A Guide to Choosing the Right Time Tracking Tool for Your Marketing Needs
Time tracking tools are all the rage these days. It seems like every day, we hear about a new startup that has created their own version of an online, cloud-based time tracking tool. Not only do these programs help your company keep track of how its employees spend their time working on projects, but they can also be used for things like invoicing and estimating project costs. In this article, we’ll go over some basic information about what a time tracking tool is and how it works. We'll talk about why your business might want to invest in one - or several - and then give you tips on choosing the right one for your specific needs as well as creating an effective strategy for using it effectively within your marketing department.
What is a time tracking tool?
A time tracking tool is a software application that helps you keep track of how much time you spend on projects. It can be used for nearly any type of work, including marketing tasks like creating content or sending emails.
Time tracking tools can help you to see where your time is going so that you can make changes to increase productivity.
How a time tracking tool can help your business improve its marketing strategy.
Time tracking tools are great for finding out how your team spends their time. This can help you identify inefficiencies in your marketing strategy or pinpoint areas where you’re spending too much time or not enough.
- Time Tracking Tools Help You Find Out what's Working and What's Not: If there's one question that I hear most often from marketers looking for a time tracking tool it's "how can I tell if this is working?" With a good time tracking tool, you'll know exactly how many leads were generated from each campaign and how long it took to close each sale.
- Time Tracking Tools Help You Identify Inefficiencies: Marketers tend to be pretty busy people; they spend most of their days doing all sorts of things with little downtime between projects. Because of this, it can be difficult to get an accurate picture of how much time is actually being spent on different tasks throughout the day - especially when multiple people are involved! A good way around this problem is by using software like Hubstaff (or another similar product) which allows users to record what was done during specific periods so that everyone knows where they stand before moving forward into new opportunities down the road."
Main Features of a Time Tracking Tool.
Time tracking tools also offer a range of features that can help you manage and track your team’s tasks, such as:
- Time tracking, reporting, and invoicing. These are the basic functions of any time tracking tool and they should include the ability to record work hours by task or project.
- Scheduling and task management. This function allows you to create an overview of all your projects or tasks so you can assign each one an estimated duration based on the information from previous jobs. This will help prevent over-allocating resources or under-allocating them and ensure that all projects are completed on time (or within budget).
- Integrations with other tools. Some companies use multiple tools for various aspects of their business—for example, project management software for managing team members' workloads or customer relationship management (CRM) software for managing customer relationships—so it’s important to find out if any time tracking tools offer integrations with these types of programs before making a purchase decision!
Tips for Choosing the Right Time Tracking Tool for Your Business Needs.
Check out reviews for each software option you’re considering.
- Check out reviews from users. One of the best ways to find out how a time tracking software performs for you and other people is to read what real users have to say about it. We’ve found that most user reviews are pretty honest, so this is a great way of getting an idea of what kind of experience people are having with each tool.
- Check out reviews from experts and industry leaders. You can also use expert opinions as a good gauge when choosing the right time tracking tool for your marketing needs—but make sure they’re experts in the field before taking their recommendations too seriously!
- Check out company-provided reviews or testimonials. Some companies may provide detailed information on their products through written testimonials, case studies, or other forms of review material on their official websites or social media pages (like LinkedIn). These sources will provide valuable perspectives on how well their product works based on real-world experiences with actual clients; however, keep in mind that these kinds of testimonials might not always be 100% truthful since they were provided by those who have something to gain from promoting the software provider itself (e.g., employees incentivized by commissions based upon sales figures).
Take the tools for a test drive.
A great way to ensure that the software you’re considering is right for your needs is by taking it for a test drive. This can be done by downloading a free trial version of the product; however, keep in mind that these trials typically come with certain limitations such as time constraints (e.g., 30 days) or restrictions on how many users can access them at one time.
If you can’t find a trial version of the software that you’re considering, consider contacting the company and asking if they would be willing to provide one. If they agree, then it may be worth your while to try out their product before committing any money or resources towards it.
Watch out for hidden costs.
Most marketing tools come with a set of tracking tools, but there are many add-ons you may need to purchase in order to get the most out of your time.
