Legal Branding

How to Utilise Accounting and Marketing to Get the Best Possible Results for Your Business

on October 13, 2019

Accounting and marketing make up some of the key components of every business. However, most of the time, people tend to forget the crucial role they can play and the benefit they can bring if they are utilized in concert with each other. In fact, it’s absolutely imperative to do everything within your power to maximize the cooperation between these two departments as it will give you the ability to grow and develop your business in a healthy and organic way. So, in order to help you out, today we are going to take a look at how to utilize accounting and marketing together to get the best possible results for your business.

The basic connection

First off, it’s important to understand the basics of both of these departments and how they are connected. Namely, the marketing department comes up with sales and awareness strategies with the goal of increasing the overall sales of a business’s product or service and the profit they will receive. On the other hand, the accounting department keeps a constant track of the business’s financial condition and thus directly determines how much money can be spent on marketing.

This whole process has become extremely quick and efficient with the use of modern technologies which means you can instantly use the information you get from accounting in order to maximize your marketing department’s efficiency. While this move towards digitalization is slowly taking place all over the world, places such as Singapore have recently launched plans to help the entire accountancy sector make a more determined move towards digitalization. In fact, there are many tools such as Xero accounting from Singapore that can allow you to have a constant real-time view of your finances and any changes that are occurring which can allow your marketing department to use that information to come up and determine the success of their strategies.

Determining success and measuring results

The best way for a marketing department to know if their campaign is a success is to look at the results which they will receive from nowhere else but the accounting department. This is a crucial part of every marketing campaign, not only because its goal was to have good results in the first place but because the results will show you if you are taking the right approach or if you need to switch things up in order to start seeing the results you want. Having a constant reference point of how a certain strategy is doing will also help when it comes to the realization of that strategy and give you the relevant information to help you guide it towards success.

Creating realistic projections

When coming up with a marketing strategy, the marketing department can often overestimate the results it will have, which could negatively impact the business as a whole. This is where the accounting department steps in to determine just how accurate those projections are based on past experience and concrete data. This process of making projections that are as realistic as possible is crucial when making both current and future financial decisions and won’t only impact these two aspects of your business but your business as a whole as well.

Price assessment

Price assessment is one of the most important aspects of a marketing campaign as it will determine the marketing goals that will be set. Finding the optimal pricing will also ensure your business can make a profit. With that in mind, the only way to correctly assess the prices of your products is to closely work with the accounting department which has all of the relevant information when it comes to the costs of the product and will ultimately give you the most realistic price which will highly impact the marketing departments whole strategy.

Making long term plans

If you are able to utilize both marketing and accounting to work together in your business you won’t only be able to create accurate projections of your future but you will also be able to use that information to create concrete long-term plans for your business. Marketing departments can give accounting departments business forecasts, which assist accounting in allocating resources effectively. Marketing may also provide accounting with information regarding which products or services are best sellers. If all of the information is shared between these two departments, you will be able to use it to decide on which aspects of the business to focus on.

Conclusion

Finally, it’s important to understand that having marketing and accounting work together will ultimately help you form an understanding of the bigger picture behind your business’ success or failure and will deepen the knowledge you have of your own business. That is why accounting and marketing are both integral parts of a business and having them work together will help you run your business more efficiently and successfully.

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Digital Branding

Virtual Reality in Shopping Experience – eCommerce Future

on October 8, 2019

Cutting-edge technology revolution would be impossible without businesses’ natural pursuit of competitive advantage via new ways to maximize customers experience. Virtual reality (VR) comes as one of the fascinating technologies to deliver an exceptional customer experience by providing users the concept where real and simulated worlds collide. This technology is now considered as a game-changer in the hyper-competitive marketplace. Understanding this matter from the perspective of an entrepreneur, we want to share with you the useful information with the hope that it can be applied effectively to your business strategy. Now, Let’ dive in!

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What is Virtual reality?

General knowledge

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Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created and displayed to the user in such a way that they suspend belief and assume it as a real environment. Virtual reality has come a long way in a short period, and it continues to develop at a rapid rate. VR widens a nearly infinite potential, with applications in education, medicine, Ecommerce retail, and numerous other domains.

This shinning electronic technology has made a quantum leap over the past few years, with an ambition to revolutionize mainstream markets. In 2017, virtual reality became affordable and available to the masses, rather than just the gaming elite. According to CCS Insight, by 2018, it’s estimated that 24 million VR devices were sold globally. 2019 is shaping the big year for VR, providing a solid base for the growth VR market. Its volume is expected to reach 98.4 million sales by 2023.

What is a virtual reality in Ecommerce?

Today there are more and more online merchants using VR due to its unique tangibility hallmarks and mind-blowing emotional footprint in advancing customer experience. Suppose that you run an e-commerce business in which your client can discover, choose, pay for inventory, and you can also interface to your buyer in that virtual store. Let’s say, and it is the general picture of virtual reality technology in the business world. Take a closer look in the following examples to see in details.

Yamaha clients can use a special headset to scrutinize the mechanics of their motorbike and see virtual renders of the bike’ engine status, the fuel mixture, parameters coming from sensors. Thanks to VR, the Customer’s interaction with the high-tech product are emotionalized, and machine components are presented vividly to customers or otherwise, they would never see.

