Project Managers: How Businesses Can Support and Benefit From Their Work

In every company across every industry worldwide, there are always a variety of industry-specific skills and experience that are crucial to success. There is one skill set, however, that is common to all industries, and often plays a far more wide-ranging and necessary role in the nuts-and-bolts operation of a well-run business. It’s a skill set that helps make a functional interdisciplinary team out of a blend of skilled employees, and it’s possessed by professionals known by one umbrella term: project managers.

Project managers play a vital role in just about every business, as they make sure that resources are used with the greatest efficiency and to the greatest effect. Without them serving as governors, business-critical operations can devolve into costly and disorganized affairs, often resulting in poor overall business performance or even business failure. Despite their importance, though, the position of project manager remains poorly understood and underappreciated. If you’re a business owner or manager, here’s what you need to know about these valuable professionals, how you can support their work, and the impact they can have on your business.

The Cost of Poor Project Management

Anyone who has worked in a team of any kind should be able to attest to the value of competent management. Within businesses, this is often reflected in the importance placed on executive-level leadership and middle management roles. Project managers, though, are an oft-overlooked (and oft-missing) part of the day-to-day execution of business imperatives. The cost of their absence, though, is difficult to miss. Statistics indicate that for every billion dollars invested by companies within the United States, $122 million is wasted due to poor project performance. That waste is reflected in a study in 2013 that found that fewer than one-third of projects that year was completed on time and within their original budget. Those are the kinds of inefficiencies and losses project managers can help a business to avoid.

More Than a Title

In practice, the position of project manager is one that requires a very specific skill set to execute well. Despite that reality, business leaders continue to elevate underqualified candidates into project management roles. That’s not always a fatal business decision, as even corporate giants like IBM report that only 56% of their project management specialists hold industry certifications. It does, however, ignore the impact of PMP certification on project outcomes.

Certified project managers, no matter the industry, will all share a common language; an understanding that transcends their specific line of business, thus enabling ready communication both within and outside their own organizations. It also reflects their in-depth knowledge of the fundamentals involved in effectively deploying resources and driving positive results. That means that a certified project manager will have the ability to transition between multiple industries throughout their career, picking up valuable insights that can help their employer think outside the box when confronted with business challenges they may have already seen in previous positions.

The Keys to Innovation

There’s also another, an even less well-understood aspect of the role project managers play in the overall success of a business. In addition to keeping things running well throughout a project’s lifecycle, they also play a key role in enabling business innovation. Today’s businesses rely on innovation as their primary growth engines, and they go out of their way to create cultures to support it. Nothing, however, kills innovation faster than a lack of execution. Project managers serve as a facilitator for business innovators to enable the successful realization of their ideas. Without them, valuable innovations become costly failures, which leads to a stifling of new ideas – and that’s not an outcome that any business wants.

Supporting Project Managers

It’s important to realize, of course, that project managers don’t operate in a vacuum. Even the most qualified and experienced project managers will fail in environments that aren’t conducive to their role. To operate effectively, project managers need direct support from executive leadership to provide the authority and resource guarantees that it takes to execute whatever project they’re tasked with. Since project managers will often be required to form teams that draw personnel from several departments at once, having direct support from the executive level gives them the political heft necessary to issue orders to staff that would otherwise be taking their cues from their organization head of department managers.

The authority granted to project managers by executive managers can’t only work downwards, though. For them to be effective in their jobs, they require the final say in the execution of their project plans, including the power to say no to directives coming from further up the organizational ladder. Otherwise, their work can be fatally compromised by scope creep or fall victim to office politics beyond their ability to control. That’s why it’s critical for executive managers to hand off responsibility to the project manager and then take cues from them as to when further assistance or input is needed.

The Bottom Line

Project managers exist within businesses at the crossroads of innovation, execution, financial management, and efficiency. Without them, many businesses never live up to their true potential or incur significant unnecessary cost and difficulty in the effort. For business owners and managers, they should be known and respected as the indispensable men and women that they are, and every effort should be made to acknowledge and support their efforts at all levels wherever possible. After all, their success, as demonstrated here, is the success of the business and should be seen as such.

The post Project Managers: How Businesses Can Support and Benefit From Their Work appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/management/project-managers-how-businesses-can-support-and-benefit-from-their-work

Healthcare’s Security Solution Blockchain for Maintaining Electronic Heath Records

The technology alone won’t fix patient ID issues but it can bring some of the data accessibility, interoperability, integrity and security hospitals need.

The white paper “Blockchain for Dummies” by Manav Gupta says, “Blockchain is a shared, distributed ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. Virtually anything of value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network, therefore reducing the risks involved.

The blockchain network is economical and efficient, because it eliminates duplication of effort and reduces the need for intermediaries. It is also less vulnerable, because it uses consensus models to validate information. Transactions are secure, authenticated, and verifiable.” Simply put, it’s a new technology that has enough potential to revolutionize the IT world, and just about every industry that relies heavily on IT.

The power of blockchain and realizing its full potential to simplify, speed, and lower the cost of transactions depends on stakeholders to participate, cooperate, agree, coordinate, implement, and adopt across the healthcare industry. No wonder tech pioneers from various industries are searching high and low for ways to implement blockchain solutions into business operations.

Health care is certainly one of these industries where blockchain implementation is a welcome change. A recent survey revealed that 19 percent of responding hospital executives, and 76 percent of payers, were either planning to deploy or were already implementing some kind of blockchain systems. Maryville University created a helpful infographic to help outline this potential solution.

Sounding the Alarm

One in four data breaches occur in the healthcare industry. This not only affects millions of Americans, but it also costs $363 per record. These breaches have been predicted to affect one in thirteen patients between 2015 and 2019.

The largest number of individuals were impacted in hospital data breaches as well, found the research team led by Meghan Hufstader Gabriel, PhD, University of Central Florida.

There were 215 breaches that affected 500 or more individuals in the research time period, with 185 occurring at nonfederal acute care hospitals. Thirty hospitals had multiple breaches during that time, which included 24 hospitals having two breaches and five hospitals reporting three breaches. One hospital had four breaches, the study found.

“Even with sophisticated health information technology (IT) systems in place, security breaches continue to affect hundreds of hospitals and compromise thousands of patients’ data,” the researchers wrote. “This gives cause to believe that other hospital factors, such as area characteristics, region, bed size, health system membership, hospital type, hospital governance, and market concentration, may play a vital role in breach risk.”

