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  • How To Spot Fake News? From Fake News To Fake Reviews

    How To Spot Fake News? From Fake News To Fake Reviews

    Cut, paste, copy, delete, edit – some people are obsessively doing this, days and night to wage their campaigns from their holes – campaigns to malign or destroy the image of a country, society, company, brand, or individuals they don’t like or not aligned with their opinion or beliefs – much like terrorists waging proxy wars.

    Yes, you have got it right. We are talking about fake news creators and peddlers. The above analogy might seem exaggerated but you can’t deny the similarities between them.

    Impact of fake news

    This is the age of online media, which is swarmed with news, reviews, ratings, and rankings and is considered the biggest influencer for creating public perception due to its massive reach and enormous speed. The fake news websites utilize this to spread distorted and false stories and reviews to manipulate public opinion as part of their cyber propaganda.

    We are heavily dependent on Information to make our opinion or take the right decisions about finance, health, education, and all other matters. False, distorted, exaggerated news and reviews misguide us and force us to commit mistakes. On a broader scale, fake news affects the goodwill and image of a company or brand and also creates problems for the economy, law & order, and other sensitive and functional areas of the government.

    However, not all fake news is with such wicked intentions. Today anyone can publish their thoughts or opinions and share stories on social media platforms, but most people don’t do a simple fact check and check the source of the messages or news stories before sharing them. This leads to the spreading of fake news quickly or even going viral.

    So, how are fake news and reviews defined?

    There are broadly two types – completely false type that are fully manufactured stories designed to make people believe something false, to instigate them to commit something harmful impulsively or to buy certain products, to visit a certain website, etc. This type of fake news consists of completely baseless content or rumors spread by blind followers.

    The 2nd type is partly or mostly false such as, presenting a distorted speech or image that gives out a wrong interpretation of the actual to convince people of a certain viewpoint. For instance, a video of a child being forced to do homework by her mother can be made viral with a wrong interpretation as “kid manhandled by a teacher.” Such videos are shared in a frenzy without fact-checking.

    Here are some guidelines to identify fake news and fake reviews.

    How to check the trustworthiness of a website?

    Visual check – Go through the overall design. Barring a few exceptions, fake news sites usually have a lot of errors, flaws, and a shabby look. Look for grammatical errors & spelling errors.

    Check the URL or the domain address – If you find the URL with unusual domain names such as “.com.co” or “.lo”, etc. chances are that this is a fake site as they try to deceive people by mimicking legitimate sites.

    Another type of fake news website uses real media channels or websites with slight differences in the URL that are not very apparent and gets overlooked most of the time. For example, real news website: timesofindia.indiatimes.com and fake news website: timesindia.com

    Go through the ”About US” page – Authentic sites usually furnish background information, about their goals, policy statements, and email contacts on this page. Fake sites usually do not care about having such details.

    Use online fact-checkers. There are many fact-checking websites that will give you real information about the news story. You can do a reverse image search to find the real source of the information.

    How to check fake WhatsApp messages?

    Whatsapp enjoys a massive information exchange that takes place daily and is also one of the major mediums for the spread of fake news.

    Check the original source of the forwarded message – Most of us share forwarded messages without checking the origin.

    Here is a way to learn more about a forwarded message – if a message is forwarded serially for more than five times, Whatsapp marks that message with a double arrow icon to denote it as a “frequently forwarded message.” You should be careful and double-check the facts with trusted news sources to see if the story has been published elsewhere before forwarding a message with an unknown source.

    The same procedure should be followed for checking the authenticity of pictures and images as edited photos and images are easy to make these days.

    Check the message if it looks different – Most types of misinformation have spelling or grammatical mistakes that are clear telltale signs about their fabricated nature.

    Group privacy settings

    Sometimes you may surprisingly find yourself added to unwanted groups and receive messages forwarded by unknown persons. To stop this practice, Whatsapp has included a new feature called Group Privacy Settings in WhatsApp that allows users to decide who can add you to groups. Maharashtra police recently issued an advisory for WhatsApp group admins and users for dealing with misinformation related to COVID-19.

    Other channels are also taking a slew of self-regulation measures to rein in the spreading of fake news, reviews, or misinformation. But despite all efforts including the government’s crackdowns, this menace is showing no sign of waning. India being the country with the largest number of social media users, are especially vulnerable to this threat and therefore requires a high level of awareness to restrain from forwarding messages without knowing their source and genuineness.

    Source- Fluidscapes

    We are one of the best digital marketing companies in India that provides business consultations to all types of organizations. We assist businesses to stay on top of the game by leveraging the latest technologies and breakthroughs in marketing strategies and business processes. Want to grow your business even more, get in touch with us and we’ll tell you how.

  • ORM Vs PR What’s The Difference?

    ORM Vs PR What’s The Difference?

