Mohit Tater's Blog, page 511

How Brand Asset Management Solutions Improve Marketing ROI

There are several brand asset management solutions to help business owners improve their marketing ROI. The proper implementation of management solutions is designed to monitor the lifecycle of your various digital assets. Modern businesses store vast volumes of creative digital content. Content like logos, graphics, audio files, videos, or documents related to your brand are essential to your marketing efforts. Purchasing a management solution helps you ensure these documents are properly organized, integrated, and acquired. With software solutions accurately managing your digital assets, you can better focus on more pertinent aspects of your business. Read on to learn about how brand asset management solutions improve marketing ROI. 

Organize Digital Assets 

The top brand asset management solutions help your marketing team organize digital assets. With valuable digital assets properly organized and managed, you can greatly strengthen the presentation of various logos, graphics, and presentation materials. Management solutions provide an organized central location for governance, distribution, and access of brand assets. With this information readily organized, you can greatly focus on the management and maintenance of individual assets. Focus on specific elements and how they pertain to your specific marketing campaign. You can even integrate asset management solutions into your social media accounts to strengthen the return of your digital marketing efforts. Consider purchasing brand asset management solutions in order to organize digital assets and improve your overall marketing ROI. 

Protect Brand Identity

The best brand asset management software protects your brand identity across platforms and communication channels. At the end of the day, your brand is the cornerstone of your business. Without proper protection, you risk your valuable brand assets being compromised by external forces, competitors, or legal implications. Your business’s logos, artwork, graphics, marketing communications materials, guidelines, and templates are all classified as branded assets. Insecure protection of these assets can be detrimental to your overall marketing ROI. If you choose to purchase an asset management solution, you can greatly strengthen your valuable brand materials, and improve the results of marketing efforts. 

Ensure Consistency 

Brand asset management software guarantees that your business is constantly represented consistently. Consistency is essential across all your valuable branded assets. Loyal customers want to purchase from a brand that they recognize and are familiar with. When shoppers recognize your logo or marketing materials, they can be certain of the quality and value your products provide. Increased familiarity with your brand and products increases the chances that customers will re-purchase your products, or recommend your services to a friend. Either way, the boost in consistency can greatly impact the overall return on investment from your product marketing. Consider installing a brand asset management solution in order to ensure consistency across digital assets. 

Guarantee Legal Compliance 

Asset management solutions guarantee the regulatory compliance of all your branded materials. Purchasing these solutions help you to develop comprehensive, compliant brand guidelines. Even for small businesses, it can me difficult to monitor compliance across various distribution channels, points of sale, and markets. Asset management software constantly remains up to date with the most recent pieces of legislation. Understanding this, you can effectively implement a copyright management or trademark acquisition process on your valuable digital assets. Without effective precautions, you risk fines and penalties for the usage of your digital assets. If encountered, these penalties can be detrimental to your overall ROI. 

Enable Self Service

Brand asset management solutions enable the self service of your marketing materials. Accessing a self-service portal allows your marketing team to collaborate on projects and complete tasks faster. Software allows your employees to instantly search and retrieve files, process image downloads, and develop creative briefs. Many asset management software options additionally integrate with your social media accounts. This allows your team to post stored digital assets, or even write brand compliant messages directly to Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. With increased marketing activity, your team can greatly improve the results of your overall advertising campaign and ROI. 

 There are numerous solutions available to business owners looking to improve their marketing ROI. As of recent years, brand asset management software has grown as one of the most popular options for business owners and marketing teams like. The top software solutions provide an organized, central location to store your various digital assets. Integrating this software helps you protect your brand identity across communication channels. At the same time, these solutions guarantee legal compliance throughout the acquisition, management, and integration of your digital assets. Furthermore, platforms allow self-service for your marketing team to streamline processes and improve results. Consider the points above to learn about how brand asset management solutions improve marketing ROI. 

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How to Improve a Startup Business with CRO

Starting your own business from the ground up comes with its own unique set of challenges to overcome and ‘firsts’ to face.

To give you and your company the best shot at continued growth and success, it’s helpful to understand every marketing tool in the shed. 

