Author: Evan Hoeflich

Many businesses are competing in the online market. The fact of the matter is that it’s an ongoing effort and struggle to maintain your presence, influence and reputation online. Once you’ve established your visibility, you can’t neglect it. Otherwise, your business will soon lose its relevance and fall behind your main competitors on the market. That’s why it’s very important for companies to continue competing and find new ways to stand out from the rest. However, this endeavor is more difficult than it seems.

The main reason is that online consumers oftentimes change their preferences, buying decisions and overall behavior. Based on the current market trends and modern technology, consumers can change their behavior overnight. On the other hand, businesses must be on alert at all times, so that they can adapt on time and ensure they can meet new consumer expectations. Boosting your online influence is one of the surest ways to achieve that. Therefore, here are a few ways to boost your influence online in 2019.

Understand your audience’s needs

The key to boosting your influence these days lies in truly understanding your audience’s needs. Online consumers are getting savvier each year and their expectations tend to increase. Knowing what your audience needs and wants is one of the best ways to improve your online influence. Therefore, do a lot of research. One of the most effective ways you can achieve that is to directly ask your audience what they want, need, expect and prefer.

Asking for feedback isn’t a sign of incompetence. Instead, you’re making sure you understand your consumers, in order to deliver a seamless experience to them at all times. Another way you can learn a lot is to listen to what consumers are saying about other businesses, mainly your competitors. Try to understand what your competition does right and what they do wrong, in order to learn from their success and their failures. That way you can improve your own efforts, in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Provide convenience

One of the things that consumers hold on to, no matter how much their overall behavior changes, is their need for a seamless experience. Consumers want to do their search, shopping and other activities online in an efficient and convenient way. What’s more, consumers generally dislike interruptions, difficulties and hindrances. That being said, you will vastly improve your influence by simply ensuring convenience for your customers.

For example, if your customers prefer to pay via invoices, then let them. Sure, invoices may not be so convenient for your business, as they may hurt your cash flow, but that can be easily remedied with reliable invoice finance. There are more ways to improve cash flow management, like focusing on forecasting and supplier payment terms. Multiple payment options provide benefits to every customer and that way, customers won’t suffer any inconveniences or misunderstandings.

Become an industry expert

Today, consumers aren’t just looking for businesses that can provide them with an excellent product or service quality. In fact, they want to get informed, educated and assisted before making a purchasing decision or other desired action. Nowadays, boosting online influence oftentimes comes down to positioning yourself as an industry expert. The way you can do that is by providing consumers with relevant and useful content, such as articles, white papers, research papers, eBooks and so on.

Help consumers solve a problem or answer questions and they’ll regard you as influential and valuable. Also, provide detailed product descriptions to help consumers familiarize themselves with your offers and also help them decide to make a purchase. You can post such information on your own blog, as well as publish articles on other relevant sources through guest posting. That way, you’ll not just gain influence but exposure as well.

Establish your social media presence

Social media is the key for both business visibility and their influence online. The majority of target audiences reside daily on social media networks, and the best way to make a name for your business is to impress your social media followers. There are various ways companies can boost their online influence by leveraging social media platforms. For example, establish a meaningful relationship with your audience by engaging in conversations with them on a regular basis and by providing them with relevant and top-quality content.

What’s more, establish a relationship with social media influencers. Influencers, as their name suggests, can influence purchasing decisions for their followers, encourage them to endorse a business and persuade them to follow someone else. Having the support of an influencer on social media can do wonders for your own influence online. Another thing you can do is develop a brand. Brands are meant to elevate businesses on the market and vastly improve their presences, reputation, awareness and of course, influence.

When it comes to boosting online influence, not much has changed. Businesses that want to be influential on the market in 2019 will have to make an effort to meet their consumer needs, demands and expectations. What’s more, keeping up with the latest market and technological trends is also an excellent way to not just remain relevant but also become influential.

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman is an entrepreneur, currently based in Melbourne and a regular contributor to bizzmarkblog.com. She assists clients in growing their personal and professional brands in a fast-changing and demanding market environment. Covering finance and investment topics, Lauren strongly believes in holistic approach to business.

What is your plan to boost your online influence in 2019?

