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A strategic plan allows you to set objectives and daily actions to achieve them. It also serves to unify the efforts and collective expectations of the business. Within the business management scope, managers must focus on strategic direction. 

Forming a strategic plan forces the executives to see planning from a macro perspective, pointing out the central objectives so that the daily actions approach the goals. It also maintains both the focus on the future and the present. It reinforces the principles acquired in the vision, mission, and strategies.

The strategic plan favors management and business coordination by unifying collective efforts and expectations and assigning priorities to the resource destination. While there are no absolute rules regarding the proper structure, most follow a similar pattern and have common attributes. Many frameworks cycle through some variation on some fundamental phases.

Here are the phases that should be followed to develop a strategic plan for the success of your business.

Analysis or Assessment

Analysis or assessment is an understanding of the current internal and external environments. This understanding is developed to help formulate the strategic plan. It is necessary to analyze or assess data to manage the plan successfully.

Strategy Formulation

Once the analysis is complete, a high-level strategy is formed, and a basic business-level strategic plan is documented. This process stage is the most challenging because it must be detailed and accurate for the plan to succeed.

Strategy Execution

After the strategy is formulated and all involved agree the plan is solid, it must be executed. At this point, the strategic plan is translated into more operational planning and action items. If followed precisely, the plan should be completed, and adjustments should be made as needed.

Evaluation and Management

The evaluation and management phase will allow ongoing refinement and evaluation of performance, culture, communications, data reporting, and other strategic management issues. This stage of the strategic plan will be where adjustments can be made.

Benefits of a Strategic Plan

It allows companies, instead of being reactive, to be proactive.

Any strategic plan will give companies a clear vision to see their future and prepare themselves accordingly. A business can expect certain unfavorable situations before they happen and take obligatory precautions to avoid them through strategic planning.

With a firm strategic plan, companies can be enterprising rather than purely reacting to situations as they arise. Being proactive allows companies to keep up with the never-ending trends in the market and always hang on one step ahead of all the competition.

It puts up a proper direction.

A strategic plan always assists in explaining the direction in which the business should be traveling and helps set realistic goals and objectives that are in line with the mission and vision charted out for it.

Every strategic plan gives an even more necessary foundation from which a business can evaluate its success, grow, compensate employees for establishing boundaries, and pay them for efficient decision-making.

It expands operational efficiency.

A strategic plan also provides a vision to align the functional activities of the business to achieve the goals set. It conducts management discussions and decisions in determining resource and cash requirements to acquire set goals — thus leading to increased operational efficiency.

It helps to increase profitability and market share.

Businesses can acquire precious insights into the ongoing market trends and consumer segments through a strategic plan. An approach that is aimed and well-planned to turn all sales and marketing efforts into the most excellent possible results can help to gain market share and profitability.

 GCI Finance explains that making a strategic plan is not enough to write; they have to establish a series of mechanisms to track it and adapt to the changing reality.

Conclusion

A strategic plan contributes to creating and redefinition corporate values ​​such as teamwork, quality in the service, commitment to the business, and innovation and creativity. There are many different frameworks and methodologies for strategic planning and management. 

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

According to recent research, people should no longer waste their money investing in the stock market. Some experts even said it is better to flush money down the toilet or throw a big party rather than invest in stocks.

For a new investor, investing in the stock market will primarily result in a loss. Most people think of the stock market as their one-way ticket towards wealth. However, the outcome is disappointing and overwhelming in most cases.

The stock market is more risky than any other investment opportunity. Here are reasons to avoid the stock market as an investment option.

Learn More About Stocks

Buying stocks and watching them drop 70% before they go 30% from their starting price can be highly frustrating. The stock market is often a waiting game and can be frustrating. However, waiting so long and not getting the desired results can sometimes be disappointing. Many people invest in stocks while having very little knowledge of stocks. The stock market’s average return over the past seventy years is 10.7%. So, what is the typical performance of an individual investor? 1.9%.

Too High Risk 

If a person follows daily news, they will probably know how fast the stock switches from good to bad and worse. With this up-and-down movement, a person can quickly lose a lot of money in a short amount of time. Judging by the recent figures, investing in stocks is pointless.

Dealing with Brokers

Dealing with different types of brokers is the worst part of investing in stocks. Some brokers are costly to hire but offer a lot more perspective, while others are cheap but not very experienced. Finding a reliable broker can be challenging, especially for a new investor.

