Monthly Archives: September 2020

How To Boost the Sales of Your Small Business

Because of the ongoing pandemic, many companies have had to change the way they do business. This is especially true for small businesses struggling to stay open while navigating the restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. If you own a small company, here are three things you can do to boost business during this uncertain time.

Adapt to New Ways of Doing Business

Many companies have incorporated new services. If you want your business to succeed, try adopting some of these new trends. If you own a small restaurant, try adding delivery or takeout to the list of services you offer. If you own a retail store, you may want to consider adding curbside pickup Grapevine TX to your repertoire of services.

Analyze Your Sale Records

Your company’s profits will vary depending on what you sell, so if your bottom line is struggling, it may be time to reevaluate your inventory. Check your sales records to see which items you offer are most popular and which ones are most cost-efficient. It may be time to cut some more expensive items that rarely sell and focus on small items that generate a lot of profit. Revamping your inventory may boost sales in a big way.

Advertise

Many people may not know that state of your company, so make sure you advertise. You may not be able to afford a flashy TV ad, but a social media campaign can spread the word about your business to your target audience without costing a ton of money.

While it may be hard for small businesses to stay afloat in these uncertain times, a few small changes can have a big impact. Use these three tips to change the way your company does business and see if sales increase. You may find that your company can thrive if you make these changes.

The Undeniable Advantages of Recurring Billing for Businesses and Customers

Recurring billing is good for absolutely everyone. For business owners, it’s just one less thing that you have to do in your day-to-day duties. For customers and consumers, it means fewer late fees and less to remember.

Setting up recurring billing is an essential step in establishing programs like subscription services. Considering that 40% of online revenue comes from repeat business, that alone is worth investigating if your business model supports it at all.

Here are some more benefits of using recurring billing if you’re not already.

  1. Recurring Billing Reduces Busywork 

As business owners, salespeople, and marketers, there are no shortage of things to fill our days. It seems like our to-do lists get more daunting with each passing year. While technology is supposed to save us work, time, and effort, it often ends up doing the exact opposite.

Doing business in the digital world has increased our daily duties exponentially. Now, nearly every employee is expected to be a salesperson, a marketer, a data analyst, a customer service rep, and so on. That’s not even to mention the amount of hats a business owner needs to wear.

If you hope to be successful in business, it is mandatory that you eliminate work wherever you can. This is the cause for the massive push for automation in recent years. Judging that 90% of businesses are already using some form of business automation, it’s safe to say that trend is warranted. Considering that 73% of businesses report being satisfied with the impact that automation has on their business, this trend isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, either.

Businesses that want to succeed need to identify any area that can be optimized with automation. If you’re not, you can rest assured that your competition is.

  1. Predictable Cash Flow

Business is unpredictable. This is especially true for newer businesses, as well as smaller or independently-owned companies. This makes it next to impossible to predict what your cash flow might be. Subsequently, it becomes very difficult to make any kind of concrete business plans or strategies.

One of the biggest benefits of recurring billing software is knowing when you’re going to get your money. Knowing that you’re going to be getting a certain amount of money on the first of the month, for instance, opens the way for making all kinds of business strategies. It helps eliminate variables in your business model, which are plentiful.

  1. Decreases Late Fees

Setting up recurring payments isn’t just beneficial for your business. It’s also good for your customers for a variety of reasons.

Businesses don’t like late payments, for obvious reasons. Mainly because it leads to that unpredictable cash flow we were just discussing. In an effort to help keep this unpredictability to a minimum, many business owners tack on a late fee for late payments. Obviously, customers don’t like that, which can injure the customer relations as well.

On top of this, you’ve still got to hunt that money down once it’s late. This means contacting customers who are running late on payments, who are most likely not going to be thrilled to hear from you.

Setting up automatic recurring billing helps avoid all of this. It’s better for you, your customers, and your customer relationships at once.

  1. Reduces Cost And Waste 

This is another win-win. One of the biggest benefits of recurring billing is it cuts expenses and reduces waste, all at once. How often are things good for the bottom line and the planet at the same time?

Setting up recurring billing greatly reduces the need for an extensive accounting department. Rather than having to have a dedicated team of CPAs to send out your bills each month, they’re sent out automatically from your recurring billing software. This frees up capital to let you expand your business in other ways.