Consumers can preview the menu in sit-down restaurants or when ordering food online when they use Kabaq app. The true-to-life 3D models are presented under multiple angles and zoom levels as if the offerings were on a plate in front of you. This app gives the customer a better idea of the portion size and ingredients.

What are the advantages of VR in the online shopping experience

Consumers are excited about shopping’s tech-enabled future. According to research by GfK, 38 percent of U.S. consumers hope to see improved improved experience in stores, while 35 percent want improved customer service based on individual needs, and another 35 percent seek enhanced ways to find and compare different products. With their ability to replace the parts shoppers dislike about shopping, VR in retail holds promise to create the differentiated brand experiences that drive conversions, repeat visits, and higher revenue.

Improve customer’ s online shopping experience

Because VR provides a three-dimension angle of the object, users can virtually visualize the products they want to purchase online. A mocked-up version for testing is a new way of approaching product before making to last decision of buying. That is because sometimes simple product’s description can not speak for all product’s functions and customers want to know the product from inside out. You know,  58% more likely to purchase a product after they have an opportunity to test it first.

Furthermore, thanks to the broad flexibility of VR, clients can also explore many virtual showrooms in a short time, which makes the experience more appealing to consumers. Consequently, thanks to new levels of in-store engagement, you can give customers the intrigue to visit your store, not the other one. In summary, VR technology will be the future of Ecommerce as it helps establish positive emotional connections before the deal and evokes an immediate sense of ownership.

Engage and generate buzz

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It is undenied that new technologies bring about a new trend in our modern life and it is true for the online business world, where everything changes up to a minute. VR can also generate a buzz and direct the way the marketplace leans towards.

For example, In 2016, NARS Cosmetics cooperated with Facebook 360 Video to create a VR makeup tutorial that helps viewers to control which specific portions of the video to focus on. So instead of skipping to the part of the video, they want to see (or watching through the whole thing), users can look around or “drag” the video to find the part they want to watch. After that, a massive wave of making VR video like this massively pops up for product of different kinds such as real estate, motorbike, etc.

Create a live event for marketing

For Ecommerce Retailers, online marketing is never enough if they want to widen potential customers outside the virtual world. The live event may be an excellent solution regarding this issue. However, the biggest problem with this is getting people to attend because of the distance.

With VR technology, distance is no longer a matter as it can bring the event to your audience instead of vice versa. Excitingly, VR lets everyone sit in the front row, so no one is left sitting at the back, trying to make out the way to find details of whatever is being showcased. This way can go a long way to enhance your guests’ experience, make them leave with a more favorable impression of your brand. 

Let’s take an example at New York Fashion Week. While the show was held in New York City, guests were allowed to virtually attend a show in Milan a week earlier by using a VR headset. This featured 360-degree videos of exclusive fashion collections and gave users a red carpet experience.

How can you use VR to enhance the shopping experience

So far, we’ve gone through the benefits of virtual reality in ecommerce. Now, we’ll discuss the specific steps to implement VR technology. 

Decide your goals and the experience you want to give

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Because it takes you a considerable amount of work and investment to have VR technology implemented successfully, having a clear vision of who is our target audience and what type of experience do you want people to have should be prioritized. VR is such a massive experience change for both businesses and customers; if there is not enough preparation, it will be too easy to rat hole on the possibilities.

For example, think about the scenario that your customers can easily add filter product attributes with real-life experience as the most Advanced Layered Navigation Extension can do now by mouse clicks with multiple- filter navigation, price slider, AJAX loading technology. It seems to be promising as you can decide your target customer’s experience to get the technology fit for it.

Decide how you will make it  happen

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VR technology

VR technology is vital for your entire program, so determine how it will arrive the next step. The experience that you want to provide your clients is the core value deciding what kind of VR technology you will use.  For example, if you want your customers to walk around and manipulate different product features, you need to consider to use a VR platform which can support three degrees of freedom (3DoF). And more advanced, six degrees of freedom (6DoF) can help you to support positional tracking.

Developers

Regarding VR technology, things can get technical very quickly, and you need to be assisted by VR expert. Businesses need to look for VR developers who have experience with large, enterprise projects and the skills to make a virtual environment. Not so many out there right now, and most of them know each other. Depended on the goals and scope of the project, you should decide to find the right fit.

Hardware

Remember the hardware, the must-have element for your VR initiative typically hinges on how you’ll want to deliver your experience.

Develop, test, implement and iterate

Depending on your project, these steps will be taken differently. 

For developing, this will involve developing a prototype, and then ironing out the kinks before testing the program with a small market. After that, you can further refine the program to improve it for a broader rollout.

The testing process will vary from one program to the others; however, in general,  the technical functionality and user experience is what you want to test. Let’ see how your VR program operates on various devices and how your virtual world applied on different platforms. You should keep an eye on these matters: Are all the elements working correctly? Do they coincide with the user’s movements?

Besides usability, you should pay attention to the effects that the program brings to an individual. When installed incorrectly, VR can be uncomfortable or even nauseating. Make sure to monitor VR accurately so that you can minimize motion sickness, fatigue, or discomfort on any form.

Market your VR initiatives

When you already develop and test your VR technology, it is time to get the world know about it. You can consider these ideas.

