Employers may be reimbursed for leave taken by employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Employers may also be reimbursed for leave needed by employees to recover from the vaccination.

The ARP also allows those employers to be reimbursed for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave for employees for illness related to COVID-19.

Tax Credits for Giving Employees Paid Time Off for COVID Vaccines

The reimbursements are in the form of refundable tax credits.

Here are the basics:

1. You must be a small or midsize employer with fewer than 500 employees.
2. Certain government employers may also qualify, other than the federal government.
3. Self-employed individuals are also eligible for similar tax credits.
4. Tax-exempt organizations with fewer than 500 employees may be eligible.
5. The ARP tax credits are available to eligible employers that pay sick and family leave from April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021.

Paid Sick and Family Leave Eligible for Tax Credits

Eligible employers are entitled to tax credits for wages paid for leave taken by employees who are not able to work or telework due to reasons related to COVID-19. That includes leave taken to receive COVID–19 vaccinations or to recover from any injury, disability, illness or condition related to the vaccinations. These tax credits are available for wages paid for leave from April 1, 2021, through September 30, 2021.

Retail grocery ALDI U.S. was among the first to respond, as CEO Jason Hart said in a company press release.

“Since the onset of the pandemic, our entire ALDI team has worked to keep stores safe and stocked, and serve communities without interruption,” Hart said. “Providing accommodations so employees can receive this critical vaccine is one more way we can support them and eliminate the need to choose between earning their wages and protecting their well-being.”

How Amount of Tax Credit is Calculated

The paid leave credits under the ARP are tax credits against the employer’s share of the Medicare tax. The tax credits are refundable, which means that the employer is entitled to payment of the full amount of the credits if it exceeds the employer’s share of the Medicare tax.

The tax credit for paid sick leave wages is equal to the sick leave wages paid for COVID-19 related reasons for up to two weeks (80 hours). It is limited to $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate, at 100 percent of the employee’s regular rate of pay.

The tax credit for paid family leave wages is equal to the family leave wages paid for up to twelve weeks, limited to $200 per day and $12,000 in the aggregate, at 2/3rds of the employee’s regular rate of pay.

The amount of these tax credits is increased by allocable health plan expenses and contributions for certain collectively bargained benefits, as well as the employer’s share of social security and Medicare taxes paid on the wages (up to the respective daily and total caps).

How to Claim the Credit

Eligible employers report their total paid sick and family leave wages for each quarter on the federal employment tax return (usually Form 941). The employers also report the eligible health plan expenses and collectively bargained contributions and the eligible employer’s share of social security and Medicare taxes on the paid leave wages for each quarter.

Form 941 is used by most employers to report income tax and social security and Medicare taxes withheld from employee wages. Form 941 is also used to report the employer’s own share of social security and Medicare taxes.

In anticipation of claiming the credits on the Form 941 PDF, eligible employers can keep the federal employment taxes that they otherwise would have deposited. That includes:

1. Federal income tax withheld from employees
2. The employees’ share of social security and Medicare taxes
3. The eligible employer’s share of social security and Medicare taxes.

That is calculated with respect to all employees up to the amount of credit for which they are eligible. The Form 941 instructions PDF, available on the IRS website, explains how to reflect the reduced liabilities for the quarter related to the deposit schedule.

What if the Numbers Don’t Work?

What if an eligible employer does not have enough federal employment taxes set aside for deposit to cover amounts provided as paid sick and family leave wages (plus the eligible health plan expenses and collectively bargained contributions and the eligible employer’s share of social security and Medicare taxes on the paid leave wages)?

If that’s the case, the eligible employer may request an advance of the credits by filing Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due to COVID-19. The eligible employer will account for the amounts received as an advance when it files its Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, for the relevant quarter.

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This article, "Tax Credits Available to Employers Giving Paid Time Off for Employees to Get Vaccinated" was first published on Small Business Trends

Talk with any marketing consultant, and nine out of ten of them are likely to recommend marketing on social media sites. But you should ask an important question: Is the return on investment for social media worth the time and money? In this guide, we explain the steps to define and measure your business’s social media ROI.

Measuring social media ROI has several benefits. One obvious result is that it can help you squeeze the most from your budget — no matter how tight it may be.

Most of all, measuring ROI can lead to better business results. If you want to grow your business, you need effective techniques — not activities that waste time and effort. There’s an old management saying: “Inspect what you expect.” When it comes to your social media marketing efforts, it pays to inspect (track and measure) what you expect (your goals). This guide shows you how.

What Is Social Media ROI?

Social media ROI is the return on investment for engaging in social media as a form of marketing. Think of what ROI stands for in business, and then apply it specifically to social media activity.

A positive ROI means you are getting back more in return than you are putting in. The actual formula for ROI is:

(return – investment) / investment = ROI

When evaluating ROI, the calculation starts with two elements:

• The return = the business benefit from the activity (often expressed as revenue generated, but could be another measurement).
• The investment = the amount you spend to get the benefit (costs).

If you want to express the return on investment as a percentage, you would multiply the final result by 100.

Social Media ROI Example

Let’s use an example to show how the ROI formula works. Assume your company brought in $50,000 of revenue attributable to social media marketing. However, you spent $15,000 to get it. You would calculate the ROI on social media as follows:

(50,000 – 15,000) / 15,000 x 100 = 233.33%

To explain: You started with your return of 50,000 and deducted your 15,000 investment. Then you divided the net result by the same investment number. If you want it to be a percentage, you multiply that by 100. This gives you the social media ROI expressed as a percentage.

To summarize: By investing $15,000, you got a net return of 233.33% on that money. You netted more than double compared with your expenditure.

Some marketers focus strictly on social media ads when calculating ROI investment, but that’s a mistake. Ad spend is a subset of social media marketing in general. If you focus solely on how much you spend on, say, Facebook ads, you really measure return on ad spend (ROAS). Instead, you want to assess the full range of all social media activities. Measure how much you invest in all social media strategies and tactics, and then assess the benefits you get in return.

Steps to Measure Social Media ROI in a Small Business

Management consultant and author Peter Drucker is famous for saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” That statement holds just as true with social media as it does with any other form of marketing. The beauty of digital marketing, social media or otherwise, is that you can measure and track just about any metric. But not all are important.

Which metrics you consider depends on the social media you choose combined with your overall business and marketing goals. First, understanding what you are trying to accomplish will determine what metrics you pay attention to.

Measuring the ROI of social media starts with setting goals. It follows by deciding on the performance metrics of the social media channels you use and then calculating the costs of software, labor, advertising, and other expenses.

Here is a step-by-step breakdown of all you need to do to assess your social media ROI accurately.

1. Set Goals

Setting goals is the first step to measuring your social media marketing ROI. Ideally, your social media marketing goals should closely align with your overarching business and marketing goals and objectives. You need to decide why your brand wants to be on social media and what you want to accomplish as a result.

Is it to increase brand awareness? Drive traffic to your website? Service your customers? Generate leads? Boost sales? Regardless, your goals should be S.M.A.R.T. By that, we mean:

• Specific – Set with real numbers and deadlines
• Measurable – Trackable using metrics and analytics
• Attainable – A goal that is challenging but possible
• Realistic – Honest assessment of what you are capable of
• Time-bound – Tied to a deadline

Examples of S.M.A.R.T. marketing goals include:

• Generate 100 new leads from advertising sales during Q4 2021.
• Get 5,000 website visits from organic search in October 2021.
• Achieve 100% sales increase from e-commerce site between January 1 – June 30 compared to previous year.

These goals will not only help shape your social media marketing strategy but also allow you to gauge the success of your marketing efforts. Without first setting measurable goals, you won’t know whether your tactics are worthwhile and contributing to business growth.

2. Decide on Performance Metrics

The next step involves deciding which metrics you want to use to measure social media ROI. In the digital marketing realm, you can track and measure practically anything. But to reach your S.M.A.R.T. marketing goals, you must focus only on social media metrics that matter — those that impact your business and relate to your overall marketing goals and objectives.

However, that may not be as easy as it sounds because each social network has its metrics and built-in analytics — and they are not all the same. For example, Facebook has Insights, a comprehensive analytics dashboard that includes metrics such as Page Likes, Post Reach, Page Followers, and many more.

LinkedIn has Update analytics (to track the effectiveness of your posts), Followers & Visitors analytics (to help you understand follower and visitor demographics and sources), and Talent Brand analytics (to track Career pages). Twitter tracks metrics, such as followers, retweets, impressions, and others.

One way to go about selecting the right metrics is to tie them to the stages of the sales funnel (or customer journey):

Awareness – how many people are aware of your brand on social channels where you have a presence. Useful metrics include things like:

• Number of followers
• Reach or impressions
• Retweets
• Shares or pins
• Mentions

Interest – how many times do people engage with your brand. Metrics at this stage include:

• Comments
• Likes
• Replies
• Favorites
• Website traffic

Conversion – of those who engage, how many take action on an offer. This stage represents the bottom-line impact on your business, so examples of metrics to track are:

• Product sales from social networks
• Leads from downloads, subscriptions, etc.
• Revenue generated from social channels
• Other calls-to-action that have a business impact

Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track your success and performance. You could choose any and all of the above metrics; just don’t overlook KPIs. They can help you make better-informed decisions about the effectiveness of your efforts. (Visit this article on social media KPIs for a more detailed discussion of the topic.)

3. Determine Social Media Costs

Setting goals and deciding on performance metrics is just one part of measuring social media ROI. Another critical component is determining social media costs. These include the tools you use, the cost of creating, updating, and monitoring content, in-house staff figures, and advertising expenses.

We developed a custom social media budget calculator to help. It contains the following categories to use as line items.

Cost of Social Media Tools

You can manage and measure your social media engagement activities organically to save costs. Still, it’s easier and more effective to use tools designed for that purpose: social media management, analytics, content creation and editing, livestreaming, and more. Most are subscription-based, and you pay either monthly or annually.

Here is a sample list of the kinds of tools we’re referring to, along with pricing:

Social Media Management

Some of the more popular social media management tools are:

• Buffer – $15 – $99 per month
• Hootsuite – $29 – $599+ per month
• Sprout Social – $99 – $249 per month
• Zoho Social – $10 – $300 per month (billed annually)

Social Media Analytics

Most of the social media management platforms come with analytics built-in at no additional cost. Buffer charges an additional fee of $35 – $50 per month, however. Other analytics tools include:

• Brandmentions – $99 – $499 per month
• Keyhole – $49 – $59 per month
• Mention – Free to $450+ per month
• quintly – starts at $300 per month

Content Creation

This list consists of graphics, audio, and video tools.