Paper and films were the most common type or cause of the reported data breaches. Network servers were found to be the most infrequent data breach location, but these types of incidents impacted the most patients overall.

Major Healthcare Cyber Hacks in 2017

Healthcare proved itself a lucrative target for hackers in 2016, and so far 2017 is unfortunately following suit. A cyberattack against the Arkansas Oral Facial Surgery Center affected 128,000 patients. An attack on St. Mark’s Surgery Center’s patient data affected 33,877 more. The Mid-Michigan Physicians Imaging Center was the victim of a cyberattack that left the records of 106,000 patients compromised. Indiana Medicaid was also hit by massive cyberattack that exposed the records of 1.1 million patients.

“5.6M Patient Records Breached in 2017”

What Hackers Do with the Data

Once the data has been intercepted, hackers can sell patient files on the black market for as much as $20 a pop. They can also use the hacked info to create fake IDs, which could lead to insurance fraud or the purchasing of drugs and medical equipment that could be resold. Additionally, hackers can use the data as leverage in ransomware.

Healthcare data sells for a price 10 to 20 times more than a stolen Mastercard account. The reason is that unlike banking information, healthcare data stays correct for a lifetime.

“There are more than 8,000 healthcare publications each day. Nobody can keep up. We need a system to translate all the data into key insights that can be applied to a patient…”

— Kyu Rhee, Chief Health Officer at IBM

Blockchain Revolution and Improving Industries

IBM is exploring the potential of blockchain technology in conjunction with the supply chain. Their goal is to possibly use the tech to improve the traceability of food, which would make the supply chain safer. Meanwhile, Ethereum is using the tech to impact financial services by providing increased privacy using blockchain “smart contracts.”

Other industries could potentially benefit from blockchain tech. The travel industry could use it for biometric verification. The security industry could implement it to store personal records. Retail stores could also use utilize it to access brand SKUs. Finally, the tech could be helpful in creating tamper-proof ledgers that could reduce voter fraud.

Blockchain Adoption

The speed of which the technology is adopted depends on its novelty factor and how much coordination is required for the system to properly work. Its use is projected to increase: in 2017, 15% of healthcare applications had adopted blockchain technology for commercial deployment; this percentage is predicted to jump to 55% by 2025.

A Hopeful Solution for Healthcare

An electronic health record, or EHR, contains the patient’s name, date of birth, and social security number. It also contains the names of the patient’s employers, dependents, and more. Considering the increasing number of healthcare data breaches, blockchain technology that enables patient-mediated health data exchange provides a potential security solution opportunity.

Health Data Exchange

With blockchain, a ledger will store health data but not identification. Users will have an address that’s secured with keys in their wallet. This patient-mediated health data exchange network will improve the efficiency of health data flow across the healthcare system, and it can allow patients to see who is accessing their data and for what purpose.

Shifting Responsibilities of Advanced Practice Nurses

Blockchain technology – specifically out-of-hospital or OOH blockchains, will affect real-time population health data analysis and alerts. It will also affect the tracking of drug development, remote device monitoring, and telemedicine. Additionally, the tech will affect doctor and nurse credentialing as well as home health visit data sharing.

Though implementation blockchain technology in a healthcare organization may be the responsibility of IT departments, advanced practice nurses will need to adjust their responsibilities. They’ll need to keep abreast of the latest technology developments, be prepared to educate patients on OOH blockchain application usage, and collaborate with IT professionals and other staffers regarding new blockchain application opportunities.

Conclusion

It may be several years before blockchain technology is fully accepted and integrated into the healthcare system. As IT departments and senior leaders consider the possibilities, advanced practice nurses must do their part to stay cognizant of blockchain technology advancements. They also must embrace changes and shifts in their daily responsibilities, whether this means educating patients about blockchain applications, monitoring data from remote devices via OOH blockchain applications, or adjusting to the ways health data is shared.

 

The post Healthcare’s Security Solution Blockchain for Maintaining Electronic Heath Records appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/technology/technology-trends/healthcares-blockchain

3 Online Business Ideas You Can Launch By Yourself

Online business is an activity aimed at generating income through Internet technologies. This is a young line of business, which began its counting from the late 90s of the 20th century. Every year online business is developing more rapidly. More and more people prefer to conduct their business on the Internet.

When it comes to online business most of us think of shopping, social media or advertising. It is also known that some of the greatest websites had been created by modest persons who had their own dream and followed it. Who didn’t it took in consideration leaving their job and starting building a career and making money using only a PC or a laptop.

Before starting an online business we need to know about ourselves what are we able to accomplish and how far are we willing to go. We can have our own business without getting any outside help or we can affiliate and share tasks and income with others.

You might find the following 3 ideas helpful and maybe you will find new ways to start a Laptop Lifestyle.

Blogging

This kind of activity can bring important income for you if you know how to handle it. Using a blog you can start doing advertising or promoting other’s people products. A variety of products can be available if you know where and how to find them. Some of the most usual products can be online courses, e-books, software or conferences.

If you have a real hobby, it can turn out to be the best business ever. There is that saying: “Do what you like and you will never work a day your entire life.”

Working with this kind of products can be helpful and can take you there where you will be able to create your own digital products. The products can vary from your personal e-books (if you are a good writer) to your own courses (having good teaching skills). These activities can increase your revenue significantly.

This kind of business works better if you have some specific skill such as: book author, trainer, freelancer, coach, speaker or teacher. Your area of expertise is already helping use the knowledge you own creating a blog content.

All you have to do now is to turn the products you have or create into money. Therefore you need to start learning how to sell using e-mail marketing and blogging. Without learning how online sales work, you will not be able to turn your blog into a successful business. Fortunately, the online sales and advertising fundamental rules don’t change, so you can use the sales learned skills for selling anything you like.

Selling services

The services that people needs are very complex and can be easily found by browsing the internet. But how about having a website to intermediate services. Think about a website for language translation. All you have to do is to find some quality language translators, to collect the documents and to quote potential customers. This kind of a website that sells services is called today MVP – Minimum Viable Product.

All you have to do is to build the website and start promoting it. When the first job is coming you take the details, ask quotes from your translators, take the best quote and add your fee and send the final quote to your potential customer.

