Considering all the other work and tasks that have to be completed in a day, strengthening cybersecurity can quickly turn into an afterthought. Regardless, proper security against ever-evolving hacking techniques is essential for preventing major financial and reputable harm.

According to Statista, a cyber incident is the main risk for small businesses in 2023. Its repercussions are more damaging and concerning for companies than inflation, energy crisis, trade wars, or natural catastrophes.

So, what is XDR security all about, what makes it essential for IT teams who manage security, and how does it cut costs for small businesses?

What Is XDR Security?

XDR security is the platform that aids teams make sense of the large quantity of data coming from several security tools while also automating responses to known exploits.

The key function of this security solution? Collect, analyze, and correlate security data then organized and shown in one interface.

Another main function is to automatically respond to threats regardless of where within the network they might occur.
As a result, security is simplified. Also, IT departments retain visibility of the state of the security from a single user-friendly dashboard to which they can refer and make informed decisions on how to protect the company.

Closing the Gap in the Security

Most small businesses will have layers of security tools that consist of:

• A firewall to observe and block any unwanted traffic
• Antivirus programs to remove malicious software that managed to get into the system
• Virtual Private Network (VPN) to protect remote employees
• Phishing awareness training for all employees within the company
• Insisting on multi-factor authentication and stronger passwords for employees

While this is a good start for building strong security, such companies don’t have a chance when facing zero-day threats and more sophisticated hacking attempts.

This is precisely where XDR security comes in handy.

It gives the company the means, visibility, and comprehensive reports they need to fight more advanced threats that security teams have to mitigate manually.

Providing a Key Asset for Security Teams

Small businesses lack a large security team managed by CISO (short for Chief information security officer). How does XDR security help SMEs get the most out of the IT personnel at the company’s disposal?

Before XDR security, companies would rely solely on security information and event management (SIEM) technology.

The main disadvantage of the old SIEM is that it would bombard the team with too many alters. Many of them would not indicate the high risks. Most would be discarded as false positives.

To fix that, XDR enables teams to manage security from a single interface. Increased visibility in the state of the security provides them with actionable reports and suggestions on how to prioritize tasks.

The tool uses machine learning to analyze the information about the security posture in the context of a company.

This helps it to catch if something out of the ordinary is occurring within the systems. Teams have useful information at hand, such as which parts of the infrastructure are affected and whether the risk is critical (e.g. is there a possibility of endangered sensitive data?)

XDR security boosts the productivity of teams. It allows them to dedicate their time to tasks that matter and reduces fatigue caused by the frequent change of the dashboards.

Being a Cost-Effective Solution for Growing Companies

XDR can cut costs for small businesses by:

• Preventing major cyber incidents that cease work in the company or cause data theft
• Not having to go through the most expensive part of the cyber breach (the recovery time)

The average cost of cyberattacks for small businesses due to the recovery period is between $15,000 to $25,000. This doesn’t include the cost of possible legal action, damaged reputation, or even restoration of the system itself.

For SMEs, the average recovery period is 279 days or just over nine months.

Financial damage and the duration of the recovery period also depend on how long a bad actor has illicit access to the network and whether sensitive user data has been stolen during the attack.

With XDR, small businesses can detect and remove hacking threats faster. This saves them the costs that would otherwise have to be allocated to repairing the network and investigating the crime.

Instead of purchasing multiple solutions that have versatile dashboards, XDR security provides small businesses with the means to respond to cybercrime by relying on the data from the unified security solution. This scales as the business grows and reaches new heights.

Main Advantages of XDR Security

Whether you’re looking for a solution that can improve the speed at which you detect and react to threats or want to help your security team, XDR can be beneficial to your small business.

It’s an essential resource for your small cybersecurity team. It allows them a birdseye view of the complete security posture. Additionally, it organizes data in reports whose insights they can use to strengthen the security or react in time.

For small companies that already have some form of basic protection, XDR offers a more advanced, but also a user-friendly solution with which they can tackle more sophisticated threats.

Finally, XDR security saves on the costs otherwise needed to repair the architecture following the cyberattack or paid during ceased operations.

The post Helping Small Businesses Fight Cyber Crime: XDR Security appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

One of the reasons for this is that most small businesses are too caught up with strategies that fuel their lead generation, customer acquisition, and business development efforts.

However, press releases have a huge role to play when it comes to boosting a business’s brand awareness, traffic, and overall competitive edge. Also, getting your press release on authority publications like the Associated Press or Businesswire is a great return on your marketing spend.

Companies usually share a press release to make news, attract attention, and create a community. However, press releases can be leveraged to achieve different business goals.

In this post, we will share types of press releases with examples to help your business get the attention it deserves.

So, let’s begin.

Strengthen Your Brand Awareness with These Press Releases

Here are the top 7 press release types you must include in your media list to generate publicity.

1. Events

Event press releases are written to inform the audience about an event your business is planning to host, sponsor, or attend. The event could be a charity initiative or a community gathering.

