Using Managed IT Services to Save You Money

How Using Managed IT Services Saves You Money in the Long Term

 

Wondering how to make your business’ IT run better without costing more? One popular option to consider is managed IT services companies. 

 

 

Digitization. Network. Security. Mobile. As the average business sees more and more complexity in their IT requirements, it can become harder and harder to keep up with the necessary changes to protect your business’ interests and sensitive data. But what if the process could be easy without costing an arm and a leg? Managed IT services can provide this level of care, often at the same or even a lower cost than you would see using in-house employees. Here’s a quick look at how managed IT services can help make your business more efficient and effective.

 

How to Use Managed IT Services to Save You Money

 

Let’s start by defining what a managed IT service is and is not. A managed IT service provides you with a range of services. You pay a monthly subscription cost, and in exchange, the service takes care of your IT needs that are covered under those services. These services can include software updates, managed software-as-a-service options, backup services, website management and similar possibilities. Because they are responsible for these IT assets, these assets are carefully managed to provide you with optimum performance, security and efficiency.

 

Increase team efficiency by reducing downtime.

 

Well-run IT systems allow your employees to work at their highest levels of efficiency instead of focusing on computer problems and wasting their time updating systems and on hold with a help desk. Wouldn’t you rather have your people focusing on what your company is best at, promoting growth? When there’s a problem with your IT assets under your managed IT service, your employees don’t have to worry about fixing the problem – the managed IT service handles the entire process.

 

Every week, 140,000 hard drives fail. An estimated 44% of companies believe that an hour of downtime costs them about $10,000. Instead of having your companies having to stop their work and deal with distractions caused by an IT failure, they can simply continue on another device while the managed IT service takes care of the problem.

 

Enjoy peace of mind with better network and data security

 

Every day, we hear about another company that has had its data exposed through a security breach. In fact, in the first four months of 2018, over 260 million records containing sensitive data were exposed. You don’t want your company to be the source of the next big data breach, losing your company’s credibility and trustworthiness in the market, do you?

 

When you work with a managed IT service, their primary focus is making sure that your IT assets are current on all security patches, updates and anti-virus software, not the rest of the activities that your company undertakes. That allows you to focus on building your business, rather than about whether you’ll be one of the 60% of companies that go out of business within six months of a major data disaster.

 

Lower your company’s overall IT costs.

 

Though it seems counterintuitive that hiring out your company’s IT needs would save your business money, it’s actually been proven time and again. If you don’t hire a professional into your company, thinking it’s an unnecessary expense for a small business, then you’ll have employees wasting time trying to troubleshoot their own computer issues or waiting on hold for help desk personnel. Even if you do hire in a professional to handle your in-house work, how will they spend their time if there isn’t enough work to keep them occupied?

 

For these reasons, businesses typically find that the expense of a managed IT service is lower than that of trying to manage their own IT assets in-house. Because the managed service is only focused on the IT costs of your company and is focused on improving their own efficiency, these companies are focused on providing you with the most efficient service possible. They’re able to share the cost of education, new technology and equipment across a number of clients, reducing the cost.

 

As you can see, working with a well-run managed IT service can save your company time, money and potential risk. Are you ready to consider the options that are available to you? We offer a range of services, either in a package form or a la carte, should you only want help with a couple of areas. Please feel free to reach out today to discover how we can help your business get ahead through solid managed IT service solutions.

4 Ways IT Outsourcing Helps Your Business

Do You Know the 4 Ways IT Outsourcing Improves Business Success?

 

Many small and mid-sized companies underestimate the drawbacks of not having top-tier IT professionals in place. These 4 benefits highlight the need for change.  

 

Are a business decision-maker wondering about when the best time to outsource your IT needs? It was yesterday, and you are already late to enjoy the benefits of working with a third-party tech outfit that specializes in IT managed services.

 

It’s not uncommon for small and mid-sized companies to operate under the assumption that modest IT needs do not warrant creating a budget line-item on their behalf. Some designate an in-house person with seemingly good computer skills to run virus scans and update applications. Other outfits hire a single technology person to handle the responsibility of overseeing their entire network. Both of these policies are inherently flawed for a variety of reasons. After reviewing the following 4 ways IT outsourcing helps your business, you may gain clarity as to why working with a third-party expert is in your best interest.