Having this kind of business can help you develop other related business like editing services or article writing for different websites. This kind of business can help others work from home or travel the world while working in front of a laptop. Also, this could be a good opportunity for disabled people to start a career without leaving the comfort of their home.

It might take a while to have everything set but after you will have it all organized there might not be needed for you to put much effort into it and still make the same money.

In order to have a good working business, you need to know that the services you are providing might need charging higher prices in order to have better editors or translators.

Providing premium services for a premium price can lead to specializing on a specific quality service. You will also need to foster your relationship with the best contractors and promote your services until you will get a steady income from steady customers.

Selling products

All of us have in a hidden corner of our home, or even in plain sight, a product that we no longer used. Most of us already tried and succeeded in selling their old stuff online using a specialized website. If you already did this you might know that some trips to the local post office are needed or timing yourself with the courier in order to deliver the package.

Today we have a large variety of websites to buy new or old stuff from. But if you do have one or more products that you believe in and you’re being passionate about them it is worth trying to start an e-commerce site.

The product itself shouldn’t be your own creation. There are many products that you can start selling. The most important thing is that you should be willing and have time for promoting the product you want to sell. Believing in your product will make life easier and writing articles, marketing or connecting to people in order to ease the sale are still mandatory.

A very important thing regarding e-commerce is that if you want to keep your freedom fulfillment you need to use contractors for customer service.

Think about your business as if it is your child, when he is a baby you need to hold his head, then years later you need to hold his hand, after a while you help him learn how to drive, but after all these you will give him the liberty of passing your knowledge and wisdom to other generation all by itself.

This is how a business should work.

The post 3 Online Business Ideas You Can Launch By Yourself appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/soloprenuer/3-online-business-ideas-you-can-launch-by-yourself

101 Sales Training Videos to Master the Art of Selling

1. Do You Have What It Takes To Close Sales?

2. 5 Stages to becoming a Salesperson

3. How To Be A Good Salesperson

4. Stop Closing Sales and Start Providing Value, or Lose to Price

5. How to Talk to Anyone with Ease and Confidence

6. Stunningly Unused Sales Technique

7. How to Quit Cold Calling and Smart Call Instead

8. Science Of Persuasion

9. How to Set Goals: 80/20 Rule for Goal Setting

10. How to Sell Value Not Your Pricing

11. How to Use Body Language to Increase Sales

12. Excuse Making

13. How to Teach Business Acumen to Salespeople

14. Three Fatal Mistakes When Giving Your Price

15. Successful Salespeople have this ONE Quality!

16. Your Price Is Too High – 7 Steps to Defending Price

17. Cold Call Training with Grant Cardone in the Boiler Room

18. 5 Easy Phone Sales Tips

19. Live Sales Role Playing

20. 5 Killer Sales Techniques Backed By Science

21. 6 Places Salespeople Need To Prospect Daily

22. The Secret of Getting All the Referrals You Could Ever Hope For

23. Stop Selling Start Closing

24. The Best Sales Advice I Ever Heard

25. 5 Reasons Clients Don’t Buy

26. Audit Who You Are and STOP Hoping

27. Six Ways to Get People to Say “Yes”

28. 6 Phrases That Instantly Persuade People

29. How To Sell Anything To Anyone Anytime – SELL ME THIS PEN

30. How To Convince A Customer To Buy From You

31. 5 Killer Sales Techniques Backed By Science

32. 5 Easy Phone Sales Tips

33. Stop Missing Out on Sales By Using These Closing Techniques

34. Sales Techniques on Selling and Influence

35. Top 5 Advice for sales people

36. How to Become a Highly Paid Salesperson

37. Sales Excellence – How to become a Great Salesperson

38. Top 10 SALES Techniques for Entrepreneurs

39. One Minute Sales Person

40. How to Sell A Product – The A.I.D.A. Method

41. The Secret to Smart Networking

42. How to Set Up a SALES ‘Follow Up’ Call

43. Sales Motivational Video Sales Training & Techniques

44. Gary Vaynerchuk Interview On Sales & Hustling

45. Selling The Invisible: Four Keys To Selling Services

46. The BEST Tips for Professional Sales People

47. Sales Secrets

48. 5 Killer Sales Techniques Backed By Science

49. This Will Change Your Opinion on Sales

50. Jeffrey Gitomer and Jeb Blount Battle Sales Objections

51. 4 Essential Body Language Tips From a World Champion Public Speaker

52. Powerful Speeches Overcoming Any Obstacles

53. The Hidden Opportunity Behind Every Rejection

54.  AIDA and 4Ps Method of Selling

55. How To Sell Anything – The Alpha Method

56. Straight Line Intro – The Art Of Closing

57. Client says, “Let Me Think About it.” and You say, “…”

58. What Makes Great Salespeople Great

59. How To Approach A Prospect

60. The Perfect Sales Process

61. How to Beat the Competition and Increase Revenue Growth

62. Answer Every Question with a Question

63. 5 Difficult Questions You Should Be Asking Your Prospects

64. Cold Calling – Nail The First 20 Seconds

65. 6 Things Sales Professionals Should Never Do

66. How to Make Selling Easy

67. How To Prospect Like A Rockstar

68. Overcome Objections (5 Simple Steps) Persuasion Sales Skills

69. Stop Selling, Start Closing

70. Sales Process Defined

71. Building a Value Proposition that Generates Leads

72. How to Build a Cold Call Script that Works

73. Focus on the Right Relationships

74. Prospecting Model – 3 Types of Prospects

75. The Greatest Salesman in the World

76. Sales Enablement: Creating a Service Level Agreement

77. If You Can’t Justify the Price You Don’t Belong in Sales

78. “I want to shop around” Objection

79. How to Eliminate The Fear & Pain of Rejection

80. Eliminate The Fear of Rejection, Cold Calling, & Approach Anxiety

81. Top 3 Qualities of the Most Successful Sales Professionals

82. How to Win Friends and Influence People

83. 7 Key Result Areas of Sales Success

84. The Number One Rule In Sales

85. Grant Cardone & Gary Vaynerchuk talk Sales

86. 3 Tactics to Change the Client’s Mind

87. Close the Sale Faster with These 2 Powerfully Effective Closing Techniques

88. 30 Year Veteran Salesman Tries to Take Me Down!