One of the most influential tools startups to utilize while growing your customer base and brand? Conversion Rate Optimization. CRO is the practice of using certain tactics to increase the rate of website visitors who turn into customers. That means adjusting sign-up forms, email subject lines, CTAs, and SEO until you find what works.

CRO is critical to a successful startup marketing department. Startups are typically on tighter budgets than most established companies, so making every dollar count is a must. CRO keeps your budget centered on conversion tactics that provide results.                 

If you’re not already utilizing CRO methods in your daily work, now’s a good time to get started. It’s always a good idea to first evaluate your current state of CRO so you have an understanding of where you need to improve the most and how you might be able to scale back. 

Once you have a benchmark idea of your current status, use the 6 tips below to grow your startup with CRO.

1. Use CRO to Enhance Your Prospects’ Desire

Before your prospects ever get to your website, they’ve built up a desire for something. That’s the whole reason they made their way to your site. Your future buyers want something, and you want to make your business the solution. And that’s the mindset that you’ll need to tap into if you want to convert them from prospects, into leads, and then into customers. 

So, first thing’s first. What does your prospect truly desire? It’s a hard one to answer, but that’s where CRO comes in. If it’s not hard for you to answer, that might be a sign you need to think about it a little harder. Too many CEO’s assume they know what their prospect wants, but they’re still not seeing ideal conversion rates. Usually, that issue lies in their incorrect assumption.

CRO tells you exactly what your audience wants. Once you’ve pulled the data and the research to determine where their desire lies, you can target your audience with specific tactics. The data gathered from split testing and experimenting will help you personalize your site’s content so that it gives your audience what they’ve been looking for.

Once you’re enhancing the desire of every prospect that lands on your page, you’re already setting yourself up for growth.

2. Use CRO to Reduce Frustration

When prospects aren’t converting, there’s no denying that your business suffers. If you’re looking at less-than-ideal conversion rates in your startup, you should take a step back to ask yourself and your team what might be causing the hiccup.

Through CRO, you can test headlines, sign-up forms, and email automation to see what reduces friction between your site and customers, and what leads to more growth in your startup.

3. Use CRO to Gain Traction

Every day you’ll learn something new about your audience and how they respond to different strategies. You’ll be better equipped to make the right marketing decisions for tomorrow based on what you learned today, and the cycle will continue.

Having these small wins each day is a great way to keep the momentum up even when start-up doubts may begin to creep in.

4. Use CRO to Make the Most of the Marketing Budget

One major key to growth? The marketing budget. Yet, even the most robust of marketing budgets won’t do you any good if you’re not spending that money wisely. 

When you spend marketing funds on tactics you hope will work, you’re always running the risk that they won’t bring the results you need. And then what? Money down the drain.

With CRO, you become informed about the motivations and behaviors of your target audience. With this knowledge, you’ll make more strategic marketing moves so that you’re always maximizing the results from each dollar spent.

To put things in perspective, consider this: Start-up A that doesn’t utilize CRO may get 1,000 visitors to their site, with only 100 that convert into customers. Start-up B uses CRO and knows their customer better, so with 1,000 visitors to their site, they’re able to convert 500 of them. 

Guess who’s seeing the most ROI on marketing? You already know the answer.

5. Use CRO to Retain Customers

While CRO is great for helping start-up companies acquire new clients from prospects, it can also help them retain the customers they already have. The longer your company’s relationship with a customer, the deeper you will understand them. 

Once you’ve already acquired a customer, you want to keep selling to them in ways that would benefit them the most and solve their problems. It goes right back to that desire and motivation that brought them to you in the first place.

With deep insights into your customer persona, you’ll be able to cross-sell, upsell, downsell current and past customers. One way to continue gathering these insights and applying them to previously acquired customers is by simply checking in on them with no intention to sell – see what they liked, what they didn’t, and use that information down the road.

6. Use CRO to Improve WOM Marketing

Most people think of CRO strategies and insights as tools digital marketing, but CRO can also increase word-of-mouth marketing. 

Not all WOM strategies are made equal, but it can be hard to tell how yours is doing without tracking behavior and testing to see what works the best. 

