Posts

Small Business Guide: Funding Your Marketing Strategy

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Funding your marketing strategy| Small Business Guide: Funding Your Marketing StrategySmall businesses are in something of a bind at the start, they need to get noticed through advertising, but it’s hard to achieve when you look at the numbers. Luckily, there are a few systems in place to help with this exact problem. One of the best is a merchant cash advance.

Create a Marketing Budget

One of the best ways to create a buzz around your product is by advertising it through digital channels. Done correctly, a digital advertising campaign puts your products in front of the right people at the right times and gets people talking about what you sell both online and offline.

Organizing an effective digital marketing campaign is one thing; paying for it is something else. Unless you have a sustainable and controlled way to pay for your marketing campaign, it can get out of control fast and leave you with a black hole in your finances. Create a tight ad budget.

Merchant Cash Advance

If you’re a startup, you have a problem; how do you compete with the big guns? In this case, the big guns are the competition in your niche that has grown and developed into leading brands with substantial marketing budgets. The answer might be simple – use Merchant Cash Advance.

A merchant cash advance is designed to support startup businesses and close the marketing gap between them and the more established players in the niche. A merchant cash advance is issued by a cash advance company as a loan and receives a percentage of the future profits.


Paid Online Advertising

When you are trying to get your startup noticed by your target customers, you need to advertise. These days, the standard way to make your brand visible and attract more prospects to your website is through paid online ads. These can be on search engines or social media channels.

Paid online advertising is highly effective; it allows you to target your ideal audience and gets your brand and website noticed. Of course, there is more to do to sell your products, but without making your business visible online, you are relying on the quality of SEO and organic traffic.

Social Media Management

Social media channels are extremely important for your marketing campaign nowadays. In some ways, these channels are just as important as your search engine traffic – perhaps more so. The reason is that social media interactions are genuine, frequent, and highly valuable.

That said, social media channels are also numerous, and they have to be managed by a dedicated team member. The social media channels – perhaps three of them – need to be updated regularly with content; analytics must also be acquired to ensure optimal performance.

Website Optimization

There’s no reason why you can’t optimize your website yourself to ensure your organic reach is at its best and you have the best conversion strategy for your business. However, not everyone is a wiz when it comes to website optimization, so seriously consider investing in a professional website optimization service to ensure that your website performs to the highest standards.

Why Warehouse Operations Often Struggle

/in /by

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Warehouse Operations|Why Warehouse Operations Often StruggleYou will find that many organizations struggle when it comes to warehouse management. The warehouse is an area of the business that has a massive impact on the success of the company and customer satisfaction levels, but it can also be challenging to thrive because it can be a complex operation with a lot of constant movement. This means that there are often inefficiencies here, but this also means that there are often improvements that can be made. This article will outline a few of the main reasons why warehouses struggle and will provide a few ideas for improvements that should help.

Unmotivated Workforce

One of the primary reasons why warehouses struggle is that the workforce is not motivated. You could have an efficient system in place, but if your team does not work to a high standard each day, then it will be impossible to succeed. Therefore, you need to keep your team motivated with decent pay, a relaxed yet productive work environment, goals and incentives, and career development opportunities.

Inefficient Layout

Many warehouses have the same layout that they did when they first started, which can cause inefficiencies and make work harder than it needs to be. You should not shy away from trying a new layout, as you might find that you can speed up operations and get more done each day.


Lack of Speed

These days, many warehouses struggle when it comes to speed and find that they are unable to meet consumer expectations. Consumer expectations have risen with next-day delivery becoming the norm. It is challenging to increase speed, while still maintaining accuracy and safety, but you will find that it is possible and often this is through automation. A warehouse management system, that integrates with your shipping systems, conveyors, and ERP can help you to speed operations up and keep your customers happy.

Out of Date Equipment

Another common reason that warehouses struggle is the equipment that they use. Forklifts are one of the best examples of this as this is equipment that is used constantly throughout the day, so you need to have the very best forklifts to succeed. Forklift hire is smart because you are not tied down and you can upgrade to the latest and best forklifts when they become available, and this should make a big difference to the daily performance of the warehouse.

Lack of Data

These days, all business operations should be utilizing data, but it is sometimes lacking in warehouse operations. Data can provide a deep insight into the daily performance of your staff members, teams, and the entire warehouse operation, which will allow you to identify the best ways to improve and become more efficient.

These are the main reasons that warehouses struggle. It is a difficult area of the business to manage with a lot of moving parts, but it is also an area of the business that has a massive impact on your success and customer satisfaction levels, so it is important to address these areas.

Small Business Guide: Is Cash Flow Different From Profit?

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Cash flow|Small Business Guide: Is Cash Flow Different From Profit?Both cash flow and profit are essential to all businesses, regardless of size. Even though most people use them synonymously, they are entirely different entities. Business owners need to understand the difference between both metrics to optimize their business’s financial health and performance.

