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According to Smart Insights, 45 percent of companies don’t have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy; 17 percent of companies have a digital marketing strategy in place, but it’s separate from their marketing plan.
This means 62 percent of companies are unprepared.
They don’t have the strategy, tactics, or tools they need to market their business well. The bad news is that marketers waste 37 to 95 percent of their marketing budget. This is really common, but it doesn’t have to be; if you have the right digital marketing strategy in place, growing your business is easier.
If you’re feeling unprepared, don’t worry.
Today we’re going to cover the important ins and outs of creating a winning digital marketing strategy.
Your digital marketing strategy gives your company direction. With a plan in place, you’ll have the details you need to help your company grow consistently. Your digital strategy document should:
Why go to all the trouble?
Is it worth the time to create a strategy document? CoSchedule’s State of Marketing Strategy Report found winning marketers:
It seems too good to be true, but it’s actually the reality.
The more time you spend thinking about your goals, getting to know your audience and planning how you’ll approach your digital marketing, the more likely you are to achieve success.
I’ve already given you a sneak peek, did you catch it?
To be successful, your digital marketing strategy should focus on four specific areas.
You’ll want to break each of these areas down in enough detail so you (and your team) can work with each of these areas properly. With each of these areas, you should have a pretty clear idea about:
Each of these points needs to be defined clearly for the four steps areas above.
Let’s take a closer look at these four areas and break things down a bit more clearly.
This step is all about deciding what you want..
Planning your marketing strategy begins with setting quantitative and qualitative goals; you’ll also want to set KPIs. These goals are sort of like the railroad tracks that keep your digital marketing strategy on the right track.
What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative goals?
G2 has a really helpful way of defining these, so I’m going to paraphrase their definition here.
Quantitative goals can be counted, measured, or displayed using numbers. Goals like increasing monthly recurring revenue by 15 percent or boosting your conversion rate by 3 percent are good examples of quantitative goals. Qualitative goals are abstract, descriptive, or conceptual — these goals are usually tied to the question “why.” Goals like increasing customer trust or improving brand reputation are examples of qualitative goals. They’re difficult to measure but just as important.
You’ll want to make sure that your goals are:
Your goals are important, but they’re difficult to achieve if you don’t have a step-by-step plan to follow. That’s where milestones come in; milestones are tactical. They’re great because you can use them to move towards your goals quickly.
What about KPIs?
Scoro has a list of 136 KPIs you can use to jumpstart your planning. I’ve listed a few of the more common examples you can use below.
Focus is really important.
It’ll be tough to focus on lots of metrics at once. Instead, you’ll want to focus your attention on a small number of really meaningful KPIs and metrics.
Which ones are meaningful?
They’re the KPIs that have the biggest impact on your company, the ones that generate consistent returns or a large amount of cash for your company. You’re looking for the 20 percent of KPIs and metrics that produce 80 percent of your results.
That’s a pretty easy place to start.
If you’re not sure which KPIs you should focus on, start with the common KPIs and metrics that have a direct impact on your business. These are typically metrics that focus on traffic, conversions, and optimization.
You know what your goals and objectives are. Now you need to figure the same things out for your customer. This step requires some upfront research, but the success (or failure) of your digital marketing strategy starts here.
Think about it.
If you find the right customers, the people are excited to buy your product, then selling is a whole lot easier. It’s especially easier if you can understand what they want and how you can go about selling to them. So to do that, you’ll need information on your customer’s demographics and psychographics.
What are you trying to figure out?
Remember the research I shared earlier?
Elite marketers study their audience, conducting audience research once or more per month. This step is important because it gives you the instructions you need to create a winning digital marketing strategy. Audience research shows you how to persuade your customers.
This isn’t rocket science.
But it requires more effort than most companies are willing to give.
Here’s why.
Most companies assume they already know their customers. They believe they know what their customers want and the best ways to approach them.
They may be right.
But the data they have on their customers changes often. Consistent research is the only way to stay on top of what your customers actually want. At this point, you’re ready for step three.
If you’ve done your homework, you should have the building blocks you need to create a well defined digital marketing strategy. You should be able to identify the marketing channels that will work best for your business. There are lots of digital marketing channels you can choose from.
You can focus on:
In fact, there are more than 51 different marketing channels you can use to promote your business. Which one are you supposed to use?
There are a few ways you can approach this.
Start by testing the channels where there’s more overlap.
If your customers use popular channels like Google search or Facebook, those are great places to start. If you’re looking for a channel that gives you maximum control and works well with other channels (i.e., email), you can start there.
Don’t forget to test.
Testing shows you what works. The tools you use for testing tend to be consistent with the channel (e.g., email comes with analytics. Google offers Google Analytics, etc.). Typically, you can branch out once you’ve identified the marketing channels that perform best for your business.
You’re looking for stability.
You want to get two to three channels working well before you decide to add more. Once you’ve identified your channels, use the data you’ve collected in step two to create the kind of marketing content that fits well with the customers you’ve identified.
Your content should:
Here’s another important detail. The research you’ve done should help you create a strong value proposition that answers the “why me?” question. Your value proposition is basically a promise. It’s the most important part of your marketing copy.
It gives your customers a persuasive reason to do business with you.
Your value proposition sets you apart from the competition. It gives your business an unfair advantage, and it gives you the opening you need to attract more customers, increase customer loyalty, command higher prices, and beat your competitors.
Here’s a detailed breakdown if you need help creating your own value proposition.
If you’ve followed the steps I’ve mentioned above, you should have the information you need to create amazing content that draws customers in.
If you can’t measure your marketing, you can’t improve them. Part of the reason marketers waste 37 to 95 percent of their marketing budget is the lack of measurement. Forrester’s research stated that between 60 – 73 percent of a company’s analytics data goes unused.