By outsourcing CRO specialists or using in-house strategies, you can see which tactics boost your conversion rates the most. Continue to support those efforts rather than leaving WOM up to chance.

CRO: A Start-up’s Best Friend

Tracking your startup’s growth in the early stages is crucial for determining future success. By identifying what work through CRO strategies, you’ll be able to see where your time, energy, and money should be spent for maximized results.

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What is Data Protection and Why is it Important?

Data protection is the different measures for ensuring that data does not become corrupt or stolen. 

Explanation of Data Protection 

The purposes of devising data protection strategies is to ensure that the data is available whenever it is needed and that the data is managed properly so there are no interruptions. 

Businesses ensure data protection with backups. If the devices and systems containing the data are compromised or damaged for some reason, the affected system can be uninstalled and/or replaced by a new one. The backed up data is then retrieved using the new system. With this process, the data remains uncompromised and free from damage. 

Data Lifecycle Management

Data lifecycle management is an important aspect of the data management process. The purpose of data lifecycle management is to ensure that the data is automatically stored online or offline.

Businesses and individuals use different methods to back up their data. Some choose to store their data on a USB stick or external hard drive. Network-attached storage is a popular choice among businesses. This option automatically backs up the data; therefore, there is no risk of loss due to someone forgetting to back up. Wireless attached storage works with a variety of devices, including phones and tablets. However, network-attached storage is an expensive option. 

Third-party cloud storage is another option many use for storage. Dropbox, One Drive and Google Drive are some of the main players in this market. This form of storage is device agnostic and automatic; however, users don’t have control over the security aspect of the storage.

Protection of an Individual’s Data

In the case of individuals, data protection means protection of personal data. It is the responsibility of the business to ensure the protection of personal information of customers, employees and other parties according to the law. For this purpose, a business can also use a people search tool to see what information is publicly available about their customers.

Individuals have rights that define who can access their data, the ability to get data erased and rectified, etc. The personal information or personal data of individuals can include their names, addresses, job titles, ethnic background, biometrics, etc. Those collecting the data have certain obligations according to the law. For example, thy may have to ensure that the information is collected for specified purposes only and the information is kept up to date.

Information Lifecycle Management

Another aspect of data management is information lifecycle management. Information lifecycle management entails creating a strategy for protecting and cataloguing information assets. The strategy involves ensuring protection from malware, power outages, human error, etc. 

Types of Data Protection



Continuous Data Protection (CDP)

As the name suggests, in continuous data protection, all the data of the company is backed up continuously, without a schedule. Also known as a real-time backup, CDP is different from traditional protection because traditional backups are limited to restoring data from the time the backup was made. 

An important consideration for CDP is the cost factor. Systems that do not provide continuous protection but can provide close to continuous protection are normally cheaper and less complex. If backing up everything is not critical to the business, then having near-continuous protection may be a more suitable option then CDP.

Data Deduplication 

Data deduplication is an important concept with data backup. Deduplication is related to storage on disk drives, and it helps to improve the storage capacity by removing redundant data copies. 

Synchronous Mirroring 

Synchronous mirroring involves replicating data a disk drive at the same time as it is written on the local disk drive. An issue with synchronous mirroring is that if the data becomes corrupt, synchronous mirroring will store the corrupted data. Therefore, there will not be any option to go back to when the data was uncorrupted. 

RAID 

RAID is a data storage virtualization system that combines physical disk drives into one unit for storing the data. RAID has the same issue as synchronous mirroring when it comes to corrupted data.

Importance of Data Protection 

There were over 1,200 cases of data breaches in the US in 2018, according to a survey. Here are three reasons why data protection is important.

Security

Besides being a legal requirement, data protection is important because it can help in minimizing the threat from cybercriminals. Using proper measures to protect data will help in ensuring that important details, such as banking information and contact information, is not stolen from the records of the business. 

Reputation

Implementing proper data protection procedures also ultimately help in enhancing the reputation of the business. Fraudulent activity such as phishing scams and hacking are a concern for various businesses and many businesses have experienced data breaches. By taking customer data protection seriously, businesses can distinguish themselves from their competition and build trust in the process. 