• Adobe Spark – Free to $19.99 per month
• Bitable – Free to $49 per month
• Canva – Free to $30 per month (billed annually)
• Powtoon – $19 – $99 per month
• Vimeo – Free to $75 per month

Livestreaming

Social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube offer livestreaming for free, but premium tools include:

• Livestream (owned by Vimeo) – $75 per month billed annually
• Restream – Free to $49 per month
• Streamyard – Free to $39 per month

You may also need video production software, such as:

• Ecamm Live – $15 – $25 per month
• Switcher Studio – $39 – $350 per month

Content Creation Costs

The cost of tools is one thing; the costs of creating and editing those videos, blog posts, photography, graphics, and other content to share on social media is another, and have to be factored in. (If you have in-house staff responsible for doing this, do not add those amounts here. We will address that later. This line item should only contain out-of-pocket expenses for creating content, not staff time.)

Those costs can range from as little as a few dollars per hour to several hundred, depending on who you use — an agency or freelancer — and where you find them. Many small businesspeople turn to sites like Upwork, Fiverr, 99designs, Crowd Content, and Freelancer to find talent at affordable prices. Even within those sites, pricing can vary greatly.

Social Media Update and Monitoring Costs

Next comes the cost of scheduling social updates, monitoring replies, engaging with followers, and reporting. If you pay an agency or freelancers to help, include those here. Also, include any payment to influencers who help amplify messages.

In-House Staff Costs

This section is where you capture any activities your in-house staff performs related to social media. You may have employees dedicated to managing your social media outreach or who split those with other responsibilities. In either case, include all staff costs, such as salaries and benefits, etc., for whatever time they spend on those tasks. Include the value of the time you spend as well.

Paid Advertising Costs

The cost of paid social ads is another social media ROI determinant. Most social networks allow bid-based pay-per-click advertising, so if you do Facebook advertising for small business (or advertise on any other social network), include the out-of-pocket expenses of Facebook ad campaigns, boosting social posts, and so forth. Don’t add the price paid for Google or Bing ads, just those related to social media.

4. Measure Your Social Media Performance

Along with measuring social media marketing ROI, you need to measure the actual performance of your social media campaigns and engagement efforts. Aside from the analytics components built-in to Facebook Pages, LinkedIn Company Pages, and Twitter accounts, there are tools aplenty that can help. We’ve already listed several.

Sprout Social has a comprehensive analytics dashboard that measures “throughput” performance. That is, it monitors engagement activity in near real-time to give you a clear picture of the activity taking place on your social channels. You can see data from all your connected social profiles in one location and know, at a glance, whether you’re moving the needle in the right direction.

Similarly, Hootsuite lets you analyze your performance across all your social networks and create custom reports to show the brand’s bottom-line impact. The platform includes what Hootsuite calls “Impact,” a tool designed expressly to help businesses understand their ROI by demonstrating how their social media channels and campaigns drive leads, conversions, and sales.

Zoho Social includes in-depth social media metrics covering elements like the audience, posts, engagement, and reach. It puts everything in one dashboard, and users can output reports detailing social media performance.

Google Analytics is foundational to just about every other form of measurement. It’s free and is useful for measuring endpoint metrics related to conversions, such as visits to a website from a social network or the dollar value of products sold where social media played a role.

5. Calculate ROI

With everything in place — S.M.A.R.T. goals, KPIs based on the customer journey, the cost calculator, and social media performance tools — you can finally calculate your social media marketing ROI.

Let these examples inspire you to act.

Customer service consultant Shep Hyken, writing for Forbes, reported companies that use Twitter as a customer service channel saw a 19 % increase in customer satisfaction. Also, the average cost of a Twitter response is $1 versus the average cost of interacting with a customer through the traditional call center, $6.

Vamplets, a small business that makes baby vampire dolls (yes, there is such a thing), began using Facebook ads to drive revenue. The tiny ad budget of $250 generated an additional $1,000 in income, directly tracked to the Facebook ads themselves, giving them a positive ROI of 300%.

IBM developed a social media strategy for its inside sales team. The company trained the sales team to nurture online relationships and drive prospects to team members’ websites. This focus on social sales resulted in a 400% in sales.

Additional Tips on Measuring ROI

Here are some more tips to help you get started measuring social media ROI.

Use the same approach toward social media marketing as you do when gauging the effects of more traditional online marketing. Think first about your goals and objectives, then figure out which forms of social media would be useful to reach them and what KPIs would be applicable relative to those.

Schedule your social media posting activity to ensure consistency and achieve better results. This social media calendar template can help.

Conduct a competitive analysis to benchmark your use of social media against your competitors. Learn what tools they use, how often they post, their number of followers, and their engagement level.

Create an ROI report weekly or monthly to gauge success toward goal completion and your conversion rate. Make changes based on the results.

The days of “touchy-feely, warm-and-fuzzy” thinking about social media marketing are over. Social media marketing is still marketing and, therefore, subject to statistical scrutiny. As a business owner, you need to know if social media can prove a positive return on investment. Use the information in this guide to start tracking the success of your social media campaigns.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "Social Media ROI: How to Measure It" was first published on Small Business Trends

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Maintaining great customer relations can positively improve your bottom line, reduce customer dissatisfaction and facilitate business growth. That’s why Customer Relation Management (CRM) software is so important for small businesses. This is because it affords the opportunity to get more visibility from both customers and prospects with smooth marketing automation. And in turn, they provide you with valuable insights in identifying pain points and interact more with customers to better tweak your offerings. CRM software also streamlines workflow among customer support, sales, and marketing teams that enable lead management to expedite your sales funnel.

Must-Have Features for CRM Software

Choosing the right CRM means identifying what your business needs when it comes to the customer journey. When shopping for customer relationship management software for your small business, make sure the CRM systems you choose have the following features to keep customers in your sales team pipeline.

Customer Support

Customers expect fast and personalized support from businesses. Your CRM software should help provide the high-quality service that your customers expect from you. Your sales team should be able to quickly see what products customers have ordered. This means getting a record of every interaction so they can give customers the answers they need in a timely manner.

Third-Party Integrations

Your CRM software should integrate with third-party solutions as it will provide your customers with highly personalized campaigns based on their individual information. Third-party integrations will help you with a wide range of features and tools to use within your CRM. Integrating with other third-party software and platforms reduces the need to copy information from one tool to another, or switch back and forth between programs.

Customer Data Management

Essentially CRM is all about managing business interactions with current and potential customers, and storing and analyzing data about past interactions. Your CRM software should allow you to manage your customers’ data in a manner that flows between teams such as sales, marketing, and customer support. The data will allow you to get valuable analytics about customer behavior patterns.

Workflow Automation

Your CRM software should help you automate repetitive tasks in your sales and marketing efforts and decrease error. Tasks like data entry or migration, reminders, and keeping track of assets can at times be overlooked, but CRM workflow automation can decrease these errors. Workflow automation minimizes your workload and takes care of the tiny details. The result when using a good CRM is there are fewer human errors thus increasing productivity through integration.

Customer Relationship Management Software

When seeking a CRM solution for your business, you may encounter many options. Read our list of 30 top CRM systems to decide which is right for you.

1. Hubspot CRM

HubSpot’s CRM tool offers free tools that are ideal for small businesses. The solution includes Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Service Hub products. The tools help businesses manage lead generation, create web forms, a reporting dashboard, live chat and bots, advertising tools, and helpdesk tools. This platform helps you track leads and build a full database of customer activity to enable you to get insights into where they stand with each customer in the buying process. CRM tools included in Hubspot’s CRM solution are contact deal and task management; email tracking and engagement notifications; email templates and scheduling; document sharing; meeting scheduling; live chat; sales quotes and more.

The free version of Hubspot CRM lets you manage up to 1,000,000 contacts, has no limits on users or customer data, and has no expiration date. While the Starter plan for Hubspot comes with a monthly subscription of $45 and offers everything in automation; goals tracking; conversation routing; multiple currencies and rep productivity performance along with the solutions on offer on the free version.

2. Zendesk Sell (Formerly BASE)

Zendesk Sell (formerly Base) offers sales force automation software to enhance productivity, processes, and pipeline visibility for your sales team. With this CRM solution, you get access to integrated tools that provide your business with a full context of a customer account. This will keep you in the loop and allow you to capitalize on opportunities that work on all devices including Android, iPhones, and even tablets.

Capabilities that come with the Zendesk Sell solution include reminder system; campaign management; categorization; collaboration tools; contact database and management; content management; customer service analytics; customer support; import and export data; document storage; email marketing; and more.

Zendesk Sell pricing starts at $19.00 per month and offers email integration; up to three paid users, one custom sales pipeline, built-in click-to-dial, and call recording, and a fully-featured mobile CRM. A free trial version of this CRM system is also available.

3. Monday.com

Thanks to its intuitive interface Monday.com allows you to get full control over your pipelines, track trends and manage leads. This CRM software solution is customizable letting you utilize a list view, a timeline for viewing tasks, chart views, assignees, and more. It also offers drag-and-drop functionality, along with tailored columns and rows that can be used for pretty much anything within your customer management system.

With this CRM, you can manage your contacts, documents, tasks, and more without the need to switch between tools. This is in addition to customer tracking, marketing operations, customizable dashboards, and workflow automation.

Monday.com pricing starts at $29.00 per user, per month however, a free version of this CRM system is also available.

4. Zoho CRM

Zoho’s CRM solution is part of Zoho’s cloud-based suite that is built to give you all you need to easily run your small business. Zoho CRM software helps small businesses organize contacts, market their brand, manage sales, provide customer support, and a lot more. With this solution, you get full integration with the other marketing tools you already use, capture leads through social media, segment visitors, and offer support using built-in live chat.

Considered as a Swiss army knife for marketing and sales outreach, Zoho CRM includes features such as multichannel contact management (email, phone, live chat, and social media); an AI voice assistant for creating dashboards and forecasting business trends; sales lead management along with lead scoring to prioritize leads and convert them faster; analytics; mobile apps; team collaboration tools and team roles and more.