It also frees up you and your employees from having to hunt down errant fees. Just imagine how much you spend in hourly wages on chasing down money in a given year. Think of what else you could do with that money?

That means that not only are you paying out of your pocket, you’re also missing out on opportunities. While that’s difficult to quantify, to put it simply, reducing monthly expenses means that you can spend that money on building your business instead. It’s like the difference between renting and buying.

Automatic recurring billing also reduces waste, as well. It’s not just the paper and ink you spend on sending out paper bills. It’s also the carbon footprint of mailing the bills and even the electricity required to print them out. All in all, the production and transport of paper amounts to 171 pounds of greenhouse gas, 63 gallons of wastewater, and 5 gallons of gasoline per 7 pounds of paper.

Recurring billing is one of those rare instances in the business world that is all around beneficial. It’s good for you. It’s good for your customers. It’s good for your employees. It’s good for the environment.

It’s also an important aspect of future-proofing your business. As business owners, we need to figure out what aspects of our businesses can be streamlined and made more efficient so we can focus on the parts of our business that need our more direct attention.

Want More Business Insights?

There has never been a more exciting time to be in business. Digital technology and the internet gives smaller and independent businesses access to powerful tools that were previously only available to the most enormous corporations.

Now that you know more about the benefits of recurring billing, browse the rest of our Business articles today for even more insight and inspiration.

 

5 Ways to Improve Document Management for Small Businesses

If you’re interested in improving document management, look no further!

Document management is something that many businesses struggle with, especially small businesses. Today, most businesses rely on documents to get a variety of tasks done. If you have poor document management, your productivity will decline because you won’t be getting things done as quickly as you could.

To improve document management, you’ll need to start doing a variety of things to ensure that your employees are being productive. Things like software and collaboration make document management simple, so you’ll need to learn more about them.

Keep on reading to learn about 5 ways to improve document management for small businesses!

  1. Implement New Software

One of the best ways to improve document management within a small business is to implement new software that lets you do a variety of things. For example, you can start using a program that lets you create multiple folders, organized by file types, and choose who has access to certain documents.

The problem that many small businesses run into when doing this is that they don’t prepare their employees for the new software. Because of this, many businesses end up getting rid of the software or don’t use it as well as they could.

Whenever you implement new software into your business, you’ll want to train your employees so that they don’t run into problems while using it. You can find guides for any program on the internet, so start looking into how to use it. You can then provide the same guides to your employees.

Regular software updates are also recommended, but you’ll need to inform employees of any changes that are made. These updates fix things like bugs and sometimes change the layout of a program.

  1. Encourage Employees to Collaborate

Collaboration is something that all businesses need to do if they’d like to maximize their productivity. While you can work with something like a document management service to help you organize things, collaboration makes organization easier.

When your employees are collaborating, they can better keep track of things. For example, when converting PDFs to images, you can create a folder for them and see who’s recently added things.

When collaborating, you can assign employees into several groups with different tasks. This will prevent a bunch of employees from doing similar things, making it difficult to keep track of which documents you need.

  1. Communicate With Managing Software

To make collaboration as effective as possible, you’ll need to use a managing software. This software should let employees work on projects and communicate with one another. Programs like Slack allow users to share documents and send messages, making collaboration, and document management simple.

When it comes to paper and electrical documents, you can share both within the managing software. Whenever an employee needs to print something, they can access it within the software. The electrical documents can be stored on an employee’s computer, but it will also remain within the program for later use.

It’s best to implement this type of software as soon as you start using other programs. The sooner your employees can get accustomed to the software, the easier it will be to start managing documents without any problems.

  1. Apply Restrictions to Documents

When implementing programs to your business for document management, you can apply restrictions to documents to prevent people from accessing them. Within the program, you can permit certain employees to open things and no one else will be able to access them.

Applying restrictions makes document management much easier than most other methods because you’ll know exactly who was working with the document. This is why you should do this along with other methods, such as collaboration.

If you put employees into groups to work on something, each group can have a folder that no one else can access. Names for files won’t be seen by others and they won’t be able to be moved.