Companies don’t know how to work with their data.
The other three steps aren’t all that helpful if you can’t see your marketing results. If you’re going to create a successful digital marketing strategy, you’ll need a plan that helps you to capture, report, and analyze the data.
You’ll need analysts who can use your data to solve problems.
That’s part of the problem.
Most companies don’t have the people or processes in place to handle this. This is why it’s so important for businesses to get help. It’s too much for most companies to handle on their own — small, medium, and large companies all struggle with these issues.
If this is the case for your organization, it may be a good idea to get help from an agency.
You should be able to plan, implement, and optimize your digital marketing strategy. If you can’t, it’s a good idea to get help with all or part of the process.
Almost half of companies don’t have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy in place. A smaller segment of respondents haven’t connected their strategy and their marketing. Most companies are unprepared; they’re not ready to handle the requirements that come with creating their digital marketing strategy.
If you’re feeling unprepared, don’t worry; use the information we’ve discussed as a guide. If you’re aware of the ins and outs of planning, you can create a winning digital marketing strategy in four easy steps.
The post How to Develop a Winning Digital Marketing Strategy in 4 Easy Steps appeared first on Neil Patel.
SEEKING WORK | Europe | Remote | Javascript Web Developer (Focus on Frontend)
Strongest skills:
Javascript/ES6, Reactjs, Nextjs, and all the typical React stacks (Jest Testing, storybook, Webpack, Contentful as CMS, Nodejs API, Hapijs and Expressjs).
Extra: UI/UX background, WordPress, generalist, open source, early stage startup,
Extensive Remote experience with different timezones.
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If you love to cook or you love to eat but know you can do better than the restaurants and cafés in your area, you might be dreaming about opening your own restaurant. But to grow a restaurant, you are going to need business capital. In a bad economy, that means a recession business loan for a restaurant.
Like all businesses, getting started with a restaurant is probably going to mean you will need to borrow capital. Often, that will be a business loan.
The number of US financial institutions and also thrifts has been decreasing slowly for 25 years. This is from consolidation in the marketplace as well as deregulation in the 1990s, reducing obstacles to interstate banking. See: https://www.fundera.com/blog/happened-americas-small-businesses-financial-crisis-six-years-start-crisis-look-back-10-charts
Assets focused in ever‐larger banks is troublesome for small business owners. Big banks are a lot less likely to make small loans. Economic downturns suggest financial institutions come to be much more mindful with financing. The good news is, business credit does not rely on banks.
Many credit line varieties that most business owners imagine come from conventional banks and conventional banks use SBA loans as their key loan product for small business owners. This is because SBA assures as much as 90% of the loan in the case of default. These credit lines are the most challenging to get approval for because you must qualify with SBA and the bank.
There are two fundamental sorts of SBA loans you can commonly get. One kind is CAPLines. There are in fact 4 types of CAPLines that can work for your business.
You can also secure a lesser loan amount more quickly using the SBA Express program. A lot of these programs offer BOTH loans and revolving lines of credit.
From the SBA … “CAPLines is the umbrella program under which SBA helps business owners meet short-term and cyclical working capital needs”. Loan amounts are offered right up to $5 million. Loan qualification prerequisites are the same as with other SBA programs.
This one advances against anticipated inventory and accounts receivables. It was created in order to help seasonal businesses. Loan or revolving are on offer.
This one finances the direct labor and material costs of performing assignable contracts. Loan or revolving kinds are available.
This one was made for general contractors or builders constructing or renovating industrial or residential buildings. This line is for fund direct labor-and material costs, where the building project acts as the collateral. Loan or revolving types are on offer.
Borrowers must use the loan proceeds for short term working capital/operating needs. If the proceeds are used to acquire fixed assets, lender must refinance the portion of the line used to acquire the fixed asset into an appropriate term facility no later than 90 days after lender discovers the line was used to finance a fixed asset.
You can get approval for right up to $350,000. Interest rates can be different, with SBA enabling banks to charge as much as 6.5% over their base rate. Loans above $25,000 will call for collateral.
To get approval you’ll need great personal and company credit. Plus the SBA states you must not have any blemishes on your report. An acceptable bank score demands you have at least $10,000 in your account over the very last 90 days.
You’ll likewise need a resume showing you have market practical experience and a well put together business plan. You will need three years of business and personal tax returns, and your business returns should show a profit. And, you’ll need a current balance sheet and income statement, therefore showing you have the funds to pay back the loan.
To get approval you’ll need account receivables, but just if you have them. As for the collateral to offset the risk, normally all business assets will serve as collateral, and some personal assets including your home. It’s not unheard of to need collateral equivalent to 50% or more of the loan amount. You also need articles of incorporation, business licenses, and contracts with all third parties, and your lease.
Let’s look at credit lines.
A credit line, or line of credit (LOC), is an agreement between a borrower and a bank or private investor that establishes a maximum loan balance that a borrower can access.
A borrower can access funds from their line of credit anytime, so long as they don’t go beyond the maximum set in the arrangement, and as long as they meet all other requirements of the bank or investor including making on time payments.
Credit lines deliver many unique benefits to borrowers including flexibility. Borrowers can use their line of credit and merely pay interest on what they use, in contrast to loans where they pay interest on the sum total borrowed. Credit lines can be reused, so as you acquire a balance and pay that balance off, you can use that accessible credit again, and again.
Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.
Credit lines are revolving accounts similar to credit cards, and compare to various other types of funding including installment loans. Oftentimes, lines of credit are unsecured, much the same as credit cards are. There are some credit lines which are secured, and for this reason easier to qualify for
Credit lines are the most commonly requested loan type in the business world although they are preferred, authentic credit lines are rare, and tricky to find. Many are also very hard to get approval for calling for good credit, good time in business, and good financials. But there are other credit cards and lines that few people know about that are attainable for startups, bad credit, and even if you have no financials.
