How customer voice
drives business

Small businesses will go far if they have amazing customer communication. If you want to keep fostering strong customer connections you need an online presence, starting with a reliable phone and messaging system. One great phone solution for small business owners is voice over internet protocol (VoIP), which is essentially a virtual phone system. VoIP phone systems can often be cheaper than traditional phone landlines and offer important business communication features.  You can improve call quality, use mobile app versions, and take advantage of team collaboration features. A VoIP service provider could satisfy your business needs in unimaginable ways. What is a VoIP? VoIPs are software that essentially allows you to talk, message, and video call over the internet. They can provide you with more convenience if you’re a remote or hybrid team that doesn’t want to be tied down to a landline. For startups and small teams, VoIP phone services expenses can often be lower than your traditional phone plan.  For more information, you can see our definition article that explains how a VoIP works and its general benefits here.  VoIP Systems For Small Businesses The most common VoIP business phone services include unlimited calling, unlimited video conferencing, and […]

If you’re a small business looking to grow at scale, expand your market share, or even stay afloat, marketing intelligence is becoming increasingly essential. This is especially true in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on small businesses. Most people associate marketing intelligence initiatives with large enterprises.  Smaller businesses that use available data sources and market insights will gain an extra edge over competitors.  What is Marketing Intelligence? Marketing intelligence is crucial to discover where your business stands against competitors. This involves gathering information on competitor activities and consumers. You’ll need to collect data on different products, including how they’re priced and how well-liked they are. Having this information enables you to identify market trends and how you can fit into them.  A better understanding of the market allows companies to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This greater self-awareness can also help you identify market opportunities and potential pitfalls. Competitor analysis can give you a good idea of how you match up against rival companies within your niche market.    Other terms encompassed by (but often confused with) marketing intelligence include: Market research: used to collect data on a target audience Business intelligence:  gathering information on the […]

Marketing automation allows for a marketing team or individual to amplify their work to thousands of people. With the right people, these tools can give well-crafted campaigns a scale otherwise impossible. With such huge ROI and use-case potential, staying up-to-date is vital. First, we cover the hottest marketing statistics in the following categories: Market Scope Marketing Automation Success Why Use Marketing Automation? Barriers to Marketing Automation Adoption What do Marketers think about Marketing Automation? How is Marketing Automation being used? And then we discuss some of the most important trends in marketing automation: Marketing Automation is Becoming Personal Marketing Automation is Getting Crowded Data-Driven Marketing Automation Top 24 Statistics for Marketing Automation Market Scope The global marketing automation market is projected to reach $14.18 billion in 2030. (Research and Markets 2021) 56% of companies are currently using marketing automation. (mailmonday 2022) 40% of B2B companies plan to adopt marketing automation tools. (mailmonday 2022) Of all those who weren’t using marketing automation, 26% said they were looking to in the next year. Marketing Automation Success 80% of marketing automation users saw an increase in the number of leads using marketing automation software. (Invesp 2021) 77% of marketing automation users saw an […]

Marketing to and connecting with consumers on social media networks is an almost mandatory practice for eCommerce platforms. Shoppers need to know you exist and social media posts are one of the cheapest ways to do so. Another equally important motivation is that customers want businesses to respond when they message them or tag them, or form a hashtag around them.  You will miss a lot about your own company if you’re not careful. Implementing a social media marketing strategy will be significantly easier if you can access free social media management platforms and free content creation tools.  We discuss some very innovative applications to streamline your workflow and personalize your brand’s communications. What is Social Media Marketing? Social Media Marketing (SMM) is where small businesses, enterprise marketing teams, or marketing agencies post branded content and ads on social networks. It requires extensive research, creativity, engaging graphics, and maintaining an active presence on social media platforms.  SMM can generate organic traffic so you don’t always have to run ads on social media platforms. Ads aren’t the only expense that can be saved, content creation, social media management of campaigns, and everyday communications can be very expensive when using agencies of […]

