Author: Complete Controller

Oil is one of the world’s most essential natural resources. Possessing this resource helps a country acquire a powerful standing on the international stage. Even the slightest fluctuation in oil prices significantly impacts a country’s and the world’s economy. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the economic growth of countries, which is hurting the global economy. Due to the world’s uncertain situation today, the Coronavirus outbreak has led to a significant decline in oil prices.

The question is ‘whether this decline in the oil price will lead to further deterioration of the economy or will it serve as an economic booster?’

Before we dive deep into this, we need to understand the major causes of the decline in oil prices. Why? It will help you understand the considered impacts of this natural resource on businesses, including other options. 

Causes of Decline in Oil Prices

Oil is a natural resource that several states refine as a product and then export to other countries. However, there are specific changes that cause significant fluctuations in oil prices.

• OPEC causes oil costs to fluctuate

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is one of the major causes of the decline in oil prices. OPEC consists of 13 world states. It takes care of 80% of the global trade of oil reserves. The member countries produce oil to fulfill all global demands. It causes fluctuations in the costs of this natural resource and hinders economic growth.

In the past, the cost of natural resources started increasing as there was a $100 price for one barrel. But the global pandemic starts tumbling the price of these natural resources. It significantly impacts oil importers’ and exporters’ economic growth.

• Supply and requirements cause oil price reduction.

The product manufacturing process and stock exchange also play a role in the decline in oil prices. The oil prices and the demand for products are inversely related. There is a prominent decrease in oil costs when the supply exceeds the demand.

The excessive supply of oil decreases its price. It benefits states’ economic growth, mainly the exporters of this natural resource.

• Political instability

According to the international trading perspective, the Middle East’s political instability causes oil prices to fluctuate. It happens because countries account for a significant share of the global oil trade.

According to the research, political instability in Iraq and Afghanistan caused a significant decline in oil prices. It means a single oil barrel rate reached $128 due to political unrest and uncertain security.

The Decline in Oil Prices and The Global Economy

At the international level, OPEC or other exporters control all-natural resources’ pricing strategies, especially oil. According to recent research, the decline in oil prices due to COVID-19 affected several countries’ economies, including Russia.

Russia, specifically, faced a decrease of $2 billion in its revenue. Additionally, several countries, including oil-producing ones, encountered low profits due to reduced oil costs. It happened due to a commission reduction of more than half of their rigs.

Impact of Oil Costs on Businesses

The decline in oil prices has a tremendous impact on manufacturing and production companies in the country. It also affects transportation and other business operations because the expenditures interrelate. Businesses need transport and fuel to send their goods to the importers.

So, the decline in oil prices makes transportation as cheap as possible. It opens the doors for other business operations. Hence, there is a significant advancement in economic growth.

Employment and Investment

The decline in oil prices in the world’s economies has a negative and positive impact. How can it be?

The oil exploration and refinery process needs a large team of laborers and other natural resource-extracting experts. They also need affordable transportation and experienced diesel mechanics. So, the significant decline in oil prices helps them to achieve this goal.

However, the decline in oil prices slows natural resources’ drilling and exploration activity. It makes economic activities unconventional. It increases a higher barrel cost than a conventional oil and natural resource source.

Conclusion

There is a negative and positive impact of a decline in oil prices. According to the experts, if this downturn benefits you, you should use it for future business advancements. If it isn’t leveraging you, try to cope with it by creating problem-solving strategies.

The most effective and helpful measure is to sign the future contract as discussed above. Due to this, you can decide on a specific amount for oil shopping, and the price will remain the same whenever you need to use this opportunity.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Social Security is a federal government program that provides financial assistance during retirement, disability, or widowhood. To obtain these benefits, you need to have a Social Security number and have paid taxes during the years you worked.

Retirement Benefits

If you wish to obtain social security benefits when you retire, you must be 67 to receive full benefits and have accumulated 40 credits. For each year that you worked, you will receive four credits. In other words, that person must have worked for ten years, at least. You can receive benefits at age 62. However, the financial assistance you receive will not be complete.

“You can earn up to four credits per year. For example, in 2019, you get a credit for every $1,360 salary or self-employment income. When you have earned $5,440, you will have obtained the four annual credits, “explains the Social Security website.

On the other hand, it does not matter if you move out of the United States. You still have the right to receive the benefits. If you want more information, read this article: Can residents receive Social Security benefits outside the United States?