This is a guest post written by Evelyn Lopez.

Working for someone may be an easier or even safer choice for many people. You have a boss who can decide what you have to do, you’re not responsible for crucial matters in the company, and you can sleep soundly at night because you have less overall work obligations. Yet, there are still numerous people out there who prefer starting their own business and being their own boss.

Here’s the thing: starting a small business is no walk in the park. You will be competing against 30.2 million small businesses and there is no guarantee that yours will succeed among the others.

Thankfully, there are tools to help you get started and headed in the right direction.

Anti-Virus Software

Cybersecurity is among the biggest threats faced by companies these days. Did you know that in America, only 38 percent of organizations are prepared for an impending cyber-attack?

Therefore, make sure you install anti-virus software on your computer to protect your business against hackers and malware. This way, you can protect precious data as well.

Microsoft Excel

Call it old school, but Excel is still one of the most reliable partners you can have as you manage your business. It offers basic financial accounting activities, is effective in scheduling work among your employees, helps you track product sales, is a reliable storage for contact information and much much more.

Here’s the best part: it is not difficult to learn Excel. In fact, you can find free online Excel training for beginners and discover the power of VLOOKUP and other such techniques which can be helpful in your daily business tasks. It will make managing your business easier and more convenient too.

You Need a Budget (YNAB)

No, this is not a tagline. In fact, it is actually the name of a tool that helps small business owners calculate their profitability.

Keep in mind that many small businesses fail within two years for a variety of reasons. Through YNAB, you will gain access to debt visualization and categorization techniques to accurately calculate not just the scalability but also the profitability of your product or service. This way, you can easily make adjustments to be able to weather critical phases in your business.

Shopify

E-commerce is continuously growing these days, with more startup companies preferring to launch themselves in the digital world. There is also an increasing percentage of mobile users and sales reported by different companies.

This is where Shopify comes in. This platform offers a fully customizable website, online storefront, and a blog where you can share information with your customers. Just make sure you have a proper marketing strategy in place so you can generate more traffic and awareness to your brand.

MouseFlow

Now that you have a website, thanks to Shopify, you need to know customer behaviors when they browse through your site. If you need a tool that will give you more insight on how customers are interacting, then MouseFlow is there to help.

Think of MouseFlow as a CCTV of your website. It tells you what features on your website were clicked or visited the most by the users. You can use the data gathered to help you either tweak your existing approach or keep moving along the same path.

Google Docs

Sadly, Gmail only allows you to send up to a 25MB file size. This could be problematic if you are transacting with a supplier or a potential customer where the exchange of documents is crucial in the business.

In that case, make sure you learn how to use Google Docs, which comes with your Gmail account. This will allow you to share lots of data that can be easily sent in just a few clicks.

HootSuite

In this digital age, social media is life. There are millions of people who can’t put their phone down just to make sure that their social media profiles are updated. If you are a business owner, you really want to tap into this market to showcase your product.

However, managing social media channels can be time-consuming. You also need to constantly update your pages and engage with your customers. HootSuite can help. Aside from this, you can manage multiple social media channels, schedule posts, and interact with your followers. This way, all of your social media efforts are managed under one roof.

Aweber

Never underestimate what email marketing can do for your business. Email marketing is still one of the most effective platforms in promoting your products or services.

One of the best email marketing platforms around is Aweber. Aweber allows you to set up customized email follow-up series and really automate the entire email marketing process. You can also update your subscriber base with one-time broadcast emails. Aweber provides detailed reporting and analytics within your account to help you understand your data better.

Now of course there are many other tools out there that will be useful as you start and manage your business. But in the meantime, make sure you check out out the tools listed above to get you moving in the right direction!

Did you know that the first concept of workflow was introduced in the early 20^th century by Frederick Tailor and Henry Gantt? Striving to optimize industrial efficiency, they focused their research on the rational organization of work and were the first to introduce queuing systems.

With the rise of sophisticated IT solutions, the mere notion of business process optimization (BPM) has changed. Today, AI-powered tools and the workflow management system can be applied to any business, irrespective of its size, budget, and industry.

So, why are optimized workflows important and how do we implement them?

Let’s find out!

Why is Optimizing Business Operations Important?