Zoho’s paid plans for its CRM software start at $12 a month per user which is billed annually and offers scoring rules, workflows, multiple pipelines, mass email campaigns, and custom dashboards. A free version is also available with limited features.

5. Agile CRM

Agile CRM software offers a one-stop solution for sales, marketing, telephony, and customer service features. Users can automate marketing; use its drag-drop editor for sales and customer retention; convert website visitors directly to leads in the CRM; track and score leads automatically using web or email activity; Omnichannel communication; analytics; monitor customer behavior with real-time alerts; manage helpdesk tickets with all of the customer’s history in one place and more.

The free version of this CRM for 10 users lets you manage 50,000 contacts and companies; custom data fields; lead scoring; manage unlimited deals, tasks, and documents; appointment scheduling; custom deal milestones; email tracking; two-way email integration; custom deal tracking, and more.

The paid plan for this CRM software bills a monthly subscription of $8.99.

6. Freshworks CRM

Freshworks CRM’s (formerly Freshsales) customer relationship management platform helps to provide users a 360° view of their customers by capturing and combining customer experiences in one place. It offers the ability to engage with customers across multiple platforms; build relationships with customers and prospects; get insights into your business; improve your team’s productivity and boost your sales capture.

Freshworks CRM software comes with a straightforward and intuitive user interface that helps to do away with the need to wander around to get work done. In addition, it uses AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture features.

The small business plan for this CRM starts at $29 a month billed annually and offers 1,000 Marketing Contacts; contact, account, and deal management; live chat and Facebook Messenger; web forms; website tracking; predictive contact scoring; lists and segments; drag-and-drop journey builder; five published Landing Pages; visual sales pipeline; 20 workflows; custom reports and dashboards, and more.

7. One CRM

One CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM)software solution that helps businesses manage sales, customer service, and other business operations. The features include contact management; email and calendar; order management; payments and billing; case management; project management social CRM; sales automation and forecasting.

With One CRM, you can also create flexible customizable dashboards, fields, and modules to maximize efficiency on your desktop and mobile. You can even choose your theme and color scheme. It enables you to focus on follow up with every lead, keep the team on the same page, and close more deals one sales action at a time. Even when you are on the go with iOS and Android mobile apps.

One CRM’s all-in-one CRM solution comes with a monthly subscription of $13 per user gives you the option of cloud service or on-premise deployment; comprehensive order management; project and service management; timesheets; expense management and more. A free trial is also available.

8. Salesforce Sales Cloud Professional

Salesforce offers an all-in-one, cloud-based customer relationship management solution that has everything you need in CRM software. Salesforce offers a wide variety of CRM features and tools that include Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, Analytics Cloud, Data Cloud, Community Cloud, and App Cloud. It offers a range of features and functionality, at a cost that is scalable to fit any business.

The small business edition offers a robust set of CRM tools that includes lead generation, contact and opportunity management, sales forecasting, and workflow automation.

Its all-in-one sales and support plan starts at a monthly subscription of $25 billed annually and offers account, contact, lead, and opportunity management, email and social media integration, and the Salesforce mobile app. This CRM also comes with a free 30-day trial.

9. Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics’ customer relationship management (CRM) solution helps to drive sales productivity and marketing by offering social insights, business intelligence, and campaign management. It comes with options to choose from cloud-based, on-premises, or with a hybrid combination. You can even use Microsoft’s cloud platform to reduce operating costs and simplify deployment across your infrastructure.

The features on this CRM include – sales force automation, marketing planning and automation, social tracking and engagement, customer service, and analytics. This CRM software solution works seamlessly with Office365, SharePoint, Yammer, Skype, Cortana Analytics, PowerBI, and MS Azure. It lets you manage multichannel campaigns featuring email marketing, web content, and events. You can also personalize the buyer experience by customizing customer journeys based on user engagement; gain insights into your brand reputation and market through real-time data analysis. The tool prioritizes leads using multiple lead scoring models using its artificial intelligence (AI) to guide your business decisions and drive innovation as well as many other features.

Microsoft Dynamics’ sales professional plan comes at a monthly subscription of $65 per user.

10. Salesmate.io CRM

Salesmate is a CRM software system that helps you to convert prospects into customers with targeted emails, texts, calls, and follow-ups all automated and personalized. The analytics and reporting are further boosted thanks to its customizable and interactive dashboard.

Salesmate CRM offers a suite of sales, engagement, and management features that enables small businesses to start automating and improving their marketing, sales, and service experiences at each stage of customer journey without breaking their bank or back. The plan starts with a monthly subscription of $15 and offers sales management; contact management; deal management; multiple pipeline management; notes and follow-up activities; custom fields; dependency fields; custom views; custom layout and more.

11. Salesflare CRM

Salesflare is a CRM software solution that lets you connect with customers with just a few clicks, and generate more sales. It automates filling out your address book and keeps track of all interactions with the people you’re in contact with. It also takes data from social media, company databases, phone, email, and other information to generate automated customer timelines that tell you everything you need to know. The visual pipelines and insights put you in control of your sales funnel. Intuitive and easy-to-use, Salesflare turns complexity into simplicity so you can turn leads.

Also included with this CRM solution is a leader board, team insights, sales funnel analysis, revenue insights, goals and quota management, interaction tracking, automated to-do lists, automated reminders, opportunity assignment, communication history, opportunity prioritizing, sales intelligence, custom fields, sales pipeline management, lead management, website tracking, email tracking, plus predictive lead scoring and more.

Salesflare pricing starts at $29 per month and a free trial is also on offer.

12. Capsule CRM

Capsule CRM software helps you build stronger customer relationships, boost sales while saving you time. With it, you can track customer conversations, gauge history and deliver more personal experiences, tailor your pipeline to match your sales and easily spot the deals in need of attention.

The customer relationship management tools that come with Capsule CRM help you store and share contacts with colleagues; categorize data using tags; create contact lists and send group emails; generate reports; manage to-do lists and calendars; create tasks relating to particular deals and share them with teams; integrate the system with Google Apps and third-party tools, like Mailchimp or Zendesk; and more.

The professional tier CRM plan comes with a monthly subscription of $18 per user and helps you manage up to 50,000 contacts, get 10GB of storage per user; integrate with G Suite, Xero, QuickBooks, MailChimp, and Wufoo; activity reporting, and more. A free 30-day trial is also available.

13. Streak CRM

Streak is a CRM software that helps you manage workflows from your Gmail inbox. It helps you manage the full gamut of your customer relationship management effort that includes tracking views, scheduling emails, send mass emails, as well as create separate email threads that cater to different teams in your organization.

This CRM offers a business customizable workflows that help track different processes that include sales, recruitment, project management, and more. In addition, it helps in segmenting customer profiles by organizing all of their relevant contact information, personal details, and attached files. A business can also assign tasks, set reminders, and share pipelines to facilitate collaboration within your company.

The paid plan starts with a monthly subscription of $15 a month per user which allows you to offer basic CRM functions for 5,000 contacts; mail merge 800 capabilities; email tracking and more. A free version is also available.

14. Keap CRM

Keap is a sales and marketing platform that helps a small business organize its contact data so they can deliver great customer service. This all-in-one customer relationship management software is designed to help reduce repetitive tasks, easily implement automation and integrated apps. It lets you get more leads and nurture them to paying clients with its built-in landing pages, custom forms, and an easy automation builder.

This CRM software offers a a small business a robust toolbox of marketing tools that include A/B testing; analytics/ROI Tracking; auto-responders; calendar management; campaign management; cataloging/categorization; customer surveys; customizable templates and more. The paid tier starts with the Lite plan that comes with a monthly subscription of $56 offering core CRM features that include automation, and email tools to get organized and automate follow-up. This is in addition to marketing and sales automation; mobile app; email marketing; unlimited emails; data migration support and more.

15. Less Annoying CRM

Less Annoying CRM is an easy-to-use customer relationship management platform that is built with small businesses in mind. Its dashboard helps users to manage contacts, tasks, leads, notes, calendar, to-do lists and more from one simple web app. It comes with an intuitive UI and offers a robust range of help and support options with setting up, only taking a few minutes. With this all-in-one solution, you do not need to jump back and forth between different apps. It even syncs with Google Calendar for easy access from your mobile phone.

It generates simple lead reports that show an up-to-date list of every lead in your pipeline, including the status and priority of the lead, contact info, and the note from the last time you talked to them. This is in addition to the regular CRM software solutions that include contact management, calendar and tasks, leads and pipelines, working with multiple users, and mobile access. Less Annoying CRM pricing starts at $15 per feature, per month and also has a 30-day free trial option.

16. ConvergeHub CRM

ConvergeHub is a cloud-based CRM software that helps you manage sales, marketing, customer service, and billing from one unified platform. With this solution, you get a 360⁰ customer view and avoid duplicating data entries. The simple and intuitive navigation helps maximize productivity thanks to its easy-to-use interface.

Users can get started in minutes with easy setup and built-in templates, dashboards, and reports. ConvergeHub includes built-in SalesForce automation and marketing automation modules that help you run your customer relationship management functions without the need for a big budget to integrate or pay for expensive add-ons. The tools available include alerts; analytics; reminder systems; campaign management; team collaboration tools; customer service analytics; import/export data; storage; expense tracking; interaction tracking and more.

Pricing starts from $9 a month per user.

17. Nimble CRM

Nimble CRM software helps users combine contacts, email, and social media interactions all in one place. It works by integrating with productivity apps such as inboxes and calendars to deliver a streamlined user experience. Nimble’s solution combines the strengths of traditional customer relationship management and classic contact management features. This includes social media outreach, sales intelligence, and marketing automation into a powerful relationship management platform that delivers relationship insights.

In return it allows businesses to keep track of contacts, boost following and engagement, celebrate customer milestones and more.  On the last point, users can set reminders to ‘Stay in Touch’ with customers as well as mark certain communications as important to stay ahead of the game.

With this CRM software solution, you get salesforce automation, marketing automation, customer support, mobile and social media outreach, reporting and analytics. It also integrates with Google Apps and Office 365 while its Smart Contact App makes adding contacts to a CRM easy.

Pricing for Nimble Business plan comes at a monthly subscription of $19 per user/month. This plan allows you to engage with up to 25,000 contacts; unlimited email messaging syncing; 2GB storage and more.