Litigation

Not following data protection best practices can also affect the bottom line. Both employees and customers can sue for compensation due to their personal information being lost as a result of a data breach.

The post What is Data Protection and Why is it Important? appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

5 Important Financial Tips for New Startups

Launching a startup is one of the most financially challenging things an entrepreneur can do. It can take years to earn back the amount invested in a startup, and this work is definitely not for the faint of heart. 

However, running a startup can be one of the most satisfying jobs if it’s done right. With lots of patience, quick thinking, and good judgment, you can become a successful entrepreneur when the right time comes. 

1. Be as Frugal Now as Possible

When you have just launched a startup, allocating resources wisely is key. In this nascent stage of your business, you don’t really need to rack up the bills by running the company out of a fancy office in a busy city. 

Keep your expenses to a minimum and only spend money on what is necessary. Check your impulses and avoid spending money on indulgences at all costs. Your capital is not an inexhaustive source of money, and your decisions regarding the startup should reflect that. Your top priority is to generate revenue now so that you can spend lavishly later.

2. Manage Your Cash Flow Wisely

Budgeting is a key component of running a successful enterprise. As the person in charge, you need to be aware of where every bit of cash is going. Establish a budget to monitor your cash flow and stay on top of capital management so you can avoid incurring any losses and running your company into the ground.

3. Find the Best Opportunities for Your Startup

While it is important as an entrepreneur to build goodwill and make connections with all sorts of people, it is prudent to go for the best opportunities for your company to make as much money as possible. Once you have used up these lucrative opportunities to the best of your abilities, you will have the resources to get to all the other opportunities. 

4. Only Hire People That You Can Trust

It’s not possible for any business to expand without having a sizeable number of employees. However, when you’re running a startup, you can only afford a handful of people.

These people will help shape the rest of your company’s life, as the quality of their work and dedication to your business will determine whether you succeed as an entrepreneur. Hiring people who cannot commit to your startup the way you do can turn out to be a fatal flaw. 

5. Be Prepared for Emergencies

The only way to ensure your startup doesn’t tank is by making sure you are always prepared to tackle any emergency that may arise. Make sure to set up an emergency fund that you can fall back on to deal with any financial crisis that may arise. 

It is necessary to have reserves to avoid running the startup into debt. Huge debts will have disastrous consequences for your company. 

Final Thoughts

It can seem like a drag having to wait until your company begins to breakeven. Sometimes it just seems like you’re bleeding money everywhere with no end to it in sight. But, if you play your cards right, it will be one of the most satisfying and rewarding things that you could have done. Don’t give up, just be smart with your dealings, especially financial and people.

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Two Big Rulings Could Alter Online Trading

In late 2020, the Federal Reserve picked up where the FDIC
left off and altered part of the Volker rule which was put in place during the
great financial crisis of 2008. The change in the ruling effects the way banks
must hold reserves if they want to invest their own money in the market. During
the financial crisis, banks lost billions of dollars on high leverage bets on
the US housing market. In the wake of the crisis, new laws were put in place
along with regulations that halted proprietary trading by banks. The consumer
led bailout of the banks led to tight regulation which was in place for more
than a decade and have finally seen some relief.

Tweak to a Ruling

In mid-2019 the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC)
approve a revision
of the Volcker Rule. This change helps to clarify the way banks trade
securities using their own funds known as proprietary trading. Proprietary
trading differs from the trading that a bank does for its clients. Ahead of the
change made by the FDIC, the Officer of the Controller of the Currency also
approved the rule change.

In late October of 2019, the Federal Reserve announced that
the change in the rule would take effect on January 1, 2020. Their announcement
was a change to the Volcker rule which prohibits banking entities from engaging
in proprietary trading. Community banks will remain exempt from the Volcker
rule by statute.

The new rule was jointly developed by the Federal
Reserve Board, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,
and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

How Will This Alter Proprietary Trading?

The upshot is that banks that trade actively will have more
restrictions but will be able to engage in trading of its own funds. This will
provide an additional revenue stream for banks that want to engage in this
practice. While regulators will have more to watch, their focus will be on the
leverage that banks are able to take. Authorities will want to make sure that a
regulated
online trading broker cannot bet the ranch as they did ahead of the 2008
financial crisis.

