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5 stunning examples of gamification in marketing + ideas 994 537 Lukas Aumair

5 stunning examples of gamification in marketing + ideas

5 STUNNING EXAMPLES FOR GAMIFICATION IN MARKETING + IDEAS

Gamification improves the interaction with your target audience and generates more leads. We present 10 stunning ideas + examples.

Table of contents

  1. Gamification in marketing: Interactive fun instead of dry content
  2. Gamification definition
  3. Playfully to more leads and new customers
  4. Overview of gamification advantages
  5. 10 gamification ideas which will leave your target audience stunned
  6. Consider this hurdle by all means
  7. How do I establish gamification methods?
  8. Gamification examples: 5 impressive marketing ideas of known companies
  9. Conclusion

 

The most important in summary

  • Gamification describes the playful interaction between users and applications
  • Software as a service ensures an easy design of playfully-interactive methods in marketing
  • Gamification does not only support lead generation but also increases quality of leads and improves communication with your target audience

 

Gamification in marketing: Interactive fun instead of dry content

Many businesses face the challenge that they can’t bind interests and customers in the long term. They either focus on the wrong marketing methods or they ignore current trends. Often, the target audience is missing incentives to interact more with companies. To face this challenge and to bind the target audience in the long term, we recommend the strengths of gamification. 

→ Playful interaction with the target audience improves communication, binds existing customers and forces lead generation.

But what are the advantages of gamification in comparison to other marketing methods? And which actions are available for businesses to execute gamification successfully? We will answer these and similar questions.

Important note: We will exclusively talk about gamification in marketing. Therefore, we will not talk about how gamification impacts, for example, human resources or health care management.

 

First, the definition: What is gamification?

Gamification describes a playful experience for users. Applications without playful elements ensure an interactive experience through integration of gaming elements. The goal is to improve the motivation of users and to win their attention.

 

 

Playfully to more leads and new customers

In general, gamification in marketing follows the goal to improve existing business processes. Which specific goals are prioritized, depends on the business and its target audience.

Gamification primarily focuses on lead management to either win more potential customers/interests or to improve the quality of existing leads. 

The classic way of lead generation often looks like that users subscribe to a newsletter and get a freebie (e. g. e-book or video) in return for giving a website their email-address.

But this process has some weaknesses. Users often only subscribe to a newsletter because they desire the freebie. It’s not a rare case that some leads leave unused email-addresses to receive no newsletter mails later. Other than that, many businesses fail to win the attention of their target audience with newsletter content in the long term. In e-commerce there at least is the opportunity to convert leads to customers through discounts but many businesses are not given this possibility.

Gamification ensures successful lead management. Through Sweepstakes or surveys your company interacts purposefully with interests or customers. The incentive exists within the playful interaction itself because it is fun and it motivates.

Example: You give away discounts to 20 persons. Through a sweepstake you determine the winner, the only condition of participation is to write a comment in the section of a social media post. That guarantees three advantages: First of all, the ways of lead generation are shorter because participation doesn’t require registration to a newsletter. Other than that, the playful component motivates your target audience to a (fun) participation. Last but not least, you potentially have more participants because social media has more users than your newsletter has subscribers.

 

Overview of the advantages of gamification

  • Playful lead generation
  • Customer loyalty
  • Image expansion of your business
  • Personalization through branding of gamification actions
  • Insights of interaction rates
  • Target group extension (gamification speaks to a younger audience)
  • Improved interaction and communication with the target audience

Gamification offers businesses the particular advantage to get further information about the wishes and desires of their target audience. The focus is not on collecting email-addresses but to improve user experience through interaction and to find out about the wishes and desires of your target group. 

The diversity of gamification ensures a holistic optimization of existing marketing processes. Set methods give exact insights in the interaction rates and this also reveals trends in terms of needs and desires, enabling you to optimize existing processes in a targeted manner.

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10 gamification ideas that will leave your target audience stunned

  • Surveys
  • Sweepstakes
  • Advent calendar
  • Rotating wheel
  • Quizzes
  • Personality tests
  • Swipe
  • Scratch cards
  • Games
  • Slot-machine

Gamification ideas

 

Surveys

Through surveys, your business wins important insights about their customers and their wishes. This gamification method works perfectly to create individual offers for customers.

Example: Through evaluation tools web designers can determine the wishes of potential clients. Interests can, for instance, leave information about which additional functions they wish and how extensive the website should be. Based on the result, the potential clients receive an offer.

Surveys not only follow the goal to create offers for potential clients but to improve business performance as well. Some businesses give away gift cards to everyone who participates in a survey through a digital signage device. The goal is to improve customer satisfaction because businesses want to know what their target group wishes.

 

Sweepstakes

Giveaways of all kinds always leave a good impression. The participation conditions are mostly quite easy to understand and should follow the goal to expand reach of your business. You can, for example, start sweepstakes over social media and set the participation condition that one needs to write a comment or share the post.

 

Advent calendar

Your own business advent calendar with individual branding awakes the inner christmas feeling (positive connection to your company!). Your target audience is even happier when they can expect exclusive discounts or helpful tips and tricks.

 

Rotating wheel

You often find this concept in apps. Through tipping on the touchscreen of a smartphone, interests move the virtual wheel to win something (e. g. a discount code). This type of playful interaction provides for variety when using apps which require you to act on or do something.

Example: Sport apps give users the possibility to create a flexible as well as individual workout plan. The rotating wheel determines the next exercise or the user creates a varied workout plan before sports.

 

Quizzes

Quizzes are the queen of gamification methods. They are fun and participants can prove their knowledge.

Idea: Create a quiz about your company or about your products/goods. That awakes the curiosity of your target group and strengthens the trust in your business.

 

Personality tests

Personality tests are very popular these days. This gamification method doesn’t work well for many businesses but the ones which take advantage of them will have an active and loyal target audience that has a great interest in personal development.

 

Swipe

A concept that many people associate with dating apps. The swipe function allows users to make decisions based on their personal preferences because a swipe either means “I like it” or “I don’t like it”. A good possibility to find out more about the preferences of your target group and to use gamification as fundament for market research.

 

Scratch cards

Less used and known but still executed successfully for some apps. Businesses often combine this concept with sweepstakes or giveaways.

 

Games

A more general term because gamification theoretically describes all games. With this point we specifically mean games which have received a digital conversion. One example: Memory.

 

Slot-machine

Nowadays you will not only find slot-machines in the casino, businesses use this concept for bonuses and discounts as well.

 

Consider this hurdle by all means

Gamification makes your business more attractive and establishes innovative ways for your marketing. But you should consider putting gamification methods in the context of your business and marketing goals. In the foreground is your marketing strategy and the determined metrics.

In the strategic process, weigh the extent to which gamification fits your objectives and whether the cost-benefit ratio is high.

Many think that gamification only works for claiming more personal data but this is not true. Gamification supports the customer loyalty through, for instance, weekly rewards or scratch card actions. Quizzes or memory work good as methods for e-learning as well.

But precisely because you have a wide range of options at your disposal, the first step requires a consideration of the marketing goals in your company.

 

How do I establish gamification methods?

To execute gamification successfully, you don’t need any basic knowledge in programming. Providers of software as a service programs facilitate the entry with gamification because such applications are based on the modular principle.

In the programming process of the FRAMR software, our team also paid attention to establishing individual design options so that our customers can easily implement their ideas and wishes. Digital signage harmoniously combines the strengths from the areas of gamification, information technology and marketing and takes into account important features to position itself strongly against competitors (e. g. user experience).

See for yourself and configure your individual customer experience with our FREE cockpit configurator. You will gain more detailed insights into the possibilities of digital signage and develop a feeling for the advantages and functions in the area of gamification.

 

Gamification examples: 5 stunning marketing ideas of known companies

Concrete examples still best illustrate the advantages of gamification. In the following, we present five companies and their measures in the field of gamification.

 

Truity

Truity is a website for advocates of personal development and behavior psychology. The website offers many different personality tests with final evaluation. Truity uses this concept to win over paying clients because the test and the results might be for free but exact evaluation of metrics is only available for those who pay a fee or start a subscription.

Website Truity

© truity.com

 

Audi

Audi configurators leave a strong impression on users. They convey the feeling to create something on one’s own and interests see the final result with their eyes. The free room for maneuver and exact price information also force the purchase decision.

Website Audi

© audi.de

 

McDonald’s

The US-American franchise giant has been known worldwide for its “McDonald’s-Monopoly” since 1987. In the past, there were various high-priced grand prizes which encouraged many guests to visit the fast food chain more often or to buy more products.
However, McDonald’s has also shown that it is better not to exploit the good nature of its target group. A few years ago, the fast-food chain made negative headlines because it came to light that it was manipulating sweepstakes.

McDonalds Website

© mcdonalds.com

 

Reddit

Reddit users collect so-called “karma points” through posts, replies and votes, which increases their reputation. With this system, reddit ensures that its users become more active and thus secure a stronger status within the community (need for status).

 

Duolingo

Duolingo users collect rewards and badges for completing lessons. It gives a good feeling to unlock achievements and Duolinge has recognized this advantage to motivate millions of users to learn foreign languages every day.

duolingo website

© duolingo.com

 

Conclusion

Gamification supports lead generation and customer retention. In addition, companies improve communication with their target group. Software as a service solutions do not require any programming skills which means that any company can easily create, establish and implement its desired measures. When planning your gamification actions, make sure to consider the wishes of your target group and choose measures that are in line with your objective. For example, it makes little sense for a software development company to focus on personality tests or advent calendars.

Pictures: © Canva.com

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    Digital communication: 8 benefits for your business 994 537 Sebastian Loos

    Digital communication: 8 benefits for your business

    DIGITAL COMMUNICATION: 8 BENEFITS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

    In this article, you’ll learn all about the benefits of digital communication and how it can benefit your business.

    In this article:

    1. Digital media and its impact on corporate communications
    2. What is digital communication?
    3. Examples
    4. These are the advantages
    5. It all depends on the targeted use!

     

     

    Digital media and its impact on corporate communications

    Digital media are changing our communication behavior. We can be reached from anywhere and are in touch with people from all over the world. And where two decades ago we had to pick up the phone, nowadays friends simply send a quick message via WhatsApp. Maximum flexibility says hi. 

    Companies have also recognized these advantages and are using digitization to improve their customer communications. Since the start of the Covid pandemic alone, almost 80% of all companies surveyed have expanded their digital communication channels. Whether digital signage, social media or blog, both the addressing of target groups and internal exchanges will primarily take place digitally in 2023. 

