Digital Branding

5 Best Digital Ideas To Increase Your Brand Presence

on March 11, 2021

Businesses need to be conspicuous for them to grow and thrive. This means that they must invest in brand awareness and recognition. As such, one needs to initiate necessary steps to achieve such a goal. Fortunately, some simple tricks and tips can help any business grow to a level where they increase their brand awareness with ease.

Consider the five suggestions below as a great starting point.

Consider Website Optimization

A primary reason you should prioritize hiring one of the best salesforce consulting companies is to help you with web management. It is not enough to have a company website. Any company working online should have a well-optimized website. Invest in the right SEO strategies such as keyword use, lead creation, and link building. Note that most people today begin their search for products and services online.

All you need to do is start. Ensure that the process is simple and not fancy. Your website should simply show your work in the most straightforward way possible. Ensure it is easy to load and navigate. These can be easily achieved by optimization. Make the website visually appealing and useful for those searching online. If funds allow, consider making a mobile app, especially if your services match the mobile platform use.

Start a Business Blog

Focus on getting people to know more about your business. Ensuring that there is enough credible information about the business out there can easily achieve this. Starting a blog is one of the safest and surest ways to inform your potential and repeat clients about your products and services. You can document all your progress in your blogs as long as your post’s content is useful to the reader.

Having a dedicated blog that addresses most, if not all, the issues customers may have, helps businesses attract new customers and maintain the earlier ones. However, before posting any content on the blog, it must be perfectly-written without numerous errors.

You also need to update the content on your website regularly, more so if things change. Whenever readers realize that you post outdated content, they are likely to trust you less. Let people know when to expect your new content. This will help you achieve excellent traffic and boost your SEO ranking. In case your goal is the growth and expansion of your brand’s presence, you must positively use your blog.

Focus on Social Media Presence

While social media is great for business growth and brand awareness, you need to be careful when choosing the right channels. Your excellent research skills should be used at this point. Find out the best social media channels that will help your media presence.

Do not ignore social media because this is an opportunity to grow your brand and bring in more potential customers. It is easier for more people to find out about you on your social media pages than they will on your website. Once you decide which social media channel is excellent for you, create useful content for the page. Keep it busy and continue to engage your viewers.

Most importantly, ensure that you are relevant. Everything you post, from the videos, pictures, and blog posts, should match your brand’s identity. Besides that, have your employees join in this journey. Please encourage them to continually share the content on their personal social media spaces to expand the brand’s reach. Focus on extending your reach and building trust, as this goes a long way in bringing the right people your way.

Have a Few Guest Posts and Invest in Email Marketing

One of the fastest and easiest ways to build brand awareness is having a strong email presence. Email marketing works most of the time and is even more effective than social media because you deal and interact with people directly. When using email marketing as a strategy, make sure your approach is segmented to be more effective.

Create customized messages and send emails at the right time. You have to analyze data and know what works for you regularly. On the other hand, guest blogging also works in branding because of the targeted exposure, which helps your brand earn credibility. When done right, this can be a magnet that attracts customers to your website.

Once people love your content on the guest blogs, they are likely to go to the main website and read through your other content. This helps you build traffic and can contribute to the conversion rates and business increase.

Use Visuals to Engage Customers

A visual brand is immediately noticeable. Customers want compelling content that makes them love your brand. Take time to build content that attracts your customers. Use imagery and other visual aids that put your brand out there.

The aim is to tap into the consciousness of the reader or potential customer. Once they are hooked, they will search for your content on official channels and possibly convert into loyal customers. The bottom line is to ensure that the content you create is appealing and exciting for them to continue searching for you.

Final Thoughts

Brand awareness is easy. However, it needs one to use available resources. Choose wisely and follow a path that works for your business. Different strategies may work for other businesses, while some may need a combination of several strategies. So, choose wisely.

Digital Branding

Marketing for the Digital Age: Steps to Stand Out

on March 8, 2021

Marketing has changed significantly in the digital age, and it continues to evolve. There are quite a few methods that every company in the digital economy needs to learn in order to stand out from the rest. The internet is saturated and the number of products and services available is unparalleled to any other time in human history. Luckily there are ways to promote your business and market ads to your target demographics. Below are a few tips that will help your company market itself in the digital age.

Master SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for any business that wants to land on Google, Bing, and others. SEO is essential to any company that needs to market itself digitally. It is the process of using keywords, hyperlinks, metadata, and more to ensure that the web page lands on search engines. If you do your best to hire people who understand SEO and keep learning about it on a continual basis you’ll have the chance to market your company successfully online.

Utilize Technical Writing Software

The use of technical writing software won’t just facilitate your SEO, it is a great resource for content web developers in general. Whether it’s technical code writing or video content, taking advantage of all the tools you have at your disposal will improve your online presence when it comes to digital marketing. From importing to authoring new content to publishing and analytics, tools like technical writing software will give you the power to effectively target ads and use digital marketing in a whole new way.

