Even though it may not seem like it, productivity is actually extremely important both for you and your team to succeed. But while you might be able to motivate yourself to some extent, you still need to find different solutions that could help you motivate your team. Hence, here are the ten best Business productivity tools to start using.

#1 G-Suite

The first thing to remember about business productivity tools is that they don’t have to be paid to be good. In fact, most high-quality tools you should start from are already available for free while providing you with the best functionality on the market. One of these is the famous G-Suite which is now known as Google Workspace.

Essentially, the G-Suite is the online version of the Microsoft Office Suite this time offered by Google. In addition to Docs, Sheets, and Slides, you also get a number of other tools and services, including Forms, Gmail, Drive, Keep, Calendar, Hangouts, and others. Many of these are suitable for teams (e.g. real-time editing in Docs) which is why they are ideal for collaboration and productive work.

#2 Office 365

Alternatively, you can use Office 365. This is the actual online equivalent of the standard Microsoft Office Suite offered by Microsoft itself. Office 365 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote. Both G-Suite and Office 365 have very similar features and tools, so it’s up to you which one you prefer.

The most effective way to use either set of tools is by utilizing it for bigger teams or remote teams. Collaborating on a single project is difficult with bigger teams, but these tools can make it easier by allowing you to work together at the same time on the same document. This is the same reason why remote teams can benefit from such tools. However, G-Suite and Office 365 will be useful for regular teams as well.

#3 Asana

Project management is one of the most important aspects of organizing your business to achieve maximum productivity. To help you with this, you can use Asana. This project and task management tool is easy to use and available on desktop and mobile which makes it perfect for working on the go as well.

Essentially, Asana lets you create a workspace where you can then create and assign tasks. You can add details to the tasks, tags, comments, etc. – all of these will ensure that every member of your team knows what is required of them. Asana can be a little bit difficult to figure out at first, but the learning curve isn’t very steep.

#4 Trello

If you want to try an alternative to Asana which is somewhat more straightforward, then Trello is a good option. This project and task management tool lets you create a board where tasks can then be created and assigned. The two tools work in a similar way, but Trello is a bit easier to figure out for absolute beginners.

Just like Asana, Trello makes it easier to organize big teams. For example, if you are working with writers from the writing services reviews site Best Essay Education, you will want to assign tasks to these writers. That’s when Trello will be perfect for managing multiple writers and coordinating their work effectively.

#5 Skype

Though Skype is definitely not as popular as it used to be (largely due to newer competitors), it is still a powerful tool for video and voice call communication. Having a tool like this is particularly important if you are working with remote employees or need to hold meetings regularly with employees that are on business trips.

Skype allows you to share text messages and files in addition to holding voice and video calls one-on-one or with multiple participants. Many professionals in different fields are used to Skype, so this is a good starting point for those who want to work with specialists of all ages.

#6 Zoom

On the other hand, if you are into new alternatives to Skype, then Zoom might just be your number one choice. During the pandemic, this tool became particularly popular both among educational institutions that used it for organizing remote classes and among businesses that held remote meetings this way.

Zoom has very similar features to Skype, but as more people tried it out, they realized that Zoom seems to be working somewhat faster than its older competitor. Of course, Skype is still a great choice for its features, but more and more businesses are switching to Zoom precisely due to its speed and ease of use.

#7 MS Teams

One more option to consider for voice and video calls is Microsoft Teams. As mentioned earlier, this tool is a part of Office 365, so if you get a Microsoft account, you will already get access to Teams. Google’s alternative to this is Hangouts which is included in the G-Suite. In other words, there are multiple options currently available on the market that all have similar features. It’s up to you to decide which one is best for your team.

#8 Slack

In addition to voice and video calling, you also need a powerful tool for texting. While emails are still a great way of communication, most businesses prefer using emails for longer letters, but if you need to send a short message, texting is preferred. That’s when you can turn to the professional messaging tool called Slack.