Realistic Returns

Judging from a realistic point of view, a typical investor in stock will never be one of the best. Therefore, if a person decides to pick some stocks and hold them for a long time, they may earn half that: 7%. Is that enough? In short, some people are good, learn faster, take the risk, and invest, but most should not.

Stocks Can be Frustrating

If a person owns a stock related to a drug company in use for treating irritable bowel syndrome, also known as IBS, that person must research that specific drug for IBS. Try to get hold of the manufacturing company’s CEO and try talking to him. It can help figure out how big or small the market is. The whole research process is exceptionally dull and sturdy, and there are no sureties even after days of research.

Taxes

Suppose a person buys and sells the same stock in the same year and somehow triples their money. Sadly, now they have to pay taxes on their gains. Paying taxes is something everyone has to do. However, the tax liability can be immense in the stock market, especially for new investors.

Need to Improve Technical Analysis? Do Not Invest in Stocks

In stocks, it is almost impossible for someone to predict the market’s next move. It means when a person spends. The markets may be tending towards the north. However, it can change direction quickly, and only an authentic, experienced technician can identify these changes over time.

Requires A Lot of Time

Unlike other suitable long-term investments that one can go into autopilot mode, a person who invests in stocks will repeatedly need to research to determine whether they are still earning their target returns. If a person is usually busy or doesn’t have the time to do that, investing in the stock market is a bad idea for them.

Conclusion

While it is not suggested that you completely disregard the stock market as an investment option, you should consider several factors before investing. You can consult an investment professional when you doubt whether to invest in the stock market.

An investment professional will help you assess your risk tolerance and determine if investing in stocks is right. If you consider investing without an investment expert’s help, stocks would likely not be the best choice.

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

By: Jennifer Brazer

Jennifer is the author of From Cubicle to Cloud and Founder/CEO of Complete Controller, a pioneering financial services firm that helps entrepreneurs break free of traditional constraints and scale their businesses to new heights.

Fact Checked By: Brittany McMillen

Automation for Lead Generation: How to Boost Your Efforts

Generating leads is what fuels business growth, but trying to manage the process manually can feel like pushing a boulder uphill. Over the past 15+ years leading Complete Controller, I’ve seen how automation transforms lead generation from a slog into a well-oiled machine. By automating repetitive tasks, scoring prospects, and personalizing outreach, you can focus on what truly moves the needle: closing deals and building relationships.

In this post, I’ll break down actionable strategies, showcase tools you can count on, and highlight best practices to supercharge your lead generation. If you’re ready to master lead generation strategies for your business—whether inbound or outbound—this is your roadmap.

Key Takeaways

• Automate repetitive work so you can prioritize high-value tasks.
• Leverage lead generation tools to personalize communication at scale.
• Use automation to nurture relationships through timely follow-ups.
• Keep your costs low while boosting lead quality with smart targeting.
• Streamline your efforts to increase ROI.

Understanding Lead Generation Automation

You might already have leads trickling in from social media campaigns, email outreach, or even word of mouth. But if you’re manually handling tasks—like updating spreadsheets or chasing cold leads—you’re wasting valuable time and energy. Automation isn’t just a convenience; it’s a competitive edge.

How automation works

At its core, automation means building systems that do the work for you. Imagine capturing lead information, qualifying it, and even following up—all without lifting a finger. With tools like HubSpot or Marketo, you can:

• Automatically respond to website visitors who fill out lead forms.
• Score leads based on engagement, such as clicks or time spent on your site.
• Send custom follow-up emails that feel personal, not robotic.

Here’s an example: One of my clients found themselves overwhelmed managing webinar sign-ups manually. Using email automation, every registrant was instantly sent a personalized follow-up, saving hours of work and improving conversions.

Why automation is non-negotiable

Time isn’t just money—it’s everything. Businesses that respond to leads within five minutes are 9x more likely to convert them. Automated systems ensure you’re reaching prospects at their peak interest, which improves not only efficiency but also your bottom line.

And there’s more data to back this up. Companies that use automated lead nurturing see 451% more qualified leads. What’s more, 91% of marketers agree that automation is crucial for campaign success.

