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How Generative AI Is Changing Creative Work for Businesses in 2024 and Beyond

Business Advice

Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, the world has gone crazy over generative AI. Tens of thousands of companies have released new generative AI tools for diverse purposes.

Brands from around the world have embraced the technology and adopted it to make their operations better.

However, not all businesses have done that. And if you are a business looking to use generative AI but don’t know about it, this blog post will help. We discuss everything about the use of generative AI – its advantages, limitations, and more.

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI is an artificial intelligence system that can create new content or outputs based on the instructions given to them. This is vastly different from other forms of technologies that only analyze existing data sets.

Listed are a few key features of generative AI:

  • Generative AI is trained on huge volumes of data to learn patterns and relationships and generate new examples like the data.
  • Generative adversarial networks and autoregressive models are the two key techniques that enable generative AI to work.
  • Text generators like GPT-3 are autoregressive language models that can generate human-like text based on a given prompt.
  • Generative AI helps in content creation, creative arts, customized products, and high-quality outputs at large scale.

How Is Generative AI Used for Creative Purposes?

There is no doubt that generative AI is used for various purposes. Here are some of the most common creative purposes for which generative AI is used now.

Brainstorming Tool

Generative AIs like GPT-3 can take a prompt with some initial ideas or requirements and rapidly produce many related ideas.

This unique thinking can help spark new creative ideas and directions. The volume and randomness of the computer-generated ideas act as a stimulus to the human brain.

Many businesses have already integrated generative AI into their creative tasks.

Sparking Creativity

Many in the creative industries believe that AI-generated creative pieces are not useful.

While that may be the case, reading through or analyzing them can spark creativity in the users.

These pieces can improve or build on them to engage the human creative process. These unexpected connections made by AI can push us in new directions.

Design Inspiration

Generative AI can help visual fields like product design, architecture, fashion, etc.

There are many generative AI images and 3D models that can provide fresh and unconstrained directions to explore.

While most of the images produced by AI seem artificial or limited in creativity, looking at new designs and styles helps trigger the human imagination.

Market Research

One of the biggest usages of Generative AI is the ability to quickly profile customer segments, identify emotional triggers, analyze trends, etc.

These analyses can inspire products, messaging, brands, etc., catering to target demographics.

As these AI models do not have any inherent biases in them, they can provide ideas or objective insights that humans may overlook.

Content Ideation

Content creation has been one of the biggest areas where Generative AI has made the most impact. It can help with copywriting, ad creation, social media, etc.

Generative AI can rapidly produce premises, headlines, and opening lines based on high-level prompts. However, these copies and content pieces are not the best in terms of quality or uniqueness, but they enable humans to think and create content faster.

The volume and non-linearity of ideas aid the creative process.

How Generative AI Helps in Content Creation

Generative AI is being used to create content for different purposes in diverse ways.

Some of these popular ways are:

Text-based Content Generation

You can use Generative AI to create text-based content. It could be for anything, such as:

  • Website copies
  • Research papers
  • Blogs and articles
  • Social media posts
  • Academic assignments and projects

Using effective prompts and supportive content, anyone can come up with great first drafts for any text-related work.

Although many businesses use AI for content generation, it is not the most creative way to put out helpful content for the end consumers.

Some of the popular tools for text-based content creation are ChatGPT, Bard, Copy.AI, Jasper, SurferSEO, etc.

Image and Video Generation

Generative AI can create image and video generation. By giving detailed prompts, these tools can come up with excellent images and videos. Most of the tools use text-to-image or video prompts to come up with the results.

While the quality and aesthetics of these images can vary from awful to excellent, they may not be the best to use in any business or marketing-related efforts yet. However, image and video-creating Generative AI has been making fast and huge leaps in the field. And soon, they will be capable of creating real-life-like images.

Some of the most popular tools for video and image generation are Dall-E, Mid Journey, Synthesia, Descript, etc.

Audio and Music Generation

Generative AI can produce audio and music. Businesses and individuals are actively using these tools to create music and make money online.

Businesses can also create voice-overs with Generative AI to provide clear and articulated voice-overs for their ads and presentations, or even podcasts.

Some popular Generative AI tools for audio and music are Synthesia, Soundraw, AIVA, Amper, etc.