Crypto Trading Could Get a Boost in India

Banks might decide to increase their risk in
cryptocurrencies, and the expansion into Indian might support that investment.
Cryptocurrency trading could see a boost in liquidity following the Indian
Supreme Court ruling against a bank on trading placed by the Reserve
Bank of India. The Indian Supreme Court announced a ruling in favor of
crypto exchanges that banned domestic Indian financial institutions from
providing trading services related to crypto exchanges.

The initial ruling that took place during the Q2 of 2018
forced many crypto exchanges to either close or change their business
practices. The change by the Indian Supreme Court might increase liquidity and
change the view of many of the financial regulators that govern the
cryptocurrency markets.

Key Takeaway

The changes to the ruling in the United States and India
should increase liquidity as well as risk. Allowing the banks to engage in
proprietary trading will increase their leverage and could generate both more
rewards and risks as the markets become volatile. The ruling against the
Reserve Bank of India by the Supreme Court is a win for the cryptocurrency
market environment. Exchanges should reemerge and provide access to a growing
market.

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Refinancing Your Student Loan? Here’s What You Need to Know

There
are many people who acquire a loan that is too expensive. After a
certain amount of time has passed, they realize that it is too much of a
risk to continue making loan repayments and decide to apply for
refinancing their existing loan. 

This is fairly common nowadays as the financial circumstances of the
applicant may have changed since the loan was acquired initially or the
applicant has found a new loan with much better loan terms available.
One of the main benefits of refinancing your loan is that you can
potentially manage your existing debt in a much more efficient manner. 

What is the Student Loan Refinancing Process?

When you get your loan refinanced, the lender will replace your
existing loan with a new one. The new loan must have better features,
terms and conditions when compared to your prior loan. The most
beneficial factor is that by refinancing your loan, you can
significantly improve your financial situation. Each lender has their
own eligibility criteria and regulations depending on the type of loan
you want to get refinanced. It is advisable to apply for this process if
you have been considering the following. 

If you have an existing loan that has
become too much of a burden and if you are looking to improve the loan
terms in a way that is beneficial for you.If you are comparing lenders to find who is offering better loan terms than the loan you currently have.If you apply for refinancing and the new loan is approved, it will completely pay off your existing debt.If you make regular loan repayments toward the existing loan until you get approved for refinancing it.

There are certain factors that you can improve in order to ensure
your loan gets approved for refinancing, these are listed below.

It is advisable to handle any existing
credit issues you may have as lenders will check your credit score. If
you have a good or above average credit score, this could result in you
being offered the lowest interest rates.Conduct your own research into the lenders
that offer loan refinancing as you can gauge to see how different
interest costs could change depending on the type of loan.



Narrow down the top 3 qualified lenders who are offering the best loan terms. Get a quote from all 3 and then compare it with what their competitors are offering. This way, the lender will perceive you to be a responsible borrower. Refrain from availing any new credit at the time of the refinancing process. This includes acquiring a new credit card as well or anything that can have a negative role on your credit score.



How to Find the Best Student Loan Refinancing Lenders?

After you have finalized on the 3 best student loan refinance lenders, consider the following questions when choosing the right one for you. These are listed below.

How much can I save with the interest rate they are offering?Is the lender offering fixed or variable interest rates?What is the monthly repayment plan and if it will affect your other expenses?What are the additional features the lender is offering?What is the reputation of the lender?Were the previous applicants satisfied with the lender? Feedback, if any. Does the lender charge a prepayment penalty or an origination fee?Does the lender have good customer support?What is the lender’s minimum and maximum amount of debt for refinancing loans?







What is Student Loan Forgiveness and How Does it Work?

Student loan forgiveness is a program where student loans are
partially or fully discharged as long as the applicant meets the
eligibility requirements and fulfills certain conditions. These loan
forgiveness programs were specifically designed in order to make
attending college more accessible to the people willing to do extra
work. 

These student loan forgiveness programs are available through non-profit organizations, government agencies and colleges. If you are employed in these organizations, you can ask for more information on the loan forgiveness programs and their terms and conditions for approval. 