Stay Active on Social Media

Social media is not just necessary to promote your products or services to consumers, it is also integral for your online strategy. You’ll need to target ads while using analytics, hashtags, and other methods to market the business on social media. If you don’t already have social media employees, it’s a good idea to get started. When you don’t have a social media presence, it will be difficult for many people to find about your company.

Invest in Data

As a company involved in the digital space of technology, it has become imperative to gather data. Whether you’re getting data from your own site, online service, or buying it from another company, data is now extremely valuable. When you sign up for a social media platform, you agree to the terms and conditions to allow the company to sell your data. 

These businesses deal primarily in data. This is because it has become as valuable of a resource as oil. While the moral issues surrounding the buying and selling of data are dubious, it is a main-stay of the digital economy that isn’t going anywhere any time soon. If you want to expand and make it big with your start-up, you’ll need to deal with data as well.

Use Analytics & Spreadsheets

When you are handling a lot of data, your company will need to store and manage it. You can either store it on a Cloud service yourself, pay someone else to do it, or have full control over the data by keeping it on your own private server. Each method has its own workload and benefits. Depending on the security of the data and how much you want to have access to it, you can choose the storage and management method that works best for you.

Then once you have your data properly stored and organized, you’ll be able to use analytics and spreadsheets to determine the best ways to use particular sets of data. Some of it can be used in tandem with other sets, but some will need to be scrutinized individually. However you look at it, your digital business can use data to market more effectively to the target demographics that can be discovered and analyzed to expose new opportunities and ad potential.

Marketing has become much more complex in the digital age. The internet is complex and it takes a lot to stand out from the saturated crowd. But if you put in the effort to learn SEO, social media, data management, and technical writing software, your company will be able to market your product or service.

Ryan Beitler is a writer, journalist, and blogger who has written for AI Time Journal, Paste Magazine, The Slovenia Times, Addiction Now, and more.

Digital Branding

Nine Online Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make

on March 6, 2021

Good marketing is a crucial element for every business’s survival and success. A well-planned marketing strategy can do wonders for your small business. Not only will it attract a considerable number of potential customers, but it will also give your business an immense opportunity for growth.

Online marketing is rapidly taking the lead among all other forms of marketing. While traditional marketing channels like TV commercials and billboard advertisements are still widely employed, their effect is no longer dominant in the digital era. With social media and e-commerce websites taking over the world by storm, marketers are making a paradigm shift towards digital marketing.

However, digital marketing is still an evolving concept. Hence, many businesses face issues when trying to market their product through an online platform. These marketing mistakes can create plenty of problems, and might even cost you your business. Therefore, identifying and avoiding them is essential. Below, we have pointed out a few online marketing mistakes small businesses often tend to make.

1. Not having a pre-planned strategy

Like any other business strategy, online marketing also needs a tremendous amount of planning. Without a well-thought-out marketing strategy, your marketing goals will lack structure and direction. You will be unable to reach your established objective, and your competitors might put you at a disadvantage.

To develop a marketing strategy, start by identifying your audience, and set a long-term vision and goals for your business. Most importantly, decide the online platform(s) you want to use for marketing purposes. You can implore the different techniques used for market research to devise a conclusive strategy for your business.

On the other hand, hiring a digital marketing agency can make your job easier. You can get assistance from qualified professionals and build an efficient and effective strategy for your business.

2. No social media presence

In this day and age, where social media is the “king” of marketing channels, not having a social media presence can put your business at a considerable disadvantage.

A social media page can help popularize your business and attract more potential customers. Social media is also an excellent avenue for you to interact with your customers and build long-lasting relationships. You can improve your services and quality by getting their feedback. You can also get an insight into consumers’ consumption patterns and develop a marketing plan tailored to specific groups.

Social media handles like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram also allow you to run advertisements for your business. While everything else is free-of-cost, these advertisements are not. However, these costs are scalable depending on your objectives. They are a great way to attract traffic to your page and increase your followers.

3. Entirely depending on paid advertisements

While paid advertisements can be immensely beneficial for your business, you should avoid solely relying on them. One reason for this is that these advertisements may not necessarily yield any long-term benefits. Also, back-to-back paid advertisements tend to have diminishing returns and can burn a hole in your business wallet.

Consider investing your time, money, and energy in other long-term and effective strategies like inbound marketing. Inbound marketing includes social media, SEO, and email. Inbound marketing promises long-term benefits and improves ROI.

4. Neglecting your social media account

It’s one thing not to have social media presence at all (we talked about that above), and entirely another to have one and neglect it. And believe it or not, small business owners are more likely to make the second mistake.

Some common mistakes marketing teams make are inconsistency with posting and replying late to queries. If you don’t post regularly, you might start losing followers, eventually dipping your engagement and traffic figures. Delayed responses to queries and an inactive social media account reflect poorly on the business’s ability to address customer concerns and create a bad reputation.