Related Article:- Pros and Cons of AI Content

Benefits of Using Generative AI for Creative Process

Generative AI can help businesses in diverse ways. These advantages are what make the tool extremely appealing to small and large businesses.

Although the benefits are lucrative, let’s focus on the most crucial ones:

Increased Productivity

You can use Generative AI to execute tasks faster, enable faster content creation, and reduce human workloads. Hence, your employees can focus on more value-adding responsibilities.

Cost Savings

Generative AI can automate high-volume or mundane tasks, repetitive jobs, etc. Businesses can create more with less human labor input, which encourages reduced operational costs.

Improved Customer Experience

Generative AI tools like chatbots can deliver swift, consistent customer interactions while using natural language processing. This can improve response quality and efficiency, which leads to better customer experience.

Innovation Capabilities

Generative AI is a great option for generating novel ideas or creative prototypes. This way, it helps spark internal innovation programs, creating new products or business models to go to market faster.

Better Decision-Making

Complex generative algorithms can analyze data, detect patterns, and make recommendations. The insights can improve an organization’s data-driven decision-making.

New Revenue Opportunities

You can monetize AI applications either by offering them as a service/product or via innovations enabled by generative AI. Adding this adjacent to your other offerings opens new revenue opportunities.

Competitive Advantage

Businesses can harness leading technologies like Generative AI to improve and differentiate their operations, services, or productivity from competitors.

Limitations of Using Generative AI for Creative Process

Although Generative AI often brings diverse benefits to businesses, the tool is not free from limitations. Here are some of the most pressing limitations of Generative AI:

  • Generative AI models are trained on real-world data. Hence, they may perpetuate or amplify harmful race or gender biases.
  • It is difficult to fully explain the reasoning behind a Generative AI’s outputs, especially more advanced models.
  • Training Generative AI applications by using sensitive customer data presents vulnerability in cybersecurity and privacy.
  • Generative AI may be used to create content that is pervasive or infringes on people’s personal and intellectual property rights.
  • The cost of computing power and maintenance of Generative AI is extremely high now. This may lead to energy crises.
  • The output of most Generative AI tools is not fully reliable, as they may have factual errors, hallucinated opinions, conclusions without facts, etc.

Conclusion

Generative AI is one of the biggest technological advances happening in recent years. The growth of the industry has been extremely promising. Businesses can leverage the potential of Generative AI to offer better services and bring down costs across different departments.
However, businesses need to use the same with human intervention and fine-tuning efforts. Using Generative AI alone for running business operations, creating content, and optimizing processes will bring more harm than benefits. Therefore, businesses must develop an AI operational strategy to utilize the technology.

Contact Us

If you are looking for a reliable team to help you with embracing the benefits of Generative AI tools, Eco York is an experienced agency option. Contact our client support team to learn more!

instant estimating for your moving company

Introduction to Compass Wave: The Instant Estimating Tool for Moving Companies

Business Advice

Moving can be a stressful and overwhelming experience for many people. From packing and organizing to transporting and unpacking, there are a lot of moving parts involved in a successful move. One of the biggest challenges for both moving companies and their customers is estimating the cost of the move. Traditionally, this process involved on-site inspections, manual calculations, and often inaccurate estimates. However, with the advent of new technology, instant estimating tools like Compass Wave are changing the game for moving companies.

Compass Wave is a web-based estimating tool that allows moving companies to provide instant, accurate estimates to their customers. The platform utilizes a cloud-based system that stores data and calculates estimates in real-time. With Compass Wave, customers can receive a quote for their move within minutes, instead of waiting days or weeks for a traditional estimate.

How does Compass Wave work?

Compass Wave works by utilizing a simple, user-friendly interface that allows moving companies to input key details about a customer’s move, including the starting and ending locations, the size of the move, the type of items being transported, and any additional services required. The platform then calculates an estimate based on this information, taking into account factors like distance, weight, and labor costs.

One of the key benefits of Compass Wave is its customizable settings. Moving companies can adjust the platform’s settings to reflect their specific pricing structures and service offerings. This means that estimates provided through Compass Wave are tailored to each individual moving company, ensuring accuracy and consistency across all estimates.

Why is Compass Wave important for moving companies?

Moving companies that utilize Compass Wave are able to provide their customers with a streamlined, hassle-free experience. Customers can receive accurate estimates within minutes, allowing them to make informed decisions about their move. This saves both time and money for both parties involved.