The ace in the hole for many small business owners could be social media marketing. You can increase your brand awareness and website traffic all while connecting with consumers. Social channels are some of the most important spaces to be because that’s where consumers spend most of their free time. How do you get started and where do you even begin? We’re going to explore some of the most asked questions about social media marketing and its costs. What is Social Media Marketing? Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a multi-step practice of communicating with consumers, posting branded content, and advertising on social networks. It requires plenty of research, creativity, content creation, and maintaining an active presence on social media platforms.  It can be an incredibly expensive endure depending on what your team plans to do. One way to save money is to create your own accounts, graphics, and run them yourself.  For a professional appearance while saving time you can use ad agencies or freelancers. Agencies or freelancers can handle managing, creating, and promoting your brand for you. Many also provide valuable social media consulting services. If you’re worried about SMM costs, we’re going to break down the different factors […]

Having a website today means managing programs, data, and databases: you can’t even think of them all at once.  You need to manage the site itself to ensure customers make it to the checkout screen, but you also need to drive traffic with marketing and then follow up to keep customers coming back. This web of tasks and research can overwhelm small businesses and startups. If you want to transform your platform and workflow all at once, you might consider digital experience software. What Is Digital Experience Software? A digital experience (DX) itself is the virtual interaction between a user and the organization behind the website. The organization controls the website and therefore controls most aspects of the experience. A DX software’s goal is to manipulate and change the experience provided to the consumer.  Digital experience software-as-a-service (SaaS) is the fusion of content management systems (CMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) software into one tool or platform. DX software can be used to grow your customers by gaining insight into their experience with metrics like their real-time sessions on your site. With that information, you can improve the overall usability of your eCommerce site and improve conversions.  This kind of […]

Web Accessibility has become an important agent for equality on the internet. How else would you expect those with visual impairments to be able to buy your product without alt text? How someone who is deaf understands your demo video without closed captions? Website accessibility is simply part of doing good business by your consumers. If you’re completely new to this and have a small budget and a small team making your web platform accessible will look daunting. The silver lining is there is an abundance of software that can streamline the process of making your website accessible. What is Web Accessibility? Web accessibility is the concept that everyone should have access to public products and information. Those with disabilities will need modifications made to web platforms to remove barriers for them. You need alternative formats for your information so others can perceive it in different ways. A web page should be compatible with assistive technology like screen readers so someone with visual impairments can understand the content. Your video content should have closed captions so that someone with hearing impairments can understand what you’re saying. It may not be your intention, but not providing these alterations to your site […]

You need to market where the people are, so…where are they? Today everyone is on social media to communicate, collaborate, entertain themselves, and shop brands. You can cancel the newspaper ad and radio commercials, because just having an active Facebook business page will take you to the moon. Social media marketing (SMM) is one fast and simple way to make human connections with consumers whether by responding to tweets or by implementing a targeted ad campaign. A glass screen is all that separates your ideas, services, and thought leadership from potential customers. What is Social Media Marketing? SMM is a form of B2C marketing through social media networks. Advertising teams research which social media channels their ideal demographics regularly use. With that valuable information, they increase their social media presence with posts, video content, polls, surveys, and ads placed on the social media site itself. Some marketers also utilize influencer marketing, where content creators are sponsored by a company so they can then inform their followers on their social media channels. It’s particularly effective if business owners choose influencers applicable to either their product or target audience. This type of social media marketing strategy is especially popular on video content […]

Pricing is a key consideration for most software buyers. If you’re looking to improve business decisions with marketing intelligence, pricing plans can have an important impact on costs and on your ability to build successful marketing strategies, increase market share, and grow at scale. Marketing campaigns that track costs improperly can endanger your whole business.        What TrustRadius Research Says Pricing for Marketing Intelligence Software will vary depending on data sources, feature set, number of users, and payment structure. Software offering cloud-based lead generation or in-depth industry information will typically have a higher price range than tools focused on digital marketing, market research, or web analytics. Access to sophisticated competitive intelligence tools will also increase costs. While many vendors will provide detailed pricing plan information, others require buyers to contact them for customized pricing.  Free trials and free versions are available, but you are unlikely to get most of the features you’re looking for. Paid versions typically range from around $75 to $500 per month, though customized enterprise plans will be more expensive.  To give buyers a more complete picture of what to expect, we’ve put together a complete pricing breakdown for four top-rated Marketing Intelligence Software in 2022.      Product Price […]