Before investors invest money into a startup, they study the company’s cash flow and profit to determine if it is a sound long-term investment or a place they can make passive income in the short term. These metrics also guide business owners when they make critical business decisions.

What Is Cash Flow?

Cash flow is the movement of cash in and out of a business at any time. For a business to operate optimally, it needs to spend money. These expenses usually include running costs, taxes, inventory purchases, employee wages, rent, office lease payments, loan repayments, and so on. Businesses are built to make money, so cash is expected to come in if the company runs as expected.

When a business receives more money than it spends, that is positive cash flow. If it spends more than it receives, that is negative cash flow. Cash flow management is needed for small businesses to survive. If not, they will spend their way into bankruptcy. There are three types of cash flow;

1. Operating Cash Flow

This is the net cash inflow from everyday business activities. This metric should stay positive to keep a small business growing.

2. Investing Cash Flow

This is the net cash flow generated from a business’s investment activities. This usually includes property investments, vehicle purchases, asset sales, and stock market investments. Cash outflow should be positive for a small business that actively invests revenue back into the business.

3. Financing Cash Flow

This is the cash flow between a business, its creditors, investors, and owners. It is used to offset debts, pay royalties, and dividends.


What Is Profit?

Profit is the cash that remains after a business has deducted its expenses from its total revenue. The profits of a small business are usually given to the business owner and shareholders or put back into the company. A business’s tax is calculated based on its profits, not revenue.

Similar to cash flow, profits can either be positive or negative. If negative, the company is losing money by spending more overall than they make. If positive, then it is making more than it spends. There are three types of profits:

1. Gross Profit

This is the profit a business realizes after deducting the cost of producing the goods sold to generate its revenue.

2. Operating Profit

This is the profit a business gets from its regular operations. Money spent on tax, loan repayments, rent, and income from areas outside the core business is not accounted for here.

3. Net Profit

This is all the profit realized after all the expenses have been subtracted from all the income.

Endnote

Cash flow is different from profit because cash flow does not give a clear picture of the overall financial health of a business. However, it is necessary to provide cash that would be spent on day-to-day operations, wages, and so on. On the other hand, profit is the primary goal of a business. It is not always represented by cash.

An increase in asset and property value also counts as profit. It is hard to say which of the two is more important because every business has different circumstances. Regardless, small businesses must maintain healthy cash flow to keep them running and ensure they make a profit to stay operational long-term.

How to Pick Stocks For Beginner Investors

/in /by

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |How to pick stocks|How to Pick Stocks For Beginner InvestorsYou have been saving for a long period of time and you decided to try out stock investing but you just know some basics about stock trading. The first step before picking a stock to invest in is research.

Researching a company to understand its business operations is a good start. This is critical because if you do not know how a company generates money, it is difficult to track the performance of your investment.

There are a number of questions to answer before you put faith in a company and here are three of them:

Do the company’s profits generally grow over time?

If the answer is yes, then this is a good sign that the company is doing something right. Companies that show positive earnings growth tend to have financial and operational stability. You should regularly check the company’s financials to examine whether the growth in revenue and earnings are positive or negative.

It’s a challenge to look for very specific data, interpret it, and then come to a conclusion. Imagine yourself trying to deal with financial reports, digging out for more information, trying to find trustworthy and accurate sources, and deciding if the data is valid or not.


What is the company’s relative strength in its peer group?

When investing, the industry a company operates in can be a crucial screener. The initial point to start would be to look at how an industry is represented in the market and what growth potential is likely in that space.

What is its share in the market? Is there a competitive advantage that allows to company to stand out?

To make a fair comparison, list up the players (competitors) of the same size (market capitalization) and compare their profitability and stock performances over a period to figure out how they stack up next to each other.

Price-Earnings (P/E) Ratio

P/E is the ratio of valuing a company that measures its current market capitalization relative to its trailing earnings. In short, this valuation metric shows how well a price of a stock reflects the earnings of the company.

When conducting fundamental analysis and value investment strategies, the P/ E ratio is one of the metrics that show whether a stock is overvalued or undervalued by the market. The rate is a key indicator to compare companies in the same industry. A company with a lower P/E ratio is not valued as highly as one with a higher P/E ratio in the market. As a conscious investor, it is your task to determine whether the stock deserves a lower valuation or whether the market is undervaluing it- which could make it a good stock pick.

Conclusion

Whether you are a beginner or a senior in stock investment and company research, EquityRT Financial Market Analysis and Research platform addresses the need for information and analysis that investors seek for.