Disability Benefits

If you suffer from a physical, mental, or emotional illness that does not allow you to work for more than one year, you can apply for disability benefits.

“Normally, we give monthly cash benefits to those who cannot work for more than a year because of a disability. In general, the benefits continue until the person can return to work, “explains the Social Security office.

Benefits For Widowhood or Survivors

If a family member receives Social Security benefits and dies, they must report to Social Security immediately. In this way, the agency can make a report and decide if the immediate family (children or couple) can receive Social Security benefits. You must apply to the United States Social Security Administration (SSA) to receive survivor benefits. On the other hand, if you die, Social Security explains: “The benefits can be paid to your children and your spouse, if they oversee your children, even if you do not have the necessary number of credits. Your family can receive benefits if you have credits for a year and a half of work (6 credits) within three years just before your death. “

Taxes and Social Security Advantages

If spouses have joint income greater than 32,000 dollars or the income of an individual taxpayer is more than 25,000, they will have to pay off taxes on social security advantages. It relies on how much income you earn, but you can’t pay taxes more outstanding than 85% of social security advantages as it will regardless of income. Mostly, disabled people don’t have to pay taxes as a social security benefit. If survivors got such benefits, you would not consider the amount as your taxable income.

You can also receive the benefits if your former partner dies and you were married for ten years; you may receive Social Security benefits.

Under certain circumstances, stepchildren, grandchildren, or adopted children may also receive benefits.

The spouse or surviving child can receive a lump sum payment of $225 if they meet specific requirements, such as living with the worker at the time of death.

If, for some reason, you cannot receive Social Security benefits, you should consider saving money to be financially stable during retirement. Some savings or retirement accounts that you can consider are:

• Synchrony bank

Synchrony Bank offers a savings account with an interest of 2.25%. You do not need a minimum balance to earn interest to open the bill, and you do not have monthly charges. Also, when opening this account, you can obtain a debit card.

• Barclays

Barclays allows you to open a savings account with an interest of 2.20%. The budget does not require a minimum deposit to open it and has no maintenance charges. In the same way, you can make bank transfers without any cost from Barclays to another bank or vice versa.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

There are multiple ways to pay for higher education. You can pay for it through scholarships, savings accounts, jobs, or student loans. However, a student loan is the most common way to pay for college. This way of financing your education leaves you with debt before you begin the career you hope to pursue with your degree.

Though financing your education through student loans can burden you, there are several ways to structure the loan payments to give you peace of mind and not break your budget. When structuring your loan payments, you must consider a few things.

Consider how much you can pay back, how you will pay it before, and a timeline. Here are the four most common payment plans to repay your student loans and get you out of debt.

Standard Reimbursement Plan

The standard reimbursement plan requires fixed payments of at least $ 50 per month for a fixed period. The loan payment term depends on the same amount, but it will not be more than ten years. This plan will probably allow you to pay your loan faster, and it will cost less if you have the money to make the payments.

Extended Reimbursement Plan

The extended reimbursement plan requires fixed payments for a fixed period like the standard reimbursement plan. However, the period can be more extended than the standard plan. Although you must pay at least $50 per month, the payments are usually much lower than you would pay using other plans. The lower payment is because the term to pay is much longer, from 10 to 25 years. Of course, this increases your total interest, but you can make payments easier to deal with.

Step-by-Step Reimbursement Plan

If you currently do not have a lot of income but expect a higher income, this may be the best plan for you. As with the extended plan, the payment term is 10 to 25 years, but there is an additional protection interval because your payments start lower. The minimum monthly payment is only $25 and increases every two years.

Withdrawal Plan Conditioned on Income

Your monthly payments will depend on your income, giving you some security if you do not have a certain income amount. What you pay each year increases or decreases based on what you earn, and no minimum payment is established.

With this plan, the payment term can be up to 25 years. After the deadline, the government will cancel or forgive any unpaid amount, although you must pay the income tax for the amount forgiven.

What can You do if You do Not Have The Money to Repay The Loan?

If you have problems paying your student loans, you can request deferment of your payments for a set period if you are in college, at least at half time; you request permission to be absent from work to be a parent; you enter a public service organization, such as the armed forces or the Peace Corps; Unemployment, a temporary disability or other events may also entitle you to request a deferment.