5. Not using videos

Studies report that 85% of the audience prefers watching videos over engaging with text and image-based content. Facebook and YouTube saw a massive increase in video content last year. Fun, humorous, and engaging videos attract a lot of customers. Video content is more memorable than text. It can drive immense traffic and is slowly becoming the preferred medium of many marketers.

6. Not marketing your website

If your business is new, then remember to market your website well. If you don’t invest in marketing your website, you will fail to attract even the smallest amount of traffic, leading to a tremendous loss in ROI. Think about it, many people don’t know about you, and you do not even market your website. Then, how do you expect visitors to your site? It’s a no-brainer!

It’s a very competitive digital world that we are talking about here. There are millions of websites up on the web. The chances of a person reaching your website are little to none if you don’t market it properly, which brings us to the next mistake.

7. Not investing in SEO

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving your ratings on different search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. SEO makes it possible for customers to easily find your business and the products/services you offer while surfing the internet.

The problem here is that most business owners do not realize the full potential of SEO. They consider it to be useless and time-consuming. However, it is one of the most effective marketing tactics. If you can learn certain tricks of the trade like keyword research, keyword optimization, URL creation, you will realize the true potential that SEO carries. Yes, it is time-consuming, but the long-term results are worth the wait.

8. Spamming your customers

Being bombarded with an odd number of emails, texts, and messages is something none of us like. Customers hate spam! Spamming your customers can annoy them to the point that they might block you.  The last thing you want is to lose your customers for good!

Try and make your emails and messages relevant. Irrelevant and unnecessary spam emails can worsen the case. The best way to go about it is to communicate with your customers and only send them as few emails as they wish to receive.

9.      Marketing exclusively

Marketers often make the mistake of focusing on quantity over quality, i.e., they assume the higher the ad frequency, the higher the website’s traffic. However, it would be best to remember that your goal is to attract the right traffic and not all the traffic. Visitors who are genuinely interested in your business should be your primary focus. Others might waste your time and money, and will eventually leave. Define your target audience and focus on marketing to a niche rather than everyone.

Conclusion

Your marketing tactics will be of no use if you are not able to reach your goal. Small businesses often make the mistake of marketing their businesses without putting any thought into it first. Careful marketing is vital. It can make or break your business. Investing time, energy, and money in digital marketing is a valuable and valuable idea, but correctly investing those three resources is the key to success.

If you are a new business owner, make sure to surf through the above-given points to not make any marketing mistakes in the future.

Uncategorized

How to Build an Award-Winning Sales Team

on March 5, 2021

There’s little doubt that most of us, at some point, have experienced that uncomfortable feeling of being “pressured” by an overly aggressive salesperson into buying a product or service.

Most often, we usually thank them and abruptly walk away, even though we may have initially been interested in the product or service being offered. All too often, it’s a simple matter of timing, allowing the customer to reach their own “comfort zone” by allowing them the time to assess the product or service.

Moreover, knowing when to engage the buyer and hopefully close the sale, and that’s where teaching the basic skills needed to sell becomes essential in keeping and maintaining a viable customer base within an ever-changing high-tech environment.

However, where do we begin in developing a sales team?    

Today the landscape has changed dramatically. Businesses more than ever need to rely on targeted sales training programs specifically designed to the company’s individual needs.

Nevertheless, you may choose to “go it alone,” perhaps thinking it’s no big deal in assembling a sales team, and perhaps that was true a decade or so ago. However, the marketplace has changed dramatically.

Within the retail industry alone, online sales this holiday season skyrocketed to over 50% in global online sales, to over $1.1 trillion dollars, with over 58% coming just a week before Christmas.  

Moreover, total U.S. online sales reached $236 billion, compared to $165 billion in 2019. This trend will no doubt continue well into the future.

The competition from online sales where customers simply log on to their favorite website and push a button presents a real challenge; the question is, how do we navigate forward when the salesperson is taken out of the equation?

“Going it alone” shouldn’t be an option, rather recruit a professional sales training firm, one that provides a total sales methodology, one that benefits every salesperson, no matter how experienced they are within your company.

Moreover, recruit a firm that utilizes core sales training techniques such as:

In-Person Workshops

This allows for invaluable person-to-person interaction between individuals, which in turn builds a dedicated sales force.  

Online Courses

This is an excellent way of sharing sales training techniques with others on the team and a great way of keeping track of their progress.

Internal Team Testing

This is another great way of calculating the strength and weakness of your sales force by reviewing past sales cycles.

Do your due diligence in choosing a sales training company. Also, make sure you do your due diligence before you contract a sales training company, check their success rate, their client base, and most importantly, can they meet your specific needs? 

Trial and Error

Moreover, the most important aspect of any sales training program is what occurs in the field. In that, most sales techniques are developed by trial and error. Feedback by the client thus becomes extremely important within the development of any sales force.