  1. Hire Managers

After implementing a few programs and encouraging collaboration amongst employees, you’ll need to hire managers. When you hire managers to overlook your employees, you’ll have time to focus on other parts of the business.

A manager is responsible for doing things like seeing that the employees are working, assisting whenever possible, and reporting progress to you.

Whenever a manager sees that something isn’t right, they’ll correct it. For example, if an employee isn’t sharing the documents correctly, they’ll show the employee the correct way to do it. If problems continue, they can let you know that the employee isn’t working efficiently.

You don’t need to hire many managers, but it’s best to have multiple if your team has over 10 people. With management programs, they’ll have an easier time keeping track of everything. However, should you decide not to, you’ll need to hire more to compensate.

Improve Document Management Today

After reading this article, you’re now ready to start improving document management. Providing that you use all of these methods, you can improve document management quickly without having to worry about running into problems.

We encourage you to start looking for programs to implement into your business as soon as possible. As you find programs that interest you, you can start to teach employees how to use them and begin the management process. Try to find something that lets you limit access to make things easier.

Check out our other articles to learn more about a variety of topics!

 

6 Great Ways To Kickstart Your Career This Year

Are you ready to kickstart your career and start a lifelong profession? Do you want to pursue a lifelong dream, despite the challenges of finding work amid the pandemic?

Job-hunting is not an easy task, and the coronavirus made it all the more difficult. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t find success in starting a new career today. There are always ways to do that, and we’ve got a handful of them below.

Keep reading to learn about six useful career tips that will help you jumpstart your career.

  1. Kickstart Your Career by Doing an Internship

Getting an internship is very useful in any industry. It’s the best way to get insider knowledge on how you do the work in actuality. You’ll get to experience how it feels to start from the bottom.

You’ll get to explore the workforce and apply the skills you learned in college. Becoming an intern will also increase your marketability. Many employers prefer applicants with internships because they’re familiar with the work.

Also, when you become an intern, you gain a bit of tutelage from experienced professionals. You’ll receive professional feedback and get help from organizations you intern with. You’ll gain practical field knowledge that professors and teachers teach in theory.

Undertaking an internship is a crucial and useful experience in your career. You’ll get to experience the stress and satisfaction of handling actual projects. Becoming an intern will also let you build a network that you can refer to in the future.

Finally, you’ll get to decide if the job is right for you or not. Not everyone will continue to become a professional after they finish an internship. Sometimes, it’s the best way to learn that you don’t like the job before you invest all your time and money into getting into the industry.

  1. Pursue Higher Education

You can still make good use of your time, even when you’re under home quarantine. You likely already did many of the things that you said you never had time to do before. Whether it’s cleaning up the house, gardening in the yard, or exercising more, you likely already did it.

Now, you may not know what else to do with your time. A good solution is to invest in education. Take an online college course, and improve your skill and knowledge.

Many schools and colleges offer accredited online degrees. The best part is that you don’t have to go through the traditional hassles of getting an education. You don’t need to move out, rent a dorm, or commute to class.

All you need is a strong and stable internet connection, a working computer, and access to resources. The online college you choose is also likely to offer their digital libraries for your use as a student.

Going to college is always a great investment. Did you know that the jobless rate for high school graduates is at 15.3%? For people with a bachelor’s degree, the jobless rate is at 7.4% only.

Many professionals go back to get a bachelor’s or master’s degree, so they can get a raise or promotion. While you have all the time in the world to take yours, go for it.

After you advance your education, kickstart your career. You won’t regret it.

  1. Focus on Creating a Network

Did you know that referring to your contacts is a great way to find a career that suits you? A lot of the jobs people offer online are only the tip of the iceberg. Many more of the jobs you can apply for are attainable from your networks.

As we mentioned, getting an internship opens a lot of doors for you. You don’t only get to expand your professional network. You also collect recommendations that will boost your reputation with a potential employer.

That is one way to build a network that will open you to opportunities. There are other ways to do it. You can talk to friends, former coworkers, classmates, or mentors.

Someone from your friend group or schoolmates ought to know about a job opening. Another advantage of having a network is that they have their separate networks too. It’s one way to get something useful from a friend of a friend of a friend.