89. Finishing the Deal-Handling the VERY Difficult Customer

90. How to Build a Great Sales team

91. “I’m Just looking” Sales Objection Handling Success

92. Tip: Your Attitude When Selling

93. Active Listening Exercise for Sales Training

94. How To Find Your Purpose

95. 10 Sales Presentation Tips to Be More Convincing

96. 1 Big Sales Mistake Salespeople Make!

97. How to Grow Your Business and Sales Faster!

98. Close The Sale by BLOCKING not Overcoming the Objection

99. Change Your Life – Become A Leader

100. 6 MINS FOR THE NEXT 60 YEARS OF YOUR LIFE

101. How to Immediately Increase Your Sales

The post 101 Sales Training Videos to Master the Art of Selling appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/sales/training-videos

An Ultimate Guide to Develop Your Brand Style

Building a memorable brand style is more than a logo. It’s a powerful way to stand out from your competitors. A brand identity substantially influences your customers’ experience and how they view everything from your industry. Developing a strong brand identity requires consistency and a plan.

Sometimes some brands fail because they don’t have a clear style guide. Moreover, the marketing world becomes more and more visual. That’s why a brand style guide is a must for your overall marketing strategy, and if you want to avoid inconsistency and miscommunication in the workplace.

The importance of a branding style guide

We are creatures of habit. The consistency is key in brand messaging. Do you think why the same brands stick in people’s minds? Just because their presence is frequently determined through the repetition of the similar visual elements such as color palette, typography, logo, icons, etc.

When we hear or see the same brands, they become instantly recognizable and trustworthy in all aspects of communication. All we know how the brand Nike looks like. This brand is much more than just the clothing brand. It’s an experience.

A powerful branding style depends not only on the visual elements, but on the details like emotional appeal standing and general usage. It is also important to focus on how you are going to present your data and show branded reports to your clients. By the way, you can use this reporting tool to build powerful branded reports.

Thuswise, developing a strong brand style is significantly associated with consistency through different marketing channels.

Answer these 3 questions before creating a good brand style guide:

What are the essential components of your brand?

Sometimes it is hard to define what a brand is. The reason is that a brand includes a list of identifiers, promises and values delivered both visually and textually. Every brand should have its own identifying elements and components to help people recognize your brand. It can comprise certain brand elements like logo, brand colors, fonts, photography or typography. And these individual things form the core of your brand’s outward-facing.

What’s your brand story?

Human-to-human connections are a foundation of collaboration. And storytelling is a powerful way to build strong relationships with your brand. Good stories give people to imagine, keep engaged and build an emotional connection. That’s why many companies work hard to develop their brand stories and sketch their foundational elements in your brand style guide.

Who is your customer?

Identifying your customers is a very meaningful part of the brand-building process. If you know who your customers and why they need you, it will simplify the overall process and help your team create the branding message and effectively communicate with your customers. Take a look at the following things:

• Geographic segmentation: explore the customers’ location.
• Demographic segmentation: define customers’ age, religion, gender, ethnicity, education, race, marital status, etc.
• Psychographic segmentation: figure out customers interests, values, traits or lifestyles.

What you should include in your brand style guide

There are no hard-and-fast rules you should follow. Many companies have the ability to customize style guides for multiple marketing channels and departments. To all intents and purposes, focus on some essential areas.

Use visual components

One of the most significant and easiest ways to reach out your audience is using visual stimuli. Every day when strolling outside we view how many of visual elements in plain sight.

These elements are uncontrollable for our brains. They have much more influence on our emotions, memories and perception. That’s why it is essential to integrate these visual stimuli into your brand style. Make sure that each component needs to be coherent and tie together effortlessly. By the way, Lucidpress can help you create all types of visual content.

Here are the following visual elements you should use:

• Brand Logo

A logo or graphic symbol will reflect your brand identity and be identified with everything that you do. Try to make it unique, explicitly clear and memorable. Take a look at the example from Injury Trial Lawyers, APC where the brand logo perfectly goes with their law activity.

• Brand Color palette

Do you know that using color alone enhances brand awareness by 80%? Many well-known brands use consistent colors through their images, design and texts what help them be more recognizable. Usually, main colors are determined by the colors in a logo. You can choose two or three main colors and use them for everything you do. The main thing is that these colors should differentiate yourself from others and get good at mental imagery.

• Typography

Font selection is also crucial if you want to look professional. They reflect the voice of your brand online and on paper. Each email, each CTA, each presentation should use a consistent way to write your text, URls and headlines if possible. For example, Citywide Law Group has a great combination of their target colors and style, even on CTA buttons.

• Images

All images should be natural and have a consistent look. They should go without any saying. The images should be close-ups or soft focus. It is not obligatory to use photos. Different charts, graphs and illustrations are fine too. Have fun with images, it is ok too. The key is to be adapted to your brand.

Copy elements

Once you pick the visual components, choosing the right copy elements is another important step to develop your brand style. Just like you use the same visual stimuli, you need to use the same copy elements. Whatever you use these components (social media, email, websites, etc.), they should harmonize with your overall brand style. When it comes to copy elements, you should focus more on your brand’s voice, grammar and tone. Here is a good example from SlideModel.

Brand messaging

Every brand needs to provide the words that allow your customers better understand your company’s values and beliefs. This message tells who you are and what you do. Messaging forms the basis of developing your brand style.

The main thing is that all your brand messages should describe all aspects of your brand and should be relevant to your customers. Yes, it is difficult to define messaging requirements. Just put some creativity and freedom to build your brand.

Before developing your brand style guide, think over some questions:

• What customers’ problems do you solve?
• What makes you unique from others?
• What is your brand’s story?
• What are your values and beliefs?
• What is your company’s personality?

Once you’ve found the answers to these questions, you can concisely communicate your brand’s message. Whatever you are going to publish your content (social media, blog, email, radio or magazine), you should design a blueprint for content creating that will be recognizable across the different media.

Here is a great example from Lavent Law that tried to figure out customers’ problems and offer the solution to their problems.

Bottom Line

There is an endless number of possibilities to reach customers both online and off. Brands have lots of communication mediums. But without a careful and planned strategy, your branding efforts will remain largely unmet. Designing a brand style guide helps your company establish a consistent communication across all channels and teams.

