Author: omfinitive

Improve Your Focus and Concentration Skills

Business, Technology 0

In the ever-evolving world of technology, our brain’s ability to concentrate on a central task has become harder and harder. With the right mindset and practice, you can train your mind to stay present. Understanding the benefits of staying focused can be crucial to our success and will help us gauge where we can improve in our professional careers. In this article, we define focus and provide you with the tips to implement proper concentration with minimal distractions in the workplace.

What is focus?

Focus is how someone pays attention or concentrates on a particular person or thing. When someone is focused, their attention is centered on a focal point. In terms of the workplace, an employee is focused when their attention is geared toward completing their main goal or objective.

Benefits of being focused

Staying committed to a central task can be greatly beneficial in the workplace. No matter the industry you work in, increasing your attention span can propel your professional success. Here are four benefits of being focused:

1. Builds momentum

When you stay focused on one assignment, you’re more apt to complete it with greater efficiency. Your ability to finish tasks at a quicker pace can motivate you to move onto the next. Knowing you’re capable of getting things done will help you stay positive and motivate you to achieve your next goal.

2. Increases productivity

The more you’re able to stay on task, the more tasks you’ll be able to complete overall. Minimizing distractions is a great way to stay in the zone and allow your brain to process what needs your attention. As a working professional, you’re more apt to get more work done when you centralize your attention.

3. Reduces stress

By staying on task and increasing your productivity, you’ll also be minimizing any tension and pressure that’s built up. When you’re focused on one sole assignment, you’re able to check more items off your to-do list and free up more time in your work schedule. Your ability to direct your energy will guarantee you don’t fall behind on work and that you aren’t rushing to meet deadlines last minute.

4. Produces better quality of work

Your ability to focus is instrumental to your success in the workplace. The more time and concentration you’re able to devote to one task, the greater the quality of work you’ll produce. Not only will you be completing tasks quicker, but you’ll also be ensuring they’re free from errors.

How to stay focused in the workplace

Here are 10 things to consider when trying to stay focused in the workplace:

1. Eliminate distractions

You will be more productive and have a better chance of staying focused when you remove anything in your surroundings that might cause interruptions. If feasible, try keeping your phone in a different room or staying offline to minimize distractions. Working alone or in a quiet environment will also make you more focused.

2. Prioritize your tasks

If you have a lengthy number of tasks to complete, it can be beneficial to not only create a to-do list, but to also rank each item by their level of importance. This will allow you to methodically work through your tasks instead of simply be overwhelmed and likely ineffectual.

3. Train your mind

Engaging in various brain training activities is a great way to improve your cognitive abilities and subsequently, your ability to stay focused. When you instruct your brain to become more disciplined, you can become more active in paying attention to the task in front of you.

4. Work in a quiet space

When you’re working alone or in a secluded area, you’re more apt to get more work done. A quiet environment ensures you won’t be interrupted by colleagues or other noisy distractions from your workplace environment.

5. Try meditation

Taking the time to relax, breathe and meditate can greatly improve your cognitive abilities. Try practicing yoga to strengthen your ability to concentrate in the workplace.

6. Exercise

Exercising regularly stimulates your brain and keeps it refreshed. Engaging in physical activity will also improve memory capacity and overall concentration. Not only will it help you stay energized, but it’ll also give you the extra boost you need to stay on task at work.

7. Take breaks

Taking time for yourself is a great way to avoid burnout. While steadily completing tasks is important, giving your mind time to recharge and relax can be greatly beneficial for your mental health. If you’re stuck on a task, walking away for a short while can provide you with a fresh perspective. Taking a break and allowing your brain time to shutdown can also provide you with the momentum you need when you return to work.

8. Get a good night’s sleep

Sleeping at least eight hours a night is a great way to make sure you’re in your best physical and mental state when you arrive at work. Being sleepy causes you to slow down. Getting a good night’s rest, on the other hand, allows you to remain alert and awake—especially during the morning hours.

9. Focus on one thing at a time

When you direct your attention toward one sole task, your risk of distraction minimizes. Rather than multitasking, keep your brain actively engaged on one thing at a time. Increase your quality of work and your attention span by focusing on one task first, then move onto the next.