An event press release should pique the interest of its audience by sharing a newsworthy story. Further, it should carry interesting copy and imagery to get people excited about the event.

When it comes to creating an event press release make sure you address the 5W’s + 1H of journalism, namely who, what, when, where, and why + how.

• Who is announcing the news?
• What are they announcing?
• When will the event take place?
• Where is this taking place?
• Why should the audience care?
• How should the reader participate or register for the event? OR How is the company going about it?

Besides, your press release should share why your event is worth participating in or attending. The objective of this press release is to intrigue and drive attendance.

2. New Technology

If your product circles around innovations, the technology press release can help in not just creating noise around your offerings but also attracting technology investors. This type of press release carries information on the new technologies the business has invested in. Plus how it solves customer problems.

While it’s tempting to share every piece of product detail in a technology press release, avoid doing so. Your press release should be scannable and concise. Offer plenty of opportunities to link to product pages, company overview pages, and data sheets. Learn from these press release examples to create a release that’s more readable while portraying your strong commitment to SaaS technical excellence.

To write an effective technology press release, create an engaging headline that conveys the end benefits to the reader.

Good Headline: Neoteric Invests in AI and cognitive computing for Its Client AppOrchid
Better Headline: Neoteric Invests in AI and cognitive computing for AppOrchid to Build AI Models Visually and Substituting Programming.

Secondly, journalists are constantly looking for the announcement. So, it’s best to stick with the 5W’s + 1H we spoke about earlier.
Finally, remember to add validation like quotes from beta users or R&D engineers. Business development leaders or the top management can share how investing in this technology is impacting customers and fitting into the overall company strategy.

3. Product

A product press release is used to announce a new feature in the product, a brand extension, or a new product launch. It usually talks about why the product is different from the competition, giving people a reason to invest in the product. By highlighting the product’s striking features, you are giving your new representatives (PR professionals and journalists) reason to write about the product.

Here are a few quick tips to write a product press release.

• Begin with a captivating headline. Keep it short. Use action words like achieved, capitalized, delivered, empowered, and integrated among others to evoke an emotional response from people.
• The first paragraph should convey the product value. Remember that your audience is pressed for time. Make sure you include the 5W’s + 1H we discussed earlier in this post.
• Include quotes from top officials, spokespeople, or key company stakeholders to emphasize the core of the announcement.
• Share your boilerplate in the end. A boilerplate explains what your company does, its size, and key operating locations and shares details of your website and social profiles. Your product press release is incomplete without the boilerplate.

Journalists are constantly looking for stories that their readers will appreciate. Thus, a product press release is a huge value-add that entices readers to their article and persuades them to try the product.

4. New Business

A new business launch press release announces new ventures that could be addressing a gap in the market or a competitor’s offerings. This should tell the audience all the information related to the new business opening.

Small businesses planning to expand should leverage this form of a press release. Begin with the name of the venture and share the location and date of the business opening. The body should include an overview of what the business does and the gaps it will address. Plus, why it’s different from the competition. You may also add a few executive quotes to share the firm’s vision.

5. Awards

If your business has received a prestigious industry award or recognition, showcase the accolade through an awards press release. Sharing such news can strengthen your position in the industry and attract the attention of investors who can support your venture, especially when it’s scaling.

Here are a few elements you should include in your awards press release.

Name of the award. It sounds obvious but sharing the name of the award your company has received will help your readers understand its significance.

Moreover, offer context for the award for those readers who aren’t familiar with the strength and significance of the award you’ve received.

Share the reasoning behind your award. You’ve received an award, but why? Was the technology used in the product outstanding? Did your product help solve specific problems? Include a few sentences on the judging process to tell your readers that it wasn’t just a flippant win.

Avoid bad-mouthing competitors who didn’t make it. Your winning is enough for your audience to know that your company is better than the competition.

Express gratitude. Don’t forget to mention the critical role your team, investors, and customers played in making this award possible. This will go a long way in showing that your company upholds values like humility and team spirit.

6. New Hire

New hire press releases are especially important for small businesses because it helps build credibility as a sought-after employer. Moreover, if the business has an influential person on its team, it builds trust in their expertise.

Remember to highlight the responsibilities and priorities of the person in the new role. Sharing such information in the press release allows customers and investors to relate to the new hire and understand the role they will play in addressing their pain points.

7. Partnership

If you’ve been negotiating a partnership for months and it has finally come through, a press release can help you make it official to the public. The primary purpose of a partnership press release is to update your audience on the upcoming changes and how they will affect them.

One thing that you need to remember here is that like you, your partner will have a customer base. Hence, you need to create a press release that appeals to both audiences. Focus on aligning your values. Use this opportunity to delight a new set of customers (your partner’s customer base) with the features, services, or experiences they’ll get access to.

Summing Up

Whether you are announcing a new product in your existing line or partnering with a firm to introduce a groundbreaking technology, press releases can help you get the word out. Regardless of the type of press release you use, they prove to be great tools to attract attention to the business, build credibility, and gain a loyal following.