Perfect for teams, this tool lets you set up a workspace with multiple channels for discussing different topics separately. You can send text messages and files as well as chat in voice and video calls. In addition to that, Slack integrates with Drive and Dropbox among others. The tool is available both for desktop and mobile devices.

#9 Toggl

Though task management and time management may seem like they are one and the same thing, they are actually somewhat different – and that’s why you need Toggl. This time tracking tool will help you and your team start using your time in a smarter and more productive way.

Available on desktop and mobile, Toggl comes with a variety of features that range from scheduling to reporting to tracking time. All of these features are meant to help you understand how you are using your time and how you can start using it more effectively.

#10 Evernote

If you are looking for a powerful app for note-taking, then you should definitely consider Evernote. Google’s Keep already comes with a few good features, but Evernote takes note-taking to a whole new level. You can access notes from any device, attach files to your notes, and turn your notes into PDFs among other things.

#11 Todoist

The task management tool Todoist helps you do exactly what its name implies. This tool is perfect for small and mid-sized businesses that need to organize their teams to perform tasks, subtasks, projects, subprojects, etc. You also get to use features such as notifications, priority settings, and more.

#12 Freedom

One more app that can help you focus better on your work is Freedom. This tool blocks distractions such as websites and apps that could be preventing you from doing your job well. Once all your team members start using Freedom, you will notice that your employees are getting distracted fewer times per day which, in turn, leads to more productivity.

#13 Hootsuite

Social media marketing can take up a lot of time, even if you have a dedicated team of professionals working on your social media content and managing your profiles. That’s when a tool like Hootsuite can be of great help to you.

To put it simply, this is a professional social media marketing and management platform. It allows you to connect all your social media profiles and schedule posts for all of them from a single dashboard for months ahead. This way, you can maintain a specific regularity of publishing your content that will keep your profiles relevant.

#14 Monday

For example, you can set everything up to achieve very specific goals and help your team work on very specific tasks. From HR to task management to marketing to sales, all of these can be managed from one place which is your team’s personal Monday dashboard. The platform itself is marketed as a tool to help you achieve maximum productivity.

#15 Noizio

Last but not least, Noizio is a tool that will help you become more productive by using unconventional methods. As the name suggests, Noizio deals with noise, or rather, sounds that are meant to help you concentrate on your work better. You can choose between dozens of different sounds of nature and music to help you focus and be more productive at work. It’s a great way to relax while also directing your efforts to achieve a specific goal.

#16 Fyle

Fyle is an expense management software that lets you take end-to-end control of organization-wide business expenses. It simplifies the expense tracking process for employees by letting them submit their expense reports from applications they use every day like G-suite, Slack, Outlook, etc. Additionally, Fyle also enforces compliance by automating pre-submission checks. This makes the reimbursement process for Finances teams a breeze, as they no longer have to check every submitted report against company policy manually.

Final thoughts

Monday, a remote teamwork dashboard, is a pretty useful tool for every business that wants to streamline its workflow. The platform is very customizable and meant to meet the specific needs of very different businesses using it.

All in all, there are quite a few productivity tools you might want to try to help your team become more efficient and productive. All of these are ideal for professional use, so it’s good to try them out to find what works best for you.

The post 16 Best Business Productivity Tools for Individuals and Teams appeared first on Tricky Enough.

Many people use social media all the time. They trust their favorite influencers. In fact, 49% of social media users note that they trust product recommendations from influencers so people trust influencers almost as much as their friends. Money Brighter is a website that can help you manage your finances. Besides, many other approaches have proven to become less effective than they used to be. While the cost of paid advertising grows, its ability to drive conversions declines. Besides, influencer marketing has 11 times higher ROI. While this article guides you on incorporating influencer marketing into your digital initiatives, if you’re operating an LLC, it’s crucial to ensure all promotional collaborations align with the legal standards of your business structure.

What Influencer Marketing Is?

Simply put, influencer marketing is an approach based on product mentions and endorsements from social media influencers and bloggers. These people are often perceived as experts in their area and they have a dedicated audience that listens to their recommendations. The main reason why influencer marketing works is that influencers have trustful relationships with their audiences. Influencer marketing can help brands increase reach while acting as social proof for potential customers.

