Mobile Apps – why it’s worth it/available options

Hello friends! Today is the last and final post in my series dealing with specific tools for small businesses to use in relation to social media. After this, I will have a few blog posts about specific social media and how they can be optimized for the business, the customer, and their interactions. For now, let’s wrap up this series! WARNING: this is a long post because it covers a lot, but it’s all very interesting, I promise (at least, I think it is, but then again, I may be biased)!

Cells. Mobiles. Phones. Touchscreen. iPhone. Smartphone.

 (Image Credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(Image Credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Whatever you refer to your baby as, chances are that you most likely have one that you carry around with you everywhere and conduct much of your day-to-day activities on. According to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, 61% of Americans own a smartphone, with 91% of the adult population in America owning at least a regular cell phone. When a similar study was conducted in 2011, it found that only 35% of Americans used smartphones (ABC News).

So, Small Business Owner, what does this mean for you? Well isn’t it obvious?

 

Ok, if it’s not obvious, I’m here to tell you…Apps are where it’s at!

image credit: Google Images
image credit: Google Images

Think about it. Given that more than half of Americans own smartphones, you’re most likely a member of that percentage. Think about all you do on your phone: you schedule things, take calls, perhaps even have tools to conduct business…and how is all this possible? Through apps! See where I’m going with this? No? Ok. I’ll break it down further.

What I’m trying to stress to you: your small business NEEDS a mobile app!

Ok, perhaps need is too strong, but given this growth in smartphone users, with the numbers likely to continue to grow, there’s the potential to reach more than half the population of this country with one simple thing: an app.  Great, now you’re beginning to see!

Yes, developing mobile apps is quite costly. However, research shows that 50% of all web searches occur on a mobile device (TechRepublic.com). Here are a few of the benefits of having a mobile app for your small business/brand:

  • target local customers – according to research, customers on the go are more likely to engage with local brands through their phones/the use of apps
  • provide customers with special offers – this helps you reach leads and offer them incentives to interact with/become a user of your product(s)
  • offer better customer support – mobile apps are one way you can deliver support efficiently and swiftly; also, you can communicate with your customers through the app
  • collect customer feedback and behavior data – on a basic level, apps already help identify customer trends…how your customers interact with your product, their purchasing trends, their likes/dislikes, etc.; on a more advanced level, apps can even help you create a pretty solid customer profile because you can find their location, job, age, gender, spending limits, and so much more
  • apps can be used as promotional tools
  • ROI is raised
  • far reach potential
  • makes your brand/business mobile friendly

With all these benefits, I’m sure mobile apps now speak for themselves. So, now you’re wondering how you can do this, and how to develop an app on the cheap. Well, never fear, I have that information, too!

Mashable.com has an article listing 6 tools you can use to develop apps cheaply. I’ll summarize it below.

  1. PhoneGap – allows developers to create apps using HTML5 & CSS3, which are the standard coding languages that work across many platforms, including mobile devices. Price: free while you’re developing/in the beta phase; support beginning at ~$250/year
  2. Branded Business Apps – created mostly for service industry use (i.e. churches, hotels, restaurants, etc.), it is limited to a basic 40 features; however, many businesses have found those features perfectly meet their needs; this company has a 5-step development process so the app can be launched on iPhone/iPad & Android systems within 48 hours of development. Price: ~$400 to get started and a $39+ management fee paid on a monthly basis
  3. EachScape – unique because of its avoidance of the basic templates of a lot of cheaply designed apps, EachScape offers the developer the chance to drag and drop the block components it wants in an app, then integrates the content, customizes it, then generates a few options for potential apps the business could choose to use. Price: $2,500+/month
  4. Canvas – focuses primarily on data collection for small businesses; the apps record customer data and allow the businesses to access this date from the Canvas cloud. Price: $0.50/app use, $20 for unlimited use/month, $210 for unlimited use/year
  5. CloudSpokes – this is a unique approach to app developing that I am not entirely familiar with, nor do I completely understand it. From what I gather, it’s more of a game/competition for freelance developers to make apps based on basic information given by the business, then they vote on which app created is the one they want to use. Price: set by you, the client
  6. Red Foundry – this company allows developers full control over the quality and cost of the app platform; focuses mainly on design and user experience being optimized to its fullest extent. Price: it’s up to you! However, the company’s VP of Business Development warns that cheap apps usually suck…so keep that in mind when considering using this service.