    The growing possibilities in digital communication promise versatile applications. Not only does your marketing benefit from it, but you can also keep appointments regardless of location and enable your team to organize projects collaboratively and centrally. 

     

    What is digital communication?

    Digital communication describes the exchange of information through the use of modern technologies. In specialist circles, the term is understood as an independent type of communication, while in the corporate context it refers to the exchange between medium and end customer or the exchange between employees. 

    In the context of marketing, many in particular mention digital communication, which in this context describes all measures to improve customer interaction. Content marketing and gamification are just two of many well-known methods. 

    The exchange does not necessarily take place between two people, but can also take place between the customer and the software/application. This is the case with digital signage, for example.

     

    Examples of digital communication

    Thanks to digital communication, companies benefit from a variety of ways to interact with their customers and employees. Emails, MS Office and also social media have been part of the basic repertoire for many years. But other applications, such as meeting and project management tools, have also become part of everyday business life.

    Concrete examples of digital communication in the company:

    • Social media channels (e.g., Facebook and TikTok).
    • Digital signage
    • Content marketing (e.g. blogs or podcasts)
    • Design tools (e.g. Canva)
    • Entries in company and web directories
    • Rating portals
    • Project management tools (e.g. Asana)
    • Chatbots
    • WhatsApp
    • Meeting tools (e.g. Meet or Zoom)
    • Apps
    • Cloud-based solutions (e.g. Google Drive)

     

    Digital communication: These are the advantages

    Digital progress promises your company some advantages in communication. These relate not only to automation or marketing but also to availability and process optimization. This results in scalable and also sustainable work processes. 

    In the following, we will go into more detail about the advantages and how your business can benefit from them. Note that the advantages apply equally to a variety of measures/applications but we usually only give one or two examples to illustrate.

     

    Brand building

    Thanks to social media, it has never been easier to reach a national or even international target group. On platforms like LinkedIn, many German companies post in English, because they can reach a broad target audience. So you have the opportunity to decisively expand the radius of your appeal. 

     

    Flexibility

    Digital communication allows for flexible adjustments in your marketing activities. Content created with digital signage can be adapted in real time and access to other applications such as social media or design tools like Canva is also possible regardless of location. 

    But it’s not just in marketing that there are advantages in terms of flexibility, but also in communication via Zoom, for example. Meetings no longer take place in offices but can be conducted from home.

     

    Availability

    With the help of chatbots, companies communicate with their customers 24 hours a day. And thanks to applications such as WhatsApp, they can be reached for a longer time than by phone at the company.

    In terms of availability, there are also advantages in terms of employee communication, because you can take part in a Zoom meeting even when you’re on the move using your smartphone.

     

    Process optimization and automation

    Digital communication measures collect data sets that are relevant for companies. Monitoring enables precise evaluation of the collected data in order to optimize processes in the long term. This also opens up opportunities in process automation.

    Digital Signage promises you all the benefits we have mentioned in this article! You can expect a modern and intuitive way of marketing like you have never seen before. >> Read more!

     

    Increasing sales

    Digital communication promotes understanding of individual customer needs. Be it through surveys, data analysis or ratings. This enables you to address target groups more precisely and respond to individual wishes. And that in turn results in increased sales.

    Insights from collected data records also support analog sales. Improved customer understanding optimizes the approaches of your sales staff, because they can also respond better to different needs.

     

    Customer feedback

    Rating portals and reference areas on websites give customers the chance to share their experiences with your company. This promises an open dialog and you recognize your potential for improvement. 

    This results in a nice synergy effect: rating portals give you a better overview of your customers’ wishes and you can then initiate optimization measures. Your customers feel that they are being taken seriously and will commit themselves to your company in the long term. At the same time, an improved understanding of your customers promises more efficient work processes and thus also more sales. 

     

    Sustainability

    Emails and WhatsApp are slowly replacing postal traffic. As a result, less paper ends up in circulation. And digital meetings also help the environment, because they save you the commute, which means less CO2 is emitted. 

     

    Easier exchange

    Digital communication simplifies the otherwise laborious exchange of documents. The craftsman sends his work report via smartphone and invoices arrive at the customer’s door within seconds via email. Companies save resources and errors in the content of documents can be easily corrected. 

    Communication within a company is also much easier. Project management tools such as Asana centralize team collaboration, and thanks to Zoom or Google Meet, appointments can be held from the comfort of one’s own home.

     

    Disadvantages only exist to a limited extent

    Many may argue that there are also disadvantages to digital communication. After all, they say, it is emotionless, personal contact is lacking, technical difficulties prevent smooth processes, and not every application is secure. However, it should not be overlooked that digital transformation is addressing these challenges and increasingly mastering them. 

    Digital communication has changed in recent years. The exchange with customers is no longer static, nor is it emotionless. Intuitive design options promise a versatile and varied target group approach. Just think of the creative designs that catch your eye every day on Instagram or the possibilities in the area of gamification. 

    Technical difficulties are a rarity. Website hosters meet high quality standards, which practically rules out serious disruptions. 

    Possible drawbacks exist, that’s a fact. But digital communication measures undergo a constant optimization process, which is why the disadvantages exist only to a limited extent. Customer communication is becoming more transparent, measures to improve the user experience are gaining the trust of older target audiences and security measures as well as GDPR obligations are safeguarding the implementation of digital communication methods. 

     

    It all depends on the targeted use

    Digital communication promises your company many advantages. The decisive factor for targeted use is weighing up the measures. A craft business, for example, benefits from digital signage, but a chatbot on the website makes little sense. 

    As a first step, determine your individual needs and use digital communication measures in a targeted manner. Every company benefits from meeting tools such as Zoom or digital appointment calendars, but particularly in marketing you have to make sacrifices in order to use your existing budget efficiently.

     

    Pictures: © Canva.com

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      What is a digital blackboard? 462 260 Linda

      What is a digital blackboard?

      WHAT IS A DIGITAL BLACKBOARD?

      Digital blackboards are the perfect alternative to conventional information terminals.

      In this article: 

      1. What are digital blackboards?
      2. Digital black board software: How does it work?
      3. Virtual blackboard: The advantages
      4. Best industries for the digital displays
      5. How much do digital black boards cost?
      6. What’s the difference between digital blackboards and digital signage software?
      7. Conclusion
      8. FAQ

       

      Digital Blackboards: An important step towards digitalization

      Many people see digital black boards as some kind of terminal to get further information about something. Others associate it with a bulletin board in a kitchen. Both perspectives aren’t wrong, speaking from an analogous point of view. In the following article, FRAMR gives you answers regarding how digital black boards work, their advantages and the costs you should consider.


      Digital boards as a flexible source of information

       

      What are digital blackboards?

      Again, speaking from an analogous point of view it makes sense to say it’s a bulletin board. However, you shouldn’t take it too literally. Digital blackboards are an electronic solution to display video- and picture content (as well as PDFs). The color is significant – the more known whiteboards show content on a white background, the casing or the background of blackboards on the other hand is black.

      The contrast in color comes with an advantage for companies. Especially in brighter shopping malls digital displays are almost invisible because of the same accent in color. A black board on the other hand is more recognizable.

      The goal with digital displays is to reach more customers and because of the outstanding color contrast, companies even have advantages for their marketing as they gain more attention.

       

      Digital blackboard software: How does it work?

      Basic requirement for displaying content is compatible software. Through the connection to a device, software displays content. Reproduction can be configured so that contents can be shown for a specific period and then be replaced easily.

      That creates flexibility in the content creation and the possibility to reach out to the target group. The connection to a cloud makes the device work without a permanent internet connection (only required during the data transport).

       

      Virtual blackboard: The advantages

      Modern technology meets stunning design to display digital content. Digital blackboards aren’t just a pragmatic solution to provide information (although that’s one way to use it), because their design makes them a real eye-catcher.

      Speaking from a marketing related point of view, communication with customers gives companies a big advantage. Virtual blackboards serve as a source of information, inspire for an exciting shopping session and provide important safety notices. Thanks to this diversity, companies benefit and market their products as well as their services effectively.

      Digital blackboard advantages overview:

      • Vandalism prevention
      • Remote access
      • Cloud based solution to display content
      • Made for continuous use
      • Design by own preferences

      Content is short lived because the own target group wishes for variety and the growing competition on the market requires companies to regularly come up with new ideas. Conventional banners reach many people but design and printing takes long and is expensive. Digital black boards come with many advantages in that case because all you need to do is to create content and then display it on the board. Besides that, companies don’t produce personnel costs because they don’t need staff to exchange advertising banners.

       

      Best industries for the digital displays

      In the age of digitalization all industries benefit from mobility solutions. The use of blackboards is not limited to display advertising or information because every company is free to show the content they want.

      Shopping malls show exciting advertisements and the administration of a company displays industry news. Restaurants even have a double advantage because a digital menu looks good and is informative.

      Therefore, it doesn’t matter which industry your business belongs to. More importantly, businesses need to know their target group and what they want. The number one question companies should ask themselves is: What are the interests of my target group and how do I reach them with my content strategy?


      Know your target group to make your advertising more effective

       

      How much do digital black boards cost?

      Virtual blackboards (display only) start at 1.000 €. But even more important than a display is a high quality and compatible software to display content. Companies make the best choice by buying software that includes the desired use.

      FRAMR offers attractive solutions with all important features and modules for a monthly fee. Our products promise maximum performance, high flexibility and customer satisfaction. We adjust to the needs of customers and therefore only offer products that promise high quality and high technological standards.

      Feel free to contact us to get to know our products better.

      Overview to our products: https://framr.tv/en/products/

       

      What is the difference between digital blackboards and digital signage software?

      Digital signage solutions are digital-visualized screens that display pictures and videos in a compact form. Therefore, digital signage software is the general term for all screens that show content. What makes digital blackboards special is their color – as already mentioned, pictures or videos are either displayed on a black casing or a black background.

      -> Article: Digital Signage Software: The future of communication?

       

      Conclusion: A must have for companies

      Digital blackboards aren’t only beneficial for shopping malls. Even smaller businesses such as doctor offices, property managements or restaurants take advantage. That underlines the biggest benefit of digital marketing methods: No matter the industry or company size, businesses reach customers with digital signage solutions. If you know your target group and their interests, then you will use digital boards successfully.

      FAQ

      How does a digital black board work?

      A screen is connected to software or a player to show pictures or videos. Content-collection happens in the background through software and the digital display shows the content.