We are sure the press release types discussed above will help you generate publicity for your small business, steering it towards the fast track to success.

The post 7 Types of Press Releases Every Small Business Should Leverage appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

For example, WeWork, a co-working space company, announced that they’d no longer serve or buy meat products at their professional events. Further, companies such as Starbucks have issued statements regarding the non-use of plastic straws to tackle plastic pollution.

Embedding sustainability efforts have a positive impact on business performance. In fact, 80% of customers prefer to buy products and services from companies with a proven record of sustainability regarding reducing their carbon footprint.

Developing an environmentally conscious workplace begins with your employees as your people must believe in your vision and practice sustainable activities before anybody else does. However, getting them excited about simple eco-friendly activities such as putting waste in a bin, saving electricity, etc., is not an easy feat.

Why? Because many don’t care or say that it’s not their responsibility. Or maybe they care but say they don’t have time for it.

So, if you want to take your sustainable strategy to another level, getting your employees involved is crucial for its success. There’s no fixed strategy to engage employees — different techniques work in different situations as companies have different cultures and visions. But, there are a few powerful ways to engage your employees in the company’s sustainability mission. Let’s get into these.

How to Engage Your Employees to Embed Sustainability Internally

Here are five ways to engage your employees for embedding sustainability internally, not just on Earth or Environment Day, but every day.

1. Refine your brand’s long-run mission to include sustainability goals.

All companies have to earn profits to remain in the business, regardless of how it makes those profits. But, the thirst for profits has resulted in the destruction of natural resources and people, especially the most vulnerable populations.

So, the first tactic to engage employees is to ensure that the company’s long-term objectives are aligned with doing good to the people and the environment while also earning profits.

Every organization should define a clear, long-term social purpose in their overall strategy and reflect it through their brand and products.

For instance, in 2010, Unilever announced the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP). It’s a roadmap for the organization’s growth strategy that explains how the company’s success depends on the success of the people and their environmental impact. This plan outlined three key goals:

• Enhancing the well-being of over a billion people by improving their overall health.
• Bettering the financial livelihoods of millions of people in Unilever’s supply chain (such as farmers).
• Reducing the environmental footprint of the company’s products.

The organization’s social purpose enables employees to tap into some great opportunities to use the brand as a means to express their values and create something meaningful — in and out of work.

In short, this helps them understand the main motive behind the work they do.

2. Impart sustainability knowledge and competence.

If employees want to support their organization’s sustainability initiatives, they must know what sustainability is and how it can benefit society, the planet, as well as the company as a whole. Thus, providing sustainability knowledge and training is crucial in bolstering a “can do” attitude towards creating a sustainable culture.

Many companies feel that only people with “CSR” in the job titles require sustainability training. However, that’s not the case anymore. Professionals at all levels can benefit from sustainability and social responsibility knowledge, such as managers, leaders, consulting professionals, and entrepreneurs.

Companies such as IBM, Marks & Spencers, and Nestle have invested a lot in sustainability training, tools, and systems so employees can learn and apply sustainability in their work.

Here’s how you can train your employees:

• Host casual meetings over lunch, conferences, seminars, and online training to discuss the different topics on business sustainability. Ask them about their opinions and tips on contributing to creating a sustainable culture.

• Involve employees when creating relevant, sustainable policies for the company. This way, they will feel that their opinions are valued, increasing their morale and productivity. And, you can get some new ideas for improving your sustainability initiatives, which brings us to the next point…

3. Cocreate sustainable brand practices with employees.

Another effective way to engage employees in sustainability is to involve them in creating sustainability programs.

When companies act on even the smallest idea shared by the employees for the sustainability initiative — such as switching to using digital signatures or investing in office plants — they feel like a vital part of the organization. This, in turn, boosts their morale and loyalty towards the company.

Not only that, companies get a plethora of better and new ideas when they consider the workers’ suggestions. However, employees might hesitate to provide suggestions, especially if their ideas have been ignored in the past.

Therefore, it is essential to provide the right environment where employees can come together and get comfortable sharing their ideas. This might take time but is worth it in the long run.

One way to do this is by creating a green team. A green team involves employees engaged in improving the company’s sustainability.

Here, your employees can share their ideas freely and make decisions regarding their implementation. You can also gather more ideas during periodic staff meetings or send out an employee survey.

An excellent example of this is Marks & Spencer. An employee suggested placing clothes-recycling boxes in its stores to provide income for the International Oxfam movement. The idea was highly supported by the board and achieved tremendous success.

4. Gamify sustainability adoption.

Want to make your employees sustainable while entertaining them? Gamification is your best bet.

Nowadays, many organizations have started turning to gamification to engage and influence their employees and participate in sustainable initiatives. Basically, it uses gaming elements such as rewards and points to boost employee engagement in various activities.

Plus, it makes learning and training more interactive and fun.

Microsoft created the “One Drop of Life” app to raise awareness of the global water crisis among users. In this app, players have to navigate a water droplet through a maze full of twigs, leaves, and toxic waste to reach the collection of droplets.

