact that there’s no guarantee that your business is going to thrive, especially if the market you intend to compete in is over-saturated, and you’ve got a sea of uncertainty that’s bound to discourage many would-be entrepreneurs.

And so, it’s no surprise that many might want to instead invest in a dying (but already established) business. After all, all that needs to be done is to breathe new life into the business. And while it’s true that the easiest route to take here would be to simply engage the services of the seasoned lawyers at the McQuarrie law firm, it’s always best to at least have an idea of what exactly you’re getting yourself into.

But being the savvy readers you are, you’re already aware that taking over a failing business is not as easy as it may seem on paper. There are many considerations that you have to take into account, and here are some of the most important ones.

Buy Assets, Not Stock

As you may have already guessed, acquiring assets serves you, the new owner, in two primary ways. First is that you’re going to be able to offset any liabilities that you’re likely to incur. Apart from this, you’re also going to obtain an improved tax basis with regard to these assets.

However, it’s very important to understand that while this is indeed a general principle, caution be must taken, especially since each and every deal is different and they should all come with their own structures and negotiations.

Fraudulent Transfer Protection

If assets from a distressed business are purchased before a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is filed, you risk facing a fraudulent transfer challenge later down the road. If creditors show that there was indeed a fraud that was committed, the sale can be nullified.

To avoid such a scenario, you need to build proof on record that there was fair judgment taken by getting a fairness opinion from a recognized bank, and that there are already procedures in place to pay off the creditors.

The Purchase Price Escrow

Unless a buyer has a guarantee from a credit-worthy partner or stockholder of the distressed business, you as the buyer can hold a significant amount of the purchase price in escrow to avoid the risk of having your purchase price treated as an unsecured claim. This can happen if the business you meant to purchase decides to file for bankruptcy AFTER the acquisition of assets.

The Section 363 Sale

This method of purchase is deemed as one of the most efficient because not only is it a faster process, but it is also a significantly cheaper process. This is the method of choice for many businessmen for a multitude of reasons that deserve an entire article of its own.

Legal Branding

Importance of Videography and the Top Three Advantages

Steven on March 2, 2019

Image source

The legal world has several methods to ensure that the proceedings go well! Videography is one of the most important methods used in courtrooms for a decade. It’s still in use today! With technological advancements and new techniques, the videography quality has increased manifold. Other than courtrooms, it’s also a part of depositions and caters to many legal matters.

However, merely deploying legal videography methods is not a smart idea! You need to be tuned into the legal implications of the process. And for that you can opt-in to contact a professional law firm. As you research online, you can browse through NAEGELI Deposition & Trial and other similar names that are prominent in this business.

Advantages of legal videography

The main benefits of legal videography are as follows:

1. Helps you to record everything

Typically, used for deposition videography is effective in keeping track of questions, answers, statements and other aspects of a trial. Every video file is permanent evidence of all that got said, declared and agreed on at the court. And this caters to two important trial purposes.

First, you have video evidence of all that the court has accepted or denied. And all these aspects can work hand in hand to impact the verdict of a legal case. And second, you need to be aware that legal cases sometimes don’t make it to the trial for an extended time. Hence, when the trail starts, it might just sustain for a long time. When you have a video record of all that got declared in the depositions and other trials, you exactly know who said what and when. It will help you in generating meaningful points.

2. Helps to strengthen your association with the juror

When we are speaking about jurors, proof indicates that most jurors are likely to keep important data that they seek. It is done in comparison to the data that they hear. And videos are counted as visual and practical proof that everyone can see. It also functions as a means to connect faces to statements. And this will impact the jurors.

Also, videos are better evidence than transcripts or voice recordings. With a video, you can have a look at the facial expression, body language, and the like that helps judges to decide better. Videos express the non-verbal signs better, for instance, tone, voice intonation, and the overall demeanor of a person. It gives statements better credibility.

3. Helps you to save pointless expenses

Most people think that legal videography is expensive! The truth is it’s not. Other than the two advantages discussed above, making a video in a courtroom or during a deposition can help you save money. You will have the chance to share those video files in courts. It is helpful when you can’t get a witness to attend the court in real-time. It’s mainly when some people stay in different time zones. The entire process is cost-effective. Also, today there are advanced video conferring tactics that can help in court proceedings as well.

These are three significant advantages of legal videography. However, when you hire a service provider to work, ensure that the firm has a reputation for providing the best service at the best service charge.