Encourage people to share their VR experience with your product

Encourage people to talk about your program through the social channel. Make a hashtag for your initiative, and then encourage users to spread the word.

In the eBay virtual store, the e-tailer used the hashtag #ebayVR, which is so direct and straightforward to make people share their experiences on social media.

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Do not just market the technology – make it about the experience with your product.

You should remember that the central focus of using VR technology is to provide your clients with real experience with your product, so do not get stuck marketing its cool feature. Some questions you should keep in mind that: What feelings will the initiative evoke in the user?  How will your VR solution make shopping more enjoyable or convenient? Do customers get a real sense of your product when they use VR?

Gather data

Gathering data on how users are engaging with your program will give you valuable feedback and the insight recipe to boost your marketing strategy and online sales.

Final words

It is well worth making VR investment if ecommerce is your playfield. When implemented correctly, VR technology can not only provide memorable experiences setting your brand apart from competitors but also bridge the touch-feel gap of online customers.

Start with a strong vision. Make clear what you’d like to achieve, recognize the technologies that can turn your idea in reality, then recruit VR experts who can develop this virtual world for you.

Because virtual reality should be more about experiences than technology, make sure it offers value and gives users an experience they won’t find anywhere else.

Author Bio

Daisy is a passionate expert writer from Mageplaza. Throughout many years collaborating with Mageplaza-a Magento Extension Builder, she hopes to give readers the most practical solutions and useful advice on online business issues. 

Legal BrandingLocal Branding

7 Tips for Building a Business Partnership

on October 8, 2019

Forming a great business partnership is not an easy task. Like in the dating world, when you first meet people, they’re often eager to show themselves in the best light, which means that picking the right person for you becomes a lot harder. Other than picking the right person, you also need to learn how to set boundaries, as well as establish and nurture a healthy professional relationship. With that in mind and without further ado, here are seven tips for building a business partnership that you need to hear as soon as possible.

1. Look for the same vision

The first thing you need in order to build a lasting business partnership is to find someone who shares your vision. A lot of people make the mistake of finding someone who shares their interests; however, interests (in the business world) are universally the same – growth, profit and success. When it comes to the vision, however, this is often more unique, due to the fact that it’s more individual, even intimate. It’s about the journey, rather than the end goal. So, talk to your partners about your aims and aspirations in order to check if you see eye to eye.

2. Exercise transparency

The next thing that’s necessary for a lasting business partnership is trust, and the only way to build trust is through transparency. You see, sharing your piece of mind when it’s pleasant, inoffensive or complacent is a simple thing. What you need to do is learn how to be the bearer of bad news and tell your partner what they don’t want to hear. Still, you don’t have to be blunt, and there’s nothing wrong with being a bit more… well, tactical when it comes to your phrasing. This is also important, seeing as how you need to check whether you’re entering the business world with someone who shoots the messenger or buries their head in the sand when things get ugly. Naturally, it also goes the other way around.

3. Put everything on paper

While trust and verbal agreement may often be romanticized as the cornerstone of the business world, what you need to do is put everything in writing. This means that you need to make a contract by which you determine ownership and clearly define your roles in this enterprise. Lastly, provided that things don’t go as intended, which is something that happens quite often, you need to have a solid and effective dissolution plan. As soon as this is set in order, you can proceed with your partnership.

4. Show your appreciation

One more thing you should keep in mind is the fact that respecting your partner might require you to go beyond mere words. For instance, getting them a birthday gift is something that’s not required from a business partner, but it’s still a nice gesture. Providing them assistance with their professional tasks (without being meddling or doubting their capabilities) is also a great idea. For example, imagine a scenario where your partner is going to Christchurch for a meeting with important clients. Getting them a car rental at Christchurch airport would take a minute of your time, but to them, it would be a major sign of appreciation.

5. Maintain great communication

Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that communication tends to be vital for success in the business world. First of all, you need to have a clear line of communication with your partner. Having each other’s emails is not enough, and you need to communicate via a call or an IM service of your choosing. Having a sit-down at least once per week is also a great idea. Even more importantly, you need to have these talks in private. Even if you have your disagreements, to the outside world, you need to look like a unified front.

6. Strengths and weaknesses

Previously, we’ve discussed the importance of dividing your roles. Well, this thing is a lot simpler to pull off if you and your partner have similar strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you to complement the weaknesses of your partner with your own strengths and have them do the same to you, in return. So, this needs to find its spot on your list of requirements when choosing a business partner.

7. Show some support

One of the things you need to understand about your business partner is the fact that they’re probably the only ones who know exactly what you’re going through at the moment. This is due to the fact that their fate is tied to your enterprise in a similar way and the fact that any success or failure might rub off on them in a similar way that it does to you. This is why some support on your part might mean a world to them, even if you don’t have a well-developed personal relationship. Keep this in mind when going gets tough.

Conclusion

As you can see, a lot of these tips (if not all of them) are applicable to any kind of relationship in your life. When choosing someone who is going to have this kind of impact on your life, you need to be extra careful. Moreover, you need to give them the same kind of respect and attention that you hope to receive in return.