If your loans are deferred, your payment program stops, and the balance does not accrue interest. If you do not have a valid reason to obtain a deferment but cannot pay your loans, you can request a forbearance. If this request is granted, you will not have to make payments, but the loans will continue to accrue interest. In some cases, it is possible to get your loans forgiven or canceled.

This loan forgiveness usually requires extreme circumstances, such as total disability or other life-changing events. The government sometimes forgives loans as a reward for working full-time in specific positions linked to people with disabilities, low-income families, education, or other public service areas.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Some people start a business to make a good living and improve their quality of life. Others tend to work for themselves and see it as an opportunity to succeed in the competitive market. But if the desire to bring positive change ignites the entrepreneur trait in you, it is called “social entrepreneurship.”

Social entrepreneurship brings innovative new solutions to improve the world. But being a source of change means overcoming social taboos, which requires three main factors: determination, grit, and idealism.

Changing the world is a massive challenge beyond one imagination. Do you want to contribute to the world as a social entrepreneur? Take the first step and ignore all those who suggest not to do it.

We have noticed many organizations are working towards a good cause. Their mission is not to transmute into a renowned titan and make money but to do good in the universe. Finally, it enters the orbit of social entrepreneurship.

Here, we will discover the nitty-gritty of social entrepreneurship, types of social entrepreneurship, and examples of good personas of social entrepreneurship.

Shedding Light on Social Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial philanthropy is diverse and includes profit and non-profit organizations playing their part for a good cause. Examples of social entrepreneurship are Doctors Without Borders, which depends on donations and grants, and profit organizations such as Tesla, which profit by putting up clean energy products.

You can also count brick-and-mortar companies and online business ideas as social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is when people set up companies committed to giving back to the world.

Types of Social Entrepreneurship

There are many forms of social entrepreneurship. Let’s see some of them:

• Non-profit – non-business entities that invest in the mission of the world’s well-being.
• Cooperative – a business organized or developed for members. Credit units and community groceries are examples of cooperative social entrepreneurship.
• Social purpose organization – These businesses are established to address and work for a social mission.
• Social firm – Social firms are working for a good cause. Their mission is to employ people in the community who are needy and looking for jobs. 
• Socially responsible business – These companies’ mission is to support charitable work. They support people who want to change society, make it their vision to help people, and include it in their day-to-day mission.
• For-profit—These businesses have been established to make a profit, but they donate a lot of money to raise awareness and organize social events. Their primary focus is to contribute a part of their profit to funds.

Reasons Why Social Entrepreneurship Matters

Among many individuals striving for freedom and financial stability, many social entrepreneurs are trying to solve the world’s biggest problem. They are creating an impact on people to improve other lives and surrounding environments. Making money is not everything for them. Social entrepreneurship matters because:

• You can be an inspirational source of impact for people.
• You can respond to customers’ needs efficiently.
• Create a relationship with people of social and economic networks.
• Develop better economic and social values
• And make the world a better place to live.

Social Entrepreneurship Ideas

So, you want to contribute to a social cause. Here are a few things you can do to develop an idea of your own:

• Crowdfunding
• Baking for cause
• Educational travel
• Employment services to the needy
• Funding or mentorship
• Micro-lending
• Crafting for cause

Famous Social Entrepreneurs

Durell Coleman

Coleman is the founder of DC Design, a social entrepreneur who creates plans to impact and solve the most significant world problems. His firm has addressed challenges in criminal justice, introduced the care system in the United States, designed refugee camps, and worked with multiple global organizations for a good cause.

Emily Kirsch

Kirsch is a true social entrepreneur and founder of a powerhouse. His noble contributions are countless, including his organization’s installation of solar panels in houses in California.

If you want to contribute, build an idea or follow one mentioned and do your part to improve the world. As Ann Cotton, founder of Camfed, said, “Be greedy for social change, and your life will be endlessly enriched. The only failures are lying in not trying and giving up.”

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Ideal Customer

If your small business does not know its ideal client, it will not grow properly.

For a small business, knowing your ideal customer is essential. Suppose you do not know who to turn to in this situation. In that case, everything you do, no matter how good, will not make sense. You will lose it in the annual balance of the year, which will be challenging to be positive because it will be missing to dedicate time to those who want to know and make it grow, your ideal customer.

You can solve it by standardizing some forms to ask your best customers for the information you need to know to standardize your ideal customer.

Strategy

If you don’t have a strategy, your small business won’t grow

Small businesses focus on their daily work and do not have the time to plan a proper long-term growth strategy.

