Fluidscapes

The Internet is a web of content, but with the passage of time this web has expanded its reach to include social media, e-mail, YouTube, podcasts, and other digital platforms as well to provide users seamless access to a variety of content and applications.

And how these diverse platforms are connected together to form a web? It’s the Hyperlinks. Hyperlinks make it possible for visitors to traverse the web at ease, across platforms or within, to access relevant and information rich content.

From the users’ perspective this is definitely a very convenient method of acquiring information. While reading through an article you can link out to other websites or platforms to learn more about a critical word, term, event, etc., and come back to the main article. Therefore, links help make an article comprehensive and create a high level of user experience.

Google recognises the power of hyperlinks. On the Web, everything is about content and the links to find them.According to Google, links (read hyperlinks) and quality content are two of the three most important factors that boost ranking on the SERP.

As email evolved to be the primary communication method in the office and personal space bringing the world closer to us, it also gave fraudsters leverage to devise new ways to deceive and swindle.

You, I, and numerous others have faced or become victims of such apparently helping or beneficial but actually malicious emails and ended up remitting large sums of money, bank account details or other valuable information to imposters.

There is a growing affliction of such menace called email spoofing, which not only robs people but businesses and institutions as well. According to a recent study, since March 2020, 81 percent of firms all around the world have seen an upsurge in email spoofing assaults that makes up at least 25% of all data breaches. That elevates email spoofing from a nuisance to a real threat and brings up the requirement to understand and prevent this threat.

What Is Omnichannel Marketing? What Are Its Benefits?

Retail business is getting new life using technologies to find new customers. While creating new markets and learning more about consumers are becoming easier for the retailers, consumers are able to obtain substantial information about the products and businesses without much headache.

It’s a bidirectional communication. Consumers move across several social networking sites, websites, and communication channels on a normal day and gather valuable information about products and businesses. And retailers take this opportunity to popularize their brands by having presences at every touch-point of a consumer’s journey.

But is it good enough to just display your brand on different platforms? No, it’s not. It’ll not give you the desired result unless it’s a concerted campaign that provides a seamless brand experience and shopping experience for consumers, no matter what platform they are on. Here comes the concept of Omnichannel marketing, which is among the fastest-growing trends for both retailers and consumers.

In humans as well as business, lack of communication always leads to misery. While a human relationship can still be improved by reinforcing engagement, in business you hardly get a chance to repair the damage, because by the time you become aware the opportunity would have landed your competitor.

If this is the example of how external communication can affect a business, there can be plenty of instances of how poor, improper, or missing internal communication can cost a business dearly. While in a budding business the effects of communication problems become easily visible, in a large company they erode the bottomline slowly and not become visible before late.

If you want to look into the problem you’ll find out that most of the communication problems are due to human factors. Besides errors and careless mistakes there are limitations in human communications. But on the other side you have human intelligence. Your communication must be meaningful even for random questions.

The recent advances in automated communication use artificial intelligence to compete with human intelligence in getting the nods of the marketers and business heads. Everyone agrees that AI can make up for HI to a large extent. And there is cloud technology that is disseminating the latest AI based solutions to the end devices of the enterprises.

With the rapid fire development of India’s digital ecosystem making online purchase a de facto standard, there has been a surge in web presence by all types and sizes of business.

According to the eCommerce foundation, around 88 percent of buyers perform product research before making any online purchase. This explains the significance of a website to a business in the modern era.

Whether you want to double your chances through the local business queries or want to open an online storefront for the customers beyond your geographic area, a website is the most basic and most important requirement for your online business.

But many business heads don’t have a clear idea of how a website can be customized for their specific type of business; for them, the purpose of a website is nothing more than a digital business card.

This lack of awareness often leads to low quality and ineffective websites that actually hold back their companies from performing in the fiercely competitive market of today. So it’ll be highly helpful for them to have a clear idea of what a business website can do for them and also gather some valuable insight into developing a website.

A smart and informative business website can return ten times the money you invest into developing it. It not only acts as a hub for your digital marketing activities to boost sales of your products and services, but also plays a significant role in branding.

Find the right web development company to design and develop your website into a valuable business asset for disseminating information, establishing reputation, and standing out in crowded markets.

When it comes to finding the right web company through Google search, you’ll come across two highly used key phrases – Web Design Company and Web Development Company.

Although they look very similar and used interchangeably, the truth is that they are two different but critical aspects of the website building process, and therefore require you to understand the difference between the two and how they can be worked out to produce an effective website for you.

No matter whether you are a fledgling company looking to establish your brand or an established brand aiming to enhance your reach, social media is your best bet, without a doubt. Social media has come beyond the stage of personal hangout to be an important part of the marketing strategy for the businesses.

However, social media by itself is no magic pill for your business success. It only provides you with great opportunities in terms of connecting your targeted customers, raising brand awareness, and increasing leads and sales conversion, but you need to have effective strategies to achieve them.

Your business gains automatic exposure to millions of potential customers as they habitually log on to social media — this is a tremendous plus. But at the same time, because it is extremely dynamic and noisy and crowded, social media poses significant challenges for businesses as well.

You need to understand the demographics, tone, timing, and above all the underlying nature and types of content best suited for each channel. Even if you have sufficient resources to manage them, one area that’ll be particularly challenging to you is coming up with fresh and interesting content ideas.