 

1: Removes Peripheral Distractions from Profitable Goal Achievement

As upstart organizations begin to grow into mid-level outfits, the visionaries that propelled their success forward are increasingly beset by issues that detract from primary goals. Budget management, contract negotiations, and supply chains are top-tier items that further a company’s profit-enhancing goals. Tackling these items tends to be a good use of time and energy. If industry leaders are also tasked with maintaining and repairing the tools of the trade, essential issues cannot enjoy the laser focus they deserve.

 

When an organization shuffles computer and network duties to an employee or even a designated in-house tech person, network problems become part of routine oversight. An experienced third-party managed services provider takes proactive measures to maintain and repair your devices and network without you lifting a finger. Your vision drives the organization. That’s why it’s crucial to all of the key stakeholders involved that IT distractions are a non-factor.

 

2: Improves Network Efficiency and Productivity

Imagine traveling the road of handing off-network duties to an untrained employee or a designated tech person. Now imagine they call in sick during a critical business productivity cycle. Imagine further, they take a two-week vacation. What happens when your network starts to suffer glitches or goes dark altogether? The answer is simple: You lose revenue.

 

The reality of owning or operating a business in the technology age is that networks never sleep, they don’t call in sick, and they don’t go on vacation. Maximum productivity and efficiency require organizations to have 24-7 managed IT services in place. When you negotiate an ongoing services agreement with an experienced IT contractor, they can conduct remote updates, scans, and effect problem solving anytime your network runs amok. But that will happen a lot less frequently because high-level maintenance is usually part of the outsourcing package. Experienced IT experts deliver the laser focus to systems that help make your organization successful.

 

3: Reduces Risk of Cyber Threats and Financial Losses

According to reports, more than 317 million pieces of malware were created in 2018 alone. To put that staggering number into perspective, nearly 100 infectious threats were developed daily. Now add that business risk to the fact that companies suffered financial losses above $600 billion in 2018 and that figure upticked by $100 billion from 2014.

 

Compounding the genuine risk of doing business with technology is that too many small and mid-sized organizations incorrectly assume that cybersecurity breaches are almost exclusively targeted at large corporations with vast assets. The common misconception may be attributed to heavy media coverage of the massive violations suffered by household-name corporations.

 

While billion-dollar cybertheft makes splashy headlines, the overwhelming majority of cybersecurity thieves targets small and mid-sized outfits. Hackers, who may be sitting in an internet café halfway around the world, search for subpar network defenses and attack. In plain terms, you are the low-hanging fruit ripe for the plucking.

 

Outsourcing IT security to a third-party provider improves your cyber defenses from among the weakest links to the strong. Having the latest anti-virus, anti-malware, and next-generation cybersecurity protections in place quietly takes you off hacker hit lists. If these nefarious computer thieves are anything, it’s lazy. They’ll move on from your network and attack someone less secure.

 

4: Keeps Technology on Cutting Edge

An effective business network enhances employee engagement and productivity. If that sounds like a pie-in-the-sky idea about working on computers, consider the alternative.

 

When emails are slow to download, or that tedious “buffering” icon spins around, employees tend to disengage from work-related tasks. One moment they are plugging along on your company desktop, the next they are checking text messages, and social media posts on their phone. When that happens, employee engagement and productivity is not diminished — it’s non-existent. It may be even more unsettling to know that experts say that it can take more than 20 minutes to get back on track after task disruption. Sadly, that unnecessary loss of productivity could have been avoided by outsourcing your IT needs to a professional.

Can Outsourced Managed IT Services Improve Profitability?

Outsourcing Managed IT Services Improves Business Goal Achievement

 

Industry leaders require a laser-focus on profit-driving initiatives. Outsourcing an organization’s IT oversight saves time, money, and keeps everyone on task.  

 

 

Whether you are a decision-maker for an upstart, mid-sized, or large corporation, outsourcing IT support, maintenance, and cybersecurity oversight can improve your operation. Managed services conducted by a third-party outfit with experience and expertise, brings high-level knowledge to the table that most business team members lack.

 

That’s generally because industry leaders staff their organizations with people who deliver profit-driving benefits. Managing an in-house IT team tends to distract from the goal-achievement tasks that keep an operation competitive and successful. Owners, CEOs, and other captains of industry with heightened IT needs would be wise to consider these five benefits of outsourcing.

 

1: Risk Reduction

 

Every business operates with a certain degree of risk. Those risks include fines for not meeting changing government regulations or falling behind competitors in cost-effective technology applications, among others. But perhaps the greatest threat that businesses of all sizes and every sector face are data theft and hacks. Without a doubt, less-than-adequate cybersecurity applications, protocols, and employee preventative training present the greatest threat to your organization.