Best Practices to Master Lead Generation Automation

Automation without strategy is like throwing spaghetti at the wall. To see actual results, focus on deliberate, thoughtful implementation.

Choose tools aligned with your goals

There’s no one-size-fits-all. Select lead generation tools based on business needs:

• Email Campaigns: Tools like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign simplify email automation for small businesses.
• All-in-One Platforms: HubSpot consolidates lead capture, scoring, and CRM management seamlessly in one platform.
• Social Media: Use Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule posts at scale.
• Lead Tracking: CRMs like Salesforce keep your pipeline organized.

For a B2B focus, tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator can hone in on decision-makers.

Optimize your lead capture forms

First impressions matter. Short, simple lead forms dramatically boost completion rates. Whether it’s through A/B testing or paring down unnecessary fields, make it easy for prospects to sign up. For instance, Expedia famously increased conversions by removing just one field from their form.

And hey, while you’re at it, make sure your backend data management processes aren’t a mess. Small business bookkeeping systems can help you manage and analyze the torrent of lead data coming in.

Personalize, segment, and scale

Stop sending generic one-size-fits-all emails. Instead, segment leads based on their stage in your lead generation funnel, location, or interests. Customizing email campaigns with dynamic content ensures your message resonates.

For example, prospects who engage with financial planning content might receive an email about our business growth services, while someone else who downloads a cloud accounting guide gets a targeted pitch for bookkeeping solutions. This approach has drastically improved engagement across our outreach strategies at Complete Controller.

Effective Lead Generation Strategies Using Automation

Automation shines when applied to two primary approaches: inbound and outbound lead generation.

Inbound lead generation: Engage and attract

Drawing in leads through value-packed resources like blogs, webinars, or guides is the heart of inbound lead generation. Automation can take these efforts to the next level.

• Use tools like Buffer to promote blogs regularly on social platforms.
• Automatically email downloadable assets (like eBooks) to engaged prospects.
• Set up nurturing sequences that warm up leads with educational content.

Inbound strategies position you as a resource—not a salesperson—building trust that naturally leads to conversions. Combine these efforts with SEO lead generation to maximize visibility.

Outbound lead generation: Reach and nurture proactively

Outbound efforts—emails, LinkedIn messages, or targeted cold outreach—ensure you’re going straight to potential buyers. With automation, you can build scalable campaigns while maintaining personalization.

For example, LinkedIn Sales Navigator lets you target industry-specific decision-makers and automate follow-up sequences. Email tools like HubSpot notify your team instantly when a prospect opens an email, enabling quick follow-ups. And don’t forget, you can optimize your PPC campaigns for even broader audience targeting.

Real-World Example: HubSpot’s Lead Generation Mastery

HubSpot offers an inspiring example of what’s possible with automation done right. Their strategy includes:

• Smart Lead Collection: Optimized landing pages gather lead info automatically.
• Lead Scoring: Prospects are ranked based on engagement, focusing sales efforts where they matter most.
• Behavior-Based Campaigns: Emails adjust dynamically to a contact’s activity.
• Integrated Follow-Ups: CRMs trigger handoffs to the sales team at the perfect time.

This combination of seamless integration and relentless optimization is why HubSpot has become a leader in automated lead generation.

We use the same principles with clients at Complete Controller—whether it’s identifying “hot” leads or personalizing communication based on behavioral data.

Avoid These Common Pitfalls

Even a great tool won’t save you if the execution is sloppy.

• Over-Automating: People can tell when they’re being treated as just another number. Balance scalability with the human touch.
• Outdated or Messy Data: Take time each month to tidy your lead databases. “Garbage in, garbage out” is never more true than with automation.
• Ignoring KPIs: Regularly track metrics like lead conversion rates or email open rates to refine your strategy.

Ready to Transform Your Lead Generation?

As the CEO of Complete Controller, I’ve seen firsthand how automation isn’t just helpful—it’s revolutionary. Time and again, businesses that embrace automation not only drive more leads but also cut wasted effort and grow faster. Whether your focus is inbound or outbound, incorporating automation will help you scale your efforts and build momentum like never before.

Now’s the time to act. Want expert guidance in setting up or optimizing your automated lead systems? Reach out to us today, and let Complete Controller help you reach your goals.

FAQ

What is lead generation automation?