A lack of consistency in posting engaging content is bound to erode away your following on social media and impact your popularity as a brand. But producing quality feeds every day is a big ask that all marketers will agree. Even the best writers can get burned out at times.

Relax. True that you are not a content-creating machine but you can act smart and apply your mind into producing new content ideas. Follow successful brands to find out what they are doing differently to cope with this steep requirement with limited resources.

You can’t have new content ideas everyday; what you can do is just present them in different ways so that they don’t look stale and boring.

Reputation management is basically a part of brand promotion. It takes a long time to own a place in the minds of your customers and create a concoction of trust, confidence, and liking called a brand.

Unlike many frontal branding activities, reputation management is a back-office process that runs continuously to create a layer of positive feelings and recognition for the brand.

In the age of digital media when even a minor mistake can cause a sizable drop in sales and spread the news across regions, online reputation management or ORM has become all the more important due to its ability to damage control and image make-over.

Besides helping brands, ORM is proving to be a gamechanger for the new and small enterprises as well. The rise in e-commerce and local business directories from Google, Yahoo, Moz, and others are encouraging thousands of small businesses to conduct e-business from home or small setups. Customers are not visiting their brick-and-mortar stores but placing orders based on online reviews, comments, and stories.

So, no wonder that online business reputation management is fast becoming a necessity for all startups or modern-age enterprises. Studies reveal that 97% of customers make their buying decisions on the basis of perception. Perception is the key ingredient for online business and an online reputation management system is all about maintaining a favorable perception.

How to improve your company’s image and reputation with online reputation management strategy

As with scores of new businesses thronging the online marketplace everyday and competition level going through the roof, the thought of maintaining a strong online image of your business must be topping your priority list. These seven tips will help you with that:

#1 Check your online presence closely, and your competitors’ too

#2 Maintain a high ranking for your brand on the Google page 1

#3 Make strategies to get more reviews from your customers

#4 Be quick and proactive in responding to your reviews

#5 Ensure correct profile data on all review sites

#6 Send social media posts regularly to engage your customers.

#7 Be consistent and keep your promises

Instagram ads or Facebook ads?

It depends, as there are multiple factors to consider. Although both platforms have massive user bases and are from the same parent company, Meta, they differ in terms of cost, content types, interactions, management, and demographics. We will delve into each aspect individually.

Facebook ads options

On Facebook you can have a variety of different ad formats:

Single media ads – Single Image, video, or a slideshow of photos

Carousel ads – enables you to use upto ten images or videos in a single ad, which can be scrolled through.

Instant Experience – it gives your audience a full-screen experience when a mobile user taps your ad. To visually emphasise your business, products, or services and create an Instant Experience.

Collection – When someone interacts with the collection format, it opens as an Instant Experience with several products. Customers may use their phones to explore, browse, and buy things in a visual and engaging way.

Instagram ads

Instagram has some very impressive statistics to speak for itself –

Instagram ads reach over 1.2 billion individuals, or 20% of the world’s population over the age of 13, and 27% of users claim they purchase new items and brands through paid social ads.

So if you plan for paid social ads, Instagram is your platform. The audience on Instagram is much more visually oriented. Before developing any other sort of material, you should think about making appealing photos or videos.

What is content? Content is a form of communication. What is the purpose of communication? To connect with other people. And why is content particularly important in digital marketing? Because digital marketing means doing business over the Internet where content is everything. Content makes your identity, perception, interface, reputation… In fact, it is the only bridge of communication between a business and its clients.

So, if you are a business and have taken to digital marketing for publicity and growth, creating and disseminating good and purposeful content must be one of your highest priorities. A business may have multiple objectives to achieve, such as information sharing, training, sales, branding, etc. You should be specific about the purpose of your content and create the ones that serve the purpose well.

For example, when it’s about the branding of your product, it pays to go for content marketing, which is a marketing strategy that creates and shares blogs, videos, podcasts, and other content relating to your industry.

Content marketing is a time-tested approach that engages the audience and promotes brand awareness so that your brand name comes to the top of their mind when they decide to buy.

Content marketing for brand promotion is more effective and more economical than traditional branding methods. Also, it can be reused and repurposed. But you need to maintain the content creation process and the basics of content writing to make your content stand apart. In this article, we’ll focus on blogs and discuss the steps involved in developing a blog.

#1. Find the right topic

#2. Find the main keyword and LSI keywords

#3. Do your research on the topic

#4. Maintain a uniform voice throughout your article

#5. Create a catchy headline

#6. Write a story

#7. Proofread

Social commerce, the new horse in the stable of digital marketing, galloping ahead to redefine retailing with a great business idea that taps a huge huge audience base in an easy and direct manner.

Yes, you guessed it right. What can be a bigger audience base than social media, of which the larger part is made of GenZ and millenials? Isn’t it a big orchard for the marketers that provides an unlimited number of fruits?

No question, but the challenge was to match the characteristic and temperament of the new age buyers whose buying decisions are usually triggered by emotions and feelings and taken at the spur of the moment. Likes and recommendations from friends generate instant desire for a product.

But if you ask them to visit and search through your website for the details of the products, you lose that moment. That strong buying urge gets fizzled out.