For example, if you're using a tool that tracks emails sent and received, be sure that it also includes an email template editor. This way, you can craft the perfect message for each contact and make sure they're interested in what you have on offer before sending them anything at all.
Other things to look out for include:
- Automated emails based on triggers (such as when someone signs up)
- Integration with other systems like CRM or project management software
Make sure the software will integrate with other tools you use frequently (for example, accounting tools).
When it comes to choosing the right time tracking tool for your business, you’re going to want to make sure that any software you choose integrates with other tools you use frequently (for example, accounting tools). This will ensure that your data is always up-to-date and accurate.
Integration with other software is important because it allows you to seamlessly transfer data from one system into another without having to manually do so yourself. This can be especially beneficial if your team uses multiple time tracking tools at once: integrating them all together lets users check their hours from a single dashboard rather than having separate apps open on their desktop screens. Additionally, having an integrated product means that employees won't have to switch between tabs in order for them to view their total hours worked across multiple projects or clients within the same day.
The next step up would be integration with other marketing platforms such as website builders (eCommerce), CRMs (contact management systems), and email marketing applications like MailChimp or Constant Contact).
The right time tracking tool can save your company's marketing team from many headaches!
A marketing time tracking tool can help you make more efficient use of your team’s time, which is especially important if you have limited resources.
It can also save your company from making costly mistakes. For example, if a campaign fails to meet its goals, the data from the marketing time tracker may reveal that it was not executed properly or not communicated effectively to its target audience. This type of information is critical for determining what went wrong and how to improve future campaigns.
Having a dependable time tracking tool is vital for keeping your marketing team on track. ClickTime's time tracking software offers essential features for tracking time spent on projects, monitoring team progress, and streamlining workflows. Designed with marketing professionals in mind, ClickTime's software provides access to robust timesheet reports and real-time dashboards, which enable you to manage your business and optimize profitability and staffing levels.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve discussed the different features that time tracking tools have and which ones you should be looking for. We also gave some tips on how to choose the right tool for your business needs. As you can see, there are a lot of different options out there when it comes to choosing one! However, if you follow these steps carefully then it will make finding an ideal solution much easier.
5 Ways Digital Marketing Professionals Can Increase Their Productivity
From creating attention-grabbing copy to working through the nuances of search engines like Google, a good digital marketer will have a lot on their plate. Sometimes, handling too much can drain productivity, and that may not be acceptable if you have a big deadline coming up. In order to truly be successful, digital marketers must have several tactics up their sleeves that help them to stay on top of their projects and deliver their best work.
If you need help in this arena, then here are five tips that can help you to increase your productivity while exceeding the expectations of your clients.
1. Consider Automation
One aspect of digital marketing that can drag down productivity is the fact that along with the big pieces of content, there are also many smaller, micro tasks that take up a lot of time. You can knock out a lot of those repetitive tasks and keep your eye on the prize through automation. In the world of marketing, you can use content automation to cover many aspects of your work, from scanning your written work for grammatical errors to scheduling your social media posts to tracking performance analytics on whether or not your tactics are working.
In addition to getting more work done, automation can also be helpful because you will find more consistency in your work since you won’t have to stop every five minutes to complete those repetitive tasks. You may also see a spike in your creativity because you won’t be stressing about the little things. Look into how automation can help with your specific project.
2. Outsourcing Your Work
If you still find that you have too much work and it is hampering your creativity, then you may benefit from outsourcing some of your work to other people. Not everything can be automated or be successfully completed by machines, so this may be the answer. If you are overbooked right now, there are many experienced marketers around the world that can help lighten your load, and some of these professionals work in other countries, so you may be able to save money in the process. Before hiring an outside party, take time to talk to them to understand their skills and go over the project so you can have faith that it is being done correctly.
3. Turn to Technology
While automation can make easy work out of some of the more mundane tasks, you can also use technology to make your major tasks easier as well. For instance, you can use a content marketing tool like Semrush to take the stress out of finding keywords for your content and OutreachPlus to streamline your email marketing.
