Category: Content

Determining the level of business funding needed for your business is necessary. The requirement is based on the stage of your business’s growth.

Businesses must take a long-term view when considering the funding their business requires. It is essential that the amount of funding is enough for all stages of the business’s development; otherwise, there is a risk of your business shutting down in one of its development stages.

The Importance of a Good Management Team

Your business needs a competent management team with the right skills and the ability to increase your business’s potential. The skills may include managing finances, marketing, sales, production of goods, licensing, and additional skills necessary for your business goals.

Some entrepreneurs can recognize a business’s strengths and weaknesses. They help plan around your business’s weaknesses and utilize your business’s strengths, which may help you secure a good investment.

Now, freelancers have made it much easier for businesses to hire individuals for their specific skills. You must consider what skills your team may have and what needs to be brought in, and be open-minded about the relationship you have established with your team so everyone on the payroll is an asset to the establishment.

Establish a Practical Business Valuation 

It is tough for early-stage businesses to determine their value. However, there are certain steps you can take to approach and evaluate. For example:

• A well-thought-out and good business idea by itself: $12,000 roughly
• An idea along with a business plan: roughly $60,000
• Both the above, along with a good team and relevant resume, $300,000
• All of the above, including a sale of $600,000 and above

It would be best if you remembered to be realistic, make sure you can justify the valuation, and not be greedy. It is better to have a business with a low budget than to not have one at all.

Have a Unique Selling Point

It is important to ensure no one else is doing the same thing as you. Do your research in the field in which you wish to start a business before you make any important decisions unless your Unique Selling Point (USP) offers something better than your competitors.

If you are certain that your product is unique, then you have a higher position, and you have what it takes to establish your brand. You must research the market and your competition and put yourself in your competitors’ shoes to understand how they might respond to you entering the market.

Back Yourself Up Legally 

It is essential to appoint a lawyer with experience working with small businesses. It may not seem essential, but having legal expertise on the team will help you avoid getting ‘ripped off’ by experiences with bad clients or external factors.

It is good to ensure the solicitor you have chosen has relevant experience and that the fees you pay are proportional to the size of your investment and do not fluctuate too much.

Finding an Investor 

‘Bagging,’ an investment, is a category of a regulated activity that can only be carried out by firms authorized to do so by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Your FSA-approved firm must authorize the information of your business. It is a criminal act to approach an investor on a personal basis. It can result in the individual being personally responsible for any losses the investor suffers unless the individual has obtained specific certifications from the investor before seeking an investment.

FSA aims to protect both companies and investors by regulating the method of financial service providers’ operations, keeping an eye out for integrity, skill, care, and diligence with which the company runs, and the abilities of the people delivering services. The regulations under FSA put down the agenda within which approaches to the investors must operate to fulfill the requirements of the ‘Financial Services and Market Act‘ (FiSMA).

Find a reputable corporate finance house with a good track record, and remember to ask them the right questions. No question is too small or too detailed. It is the firm’s job to respond to any legal queries that you may have.

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.

Inbound marketing is a highly effective way to attract more customers to your business and build loyalty to your products and services. It entails email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, content marketing, and more tools to increase your brand’s outreach.

Below are eight essential components that make up a magnetic inbound marketing strategy.

Create Detailed Customer Personas

Inbound marketing is all about your customers, and if you do not focus on your buyers’ needs and expectations, your brand will compete in the market. So, it would help if you created well-defined and realistic customer personas that contain all relevant information about their buying history, behaviors, issues, and even thought processes. Your entire inbound marketing strategy must revolve around the buyer personas to outperform your competition.

Understand Your Client’s Pain Points 

Resolving buyer issues is another critical component of your inbound marketing strategy. It is important to understand how your customers feel when interacting with your brand and what problems they may face. Identify their problems before approaching you, and they will become loyal consumers.

Note Your Inbound Marketing Goals 

No marketing strategy can work without SMART goals in place. SMART is an acronym detailing goal-setting characteristics and stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time–Bound. So, if customer retention is your primary concern right now, much of your effort should go into devising a SMART goal and measurement mechanism that keeps your clients loyal to the brand. Also, your key performance indicators (KPIs) should be achievable and realistic based on your marketing campaigns’ previous successes and failures. This is the only way you can boost your clientele numbers.