For a long time this has been a concern in digital marketing, which has got an awesome solution in social commerce. Now, you can open your store on the social media platform and conduct business without having to send your customers to your website.

What is social commerce?

The name by itself reveals the concept – “social” comes from social media and “commerce” comes from e-commerce. Together it means a complete shopping experience being on social media, which includes visiting your virtual store, interacting with you through messaging and voice, selecting products from a variety of options, and making purchases through online payment.

For example, while being on Facebook one can browse and compare products and make purchases. Or, one may also learn about a product in a tweet and then buy it right there on Twitter.

Social commerce sites are most active on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Let’s have a look at what these platforms offer to build social commerce sites for your business.

Facebook

Facebook has redoubled its efforts in the area of social commerce. Companies may develop complete “Shop Now” storefronts and use Messenger to communicate with customers (both pre- and post-sale).

You can use a Facebook store to…

Upload products and information about them,

Curate and personalise the products in your store’s catalogue,

Manage orders and sell directly from your Page,

Create and run Facebook ad.to market your products,

Obtain insights.

Instagram

According to Facebook research, 70 percent of shoppers use Instagram to discover new products. This comes as no surprise because Instagram Shopping makes it easy for users to view and learn about products by tapping on the photograph and stories that relate them.

Instagram Shopping promotes Social Commerce by helping businesses

Offer actual products for sale,

Comply with Instagram’s merchant agreement and commerce standards,

Have an Instagram business account linked to a Facebook profile.

After the devastation of the economies by the pandemic that struck local businesses with heavy blows, SMS marketing is regaining its ground, not just as a channel but as an integral part of the marketing strategies.

The reasons are obvious – cheap cost and very high reach. If one has to start afresh, SMS marketing can play a critical role in the revival strategy. Persistent lockdowns have changed the purchasing behavior of people in a big way. Fewer customers are ready to visit the brick-and-mortar stores and instead look up solutions on their mobile phones.

Why SMS marketing is getting the spotlight.

Mobile has become a mighty tool for doing business. With its enormous base of nearly 1200 million and increasing mobile users, India is leapfrogging in mobile marketing, as expected. SMS marketing aka Text marketing is a form of mobile marketing, which is popular among marketers because of its very high receptivity, high open rates, and low cost.

Here are some direct advantages of SMS marketing

98% of SMS messages received are opened and read.

SMS can be received on any type of mobile (smartphone or non-smartphone).

SMS service comes by default when mobile is purchased. No app download, etc.

And some benefits from the marketing point of view:

High customer engagement

High brand exposure

Increased customer feedback

Increased online review

Easy monitoring of campaign

What industries generally use SMS marketing and how?

The SMS messages sent by businesses mainly fall into two categories – promotional and transactional. Promotional SMS messages are used for marketing and advertising, for example, informing people about a special discount, or a special dish on the menu, etc. Transactional SMS are sent by the businesses to send important messages such as order/booking confirmation, order status/update, delivery related information, etc. Following are the industries, known to use SMS marketing to their advantages:

Healthcare

Travel and tourism

Banking and financial

Retail shopping

Real Estate

Restaurant & catering

Immediacy is the criterion that makes SMS marketing ideal for these industries. But other industries have also started using SMS marketing to communicate to millions and create brand awareness.

Although considered as a module of the digital marketing process, online reputation management has made an identity of its own, and is registering high growth year over year as it caters to a wide range of clients including businesses, celebrities, politicians, doctors, lawyers, and the like for whom maintaining a good public image is very important.

With the increasing penetration of the Internet and social media, serving as a massive reservoir of prospects, online presence has become a must for practically all types of businesses and professionals.

But then, every rose has its thorns — alongside the growth opportunities instances of negative comments and malicious rumours have also grown rapidly over the years, posing a big risk for reputation and goodwill.

Online reputation management came into existence as a measure for damage control — ET article reported way back in 2014 of 6,000 SMEs and 240 large corporations in India resorted to ‘Online Reputation Management’ to deal with this menace and protect their businesses.

But in 2021, ORM is a notch above its previous version; it’s not limited to damage control but also to creating and maintaining a reputation or image that favours the business goals of a company. For example, if a brand wants to expand to a new market, it’ll most likely take the ORM route first before starting its ad campaign.

How does the ORM function? Is it really effective? These questions must be revolving in your head if you’re owning a business and looking for a branding solution, or maybe that your brand has been hit badly and you want to revive that fast.

A quick glance at the salient features and reputation management statistics will help you get a clear picture of how consumers behave online and how ORM achieves its goals simply by maneuvering these typical behaviours.

What do you expect from ORM?

Reputation measurement and reputation marketing

Search engine optimization

Online review management

Social listening and social media marketing

Customer experience management

Employer branding

Stats courtesy — Status Labs

40% of customers received responses for their feedback and reviews from the concerned businesses.

59% of customers were personally asked to leave an online review during purchase by the businesses.

A 5% average annual increase in the number of businesses who asked for an online review from the customers(from 46% in 2018 to 51% in 2019).

An average of 9 reviews left per year by each customer from a group that was surveyed in 2019.

34% of those who left reviews in 2019 posted 2–3 reviews for local businesses.

85% of customers want to leave reviews.

60% of the written reviews were about positive experiences, while 25% of the reviews were to mention negative experiences.