Digital BrandingPersonal Branding

Top Tips for Boosting Retail Brand Awareness

on October 7, 2019

In the world of retail, if you don’t have a brand, you don’t have much at all. Without one, you risk entering the market (and possibly exiting one rather quickly) as yet another nameless name on the shelf, one often purchased by accident when mom sends her kid to the store to get the product that actually sits next to your product on that same shelf. Your brand is the key reason for your buyers to come back, the key reason they wear or use your product, to begin with.

But just having a brand is also not enough in the ever-growing realm of retail. To make sure you get in front of the right audience, and preferably in front of enough people so that your chances of boosting sales are high, you should use all of your creativity and marketing know-how to grow your brand awareness every day. Here are a few ideas to keep in mind that will help you enhance your presence in the retail universe and grow your chances to become a household name.

Diversify your content creation

From the SEO point of view, as well as that of pure credibility, content is your best, if not your only bet in the oversaturated world of retail. Mere fluff-laden blogs with an occasional keyword here and there will no longer cut it to help your brand stand out in search engines, especially for common phrases such as “quality sneakers” or “best prom dress”. People want personalized, highly selective experiences, and they expect you to provide them through every bit of content you produce. That includes all of your product descriptions, every blog post, and every video you add.

From your website content, the kind you share on social media, all the way to the content you allow and inspire your users and customers to create (such as product reviews, blog posts, and videos), you need to make sure that your content pool is diverse, trendy, and up to date. Of course, brand consistency also needs to permeate all of your content efforts, to allow your brand to emerge no matter where, when, and who creates and posts is. 

Build a stellar web presence

Your website is your retail brand’s greatest asset, and it can make or break your efforts to increase sales, engage more customers, reduce the number of abandoned carts, and inspire reviews. In fact, stellar website design needs to reflect your brand’s values perfectly and to serve as its most trusted vessel to convey your brand’s messages. It’s the key to keeping your retail brand memorable and to make sure it stands out among so many others that have similar offers.

Not to mention that a great part of your website’s design includes its ease of navigation, its loading speed, and of course, its visual appeal that will determine how long your customers will stay interested, linger on your site, or how often they’ll decide to go through with the purchase. No modern retail brand can survive without a spotless website, hence the need to regularly update your digital presence to ensure consistency as well as a wonderful user experience. 

Work with influencers

Influencers play a great part in increasing brand awareness in the retail industry. They are the digital versions of our traditional word-of-mouth recommendations, they are relatable, and they have a vast pool of followers eager to look up to them, mimic them, and make the same choices based on their preferences. Therein lies the rub: handpicking influencers to work with is far better than investing in random collaborations that are short-lived. Consider it a commitment that will skyrocket your retail brand’s awareness in the eyes of your audience and soon-to-be audience. 

From locally-based micro-influencers all the way to major players on social media as well as celebrities, you have numerous opportunities to build and grow your brand’s digital presence through such collaborations. Make sure that the influencers you choose are, of course, in line with your brand’s values, and that they actually have access to people that fit your target market. Because the only thing worse than no brand awareness is having any awareness in the wrong crowd.

Partner up with the right people

Are you a small retail brand that specializes in a certain wearable? Or do you own a chain of stores that sell different brands in different locations? In both scenarios, working with the right local people means gaining more exposure in the right locations for your brand. For example, if you’re a larger retail business, you can benefit from supporting a smaller local brand by working on a project to add their accessories to your stores, while they support your effort to enter the local market by giving you a share of their shelves.

As a smaller retail brand, partnering up with a complementary business in the neighborhood can help you gain the right exposure, too. For example, we all know that coffee goes delightfully well with scones and muffins. If you have a brilliant recipe for cinnamon rolls or pumpkin pie, why not work with local coffee shops to offer your lovely goods in their stores? Multiply that by a range of different collaborations of local nature, and you’ll quickly gain more traction for your brand.

The retail world is fast to change, and those who cannot adapt tend to fade into oblivion. Use these tips to stay one (or several) steps ahead of the competition and stay relevant to your audience, no matter where they are. 

Digital Branding

Placing Ads on Instagram – Three Powerful Tips for Creating Business Videos

on October 7, 2019

Instagram has a high potential when it comes to user engagement and awareness. This visual social media platform offers a lot of options for your business. You can make optimal use of carousels and photo ads with it. Video ads, as well as Instagram Story videos, are quite effective in marketing and promoting the products of your business. Experts in digital and social media marketing suggest that videos are the hot trending thing now when it comes to marketing your business and grabbing the attention of the targeted audience in the market.

Increase the effectiveness of your Instagram videos with these three powerful tips

It is high time businesses wake up to the tremendous benefits of Instagram when it comes to marketing and promotion of their products. Videos should be created and shared on this platform for better brand visibility and qualified inbound traffic. The following are some powerful tips that you can use when you are creating and uploading videos for Instagram. 

1. The first few seconds matter

 

Note that the user will need to be attracted to your business video in the first few seconds. So, lay emphasis on the first part of the video. Once it is clicked on, the content should generate interest in the viewer so that he/she stays till the end. Your business message has to be short, precise, and powerful to invoke the desired action.

