Digital Business Trends With The Times

While businesses are making strides in the dominantly virtual marketplace of today, there is the ongoing struggle of reaching your audience. With businesses popping up left and right, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate your service from competitors. This is the common focus for marketers, there is always so much untapped potential in terms of reach.

To put this in perspective, it is estimated nearly 70% of Americans shopped online in 2021. Another 25% online shop once a month. Does this emphasize the picture enough? Well looking at a larger scale, over two billion people paid for online products and services in 2020, nearly one-third of the Earth's population. Marketers are asking themselves how they can get their services out to this continually growing audience. Keeping in mind that this radical increase in online shopping is due largely to the pandemic closures, this new norm will be here for the long haul.

Now, the fact that online shopping is becoming so sought after, leads businesses to re-examine their sales approach. Businesses are developing websites, social media pages, and other efforts to appeal to this new business model. 

Business owners who are still used to the old-school methods of business must re-evaluate their approach concerning digital trends. Now, for optimistic business owners looking to capitalize in this market, some important considerations should influence your approach. Keep in mind that we are only two years into this new dominantly virtual reality so the potential it has is unforeseen. Nonetheless, it is sure to be on a trajectory that will only continue to improve.

With that being said, let's look at the key drivers in business to keep in mind this year:

Demand For Delivery

Grocery services dominated in the early days of the pandemic, the eCommerce model was a game-changer that appealed fittingly to the restrictions. This also provided ease of access, a doubleheader for grocery chains in increasing their sales which will last beyond the pandemic. Researchers found that 40% of American shoppers would rather not go into a store, and have found the delivery option to be much more comfortable. This statistic is still fresh and based on current trends, is likely to rise.

Many industries are shifting to E-commerce as consumers now think “why don’t I just have it ordered?”. This is going to be the reality of shopping in the future. No matter what you sell, if you can deliver it, do it.

You’re Not The Only Option

Consumers are rapidly becoming less loyal to brands, if one outweighs the other, there is no going back. Data reported in 2021 found that 80% of consumers chose a brand other than their usual choice. The battle of earning your customers is very competitive, with the ease of access to so much e-commerce, it is whoever has the best deal wins. This is best seen with delivery services like UberEats, Doordash, or Skipthedishes where consumers only care about delivery time and options.

Rightfully so, common sense tells us if you are going to pay for something, get the option that is going to serve you the best. The difference now is people don’t go looking for something in just one place. If you like pizza, you have your favorite pizza shop and you let them take care of you. Now you’re at home on UberEats and see 4 new spots you’ve never tried, they have better prices? Ordered. The ease of access to different options broadened the offers consumers see.

Use Content Wisely

For many businesses, marketing teams decide that just posting content will boost their SEO and get them seen. However, the algorithm is not based on quality vs quantity, or vice versa but rather the best of both, and this advice comes directly from Google. Companies must ensure that the content produced is valuable and likely to influence your audience.

Also creating diverse types of content like pictures, videos, blogs, etc. These are much more likely to engage your audience, and posting them frequently can prevent you from getting buried in all the other content being posted. Creating content is an opportunity to grow your business. Each post should involve a lot of thought and be released as frequently as possible.

Conclusion

The Internet is evolving every day, consumers are highly obsessed with new media and there is tremendous opportunity to influence. The pandemic was the shove consumer markets needed to move almost entirely online. While we’ve spent so much time in this new reality, methods continue to develop, and having the upper hand in e-commerce is a slippery slope. However, being open-minded and ready to embrace necessary change will allow your business to thrive in this new climate.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

Guide to Success in The Digital Office

The recent years of remote work have allowed us to become accustomed to our home offices. No longer having to worry about commuting or getting dressed up every day has been a very pleasant change for a lot of us. As a result, many have begun to take control over their work-life balance, realizing they can have much more freedom. A recent study found that the average person now working from home is almost 50% more productive than when working in an office.

Most workers have questioned if offices are necessary any longer, considering how much more productive people are at home. This led to a realization that there are opportunities beyond physical location, which caused workers to take on jobs elsewhere. Most commonly, workers are leaving the expensive city life for less expensive suburban areas. This has led to a movement known as “the great resignation” where many are leaving their jobs to pursue other opportunities.

The movement has created a talent shortage in some areas which have made employers desperate for employees. In the United States, 4.5 million workers quit their jobs from the start of the movement. As a result, companies are becoming desperate and new hires can negotiate much higher salaries.

So, from the perspective of an employer, what can you do to ensure your organization is an enticing environment for job seekers? Those looking for jobs are not in a particular rush, leaving it up to organizations to incentivize what they can offer top talent. Based on the trends we’ve seen, these few key measures can go a long way:

Communicate Salary Expectations

Employers should be straightforward with new members, explaining that there are new policies to compensate for the remote shift. Sit down with higher-ups in the company to develop a realistic plan for salary distribution. Create a strategy for compensation based on skill, experience, location, and whatever else may be appropriate. Tailoring benefits to the location of the employee is also needed. Preplanning for this is a must and will allow you to make adjustments based on the candidates' requirements.