      Digital blackboard apps: Which ones are recommended?

      FRAMR offers packages with all kinds of integrations for digital signage solutions. The unlimited number of content is one of many advantages which improve the overall performance of your digital displays.

      Contact us

       

        Pictures: © Canva

        How to successfully expand digital competence in your company 994 537 Lukas Aumair

        How to successfully expand digital competence in your company

        HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY EXPAND DIGITAL COMPETENCE IN YOUR COMPANY

        How do businesses expand digital competence? In this article we will answer questions about digital skills and how to teach your employees properly.

        In this article:

        1. Digital competence definition
        2. How important is digital competence?
        3. The 10 most important digital skills
        4. Build up digital competence: Our 5 step guide
        5. Possible hurdles and challenges
        6. Will analogue processes soon be replaced completely? 
        7. Conclusion

         

        The most important in a summary

        • Digital competence has become increasingly important in the world of work.
        • Ideally, businesses aim for a step-by-step execution in which all employees are equally involved.
        • Analogue processes become less important but a complete digitization of existing structures will take time.

         

        Digital competence definition

        The term “digital competence” describes all required skills to use computers and other devices as well as to manage and process information through these devices. That includes the successful usage of specific applications to edit, save and publish content.

        For a long time digital competence was limited to answer mails and to use office applications such as Word or Excel. But in 2023 the requirements are much higher. Cloud applications, online meetings and digital administration determine the daily life of office employees.

        The expansion of digital competence requires a holistic approach which doesn’t only consider the skills of your employees but improving existing business structures too. Keyword: Digitization.

        Ideally, businesses aim for the goal to encourage the knowledge of their employees as well as the renewal of existing structures. Without expanding existing structures, digital competence has no value. On the other hand employees don’t know how to use digital ways if they don’t acquire relevant know-how.

         

        How important is digital competence?

        More and more employees work from home and use the possibilities of digital communication on a daily basis. That is one of many reasons why the expansion of digital competence becomes more relevant. Businesses are responsible to encourage their employees to work more efficiently and to establish smooth working processes.

        The right handling of digital applications has not only gained in importance in recent years. Already in a survey of 2018, 71 percent of managers said they want to open up new ways of income by using digital ways. The covid pandemic has further spurred this trend, as online retailers in particular have increased their sales.

         

        → Competence expansion goes hand in hand with the expansion of business structures. Every expansion or adjustment of processes requires adequate know-how.

         

        The 10 most important digital skills

        Digitization affects almost all company departments and they all require different skills. Therefore, there is no such thing as the “one” skill but rather a variety of many competences. Including the following:

        Search engine optimization: Essential to improve the positioning of a website. Without SEO a website will disappear in the “google nirvana” and possible competition advantages remain unused.

        Social media marketing: Platforms such as instagram, pinterest or linkedin have developed to profitable sales channels for businesses in the past years. That is even confirmed by statistics: In 2021 businesses earned more than 150 billion euros through social media.

        Web hosting: That includes management of a website, blog or online shop. Web hosting is not only about uploading new content or creating new sub pages for a website, it’s also about evaluating statistics to improve performance.

        Content production: Social media won’t ensure growth if businesses post low quality content. Possibilities in content marketing reach from picture design to video production.

        Digital communication: The usage of applications such as zoom or google meet belongs to the basic knowledge of all employees.

        Product management: Develop, manage and market digital products. Hereby many businesses focus on lead generation by offering digital products for free, so called “freebies”.

        User experience: It takes 50 milliseconds until website visitors get a first impression. Many businesses ignore user experience because they primarily focus on technical requirements (e. g. SEO). However, the target group should always be the number one priority.

        Cloud solutions: Using applications such as google docs makes it easy to share data and saves time as you don’t have to send mails with attachments.

        Service and customer management: Data banks and customer relationship management systems simplify the management of customer data and reveal more about the wishes and desires of your target group.

        Programming: The king discipline among digital skills. There are thousands of programming languages but the most known ones are PHP, java and python.

         

        Build up digital competence: Our 5 step guide

        To successfully promote the digital skills of your employees, you need to take measures but also consider hurdles and possible challenges. We have prepared the following guide for you so that the implementation is successful. It will help you to encourage the digital competence of your employees in just five steps.

         

        Know the needs of your team and your business

        The expansion of skills costs resources, especially time and money. That’s why the first step requires a plan and a goal oriented needs assessment.

        Let’s come back to the ten digital skills: Almost every business takes advantage when it schools its staff in the area of digital communication or service. However, it doesn’t make sense for businesses to invest in programming knowledge. There are only a few businesses which take advantage of this kind of internal know-how.

         

        The following questions will help you to purposely determine your businesses needs:

        • In which industry is our company active?
        • What goals are we pursuing?
        • What is the current level of knowledge of our employees?
        • To what extent do we benefit from the development of digital competence?
        • What knowledge and skills do we source externally?
        • What are the costs associated with expanding digital skills?
        • Are employees we train for specific areas likely to stay with the company longer?

         

        Recognize the value of further education

        Sure, further education is a purposeful way to expand the competence of employees. But it’s even more important to invest in the right measures. Online platforms such as Udemy can indeed provide valuable knowledge but on such websites are also course suppliers who don’t even understand their own profession properly. Hereby it’s better to consider other sources, even when they are more expensive. Get back to expert knowledge to school your employees as well as possible. Sure, that costs more at the beginning but ensures a purposeful investment in the long term.

        Sure, there are also ways to get free access to know how. Platforms such as LinkedIn or YouTube provide a variety of possibilities for further education. Especially in the field of digital communication, cloud usage and user experience it’s not necessary to invest in expensive education measures to school employees properly.

         

        Obtain external knowledge

        In many cases it’s much cheaper and more sustainable to get back to external knowledge. One example is building and maintaining the business website or programming an app.

        Businesses also have the possibility to combine internal and external knowledge. Here, the business website is again a great example: External web designers or programmers promise a purposeful investment because their expertise, including the areas of social media and SEO, requires years of project experience. In turn, employees can manage and maintain the website. But also other tasks such as entering new products in an online shop don’t require external knowledge for execution.

        Through a cost-benefit analysis businesses determine the goal oriented usage of their budget and such a consideration is to be used for each investment. But as a rule of thumb we recommend the following: Big projects, for example building the business website, are better given into the hands of external experts. It requires too many resources to properly teach employees how to do it. In turn, it is cost wise more reasonable to, for example, build social media channels with an internal team.

         

        Don’t get lost into details

        Expert knowledge ensures advantages in competition and more growth possibilities but in many cases the basics are completely enough. Your business doesn’t need professionals who know every single detail function of Google Docs or Google Meet. Knowing the basic requirements is enough. Therefore, don’t only consider which measures are purposeful but also to which extent.

         

        Consider current trends

        The term “digital transformation” describes the current situation perfectly: We are in a constant transformation which doesn’t allow standstill. That also means that our level of knowledge is constantly sinking. Who would’ve thought that we would use social media channels such as TikTok only a few years ago or that the stationary trade will focus more on e-commerce. But it is exactly these unpredicted changes which bring businesses into the position to find ways to expand their employees’ knowledge. The expansion of digital knowledge is not a one time project but a long term process. Therefore, initiate steps to ensure a long term expansion of knowledge.

         

        Possible hurdles and challenges

        Executing a plan is not a one-way street. When expanding the digital competence of your company, some hurdles and challenges might be in your way. Including the following:

        • No unified level of knowledge
        • Personnel fluctuation
        • Growing requirements

         

        No unified level of knowledge

        Further education, as purposeful as it is, comes with a major weakness: The educational content is aimed at several people at once. As a result, some employees have too low or too high a level of knowledge. Beginner oriented training provides no value for advanced employees, on the other hand, programs for the advanced are no good approach to introduce newcomers to a topic.

        Solution approach: Don’t only consider training programs for all employees. Instead, help your staff to find suitable mentors to expand strengths individually.

         

        Personnel fluctuation

        Qualified employees can choose between many employers on the market. This also increasingly reduces operational loyalty. This is a big challenge for companies as they lose internal knowledge when employees leave. As purposeful the investment in the knowledge of employees is, it might not have any long term advantages because other companies appear more attractive.

        Solution approach: Don’t forget to prioritize the expansion of a positive working climate. Employees aren’t just human resources, they are human beings who belong to your business. You can’t avoid job changes completely but you can initiate measures to make your business more attractive to employees to make them stay.

         

        Growing requirements

        Digital progress promises solutions and makes business processes easier. However, requirements regarding operation, administration and editing grow too. That on the other hand requires higher investments in training and the expansion of competences. There is no doubt that the expansion of digital competence is worth it but you shouldn’t underestimate the volume of investment.

        Solution approach: The already mentioned cost-benefit-analysis helps to determine goal oriented measures. Know your team’s level of education and focus holistic as well as individual approaches equally.

         

        Will analogue processes soon be replaced completely?

        Prognosis regarding the future influences of digitization suspect a successive omission of analogue applications. But this process will take time. There are still too many businesses which primarily rely on analogue processes and although many of them pursue the goal of digitization, they often don’t have a concrete plan.

        The development of start-ups and new founded businesses suggests that young businesses rely on digital structures from the very beginning. Business size and smaller structures play a role here too. The digital construction of a small business is done less complicated than restructuring analogue processes of bigger businesses with more than 100 employees.

        But big businesses digitize their processes successfully too. German statistics actually confirm that especially businesses with more than 250 employees use the strengths of social media. Furthermore, there are barely big businesses without their own website or a digital marketing strategy.

        In some areas it is to expect that analogue processes will be replaced completely, especially in marketing. Reasons are measurability and that businesses reach out to a broader audience. But digital marketing strategies require deep knowledge in social media and SEO. Therefore, businesses are responsible to school their employees to not only expand digital structures but to ensure long term results as well.

         

        Conclusion: Build on progress

        Digitization is advancing and so is the expansion of internal competencies. New trends, especially in marketing, put companies under pressure to pull. Digital change may progress faster than the level of knowledge in the company is growing.

        It is necessary to weigh up which trends and competencies offer added value. In addition, it is purposeful to build on existing strengths in order to ensure specialist knowledge. As already mentioned, it therefore makes little sense to get lost unnecessarily in details. On the other hand, it has disadvantages in competition if companies do not offer further training in certain areas.

        Contact us

         

          Data warehouse simply explained: Definition, advantages & tools 994 537 Florian Friedl

          Data warehouse simply explained: Definition, advantages & tools

          DATA WAREHOUSE SIMPLY EXPLAINED: DEFINITION, ADVANTAGES & TOOLS

          In this article you will find out everything you need to know about data warehouses. All information about definition, advantages, tools and application.