It’s the use of tools and systems to handle repetitive lead generation tasks, like email follow-ups or lead scoring—saving time and improving results.

Are automated campaigns impersonal?

Not with the right setup. Segmentation and dynamic content ensure your outreach feels personalized, even when scaled.

Which tools are ideal for B2B lead generation?

Platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator or CRMs like HubSpot are standouts for targeting decision-makers and managing leads.

How can small businesses use automation effectively?

Start small with tools like Mailchimp for email and actively clean databases to avoid wasted effort.

What metrics should I monitor?

Keep an eye on actions like lead conversions, email open rates, and sales pipeline movement to measure success.

Sources

1. MyCodelessWebsite
2. Firework
3. Privyr
4. ViB Tech
5. ZoomInfo

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

Purchasing a property is dreary when you have little information about the market. Below is a guide on how to maneuver through hot property markets that are highly competitive. These markets entail a smaller number of houses with numerous buyers willing to purchase, which leads to ample competition amongst prospective buyers. Most sellers and buyers choose hot property markets, which lead to a rise in inflation and pose a risk when investing in such a market.

How to Maneuver Hot Property Markets

• Do your research thoroughly before purchasing a property in a hot property market. Determine what is currently available in the market and review the listings that best suit your needs. Also, compare the prices of previously sold properties with the quoted prices of the property you want to purchase to determine what kind of offer you need to make. Check affordability before you proceed, as it becomes a disaster later when you are unable to make payments.
• It is a long process until you finally have your desired property in your hand, especially when purchasing a house. It is necessary that you do not get attached to a particular property, as offers are often declined. Investing emotionally in a property will make you overlook its flaws and purchase it without adequately analyzing the return on your investment.
• There will be instances when you may feel stuck in a loop as others are purchasing all your favorite properties, but you must learn to find the middle ground. Finding the perfect property is a long stretch. You should understand that you may have to compromise on minor details and decide whether comfort and longevity are your goals or if you want to purchase a property that looks good but does not have good returns.

Why Inflation Poses a Risk

With time, property prices tend to increase, and little can be done due to varying factors, such as currency depreciation. This process is called inflation, which tends to affect the market, especially when hot property markets are active. When you are going through the process of purchasing a property, there is a high chance that you may have to pay a higher price as inflation is being considered.

With costly home construction consuming much of your energy, deciding whether you want to spend time on construction is essential. An already-built property has its perks, as someone else has done the hard work for you, and you enjoy the benefits. As time goes on, the prices of materials and labor will increase, which means inflation will hit you hard. Before entering hot property markets, you should have one goal or aim in mind: to purchase a property that has the lowest price spike and fits your needs.

Real Estate Agents are Lifesavers

If you have decided to purchase an existing property, you should hire a real estate agent to guide you in searching for properties and choosing the right one. Your agent will show you all the relevant properties that fit your demands, and you can select the property that best fits your needs.

Conclusion

Hot property markets are an inflation risk and tend to overpower the buyers’ and sellers’ choices. It is important to note that buying a property in a hot market becomes a financial risk, which can become a hassle in the long run. By being aware of the hot property markets around you, you can find a decent property at a feasible rate.

There can be confusion when you search through listings and find out that the kind of property you are looking for has a few minor flaws. Nonetheless, a few setbacks can be adjusted, so you should look at the bigger picture to find a property with little inflation.

Be careful when choosing a property, and make sure you make a sound decision when selecting your house, office, or even beach house.

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

Market automation is critical in gaining and securing revenue and visualizing accelerated growth. Marketing automation allows you to save considerable funds compared to other options that would achieve the same results, and it focuses on streamlining marketing tasks to obtain enhanced operational efficiency and profits.

Marketing automation as software is intended to take over your day-to-day, similar patterned, and repetitive tasks in your absence or while you may be busy handling other significant business tasks.

Automation allows you to strategize your processes on a routine basis so that they will continue taking place in the background while you can pay attention to other business matters. It can be said that marketing automation creates a disguised version of you to help facilitate your clients even while you are away.

How Can You Use Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation is not limited to the size of a company or business. It can produce promising results for an infinite number of clients. For example, you receive reminder emails when you start signing up on a particular platform but abandon it halfway through automation. You are reminded to finish signing up, or your data will be permanently removed. Timely follow-up notifications show the customer that the company is efficient and concerned about their participation.