Many marketers also get into trouble because they are often dealing with too many projects at one time, and it can be hard to keep everything in order. You can get assistance on this front by using a piece of project management software, like Monday or Asana, to work as an editorial calendar of sorts, so you always know what tasks are the priority and where you can hold off for now. As you complete tasks, you can mark them off of the list and get an incredible sense of accomplishment as you move on to the next big step.
4. Learn More About Your Audience
If you don’t fully understand your target audience, then you will likely be stopping frequently to figure out the best tactics to reach them. While most marketers understand that knowing their demographic is key, some may put that research to the wayside because they want to get to the exciting work. However, you need to learn about your audience, their habits, where they spend their time, the content that resonates with them, and what their pain points may be. By taking the time to understand this information upfront, you can then dive into the work and deliver a better result without delays or frustration.
5. Don’t Overdo It
Even if you use these tactics to become more productive, it is important that you pace yourself and not overdo it, or you could deal with the symptoms of burnout. A burnout diagnosis means that you are working too hard and you aren’t taking the time to implement the work-life balance that is essential for a healthy existence. Physical symptoms of burnout include headaches and lack of sleep. You could also deal with mental side effects, including trouble concentrating, irritability, and stress that could lead to depression.
Digital marketers experience stress in myriad ways every day. It is essential that you take care of yourself and set boundaries for how long you work. Leave the office at the same time every day and spend some time doing something that you love. If your employer is demanding too much, then talk to them and explain how you are feeling. Take a break, and you can come back feeling refreshed, and your productivity will spike.
As you can see, there are several ways that you can increase your productivity and become a better digital marketer. Consider these tips, and you will find great satisfaction in your life and your job.
How to Boot Your Remote Digital Marketing Team Productivity? 4 Best Practices to Follow
Many employers once in favor of working from office, are now adopting a remote working model to hire and retain top talent and stay ahead of the competition. Digital marketing agencies are one of them. Remote working when coupled with the right technology can work wonders for business performance.
We all know that happy and productive employees have a pivotal role in the success of a company. The absence of proper policies, work processes, and communication can impact the performance of remote teams, thereby affecting business growth.
In this post, we will share a few best practices to ensure the productivity of your remote digital marketing team.
#1. Implement a Remote Work Policy
Lay some ground rules by setting up a remote work policy. Include guidelines for work hours, location, communication expectations, productivity measures, equipment, confidentiality terms, and more.
Working from the comfort of home can cause distractions and dampen employee productivity. Encourage your team to sign up for a desk at a coworking space to avoid these work-from-home distractions and enhance productivity.
Coworking spaces have helped 64% of professionals to complete their tasks on time. This infographic shares more insightful coworking space statistics about the current coworking scenario.
#2. Centralize Team Communication
Proper communication is essential for the success of remote teams. Set up official communication channels to ensure the right message is being shared with the team on time. For example, digital marketing teams can leverage Slack for internal communication and Zoom for organizing meetings.
#3. Share Proper Work-Related Resources
Build a central repository of knowledge for your team and store all the essential information in one place. Include the style guides, workflows, SOPs, policies, login credentials, and more in this online library of resources.
#4. Invest in Virtual Team Bonding
Engage your remote workers by organizing fun team bonding events online. Let the team members speak to each other about their hobbies, interests, culture, and more. Organize some online events where the entire team gets together to play some exciting games, such as quizzes, video charades, trivia, word games, and more.
Wrapping Up
We cannot deny that remote work is good for your digital marketing business. It presents you with an exciting opportunity to hire talented marketers from various parts of the world. Follow the best practices we mentioned in this post to build an amazing and productive remote team.
5 Reasons Why Every Business Needs To Modernize Their Wi-Fi Networks
The Wi-Fi network of a corporation serves as its backbone, although it is frequently given low priority.
Wi-Fi may not seem like a major concern in the larger scheme of things but it is the basis.
Wi-Fi usage on corporate networks is practically standard practise in the great majority of businesses.
Data from Spiceworks shows that 92 percent of businesses give their staff members access to Wi-Fi in the workplace.
Why Does A Workplace Require WIFI?
Wi-Fi technology, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and those businesses that want to be more efficient with all of their resources.
It can be the difference between growth and stagnation phase, in an increasingly competitive industry.