66% of customers have written online reviews on local businesses.

80%of the customers who have written online reviews on local business are within the age group of 35 -54 years.

71% of customers surveyed, were willing to purchase again from the businesses that had responded to their reviews.

97% of the readers of online reviews also read businesses’ responses to reviews (an increase of 89% from 2018)

68% of customers cast doubt on the authenticity of reviews

46% of consumers believed that they had read fake reviews in the previous year.

70% of the customers look at multiple sites for reviews when choosing a local business

Reading at least 10 reviews about a business bring confidence in a potential customer before making a purchase from that business.

Only 7% of customers above 55 years chose a business with less than a 3-star rating.

53% of consumers looked up for at least a 4-star review before using a business.

Businesses with less than 5 stars rating run the risk of losing 12% of their customers.

Consumers over 55 years are least likely to consider a business with a low star rating.

61% of consumers between 18–34 years are impacted by reviews within 2 weeks

84% of the consumers wouldn’t consider reviews older than 3 months.

48% of customers would only look at the reviews not more than 2 weeks old.

58% of consumers that choose their local businesses based on reviews opined that recency of reviews was the most important factor

Consumers aged between 18–34 years spend 33% more time than the average person in reading reviews

The average customer spends 13m 45s reading reviews before making a purchase decision

93% of consumers spend more than a minute reading reviews.

32% of customers make a visit to the seller’s website after reading positive reviews.

85% of customers think online reviews as dependable as personal recommendations

Peers are now considered to be as credible as experts.

73% of consumers are impacted by positive news to trust a local business.

64% of people go by online search engine findings when conducting research on a business.

A bad reputation costs a company 10% more per hire

15% of consumers wouldn’t trust businesses without reviews.

77% of customers don’t consider reviews older than 3 months as relevant.

97% of consumers in 2017 read online reviews for local businesses.

12% of the customers searched for online reviews every day for local business.

Reviews are the second most powerful ranking factor for Google’s local pack

Reviews have a 7% influence on the rankings through the Google search result.

A rise in the ratings from a 3-star to 5-star results in 25% more clicks from Google for the businesses.

49% of customers think that a business should have at least a 4-star rating before they would use them.

30% of consumers say they reckon a business good and trustworthy if that responds to online reviews publicly.

5 to 9% increase in revenue for every 1-star increase in a Yelp rating

74% of the online viewers think customer reviews on a business website is a strong factor that influences them to choose that business.

The Edelman Trust Barometer report in 2017 shows that when conducting research on a business, 64% of global respondents trust online search engines the most.

77.98% of desktop search traffic is controlled by Google. Bing trailing far behind at just 7.81%, according to data from Net Market Share.

60% of customers say negative reviews turned them away

Wikipedia appears on the front page of Google search for more than 50% of all keywords

69% of job seekers say they would not be interested in offers from companies with reputation problems.

83% of buyers trust recommendations from online users over advertising. 87% of comparison shops every time.

Blogging yield 13 times more positive ROI for the marketers

50 More ORM Facts that you must know

58% of executives think that online reputation management is very effective, but only 15% actually go for it.

Trust building will be the primary focus of marketing going forward, opined by 84% of marketers

More companies are hiring full-time online reputation managers

80% of people reveal that they value the advice on social media about what product or service to purchase

31% of employed internet users said that they have searched online for information about co-workers, professionals, colleagues or business competitors.

12% of employed individuals say that their job requires them to market themselves online.

78% of consumers trust users’ recommendations on the digital platform.

14% of consumers trust advertising

A World Economic Forum study reveals that on average, more than 25% of a company’s market value is directly attributable to its reputation

76% of companies are complacent about their reputation and are overly optimistic about the influence of their online presence.

87% of executives reckon reputation management as more important than other strategic moves.

41% of businesses reported a loss of revenue and brand value from a negative reputation.

74% of people look to Yelp when searching for a home service provider

86% of people would prefer to pay more for services from a company with higher ratings and reviews

70% of employers didn’t hire an applicant with a negative online reputation

85% of customers use the Internet to research before making a purchase

80% of college recruitment offices search through Facebook to assess the applicants

A one-star rating hike on Yelp can mean a 5% to 9% rise in restaurant revenue

83% of buyers are swayed by online users recommendations than by advertising when making a purchase

85% of the U.S. recruiters and HR professionals surveyed stated that a positive online reputation influenced their hiring decisions to some extent. Nearly half of them stated that the strong online reputations of the candidates influenced their decisions to a great extent.

45% said they found some worrying information about someone or a company in an online search that made them decide not to do business with them.

56% found something positive about someone that buttressed their decision to do business with the person.

88% of the celebrities and other high value people think that it would be very difficult to remove inaccurate information about them online

62% of celebrities used search engine to search their own names or see the information about them online

47% assume that people they meet will search for information about them on the internet, while 50% do not

Only 6% of the celebrities are using some sort of alerm to notify them when their names are mentioned in a news story, blog, or elsewhere online

24% of corporate executives reveal that they are bound by the rules or guidelines of their employers about how they should present themselves online

11% of the respondents of a survey say that they need to promote themselves through social media or other online tools due to their job requirements.

More than 10.3 billion Google searches take place every month and 78% of US internet users research online for their products or services.