Additionally, Compass Wave helps moving companies to increase their revenue and improve their bottom line. By providing instant estimates, companies can reduce the amount of time and resources spent on manual calculations, allowing them to focus on other aspects of their business.

Conclusion

Compass Wave is a powerful tool for moving companies that are looking to provide their customers with a modern, efficient moving experience. With instant, accurate estimates, customers can feel confident in their decision to hire a moving company, while companies can benefit from increased revenue and streamlined processes. If you’re a moving company looking to improve your estimating process, consider implementing Compass Wave today.

Try our sample tool below or click the button below to learn more.

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Business Growth Strategy

How to Develop a Well-Defined Business Growth Strategy that Delivers Results?

Business Advice

You have set up an engaging website and are ready to welcome online customers. You got your first customer and managed to sell online! Getting your first sale from an online business is a great feeling. It is one of those early milestones that paves the way for a lifelong journey. Once you have a steady stream of online customers, it is time to start thinking about how to grow your online business.

Growing an online business is easier said than done. Businesses of different shapes and sizes often face challenges that suppress their growth. You might have a great product in the market but if you don’t have the right business strategy to define it, articulate it, and communicate it effectively, you will lose out in the world of millions of websites.

Do you want to grow your business, but are not sure where to start?

Well, to succeed in the online business, you will need a lot more than a professional web design and development company. You need a growth strategy for your start-up. A growth strategy for a start-up is different from setting up goals and revenue milestones.

To grow your business, apart from the professional software development company, you will need coordination, passion, and a few key ingredients mentioned here in this blog post. So, let’s take a look at a few of the most important factors to define a robust business growth strategy.

Value proposition and business growth 

For any online business to expand, it needs to increase its reach among the target audience and acquire new ones. To do so, you must require a value proposition that clearly defines what it does and why customers need it. And then you should start defining a growth strategy containing growth steps to take new things in the market.

Try to keep the right balance between brand relevance and customer experience

Even the most recognized brands in the world started working on brand relevance and customer experience. Building a strong online reputation is not just about hiring a good web design and development company to design a beautiful-looking website. Your brand should be recognized by its values and how customers experience it.

Expanding into the new market, customer segments, and categories with new products

 It is always ideal to grow your online business by exploring new business opportunities. However, before expanding your market, customer segments, or product categories, it is a must that your online business is well-established. You can have a roadmap to define your long-term business goals and decide what all steps you need to take to measure the progress.

You can even think about offering or adding new products or services that can complement your niche. You can find out what all issues you can resolve. Also, you can plan about entering into a whole new market to grow your business.

Use the right kind of tools

 Another great way to boost your growth strategy for a start-up is to consider investing in the right kind of tools and software. It can help you implement your new strategies and reach a wider audience. You can get help from the software development company to do the needful.

Just remember, you don’t have to work only on the sales and marketing side. There are a lot of other ways you can grow your business.

So, what tools can you use? You can start investing in social media services and publishing tools that can help you roll out business updates whenever it is convenient to you. Also, there are many marketing software or platforms available that can help you with automated emails to help you offer a way to communicate with end-users via monthly newsletters or subscriptions.

Focus on cost-cutting

You need money when you plan to grow your business. Therefore, it is crucial to start reducing your current expenses. This will give you more capital to spend on a growth strategy for your business.

Since you have been running your business for a long, you are well aware of how to do things more efficiently. Try to see what all things you can automate. Automating things will help you reduce spending on manpower. Similarly, try to figure out what all things you can optimize in terms of cost.

Analyze the results

Once you implement the new business growth strategy and campaigns that have been running for a while, it is time to analyze them. Whatever social media services or paid marketing tactics you have used, you can take a look at the results. For the organic and inbound tactics like content marketing, you may have to wait for at least 3-4 months to notice the results.

After you analyze the results, you may have to adjust your growth strategy to get the desired results. If certain initiatives performed well, you can start launching more similar campaigns or strategies to sustain the growth. On the other hand, if some tactics fail to give the results, stop giving more effort in it. It is time for you to try something new that may give you desired results.

The most important growth strategy to follow is to “continuously improve”. Building a great strategy that delivers results is all about setting up well-structured and predicted goals that your team can follow. The best growth strategy for a start-up is the one that grows and improves itself.