Private investors and alternative lenders also offer credit lines. These are less complicated to qualify for than conventional SBA loans. They also demand much less documentation for approval. These alternative SBA credit lines frequently need good personal credit for approval.
Unlike with SBA, many of them don’t call for good bank or business credit approval. Most of these kinds of programs call for two years’ of tax returns. Tax returns need to demonstrate a profit. Rates can vary from 7% or greater and loan amounts range from $25,000 into the millions. Loan amounts are frequently based on the revenues and/or profits on tax returns. At times lenders may ask for other financials such as a profit and loss statement, balance sheets, and income statements.
Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.
Merchant cash advances have quickly become the most popular way to get financing, in large part due to the effortless qualification process. Businesses with $10,000 in earnings can get approval, with the business owner having scores as low as 500.
Some sources have now even begun to offer credit lines that accompany their loans. You must have at least $10,000 in revenue for approval. You should be in business for at least one year, however three years is better. Lenders usually want to see a credit score of 650 or better for approval.
Loan amounts are usually around $20,000. Lenders normally will pull your business credit, so you ought to have some credit already and at times lenders will want to see tax returns.
Rates vary, due to the risk for this program, and there typically aren’t a lot of funding sources who offer it.
You can get financing despite personal credit if you have some sort of stocks or bonds. You can also get approval if you have somebody wishing to use their stocks or bonds as collateral for financing.
Personal credit quality doesn’t matter as there are no consumer credit requirements for approval. You can get approval for as much as 90% of the value of your stocks or bonds. Rates are often lower than 2%, making this one of the lowest rate credit lines you’ll ever see. You can still earn interest as you generally do on your stocks and bonds.
Credit cards ordinarily offer 0% intro rates for up to two years. This is also rather useful for startups in particular. And credit lines let you take out more cash at a more affordable rate than do cards. These are the main two differences which will have an effect on you between credit cards and credit line.
Investopedia even says that “lines of credit are potentially useful hybrids of credit cards.”
Both cards and lines are revolving credit. Credit lines are tougher to get approval for as card approvals are often very quick, many times automated, while line require an in-depth underwriting review. Lines usually offer lower rates, according to Bankrate card rates average 13% while lines average 4%.
The majority of these cards report to the consumer credit reporting agencies. They all require a personal guarantee from you. You can get approval in general for one card at the most as they discontinue approving you when you have two or more inquiries on your report.
Most credit card companies feature business credit cards including Capital One, Chase, and American Express. These have rates similar to consumer rates and limits are also similar.
Some of them report to the consumer reporting agencies, some report to the business bureaus. Approval requirements resemble consumer credit card accounts.
Frequently, when you apply for a credit card you put an inquiry on your consumer report. When other lenders see these, they won’t approve you for more credit for the reason that they do not know how much other new credit you have lately obtained.
So they’ll only approve you if you have less than two inquiries on your report within the most recent six months. Any more will get you refused.
With this form of business financing, you work with a lender who concentrates on securing business credit cards. This is a very rare, very few know about program which few lending sources offer. They can typically get you three to five times the approvals that you can get on your own.
This is because they are familiar with the sources to apply for, the order to apply, and can time their applications so the card issuers won’t reject you for the other card inquiries. Individual approvals frequently range from $2,000 – 50,000.
The end result of their services is that you generally get up to five cards that resemble the credit limits of your maximum limit accounts now. Multiple cards create competition, and this means they will raise your limits, often within 6 months or fewer of first approval.
Approvals can go up to $150,000 per entity such as a corporation. With our hybrid credit line you get three to five business credit cards that report only to the business credit reporting agencies. This is huge, something the majority of lenders don’t offer or advertise. Not only will you get cash, but you build your business credit also so within three to four months, you can then use your new company credit to get even more money.
The lender can also get you low introductory rates, typically 0% for 6-18 months. You’ll then pay normal rates after that, typically 5-21% APR with 20-25% APR for cash advances. And they’ll also get you the very best cards for points. So this means you get the very best rewards.
Like with just about anything, there are significant benefits in teaming up with a source who focuses on this area. The results will be far better than if you attempt to go at it by yourself.
Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.
You must have excellent personal credit now, ideally 685 or higher scores, the same as with all business credit cards. You shouldn’t have any negative credit on your report to get approval. And you must also have open revolving credit on your consumer reports now and you’ll need to have five inquiries or less in the last six months reported.
All lenders in this space charge a 9-15% success based fee and you only pay the charge off of what you secure. Remember, you get a lot of extra advantages and about three to five times more cash in this program than you could get on your own, which is why there’s a fee, the same as all other lending programs.
You can get approval using a guarantor and you can even use various guarantors to get even more money. There are even other cards you can get making use of this very same program but these cards only report to the consumer reporting agencies, not the business reporting agencies. They are consumer credit cards versus business credit cards.
They offer similar benefits such as 0% intro annual percentage rates and five times the amount of approval of a solitary card but they are much easier to get approval for.
You can get approval with a 650 score and seven inquiries (or fewer) in the last six months and you can have a bankruptcy on your credit and other negative items. These are a lot easier to get approval for than unsecured business credit cards.
With all preceding cards above, you ought to have good consumer credit in order to get approval but what happens if your personal credit is not good, and you don’t have a guarantor?
This is when building company makes a great deal of sense even if you have good personal credit, developing your business credit helps you get even more money, and without having a personal guarantee.