 

So you survived this post and this series! Congratulations! I hope you learned some new ideas and about new and different services that can help you build up your customer base and expand your business/brand through the use of social media.

Bye y’all!

Inbound Marketing – what options are available (pt. 2)?

Hello, everyone! As promised, here is a continuation to my last post, which can be read here. Before looking at the product options, let’s review. The main functions/themes of inbound marketing are:

  • content creation – content is king! make sure you create content that is good/relevant & create it often
  • lifecycle marketing – target people based on where they are with interacting with your brand (e.g. new customers should be handled differently than leads, than returning customers, than customers who promote your brand, etc.)
  • personalization – people will connect with your company/brand more effectively if they feel it can do something for them and if you care for them; tailor messages to specific customers to leave impressions on them
  • multi-channel communication – see where most of your customers/potential customers interact most with your brand online and meet them there; with that said, don’t conduct all your promoting on one platform…find different modes/channels of communication to maximize the opportunity to reach more people
  • integration – let your publishing and analytics tools work for you by giving you information about all your channels so you can focus on proper content creation

Ok, great! Let’s get to it with those last three options!

Eloqua 

This company focuses mostly on marketing automation, which basically “refers to software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks” (Google). Eloqua promises to simplify automation for its clients, and even offers a free .pdf booklet that you can download to understand the process better.

Pardot

Pardot truly is the definition of integrated marketing. You can choose to use one, a few, or all of their services (e.g. email marketing help, social marketing, etc.). Specializing in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, Pardot focuses on how to get you a return on your investment (ROI). It offers you a demo version of its product(s) and like Eloqua, has its own free downloadable book that helps you understand its services and the ideas behind integrated marketing a little bit more. Also, I would like to personally add that its website is user friendly and the layout/design is nice and clean. 

So there you have it! From this post and the last one, you have a list of a few options of what’s available to you and your company. As always, I am not endorsing one or the other, nor am I being paid to mention these services/companies. I hope this is able to help some of you and the future of your brand!

Cheers!

 

 

Inbound Marketing – what options are available?

Hello, hello! In keeping with the theme of my series, here is part five of the social media tools for small businesses conversation! You can read part four in the series Here, which introduces and breaks down the concept of inbound marketing/why it’s such an important option that businesses should consider as they try to grow their customer base and interaction online.

To sum up what I wrote about in my last post, inbound marketing involves turning leads into customers into brand/business promoters by producing quality content that addresses the needs of/engages a company’s various audiences. To review, the major themes or goals of inbound marketing are:

  • content creation
  • lifecycle marketing
  • personalization
  • multi-channel communication
  • and integration.

So this is all fine and dandy, but where does a small business start if they decide inbound marketing is the way to go? It takes a lot of time, money, and creativity to come up with a solid content marketing plan, and to maintain it and to attain ROI (i.e. return on investment). However, software exists that does all this for a small business. This software automates creation of content, it finds potential leads, it handles distribution, and measures ROI. There are various options for software out there, and today I am going to highlight five that help with ROI. Please note, as always, I am not paid to endorse any of these options, and I personally have not used them myself.

Hubspot 

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Positioning itself as the go-to solution for small to medium-sized businesses, Hubspot has made a name for itself as one of the top software/service options for inbound marketing. Specializing in helping business owners who are not very tech savvy, Hubspot allows business owners to blog, find leads, manage social media, and do analytics all from one interface. It also offers SEO (search engine optimization) features and tips (learn more about SEO here and here), training for its resources, certifications, and even conferences. With a starting cost of $300/month, it is one of the cheapest options for small businesses and those looking to start out. It even offers a free trial period to see if you want to stick with the company.