The post An Ultimate Guide to Develop Your Brand Style appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/branding/style-guide

Research into the Diversity and Inclusion in Modern Types of Advertising

When it comes to diversity in marketing, we’ve come a long way. Although efforts have been made there’s still a long way to go for many communities to feel represented in this industry. Marketing has a very unique role to play in rewriting the rules, especially the way we approach diversity and exclusion in modern advertising.

 

“I think diversity in power can only make for a better society” – Grayson Perry

 

A recent survey of U.S. marketers found that more than 91% agree with this statement: “There is still room for growth in using more diverse images by marketers.” It’s clear that most American companies have a diversity “blind spot” that may be impacting business growth potential.

Even though it’s 2018, many marketers are still following the brilliant, but seriously outdated marketing strategy of Don Draper. Not being diversified in ads is the old way of marketing. Different messages resonate with different audiences. In order to avoid becoming the next #fail, or leaving money on the table by not appealing to wide range of audience, it is important to understand why diversity in advertisements matters, and how to diversify your content. Statistics show that America is becoming increasingly more diverse. Recent data reveals that growth among racial and ethnic minority populations outpaces that of Caucasians. It’s vital for modern marketers to know their audience, but they should also remember that diversity extends beyond race alone. Diversity means the inclusion of people of all races, ages, genders, disabilities, sexual orientations, religious preferences, social classes, economic classes, and the list goes on and on.

Despite making up 51% of the population, women only feature in a startling 33% of advertising. Women are rarely shown in positions of power, and when they are, these roles are usually linked to seduction, beauty or motherhood. There is also no representation of people with non-binary gender identities. We’ve seen major brands’ ad campaigns shift to appeal to various age groups, women and minorities, and in some cases, they even aligned themselves with social movements. Fenty Beauty, for example, is a cosmetics brand founded by Rihanna. Fenty is claiming to be “the new generation of beauty.” This revolutionary launch included 40 shades of foundation for women and men of all complexions and skin colors. “There needs to be something for a dark-skinned girl; there needs to be something for a really pale girl; there needs to be something in-between,” Rhianna said in a recent interview.

Today, promoting revenue and brand image means defining and communicating with audiences as individuals. This includes people of all ages, socio-economic classes, and genders. Ultimately, the key to staying competitive lies in providing diversified content for diversified audiences, in a way that represents present-day society.

In 2016, The New York Times published an article claiming that big brands were noticing the diversity paradox, and wanted ad agencies to do something about it. Their studies concluded that while 87% of the industry agreed that inclusion and diversity should be a priority. 82% believe that their most successful projects were produced by a diverse team, only 54% believe that the diversity in the advertising and marketing industry has gotten any better compared to the past five years.

The question all marketers should be asking is how can we create the change we want to see? Diversity is a big undertaking. Embracing it doesn’t just mean embracing a few tactics; it means changing the very way your business works. One reason why so many diversity programs fail is that they misunderstand the very nature of diversity. Diversity is not a quick-fix solution. It isn’t a weekend-long training program that can be done once and forgotten the next week. Rather, diversity is a long-term endeavor. It bears results over years, not months. Here are some tips to embracing diversity in your agency:

 

Track the platforms preferred by each demographic. If your audience is widely diverse, chances are, their social media habits will be too. Different demographics use social sites differently; therefore, your marketing efforts need to align with their preferences. While Facebook still leads the pack in terms of general usage (71 percent of Americans have an account), other platforms such as Twitter and Instagram have been growing in popularity among younger consumers.

Strengthen internal culture by conducting bias training throughout the organization and investing resources in formal on-boarding, training, and mentoring, with an emphasis on sponsorship of diverse employees.

Become aware of the subtle message your marketing communications send. As the world grows in complexity and diversity, businesses have to do a better job of understanding how bias, whether intentional or unintentional, influences your marketing. The more complex our world gets, the easier it gets for the intent of our messages to get misinterpreted. That’s why it’s important for everyone in your business to get training on identifying bias and strategies for addressing bias.

Invest in influencers. Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience. According to a study conducted by Twitter, 40 percent of social media users have purchased a product because of exposure through an influencer. This report also found that conversion rates were over five times stronger when customers learned about a brand through tweets from businesses and influencers alike. Influencers have their own dedicated followers and can be useful in helping companies connect with new groups outside of their usual reach. These resources look at how influencers can help extend an organization’s message to a more varied range of people, because of the ability to relate to their interests and needs.

 

It’s one thing to talk about the importance of diversity and inclusion, but another to create a diverse culture. Even the most successful companies can find ways to improve upon driving diversity internally and in branding efforts. Penetrating new markets makes it more possible to generate new revenue. Not only does more diversity and inclusion contribute to a more aligned society, it allows companies to target new populations and increase response rates with relatable messaging, helping boost their bottom lines.

Brands are already demanding it. Now we need to not only demand it, but live up to it as well. We must stop the silence and escape the paradox. Doing so is the only way anything will change.

For more helpful resources on this hot topic, visit this Guide to Diversity and Inclusion in Modern Advertising

The post Research into the Diversity and Inclusion in Modern Types of Advertising appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/marketing/modern-advertising

Best VoIP for Small Business

As a new business sets up operations, communications usually take top priority. Being able to make and receive phone calls, receive and send emails, and interact with customers through social media is essential to getting cash flowing. Traditional phone systems can be pricey and cumbersome, especially for small businesses that have limited resources. Thankfully, cloud-based VoIP phone systems can get a new business up and running in a matter of minutes.

But with so many solutions, each with its own features set, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed during your search for the right software. It can make things easier if you’ll first narrow the list to the top solutions geared specifically to the unique needs of small businesses. But first, you should identify what you’re looking for in a small business solution. There are certain things that help certain solutions qualify as the best small business VoIP service.

What to Look for in a VoIP Solution

Your top priority when looking for a phone system will likely be cost. You understandably have a limited budget and the more you can save on monthly costs, the more of your earnings you’ll preserve. You’ll find many of today’s business VoIP providers charge a small monthly fee, but all prices aren’t equal. You should consider the features each company offers and keep that in mind. If, for instance, your VoIP solution of choice offers fax-to-email or integration with your CRM, you’ll be able to automate tasks and eliminate other software you have in place, potentially saving money.