However, perhaps just as important in crafting a successful sales training program is how the buyer preserves the salesperson who is tasked with the “art-of-persuasion” in which he or she must put themselves in the buyer’s shoes. The salesperson should be able to understand and, more importantly, solve any problem that might arise.

A Well-Defined Script

Crafting a well-defined script is also an essential part of sales and should become second nature when speaking with a customer; it should sound natural, not rehearsed.

Most likely, if you’ve never spoken in public, this can be a daunting task. However, with practice, the fear factor will slowly diminish. That’s not to suggest that you won’t feel a bit uneasy during the first few encounters. However, as you become more comfortable with yourself along with the product or service you’re selling, you’ll develop a certain cadence to your presentation, you’ll be able to emphasize certain aspects of the product or service, perhaps highlighting a special feature.

If you’re selling in-person to a customer and not on the phone, it’s a good idea to practice your presentation standing in front of a mirror; remember, this is a performance. The more comfortable you are with yourself, the easier the sale.

Digital Branding

Test Automation: Building the Right Automation Strategy

on March 1, 2021

Whether it is a startup or an enterprise, all businesses are implementing test automation. But still, there is a higher rate of failure, and the underlying reason is the wrong implementation. Businesses cannot afford to go wrong with their test automation strategy in this fierce competition. A test automation company can help enterprises build the right strategy when moving from manual to automated tests. 

Let’s see how businesses can build a good test automation strategy:

The road to quality software development is full of hurdles but the right choices make businesses succeeded eventually, if not at the first attempt. Development teams begin a project with great enthusiasm and seem to meet their deadlines too. But when moving towards automation testing, things start to fall apart and teams start to lag behind their schedule. In the rush to reduce the time to market, companies often fail to achieve quality products. So this is where the real challenge begins. 

How to Get Started with Test Automation?

In the software development industry, one of the main factors for failure is bug fixing, which causes delays in projects. This is why a test automation company needs to get things straight right from the beginning. According to the world quality report, 61% of respondents stated that they have difficulties in automating their QA, which results in higher costs. It breaks the conventional pattern of detecting bugs and fixes them by running regression tests.  

A Good Automation Strategy

Following are the key ingredients for a good automation strategy:

  • Defining goals– So that you are clear which tests need to be automated.
  • Planning a test approach – It is important to determine and list down various levels of testing, along with the roles and responsibilities of the team members. All types of testing that would be required in a project should be listed. 
  • Selecting a test automation framework – It is a set of detailed guidelines that one needs to follow when writing and running tests. It includes coding standards, procedures, test-data reporting, etc. 
  • Selecting tools – Development teams should select testing tools that they will be using during their project. 
  • Creation of tests and running them – Once test managers have created a test automation strategy and selected the right testing tools; it is time to write and execute scripts.
  • Maintaining scripts – It includes scrutinizing the testing parameters. For instance, if a new feature is added to an application, regression tests need to be carried out. 

Conclusion

CIOs think that test automation can save time and get things back on track. Development teams begin with the process only to find out it’s not as simple as it looks. Since they don’t know which tools to use or don’t have the right automation strategy in place. Towards the end, they realize how much technical debt they may have to pay. This is why implementing test automation is the ultimate solution. A good test automation company can help enterprises in achieving full potential from test automation efforts. 

Digital Branding

How Does your Food Delivery Business benefit by Embracing Digital Solutions

on February 26, 2021

The latest trend of digitalization is changing the entire world in the form of the digital revolution. The world is witnessing everlasting solutions like digitization, which will benefit, benefit, and only benefit the upcoming generation. It is the solution that has completely changed the dynamics of the market. The internet is such a field that has created magic, and in recent times it has empowered the world. People got immensely fond of the internet world that these days they always take the internet’s opinion. The digital revolution has happened only because of the popularity of the internet and advancement in the networks and internet. More importantly, it also happened because people realized the importance of such solutions in their day-to-day lives. 

Infographic created by Clover Network, a restaurant POS provider

The digital transformation in the business sector is nothing new these days, and small businesses like restaurants and food eateries have taken advantage of it successfully. The food business will always be trending because people are fond of eating delicious food. The critical point here is that the food industry is snowballing, and the market conditions are hectic because of the heavy competition. On the other hand, people have got a lot of options that they get confused with when choosing their cuisine. The restaurant business can quickly adopt digital solutions to embrace themselves in the competitive market. 

The restaurant business’s digital solutions will give them a chance for betterment in the service and healthily beat the competitions. It is the solution that will enhance the business model and improves the ease of doing business for your restaurant. It also smoothens the business operations and gives service providers flexibility to handle their business functions efficiently. There are many benefits and verticals that digital solutions offer to the business people in the restaurant sector.

Digital Solutions For Getting Food Orders

The digital solutions in restaurants will allow the restaurant owners to get food orders online from customers searching for the food online. They can have their ordering and delivery system for restaurant to get online orders to deliver them at the customer’s doorstep. The restaurant owners can relax as they can get their orders online, and they don’t have to handle the customers at their restaurant. They just need to prepare the food and notify the delivery rider to collect the order and deliver it to the customer’s destination. The order handling and receiving and further processing are quite quickly done with the digital solutions. Also, real-time data is available to keep watch on the entire food ordering and delivering process. 

