Category: Business

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How do users perceive push notifications?

If you have got a website or an app you might have considered using push notifications due to their potential value in your marketing strategy. Users show a 190% higher retention rate when they receive push messages in the first 90 days. 

Does your customer engagement strategy include the smart usage of push messages to make sure your users stay on your website or app.? However, most users consider push notifications as spammy messages with a high potential for ignorance. 

While push notification has dramatic effects on your website’s ability to engage users, you must consider how your customers really feel about push notifications. 

Most surveys point out the fact that over 50% of users find push notifications annoying. The main reason for this attitude is the lack of personalization. Most businesses don’t pay enough attention when crafting push notifications resulting in push messages being general messages rather than personalized messages. 

In this blog, let’s explore a bit deeper on how users perceive push notifications. 

What do your users feel about push notifications?

When it comes to how users feel about push messages. there are two sides to the coin. While some 50% of users feel push messages annoying, the rest find push notifications helpful. People find push notifications from brands helpful either because the messages are about things that invoke their interest. 

After all, the content offers valuable information. So the trick in is making sure about the relevancy of push notifications and are helpful to users in some or the other way. The very first step is to stop considering push messages as an extension of email. Use push notifications as a separate entity and offer personalization to engage your users. 

Tips to create push notification that your customers won’t be able to ignore

Unlike emails and other marketing techniques, push messages are permission-based services. As with any permission-based marketing tools, it is critical to respect the privacy of your users and leverage your messages wisely. 

Your customers can even turn off your notifications if you misuse or do not use the opportunity the right way. But when implemented with proper planning, push messages can help build valuable and trusted connections between your customers and your brand. 

Here are some effective tips on creating compelling browser push notifications your customers won’t be able to ignore. 

Know what your audience needs

With any type of business communication, it is important to understand who your target audience is and what they want. Only if you have a clear understanding of their real requirements, you will be able to tailor your offerings and determine what type of push messages they are most likely to respond to.

Instead, there is no point in sending random push messages your customers won’t even be interested in. If you miss out on this aspect, you won’t be able to effectively communicate your offers and sales via push notifications to your customers. 

Get to know why your customers have opted to subscribe to your push messages and that they are interested in hearing from your brand. While they might be interested in sales notifications, they would get frustrated if that is all you send to them. 

Make sure you send an interesting piece of information or an informational service that will likely prove more valuable. 

Know when your audience wants to receive your push notifications

The next important aspect you need to pay importance to when sending out push messages to our customers is the best timing to reach out to them. Push messages sent at the wrong or inappropriate timings will go unnoticed and might even annoy your customers and possibly lead to them unsubscribing to your notifications. 

When sending push notifications, make sure you schedule start and end dates and establish specific times relative to the local time zone of your customer base. This becomes really important if you have a diverse customer base spread across the globe. 

Do some research to understand when your customers are most likely to be active and respond to your messages.

Personalization is the key to success

Personalizing your push notifications is really important as we discussed earlier. When you communicate with your customers through push messages that are exclusively sent to them, it becomes a very personal thing. It is a valuable opportunity to communicate directly with them, by instantly grabbing their attention. 

Do you think sending general messages will help you to catch the attention of your users? Customers have to be treated with priority especially during communication with a brand. Hence, taking the time to add a level of personalization to your messages can make a significant difference in your response and engagement rates. 

Personalization of your push notifications is not just about addressing your customers by their name. What you must be focusing on is customizing the message. 

Segmenting your user with the data you have is great to reach the specific sections of your customers with messages relatable to them. When they click on the link you provide in your messages, take them to the pages they visit often and show them the deals most relevant to them.

Understand the engagement

If you are not utilizing the analytics data, you are not doing it right. If you are sending the same push notifications again and again to all your users, that would result in poor response and engagement. 

Using data analytics, you can check the user activity and actions in response to your push messages. Based on the data you get through analytics; you can fine tune your messages to optimize the results. Test different types of messages by sending them at different times to find what works great for your customers. 

Monitor what works for your competitors as well to understand the needs of your target audience if you share the same audience. The only way you can accurately measure the performance of your push notifications is through your analytics. 

Determine what is working well and improve wherever you can. It is recommended to use a push notification service to unleash the limitless possibilities of push messages to the fullest capacity. 

Pushmaze is one such powerful self-hosted web push notification service with which you can increase your reach and CTR’s effectively.

Don’t overdo it

As a business focusing on marketing activities, it is quite natural to overdo something that works great. If you find your push notifications reaping great results, there can be a tendency to use the same strategy again and again. 

However, no matter how great your push messages are, you must make sure you don’t overdo it. Nothing will push your customers away than overdoing the act of sending notifications. Notification tolerance differs among different types of websites and apps and with individual users. To understand the right threshold, you need to test your push notifications. 

Conclusion

Push notifications offer a heap of opportunity in reaching out and directly connect with your customers. However, you need to craft and send out push notifications the right way to maximize their effect. The most significant thing when sending your push notifications in a way it appeals to your customers instead of what you want to tell them. 