18. ReallySimpleSystems CRM

ReallySimpleSystems is a CRM software system that helps businesses build lasting customer relationships. It offers a set of features that includes modules for marketing, sales, and service desk to enable team collaboration that drives sales growth. Designed with small businesses and startups in mind, this CRM solution is easy to set up and simple to use, letting you train your team in minutes.

With its integrated marketing solution, you can build campaigns and send newsletters directly from your CRM system without the need for a separate emailing tool.  At the same time, you can monitor your leads, opportunities, and values at campaign level to track your ROI and optimize marketing spend.

As an alternative to its full, marketing program, the company also offers a simpler solution. Simple Marketing gives you the tools you need to keep in contact with your database. With all the important CRM features a small business needs, this CRM software helps you work smarter, managing and tracking your leads and customers so you can get on with growing your business.

The solution comes in both free and paid editions. The free edition offers only sales force automation (SFA) tool while paid edition offers additional tools for marketing and customer service.

ReallySimpleSystems’ pricing starts at $14 per feature, per month, billed annually. There is also a free version.

19. EngageBay CRM

EngageBay’s CRM helps you align marketing, sales, and support teams around single view of your customers. With this CRM software solution, users can store unlimited contacts and build stronger relationships by keeping track of all your customer details in one place. And the marketing automation solution helps you to live chat and send personalized messages to target audiences. This is in addition to email marketing, lead generation tools, and landing pages

This platform provides multi-channel listening and aggregating contact info from across all your customer touchpoints. You can also track contact activity, web activity, email response, open and click rates, and more. It does this while integrating with Gmail, Zapier, SendGrid, WooCommerce, Shopify, Facebook, and others.

The free plan offers a limit of 1,000 contacts and 1,000 branded emails while the Basic plan is set at $8.99 per user, per month billed annually.

20. Pipedrive CRM

Pipedrive’s CRM helps users to both drive their sales process and track customers’ contacts. This CRM solution comes with a simple, visual, and straightforward UI that is designed to help move customers down the sales pipeline and close deals. Users can get up and running with this CRM software in just a few minutes. And once up and running you can schedule calls, emails, and lunches, and let Pipedrive show you what to prioritize.

The features include managing leads and deals; track communications; automate repetitive administrative tasks; gain insights on performance through customized metrics; sync information across channels; and access Pipedrive from your mobile devices (both Android and iOS).

Pipedrive’s Essential plan is set at $12.50 per user/per month and billed annually, a 14-day free trial is available for the Essential, Advanced, and Professional plans.

21. Apptivo CRM

Apptivo is a cloud-based CRM software that offers customer relations, project tracking, and financial management functions for users. This CRM helps businesses to cover the complete customer life cycle that includes marketing; sales; web help desk; project management; field service; quoting and billing; order management; and procurement and supply chain.

This CRM is also mobile-enabled, meaning there is no need to jump between apps. This lets you increase productivity and boost your client relationship by managing your customers, finances, and support right from your pocket. In terms of integration, Apptivo integrates with G Suite, Office 365, Slack, Quickbooks, Xero, Dropbox, PayPal, WordPress and more.

Apptivo CRM offers a free Starter plan while the paid tiers start with the Lite plan billed at $10 a month. This allows 100 custom fields per app, 25 workflows, eight custom dashboards, and 3rd party service integration.

22. Act! CRM

Act! CRM provides users with everything they need to market their products and service and maintain relations with customers. The CRM tools it offers include contact and customer management; calendar management; opportunity management; sales pipeline management; e-marketing; social integration; analytics; customizable dashboards and even integration with Outlook, Google, Dropbox, and others.

Features on offer with Act! include A/B testing; analytics; reminder system; contact database; customizable Call To Action; import and export data; document storage; manage drip campaigns; email marketing; interaction tracking; landing pages and web forms; lead management; lead qualification and more.

Act! CRM Essentials plan starts with a monthly subscription of $22 per user and has a free trial on offer as well.

23. Vtiger CRM

Vtiger is a CRM platform that helps businesses implement a strong customer experience strategy with the power of one view. The company says its UI can drive adoptions by giving you a 360⁰ view of your customers. It uses AI technology to help users save time as well as get valuable customer insights.

Tools on offer include contact and opportunity management, email marketing, SMS campaigns, built-in telephony, automation workflows, task management and collaboration, a mobile app; and reporting and analytics. A light-free plan is available for businesses getting started on their CRM journey.

The paid plans start at a monthly subscription of $30 per user offering dashboards for sales, customer insights, and customizable reports.

24. Ontraport CRM

Ontraport CRM platform offers users a sales and marketing platform that can be scaled up and automated to boost your revenue. This all-in-one suite features a CRM and marketing automation system that interplays seamlessly with its built-in landing pages, email marketing, eCommerce, and analytics tools.

This in return allows businesses to give their customers streamlined, targeted experiences that include a membership site, a referral program, sales force automation, and business process automation features. Through its block-based editor, it also allows users to begin either from scratch or proceed with one of its pre-built templates.

Additional tools include A/B testing; auto-responders; business card scanning; reminder system; CAN SPAM compliance; contact management; customer surveys; document storage; drip campaigns, email marketing; event management; forecasting, and more.

The company also offers a free CRM trial for 14 days while paid plans start at $79 per month.

25. Salesdash CRM

Salesdash is a CRM that is designed to assist businesses to manage custom sales funnel, have notes in one place, improve customer satisfaction, and grow revenue. This intuitive CRM platform helps keep track of all follow-up tasks, customer communications, and sales details to quickly navigate clients throughout the sales lifecycle. It offers a simple design that helps sales reps have access to all client information within one screen, allowing them to pull contact history within a few seconds in order to build stronger relationships.

It comes with tools to forecast sales, analyze sales strategies, and build sales insights for future win-loss reporting using an integrated sales funnel. With the single dashboard, users can track daily activities, newly generated deals, and follow up on deals. This is in addition to features that include account management, integrated calendar, sales reporting and analytics, dashboard monitoring, customer data customization, and more.

Salesdash pricing starts at $20 per month which allows you to manage up to 50,000 contacts, 10 GB storage per user, team collaborations, manage workflows, integrations. A free CRM trial version is also available.

26. FreeAgent CRM

FreeAgent’s customer relationship management platform helps teams get everything on a unified platform, collaborate on various projects, and track and improve operational performance. This CRM tool connects remotely, allowing for real-time collaboration and code-free customization solutions. Its features help users optimize sales, marketing, customer relationship, project management, and more. With the activity timelines, you can capture customer interactions across multiple channels.

Additional features of FreeAgent CRM include personalized task lists, reminders, customizations, workflows, and automation. This is in addition to tools that include A/B testing; account alerts; notifications; reminder system; call list management; call management; campaign management; channel management; collaboration tools and more.

FreeAgent’s pricing starts at $42 per user billed monthly.

27. Copper CRM

Copper is an easy-to-use CRM platform for small businesses so they can manage more sales leads and grow customer relationships. It integrates with Gmail and other Google Apps allowing you to log on to all your emails and other customer interactions. With it, you can also see your sales and relationship efforts from email threads, previous interactions, to tasks- all in one place. It scrapes and captures all of your contacts, emails, and other crucial account details so everything is automatically there and ready for you to start selling.

This CRM software not only organizes your contacts for your convenience but also automates tasks, tracks deals, manages projects, gets you valuable analytics and integrates with popular apps and tools.

Copper’s CRM offers a free trial while its paid plans start s at $29 a month. This allows you to manage up to 2,500 contacts, calendar syncing, project management, manage multiple pipelines, and team collaborations.

28. Onpipeline CRM

Onpipeline is a cloud-based CRM tool that helps you manage sales, contacts, and activities all in one platform. You get leads from third parties, web forms, and an API connection that helps you track deals. By syncing with Gmail or Outlook calendar you can set events to take control of your sales process. You can activate and track 3rd party sources and control their access anytime and drag and drop your deals into the next stage while working with one or more customizable pipelines.

It comes with tools such as account alerts; asset management; audience targeting; calendar reminders; call center management; campaign management; categorization; channel management; client tracking; commission management and more.

Paid plans on this platform begin at $12 per user per month. For the price you get access to pipeline-centric CRM, workflow automation, a logical user interface, reporting, as well as email, phone calls, and recording capabilities.

29. ActiveCampaign CRM

ActiveCampaign’s CRM combines contact organization with sales automation prioritizing leads, keeping track of your tasks, and automating contact management. You can manage your entire sales process at a glance and track customer interactions to keep your team on the same page. It features lead scoring, win-loss probability, and automated segmentation combined with marketing automation to help you close deals easily.

This CRM comes with A/B testing; ROI tracking; auto-responders; calendar reminders; CAN SPAM Compliance; customizable CTAs; drip campaigns; email marketing campaigns; event-triggered actions; image library; landing pages and more.

Paid plans start with the lite plan set at $9 per month paid annually.

30. HoneyBook CRM

HoneyBook CRM helps you book clients, manage projects and get paid all in one place. This all-in-one management platform can automate your work schedule and lets you stay on top of all your to-do lists, saving you time and money to grow your business. It includes tools that integrate CRM with lead and project tracking, invoicing, proposal creation, contracts, scheduling, online payments, and automated workflows all in one package.

It offers users a friendly and user-focused CRM system; easy onboarding; marketing, customer service, and support; a dynamic pipeline-focused system; integrates business management, invoicing, automation, and payments; versatile iOS and Android apps, and more.

A limited free trial of this CRM system is available while paid plans start at a monthly subscription of $9. This gives you access to all features, $10k in total transactions limit, and up to six months of concierge support.

What is CRM software?

Customer relationship management software help sales and marketing teams to log communications, manage leads and sometimes build marketing campaigns. It is a tech solution that helps your business to maintain and build a relationship with your customers and other businesses. CRM software offers a convenient way to store information and track communications with customers. CRM solutions help in building customer relationships, marketing, analytics, communication, and project management.

What is the difference between CRM and marketing automation?

One of the main differences between CRM and marketing automation is who they can target. CRM software is primarily sales-focused, while marketing automation software is marketing-focused. Essentially, CRM solutions will help your sales teams by working as a task management tool to help their overall sales and business processes.

You can use the CRM software to store information including how long a contact has been with a customer, what the past purchase records look like. They also look at the dates and notes of conversations with contacts along with conversations customers and prospects have had with your sales and/or customer service teams.