Integrations will actually be what makes a solution the perfect fit for your own organization. Although many solutions can integrate with a wide range of options, only you know the other software you’ll be using. If you haven’t chosen a CRM, office suite, or inventory management tool, you may find it easier to search, since you’ll be open to whatever the provider offers. However, if you have preferences as to what other software you’ll be using, look into the integrations offered to make sure a software you’re comfortable using is covered.

Data has become an important part of running a business. With the right VoIP solution, a large part of the work will be done for you, since information will be gathered on every interaction. You can pull reports specific to location, employee, customer satisfaction, and much more with today’s business VoIP solutions. If you have a sales team, you can even ignite the spirit of competition by ranking team members in real time by their successes.

Beyond all of these features, it’s also important to look at a VoIP solution’s security and customer service offerings. You’ll likely find that this can be the deciding factor if you’re torn between two options. A retailer that stays open late each night may find a provider that offers later service areas may have an edge, while a business with traditional banker’s hours may not consider that to be as important as top-of-the-line protection against data breaches.

Top Features Needed

As you review various products, you’ll notice each has its own set of features, many of which overlap. The right solution will have all the features that are most important to you, plus a few others that enhance your business in ways you hadn’t planned. Here are some of the top VoIP features to look for as you research business VoIP options.

• Sequential ring—With so many professionals working remotely, it’s important to be able to route calls to a combination of desk and cell phones.
• Mobile app—It’s also often essential to find a solution that includes a mobile app to control your settings on the go.
• Call recording—Whether you choose to record every call for quality control purposes or a few select calls for training, call recording can come in handy as a feature.
• High-definition videoconferencing—The remote nature of today’s workforce makes videoconferencing more valuable than ever.
• High-definition audioconferencing—One-to-one phone chats can only get your team so far. Audioconferencing lets everyone discuss a project or task to get things done more quickly.
• Messaging tools—Whether it’s chat or instant messaging, a full-featured VoIP system will offer multiple messaging options for businesses.
• Call diagrams—Many small and midsized businesses need the ability to set up calls to ring in a predetermined sequence.
• Virtual faxing—On those occasions when a business needs to send a fax, virtual faxing is a handy tool to have.
• Voicemail to text—This may be an optional feature for many businesses, but as workers get busier, being able to read voicemails on the go will become increasingly important.
• Analytics—Your reporting needs are likely very specific to your organization, but you should be able to access reports that can help you improve your business.

Best VoIP for Small Business

VoIP phone systems come in a variety of packages. Some are better than others, offering a wider range of features specifically targeted to the needs of small businesses. Below is a list of some of the best small business VoIP providers on the market today.

Nextiva

Nextiva’s VoIP phone service incorporates the full range of features that small businesses today look for in a phone system. The company has created a service that can work across a wide range of industries, even customizing features for specialized needs. Phone systems include unlimited calling and virtual faxing, audio and videoconferencing, call recording, instant messaging and chat rooms, and easy feature management through a mobile app. When you place a call from any device, including your cell phone, you can have it display to the person on the other end as your office number. In addition to calling and team collaboration features, you’ll also have access to analytics, including historical call reports and real-time call activity. You can get Nextiva’s basic features for as low as $19.95 per month, which includes unlimited calling and virtual faxing. To add on call recording and three professional greetings, you’ll need to upgrade to the $27.95 per month plan.

Mitel MiCloud

With Mitel MiCloud, you’ll control everything from a single screen, including your team’s voice, email, and instant messaging settings. The solution can integrate with existing solutions to expand its capabilities, including boosting the efforts of your sales teams. Features include local phone numbers and unlimited local and long distance calling within the U.S. and Canada. You can also automatically transition between day and night rules for your call routing and set up a corporate auto-attendant to give your SMB the appearance of a large company. Other features include audioconferencing and voicemail with email forwarding. Pricing is not publicly provided, but you can get a quote by completing a form on the Mitel MiCloud website.

RingCentral Office

RingCentral’s small business VoIP system offers more than 50 features, including auto-receptionist, one-click calling from any computer, automatic call recording, SMS, internet fax, and integrations with some of the most popular solutions. Call reports come in the form of graphical dashboards that help you get an overview of various statistics relating to your team, company, and customer base. RingCentral’s collaboration features include team messaging, real-time file sharing, task management, and video meetings. You can access the basic plan with most of the features for $19.99 per user per month, which allows unlimited video and audio meetings for up to four participants. You’ll need a $24.99 monthly plan to get an auto-attendant, internet fax, and call log reports, and a $34.99 monthly plan adds on automatic call recording, multisite support, integrations, and voicemail transcription to text.

Grasshopper

Unlike other VoIP solutions, Grasshopper is a completely virtual system, operating solely on cell phones and computers. You’ll simply choose a phone number, download all the necessary apps, and configure your settings to have incoming and outgoing calls route through that phone number. You can use that same number to text, fax, set up greetings, and pull call reports. Since it’s all virtual, there’s no equipment to purchase and set up, and adding a new employee to your directory is as easy as configuring your settings. If you’re a solo business operator, you can set up one number with up to three extensions for $29 per month. Three numbers with six extensions will cost $49 a month, and five numbers with unlimited extensions will be $89 per month.

Gabbit

If you have a small team, Gabbit may be the best small business VoIP provider. The service is simple and straightforward, with features like auto-attendant, find me/follow me, time-based routing and scheduling, customizable on-hold music, and a web portal to manage it all. You’ll get high-quality audio and continuity of service. However, the pricing is best for businesses that plan to stay extremely small for a while, since you’ll pay $35 per month for each line. You also won’t get the internal collaboration tools other VoIP solutions provide, adding to the argument for it as a one-person operation phone system.

Jive

With more than 80 features, Jive’s business VoIP service can cater to the needs of businesses of all sizes. The pricing tiers are what make Jive work for small businesses. All plans include all features, with Tier 1 designed for one to four users at $29.95 per user and Tier 2 costing $25.95 per user for 5-9 users. Desk phones integrate with cell phones to make your Jive phone system work seamlessly, which is also ideal for the entreprenuer who needs to manage operations on the go. Features include virtual fax, voicemail to email, custom greetings, custom hold music, ring groups, auto-attendants, and much more.