          In this article

          1. What is a data warehouse?
          2. Data warehouse: Components and functions
          3. These are the pros and cons
          4. Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake
          5. Which data warehouse tools are available?
          6. This is how businesses use data warehouses
          7. FAQ

           

          The most important in a nutshell

          • A data warehouse is suitable for processing and evaluating company-related data
          • Disadvantages include long loading times and that only structured data can be processed
          • Access to data lake is easier but the method is not useful for processing structured data

           

          What is a data warehouse?

          Data warehouses describe a database which was specifically optimized for analysis. The system collects and processes relevant data from a summary of sources (e. g. apps or internal departments) and provides it clearly for businesses. The goal is to get a general overview of all important data.

          A data warehouse is some kind of a data management system which supports business intelligence activities as well as it collects and saves huge amounts of data. The collected data passes through a formatting- and import process which compares existing information of the data warehouse. The following saving process ensures a simple data access. From this page, companies can derive important business data and optimize decision processes.

           

          Data warehouse: Components and functions

          A data warehouse normally consist of the following four elements:

          • ETL solutions to prepare data for analysis
          • Data mining functions
          • Relational database to save and manage data
          • Analysis applications to evaluate data and to visualize it easily

           

          This is how a data warehouse works

          Data warehouses don’t have a unified architecture. Instead, the specific requirements of a business determine the structure. When the business requirements are defined, conception follows. This includes the logical design (relationship between elements) and the physical design (best method to save and retrieve data).

          During the design process of the data warehouse there are some steps to consider, including the frequency of data update, the supported system environment and the relationships between the different data groups.

          The following process, the so-called “data warehousing”, normally takes place in four steps:

          • Data acquisition + integration: Data is obtained from sources and loaded into the data warehouse
          • Data storage: Data is held
          • Data evaluation: Full analysis of structured data
          • Data provision: Data is made available for analysis

           

          These are the pros and cons

          Businesses have specific advantages when using a data warehouse. The probably biggest advantage is that huge amounts of different data can be analyzed and evaluated purposefully. The data is easily accessible, goal oriented and relevant. That improves data quality and the decision making process within a company. Hereby, flexibility doesn’t get lost and businesses can, for instance, reduce data volume for an accurate verification.

          Disadvantages include long loading times for complex data and increasing data volume. Furthermore unstructured data (e. g. audio) can’t be processed and live streaming isn’t possible either.

           

          → The access through a data warehouse is principally uncomplicated but associated with high effort.

           

          Data warehouse pros and cons

           

          Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake

          Data Lake represents an alternative to the warehouse variant for data processing. Data lakes are better for unstructured data such as pictures or live streaming because they are easier accessible and therefore don’t require any expert knowledge. Furthermore, businesses have the opportunity to analyze bigger amounts of data on different ways to win new insights regarding relevant company data.

          The data warehouse on the other hand has the advantage that structured data builds a good base for analysis which matches with the predefined business goals. The evaluation also happens much faster. And through the precise data evaluating processes, businesses can trust on the results and make decisions fast.

           

          Use the strengths of both methods to bypass disadvantages

          You don’t have to choose either of the two methods to evaluate data. Both ways complete each other and in combination provide a goal oriented approach to evaluate data. Data lake has more storage capacity and allows the deposit of big data quantities. The processed raw data can be structured and further processed with data warehouse tools.

           

          Which data warehouse tools are there?

          • integrate.io
          • Informatica
          • Oracle 12c
          • IBM Infosphere
          • Amazon Redshift
          • Ab Initio Software
          • ParAccel
          • MarkLogic
          • Cloudera

          The tools belong to the ten most known and popular tools for processing data. Each of these tools has its individual advantages and was made for different application areas. For businesses it’s worth it to use at least one of these tools to make processes of data evaluation easier.

           

          Cloud data warehouse: Which options do businesses have?

          Cloud data warehouses become more popular to collect and process data from different sources. Data warehouses require a lot of effort in administration but cloud solutions provide a user friendly application which doesn’t even stress beginners. Furthermore, a cloud data warehouse ensures advantages regarding costs because there is no maintenance needed and businesses don’t have to invest in additional safety software.

          But that doesn’t mean that internal solutions are bad. The opposite is the case. On-premise-servers ensure more safety and businesses have more control over data procession. So whether cloud-based solutions offer a better alternative is a matter of individual consideration.

           

          This is how businesses use data warehouses

          Businesses have many application possibilities with data warehouses. They primarily use it to provide reports to evaluate processes and to optimize them. This also results in more transparency to provide stakeholders a better insight into business processes. Processed data can also be used to determine information regarding commercial transactions.

          Other application areas:

          • Determination of resources and costs
          • Getting information about business related KPIs
          • Evaluation of concrete processes
          • Structuring of data

          It’s important to define goals and to know the requirements of users to use data warehouses properly. A data warehouse is a centralized collection of earmarked business data. Furthermore, changing data causes a lot of effort whereby inadequate goal planning may waste resources.

           

          FAQ

          Lastly, we will answer common questions regarding data warehouses.

           

          What is an ETL process?

          ETL consists of the individual steps Extract (E), Transform (T) and Load (L). The ETL process ensures that data from different sources is integrated into the data warehouse. It’s used primarily in scenarios with large volumes of data (e. g. big data).

          What are the primary differences between a data warehouse and a data mart?

          A data warehouse is normally larger than a terabyte and ranges across multiple areas. Data marts on the other hand are mostly smaller than 100 GB and are limited to a single purpose for one line business.

          What does a data warehouse cost?

          The costs of a data warehouse vary but typically it is between 350 and 400 euros annually. Cloud services and on-premise-solutions hardly differ in terms of costs.

          What is the ultimate outcome of a data warehouse?

          A data warehouse ensures precise insights into business data which makes decision making easier and therefore helps to save costs. Stakeholders get access to visualized and analyzed data which was evaluated based on business related goals.

          Contact us

           

            Sources:

            https://www.talend.com/de/resources/was-ist-data-warehouse/

            Data Warehouse

            https://www.bigdata-insider.de/was-ist-ein-data-warehouse-a-606701/

            https://www.oracle.com/de/database/what-is-a-data-warehouse/

             

            Bilder: © canva.com

            What is data management? Strategy, tasks and advantages 994 537 Manuel Renje

            What is data management? Strategy, tasks and advantages

            WHAT IS DATA MANAGEMENT? STRATEGY, TASKS AND ADVANTAGES

            In this article, we will answer all your questions about data management. Advantages, examples, data security and best practices for your strategy.

            In this article:

            1. Definition: What is data management?
            2. Data management tasks
            3. Three steps to successfully execute a data management strategy
            4. These are the challenges
            5. Advantages of data management
            6. Advice for your data management strategy
            7. Conclusion

             

            The most important in a summary

            • Data management provides many advantages such as safety, cost savings and efficiency
            • Innovative solutions don’t cause any problems regarding GDPR
            • Many businesses complain about the missing transparency in data management

            Data management icons

             

            Definition: What is data management?

            Data management belongs to the digital competencies and combines all elements of information transfer within a company. The goal is to establish methods and processes to save, to minimize and to archive data.

            Many businesses have already established data management to automate working processes and to relieve staff. Furthermore, they pursue the goal to minimize mistakes and to ensure more transparency. Last is especially important because only when businesses consider current data they have the possibility to optimize processes sustainably.

            In this article we will talk further about data management and its tasks. We will show you all pros and cons as well as common challenges. Other than that we will answer questions regarding data security and strategy.

             

            Tasks of data management

            Basically, the main task of data management is to save business related data transparently. Through that, stakeholders get insights into data and structure to make solution oriented decisions. Furthermore, businesses minimize their error rates and use their budget efficiently.

            Data management is not limited to essential operation areas. Many might think of financial stuff and bookkeeping when they hear the word data management, but evaluating marketing KPIs and factors to improve quality management is also considered in the process.

            Data management is a holistic process which takes over the following tasks:

            • Easy access to business data
            • More transparency
            • Establish automated and efficient working processes
            • Ensure safety and prevent data loss
            • Comply with retention obligation
            • Eliminate old or not needed data

             

            Three steps to successfully execute a data management strategy

            To successfully execute a data management strategy, businesses need to consider questions regarding data sets, data structure and data saving. The following three steps help you with that.

             

            Know and understand your data sets

            The first step of a successful data management strategy requires knowledge about data itself. Without understanding data sets of your business you can’t create a goal oriented strategy. A systematic analysis considers three types of data, namely personal-related, “High-value”-business data and public data.

            Personal-related data includes all data sets regarding your target group and other natural persons. This includes name, address and email. For these data sets the requirements of GDPR are to consider.

            “High-value”-business data is sensitive business data. This includes bookkeeping data, tax documents and financial data. The encryption of this data is highly important.

            Public data is accessible for everyone and concerns the area of marketing. Through transparency regarding marketing KPIs (social follows, website visitors etc.) businesses have easy access to relevant data but they have to consider to avoid intellectual property damages.

             

            Structure data properly

            Data-lake and data-warehouse belong to the most known methods of data saving. The data lake is a large store of raw data whose use has not been determined. In contrast, the data warehouse is a central collection of business data that is tied to a purpose.

            Data lakes are easily accessible and do not require specialized knowledge to modify new data. However, data can only be accessed with specialized tools or by experts (e.g., data scientists). Data access via a warehouse is much less complicated, but data modification requires more effort.

            Many businesses use both methods to have more advantages. Data warehouse requires less expertise for data retrieval and is more secure. On the other hand, data lake has advantages in terms of flexibility and data storage.

             

            Storage environment

            The best-known model of data storage is the cloud. This offers a variety of benefits to businesses, including secure data storage, greater flexibility and resilience. As an alternative, many companies are turning to server-based computing in the form of an internal storage environment. Hard to beat in terms of security, but not accessible to third parties without a cloud service.

            To form better interfaces, there are so-called “data fabrics” on the market as storage environments. This concept combines the strengths of cloud services with those of internal storage environments and equips them with additional functions to ensure greater security as well as flexibility.

             

            These are the challenges

            Data management has many advantages (more about this in a moment!) but businesses face many challenges during the process of implementation. Some of them are:

            • Costs
            • Data volume
            • Requirements of stakeholders

             

            Costs

            Data administration causes costs. Although data management ensures cost savings, it’s still recommended to carry out a cost-benefit-analysis to invest available budget efficiently. Therefore, it’s less about if a data management strategy is financially worth it, but rather to which extent the budget is invested.