If the droplet touches any garbage, it will become contaminated, and the game is over. At the end of each round, a factoid bubble appears, mentioning a fact about global water shortages. Such apps and games help employees learn about global issues and develop ideas to tackle them.

Furthermore, creating point-based leaderboards is an effective technique that appreciates the employees who participated more often in the company’s sustainable initiatives.

WeSpire has created a gamification platform where users earn points for completing various sustainable actions. For example, using eco-friendly products, recycling, or coming to the office via public transport.

Points are displayed on the leaderboards and shared on Facebook, inspiring positive change in others.

The platform has become a massive success that companies like Sony and McDonalds use to introduce their sustainability challenges to their employees.

5. Make your sustainability efforts visible.

Today, more and more companies are becoming eco-friendly, but they don’t provide any specific information on how they’re making a positive change for the people.

Also, announcing that sustainability is essential and doing nothing about it is a major step towards failure.

If you want to truly incorporate sustainability in your organization, you have to show it to others, including your employees.

From the hand soaps, paper towels, and toilet paper in employee bathrooms to whether or not you’ve installed durable, commercial-quality EV charging stations for businesses in the parking lot, these decisions create a domino effect.

Visibility plays a crucial role in changing employees’ beliefs and influencing them to contribute to various sustainable initiatives.

One way to boost visibility is to have clear indicators that you are tracking and sharing the progress with the employees — whether by posting updates on the employee news channel, communicating it in the regular meetings, etc.

Only when the employees understand your sustainability efforts and how you’re moving towards them will they be more enthusiastic in contributing towards the same.

Furthermore, it is also necessary to celebrate successes — both big and small. Employees must feel that they have played an enormous role in achieving the company’s goals.

Symbols and signage are also effective tools to grab people’s attention towards the company’s commitment to sustainability. For example, Marks & Spencers has put up numerous signs to encourage their employees to take the stairs instead of an elevator, even if for a few floors only.

Wrapping Up

Sustainability initiatives are excellent for the people and the planet and also for boosting workplace morale. Including your employees in your ecological vision and influencing them to participate in different sustainable initiatives can go a long way toward making them satisfied and great ambassadors for your company.

The above tips can help you engage your employees, helping align their personal goals with those of your brand.

Equip them with the tools and tips to practice sustainability. Show them how their contributions help towards a greener world. When they feel proud for bringing a positive change, they’ll become more driven to work.

The post 5 Ways to Engage Your Employees for Building a More Eco-Friendly Brand appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Staying competitive and relevant now requires small businesses to maintain a reliable and strong online presence. IT-savvy leaders across an increasing number of smaller businesses are investing significant resources in the latest content management system (CMS) technology. The CMS you select will have a huge impact on your digital experiences and business outcomes.

The ideal CMS ties all the tools together in one tech stack. For instance, a popular CMS such as WordPress offers user engagement tools such as WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editing with drag-and-drop, the ability to create blogs and RSS feeds, forms, KPI reporting, and much more. An API-first CMS is also a great asset when it comes to avoiding/reducing data silos. Such a CMS offers marketers and developers structured data that’s ready to be presented through the framework or language chosen. Your content team needs little support from IT staff to keep the site running smoothly.

If your enterprise considers online channels to be central to business strategy you should consider investing in a suitable CMS.

But how do you decide which one is best for your business? Each of the popular content management systems available today — WordPress, Webflow, Joomla, and Drupal among others — offer useful features. New and smaller businesses often find it challenging to make this decision as they are crunched on budget and have limited resources and skills to manage the platform. Listed below are the top nine features every small business should look for when investing in a CMS.

1. User-Friendliness

Most small businesses lack the technical skills needed to work with open-source platforms. People with little experience with HTML, CSS, or PHP need a platform that helps them easily navigate the backend.

User-friendliness is one of the primary must-have CMS features to be considered. WordPress tops the list when it comes to this feature. The admin interface of this CMS is incredibly user-friendly, even for novices. This makes WordPress a great platform whether it’s for internal use or pitching to enterprise clients.

Though they offer several features, Drupal and Joomla are not as user-friendly as WordPress. For instance, developers often find it challenging to locate extensions and templates from Joomla’s admin area. No wonder most small businesses switch from Joomla or Drupal to WordPress for the latter’s quick editing and plugin compatibility.

Whether you are building a new business website or migrating to another CMS, make sure the platform you opt for is easy to use, accessible to multiple plugins, customizable to your business needs, intuitive, and secure.

2. Scalability

All small businesses and startups need a CMS that can scale with an increase in demand. In other words, another must-have CMS feature is the ability to grow with and support the expansion of your business.

Imagine where your business will be five years from now. Will you be adding multiple product lines? Are there any features or software to integrate? Making a list of all such must-haves will help you choose a suitable platform for your business website.

Your CMS should be built with core web technologies for handling the sudden burst of traffic all SMBs hope to experience. The ideal CMS will be able to manage this spurt without taking your website down.