    For a long time, before the digital juggernaut started rolling, marketers’ jobs were much simpler. Brand management would mean hiring a good advertising agency or a PR firm. There was no threat or incentive called online media, neither was there any metrics to measure the performance & public perception of your brand.

    The tsunami of online media came as the biggest influencing factor for marketing. It made rapid inroads into consumers’ minds to create a digital-savvy culture that empowers them to search, like, review, negative or positive responses and share information about anything and everything related to a product/ service or the company. The concept of ORM (online reputation management) came into being that made marketing more lethal.

    Public relation management and online reputation management – the two terms apparently sound the same, some pundits even refer to ORM as the online version of PR but that’s a misnomer. The fact is they are very different, in terms of approach, process and also efficacy. Let’s take a closer look and understand the difference between ORM & PR.

    First thing first – Public relations and online reputation management isn’t an either-or decision for the marketers. Which to apply and when depends upon the situation and goals of the organization trying to promote itself, it’s service or it’s product.

    What is public relations?

    Public relations or simply PR is a traditional practice usually adopted by business houses to maintain mutual relations and understanding with customers and shareholders by setting up a two-way flow of information with them.

    It’s being used from ages as a supplement to advertising in a marketing strategy for damage control and improvement of the public image of individuals or organizations. Print media is the most used platform for the PR campaign and its success greatly depends upon the relationship the PR agency has with the journalists and influencers.

    What is ORM?

    ORM or online reputation management is a set of online procedures of damage control and image boosting for persons and businesses. Online media is like a natural force that can yield great results or cause disaster depending on the way you handle it. ORM has the ability to seize the actual feelings about a brand that makes it much more advantageous than PR.

    In the digital age, online presence is the foremost requirement for celebrities and businesses which makes them vulnerable to negative reviews. Online reputation management services apply all kinds of online techniques and maneuvers to hide the negative publicity and promote the positive news about the client to improve their reputation.

    The strategy of public relations

    Public relations is derived from publicity and therefore has a connotation of outwardness or forward-facing communication that can be both proactive and reactive in nature. There can be different strategies and tactics in a PR campaign that is usually targeted at specific and long term goals.

    Here are some commonly known types of public relations campaigns:

    Evaluation of image – Making a correct assessment of the positive image of the clients is vital in marketing. What the competitors and customers think about them and what are their strengths and weaknesses.

    Protection of image – Clear internal communication to prevent employees or associates to make unsanctioned or off-brand statements.

    Promotional campaigns – PR activities covering all stages of a strategic campaign.

    Branding – PR is often looked at as a key component of the overall branding strategy. Good PR with proper branding often leads to increased sales and customer loyalty.

    Maintaining media relations – Good PR tactics such as public functions, events, networking with corporate patrons, journalists, influential public figures, etc. are proven methods of maintaining good media relations.

    Press release – This is considered an important PR activity that includes providing statements to reporters, bloggers, and the general public.

    Online reputation management strategy

    In comparison to the publicity oriented approach of public relation strategy, ORM strategies mainly work behind the curtain. ORM services make use of digital marketing techniques, which are quieter processes than PR techniques and mainly focused on long term strategy for reputation building rather than the promotional nature of PR.

    Types of ORM services

    Online reputation management services can be broadly classified as follows:

    • Online review management
    • Slander or negative review removal services / Damage control
    • Brand improvement services

    There are different methods of ORM specific to each type that are employed to build successful ORM strategies, such as:

    • Web monitoring and social listening services are used in Online review management.
    • Reverse SEO and Social media engineering services are used in negative review suppression works
    • Website development or redevelopment, content management, social media posts, replying to online reviews, etc. are used in brand improvement management.

    Also included in the ORM strategy are services such as responding to direct or indirect attacks in a matured and professional manner and appropriate legal actions in special cases.

    Conclusion

    Although, ORM and PR look similar in some ways they differ in their applications and approaches. While PR works on the foreground ORM works behind the scene. However, ORM has a distinct advantage over PR in the sense that it can get to the true sentiment of the consumers that often result in a more definitive outcome.

    Source- Fluidscapes

    We are one of the best digital marketing companies in Mumbai that provides business consultations to all types of organizations. We assist businesses to stay on top of the game by leveraging the latest technologies and breakthroughs in marketing strategies and business processes. Want to grow your business even more, get in touch with us and we’ll tell you how.

  • Influencer Marketing, Is Your Brand Leveraging It Right?

    Influencer Marketing, Is Your Brand Leveraging It Right?

    Influence is the biggest external force that controls human lives from childhood. There are direct and indirect influences both positive and negative in nature. The advent of social media has particularly benefited marketing campaigns by developing a unique concept called Influencer Marketing, which has been an instant hit due to its high efficiency, low cost, and target audience reach.