These loan forgiveness programs were initiated to reward people who
join specific branches such as the military, people who regularly
perform volunteer work and participate in an NGO charity drive, hold
employment in some government jobs or the people who work as doctors,
nurses, lawyers and teachers. The loan amount that can be forgiven will
vary from lender to lender and largely depends on which forgiveness
program is chosen.

Which Employers Qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program?

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF) program can be
availed by people who are currently employed in the following sectors.

Government organizations at federal, state, local and tribal levels.All non-profit organizations that are exempted from tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.



Who Cannot Apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program?



Partisan political organizations.For profit organizations. Labour Unions.Non-profit organizations that are not exempted from tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

People who work for the above listed employers will not be eligible to claim the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

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Why You Need to Invest in Digital Marketing to Promote Your New Business

If you are among those who believe their business can get by without digital marketing, then you are in the minority, and you are also 100% correct. As you probably know, marketing is about catching people’s eye. People are not looking at the internet all the waking day, and may only spend a few hours per day online. Other times they are watching television, riding the bus, sitting in waiting rooms, etc. Yet, on the same note, how can you ever reach the full spectrum of your demographic if you are missing from their online experience?

Promoting Your Website for Free

There are many ways you can promote your website for free, and you should try them all. Even if many of your methods do not work, it is often helpful to figure out what does and doesn’t work so that you can start designating your efforts in the right place.

Digital Marketing Need Not Be Expensive

Advertising on the sides of buildings and streaming services can be costly, but digital marketing need not be. You can try different social media websites to see how they fit, and you should certainly create a website. Affiliate marketing is indeed expensive, but it doesn’t always have to be if you choose the right agency.

Even if you are not going to invest in online digital marketing fully, you should still have a website to act as a central point for your campaign. This is the thing that other people link to, and the place that people land when they visit from different corners of the internet. Your website is also your online ambassador for your brand.

It is Not All About Websites

You do not have to focus on articles, blog posts, guest posts, and websites. Plus, you do not have to invest time and effort into social media if you do not wish to. Instead, you can focus on visual advertising and video advertising. You can create your own videos or have another company create videos for you, or you could create affiliate adverts.

The great thing about video is that you can prove the points you are trying to claim. Does your Smartphone still operate underwater? Testing it with a video is far more effective than with a web article or podcast. Do your services deliver 30% faster than your competitors? Show people how you do it with a behind-the-scenes video.

Carve Out Your Own Advertising Area

Once upon a time, somebody said, “Hey, when you are driving, where is the one place you look besides on the road, on cars and billboards?” To which somebody replied, “The sky,” and the Good Year blimp was born.

Apply this cute little story to the internet, and the sky would be full of balloons, but that is not how PPC marketing works. When you use a PPC agency, you may not be the only balloon in the sky, but you only pay for the people who look up.

You only pay for clicks, which means thousands of people may see your advert, but only the few who click on it will require payment, and they will have to have landed on your website/product page before you pay.

Successful marketing is about trial and error. You have to try various routes until you find the winning formula. It is also a continually evolving process. Never write off a marketing channel completely. Go back to unsuccessful channels after a few months and try something different.

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Remote Work Roadblocks

With the current disruptions to travel and work, it’s likely you’ve run into a few remote work roadblocks. A number of which will probably revolve around meeting clients, getting documents signed in person and talking projects through with colleagues, which are all pretty hard at the moment. 

You’ve also got your customers to worry about, with many companies closing their doors and attempting to pick things up online. But, how do you get the word out to everyone and more importantly, keep on top of the onslaught of questions? 

But don’t completely shut down just yet! There’s a number of solutions that can solve these issues that won’t just save you now, but will also keep you on top of things when you eventually return to your office (if you have one).

How to send & sign documents electronically

Imagine your usual process of obtaining signatures. You print, send, wait for the signee to send the document back, and file. Or you meet them in person with a witness, they sign and you file the document. 

Sending the document or contract electronically cuts out most of these steps from your traditional process. Meaning you can send, receive a signed document and file that document before lunch, without ever leaving your desk (or kitchen table if you’re like us!). 