Marketo

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Marketo to is an inbound marketing service that works a little differently just because it mainly focuses on business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This service helps a business focus in on the sale cycle of the customer, focusing on helping to create content that can be shared across many platforms to get the attention of new leads. The software Marketo offers helps companies create profiles of customers that hones in on a customer’s behavioral paths, and are shown content based on that profile. In addition to these features, Marketo is especially known for its ROI reporting tools.  However, Marketo is not very user-friendly to the technologically challenged out there, and its starting price is a lot higher than Hupspot’s, starting at $750/month upwards to $25,000/month. However, this software appears to work best if you already have an idea of which direction you’re headed with your company’s marketing, and what sorts of audiences you’re trying to attract.

Well, because it is late and this post is about to run very long, I’m going to stop here. I will post a part 2 to this post later, which will include two more services/software options that stood out in my searches.

Until then, arrivederci y’all!

 

 

Inbound Marketing – why it’s worth it

Hey guys! Here is part four in the series of posts I’m publishing dealing with the different options I discussed about social media in relation to small businesses. So in case you missed my first few posts, you can find them here, here, and here. Each week, I will release a more comprehensive discussion, followed by a review of different services the following week.

This week, I am discussing inbound marketing and what benefits small businesses can receive from this form of social media. Firstly, to answer a few questions I am sure you’re wondering right now: 1.) what is inbound marketing, and 2.) how is it social media? Well, I certainly am glad you asked because I want to answer that for you!

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing – Inbound Marketing Defined 

As people began charting the new frontier of the internet, when  Web 2.0 standards were being defined (and still are, today), businesses grew their customer base through outbound marketing. This old form of marketing meant relying on a wish and a prayer – businesses would purchase ad space in search engines and would purchase email lists, and hope for leads for their business. However, this is becoming an outdated way to build your clientele. So, what now? In walks Inbound Marketing. Fresh, shiny, and new, inbound marketing is becoming the up-to-date and current way to increase your brand’s awareness and to rake in new customers. How do businesses do this? By creating quality content online that reflects their brand and their brand’s desires. This seems one-sided, but if done properly, the idea is that customers will eventually take over and market the brand/business for you through online word of mouth. To better explain, here is a visual representation of what inbound marketing looks like/ways to go about doing this, as well as a link to the page I am referencing to better explain the concept.

infographic breaking down the inbound marketing concept
infographic breaking down the inbound marketing concept

As this graph shows, there are four steps to inbound marketing:

  • Attract the customers through different social media platforms
  • Convert them from impassive visitors to leads
  • Close the deal by turning them from leads into customers
  • and finally, delight, which basically is various ways of turning your customers into business promoters by keeping up good online content, and by offering them perks every once and a while.

One major theme to take away from inbound marketing:

ContentIsKing

Content is EVERYTHING. Without good content, you won’t be able to keep the customers you do have engaged, you will potentially be missing out of new customers out there, and actually bad or no content could hurt your business through bad word of mouth or even by never being able to raise brand awareness by getting your brand out there and putting your business on people’s maps.

How is Inbound Marketing Considered Social Media? 

Glad you asked again, I was just about to answer that. It is considered social media because of the various platforms that are available for use (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, email, etc.), and the importance of interacting with them through these media. I mentioned that the importance of content is a major theme that goes with inbound marketing. Well, there are others, as well, and I’ll break them down for you below (note: these are in a nonconsecutive order, one is not more important than that others).

  1. Content Creation This ties into the concept of content is king. It’s not just about creating content, it’s also about the type content that you’re creating. Your content needs to be targeted to your specific audience(s), and it needs to address the basic answers and needs of the customer(s)/audience(s). Also, the content needs to be shared both far and wide.
  2. Lifecycle Marketing This is just the simple realization that there are various levels of interaction with your brand, and their needs to be content based on these levels because each level will have different needs and questions that should be addressed (this simply means that marketing for potential/new customers should not look the same as marketing towards long-standing customers, brand promoters, etc.).
  3. Personalization As a business begins to learn its leads and customers and their behaviors, it can begin to tailor its messages/content in a bit more of a personal way.
  4. Multi-channel This is important what I’m about to say, so come in closer and listen well…DO NOT stick to one channel/medium if you’re hoping to grow your customer base. Inbound marketing is used so that businesses and people can find each other on the channel that they want to interact with you! This is important so you don’t feel limited to one medium outlet.
  5. Integration Use whatever publishing and analytics tools you wish to help you focus on producing the right content on the right channel at the right time.