This strategy must be the fruit of observation. The results obtained so far provide clarity and efficiency in all the actions undertaken because of that moment to achieve the objectives set.

To know where a small business wants to go, it needs to know where and where to go in the short, medium, and long term. A strategy is nothing more than that.

If you want your business to grow, discover what we offer you below because it may interest you.

Modernized Brand Image

If they do not have a brand image according to the times, small businesses do not grow.

An outdated company image on the Internet (professional website) and in the real world is obsolete and unattractive to potential clients today.

Therefore, it will be interesting to change this image with renewed and modern airs that make the company live up to the current circumstances. Above all, awaken sensations that attract the attention of potential customers so that the small or medium-sized company can attract the attention of potential customers to grow and develop fully.

Times change, fashions change, and customers’ perceptions of them, and it is not about changing your logo every five years but considering if you have had the same for ten years.

It’s not about changing your logo every five years, but if you’ve had the same logo for ten years, consider it because small businesses don’t grow.

Lack of Investment in Marketing

If they don’t spend money on marketing, small businesses won’t grow

It can also happen that the marketing methods are outdated. The exact sales methods of decades ago are still used, which no longer work at the same level as in the past since the market, tastes, customs, and everything related to business has evolved.

Many companies are stagnant and have not adapted to the new reality of technology and online marketing.

To grow as a small business and evolve, it must have a dynamic, active, decisive spirit and adapt to the present in all senses. In this way, evolution will be possible, always accompanied by all those advantages that marketing offers.

Marketing is getting ahead of how you want to be seen by your customers, telling the story yourself, and not being told by others for you.

Search on Google

Small businesses do not grow when they do not appear on Google when potential customers search for their products and services.

Another reason small businesses do not grow is the lack of investment in visibility in Google. If a company is not found by its potential customers in this search engine (when they search for its products or services), it is as if it does not exist.

Some small business comment: “Of course, I’m on Google. If I look for my company, I appear in the first results. “- Yeah, but what about those who don’t know your brand, products, or services? You do not appear in Google if you search for your product or service.

Increased visibility on the Internet through available and specific techniques for this, such as web positioning (SEO), make it possible for the brand image to be updated, dynamic, and visible because small businesses don’t grow.

It is a matter of time before all current small and medium-sized companies begin to modernize, become visible in the market, and use effective marketing techniques to attract customers as they should. As a result of all these advances, leading and updated small businesses will be obtained, as yours will become.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Project management is an application of strategies, skills, and tools to achieve a specific goal, which is most often (drums drum!) a project.

Every project starts with the idea that needs to be planned, organized, executed, managed, tracked, completed, and measured for ultimate success. Project managers (like you!) oversee all of these aspects, plus the individual tasks, schedules, budget, scope, and resources needed to succeed.

Make a Project Plan

The first item on our list of project management tips is essential but often overlooked by some managers. It is necessary to have a well-structured plan to succeed in a project. For this, you need:

Identify who the customers and stakeholders are and understand their interests and expectations regarding the project; define the roles of each employee involved in the project; Establish relevant, achievable, measurable goals with well-defined deadlines; and set a budget for each action on the project.

Interestingly, the planning is done together with your team. Make sure all employees are involved and remain involved in the project.

More work will fall on you if you are the only person with “permission” to update the schedule. Find ways to let trusted project team members update specific tasks so you can split the workload.

Also, place the tasks with the highest degree of risk early in the project. Because if something goes wrong, you’ll have more time to solve the problem.

Understand The Purpose of Your Project

Your team’s understanding of why your project matters to the organization and how it fits into its overall strategic plan are essential to its success.

Relating your project’s success to all organizational goals and strategies effectively increases team members’ dedication, morale, motivation, and sense of importance.

Also, understanding and internalizing the project’s purpose makes it more evident where you want to go and what to do to reach the established goals.

Promote Efficient Communication

Communication between everyone involved is necessary for your project to be well-executed, consistent, and practical. It would help if you communicated new changes and demands to team members to avoid unpleasant surprises along the way.

As a project manager, ensuring that employees feel free to reach out to you with any questions or suggestions is most significant.

Ineffective communication often leads to project failure. So, ensure everyone has the information necessary to make decisions and move the project forward.

Hold Regular Meetings

Project management must rely on efficient regular meetings. The manager must show the team members how the project has evolved, what successful results look like, what work is needed to complete the job and each employee’s performance.