This is what makes electronic signatures a huge productivity booster, especially when you’re out of office. You’re able to send as many documents as you need to anywhere in the world, instantly and securely.

Simply upload your document to an eSignature solution, like Signable. Insert the signing parties’ email addresses. Use our tool to add fillable fields onto your document (Text fields, date, signature, tick boxes & more) and hit send! 

Then you wait for the party to sign and submit the document (you can send reminders if you want). You’ll then receive an email with the signed document in (If you’re using Signable this document will be saved in your account automatically.) 

That’s it. 

How to communicate with your customers without phone lines

Enter LiveChat.

But, what is LiveChat? It’s a web application that helps visitors on your site chat live with your customer support team. It helps us with customers who have support questions around the product, or potential customers who need guidance before signing up.

If you’re a tech or SaaS company you’ll know how important it is to offer ways for your customers to get in touch with you. 

LiveChat is also great for avoiding distractions – so by taking on this solution it means that both staff and customers can multi-task between chats and their day-to-day tasks. Only having to check in when they hear the “ping” of a notification.

LiveChat can also be integrated with your internal comms, like Slack. Which means you can see when a chat has been completed and rated, helping give internal feedback, or to clarify info with a team member when help is needed with a conversation. By centralising our customer chats, it makes it easy to search customer history. Ensuring that you keep all parts of the business transparent, for both staff and clients. And this means that chat logs can be provided in case any issues arise in the future.

So check it out! By offering customers a variety of channels you’ll be sure none of them slip through the cracks whilst they’re waiting for questions to be answered. And as a result, you’ll see an increase in sales as well as positive feedback. Win win.

Team collaboration outside the office

You’ve probably been on one of those team calls, whether it’s on Google Hangouts or Zoom or god forbid, a conference call! Everyone speaks over each other and there’s always that awkward silence where no one wants to speak in case they start at the same time as someone else… It’s hard! So cut through all that with a project collaboration tool like Trello.

What is Trello? It’s essentially a software tool that helps you make lists on boards. For example you can create boards specific to each department or project and within them  have sections of lists for work that’s planned. These lists have individual cards with tasks, and these can be assigned to team members as needed. Within these teams can have conversations specific to that task, or add comments & updates.

By having work planned out in a shareable and interactive way helps organise what each team is working on. It also helps team members collaborate and gives a transparent view of everyone’s work schedules.

So; check it out! Encourage communication & collaboration within your team, whilst helping everyone organise their activity. Winning.

The best conversations happen naturally – Boost morale with Slack

Slack. It’s literally a life-saver when you’re stuck at home for at least 8 hours a day. Slack (if you’ve not already been beaten over the head with it), is an internal communication tool, kind of like the workplace whatsapp, but better! With it you can create groups for each team and even for specific events and projects. The options are limitless! 

Slack at its most basic is great for getting distributed teams chatting naturally. By creating a culture where communication is completely open, your company’s productivity will improve and as a result, you’ll experience a boost in your team’s morale. 

Having a central point for all your information also means that you keep everything searchable. And that if someone is busy – they get to prioritise their work over being distracted.

As a result you’ll rely less on internal email, which means cutting individuals out is kept to a minimum, and it gives your teams the option to work remotely or in office (when the option returns!). Giving your team that freedom means you’ll have one happy team (if we’re anything to go by, anyway).

So, check it out! Taking a transparent approach will reassure staff that you have nothing to hide, encourage them to use their voice more and ensure everyone is kept informed. Plus you can send gifs with the ‘/giphy[wordhere]’ command.

So, no matter where you’re working at the moment, make sure you’re making the most of the tech help that’s out there. It’s a time for effective communication more than ever before, so keep your teams informed, as well as your customers and you’ll breed loyalty across the board. 
If you’d like to see Team Signable’s personal tips for remote working (we’re dab hands at it after a few years of practice!) then see the article here.

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Money Morning-A Primer for New Angel Investors

Many people go into angel investing as a way to help out those wanting to enter the business world and as a way to potentially make money. Angel investors give money to small companies or people with excellent ideas. If this sounds like something that you would want to do, then check out this primer to get advice on angel investing.