The progress of the modern world increases the power and necessity of the internet with each passing day. Businesses use the internet for commerce, connection to consumers, and spreading information. Web accessibility evens the playing field for those that would otherwise struggle to use search engines, open social media apps, and buy goods over the internet. Everyone deserves equal access to the same opportunities, and that includes websites on the internet. What is Web Accessibility? Website accessibility means that web platforms need to provide alternative solutions so that those with disabilities can use their services. This can be basic things like navigating a website so that they can buy shoes, groceries, or new phones. One way to do this is by adding alt text to all your images. Those with visual impairments like low vision and color blindness use alt text to interpret what a product is. You can also make your site compatible with keyboards for those with low mobility to use the tab key to navigate pages. Most importantly, your site should have the functionality to be used with assistive technology. Assistive technology is any tool a disabled person would use to make the web more perceptible and […]

Pricing is a key consideration for most software buyers. If you’re looking to improve business decisions with marketing intelligence, pricing plans can have an important impact on costs and on your ability to build successful marketing strategies, increase market share, and grow at scale. Marketing campaigns that track costs improperly can endanger your whole business.        What TrustRadius Research Says Pricing for Marketing Intelligence Software will vary depending on data sources, feature set, number of users, and payment structure. Software offering cloud-based lead generation or in-depth industry information will typically have a higher price range than tools focused on digital marketing, market research, or web analytics. Access to sophisticated competitive intelligence tools will also increase costs. While many vendors will provide detailed pricing plan information, others require buyers to contact them for customized pricing.  Free trials and free versions are available, but you are unlikely to get most of the features you’re looking for. Paid versions typically range from around $75 to $500 per month, though customized enterprise plans will be more expensive.  To give buyers a more complete picture of what to expect, we’ve put together a complete pricing breakdown for four top-rated Marketing Intelligence Software in 2022.      Product Price […]

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When you create a website as an individual, startup, or small business web accessibility isn’t always at the top of your to-do list. Major corporations hire experienced developer teams and have their own legal teams and policies set in place. Small teams not so much, which leaves you exposed to lawsuits if you don’t have an accessible website to people with disabilities. We’re going to explain the laws around web accessibility and tips and tricks to answer the question, is my website accessible? What is Web Accessibility? Web Accessibility is the practice of making digital content accessible for people with disabilities just as it’s accessible to everyone else. The World Wide Web Consortium, better known as the W3C offers an amazing introduction to web accessibility, as well as resources to meet accessibility requirements. For an in-depth exploration of web accessibility see our enlightening article here. The Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The ADA is a law that has been around for 32 years, since July of 1990. It’s based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and is enforced by multiple different federal agencies. There were amendments (ADAAA) made to the law in 2008 (in effect […]

Web accessibility is a concept that can revolutionize your company’s connection with consumers in unfathomable ways. Web accessibility standards can have a reputation as something you’re forced to abide by because of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Instead, you should see it as a powerful solution to optimize user experience, brand reputation, and visibility Web accessibility is built on the concept of equal access for everyone. The more effort put into creating accessible content, the more demographics you can reach. Web Accessibility Explained Web accessibility means ensuring that everyone whether they’re blind, deaf, or neurodivergent, can use your website/web platform. This includes necessary accommodations for those with disabilities that would otherwise lose out or misunderstand the content on your site. There can be nothing hindering potential consumers and their connection to your product/information.  There are 4 principles of web accessibility, which are sometimes referred to with the acronym POUR. The principles are as follow. 1. Perceivable  The way people see the world changes for each individual. This means making your website “seen” through all possible senses relating to the virtual world. They should be able to see it, hear it, and touch it (i.e. mobile phones and tablets). Perceivable […]

Digital viruses are extraordinarily expensive. The most costly virus in history cost an inflation-adjusted $52 billion. Every year, businesses spend around $55 billion dealing with viruses. It’s no surprise antivirus software has emerged as a massive industry over the past decades.  Just like real diseases, including the one that I’m sure you’ve heard about over the last two years, digital viruses change. Antivirus software must evolve, or become irrelevant. Here are the most important statistics in the antivirus industry, some market news, and breaking trends for 2022. Top 21 most interesting Antivirus Statistics Trends in the Antivirus World for 2022 The ever-changing nature of the antivirus market can make it hard to keep up. As the industry responds to changes in threats and new technology, it is essential to stay ahead. Luckily, we have you covered with these trends to keep an eye on in 2022 and beyond. Antivirus tools are really good at their jobs We will start out with some good news: the antivirus market is largely good at what it does. When protocols are applied well and the proper tools used, popular antivirus software can be up to 100% effective at virus protection.  Moreover, protection is being […]