             

            Data volume

            With too much data volume, transparency might get lost. The usage of data management software reduces this risk but the danger of loss still exists. Without a goal oriented organization and planning, there are also no advantages regarding transparency and efficiency because your business might evaluate the wrong data.

             

            Requirements of stakeholders

            Data management pursues the goal to establish solution oriented as well as efficient working- and business processes. Hereby the requirements of stakeholders are to consider to evaluate collected data purposefully.

            The bigger the company, the more complex are probably the requirements of stakeholders. That possibly aggravates goal oriented data management because wishes and expectations of single persons might go too far apart through which no clear goals can be determined based on the evaluated data.

             

            This is how businesses master these challenges

            Clarify requirements, knowing goals, planning resources purposefully and choosing high quality software. These four steps build the base for goal oriented data management. Especially stakeholder requirements and data saving are no hurdles with a detailed plan. In terms of costs, there are advantages with a data management strategy anyway, but insufficient calculation of personnel deployment may waste financial resources.

            → Simply explained: Planning is everything!

             

            This is how you ensure a GDPR compliant realization

            In May 2018, the European Union adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), creating a legal framework for data processing. This legal framework is based on principles such as fair processing, lawfulness, adequacy of data processing, integrity, purpose limitation and accuracy.

            Companies have a responsibility to ensure these principles in their data management. But in practice, this is not so easy. Even one incorrect setting in the website cookie banner may already lead to unlawful data processing. Good compliance prevents such difficulties.

            Declarations of consent form the basis for DSGVO-compliant data processing. In addition, companies must comply with their administrative obligations and delete data upon request. A regularly changing legal situation complicates this process, so staff and involved stakeholders must be trained regularly.

             

            The advantages of data management

            Regardless of the mentioned hurdles and challenges, a goal oriented data management has many advantages for businesses. Some of them are:

            • Transparency
            • Problem identification
            • Eliminating disruptive factors
            • Targeted working processes
            • Process automation
            • Better user experience
            • Recognizing customer needs

             

            Transparency

            The accumulation of big amounts of data are barely overlooked by businesses which is why they often oversee important sets of data. Through a targeted administration, businesses ensure more transparency and can evaluate as well as organize data purposefully.

             

            Problem identification

            Transparent processes result in better problem identification. Organizations have a lot of interactions going on, whether between software applications or protocols – and good data management helps identify the problems created by processes.

             

            Eliminating disruptive factors

            Problem identification ensures an uncomplicated solving process of disruptive factors. Besides that, it’s easier for businesses to execute prevention methods to avoid difficulties in the future.

             

            Targeted working processes

            The main goal of data administration is to optimize working processes. Through transparent data evaluations, businesses recognize their potential and use it. No matter if it’s for marketing, human resources, bookkeeping or quality management. Businesses recognize, for instance, which marketing methods generate the most leads or which benefits motivate employees the most and then can improve existing processes based on that.

             

            Process automation

            Through performance and process monitoring, business can stop processes and methods which require too many resources. That, on the other hand, ensures possibilities and process automation.

            Example: If companies try to implement too many marketing measures, the test phase takes longer and requires many resources. With more transparency regarding the target-oriented marketing measures, it is possible, for example, to optimize and automate lead generation. This is because companies can see what their marketing team is investing time in and thus shift the focus to the processes that lead to the goals.

             

            Cost savings

            The elimination of non-targeted processes results in financial advantages. Businesses are less focused on such tasks and approaches which don’t promise any success. Furthermore, they reduce the effort for testing phases.

             

            Better user experience

            The advantages of data management are not only internal to the company. Data administration reveals important information about customer wishes and which advertising works best. It’s also easier for businesses to react to trends. Hereby, there are advantages in the area of user experience and target group approach.

             

            Recognizing customer needs

            Feedback and ratings are among the most important sources for businesses to get to know their target group better and to identify customer needs. Structured data management helps to evaluate all collected sets of data better and to recognize customer wishes accordingly.

             

            Advice for your data management strategy

             

            Develop a holistic and waterproof strategy

            A good and goal oriented strategy should be your number one priority. Without knowing the requirements and goals of stakeholders, your business will collect too much irrelevant data. Also, deal in advance with questions regarding storage locations, file formats, monitoring of KPIs and which data protection regulations have to be observed.

            A goal oriented strategy considered the following aspects:

            • Clarify roles and responsibilities in the team
            • Consider legal aspects and compliance
            • Determine measures and methods
            • Set up criteria for external business partners

             

            Find the right data management software

            Only use software which suits your business goals. The offer on the market is growing and there are suppliers for different goals. Clear the following questions to find the right data management software:

            • What are our business goals?
            • What is our budget?
            • Which requirements must a software fulfill?
            • Does the software fulfill legal requirements?

             

            Consider changes

            In the area of data management a lot of things have happened in the past years. There are different software providers on the market, the goals of stakeholders change regularly and customer needs are in an everlasting change. Data management doesn’t only mean to establish purposeful structures once. Instead, targeted processes require regular optimization to ensure long-term results. 

             

            10 best practices for data management

            • Weighing costs and benefits
            • Know your business goals
            • Use databases which fulfill the requirements of your business
            • Centralize communication of involved parties
            • Teach your staff
            • Inform stakeholders and work transparently
            • Use data discovery to track processes and ensure good compliance
            • Act purposefully but thoughtfully when optimizing processes
            • Don’t only think of business processes but also about the effect on your customers
            • Don’t get lost in numbers but orient yourself on the wishes and desires of your target audience

             

            Conclusion: Data are digital gold

            Targeted data management ensures transparency, process optimization and cost savings. First, you need to clarify questions regarding software suppliers and responsibilities. Data management is a business process, a good strategy is therefore the fundament for a successful implementation.

            Contact us

             

              What is corporate communication? Definition, goals & examples 994 537 Lukas Aumair

              What is corporate communication? Definition, goals & examples

              WHAT IS CORPORATE COMMUNICATION?

              DEFINITION, GOALS & EXAMPLES

              What is corporate communication and what measures do companies need to take? Everything about definition and goals + examples.

               

              In this article:

              1. Corporate communication definition
              2. Which goals need to be achieved?
              3. Business communication as a part of corporate behavior
              4. Corporate communication examples
              5. Rules of business communication
              6. Business communication checklist
              7. Consider and overcome linguistic hurdles
              8. Corporate social responsibility: An important message for businesses
              9. Our final advice
              10. Conclusion
              11. FAQ

               

              The most important in a nutshell

              • Corporate communication considers both, internal and external communication
              • A goal oriented corporate communication improves working climate and the interaction between staff
              • Good communication structures will have a positive impact on your business image and promises competition advantages

               

              Corporate communication as a key element to a working business

              Efficiency and sales will always be a company’s number one priority. There is nothing wrong with that because only economically strong businesses will survive on a highly competitive market. But it’s about under which circumstances this goal will be achieved. In the past decades most businesses have recognized that employee satisfaction does not only depend on salary but rather on other factors. One of them is corporate communication.

              In this article we will talk about corporate communication and how businesses can use it to their advantage. Moreover we will dive deeper into the importance of individual approaches and social responsibility.

               

              Corporate communication definition

              The term corporate communication sums up all measures to improve the communication within a company. This concerns not only the communication between a company and its staff (internal) but also the interaction between a business and customers, partners or suppliers (external).

               

              Which goals need to be achieved?

              Corporate communication follows the goal to create consistent dialogue structures between a company and its stakeholders. But there are other reasons which speak in favor of improving communication structures of a business.

              A good corporate communication improves working climate and strengthens the trust between a business and its staff. That in turn has a positive effect on productivity. Encouraging the internal dialogue also comes with the advantage that there will be less conflicts and that businesses can react better to the wishes of their staff. That results in a healthy business culture with open dialogue structures and strengthened trust between employer and employee.

              In external business communication it’s primarily about such factors which will make a business stand out against its competitors. We are talking about corporate identity. Many don’t associate corporate identity with open dialogues or information exchange but rather with nice looking logos and convincing messages. That is a way to communicate too – corporate communication doesn’t necessarily mean to seek out dialogues because visual elements and messages will also improve business communication.

              Therefore, the goal is not only to communicate transparently and openly but also to use the advantages of visual elements.

               

              At its core, corporate communication pursues the following goals:

              • Improving corporate identity
              • More transparency for employees
              • Ensuring employee satisfaction
              • Establish a good working climate
              • Reaching business goals
              • Secure competitive advantages
              • Improving business culture as a whole
              • Expanding customer loyalty and customer acquisition as well as improving customer experience
              • Strengthen the business image
              • Cultivating business relationships

               

              Business communication as a part of corporate behavior

              Corporate behavior is a part of corporate identity and describes the behavior of a business towards its stakeholders. The focus of corporate behavior is on the achievement of goals and whether companies act in the way they communicate to the outside world.

              Corporate behavior is seen as a separate area of corporate identity but it also has an impact on reaching goals and therefore on a business’ behavior as well.

              One example: Through good communication structures businesses will increase productivity of their employees because open dialogues and information exchange build trust as well as satisfaction. This will ensure reaching goals in the long term.

              In general, communication always has a positive impact on corporate business. Possible disadvantages only occur when an information flood limits scope of action and paves the way to micromanagement.

               

              Corporate communication examples

              To develop your sense for practical application of corporate communication, we will take a closer look at some examples. Hereby it’s especially important to differentiate between internal and external business communication.

              Corporate communication examples internal:

              • Employee interviews
              • Feedback talks
              • Regular trainings to promote knowledge
              • Transparency in information exchange (e. g. through digital signage)
              • Communicating wishes through open dialogues
              • Defining goals clearly and communicating reached goals openly (e. g. through monitoring)

              Communication is key. So approach your employees openly and ask for their feedback. Monthly employee interviews help to recognize wishes and to expose possible conflicts. Corporate communication also means to create a good working climate by avoiding conflicts within your team.

              Every business ideally seeks out dialogues with its employees to respond specifically to wishes and needs. It’s harder to execute this approach for information exchange regarding events or internal changes. A centralized and automated communication structure will help you hereby. Information terminals for example provide a centralized approach to inform employees about news with little effort. Monthly employee meetings will improve and automate corporate communication as well.

              At an external level you need to differentiate between marketing and PR. Companies can increase their positive image through newspaper articles and press releases. Marketing methods on the other hand will help to strengthen the corporate identity and to force customer acquisition.

