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Guest Post: Business Growth: Tools Every Company Can Use to Increase Business Opportunities

Running a business is no easy feat. From managing manpower, maintaining a budget, dealing with deadlines, and everything else that comes with running a business, things can easily become overwhelming. That’s why it’s important for businesses to take advantage of any tool that will streamline their business processes and increase opportunities.

The Top Tools for Today’s Businesses

The business world of today is all about tech. If your business isn’t making use of the top software and apps, you’re losing time and money. Take a look at the following 10 tools that your business should start using right away.

1. Google Analytics

With Google Analytics, business can determine where their traffic is coming from, the demographics of your audience, as well as other important metrics you need to calculate. Use this tool to see statistics on your key numbers, traffic drivers, and other analytic broken down by day, week, month, and year.

2. Dynamic Inventory

Businesses that find themselves wasting time trying to keep track of their inventory are in need of an inventory management system. Dynamic Inventory is an inventory software that allows businesses to flexibly and simply manage their inventory.With this software, companies have an affordable solution for managing products, purchases, sales, inventory, and vendors.

3. Odesk

Now more than ever, businesses are turning to freelancers to meet their business needs. With Odesk and hire a freelancer for a project or you can hire someone on for a long time role working as a contractor.  Odesk has professional freelancers that have experience in every industry. With Odesk, businesses have the ease of outsourcing their business needs from the comfort of their own office. Similarly, Odesk makes it simple to pay freelancers, eliminating the hassle of regular payroll or any bank paperwork.

4. OmniFocus

Many startups and small businesses face the challenging aspect of organizing their business so it runs smoothly. OmniFocus is designed to help businesses create a better work/life balance. OmniFocus collects your data like to do lists, notes, and any impending projects. The software then starts to organize the best information, helping you reach your goals in a more timely and focused fashion. With OmniFocus, date will be saved on their cloud server, allowing you to access it at any point in time from any location.

5. MailChimp

MailChimp is an integral tool for businesses to spread the word about updates, new product launches, or to reach out to customers for their thoughts. With MailChimp, businesses can create email newsletters that will then be distributed to their current list of contacts. With it’s easy to use interface, businesses can create simple yet aesthetically pleasing E-blasts. These E-blasts play a significant role in sending large amounts of traffic to business’ sites, social media, and brick-and-mortar storefronts.

6. Square

The small credit card reader that is Square attaches to any tablet or smartphone and is great for handling transactions on the go. Small businesses and entrepreneurs that are based online benefit the most from Square. Instead of missing out on business due to a lack of a credit card machine, Square allows tech-savvy businesses the ability to cash in.

7. HootSuite

Businesses that are looking to improve their presence on social media are turning to HootSuite to stay on track. Instead of juggling these platforms and content creation by themselves, businesses use HootSuite to streamline every social media platform they use. With Hootsuite, business owners can schedule all of

their posts between every platform, allowing them to effectively plan their social media campaign within one app.

8. Unitrends

Disasters happen, especially in this digital age. Instead of falling prey to a ransomware attack, deleted files or the havoc a natural disaster may cause, businesses should turn to ensure their business and data are safe. Unitrends offers sophisticated data recovery software and business continuity solutions that allow companies to put together an effective disaster recovery plan.

9. LastPass

LastPass is this generation’s solution to the problem of confidentially storing and sharing passwords. With all of the security breaches and information hacks, businesses must make confidentiality a priority. That’s where LastPass comes in. With LastPass, businesses can enjoy a seamless Internet experience by syncing all of their passwords to their LastPass password. Once logged into LastPass, you’ll have access to your emails, servers, websites, and more.

10. WordPress

While many people may debate the popularity of blogging in today’s world, businesses looking to drive traffic to their sites know how important blogging is. With WordPress, businesses can easily tie their blog to their website or make their blog their main site. Offering millions of templates, personalized plugins, and visual flexibility, WordPress is a leader in the blogging world for a reason.

Frequent blogging is a huge benefit to businesses. With well-written articles, businesses can establish themselves as an authority in their industry. Moreover, with blog posts designed for SEO, businesses can drive users using search engines to their websites.

Whether you have a small business or a successful company, it pays to use some of the best business tools on the market today. Be sure to try a few of these suggestions if you’re looking for ways to reach more people, boost your productivity or build a better business overall.