Identify Your Content Marketing Strategy 

Content is a critical part of your inbound marketing strategy. It is best to define your content strategy early on so you can keep your clients engaged with your products and services and provide them with rich, meaningful information. Furthermore, it would be best to do some competitor analysis to determine the types of content your competition is posting. This will give you a clearer idea of the content landscape in the industry.

Establish a Lead Nurturing Mechanism 

It is common for people to visit multiple websites or social media pages to kill spare time. As a result, you will receive online viewers who are not ready to buy just yet but are browsing online. They may require more time to warm up to your brand, so it is your job to devise an effective lead nurturing plan to keep them engaged with your brand and ultimately drive them to buy from you. Email campaigns are usually considered an excellent way to nurture prospective customers. Find out what works for your business and then follow it rigorously.

Devise an Influencer Outreach Plan 

The growing influencer culture can also benefit your brand in numerous ways. You may not have many followers if you are a newly established business in the market. To compensate for that, you can capitalize on the quality relationships influencers have built in the industry. It is a great way to quickly tap into new markets and grow your clientele.  

Build an SEO Agenda 

If you want more of your targeted audience to find your brand online and buy your products and services, you must invest in a good SEO strategy. No matter how high the quality of your offerings or how unique your content appears, your business may not do very well if your site does not appear on the first page of search engine rankings. A solid SEO plan would help drive more organic searches.

Decide How to Report and Analyze the Results 

After establishing your inbound marketing strategy, you will need to figure out how to record and analyze its results. For example, will you employ Google Analytics to record your conversions? The tools you decide to use for reporting the progress of your goals will also significantly impact the overall success of your strategy, so choose wisely.

Conclusion

An inbound strategy is a highly effective method of garnering more clients and boosting brand recognition. Some of the key components of a magnetic inbound strategy are creating customer personas, understanding customers’ pain points, identifying inbound marketing goals, establishing a lead nurturing plan, identifying content strategy, devising an influencer outreach plan, building an SEO schedule, and determining the tools to report and analyze the results.

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.

Unlock the potential of effective restaurant management by steering clear of six toxic phrases that undermine team performance and business sales. From dismissing problem-solving to avoiding accountability, these phrases can erode your leadership impact. Learn how to foster a positive and productive environment for your team’s success in the dynamic world of restaurant management.

“Solve It Yourself”

If your staff knew how to solve it, they would probably not ask you for help, do you think?

If you do not tell him how to fix it, the situation in the restaurant will get worse. Remember that not all your employees have the same experience or capacity as you and that each restaurant is a world.

Remember that you are in charge and that making your staff efficient and productive is part of your job. When doubt is solved, your team will have a solution for the future and prevent that problem from happening again.

“No Problem”

Any phrase that starts with a negative word is usually doomed. Two are harmful when you say, “No problem,” deep down, you say there is a problem. Suppose using this expression becomes a norm in your restaurant, and your staff is accustomed to it. In that case, a customer can misinterpret it when the server uses it without maintaining visual contact with it and in a flat and carefree tone.

“You Should”

There are too many things you “should do” in your restaurant and your personal life. You should eat healthier, sleep better, and train your staff to sell more, but you do not finish doing them.

When you address your team using this word instead of others, such as ” I need you to do this ” or ” You must do that, ” you allow them to set the priorities that best suit you instead of doing what you or your clients need. And this ends up being a problem.

Most likely, your employees do so with the best intentions but still receive your complaints because they did not do what you asked them to do when you did not clarify what they had to do.

“This Is What There Is”

Sometimes, we are unaware of how words can hurt someone. This very toxic phrase is said too much when explaining a new rule or policy to team members. If someone asks you for clarification about a new procedure that, for example, will change your work, the most normal thing is that you solve your doubts.

If they understand the reason for the measure, their work will be easier to perform. From the perspective of restaurant management, this phrase will also weaken your ability to lead the team.

Whether you need convincing about the measures you are going to adopt or do not understand them, an explanation will help them put themselves in your place, understand the pros and cons, and be empathic.

“That Will Not Work”

Really? How do you know? Have you considered that maybe your staff worked for them before? Have you tried different approaches?

The fact that you manage a restaurant will make you aware of the situation in the hospitality sector (or at least it should be) and give you access to other people’s experiences who have the same dedication.

