17 posts categorized "SMB Marketing Tips"

6 Unexpected Ways Businesses are Using iPhones and iPads in the Workplace is the seventh in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick

For decades, Apple courted the consumer market so exclusively that business clients often considered the company actively hostile. Since the iPhone/iPad revolution, though, Apple products have appeared more and more in employee hands at businesses both large and small. In some cases they work as the newest productivity tool, a next-generation upgrade from the standard laptop. Other businesses, have taken the implementation to an entirely new level.

1. Meet the New Cash Register
Internet-based credit card processing is beginning to nudge traditional point of sale machines out of the market. Combined with apps like Square for order tracking and accounting, this turns your iPhone/iPad into a portable cash register. Salespeople can ring up orders on the floor, or take them into the field for house calls. 

2. Upgrade Presentations
Old-school sales presentations means carrying printed materials; they're bulky and can quickly become outdated. The iPad/iPhone way of presenting is light, portable, and easy to update. Apps like Keynote allow you to add colorful graphics, animation and videos, makes this new presentation approach still more powerful. 

3. The Truly Paperless Office
Large companies and small businesses have a common problem -- too much paper. Putting the same information on a dedicated iPad though -- or a server the device can log in to -- eliminates paper and saves trees. It also creates a document that's easy to update, and one that everyone can access at the same time.

4. Integrated Customer Tracking
A business without an electronic customer database is far behind the times. But some savvy business owners are going further by integrating that customer database with apps for their iPhone/iPad. This benefits them in three ways: It lets them choose the best candidates for marketing broadcasts; it gives them the ability to update information in real time while talking to customers; and it makes inputting a new customer's information a more pleasant experience by moving it away from a formal desk and a bulky computer. 

5. The Robot Waiter
An iPad integrated with another in a restaurant kitchen means a comfortably seated diner can order a meal at the pace that best suits him. Instantaneous, electron ic delivery, helps out as well by eliminating wait staff errors, and lost or confused tickets. No luck yet, though, on an iPad that actually carries your food to the table!

6. Flexible Workstations
Everyone's interacted with the conceptual ancestor of the iPad for years by signing the UPS worker's electronic order tracking pad. Apps for the iPad now provide this kind of workstation for every imaginable task, and let one employee use the same device for different tasks throughout the day. A network of iPad workstations also gives management real-time tracking of progress

7 Great, Affordable Web Apps That Small Businesses Use To Communicate With Their Customers is the sixth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Zack Miller

In an increasingly wired world, businesses are reaping huge profits by automating many parts of their business. It’s enticing — providing service breadcrumbs for your customers to help themselves. If you’re automating customer service, though, bad move.

In this market, customer service is the new sales.

Marketing analysts point to online shoe store, Zappos, as the paradigm of how good customer service can build a huge company — no matter what you’re selling. The 8-year old company that was bought by Amazon last year for almost $1 billion has service as its #1 core value. By continuously surpassing customer expectations, Zappos has been able to create a raving pack of customer evangelist lunatics.  

Zappos sells shoes online. It has nothing short of a cultish following.

New customer service tools make it easy for companies of any size to delight their customers. Once the domain of only the largest companies, these technologies put the service muscle of the Fortune 500 in the hands of small and medium size businesses — easy to implement and on the cheap.

Here are seven easy and affordable tools that business can use to offer world class customer service:

1. Customer chat: Online businesses have improved their ability to help customers find what they’re looking for, but they still fail 28% of the time. Services like Olark allow website operators to fully engage via chat with people browsing their sites. Reaching out to prospects poking around a website — in a gently, guiding way — can be a great way to fill the empty space between supply and demand. Olark’s also decently priced, has a ton a features, and can be set up in minutes.

2. Email marketing: Many successful online businesses are using outbound email marketing to stay in front of their customers with great communication, offers and service. Mailchimp has become a customer favorite because it’s hard to beat in price (free, up to 2,000 subscribers) and it’s a pleasure to use. Email marketing is effective in converting prospects to customers.

3. Text messaging: SMS is kind of like the sleeping giant of customer service. Few companies are really doing this effectively — yet. Ez Texting provides a cost-effective SMS marketing platform that firms can use to customize how they ping their clients on their phones. Businesses can fine-tune who they target and create auto-replies for specific keywords

4. Support ticketing: Turnaround time on inbound requests and questions is key to keeping customers happy and satisfied. Zendesk enables firms to focus on what’s core to their business and automate an email ticketing system. These systems used to cost tens of thousands of dollars to build and manage. Now, you can get in for less than $10/month.

5. Social media monitoring: Research shows that customers want answers delivered via social media as well. Hootsuite is a marketer’s favorite tool to monitor and communicate over social media in real time. Its dashboard allows firms to monitor multiple social profiles, track brand mentions, and schedule outgoing messages.

6. Invert your call center: Instead of asking customers to wade through your service center’s phone tree, identify how important the call is to your prospect or clients. For those really excited to chat with a company rep, they can request a callback by using a callback module like the ones offered by Fast Customer.

7. Customer self-help: There are times where self-service works — especially for customers that are DIY in nature. Consider using a free, hosted FAQ, like the one FaqMe offers. Customers are frequently happy to try and figure things out themselves and a frequently-asked question page is where they’re trained to look for answers. FaqMe’s tools make creating this page easy and the platform has some analytics so businesses can monitor where customers are getting stuck.