10. Allot time to certain tasks

When determining what tasks you need to complete, consider the length of time you’ll need to complete each. Scheduling out your day and exercising your time management skills will help you complete your work more efficiently and help you stay on top of it all. For example, allot 8-10 a.m. to complete task one, 10-11 a.m. to complete task two and so forth.

Learning how to focus by applying helpful tactics to improve your attention span can help you become a better employee. Though distractions are bound to arise, learning how to deal with them as well as determining what will work well for you, are great starting points to consider.

How To Keep Yourself Focused At Work

Business 0

Keeping yourself focused at work can be hard sometimes. You start your day by telling yourself that you will get a good number of tasks done today. As determined as you are, you might end up doing unimportant tasks instead of the real ones – just like most of us here.

So how do we avoid all these attention-seeking unnecessary tasks and make sure we accomplish what we should be accomplishing? Here are five tips to improve your focus at work and how you can discard activities that can divert your attention.

Work in chunks

It’s a scientific fact 2 that our brains can only be attentive to a limited amount of information for a limited amount of time. The difficulty is to ensure the appropriate information in mind is what lines up with our tasks at work.

To ease the burden of your brain, it is better to segment your work into small manageable pieces. The idea is you do not want to spend an entire day working on one task non-stop. Breaking it up allows your brain to ‘breathe’, and it will reward you later with effective work.

So work in small portions, then leave your desk, walk around a bit and if you’re lucky, go outside breathe in some fresh air to recharge your mind.

Reward yourself for your determination

It’s not really a bad thing to visit sites like Facebook, Meebo, or Twitter to get your social updates, but it’s important to not spend huge amounts of time on them, especially when your work is not complete.

What I tend to do is create a set of tasks that I need to complete before I can visit any of those sites or leave my desk. I will work a while, complete a task, then reward myself by spending some time to catch up with a friend.

This strategy relies on sheer perseverance and strong will to go back to work. So if you can’t stick to the goals that you set, try another method.

Find the right music

Some people just cannot push through an entire workday of coding or designing without the appropriate music to keep them motivated. For me, it’s either intense techno or alternative music that sustains me throughout the day.

I believe it’s important that whatever genre you decide to listen to, make sure its music can be easily filtered out while keeping the work progress at full throttle.

For myself, I can not listen to music that makes me think about the words or sucks me into wanting to fall asleep, both of which become a distraction. Finding a happy medium will increase your drive immensely and will make the day fly right by.

Go Incognito!

If all else fails and you just can’t seem to get away from the Facebook and pesky co-worker emails, you have to hide. Go invisible on the instant message clients, set the away message to “BUSY, DON’T BOTHER ME”.

And for those workers who love to stop by your desk, throw on those headphones, so they don’t feel inclined to spark up a conversation.

I often have to hide from being disturbed by others. It seems the moment one person starts talking to me that the floods of people come. I’ve learned to never engage in a conversation while trying to focus or make sure that I’m in control if I am in those situations.

Be interested/passionate about your work.

Finally, the best way to be productive is to truly enjoy and be passionate about what you’re working on. We go to great lengths and hours of work for things that interest us.

Yet, we lose focus instantaneously if what we are doing is not essential. It might take some time to find interest in your work; you might have to just think about the big picture or focus on impressing those around you (possibly a boss) to stay on track.

Happy learning!

Steps for Business Growth Strategy That Works Immediately

Business, Marketing Strategy, Technology 0
If only half of startups survive more than five years and only one-third make it to 10, what’s the one thing you could do to ensure your company is sustainable? The answer is to create a growth strategy for your business, of course.A growth strategy involves more than simply envisioning long term success. If you don’t have a tangible plan, you’re actually losing business or you’re increasing the chance of losing business to competitors.

The key with any growth strategy is to be deliberate. Figure out the rate-limiting step in your growth, and pour as much fuel on the fire as possible. But for this to be beneficial, you need to take the following steps:

1. Establish a value proposition
For your business to sustain long-term growth, you must understand what sets it apart from the competition. Identify why customers come to you for a product or service. What makes you relevant, differentiated and credible? Use your answer to explain to other consumers why they should do business with you.

For example, some companies compete on “authority” — Whole Foods Market is the definitive place to buy healthy, organic foods. Others, such as Walmart, compete on price. Figure out what special benefit only you can provide, and forget everything else. If you stray from this proposition, you’ll only run the risk of devaluing your business.