By enhancing corporate mobility, efficiency, and communication between the organization, employees, and consumers, Wi-Fi connectivity has taken the lead in recent years.
- Collaboration
- Promotion to cost-effective network expansion
- Use various devices to access the network.
Here are 5 reasons why every business needs to modernize their WI-FI networks.
1. Significant Boost In Business Productivity
Smartest person in the world would even say to you, to implement Wi-Fi in your office space.
Minutes are important while managing your firm. Collaboration and information sharing is becoming more and more vital in today's fast-paced economy.
The client experience is improved when employees have access to the data they need via a wireless Internet (network) connection.
Thanks to wireless Internet, your workers may move freely between offices for conferences or face-to-face time without losing connection.
This increases overall cost-effectiveness and grants committed workers the flexibility to work where they need to. As a result, workplaces are more flexible than ever.
Employees are now able to operate in a more defined and personal style. Thanks! To the internet technologies they may access from wherever in the office.
2. Effective Employee Communication
Having the Wi-Fi-enabled devices, tools, and technology installed across your office allows workers flexibility, gives your company a competitive edge and improves customer service.
Companies' communication needs evolve as they grow.
You must be able to communicate with staff members quickly and easily, even whether they are working remotely, in other locations, or spending a lot of time traveling.
This process is made easier by the regular release of mobile devices.
The modern office is just as likely to contain laptops, ultrabooks, tablet computers, and smartphones as it is to have a filing cabinet or a wall clock.
The majority of this technology has the ability to reduce expenses, free up time, and open communication channels.
Additionally, it has internet access. You must comprehend how the web may help internal communications within your company if you want to make the most of communications technology.
3. Global Reach
A business strategy known as "Global Reach" aims to improve connectivity between a company and its existing and new clients online.
Through online marketing, the business may get more visitors to their website, where they can offer product details and improved customer support.
Orders can be placed electronically by customers, saving both the company and the client time and expensive long distance phone calls and shipping charges.
The beginning of the digital age has enabled an unparalleled level of market globalisation.
A business strategy known as "Global Reach" aims to improve connectivity between a company and its existing and new clients online.
Over the past few years, firms have been able to expand their e-commerce activities to promote their goods and services more cheaply and effectively thanks to the internet and related technology.
4. Business Automation
Utilizing the Internet at work increases productivity and makes your company more competitive.
Wireless gadgets and cell phones that can send and receive emails at any time of the day, speeds up 24-hour communication.
Businesses rely on the WiFi network as a given in the modern world.
There is WiFi everywhere, and it can be used for everything from monitoring manufacturing equipment to talking with distant offices.
Automation in business can eventually result in increases in process, workflow, and worker productivity.
The Internet has laid the groundwork for automated services, and a fast connection enables you to speed up your business operations.
Accounting can link to the national tax authorities and transmit massive amounts of data with ease thanks to specialised software and quick upload speeds.
5. Enhanced Communication With Security Measures
Many people take advantage of the modern convenience of exchanging data over Wi-Fi every day without giving it a second thought—until the connection is lost.
Even though this technology is really helpful, there are risks associated with it.
For instance, adjacent snoops can collect Wi-Fi packets carrying critical information over the air, just like they can with any radio signal, which is all too plausible if sufficient security measures aren't in place.
At the moment, WPA2, which has been around since 2004, is the security standard for Wi-Fi that is most extensively utilised.
However, several businesses continue to employ the utterly unsecure predecessors WEP and WPA.
WPA2 security, however, can be thwarted, as evidenced by the major flaw KRACK (Key Reinstallation Attack) that was identified in 2017.
KRACK and a few other vulnerabilities are fixed by the most recent standard WPA3, which is currently being adopted by the industry and is built into Wi-Fi 6.
Internet is Cost-Effective
The Internet is a very flexible form of communication. It is affordable, generally applicable, and simple to learn.
The cost of Internet service and the hardware needed to access the Internet, like a computer, is the main expense associated with the adoption of the Internet in business.
These costs are currently rather small, and it's likely that they would be incurred with or without company-wide Internet access.
To Wrap It Up !