  1. Build a Noteworthy Portfolio

Having a resume and creating a good first impression isn’t the only thing that can jumpstart your career. You can increase your chances of getting hired when you bring along a portfolio. This is especially useful if you want to enter the writing or visual industry.

The careers that often need a portfolio include:

  • Make-up artist
  • Modeling
  • Writing
  • Advertising creative
  • Graphic designer
  • Website designer
  • Photographer
  • Videographer
  • Artist
  • Computer programmer
  • Video game designer
  • Interior designer

Your portfolio doesn’t need to be in print. A digital portfolio is also helpful, especially considering today’s remote work conditions.

A portfolio will show potential employers your achievements, skills, and experiences. Your portfolio doesn’t have to be too impressive, especially if you’re only starting a career. Focus on the quality, diversity, consistency, and uniqueness of your portfolio.

How to Make a Professional Portfolio

Building a professional portfolio won’t be at all like creating school portfolios. When you build your professional portfolio, you will need to take up more time to finish it. A reason for this is because you’ll need to gather all the documents or projects you need for it.

Collect a variety of examples of your work. You can get designs from a project you created in college or for a previous employer. You can also include evaluations, reports, surveys, and spreadsheets. If you’re completing an internship, you can also use some of the work you’re doing now.

Many people offer their portfolios with their resume and cover letter. Try to keep the design in each document constant. This will help in creating an image of consistency.

You may also want to include information about big and prestigious companies you’ve worked with. This can impress a potential employer. Add some comments on your work from professors, previous employers, or others.

  1. Volunteer to Gain Experience

Another way to kickstart your career is to sign up for volunteer work. Employers are always looking for candidates who have experience with volunteer work. Also, joining organizations that help with volunteering placement always looks good in your resume.

Try signing up as a volunteer for organizations like Original Volunteers. They allow the volunteers to develop skills and experience that employers find desirable. You’ll also learn and experience a lot that you won’t learn otherwise when you stay in your comfort zone.

What are the skills you develop when you sign up for a volunteering placement?

Other than stepping out of your comfort zone, you learn to be independent and self-reliant. You’ll get to build your confidence and communication skills. You’ll be able to learn how to organize and manage your time and resources well.

It’s a great way to get some “real world” experience, especially if you grew up sheltered. It will open your eyes to how the real world is through challenging experiences. Once you’re back in the labor market, you’ll get a better sense of how to interact with different types of people in different situations.

  1. Concentrate on the Job Search

The job search is often one of the hardest hurdles to jump when you’re only starting. Some people are lucky or connected enough to find work within a month or two after graduation. Others take years to find their first official job related to their bachelor’s degree.

As a tip, be patient when you’re doing your job search. Don’t aim to get a job within a short period because your expectations can fail you. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average job search takes five months.

Don’t get distracted while you’re waiting for potential employers to call you back. Stay on task and try to protect the time you have from distractions. Clear your calendar so that you can always attend interviews on time.

Let’s say your family or friends often try to call you to help them out with something or to hang out with them. In this case, let them know that your current priority is in searching for a job. Don’t forget to tell them that you can hang out later once you’ve found a stable job.

One way to find a job faster is to target your job search. Don’t be too general with what you’re looking for. The more specific you are about the position you want, the better.

Add this information in your resume, LinkedIn profile, and cover letter. This tells hiring managers that you know what you want to do and your responsibilities. It’s also easier for them to track you because the keywords are in your resume.

Listen to Your Calling

That is the end of our guide on career advancement help. We hope that this guide helps you find the right footing to kickstart your career. We hope you learned something valuable and informative from this post.

Do you want to learn more about improving your career and gaining more opportunities? Do you want to learn how to get a promotion? Our other posts discuss more on career advancement, and we’ve got guides on how to make the right career choices.

 

Packaging Safety Measures

We’ve all opened a new medicine and had tear off the seal to get into the bottle. This packaging requirement began as a mandate by the FDA in 1983 when they realized people could contaminate medicine sitting on the shelf. From there, the law reached new heights as the science of medicine and types sold skyrocketed in an effort to keep people healthy and safe. Now, in the midst of COVID-19, we’re seeing a resurgence in protecting food from outside contaminants as individually wrapped items are reintroduced as the norm. Sealing a food product in plastic is the new tamper-evident caps of the grocery world.