Improve Business Efficiency

Implementing digital solutions in the restaurant business will help them to improve business efficiency. With the digital tools, the ordering details are accurately received, and there won’t be any chance of miscommunication while preparing and receiving the order. Restaurants working offline have these issues of miscommunication, and they serve the wrong item, which will frustrate customers, which is not a good thing for your restaurant business. The communication will be accurate with the digital solutions that will increase the efficiency of the restaurant business. The restaurant business will have its standards with digital solutions, which helps run the business efficiently. Thus, these are the technologies that enhance work productivity. 

Offering Better Customer Service

The digital solutions will allow the food delivery service to automate the ordering and processing tasks. Online ordering will enable customers to order their food requirements sitting at their place, which is a convenient option. They can have access to the restaurant’s entire menu with each detail on their hands using the online platform. With everything at their fingertips, it is very hassle-free for them to order food online, and they will get its quick delivery at their doorstep. Customers will enjoy digital ordering as it gives them flexibility and conveniences, which the traditional form of restaurant business won’t be able to provide. Thus, it allows the restaurant business to offer better customer service by ordering and delivering these solutions. 

Increased In Restaurant Revenue Generation

The restaurant business’s digital solutions will allow them to target wider audiences from the internet world as we all know that the digital population is expanding, and the internet user-base has increased and reached 4.66 Billion, which is almost 60% of the total world population. The online users will use the restaurant’s online services effectively, and these are the target audiences for your business. The order generation will increase with the online ordering facility provided by restaurants. With the increase in order quantity, there will be an increase in the revenues generated, and thus, that is what your restaurant business needs these days. The restaurant business will be thriving with the digital solution. 

Getting Quick Payments With Digital Solutions

The digital solutions will allow your food business to accept online payment facilities, which is a very flexible option. The digital payments are swift, easy, and reliable, and the owners can easily secure the money for the food. Customers can also have the flexible option of paying online, which is very convenient as they do not need to arrange cash when they receive the food order at their doorstep. The payment facilities have solved many problems for the business people in running their business model smoothly. Managing money is the biggest hurdle for any business, and with digital solutions, it can be done easily. 

Excellent Delivery Service

The digital solutions will allow the food delivery business to run their delivery service smoothly and efficiently. The delivery service will be improved with digital solutions, and with the latest technologies, the optimum delivery can be done. There are various features for efficient delivery operations that help the rider get an optimized route for delivery. The entire delivery operations can be monitored these days with real-time data. That will ensure smooth delivery operations, and the restaurant owner can relax and focus on their business. 

Concluding Note

The restaurant and food business sector has been evolving a lot in recent times with digital solutions availability. The business people have found these solutions very useful in enhancing their business model and creating excellent opportunities to establish their virtual space business. With the virtual audiences, they can increase their orders, which will eventually lead to an increase in revenue generation. The digital solution has a lot to offer to the business model, and it is said that a digital solution will have an excellent future. People have also found this solution very helpful, and thus, it gives a perfect opportunity to the food business sector to achieve their targets and desired success. 

Author Bio

Brijesh Vadukiya

I am Brijesh, a tech activist and avid blogger. My major concern is to educate people who are interested in technology. I am passionate about helping people in all aspects of SaaS solutions, online delivery business, digital marketing and other related topics that make tomorrow’s world better. I am fond of writing useful and informative content that helps brands to grow business.

Uncategorized

5 Best Sick-Leave Practices During the Pandemic

on February 24, 2021

As this year draws to a close, we are hoping to greet 2021 with a brighter outlook and more opportunities to rebuild the economy, as well as our everyday lives. Every company has been affected by the pandemic. Many have had to let go a number of employees, entire businesses have switched to working remotely, and others have had to make sure that, if office-based work is necessary, their teams are as safe as possible. 

In addition to following the government-prescribed rules on social distancing and hygiene, brands are also trying to make it easier for them to spot potential risks and prevent spreading the virus at the office. However, when it does happen, and someone gets sick, companies have also had to adjust their approach to sick leave. The listed ideas on managing your sick leave policies will allow you to keep your teams safe, manage their office time more efficiently, and of course, run your business more seamlessly as a whole. 

Empower transparency in your business

If employees are afraid that they’ll lose their job when they get sick, they might feel reluctant to share that they’re not feeling that well. Then again, if they’ve seen people at the office exhibiting coronavirus symptoms, and they don’t report the situation – they might be causing more harm than they know.

Make sure to communicate your sick leave policy and all of its changes to your employees. Ask them how they feel, check up on them for updates, and always remind them that their wellbeing comes first. Only with such a mindset and a culture based on transparency can you expect your teams to work together to ensure a safe office environment while you adapt your sick leave to match their needs.