One of the most popular platforms for influencer marketing is Instagram. Using Instagram for influencer marketing is a very popular strategy, but there are also other platforms, such as YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat. Every platform has its own unique features, influences, and demographics. The influencer marketing industry is expected to reach $15 billion by 2022, and its role in digital marketing will continue to get more and more important.

Why Influencer Marketing Is Beneficial for Your Business?

Influencer marketing is the fastest-growing type of marketing, and it brings better results than paid search, affiliate marketing, and display. According to research, businesses generate $6.50 in revenue for each dollar invested on average. 13% of businesses make $20 or more, and 70% of businesses make $2 or more. 22% of marketers say that influencer marketing is their most effective customer acquisition channel.

Another advantage of influencer marketing is that it has a great reach. Many influencers have audiences of millions of followers so working with these influencers can help you deliver your message to millions of potential customers. As the connection between your brand and the influencer gets stronger, your network will also grow, along with your reach and recognition.

Influencer marketing offers amazing targeting opportunities. There’s too much content on the internet. Brands, influencers, and regular users produce tons of content all the time so it becomes more and more difficult for businesses to reach the right audience. Influencers can help you find your target audience, and you can adjust the precision of your targeting by collaborating with different types of influencers. While macro-influencers can help brands reach wide audiences of 500,000 and more followers, micro and nano-influencers enable you to deliver your message to perfectly targeted niche audiences.

Along with these obvious benefits, influencer marketing also offers some unique advantages. We’ve already mentioned that influencers and their followers have relationships based on trust. Influencers are one of the most popular sources of information for people who want to learn about new products in a certain industry, whether it be fashion, beauty, fitness, tech, etc.

Influencers are often idolized by their followers and they set trends. They also often have an opportunity to test new products before anyone else. Therefore, businesses can use influencers to build their campaigns around reviews of new products they have exclusive access. Brands can place their products in the spotlight of a hot trend.

Although influencer marketing has a great ROI and enables you to reach a large well-targeted audience, it’s not just about metrics. Influencer marketing enables you to build relationships. Your collaborations with influencers shouldn’t necessarily be one-time partnerships. You can build long-term partnerships that will continue to benefit both your brand and the influencer in the future. According to statistics, 37% of influencers work with brands for long periods of time instead of participating in one-off campaigns.

Influencer marketing is also a great tool for improving your brand reputation. No matter whether you’re starting a conversation or hopping on the already existing discussion, you can make people talk about your brand. You may focus on positive or negative sentiments, and in both cases, you need social media presence. When your brand has an active social listening plan, you can monitor conversations about your brand and see where these conversations take place. You should make sure to join such conversations not passively, as just an observer, but as an active member of the community, and influencer marketing enables you to do it.

If you see that people are spreading misinformation about your brand, you can use this opportunity to share your perspective. Influencers can help you address the issue in a professional yet authentic way while having full control over your brand image and brand voice. When consumers talk positively about your brand, you can also show your appreciation both personally and publicly. Besides, influencer marketing allows you to build a whole pool of brand ambassadors that will make a significant contribution to your online presence.

How To Integrate Influencers Into Your Digital Marketing Strategy?

1. Incorporate influencers into social media marketing

Even though it’s one of the most obvious ways to start working with influencers, this way is also often misunderstood. Many brands think that influencers are a solution to all of their problems. They expect that influencers will immediately boost their sales, retention rates, brand awareness, and media following. Influencers indeed can help you achieve these goals if you have the right strategy, but it rarely happens all at once.

Before you launch your influencer marketing campaign, you should set clear objectives. You need to understand exactly what you’re going to do: increase sales or brand awareness, boost social media following, etc. In each case, you will need a different strategy. It’s also important to research your target audience and understand how they talk about your brand. This way, you will be able to choose the right influencers to communicate your message.