It also helps you integrate organizational processes across marketing, sales, and customer service.

Marketing automation for its part follows the buyer’s journey by starting from raw leads and going up to the qualified lead’s stage. Once qualified leads are generated the data is fed into your CRM system which goes into accepting the sales lead, exploring opportunities, and ends with the deal being sealed.

What is the best free CRM software?

HubSpot CRM software is the best CRM software as it offers a set of powerful tools that helps businesses to organize and manage their customer relationships on a centralized platform. Besides incorporating CRM best practices Hubspot helps in tracking leads and building a database of customer activity which gives you insight into where customers/or prospects stand in the buying process.

HubSpot’s free CRM includes contact deal and task management; email tracking and engagement notifications; email templates and scheduling; document sharing; meeting scheduling; live chat; and sales quotes.

Why does your sales rep hate CRM?

From tracking customer interactions to logging data and leveraging information, CRM for small businesses is capable of helping sales teams work faster and more efficiently. However, implementing CRM systems in your business operations is only half the work.

You will need to get buy-in from your sales reps. With the right CRM systems, you can get your sales, marketing, and customer support teams to work faster and more efficiently. This is not to say, your sales rep will not procrastinate over working with CRM systems if they feel that it disrupts their productivity.

Other reasons why sales reps might hate CRM systems include feeling that it is time-consuming; the CRM system might have a clunky interface making it difficult to sell easily, and it makes it difficult to collaborate with other departments.

You should invest time in identifying the right easy-to-use CRM software for your business. You should also invest time to show them how the CRM works in the sales process, allow them to be decision-makers in the CRM system and let them find the value in CRM for small business.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "Best CRM Software for Small Business Owners and Marketers" was first published on Small Business Trends

Business abbreviations and business acronyms, also known as buzzwords, fill the workplace. You find them in marketing, technology, finance, and more. Business acronyms and abbreviations serve as shorthand for terms that busy professionals and marketing teams use often.

Business abbreviations help you write concise reports and effective email and text messages — unless overused. Our simple plain English list includes the most common business acronyms in the business world.

Learn These Common Business Acronyms and Abbreviations

Many of the business acronyms on this list are ones you see in communications every day, as CEO. Others aren’t so familiar, like CMO. But learning them will help put you “in the know.”

Office and Management Terminology

CEO

Chief Executive Officer. The highest-ranking executive of a company. The board and shareholders select the CEO.

CFO

Chief Financial Officer. The senior executive is responsible for managing the finances.

CIO

Chief Information Officer. This executive is responsible for the information and computer technologies of a company by managing, implementing, and addressing their usability.

CMO

Chief Marketing Officer. The executive is responsible for marketing activities.

COBRA

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. Refers to the legal requirement to allow workers to remain on a group health plan after leaving the company. See insurance acronyms.

COO

Chief Operating Officer. The second in command and oversees the day-to-day administration and operations.

CSO

Chief Security Officer. Responsible for both digital and physical forms of security, the CSO is responsible for the security of personnel, premises and electronic systems.

CTO

Chief Technology Officer. An executive in charge of the technological needs of an organization as well as research and development (R&D).

EOW

End of Week.

FTE

Full-Time Equivalent. The work hours or people in a business, based on full-time employees and part-time employees whose hours taken together equate to full-time employment.

FYI

For Your Information. Indicates something is being shared in the message, but the receiver needs not take action on it.

HR

Human Resources. One of the best-known department abbreviations. The collective of people who make up the workforce of an organization, sector, industry, or economy.

HQ

Headquarters. The center of control of an organization or company.

Leave Without Pay. A temporary non-pay status and absence from duty, requested by the employee or supervisory discretion, without pay.

MGR

MGR is the abbreviation for a manager.

PTO

Paid Time Off. When employers pay employees for days or hours not worked, such as paid vacation and sick leave.

R&D

Research and Development. The process an organization works to gain new knowledge and create new technology, products, services, or systems.

SMB

Small to Medium Business. This is one of those abbreviations some people use interchangeably with the definition of small business but is different because it includes medium-sized entities, too.

SME

Subject matter expert: someone who knows a subject well.

QA

Quality Assurance. A way to prevent mistakes and defects in the manufacturing process as well as determining if a product meets quality standards.

QC

Quality Control. A process for ensuring product quality is maintained or improved.

WAHM

Work-at-home Mom. Mothers who work at a business or job from their homes.

WFH

Work From Home. Anyone who works from their residence all or some of the time.

YTD

Year to Date. The period starting the first day of the current calendar year or fiscal year up to the current date.

Marketing Abbreviations

AIDA

Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. The steps or stages from when a consumer becomes aware of a product or brand to the moment it is purchased.

BANT

Budget, authority, need, and timeline. A framework used to figure out how qualified a sales lead is and determine which lead your company should prioritize.

B2B

Business to Business. Refers to businesses that sell to other businesses. Also, the commercial transactions between two businesses.

B2C

Business to Consumer. Refers to businesses that sell directly to consumers, or to transactions between a business and a consumer.

BR

Bounce Rate. The percentage of visitors who enter the site and leave without viewing other pages.

CLV

Customer Lifetime Value. The total amount of money a customer is expected to spend on your products and services, as long as they are your customer.

CPA

Cost Per Acquisition/Action. An online advertising pricing model for making payments based on the completion of pre-determined actions.

CPC

Cost Per Click. A paid advertising term where an advertiser pays a cost to a publisher for every click on an ad. CPC is also called pay per click (PPC).

CR

Conversion Rate. The number of conversions (completed sales, subscriptions, or whatever you are measuring) divided by the total number of leads or website visitors.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management. Practices, strategies, and software for managing and analyzing customer interactions and data through the customer lifecycle.

CTA

Call to Action. A method for prompting an immediate response or encouraging an immediate sale.

CX

Customer Experience. The engagement of customers throughout their buying journey, from marketing to sales to customer support.

MLM

Multi-Level Marketing. Marketing where one recruits other marketers and earns from them.

POEM

Paid, Owned, Earned Media. Used in social media marketing, this is a way of thinking about content and other marketing assets depending on whether you paid for it (an ad), created and own it in-house (your own blog posts, etc.), or earned it (from users sharing it or mentioning it).

PPC

Pay per Click. Digital advertising where the advertiser pays only when a user clicks on an ad. Read PPC advertising.

POC

Point of Contact. A person or a department serving as the coordinator or focal point of an activity or program.

PR

Public relations. A promotion that involves good media relations and getting publicity aside from paid ads. Public Relations can also be the name of a department in a corporation.

SEM

Search Engine Marketing. Online marketing involving the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engines, often through ads.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization. The practice of optimizing web pages to be found in search engines organically, i.e., without paying for ads.

SERP

Search Engine Results Page. The results returned in Google, Bing, and other search engines, for a specific query or search. Also called SERPS, plural.

SWOT

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. This is a method of analyzing a company’s market position in strategic planning.

UV

Unique Visitor. Used in Web analytics to refer to a person who visits a site at least once within the reporting period.

WOM Marketing

Word of Mouth Marketing. When a consumer’s interest in a company’s product or service is displayed in their daily conversations.

Email Communications and Social Slang

ASAP

As Soon as Possible. Indicating something’s urgent.

COB

Close of Business. Refers to the end of the business day, which in most office settings is 5 pm.

DM

Direct Message. Personal or private message communication between users on any platform.

EOD

End of Day. Alternative: end of business day, the abbreviation for which is EOB.

EOT

End of Thread. Used in social media and text messaging to indicate when it’s the end of a long related message often bifurcated into multiple smaller threads.

ETA

Estimated Time of Arrival. The time remaining for a certain transport to reach its destination.

IM

Instant Messaging. A type of online chat that offers real-time text transmission.

IMO

In My Opinion.

LMK

Let Me Know.

NVM

Never Mind.

NSFW

Not Safe for Work. A texting acronym used when sharing a video, image, or something else not appropriate for work.

NWR

Not Work-Related. Activities not related to the workplace.

ROFL

Rolling on Floor Laughing.

RT

Retweet. The repost or forward of a message posted by another user on Twitter.

TL;DR

Too Long; Didn’t Read. A message, article, or anything that appears too long to invest the time to read it all. Alternative: TLTR, meaning Too Long to Read.

Finance and Legal Abbreviations

AOV

Average Order Value. Tracks the average dollar amount spent each time a customer places an order.

AP

Accounts Payable. The amount due for goods or services received that have not yet been paid to vendors or suppliers.

AR

Accounts Receivable. The balance of money due that the customer still hasn’t paid.

BS

Balance Sheet. A statement of the financial position of a company reporting assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity at a particular time.

CPI

Consumer Price Index. Measures the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation and food.

GP

Gross profit. The profit after deducting the costs of making and selling products, or with providing services.

IPO

Initial Public Offering. The offering of shares of a private company to the public in a new stock issuance.

KPI

Key Performance Indicator. Measures the performance of how an organization is doing in achieving key objectives.

MTD

Month to Date. The period starting at the beginning of the current calendar month and ending at the current date.

BLS

Bureau of Labor Statistics. The government agency collects and disseminates a range of economic and employment data in the US economy. This includes the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI).

CAGR

Compound Annual Growth Rate. A way of measuring the growth of sales or profit over a period of years, taking into account the preceding year(s) of growth and compounding it.

CPA

Certified Public Accountant. An accounting professional who has achieved a professional designation as a “CPA – certified public accountant” – more than an educational degree.

DBA

Doing Business As. A special operating name you legally adopt to run your business under, versus your company’s legal name.

DOL

Department of Labor. A federal agency fostering and promoting the welfare of job seekers, wage earners, and retirees in the U.S.

EIDL

Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL). A program created by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to assist businesses, renters, and homeowners located in regions affected by declared disasters.

EPS

Earnings Per Share. Indicates how much money a company makes for each share of its stock

FIFO

First In, First Out. Items produced or acquired first are sold, used, or disposed of first.

GAAP

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Refers to a standard of accounting rules and practices needed for acceptable financial reporting.

Last in, First Out. The last items produced or purchased are sold first.

LLC

Limited Liability Company. A business structure that offers limited personal liability. Read about: LLC formation.

MoM

Month on Month. Compares financial results, sales, and other activities for one month with those in previous months.