Again, it is important to gather the appropriate user data so you can tailor the timing of your notifications when your customers appear to be more active and likely to engage. Keep in mind that you will be on your way to reaping success with push notifications when implemented properly.

Author Bio

Marry Ann

I’m the Marketing consultant, Self-driven budding entrepreneur, Work together with the clients by implementing different marketing strategies in their businesses.

https://twitter.com/MarryAnn854

Currently marketing consultant at https://www.pushmaze.com/

 

5 Tips on Using Localization to Enhance Your Digital Marketing

There is no doubt that the COVID 19 pandemic is a crisis. It has stricken the economic world deeply and adversely impacting the financial markets and changing the way customers shop, work and play due to the impending economic recession. Should the world of marketing take an active role in addressing the pandemic or simply be reactionary to trending topics? Marketing in a pandemic is a different world, but the rules of the game remain much the same.

What are the best ways to determine the opportunities hidden in a crisis? Marketing is all about needs and fulfilling those needs. During a time of crisis, address how the audience will be impacted and how the products and services being marketed offer a solution. Then it will become possible to deliver the resolution that they require, and perhaps increase sales even during the current global pandemic and “imminent” economic recession.

Digital Marketing During The Coronavirus Global Pandemic

Much of the battle against the COVID-19 global pandemic is taking place behind closed doors. A translation agency somewhere has certified medical translators and others, working from home and translating documents, to ensure that scientists, academics, and medical professionals around the world have the latest data immediately after publication.

While a translation company working in a traditional office may be failing, language service providers offering services online have record levels of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These remote translation agencies online are seeing a major increase in business because they do not have to limit their operations at the risk of exposure, despite the ongoing global pandemic.

As more and more of the world continues to move online, the detrimental impact is felt even during a global pandemic such as the current COVID-19 crisis. Digital marketing during a pandemic is an excellent opportunity to push sales online, ultimately creating a new business-consumer paradigm and offering new, exciting and potentially profitable opportunities for enterprises.

Digital Marketing and Localization Services in the age of the Coronavirus

Marketing is in a large sense about focusing on the needs of people, and addressing them by offering meaningful solutions. In times of global crisis such as with the global pandemic, people are going to be focused on the crisis at hand.

Marketing during a global crisis should focus on getting meaningful information out to the people, which requires providing meaningful solutions to the audience. What is a language service provider if not a translation agency that can provide affordable language services including resonant localization strategies to stimulate a more meaningful reaction from the audience? The cost of translation from an agency that also provides localization services is small in regards to the potential return from a larger global audience.  

It’s worth taking a moment to examine localization in more detail here. What is the concept of localization? It is shaping and moulding a translation, a website, a product or anything else that needs to be altered to fit with the cultural expectations of a new audience. 

In the case of marketing translation, localization means taking account of the expectations, emotive responses, values, traditions and beliefs of the local audience to whom you are reaching out. Doing so can involve a range of tasks, including:

  • Localizing your brand name, strapline, logo, and colours to better suit the target market. 
  • Adapting your social media strategy to reach customers at a personal level in new, more culturally appropriate ways. 
  • Updating your SEO to better fit local consumer search habits. 
  • Redesigning your website and other marketing materials to fit longer texts, new imagery and/or a different writing direction. 

There comes a point when localization involves changing so much that it tips over into transcreation. This is an almost complete overhaul of marketing templates and strategy, but with the same intended outcomes as the original plan.

Successful digital marketing strategies can be boosted through the use of a translation agency that specializes in localization strategies. Successful long-term digital marketing strategies must explain the correlation between the crisis and the audience, and how the product or service being marketed will directly address or resolve the global crisis for the larger audience. The inclusion of language and localization services will ensure that the message remains empathetic and effective towards the target audience.

Digital Marketing in Response to the Pandemic

Conducting a successful digital marketing campaign during a time of crisis makes it very easy to get caught up in the hyperbole and begin focusing on the crisis itself, the global pandemic in this case. The anxiety levels of the audience will already be high during a global crisis. A digital marketing campaign filled with simple stats and statistics may get a higher click-through rate or more attention, but it is not going to generate any long-term marketing success stories.

Digital marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic, during a global recession or any other global crisis, should explain to the audience how the crisis relates to them, and provide a sufficient level of information to allow the audience to infer that a solution is at hand.

Why such a subtle marketing approach?

First; if all the answers are provided in the marketing, what is left to generate the desired response? Second; the members of the audience that are looking for that particular solution will be more inclined to look, and ultimately, more likely to provide the desired response, whether it be clicking the “buy now” button or merely generating leads. Subtle digital marketing strategies, especially when marketing during times of crisis will tend to be more effective.

Successful digital marketing strategies using localization services means that the marketing will more directly target the audience, in the local vernacular, to ensure the audience that the marketer is empathetic and understanding from a local perspective.  A language services provider implementing localization strategies can make that happen.