Automation helps businesses

1. Establish a relationship

 First-time customers rarely purchase from a business when they first learn about their products. There is generally a sense of fear or uncertainty, so the item does not proceed towards online checkout. Even if the customer likes an item, he may reconsider his choice.

In that case, even though he consciously or unconsciously withdraws from the webpage, the company sends a reminder to continue with the purchase. Sending customized emails continues to foster the new relationship by helping a future client understand their potential purchase, providing insight into additional products, and showcasing positive customer reviews. It is only through consistent and intentional updates that the conversion rate for a business can increase.

2. Keep track of customer experience

Knowing every move your customer makes to serve them better is crucial. Marketing automation allows businesses to monitor anything the customer does on your business page and, on average, how much time they spend before completing a transaction.

Based on this information, the business will be able to understand what product categories keep a customer engaged longer, what drives their interest, and what they intend to skip. Next time, based on this information, the business can remove unnecessary products from their experience and show them options that they will want to purchase.

3. Automate social media

Automatic posts with captions, images, links, locations, price tags, and already set hashtags can save time. t helps the business remain consistent, purposeful, and more organized.

It helps many large and small businesses avoid random posting because the social media page must engage with the target audience.

4. Enhance means of communication

Chatbots are intended to serve as a replica of your in-person receptionist or information desk. It is programmed to respond automatically to client queries based on the pre-integrated information within its system. The automation tool collects that data based on general customer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), surveys, or problems on a business webpage. It feeds former queries and responses to queries in the chatbot program.

When a customer chooses to seek answers, they do not immediately think it is a chatbot until it is specified. Sometimes, customers think there is an interactive human facilitator on the other end of the chat who can resolve their concerns because of the bot’s accurate solutions.

Conclusion

A chatbot is a common marketing automation technique that you may find on many business sites. However, the pre-fed information collected in customer experience makes all the difference and sets your automation apart from competitors. f automation is done correctly, it creates trust and reliability with the customer and makes their experience seamless. Similarly, it considerably reduces the bounce rate and forms long-term business relations. 

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

You might have heard terms like “employee productivity,” read about strategies to decrease rates of workforce absenteeism, or been advised on motivating your employees, but have you heard of a business trying to upskill its workforce? As the word suggests, “upskill” means to increase a skill set or level of skills. Regarding business management, “upskill” refers to ways a business can teach its employees additional skills.

Below are some ways a business can upskill its workforce by teaching them skills and additional methods to complete a task.

Upskill the Workforce

To upskill your workforce, businesses must push their employees to stretch their current potential. Employees will need to engage in tasks that ask more of them, mentally and physically. They may also be asked to assist in tasks that are not their forte. This will expose them to uncertainty and a feeling of unknowingness.

Exposing someone to uncertainty can bring out their traits, some of which they may not be aware of.

The top-down + bottom-up approaches

The top-down and bottom-up approaches are strategies in the industry. The top-down approach essentially works by breaking down a big problem into small blocks that can be analyzed and solved.

As the phrase suggests, the bottom-up approach is about working from the bottom up. This means you work specifically on some issues and then move on to see the bigger picture. This can help understand different sectors with individual concentration and improve employees’ skills.

These are two approaches that are used to analyze stocks in an industry. Upskilling your workforce can also be considered a strategic method businesses can use to increase employee productivity.

Train outside their job description

You will have to implement training from the beginning to expand your employee’s current portfolio and teach them additional skills. Employees are the foundation of a firm, and what you teach them will increase your productivity and success tenfold.

Therefore, training your employees outside their professional experience will make them better and more well-rounded. For this, businesses will need to be efficient and patient. They will also have to be strategic about their approach, and they can hand over any task outside their field. They will first need to train associates by starting small. Utilize a job that will not cause damage but will help boost their confidence.

For example, suppose you run a content writing firm. One of your writers is a narrative writer, but you want to upskill them, which includes teaching them to write exposes. You will need to train them, give them presentations, and show them the intricacies of expository essays. This will consist of differentiating types of writing forms and focusing in-depth on how techniques and writing styles vary.

Employers will then need to give their employees time to understand and assess this new skill and become confident in it.

Who to upskill?