How Angel Investing Works

Many people may ask themselves “how do angel investors work“, so here’s a quick explanation. Angel investing allows you to give large amounts of money to small businesses or people that want to create a new product for sale. Many people can’t afford to start a new business, but you can cover that for them.

In return, you usually ask for stocks and receive dividends if they successfully make profits. This allows you to make money by investing some of your money into their ideas or potential products. You do so by giving them money and then they usually give you stocks in return as a way for you to potentially make money for supporting them.

Stocks and Dividends

When you start off as an angel investor, you need to understand how stocks and dividends work. When you give a business money, you have them give you stocks in return. These stocks represent a small portion of the business and they increase in value as the business grows and increases in value.

Dividends are payments that businesses make to stockholders. This means that as they make more money, they give you dividends as a way to repay you for your angel investment. So as the business grows and succeeds, your stocks increase in value and you get dividends for helping them out. You can eventually sell stocks for their value.

Do Proper Research

If you want to become an angel investor, then you need to look into stocks and businesses so that you can research them. Figure out which industries grow and which ones decline. Try and look for trends so that you can see which businesses you should get stocks from to gain a statistical advantage.

Keep in mind that research will never yield perfect results in the stock market, but you can still study it to see the best course of action. If you want to become an effective angel investor and avoid blind investments, you need to do some research. This will help you since you can use your knowledge as a personal guide.

Expect Risks

If you’re going to invest in other businesses, you need to understand the risks and potential losses that occur with investments. While you can make money through stocks and dividends, the business may fail or under-perform. If this happens, then you run the risk of losing that money since your stocks may decrease in value.

While you do face these risks when it comes to angel investing, you have the opportunity to make money as you learn how to invest. Just remember that investing comes with risks, so you need to keep that in mind whenever you look into it. See if it’s something that you can work with, do your research and then start angel investing.

Conclusion

While angel investing comes with its risks and potential losses that you could face, you also have the opportunity to make money while helping others. Consider angel investing and make sure that you do some research so that you can take advantage of this aspect of the stock market

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Why Proofreading is Important for any Business

If you want to succeed in business, especially in a highly competitive field, you need to stand out from the crowd. Potential and existing customers have to believe that you are somehow better than your competitor.

Use proofreading software

That means making sure that you always form a good first impression. These days, a big part of that is ensuring that your website, social media, manuals, other documentation, and marketing materials are all of a high standard.

Anything you write should be put through a professional proofreading tool like the one you can find here. This will enable you to pick up and correct the vast majority of the more common mistakes.

In the right hands, software like this is all you need to be able to produce a good-quality copy. The last thing you want is for a potential client to spot a spelling or grammar error. When they do, it can easily put them off of hiring you. 

If you are not convinced that this is the case, take a look at this article. In it, you will read about why something as simple as a spelling error can get in the way of your being hired. These simple mistakes are enough to make you seem unprofessional. 

Poor grammar can stop your message from being delivered

Grammar errors can also have a surprisingly damaging effect. They can dilute your message or even change it completely. You can see 15 examples of errors brands have made that have done exactly that. Our favorite is the school supplies campaign that used posters that said, “school supplies”. Just click through and read about the other 14 and choose your favorite.

Errors in your advertising copy can cost you a fortune

Advertising is not cheap. So, the last thing you need is for a campaign to fail because of poor spelling and grammar. 

SPG errors can lead to huge losses

So far, we have only talked about how spelling and grammar errors can leave a bad impression on others. A situation that makes it harder for you to find new clients and keep the ones that you already have.

But, that could be the least of your worries. If you do not get the spelling and grammar right on your internal documents that can cause even more serious problems for you.

The story of the most expensive typo in history is a sobering one. In 1962, NASA wasted $150 million, when its Mariner 1 rocket veered off course and was destroyed.

The cause was a missing overbar in the algorithm that controlled the rocket’s guidance system. This tiny oversight is what sent the rocket wildly off course.

Consider hiring a professional proofreader

Once your organization is big enough to do so it is worth exploring the idea of taking on a professional proofreader. They will help to improve the standard of writing within your organization, which will automatically improve communication. Something that will greatly benefit your company.

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