 

Susan Ranford is an expert on career coaching, business advice, and workplace rights. She has written for New York Jobs, IAmWire, and ZipJob. In her blogging and writing, she seeks to shed light on issues related to employment, business, and finance to help others understand different industries and find the right job fit for them – Strategics360.com

Guest Post: 5 Tips on How to Utilize Your Social Media Marketing on Brand Loyalty

It takes time to utilize your social media marketing, and at the same time maintain your customer’s loyalty through your brand —especially when your company is young. In a recent study, Forbes found that 62% of millennials say that if a brand engages them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. The number accumulated based on this study is on a leap; customers want your brand to connect with them with ease and through different social media platforms since most of your customers use social media daily.

Building and maintaining brand loyalty are one of the central themes of research for marketers for a very long time. Marketers have utilized various means to keep the loyalty of their customers. One of the new methods is social media marketing. Social media marketing has a significant impact on the technology of the generation today; it not only holds easy access of communication but, social media marketing can also help utilize the transaction between two parties in just a few clicks.

No one ever said mastering social media marketing was easy. Once you’ve entered this realm of social networking, many consumers expect an open line of communication — much like how users can reach friends, family members and other specific resources with a single message. Utilizing social media can help your company and brand to have a more precise definition and advocacy. This way, you will gain more leads through different social media platforms.

Utilize Your Social Media Marketing

    Before you begin creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business goals. Starting a social media marketing campaign without a social strategy in mind is like wandering around a forest without a map, you might have fun, but you’ll probably get lost. Having a concrete plan that will adapt to the credibility and advocacy of your brand will be readily seen by consumers that they could have access easily whenever in need. Here are some tips for you to consider how to utilize your social media marketing on brand loyalty:

  1. Social Media Content Planning – Content is the most important element in creating an effective brand that a company will be able to market to a different audience. Social media marketing strategies such as keyword research and competitive research can help your presence on social media to expand and reach through consumers based on the content that will interest them. It is also best to always discuss with your content team the different plans and proposals that you are aiming for your social media marketing strategy.
  2. Social Content Adaptability – Content is one of the most important elements in a social media marketing plan since every audience is interested in new content that will benefit and give them new interest. Blending in with the trends and having a literate content seems to be a hard thing to make, but, with proper training and SEO awareness, the material produced, will eventually follow to the aim of the marketing plan.
  3. Considering Your Audience – “Interests,” according to Facebook, allow you to target people specifically interested in a subject related to your product. For example, you could focus people interested in your competitors or your broader market segment, or magazines and blogs covering your market. Considering your audience on what type of content they are looking for will allow your social media page to reach them and expand more to a broader community.
  4. Having a Consistent Brand Image – Different social media platforms allow your business to project your brand image and promote your brand in a cost-efficient but right strategy. While each platform has its unique environment and voice, your business’s core identity — whether it’s friendly, fun, or trustworthy — should stay consistent to gain more of your customer’s loyalty.
  5. Measuring Success with Analytics – To track down the success of your social media strategy, you may use Google Analytics to measure your movement on your social media platforms. This will also allow you to determine on which plans are better off replaced, and to search more suitable techniques to gain more views on your social media webpage.

Social media marketing not only increases brand recognition, and with utilizing your social media can make a huge difference in having an excellent communication towards consumer and the business or accumulates better performance with your website’s search engine ranking.

A well-engineered and content-wise social media page can lead more users to subscribe and tune in to your site without any hesitation. Social media marketing also enables you to differentiate between the accessible content and outdated content; you are also able to measure conversion through a myriad of promotions placed on your social media platforms. It is from such findings that you create the right channels for generating profits.

In creating brand loyalty, you must listen to customers, promote customer reviews, and think like your customers. Social media management tools make your social media marketing easier by allowing you to engage and connect with your followers right from your ho

mepage. As long as you stay active and committed to the community on your social media platforms, this will provide you with more exposure and develop the brand loyalty you need in the modern business world.

 

Dana Mia Kim is a former business consultant turned into an online marketer. She has worked with several industries such retail, hospitality and fitness companies which helped her to gain knowledge and experience in these fields.

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