Pre-Pandemic

Before the pandemic struck the states, many of them were attempting to get rid of single use plastics in favor of more environmentally friendly options. Some states had banned plastics all together and other states were making decisions like eliminating plastic bags at grocery stores or replacing straws with cardboard alternatives in all the take out restaurants. Even large companies were promising to reduce their plastic footprint in favor of a healthier planet. However, all these progressions came to a screeching halt when the novel coronavirus starting decimating communities and states.

Post-Pandemic

Now, it seems the world can’t get enough plastic. It’s the safe way to sell food so no germs can live on the surface and other people can’t handle it directly. Grocery stores are going back to individually packaging items instead of laying them out for consumers to grab and go. The consumption of take out food skyrocketed as restaurants were forced to close their doors to dine-in services, which meant more plastic boxes, styrofoam cups, and plastic silverware were going home with people possibly than ever before. Even initiatives to bring your own cup for refills at coffee shops and restaurants were canceled to try to curb the spread of the virus.

Even the masks that help keep people well have become a new pollutant in the pandemic era. People using disposable masks instead of reusable, washable ones might go through five or six masks a day, which all go into the garbage or are left in various places in the community. These increases in plastic consumption could be devastating to the environment in years to come.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in myriad ways, some more obvious than others. But the increase in plastic consumption due to the virus may have other deadly effects.

6 Tips to Better Your Customers Experience

The satisfaction of your customer base is one of the driving forces behind your company revenue. That’s why the customer experience should be one of your company’s main focuses, and we’re here to help you enhance the experience for all your customers.

Right here, you’re going to find some tips that will help you to create better customer experience strategies that you can use time and time again. By the time you’ve made these changes to your customer experience plans, you’re going to see an increase in customer satisfaction, engagement, and company revenue.

Read from end to end for everything that you need to know.

  1. Set a Goal

Before you can begin to make changes to your current customer experience package, you need to set goals. When you don’t know what you want to achieve or haven’t set any goals, it can become challenging to create the campaign that you’re going to use to reach customers.

Not having clear goals will cause your target demographic to get confused about your message, and it can send mixed signals when it comes to your brand. Therefore, before you begin developing your new customer experience package, ensure you have an understanding of the goals that you and your company seek to accomplish.

  1. Know Your Demographic

Another tip that we can offer you is to get to know your target market. This means conducting research and understanding the things that your customers respond to the most.

What type of content do they enjoy seeing? Do they enjoy direct mail notifications? Are they customers that enjoy question and answer sessions with company representatives? Knowing how to connect with and reach your target market is going to help you create the best experience possible.

When you know what your consumers do and don’t respond to, you can then ensure that their experience is customized to fit their needs and provide maximum satisfaction.

  1. Train Staff Regularly

The reason that you’re going to want to train your staff is that staff can have a negative or positive effect on the customer experience. If you run a retail business, customers will come in contact with your employees regularly.

And if your employees don’t have regular training that helps them stay on top of their customer service skills, this can prove detrimental. When customers have a pleasant experience with your staff, you can guarantee that they will be back to shop with your company later on, and they may even bring new customers to your business.

  1. Listen to Employees

Again your employees will be dealing with customers regularly, meaning that they may have some suggestions when it comes to a better way to manage customer experience. And while there are times that you’re not going to listen, we do recommend taking their opinions into account.

They will have knowledge of the strategies that are and aren’t working. And may provide you with a solution to improving the customer experience. When you listen to your employees, not only will you come up with more ideas, your employees will feel heard.

And when employees feel heard, it provides the motivation they need to continue to do their jobs and work hard for the company.

  1. Revamp the Digital Experience

Most customers spend a great deal of time on social media and other digital platforms. This is why you need to ensure that you take the time to makeover your social media to enhance the customer’s digital experience.

Does your platform produce current and informative content? Do you regularly post? Which posts do your followers respond to the most? When you’re looking to give your social media a facelift, you should also consider the data analytics that platforms provide.

You’ll not only be able to see which posts perform the best, but you’ll also be given statistics that show what days and times are the best time to post. If you’re not sure how to enhance the digital experience, there are companies like Ecrion that can get the job done for you.