 

2: Cost Consistent Budgeting

 

Entrepreneurs working hard to grow fledgling operations often have thin budgets. Every dollar counts and financial constraints generally do not allow for overspending. People in the private sector are fully aware they cannot manage a thriving enterprise using the faulty methods of the federal government. Either you have the revenue, or you don’t.

 

Managed IT service contracts allow decision-makers to allot a specific sum toward computer network oversight. There are no excessive payroll taxes, or unexpected overtime hours to strain the company’s resources. You write one monthly check and renegotiate when your managed services agreement expires.

 

3: Heightened Expertise

 

Perhaps the greatest difference between hiring an in-house IT team and outsourcing is the improved access to specialized knowledge. Some small and mid-sized operations think it’s savvy to hire a recent technical school graduate who has been immersed in the latest trends and technologies. That thinking seems reasonable on its face.

 

But the inherent flaw is that your outfit often requires that person, or team, to focus exclusively on your system and operations. What you lose over time is their immersion in trends, new applications, heightened cybersecurity threats, and other pertinent issues. A third-party managed service provider invests its time, resources, and people into cutting-edge training. When a managed services expert reviews your system, they bring the latest knowledge to every task. It’s simply not cost-effective to pay an IT team and then have them attend far-away seminars for weeks at a time.

 

4: Avoid Potential Downtime

 

After cyber-theft and hacks, downtime ranks among the most costly setback a company can experience. Imagine for a moment, you are looking out over your offices and employees are unable to work because the system is down. Now imagine you are paying them to not perform the necessary tasks to meet the business’ financial necessities.

 

When you outsource your IT needs to a third-party provider, it’s not uncommon for them to conduct due diligence, and preventive maintenance while your profit-driving staff is not on the clock. Smooth functioning networks are a type of hidden benefit that companies gain by having 24-7 IT services.

 

5: Improved Business Focus

 

Goal-oriented thought leaders enjoy improved success when they are able to focus on the things that make a company successful. Unless you are running a managed services outfit, computer issues, cybersecurity, and managing an IT team is not the best use of your time and brainpower.

 

Business visionaries achieve goals and enjoy the fruits of their innovation and labor by maintaining a laser-focus on industry trends, cost reduction, improved production, services, and staying ahead of their sector’s learning curve. It’s essential not to get bogged down in seemingly peripheral issues such as IT. Maximizing your skillset and outsourcing IT maintenance and oversight to a professional is the smart play.

 

Maximizing budgetary resources in a way that delivers the cutting-edge IT needs of today’s business community may be best left to professionals. When industry leaders take the time to do the math on best practices and profitable outcomes, third-party managed IT services remain a tried-and-true practice.

Online Excel Training: Tips & Techniques For Managing Workbooks

Organization Shouldn’t Be Complicated

Out of all of Microsoft’s Office programs, Excel is one of the most universally used. What started out as a fairly basic spreadsheet program has evolved into a must-have business tool. However, the more you use Excel, the more data your workbooks will accumulate.

Keeping these workbooks organized and easy to navigate can be a challenge. We can help with that. Check out our short Excel: Tips and Techniques for Managing Workbooks training video, available to you free and on-demand.

Simply Click Here.

Watch at your leisure, and say goodbye to your Excel frustrations.

Managing Excel Workbooks

Happy Labor Day

To make the most out of what we hope will be a gorgeous long weekend, we will be closing our office for the day on Monday, September 2nd.

And as always, we’ll have technicians on call for all of our managed IT services clients, and you’ll be able to reach us by calling our office if any emergency technical issues arise.

Get Your Beauty Sleep With Nightlight In Windows 10

 

Get Your Beauty Sleep With Nightlight In Windows 10

You may have been using Windows 10 for some time now, but it’s likely that you haven’t mastered all of its features just yet.

If you, like so many others, use your computer late at night, before (or even in) bed, then you may have found that it throws off your sleep cycle. Despite being tired when you got into bed, after staring at the backlit screen for a few hours, you’re not as tired anymore.

This has to do with melatonin – a chemical produced by your body when your eyes see that it’s dark and determine its time for sleep. Looking at a bright screen throws off this natural process, and the lack of melatonin makes it harder to get to sleep.

Did you know you can reduce this effect with Nightlight?