I hope this gave you a better understanding of inbound marketing and its importance. Sometime this week, I will publish a post continuing this discussion of inbound marketing and how to optimize this tool to reach out to potential clients.

Until then, cheers y’all!

 

Email Marketing – why it’s worth it

Hey guys! Here is part three in the series of posts I’m publishing dealing with the different options I discussed about social media in relation to small businesses. So in case you missed my last post, I’m linking it here. Each week, I will release a more comprehensive discussion, followed by a review of different services the following week.

Last week, I provided an overview of three different email marketing services and what each one offers to a small business. Next week, in continuing this series, I’m going to go into go into an overview of inbound marketing and what it can do for a small business. Now, let’s move on with the agenda!

As I mentioned in my very first post, email marketing is the sleeker, much cooler, older sibling to direct mail. The same benefits of direct mail exist with email marketing, except to a greater extent and with the ability to reach even more of a target audience and multiple ones at the same time. It’s easier, cheaper, and keeps the customers engaged and happy…so what’s not to love, right?

However, according to Experian Marketing Service‘s annual Email Benchmark Survey study, personalized emails lead to SIX TIMES higher transaction rates for small businesses, BUT…only 30% of brands utilize this method proactively and often. Only 30%? That seems a little   way off to me! So why isn’t this number much higher?

Well, in truth, partly because many people feel that emails are outdated. The new and en vogue ways of engaging customers include social media and mobile media (though more studies are showing that a growing number of people mostly check their emails on their phones, so don’t count email marketing as an option out, just yet). Email is great because it delivers a conversation directly into a person’s inbox, which is perhaps the most personal way marketing can get; people use their smartphones in every possible situation you can think of. A growing number of people also settle into bed for the night, phone in tow, inbox up and running.

If none of this still isn’t convincing you, let me reiterate the benefits I discussed in my first post, and then some:

  • same benefits of direct mail
  • sending personalized emails to wider ranges & narrower targets
  • the low cost due to it being entirely electronically based
  • practically everyone has an email address
  • exact return on investments can be tracked (and is very high when properly done)
  • email marketing comes in second to search marketing as the most successful way to online market

and so many other benefits (click here to read more).

So, in my opinion, email marketing shouldn’t be discounted just yet. This horse is alive and bleating…healthy and ready for its race! As a nice little gift for everyone reading, I came across a website that offers a free e-book that offers more insight into email marketing and its benefits, and that can be found here (scroll to the bottom of the page…I am not being paid to promote this company!). I’m not sure if you have to sign up with this website or not to access the book, but I feel it bears further looking into. With as much as 57% of small businesses actively trying to expand their email communication with customers, email marketing is an option that more than 30% of brands should be using.

 

Signing off for now! Next week I’ll continue this series, but we’ll be discussing inbound marketing. As always, feel free to comment or send me a tweet!

Email Marketing – what options are available?

Hey guys! I’ve decided to do a short series of posts dealing with the different options I discussed about social media in relation to small businesses in my post from last week. So in case you missed my last post, I’m linking it here. Each week, I will release a more comprehensive discussion, followed by a review of different services the following week. For now, until I get more information, I am going to do a quick review of some of the top services I’ve come across.* So, here is the second part in my multi-week series!