Split Testing and Digital Marketing Strategies During a Global Pandemic

Split testing or A/B testing is virtually always a good idea with very rare exceptions. However, it is especially important for marketing campaigns during times of crisis. During these times, the audience is going to be much more attuned to whatever the crisis may be. As a rule, however, the audience will want to know more than “just the facts” at any given point in time.

The audience must be informed of how the crisis will impact them, the problems that will arise, and the provision of a resolution by engaging in the desired response. However, a global pandemic or an economic downturn may change at a rapid rate. As the trends change, the marketing strategies will also evolve. This continues until the time the marketer is in a position to establish trends instead of just reacting.

Not only should split testing be a part of any marketing campaign during a time of crisis, but consideration should be given to the extent of the crisis. What happens if the economic downturn improves? Or if the COVID-19 global pandemic worsens? Are marketing plans in place and ready to be implemented or is a last-minute rush going to be needed to change strategies every time the crisis moves?

How to Manage Your Small Business Cash Flow

Managing small business cash flow among the most challenging tasks of a small corporate holder. Between unexpected bills, late payments, constant operational costs, it is sometimes difficult to fulfil your monetary commitments. The following ten tips provide you with a few ideas around adjustments you can create to control your small company’s funds and ease the pressure of cash flow.

1.Take inventory frequently

Taking a structured method to record management will let you evade the expenses related to poor management of stock. Utilizing a record management scheme, controlling levels of inventory and undertaking the physical stock take each half-year or quarter will let you stay over your levels of stock and make sure you are not operating with excess stoc

Never spend on needless things.

Although this sounds so obvious, it is a great idea to check if your arranged outflow for the succeeding month, year or quarter is essential. It could be a temptation to invest on needless stuff, but noticeable aspects like signage, redesigning your website, or sponsorships, mainly if your company is expanding or new- but you ought to often consider these costs in the aspect of your economic plans for that time and delay or stagger them where suitable.

2.Plan for emergencies

Shortages of cash flow are often hard to predict, especially if they are caused by a huge unexpected cost or uncharacteristically slow payment from a prominent client. You ought to always have an arrangement in place to access extra capital if you require you can create your own custom packaging boxes

3.Stay on top of billing

Effective invoicing is obligatory for small companies focusing on maintaining stable cash flow. You must deliver your invoices soonest possible, be transparent on the payment and do a follow up for unpaid invoices immediately they get late. ERP accounting software will let you take a more structured method to bill for your small company.

4.Manage expansion firmly

Most fruitful small businesses operate into serious cash flow issues when they are growing quickly. Although robust growth is an incredible thing, it carries a big risk and needs noteworthy effort to make sure it is well managed.

Substantial growth needs consistent and considered investment- you ought to have a transparent plan for giving back profits to the company or looking for external support. A strategy for any dangers that arise is a necessity for new SMEs.

5.Hire consultants

Many small business holders will have fields that they are not good at. Probably you are great at bookkeeping but strain with sales or require capitalizing in advertising but you are not certain about where to begin. Employing a consultant who is a specialist in the fields you require support with results in a perfect corporate sense- you will not need to pay full-time extra wages ongoing, and you will evade the expenses of recruitment overall.

6.Keep on top of your expenses

It is easy to lose your spending track if loads of work have been hectic, but just a number of high-expense months can put a great dent in your cash flow. Stay over your costs by knowing roughly the amount you spend on daily bills (couriers, marketing, etc.) so that you will recognize an unexpectedly big charge directly. You ought to also review operating expenses such as the internet, phone, and power regularly to make sure you are getting the top deal.

One key, yet often missed expense your brand can look into would be the way you package your products. Are you sure you’re making the most out of your packaging investment? Do the materials used on your products’ packaging have any cost-efficient alternatives? Perhaps checking out customized product packaging solutions may be the key for your business to both save up on costs while winning some customer engagement! Customized packaging can give your products a fresh update, with the additional benefit of saving up on the materials used on actually boxing your products.

7.Establish a detailed process of debt collection

A planned approach will be efficient if it is enhanced by a transparent process of debt collection that is really followed. Overdue expenditures can stress the cash flow; thus, your clients must comprehend that your business has an unceasing process of debt collection and will be effective if they fail to pay on time.

8. Consider the cloud accounting resolution.

Cloud accounting ensures that you have access to your funds anytime, anywhere. For small company holders, this means that you can be over your record-keeping on the highway, after a couple of hours at your house, or even as you are traveling abroad- it is easy to sign in and include costs while you ensure they chase late payments or recheck your loss and profit statement.

Service providers such as Xero, MYOB, and QuickBooks will let you safely share your economic details with your accountant or bookkeeper for them to hold updated information all the time.

9. Look for chances to rent instead of buying.

Renting your machinery, vehicles, and premises instead of purchasing them outright may be a good plan for the management of your small business cash flow. The hire purchase will let you pay for equipment bit by bit within the financial term; you will have the choice to sell, keep or replace it with equivalent equipment, meaning you do not have to worry about your assets becoming obsolete.