They will have a working knowledge of the current digital trends and which ones will benefit your company in the best way.

  1. Monitor Return on Investment

When improving the customer experience, you’ll need the finances to do these things. And that’s why monitoring your return on investment is essential. You’ll collect data on how much things like marketing and advertising cost. And your company’s revenue after the changes have been made.

When you realize that something isn’t working, you can then go back to the drawing board with your company and change the plans. The point is to increase the return on your investment and, in the long run, reduce the cost that it takes to pay for these things.

When you can reduce the costs of things like advertising and marketing, you can take those resources and put them into different departments.

Creating a Better Customer Experience 101

When you’re looking to create a better customer experience, you’ve got to follow the tips that we’ve given to you. You need to consider the opinions given by your employees and track your return on investment. After that, you can ensure that your customers are satisfied with the business that they receive from your company every time.

We know that you’ve got work to do and a customer experience strategy to create. But since you’re here, we figured that you’d want to check out some of the other articles in this section. We cover various topics from advertising to entertainment, and we’re sure there’s going to be something that you’ll enjoy reading.

 

5 Habits Of Successful Real Estate Investors

For a very long time in our human history, real estate, along with gold and oil, have been benchmark investments for investors. There is a very simple reason for the same. Like oil or gold, land was, is and will always be in limited quantities on the planet.

With growing economies and population growth, the demand for real estate is expected to grow in a major way. However, being successful in the competitive world of real estate investing is pretty challenging.

In this article, we are going to look at the five habits of really successful real estate investors. However, before we do, let us first look at whether investing in real estate is a good idea or not.

Is Investing in Real Estate a good idea in 2020?

The world is going through the Coronavirus pandemic. This situation is unprecedented for the world on so many levels. Apart from being the worst humanitarian crisis, it has also resulted in the world’s biggest economic recession.

However, as an investor, this is the time to pick up worthy investments for a very low price. The world is not going to stay the same forever. We will bounce back sooner rather than later. This is the time, when the biggest investors make their plays.

Even though demand for real estate is not that high, given the low demand, it makes sense to invest in the market now. This will allow you to park your investments for a low price and wait till the market recovers. Any successful investor knows that real money is to be made in the sector, only if you are holding on for a longer time period.

List of 5 Habits of Successful Real Estate Investors

Over the course of many years, many colleges and universities have started offering courses and degrees in real estate. However, a degree can only help you get so far. In order to how to find real estate investors any individual needs to possess certain characteristics to become successful in the field.

  1. Creating a Business Plan-

The best real estate investors never go into the market without a plan. This plan takes into account probable areas of development, growth, conjectures and trends. A business plan is like a roadmap to understand where you are going to stand in the next three to five years. It takes into consideration investments, growth, market conditions and other factors.

  1. Gathering Expertise and Knowledge-

If you want to be successful in the real estate industry, you need to know the ins and outs. This means being aware of all the small and major changes taking place. You should also gather in-depth knowledge of the area where you are looking to make the investment. This means looking at the status, spending patterns, availability of schools, markets and commercial districts.

  1. Become a Niche-Based Investor-

Successful real estate investors point out that you cannot dabble in too many areas all at the same time. You need to pick a niche and develop your expertise around that. This means selecting between residential or commercial real estate. It also means specializing within the niche. For example, dealing only with luxury properties, or apartments or even condos.

  1. Networking and Referrals-

Success as a real estate investor depends in a major way on being present at the right place and at the right time. However, it is not possible for you to always be present at the right place. This is why networking with the right people and bodies is so important. They will refer good deals to you if you maintain cordial relationships and ensure everyone is happy in the process.

  1. Pay Attention to Financials-

You can only be successful, if you are earning a lot of money, and saving a lot of money. This means you need to be in total control of your financials. Experts suggest that investing in a good accountant can help you especially in the field of taxations. Every successful investor always needs to stay ahead of his or her financials all the time.

The Final Word

In this article, we looked at what makes a successful real estate agent or investor tick- habits. We also discussed whether the pandemic is a good time to invest in the real estate market or not. Do you think that there are some other habits, which we could add to the list? Let us know below.