Periodic meetings are an opportunity for the manager to issue and receive feedback. Exchanging ideas and views makes it possible to make better decisions and improve processes.

See also: 5 project management tools to make your day easier and achieve great results.

Know Your Team’s Strengths and Weaknesses

The success of a project relies on the skills of the team members. An effective manager should know his team members’ inherent strengths and weaknesses to distribute tasks more assertively, taking this into account.

Leveraging team members’ strengths will ensure faster task completion and better time management. With everyone on a team putting their best into play and maximizing their strengths, the project tends to be successful.

Evaluate Your Project

The last item on your list of project management tips involves a crucial step: completion.

Interestingly, you measure everything you do, considering the successes and errors. Through this analysis, you will discover what to do and what not to do in future projects.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Is the social media platform you’re using suitable for your needs? You may be wondering if there’s an affordable, user-friendly tool that covers most of the features you require. Additionally, you might need to plan content for a platform that’s not currently integrated with your existing tools.

 

With the right tools, you can save time and effectively manage your social media platforms, ensuring the success of your content strategy. However, how can you determine which tool is the best choice for you?

 

It’s important to feel confident that you have selected the ideal social media platform before investing your time and finances, so you can start seeing immediate benefits from your marketing strategy. If this is your first experience with a social networking platform, making a decision can be more challenging. Your previous experience with blogging or marketing across multiple services will also play a role in this process.

 

After conducting extensive research and interviewing businesses of various sizes, we have identified the most critical factors to consider.

Following Points to Consider to Opt-Out Best Tools

We must look for those tools that can support at least most social media sites, i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

• Easy to use: The first thing that needs to be considered is that managing these tools would not be challenging, and anyone can use them with little effort.
• Engagement with social platforms: Second, these tools should respond to content directly from these platforms.
• Publishing: It should allow publishing content directly.
• Scheduling: You can schedule your post to publish at a later time.
• Analysis and reports: It should contain a study and report section so that you can monitor and gain insights into your post and content.
• Work as a team: These tools allow working as a team to communicate effectively.
• Price: We look for a plan that is either free for some features or offers a trial to evaluate them before buying them.

Social Pilot

SocialPilot has a lot of collaborative functions as a social media platform for small teams. In addition, the program integrates with several social media networks, making it simple to keep track of your complete social media footprint in one spot.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Google My Business are all supported by SocialPilot. You may use this tool to manage up to ten social media network platforms on the lowest account.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is not just one of the most popular social networking platforms, but it also has a comprehensive free version. It has been operating for a decade and offers a variety of tools for bloggers, small company owners, and even teams.

Using Hootsuite, you can post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and your YouTube channel.

Sendible

Sendible is one of the top social networking tools on the market today, with a feature set that caters to many users. Sendible allows you to share content on major social networking platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.

EClincher

EClincher is one of the most effective social media platforms for businesses, with beneficial features for brands and agencies. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn are all options.

You can also use eClincher to create postings for Google My Business and Yelp and connect them to Google Analytics for more data. You can effortlessly produce and manage material and reorganize your post schedule using a social content calendar.

Buffer

Buffer consistently tops the list for the finest free social networking tools (which is precisely where it should be). The free version has many features and is absurdly simple to use.

Buffer is easy and convenient to use. Its free edition lets you publish on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Each platform allows you to add several accounts. You will need to upgrade if you wish to post on Pinterest.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a well-known social media management solution for businesses and brands and with good reason. The tool offers a plethora of engagement, publishing, and analytics features.

Sprout Social allows you to plan and post material on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest, like other social networking applications. However, you can also use the Facebook Messenger system, a popular way for businesses to engage with customers.

In the basic edition of the program, you can only plan up to five social media profiles.

It is simple to post and schedule material on numerous social media platforms simultaneously. You can also use a social media calendar to view and organize content.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Snov.io

Snov.io is perhaps the most comprehensive cold-release automation tool. You may use it to generate leads and send emails using numerous email-sending solutions to streamline your outreach activities. The all-in-one toolbox includes email search options, 7-step email verification, drip email campaigns, text personalization, an email tracker, and Pipedrive and Zapier integrations for continuous email export.