Manage office time and schedules with ease

One common challenge for companies during the pandemic is handling office schedules, tracking attendance, and overall task management. To help ensure that employees are working remotely when needed and to have an overview of employees away on sick leave, find the best rostering software for your needs to simplify attendance and time management.

When you have a situation of these proportions, you need a structured, organized system to know who among your staff is at the office and who is on sick leave. This will also help with your accounting and HR processes to make sure employees on sick leave get what they need in terms of healthcare, guidance, information, and office updates while they’re away from the office.

Keep sick leave of appropriate length 

Although consistency in granting sick leave to your employees is essential to make sure you don’t spread the virus at the office, you still need to make sure your policy is flexible. Many employers worry that their business productivity and overall collaboration might suffer as a result of the pandemic and granting sick leave at every turn. 

The simple truth is, all companies are strongly encouraged to provide enough time for their employees to recover before going back to the office. Risking an office-wide outbreak fearing a lack of productivity is no basis for such an irresponsible decision. Most companies are granting at least 14 days of sick leave to give their employees enough time to recover and for any symptoms to disappear. Otherwise, remote work is recommended.

Testing and other health screenings

Some companies have introduced the requirement for their employees to get tested for COVID-19 in order to be deemed ready to go back to work. Depending on the situation in your country, you are also obligated by law to provide leave for employees who get sick, as the situation requires consistent sick leave implementation across the board. 

Keep in mind that symptoms aren’t the full picture 

Although we all know what to do when we get a fever and start coughing, there’s been some confusion around symptom-free infections. The core issue here is that many people remain undiagnosed as a result of the lack of symptoms, which may increase the risk of spreading the virus at the office. If a member of one of your employee’s family gets sick, you will most likely be under the obligation to send that employee home. 

However, this doesn’t warrant sick leave per se. If that employee feels well and their capacity to work is in no way diminished, you can enable them to work remotely until their family recovers completely. If it’s possible for them to get tested and confirm whether or not they are infected, that is always a great precaution, but bear in mind that many will get a false negative result – hence the need for remote work. 

The same goes for employees who get sick but are negative to the virus – even though their infection might not be officially confirmed, you need to approve their sick leave for at least two weeks, or until they get better.

Responding to the coronavirus pandemic has pushed companies to change how they operate, as well as their office policies that will remain in effect for as long as there’s risk of COVID-19 infections. With that in mind, your sick leave policy should reflect these circumstances, the changing needs of your employees, and the elevated mindfulness of employee wellbeing and health. Make sure that you factor in the listed ideas in your policy for sick leave and always keep your employees informed on what they should do in case they get sick. 

Digital Branding

Top 8 Instagram Tools to Help you Promote your Brand

on February 22, 2021

Many people spend more than 2 hours on social media platforms every day. Considering Instagram, there are 1 billion monthly active users on the platform. These social media statistics and numbers are quite thought-provoking when it comes to the promotion of your brand on social media platforms, especially Instagram. To make the promotion of your brand on Instagram more successful, you can use the available top Instagram tools to facilitate all your tasks. 

There are many Instagram tools that you can use. Choosing the right tool can influence your Instagram marketing strategies and the efficiency of your time and efforts. As many Instagram tools are either free or have a reasonable price, it is their functionality that makes the difference. 

Why Is Using Instagram Marketing Tools Important?

Instagram is a photo-centered social platform that can drive business growth to a large extent. So, it is not like the past when people only wanted to see their friends’ moments, some delicious food pictures, beautiful natural landscapes, etc. on their feed. Nowadays, more than 200 million users visit one business profile each day. Therefore, it is important that you use Instagram to promote your brand image and products or services. 

To better manage your business Instagram account, Instagram marketing tools can be a great contribution. They can schedule your posts for a later time to be posted, suggest hashtags, or give you the analytics of your performance on Instagram. They can also help you increase your follower base and better engage your audience. Taken as a whole, you can automate your Instagram tasks and get the most of your Instagram account just by using Instagram marketing tools. Not to mention that using Instagram marketing tools is a great way to save time. 

What Are the Top Instagram Tools to Promote Your Brand?

Now that we have known the importance of using Instagram marketing tools, it is time to learn about the best Instagram tools. 

1. DMpro

Direct Messages or DMs on Instagram are great for generating more leads and customers. Using DMpro as an automated DM tool, you can both facilitate and accelerate your DM marketing on Instagram. The tool automates all your DM-related tasks. In addition, you can send bulk DMs or get notified whenever you receive a DM by Email. 

Here are the features of DMpro:

  • Automating outbound DMs
  • Sending automated DM responses
  • Sending bulk DMs to your contacts
  • Sending and receiving DMs via Email

2. Realtormate

If you have a realtor business, using Realtormate as your Instagram marketing tool is the smartest move. You can get a lot of relevant content designs with this Instagram tool for realtors which is great for accelerating your content creation. Moreover, you can create a content plan for your Instagram posting. Furthermore, you can use Realtormate as a growth manager to generate 400-500 new, AI-targeted followers and leads each month.