Developing a growth strategy and implementing it can be a daunting task. If you are not sure where to start, just get in touch with our experts now. We help companies like yours to grow their online business and we feel happy to resolve their queries and come up with a streamlined and realistic growth strategy.

cleaning business software

5 Ways to Market and Grow Your Cleaning Business

Business Advice, our-products

Starting a cleaning business is a great idea. You have hired employees and learned in’s and out’s of running it smoothly. That’s a huge accomplishment! At this point, your biggest concern might be to handle the customer flow since growing your business is your ultimate goal. But you cannot do it without a proper marketing strategy in place.

You might be using residential cleaning software or maid service estimating software offering various features to boost your maid services, but if you don’t promote your business, you will not get enough customers.

Marketing and promoting your cleaning business seems straightforward. However, with so many marketing ideas out there, it can be hard to know what is best to market and grow your cleaning business. No matter how good cleaning software you use or how efficient you are at what you are doing, if you fail to promote it effectively, it is of no use.

Here’re a few simple things you can do to market and promote your cleaning business:

Develop a clear-cut brand strategy

 One of the very first things you can do is to develop your business’s brand. It is all about how you sell your services, interact with your client, and how you stand out different from other cleaning service providers.

Starting from cleaner appearance, consistency of your offers, and how you show up on social media to company culture, cover almost everything and learn how to improve each of these areas to establish yourself as a strong brand in the market.

Word-of-mouth advertising can do wonders

 Like any other business, your cleaning business heavily relies on what your clients say about you. Whether you’re using a professional maid service estimating software or not using any tool at all, it won’t make a difference to your business.

Only client reviews and opinions will influence the decision of your target audience. You can always encourage positive recommendations by providing great customer service, setting up a referral program, contributing to the community, and constantly monitoring your online reputation.

Workout on your local as well as a social media presence

When we talk about online presence, social media plays a vital role in it. Not only do people love to be on social media, but also validate your business’s authenticity before making any move.

And hence, it is important to focus on your local and social media presence. You can leverage popular social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram to advertise your services, post images, and interact with the target audience.

Giving your social media channels the love and attention they seek and engaging with your customers will help you grow your cleaning business. Also, there are house cleaning cost estimators or residential cleaning software available in the market having default social media integration. You can use it to promote your cleaning business directly. 

Go online and set up a business website

This is not something new we are talking about, specifically now when half of the world goes online using a website. Building a website may sound like a daunting task to you, but it is not a reality. If you don’t have the time or budget to set up a website, you can leverage open-source platforms to do so.

Having a website will be a great advantage to you and will help you grow your cleaning business easily. It will help your target audience understand your offerings, price structure, and support. If you don’t have a website, many customers will think of you as not so professional. Along with cleaning and maid service software, it is important to have a website to grow your cleaning business.

Use networking to grow your business

The best way to promote and grow your cleaning business is by networking. Try looking for networking groups for your business or services on social media platforms. You can even attend local events arranged for the professionals and business owners like you.

There are many business networking sites available where you can meet the opportunities targeted to your business. You can even get in touch with your house cleaning cost estimator to get some information about networking events near you.

Related Reading : 5 Different Ways You Can Build an Effective Business Referral Network

There are a lot more ways you can market and promote your cleaning business. Starting from providing valuable content, using Google AdWords, video marketing, targeted ads, and emails to social media, you can do a whole host of things to grow your cleaning business.

You can even get in touch with a maid service estimating software provider to set up a blog for your business where you can share interesting facts and information related to the cleaning business or can share house cleaning business tips. Want to know more about how you can grow your cleaning business? Get in touch with us now.

Business referral network software

5 Different Ways You Can Build an Effective Business Referral Network

Business, Business Advice, our-products

Building a powerful referral network in business is one of the must-have strategies for a business of any shape and size.

Every entrepreneur or business person wants to make their business shine like a star. Thus, creating a business network is a powerful way to increase their business, clients, and of course, revenue. By developing good relations with your existing clients or customers, your business will expand naturally with the help of the positive experiences shared by them.

But it takes time and effort to foster a quality business referral network that you can rely on to help you grow your business. Instead of considering building a referral network as a chore, it is always ideal for making it a strategic move.So, the question is: “How can you build a business referral network?”