Recharge

This email marketing software is suited for early-stage product enterprises, such as mobile applications and SaaS solutions. It allows customers to convert more free trials and users into paying customers. You may utilize Recharge to integrate client data, create exact user segmentation, and send automated, targeted emails based on behavioral targeting, letting you engage the right prospects at the right time.

Recharge has deep native integration with various products and technologies, including Segment, Stripe, Intercom, and HubSpot. Consequently, marketers can quickly build event-based emails with as minimal developer involvement as feasible.

Cost: 14-day free trial. Paid plans begin at $49 per month and go up from there.

AeroLeads

AeroLeads is CRM software that allows you to integrate personal and IP-related data for more efficient cleaning. This lead generation program has a bounce analysis function. It makes use of the SMTP verification function that comes with the email address syntax checker. As a result of this program, you will also identify abusive accounts, bogus domains, spam traps, and disposable emails.

Paid plans begin at $49 per month.

Ontraport

You can create mobile-responsive letters and send them to any group of prospects instantaneously or on a schedule with just a few clicks. Use professionally written email templates that you can customize to your brand to get started quickly. To make your email copy more visually engaging, include visual components such as buttons, photographs, and videos.

The application also has a private IP setting to help users retain a clean email reputation and evade spam filters. Automated re-engagement email campaigns may help screen out unresponsive contacts while interacting with past prospects.

Cost: 14-day free trial. Paid plans begin at $79 per month and go up from there.

Lemlist

Lemlist utilizes email outreach to help agencies, recruiters, sales teams, SEOs, and small businesses grow. It allows you to make personalized images and videos instantly. You may use Lemlist’s drag-and-drop email templates to expedite and automate your follow-ups and create successful connections with customers by personalizing your cold emails.

Cost: 14-day free trial. Paid plans begin at $29 per month and go up from there.

Yesware

Yesware assists sales professionals in developing long-term commercial ties. It’s an inbox productivity software that transforms how you send letters. Yesware’s data-driven insights may assist you in working smarter using features like campaigns, templates, email tracking, and more. It saves time and eliminates guessing, making managing, organizing, and updating your contacts much more effortless.

The trial period is free. Please feel free to ask for help with any quote on premium plans.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a marketing and sales automation software firm situated in the cloud that focuses on email marketing and web analytics. Based on user data, the computer delivers personalized messages. It also has a live chat feature and a CRM messaging platform. Sign-up forms, drag-and-drop email design, detailed performance tracking, email segmentation, and A/B testing options exist.

The trial period is free. Paid plans begin at $9 per month and go up from there.

Customerly.io

This customer lifecycle management system may help firms maintain customer relationships, provide support, gather feedback, and automate company procedures such as email marketing and request routing. The all-in-one platform simplifies customer administration by including fully integrated live chats, surveys, customer intelligence, marketing, and CRM modules.

Customer offers a fully featured template builder that allows you to create your email design or choose from pre-existing themes when it comes to email marketing. The program also provides email campaign data such as open rate, response rate, click-through rate, etc.

The cost is nothing. Paid plans begin at $24 per month and go up from there.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Food and beverage businesses constantly faced many adversities. Customer purchasing panic, rising demand for long-lived products, and the closure of the food service business forced food and beverage producers to adapt rapidly or risk withdrawing from the company.

Businesses can use real-time statistics to address some food and beverage industry problems during the pandemic. In the following, we will focus on some of these problems and how having access to good evidence can assist manufacturers in updating their operations and making better business choices in the coming years.

Food Business Challenges

The food and beverage industry challenges below are unique, but pandemics exacerbate many. Challenges such as regulatory changes, sustainability, and waste management are always important issues to account for to ensure success. However, this post will focus on three key challenges facing the industry.

Significant Changes in Consumer’s Taste

Customer tastes constantly change, but last year’s events have changed purchasing ways that most businesses weren’t anticipating. Before 2020, customers tended to move to products outside the grocery stores where fresh foods, for example, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meats, and fish, are commonly found.

The COVID-19 situation has reversed this trend as customers have begun to store their favorite and durable products. With the surge in demand for pasta, soups, and pre-packaged pantry items, food producers must find traditions to increase production in the global epidemic affecting workforce availability and supply chains.

Product Scarcity

In 2020, producers tackled a shortage of materials, from worldwide raw materials to packaging materials. Difficulty in global shipping and delivery means that producers who depended on ingredients from global providers had to vary recipes and packaging to address these problems.