Whether it’s database tuning, web server optimization, or advanced caching strategies, your CMS should be capable of achieving all of it without you having to reinvent the wheel when operating at an enterprise level.

3. SEO Tools

If you want to improve your brand visibility and generate leads for your business, SEO tools are a must-have CMS feature. Search engine optimization brings qualified leads to your website that can be nurtured and converted into loyal customers.

But SEO isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, especially if you lack the resources in the form of a full-fledged team of search professionals. That being the case, small businesses must typically invest in a CMS that makes on-page SEO easy.

For instance, WordPress’s Yoast SEO plugin makes optimization easy, enabling small business websites to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Ask these questions to help you make an informed decision.

• Does the CMS automatically create SEO-friendly URLs?
• Does it add meta descriptions and alt tags?
• What are the advanced SEO features it offers?
• Does it offer recommendations for improving online performance?
• If these features aren’t built-in, is it compatible with SEO plugins?

4. Multisite and Multilingual Functionality

Choosing a CMS that supports multisite and multilingual functionality means your team will spend less time and resources in managing complex requirements, enabling them to focus on other profit-generating tasks.

The CMS you select should allow you to enable multilingual solutions. With this feature, your team can effortlessly manage every aspect of translating and deploying content. If you do business in other countries, this capability needs to be one of your must-have CMS features.

5. A Wide Selection of Add-Ons and Plugins

A CMS should have plenty of available add-ons and plugins. When you have a plethora of such add-ons at your disposal, it’s much easier to customize your website to your business needs.

Plugins and add-ons help expand the core functionality of the framework, allowing you to create a flexible and awesome website. Choose a platform that offers a robust selection of relevant plugins.

6. Responsive Themes

We live in a world that’s well above the mobile tipping point. Native support for a responsive website design is a must.

Very few content management systems offer a wide variety of responsive themes as WordPress does. The platform’s admin and default themes allow front-end developers to either base their design on these themes or roll their solutions. Be sure to choose a CMS that allows you to apply responsive themes to your website with a few clicks.

Without getting into the technical “nitty gritty,” it’s helpful to know that many developers are now moving over to the PHP 8 programming language, which was officially launched at the end of 2020. PHP 8 is proving to be 18.47% faster than PHP 7.4 and will handle 50% more page requests than its predecessor.

This new iteration is finding praise primarily for its Just-in-time (JIT) compiler, which allows CPU-intensive processes to run much faster, so it would be helpful to choose a CMS that is programmed in PHP 8. Early tests in WordPress, for example, show that JIT-run processes boost overall calculation speed.

7. Social Media Integration

With more than half of the world’s population on social media, no business, small or big, can afford to ignore social channels. Social media is more than a platform for boosting awareness. It helps SMBs connect with and engage their audience.

A CMS with social media integration can empower you to leverage the power of social and know the pulse of your audience. It also ensures that your website and social page work together to create a cohesive experience for all.

When deciding on a CMS, make sure you ask the following questions. This will allow you to check whether the CMS has social media integration.

• Is the platform optimized for various social channels?
• Does the CMS allow you to add social media sharing buttons throughout the website?
• Are you able to schedule social media posts?
• Does it include social media analytics on the dashboard?
• If the CMS doesn’t have these features built-in, does it allow you to use a relevant add-on or plugin?

8. Robust Security

The Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report reveals that 28% of all data breaches in 2020 involved small businesses. Small businesses are often a prime target for hackers as their website or CMS lacks sophisticated cybersecurity. This allows hackers to easily get their hands on sensitive data or financial resources.

As a part of your firm’s security strategy, opt for a CMS that’s equipped with the ability to safeguard your sensitive information. Look for features such as Web Application Firewall, automatic updates, SSL certificate, and content delivery network (CDN). These help in keeping customer data safe and ensure that the website runs smoothly.

9. Customer Support

Finally, an ideal CMS should offer adequate customer support. A few free CMS platforms rely on their huge community for resolving issues. They typically have a huge forum that addresses FAQs and share easy tutorials that answer day-to-day issues.

Though this type of support is a nice-to-have feature, it’s a must-have CMS feature to have an efficient customer support team that can guide you through an emergency like a website crash. Most small businesses do not have a robust in-house IT team. You may not want to wait around for a helpful response from a free support mechanism, either. Pick a CMS that offers live support.

Look Before You Leap: Don’t Compromise on CMS Must-Have Features

An effective CMS enables businesses with little or no coding expertise to create, manage, and edit the content on their website. But with a sea of options available today, choosing a suitable CMS isn’t an easy task. Use the list of must-have features to compare the top platforms and choose a CMS that best suits your business needs and gives you maximum returns.

The post 9 Must-Have CMS Features Your Small Business Website Needs appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

It does seem like going digital is the new call for this decade, right? We’ve already seen rapid changes in the global market, across all verticals, with more and more sales being chalked up online.