To encourage personal recommendations, you may have a formal structure in place to reward the referrals in the form of exclusive offers, events, loyalty programs, etc. But to go the extra mile in business to establish a rock-solid connection with like-minded people, you may need something more than that. You might have business referral network software in place, but you will need to follow the best practices discussed in this blog post to get the maximum benefit from it.

Get in touch with other professionals

One of the first things you have to do to grow your business referral network is to connect with other professionals. There are many networking and referral tools available in the market that can help you connect with professionals and companies in and outside of your industry. You can also check out, with the help of networking software, any events happening around you or not. Such events are a great opportunity to make valuable connections.

Share your domain knowledge

Sharing is caring, remember? The more you share, the more you will get in return. So try to share what you’ve got, as that will help you be recognized by other professionals. You can even go for an interesting presentation to promote your business. There are various networking & referral tools, such as Ecoferral, available in the market that can help you post video content to share your skills and knowledge.

Don’t forget to provide referrals!

Yes, that is true. You must provide referrals to other connections who have helped you grow your business. It will help you show your credibility. You can use any business referral network software to refer other connections. Helping your contacts is a key factor to generate more value for your connections. It may not be a direct referral all the time. You may know someone that knows someone and something like that.

Always give your best shot in whatever you do!

This may sound too typical, but this is crucial when it comes to building a referral network. Networking and referral tools may help you get in touch with potential clients or customers, but if you don’t satisfy them with your work, it won’t help you grow. If your clients are happy working with you, they will definitely refer you to other business colleagues. And at the end, it will help you grow your referral business network.

Work on the paid referral process

You may also get into the discussion with clients or customers to refer to reach others and negotiate on the process of providing paid referrals. Different markets have different processes when it comes to getting professional referrals. You may get in touch with brokers or may use professional networking software to do it. However, make sure you are aware of the entire process to get such paid referrals.

Let technology work for you

Wherever you go, you will have to be connected with your clients and customers. And for the same, you will need technology to do things for you. Whether you use business referral network software or any other technology platform, you should be able to prioritize information and handle it meaningfully. It will help you establish a strong relationship and referral network with your potential customers.

Many businesses think that building a business referral network is a daunting task to deal with. But if you have ever tried it yourself or using networking & referral tools like Ecoferral, you will realize how simple and enjoyable it is!

So, what are you waiting for? Don’t wait for someone to refer you! Follow these simple tips to build your professional referral network and say yes to every invitation you get for any event!

Looking for business referral network software? Check out Ecoferral to explore various referral options for your business.

Software Development Company York Pa

Residential Cleaning Software – How It Can Help You Grow Your Cleaning Business?

Business Advice, our-products

Starting or getting into a cleaning business is both exciting and scary, but the real intimidation lies within figuring out how to simultaneously grow your cleaning business and retain new clients. The good news is that your cleaning business can be easily managed with the help of residential cleaning software or a mobile app.

Cleaning service software and apps are great tools to help strengthen your organization and online presence by tracking various tasks, providing quick estimates, and offering insight on the capabilities of your business. With a unique, reliable online cost estimator to help engage your visitors and leads, you’ll be answering questions and closing deals without even lifting a finger!

To help you stay on top of your cleaning business like a pro, we’ve researched how the best cleaning software can help you streamline and grow your cleaning business without any hassle.

Residential Cleaning Software – How does it help to grow your cleaning business?

We all know that house cleaning is a time-consuming and exhaustive task to deal with. Moreover, it is difficult for house owners to thoroughly get the house cleaning done with accurate estimations. A cleaning and maid service software that specializes in residential or commercial cleaning services could be the next big thing you can leverage not just to delegate such arduous tasks and provide house cleaning services without any glitches.

Client Scheduling Offers Intuitive Organization & Time Management

Residential cleaning software can help you grow your cleaning business by giving your clients the power to schedule cleaning services with you at their convenience with an estimate available. You no longer need to invest your time getting back to the customer to determine whether or not they need your services or agree to your price.

A Powerful Estimation Tool Helps You be More Accurate

Whether you want deep cleaning, move-out cleaning, or housekeeping services, there’s no need to pay for another cost estimator tool. Compass Wave residential cleaning software provides built-in estimation tools to ease the burden of giving accurate house cleaning estimates, so you can present your unique value and beat your competition.

A professional cleaning service software like Compass Wave can greatly improve efficiency for your business operations and customer satisfaction.