Cash flow invoice finance resolutions let SMEs relieve the stress when you are facing tight cash flow. By changing overdue invoices into money, you can get extra support any time you require it. You can contact us to get a detailed debtor cash resolution that you may contact on whenever you want it.

Leveraging Six Sigma To Mitigate The After Effects of COVID-19

The coronavirus (COVID-19) proceeds to obstruct society around the earth, growing not only a vital health disaster but a meaningful financial change. However, it also sparked a wave in the move, some of it involving the purpose of Lean Six Sigma.

Confronted with the daunting responsibility of maintaining operations in a period that needs remote operators and problems with supply chains, some businesses have applied Lean-based purposes. In some instances, they’ve joined process development with technology and understanding automation. 

Despite the resolutions, there’s no uncertainty that Six Sigma is a comprehensive answer to defeat the difficulties companies are currently suffering due to the consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

In this article, we’ve embraced some of the steps you can apply to Six Sigma to lessen the consequences of the pandemic and get your company back on course. 

Six Sigma and Crisis Management

One of Six Sigma’s primary missions is to remove the trash, reduce errors and improve variation in an organization’s method. With this thought, six sigma media can be practised in disasters management positions. Crisis management is applied to handle difficulties in any situation. While some crises cannot be processed, their influence can be reduced by plan and quick response. This can further decrease the impact of personal disasters. For instance, in our COVID-19 position, controlling the behaviour of people can have moving effects.

The reality that several countries have reacted with themselves as associated with the number of problems they have and how suddenly they have is an excellent illustration of how population behaviour affects the occurring changes curve levelled.

For instance, nations such as China and South Korea have immediately performed a quarantine that their residents have to serve as cases have begun to grow and rise. You can see how the behaviour of the population is more quickly straightening the curve than in other nations, following the necessary quarantine surely.

Also, companies and hospitals can practice Six Sigma Training to increase effectiveness. In the hospital, for instance, process stream or value flux map can be practised to build a system to manage patients who come to the door ultimately. The hospital can control their process throughput conditions, investigate the data every day, and make subsequent changes by applying and drawing up a plan.

Discussed below are some of the typical challenges companies are currently suffering during the Coronavirus pandemic and how Six Sigma can improve and overcome them. 

The Productivity Challenge

In the light of the inactivity of continued actions over a period demanding past work for businesses included in IT and ITeS, and other applications are almost at a delay waiting to start up over. Most companies will only be able to practice 10-50% of their entire workforce with stringent government specifications. The hurdle here is to maximize production effectiveness with limited support.

Stiff Competition

Whether an administration is a nation or a fellowship, it mostly follows the rule of accumulation and need. As a result of COVID-19, most markets see free drops in market interest due mainly to short-term volatility. Authorities first attempt to control the deterioration and then raise requests, which will also follow the supply chain.

The market is anticipated to grow significantly, with companies facing another test having to play stiffly and to cause a price war. The merchants must do their most reliable, while the users must always barter, to deliver an unbeatable place with the lowest workable margins.

Only if the companies have finally managed their loss, errors, and any changes in their processes is it possible to sustain rates on the lower sides.

Opportunities To Develop And Upskill

Although several companies have now begun to lay off their workers to manage their expenses, the only places that can possibly add value to combat the economic downturn will be held. The cost is not restricted to core competencies or expectations. A software product that would previously have been required to code with ZERO mistakes with standardized SDLC, for instance, is now needed to do.

This can be achieved by upskilling. Employees from different profiles are, therefore, more likely to get new jobs and to stay working in their core jobs. Lean Six Sigma Certification is the capital of the list because it offers the learners the skills they require to improve their potency with the essential quality of the numbers using minimal TAT resources.

Upgrading Your Business With Six Sigma

 

It truly is a necessary action that you can take if it happens to incorporate the Six Sigma system into your business. However, it’s cleared to retail companies that this program has had a significant effect. After all, one of the most significant ways to improve the company’s growth is to keep up-to-date, and the current domination of e-commerce absolutely requires a closer examination. When the company can support Six Sigma develop into the industry chief, specific vital lessons can be learned for your businesses.

Post-COVID -19 Lockdown: Things to Keep in Mind when you reopen your business

We are still in the middle of a crisis. The life we initially referred to as “normal” is now crowded with confusion and uncertainty. The pandemic has changed our behavior. People are under restrictions, and this has changed how businesses operate.

Customer attitude and behavior has changed. It is no longer business as usual and companies are struggling to keep up with the latest trends. We expect the change in customer behavior to continue post-COVID-19 lockdown, and the success of your business will depend on the plans you make today.

While some companies are sitting down and waiting to see what happens, your focus should be on building a strategic, post-COVID-19, business acceleration plan. If your office is back open, get in that meeting room and sit around that mobile whiteboard to brainstorm ideas or if everyone is working remotely get on a collaborative zoom call to work it out.