Company credit is credit in a company name, in connection with the company’s EIN number, and not the owner’s Social Security Number. When accomplished correctly, you can acquire business credit without a personal credit check and without a personal guarantee. This is something all other cards above can’t deliver.
You can get three types of business credit cards. First is vendor credit, which offers net 30 terms to set up a business credit profile. Then is retail credit, where you will get credit cards with high limits at most stores.
Next is fleet credit. It’s credit to fuel, service, and maintain business vehicles. And then there’s cash credit, which includes Visa, MasterCard, and American Express cards that you can use anywhere. You can obtain these with no credit check or guarantee. Limits are oftentimes $5,000 – $10,000 to get started, and can exceed $50,000.
Your business can get credit cards and financing, if you know where to look. Learn more here and get started toward establishing business credit. Get a recession business loan for a restaurant. And grow a business you can be proud of!
The post Get a Recession Business Loan for a Restaurant appeared first on Credit Suite.
The recession is officially here, and that means finding financing for your business is going to be more challenging than ever. It is possible however. Check out Streetshares recession financing for example.
Funding is a huge obstacle for virtually every small business, especially in a recession. It can seem as if there is almost never enough. This is why having more than one option when it comes to small business funding in a recession is vital. Most assume the first stop is a traditional bank or credit union. That isn’t always possible however. Sometimes you need to research alternative options. This is exactly what Streetshares recession financing is.
Traditional lenders rely heavily on personal credit scores and are not set up to specifically help small businesses thrive. There are some non-traditional lenders that, while still acknowledging risk reduction is essential, know small businesses are a different breed needing special help.
Because of this, they are willing to take other factors into consideration rather than relying so heavily on the personal credit. Factors such as business credit, time in business, annual business revenue, and more can come into play.
Is Streetshares one of those companies? In some ways yes, it is. In other ways, not really.
Find out why so many companies are using our proven methods to improve their business credit scores, even during a recession.
Streetshares is an online small business funding service offering much more than traditional loans. It all began in 2013 when Mark Rockefeller and Mickey Konson both agreed a small business financing solution for everyday small business owners was necessary. The idea for Streetshares was born.
The idea was to create a lender which would offer small business solutions for veterans and their communities. Today, Streetshares offers financial products to all types of small businesses. While you do not have to have military or veteran affiliation to take advantage of these products, they do maintain their dedication to their military and veteran roots.
Streetshares offers a variety of recession financing products with fast application processes and funds deposited almost immediately. There is never a prepay penalty, and the credit check is a soft one, so there is not an impact on your credit score for applying. This is a huge plus when it comes to financing during a recession.
Term Loans– These are lump sum, traditional style loans. They run from $2,000 to $100,000 with terms from 3 to 36 months.
Patriot Express Line of Credit– A revolving line of credit for amounts between $5,000 and $100,000. You draw only what you need, when you need it, and only pay interest on what you used. Terms run from 3 to 36 months.
Contract Financing– An advance on contract invoices. You can receive up to 90% of the total of unpaid invoices on a contract, and Streetshares will collect from the contractor. The beauty of this is you get your cash right away, without having to wait for customers to pay their invoices.
Factoring– Similar to contract financing, accounts receivable factoring allows you to collect a portion of your receivables from Streetshares, while they collect the total amount from those who owe you. This allows you to receive your funds immediately without having to worry about collections.
Our comprehensive Streetshares review revealed that this is a flexible product rather an a one-size fits all. The company lets the borrower determine how many and which invoices to factor in the way best suiting their needs. The business does not have to factor all invoices.
You may be wondering how your credit score will react when you apply for a loan. With most lenders, you credit score can drop some due to the credit check made by the lender. However, while we were doing our Streetshares review, we learned they do a soft pull when they check your credit score, so your credit isn’t affected at all by the application.
Find out why so many companies are using our proven methods to improve their business credit scores, even during a recession.
They deduct a set amount from your bank account weekly, so repayment is easy peasy. They also do not have a prepayment penalty, so if you want to pay ahead, you can totally do that.
Veterans Business Bonds– These bonds pay a flat 5% interest rate with as little as $25 to start. You can withdraw from the bond in the first year with a 1% fee, and after one year can access your funds at any time without a fee.
Streetshares Pro Investing– If you choose, you can let the Streetshares pros build a portfolio that will help you reach your financial goals.
Online application for Street Shares recession financing is quick and easy. If you want or need personal help, you can call and speak with a qualified professional who will walk you through the process. Approval typically comes the same day as application, and funds can be in your account within 3 days.
The basic loan pre-approval qualification requirements are:
When you apply, you will need to have the following information ready:
In some cases, financial statements may also be required for Streetshares recession financing. These would include the Profit and Loss statement, the Balance Sheet, and other information as requested. If you use QuickBooks Online, their system can review your financial information directly from there, making the process even faster!
Streetshares changed how they accounted for closing costs mid-2018. Previously, these fees came from funds before they went into the borrower’s account.
The new policy allows for the disbursal of all funds to the borrower, who is then allowed to either roll closing costs into the payment, or pay them back immediately. Streetshares says they made this change to allow borrowers to receive all their funds and have more control over how they used the money based on the needs of their individual business. This is a huge plus for Streetshares recession financing.
There are a few exceptional benefits to being a Streetshares member.
Members of Streetshares enjoy discounts at various retailers. These include but are not limited to discounts on bookkeeping services, services offered by Amazon, and combat attire. In a recession, every penny counts, right?
When it comes to Streetshares recession financing, they are serious about offering the best deals and rates when it comes to small business funding. In an effort to do just that, they guarantee they will beat or match a competitor’s offer, or give you a $100 gift card. Here are the details:
This only applies to online lenders. These are defined as lenders that:
They must also, of course, provide small business lines of credit or loans as part of their normal operations.