Faster and Reliable Estimations

Today, customers expect to receive estimations for a house cleaning service quickly. With the help of professional residential cleaning software like Compass Wave, you can quickly and easily generate and offer accurate and reliable estimates to your leads. This will help you and your team stand out to prospective clients!

Manage Invoices On the Go 

One of the major hurdles for the residential cleaning service providers is to manage the invoices for different jobs. For example, you might be charging differently for residential cleaning and house cleaning cost estimator jobs. It becomes difficult to manage different invoices and track whether they are settled or not. With a professional house cleaning estimate calculator or residential cleaning software, you can easily track and manage payments without any hassle. This way, you can streamline your invoicing and payment process. 

The Benefits of Using a Cleaning Service Software

  • More reliable, faster, and accurate house cleaning estimates, which brings more business.
  • Your services are available around the clock with the help of automated appointments.
  • Everything the customer needs is organized in one place. Whether it is about all services offered or client testimonials, you can display everything with a reliable cleaning software.
  • Improve productivity with the help of streamlined task allocation, meaningful reports, a house cleaning estimate calculator, and other useful features. This can enhance the productivity of your team.
  • Get an edge over rivals. With a professional cleaning services software like Compass Wave, you can easily stay ahead of the game providing top-notch user-experience features to grow your cleaning business.

Make the Right Choice

While plenty of maid service estimating and residential cleaning software are available in the market, it becomes difficult to choose the right one. There will always be some bumps and hiccups along the way while finding the best cleaning software for your needs. Compass Wave is a robust and feature-rich residential cleaning software with a built-in house cleaning cost estimator. Want to know more about how Compass Wave could be a helping hand to grow your cleaning business? Get in touch with us now!

8 productivity tools while working remotely

8 Online Tools You Can Use To Be More Productive While Working Remotely

Business Advice

The recent and sudden decision for many employers to direct their employees to work exclusively from home, along with the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines that are preventing in-person gatherings and meetings, have created some challenges for many employees and small business owners.  Here is a list of some online tools that may help businesses stay better connected to employees and clients and keep workflow moving.

  1. Communication tools such as Slack—This is an easy to download team chat app that helps team members stay connected, check in, brainstorm and can even act as the company’s virtual water cooler.  
  2. Video Conferencing and Audio tool such as Zoom—for one on one, group meetings and conference calls, Zoom is easy to download and install, very user friendly, and can be used for screen sharing presentations and audio only calls.  Meeting information and invitations is easily distributed.  
  3. Customer Support Collaboration tool such as Groove—Groove is a support ticket and project tracking app that allows team members to support clients, assign resources and update the status from anywhere.
  4. Business Productivity tools such as Trello and Asana—these project management boards allow team members to be assigned tasks and easily update the project status, moving it along in the project timeline in a very visually meaningful interface.  Remote work environments can create opportunities where important tasks slip through the cracks. These types of tools help mitigate this while keeping employees clearly directed and productive and supervised efficiently.
  5. Content Sharing and Document Management such as Google Drive—With the amount and variety of documents involved in running a business, (think emails, blog posts, policies and procedures, technical documentation, customer notices and marketing materials, presentations and reports) it makes sense to have a reliable, available and easy to access repository for your workers.  The days of scrolling through endless emails searching for attachments is over when all docs are filed, managed, updated from one location that can be accessed from anywhere.
  6. Custom Web apps specific to your industry such as Compass Wave—Many small business owners may need to do onsite estimating or assessment in order to win new business but are at a standstill with social distancing and shelter-in-place guidelines.  Automating those estimating tasks remotely can allow a small business to continue to reach for new bids and fill their work funnel for when business resumes as normal. An example is Compass Wave software created specifically for the residential cleaning services industry.  As a custom web app, Compass Wave collects input data via the business website and issues an automated accurate estimate. Web developers can create similar web-based tools for other industries to save time and in-person interface when either or both of those are not available.
  7. Digital Marketing, Social Media and Website Improvements such as Mail Chimp, Facebook, and automating Contact Pages or implementing a Blog—Many businesses have had to reprioritize projects and workflow because the changes that the COVID-19 presents, but using this time to reassess tools and your company website (a job that can be done without in person interaction) could be a perfect use of this redirected time.  Many customers and consumers are spending more time engaged online so why not ensure your online presence is at its optimum.
  8. Cloud based accounting software such as Quickbooks—Cash flow, payroll, bills and purchases still need to be made even though workers are not in the office.  Quickbooks is an accounting software package geared mainly toward small and medium-sized businesses that has a cloud-based version to accept business payments, manage and pay bills, and take care of payroll functions.