Nightlight is a feature that lowers the brightness of the screen and changes the color spectrum in order to limit the interruption to melatonin production. To turn it on, find it under Settings, and set a schedule for it to follow based on your preferences for late-night computing.

We hope you enjoyed our series on Windows 10…searching for a new IT company?  Give us a call at {phone} or send us an email to {email}.

Ready for Disaster? Tips for Creating a Smart Business Continuity Plan

 

Mitigate Disaster with a Comprehensive Business Continuity Plan

 

When you create a detailed business continuity plan, you can keep disaster from disrupting your operations. See how to get started here.  

 

 

When disaster strikes, disruptions to your operations could negatively impact your construction projects, pushing them past the deadline and over budget. And it is not just natural disasters you have to worry about, either.

 

Everything from serious IT problems to the loss of important team members has the potential to wipe out your operations. That is, unless you have a smart business continuity plan in place. With this plan, you can keep your operations moving along like normal, helping ensure the success of all your construction projects.

 

Importance of Having a Business Continuity Plan

 

In optimal conditions, there’s no doubt everything runs like clockwork, as your team works hard to complete their individual tasks. If anyone fails to come through, however, everything could grind to a halt. Furthermore, without writing it out, only a few in your company may know just what everyone should be working on and how it all comes together.

 

Therefore, you need a business continuity plan just in case serious disruptions leave you without certain team members, equipment, or workspaces. In many ways, this plan is a big-picture overview of everything that goes on at your construction firm. It also identifies all the workarounds you can use when faced with disruptions caused by different disaster scenarios.

 

Above all, your plan should detail who is in charge of each department in the absence of key players and all the ways they can keep moving forward in their daily duties. With that approach, you can keep major disruptions from throwing your workforce off track or preventing them from completing their tasks.

 

How to Create a Continuity Plan for Your Business

 

Without knowing what is on the horizon, there is really no time to waste in creating your business continuity plan. Thankfully, you can easily approach this process by using the following steps.

 

Take a Complete Inventory of Your Company

 

Taking inventory of your workforce, contacts, and equipment is the very first thing you must do to create your plan. You will likely need to take a big step back from your construction company to complete this step.

 

To start, create a list of all your employees, noting the major players in each department. Add their contact information in full, so you can find how to reach out at a glance. Then, create similar records of your material suppliers, clients, and other important contacts.

 

Next, you can move onto creating a complete inventory of all the equipment used on each of your job sites. Make sure to include their make, model, and serial numbers, so you can find parts or file claims as needed to keep things moving along. In addition, note any local parts suppliers, repair techs, and equipment dealers for those brands to complete your log.

 

Outline Existing Processes and Highlight Critical Areas

 

With the completion of the inventory step, you will need to look at your operations. Go from department to department, look at the duties of each employee and how they support other departments. Along the way, busy yourself with creating flowcharts for all the distinct processes used to run your construction company.

 

Throughout this process, identify your key operations and the major players you depend on to get the work done. Then, see who can fill in if those individuals cannot make it work. Also, add ways employees can workaround specific disruptions and continue to fulfill their core duties.

 

Identify Temporary Workstations and Keep Them Updated

 

If your core employees cannot get to their normal workstations, everything should not grind to a halt. But it will unless you have already identified temporary workstations and made the effort to keep them updated.

 

The workstations should have all the equipment and software normally used by the team and be completely ready for their use. So, create an update schedule and make sure the temporary workstations are included whenever you complete a major equipment or software upgrade. Furthermore, ensure your employees know about the existence of these workstations and how to access them.

 

Create Your Plan for Maintaining Critical Operations

 

With your understanding of your core operations, you can create a plan for each of your employees, helping them mitigate the effects of the disaster. Working across all departments, you will need to indicate who is responsible for getting each system back online and up to their normal operating levels. They should have a clear direction on the steps to take and the tools they will need to complete the assigned tasks.

 

Your plan should cover not only the construction tasks you are responsible for in that moment, but also all the administrative ones. You need to let your payroll department know how to proceed, for example, to ensure they can continue to process payments for all your employees.

 

Once you are finished creating your business continuity plan, store the main copy in a secure location and provide each department with their own copies.

 

Don’t Wait — Create Your Business Continuity Plan Today

 

So, now that you know what to do, there’s really no reason to wait. Start building your business continuity plan today to protect your operations from disaster. Otherwise, your employees could be left without the knowledge needed to keep your business afloat until everything returns to normal.