 

 

2. Add text to the video

Instagram videos are muted by default, so it is prudent to add text to your video content. There may be times when the user does not wish to switch on the audio sound and so adding text to the video will help the user understand the content better when there is no sound. This generates free Instagram likes if you manage to blend the video and text perfectly. Moreover, experts in the field of Instagram marketing state that the addition of text reinforces the business message to the audience better. Video captions should never be ignored nor left out when you wish to reach out and connect with the targeted audience. 

 

 

3. Resolve a problem

If you wish to get outstanding success with video marketing on Instagram, create a video that solves an issue. The problem should be identified, and the content of the video should be a remedy to that problem. In this way, you effectively are able to gather more followers, likes, shares, and comments. Note that when you are creating such a video, you should always focus on one problem and have a single goal!

 

Therefore, if you have not started with Instagram video marketing for your business, it is high time you do so now. In this way, you effectively are able to generate interest and leads from your targeted audience. Note that the video should be short and contain powerful brand messages in the first few seconds. In this way, you can attract the right customers and gain a competitive edge in the market for your business!

Author Bio

Ariya Stark is a leading blog writer and content marketing professional with thousands of Like4Like for her postings.

Digital Branding

Ten Great Free Android Weather Apps

on October 5, 2019

By God, There are hundreds of terrific free Android climate computer programs that added/more than makeup for the not being present of paid in the Current Android market. The simple fact that there are a lot more free of charge Android climate computer programs is a terrific matter for those people of us who like to thoroughly examine a computer program in advance of deciding on to make it a section of our lasting mixed group of things. This checklist is pretty a different a person with quite a few different specialties. Here are 10 of the most effective no cost Android climate computer programs close to.

Weather

This well-named free Android temperature computer program, created by Michael Bachman, is a single I would recommend to those people who want a basic and straightforward, simple-to-use computer program. It’s quick and very trusted this is a computer program to try out if all you want is a simple forecast and not lots of other bells and whistles.

iMap Weather

This application offers radar pictures or photos and projections. It can also give you complete present climate sicknesses for community and worldwide destinations. If you pick to look at this climate computer program, you will be pleasantly amazed by the beautiful visuals!

Moon Phase

An incredibly simple free Android climate computer program designed by Udell Businesses, Inc, it tells about you the particular section of the moon for the presented knowledge. Although this use doesn’t have some helping increase-on to make it really/honestly impressive, it does especially what it claims rather skilled.

Snowstorm Climate Widget

This is one more very like nothing else or cost-free Android temperature computer program. Snowstorm offers you forecasts with regards to snowstorms and outside of. If you are like me and you stay in snow state, this is undoubtedly a computer program I would recommend for when you are out and about for the length of time of the snow period.

Radar Now! If you want a computer program that will visually display screen the existing climate by radar,

Radar Now

Is your most exceptional free Android application possibility. Quick and straightforward, Radar Now! It offers you what you have to have without any inconvenience.

AccuWeather.com A GPS-mostly based temperature update computer program, the AccuWeather.com computer program is fantastic for getting around the globe forecasts. As you could have guessed, this computer program was produced by the same people powering Accuweather.com, so you will be (promised that something will happen or that something will work as described) the facts you get is correct and responsible and that this computer program will only get improved!

Weather Widget – Free Although there is a paid out model of this no-cost Android climate computer program, this a person stays to be reasonably acceptable in offering brief and dependable temperature updates. This is just one of the climate computer programs that will do just about nearly anything for you. Trust me; this computer program would be an excellent addition to your Android telephone. To increase this computer program, get the Weather Widget Forecast Addon, one more no cost computer program that does just what it suggests. If you try out the Weather Widget and like it, download the free Forecast Addon and you are going to have a money-making mix!

WSBT Weather

Another excellent free Android climate computer program that presents nearby temperature updates as perfectly as just about anything else you’d want to know about a typical climate. The updates take and, the include-one, which includes maps and movies, are shocking. This is a person of the really couple of free of charge Android computer programs that are up there in a league of their have.

The Weather Channel Easily the most effective free of charge Android climate application readily available in the Android Market it is also the most well-liked Android computer program in the temperature classification. The formal Weather Channel computer program offers temperature updates straight from a person of the most respected temperature useful things. You can establish a default site to get frequent updates without performing just about anything else. The previous factor I’ll say about this computer program: you should get this computer program for your Android cell phone.

I have the Android Apps Finder web site wherever you can locate every single Android computer program. The first most crucial purpose of the web page is to supply everybody a quick way to examine all of the Android applications. If you’d somewhat look at web sites on extra article content like this 1, check out my Android Apps and Games shared online writing page Weather

 

Digital Branding

Driving Website Traffic Through Social Media Needs A Strategic Approach

on October 4, 2019

For most of the business websites, it seems the common goal is to drive more traffic towards their site. Yes, a nicely designed and meaningful website will be of great help but that is actually noted enough when you consider the high competition in this business world, which is highly digitized in all its aspects. 

In order to get the best results and more traffic the best platform to use in social media is Instagram. This is because:

  • This is a primary photo and video sharing app that will help you to showcase your skill, creativity and your product in the best possible way and raise the interest of the audience and 
  • It has the largest number of active users making it easier for you to reach out to a larger section of the crowd in an instant.

Both these features of this platform make it the most suitable platform for business and product promotion as well as raise the number of traffic.