Your recovery plan can include a digital marketing strategy that encourages current and future business continuity. It’s true that most businesses are suffering during this pandemic, but it is also true that companies, without a digital backbone, are the hardest hit. Customer behavior is changing, and so should your marketing strategies.

To ensure business continuity post-COVID-19 lockdown, your focus should be on tracking customer behavior and how to thrive in a post-crisis world. It would help if you had an excellent plan for this, and here is what you should keep in mind before you reopen your business. 

Balance Customer Expectation and Business Goals

Stellar customer services are helping most businesses stay afloat during this pandemic. It is expected that excellent customer services will also help scale your business after reopening. Businesses need customers, and customers come with diverse needs. To ensure you get a balance between your business goals and customer experience, you must understand customer needs.

You can interpret customer needs by analyzing text information on online platforms. Monitor customer care emails, phone calls, and service chats to determine what people are saying about your brand. Carry out a sentiment analysis to understand customer expectations post-COVID-19. 

After collecting the information, create a reopening guide for your business. The guide can help determine the product and services that your business can and cannot deliver. It will act as a middle ground and ensure you meet business goals and satisfy your customers. By creating a balance, you build trust and provide a steady reopening and continuity of your business. 

Check Online Reviews 

Listen to your customers. It is said that your most profitable customers are those that keep coming back. To ensure you understand how they feel and their expectations after lockdown, monitor online reviews. 

Observe the negative, positive, and neutral comments keenly. Make sure that negative reviews are addressed immediately. For the positive and neutral reviews, acknowledge the senders and make them feel most valued in your business.

You can also monitor what customers say about your place. Is it clean? Do you need more sanitizing booths? Are customers practicing social distancing? All these things matter now more than they did before. If customers complain about your business now, it will be challenging to retain and attract leads after reopening.

Make Your Online Presence Strong and Customer-friendly

The fear surrounding COVID-19 is not something that will fade away soon. Even after reopening, customers will be cautious of the places they visit and the people they meet. Many customers may still rely on online shops for products and services. 

To grow your online sales business, build a strong and customer-friendly digital presence. The demand for online commodities is high, and you need to be found after every search. Build your social media accounts, websites, and other online platforms and optimize them for search engines. Make sure that when your audience searches for a product or services that you offer, your name appears at the top of the list.

Stay ahead of the competition and start your online campaigns before the reopening. Search Engine Optimization takes 3-4 months to deliver results, and you need to start early to build a profitable audience. Explore everything that can build your brand and do not be afraid to take risks.

Remember that building your online presence through content creation, podcasting, guest blogging, video marketing, or other digital marketing strategies could be the big breakthrough your business needs post-COVID-19 lockdown.

Stay Laser-focused on the Local Area

Since the beginning of the pandemic, local businesses have been experiencing tremendous growth. People are finding it easy to visit and purchase from their local grocery or local technician rather than visiting the next town. Customers care for their safety and are avoiding the risk of contracting the virus through the commute.

If you have had thoughts of building your local business network in the past, then this is the right time to do it. Customers are already supporting local businesses, and it’s pretty easy to build trust right now. You can show local customers that you care by being part of community events. Offer support where it matters, and when the government finally lifts lockdowns, your neighborhood will be your greatest business asset. 

Use Technologies

Imagine a COVID-19 world without technology. Now reshape your thoughts and think of the technological opportunities that surround us. While most industries are struggling to stay afloat, technologies are doing far much better and growing daily. Businesses are shifting from the usual office spaces to remote work and virtual meetings.

The developments are tremendous. They enable businesses to carry on with normal business operations without interruptions. But even with such growth, such developments have a fair share of challenges – managing operations. 

When everyone works remotely, it’s tough to manage how employees manage their time. You are likely to have delays in project delivery or have the work not being done at all. That’s why for every technological advancement you consider, you need a plan on how to integrate it with your business activities.

The use of effective technologies, during this pandemic, can boost productivity, improve employee interactions, ensure business continuity, and help drive higher economic growth. Zoom, Google Rooms, and Microsoft Teams are essential for the present and future scaling of the business.

Consider your Employees

When the government finally lifts the restrictions, and people get back to work, the biggest worry will be how to keep them safe so they can serve you and your customers better. While some companies can ultimately work remotely, some need in-house employees to be available at the premises. NPS Office Furniture Townsville advise that to ensure safety in the office you might need to upgrade office furniture with dividers and other sanitation supplies to make employees feel comfortable and safe.

If your business interacts with customers daily, think of the safety measures to implement around the workplace. Consider having enough hand washing booths and maintain a safe social distance among people. You can create a work schedule that ensures a minimal number of people are in the workstation at any given time. If possible, reduce the work hours, so there is less interaction between employees.