But if you’ve heard that such a restaurant started a strategy that did not work for you or that you applied another one that did not give good results, it does not mean that the one you are now proposing, or a different perspective, cannot be successful.

“Have You Not Seen This?”

“Have you seen the empty coffee cup on the table?” “Did you see that table 7 is calling you?” “Did you see that the plates are ready to leave the kitchen?”

Yes. Your staff almost certainly saw it. It most likely hasn’t been addressed yet because your employee was in the middle of something else. If you manage your team with this question, employees will feel attacked and criticized if you continue to make assumptions.

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.

When starting a business, the first factor is deciding if an external investment is necessary. Check your metrics, projections, industry size, and the actual market opportunity for your company. Once you complete this analysis, if you determine it is necessary, ensure you know exactly how much you need and under what terms you will be willing to accept this investment. Please do not make the mistake of assuming any amount without knowing the fund from which it comes. In some cases, due to lack of experience, we give up too much shareholding, which could be a wrong economic decision for you.

An investment round requires an approximate time of six months, during which you will look for investors who want to participate, make presentations, have several negotiations, and finally manage to raise the necessary capital. Think that during those six months, at minimum, your company should be able to support itself. Otherwise, what can happen is that you start the investment round. 

Still, before you can even close negotiations with a first investor, your company is in bankruptcy, forcing you to complete. If you manage to survive those first six months, your first round of investment should be able to keep you for six more months. This term, you should get sustained growth of 3 years, and after this time, you will reach an equilibrium point from which your company can have a higher income than expenses, and then you will have growth possibilities.

Now that you know exactly how much capital you need for your business, we share these five steps.

Approach Investment Funds

These companies are dedicated to injecting capital into new companies in search of new business options. Once you choose a fund, it won’t be easy to convince them to invest if you don’t have a well-developed business plan that shows them the growth options and goals you are targeting. An important detail is choosing a fund that may be interested in your company’s turn. How to know: Enter their website and meet other projects they have invested in. 

It will also help you connect with other entrepreneurs who have received investments from that fund, with whom you can talk about the benefits they received. Another option is online investment funds, which have other services to better approach your search. Or, for example, you can look for crowdfunding options such as Kickstarter or Fondeadora, through which users invest a small amount that when added, achieves the capital you need.

Prepare Your Material 

Collect all the information and data you think can help you make a compelling business presentation. Perform an in-depth analysis of your company’s current finances, organized and audited by an accountant, which allows you to present the current situation and generate realistic projections. Do market research that will enable you to explain to investors why your business is a good investment option, which will have optimal results in the short, medium, and long term.

Leave a Good Impression

Once you have chosen the fund you want to approach, plan how you will present your business. You only have one chance to leave a good impression that captivates them and gives them reasons to believe in you and your company. Ideally, create a short presentation that explains through a story the problem, the existing market opportunity, the solution you propose, and why you are the best solution available. Establish the competitive advantages that your company offers, what you have achieved so far, and future objectives. Remember that investors will invest in you in new business, so communicate as clearly and effectively as possible. Explain your investment needs and the share percentage you are willing to assign.

Be Patient 

Resolutions on this type of investment are not overnight. Allow investors to evaluate your proposal and give you an answer on time. Once received, review the options offered and negotiate the points you disagree with. Remember that the business is yours at the end of the day, and you mustn’t risk your motivation and push to get an investment that is not necessarily what you need.

Get to Work

Once the capital is received, please do not use it to pay your salary or your partners. This investment must be for the growth of the business. I intend to achieve the results proposed to your investors in the shortest possible time so that you present yourself as a case of success and be subject to the second round of investment if necessary.

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.

Digital marketing has opened new opportunities for businesses to reach their targeted audience and boost conversion rates and sales. With so many choices available, it could be overwhelming for a marketer to pick the right ones. This piece looks at the most effective digital marketing channels for your business and elaborates on their pros and cons.

Content Marketing

Content is the driving force behind every digital marketing strategy. Research suggests that organizations that use content marketing have a market share of 91%. People consume a considerable amount of online content daily, whether through blog posts or YouTube videos. Similarly, when your customers follow and support your brand, they expect to receive regular posts that offer insights, special offers, etc.

What are the pros of content marketing?

Content marketing has the following advantages:

• It requires minimal technical skills
• It can be adapted for multiple channels
• It boosts search engine optimization

What are the cons of content marketing?