Your profile is crucial

In order to make Instagram work for your marketing strategy, there are a few essential things that you should do. The most essential thing to do is to consider your profile and fill it up properly. This is the most important thing to do because this is the first thing that people will see when they click on your social media page.

Therefore, whether it is Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, your profile will play a significant role in your marketing success and driving more traffic to your site. Therefore, focus on:

  • Twitter Bio if you want to use Twitter as your business marketing platform
  • Facebook About section if that is what you decide to use
  • LinkedIn company page if that is your choice and 
  • Instagram profile if you want to use this most popular photo-sharing platform.

It is ideally the profile that will tell the users about your business and provide info about your product or service, making it a perfect spot to drop a link that will take the users directly to your website. Therefore, your profile equates to more Instagram followers which will result in more traffic and an increased chance of conversion of traffic to your loyal customers.

Social media and traffic

According to research, using social media for business promotion purposes is considered to be the most effective in these present times because it is found to drive 31% of all referral traffic. 

You can make it even more effective to drive traffic to your site and get a slice of this huge fan following by adding a few meaningful and relevant backlinks to your site that aligns with your brand. If you can raise the interest of the people with your content and images shared on Instagram, you will not only gain more Instagram followers and more likes and comments, but it will also increase:

  • Sharing
  • Discussing and 
  • Promoting.

If people are interested in your product, they will surely click on the link in your Instagram profile and visit your site to get more information about:

  • Your business
  • About you and most importantly
  • About your product.

This will raise the number of traffic count to your site. Gaining further and proper knowledge, it is likely that they will end up making a buying decision, meaning you will have larger sales prospects and revenue for your business.

Promote blog content

Just like the backlinks on your social media profiles will give the users a chance to click-through to see what your business and product is all about, your blog content is another useful component that will enable them to read about it and gain further knowledge. Therefore, focus on your blog content for your business promotion as well as to drive more traffic to your site.

The content of your blog should be:

  • Clear
  • Meaningful
  • Informative and 
  • Easy to read.

It should not be cluttered with too many elements such as images, graphics, and animations in it. It should not be boring so that the readers do not even get to the middle of it and leave your site. Ideally, readers should not search for the things that they are looking for. Everything should be very clear, distinct, and evitable.

Creating a meaningful content

Social media is all about conveying and sharing information. It is, for this reason, your content will play an important role in your social marketing strategy. Creating content for social media will need you to put quite a significant amount of effort, time and planning. If it is not done properly you will find that two months have passed and nothing significant has happened in terms of an increase in traffic to your site.

In order to make sure that only a few people do not feast their eyes on your content and readers do read the entire thing, you need to create 15 blog posts a week and post it on social media. You simply need to create the best one and make it a point that you keep it fresh with some tweaks done on a constant basis. This will help your content to be seen by your ideal customers.

Time it well

Lastly, if you want to see tangible results, you should not post your content any time you feel like. Time it well so that you make sure that the recent followers do not miss it or not get to see a content that you published weeks ago.

You can use a social media schedule so that you can promote your old content. There are lots of tools out there such as Buffer, Social Jukebox, and Hootsuite, that will help you to do it automatically using tools like Buffer, Social Jukebox, and Hootsuite. This will make sure that the audience reads your content whenever you post them.  

Remember, using social media for your business is not easy but it is not impossible either. All you need is a little bit of effort and a meticulous plan that will help you to surge ahead. 

Author Bio

Ariya Stark has been working on the importance of social media in marketing with thousands of real Instagram followers for her postings. 

Digital BrandingPersonal Branding

Your Logo Is A Brand Awareness Solution

on October 3, 2019

When you see the logo where a bite has been taken out of the side of an apple, then you understand immediately that the logo belongs to Apple, Inc. A business logo has a subtle effect on its customers. Customers will associate your trademark with a good feeling and a pleasant experience when they see your logo.

One part of starting an LLC is to have your Articles of Organization created. This outlines the basic details about your company such as the company’s name, address, and registered agent. 

The right logo for your business is a type of brand awareness solution to take your investment to the next level of success. Your logo represents your business name and helps to set you apart from your competition. Your logo needs to present a strong yet friendly impression.

As you grow your business, your well-planned logo will also give your business prominence allowing more people to know all about your goals. Logos widely represent business loyalty and honesty.

When your business, its products, and/or services welcome customers and the public with quality, your logo will bring customers to you because it will be your logo that they will look for.

Does a logo have any legal standing? No, there are no legal requirements to register your business logo. However, to protect it from being used by someone else, you should register it as a “trademark.” Your specially designed logo should be registered with the U.S. Intellectual Property Office.

Legally, your logo must follow certain rules, that include the following:

  • The logo should not contain any offensive material
  • The logo must not be misleading
  • The logo should not contain or describe what your business represents
  • The logo cannot be a commonly-used statement, phrase or a collection of everyday words

Lastly, you must conduct logo research to ensure that your logo likeness is not used by another business in the U.S. or globally.

There are around five things that a good business logo should have:

1. What’s In a Name?

When Apple was first created, its logo featured the apple plus its name on the right side. Now, as a global brand, it no longer needs a name—just its logo. Your early business startup is small, therefore your logo should include your brand name. Your startup will require a good deal of exposure and using a logo with your brand name will keep your name in the public’s eye.