Conclusion

Covid-19 has affected our social, technical, and economic lives. It is no longer business as usual, and it may take some time before things return to normal. If your business is focussing on the future, you can explore ways of ensuring business growth post-COVID-19 lockdown. The best way to prepare for the reopening is to foresee all possible case scenarios and be ready to address them.

Summary

  • Businesses need to have a post-COVID-19 reopening plan.
  • A business, with a strong online presence, has a better chance of surviving the crisis.
  • Companies need technology to ensure business continuity.
  • Stay focussed on your local area and grow your network.
  • Protect your employees so they can protect your business. 

 

Author Bio

Kshitij is a digital marketer and owner of a digital marketing agency, Dintellects Solutions. His focus lies in developing strategies to improve brand presence, with reliable marketing services that help businesses to strategize and execute result-focused and data-driven marketing. You can find him spending time with his pet, playing cricket, or spending time with friends and family.

Corporate Housing NYC Style, why Choose Corporate Housing

When it comes to corporate housing NYC is a hotbed of activity and that is because there are so many people who come here for no more than a matter of weeks or months to work in various offices throughout the city. It isn’t just New York however where these types of properties can be found and in fact throughout the country there are certain properties which are owned by corporate housing companies which they let out to people who are covering or working in the office away from their home. 

So why choose this type of living over other types of rentals? Let’s take a look. 

Options 

There are other options here of course for your short term stay, you could look at a hotel, many do stay in hotels when they are away on business. The problem with a hotel however is that over the long term they can get incredibly boring and even if you have the money to cover you for a large suite, there is still something pretty stale about a long term hotel stay. 

Another option here could be something like an AirBnb, a solid option for a short term stay but if you are looking at coming to a city like New York and you expect any of those properties to have 3 or 4 months blocked out as vacant then you have another thing coming, as that is almost unheard of. Other types of short term rentals don’t offer you the flexibility which you need for you stay and you will often have to pay for a certain amount of months up front, which is no good if office decides that you can go back home before you lease is up. 

Home From Home

The idea of this type of housing solution is that it is a home from home, somewhere for you to unwind on an evening after a day at the office and a comfortable environment for you to be able to live as you would do at home. Even the decor and the amenities in these properties is designed with professionals in mind and there are some great properties out there which look incredible. 

Dedicated 

These companies which operate these kind of properties understand the nature of business and they will almost always be flexible in terms of what you need. This includes the example above around flexibility with dates should your situation change. Ultimately these teams are dedicated to offering properties for people just like you and as such their operation is focused on how to deliver the very best deal and the very best property that they can, well placed and well looked after. 

Ultimately this is  the best choice for you if you are covering a sabbatical or maternity and you are only going to be in the city or town for a short while. Make sure that you pick a company with a great reputation and property where you will feel comfortable and at home. 

Residential Investment Properties Opportunities in 2021

It is during or after a recession when smart people and those with cash look to make their biggest gains and if you have liquid cash or assets which can be liquidated then now may very well be a good time to do just that in anticipation of what 2021 is going to bring. We are going through a crazy time right now with CoVid-19 and governments all over the world are doing their best to prop up businesses and citizens in the wake of a financial meltdown. This is going to result in many opportunities for investors, in particular in the real estate market. Residential investment properties in particular are going to provide a great opportunity and here is exactly why. 

Recession 

There is absolutely no question that we can expect a recession of sorts following the pandemic and that is because governments are going to need to get back the money that they have been investing, money which they have borrowed. The result of this is going to be higher interest rates as well as the raiding of pension pots and private funds and that is going to result in the real estate market taking a hit in terms of values. This is going to drive down the cost of so many markets and that is the perfect time for investors with cash to strike. If you are planning to make an real estate investment, you can do more research on the best mortgage rates to fit your budget.

Moving On 

Sadly this is a situation which has negatively affected so many and as unemployment figures rise and businesses are forced to close their doors, people will have to make tough choices regarding where they live. Many will struggle mortgage and rental payments and we can expect to see something of a race to the bottom in terms of people looking to downsize. Mid range properties are going to be the ideal place for investors to place their cash after this as they are going to be popular in the rental market when things pick back up again.  

Desperation 

There are also going to be some people out there who are looking to get rid of a second home because they need those funds and this could very easily result in a desperate sell where they are willing to discount the price of the property for a quick sale. Whilst the 2008 financial crisis was very different from the one which we are going through at the moment, this was something which we saw a great deal of as people were looking to make sure that they could stay afloat. 

The point of all of this is that if you have liquid capital then it would be a very smart idea to sit on it and wait to see what happens in the real estate market in the coming months and years because all the indications suggest that there could be some fantastic opportunities which are going to present themselves within this sector. 

Hold tight, do your research and jump onto an opportunity when you see one. 

Benefits of Answering Services For Small Businesses

Your small business may not have hundreds of staff and different departments to which it needs to attend, but that is no reason why you shouldn’t have a high quality and uber-professional phone service. This is why answering services for small businesses is such a good idea and while you may wince about what this is going to cost you, it is important that you consider this idea because the return on investment is really going to be worthwhile. 