2. Identify your ideal customer
You got into business to solve a problem for a certain audience. Who is that audience? Is that audience your ideal customer? If not, who are you serving? Nail down your ideal customer, and revert back to this audience as you adjust business to stimulate growth.

3. Define your key indicators
Changes must be measurable. If you’re unable to measure a change, you have no way of knowing whether it’s effective. Identify which key indicators affect the growth of your business, then dedicate time and money to those areas. Also, A/B test properly — making changes over time and comparing historical and current results isn’t valid.

4. Verify your revenue streams
What are your current revenue streams? What revenue streams could you add to make your business more profitable? Once you identify the potential for new revenue streams, ask yourself if they’re sustainable in the long run. Some great ideas or cool products don’t necessarily have revenue streams attached. Be careful to isolate and understand the difference.

5. Look to your competition
No matter your industry, your competition is likely excelling at something that your company is struggling with. Look toward similar businesses that are growing in new, unique ways to inform your growth strategy. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Ask yourself why your competitors have made alternate choices. Are they wrong? Or are your businesses positioned differently? The assumption that you’re smarter is rarely correct.

6. Focus on your strengths
Sometimes, focusing on your strengths — rather than trying to improve your weaknesses — can help you establish growth strategies. Reorient the playing field to suit your strengths, and build upon them to grow your business.

7. Invest in talent
Your employees have direct contact with your customers, so you need to hire people who are motivated and inspired by your company’s value proposition. Be cheap with office furniture, marketing budgets and holiday parties. Hire few employees, but pay them a ton. The best ones will usually stick around if you need to cut back their compensation during a slow period.

Developing a growth strategy isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. In fact, due to changing market conditions, making strategic decisions based on someone else’s successes would be foolish. That’s not to say that you can’t learn from another company, but blindly implementing a cookie-cutter plan won’t create sustainable growth.

You need to adapt your plan to smooth out your business’s inefficiencies, refine its strengths and better suit your customers who could be completely different than those from a vague, one-size-fits-all strategy.

Your company’s data should lend itself to all your strategic decisions. Specifically, you can use the data from your key indicators and revenue streams to create a personalized growth plan. That way, you’ll better understand your business and your customers’ nuances, which will naturally lead to growth.

A one-size-fits-all strategy implies vague indicators. But a specific plan is a successful plan. When you tailor your growth strategy to your business and customers, you’ll keep your customers happy and fulfill their wants and needs, which will keep them coming back.

Five Phases – Project Management Lifecycle

Business 0

At the start of a project, the amount of planning and work required can seem overwhelming. There may be dozens, or even hundreds of tasks that need to be completed at just the right time and in just the right sequence.

Seasoned project managers know it is often easier to handle the details of a project and take steps in the right order when you break the project down into phases. Dividing your project management efforts into these five phases can help give your efforts structure and simplify them into a series of logical and manageable steps.

1. Project Initiation

Initiation is the first phase of the project lifecycle. This is where the project’s value and feasibility are measured. Project managers typically use two evaluation tools to decide whether or not to pursue a project:

  • Business Case Document – This document justifies the need for the project, and it includes an estimate of potential financial benefits.
  • Feasibility Study – This is an evaluation of the project’s goals, timeline and costs to determine if the project should be executed. It balances the requirements of the project with available resources to see if pursuing the project makes sense.

Teams abandon proposed projects that are labeled unprofitable and/or unfeasible. However, projects that pass these two tests can be assigned to a project team or designated project office.

2. Project Planning

Once the project receives the green light, it needs a solid plan to guide the team, as well as keep them on time and on budget. A well-written project plan gives guidance for obtaining resources, acquiring financing and procuring required materials. The project plan gives the team direction for producing quality outputs, handling risk, creating acceptance, communicating benefits to stakeholders and managing suppliers.

The project plan also prepares teams for the obstacles they might encounter over the course of the project, and helps them understand the cost, scope and timeframe of the project.

3. Project Execution

This is the phase that is most commonly associated with project management. Execution is all about building deliverables that satisfy the customer. Team leaders make this happen by allocating resources and keeping team members focused on their assigned tasks.

Execution relies heavily on the planning phase. The work and efforts of the team during the execution phase are derived from the project plan.