Content marketing may have the following drawbacks:

• It requires comprehensive organization, especially if multiple authors are involved
• It can be a challenge to create unique and relevant content regularly
• It requires a publisher’s mindset

To boost your business through an effective content marketing strategy, you should keep in mind the following guidelines:

• Understand what your audience demands
• Weave a narrative around your content
• Keep publishing new content

Social Media Marketing

Over the past few years, social media has grown from merely a medium for socializing to a powerful digital marketing tool. Social media marketing entails strategically using social media channels to promote your business and reach your targeted audience. More and more companies are now resorting to social media marketing and advertising.

What are the benefits of social media marketing?

Social media marketing has the following advantages:

• It is relatively low-cost
• It gives your brand a unique voice
• Provides access to a larger audience

What are the drawbacks of social media marketing?

In contrast, social media marketing may have the following pitfalls:

• It can generate negative publicity for your business
• It takes a long time to get a return on investment
• May dilute your brand voice

If you want to attract new clients and tap into potential markets, your brand must have a highly effective social media marketing strategy.

Let’s see how you can develop one using the following tips:

• Create content that adds value to your client’s life
• Keep your social media marketing consistent
• Weave a narrative around your brand

Video Marketing

Online viewers love watching videos. Latest estimates suggest that in 2018, U.S. advertisers spent around 31% of the digital marketing budget on video marketing. It shows marketers’ significant inclination toward video marketing to acquire potential leads and convert them into loyal customers.

What are the advantages of video marketing?

Video marketing has several pros, some of which are:

• It instantly grabs attention
• Has high engagement and conversion rates
• It is highly compatible with cellular devices

What are the disadvantages of video marketing?

• Video production may be time-consuming
• Videos can be brutal to update
• Video overhead may be costly

Here are a few essential tips to make a stellar video marketing strategy for your business:

• Start with an end goal in mind
• Find your targeted audience
• Follow the latest trends

Email Marketing

Email marketing is the way to go if you want to reach out to new leads and grow your clientele. Although email generates only low to medium return on investment, it’s the only tool where you can experiment with the changing content marketing trends.

What are the pros of email marketing?

Here are a few benefits of email marketing for your business:

• It is very cost-effective
• It can be scaled up at your convenience
• It has a high conversion rate

What are the cons of email marketing?

Email marketing has the following disadvantages:

• Your recipients can get irritated and delete your emails
• Poorly designed emails may remain undelivered
• It requires adequate technical skills

Here are a few tips to help you establish the perfect email marketing plan:

• Pick the right email marketing tools
• Define your goals
• Keep your emails brief, catchy, and informative

The Bottom Line

If you want your business to expand and reach your targeted audience, you must use digital marketing tools. Each tool, however, has both pros and cons. It would help if you weighed both aspects of each before opting for one.

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.

Effective cash flow management is essential for the smooth running of businesses because it determines how much money is coming in and going out of the company. It is crucial for all sorts of companies but is very central to the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. For SMEs, it is necessary to have enough money to pay their creditors and avoid extended cash shortages, mainly caused by a massive difference between cash inflows and outflows.

Cash flow management is quite a daunting task and requires a critical and sometimes miserly approach too. Even with all the sales targets being reached and your profits soaring higher than ever, your company can risk encountering cash flow issues that hinder day-to-day operations. 

Issues in cash flow generally arise when payables are due before receivables. This means you won’t have enough cash to pay off your monthly payroll or subscriptions until your next payment arrives. This is why managing cash flow in a small and medium-sized business is crucial. 

Here are the top tips to help you improve your cash flow. 

Lease Don’t Buy

To someone who is only paying attention to the bottom line, leasing supplies, equipment, and real estate is usually more expensive than buying. But unless your company is flush with cash, you’ll want to maintain a cash stream for day-to-day operations. By leasing, you pay in small increments, which helps improve cash flow. A bonus is that lease payments are a business expense that you can write off on your taxes. 

Pay Off High Debt Payments First

Having high debts causes difficulty in managing the cash flows and is a common problem a company faces, especially for new and small businesses. The leading cause of this problem is usually a high-priced loan with higher interest rates taken from the bank. Because of this, the net inflows reduce, which causes you to pay the debts from your profits and retained earnings, which can further lead your business into a deficit. The best solution to having extensive debts can be refinancing your loans. Refinancing the loans means replacing the high-interest-rate loan with a lower-interest-rate loan, reducing the payments by decreasing the interest rate.