2. Use guest posting

Guest posting is a great solution if you want influencers to not only mention your brand but also speak about it in the most informative manner. Blog posts are longer than social media posts so they enable influencers to get into detail and share well-elaborated opinions that can be appreciated by your audience.

You can also drive more visitors to your website by asking influencers to share blog posts on their social media. You can also link to influencers’ blogs, which can be very beneficial in the SEO context. This way, the audience of people who google their names will eventually come across posts dedicated to your brand.

3. Let influencers participate in creating content for your website

Influencers are more than just a channel that enables you to deliver your message on social media. They are also content creators. They are photographers, videographers, and writers. They are creative personalities that are always up to date about the latest trends in their niche.

When you need help with content creation, you can always find freelance writers on paper writing service reviews websites. However, influencers are familiar not only with the specifics of your product but also with the content that is popular among your target audience. Influencers can incorporate the right elements into your content, whether it be a meme or another cultural reference.

4. Use affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing gives you a great opportunity to engage influencers with your product and to motivate them to promote your products to their audiences. Usually, affiliate programs are quite cheap and you don’t need to make any upfront investments in a promotion. Influencers will simply receive a commission for promoting your products, and therefore they will be interested in driving conversions.

Affiliate marketing is an approach that perfectly combines with influencer marketing. It enables you to avoid upfront costs and many other risks while also providing a clear incentive for influencers so that they will want to push your product. The affiliate commission can be a little higher than the influencers’ original fee, and it will be enough to motivate them to work for you. Besides, you can collect valuable data on what products perform best.

Wrapping Up

Influencer marketing is so popular for its effectiveness and the numerous unique benefits that it offers to businesses. Influencer marketing made many brands reconsider their digital marketing strategies, and if you’re not collaborating with influencers yet, you should start doing it. Your competitors may already invest in influencer marketing, strengthening their online presence and driving conversions.

No matter what your niche is, you can boost your sales by working with celebrities or micro-influencers. Influencers can help you reach a wider audience and increase your revenue. The main thing is to clearly define your goals and to find influencers who have the right audience. Now that you know why influencer marketing is so effective, you can start planning your strategy. No matter what your objectives are, the chances are that you will be impressed with the results.

Suggested:

Why Influencer marketing is effective?

What do you need to learn about Instagram marketing if you are a social media influencer?

The post How influencer marketing can help your digital marketing initiatives? appeared first on Tricky Enough.

UX writing and UX copywriting have both differences and similarities which are essential to understanding how the two work. Hence, here is everything you need to know about UX writing and UX copywriting, statistics associated with them, and best practices you can use when integrating UX writing and UX copywriting into your strategy.

UX Writing

UX, which stands for “user experience”, and UI, which stands for “user interface”, are both important for your website’s design and content. Indeed, it’s not just about the way your website looks, but also the text and the content that you place throughout. UX writing is directly related to the creation of this text and content.

Most of the time, a UX writer is the person writing texts that help users perform a particular task on a specific webpage or website. Because these texts are meant to make the user experience better, they are usually concise, useful, and clear. They guide users through all the necessary steps they need to perform to reach their goals.

UX writers usually work with other departments of the company. They often work with marketers, customer consultants, software engineers, product managers, and other specialists. Some companies may still use the term “content design” instead of UX writing even though the two are quite different.

UX Copywriting

UX copywriting is often used interchangeably with UX writing even though the two are different concepts. While UX writing is concerned with content primarily used on websites and apps, UX copywriting is concerned with advertising and marketing content. The two have different applications though both are meant to improve user experience.

UX copywriters create promotional materials and content such as brochures, emails, billboards, and promotional website content. The text used in this content is referred to as “copy” and prompts users to perform particular actions. Most of the time, business owners will hire UX copywriters and UX writers from top custom writing services or similar agencies working with user experience content creation.

Suggested:

What is Copywriting and Why Do Businesses Need It?