Long-Term Economic Disturbance

As the pandemic continues, it is clear that some of the customer and producer changes that have occurred due to the coronavirus and the global blockade will continue. One change is the economic effect on customers who have lost their employment or are not making as much money as before the pandemic. As food values continue to increase worldwide, customers spend less on affordable products. The lack of consumer disposable income means that non-essential food and beverage producers will suffer greatly.

Health Problems According to Food and Market

Research shows that customers are becoming more and more conscious of diet-related complaints. As a result, the role of food in everyday life is shifting from taste to nutrition and health.

Many producers are known to add sugar and other sweeteners to their items. But, as additional customers read the item’s label, this becomes a problem. Increased diabetes, obesity, and allergies have reduced consumption of dairy, gluten, and sugar.

Absence of Transparency

With rising ethical anxieties, consumers want a relationship with a brand that maintains transparency and accountability. International and disjointed supply chains often create gaps in traceability.

Transparency includes effects from the origin of fresh food to the type of work, employees and their working conditions, types of processing, packaging, and more; this leads to a lack of business in the global food supply chain. The leading product in the food and beverage industry can close the gap, but Tier 2 and 3 brands face difficult times.

Items Menu

You might find an extensive menu more useful, but it can mean the following:

• It takes a long time for a customer to place an order
• Increase the ticket time in the kitchen.
• The need to purchase more material
• It takes time to serve each table

Packaging

Customers are ready to pay an extra amount for items in supportable bundling.

These are all reasons brands need to get imaginative quickly. Marks are reconsidering their methodology and feel comparative with ecological effect; this has prompted the advancement in eco-accommodating bundling material. While refillable holders and returnable/reusable bundling aren’t new, they make an enormous rebound.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Where visitors come from and which articles they read, for example. With this data, this company can predict what sales will look like for the coming month.

Focus on The Changing Needs of Your Target Audience

With good marketing, you focus on the benefits of your product or service for the target group. In this corona time, these benefits may be slightly different than before.

Automate Your Marketing

Do you send almost the same email to your customers a few times a week? There is an excellent chance that you will save time and reach more customers by automating your marketing. For example:

Build Your Network

Too many entrepreneurs focus on direct business. In the long term, your reputation is essential. If you are known for something, people will approach you. That saves, for example, acquisition. So, it helps you enormously if you have an extensive network.

Set yourself a goal for your marketing communications on social media. For example, collect online email addresses of potential customers. Then, you build a relationship with those people.

Don’t just think of virtual networking through local business associations when you think of networking. Collaborating with other entrepreneurs on a specific theme is also an excellent way to expand your network. For example, I look at our supply chain to see how we can fight food waste together. It is interesting to see what other parties are doing and improve yourself. You can expand this further via Facebook and LinkedIn. There is always order.

Start With Your Acquaintances

Look especially at people who are already customers. Think about what else you can do for them. These people already know you; you don’t need to introduce yourself again, and they are familiar with your excellent service. Just now that you may be going through it for a while: dare to approach acquaintances, emphasizes. Not necessarily to sell products or services but to ask good customers, friends, and family to share something on social media.

Experiment and Duplicate Your Success

Repeat successful campaigns. That means testing, testing, and testing again. Do A/B tests, investigating which of 2 versions is most successful. For example, do you want to collect contact details? Then, change a sentence on your landing page, but the two variants live, and see which scores best. For example, make that sentence questioning so people think: ‘Do I need this?’ One sentence can sometimes make a difference of 10% of responses.

Don’t Save on Marketing

Experience shows that good marketing pays for itself. You may have to cut back considerably in this coronavirus era, but no marketing means fewer customers and less turnover. At the same time, your competitors may continue with their marketing activities.

Before you stop all campaigns, it is good to investigate what they have delivered. Following the previous tip, you’ll know which campaigns gave the most. Cut back on campaigns that were not or less successful.

Also, consider low-budget marketing, such as long-term search engine optimization and social media. Try to look ahead, beyond the coronavirus crisis.

Start Failing

When you first cycled, you probably didn’t like it. One learns by doing. Making mistakes is allowed. The trick is not to spend too long on a perfect first version. See what takes little time and what you can pick up quickly. That doesn’t have to be perfect right away. For example, on a white paper, you can completely write and design it, which might take a month. You can also run a campaign first. People who register will promise you a white paper in a month. You can also see which subjects are popular among your customers and which are not. Is there a need for a white paper?

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.