    Any marketing strategy is built around four objectives – increasing brand exposure, building brand authority, and acquiring new target audiences. A well-planned Influencer marketing strategy has proven to be a very efficient process of achieving the underlying objectives. It causes a large number of visits to your site, a high percentage of them is by new customers.

    What is Influencer Marketing?

    Influencer marketing is very much different from the conventional shout-out type of marketing that tries to create a strong impact through audio-visual advertising. Here the method is more organic in nature, that is to say, a function of trust and word of mouth recommendation.

    While the cost implication for Influencer marketing is significantly low in comparison, its success depends on how well-planned is the influencer marketing strategy and its execution. It may be confusing and complicated if you don’t know the type and capacity of the influencer and their domain strength. Let’s delve into the subject for better clarity.

    How to go about your Influencer marketing campaign?

    As mentioned earlier, Influencer marketing is a strategy that requires a good deal of planning and research. Your brand management in an influencer marketing strategy starts with identifying content creators in the same industry (celebrities, micro-influencers, social media influencers), in the sense that they create, curate, and publish content related to products or services same as yours or related to your industry and have large to very large follower count.

    It’s crucial to learn the correct demographics of your potential customers and the channels/platforms they are likely to visit mostly. This will help you spot relevant influencers as they must be active with a large and engaged follower base on those platforms.

    In an influencer marketing strategy, both the brand and the influencer should sit together to draw out the roadmap, content types such as post, story, blog post tweet, social network & marketing goals, etc. for setup, launch, and management of the influencer campaign. It’s like a partnership between the brand and the influencer in which the latter agrees to subtly promote the brand by spreading its messages and content by making comments, all in the garb of personal experiences, to their followers or target audience. This allows the brand to get a positive, natural and meaningful exposure to a fairly large base of targeted audience.

    For budding businesses, it’s similar to brand leveraging because unknown or less known businesses can leverage established influencers to make a good foothold in the market.

    What Influencer marketing benefits should you target in your campaign?

    A successful Influencer marketing strategy can help you reach your marketing objectives such as:

    • Brand Awareness – Prompt recognition and liking by a large number of people.
    • Brand Identity – Establishing your brand image. Getting people to admire your brand personality and values.
    • Popularity building – Getting a large base of followers and loyal customers through word of mouth
    • More engagement – More following means more comments, likes, and shares.
    • Lead Generation and sales – Generating a great number of organic traffic to your website with quality leads for the sales team and also more people opting for your sales offer. 
    • Link Building – Generating more links directed back to your site.

    Influencer Marketing in Indian perspective

    Although it’s a global phenomenon, Influencer marketing has been particularly successful with the Indian audience. There are some remarkable influencer marketing examples in India such as Kaya Skin Clinics, Picchika, Allen Solly, Hotel Trident, Lunch Box, AxisThoughtFactory to name a few.

    Wrap up

    The secret of success of Influencer marketing campaigns is that it creates an honest and authentic voice to generate trust, attachment and loyalty in their target group. A recent study about influencer marketing says that influencer marketing yields an impressive return on investment, something to the tune of $6.5 on every dollar spent. From here it can go only upwards.

    Source- Fluidscapes

    We are one of the best digital marketing companies in India that provides business consultations to all types of organizations. We assist businesses to stay on top of the game by leveraging the latest technologies and breakthroughs in marketing strategies and business processes. Want to grow your business even more, get in touch with us and we’ll tell you how.

  • AI Powered Marketing Tips To Maximise Your Business Success

    AI Powered Marketing Tips To Maximise Your Business Success

    Make yourself visible to the algorithm.

    If we look at the evolution of marketing strategy then this appears to be the first and only mantra for marketing for a long long time till the advent of digital technology that added another dimension to marketing that says –

    Listen to your customers

    The amazing invention called Social Media rendered a terrific opportunity to the brands to make themselves visible to millions and listen to their conversations to mould their offerings. It was great but the bigger surprise was waiting for us –

    Find your customers, wherever they are

    The flow of predictive analytics continued to make marketing even more penetrating by arming it with Artificial Intelligence – you are now able to search out your most probable customers, help them in their buying decisions and maintain rewarding relationships with machine learning algorithms.

    And the best part about this is, AI can search through not just social media but all online platforms. Can you envisage the big picture? Numerous interactions among numerous people on different online platforms are sifted through AI to identify potential customers, their choices, concerns, and other factors that produce valuable insights for creating the right marketing strategy.

    What is AI in simple terms?

    While human intelligence can be defined as the ability to think, to learn from experience, to solve problems, and to adapt to new situations, Artificial Intelligence is a close cousin that scores very well in all categories except that it can’t think – machines can’t think.

    AI is a set of very advanced computer programs that probe through a bulk amount of data to recognise patterns and make predictions with a high level of accuracy. This is the basis of the power of AI that is manifested in various forms such as learning from different insights, understanding complex concepts, applying logic and reasons in solving mathematical problems, and making inferences and decisions.