               

              Corporate communication examples external: 

              • Press releases
              • Social media channels
              • Digital advertising
              • Interviews
              • Use cases for more transparency
              • Sponsoring
              • Posters and flyers
              • Content marketing
              • Reports for business partners and stockholders
              • TV spots

              Don’t underestimate the effect of sponsoring and press releases. These supposedly old-fashioned PR methods have a strong impact on a business’ image. While they don’t build brand awareness as specifically as maintaining social media channels for example, they do position your company more strongly, especially on a regional level.

               

              Rules of business communication

              Many businesses primarily focus on external communication because they will win new customers and business partners with it. The key factors for more sales.
              But without satisfied and educated employees, productivity will decrease and your company will have disadvantages in competition. Therefore, you should improve corporate communication as a whole. To improve internal communication structures, you can establish rules which equally apply to all employees. Obligatory rules will ensure a better together within the team and help to reach goals.

              With the following rules of business communication, you will improve existing structures:

              • Openly talk about conflicts
              • Informing employees about changes
              • Monthly employee meetings (to talk about collective challenges)
              • Obligatory trainings for all business departments
              • Showing appreciation towards your employees

              There are two things to consider when executing these rules. On the one hand you should make sure that these rules will become part of the business values. Every team member needs to know about these rules and recognize that they follow a purpose. On the other hand you shouldn’t ignore financial and timely aspects. You better ensure to have enough resources to establish regular employee meetings or employee interviews.

               

              Business communication checklist

              • Involve all employees into the process
              • Talk about the current situation and challenges with your team
              • Define clear goals and which tasks need to be done
              • Consider budget and human resources
              • Establish fix days and times for employee interviews, trainings and feedback talks
              • Approach the worries of your employees and convince them with good arguments
              • Consider your customers and your business partners
              • Determine channels to communicate business internal messages
              • Don’t give empty promises but rather set realistic measures
              • Talk regularly about the approached measures and if all employees are okay with it
              • Repeat all the steps and optimize them where it’s necessary

               

              Consider and overcome linguistic hurdles

              Corporate communication is aimed at different groups of persons but exactly this aspect is often ignored by many businesses.
              Law changes in data security need to be communicated differently to human resource employees than to a data protection officer. It’s also pointless to use information terminals as the only source of communication when many employees work at home or in the field service.

              Linguistic barriers hinder goal oriented approaches. Ask yourself the following questions to eliminate possible hurdles in internal corporate communication:

              • Do all employees have access to information?
              • Are there linguistic barriers because of different nationalities?
              • Do we use too much professional language?
              • Is our communication directed towards the perspective of our employees?
              • Do we grow faster than we can improve our communication structures?

              In external communication it’s especially important to consider the principles of marketing. A basic differentiation between B2B and B2C clients is a good start but a deeper selection will help more in the long term.

              Ready for take off?

              Are you looking for an efficient way to improve communication in your company? Then only with the innovative digital signage software by FRAMR! Try it for FREE.

              GET MORE INFORMATION

              Corporate social responsibility: An important message for businesses

              In 2023, external communication means more than just good PR and marketing. Businesses show more social responsibility, be it through better compliance, approaches to expand environmentally friendly working processes or more accessibility.

              There are laws as a guideline to execute these measures. But there are other objective measures which support the execution too. One of them ist the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

              In the core, CSR describes the voluntary contribution of a business to a sustainable development of the economy. This includes climate protection, measures against corruption or an ethical justifiable business culture. Some guidelines of specific countries (e. g. Germany) force bigger businesses to create reports about their CSR approaches but for other companies the contribution is voluntary.

              CSR sends an important message to businesses: Social consciousness and responsibility become more relevant. When thinking of corporate communication, don’t only consider promising messages or convincing marketing but social aspects as well.

               

              Our final advice

              Take care of executing corporate communication in a holistic approach. Many businesses strongly focus on external communication because marketing promises more sales and a stronger public image. Thereby employee satisfaction and internal conflict mastering have a massive impact on the success of a business as well.

              Before you execute measures for a better corporate communication, deal with the question if your team equally builds structures for both internal and external communication to approach a holistic process- and structure optimization. In order to promote corporate communication, your company should also push the development of digital competence in order to create more efficient structures and also keep communication channels shorter.

               

              Conclusion: The human being is in the foreground

              Businesses face the challenge that a standardized approach through corporate communication is barely possible. Because of the already mentioned linguistic hurdles, businesses can only partly automize their communication processes.

              Therefore, it’s better for businesses to follow the goal to establish automated processes which consider individual customer wishes or desires of employees. It’s also important to overcome linguistic hurdles.

              FAQ

              Finally, we will answer commonly asked questions about corporate communication.

              What is the difference between corporate communication and marketing communication?

              Marketing communication concerns commericialization of a product or a service. Corporate communication on the other hand also considers the appearance of a brand and the image of a business. 

              Why is corporate communication important?

              Corporate communication does not only focus on the advantages of a product or a service but will ensure the communication of the business image. At an internal level, businesses ensure higher employee satisfaction and increased productivity. 

              Contact us

               

                Hardware and Software: Differences and connections 994 537 Christian

                Hardware and Software: Differences and connections

                HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE: DIFFERENCES AND CONNECTIONS

                Software and hardware – two terms which are often mentioned regarding IT and digitalization. But what do they mean and what are the differences?

                In this article:

                1. Hardware and software: Differences and connections
                2. What is software?
                3. The different types of software
                4. What is hardware?
                5. What is the difference between hardware and software?
                6. The difference between hardware and software through the example of digital signage solutions
                7. What are the challenges of hardware and software?
                8. Conclusion

                 

                Hardware and software: Differences and connections

                The advance of digital techniques establishes new terms. To be honest, “software” and “hardware” aren’t really new and have already been established in the language use about two decades ago but these terms come with several questions to answer. In the following article we will answer questions regarding hardware, software and their differences as well as future challenges.

                What is software?

                Most people associate the term “software” with computers and this isn’t particularly wrong. But actually, software is a general term for all executable programs and their associated data. In many cases, software describes a script which on the other hand describes the functions and usage of a software controlled device.

                 

                The different types of software

                The question regarding the definition also comes with the question if there are different types of software. Short answer: Yes, there is, many actually. Following, we will take a closer look at the different types of software.

                 

                Open Source

                Open source is a free to use software. The source of this type of software is freely accessible and can easily be changed or adjusted. Known examples of open source software is LibreOffice.

                 

                Embedded software

                Embedded software is a software which is recorded into hardware. The actual danger here is that once software is embedded it is not possible to change it afterwards. Therefore, the software must be flawless. Good example for this type of software are central heating systems – the software is installed within the hardware and functions are predefined. Updates or individual changes aren’t possible afterwards.

                 

                Cloud based solutions

                The biggest advantage of cloud based software solutions is the independence. Only a few years ago updates and maintenance needed to be done by the business the software was provided for but that has changed thanks to cloud based solutions. Central administration gives businesses the opportunity to be provided with regular updates without having to do them by themselves.

                A good example for cloud based software solutions is digital signage – most digital screens are provided with cloud based software. Solutions such as FRAMR make working processes more flexible, individual and centralized. Centralized business processes save a lot of money in the long term and businesses can be sure that processes run reliably in the background and that performance will improve.

                 

                Packaged software

                It’s probably the most known type of software. Packaged software provides the same solutions for every customer and for every business with only a few changes possible. Good examples are Microsoft Word and Microsoft excel. The actual challenge of these programs is to be compatible with many different systems. Everyone knows the regularly required updates of windows which mostly serve the purpose to fix errors or similar problems – the actual goal is to improve performance but also to make adjustments regarding the compatibility of different operating systems.

                The separation of the different types of software can be specified further – often the different types of software are categorized into standardized software, industry software and individual software. Standardized software is often used by many different businesses (bookkeeping software for example), industry software mostly provides solutions for niche businesses (commercial sector for example) and individual software is specifically developed for one or only a few companies.

                 

                What is hardware?

                Hardware describes the physical components of a computer system and serves as a “tool” for functionality of software. One distinguishes between internal and external hardware. Internal hardware are the invisible components (the inside of a computer for example), external hardware on the other hand are all devices which are outside of a computer.

                Examples for internal hardware:

                • Processor
                • Power Adapter
                • Random access memory
                • Hard disk
                • Drives
                • Graphic card

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                Internal hardware is actually physical as well but not touchable from the outside like external hardware. For example, the hard disk is in the inside of a computer and serves the functionality of the device.

                Examples for external hardware:

                • Screen
                • Printer
                • Computer mouse
                • Keyboard
                • Fax machine

                 

                What is the difference between hardware and software?

                Software describes the non-physical components and the executable programs of a computer device. Hardware on the other hand helps the functionality of software – hardware itself doesn’t have any impact on the functionality of a program but without hardware it’s not possible or only partly possible to use software. This is where physical components such as computer mouse, screen and keyboard come into play to support the usage of software.

                 

                The difference between hardware and software through the example of digital signage solutions

                The difference between hardware and software is mostly shown through the example of computers but there are several other devices which are perfect examples of the combined usage of hardware and software. This will give you another perspective and further insights into the topic.

                Digital signage software describes the usage of digital-visual screens to display video and picture content in a compact form. Mostly, you will find digital screens in malls. The content is displayed through a central source – therefore it’s usual that screens and programs are not provided by the same supplier because software can be installed into any screen device. A good example of the combination of hardware and software.

                But one after the other. How does digital signage work if you consider the differences between hardware and software?

                In the first step, software is important to display content on a digital screen. Our different FRAMR players fulfill these requirements because you can save, create and display content through them. It’s a cloud based software solution because maintenance and administration in general are executed through the usage of a cloud. FRAMR players are internal hardware devices at the same time because there are no processors and storage devices within the player itself.

                What appears to be complicated at first glance, requires many different working processes and a well qualified team of programmers. The requirements of a good interaction between hardware and software comes with many little steps within the working process and the consideration of high technical standards. Optical elements also play an important role when you display content to make a good user experience possible.

                FRAMR Directory

                 

                What are the challenges of hardware and software?

                The change and progress in fields such as IT also changes the requirements of hardware and software. Especially the  software area comes with many new challenges – the importance of data security increases and B2B customers especially want data secure solutions. But not only are legal aspects to consider, there is also a lot of work to do in technical fields.