This is of course always what has to be considered for small businesses, if they are going to invest some of their capital are they going to be able to improve things to a point whereby they see some of that investment coming back? And here is why an answering service will most certainly deliver. 

Reputation 

Just because you are considered a small business does not mean that you have to run things like a backstreet store and that is why the professionalism which an answering service can offer you is going to be a great asset and one which can help to boost your reputation. When a customer calls instead of getting a member of staff who perhaps isn’t trained in handling calls, your customers are going to get the very best, those who have the perfect manner and attitude and that is going to reflect very well on your business. We live in competitive times and that is why you should be looking to do all you can to set yourself aside from the rest. 

Efficiency 

A single phone call can be enough to derail your train of thought and see you lose focus for many minutes and throughout the course of the day that is going to have a huge bearing on productivity and efficiency in the business. Having calls handled by the professionals will ensure that those within your workplace are able to focus on what they are there to do. 

All Hours 

It is impossible for a small business to man the phones at all hours but your customers may be calling at all hours and an answering machine isn’t going to look very professional. If however they get through to the answering service which is able to take a message then this is going to ensure that the customer comes back, if they don’t get that service it is very possible that they will take their business elsewhere. 

Time 

If the phone rings as you are dealing with a customer and there is nobody else in, it can be frustrating for those in the store as well as those customers on the other end of the line. To remedy this you can use an answering service which will be able to react to you not answering and take a message from the customer, you can then call them back when things are quieter to ensure that they get the service which they needed. 

This type of service will ensure that you have happier customers, more focused staff and that you are able to raise your reputation thanks to showing professionalism. 

What an Order Management System Brings To Business

In the past, a high performing order management system would have been something which just the large retailers would have used but in this digital world in which we are living this is a system which is available to so many businesses large and small and the benefits which it offers make it wort hits weight in gold. A good order management system tracks every product in the building from arrival to sale, waste or shrink, and it is a critical component of product management. There is so much which a great OMS can give to businesses and this is why it is so vitally important. 

Data 

Although it is not always mentioned we have to consider just how important the data which an order management system can give us is. Through the use of an OMS system we can track sales and this can help us greatly to recognize trends in the business. Perhaps you wish to lower the cost of a product, you can then see how well it performs using the data which you get from he system, and that can help influence different promotions in the future. 

Stocked

There are few things worse than a customer or client not being able to get their hands on the goods that they want and it can actually damage your reputation if this happens a lot. A business relies on the goods which it gets from factories and warehouses and so too do consumers when it comes to picking up goods from the store. An order management system which is working will ensure that there is nothing out of stock, and if so that it is not out of stock for long. This will help to increase the reputation of a business as well as improving customer service. 

Over Stocks

Over stocks are a great pain and especially so for small and medium sized businesses. If you have an abundance of slow selling stock then you will have cash tied up in that stock, which may then be tied up for a long time. Using an OMS will ensure that you are only ordering the stock which the business actually needs and that will greatly help to reduce the chance of having unnecessary overstock which fill up storage space and tie up capital. 

Information 

Being able to let a customer instantly know whether or not you have a certain item in stock is a great time saver and something which shows professionalism and high standards. Using a PDA or another handheld computer you will be able to see in a heartbeat not only whether or not you have something in stock but also when it will be net in if you do not have the product in stock. This is an essential part of running a business and in using an OMS you will be able to speed up your customer service and offer accurate information. 

Simply put, order management systems have completely renovated the way in which businesses operate. 

Singapore Offshore Соmраnу Fоrmаtiоn Guide

For many aspiring entrepreneurs, Singapore is one of the prime destinations that they wish to immigrate to. This is because it is extremely easy to start a business in Singapore.  While some choose to apply for an employment pass to register a private limited company in Singapore, others opt to incorporate an offshore company instead.  Inсоrроrаting а Singapore offshore соmраnу аllоwѕ thе owner to benefit from mаnу added advantages.

Company details needed for Offshore Company Formation

Thоѕе who decide to inсоrроrаtе an оffѕhоrе соmраnу or seek to register a private limited company in Singapore should know сеrtаin оf the requirements prior to the incorporation. We have compiled them into a list for you for easy reference:

  • Cоmраnу nаmе: Thе соmраnу nаmе iѕ to bе approved bу thе Accounting and Cоrроrаtе Rеgulаtоrу Authority (ACRA) оf Singароrе.
  • Lосаl dirесtоr, shareholder, and соmраnу secretary: Thе соmраnу muѕt have аt lеаѕt оnе local director, ѕhаrеhоldеr, аnd соmраnу ѕесrеtаrу.   
  • Pаid-uр сарitаl: Thе minimum раid-uр capital is S$1.
  • Company’s registered lеgаl аddrеѕѕ: A rеgiѕtеrеd address is раrt оf соmраnу rеgiѕtrаtiоn in Singароrе. It саn be a rеѕidеntiаl аddrеѕѕ оr a commercial оnе, but not a роѕt оffiсе box. 
  • Bаnk account: Offshore соmраnу оwnеrѕ аrе rеquirеd tо ореn a bank account in Singароrе. Mоѕt banks in Singapore rеquirе the реrѕоn whо ореnѕ thе bаnk ассоunt tо bе thеrе in person for thе ореning оf thе ассоunt. Thiѕ is the only step whiсh саnnоt be соmрlеtеd frоm abroad. 
  • Business liсеnѕе: Thоѕе whо рlаn tо саrrу оut buѕinеѕѕ ореrаtiоnѕ in Singароrе mау rеquirе a business liсеnѕе dереnding оn the nаturе оf the buѕinеѕѕ.
  • Company constitution, memorandum, and Artiсlеѕ оf Association: Thеѕе include dеtаilѕ regarding dirесtоrѕ’ rights, соmраnу management, аnd ѕhаrеhоldеr agreements, аmоng оthеr imроrtаnt matters.

Although it iѕ rеlаtivеlу ѕimрlе tо оbtаin a permit tо incorporate аn offshore company in Singароrе, ассоrding to the laws оf Singapore, a fоrеignеr iѕ bаrrеd from doing ѕо on their own. As mentioned before, they will require the services of a Company Registration service provider to help them submit the necessary documents on their behalf.

If you are a foreign entrepreneur considering starting a business in Singapore, do not worry as the process to incorporate a company is simple. There are also many reputable Singapore company registration services that you can engage in to help, such as WLP Group. Be sure to prepare your incorporation documents in advance so that the process would be quicker and hassle-free.

Documents required for Company Incorporation in Singapore

For ease of reference we have compiled a list of documents required to start a business in Singapore. Thеѕе documents fоr оffѕhоrе company incorporation аrе аѕ fоllоwѕ: 

  • Cорiеѕ of раѕѕроrtѕ оf proposed ѕhаrеhоldеrѕ аnd dirесtоrѕ 
  • Proofs of rеѕidеntiаl аddrеѕѕеѕ оf рrороѕеd ѕhаrеhоldеrѕ аnd directors 
  • Dеtаilѕ оf the hоlding company if thе ѕhаrеhоldеr is a соrроrаtе еntitу  

Singapore Tаx Infоrmаtiоn for Offѕhоrе Company Ownеrѕ 

All income rесеivеd in Singароrе frоm abroad that has nоt bееn sourced in Singapore bу resident individuals is tax–exempt, according to the Inland Revenue Authority in Singapore (IRAS). Thiѕ inсludеs оvеrѕеаѕ inсоmе раid into a Singapore bank ассоunt. Hоwеvеr, thiѕ does not inсludе inсоmе received in Singapore from outside Singароrе оbtаinеd thrоugh раrtnеrѕhiрѕ in Singapore оr оvеrѕеаѕ еmрlоуmеnt thаt iѕ inсidеntаl tо оnе’ѕ Singароrе еmрlоуmеnt.  

Singароrе’s tax is based on thе tеrritоriаl principle, which means thаt оnlу thе inсоmе еаrnеd in Singароrе or gаinеd frоm trаdе ореrаtiоnѕ outside thе соuntrу iѕ ѕubjесt tо tаxаtiоn.  Fоrеign-ѕоurсеd income rесеivеd in Singароrе thаt fulfillѕ сеrtаin qualifying соnditiоnѕ is еxеmрtеd from Singароrе tаxаtiоn, аѕ mentioned above.

Similarly, Singароrе also follows a ѕinglе-tiеr tаx policy.  Cоrроrаtе inсоmе tаx rаtе iѕ 8.5% fоr рrоfitѕ up tо S$300,000 аnd a flat 17% аbоvе S$300,000.   A newly inсоrроrаtеd соmраnу will nоt bе tаxеd оn thе firѕt S$100,000 оf tаxаblе income еаrnеd for each оf the first thrее tаx filing уеаrѕ if they fulfill certain conditions. 

When you register a private limited company in Singapore, yоur offshore соmраnу formation service provider will submit all necessary documents to ACRA on your behalf. Most of the time, the process to incorporate a company in Singapore is fast, with the exemptions of certain industries such as Education, Finаnсе, аnd Entertainment such as Casinos. Before you start a business in Singapore, be sure to research and read up on your company’s industry to check if there are any additional guidelines you need to follow.

In Summary

Creating аn оffѕhоrе соmраnу in Singароrе is nоt a diffiсult task, and with this guide, you will have a much better understanding of how the process to incorporate a company in Singapore works. If you choose to engage a company registration service provider, check if they are able to provide you with follow-up services such as ореning a соrроrаtе bаnk ассоunt, obtaining buѕinеѕѕ liсеnѕеѕ and permits, registering for GST, open CPF account, еtс. For a foreign entrepreneur, these may be unfamiliar to you and it is highly recommended to speak to your service provider about such issues.