After reviewing your offer, Streetshares will generate an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for the costs of your Streetshares offer in an effort to give you a fair comparison. They will then offer lower fees, a lower interest rate, or make other changes to their offer to beat or match that of the competitor.
Find out why so many companies are using our proven methods to improve their business credit scores, even during a recession.
If they, for some reason, cannot beat or match the offer, they will give you a $100 Amazon gift card.
We would be remiss if we didn’t talk about the Streetshares Foundation along with Streetshares recession financing. The foundation’s mission is to encourage and support veteran small business owners. In keeping with this, they present a grant to 3 veteran-owned businesses each year.
There are three prizes as follows:
To apply, a business must meet the following requirements:
The foundation will choose 5 to 10 finalists based on the social impact, business idea, how they will use award funds and the social impact of that use, fit of the product market, and the history of the team and the company.
The final selection process is one of the best parts. Once the finalists are set, they post a list on the website and the public votes on which businesses will receive prizes!
To gain approval for Streetshares recession financing, you need to have “reasonable” credit. It took a little digging around, but it turns out they define reasonable credit as a credit score over 650.
There are some steps you can take to improve your score. First, pay your bills on time, every time. You also need to take a look at your credit report. You can do this by obtaining a free copy. Get one annually at no cost.
Review it with a fine-toothed comb. It is even more important to do this during a recession. If you find mistakes, have them corrected. Do this by submitting the detailed request in writing, with back up documentation of the correct information. Never send originals of backup. Always make copies.
You can also ask those that are not required to report payments to credit agencies to do so. A couple of examples include landlords and utilities. If you are making your payments to them on time, you can ask them to report those payments.
They may say no. It can’t hurt to ask though. If they choose to do so, it could improve your score much faster.
You really can’t talk about a lending company without checking out their profile on the Better Business Bureau. It’s pretty important when considering Streetshares recession financing. As it turns out, they have an A+ rating! There are only two complaints on file, and they are each in reference to unwanted solicitation. The company has responded, and in each case the individual complaining was taken off of their list.
There are 3 reviews on file, and all three relate to the investing option. One is a 3-star rating because there seem to be no financials available for the past 4 years. The last ones are when they first filed with the SEC. The reviewer would like to see how the investment money is being used.
Another 3-star rating is from a reviewer who was not impressed either way yet. They note a few good things and a few not so good things and state they need more time to form an opinion.
The last reviewer gives a 5-star rating and says their investing experience has been “as advertised.”
It depends. If you qualify, Streetshares recession financing could be the perfect solution for whatever you need. The company prides itself on offering fast financing options with little hassle. They have lower interest rates than other online lenders. Also, while they offer their products to everyone, they take their original mission to use their business solutions to support businesses run by those in the military and veterans seriously.
The main drawback is they are a newer company. This inevitably causes some kinks, but they seem to be working them out nicely.
(Note: We make every effort to update details regularly but always check the lender’s website for the most up-to-date information on terms, rates, and requirements as these details can change frequently.)
The post How to Rock Out Streetshares Recession Financing appeared first on Credit Suite.
Instagram is known mostly for engagement. But how do you track it? Let’s cover some Instagram analytic tools you need to be using.
Here’s the deal: People love interacting with brands and other individuals. Without engagement, social media doesn’t exist, and engagement matters more on Instagram than most other platforms.
In fact, Instagram’s engagement has been measured anywhere from four to twelve times that of other social channels.
So while you can sell on Instagram, this channel is better known for its benefits at the top of your sales funnel.
The problem with that is your marketing efforts don’t always link back to sales.
That means you’ll have to develop other ways to measure performance to justify all of the time and money spent on Instagram.
So, how do you do it? Luckily, there are a few tools that can help.
I’m going to show you some of the best Instagram analytics tools and why they are worth your time.
Owlmetrics is basically a one-stop-shop for all things Instagram analytics.
This Instagram analytics tool tracks all of your Instagram account’s key data points, such as follower growth, engagement, hashtag activity, competitor accounts, and click-through rates, while giving you real-time insights in an easy-to-use dashboard.
But that’s not all it can do. It offers a wealth of data beyond Instagram Insights’ underwhelming offerings.
When it comes to tracking engagement, everybody knows that it’s the details that matter.
You’ll get insights on things like the most engaging photo and video filters, top tags by interactions, the best time to post, posts that have received the most engagement, sources of the most engagement, and so much more.
Plus, you’ll be able to keep close tabs on your hashtag performance. Hashtag usage is critical to a good Instagram strategy, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on how they’re benefiting (or hurting) your brand.
Altogether, their insights generate a goldmine of information for content strategizing. You’ll get daily data regarding your post engagement rates, top posts by engagement rate, and the best-performing types of posts.
With these real-time details at your disposal, you have all the information you need to post dynamite content every day.
You’ll also know exactly where your followers are spending the most time through click rates. You can find your total clicks, average clicks per post, and your clicks change rate.
Of course, the tool shows you these ultra-useful numbers in easily readable graphs, so if you’re not a numbers person, you’ll still be able to see areas of change.
As you can see from these visuals, there’s no shortage of details for your clicks. You’ll see clicks by language, clicks by browser, clicks that are referred from another source, and clicks by location.
All of this contributes to gaining a better, more complete view of your audience.
And since you need an excellent connection with your audience if you want to make it on Instagram, the Owlmetrics audience insights can help you achieve just that.
It gives you all the details regarding your followers, including their age, gender, language, city of origin, and other basic demographics that paint a clearer picture of your audience to help you form better posts.
You also get definitive numbers that help you set and track goals for follower growth. You’ll see your total followers and the growth of total followers.
There’s also info about the followers you’ve gained and lost, with insights into your top gained followers and top lost followers. This will help you better curate your content to keep your existing followers and attract even more.