    In a nutshell, AI can be defined as a combination of machine learning (ability to automatically access data and process them to learn and improve from experience) and predictive analytics.

    How does AI benefit marketing?

    Marketing is an exercise of recognising competitions, identifying customers, understanding their needs, pitching the right offerings to them and improving the customer experience. The more precisely these can be done, the better will be the result.

    Artificial Intelligence powered marketing or simply marketing AI is doing wonders for marketers by providing amazing solutions for these error-prone tasks.

    Now a natural question comes to your mind as to why businesses are going crazy about it?

    It’s because Artificial Intelligence eliminates much of the guesswork involved in marketing campaigns.

    We can see that due to its intrinsic power of machine learning and natural language processing, it is proving to be an ideal tool to achieve a high degree of efficiency in the marketing landscape. The marketers are now able to create highly personalized customer journeys & experiences at significantly less cost.

    The technique involved is to let the AI application enable machine learning to analyse historical data of communications/interactions from various channels and touchpoints. This learning then can be used in your campaigns to maximise your chance of success.

    Here are some of the areas of applications of Artificial Intelligence in marketing, which are gaining fast popularity due to their high success rate.

    For improved sales forecasting

    Using AI powered marketing tools in addition to traditional methods to analyse both inbound and outbound sales conversations, marketers are now able to make much-improved sales forecasting. With the power of marketing AI the customer engagement dilemma between whether a prospect is keen for a discussion or not is almost becoming non-existent.

    For a better understanding of customers

    By applying machine learning algorithms, digital marketers can now know exactly how their brands are positioned in the market and what the customers are thinking, saying, and feeling about them in real-time. Alert marketers can utilize this high quality data in realtime for modifying their marketing processes for maximum effectiveness.

    For the higher performance of Digital Advertising campaigns

    The efficiency of the PPC advertising campaign is always a matter of concern for marketers due to the possibility of wrong or incomplete information about the target audience and their presence.

    AI for advertising helps marketers to develop deeper insight about the market and target- customers to optimize digital advertising and account-based marketing with a high level of personalization. Marketing AI allows machine learning to analyse the huge amounts of consumer data available through keyword searches, sentiment analysis, customer preferences social media, and other online platforms for perfect and most effective digital ads. Human-level accuracy is possible without manual labour.

    For creating succinct customer profiles

    Putting the right message to the right people at the right time is essential for success in marketing. AI in marketing provides a large base of detailed information about consumers and prospective clients, which helps in making exhaustive consumer profiles that increase the efficiency of a marketing campaign.

    AI algorithm makes it possible to track every single consumer interaction, previous customer experience and helps to refine these data that enables marketers to create highly personalized content.

    For engaging customers in real-time conversations

    Another advantage of applying Artificial Intelligence in marketing lies in its ability to identify trends by real time analytics and capturing large blocks of open data. This makes it possible for brands to engage with individuals in real-time conversations through online events. Speaking to the consumers at the crucial decision-making moment greatly influences them in their decision making. Following various open forums and events to identify and track relevant conversations gives marketers a huge advantage both in terms of learning the trends and directly talking with prospective customers.

    Marketing is also a race for grabbing opportunities. With the AI-powered marketing creating waves of opportunities there is no reason why you shouldn’t jump into the fray to take your business to another level.

    Source: Fluidscapes

    Fluidscapes is the top Marketing Consultants in Mumbai who are providing various professional services to businesses. So when any user searches for that particular brand’s they are easily searchable by any medium.

  • 12 Inspiring Digital Transformation Quotes From The Best Thought Leaders Of Our Time

    12 Inspiring Digital Transformation Quotes From The Best Thought Leaders Of Our Time

    As we are nearing the end of the black tunnel called Covid and the economies are desperately looking for ways and means for recovery, the one thing that has gained maximum significance is the need for Digital Transformation or simply DT.

    While digital transformation is as impactful as an industrial revolution and can result in great opportunities and turn around for businesses, its implementation is tricky and might elude the expected outcome.

    In this article, we have tried to catch the various facets of digital transformation through the quotes from some of the world’s leading visionaries, business heads, and inventors.

    Takeaway

    Digital technology has inherent power for greater customer engagement and efficiency gains but it requires a synergy between the individual processes to formulate the paradigm of transformation. However, if the mindset of people and organisational practices aren’t adaptable to change, digital transformation will fail to yield any tangible result.

    Source : Fluidscapes

    Fluidscapes are the top Media Consultants in Mumbai who are providing various professional services to businesses. So when any user searches for that particular brand’s they are easily searchable by any medium.

  • 360 Degree Marketing Post Covid

    360 Degree Marketing Post Covid

    Evolving consumer behaviour poses the greatest challenge to marketers and advertisers. Consumer behaviour adapts to the changes in the environment and marketing adapts to the changes in consumer behaviour.