2. Coloring/Fonts

Did you know that there is color psychology in logo designs? Logo coloring is to invoke emotions within people to become your future customers. For example, black represents tradition or authority; red represents boldness and excitement; green represents peace and newness, while blue represents strength and confidence.

Choosing the right font for your logo is not as easy as it sounds. Your business logo will need to look at size and typeface. Play around with fonts but be careful when you use “script” fonts because your business name or wording could become illegible.

3. Adaptability

You may design a logo for your startup business, but since your plans involve growth, your logo must remain relative or adaptable to your expansion plans. Remember, a logo symbolizes your entire brand, not just what you are asking the public to buy right now. Your logo is the personality of your company that will appear on all your paper products like letterhead, business cards, and more.

4. Simple Is Best

Have you noticed the simplicity in logo designs today by the leading brands? Simple wording has nothing to do with your business being the new horse out the gate or whether you have been operating for years. Simple logo designs convey more meaning than you think. It is a less complicated process in your creation of what will reflect the nature of your business.

5. Consistency

What your logo concept requires is consistency. There is no such thing as using your logo too much. Use it often and widely with the services you provide, with the products you design, and on all outgoing and in-office correspondence. Large brands whose logo says it all began by flooding the market with its design and name. A small business should also use its logo in a variety of scenarios.

Digital BrandingLegal Branding

Eight Reasons Your Business Should Become an E-commerce Store

on October 1, 2019

Do you avoid putting your business online because you aren’t sure where to start or how you’ll handle the demand? It does take some effort to get your online store set up and manage the additional business. However, it also gives you another source of revenue, particularly during times when cash flow is a trickle.

The amount of U.S. online sales for the second quarter of 2019 was around $146.2 billion. Global studies that show around 40% of consumers bought something online. If you don’t have an e-commerce store, you’re missing out on potential profits that may put you ahead of the game. As a small business owner, anything you do to improve sales could mean the difference between success and failure.

In addition to increased potential revenue, discover eight reasons to transition to an e-commerce store. 

1. Collect Customer Data

An online presence gives you a way of connecting with people in your target audience. Offer a discount, a newsletter or other content. Use this information to draw in the buyers you want most, then get them to sign up for your mailing list. 

You can even target people in a specific location with your online advertising. Draw customers from your area to your online store while encouraging them to visit your physical site.

2. Put Inventory in the Cloud

No matter what type of business you run, an easily accessible inventory is a must to see what you need and what you have too much of. Small businesses can compete on an international scale with cloud computing. If you have sales agents out in the field, they can also access the inventory via the online portal and mark items sold.

Bon Bon Bon creates artisan chocolates in Detroit, Michigan. When they took their stores online, they knew they needed a highly-responsive e-commerce design to highlight their unique confectioneries. They highlight the ability to build your own box, a customized experience similar to what you’d see in a brick-and-mortar store.

3. Automate Customer Service

Customer service can make or break your store. An online presence, on the other hand, gives you a chance to automate most interactions. For example, you can add a live chat feature to your website’s product page. Most bots are automated, able to answer common queries — like a product’s best uses or ingredients — without human interference. 

Train agents to deal with customers who buy online and in-store. A multi-channel customer service approach makes your brand highly attractive to young professionals. 

4. Offer a Wide Variety

With drop shipping, you don’t have to worry about display space. Therefore, you can offer a wide range of products in your online store. E-commerce is an excellent place to experiment with items you wouldn’t usually carry but would like to test out. Order a limited quantity and see how they move before committing to a large volume.

Costco is well-known for its wholesale stores. However, they also have an online presence where they offer things you can’t purchase in-store. They separate offerings by the department, including a section called “Business Delivery,” where businesses can order in bulk and have items delivered.

5. Solidify Your Branding

Reaching people and making your brand a household name is difficult on a local level. Sure, you can attend local trade shows, send out coupons in mailers and advertise in your newspaper, but many people will simply overlook these efforts. 

On the other hand, you can send out highly targeted digital ads, drive people to your online store and convert them into buyers. A website offers the opportunity to post articles on topics related to what you sell. After, share your expertise on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. 

6. Market Special Promotions

You likely offer specials from time to time, but it’s difficult to let everyone know about your promotions. With an online store, you can begin to collect emails. When you have a new announcement — BOGO sale going on! — send the ad to everyone at once. 

You can also advertise specials on Facebook or Google, targeting users based on their location. This method, called geolocation, ensures only consumers within a certain radius gets the message. 

Taylor Stitch offers to clothe online and in brick-and-mortar stores. You’ll find similar items in both. However, one advantage to the online store is expanded sizes and more color choices compared to what you’ll find in the physical location. Once shoppers know their sizes and how things fit, they can go online and place additional orders without the need to visit the store and try pieces on. 

7. Tap into Different Needs

Some people are very tactile. They want to come into a store and touch items before buying. Other people hate getting out in the crowds and would rather shop at home. If something doesn’t fit or they don’t like it, they’ll return it to the store.

An online version of your store taps into the needs of different users and allows you to reach people where they’re most comfortable. 