Moreover, suppose the business must make higher payments. In that case, you can also consider cutting other overhead expenses, such as finding a cheaper supplier to reduce your sales costs. You can also increase the selling price of your products, increasing the return on capital employed, further increasing your inflows, leading you to pay your debts relatively quickly. 

Optimize Your Costs

Usually, for small businesses, debts aren’t too high, or most likely, you are only spending on things you need to run your business. However, if your debts are getting out of control, it’s about time that you look at your financial statement and analyze your costs. Start with looking at the subscriptions your business can do without, or you are rarely the ones you barely use. 

Unsubscribe from all such subscriptions. Cut down on office decorations and other expenses that add to your budget. Negotiate the payment terms with vendors and agree on a discounted or flat rate to minimize outsourcing costs. You can also eliminate any assets, such as that delivery van you rarely use. Marketing costs are another significant component that takes up a lot of additional budget. Optimize your advertising campaigns and switch to more cost-effective marketing methods such as social media. 

Reassess Your Customer Payment Terms

If your payment terms give your clients the leverage of several weeks in making payments for products and services purchased, now is the time when you might want to reassess those payment terms. Reduce the payment time by half, so you get payments earlier, thus helping you boost your company’s financial standing instantly. 

Conclusion

Effective cash flow management is indispensable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) businesses, as it dictates the balance between incoming and outgoing funds crucial for financial stability. Despite achieving sales targets, cash flow challenges can emerge when payables precede receivables. The provided strategies, including leasing instead of buying, prioritizing high-interest debt repayment through refinancing, optimizing costs, and reassessing customer payment terms, offer practical solutions for SMEs to enhance their cash flow. These measures empower businesses to maintain operational efficiency, promptly meet financial obligations, and navigate the complexities of cash flow management, ensuring sustained financial well-being.

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.

The concept of digital marketing is evolving and progressing rapidly. These changes have made it challenging for marketers to distinguish themselves when strategizing their campaigns. The best working channels, tonality, marketing method, and other factors are all part of the campaign that needs attention. The concerns are endless, but the answers are simple if you know where to look.

Below are various success stories that tell you about the campaigns that worked and can help you learn and shape your success similarly.

Campaign # 1 –Heineken – Story with Triggers

Heineken has chosen an exciting way to tell his story. Instead of focusing on the narrative of an individual or a single person, his brand used political instability and conflicts that were trending on the news to draw people’s attention. The reps set by Heineken had people state their perspectives on factors like feminism, transgender people, and issues like global warming. After that, the individuals with opposing views were asked to complete various tasks. After completing the tasks and interviews watched, the pairs were told to discuss the differences over a beer or leave. The video garnered more than 17.7 million views with millions of shares and engagements on social media.

The lesson learned was that storytelling and narrations that inspire emotional responses could go viral. You do not need to focus on the brand to get attention, but there is a way to reintroduce your brand to allow more people to engage with the central idea that you could settle your differences over a beer.

Campaign # 2: Tena – Create A Safe Space for a Brand

Every brand cannot remain socially comfortable during its campaign run. One reason for this discomfort may be that brands quickly shy away from social media. Tena, an adult incontinence brand, decided to take its product to new heights by creating a safe place for consumers to share their challenges.

Not everybody talks about this brand comfortably, which is why Tena decided to cash in on the condition. The company’s YouTube channel had a blend of unique videos with tips and humor. Tena took the tips to new levels by introducing an app related to incontinence. It allowed the audience to talk about their conditions and encouraged engagement easily.

The lesson learned here is that social media could play a vital role for people with the same challenges and issues. Even if those issues are too embarrassing to discuss, they have a surety that there is a safe place for them to discuss.

Campaign # 3: Single Grain and Eric Siu – Multi-Channel Marketing

There is no single channel or forum to share your content. It takes multiple channel efforts to ensure you create brand awareness. Single Grain Chief Executive Officer Eric Siu used this idea to generate content across a number of platforms. It included a podcast where he co-hosted a show with another digital marketing guru, Neil Patel. It gave Single Grain a stronghold over multiple areas, including YouTube, where tactical ideas were shared between business owners and marketers.