Worried About Moving To The Cloud?

 

If you knew what the cloud could do for you, you probably wouldn’t be so hesitant about migration. It’s understandable; the prospect of moving all your data to offsite cloud infrastructure can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.

 

Since its introduction to the business world, the cloud has quickly established itself as one of the most integral technologies in modern society. In the private and professional worlds, the cloud has delivered a range of benefits, from convenient access to data to cost-savings in hardware reduction.

 

That’s why so many of our accounting clients and CPAs are moving to the cloud. No matter what you think, the cloud has changed the nature of IT, and business as a whole. That’s why you need to understand it.

 

In this article, we’ll answer the following questions:

 

  • What Is The Cloud?
  • Why Would You Be Hesitant To Move To The Cloud?
  • What Is Migration?
  • Does The Cloud Support The Accounting Software I Already Use?
  • Is It Difficult To Migrate To The Cloud?

 

What Is The Cloud?

 

In a nutshell, the cloud is a network of technologies that allows access to computing resources, such as storage, processing power, and more. That’s where the data is – in these data centers all around the world. Which data center your data is in depends on what cloud service provider you’re working with.

 

Why should you use the cloud?

 

For the same reasons that thousands of other businesses around the world have already adopted cloud computing.

 

  • Computing Power
    The cloud has the ability to activate tens of thousands of CPUs. This unparalleled power can quickly perform deep analytics of your data, and process nearly any ad-hoc queries that you require.
  • Reliable Costs
    The cloud services subscription model offers the strategic advantage of low-cost, low-risk opt-in combined with a simple, predictable monthly fee.
  • Easy Scalability
    Cloud services have the unique strategic characteristic of being able to stretch or shrink to suit your current level of demand. This is especially useful for businesses of scale or companies that go through seasons of activity.
  • Real-Time Collaboration
    With cloud technology, your staff doesn’t have to wait for each other to be done with their part of the document or project in order to tackle their own aspect. They can all work on the same project at the same time to maximize productivity.
  • Remote Work Capability
    This cloud feature allows you and your employees to work remotely as need be, which will give your business members the flexibility they desire to have a more balanced home/work life.

 

Why Would You Be Hesitant To Move To The Cloud?

 

There is any number of concerns related to cloud migration…
During the transition, you could lose some key files for good with no backup or redundancies to replace it.
The migration, already expensive, takes longer than you expected and adds what you thought was avoidable downtime to your staff’s work life.
Once it finally gets installed and launched, you find out the platform is overly complicated and difficult to learn, leading to more downtime for your staff.
Does that mean you should forget about the cloud and what it could do for you?
Of course not.
It just means you have to plan your migration carefully…

 

What Is Migration?

 

Migration is the process of moving some or all of your data and applications into the cloud (that is, to a data center or a cloud-based infrastructure provided by a cloud service provider such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure). You can choose to move some of your applications, or your total organizational infrastructure where all of your computing, software, storage, and platform services are transferred to the cloud for any time, anywhere access.

 

Cloud migration helps you achieve real-time and updated performance and efficiency. However, a cloud migration requires careful planning and implementation to ensure the cloud solution is compatible with your organizational requirements.

 

Does The Cloud Support The Accounting Software I Already Use?

 

Short answer? Almost certainly.

 

The cloud is so popular today that so many specialized applications have been fully integrated with it. Moving your customized applications to the cloud simply means that you’re running them over the Internet rather than on your own computers or servers. Everything will work just as it does and look the same as it did when it ran from your computers or server.

 

Is It Difficult To Migrate To The Cloud?

 

Migration can be a time-consuming process, but there are very few risks if it is approached with the right plan. Were you to consider migrating independently, you would want to follow these 5 steps:

 

  1. Evaluate your infrastructure.
    Do you plan on moving completely to the cloud, or maintaining a hybrid environment?
    Some businesses don’t both to migrate all their server-side architecture to the cloud – regardless of whether you do or not, you have to take stock of your servers, and associated software, to ensure it is all compatible with the new cloud environment you are planning.
  2. Plan carefully.
    Be sure to specifically lay out how you plan to virtualize your back end. This will largely depend on your size…