Here are the features of Realtormate:

  • Posting designs for Instagram real estate agencies
  • Creating a content plan
  • Growing your followers and leads

3. AiSchedul

AiSchedul is an Instagram marketing tool that used to have Instagram post scheduling as its main goal. You can create your post on the platform and set a time and date for it to be shared at that particular time.

Then, it evolved through time and added more services in addition to being an Instagram scheduler. For instance, you can add multiple hashtags by entering the main keyword of your post. You can also repost the best content related to your niche. Moreover, there is a calendar with international events that you can see the best trending posts and get an idea for your own content for that event. Furthermore, you can monitor your mentions too.

Here are the features of AiSchedul:

  • Scheduling your Instagram post for a later time
  • Choosing multiple hashtags
  • Reposting trending content
  • Creating ideas for international events through the calendar
  • Monitoring mentions 

4. AiGrow

Perhaps the most attractive tools for Instagram are the ones for the growth of your Instagram account. Increasing your Instagram followers can add a lot to the credit of your business. However, many tools stopped functioning as Instagram banned all bot activities on its platform. 

New tools like AiGrow can grow your follower base organically. It means that thanks to this Instagram growth service, you will increase the number of your followers with real users. There are packages that you can choose based on your budget and needs. 

Here are the features of AiGrow:

  • Increasing your follower base organically

5. Later

First and foremost, Later started its service as an Instagram post scheduling tool. It has updated itself to more services through time and is now an effective Instagram marketing tool. Using Later, you can create your Instagram posts and schedule them for later. There is also a calendar that helps you keep track of important international events. 

Here are the features of Later:

  • Easy scheduling of Instagram posts
  • Budget-friendly plans
  • Unlimited data download

6. Hootsuite

You can post on Instagram easier than before using Hootsuite as a scheduling tool. You can post any type of content directly from the platform of Hootsuite. However, Hootsuite does not just help you with posting and scheduling. It also helps you to answer the comments of your posts or check your post from the platform itself.

Here are the features of Hootsuite:

  • Creating content for your posts and stories
  • Scheduling of your posts
  • Monitoring Instagram activities
  • Searching for trending hashtags
  • Analysis of your Instagram performance

7. Iconosquare

Iconosquare is another Instagram marketing tool that you can choose for managing your Instagram account. What it actually does is to do with the analysis of your Instagram performance. The data that is driven from this tool can help you plan a better Instagram marketing strategy to create more engagement and better results. In addition, you can schedule your posts for a time and date to be posted. You can also monitor your Instagram activities from mentions to comments. 

Here are the features of Iconosquare:

  • Analyzing your Instagram performance
  • Hashtag tracking
  • Instagram influential profile spotting

8. Buffer

Buffer is perhaps one of the oldest Instagram marketing tools for post scheduling. You can schedule your Instagram posts in advance and queue your content for a particular date and time. 

Here are the features of Buffer:

  • Scheduling your Instagram posts
  • Scheduling and posting your content based on a calendar

Conclusion

Instagram is a popular social media platform with many features that have made it an easy-to-use platform for almost any generation. To get your business high up on Instagram and expect more customers, you should outsource some of your Instagram tasks to the best available Instagram tools that we have just introduced above. Wish you the best of luck!

Bio

I am Parichehr Parsi, a born writer, and a freelance copywriter in the fields of travel, fashion, and Instagram marketing. I currently write for SocialPros and online magazines in Italy and I love reading, writing, and researching. Find me on LinkedIn!

Personal Branding

Steps on How to Register Your Business in Utah

on February 21, 2021

Are you planning to start a business in Utah? It pays to do your homework! Before you can register your business in the Beehive State, you need to decide what type of business structure you will utilize. Will you go for Doing Business As (DBA), Limited Liability Company (LLC), or corporation? If you decide to have a Limited Liability Company, you need to know the current Utah LLC cost. If you opt for DBA or corporation, then you should also assess how much capital they require these days. Whichever you choose, all these structures have their fair share of advantages and flaws. To help you pick the perfect choice, we did a little research about these three entities.

Basic Business Structures

  • Doing Business As

DBA is sometimes referred to as a trade name, fictitious business name, or assumed business name. It allows a business to operate under a different name from its legal name. For example, if you want to run your cleaning business as X.Y.Z. Cleaning, you will need to file for a DBA. In most states, business owners file DBAs at the county level, where you can find the business.

  • Limited Liability Company

An LLC means that your business operates as a distinct and separate legal entity from you (as the owner). While LLCs require more formalities than a DBA, they have fewer restrictions than corporations. A manager or members who must manage a Member-Managed LLC are the company owners, while a manager may or may not be a member. The LLC structure also includes more tax flexibility since it can choose to be taxed as a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietor.