The lesson learned here was that your customers use different platforms, so you must make yourself available to all. People also respond differently in each domain, and you must reach them as they prefer. Restructuring your campaign in multiple areas gives you the visibility needed and gathers value for your customers to save time and money.

Conclusion

The three campaigns mentioned above showed us that you must remain creative to grab the client’s attention. Your clients are everywhere, and you must ensure your campaign has everything they prefer. You are here to solve various problems, and you must put your best self forward to get the desired results and make the campaign a success.

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.

With the growth of digital marketing, ad fraud, viewability, and ad blocking remain significant issues for marketers and advertisers. Fraud has no limits and moves across marketing channels, whether desktop, mobile, or social media. Several brands faced ad fraud running on different channels with objectionable content. On one side, where desktop ad fraud has reduced, mobile app violations are increasing.  

What are Ad Fraud, Viewability, and Ad Blocking? 

The term “ad fraud” refers to the false or negative representation of digital advertisements, clicks, and conversions to earn revenue. On the contrary, viewability is the metric in online advertising used to track ad impressions viewed by real humans. Ad blocking, also known as ad filtering, implements the software capability to prevent online advertisements on a web page. One can also practice ad blocking through browser extensions or other methods. Ad fraud, viewability, and ad blocking seem similar but are different from each other.   

Non-Human Traffic (NTF) and Invalid Traffic (IVT) 

Another term for no-human and invalid traffic is bots and software programs. The botmaster remotely controls these bots to load web pages, scrolling pages, fake house movements, and prevent fraud detection. Bots earn billions of dollars by generating ad impressions by web page loading and exchanging them with advertisers who want huge volume and high performance.

Mobile emulators create bots that perform downloading, installing, and mobile utilization for ad fraud commitment. These bots also perform various activities, including login and password harvesting, recording motions and touch events, and listening to private conversations.

You might wonder how these bots can access your personal information or conversation. For example, the flashlight app may ask permission to turn on your microphone. Many online sellers do not wait for human visits; they buy traffic through ad fraud, viewability, and ad blocking.

Ad Stacking and Pixel Stuffing 

People involved in ad fraud, viewability, and ad blocking focus on earning money as soon as possible and do not get stuck on a single website. Instead, they use ad stacking, where they stack 10 to 20 ads on top of each other in a single ad slot. This method increases the number of ads they sell for each web page loading due to bot traffic.

Advertisers bidding on ads cannot duplicate bid requests twice and drive bid prices when they bid against themselves. This ad stacking and pixel stuffing method generates higher profit for fake websites.  

Forced Redirects 

Another dominant fraudster behavior is that they are impatient and do not wait for organic visits. Instead, they prefer forced redirects and visits to their fake websites. They use pop-ups and pop-unders to get forced visits to their sites. These actions do not involve any humans, and redirects are part of an automated process.

The malicious codes are used on web pages and added into ad slots as malicious ads. Pop-ups and pop-unders automatically load web pages humans do not want to visit intentionally. Ad frauds, cookie stuffing, or affiliate frauds use the tactics of page loading. The extent to which the traffic is redirected to a webpage is not specific but can increase the page views.

Falsifying

Fraudsters usually cover their tracks and become undiscoverable to continue practicing fraud operations for a longer period. They use residential proxy services to bounce their bot traffic and disguise the data center as residential. This method prevents standard fraud detection. Moreover, the bots used for traffic generation and website clicks are represented well.

Fraudsters also modify viewability features to make non-viewed ads look fresh. Through this step, fraudsters ensure that all the fake ads are 100 % viewable most of the time. By falsifying the placement reports, they enable ads to appear on legitimate websites.

Viewability

Even though every marketer invests in viewability measurement, some viewability measures are fake or incorrect. Instead of spending money, you can use JavaScript analytics to measure viewability. Remember that you cannot measure human users’ viewability if your browser tab is inactive. Fraudsters are skilled enough to modify these measurements. It is better to measure viewability by yourself when you have opportunities.

Ad Blocking 

Most humans do not like ads; even if they do not hate them, they are annoyed by their quantity and irrelevancy. To avoid these irrelevant ads, people install and use ad blockers. However, bots do not block these ads and reload them. It is a drawback of ad fraud, viewability, and ad blocking that these blocked ads generate revenue for many sellers.