One of the most beloved Owlmetrics’ features is its competitor tracking. You can learn a great deal about executing a quality Instagram marketing strategy by spying on the strengths and weaknesses of multiple competitive Instagram accounts.
As you can see, it gives you a detailed overview of the Instagram insights for competitors you choose in numbers and graph form.
These insights are updated in real-time, so you’re getting the most accurate numbers for high-performing businesses to compare to your own.
To top it all off, you can schedule exports of any data to CSV, PPTX, and PDF for easier reporting, not to mention it integrates seamlessly into Slack so all your team members can be on the same page.
Your Instagram insights are clear, detailed, collaborative, and always in real-time.
There’s going to be some analytics overlap in a few of these tools.
Iconosquare kicks off by helping you understand how your posting frequency relates to or drives either new followers or lost ones daily.
Iconosquare also gives you a Buffer-like tool to manage how you post across several different accounts at one time.
That makes it a perfect tool for freelancers or agencies that want to save time when managing multiple clients (or even multiple departments within the same company) from the same dashboard.
Iconosquare will even show you comments and interactions on each post so you can keep the conversation going without ever leaving.
But that’s not even the best part.
My favorite Iconosquare feature is that they offer a library of awesome content that you can pull from at the ready.
You can quickly search the media library and grab beautiful, high-resolution images to use within seconds.
Iconosquare also features an editorial calendar view so that you can schedule posts out ahead of time. It’s easier to manage social media when you plan out content in advance.
Next, you can use it to search for influencers who might help you get the word out about new campaigns and posts.
It will even let you compare influencers based on their own follower and engagement metrics, so you know what you’re dealing with before reaching out to them.
All of this sounds great, right?
But we haven’t even touched on their Instagram analytics yet.
You can measure tags and mentions and get access to in-depth engagement insights.
You can also see how your individual hashtags are performing, view the best days and times to post, and benchmark your engagement rates against the competition.
Iconosquare has a 14-day, no credit-card-required free trial. Play around with the analytics before you commit to it with your cash.
Sprout Social is similar to Iconosquare in that it combines Instagram analytics with content creation and management tools. They also have a powerful Instagram analytics platform.
It has a fully-featured editorial calendar for scheduling new content across multiple social account platforms (including Twitter and Facebook).
Sprout Social is perfect for larger organizations with rigid guidelines, too, because it has a centralized media library to manage with built-in editing tools.
When a piece of content is ready, you can use the push notification tool to update the person responsible for taking the next step (like moving it from draft to preview and from scheduled to published).
Sprout’s tool set includes a social CRM that will funnel conversations into a central ‘smart’ inbox. Gaining access to this feature can help you boost conversions over time.
You can also dive deeper into individual hashtag performance or even locations that have been geotagged. Pay careful attention to how your performance compares across each.
Then you can compile all of this insight into “presentation-ready” reports that can be exported or downloaded by clients and bosses alike.
You can also take a spin with the free trial to preview all of these features before paying a single cent.
Each Instagram analytics tool we’ve looked at so far will give you daily reporting features. You need those metrics to track your progress.
However, Keyhole prides itself on giving customers real-time feedback. For example, you can drop in a specific hashtag, keyword, or account to see what trends are starting to emerge.
Keyhole will also help you figure out which of your own internal trends provide the best results, giving you at-a-glance data into what activities are driving the most follower growth over time.
You can also create a feed that will automatically track your competitor’s Instagram accounts to see what’s working for them versus what’s not (then capitalizing on the former while avoiding the latter).
Plus, you can save time by selecting a few predefined KPIs to track. Keyhole will automatically report on those, organizing your data into an easy-to-read dashboard that you can share with team members.
SquareLovin (spelled like McLovin) combines both aggregate data (like overall views and follower counts) with individual metrics on each post (by ‘scoring’ the overall engagement).
One of my favorite features, though, is the deep dive it gives you into the best-performing times to post.
Like some of the Instagram analytics tools on this list, Keyhole tells you the best time frames for posting based on metrics. However, this tool also explicitly lets you know when you shouldn’t post. This data can be just as valuable, especially if you’re posting all the time.
You might want to constantly test a few of the ‘best’ times to improve performance. However, this way, you’ll always know exactly what hours of the day to avoid like the plague.
Many of the Instagram analytics tools already featured give you information about how your Instagram account or your individual posts perform based on your specific KPIs.
Minter.io takes the next step by providing tactical insight into the content decisions you’re making.
For example, this tool can help you figure out which photo filter performs best among your audience based on a comparison of multiple metrics. Instead of using a single piece of data to decide which filters to use, compare several data points.
I also love how this tool can break down your post engagement into performance rates.
Here’s what I mean.
If you see that you have 1, 10, or even 100 comments on a post, you’re probably pleased with yourself. But when you stop to think about it, there’s not a lot of actionable insight to draw from comment numbers alone.
Let’s say one account has 100 followers, and another has 1,000 followers. Each account gets 10 comments on a single day.
Now, which one is performing better?
The first one, right? That’s because it’s getting a 10% engagement rate on that post instead of only a 1% engagement rate. That makes a huge difference at the end of the day!
Minter.io helps you track these performance metrics over time and create benchmarks to see if your audience’s quality is growing as quickly as the quantity.
All social platforms use internal algorithms to determine how many of your posts will be seen by your audience.
That means that, if your engagement is low, the social network might artificially ‘restrict’ how many of your own followers end up seeing your content on a given day.
That’s why we constantly talk about the importance of engagement in social media.
Minter.io will also help you pinpoint big players who are already part of your audience. It’s a great way to identify potential influencers who might amplify your brand message.