At the local level, having an individual online persona for your small business is all well and good. That trend has been popular for quite a few years now. However, moving your business activities to online platforms is still a relatively new concept.

Many larger companies have already made their move toward digitization, though many more have yet to take the plunge. Smaller businesses, in particular, remain ambivalent. This is likely linked to the high rate of failure that accompanies attempts to make this change. A recent report by McKinsey states that approximately 70% of large-scale transformations do not successfully meet the expectations they set. Clearly, a better road map is vital for those reluctant to dive in.

Listed below are some high-level categories to keep an eye on as your small business prepares itself for the increasingly digital 21st-century marketplace.

Why Successful Digital Transformation Will Prove Critical

Before we jump into the “how-to” part, let’s briefly take a look at the “why” of digital transformation.

Digital transformation encompasses several comprehensive measures that migrate your business needs, functions, and operations to the appropriate digital platforms. The overarching goal is to simplify and optimize your processes. Simply stated, the motivation to digitize is to stay lean and competitive. In the new economy, “busy work” won’t cut it. There will be plenty of work for everyone as sales increase, though job responsibilities will obviously have to evolve.

Keeping this working definition of digital transformation in mind, the points below drive home its importance.

Improving Customer Experience and Convenience

Today, most of your competitors are already moving their shops online. This will give both your existing and potential customers a whole new and wider range of options to choose from.

Be warned. If you stick to your “bricks-and-mortar-only” model, you will quickly end up losing sales to your competitors. The lockdowns of 2020 made this point abundantly clear.

Providing a comfortable experience to customers who now prefer shopping online will be a major move toward gaining and keeping their confidence and loyalty.

Maintaining a Sharper Competitive Edge

In one scenario, all of your competitors have gone digital and you haven’t. In another, none of them have done so and you have yet to make the move. In the latter case, you could be the first to take this step. By doing so, you establish an authority in the market and gain a first-mover advantage.

This enhanced reputation can also help you attract customers who previously were beyond your reach. Now, they are just a few clicks away.

Embracing Decision-Making Through Data-Driven Insights

Digitization also benefits your business by providing access to a detailed list of insights about your audience’s shopping patterns, demographics, etc.

You can use this data to create more relevant marketing and promotional campaigns that truly resonate with your audience.

4 Steps to Successful Digital Transformation

The significance of investing in digital transformation is clear. Listed below are the steps you can take to ensure a successful digital transformation for your business.

1. Identify and set realistic goals.

The first step to successful digitization is setting goals for your small business. These goals must be realistic and backed by thorough, research-based data.

For example, one goal might be to move all your HR-related activities to a single digital platform that your team is comfortable with.

Your goals must also be measurable. Whatever you can’t measure is what you can’t successfully achieve.

2. Successful digital transformation will require an increased focus on strategy.

Once you figure out your goals, creating a strategy — a clear plan of action — is of utmost importance.

You can either take the entire process of digitization on your shoulders or invest in a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP). A DAP streamlines the adoption of your digital tools and ensures every employee makes the most of their new toolkit.

You may have heard of Appcues as a tool that facilitates product adoption, but today there are great alternatives to Appcues that go beyond baseline functions. These alternatives neatly assist with user onboarding, training, and supporting employees on enterprise applications. They also offer a host of other features that facilitate digital transformation.

3. Ensure the security of all data.

Today, most consumers believe that their data is unsafe on the multiple online platforms they use on a near-daily basis.

Assuring the safety of the information they choose to share with your business is a vital step toward gaining their trust. It also helps to create a positive brand image.

As you upgrade your systems from analog to fully digital, be sure to monitor and seal all the nooks and crannies that might result in a data leak.

4. Regularly analyze usage data.

Make a habit of utilizing the data and usage insights you’ve collected over time to make informed decisions as to your next steps.

Data analysis gives you a better understanding of how well your employees and customers are leveraging the digital platforms you brought in.

You can determine which digital investments are driving desirable returns and which ones may need to be replaced or dumped.

With a data-informed overview, you can determine a clear path to take that will help grow your business, both online and off.

Key Takeaways

An insightful 2018 survey by The Economist found that there was a 48% increase in efficiency following effective digitization. A 47% reduction in operational costs was another key metric cited.

These statistics demonstrate the power of successful digital transformation. In essence, all you need is a clear roadmap for successful digitization. That roadmap may evolve as you move forward, but we’re clearly at a tipping point that may force our hand.

Do your research. Partner with proven experts as needed. The one thing you don’t want to do is wait around as more and more customers move to online puchases.

The post Steps to Achieving Successful Digital Transformation for Your Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

More than 3.5 billion people — approximately half of the entire human population — are active on social media, with an average of three hours being spent per day per person on social networks. What’s more, 54% of social users use social media to research products and engage with brands.

There’s no shortage of tips and strategies you can use to leverage social media as a branding tool. Listed below are three of the most fundamental yet highly effective social media branding tips that you’ll want to implement as soon as possible.