Thanks to technological improvements that enable digital phone systems, telecommuting, and connected smart gadgets, more organisations are embracing wireless.
Every company needs to maintain a quick, dependable network in order to keep staff members employed and clients happy.
Jesus Jackson is a freelance content writer and enthusiastic blogger. He loves to share his thoughts, ideas, and experience with blogging. Jesus Jackson is associated with- toppreference, Okeymagazine, moneyoutlined, lawyersinventory, theglobalmagazine, 7bestthings, getmeseen, lawyersnote, exclusiverights, voiceofaction, techrab, newsstoner, newsprofy, worldtech24, techmagnews .
6 Healthy Habits Digital Marketing Employees Should Develop
Any profession will require you to develop certain habits and skills. Digital marketing is no different. Here are six healthy habits digital marketing employees should develop.
1. Keep Your Spreadsheets Organized
Keeping your spreadsheets organized will help you keep the rest of your work organized. If you have a cluttered or poorly organized spreadsheet, you run the risk of losing track of various data points and records, being unable to develop clean charts or not having a good basis of data from which to develop marketing campaigns. Make sure you remove duplicate rows and columns, develop cohesive standards for your spreadsheet organization and update data as soon as it changes.
2. Focus on Bigger Tasks First
When you break down the tasks you need to do during your day or for a certain project, a good way to organize tasks is to start with the bigger ones and work your way down to the smaller ones. This is because the larger, more extensive tasks typically also require more brainpower, which you're more likely to have in the morning. They may also be broader, so you can get the broad strokes of your project completed first and then fill in the smaller details later.
3. Simplify Messaging
Digital marketing has many things in common with traditional marketing, but in terms of messaging the two disciplines are incredibly different. When you market digitally, you need to keep your messaging as simple and straightforward as possible because your audience is potentially much wider than that of a traditional marketing campaign. Focus on industry buzzwords and keywords, make sure you explain things simply and don't inundate your audience with too much information. If you do these things, your customers will be more likely to absorb and comprehend your ad in the fast-paced information-heavy digital world.
4. Keep an Eye on Current Trends
Current trends are vital to digital marketing work. If you don't understand them, you're unlikely to craft campaigns that reach your target customers and create organic interest and connections. You need to be able to learn about the current trends, understand how and why they work, translate them into content that works for your company or products and be prepared to change your marketing as trends change. The best way to utilize trends is to choose ones that best fit your company's brand and needs, rather than trying out all trends whether they make sense for your company or not.
5. Create a Rapport with Your Customers
Digital marketing makes it easier than ever before to have a direct relationship with your customers, so you should use that to your advantage. Try to create a good rapport and relationship with your customers. Connect with them on social media. Try to generate value by getting to know your customers' wants and needs and then incorporating those things into your products and marketing rather than selling what you think your customers need. Creating and maintaining relationships help you develop a bond of trust with your customers which, in turn, increases loyalty.
6. Organize Your Schedule in Blocks
One of the best things you can do to organize your schedule is to create blocks of time for each task you need to do throughout a given day. For example, you can schedule an hour each day for responding to emails and phone calls, then a couple of hours for meetings and leave the rest of your day open for working on various projects. Try not to deviate to another task in the middle of one of these blocks, unless the deviation is urgent. Instead, use the blocks to ensure all your focus is on the task at hand and you can have adequate time to work on it each day.
These healthy habits will benefit all digital marketers. They can also help people who work in traditional marketing. Make sure you spend time honing your skills and solidifying your healthy habits so you can call on them whenever you need them.
Digital Marketing Today: Corporate Values Are Crucial
All businesses need to reach out to their target market for visibility. Nowadays, digital marketing is the best way to do so because people spend more time online than on any other media. Digital marketing is essential for brand management or ensuring that your brand is recognizable in the crowded market and that consumers associate it with positivity. That creates brand loyalty.
Several studies show that consumers now support brands that embody their values. It is, therefore, crucial for companies to align with important social and environmental matters.