  • Corporation

A corporation is a separate entity that provides liability protection to the owners and has a structure that includes shareholders, directors, and officers. It is more complicated than a DBA, but startups and large firms that intend to raise funding often choose this. 

Now that you know the three structures’ main differences (and we hope that you’ve decided which one is your best bet), it’s time to think of a name for your business. Depending on the structure you chose, there will be different requirements when naming a business. 

What to Consider When Naming an LLC

Surprisingly, there are lots of things to consider when naming an LLC. But for brevity purposes, we’ve narrowed them down and listed only the most crucial things to keep in mind.

  • Include any of these words, phrases, or abbreviations: “limited company,” “limited liability company,” “LC,” or LLC” to your business name.
  • Do not use words that could confuse your LLC with a government agency, like “FBI,” “Treasury,” and “State Department.”
  • Avoid the words “bank,” “trust,” “trustee,” “insurer,” or “insurance company.”
  • Do a name search on the Utah.gov website to make sure the name you want is still available.

Registering an LLC in Utah

Now comes the easy-peasy part: registering your business as an LLC. First, file the “Certificate of Organization” amounting to $70 with the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. When approved, you need to organize the LLC by holding an “Organizational Meeting” and crafting the company Operating Agreement, taking contributions from the members, issuing Member Certificates, and more.

Conclusion


We hope this simple guide will give you an idea of Utah LLC cost and help you start your own business. Registering a business in the State of Utah takes time, patience, and a fistful of dollars. While you need to take a lot of steps, they are pretty easy and simple. Just make sure to take one step at a time and do everything you need to. This way, you’ll be able to set up your business correctly and get started making money.

Personal Branding

6 Ways to Boost your QA Team’s Productivity

on February 19, 2021

QA managers and team leads are continuously looking for ways to improve their QA process and software testing processes, but they also need to increase the productivity of their team members. However, during different testing activities and building up bug reports, they do not find enough time to perform these changes. Although increasing the productivity of a QA Team should not be complex, it is easy to create targeted wins, that allow them to implement additional ways to keep the team members motivated. Since there are a number of tasks that QA teams have to handle, and there is a lot on their plate, increasing productivity can boost a company’s sales and revenue. However, when QA teams use test case management software, it helps them in saving time and effort instead of managing all test cases manually. 

Following are 6 tips to increase the productivity of your testing team:

  1. Test Automation 

A company does not have to break a bank to improve its processes with the help of automation. It is important to automate the test cases that require significant time when performed manually or test cases that need to be executed multiple times during the development cycles. These include the automation of unit testing, smoke testing, functional testing, regression testing, integration testing, etc. 

  1. Use Effective Communication Tools 

When teams are performing manual testing, they need to collaborate with the team members. Thus it is vital to integrate the communication tools so that they can spend more time on the app rather than turning to their emails with issues or questions that are waiting in queue for answers/replies. Effective communication tools can help in improving the QA process as it speeds up and provides a smooth communication flow between QA teams and the other stakeholders.

Communication is a key to enhance productivity, as communication tools offer chat functionality, group online calls, screen sharing, recordings, document sharing, etc. QA managers also need to observe how often do teams reach out to each other, how they respond to queries and concerns posted by other team members, etc. All these factors are important and should be considered in the QA process. 

  1. Test Case Management Software

Writing unique test cases and executing them is a time-consuming job if performed manually. Gone are the days when teams used Excel Sheets to manage the test cases. Software testing teams now use test case management software that offers a wide range of features to assist their testing efforts. They can also integrate this software with other testing tools for boosting the QA process. 

  1. Providing the Necessary Information 

Another tip to improve QA is to ensure that all proper information is available. This should include the design specifications, documentation, etc. all available at a central location for the entire team. They should pick the right tools designed to keep the teams on track. When choosing a tool, make sure you consider the adaptability, features, functionality, and cost of the tool so that your teams invest more time and effort to improve the QA process. QA teams need access to critical information that is a way to ensure the success of a project. 

  1. Start Testing Early

In order to make the most of your QA team’s time during the initial phase, it is important to engage it in requirement review to find the mistakes before they begin the implementation phase. This type of approach helps in reducing the development costs and gives them a deeper insight into the software app right from the beginning. 

  1. Spread Domain Knowledge

Companies create software for a given domain such as finance, medical sciences, healthcare, etc. This is why the domain knowledge of the testing team can be valuable depending on the project in which they participate. It is important to provide them with considerable knowledge in the given area allows testers to better understand the functional and business requirements of the app under test. this type of understanding can have a huge impact on the productivity of a testing team. So the question remains how to spread this domain knowledge to the testers? Well, QA leads should organize a special training session with someone who knows the context provided for a given project. Providing materials among the QA teams can also assist them in preparing for participating in new projects.

Conclusion 

QA managers can use these six tips to improve the performance of the testing teams and also help them collaborate between different teams within the same project. 

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