50% of the sale prospects are lost because potential customers can’t find the information they are looking for

According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, on average a dissatisfied customer will tell between 9–15 people about their experience, while around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people

In the 25–34-year-old age group, 84% have left a website they previously liked because of bad user experience or advertising they found irrelevant

89% of shoppers have stopped buying from online stores after they have experienced poor customer service

17% of consumers would recommend a brand that provides a slow but effective solution. On the other hand, 33% of consumers would recommend a brand that provides a quick but ineffective response

70% of complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favour

Consumers aged 18 to 29 use a brand’s social media site more for customer service interactions (43%) than for marketing (23%)

74% of consumers depend on social media to guide their purchases

39% of Facebook users like brand pages so they can research different products

30% of mobile shoppers abandon a transaction if the shopping experience is not optimized for mobile

61% of people have a better opinion of brands when they offer a good mobile experience

70% of customers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than advertisements

84% of all marketers agree that building consumer trust will become marketing’s primary objective in the near future

More than 80% of reputation damage come from a mismatch between the buzz and the reality

A difference of one star in the average rating in a typical online business profile can lead to a 5–9% difference in revenues

56% of adults surveyed don’t actively think about the consequences of their online activities

94% of people only look at the first page of Google results, and only 2% of people own their entire first page of Google.

More than one billion names are searched on Google everyday.

Eight of ten Internet users in the US say that the negative information read online made them change their mind about a purchasing decision.

The searches done with the intent to find a company providing a specific product or service is 17%.

Small businesses say online directories are the most used marketing option today.

Whether it’s the development of a new product, digital transformation of the company, or expansion of office capacity, each goal in business is a project that requires proper planning and a systematic approach, which is combinedly called project management.

So, analyzing the project planning process can be an effective way to understand and improve project management.

What is Project Management?

Project management is about knowing the goal(s) of the project, making sound planning to achieve them, organising resources, and executing the plans to achieve the desired result.

But broadly, it’s project planning that holds the key to the success of your project management.

Project planning is defined by the process of identifying the objectives and scopes of the project, both short-term and long-term goals and milestones(deliverables), and assigning tasks and budgeted resources for each phase.

A good plan makes it easy to convey to all the stakeholders and is most beneficial when examined on a regular basis. A strategy becomes effective only after carefully examining the pros and cons of it through discussions with the team members.

If you’re a startup or have a fast-paced work environment, project management may appear to be very slow at first because making a thorough planning and documenting it to the finer details is the first step in a project management process and it takes time.

However, utilising the plan as a roadmap to keep you and your team on track will save you a significant amount of time and money.

The following seven steps will help you to improve your project management process:

#1. The road map should be clear to all stakeholders.

A well-planned project should have a clear roadmap that explains the strategy to reach the milestones on the way to achieve the final goal. These milestones should not be changed abruptly, and all the stakeholders should be well aware of their roles & responsibilities in reaching the milestones.

A project can be successful and finished on time with the required participation/contribution from the stakeholders. This will be possible if the benefits from the outcome of the project are explained to them. The stakeholders might include the project manager, the team members, and the beneficiaries of the project (employees or customers).

Don’t try to assume what each stakeholder’s wants and objectives are. Before you begin recording your project plan, speak with them to ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the project, as well as the abilities and resources of everyone on the team.

#2. Make a list of the milestones.

This list should break down the overall project into smaller tasks for deliverables that can be assigned to particular team members, with anticipated deadlines for each deliverable or task included.

Make sure you understand and document each deliverable’s approval procedure. If you’re working on a project for a client, make sure you understand their internal approval procedure so you’re not surprised by delays or slowed down by competing viewpoints.

#3. Select the team and reach out to each team member

Individuals and/or organisations involved in each deliverable or task should be documented by name, and their roles should be described in depth. Otherwise, misunderstandings might cause delays and the need for team members to redo their work.

Hold a project kickoff meeting with your team to discuss your strategy. Request them for their suggestion in determining the best method for completing the task. This will not only help you to be more efficient, but will also help you get their support because they will feel more attached to the process. Using a project management platform like Wrike to keep everyone on track and save all documents and interactions in one location might be beneficial.

If you decide to use email to communicate about the project, consider using a team inbox email solution instead of continually passing large conversation threads back and forth. This will allow you to delegate emails that require project-related attention to team members as appropriate.

#4. Anticipate the risks and take measures to minimize the impact

Identify the risks that your project entails. Consider what you’ll do if anything takes far longer than expected, or if the prices end up being considerably more than you thought.

You don’t need to have a fall-back plan for every potential negative event, but you should spend some time with your team brainstorming what could go wrong. That is, rather than being caught off guard afterward, you should do everything you can to avoid such risks at the start. Risk considerations can also impact your budgeting.

#5. Prepare a budget for your project

This is a must-do act. Your project planning must include information regarding the expected cost and budget for each deliverable and milestone. Refrain from allocating huge sums of money to large projects without first determining how the money will be used. This will assist your team in comprehending the resources available to them in order to complete the task. These amounts may be ranges rather than absolutes while you’re creating your initial budget.

You may need to seek quotations from a few different vendors to make a cost idea for individual things. If you need to make adjustments to the bigger project due to financial limits or if your vendor doesn’t offer exactly what you expected, it’s a good idea to mention the agreed-upon project scope briefly in your budget paperwork.