Consumers Choose Brands that Align with Their Values
According to the fourth edition of the State of the Connected Customer by Salesforce from a survey conducted from July 16 to August 18, 2020, across 27 countries worldwide, 56 percent of consumers evaluate the role of companies in society and hold them to a higher standard, and 55 percent think they have the power to influence change in these companies. Most or 89 percent want companies to state their values clearly, and 90 percent want companies to demonstrate their values concretely.
Certain behaviors of companies influence consumer purchases. How companies treat their employees during the pandemic is important to 82 percent of consumers. How companies treat customers during the crisis is important to 85 percent; their environmental practices are important to 78 percent. Their actions on economic injustice are important to 76 percent, while their actions on racial injustice are important to 73 percent. Companies' community involvements are important to 72 percent.
Consumers want companies to reduce their carbon emissions and use technology ethically, even if it means reducing profits. Companies must advocate for human and civil rights and hire a diverse workforce. When the company's values do not align with theirs, 61 percent stopped buying from that company, and 59 percent switched to a different brand.
Companies Must Show Their Commitments Through Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is now superior to all other forms of marketing. According to data from Statista, as of 2020, Americans spent an average of 470 minutes daily on digital media against 347 minutes in traditional media. The forecast is for digital media usage to increase while traditional media usage decreases. The prediction is that Americans will spend an average of 477 minutes daily on digital media for the whole of 2021 and an average of 482 minutes daily for the whole of 2022. In contrast, they will spend only an average of 330 minutes daily on traditional media in 2021 and 318 minutes daily in 2022.
Another study by Statista shows that as of January 2021, there were 298.8 million active internet users in the United States, with 269.5 million of them accessing the internet on mobile gadgets. Among all internet users in the U.S., 240 million were active on social media, and 233.3 million accessed social media through their mobile gadgets.
According to the Salesforce survey, as of 2020, 88 percent of consumers expect an acceleration of digital initiatives among companies because of the pandemic, with 68 percent stating that they spend more time engaging with brands online than offline. Even after the pandemic, 58 percent of individual consumers will be doing more online shopping than before. This is even higher among business buyers as 80 percent of them expect to do more business online.
Consumers stated that they use an average of nine channels when browsing products, seeking advice, and making purchases. Millennials use more than the average number of channels. The top ten channels preferred by consumers are e-mail, mobile phones, person-to-person engagement, online chats, mobile apps, messenger apps, short media services (SMS) or texting, online portals, video chats, and social media.
This brings to light the importance of omnichannel engagement. Digital marketing efforts of companies must follow consumers across all these channels with a unified messaging that is tweaked according to the design of the channel. When marketing products, digital marketers must ensure that the brand's social and environmental values are highlighted. Concrete actions by the company, such as financial donations to causes through nonprofit organizations and participation in civil society activities, must be shared, preferably with videos.
Acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) is high, with 60 percent of consumers across generations open to its usage to improve their digital experiences. However, there is a caveat because 65 percent expressed concern over unethical usage of AI, and 54 percent expressed concern about AI bias. Companies can assuage these concerns by using digital marketing campaigns to show their transparency in AI usage. They must also prove that they are taking all measures to ensure consumers' data safety and privacy.
Your Brand Must Evolve with Society
The pandemic has forever changed the mindset and behavior of consumers, and there is no turning back. They now hold tight to their values, which permeates their entire lifestyle, including their purchasing behavior. Companies must likewise commit to the same social and environmental values and act according to these.
7 Useful Apps To Improve Your Business Marketing
Being a digital marketer isn’t easy. It involves a lot of planning, a lot of knowledge, and a lot of prioritizing. With so many competing demands, there’s no doubt that you could use some help. Luckily, in this day and age, no matter what your needs are, there’s probably an app to help you meet them. There is essentially not a single aspect of digital marketing that can’t be helped by a mobile app. They can not only make you more efficient in your day-to-day work, but also help you strategize, collect and analyze data, and stay connected with your team. Here are 7 of the best available for download right now.
Hootsuite
There’s no doubt that social media has become a major plank of any marketing strategy. It can be time-consuming, though. You need to post on several different accounts using different apps or web-based access. For each one, you may need to slightly alter the content to make sure that is appropriate for that channel. It’s complicated, and might involve a lot of going back and forth between accounts.