If, as a small business or remote employee, you need help implementing or creating the right tools, reach out to a digital agency that specializes in helping individuals and businesses leverage the power of the web for maintaining and growing their business, even during these challenging circumstances. The more we all can work together to keep businesses, especially small businesses, healthy, and thriving the better our economy will be able to bounce back when this crisis is over.  

Online Marketing Services

Understanding Content Marketing and Why Your Company Needs It

Business Advice

You may have heard the term content marketing and wondered exactly what that term means. In the digital marketing landscape of websites, blogs, social media, videos, ebooks, and search optimization, the digital content you publish on an ongoing basis plays an important role in sharing your message, strengthening your brand, helping potential customers find you on the web, and most importantly turn prospect leads into customers. The following post offers five key points about content marketing and why your company needs it.

Establishes Industry Expertise and Brand Authority

Your company’s website is an important tool to share information about your business, your services and your industry. It’s an opportunity to be a lead generator, a sales tool, a customer service engagement, and an educational vehicle all at once. It’s a tricky balancing act, however, to offer the correct amount of information on your site. Too little information and the visitor is apt to navigate off and continue their search elsewhere. Too much information and your visitor may be overwhelmed with trying to navigate the dense pages to find what they are looking for. The perfect amount of content will allow you to present your firm as an expert in your field and offer your visitors exactly what they need.

 

Content such as web pages, videos, white papers, ebooks, and blog posts allow you to educate on specific topics and keep your website up to date and relevant. These types of content help to establish you as an industry expert which ultimately strengthens your brand. Whether you have an in-house team to create and publish dynamic content and continually update it on your page, post it on your social media or communicate to your lead base, or you have chosen to contract with an outsourced marketing agency specifically knowledgeable about content marketing, you will quickly learn that content is a key comment to your marketing strategy.

 

Entices Return Visitors

When you create, curate and publish meaningful and relevant content on an ongoing basis, you continue to engage with your audience past a one-stop visit. By inviting your visitors to subscribe to your blog, like your social media page, or sign up for your opt-in email newsletter, you are creating the opportunity to continue the conversation and fortify that lead-to-sale conversion process. It is important to keep in mind that in order to retain their attention, you must be offering quality content to your subscribers and loyal audience. Content should intentionally serve the purpose to educate, inspire, persuade, promote and engage.

 

Optimizes Organic Search

When someone opens a browser and types words or phrases into a Google search bar to find your business or services, immediately a list of results pop up. What many people don’t stop to think about is how Google knows that you belong in those results and in which place to show your business name and website in the results. There is a complex, complicated, intuitive and mind-boggling series of criteria and algorithms that Google search uses to determine such things. When you are publishing and providing useful and meaningful content to your target audience, and not simply junking up the web with repetitive, salesy and spam-like self-promoting material, Google recognizes and rewards your intentional focus on dynamic quality content with higher-raking search results.

These algorithms and search criteria are constantly changing, and so should your content to some degree. What and when and how you publish your content matters. Keeping information current, informative and relevant is key. SEO refers to search engine optimization and is a marketing service offered by digital marketing experts to help you get the best ranking search placement which will ultimately result in more views, leads and conversions.

 

Offers Something to Share

Our digital platforms provide more than ever before the ability for information to be quickly easily and affordably shared, making digital marketing one of the most impactful components to your marketing strategy. When you provide desirable content, it is more likely to be shared, creating even a wider audience. Social Media marketing is a prime example of how things (memes, videos, inspirational stories, news and current event coverage, etc) can be spread virally in a very short time. Improving brand recognition and associating your brand with quality content are the favorable results of publishing content that can be easily shared.


In addition, if you create expert content, other websites (looking to curate and offer good content themselves) may wish to link to it. This idea of back-linking further spreads the visibility of your content and your brand and plays an important role in the criteria used by search engines for your ranking in the results. Again, your outsourced digital marketing agency can help to facilitate and promote these backlink opportunities,

Converts Prospects to Leads

In addition to educating and sharing and building your brand authority, the bottom line of marketing is ultimately to increase your business through the conversion of visitors to leads, leads into customers, and hopefully finding yourself with a growing number of loyal, repeat customers. One of the best reasons to focus on content marketing is because of the proven success record and high ROI in the digital space. In short, if you know what you are doing and do it well, It works!