    1. Small businesses – It would make sense to leave certain aspects like email and apps on-site, especially if they don’t require too much storage.
    2. Larger businesses – For your line of business apps and dozens of accounts associated with your email client, you can likely afford the cloud storage needed to host these aspects offsite.
  3. Determine your budget before – not after.
    The best way to figure out which cloud service you want to go with is to know how much you can spend. The price tag will help you sort out options.
    And don’t worry, a small budget won’t limit your options too much. A key benefit of the cloud is its scalability. In most cases, you can start small on a great cloud service, and scale-up and pay more later as you need it.
  4. Will you be secure?
    Depending on the industry in which you operate, you may have more pressing security concerns than other businesses.
    In order to maintain data security, or even to comply with certain regulations, you may need to keep some of your data on-site.
    Keep this priority in mind when determining whether you need a hybrid cloud environment or not. With a combination of onsite storage for secure data and a cloud platform for everything else, you can get the best of both worlds.
  5. Do you need help?
    Lastly, before you start, you should figure out if you can handle the migration on your own.
    There’s no shame in needing help. Especially when it’s a matter of migrating all your apps, data and other IT assets to a totally new environment.
    However, if you have the time, knowledge and skills to handle it on your own, that will certainly be more cost-effective. But don’t forget – better safe (and a little more expensive) than sorry.

 

Although it’s possible you could manage a cloud migration on your own, it’s not recommended. More and more of the accountants and CPAs we work with are having us move power apps and data into the cloud. Why? Because as you can see, the business case is compelling. Using the cloud increases agility, scalability, accessibility, security and provides a competitive advantage.

Will Improving Online Reviews Boost Your Website Engagement?

 

Are your online reviews killing your website traffic? It’s true — many customers won’t click if they see your reviews are less-than-favorable.  

 

 

When is the last time you felt strongly enough about a product or service to leave an online review? While some people do it as a matter of course for every restaurant, doctor’s office and retail establishment they visit, most people only take the time to review something when they were either extremely pleased with the service or over-the-top mad about their experience. Unfortunately, this can result in some pretty painful online reviews, but does it really impact the traffic to your website — and ultimately your business revenue? You might be surprised to learn that more than 95% of people aged 18-34 read reviews for local businesses before making a decision and 86% of all consumers do the same. Still think reviews don’t matter?!?

 

Improving Engagement with Positive Feedback

When customers leave your business, it can be challenging to know if they’re satisfied with their goods and services. It may not be until you read an online review that you find the uber-polite professional who left your office with a smile is now posting to all their friends on social media about the horrid experience that they had. In general, people are not fans of direct conflict and may leave their poor feedback in a very visible and damaging way for your business — through online reviews. Yelp, Google and many other sites provide an easy way to aggregate both positive and negative comments about your business, all of which can be visible from within a Google search of your business. Google adores reviews and according to Moz data, their search algorithm could be impacted by up to 9% by consumer reviews. Google wants to present the most trusted and relevant search results and one of the best ways to do that is to listen to the audience: your consumers.

 

Offsetting the Damage from Negative Reviews

As you can imagine, if Google takes up nearly 10% of its algorithm to focus on your reviews, a few poor reviews can drop you significantly lower in the all-important search engine results page. Reviews are a vital part of your SEO strategy, and it’s challenging to bounce back from negative reviews in the past. One of the things new customers are looking for is the responsiveness of the business to this type of feedback. If you watch your main review sites carefully and audit for positive and negative reviews, you can offer timely feedback that shows you recognize there are issues and you are taking steps to solve them in the future. This can help turn a negative review into a positive, encouraging new customers to take a chance and click through to your website.

 

Driving Positive Reviews is a Critical Component in Your Digital Marketing Strategy

 

Did you know that a Harvard study shows that a one-star increase on Yelp can lead to a 5-9% increase in sales? That’s what you call a direct correlation, and it makes reviews fully relevant and worth working for. Fortunately, those same customers who are ready to spout off about a negative experience are also surprisingly willing to post a positive review — but only if you ask. Up to 68% of consumers will take the time to review your product or service, and all you have to do is ask! Your marketing strategy should include a simple tactic that some of the best businesses in the world use (think Amazon): send a quick followup note via email requesting that customers leave a review on your preferred platform. When you flood the web with positive reviews, your business is more likely to rank higher and receive more high-quality traffic than a competitor who is not focused on improving their online reputation.

 

The moral of the story is that reputation still matters, even in a world where digital rules the day. In decades past, word of mouth reputation was what needed to be protected and that truly hasn’t changed as we edge into the future. Protecting the online reputation of your business is relatively straightforward and that quick automated email after a sale may be your very best selling tool — and the least expensive marketing tactic that you deploy!