8×8

8×8 has separate phone plans for different types of business. The small business plan includes all the tools you need for voice, video, and collaboration. You’ll get enterprise-grade features like auto-attendant and music on hold, as well as team-friendly tools like web conferencing, virtual faxing, and video meetings. You can choose to use 8×8’s virtual-only service and run your business off cell phones or you can purchase 8×8’s VoIP handsets for desk-based phone service. Plans start at $25 per month per user, but the $35 monthly plan adds call recording. For $55 per month per user, you’ll get analytics and contact center.

eVoice

As a small business VoIP provider, eVoice runs completely in the cloud, routing calls to your cell phones and offering features like advanced call routing rules, an auto-attendant, and a dial-by-name directory. You can even create your own phone greeting to represent the voice of your company the way you want it presented. If you aren’t happy with your own voice, have an employee, colleague, or friend record the greeting. The basic plan is $12.99 per month and covers up to 300 minutes, two extensions, and six phone numbers. However, you’ll need to go with a plan with 1,000 minutes or more to get inbound faxing and VIP support, and those plans start at $29.99 per month.

FluentStream

FluentStream crosses all industries with a phone system that comes with an easy-to-use web portal and more than 90 features plus integrations. Those features include find me/follow me, call recording, auto-attendant, and call detail records. With some plans, you’ll also get 24/7 help from a U.S.-based support team. There are plans specific to startups, small to midsized businesses, and enterprise-level organizations. If you use apps like Salesforce and Zendesk, you’ll be able to integrate your phone system with those, as well. One thing lacking with FluentStream is the internal collaboration found with some other VoIP solutions, but this may not be an issue for smaller businesses. The basic plan comes with 41 features including music on hold, find me/follow me, call detail records, and 9-to-5 local support and costs $20 per user per month. For 77 features, upgrade to advanced, which adds on auto-attendant, internet faxing, call recording, and 24/7/365 support, but you’ll need to request a quote to get pricing. You can also go with the complete package that includes 104 features and adds a complete conference bridge.

Skype

Skype has become known as a best VoIP for small business users, primarily because of its free price model. One of the biggest downsides of the free plan, though, is that the person at the other end of the call will need to have the software, as well. You’ll need to upgrade to the $2.99 per month standard plan to get Skype-to-phone capabilities, which will include unlimited minutes within the U.S. For $6.99 per month you can expand unlimited calling to eight destinations, including Canada and Mexico, and $13.99 a month will give you Skype-to-phone calls to 63 destinations across the globe. Although Skype may be a go-to for some businesses, its features are limited and more geared toward those who want to simply videoconference, call, and chat.

RingByName

RingByName’s unique feature is the demographic information it provides on each prospect. Instead of merely getting a name and contact information, you’ll see demographics, financial data, and information on whether their home is owned or rented.  These features make RingByName ideal for sales teams or call centers that spend their days vetting prospects, since you’ll be able to save time by cutting straight to those most likely to buy. RingByName can also offer handsfree dialing by providing Amazon’s Alexa as a personal calling assistant. The basic plan costs $24.99 a month per user and includes features like customized greetings, music on hold, advanced call routing, voicemail to email, and a virtual receptionist. Upgrading to $34.95 per month will give you e-fax capabilities, and the $44.95 plan includes free call recording.

ClarityTel

Like many top business VoIP solutions, ClarityTel prides itself on offering a scalable solution with pricing geared toward small to midsized businesses. Features include music on hold, voicemail to email, find me/follow me, intercom, time of day routing, and the ability to make and receive calls on your mobile device with your business phone number showing up on the answerer’s caller ID. Pricing is based on the number of lines, starting with $19.99 per line per month for 25 to 50 lines. If you have one to nine lines, you’ll pay $24.99 per line per month. ClarityTel’s practice of charging per line can make it cost prohibitive to small businesses with a few employees, though, especially considering that you’ll need to purchase a separate plan at $11.99-$14.99 per month to add faxing capabilities.

Vonage

Vonage’s edge comes from its Amazon Chime Pro tier, which powers features like online meetings, videoconferencing, chat, file-sharing, and enterprise-grade features at small business prices. The solution is highly scalable, so your phone system will follow you as your business expands its team and attracts more customers. Vonage also integrates with popular office solutions like Office 365, G Suite, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics. Specialized solutions are available for retailers, law firms, financial organizations, and more. The basic plan is $19.99 per month per user and includes unlimited calling and SMS on your mobile devices or a computer. If you want the capability to make calls from a desk phone, though, you’ll need to at least choose the $29.99 per month per user plan, which also adds a multilevel auto-attendant, videoconferencing and chat, and CRM integrations. For full features, there’s the premium plan at $39.99 that provides call recording, call groups and visual voicemail.

TDS

TDS is one of the best small business VoIP providers because they offer two plans. One is a basic plan that includes the phone and internet over analog lines, augmenting basic phone services with VoIP features like on-hold music and simultaneous mobile and desk phone ring. However, their more robust hosted VoIP package adds on a variety of features, depending on the plan you choose. With a simple seat package, prices start at $24.95 per month and include 16 basic features, including call forwarding and call logs. The mobility and management package starts at $27.95 and offer 41 features, including three-way calling and click-to-dial. For a price starting at $31.95 you can get TDS’s unified communications package with 46 features, including instant messaging and a virtual collaboration room.

Frontier

Frontier has separate bundles on business size. If you have less than 20 employees, you’ll need the small business plan, whereas 20-plus workers graduates you to the medium-enterprise plan. However, these two packages are designed to bundle both phone and internet, so if you already have internet in place, you’ll want to go with a voice-only plan, which starts at $19.99 per user per month and includes nationwide and local calling plans plus voicemail, caller ID, and call forwarding. Voice plans also come with Frontier AnyWare, which offers enterprise-grade collaboration features like sharing and conferencing, allowing your team to communicate across multiple device types. In addition to the $19.99 plan, Frontier offers plans starting at $29.99 that include basic voicemail and caller ID.

Broadvoice

Disaster recovery is Broadvoice’s top priority, promising to restore a business within eight seconds no matter what happens. Features include the ability for supervisors to listen in on calls, hot desking, and SMS. Broadview’s pricing is based on the services you need, so you won’t pay for features you don’t want, which sets Broadview apart from many of the other solutions on the market. You can also add on a virtual call center on a per-user basis if you need to respond to calls from customers on an ongoing basis.