Simple ways to promote your business

Simple ways to promote your business

Business Advice

In today’s economy it’s important to look at the advertising opportunities out there and choose the ones that work best for you to help promote your business. However there are certain advertising techniques that shouldn’t be ignored and should be used by every business.

Do you currently have a website?

If you don’t currently have a website you should. No matter what industry you are in, your current and potential customers are going to do some research on your business, and the first thing they’ll likely do is go to the web. A website is essential to setting yourself apart from other businesses in the same industry. It gives your potential customer an opportunity to learn more about your business, and an opportunity for you to sell yourself and your services. If you would like a professional website done for your business, check out our portfolio and contact us today!

Do you have business cards?

Every business should have business cards, but not everyone goes about their business cards in the right way. There are certain things that should be on your business card, which include your name, email address, website, phone number, and the services you provide. Your business cards should also be printed by a professional printing company. We use Penny Press of York for all of our printing needs.

What type of Email Address do you use?

An email address can tell alot about your company, and sometimes how long you’ve been around. If you aren’t using an email address which includes your domain name, then you are really missing out on marketing your business the way it should be marketed. If someone sees bobscontracting@yahoo.com for example on your business  card you may be turning customers away because they don’t feel that you’re ultimately a legit business. Not only would you be turning potential customers away, but you’re losing the ability to market your website every time someone asks for your email address. An ideal email address for Bob’s Contracting would be bob@bobscontracting.com. This makes his email address personable (bob) but also professional and markets their website. If you already own the domain name, setting up the email address is fairly simple.

Do you utilize Social Media?

Social Media is a HUGE opportunity for a business to get it’s name out there and also market themselves on a daily basis. The main Social Media sites every business should be apart of include Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google + as well as Youtube. Check out our Blog post on Integrating Social Networking into your Business for more information on the different social networks available to you.

There are many opportunities that are sometimes missed by a business when it comes to advertising. We hope the suggestions above will help you promote your business and utilize the advertising opportunities that are available at low costs.

Your partner in living a greener life,

Mark Lane

President Eco York, LLC

Customer Service Leads to More Referrals

Customer Service Leads to More Referrals

Business Advice

Recently we created a poll to see What influences here you buy from the most .

In this poll we received feedback that Customer Services is what really determines where you buy your items from. This makes perfect sense, because who wants to repeatedly go to a place of business that has bad customer service. Customer service really can determine if your business ultimately succeeds or fails. Customer Service Leads to More Referrals because the customers you currently have will recommend your business when in passing with their peers, that is if you provide good Customer Service.

There are many tips you can follow to provide your customers with excellent customer service.

1. Be helpful, even if it doesn’t offer immediate profit opportunities.

For example if a customer is on a budget for a project, help them out by getting the project off the ground. Even if it might dig into your profit up front, helping the customer out to get their business off the ground can help persuade that customer to come to you the next time they need a helping hand.

2. Throw in something extra

I love to eat sushi and there are plenty of places i could go in my area. The one particular place i always go when i’m home throws in ice cream during every visit for the past 2 years. Where do you think i recommend my friends go when they ask where is the best place is in my area?

3. Take the extra step to help the customer out

If you own a convenience store and someone asks you where something is, walk them in the direction of the item instead of just shouting out the Aisle number.

4. Deal with complaints without a shrug

Not every customer is going to be 100% satisfied. Make sure your customers know your receptive to their feedback. If a customer has a valid complaint, be receptive to that complaint and let them know you’d like to resolve the issue so they’re 100% satisfied.

5. Answer your phone and email

If a customer calls your places of business or emails you, make sure they get answered in a timely manner. One of my pet peves is calling a business and either never receiving a phone call back, or emailing a place of business and never knowing if my email had been received. Make sure you answer your phone, and respond to emails. If you need to increase staff to do so, make sure you do, it could be costing you business.

Follow these 5 tips and the referrals will start rolling in. If you offer horrible customer service, don’t answer your phones or email, and never try to go the extra mile. Then you can forget about your current customers recommending their peers to go to your business.

Your partner in living a greener life,
Mark Lane
President Eco York, LLC

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