#6. Set smaller goals to accomplish the project

Use your list of milestones for setting smaller goals and tasks that must be performed in order to achieve the overall goal. Establish acceptable time frames, taking into account the productivity, availability, and efficiency of project team members. Your goals should be

Clear, concise, and written in an easy language.

Expressed in a specific number or quantity that is to be achieved in a certain timeframe. A number or quantity makes it easier for people to measure the achievement.

Realistic to achieve because setting an impractical and unrealistic target will frustrate and demotivate the stakeholders, delay the project, and overshoot the project cost.

Completed within the concrete timeframe. If you need to adjust the timelines for your milestones, make a note of when and why you did so. Avoid making changes in the dark, such as changing deadlines without informing your team and important stakeholders.

#7. Set progress updating guidelines

A collaborative workspace, either online or offline, should be set up for your project so that all parties can track its development. Make sure you have a communication plan in place—write down how frequently you’ll update stakeholders on progress and how you’ll convey information. This can be done through email on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis.

Use the same format or structure of the report you established when you selected your milestones. If you need to inform progress, try not to waste time reinventing a new report structure. Remember that project management software like Wrike helps keep stakeholders informed without clogging your inbox or losing conversations in protracted Slack sessions.

If you are owning a business and want it to grow fast, if you are dreaming of becoming a leader in your vertical, your most sensible approach would be to have a strong online presence and adopt a suitable branding strategy.

Experts say your branding strategy should include methods for engaging your audience and developing a distinct brand identity. You have two options when it comes to internet or digital marketing, namely organic marketing and paid marketing. While each type has a variety of ways to employ, marketers weigh criteria like budget, timeline, and product/service type to determine the best mix.

But whatever may be your strategy, the success of your branding and marketing primarily depends upon content. Content is the most important matter in digital marketing because, in a virtual world where buyers and sellers are not meeting in person, it’s the content that bridges them. Nothing can make a better bridge than sensible and powerful content.

So then, what is content, and what is the concept of content marketing?

In the realm of digital marketing, content is the communication of information, which comes in a large variety of forms and formats, such as articles, blogs, infographics, videos, and more.

And content marketing is about creating bespoke content and presenting them to the right audience. It’s a part of your overall marketing strategy that uses high-quality, relevant, and authoritative content to create a positive, favourable impression.

But content creation has a cost, and if you still wonder whether it’s worth spending an extra amount, we have put together the benefits of content marketing that can build a brand for your small business.

Builds trust

It’s critical for businesses to work to develop trust with their leads and consumers in today’s dynamic digital marketplace. Building trust can aid in the development of a positive brand image for your company. Great content may aid in the development of trust among your leads and consumers. When customers read your material, they begin to form opinions about your company.

Builds reputation as a Thought Leader

Why should customers select your company over a competitor’s? One reason is because you are an industry expert. This is why businesses have blogs, entrepreneurs guest post for major news outlets, and CEOs seek speaking engagements. All of these factors contribute to the person or firm being perceived as an expert, which leads to trust. Content marketing is an excellent technique to educate people while also demonstrating your expertise and ability to be trusted.

Helps create new leads

Think of your content as a gigantic magnet that attracts new leads. It will begin to attract potential clients if it is written correctly. The relevance of your material is a crucial consideration. You’re wasting your time if your content is attracting the wrong leads.

Helps achieve a high rate of conversion

If conversion becomes your marketing goal, following stats speak of the value of content marketing to increase website conversions:

Conversion rates for content marketing are around 6 times greater than for other digital marketing approaches. (Source: ABG Essentials)

61% of online shoppers in the United States made a purchase after reading blog recommendations. The Content Marketing Institute (CMI)

According to 74% of organisations polled, content marketing has enhanced the quantity of marketing leads. (Curata)

72% of organisations polled opine that video content gives a fantastic ROI and considerably enhances conversions. (CrazyEgg)

Because of their content marketing efforts, inbound marketers have been able to double the typical site conversion rate (from 6 to 12 percent). (HubSpot)

The Internet brought in a new period to rewrite the history of the world with its colossal effects on human lives and all other aspects, so much so that the proliferation of the Internet has become a new yardstick for growth and development.

Although started relatively late, India has become the third largest Internet user base in the world. This is a significant achievement that has opened the floodgate for e-commerce and other forms of digital marketing practices to achieve fast-track prosperity for the country.

Digital marketing, also known as Internet marketing, is the lifeline of modern business and by all indications, will remain so in the future as well. Seeing the immense power of digital marketing channels like search engines, social media, etc. all traditional marketing methods are changing to digital either completely or partially to have a much higher reach, and to become more efficient and economical. Even our cable and satellite TVs are also changing fast to Internet TV aka OTT, making TV advertising a form of digital marketing only.

Currently, India is a stable economy with a confident business class and a growing number of startup unicorns. The country is witnessing great enthusiasm and entrepreneurial drive among the youngsters. New ideas and products are shaping up, breaking many barriers. Without the surge of the Internet and digital marketing, this air of confidence would never be possible. But where did it all begin? How did the evolution of digital marketing take shape?