8. Sell More for Less

The overhead costs of online stores are far less than renting a building, hiring employees to staff a retail location and paying for utilities. Instead, you only have the cost to host and maintain your site, plus employees needed to fulfill the orders. 

When you open an e-commerce store, you create a new outlet for selling goods without spending additional money. The result is more profit for your business.

E-commerce Is a Process

In the beginning, your online store may not pay for itself. However, as it starts to turn a profit, and you become smarter with your marketing efforts, you can invest more time and money into dynamic advertising geared at specific, individual users. 

Your strategic campaigns will become highly-personalized and more successful. With a little effort, you’ll find your e-commerce store is a vital part of your business model. 

About the author

Lexie is a branding enthusiast and web designer. She loves checking out local flea markets and taking her Goldendoodle on hikes. Follow her on Twitter @lexieludesigner and check out her design blog, Design Roast.

Digital BrandingPersonal Branding

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Using Big Data for Influencer Marketing

on October 1, 2019

Influencer marketing is estimated to become a $10 billion industry by 2020. One of the major reasons for this is the high ROI that you can get from it. In fact, almost 90% of all marketers feel that its ROI is greater than that of other marketing modes.

As the interest in influencer marketing grows, more brands are starting to incorporate it into their marketing strategies. However, a successful influencer marketing campaign isn’t easy to execute. You need to plan a lot beforehand and find the right influencers to collaborate with as well.

Numerous steps, such as figuring out who your target audience is, planning your budget, optimizing the content, and tracking your progress make it complicated. However, big data can help you do all of that with ease. Through big data analytics, you can use your data to find and create new opportunities for your brand.

Here’s how you can do so: 

1. Calculate Your ROI

It’s crucial to calculate the ROI of your influencer marketing campaigns to understand how successful they were. For that, you need to keep track of your engagement, reach, sales, and more.

However, almost 84% of marketers say that calculating an accurate ROI from influencer marketing campaigns is challenging.

When your campaign doesn’t meet your expectations, you should consider analyzing how you can manage these losses. To do so, all you need is big data and a solid tool like Google Analytics. You need to figure out how much value the campaign brought your brand. This should be compared to the amount that you’ve invested in the campaign.

If you find that repeatedly your returns are less than your investment, you may need to rethink your strategy. In some cases, you may have to end your partnerships with specific influencers as well. 

2. Find Relevant Influencers

One of the biggest challenges that brands face is that of finding suitable influencers for their campaigns. In fact, about 50% of marketers say that finding fake followers and engagement is their chief marketing challenge.

 

Finding influencers manually can be quite a task. You need to go through every influencer’s profile to check if they are authentic. In this case, too, big data can come to your rescue. Through big data, influencer marketing platforms can create a database of influencers from a variety of niches and locations.

Using these databases, you can simplify your search for the perfect influencers for your brand. There are many platforms like Influence.co, where you can find relevant influencers and reach out to them. Influence.co takes it a step further by allowing you to post your campaigns on the website so that interested influencers can approach you instead.

 

Apart from helping you find relevant influencers, big data can also help you find genuine influencers. The engagement data and audience metrics can help you make an informed decision quickly. 

3. Decide on a Direction

There are multiple options available for brands to partner with influencers. You can launch a variety of different campaigns that are aimed at different goals.

However, deciding on the goals is quite a task in itself. You must decide what your specific goal is. For example, it could be to increase your website traffic, generate more engagement, or get more sales.

Big data can help you make a more informed decision about your goals from influencer marketing. Your sales data will be able to give you a better idea of what you need to do to improve your brand. It’ll also help you decide on an ideal influencer who can best help you achieve your goal.

For instance, say your own footwear business, and most of your sales are coming from Instagram. In this case, you should consider partnering with an influencer on Instagram who showcases footwear regularly. This type of collaboration with a relevant influencer could help you increase your sales. 

4. Reaction to Updates

It’s necessary to change your approach with time to grow successfully. Marketing trends keep changing dynamically, and you must adapt in order to stay relevant. Big data can help you do so by keeping you updated with the latest changes in digital marketing.

Such an analysis beforehand can help you take the right steps to increase the performance of your campaign.

5. Creating Engaging Content

The content that you use for your influencer marketing campaigns decides how well the campaign will perform. If your content isn’t authentic or seems forced, it may not be effective with your target audience. This can lead to the loss of your credibility.

It’s best to give your influencers complete creative freedom. Most influencers value this, and at the same time, it’s better for your campaign too. Influencers know their audiences better than you do so they know what works for them.

You can, however, provide general guidelines to your influencers. Big data can help you with content in this case as well. Based on data from tools like Mention, you can see what’s trending in your niche. You can monitor keywords, brand names, and topics to figure out what type of content is most effective with your target audience.

By staying on top of the latest discussions in your niche, you can create great content that your audience will connect with. 

Final Thoughts

Big data is very helpful when it comes to influencer marketing. It helps you make more informed decisions based on solid data.

You can calculate your ROI and find relevant influencers for your brand using data. At the same time, it can help you create better content and help you remain on top of the latest changes in marketing and in your industry. Lastly, it can make the process of setting a goal for your campaigns easier too.

Are there other ways big data can help marketers improve their influencer marketing campaigns? Let me know in the comments.

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