PE

Price to Earnings. The ratio for valuing a company that measures its current share price relative to its per-share earnings.

P&L or PL

Profit and Loss. A financial statement summarizing the revenues and expenses of a specific period, such as quarterly or annually.

PPP

Paycheck Protection Program. A special loan program designed to aid small businesses hurt in the 2020 pandemic. See more: Loan Terminology.

QBID

Qualified Business Income Deduction. A valuable deduction for small businesses enacted under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

ROA

Return on Assets. Indicates how profitable a company is relative to its total assets.

ROE

Return on Equity. Measures the financial performance of a business.

ROI

Return on Investment. ROI is one of the most common acronyms in business, measuring the value you get over and above your investment of capital or time. Helps you assess whether an investment is worth it.

OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A regulatory agency within the US Department of Labor ensuring safe and healthful working conditions.

SBA

Small Business Administration. A government agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

SBDC

Small Business Development Center. A national network of centers providing entrepreneurship and small business help.

MSA

Metropolitan Statistical Area. An area having a minimum population of 50,000 consisting of a city and surrounding communities.

Technology Acronyms

API

Application Programming Interface (Or Application Program Interface). A set of functions that allows your software to communicate with other software.

CMS

Content Management System. Software used to create, maintain and modify digital content.

CPU

Central Processing Unit. The unit inside a computer that performs most of the processing consisting of four core functions or steps: fetch, decode, execute, and store.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheet. It describes how HTML elements are displayed. Developers use it to add style including fonts, colors and spacing to web documents.

CTR

Click-Through Rate. It measures the number of clicks advertisers receive on their ads per number of impressions.

DNS

Domain Name System. A naming database where website domain names are located and translated into internet protocol (IP) addresses.

ESP

Email Service Provider. A service provider for email hosting.

FTP

File Transport Protocol. A standard network protocol used to communicate and transfer files between computers on a TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) network or the internet.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language. The primary markup language used for creating pages and applications on the web.

IP

Internet Protocol. The method or protocol data is transmitted from one computer to another on the Internet.

ISP

Internet Service Provider. A company or organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating on the Internet.

PV

Page View.

OEM

Original equipment manufacturer. A company whose goods are used as parts in the products of another company.

QR Code

Quick Response Code. A type of barcode anyone can scan with a smartphone. Read: How to Create a QR Code.

RFID

Radio Frequency Identification. Uses radio waves to passively identify a tagged object.

RSS

Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a feed of the latest content updates from a blog or website, in a machine-readable format, displayable elsewhere on the web.

SaaS

Software as a Service. Also referred to as ‘on-demand software’ is a software licensing and delivery model. It is centrally hosted, and software is licensed on a subscription basis.

SLA

The SLA acronym stands for Service Level Agreement. This is a contract between a service provider and its customers establishing a set of deliverables.

TOS

Terms of Service. A legal agreement between a service provider and a user who wants to use that service.

UI

User Interface. Refers to what the user sees and uses in a product (usually a software app or website).

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. Also known as a web address it is an identifier to locate a resource on the internet and a mechanism for retrieving it.

UX

User Experience. It is everything encompassing the end user’s interaction with a website, a web application, or desktop software.

VPN

Virtual Private Network. An encrypted connection over the Internet from a device to a network that gives you online privacy and anonymity.

What is the Acronym for Business?

Biz is shorthand for business and is becoming a common way of writing the abbreviation. Biz is informal and often refers to a small business, such as “small biz”. The term “biz” may be used where space is limited, such as on vehicle license plates or in newspaper headlines.

What is the Abbreviation for Company?

Co. is the abbreviated term for company.

What Does Inc Mean in Business Communications?

Inc is a short phrase for a corporation — specifically a business that is incorporated. Many U.S. states require a corporation to be designated as such in its name. They will accept a name that has abbreviations like “inc” at the end, as well as “co” which is short for company.

What is the Abbreviation for Industry?

Ind is a short version of the word industry. It might be used in note-taking or on a building directory. For example, someone might informally abbreviate the name of Myers Industries to Myers Ind. This also can be used generally to refer to an industry, such as the mining industry.

What are the Benefits of Business Abbreviations?

The benefits of business abbreviations and acronyms are:

• fast to write;
• messages stay brief;
• easy to remember.

However, make sure not to overuse business acronyms, abbreviations or industry lingo when you communicate in memos, letters, text, and presentations. Otherwise, your email and communications may become unintelligible. Remember, no one wants to have to unscramble jargon and read sentences like this:

IMO, your OS lacks QC and is enough to make me SMH and LOL. Until then, TTYL.

(Translation of the above two sentences in plain English: In my opinion, your operating system lacks quality control and is enough to make me shake my head and laugh out loud.  Until then, talk to you later. )

Image: Shutterstock

This article, "Business Abbreviations and Acronyms You Need to Know" was first published on Small Business Trends

Restaurateurs have been among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. To help the restaurant industry recover, the American Rescue Plan established a $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) at the Small Business Association (SBA).

The SBA has subsequently announced key details on application requirements, eligibility, and a program guide for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF). Funds will be administered by the SBA to small restaurants in the US that have been most heavily impacted by the pandemic.

SBA Announces Rules, Applications for Restaurant Revitalization Fund

The full-scale of the detriment caused by the pandemic on the restaurant industry in the US was shown by the National Restaurant Association, which, in December 2020, urged lawmakers to continue the coronavirus relief package to help protect the sector. The Association cited the results of a survey of 6,000 restaurant operators which showed 87% of full-service restaurants reported an average 36% drop in sales. The survey also revealed that 10,000 restaurants had closed across the nation in the three months leading up to December 2020.

Given the scale of destruction the sector is fighting, in providing emergency assistance for eligible restaurants and bars, the RRF could be a much-needed lifeline for many businesses.

SBA Administrator, Isabella Casillas Guzman, commented on how the RRF will help restaurants currently struggling to stay afloat: “Today, we are starting the process to help restaurants and bars across the country devastated by the pandemic, and this is our message: Help is here. With the launch of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, we’re prioritizing funding to the hardest-hit small businesses – irreplaceable gathering places in our neighborhoods and communities that need a lifeline now to get back on their feet.

“And, thanks to clear directives from Congress, we’re rolling out this program to make sure that these businesses can meet payroll, purchase supplies, and get what they need in place to transition to today’s COVID-restricted marketplace.”

Funding Equal to Pandemic-Related Revenue Loss

The program will provide funding to restaurants that is equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss. The funding will be up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location.

The application process for the RRF is deliberately streamlined and, according to Administrator Guzman, “free of burdensome, bureaucratic hurdles.”

The SBA crafted the guidelines for the program after collaborating with independent restaurant and bar operators in the US.

Restaurant and bar operators that may be eligible for the relief program are urged to apply so they get vital financial assistance to help them recover and rebuild. Details on application requirements, eligibility and program guidance for the RRF can be found here.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "SBA Announces Official Restaurant Revitalization Fund Application and Guidelines" was first published on Small Business Trends

Employees who are poised to quit their job demonstrate, on average, greater volatility to the start and end of their working days compared to employees who are staying in a job. Reduced working hours typically rear their head during the three weeks prior to a member of staff leaving an organization.

The trend for employees who are leaving their job to work less hours was unveiled in a report by the Prodocscore Research Council (PRC). PRC comprises of HR and productivity experts. The initiative was created by productivity intelligence software providers Prodoscore. It is designed to provide data-driven insights to help improve employee performance and business growth.

The research involved the evaluation of 2 million data points generated by 3,000 – 5,000 employees over a 12-week period.

The research found that workers who quit had a 16-minute decrease in the time they started work. They also had an average 24-minute reduction in the time they finished work.

Employees Planning to Quit Work Less Daily

The data-driven insights on the behavior of workers about to leave is important for small businesses. It confirms how much employee engagement drops when employees are leaving their job. Given just how significant the drop in enthusiasm is among employees imminently leaving, employers can take steps to boost engagement amongst those soon-to-be-leaving employees.

The research provides leaders with the chance to quickly spot any ‘red flags’ among workers and address concerns and make appropriate changes.

Prodoscore’s CEO Sam Naficy, commented on the steps employers can take to help eliminate reduced productivity amongst employees who are soon to leave the business. ““Insight into potential attrition is a huge benefit to leadership. Being able to mitigate surprise resignations, or prepare for them, can save businesses thousands of dollars. The implications are far-reaching and will allow managers to make better informed decisions in general,” said Naficy.

Interaction With Co-Workers Typically Nose-Dives When Employees Leave

Interaction with co-workers also drastically decreases for employees who leave. The report found that there was a 52.5% decrease in voice and video activity for members of staff quitting their job. There was also the same amount of decrease in messaging and chat activity amongst co-workers and employees about to leave the business.

Greater Volatility Towards Start and Finish Times Closer to Departures

The research looked in detail at how the trend to work less hours became more pronounced the closer it got to an employee’s last day.

21 days before a worker is due to leave, the average exiting employee put in 1 hour 31 minutes less than their colleagues staying at the place of work.

Seven days prior to the employee’s last day, saw the time worked more by staying employees jump to an average of 2 hours 7 minutes a day.

Prodoscore’s report highlights the importance of data and technology in enabling employers to identify employee behavior that typically goes unseen. Having access to such behavior patterns puts businesses in a better position to make more informed decisions and take the necessary steps to mitigate the loss in productivity that is typical amongst exiting employees.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "Employees Planning to Quit Work Less" was first published on Small Business Trends

Loan approval rates for small businesses are increasing slightly. The uptick in lending of non-PPP loans to small businesses was unveiled in the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index based on March 2021 figures. Since mid-January, Biz2Credit has been a leading processor of PPP applications in the US.

The amount of lending by big banks increased to 13.5% in March 2021. The increase is welcoming news for the small business community, as in February 2021, the figure stood at 13.3%. This was just a 0.1% rise from January 2021.

Small Business Lending Index – April 2021

However, the marginal increases in non Payment Protection Program (PPP) lending since the start of the year, contrast significantly its peak a year ago, when loan approval rates to small businesses from big banks stood at 28.3%.

Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, and a leading expert in small business finance, commented on the findings: “Traditional big bank lending rose slightly in March, but small business loans are still much harder to obtain now than they were before the pandemic.

“Right now, banks have been focused on making Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to small businesses. These loans are backed by the Treasury, so there is little risk to them,” Rohit added.