You can upskill your workforce, but do you know who to upskill? Do all your employees need to be taught different skills, or only particular associates? As an employer, you need to know who to upskill and who to not. You should also understand what investment in which department is required and which will pay off.

Hiring new staff can naturally stress the current workforce of a business. If you have a department that can multitask and not be overworked, it would be wise to invest in your human capital and upskill them.

Conclusion

Businesses learn something every day, regardless of how established they are. Businesses and fast-paced industries must keep up with the world speeding up and finding new discoveries.

As a result, they need to find ways to continue generating revenue, and having skilled employees can be beneficial. Upskilled employees know other skills and can be a backup if a specialized associate cannot fulfill their responsibilities.

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

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have changed the travel industry. They have generally attracted the market, which includes a good percentage of Generation Z, because of the convenience each one provides. With our lives significantly impacted by digital media and marketing, it is no surprise that our travel ventures are also being affected.

Virtual Reality

Who would not want to travel from the comfort of their homes? Of course, it is not complete with traveling to and experiencing the location, but it is convenient. VR travel can help enormously after a bad day by providing a new perspective. Seeing the world virtually is better than not seeing it ever.

You can visit places and admire the beauty of a site from your computer or living room. You might not be there physically, but you spend your time well and virtually transport yourself from one place to another.

With Virtual Reality, you can see the world in a different light. It is not only convenient in terms of witnessing places from your home but also being able to visit remote areas around the world.

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is different than Virtual Reality in terms of what it provides. Virtual Reality takes you to another place. Regarding traveling, VR will take you from your sofa to one of the most remote mountains you can imagine. AR will add to your reality by adding information to your current view.

Traveling with Augmented Reality, your current perception is altered. Your physical surroundings will change and make you feel you are somewhere else. Augmented Reality is helping hotels and accommodations attract guests and tourists. This increases businesses in the travel industry because business owners now know what to sell to customers.

Augmented Reality will use a natural setting and transform it into an experience for the consumer. Virtual Reality will transport you from one place to the other through technology. They both enhance an individual’s experience and are a growing aspect of the travel industry.

Traveling has taken a new form during post-COVID life. With COVID and the generational shift to technology, the digital marketing industry uses AR and VR in every aspect of business.

Travel

AR mobile applications can help tourists find places of interest, museums, galleries, parks, and neighborhood surroundings to explore. For tourists, travel with AR has become increasingly easy. You can use your AR glasses on your travel experiences to help yourself with local transportation. You can even use AR in Museums. Enjoyment while traveling increased because every place now has an element of interactive fun to it.

For example, imagine using VR at a tourist spot where you are eating bagels for the first time or witnessing an age-old statue in a museum through your AR-powered glasses. Traveling is no longer limited to your immediate Reality.

Applications

Below are a few applications you can download on your phone to experience AR in depth.

• World Around Me

As the name suggests, World Around Me is about exploring the world surrounding me. This app will help you find places in your current vicinity and augment your experiences.

• Smartify

You can explore some of the world’s most extraordinary museums through Augmented Reality! These museums include:

• The National Portrait Gallery and The Royal Academy of Arts in the UK
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
• Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles
• Laguna Art Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago) in the United States.

Conclusion

VR and AR have evolved to make our lives easier by providing convenience from our homes. It has made our lives enjoyable by elevating the entire travel experience. With VR, you can travel from home; with AR, the in-person travel experience has also been upgraded.

Our phones are our greatest commodity and most prized possession, and enhancing our travel is right at our fingertips.

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

The continued growth of social media has made human communication and information sharing faster than ever before. Nowadays, on the internet, mindshare is the most valuable currency; unless you can keep the people’s attention on your brand at all times, you’ll get left in the dust. 

Websites want new content to keep their audience engaged and consistently bring in fresh eyes; this is where digital marketing excels. Brands will assemble internal digital marketing teams or outsource the responsibility to external digital marketing firms specializing in the field. 

Because the cycle of content on the internet is ever-flowing, work is always ongoing for those working in digital marketing. With such an intense and demanding workload, digital marketers must be consistently productive. 

Here are four ways to boost your digital marketing team’s productivity. 

Establish Team Goals

Working together in a large team can be challenging; every team member must be unified under an agreed-upon set of short-and long-term goals. After establishing these goals, you must regularly check in with your team. 