4. Project Monitoring and Control

Monitoring and control are sometimes combined with execution because they often occur at the same time. As teams execute their project plan, they must constantly monitor their own progress.

To guarantee delivery of what was promised, teams must monitor tasks to prevent scope creep, calculate key performance indicators and track variations from allotted cost and time. This constant vigilance helps keep the project moving ahead smoothly.

5. Project Closure

Teams close a project when they deliver the finished project to the customer, communicating completion to stakeholders and releasing resources to other projects. This vital step in the project lifecycle allows the team to evaluate and document the project and move on the next one, using previous project mistakes and successes to build stronger processes and more successful teams.

Although project management may seem overwhelming at times, breaking it down into these five distinct cycles can help your team manage even the most complex projects and use time and resources more wisely.

Benefits of Using Instagram For Your Business

Business, Marketing Strategy, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Technology 0

Once you create a business account on Instagram, you are eligible to reap the benefits mentioned below:

  • It is free!: You can signup and setup your account quickly and for free. Instead of spending huge bucks on hiring marketing agencies, be your own expert and spend wisely for promoting your business on Instagram.
  • To-the-point communication: As Instagram is a photo and video sharing platform, you get to convey your core communication message creatively.
  • Informal: Gone are those days when you had to oblige your audience with flowery and formal words. Use the young and creative app to influence your audience the way they like.
  • Connect with customers: Make use of Instagram for your business to reach out and engage with your customers directly. This will help you to get better marketing insights into your target audience, likes, dislikes, preferences and so on.
  • UGC: User Generated Content gives your audiences the liberty to understand your business better. This also helps them to trust you deeper thus creating an essence of loyalty towards your business in their minds.
  • Instant analytics: All the posts that you boost on Instagram from your business profile can be easily analyzed within minutes. This instant analysis of your posts will help you map effective marketing, content and sales strategy for your brand.

 

Instagram for Business by OMFiNiTiVE

It is not hidden, that Instagram was acquired by Facebook. The fusion of Instagram’s creativity and fun culture with Facebook’s accurate analytics and hassle-free business boosting tools, paved ways for many online businesses. To make the most of Instagram for your business use these 3 powerful strategies:

Instagram Content Strategy

Instagram is a very simple, creative and intimidating(initially) app. We all know that content is the king to promote any business. Therefore, it is important to draft a solid content strategy for Instagram in order to attract the right kind of audiences. More often than not, businesses end up asking “what should I post on my Instagram business profile?” Well, the answer is right here:

  • Creative Photos/ Videos: As the app is a visual in-the-moment platform, go extremely creative with the product photos and videos that you wish to post. Variety is the spice of life, so strike a balance between the kind of posts to want to put up (product, behind-the-scenes, leisure pictures, etc.) Make use of unique filters available to you to enhance the photos, to set the mood and to give them that extra edge. Basically, the idea is to be informal and allow your audiences to be a part of your world.
  • Perfect Post Caption: Caption your photos or videos well. A picture is worth 1000 words, but when it comes to business it is better to add a short and crisp caption so that your audiences know your business well.
  • Apt Hashtags(#): It’s a good habit to stay on top of what works and what doesn’t to attract new followers. A relevant and meaningful # allows non-followers to find your content. If they like your content they will willingly hit the “Follow” button in your profile. Apart from discoverability, hashtags also allow you to track your marketing campaigns, contests and so on. It helps you to categorize content related to a specific campaign so that you can monitor the performance of those hashtags efficiently.

Instagram Marketing Strategy

Still confused about from where to begin? Here’s what you need to your rescue – an effective marketing strategy! Like mentioned above, the app is quite intimidating at the first because it is different from other social media platforms, but you need to start somewhere.

  • Map target audience wisely: Every marketing strategy has mapping target audience as its top parameter, Instagram is no different here. Some helpful factors to consider while mapping your Instagram target audience include age, gender, location, interests, etc. Also, you can take a look your competitor’s followers to make your audience mapping easier.
  • Detailed competitor analysis: It’s good to know what your competitors are doing. If you already know your top competitors, scan their accounts thoroughly. Make a note of the type of posts receiving maximum engagement and likes. Start constructing your marketing and content strategy accordingly. The motive is not to copy your competitor’s strategy or to increase their ‘unfollow’ list. The agenda lies in progressing with the world and possibly leaping 10 steps ahead of the rest.
  • Posting regularly: Keep your Instagram editorial calendar always full and busy with relevant content to offer your audience. Constantly spy the best time to post on Instagram, healthy number of posts and also post a variety of content.