That’s where Hootsuite comes in. With this app, you can post to your major social media accounts without having to switch between them. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter, you can schedule your posts and make sure they release at the most opportune times. With the paid version, you can have multiple team members access the platform, and the ability to schedule more posts than the free version.
Canva
Let’s face it, we are not all graphic designers. If you are part of a small team that doesn’t employ one, then Canva can be a life saver. It offers templates for posting to social media, creating pamphlets, or pretty much any type of marketing materials. You can customize everything to your colors and insert your logos and images.
One of the best aspects of Canva is the ability to have the proper sizes for social media posts. It clearly marks which templates are appropriate for FB header images, and which are for posting, for example. That way you don’t have to employ the “try and find out” method when you are posting. You will know that your images will fit and view properly every time. Sure, you could hire a graphic designer, but why bother when you have Canva?
MessageMedia
When it comes to marketing, there is nothing more valuable than a method that reaches as many people as you want in an instant with a plus 90% open rate. That is just what SMS marketing offers. Text messages are perfect for disseminating information to a large group of people. However, you certainly don’t want to sit down and type everyone’s mobile number into your phone.
With MessageMedia you can get help with all things SMS. You can send out to your entire distribution list or just an individual if you want. You can create contact groups and schedules as well. All this is done through the app so that you don’t have to type in numbers, and you can send out information quickly right from your phone.
Snapseed
Marketers need to have professional-looking images and photos in their content. However, not all of us have the photography skills to do that naturally. Not only that, but marketers also don't’ tend to have the time to spend editing photos to make them look slicker. Even with a high-quality camera, it takes training, talent, and practise to make every photo look professional.
Snapseed is regarded by many as the best photo editing software for PC, as it allows users to quickly edit photos to get them ready for posting and displaying. It goes well beyond the standard photo editor options on your smartphone so you can add details, edit unwanted sections, and place filters if needed. This app won’t make you a professional photographer or editor, but you might fool people into thinking you are.
Yelp
Managing Yelp pages has become a must for any digital marketer. There is a lot to manage, from visits to your profile, to customer leads and reviews. Plus, for SEO it is always good to make sure that your information is up to date at all times. With the Yelp app, you can do all of this quickly and easily directly from the app. You can get notifications for reviews and contacts, answer questions and concerns, and manage your profile information and photos.
Quik
Video is the most important type of content for today’s social media. It is the most engaging, the most easily digested, and it disseminates information in an efficient way. Marketers need to be producing video and putting it out into the world. However, if you don’t have a background with it, video can be hard. Recording is one thing, but editing is something else completely.
With Quik, you can learn to quickly edit videos to get them up on your channels. There’s no need to stitch clips together, as you can easily blend them, add music, and apply filters. If you are looking to make recap videos for events or product launches, or just need to get something out in a hurry, Quik will let you do that.
Bitly
You need to put links in your content, but sometimes text links are long and ungainly. With Bitly, you can shorten those links and even brand them. This means that you will get more clicks, and you can better track the terms that are leading to those clicks. Bitly offers excellent analytics so that you know what is engaging your audience.
You can easily connect your social channels and your SMS efforts, and everything will display in one dashboard for you. You can add team members to the account as well so that everyone can stay connected and have access to click data and engagement metrics.
There’s no need for a marketer to spend valuable time on things that can be handled easily. It’s already difficult enough to plan out individual days and large campaigns. By using marketing apps, you can be more efficient with your time and improve your return on investment for everything you do.
Here’s 5 Ways To Increase The Productivity Of Your Business Today
Increasing the level of productivity in your business is no easy task. In fact, it can require you to change the way your company manages its targets, internal communication, teamwork, and many other aspects.
However, this is not to say it is complex. Using simple, implementable strategies, you can improve productivity within your business and even improve your own efficiency when you’re in the office.
Here are seven ways to increase the productivity of your business today:
Organize your content and data in one single place
If you only can only follow one productivity strategy, this should be it. You need to keep your company data on one centralized smart platform. This will allow staff members to access the content relevant to them wherever they are, on any device. By using software like Microsoft Sharepoint, you can keep track of everything from human resources to the sales team. Your staff can keep everything from their company healthcare benefits to their daily workload on one platform, too, dramatically reducing the amount of administration and time spent searching for relevant documents.