Weekly team meetings can keep every member aligned with how these goals progress and what needs to be done moving forward. If any part of the process falls short, the team can collectively map out contingencies and decide what they will do to correct course. 

In larger organizations, the goals of every company level can get lost in translation. Often, senior management needs to convey such messages and decisions so that lower-level employees receive changes and new information positively. 

A business that can keep its staff unified with the same goals will see higher productivity levels in the long run. 

Target Existing Customers

Growing your consumer base is essential for long-term sustainability, but in the short term, keeping existing customers engaged with your brand is easier; this goes back to the marketing concept of the ‘buyer’s journey. 

For instance, if someone has reached the ‘Customer’ stage of their journey, where they’ve already paid for a good/service from the brand before, it is easier to lead them toward the ‘Loyalty’ stage than it would be to take a new buyer from the Awareness stage to the Customer stage. 

For this reason, digital marketers may find it more efficient to boost their productivity and the productivity of the team as a whole by focusing their attention on existing customers rather than trying to influence new ones. It is especially effective when the business finds itself in a downward slump, but the downside is that it can lead to stagnation in the long term. 

Team Productivity vs. Company Goals

Naturally, a company’s goals would be more significant than every employee. Large organizations have several moving parts and must consider various metrics for success. Such organizations rely on operating like a well-oiled machine with consistent daily output. 

Humans are not machines. A business requires each employee to maintain a certain level of productivity every day, but some days are better than others. On some days, people are less productive than usual. 

This lack of productivity is especially true for jobs that require people to be creative. Creativity is difficult to harness consistently, and the obligation to do so can cause employees to become demotivated, leading to decreased productivity. 

Businesses may find value in focusing more on their employees’ emotional and mental well-being instead of solely on analytics and traditional metrics for productivity. Employees who feel cared for and heard by their employers are more likely to stay motivated to work, producing higher output and higher quality work. 

Use Digital Marketing Tools

These days, there are endless unique digital marketing tools for employees to use, and new ones are released yearly. Such tools can help boost individual productivity and encourage more vital employee teamwork. 

Your digital marketing team’s tools may vary depending on your business’s exact nature and field or that of your clients. Automation is already an industry-standard in digital marketing; every digital marketing team relies on some form of virtual tools to help them do their job. 

Such tools can help strengthen communication between team members and clients. It can make new markets more readily available. It helps foster creative thinking and the sharing of ideas as a group. 

Conclusion

Maintaining employee productivity can be challenging, especially in an industry as competitive as digital marketing. What matters most is talking to your employees. Remember that they are humans, consider their feelings, and understand what inspires them; this will lead to significant productivity and more positive outcomes in the long run. 

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

Before saving money for your company, you must understand why you are in business and what your objectives are. Most people start a business out of necessity or a desire to run their own business in the industry of choice. However, the main aim of any business is to earn money. 

Part of your money-saving plan for your company will have to include the evaluation of expenses. Many businesses get in trouble because the owner has difficulty handling expenses properly. It is a problem since it is critical to earn and save money.  

To save money for your company, you must understand and handle all your expenses. Ultimately, saving money in your company is more about money management and controlling costs than it has to do with how much your company generates in income.

While you want to bring revenue into the company continuously, you should be equally focused on saving money and controlling expenses. Many companies have a department dedicated to expenses and recommend ways to save money.

There are different types of expenses within a company. Those costs that are the same month after month, such as a lease, are considered fixed costs because they will be constant and often the same. Fixed costs include electricity, water, internet, rent, and payroll.

What can you do to save money here in fixed costs? The answer is almost nothing because most of the fixed expenses are commodities with a low cost and resources on which your business depends, and that, if they are not well maintained, can affect your operation.

Therefore, you must find other ways to save money on these costs.

Cost-Saving Strategies for Efficiency

1. You can save money on services like water and electricity if it takes a short time or affects your service quality and operations. Either way, this will bring small savings for you.
2. Try to reduce rental income only if your business is independent of the location, as in restaurants, stores, or personal assistance services.
3. Try to reduce the total cost of fixed employees. Here, the key is that you learn to differentiate which roles of your company are fundamental for your organization and which can become a variable cost, which you can hire through services to freelancers.

Other operations costs can also be looked at to save the company money. These are the necessary expenses directly associated with the product or service, which can go up and down according to the production demand, your sales, or projects.