Instagram Sales Strategy

At the end of the day, the sole purpose of any business is to sell their products and services to maintain a consistent business cash flow. To see your sales soaring high –

  • Place useful links in bio: 37% of the Instagram audience decide whether or not to follow a business on the basis of the description. To avoid heavy spamming, the vibrant app has enabled placing business links only in the bio, placed right below your profile picture. Your post captions or any other cannot be pasted with links. So, make your bio useful and attractive your audience by correctly redirecting them to your website.
  • Promotions: It is easy to promote or ‘boost’ your post on Instagram via Facebook within seconds. To make the most of promotions, make use of influential marketing. Each Instagram profile has the potential to influence a billion. As per estimates, $1billion is spent on Instagram influencers. Learn more about influencer marketing and put into action today!
  • Run meaningful contests: #ContestAlert can bring you more results and followers than you can ever imagine! The exchange of goodies or free giveaways during contests is a great way to bring in a huge number of audience and alarming business.

Instagram Insights

All your efforts should end up with valuable results. You should know how your Instagram strategies and campaigns are performing. There are 4 basic Instagram insight metrics, you should keep an eye on:

  • Impressions: Refers to how many times your ads appear on user’ screen.
  • Reach: Reflects the number of unique users who have viewed your posts.
  • Profile Views: Represents the number of times your profile has been viewed.
  • Followers: This metrics shows the number of followers you have gained and lost over the past week.

Note: Instagram provides weekly insights for your business. Hence, you will not be able to access Instagram business insights of the past weeks. It is advisable to keep a record of all your business insights on weekly basis, to avoid losing out on any valuable insight into your business.

Marketing Strategy for Instagram

Business, Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Technology 0

Nearly 500 million people use Instagram, sharing an average 80 million photos every day. These are huge numbers.  Irrespective of who your target audience is, you will be sure to find them through Instagram.  It gives your online business an ability to reach out to customers where they are actively present.

While Facebook and Twitter marketing is overcrowded, Instagram as a social media channel is just warming up. Here are few simple tips which you integrate to start Instagram marketing:

OMFiNiTiVE

Optimize Bio

Instagram profile is the first line of communication for your online business. Therefore, your description should represent the idea of your online business and what you do as a company.  Take advantage of your bio link to drive traffic to your website. Bio link is the most crucial element as it is the only way to take people from your Instagram page to your business website.

You ought to include:

  1. Brand Slogan or Tagline
  2. A small outline of what you do and what you offer
  3. Bio Link

Develop Content Strategy

Content is the heart of your Instagram profile. 80 million photos which are shared every day encourages nearly 300 million users to log on to Instagram daily. You should have a clear idea for the content you’re are putting on Instagram. Post quality content which can enhance your brand image at the same time connect on an individual basis with the community members.

Content buckets which you can follow:

  1. User Generated Content
  2. Product demos
  3. Company culture
  4. Customer stories
  5. Entertaining stories
  6. Content as per trending hashtag

Choose Style Guide

Style guide ensures consistency element of your brand across all marketing channels. Style guide includes the design and layout of post published on Instagram. Consider defining following elements for your style guide:

  • Composition
  • Color
  • Font
  • Filters
  • Captions
  • Hashtags

Hashtag is Your Keyword

Like Google uses keywords to rank various websites, Instagram uses hashtags. Use Instagram’s Explore feature to find the posts related to the trending hashtags. Include these hashtags in your content if they are relevant to your online business. It is best to identify hashtags and then build your content around those hashtags. By putting your brand on the top of trending hashtags, your Instagram profile will be seen by people posting on that hashtag.

Analyze Results

Measuring ROI and tracking results helps you to optimize your content strategy. Paying close attention to your audience growth, number of likes and comments on your posts helps you to decipher which type content is working for you.

Use below formula to calculate the engagement rate of your Instagram marketing campaign:

#InstaFormula

Like + Comment / Followers X 100 = Engagement Rate

InstaRoad

  • Increase brand awareness
  • Showcase products/services
  • Showcase event experience
  • Share company news
  • Connect with influencers