The phrase “digital marketing” came to our attention in 1990 for the first time following the introduction of the internet and the Web 1.0 platform. The Web 1.0 platform allowed users to search and read information, but it did not allow them to distribute it across the internet. Marketers all around the world were still apprehensive about the digital platform during that time. They weren’t sure if their plans would work because the internet hadn’t been widely adopted yet.

The first clickable banner was launched in 1993, initiating the start of the digital marketing era and ushering in new technologies to enrich the digital marketplace. In 1994, Yahoo was founded.

The Indian Digital Marketing story

The Internet services launched in India on August 15, 1995, by the VSNL. It didn’t take long for the Indian business community to explore the potential of Internet marketing in India. The very next year i.e.1996 saw the launch of IndiaMart B2B marketplace, and with that started the history of digital marketing in India.

In the midst of this dot-com hysteria we saw the birth of Google search engine in 1998, which many experts consider as the prime mover of digital marketing. Yahoo web search and MSN from Microsoft also appeared around the same time. Two years later, the dot-com bubble burst, crashing the stock market and pulling the stock values of most of the dot-com entities to the ground. All the smaller search engines shut shop, leaving behind a vacuum only to be filled by the giant companies.

The dot-com bubble burst created a long term down turn of confidence of the people on the Internet based commerce. Like in other countries, it caused fear and scepticism among common people in India about e-commerce. Although, Amazon.com started its operation in India in 2013 as an online store for books, movies, etc. and Bazee.com (later acquired by ebay.com), Indiatimes.com, Yahoo, Rediff, Sify and a few others had taken cautious steps into online shopping, it wasn’t before 2007 that the whole of India got a taste of e-commerce when Flipcart emerged with a bigbang to surprise India with wide varieties of products at the most competitive prices and rock solid software for hasslefree ordering and safe payment gateways.

As a result, there came a huge surge in the use of smartphones, online purchasing, at-home delivery, and online brand promotions, which experienced a steady growth over many years now. Numerous logistics companies came up to ensure credible supply-chains that saw exponential growth of e-commerce in the country.

Another thing that contributed to the growth of digital marketing significantly is the rapid increase in the digital payment gateways. There are multiple options of digital payment available with the people, which ensure that the majority of payment transactions are now done digitally.

Why Does Your Business Need A Virtual CFO?

Businesses are built by ideas but sustained by good financial management. Because every step in business has a financial implication, business intelligence in today’s world has got a lot to do with financial insights and skills.

Over the last 1-2 decades, aided by new technologies and widespread penetration of the Internet and social media, the business has gone through a lot of changes in its perspective and techniques. Old concepts and mindsets can hardly match today’s highly informed and competitive world of business.

Many bottlenecks of the past are giving way to opportunities. The two principal requirements for starting a business–the source of capital and market for the finished product are within the reach of a business aspirant. The ecosystem is ready with the raw materials and logistics. But the stark reality behind this widespread optimism presents a picture of intense competition with an increasing number of failures.

Look at the following heart-wrenching statistics on startups:

9 out of 10 startups fail,

7.5 out of 10 venture-backed startups fail,

2 out of 10 new businesses fail in the 1st year of operation.

There can be a variety of reasons why early-stage businesses might fail, but the most common ones as identified by the top business leaders are:

Failure to develop a profitable business model,

Lack of adequate financial planning,

Lack of compliance and company administration

Poor cash flow.

Therefore, addressing the compliance issues and getting the financial side of things right from the start is critical. Hiring a virtual CFO service can be your best bet to ensure the same and good cash flow management in the most cost-effective manner. Cash flow is an organization’s lifeblood, and it’s vital to have a steady supply of capital flowing through the business.

What can you expect from a virtual CFO service?

The term virtual CFO or “virtual chief financial officer” refers to an outsourced service provider who provides a complete range of financial services to a business, similar to what a chief financial officer (CFO) does for major corporations.

The difference between a CFO and a virtual CFO lies in the fact that while the former is a senior position in the management that attracts a high pay package and other benefits, the latter is an outsourced person or agency that offers high-quality services and consultancy at much lower charges.

Understanding the role of a CFO will help us realize why virtual CFO service is so important to a company before it can hire a full-time CFO.

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is the person who controls A-Z of your company’s finance and related matters that range from bookkeeping to compliance, and from financial planning and corporate investments to corporate governance and strategic requirements.

When you think about virtual CFO, you should expect all the above services performed with equally high expertise. It’s like outsourcing the head of your finance department. Virtual CFOs are especially advantageous for small organizations that may not have the financial resources to engage a full-time CFO but would benefit from having an experienced financial professional in charge of their finance department.

As an owner of a small business or a startup, you have got many challenges, such as managing finances, financial planning, financial reports, compliances, corporate governance, addressing strategic requirements, so on and so forth. Some contribute directly or indirectly to the company’s earnings, some protect the organization from compliance issues, fines, etc., and the rest are for creating new opportunities.

But if you can’t manage them on your own and hiring an experienced CFO is also not a viable option for you, a virtual CFO may be the right solution for you. Virtual CFO agencies offer customized packages that include the services required by you. This makes the offer flexible and cost-effective. Unlike recruiting a CFO, which is a fixed cost to the company, a virtual CFO package may be a one-time or a variable cost.