For example, followers are split down into several different ‘buckets,’ including:
Finally, this Instagram analytics tool also gives you insight into how active your followers are on the platform.
For example, you can see how many posts each of your followers push live each day so that you can mimic the frequency you know your followers are comfortable with.
If you’re only posting twice a day, but the bulk of your audience posts four times per day, you can easily start increasing your posting frequency without fearing any backlash from your community.
SocialRank provides detailed audience metrics for both Instagram and Twitter.
Many of the other Instagram analytics tools listed above focus on hard data or your posts’ individual performance metrics.
SocialRank will do some of that, but it’s more concerned with identifying follower patterns so that you can better tailor your content updates to your audience.
That means it will provide details like the most popular words used in your followers’ bios and posts. You can even see the most popular emojis among your target market.
Let’s say you’re trying to find certain types of people, like bloggers or influencers. You can search prospects’ bios based on keywords.
You might also use it for local marketing. Filter your target users by location so you can reach out to potential candidates for local live events and other engagements.
Follower filters help you narrow down the audience into small segments based on some criteria, including the number followers they might have, specific companies, gender, and any combination of those.
Once you pull up a segment, you can then rank or prioritize these people based on their own engagement with you or their own popularity (by follower count).
These filters come in handy when you’re trying to pull precise lists of followers.
For example, let’s say you’re opening a new location in a new city (or simply just visiting a new area for an upcoming conference).
You can overlay these filters together to find people who’re using certain hashtags (such as #craftbeer) and located within a specific city (like San Diego).
Then you can pull these follower lists into an Excel or PDF document for easy sharing with your team.
It’s incredibly powerful but not among the cheaper options listed here. I’d recommend using it for larger influencer or PR campaigns. It works best when you need deep audience insight to build buzz around your latest launch.
Social media is fairly simple at the end of the day.
First, you need to understand what your audience wants and is looking for. Second, you need to give it to them consistently.
In reality, it’s a lot tougher than it sounds.
But not if you’re using the right Instagram analytics tools to tell you what your audience is already interested in, talking about publicly, and reacting online.
Instagram is a powerful marketing tool to reach new audiences, increase your brand visibility, and deepen relationships with the people you already know.
Unfortunately, you can’t always track those things back to new Goal completions inside Google Analytics.
They’re ‘soft’ goals used to move people along your sales funnel instead of ‘hard’ goals that result in a new lead or sale.
That doesn’t mean they’re any less important. It simply means that you need to look for different ways to measure progress and results.
While Instagram’s built-in analytics are helpful, the Instagram analytics tools listed here go far beyond those metrics. You’ll be able to quickly identify your target customers, figure out what they’re interested in, and learn how to better serve them with new stuff.
After all, that’s what Instagram analytics tools are for, anyway. Not long, in-depth reporting that takes you hours to compile. You’re often better off with quick insights so that you can take action, update your marketing campaign, and grow faster.
What are your favorite Instagram analytics tools to track metrics?
The post 7 Instagram Analytics Tools to Grow Your Audience appeared first on Neil Patel.
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Business intelligence software has become a necessary tool in the era of big data.
Your organization collects tons of data about your customers, website, and total health of the company. But without BI software, making sense of that information is nearly impossible. This software exists so you can analyze various data sets and make data-driven decisions.
For example, you can use BI software to predict consumer buying behavior or project the financial impact of an operations decision. Rather than waiting for a quarterly or annual report, you can leverage BI software for real-time data insights.
Due to the complexity of business intelligence software, the vast majority of tools in this category are designed for large organizations, SMBs, and enterprises.
Finding the right BI software for your business can be challenging if you don’t know what to look for. I’ve created a simple buying guide with features, factors, and elements that must be taken into consideration as you’re shopping around. Keep an eye out for the following aspects of BI software as you’re comparing solutions and narrowing down your options:
Remember, the number one reason why companies invest in BI software is to make sense of their data. So it’s only natural that data reporting itself would rank so high on our list of factors to evaluate.
The best BI tools turn complex data into visuals that are easy to understand. You can view this information from real-time dashboards or turn them into individual reports.
Being able to share these reports with decision-makers, stakeholders, clients, and other members of your team is also something that must be considered. Users that generate the reports won’t always be the people making sense of that information. So the reports must be easy enough to comprehend by the final decision-makers.
How are you going to integrate your existing data with your BI solution? Where is that data located?
Don’t make things more confusing for yourself. Make sure you find a business intelligence tool that makes it easy for you to connect with your existing data sources. It’s worth noting that not every business intelligence software on the market will integrate with specific databases. So don’t make assumptions; always double-check that your data is compatible with the software in question.
Your BI software should seamlessly integrate with help desk tools, CRM, ERP software, advertising networks, and more. The best tools should accommodate cross-platform access to every user as well.
Some business intelligence software will improve the way you collect data as well.
Your in-house developers or IT department might want to implement custom application development into your processes. Certain tools will have pre-built analytics apps for you to use. Other solutions offer developers an open API, making things easier for developers to customize apps with unique rules.
Unlike other types of business software on the market today, BI tools are a bit more complex. Getting started isn’t really as simple as clicking “sign up” and being done.
These solutions are highly customizable and built specifically for your business. The deployment process could potentially take weeks, depending on the software you choose. You’ll be faced with options for on-premises deployment, hybrid server deployment, desktop software, and cloud software deployment.
Cloud software is a great option for businesses on a tighter budget. This deployment method makes BI tools more easily accessible to smaller companies. But large organizations with complex data sets and custom needs would likely benefit more from on-site deployment.
Again, BI software can be complicated.
If it’s your first time using this type of software, don’t overwhelm yourself with a solution built for seasoned veterans.