Backing up data as a part of your organization’s insurance policy or industry regulations entails more than just making a copy of everything. When designing an effective data center backup strategy, you should take yourself through a journey with the Five Ws and H: Who? – Managing data backup in-house or working with a vendor? What? – Backing up all of your organization’s data, or only the most vital? What about endpoint data? Where? – Storing backups on-premise or off-site? When? – How often are you backing up your data? Why? – In-house security policies or legal obligations or both? How? – Traditional backup or via the cloud? While much attention is given to the who, what, where, why, and how of data backup, not as much attention is given to the “when”, or when you should perform backups, and how often they should be done. It’s easy to take the importance of this question for granted, especially when you’re working with a data center backup vendor who offers management of the service.  However, it is becoming common for vendors in this space to provide users with the choice of how often their data is backed up. Data loss can […]

The home landline may be on its way out, but analog telephones are still alive and well in the business world. That’s changing too, though: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones are a popular replacement for voice calls on both traditional phones and cell phones.  What is VoIP? VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It’s a broad term for technology that sends your phone call through an internet connection instead of a phone line. VoIP phones and apps let you make phone calls from anywhere with an internet connection. You can call any phone number from a VoIP phone. It doesn’t matter if the recipient uses a traditional phone system, a smartphone, or another VoIP phone. There are multiple ways to use VoIP. Some services offer dedicated VoIP phones that look similar to traditional telephones. Apps that let a mobile device call through a VoIP service, also known as “softphone” apps, are common as well. Many providers also have PC software that lets you use an existing headset to make calls. How Does VoIP Work? All VoIP systems use the Internet Protocol (IP) to send voice data. IP is the set of rules that defines how to split, track, […]

Companies of all sizes use marketing intelligence to help them make the best business and investment decisions. Marketing Intelligence Tools combine market research and competitive analysis to help businesses target customers and position themselves competitively. They can also help build awareness of user sentiment regarding competing products. In short, these tools are designed to give organizations the information they need to match customer expectations ahead of the competition.   For small businesses and freelancers who may be on a tighter budget, having access to quality free marketing intelligence tools can be a game-changer, as automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning capabilities become increasingly widespread. Larger companies can also use freemium versions to test the software solution, acquiring premium packages if the product integrates well with company workflows. Here are some of the best free tools for marketing intelligence in 2022.     Best Free Tools for Competitor Analysis in 2022 By tracking competitor activities, businesses can gain a broad understanding of what they’re up against. Competitor analysis leverage business intelligence and product intelligence to give you an accurate assessment of the competitive landscape. Competitor analysis tools can help you answer the following questions: How am I performing against the competition?  How are products […]

As with all other aspects of work, Covid-19 changed the HR industry drastically. Major shifts in remote work and the Great Resignation forced HR professionals to spend more time recruiting, onboarding, and offboarding.

It’s an inevitable part of operating a business: eventually, you’ll have to start posting on social media. Maintaining a social media presence is more than a simple checkbox step in establishing your business’s credibility. 54% of social media browsers use social media to research products. Your small business needs to draw these browsers in with engaging posts and quick replies to turn them into buyers. A good social media marketing tool can help you quickly make strong social media content. Your Small Business’s Social Media Marketing Strategy Small businesses have a great advantage in the social media landscape. It’s easier to show your brand’s personality and make genuine connections when your company has yet to reach Buy-n-Large proportions. Marketing professionals at small businesses wear many hats and are often unable to give all their attention to social media. Enter, social media marketing software.  A social media marketing tool will allow you to access all your social media accounts in one place. You can schedule posts ahead of time and send them throughout the month. This is extra important when you can only carve out a chunk of time for social media work once every couple of weeks. You can also […]