Alternative Lending Also on the Rise

Lending coming from sources other than big bank also increased slightly in March 2021. Approvals made by small banks climbed by a notch from 18.2% in February 2021 to 18.3% in March. This however is hugely divergent to March 2020, when small bank approved 38.9% of small business loan applications.

A similar situation is found among credit union lending, which climbed from 20.3% approval rates in February to 20.4% in March 2021. A year ago, credit union approved 23.2% of the applications made by small businesses for loans.

Alternative lending also increased by one-tenth of a percent in March from 23.8% in February to 23.9% in March 2021.

Positive Signs in the Labor Market

The slight increase in the lending of non-PPP loans to small businesses is coupled with positive news regarding the labor market. Biz2Credit’s report points to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which shows that nonfarm payroll employment rose by 916,000 in March 2021.

Unemployment is also down, as according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on April 2, 2021, the unemployment rate in the US fell to 6%. Many of the jobs have been created by small businesses, with the leisure and hospitality sector leading the way in job growth.

The statistics show that the economy is starting to pick up in the US and small businesses are showing signs of recovery. However, in terms of sourcing finance, the report confirms that PPP lending still dominates small business lending. With the number of non-PPP loan approvals still significantly lower than before the pandemic, small businesses are still facing challenges when it comes to securing finance.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "Bank Approvals for Non-PPP Loans Increase Slightly" was first published on Small Business Trends

Writing a press release is an essential step to getting public relations attention for your business. But if you’ve never written one, or rarely write releases, where do you start? We have a simple guide for how to write a press release that anyone can follow, along with a press release template and examples that will help you get a professional result.

10 Steps to a Great Press Release

The steps to create a press release are straightforward. Pick a press release template or example to use as a guide. Write a headline that grabs attention. Next, add the date and your location. Then begin writing the release body. The first sentence should summarize your key point. The rest of the body will give details. Include an interesting executive quote. Conclude with boilerplate “About” information describing your company. Include your contact information. Add an end notation and be sure to proofread. And that’s it!

Read more detail about the 10 steps for how to write a press release, below.

1. Pick a Template

It’s a lot faster and easier to write a press release if you start with a guide or example. Staring at an empty sheet of paper or blank screen will make everything take a lot longer. Our templates which we outline below make the job easier. Pick an example or press release format that makes sense. Then add the relevant information to tailor it to your story.

2. Include a Company Logo

Your company logo should appear in the upper corner of your press release. This tells those reading your press release who you are and what you do at a glance. It also contributes to brand recognition. If reporters have familiarity with your logo, seeing it at the top of your release may jog their memory and make coverage more likely. It can also make your press release look more professional.

3. Include Contact Information

The goal of a press release is to make it easy for media outlets to write or produce content about your company. It’s likely some of them will have additional questions after reading. So direct them to the proper contact at the top of each media release. Provide a name, phone number and email address for an executive in your organization who can respond promptly if a journalist or editor has a question.

4. Write a Great Headline

Your press release headline should grab people’s attention and make them want to read. It should be something newsworthy, quick, and grabby. For example, a press release about a recent research might start with a shocking statistic, instead of simply stating that your company completed a survey. Headlines should also be in active voice and include relevant keywords to optimize it for search engines.

5. Add the Date and Place

Press releases contain the date the news is released, and usually a city and state where the release is coming from. Typically the city and state are the headquarters of the company releasing the news. If the news comes from outside of the U.S. often just the city is identified, such as New Mumbai.

6. Compose an Enticing Lede

The first sentence and paragraph of your media release is the most crucial. This is what tells news outlets what breaking news or update has occurred. A good lede should entice them and give them the basic information they need. Think about the most important point you want to make and focus on that right away.

7. Write the Body

The body of an effective press release should include the who, what, where and when of the story. Feature these details early on so reporters don’t have to search for them. Include all the details that might be relevant to someone writing an article about your news. And try to prioritize the most important information in the first paragraph or two.

8. Choose a Dramatic Quote

Quotes provide color to news articles. So make sure to include them in your press releases too. Find an executive or member of your leadership team who can add unique insight to your story. For example, a press release about a new product launch might include a quote from the lead developer about what problem it solves. Quotes should add something new to the story – not just regurgitate information you already shared. Think about quotes you’d read in a news article and prioritize those as you write a press release.

9. Add “About” Boilerplate

At the bottom of your press release, include some basic information about your company. This may include when it was found founded, by whom, what your company does, and any awards or special achievements you want to highlight. This should be its own section so reporters can easily find this background info to fill out their stories.

10. Add End Notation

A short row of hash signs tells the reader the release is ended. The End Notation looks like this: ###. It is a visual cue as to where the document ends. It indicates that no further copy (or pages) are to come. The reader knows the release has ended and it’s not simply a case of the last page being missing.

11. Proofread

Make sure to proofread carefully. It’s hard to make a great impression with typos, missing words, or poorly formatted information. Too many acronyms or industry lingo can also be problematic.

Pro Tip: Proofreading is easily overlooked because it is tedious. Here are three simple ways to proofread. First, run a spellchecker and a grammar checker with your browser or word processor. Second, read each word slowly and aloud. Third, set the document aside for a day and come back to it. Often you can see things with fresh eyes that you missed before. If possible, get someone else to read the release over and give feedback as to clarity, comprehension, sentence structure and other points.

The press release has long been one of the easiest ways to get media attention.

And even in the age of social media and content marketing, it remains the simplest of public relations strategies for getting visibility in a startup or small business.

Recap: Items to Include in a Press Release

To recap, here are the most important elements in a press release.

• Logo
• Contact information (name, email address and phone number)
• Press release headline – The press release headline should encapsulate your main message. It appears at the top, in bold.
• Date and location
• An enticing lede (first sentence)
• Body copy containing the announcement details – the who, what, when, where
• Executive quotes – Most good press releases have at least one executive quote that can be used to add dramatic quality to a news story.
• Your website address
• Boilerplate “About section”
• End notation – ###

Our free press release template is a simple, easy to use document suitable for most small business purposes. It contains the above essential elements. Get instant access to a Google Doc template here.

See these three pointers about templates:

• Press releases should be one to two pages in length. They should also follow a standard press release template. When writing a press release, keep it simple and straight forward.
• Don’t try to be TOO creative or freeform in the format. Always use a standard press release template. Reporters and editors, and even bloggers and social media influencers, are used to seeing information laid out a certain logical way so they can scan quickly. While creativity is a good thing generally, be careful not to confuse the very people you are trying to inform.
• Other materials can be linked to or added but are not absolutely necessary. Have additional items such as product screenshots or images ready in case journalists need them. You can quickly email these upon request. Some PR pros will link in the press release to a web page or cloud folder that contains items such as images or explainer videos, but that is not 100% necessary.

So now you know the basic format of a press release. To find formats of specific kinds of press releases, read the section below.

12 Press Release Template Examples

When choosing a free press release template for your company, it helps to consider the press release format or purpose. There are a variety of different reasons a company might write a press release. For example, you might want to get media coverage for a new product or service. Or your could be announcing a new funding source or leadership change. The important information to include varies depending on the type of news release you want to write. So the press release example or template you choose should coincide with your goals.

When you sit down to write a press release, start by determining a clear goal for your release. This might be to raise awareness for your brand, get more attention for a product or service, or position your company as an industry leader. Additionally, whatever you include in your release should be worth the reader’s time. You should have a clear idea of the information you want to impart. And it should be relevant to news outlets in some way. It either needs to be something you’ve just announced or relevant to current events. Press outlets likely aren’t going to write a story about a product that’s been out for years unless you’ve just added a new feature or lowered the price.

Once you’ve determined your press release goals, here are some press release examples that can help you get started.

1. New Product Launch Template

When you launch a product or upgrade an existing product, you want your customers and the public to know. This type of press release should include the news of the product launch and a quote about why the release is so important. You can then dive into the new features and any relevant details that users would want to know.

2. Announce Survey Results

Survey results can make for an interesting story. Your company may have completed a study that is relevant to your industry. Or you could announce findings that revolve around current events. This type of press release can gain widespread attention for your company and its research. And it may help to paint you as an industry authority.

For this press release format, start with a basic explanation of the study and one or two of the most prominent or shocking findings. Then share a few bullet points of additional interesting stats and a more thorough rundown of the methodology. At the bottom, include a link to the full study or an infographic of the findings.

PRESS RELEASE: New Survey Finds Americans Skeptical that FCC Regulation of the Internet Will Be Helpful; Favor More Disclosure

3. Grand Opening Template

Launching a new business or store location is a big deal. You want press outlets and consumers in that area to know about your offerings so they can easily visit.

When writing a press release for this purpose, start with the basic who, what, where, and when points. You can also provide details about the location and products or services offered there. Include quotes about what the customers can expect if they visit.

https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/lancaster-county/strasburg-railroad-announces-grand-opening-of-new-on-site-restaurant/521-2b21b7e7-4d59-4015-a906-0c7dc2da4da4

4. Mergers and Acquisitions

If your company acquires another brand or merges with another business, it may impact your industry and/or the customer experience.

Press releases in this area should include the basic details like the terms and date of the agreement. Include quotes about how the merger will improve or change operations moving forward. For example, the merger of two software companies may provide customers of both access to additional tech tools. Additionally, provide background details on all companies involved.

http://ir.kraftheinzcompany.com/static-files/2303265e-a98f-4082-bfc1-fc90f462742f

5. Hiring and Promotions Press Release

New hires and promotions are sometimes newsworthy. This type of press release is especially relevant if it’s an executive hire or if there’s a high profile team member involved.

In this press release example, companies should dive into the background and qualifications of the subject. Include their resume and special achievements. You should also outline how what they’ll bring to the new position. This type of release may feature quotes from both the new hire and others in the organization, explaining what the move means to the company.

6. Newsjacking Around Current Events Template

Newsjacking involves inserting your company into a story about a current event or trend. This strategy can be used on social media, blogs, and in the press. This helps you position your brand and your team as industry experts. And it can help you gain media coverage even if you’re not currently launching anything new.

This type of press release should start by referencing the trend or news. You can then draw a connection to your company. You might even offer commentary from a member of your leadership team that reporters may want to include in their coverage.