Outline Paths For Career Development

Employees want opportunity, if your organization can demonstrate employees moving up and that there are paths, that will be an upper hand. Positions with advancement opportunities reflect longevity in the organization, and that you invest in your people. Of course, ensure that management is transparent with this at every level. Implementing this will decrease employee turnover and motivate team members to accomplish tasks to the best of their ability. 

Acknowledge Work-Life Balance

Communicating while working remotely is critical to staying connected, and while we might see when others are active, there is still a distance. Working from home does not involve the same model as offices, employees are not working all the way through 9-5. Make sure people feel comfortable letting you know when they’re going offline to tend to personal matters. Something like this will further emphasize the freedom and understanding employers have for workers' new situations.

Conclusion

Workers have become accustomed to this new lifestyle, the flexibility and empowerment that remote work offers is a big driver in where people look for work. If your organization can create an environment that is accommodating to this new reality, you will attract top talent. You will also reduce turnover and reflect your organization's trust for the people you bring in. Accepting this new reality is the first step to building a team ready to take on today’s market. 

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

Keys to Success: Secrets of The Achievers

Everyone has goals or has set them at some point in their life, goals are what inspire us to better ourselves and the people around us. This applies in all aspects of life, business, family, health, whatever it may be it requires us to become a better version of ourselves. This is the foundation of what creates successful entrepreneurs, anyone who has achieved tremendous success has stuck to their goals.

The process of doing this is not an easy one, it is not a straight road with lights to see where you’re going. It is a testing process of your character, your willpower, and the reason you are setting out to achieve your goal. This is why it is best to develop your “why”, you’ve heard that before, but it is the first and most important step. If your goal is to start a business, why are you entering this specific field? What does the cause mean to you? Whose lives will you be impacting? How will you base selection for your team?

Asking yourself these questions and cementing in your reason for wanting to achieve, will prevent you from quitting. So you’ve got your why, now the how will begin to form in your mind, but what can you expect along the way? 

We know that success isn’t handed out to anyone, it takes time and patience to do anything worthwhile. This may seem straightforward but for many, this process is too much. This is why 80% of people fail their new year's resolutions every year. This has a lot more of an impact on our well-being than one may think. How can you respect yourself if you cannot keep the promises you made yourself? It is disheartening but this is the reality of how the pressure of achieving can get to those without staying power.

Now if you’re interested in being the minority of achievers, and want to overcome these perceived limitations, let's look at what you can do on your journey:

Be Specific

Envision exactly what you want, close your eyes and imagine yourself at the moment where you have achieved your goal, and experience the emotions. This is a powerful tool, visualization helps us figure out what we are trying to do. Simply put, you should be able to explain your goal to a 5-year-old. When we set aimless goals for ourselves, we often lose sight of what it is we are trying to achieve, leading us to throw in the towel. Don’t waste this inspiration, use it to design your ideal outcome.

Don’t Fall For Doubt

When we are looking up a mountain we have to climb, thoughts will bubble up in our heads telling us we can’t do it. Oftentimes even people will tell us that we should lower our expectations, or what we want is impossible. Remember this, impossible for them doesn’t mean impossible for you. If your why is strong enough, you will find ways around obstacles, you just have to trust yourself. This can be a bit more difficult if you are working in a team with someone who is feeding doubt to the rest of the members.

To handle this, lead by example, combat their negativity by feeding them with your willingness to take risks, and watch them start to follow your lead.

Work At It

Procrastination can get the best of us, especially with all the technology and media that we have access to. Commonly, we fall into this trap when our goals don’t inspire us enough to be disciplined. This is a common misconception of success, motivation is temporary, it’s easy to get it done when we are at 100%. Real success is based on what you do on the days you're not motivated when you don’t feel like doing the work.

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk weren’t working 9-5 Monday-Friday to become successful. A successful business is not built on the days an entrepreneur feels motivated, it is built by pushing through the hard times, the doubt, and the un-inspired days.

Commit To It

Linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, Emmanuel Acho has a great quote “the reason most people fail is because they give up what they want most for what they want now”. Put so simply yet accurately pinpointing the reason people give up. This is the case when the goal is not important enough to us, and when the why is not clear. Realize that with success comes sacrifices, you will have to give up the things holding you back and replace them with time invested in yourself.

Be Prepared To Fail

So many times, people give up way too soon on their goals because of one failure. It is important to know that creating success is never a hole in one. You must fail, then learn from your failures and keep trying until you get it right. If everyone gave up after a few failures or even a few hundred failures, we would not have a world as advanced as we do now. There would be no technology, we wouldn’t have great athletes or entrepreneurs. Simply put, failure is your best friend, it will make you more resilient and allow you to become better.

Conclusion

When you set out on a journey to become successful, it can be a lonely and difficult process. You will have to believe not only in what you’re doing but also in yourself. There will be times when your beliefs will be tested, you will feel like you want to quit at points. The best things are created out of struggle, overcoming your mind will separate you from the majority of people. It is this willingness to be different, to try, to take risks that will make you the best version of yourself.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!