1. Understand which social platforms you want to target.

First things first. How well do you know your target audience?

Got concrete answers to questions such as how old they are? What do they like/dislike? Which social media platforms do they hang out on most? What types of branded content do they engage with best? What motivates them to make a purchase?

The better you know your audience, the better you’ll know where to focus your efforts. You don’t necessarily need to have a loud presence on every platform for effective branding.

For example, when branding your local boutique, establishing a strong presence on Instagram and Facebook should do the trick. Conversely, as a budding B2B startup, focusing on LinkedIn makes more sense.

Simply put, to get the most audience engagement and ROI for the valuable content you create and post, you must pick the right social platforms.

Take the time to do your research. Survey your existing customers about their social network preferences. Learn what your competitors are doing.

Ultimately, you’ll use all of these facts and pieces of evidence to decide which social platforms are worth your effort.

2. For social media branding, focus on visual content.

At its core, effective branding — especially on social media — is all about the presentation of amazing visuals.

To have a consistent color scheme in all the graphics you create and pictures you post, chalk out a visual style guide that outlines your branded color palette. That way, you’ll make sure you have the same hues and fonts in all of your social content.

Over time, your audience will internalize a visual pattern associated with all of your content. They’ll then link those patterns with your brand without even looking at your social media handle.

Attaining this level of brand recognition is possible if you focus on posting visually strong and consistent content.

In fact, internal data from Twitter — a platform that isn’t usually considered visual-first —  proves that people are three times more likely to engage with Tweets that include visual content such as images, GIFs, and videos.

Source: Huckberry

Visual content such as GIFs and short video clips command audience attention as they scroll through a feed. Visual content encourages more engagement.

What if visual design isn’t an area of strength at my company?

Your content doesn’t always have to be elaborate or even particularly well-planned. For example, you could showcase your business using a behind-the-scenes video or promote company culture with an impromptu team photo or quick vlog-type walkthrough of your workspace. You could also show picture testimonials of happy customers or demonstrate your product in use.

Let’s say you decide to use a new video-creation tool with a ton of features to create professional-grade video content for your company. Your team may find it challenging to fully adopt the new tool and leverage all its advanced capabilities. In this case, consider leveraging a digital adoption platform (DAP). A DAP empowers your team to swiftly learn the new software by providing a comprehensive and interactive walk-through of the tool. With a DAP, you can train your team more effectively. They won’t lose productivity trying to make the most of the new software that’s meant to take your social content to the next level.

Long story short, to effectively leverage any social media platform for branding your small business, maintain a strong focus on visual content that’s consistent and engaging.

3. Effective social media branding requires that you engage with your followers.

The greatest benefit to using social media for branding your small business is that it allows you to show your brand’s “human side.” You can talk to your audience informally.

You accomplish this by publicly replying to comments and concerns on a first-name basis. Feel free to use emojis and slang to speak like an individual with a personality. This will make your brand more approachable and personable.

Spark more two-way engagement with your audience with calls to action. For instance, “Drop your favorite __ in the comments!” or “How do you go about ___?” in captions.

After all, 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend that brand to friends and family. Creating positive, branded conversations on social media counts.

Use social media to speak, but also to listen.

In addition, customers are talking about your brand across the social web. This not only includes social media platforms such as Facebook but also Q&A platforms such as Quora. Business review sites such as Yelp and Trustpilot are also a crucial part of this social web conversation. You’ll want to use a brand monitoring tool to track who’s talking about your brand, on which platform, and whether it’s in a positive or negative light.

Apart from praise, you’re sure to receive criticism from time to time. Be proactive. Respond to both types of mentions in a tactful and timely manner. Be frank and friendly, assuring a better experience next time.

Show that you value your customers’ opinions. Use a CRM such as SuperOffice to store all your customer’s feedback and data. This ensures that you truly improve the customer experience moving forward. Knowing your customers as individuals is key to building better relationships.

Time for action!

Now it’s your turn. If you want to grow your customer base, put these three tips into practice to effectively leverage social media for branding your small business. Start small and build over time and, if you found this post useful, be sure to share it with your growing social network.

The post 3 Tips for Leveraging Social Media Branding for Your Small Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Given that your website is often the first point of contact new customers will have with your brand, your website must establish your credibility enough that they feel safe in transacting with you.

A professionally designed, easy-to-navigate website reflects the effort you have put into creating a good browsing experience, which makes it likelier that your products and services have the same high quality. It is also a crucial step in building your brand community.

In this guide, we discuss in detail the three key UX elements that reflect your brand’s credibility — namely usability, the About Us section, and social proof:

Usability

1. Speed

If your website pages take more than two seconds to load, your customer is likely to become impatient and exit the window. Test your site design for loading speed and make adjustments (such as reducing image resolution) so that it loads rapidly across all devices, operating systems, and browsers.

2. Content

Website content that has not been updated in a long time, such as promotional offers from six months ago, does not reflect well on a site’s trustworthiness either for the customer or for a search engine bot.