Buyers of Maurizio Cattelan’s $120,000 Banana Defend the Work as ‘the Unicorn of the Art World,’ Comparing It to Warhol’s Soup Cans

7. Rebranding Template

A rebranding news release shares the news of a company name change, new logo, or even a website launch. This updates customers and the public so they’re not confused about any of the updates.

These press release examples should feature any and all changes that customers should expect. Then you might dive into why the changes were necessary or any benefits they might provide. For example, a new logo and website might simplify the brand and customer experience.

8. Official Company Statement Template

Companies release official statements for all kinds of purposes. For example, you might share your company’s stance on a recent court finding or industry move that impacts your brand. Or you could use a statement to outline your company’s stance on a relevant issue or address a controversy.

This type of news release should start with the relevant news that you’re commenting on. Then the body copy should mainly be dedicated to a quote from your leadership team or a succinct paragraph stating your team’s position.

https://www.jnj.com/our-company/official-company-statement-regarding-todays-post-trial-motion-ruling-in-st-louis

9. New Partnership Announcement Template

A new partnership can help your company provide more relevant products or services to customers or make you a greater force in the industry. This type of press release may be similar to ones about mergers and acquisitions.

However, instead of outlining the details of a transaction, it should explain what the partnership means for customers. For example, this press release explores how a partnership between a data management platform and financial services firm can better help financial institutions manage customer data.

10. Event Press Release Template

Businesses use events to reach customers, bring in revenue, and connect with others in the industry. They’re also helpful for gaining press in your area.

Generally, even press releases are sent out before an event is held to increase attendance. But they’re sometimes distributed afterward to share highlights. These press releases should include the date and location of the event, and any details that attendees would need to know. For past events, they should feature quotes from hosts or attendees and key takeaways.

https://jimmynelson.pr.co/191531-artist-jimmy-nelson-presents-the-last-sentinels-in-atelier-des-lumieres-paris-the-first-time-that-indigenous-cultures-are-brought-to-l

11. Book Launch Template

Writing a book can be an effective way to get press for a brand. Some entrepreneurs even build entire businesses around book sales. Once a book is written, a press release can help you gain coverage to increase sales and awareness.

This type of press release should start with the book title, release date, author, and any other basic details. You can then offer a short summary or explanation of the contents. Additionally, offer background about the author’s credentials to entice potential readers.

12. Special Award or Recognition Template

Special awards and industry recognition lends credibility to your brand. The announcement may even get you some extra attention in the press.

The first paragraph of your press release should state the award and its relevance to your customers or industry. For example, being recognized for high customer satisfaction rankings shows a brand’s dedication to constantly improving the customer experience. Include quotes from the leadership team and any other relevant awards or credentials that may further support your brand’s reputation.

Why Send a Press Release

There’s no point in learning how to write a press release unless this type of media can do some tangible good for your brand. Luckily, press releases can help companies in a number of areas. Outlining your goals beforehand can help you choose the most relevant press release format. Whether you’re looking to gain more attention for your brand or do damage control, here are some goals you might consider.

Grab Attention

News outlets can only cover new products, updates, or announcements if they know about them. Sending your news directly to reporters or publishing it using a press release distribution service, gives easy access to those who want to cover it. Once they share your news to their audience, your brand gains more attention among your target audience.

Build Awareness

Even if not many customers remember your actual news, a well-written press release may help them recognize your brand name. The more your company is mentioned in the press, the more people are likely to be familiar with your offerings. For example, a marketing consultant who sends out regular releases about new services, team members, and current events in the marketing field is more likely to gain brand recognition among business clients. Even if many of those clients aren’t looking for marketing services right now, they’ll have more trust in a brand they know. Then the next time your company hits the news when they are ready to buy, they’ll be better equipped to make a decision.

Develop Relationships

Public relations is a long term strategy. It’s not about getting your business mentioned once and watching tons of new clients roll in. However, sending out press releases regularly may help you connect with media members to form mutually beneficial relationships. For example, your PR strategy might start by offering expert commentary on industry events, which your media contacts can use in articles they’re already working on. Then they may be more likely to write an article about your new product or service when it launches.

Improve Search Engine Optimization

A quality PR strategy can also help when it comes to SEO and content marketing. Your releases may appear on press release distribution sites, linking back to your website alongside relevant keywords. and if you’re featured on popular media outlets with authority, you can build even more quality links.

Manage Your Image

Your company’s reputation can go a long way with customers. If you experience an issue like a data breach or misstep on social media, a press release may help with damage control. Keep your press release humble and apologetic if you’re writing for this purpose. You should also clearly outline what you’re doing to improve.

See more PR tips and strategies about getting publicity for your company.

Press Release FAQs

Who do I send my press release to?

Send your press release to press release distribution sites that media members comb for story sources. You can also send new directly to a few relevant journalists, editors, bloggers, or social influencers. This may be especially relevant if you’re trying to build relationships with specific media members. Additionally, release press releases on your website to help with SEO and content marketing. Then link to it on social media and your Google account to help followers find relevant information about your brand.

Should I send my press release in Word or PDF?

Journalists and editors actually prefer a Word .doc because it’s easy to copy and paste executive quotes, product names and other details they need for a story. Most media today will accept a PDF or .doc / .docx format. In the alternative, a link to where to find the press release posted online is also acceptable.

Some PR professionals paste the press release text into an email. The advantage is that your media outreach email has no attachment or link. Some recipients may be hesitant to click on these due to cybersecurity reasons. The downside of this method is that it may seem less official. And it’s easy for a long email to get overlooked. Some journalists don’t read long emails the entire way through.

You will hear contrary advice saying to never attach a press release in your media outreach emails. We are media here at Small Business Trends, and can assure you that many if not most editors and journalists prefer to get a press release attached. Alternatively, we are happy to receive a link to a press release. Members of the media are very busy and don’t have time for a lot of back and forth discussion trying to pry details out of you. Editors prefer to scan the announcement immediately in order to make a quick judgment of whether it is something relevant to their audience and appropriate for a news story.

What is a news embargo and how should I handle it?

An embargo means that the release is scheduled to be public on a specific day and time in the future — it is “embargoed”. This is sometimes done for a big announcement or a product launch press release, to give a PR manager or marketing manager time for advance outreach.

If the news is embargoed for a specific day and time, that should be prominent on the release or otherwise made clear. If there is an embargo, it is best to list when it lifts in red letters on the face of any advance press release. Emails get buried and the journalist may forget about it if solely in an email.

Another important point: ask the media outlet if it will honor an embargo, before sending the press release out. Most do honor embargoes, but some do not. Only send an embargoed release once the outlet confirms.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "How to Write a Press Release [+ Template Examples]" was first published on Small Business Trends

The pandemic has impacted the sports world in a major way. Athletes had to adjust and find ways to hone their skills on their own. Luckily, Monarc Sport had already developed a robotic quarterback perfect for this job.

The Seeker stepped up and helped some big names in the NFL this year. And it’s a useful training tool for college teams as well. Read about the invention and the company’s journey in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.

What the Business Does

Offers the Seeker, the world’s first robotic quarterback.

Business Niche

Offering a sophisticated option for training alone.

Co-founder Igor Karlicic told Small Business Trends, “Prior to The Seeker, it was largely impossible for players to train alone given the need for a human to physically throw them a football. While there are some other products on the market that try to replicate that action, none are as sophisticated as The Seeker.”

How the Business Got Started

As a school assignment.

Karlicic studied at the University of Iowa, where he worked on a project linking a tracking device to a pitching machine. Shortly after, Karlicic met his co-founder Bhargav Maganti, a Boeing design engineer at the time. They developed the concept together over nine months and incorporated Monarc at the end of 2015. They quit their jobs to run the business full time in 2016.

Biggest Win

Helping high profile customers during the pandemic.

Monarc released the latest version of the Seeker in 2019. And they didn’t expect much demand from individuals. But everything changed in 2020.

Karlicic says, “The coronavirus spread quickly, shuttering campuses across the country and forcing sports leagues to postpone their respective seasons. This spurred a sudden surge in interest in Monarc’s technology. Today, nearly two dozen professional NFL players are using The Seeker to train, and league stars George Kittle, Hunter Henry, Mohamed Sanu and N’Keal Harry have come onboard as investors. Several NCAA football programs are also using The Seeker to improve reps and track player performance.”

Biggest Challenge

College football closures.

The pandemic completely changed Monarc’s market in more ways than one. Previously, they were mainly focused on college players and teams. So shutdowns made a major impact.

Maganti adds, “A major setback that we encountered was the cancellation / postponement of football during COVID-19. As a new company, we had a plan of several collegiate programs utilizing the Seeker during spring and summer. With programs shuttered, we pivoted to supporting individual NFL athletes looking for a safe way to continue getting reps, and thus #QuarantineQuarterback was born. In lieu of several new collegiate customers this year, we’ve had a multitude of NFL players utilize and advocate for the Seeker and we’re looking forward to continuing on our path to becoming a staple in football training”

Biggest Risk

Adopting brand new technology.

Maganti explains, “We use ultra-wideband (UWB) tracking and we needed to trust that the industry would grow, embrace the potential of this tech, and continue to develop and support it. Had this not played out well, we would not have been able to have the funds to develop an alternative. However, we ended up selecting a winning technology and it gave us a head start on integrating something that other companies are increasingly adopting.”

Lesson Learned

Handle important work in-house.

Maganti says, “The vast majority of the engineering related to the Seeker is done in-house. We oversee all aspects of the design and technical implementation, but we have experimented with contracted engineering help in the past. Our experience is that shortcut solutions never pan out and we always redid the work. Whenever we have been able to create something ourselves, the result is substantially better. The allure of external help is appealing, but if we could go back we would not have spent any time and money attempting to ease our burden.”

How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000

Bringing in new talent.

Karlicic says, “We’d love to expand our team to increase our ability to support our customers and develop/release new features.”

Team Tradition

The Monarc Bowl.

Karlicic explains, “Our entire team either attended Northwestern University or the University of Iowa. Both in the Big 10’s West division, the schools play each other every year, so we have formally made it a holiday dubbed the “Monarc Bowl.” The stakes are high because the bragging rights last until the following year’s game.”

* * * * *

Image: Monarc Sport, Bhargav Maganti and Igor Karlicic

This article, "Spotlight: How Monarc Sport Built a Robotic Quarterback to Help Athletes Train During a Pandemic" was first published on Small Business Trends