                Businesses prioritize individuality and flexibility as well as easy to execute working processes. Here, software providers are responsible to offer centralized solutions which consider individual wishes at the same time.

                The area of hardware isn’t directly impacted by technical changes. Technical requirements are to consider but even more important are the wishes of consumers and customers. Take screens as example: No business wants to use hardware which is on the technical level of 2015 – it must be modern but also better. The actual challenge lies within usage based elements (User experience, screen definition and easy usage of hardware for example).

                 

                Conclusion

                The topic of hardware and software is a complicated one, especially because of the changing requirements in IT. There are many different types of software and what businesses want depends on the current events on the market. Currently, cloud based solutions such as digital signage software are highly demanded.

                The choice of the right software depends on the goals of a business as well the individual requirements. Cloud based solutions offer the possibility to react fast on changes, packaged software is cheap and individual software solutions precisely fit the wishes and wants of a business (but are mostly much more expensive).

                Contact us

                 

                  Pictures: © Canva.com

                  Content formats – Reach your target group with this advice 994 537 Linda

                  Content formats – Reach your target group with this advice

                  CONTENT FORMATS – REACH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WITH THIS ADVICE

                  Content is king, every company is aware of that these days. But how do you use content formats to reach your target group?

                  In this article:

                  1. How content rules the world of marketing
                  2. Why businesses should expand their content strategy
                  3. Which content formats are there?
                  4. The versatility of content using the example of digital signage
                  5. Important questions for a goal oriented content strategy
                  6. The best content marketing tools
                  7. Our final advice
                  8. Conclusion 

                   

                  The most important facts about content formats summarized:

                  • There are a wide variety of content formats that combine their strengths
                  • Which content formats companies use best depends on the target audience
                  • Special marketing tools help to implement the content strategy

                   

                  How content rules the world of marketing

                  Different trends dominate marketing depending on time and the circumstances. For a long time, print advertising was considered the best marketing method and every company took advantage of beautifully designed posters and flyers. This trend then was followed by TV commercials as the best advertising medium. Especially on TV shows with high audience ratings, businesses wanted to place their commercials to get more attention. Then there are the timeless advertising methods, such as word-of-mouth or trade fairs. However, during the times of the corona crisis, a rethink took place and trade shows in particular were not possible for about two years or could only be implemented under strict conditions. For a few years now, a new trend has been emerging as a result of digitalization, namely content marketing and because of the pandemic, more companies than ever before are relying on the strengths of dynamic online content.

                  No matter if social media or websites, businesses provide their platforms with content on a daily basis and use different kinds of content formats. Classic marketing methods such as trade fairs and print still belong to their portfolio but in the past years the trend developed in a different as well as clear direction. Blog articles, videos, designs, podcasts – good content has many faces and we will show you how you present content to your target audience.

                   

                  Why businesses should expand their content strategy

                  A good content strategy has developed into a relevant competition factor in the past years. Companies with a strong online presence, be it through blog articles, podcasts or videos, benefit the most from the advantages of digital marketing. One of these advantages is the desired first page of google and other search engines. For many years it is known that google prefers websites which regularly post new and high quality content. But this rule doesn’t only apply to search engines, even the algorithms of platforms like YouTube prefer channels which regularly publish long and high quality videos. Content isn’t only about regularity, but especially about quality. 

                  Laptop screen which says

                  The right strategy ensures versatility when using different content formats

                  The steadily growing competition makes it kinda hard to establish a business in the digital world. Only about ten years ago there wasn’t any competition on keywords / google search terms and advertising content through paid ads (e. g. facebook) was much cheaper. But that belongs to the past because what matters in 2023 is a good strategy, variety, unique selling propositions and regularity. Businesses are in the position to provide their target audience with innovative content and not only to rely on proven strengths.

                  Moreover, content is the motor for automated marketing processes. Newsletter subscriptions or bookings for online courses always require content in the first step to build reach and to gain your target audience’s attention. Lead generation without the right content is impossible.

                   

                  Which content formats are there?

                  Claims of the target audience are growing and businesses are in the position to think about innovative ideas to not provide generic content. The different content formats ensure variety to win over the attention of the target audience and to expand the online performance of your business.

                   

                  Visual content

                  Nothing sticks in the minds of the target group as well as images or videos. They communicate emotions and the learning effect of informative content is bigger than with texts. The biggest advantage is that pictures are almost always used in combination with  different content formats or are at least useful – only through visualization social media posts unfold their effect, when reading blog articles the target group is provided with viewing material and even boring statistics get a nice optical makeover. The disadvantage of pictures is that content, which requires explanation, can’t be displayed. This is why we recommend a combination of text and pictures to combine the strengths of both content formats.

                  Videos come with a completely different disadvantage: The effort. Appealing videos require a good set-up, high quality equipment, safety in front of the camera and a final editing.

                  Advantages of visual content

                  • User friendly
                  • High learning effect
                  • Emotionalizing

                   

                  Disadvantages of visual content

                  • Not barrier free
                  • Displaying complex content almost not possible in picture format
                  • Videos are very time consuming

                   

                  Blog articles and text

                  When reading about the term “content” most people think of blog articles. That’s no surprise, because especially texts improve performance of a website, thus ensuring a good google ranking. That’s actually the reason why many businesses hire copywriters or even create jobs for that. Blogs are known for being the strongest medium to expand reach because the integration of the right keywords increases visitor numbers on websites and businesses win more customers through that.

                  An often overlooked advantage of texts is the accessibility of videos and pictures – web builders like wordpress come with the function to enter an alternative text as picture description which is read out in the event of charging difficulties or in the event of impaired vision.

                  Disadvantages appear with very extensive blog articles with poor content structure. Although search engines like to see informative blogs with good SEO, usability often gets lost when the table of contents is missing or there is no option left to go directly to the desired section. One example for that are websites with cooking recipes: Many bloggers expand recipes to holistic articles but don’t add a table of contents. Readers have to find the recipe by themselves and have to read through the complete text. This increases dissatisfaction with the blog, which in the worst case increases the bounce rate and worsens SEO performance.

                  Advantages of blog articles and text

                  • Informative
                  • Barrier free
                  • Detailed presentation of complex content is possible

                   

                  Disadvantages of blog articles and text

                  • Not emotionalizing without pictures or videos
                  • Bad navigation when table of contents is missing

                   

                  Podcast

                  In comparison to the other content formats, podcasts were added relatively late, but are still part of the marketing portfolio of many businesses. At first, we want to clear up with a prejudice: Podcasts aren’t only good for storytelling or for freetime-stories because they communicate important information and knowledge on a very personal level. The speaker appears to be reachable for the target audience and through interviews listeners gain additional insights and hear different perspectives to a specific topic.

                  Podcasts are captivating and communicate knowledge in an almost entertaining way but for business growth they are less appropriate. There are exceptions as well but in most cases, a podcast isn’t part of a content strategy because listeners only rarely go from a podcast to the website and take advantage of a company’s offer.

                  Advantages of podcasts

                  • Listeners build up a personal connection
                  • Podcasts are entertaining
                  • High learning effect
                  • Longevity of content

                   

                  Disadvantages of podcasts

                  • Bad for conversions
                  • High reach primarily in entertainment niches

                   

                  Social media posts (engagement posts)

                  Social media combines the content formats text, pictures, videos and audio. On the different channels there is one separate content format which promises additional attention, namely so called engagement posts. The goal of these posts is to win the attention of your target audience through interaction. The social media channel instagram, for instance, makes it possible to ask surveys or to let subscribers participate in quizzes. Engagement posts signalize the target audience that you are interested in hearing their opinion. Other than that, you increase the engagement rate which has a positive impact on the social media performance and you get further insights into the wishes and desires of your target audience.

                  Advantages of social media engagement posts

                  • Target audiences recognize that their wishes are considered
                  • Good basis for market research
                  • Provides for variety and more interaction

                   

                  Disadvantages of social media engagement posts

                  • Your target audience might recognizes that you only use engagement posts to collect more information about their user behavior

                   

                  The different advantages of content formats

                  You shouldn’t start producing content right away, you should rather first think about which target audience you speak to. Blog articles, videos and freebies all work for most businesses but the desired goals are different. Blogs build reach in the first step, freebies on the other hand are for people who have already been in touch with businesses.

                  With the other content formats, you have to carefully weigh up to what extent they are worthwhile. Live events or webinars are primarily for B2B customers and podcasts are more interesting for a younger audience which place high value on variety in content.

                   

                  The versatility of content using the example of digital signage

                  How dynamic and varied content is, can be shown on the example of digital signage. The technology of digital billboards ensures the display of different content formats, no matter if it’s audio, video, picture or text. Applications differ and depending on the target audience, there are different opportunities. Restaurants show contents of a menu, clothing stores advertise their products and administration offices provide their staff with information. What matters at the end is the target audience – therefore, it’s less about which content format a business uses, but which persons they target with it.

                  Important questions for a goal oriented content strategy

                  • Who is my target audience?
                  • Is the goal of my company to expand reach or to generate leads?
                  • Which content format normally works for my niche?
                  • Which personnel do I need for the implementation?
                  • With which costs do I have to calculate?
                  • Which content marketing tools are used
                  • How big is my team and what are its strengths?
                  • What are current trends and how can I consider them for my strategy?
                  • Does my content strategy consider eventualities and possible changes in trends?
                  • How often do we post new content?

                   

                  The best content marketing tools

                  To provide your target audience with good content, the right marketing tools are necessary. The palette reaches from design tools to applications for keyword research. The diversity of applications is growing and promises businesses the opportunity to execute their plans in content marketing. Following, we have listed the best marketing tools and how they can help you to execute your marketing strategy.

                  content marketing tools

                   

                  Overview of the best content marketing tools:

                  • Canva
                  • Photoshop
                  • Illustrator
                  • Ahrefs
                  • Audacity
                  • Later
                  • Vegas Pro
                  • Asana
                  • Google Drive

                   

                  Canva: The design tool for everyone

                  Most design tools require specific knowledge and pose a great challenge, especially for beginners. The developers of the service Canva had an innovative idea: To transmit the concept of a website builder to the creation and design of content. Canva doesn’t require installation and you don’t have to create designs out of nowhere – instead, the application works directly through the website and there are thousands of design templates available for inspiration.

                  The best thing about the tool: Canva is user friendly and intuitive. Designs for social media posts are provided in the right format and can be shared directly through canva.