Phonebooth

Phonebooth specializes in business VoIP, with features like transcribed voicemail, intelligent call routing, and auto-attendant. For only $20 per user per month you’ll get unlimited local and long distance calling, which includes voicemail transcription, auto-attendant, find me call routing, and conference calling. However, like other similar plans, this might not be a good option for businesses that plan to grow beyond one-person operations, since $20 per user can quickly add up. Still, for solopreneurs starting out, you’ll get two free phone numbers and unlimited group conferences at that rate, so it may be a good deal for some. You also won’t sign a contract, so it could be a great way to get started with VoIP.

Comcast Business

You’ve likely already heard of Comcast, which provides business and residential internet along with its cable TV services. Comcast Business services also include VoIP services to businesses of all sizes, with packages including unlimited local and long distance calling, hunt groups, and voicemail to email. Comcast also offers a more advanced VoiceEdge plan that adds on unified communications features like an automated attendant and a web portal to manage all of your phones. One downside to Comcast’s phone systems is that they still have a traditional “phone company” mentality in that they charge a per-seat fee for installation. You may be able to save money by bundling your phone and internet, though, if you plan to go with Comcast’s internet service, so it might be worth checking into.

VoiceBuy

VoiceBuy offers a unique feature that only some VoIP-based business phone systems provide. With VoiceBuy’s DID numbers, you can set up local phone numbers across the globe, allowing you to have a local presence in other countries. Other features offered by VoiceBuy include call forwarding, hunt groups, an answering system, and an intuitive web-based control panel for managing it all. Best of all, you can access VoiceBuy’s basic features at no cost whatsoever. However, you will pay for the calls you make, although the rates you’ll pay are advertised as “wholesale.” You’ll also pay a monthly charge for the DID numbers you choose.

VOIPo

VOIPo offers phone service and cloud numbers to small businesses, with basic phone systems as low as $6.21 per month. Basic features include advanced voicemail, call history, voicemail, custom call routing, and telemarketer block. After joining, you simply choose a phone number and wait for a VOIPo adapter to arrive in the mail, which you can use to turn your existing phones into handsets that can be used with their service. The adapter routes all calls through the internet rather than your phone system, giving you full VoIP functionality. In addition to the above-mentioned features, you’ll also get free international calling to more than 40 countries of up to 60 minutes per month.

Zendesk Talk

Many of the best small business VoIP providers feature integration with Zendesk’s popular helpdesk software. However, Zendesk offers a phone solution of its own called Zendesk Talk. For heavy Zendesk users, this solution may be the best, since it is built to work with the Zendesk multichannel ticketing system. If you’re operating a call center or regularly take customer service calls as part of doing business, this one is worth considering. Features include real-time dashboards, call data insights, interactive voice response, and voicemail. You’ll need the Zendesk software to use Talk, which starts at $89 per seat, per month. Once you have that, you can add Talk for free, but that will limit you to one phone number. You’ll get more phone numbers plus features like warm transfer, the ability to set business hours, and text messaging with plans starting at $19 per agent per month.

Phone.com

Phone.com offers both virtual numbers and desk phones, both equipped with the same features. You can purchase new phones or use Phone.com with your existing desk phones and mobile devices. Basic features include custom toll-free and local numbers, text messaging, voicemail to email, and click to call, with all phone setups preconfigured and ready to ring. The basic plan with more than 40 features is $12.99 per month, but for $19.99 per month you’ll get advanced features like automated voicemail to text and premium hold music. But for features like call analytics and HD videoconferencing, you’ll need to upgrade to a $39.99 per month plan.

Ooma Office

Like many other business VoIP solutions, Ooma Office advertises its easy setup and flexibility as top features. You can set your desk phones wherever you want and incorporate mobile devices into your call routing. You’ll get unlimited calling in the U.S. and Canada and multiple virtual receptionist options. Ooma Office also provides standard phone features like ring groups, music on hold, separate modes for business and after hours, and call forwarding. The base price of $19.95 for phone service includes one local number and extension and unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. From there, each user extension will be $19.95 per month, with additional monthly fees for additional local and toll-free phone numbers. Basic plans include free ring groups, virtual receptionist service, and a conference bridge.

Dialpad

Flexibility is Dialpad’s promise, including the ability to take calls from a desk phone, laptop, or cell phone. This means you can get up and running without investing in new equipment, although you can also purchase handsets from Dialpad. You can set up all your phones to ring to all of your devices at once or just one at a time. Other features include international numbers, VoiceAI to provide real-time insights into the conversations you’re having, video and audioconferencing, custom call routing, an auto-attendant, and call recording. Standard plans cost $15 per user per month and cover one office with up to three departments with between one and 100 users. However, as you grow, you may need to upgrade to the Pro plan, which costs $25 per user per month and covers up to 10 offices, up to 25 departments, with a three-user minimum.

OnSIP

OnSIP is another of the best small business VoIP providers that promise to only make you pay for the features you use. This can be a cost saver for a company that has very specific communications demands. In fact, you can get a calling plan for free for up to 100 users. This will include web-based voice and video calling, multiparty video, and integration with Slack. However, if you want to make non-web calls, you’ll be on a metered plan, which charges for external calls. OnSIP not only works with your existing phones, but you can also use the app to make and receive calls while you’re on the go. However, if you want features like auto-attendant, ring groups, or dial by name directories, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan at $8.95 per user per month.

Digium

Digium offers two plan options: on-premise and cloud. The on-premise plan includes all the equipment you need to deploy a VoIP solution for your small business, including appliances and support from its customer service team. You’ll also get the phones you need to get users set up at their desks. For the cloud version, you can run your business off a desk phone and mobile devices simultaneously, accessing the same advanced features you’d have with the on-premise plan. Features include advanced call control, three-way conferencing, and call recording. The cloud plan starts at $12.99 per seat for a metered plan that charges based on call volume, but you can scale up to an unlimited plan at $24.99 per seat. You can also buy your phones through Digium.

If you’re looking for a business VoIP, there are plenty of solutions on the market. Finding the right one can be challenging, but you can narrow down the choices by knowing what’s out there and figuring out what’s important to your business. Budget should be a top consideration, but you should also look at the money you can save by choosing a plan with collaboration tools and chat, which can keep your team interacting, saving time and money.

The post Best VoIP for Small Business appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/best-voip-for-smb