Besides helping the smaller companies gain from professional financial management, that’s usually reserved for major corporations, virtual CFOs particularly benefits the startups and small businesses in the following areas:

Financial Forecasting:

An organization’s future performance can be forecasted using financial forecasting, which entails processing, estimating, or predicting a business’s future performance.

Predicting a company’s revenue is a common example of financial forecasting. An organization’s performance is determined by its sales figures. So forecasting is considered critical to the success of an organization’s goals. In addition, financial forecasting involves estimating future revenue as well as future fixed and variable costs, and also capital requirements. Another crucial role financial forecasts can play is in terms of winning investment to your company and taking the next step up the funding ladder.

To have a control over spending:

When your firm is just getting started, expenses can quickly spiral out of control. With increased visibility and understanding of your incoming funds and outgoing costs, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions. Don’t forget that if you’re spending too much money on unnecessary items, your budget will be slashed, and you may not have enough money to make actual, business-critical expenditures in the near future. If you hire a virtual CFO, he or she will make sure that these systems are in place, allowing your staff to make essential purchases for your organization.

To scale up the process of money control:

As you grow in size, your finances will become more complex. There will be many avenues through which money will flow in and out of your company. Without an expert to scale your processes, you may not be able to keep up with the demands.. A bookkeeper or accountant won’t suffice for this type of duty; you’ll need a virtual CFO.

Virtual CFOs are driving the organization’s success and using financial data to influence operational decision-making. It has become a grand success in the USA (the land of most startup ventures). Most of today’s giant tech firms in the USA started as startups and were powered by virtual CFOs.

Post-COVID, as virtuals are becoming mainstream and businesses are racing to shift their activities to online, ORM or the online reputation management practices are gaining a lot of steam as an essential part of the branding process. More so because the public relations (PR) activities are also turning online and getting merged with the ORM.

Unlike the earlier days, when most consumers would weigh the reputation of a brand based on the inputs through words of mouth from friends and family, today their opinions are mainly influenced by the information they get from the social media channels or the search engine results.

Therefore, a strong, pleasant online presence is a virtue for a firm in today’s competitive business environment. The trends show that an overwhelming number of buyers conduct online research before purchasing a product. That makes a positive online reputation the #1 necessity for companies of any size.

However, it is easier said than done, given the possibility of instant spreading of negative news through the online media that might create a landslide in the company’s business before the measures are taken to jack up the reputation. Here are some potential risk factors that can create a significant negative impact on the online reputation of a business.

Not responding to Online Reviews on time-

Customer reviews are a significant criterion for judging the quality of a brand’s services or products. According to surveys, more than 75% of shoppers prefer to buy from a local business with excellent online evaluations. While a company can’t really control what its consumers say online, it should make an attempt to acknowledge both positive and negative feedback.

This demonstrates that your company values customer’s gratitude and takes their comments seriously enough to improve your products and services. Leaving online reviews unaddressed might make clients feel as if their opinions are unimportant to you. This could stimulate their unhappiness and result in a loss of business.

Minimal Social Media Presence-

Ignoring social networks in today’s socially proactive digital world might drastically impair your chances of having a positive online reputation. Despite the fact that social media is one of the most promising channels for businesses to communicate with clients, 24% of small businesses still do not use social media at all!

A company’s reputation management strategy can’t produce results if it does not have an active social media presence. When potential customers search for a brand on the internet, they expect to learn more about it from its Facebook page or Twitter engagements. A lackluster social media presence reveals a brand’s indifference to interact with or engage its customers.

Dull website-

A website acts as a company’s online storefront. For that matter, a website, like a storefront, should be appealing, meaningful, and capable of attracting customers. Your website’s content and graphic design are responsible for that. Poorly written copies make a buyer suspicious of a company’s capabilities and sincerity.

If your potential customers don’t find your website interesting and informative, they’ll switch to your competitors. This will lead to a loss of sales opportunities in addition to lowering your site rankings (indirectly).

Negative Public Relations Coverage on the Internet-

Negative PR, like a bad review, has a direct impact on a company’s reputation. If a potential customer reads an article that paints your company in a negative light, they will immediately reconsider doing business with you.Therefore, you must pay close attention to what people are saying about your company online. We can do this through tools like Google Alerts that’ll keep you informed about new reviews, blogs, and publications with mentions of your name.

A negative review by a big media creates a long-term detrimental effect on your brand’s online reputation, and you can’t afford to ignore it. Even big names such as Samsung had been the target of a harsh web press soon after its launch of Curved TV, which caused it a lot of harm in sales.

Employee Profiles That Aren’t Quite Right-

Your employees might be responsible for the bad reputation of your company. They act as digital ambassadors for your company. Whatever they do and say online is interpreted as the brand’s word. Your potential consumers may come across your staff’s online profiles, behaviors, or publications and identify them with the ideology of your company.

Customers will lose faith in a brand if they notice a disconnect between what it offers and how its people behave. Even if your employees aren’t providing contradictory information, their lack of brand devotion may create a red flag in the minds of your viewers.

Besides, paying attention not to commit the aforesaid mistakes, your online reputation management efforts should focus on maximizing positive experiences and minimizing the negative experiences of your customers. Furthermore, a positive customer experience encourages them to write a positive review about your brand and service that offsets the negative and fake reviews and helps in reputation repair.