    In the past one year of the Covid lockdown, there have been major changes in consumer sentiment and behaviours across the world. Online presence of people has risen significantly due to lockdown restrictions and increased dependence on digital technology.

    If experts are to be believed, this increased online presence will continue to be the mainstay of business and commerce even after the lockdown is lifted, which imply that people will continue to remain online for a longer time and digital marketing will become the principal mode for branding, sales and marketing through an enhanced 360-degree customer view.

    360-degree customer view! What’s that?

    In a nutshell, the idea is to collect exhaustive data about choice, capacity, influence, etc. of the potential customers by tracking their interactions, comments, ratings, reviews, past purchases and other touch points across channels and devices. The channels may be chatbots, social media, search engines, e-mails and the like.

    Social media and other channels are like mirrors that reflect the dynamics of customers’ perception and behaviour towards a brand. A brand becomes brand equity with the right mix of product, support, satisfaction and loyalty.

    How important is your brand in the eyes of customers, can be measured and improved by scanning the channels. The demographic details of your customers, whether they talk about you, what is their level of satisfaction, if they recommend your brand to others, do they engage with your posts, etc. are the various metrics used by marketers.

    What platform or channel your customers are currently on? Are you there? Are they engaging with you? What do they think or say about your brand? Do they have any concern regarding your product or service? What’s their level of loyalty? Are they emotionally connected with your brand?

    Because the customers will be online for long hours in the post covid era, the 360-degree view will be a very useful tool for making a reliable purchase profile and for brand promotion.

    360-degree marketing – you leave no gap in your coverage of customers

    360-degree marketing is named so because it involves the 360-degree customer view as its basis. It’s an integrated marketing approach that uses focused messaging across multiple customer touchpoints.

    Customers may transit from channel to channel. The success of 360-degree marketing depends on the thoughtful placement of your branding messages to touch the target audience on all channels they are likely to travel.

    While it’s not about being present everywhere instantly, 360-degree marketing creates a perception in the minds of prospective customers that your brand is everywhere. So you need to have upfront data using the 360-degree customer view to select the channels that you would want to include in your campaign.

    To put it simply, you should look for the following data to develop a strong 360-degree marketing strategy:

    • What digital platforms are frequently visited by your target audience?
    • How do they reach your website?
    • How is their impression about your response at various touchpoints?
    • How do you track leads?
    • How promptly do you get feedback from sales?

    Putting up the right brand message and selecting the most relevant channels and media will help you spend wisely and receive higher ROI.

    360-degree marketing, in concept, is a combination of many digital marketing methods joined seamlessly. The individual components are:

    • A dynamic website – Your website is at the heart of your digital marketing activities. It must be smart, prompt, user friendly, and informative. Quality of user experience, call to action, access by mobile users, and speed of action make big differences in the end result.
    • An effective SEO strategy – It’s a low cost but effective method for generating organic traffic to your website. PPC advertising – The PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is an Internet marketing method to buy quality traffic to your website.
    • E-mail marketing – This is an effective digital marketing method to communicate with serious customers by providing information regarding new products, discounts, and other services.
    • Social Media Marketing – Excellent method for generating new customers, reaching out to existing customers, and creating high-quality traffic to your website.
    • Content Marketing – A method of digital marketing that uses contents such as blogs, videos, social media posts to generate interests in the product or services of a brand and create inbound traffic.
    • Action to inbound lead – It’s about nurturing and handling of leads with relevant, consistent, and quality content to turn them into quality prospects for the sales team.

    Choosing the right follow-through actions

    The success of a 360-degree marketing campaign depends on the balance between message and channels. Before you launch your campaign you should be ready with the next moves to effectively wrap up.

    This may be refining your messages once your brand becomes established, or changing your campaign theme, or perhaps spreading to more or new channels.

    Surely, you don’t want your great moment to die down a month later. So as you plan out your 360-degree marketing campaign keep the phase 2 and phase 3 steps ready for your success to reverberate.

    Source : Online Reputation Management

  • What Makes A Financial Consultancy The Best & Why Should You Care

    What Makes A Financial Consultancy The Best & Why Should You Care

    Your business is a replica of you. Whether you are complacent or you want to push the boundaries, whether you are a laid back type or aggressive, your traits reflect your business performance.

    However, the current breed of young entrepreneurs are largely driven by 2 Gs – Growth and Global. Aided by technology, they want to tread on the unknown path to carve out new opportunities, and this creates great traction for the economy.

    But a dream start may end up in a great disillusionment. Business is like a snake and ladder game. One has to be prepared to circumvent the obstacles and take advantage of the situations.

    There are many challenges to a startup or a growing business – managing finances, financial planning, financial reports, compliances, corporate governance, addressing strategic requirements, and so on. These aren’t the tasks responsible for direct revenue earning for the company yet they are immensely important as they shield the business from unexpected blows.