Keep refreshing your content to reflect the latest news and statistics, company updates, and limited-period offers or product availability, and be sure to keep the language simple enough for a general audience.

Content freshness determines your domain authority — search engines rate updated website content for freshness higher than those websites where the content does not change. Hence, constantly optimize your ecommerce site for SERPs.

Content also includes other links that your pages lead to. Therefore, be sure that none of those links are broken or spammy. Besides, have clear calls-to-action wherever relevant and make sure your text is in a clear and legible font.

3. Navigation

Once your target audience reaches your homepage, they need to be able to get to the pages they are looking for easily.

Have a prominent search bar on every page and make sure that each page element is arranged in a sequence that makes sense. Drop-down menus should be comprehensive, and each item should be listed in clear, simple language.

4. Accessibility

The ADA requires all websites to be optimized for easy use by customers with physical and neurological disabilities. Run a quick test to see whether your site meets the ADA compliance requirements, and get a consultant’s help if necessary to make the adjustments.

Things like clearly legible text, video/audio subtitles, and alt tags for images will, in fact, improve the user experience for all individuals — differently-abled or not  — and also help your site rank higher in search results. Hence making accessibility one of the important UX elements for every website.

5. SSL

Most buyers nowadays will look for the HTTPS in the website address bar and the green lock. You get these from purchasing an SSL certificate, an absolute must for site security — and yes, Google also considers this parameter while assigning ranks.

Besides, it would be best if you had a firewall in place to block unauthorized traffic, a privacy policy that promises not to share customer information, and two-factor authentication.

Given how prolific cybercrime has become, especially on eCommerce sites, you can never do too much when it comes to site security. Get an SSL certificate today!

About Us Section

1. Contact Information

Your website should have a physical address, telephone number, and email address mentioned, either on a separate contact page or at the footer of your site. This assures your customers that you are a real business and also helps with your search engine rankings.

Having a phone number and email address also shows that you want to hear from your target audience, and you want to make it easy for them, which further establishes your site’s trustworthiness.

2. Brand Story

How did your brand come about? What is the story behind your product or service? What motivates you to do what you do?

Having a page that talks about these things helps build a connection with your customers, who see you as a genuine team of individuals rather than a faceless company.

The more customers can relate to the how and why of your brand, the likelier they are to want to buy from you.

Yellow Leaf Hammocks has a well-crafted “About us” page that shares the entire story of how the company used to be, their comfortable hand woven hammocks, and the original Thai weavers who bring the products to life.

Source: Yellow Leaf Hammock

3. Team Faces

Putting a face to the business you run allows customers to see exactly who they will be working with and adds that personal touch. This is particularly important if your business requires one-on-one calls, business meetings, or home visits.

Add brief bios for each member, including qualifications and experience and personal details like hobbies and family. People attract people.

Social Proof

1. Trust Badges

If customers transact on your website with their credit card information, having trust badges from reputed third-party authorities is critical.

These badges show that your website has been verified as a legitimate one and serves to reassure your customers, particularly now that hacking has become common. Some of the most reliable trust badges include McAfee, PayPal, Norton Secured, Verisign, and BBB.

2. Clear Buying Policies

You should highlight any guarantees or warranties you provide to your customers (such as a one-year product warranty or guarantee refunds on canceled orders) on your product pages or in the website footer.

This includes clear mention of any cases where the guarantees do not hold. Taking this step will clarify things for the customers and avoid any legal disputes for you later.

Moreover, one of the top reasons consumers abandon their carts during checkout is hidden shipping costs and tax charges.

Source: Captured from Pack & Send infographic

Such unforeseen costs frustrate consumers, which could tarnish your brand image in the long run. It might be worth including your delivery cost estimation on the product pages so that they do not get shocked at seeing the total costs at the last stage of the buying cycle.

You will appear as a genuine brand if you are up-front about your pricing. Hiding costs would not take your brand very far!

3. Awards

If you have won any significant awards by industry bodies or specific areas like customer service, mention those on your website. It would be best if you also highlighted any positive mentions in the press on the website.

4. Case Studies

These are detailed accounts of a challenge that your business helped a customer overcome. Typically, you would write these in collaboration with your customer so that their side of the story shines through and showcases you as the ultimate solutions provider for your target audience’s pain points.

5. Testimonials

Reviews and testimonials from happy customers go a long way in setting you up as a brand to trust. Therefore, encourage your customers to leave reviews for you online, particularly ones that describe the challenges you helped them overcome.

Wherever possible, ask your customers to share a photo or video of themselves with their testimonial for extra credibility. Professional reviews from high-authority websites or influencers in your domain can also boost your credibility.

Boost Your Site’s Trustworthiness

The above-mentioned UX elements (and their sub-elements) define the credibility of every website. How you approach the specifics is in your hands. However, the underlying principles remain valid. Try to incorporate them all into your website slowly, and you will witness a considerable boost in your website traffic (and conversions).

The post 3 UX Elements That Make or Break Your Business Website’s Trustworthiness appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.