 

 

 

 

8 Lessons to Help You Master Offline Advertising

By the end of this year, experts have estimated that global advertising spending will be evenly split between digital advertising and offline advertising.

It’s true that digital advertising is becoming more popular. However, that doesn’t mean that brands shouldn’t still work on promoting their products and services offline.

Read on to learn more about the benefits of offline advertising. You’ll also find eight steps you can take to incorporate it effectively into your marketing strategy.

Benefits of Offline Marketing

There are lots of reasons why offline marketing and advertising still need to be priorities in 2020. The following are some of the greatest benefits offline promotion has to offer:

  • Reach a wider audience, including older generations who might not be spending a lot of time online
  • Stand out from the crowd and catch people’s attention in new ways (especially in public spaces)
  • Provide your audience with something tangible (such as a business card or piece of direct mail) that helps them to remember your brand
  • Make a longer-lasting impression

Offline marketing can also be very cost-effective. There are tons of options out there to choose from, and it’s easy to find approaches that work well with your business’s specific budget.

How to Advertise Offline

Okay, you’re convinced that it’s a good idea to continue to market your business offline. How do you do this, though? What are the most effective strategies to utilize?

The following eight tips will help you to get the most out of your offline advertising efforts:

  1. Hand Out Business Cards

Don’t underestimate the power of the humble business card. Business cards are a great tool to have on hand when you’re out and about. You never know when you’re going to have a chance to promote your brand, right?

Keeping some business cards handy will help you ensure people remember you and your business. This, in turn, increases the likelihood that they’ll reach out to you (especially since they’ll already have your contact information readily available).

  1. Use Direct Mail

These days, most people aren’t getting as much mail as they used to. Because of this, some entrepreneurs might assume that it’s not a good idea to use direct mail as an advertising tool. In reality, though, the decrease in mail being sent and received actually makes direct mail more powerful.

When people get a well-designed piece of direct mail promoting your brand delivered to them, they’ll be more inclined to hang onto it and learn more about your company. Direct mail can help you stand out from your competitors and reach a wider audience.

  1. Consider TV or Radio Ads

TV commercials and radio ads are still effective methods of advertising in 2020. Creating a commercial or recording an ad for the radio will help you to meet people where they are and get them interested in what you have to offer. This is especially true if you can find a way to make your commercial or ad unique and memorable.

  1. Pass Out Coupons

Some things never change, including the fact that people are almost always happy to save money. By handing out coupons that give customers a small discount on their next purchase, you can increase the number of people who shop with your brand and increase revenues in a significant way.

There are lots of ways that you can distribute coupons, too. You could send them in the mail, for example, or go door to door and pass them out to people in your area. You can partner with a similar local business and ask to put a stack in their store or office, too.

  1. Send Seasonal and Celebratory Gifts

People love to be seen and celebrated. By sending out fun seasonal gifts or promotional materials, or reaching out to customers on their birthdays, you can help them to feel special and increase the likelihood that they’ll want to buy something from you in the future. Even something simple like a personalized card can go a long way toward helping you build a strong, long-lasting relationship with a member of your audience.

  1. Publish Press Releases

Getting your brand’s name out there in the press is a great way to boost name recognition and get people interested in your products or services. When you have something to announce, such as the introduction of a new product, work with local news outlets to publish a press release and spread the word.

Because most news outlets publish their stories online as well as in print, this approach can also boost your online search engine ranking in addition to helping you reach more people offline. When news outlets have information about your brand on their website, that’ll help more people to find your brand when they’re searching for products or services like yours online. It’s a win-win.

  1. Host a Free Event or Workshop

If possible, consider hosting a free event or workshop at your place of business. You could teach people how to use your products, for example, and offer a discount on their next purchase as a way to say thank you for their attendance. Events and workshops help you to get to know the people in your community on a deeper level and find out what they’d like to see more of in the future.

  1. Update Your Packaging

Finally, don’t forget to pay attention to your packaging. Your products’ packaging is a powerful advertising tool and can be the thing that convinces someone to buy what you’re selling instead of making a purchase from your competitors.

If you need help updating your packaging, you can read more now about some of the different methods brands are using to stand out and reach more people.

Put These Advertising Ideas to the Test Today

Clearly, it’s important to strike a balance between online and offline advertising. Be sure to keep the tips listed above in mind so you can advertise offline in the most effective way possible.