Last week, I discussed how email marketing was similar in concept to, but a more updated form of direct mail. Next week, I’ll provide a little more detail about this, but for now, I wanted to give a basic overview of the options available to small businesses

AWeber:

AWeber is a young company, having started its business in 1998. With 110 team members total, AWeber is a relatively small company, and perhaps even has a unique insight into some of the struggles faced by small business, considering. In terms of what this company offers your small business in marketing, the benefits include:

  • custom templates and sign up banners to match your business’ theme, color scheme, etc.
  • list management to group your clients/targeted groups together along identifiers
  • email performance tracking
  • plans start at $19 per month

Campaigner:

Campaigner is a solution that actually offers its services  to both small businesses (beginners) and corporations (professionals). Campaigner promises small businesses email communication capabilities that are highly personalized with the intent of giving the customer on the receiver end that one-on-one feel. Campaigner has been in business for over a decade, and offers small businesses:

  • the chance to grow your customer base through email lists
  • over 600 email templates, plus the ability to customize your own
  • email reporting to help you manage the success of your campaign
  • auto-responses
  • plans that start at $10 per month with the option of a free 30 day trial to see if you like the services

Constant Contact

Perhaps the most comprehensive of the three, Constant Contact encompasses more than just email marketing. Geared towards helping small businesses with self-promotion, Constant Contact offers personalized coaching in addition to email marketing services, social media marketing, event marketing, digital storefronts, a business listing platform, and online surveys of your customers. Plans start at $15 per month, and they also allow you to try their services for free for a short period (not sure how long, exactly). On the surface, this service seems to offer the most in terms of different ways to connect with your customers in today’s digital age.

Well, that’s all for now, folks. Quick update: I will be posting twice this week, since I wasn’t able to post last week (in fact, this was intended to be last week’s post). So look for part three of this series later this week; I’ll go into a little more detail about what exactly email marketing is and why it should be considered as a tool for small businesses to use. Please note, I am not endorsing one service or the other, as I do not personally use them myself. I chose these three businesses because they came up most in my search options. I can give a basic overview of a few more if y’all would like!

Until the next post…

Social Media Tools for Connecting with Customers

Many small businesses either fail at using or underutilize a vital tool that, if used correctly, will greatly benefit these companies in the long run…social media. Given the technology landscape in our world today, it seems silly that some businesses opt out of or don’t take the time learn how to maximize their customer relationships through social media. There are many tools out there that can be used for small businesses to connect with their customers: email marketing, inbound marketing, and

Email Marketing Services

With the same concept as direct mail, email marketing is the direct mail’s brand new face lift procedure. The same benefits of direct mail exist, but along easier lines. Sending personalized emails, but to a wide range of people exists as a possibility. Without the need to print so many pieces of mail, the electronic aspect allows it to be a low-cost, but high-potential communication tool. This is a great option because many people do not not have emails, and, as is so common of many today due to the endless abilities of our mobile devices, check their emails from bed. A small business that keeps customers engaged through coupon offers, newsletters, personalized offers, etc. has a greater chance of keeping a happy cliental. (3 Small Business Marketing Tools Connect You with Better Customers).

Inbound Marketing 

This form of marketing is a new concept that attracts a customer base through the production of online content. The cost is low, entry is easy, and it quickly gains the attention of people on the web. This form of marketing is new and uses content such as blog posts, social network updates, ebooks, etc. SmartInsights.com defines inbound marketing as “any tactic that relies on earning people’s interest rather than buying it.”

Mobile Apps 

This one is pretty self-explanatory. There are many services out there that allow for small businesses to create apps that engage their customers with rich features and impacting user experience for relatively low costs. Apps are a great way to reach potential customers because a majority of people either use smartphones, interactive mp3 players, or have access to computers with the ability to download apps.* Apps offer people a condensed but inclusive overview of what a business is about, what it offers to its customers, the vibe of the company, and so many other characteristics.

 

With all that is available in today’s technology age, small businesses have more options than ever to reach a customer-base and help their businesses succeed. Many businesses opt out of the social media landscape because they don’t want to take the time to understand it, or they do not have the funds to spend on extras while they are trying to keep a budding business afloat. While cost is a legitimate concern, there are many cheap and free outreach options that businesses can utilize to maximize on people who are out there but may not be aware of the business.

 

*I am speaking specifically from the viewpoint of someone who lives in America.