    A Virtual CFO firm takes up the responsibility to provide comprehensive financial management services to the businesses of varying sizes. It’s especially ideal for MSMEs and Startups as they are often faced with burning questions like –

    • How to manage the cash flow within a lean budget,
    • What are the various ROC and legal compliances to be fulfilled,
    • How to manage GST and TDS compliances,
    • How to handle the IT return formalities,
    • How to be eligible for a bank loan,
    • How to get a good investor on board,
    • How best the profits can be invested,
    • How to extend the business to other regions, and so on.

    Virtual CFO services provide all that is needed by an organization to ensure monthly financial discipline, financial analysis, financial statements, protection from various legal pitfalls, creating funds, healthy relations with banks and investors, and navigating for growth. Learn more at inquiries@fluidscapes.in.

    How to go about selecting the right Virtual CFO firm?

    Selecting the right Virtual CFO services agency for your business should be the foremost decision after you decide to start your business – many startup owners have learnt this lesson after having setbacks due to mistakes committed out of ignorance.

    So it’s a vital task and definitely requires some major considerations, such as

    1) Ability to assume full control of your accounting and finance needs

    First thing first – it’s the proficiency and expertise. Handling finance in order to steer the company to a profitable future is a specialist’s job that requires knowledge, experience, and wisdom. A good Virtual CFO service agency should be able to

    • Analyze the financial health of the company
    • Play an active role in setting the company’s strategic direction and planning
    • Make forecasts of the financial insights and market status 
    • Develop effective financial and tax strategies
    • Maintain good relationships with banks and investors
    • Evaluate and monitor the liabilities and investments for effective risk management
    • Take part in the executive discussions, business administration and decision-making process
    • Study and research the industry of the company to provide specialized advice. 
    • Organize the bookkeeping and accounting processes

    If you already have accounting or finance staff then it requires employee management skills from the Virtual CFO as the existing staff need to be motivated to adapt to the new system. Learn more at inquiries@fluidscapes.in.

    2) Good Man Management skill

    Outsourcing a crucial function like finance can be a failure if your Virtual CFO services consultancy is not able to get full cooperation from the staff and important stakeholders in the organization. This requires a little extra effort initially, by the Virtual CFO to forge a friendship through mutual trust.

    In other words, Your Virtual CFO should be able to completely align with your system and ethos and should be absolutely committed to securing growth of your business.

    3) Other qualities

    The way your Virtual CFO operates defines the forward journey of your company. Apart from competence, you should look for certain other qualities in your chosen virtual CFO service agency, as listed below, that put the odds in your favour

    • Strategic thinking
    • Creative or out-of-box approach
    • Proactive stance
    • High level of commitment
    • Culturally fit and forward-looking
    • High level of expertise and experience

    The concept of Virtual CFO has been extremely popular in the USA, which is home to the highest number of startups in the world, due to flexibility and cost-effectiveness associated with it. Another major advantage is that the virtual CFO services can be performed almost entirely over the Internet, which eliminates physical meetings and increases speed of work.

    India too is seeing a rapid growth of Virtual CFO services due to a thriving startup and MSME culture. Small companies may opt for specific services on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Even one-time help with streamlining accounting, financial processes, business planning, cash flow management, bookkeeping services budgeting, and other strategic transactions are possible. Kindly mail us to learn more at inquiries@fluidscapes.in.

  • Stay Healthy And Active With Higher Immunity During Work From Home

    Stay Healthy And Active With Higher Immunity During Work From Home

    Adversities often bring the best out of us and right now we are passing through probably the biggest adversity faced by many in their lifetimes. While it is impossible to be insulated from anxiety and stress, staying put at home with uncertainty and grim news pouring in every day, it has become critical for us to stay calm and try to boost our immunity level while working from home.

    Why? Because in the absence of drugs or vaccines till date to fight the covid, all experts are in agreement that good immunity & good mental health can help one resist the attack of the virus to a great extent.

    That’s it. We have this silver lining in the darkness that will defend our body now and also against other diseases in future.

    A lot of us are health-conscious and have already taken to various at-home workouts but there is a vast population, slipping into more sedentary lifestyles during the pandemic to become an easy medium for coronavirus infection and other health hazards – to these people, we would like to tell that the lockdown has brought a very good opportunity to develop a good immune system through a little discipline in life, in terms of right eating, sleeping, and exercising.

    A glimpse into the life of astronauts in the international space station shows us that it’s only the daily regimen of right meals, sleeping, and exercising that keeps them strong, active, and alert through their days in the confinement of space rockets – can we draw some inspiration? We are also confined to our homes!

    Let’s elaborate more on this.

    Immunity through exercise

    Our immune system is a function of different organs, cells, and proteins which protects us from harmful viruses, bacteria, fungi, and toxins. Physical activities and exercise fortify our physical health, immune and metabolic systems besides increasing the production of antibodies.