Do you want to learn more about promoting your business? If so, check out some of the other marketing and advertising resources in the Business section of our site today.

 

4 Simple Ideas to Lower Your Carbon Footprint

You know about climate change and the many ways the planet is suffering from human society. You also know you want to make a change and do your part to take care of the environment, but it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Here are four simple ideas that you can implement today to help make a difference. 

1. Shop Organic

Whenever possible, substitute your everyday food items for the organic option. You can buy meat, fruit, and vegetables organically. If you are a coffee drinker, consider buying from an organic coffee company. Shopping from local farmers markets is a great way to support organic produce, as well as your city.

2. Minimize Car Pollution

Whenever possible, drive with friends, or take public transportation. Driving less is one of the most effective ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. When driving long distances, use the cruise control as frequently as possible, and when the weather is good, roll down the windows instead of blasting the AC.

3. Use The Dryer Less

Instead of throwing your clothes in the dryer, try hanging them outside to air dry. If you don’t have the ability to hang outside, drying racks and shower rods are useful for indoor drying. 

4. Recycle 

Getting rid of plastic entirely can be daunting, but recycling is a great way to put the plastic you use to good use. If you have a hard time remembering which items can be recycled, make a list of recyclable items and hang it on your fridge. Keeping a second trash can next to your first makes recycling easy and fast. 

There are so many ways to reduce your carbon footprint. It can be discouraging to think of all the areas that need improvement, but making one small change in your daily life can make a big difference. 

How Can Small Businesses Pay Sales Taxes Effectively

As a small business owner, you are not the only one who has broken glass or a cup over sales taxes. The incredibly confusing and complex nature of filing sales tax means that you are not the only business owner or entrepreneur who has screwed up this aspect of their business.

With ever-changing laws and differences among the states regarding sales taxes, calculating and depositing the same can be a daunting experience. However, failure to comply with the same can also result in heavy penalties and sometimes serious legal issues.

So what are you supposed to do as a business? Shut down shop or choose to work and find a solution to navigating the murky waters of sales taxes. In this article, we will look at how businesses can effectively pay sales taxes.

Where should your Sales Tax Journey start from?

The first thing that every business needs to do is register with the requisite authorities of the state government for getting a sales tax permit. In most cases, you can either physically go to the offices of the Revenue Department or the website of the taxing authority of the state.

You need to register your business entity and request for a Permit. It is this permit, which will allow you to collect and report the sales taxes from your business. It is essential that you get the permit first before starting any business in the concerned state.

The Sales Tax Permit form also has a section where you need to submit the details of FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number). Make sure to have all these details available before you file for the permit.

Find out about the Rate of Sales Taxes in the Different States

As we have already mentioned before, sales tax rates and slabs differ from state to state. This means that if you have a business presence in ten states, you will need to collect ten different types of sales tax.

However, what is complex is the fact that the individual breakup of sales tax of different products and services also differs from one state to another. This coupled with the earlier differences between states makes the entire process much more confusing.

However, small businesses can calculate state taxes by visiting the state website for the revenue department or the taxation agency. They give you a complete idea regarding the rates, timelines, and individual product breakups and so on.

You also need to figure out whether all the products and services are taxable or not. In other states, while some states may levy sales taxes on some products, other states might not do so. This is why sales tax filing should be left to seasoned professionals and experts.

How to Start Collecting Sales Taxes

Once you are done with the above formalities, you need to start the collection process itself. At this stage, you need to ensure that your POS machine, cash registers and other invoice or billing software and tools are synchronized with the rates of the sales tax.

States have a rule where you need to show the amount of sales tax, which is being collected to the consumer. However, most of the latest POS machines are configured to give out this piece of information in the bill itself.

Many financial experts suggest that all the sales tax collections should be maintained in a separate bank account. This allows for proper collection and deposition of the same with the government authorities. It is also suggested that the business owner control all access to this bank account to prevent theft or fraud.

The Final Word

While sales taxes continue to be a rather confusing area of business, they are nevertheless essential for a business. Without the sales tax, you cannot function or run your business. If you want any more information on sales taxes, let us know in the comments section below.