Digital advertising is continuously evolving, but the challenges regarding ad fraud, viewability, and blocking remain central. Fraudsters continue to earn money through different digital mediums, but their fraud practices will not make digital advertising ineffective.  

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.

Artificial intelligence has come a long way from how it used to be portrayed in robot movies and the post-apocalyptic machine resurrection of humans. Although many people still similarly think of machine learning, technological innovation has changed the face of the business world in only a short period. Today, artificial intelligence in businesses works alongside humans, streamlining tedious tasks that are time-consuming and require extra resources. 

Artificial intelligence is neither a new concept nor a mainstream idea. It has been part of our business strategies and manufacturing plants for quite a while now. This technological innovation has two major branches: machine learning and deep learning. 

Machine learning is an expert intelligence system that helps businesses process large amounts of data using algorithms, breaking down data in understandable terms for humans. On the other hand, deep learning is a more ingenious intelligence system that digs deeper than simple machine learning and uses reasoning when making decisions. For instance, data analysis programs produce reports, identify trends, and even provide analysis when companies employ. 

Artificial Intelligence in Businesses Today

Artificial intelligence has proven to be a human support tool in business everywhere. More managers and executives are using intelligent systems to devise digital strategies, considering the possible associated risks and avoiding them. Based on essential insights, smart systems also help with forecasting, trend analysis, decision-making, risk management, and brand positioning. 

Companies must know how they think in a world where the customer is king. Although it is impossible to understand what the customer wants, a ballpark idea of the audience helps companies reduce time, money, and other essential resources. Features like chatbots, call centers, and specialized customer services are examples of the artificial intelligence revolution in businesses. Drone deliveries and robot manufacturers are excellent examples of how far artificial Intelligence has come. 

The gaming industry has also benefitted from the evolution of artificial Intelligence. Decision-making attributes have resulted in bots beating the best human players in board games such as Chess, Sudoku, etc. In the medical industry, intelligent systems will scan and image cancer cells and so much more. Similarly, these systems have helped humans identify investing trends and preferences within finance, leading to fintech solutions such as cryptocurrency. 

Production industries have also been booming after the use of artificial intelligence. Businesses have identified customer preferences and tastes in the retail sector and even helped brand managers determine consumer behavior patterns to understand their audience better. Brands have also evolved using insights converted from raw data to create personalized offers for customers, streamline in-store processes, and help the supply chain management system. 

The Benefit of Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence applications have numerous advantages, especially given how fast technology is evolving daily. However, a few important features it offers businesses are: 

Reduction of Tedious Activities

Human activities such as data collection and trend analysis are automated to reduce human effort. This automation has also reduced human error and resulted in more accurate results. 

Helps with Predictions 

Machine learning and deep learning combined help companies predict what the future holds for them. Decisions such as which product line to launch, which variation to discontinue, and whether You should target a new niche are all possible based on insights from analytical software. 

Risk Management 

Companies can take calculated risks with the help of intelligent predictive programs. Machines can also take risks in place of human beings, for instance, bomb squads that use on-field robots. Companies can also use artificial intelligence in factories that may emit fumes or produce sharp, unsafe objects for humans.  

The Future of Artificial Intelligence 

Although it is difficult to predict the future of artificial intelligence in businesses, most experts predict that expert intelligence will be more exclusive in everyday tasks. They will replace menial tasks and help humans make more meaningful decisions. Industry experts say companies will cater to larger audiences given enhanced and improved manufacturing systems. 

Digital systems are part of our daily lives and have helped humans with inventions. Even today, artificially intelligent systems aid in discoveries and offer opportunities that were not available before. Technologists are required in the new job market in charge of innovative technology systems that have replaced engineers and specialists. 

People are on the fence about deciding whether artificial Intelligence is the way to the future. While they have made daily lives for businesses convenient, they are also responsible for a certain level of unemployment in economies. From the food to the robotic industry, intelligent systems have disrupted the way things used to be, which has pros and cons. 

Conclusion

In a nutshell, artificial intelligence in businesses has caused disruptive changes and given managers the freedom to focus on creative solutions. Without repetitive tasks, enterprises have more free time to focus on other processes requiring pure human intervention. Additionally, executives make more imaginative, informed decisions, mitigate risks, meet consumer demand, and achieve projected company targets much better than before, thanks to more innovative technology systems.