    Further, recent studies show that daily workout, at least 5 days in a week, can reduce the risk of upper respiratory tract infection by almost 50% in comparison with being sedentary. In addition, covid 19 symptoms in those who exercise daily found to be 32% to 40% less severe, depending on fitness level.

    Even sweating during exercise has a good effect. Sweating increases body temperature, which in turn helps the body kill pathogens. And lastly, exercise is a good way to overcome depression & maintain our mental well being, which is a common occurrence during the lockdown.

    Immunity through the healthy eating

    Our gut health is indicative of our immune system and eating healthy ensures good gut well being. Our gastrointestinal tract or ‘gut’ in-short is the root cause of our good or bad health. Gut health depends on the balance of microorganisms (gut bacteria) in the digestive tract, which is vital for our immunity, physical and mental health, and other aspects.

    A healthy & balanced diet results in a healthy microbiome, which ensures a healthy immune system. Although at a time when the fear of covid 19 infection at its peak and restricts movement out of home it’s not easy to store food items of your choice, the best strategy can be to include whole foods, high protein, vegetables of different colours, cheese, beans, fruits and curd or yoghurt in your daily meals and completely avoid processed foods.

    Also, stay sufficiently hydrated – take at least 12 glasses of water. And limit yourself to only two cups of coffee per day, without excess creamers and sugar.

    Immunity through sleeping

    Having sound sleep at night is so very important but so very difficult for some. A good night sleep helps our body build strong immunity by repairing its cells, clearing toxins, consolidating our memories, and processing information.

    Maintaining a time to go to bed is very important that helps to get sleep at night. Not getting sufficient sleep leads to the production of stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline. These stress hormones keep one awake and at the same time puts stress on the immune system.

    Researchers say that daily 7 hours of sleep at night can reduce the chance of catching a cold by 4 times compared with the daily sleep of 6 hours or less at night. Also, it is important to note that lack of quality sleep affects psychological and emotional intelligence negatively Sleep deprivation can have major health impacts such as negatively affecting our psychological health and emotional intelligence. For most people, six to nine hours of sleep per night is enough. Having a healthy lifestyle, good physical activity, proper routine & good healthy habits will keep you happy & less stressed during lockdown period.

  • Financial Management : Why Do Startups Need Financial Consultants

    Financial Management : Why Do Startups Need Financial Consultants

    Startups are essentially businesses but startup founders aren’t the type of cautious businessmen, at least during the initial years.

    They are more like techies, dreamers, typically obsessed with new ideas, enhancing their innovative solutions, or even engaging in a team-building process, but when it comes to checking the balance sheet or the ledger, their condition resembles that of fishes when taken out of water.

    Of course, there are exceptions, especially if the startup happens to be in the field of finance, but in general, the startup owners think financial management is complicated, not appealing and can be postponed to a later date. But that’s a mistake.

    A startup is like a young kid who can flourish in life if proper guidance is provided and the essential needs are fulfilled. Guidance is in your hand but the essential needs and nourishment that helps a toddling startup to grow and develop through various stages of becoming strong and independent is done by the Financial management.

    India is currently in the second position, after the US, in terms of early stage startup numbers, which was expected to touch 55 thousand according to a study conducted before the affliction of Covid. But starting a startup and steering it to sustainable growth are two different matters.

    The disturbing fact that has been observed globally in this context is that

    • 9 out of 10 startups fail
    • 7.5 out of 10 venture-backed startups fail
    • 2 out of 10 new businesses fail in the 1st year of operation.
    • And what are the key elements responsible that lead to such heart-wrenching statistics?

    A revealing insight from a business leader in South Africa tells us that a lack of adequate financial planning and company administration is the root cause of most of the startup failures in South Africa, though lack of funding and support also plays a huge part.

    It goes on to say, “Compliance requirements are onerous, such as those for our tax system; few entrepreneurs have the know-how to meet them all with ease.”

    And that, “Often business owners find out too late about the required registrations or thresholds after having utilised their available cash flow for operations, only to later find out that they have tax incurred liabilities for which they did not budgeted for. This issue alone is causing many small businesses to liquidate.”

    The scenario is no different in India. Startup owners often neglect financial management in the shape of documentation, taxation, registration, etc. as it has no direct role in revenue-generating operations, and end up paying a heavy price for this imprudence.

    Lack of proper financial planning, financial model and discipline, penalties for non-compliance, etc. overshadows the profit earned and forces the company to hire a good financial professional (more financial burden to the company) to survive the threat of closure.

    This is where the role of a financial consultant comes in.

    You may have a good product or service but if the business model is not good no sustainable business venture can be made out of that. Startups also struggle when it comes to convincing banks, NBFCs or other sources of funding due to lack of managerial skills or credentials to prove their liquidity. Banks generally want to see the financial history.