Your competitors are adapting their operations to the changing norms and disruptive technologies. And, if you don’t do the same, you will soon start lagging behind them. On the other hand, staying on top of trends and optimizing your business operations brings numerous benefits to the table, including:

• Maximizing workplace operations and productivity
• Reducing human error
• Minimizing operational costs
• Making your customer service consistent
• Maintaining the highest quality of services
• Making data-backed business predictions

Compare your Current Process Life-Cycle against your Goals

Before you start optimizing your business operations, you first need to set clear goals to guide you. Once the objectives are set, it’s time to audit your current business operations and productivity. Start by dividing your key business processes into smaller components and analyzing each of them. Pay attention to the number of employees and departments involved in these processes and measure how much time and resources they need to get the work done. Then, collect this data into a comprehensive summary of your overall business performance.

You should also compare your current performance with the business optimization goals you’ve set. Identifying your business’ key problems, you will be able to fix these problems and build your BPM strategy around the operations relevant to your business growth.

The Aspects of your Workflow to Optimize

The next step is, of course, building an actionable implementation plan. It needs to include the main processes that need to be improved, the tools you will use in the process, the stages of optimization, teams that will implement the change, and clear end results.

Now, there is no uniform rule to optimizing business operations. The implementation depends on your niche, size of business, budget, and much more. Here are a few examples that may serve as an inspiration to you:

● Online Invoicing

Invoicing is probably the least favorite aspect of your job. Research says that 64% of small businesses have unpaid invoices that are over 60 days old. Poorly managed accounts receivable may hurt both your bottom line and client relationships. Most importantly, not having full control of your cash, you won’t be able to give your business a nudge it needs.

One of the simplest ways to keep your accounts receivable under control is to switch from paper copies to the online landscape. Let’s take cloud-based fee financing as an example. A fee financing provider allows a client to pay the invoice in monthly installments, while you will be paid the invoice in full within a few days.

● Use Collaboration Platforms

As a manager, you need to improve your teams’ collaboration and enable an interrupted flow of information between them. This is where collaboration software like Slack or Skype for Business shine. Instead of formal, time-consuming emails, these platforms will enable simpler and immediate communication between your team members.

You should also invest in great task management tools like Basecamp, Asana, or Trello that let your employees leave comments, share files, and collaborate on multiple projects and tasks effortlessly. Apart from making the communication between your staff members smoother, these platforms also increase the transparency of your business operations and help managers track their employees’ progress over time.

● Invest in CRM Software

Simply put, CRM is the process of acquiring and nurturing leads. Of course, to turn those leads into paying customers, you need to provide them with exceptional user experiences. Understand their preferences, identify their major problems, and tailor approach to the specific needs of each customer. Only this way will you be able to turn your leads into paying customers.

This is where automating your sales and marketing efforts shines. With the help of the right CRM software, you will be able to (re)engage your customers, provide customer support across multiple channels, personalize your interactions, and track the performance of your campaigns.

Create a Change-Capable Organization

Your planning and strategizing would be purposeless if you don’t have a team that recognizes its importance. They need to have the knowledge and skills needed to meet BPM objectives. Most importantly, they need to understand how reaching these objectives will skyrocket your business operations in the long-run. As a manager, you should talk to your employees, hear them out, and see whether they’re on board with the stated goals and objectives. Only if each staff member is ready to embrace the change will your business process optimization work.

Keep Testing your Operations

Even though your BPM plan may look spotless on paper, you need to test how it performs when implemented. Most importantly, you need constantly check whether your teams have adapted to these changes.

Remember, not aligning your workflow optimization tools and practices with your business goals will only kill your business growth.

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman is an entrepreneur, currently based in Melbourne and a regular contributor to bizzmarkblog.com. She assists clients in growing their personal and professional brands in a fast-changing and demanding market environment. Covering finance and investment topics, Lauren strongly believes in holistic approach to business.

Any questions? Let us know!

There are simple steps to start a business, but if you want everyone to know about it, you need to make it shine. You can differentiate from the competition in many ways, but what will really set you apart is a company image that is respectable and sustainable. There are many overlooked threats in the business world, but the challenge of boosting your company image is the most delicate one that requires a strategical and wise approach.