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.

The growing technology has eased our routine work on one side, but on the other end, it has also increased the threats to one’s security. Those advanced businesses that heavily rely on technology for their routine work also face threats to their security in data theft and data breaches. This growing concern and threat have led to the introduction of cybersecurity in business. Nowadays, the cyber security system has gained too much attention in almost every industry as it prevents every kind of data theft. Before knowing cybersecurity is essential for business, you must understand why it is crucial.

What is Cybersecurity? 

It’s a process of preventing and recovering network devices, computer systems, and programs from the trap of cybercriminals. Cybersecurity in business ensures the protection of sensitive data as cybercriminals use different artificial intelligence techniques to hack security controls and access data.

Why is Cybersecurity an Essential Part of Today’s Business? 

Cybersecurity prevents them, whether sensitive data, personal information, health records, intellectual property, or industry-based information. The cybersecurity system precludes a business from data breaching, making it a tricky target of cybercriminals’ data breaching campaigns.  

Cyber-attacks in businesses have reached an alarming rate across the globe. Companies with larger sizes are more prone to these cyber-attacks. However, it doesn’t mean that small and medium businesses don’t fall into this category and are safe from cybercriminals. If a company has its online existence, it can fall into the trap of cybercriminals.

Governments of different states are paying greater attention to bringing cybersecurity into business to prevent data breaches. Additional cyber security methods are used, like user consent for information gathering, maximizing privacy, and hiring a data protection officer.  

Why are Cybercrimes Increasing? 

Although cybercrimes have a broad category, data theft is the most common kind of cybercrime. The primary reason for data theft is the availability of sensitive data on the web via cloud services. Another reason for data theft is the increased damage to industrial power grids.

If your business relies on third-party or fourth-party services for data processing, its low level of cybersecurity can also result in data breaches. The increased harmful use of the internet, the availability of hacks associated with cybercrimes, the profitability of the dark web, and access to mobile devices have made cyberattacks easier.

Impacts of Cybercrimes 

The profound impact of cybercrimes has necessitated incorporating cybersecurity measures in businesses, underscoring the critical importance of safeguarding digital assets. The consequences of cyber threats are significant, ranging from the theft of organizational information and intellectual property to the economic costs associated with repairing and recovering compromised systems. 

Additionally, data breaches pose a severe risk to customer trust, potentially leading to the loss of current clients and hindering the acquisition of new customers who may turn to more secure alternatives. 

Moreover, the repercussions of data breaches extend to regulatory consequences, exposing businesses to potential sanctions and fines due to stringent data breach laws. As a result, prioritizing cybersecurity has become imperative to mitigate these adverse effects and ensure the resilience of business operations in the face of evolving cyber threats.

Measures to Protect the Business From Cybercrimes 

Educate your staff

Human error is the leading cause of an organization’s data breaches. If staff can prevent these cyber threats, many cyberattacks will not occur. Educational programs may focus on increasing cybersecurity in businesses and restricting unnecessary information passed to anyone.

Sensitive data protection

Continuous monitoring of third- and fourth-party risks can limit data breaches. It is essential to address data leaks, as they will give cybercriminals access.

Third-party risk management 

Design a third-party risk management solution as it is essential to maintaining data privacy.  

Technological advancement 

Technological integration is necessary to ensure cybersecurity in business. Some cybersecurity measures may include encrypted connections, firewalls, and data leak protection. Spam filters can also protect employees from getting phishing emails. You can also consider email scans and preventive measures against email spoofing. Antivirus software must be used and updated to ensure systems’ security.

Data backup 

Data backup is a crucial element in cybersecurity. Keeping data on backup helps recover it in case of a system failure. You must back up all a business’s sensitive files in an offline storage facility. This will prevent your company from paying a ransom in case of data loss.

Investment in IT 

The importance of investing in the IT department is the same as the importance of cybersecurity in business. A well-trained IT staff prevents the company from falling prey to cybercriminals.

Passwords 

Weak passwords are easy to hack and are the primary cybersecurity threat. Therefore, businesses must use strong passwords to ensure greater security.

Conclusion

In the end, cybersecurity can only be appropriately implemented when businesses recognize their needs and the level of security they require. Cybersecurity in the industry is a crucial aspect to consider.

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.