Think about who will be using the software on a day-to-day basis. Is it your IT team? Sales reps? Product managers? Developers and tech-savvy individuals won’t have as steep of a learning curve as the average user.
Just make sure you understand the difference between tools that require advanced technical knowledge and software for beginners. Beginners should avoid software that’s built for data engineers.
Business intelligence software can be segmented into different categories based on its primary functionality or toolset. Here’s a quick overview and explanation of the most popular types of BI software available on the market today.
As the name implies, data visualization software helps you analyze complex data sheets with visual tools. Visual reporting is arguably the best way to make sense of large sets of data. You can turn huge data sets into meaningful reports in a matter of minutes. This makes it much easier for decision-makers to analyze the insights.
Business process management software is a component of business intelligence. These tools are also a core component of operational management and intelligence.
BPM software leverages automation and improves the efficiency of day-to-day processes. You can find business process management functionality within BI software.
OLAP software leverages tools that help analyze data from several sources. These interactive solutions provide a multidimensional view for each user (such as different department heads). OLAP tools will consolidate and aggregate different operational data.
Embedded BI software is exactly what it sounds like. These tools are integrated directly within your applications for process management. They can also be embedded in operations portals, websites, portals, and other types of business-related systems.
ETL (extract, transform, and load) software combines data from different sources into a single dashboard. Then the software will blend these various data sets and make sense of them in terms that the end-user can understand.
You can use data mining tools to identify patterns in your data sets. Data mining software typically leverages tools like machine learning and AI to uncover these patterns for data-driven decision making.
TIBCO Jaspersoft is a developer-friendly business intelligence solution. The software uses embedded BI, which brings the power of business intelligence directly into your company’s applications.
The dashboards are ultimately displayed within the interface of the application to enhance the end-user experience and improve decision-making in real-time.
More than 500,000 developers across different industries use TIBCO Jaspersoft to improve applications for millions of users. Here are some of the other reasons why this BI tool ranks so high on my list:
The tool is a bit unique in the sense that it’s built for developers but enhances the decision making for end users. If you don’t have a technical background, you won’t really be qualified to deploy this on your own.
Try TIBCO Jaspersoft free for 30 days to see if it’s right for your business before buying.
Entrinsik Informer is perfect for large organizations that collect data from multiple sources and need to make sense of that information within different departments.
The software makes it easy for you to connect data from the cloud, spreadsheets, unstructured web data, traditional databases, enterprise applications, and more, and aggregate it within a single source.
It’s a popular choice for manufacturing, insurance, distribution, education, and government organizations. Noteworthy features and highlights of Entrinsik Informer include:
For businesses seeking a fast and simple way to discover intelligent data, this will be a top choice to consider.
Users across your entire organization, such as department managers, business users, industry partners, data scientists, executives, database admins, and more, can all see unique information within Entrinsik Informer based on their needs and role.
Schedule a free demo to learn more.
More than 500,000 companies and 2+ million users rely on Zoho Analytics for business intelligence. It’s trusted by well-known brands like HP, Hyundai, Ikea, and Suzuki.
Compared to other solutions on our list, Zoho Analytics is definitely a bit more user-friendly. If you’re just getting your feet wet with BI software, this tool won’t have as steep of a learning curve.
My favorite part about Zoho Analytics is the visual reporting. Non-technical users can easily navigate within the platform to create and view custom reports that are easy to comprehend. Other features and benefits include:
You can even access your BI reports on the go with the Zoho Analytics app, available on iOS and Android.
Zoho Analytics is the best beginner-friendly BI software on the market today. Plans start at $22 per month, and you can try it free for 15 days.
Sisense is one of the most popular BI tools on the market today. It’s used by developers, business leaders, product managers, and data professionals alike.
The software is trusted by 10,000+ companies, including well-known brands like GE, Verizon, Motorola, Wix, Hewlett Packard, and the Salvation Army.
Sisense has industry-specific solutions in categories like retail, healthcare, government, manufacturing, marketing, supply chain management, and more. They also have solutions that are tailored toward specific departments within your organization.
Noteworthy highlights of Sisense include:
Users of any technical skill level can use Sisense to transform complex data sets into interactive dashboards. Watch the demo and request a free quote to get started.
Chartio is a cloud-based BI solution. It empowers users of varying technical backgrounds to analyze data from business applications.
The tool makes it easy for you to simplify data with charts and dashboards for more informed decision making.
Here’s a closer look at some of the top reasons why your business should consider using Chartio for business intelligence:
Chartio also provides exceptional support. They view themselves as a strategic partner in your success. So they provide you with live training, extensive documentation, and access to experienced data advisors.
Plans start at $40 per user per month. You can try Chartio free for 14 days with a no-obligation trial.
Tableau is an industry leader in the business intelligence space. The software is trusted by individual analysts, small teams, large organizations, and everything in between.
They offer a wide range of BI tools, including Tableau Desktop, Tableau Online, Tableau Server, Tableau CRM, embedded analytics, server management, data management, and more. The list goes on and on.
In addition to the extensive product offerings and use cases, Tableau also has industry-specific solutions, and tools based on different types of technology, making it the most versatile software in this category.
Top features of Tableau include:
Overall, Tableau is robust and feature-rich. The only real downside is that it can be tough to figure out with so many capabilities. But it can still be used by developers and non-technical users alike.
You can try Tableau for free with a 14-day trial.
Business intelligence software has rapidly gained popularity over the past few years. If your organization is ready to take your data analysis to the next level, I strongly suggest investing in a BI solution.
Which business intelligence tool is the best?
Just use the buying guide I outlined at the beginning of this article to help narrow down your options. Then start by exploring the top picks reviewed above.
The post Best Business Intelligence Software appeared first on Neil Patel.