    With a competent financial consultant by your side, all these problems can be mitigated and financial discipline placed from the beginning to facilitate cost savings, fruitful investments, financial projections and forecast, creating a strategic roadmap for financial success et al.

    Following are the services that a startup can expect to receive from a financial consultancy farm.

    • Accounting and book-keeping
    • Cash flow forecasting and budgeting
    • Financial statement preparation and records management
    • Banking services
    • Tax services
    • Compliance,
    • Corporate governance
    • Miscellaneous services

    That’s an exhaustive list of financial services that can secure a business from tumbling down. As someone famously said, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” Financial planning plays a double role – that of creating a strong foundation and then building a solid structure on top of that – in the transition from a startup to a successful business.

  • Why SEO Is Very Crucial In The New Normal?

    Why SEO Is Very Crucial In The New Normal?

    Choose SEO today, you’ll thank yourself later!

    Business is like a marathon, sometimes you are leading, sometimes you are trailing, but you must keep running. Covid-19 may have put a big hurdle in your path but you are not the only one, your competitors are equally slowed down.

    This poses an opportunity for you, a big opportunity, to capture your target audience. As people are learning to live with Covid 19, the economy is slowly coming back. A little more endurance, tenacity, and some sensible planning at this hour will bring a significant advantage going forward that you’ll thank yourself for.

    Take to Search Engine Marketing, any expert will advise you this

    It’s a great tool to survive through the Covid and shoot up after that. If you are a small/medium business chances are that you are already aware of the power of SEO marketing, whose demand has increased many times given the sharp increase in Internet traffic during Covid.

    Another important factor that favors Search Engine Optimization during Covid 19 is the absence of some conventional marketing methods such as billboards, physical locations, etc.

    Search Engine Optimization is cost-effective and is a crucial method for engaging with your target audience – to embed your brand into their minds. If your products are among the essential items you get benefits right away, if they are non-essential you’ll reap the benefits of branding post-Covid. That said, some products or services in the non-essential category have seen a sharp rise in demand during the lockdown.

    Sound SEO strategies are the need of the hour for businesses. It attracts organic traffic to business websites. During the Covid lockdown, many industries are either seeing a steep increase or steep decline in traffic. Effective SEO efforts help companies to keep afloat in both conditions.

    If your industry sees an increase in search traffic, a high rank will ensure maximum visits to your site compared to your competitors’. If your industry is low on demand, even then a high rank in that category will ensure that whatever number of traffic is occurring, is likely to come to you.

    For those who are still hesitant, recent Google trends’ data shows a high search for the terms such as ‘SEO’, ‘Search Engine Marketing’, ‘SEO professional’ and ‘marketing positioning’ during Covid, which simply points to the fact that the businesses that weren’t using SEO are finally coming around to learn more and implement.

    SEO marketing is generally considered a long-term strategy that requires an expert’s handling & scalable content. You need to have an SEO plan running for some time before reaping its benefits. It’s better handled by seasoned professionals as there is no universal methodology for boosting your search traffic. Moreover, search engine algorithms are changing frequently.

    Best things about SEO marketing that makes it a perfect choice for SMEs during Covid

    Low cost – Search engine optimization is an incredibly cost-effective process compared to other methods of digital marketing. There is no cost involved except for buying an excellent tool to guide your strategy. What matters in SEO marketing is to align some great SEO-content with the search engine algorithm. The content should smartly use the search keywords relating to your business to attract the search traffic

    Long-term traffic growth – SEO ensures high traffic for a fairly long time because once you earn a high rank on Google, you can keep staying there with some efforts. Updating the content or making some minor changes can help you retain the spot. This is why SEO has become so popular during the lockdown. Brands that had taken to SEO marketing months back are reaping the benefits now, without any effort.

    Trust building – Brands are built on trust and confidence. Especially, during a crisis time, trust-building with your customers holds high importance. Google’s ranking system plays the guardian’s role in building trust and brand. Users usually keep their searches limited to the first page with most clicks on the first few links. So a high SEO rank gives your brand the inherent trust in the eyes of your audience.

    Learning audiences’ choices – By monitoring the trending keywords or strike rates of your site pages one can control the SEO activities. Your audiences’ searching pattern can reveal the current trend that may be incorporated promptly into the content to get the most traction.

    Takeaways

    Covid is a big blow that has knocked down the SMEs majorly but a true businessman never loses his spirit and looks for ways to fight back. SEO marketing is a proven method to achieve sustainable growth on a low budget and therefore considered a winning strategy during the lockdown period, all the more so because of the high rise in user queries.

    But, there is no magic pill for success through SEO marketing. It’s a complicated process and requires thorough knowledge of Google analytics, experience, posting tailor-made SEO articles, and constant observation of the trends – something that is better handled by seasoned professionals.
    For more information please write to us at inquiries@fluidscapes.in