We’ve gathered some methods that will get you on a track in no time.

1. Meaning & Value

Before you start growing your business, you need to know precisely what you’re going to grow. Your brand is much more than a clever marketing campaign with a catchy tagline and a pretty logo – underneath all that is the need for personality and connection. It needs to be recognized by your audience and communicate something unique, which means it needs to have a personality that stands for something. Before you invest in your marketing efforts you need to perform a detailed assessment of your brand, pinpoint what makes it unique by understanding the rational and emotional concerns of your audience and asking yourself does it solve their problems and how. In other words, before you inform people of your purpose and vision, you need to have a clear understanding of what is it you’re offering to the world.

2. Build a Bond of Trust

Marketing efforts can be pretty expensive, but not if you know how to use the word of mouth. The cheapest and most effective way is one of the customer-driven strategies. In order to turn them into loyal promoters and advocates of your business, you need to meet their exact needs and to do it better than anyone else. The whole point is to aim at solving problems they face, giving them the attention they deserve and treating them with kindness. This will not only bring you publicity but will also establish your reputation which is a foundation stone of your company image. And the first step to all this is to understand the importance of their feedback. In order to build a strong and durable bond of trust, your interactions with customers need to be consistent, dependable, and honest.

3. Start in Your Own Yard

If you want to obtain loyal customers, you need to be aware that they want to do business with people, not an institution. As your image is managed by your communication and advertising skills, it’s also managed by the atmosphere of the physical space where customers encounter your business. This means that one of the most effective means of differentiation is through your employees – if they can provide and demonstrate responsiveness, reliability, credibility, courtesy, and competence, that will certainly boost your company image. That’s why it’s very important to value them and establish a healthy company culture. This process begins already in the recruitment phase where it’s mandatory to employ people based on their potentials and abilities, staying clear from discriminatory hiring practices. Your employees need to be treated in an ethical way – they all want to be more than individuals who simply get the job done. People are looking for safety and security, and since workplace injuries are a common part of every business, it’s mandatory to have a trusted and competent work injury lawyer who will make sure that the rehabilitation requirements of every individual are met accordingly. Employees are your most valuable assets, and the proper worker’s compensation is the most important mean of their protection.

4. Embrace Storytelling

There is no quicker way to boost your company’s image than showing the human side of it. And the best way to do this is to share your personal story. Maybe you think yours is not particularly interesting, but it doesn’t have to be a Hollywood movie – every company has its struggles and they make a perfect David and Goliath story full of experiences your audience will have no problem connecting and relating with. It is not the point whether you have a story or not – you certainly do – but how you craft it. It needs to be done in a relatable and authentic way that will form emotional connections with your customers. But don’t just talk about yourself – establishing a successful blog that provides valuable information will certainly set you up as an authority in your line of business.

5. Find a Cause

Nothing creates a positive company image more than charitable events, but running a charity campaign is worth only as long as you’re honestly involved in the cause, which means you really have to believe in it. Forcing yourself to find a cause, especially the one that is related to the activity of your company, can be quite exhausting. But when you look at the alarming effects of air pollution and global warming, respect for the environment comes as a natural cause to support. This doesn’t mean you have to invest large sums of money into various green movements – you could simply make the ‛recycle, reduce, reuse’ practices a part of your corporate social responsibility efforts. Simply switch to more energy conserving appliances and bring in some recycle bins, and there’s no person alive who won’t appreciate this improvement of the relationship between your business and the planet.

These methods rely one upon the other, and only their combination will make your company image truly shine. Everything depends on your relationship with the customers, where your employees are the linkage, your brand a solution for their problems, and your stories the source of emotions and authority. Finding the right cause will seal the deal, and the planet is constantly in need of help.

Author Bio:

Alexander Hunkin is an Australian based startup advisor with in-depth experience in growing business. His meaningful and strategic advice has helped in setting and growing many startup companies in Brisbane and Perth. Alexander is also a content creator for different niches. The top ones are business, career, finance and marketing. He aspires to share his experiences and is always on the lookout for the next opportunity to enhance his skills. When he isn’t busy working, you can find him cooking exotic meals, scuba diving and cycling.