Key Differences

So, what exactly sets the two apart and why can’t they be used interchangeably? Both UX writers and UX copywriters work with words and create content, but there are some notable differences that definitely make them unlike one another:

• Goals: UX writers need to solve the users’ problems by instructing them on how to do this. UX copywriters need to encourage users to perform a particular action beneficial for the business (e.g. make a purchase, subscribe to the newsletter).
• Timeline: UX writers are present at the inception of the product and put themselves in the shoes of the customers to understand how the product will be received. UX copywriters are involved during the marketing stage to help promote the product.
• Collaborators: UX writers collaborate with different departments. UX copywriters only work with the sales and marketing departments. UX copywriters can also work alone while UX writers can’t.
• Data Sets: UX writers work with data related to products such as product usage. UX copywriters work with data related to the website and various marketing materials such as the site click-through rate.
• Wording: UX writers use simple words to explain processes and concepts. UX copywriters use “sexy” words to attract customers and sell products.

Key Similarities

With all those differences, it may seem that UX writing and UX copywriting are completely unrelated. But this is not true. They have some similarities too:

• Orientation: Both UX writing and UX copywriting are concerned with user experience to some extent. They are both a part of content marketing and digital marketing.
• Qualifications: Most UX writers and UX copywriters have a background in writing. UX writers are often ex-copywriters. Both UX writers and UX copywriters need to have some understanding of technology.
• Website Use: As mentioned above, UX writing and UX copywriting are both concerned with a user experience which means they are directly related to the way they are used on your website and the way they improve your website’s ratings.

Best Practices

Last but not least, it’s crucial to understand how to use UX writing and UX copywriting correctly. Here are some best practices to follow:

• Be Concise: UX writers need to explain things concisely and clearly to help the users understand how to perform certain tasks. UX copywriters need to be concise to keep the attention of potential customers.
• Avoid Double Negatives: Both UX writers and UX copywriters need to be clear for the audience to understand what they mean.
• Address Your Audience Directly: Both UX writers and UX copywriters often use “you” to address the audience and create a connection with it.
• Stick to Consistency: Both UX writers and UX copywriters need to be consistent in their content if they want to avoid miscommunication and misunderstandings.
• Remember About Visuals: UX writers will probably work with other departments that will create the visuals while UX copywriters might have to create them themselves. In both cases, visuals need to go along with the text.
• Format Copy and Content: Always remember about formatting both for UX content (UX writing) and UX copy (UX copywriting). Many users prefer scanning or skimming instead of reading which is why formatting is so essential.
• Be Careful with Humor: Though humor can lighten up the tone, UX writers need to be careful with it to avoid misunderstandings while UX copywriters need to be careful with it to avoid being tone-deaf or inappropriate.
• Test Everything: One of the most important things to remember about UX writing and UX copywriting is that you should always test everything before you actually use this content or copy.
• Improve and Upgrade: Moreover, once you have tested your content and copy and then used them, you need to continue monitoring their performance and improving and upgrading them over time.

If you are still unconvinced that UX writing and UX copywriting are important, here are some UX statistics to consider:

• Only 55% of companies conduct UX testing which means your involvement with it will help you stand out from the crowd and attract more customers.
• 88% of online shoppers say they wouldn’t return to a website if they had a bad experience on it. This makes UX-oriented strategies extremely important for everything from sales to customer satisfaction.
• 44% of shoppers usually tell their friends about a bad experience they had while shopping online which can harm your reputation easily.
• Better UX design is said to improve conversion rates of up to 400% while better UI could raise them up to 200%. This makes UX and UI-oriented practices extremely effective.
• Around 70% of failed online businesses are shut down because of poor usability which proves once again the importance of a well-designed website and customer-oriented strategies.

Final Thoughts

All in all, UX writing and UX copywriting are both very important for the success of your digital campaigns. Make sure that you understand the difference between the two and know how to use them correctly. Apply the tips from this article to your own strategy and start integrating UX writing and UX copywriting into your campaigns.

Suggested:

Top UX Designing Mistakes limiting your business growth.

Ways to Create an Enterprise UX Strategy?

Interesting Facts about UI UX developers and UX and UI development.

The post UX Writing And UX Copywriting: What Is The Difference? appeared first on Tricky Enough.