                   

                  Adobe illustrator and photoshop: The design tools for pros

                  Canva is known as a solution for everyone who doesn’t design a lot. The modular format expands regularly, but finds its limit when creating certain content (e.g. logos). The programs of Adobe still count as the biggest challenge for designers and give a lot of space for creativity. Photoshop is mainly used for picture editing, illustrator for logos and vector graphics. At first, these applications require some practice, but once you are trusted with the programs of Adobe, you will create stunning and unmatchable designs.

                   

                  Ahrefs: Keyword research made easy

                  Experienced texters know that nowadays it’s not enough to choose a topic and work on its content, because it is the keywords which matter the most. Ahrefs is a good solution for that because it’s a user-friendly and professional tool for keyword research. During research you are suggested many different keywords and W-questions, furthermore the tool offers the opportunity to analyze websites and their integrated keywords and to compare the performance of your own website with the one of your competitors.

                   

                  Audacity: Editing audio files uncomplicated and for free

                  Podcasts inspire people – they communicate emotions, are accessible from everywhere and listeners can expect exciting content about specific topics. There are many programs to edit audio files but one of them has particularly proved itself: Audacity. The application is for free and ensures fast as well as uncomplicated editing of audio files. And don’t you dare to think that a free-to-use program can’t be good – Audacity provides you with all needed functions, no matter if it’s changing volume or reducing background noises. The only weakness lies in editing the details of an audio file (e.g. frequency settings or sound features). Those who don’t want to miss that out rather use a chargeable software such as Adobe audition.

                   

                  Later: Plan your content

                  A good editorial plan is especially helpful for businesses with a long term and extensive content strategy. To ensure that you don’t lose the overview, a planning tool such as Later is recommended. The application allows precisely timed planning and sends reminders, so that you won’t forget to upload a post on social media channels. The biggest advantage is automation because with a membership you’re provided with the advantage to upload social media posts without having to do it by yourself.

                   

                  Vegas Pro: Videos with style and quality

                  Among free-to-use software for video editing there is not a lot you can choose from. The well known Windows Player isn’t part of the integrated programs on microsoft computers anymore and doesn’t provide any mentionable editing functions for videos. With Vegas Pro it’s a different story. At first, the tool might cause you some troubles because of all the different things you can do. However, once you get familiar with the program, you don’t want to use a different one to edit your videos.

                   

                  Asana: Organize your team

                  Complex content strategies involve many different parties – you need someone for design, social media texts, blogs, SEO and websites. To make sure that there are no overlaps, centralized organization through a project management tool such as Asana helps you. The main advantage is that all involved parties can easily communicate with each other, have access to all to-dos and get a precise overview of all the deadlines to meet. For a team of two or three, tools like Asana aren’t really helpful but for bigger projects it’s almost a must.

                   

                  Google Drive: Save your data uncomplicated

                  Cloud storages such as Google Drive make working in a team easier. Before the times of cloud services, the parties involved in a project had to send the content to each other and save it on their end device. When there were problems with the device, content was gone as the worst case scenario. Thanks to cloud services like Google Drive this isn’t a problem anymore because the content is stored in an area freely accessible to all involved parties and can be accessed from everywhere.

                   

                  Our final advice: Consider the details

                  Creating content and using the right format is not everything. To produce good content, you need an eye for details – the wrong picture format leads to a loss in quality and if you choose the wrong color channel in photoshop, you show your social media audience group a faded picture. We recommend you to double check your content before you publish it. Not only optical mistakes cause problems, grammar mistakes or maximal lengths of videos might cause trouble as well. It is best to deal with the requirements in advance and finally check everything again.

                   

                  Conclusion

                  Without content you limit your chances of performing successful marketing. Through social media and the variety of websites, users get in touch with different types of content everyday, which wins over their attention and delivers added value. Businesses are in the position to provide new and innovative content, also to save a better position in search engines such as google and bing. But even in different areas, digital signage for instance, different types of high quality content are the key to win over your target audience.

                  Contact us

                   

                    Pictures: © Canva.com

                    Software Development: The Future of Marketing? 994 537 Christian

                    Software Development: The Future of Marketing?

                    SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT:
                    THE FUTURE OF MARKETING?

                    Software development has always paved the way for innovation and new trends. But what influence will it have on marketing in the future?

                    In the last two and a half years there was a change of direction in marketing and how businesses reach their audiences. I’m not talking about social media or paid ads here (although they did and do matter!) – no – I’m referring to the impact of software development on marketing and customer experience. And if you’re only thinking of mobile games now, you will be surprised which possibilites are there actually and how businesses use them in the “post-covid” era to generate more quality leads and to reach a much broader audience. One thing in advance:

                    Creative software development solves one of the biggest problems businesses face these days and that is to win over and keep the attention of their audience as well as to improve user experience.

                    LED Text

                    © Clark Tibbs

                    To be honest, digital transformation started long before covid but there are some things that have changed. Almost everyone with basic knowledge in marketing is aware of the impact social media or digital sales funnels have and software development is also involved in those methods. But do you actually know how software development is currently used to reach a broader audience? To generate more quality leads? Or to improve user experience? No? Don’t be worried, I got the information you need!

                     

                    Gamification for active leads

                    Nobody can’t resist a fun game, right? Sure, in the introduction I mentioned it’s not only about mobile games but we have to take a closer look to see the actual purpose behind this marketing strategy. Gamification isn’t necessarily about playing a game, it’s about creating an experience with a company in a game-like style. Some agencies offer “Software as a service” solutions to let clients create their own games to improve interactions with their target audience. The opportunities range from surveys to personality tests, memory or quizzes. These are excellent ways to generate leads and to keep up the interest of the ones who have already been in touch with a business. Especially small insurance offices or finance companies should take a closer look at gamification to make their services more appealing to a younger audience and to improve interactions with the business.

                    But not only small businesses take advantage of gamification. In fact, case studies of marketing agencies prove that regardless of niche, size or stage of sales funnel, gamification improves ROI and customer experience.

                    Web Design Entwurf

                    © Faizur Rehman

                    Digital Signage to boost attention and sales

                    Aren’t you tired of passing by a shop and seeing nothing outstanding or significant? Maybe not but it’s fair enough to say that many shops don’t show anything outstanding when you pass them by. This might not be the case for any modern upcycling shops but definitely for clothes stores which have many competitors around.

                    Digital signage takes an innovative approach to solve this (and many other) challenges. Seeing a computer screen displaying content with high quality designs/pictures is much more appealing than seeing the products through a window. But this is just one advantage, the actual strength of digital signage is to use the KI to reach a broader audience. 

                    Times Square

                    © Mathias Arlund

                     

                    Here is how it works: The attention span of a human being lasts not longer than 7 up to 8 seconds before we get attracted or reach out for something new – with digital signage, the opportunity to display new content after this time span is given and makes the target audience continuously curious about more information. One slide is shown for 7 seconds, then the next for 7 seconds and so on.

                    But that’s not all: With the right software development, businesses can display content based on data around the target audience. Let’s say, in the morning there are primarily people between the ages of 30 and 35 visiting the shop and in the afternoon there are mainly visitors between the ages of 18 and 20. After getting access to this data (through market research for example), businesses can use digital signage to display content how it suits the customer’s wishes. When a business figures out that they reach a younger audience during the afternoon, they can set up the software to display content which fits the needs of this specific target group. It’s the perfect combination of good appearances and target group oriented marketing. 

                     

                     

                     

                    Do you want to get further insights into digital signage and how it works? You want to know more about the functions and possible applications? Say no more! Just take a look at THIS page and you will figure out everything you want to know. FRAMR is a high quality software for digital signage and provides all kinds of businesses with functions to improve customer experience. BUT: That’s not all because this is only one way to use the software. Just have a closer look, I’m sure you will be surprised about what you can do!

                     

                    Food delivery apps as USP

                    Getting your food at home has been a thing long before covid but let’s face it: All of us got their burgers or that nice selection of sushi delivered home in times of lockdown much more often than before. And this is actually confirmed by statistics which prove that big suppliers could raise their sales ever since the pandemic started. (see picture below)

                    Normally, restaurants use such third party suppliers to deliver their food but to stand out against competitors a new trend is rising: Creating an own delivery app.

                    Statistik Food Delivery 2020

                     

                    As already mentioned, it’s not new that businesses launch their own apps. However, it’s more common that restaurants rely on third party suppliers for delivering food because it’s easier to reach a broad audience and costs less. But at the same time restaurants look for ways to stand out against their competitors which is why some gastros want to create their own delivery app.

                    With the rising competition it’s important to find ways to improve customer experience and to boost reputation. Finding an outstanding unique selling proposition isn’t easy for restaurants either, especially for the ones that don’t offer a specific kind of food or unique services. Because of that, they often rely on promises regarding price and good taste. But let’s be honest, these are promises which are given by the majority of restaurants.

                    Providing an application to deliver food is a great way to create an unique experience which is why some small restaurants already rely on it. Expanding reach and winning over customers’ attention for the app might be hard at the beginning but once you get on track it’s a great way to build customers loyalty and to provide them with special rewards to even compete with big third party suppliers.

                    Lieferando Werbung

                    © CardMapr.nl

                    A future perspective on software development in marketing

                    Ever since online marketing has been a thing, software development has had an impact. I’m not only talking about trends and the big changes as mentioned in this article, I’m also referring to all newsletter automation services or tools that help to improve customer experience. This is by far the biggest advantage of marketing software: The impact on the customer. If you consider the rising competition and the shortening attention span of people, businesses have no other choice but to find ways to improve customer experience and to win over the attention of their target audience. Social media and a stunning website take care of that too but with the given possibilities in software development there is just much more possible. And good user experience often means getting a good ROI, which is something all businesses strive for.

                    To answer the opening question about the future impact: Creative ideas will always do something good. No matter if it’s for businesses or their customers. In the next few years we will be introduced to new trends and tools which is why the best advice I can give is to stay tuned and be ready for change. Not all businesses will equally take advantage of all software applications but chances are high that companies which dare to apply new ways of doing things will stand out and ensure a stronger position on the market.

                     

                    You think you don’t need those strategies?

                    You don’t think the mentioned trends won’t help your marketing strategy in any way? Then you better give it a try! It’s easy to say “my clients don’t have any experience with that” or “Nobody needs that” before actually trying it. It’s a common practice on the market to present something and only THEN it will be mentioned. So, who cares if none of your competitors hasn’t used one of the strategies from this article yet? BE THE CHANGE and strengthen your position on the market.

                    Now get out there and offer (potential) customers something they haven’t seen or experienced before!

                    Contact us

                     

                      Pictures: © Canva.com