Get your employees to work to their strengths with remote working
While it is important to maintain a level of discipline in the workplace in order - especially when you’re trying to increase your business productivity levels - the days of the traditional workplace are quickly fading. Thanks to the rise of remote calling apps and the recently enforced remote working across the world, people are becoming used to working from home or from wherever suits them best.
While this is not ideal for all businesses, there are countless use cases. For instance, if you run a sales company, this allows your salespeople to take their work with them when they travel to meet clients, which will allow them to get their work done faster.
On another note, many people find themselves more productive working from home alone and have seen their productivity shoot up in an environment free of distracting colleagues, water cooler talk, and a preassigned desk.
It is therefore crucial that, as a business owner, you embrace this trend and use it to your advantage, creating a more productive company as a result.
Introduce a culture of dynamism
The rise in remote working has highlighted another shortcoming with many existing business environments - the lack of dynamism. When you sit at the same desk day in, day out, you can quickly lose focus, with productivity levels the inevitable victim.
While many business owners are more comfortable when they know exactly where their team is at any one time, it can actually make the business suffer as a result. Instead, find innovative ways to inject spontaneity into your daily business routine.
You could, for example, organize regular team building events, forcing staff members to work with colleagues from different departments and getting a change of scenery.
Alternatively, allowing your staff to change their seating position on a routine basis is a great way to mix everyone’s days up and regain focus.
Set clear, achievable targets and stick to them
You can’t achieve increased levels of productivity within your business without setting regular targets and working towards them until they are completed. Yes, this is obvious, but it is all too easy to become distracted and forget the big picture when you’re tackling a problem in depth.
Go one step further by personally explaining company targets to your employees. Explain the rationale behind your ambitious targets, and how you personally are working to achieve them. This will both boost morale and increase the amount of effort and focus your staff put into their work. After all, unless you know why you’re working on a task, you stand no chance of being productive.
Cut down on meeting lengths, phone calls and unsolicited interruptions
This is a strategy you can use yourself on a daily basis to reduce levels of distraction and skyrocket your efficiency. This is because, as a business owner, you are inundated with calls, emails, texts, and social media messages. This is not to mention the regular interruptions by assistants, staff members, and pre-booked meetings that last far longer than necessary.
This problem can be solved with a simple but tricky to implement strategy.
Inform everyone who needs your attention on a regular basis during work hours - your colleagues, business associates, board members, and external suppliers, for example - that you are not immediately contactable. Point them towards your assistant. If it is a business threatening emergency, she can interrupt you, but this is very rare.
Instead, schedule calls at designated times with preassigned lengths in order to work your routine around it. This will maximize your daily work output and lift overall business productivity as a result.
Productivity Tools to Improve Efficiency
Nearly everyone feels like they don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done that they want to do. That feeling has only been amplified this year as more and more has gotten dumped on our plates with the pandemic. We are working from home and working more hours. We are helping our kids with school a lot of the time, too, or even watching them during work hours if childcare has shut down. And we’re doing all that while worrying about our health and the health of the people we all love.
That means that our productivity has taken a hit.
For those running small businesses, the impact on productivity may even be worse. They have to think about all of the tasks that they might have done in person and figure out how to get them done online. Or, if they are in person, they need to figure out how to remain safe. So, they are looking for all the tools they can find in order to squeeze out every ounce of efficiency from every second of every day. Luckily, technology offers some untapped potential that may be helpful to keep moving and end up with this experience and everything else stronger.
For starters, the movement to more and more of our work online has meant figuring out all the snags that impact collaboration is particularly important. If you have to work on a document but your teams do as well, how do you do it so that everyone’s thoughts and changes are incorporated, and comments can be tracked? There are some useful collaboration tools that can help. And the online focus has led more and more people to complete sales or negotiate deals through technology versus in person. That’s fine but there are nuts and bolts – things like signatures – that have to be taken care of now and done so in a safe, reliable manner. Contract signing and management software can help.
What other tools should you turn to in your quest to manage productivity in an online world? This graphic has some ideas that can help.
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