How Does a Smart TV Get Ads to the Right People

/in /by

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Smart TV ads|How Does a Smart TV Get Ads to the Right PeopleNew technology, including devices such as smart TVs, has opened a world of possibilities. Do you want to embrace new opportunities for the betterment of your business? Then you’ll have to keep up with the latest ways to advertise—including automatic content recognition, or ACR for short. So, what does automatic content recognition mean? And how can it be an advantage for your business advertising? Read on to learn more.

Why Use Smart TVs?

Most homeowners these days have upgraded their TVs, especially in the age of content streaming. In the year from 2018 to 2019 alone, ownership of smart TVs went up about 10 percent. With more and more smart TVs in homes, this makes automatic content recognition great for reaching many consumers.

What Is Automatic Content Recognition?

If you’ve never heard the term automatic content recognition before, you’re not alone. While it’s been around for some time, widespread awareness is just beginning.

Automatic content recognition is built into many smart TVs. While it’s not in all of them, more and more ACR-enabled smart TVs are being put out on the market. Most smart TVs, including from popular brands such as Samsung and Vizio, are likely to be ACR enabled.

Two types of automatic content recognition are used to track and provide the data advertisers want. They are broken into audio-based and visual-based ACR. These two categories are also known as acoustic and video fingerprinting.

Audio-based ACR and visual-based ACR essentially provide a way to see and hear what an individual is playing on their smart TV.

The audio signal can come from a tune, song, or frequency, while a video signal can be short clips or stills.

How Does ACR Work?

The process starts when an audio and/or visual signal is captured by the smart TV. This signal is just a snippet instead of a whole program. Once the signal is captured, it’s time to find its match. This is achieved through a wide reference library, which includes existing content snippets from all sorts of television programs, movies, and ads. Once a match is made, the content is identified and recognized.

This isn’t limited to live TV viewing either. ACR also works with on-demand viewing, video games, and devices plugged into an ACR-enabled smart TV, such as a Blu-ray player.

What Data Is Gathered Through ACR?

ACR shows a lot of helpful information to advertisers.

To start, it can determine on what platform an ad was played, such as live TV, video on demand, or a connected device.

Another type of information gained through ACR is the demographic of the viewer, including their IP addresses, email addresses, and/or street addresses.

This data can show the viewing habits of the smart TV’s owner, such as the times they watch their devices, how much or how little they channel surf, the type of content they watch, if they view ads and/or content in their entirety or skip or don’t finish viewing, or how long they typically watch a smart TV for.

As you can see, ACR data gives a good picture of individual smart TV viewers. So how can you use that to your business’s advantage?


How Can Businesses Use ACR Data to Find the Right People?

Automatic content recognition is another evolution of the targeted-based approach to advertising that has become very popular in recent years. The data gathered is very helpful for targeting specific groups.

The improved targeting of ACR takes into consideration things like viewing timeframes and the media watched. This is one of the ways it helps you target very specific groups.

ACR allows for frequency optimization, which ensures ads are shown at the best times and rates. Your business’s ads will reach as many viewers as possible.

Another way ACR allows your business’s ads to be viewed by more specific—and ideally targeted—groups is through reach control. Do you want to reach different people this time? The control allows you to skip households you’ve already targeted. Or are you interested in getting your ads across to loyal customers? Reach control helps with that too.

ACR data also helps measure viewership and ad performance. This includes measuring the overlap between who saw the ad while watching live TV versus streaming. It can also target ads to viewers when they’re on other devices, such as a laptop or smartphone, instead of their smart TV.

ACR data can even make sure an individual only sees the ads a certain number of times a week. That way, they’re aware of your business but not so oversaturated with ads that they refuse to consider you because they’re annoyed.
You can also work the data you’ve received from ACR into your actual ad campaigns—yet another targeting method.

Put simply, by taking advantage of this technology, ads for your business will be seen by the type of people who would buy what you’re selling.

Why Should a Business Owner Trust ACR’s Effectiveness?

The proof of ACR’s success in advertising doesn’t lie. Businesses have found that, in addition to driving up online traffic, ACR also brings new customers in-store or on location.

Technology is ever-evolving at a faster and faster rate. Sometimes, advertisers can tell when certain developments are no more than a passing trend. However, many advertising and marketing agencies have reshaped their approaches based on the success of ACR.
By using the helpful data received by ACR, marketers for your business can make better, more informed decisions about TV advertisements. It’s proved to be precise and accurate. So why not try it and see how well your business’ ads can reach the right people? Turn to us at Digital Marketing Group. We’ll devise the perfect strategy so you can start reaping the benefits of ACR.

We make it our mission to keep up with the latest developments in technology and digital media. This includes automatic content recognition, the metaverse, and so much more. When you work with us to market your business, you can trust you’re getting a head start. We’ll help you reach an audience you may not have known was possible. Find more information about Digital Marketing Group on our website.