You can save by doing the following.

1. Get discounts or suppliers that allow you a percentage of savings in raw materials.
2. Change one expensive material for another, as long as it does not affect the quality of the product
3. Have better inventory management, decreasing the number of products that can be cold in your stock.
4. Outsource services such as customer service or specific activities that are demanded according to sales.

Saving money in your company and how you do it is not the same for every company. Some companies will find it more difficult. However, all companies can look at ways to save, such as through opportunity costs. 

The opportunity cost is a way of measuring if we are doing what interests us. Measure what we could be doing instead of what we do (opportunities).

For example, if I have a women’s clothing store, brand A, I lose the opportunity to sell brand B clothes. If my employees are on a project, I lose the chance to work on another. 

It can confuse the execution cost, but the opportunity cost tells you you are doing your best with your resources.

In this case, there are no specific tips. The director of the company has some practices to help him make decisions.

1. Purchasing policy based on turnover based on sales
2. Make decisions based on market share and product or service potential 
3. Management of human resources, considering the specialization and alternatives of outsourcing

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

Accounting is of extreme importance for every business. It is the process of reporting and recording a company’s financial information. Businesses often use accounting mechanisms to determine how well their company generates profit compared to their investment in resources and inputs.

With advanced software and technology, businesses are becoming increasingly dependent upon accounting tools for achieving targets rapidly and thus growing.

As an entrepreneur, you must require basic accounting skills to run a smooth and successful business. Fortunately, nowadays, you don’t have to count numbers by hand. Numerous accounting tools make it easy to maintain financial records and let all your focus be on the business’s prosperity.

Although many business owners don’t have a diversified range of accounting experiences, they can learn the basics of accounting mechanisms using the right tool at the right time. Businesses focus primarily on scalability. For instance, some want instant access via the cloud, while others prefer a mechanism that embraces website integration or inventory management elements.

Before diving into the business world, it’s essential to have a firm knowledge of accounting and the entrepreneur’s financial operations.

Here are some of the top reasons business growth increasingly depends on accounting tools.

Budgeting

Accounting tools are pivotal to forming a company’s budget, which sets the roadmap. A budget is a written agreement for how much money the business owners will spend on economic resources and business functions. Many companies prioritize setting a budget on an annual or semi-annual basis, and this activity allows business owners to highlight the financial goals for the current year. SMEs might not need an evaluated budget as they have fewer costs that You can effortlessly manage through traditional financial reporting and a basic spreadsheet.

Generating and Analyzing Financial Statements

Generating financial statements is one of the most fundamental ways accounting tools make businesses increasingly dependent on them. The balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow records are the financial reports business owners can use to calculate how well their business is operating financially.

Entrepreneurs might use the essential financial ratios to seize their financial statements and compare them to the leading industry standard. These ratios indicate how a company is generating profit through sales, the usage of debt to finance the company’s assets, the potential cash flow level from current operations, and the ability to recollect the outstanding receivables owed by the customers.

Cost Allocation Analysis

Cost allocation analysis is an operational accounting function used to determine how a business assigns costs among its goods and services. The price is appointed for raw materials, employee benefits, and overhead. Business owners need assurance that the commodities have accurately allocated the cost since the customers are the primary way to recover the investment. Small enterprises might also review that cost assignment process to anticipate whether the procedure is going smoothly.

Revenue Projection and Forecasting

Forecasting is an evaluated and often complicated accounting function businesses can utilize to anticipate potential sales in the economic market. Accounting tools play a crucial role in carrying out this function. Prediction or forecasting may be uttered by reviewing the business’s previous sales history or demographic information revealed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) or appraising how many competitors are present in the current business industry. An increment in the number of competitors might indicate a higher sales probability, whereas a reduction might represent a lower consumer demand.

Financial Leverage

Another great benefit of accounting tools includes the “Financial leverage ratios,” which determine the company’s long-term solvency ratio. Entrepreneurs use this ratio to measure the capacity of the competitors to use debt and equity financing for business management. The debt-to-equity and debt ratios are the two most used accounting ratios.

The debt ratio provides entrepreneurs with information on how much their competitors invest in purchasing assets. In contrast, the debt-to-equity ratio calculates whether the business is financed through public investment or the owner’s account. You can also express it in the form of a percentage.

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