You don't need Fortune 500 resources to deliver world-class customer service. With these easy and affordable web tools, small and medium business can out-service — and out-compete — much larger competitors.

7 Easy Last Minute Ways To Boost Your Small Business’s Holiday Sales With Digital Marketing is the fifth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick

The holiday season -- those heady weeks from Black Friday to Christmas Eve -- is the happiest time of the fiscal year for most retailers. People are out and about shopping and spending, but competition for their business is fierce. 

The best results for getting customers in your store come when you've been working your marketing plan for some time, but that's not always easy for small businesses. Whether you're running late, or want to boost sales when the season isn't what you'd hoped for, digital marketing can give you the real-time boost you need.

1. Put your keyword and short codes on everything--print, voice, radio, and electronic ads
The more people they reach, the larger your blast list will be. The larger your blast list, the better performance you'll see from your digital marketing efforts.

2. Include QR (quick response) codes on all print and display ads
This lets people sign up for your messages or other mobile-oriented content with the push of a camera button on a smartphone.

3. Hold events in the middle of the week
Weekend sales put you in competition with everybody; midweek you'll get more attention. Announce events through your email, SMS, and social media networks. A countdown starting three days out is a good way to stay front of mind.

4. Take advantage of pay-per-click advertising like Google AdWords
These offer same-day implementation, real-time tracking, and complete control over final cost. They can save the day, even after print and radio advertising deadlines are long past. 

5. Offer extra benefits
Give people who opt in to your SMS marketing programs something special, like early admission to a major sale or an extra 5% discount. They'll become more engaged with your company, and share your keywords with friends. Similarly, you can offer a special bonus for people who share your posts and bring in more fans for your social media.

6. Don't let four business hours go by without making contact
People are out and about throughout the season. If one message catches them with family, the next might find them just around the corner from your shop. Many people are frugal and check their list twice when holiday shopping, but others are susceptible to impulse gifting.

7. Keep the campaign rolling
The weeks just after Christmas keep retailers busy with money from gift cards and exchanged merchandise. Your digital campaign will bring some of that money your way. You can also focus your SMS and email coupons to help clear extra stock that didn't move during the holiday rush.

7 Tips For More Effective SMS Marketing Campaigns is the fourth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Linda Doell

With millions of Americans connected to mobile technology, reaching those potential customers with a clear and effective SMS marketing campaign is more important than ever.

Just take a look at the numbers for proof of the potential market. In the three-month period between June to September, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices, according to a new comScore MobiLens report. A whopping three-fourths of those used text messaging with the number of users increasing from 69.6% in June to 71.1% in September.

Think of all the opportunity to get the word out about your business with an effective SMS marketing campaign. Here are seven tips to help you put it together.

1. Be clear and Get Permission
As you grow the numbers in your company's database, make sure the consumer has agreed to receive text messages from you (whether via prior opt-in, Keyword opt-in or web opt-in). Each person on the contact list also needs to know how often to expect messages and how to opt out of receiving messages. Make it easy for the customer to join your mobile list by setting up a mobile keyword that links them to your messaging list.

2. Build a Relationship with your Customers
Cultivate your database of customers and keep them interested in your business. One way to do that is by regularly notifying them about promotions, sales and new products. Your business can also keep customers by sending them coupons as a reward for their patronage.

3. Get Local
Help your customers feel connected by personalizing the messages, including tailoring them to a specific area or location.

4. Keep it Simple
When sending messages, use simple plain language with well-known texting shortcuts to avoid ambiguity.

5. Link the SMS Campaign With Your Other Advertising
Allow customers to sign up for the text messaging from the company's Facebook page or Twitter account, which will drive customers to your message list.

6. Make the Message Timely
Be mindful of the time of day your business sends out the messages -- a text message sent during the day while many are working may not get the same response as one sent at a more appropriate time. The timing will depend on what the business' customer base is and what are its preferences.

Also keep in mind how often your business sends out messages. Build excitement among customers by limiting the number of messages each month -- so they will be looking for the messages when they arrive. Place time limits on the offers sent out via SMS to create urgency among customers.

7. Reach Out and Reply
Talk with your customers and provide advice and tips. In return, you gain valuable feedback and increase their loyalty to your company.

An SMS marketing campaign can be easily tailored to fit your company's needs as well as the needs of your customers, and can be an easy tool to stay connected in our mobile society.

3 Essential Tips To Get More Out Of Your Email Marketing Efforts is the third in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Simit Patel

As the Internet grows, email marketing has become an increasingly powerful marketing tool. Microsoft and Yahoo! both count more than 300 million users of their email services as of September 2011, and a comScore study shows that 20% of all emails are now read on smartphones. The take-home message from these numbers is that email is an essential marketing channel for your small business.

To get the most out of the email marketing opportunity, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Always Build Your List.
Email marketing is possible only if you have a collection of email addresses to reach out to. So the first step of getting more out of email marketing is to build your list. The simplest and perhaps most effective way of accomplishing this objective is to make it as easy as possible for individuals to opt-in to your list; putting a simple opt-in form on your website is an effective tactic in this regard. Also, bear in mind that individuals will be more likely to opt-in if they are rewarded for doing so; sending them free reports, free trials of products, or entering them into a raffle are ways of rewarding customers in the name of building your email list. Note that permission marketing runs parallel to email marketing; having your members opt-in to your email list ensures that you have their permission, which in turn increases the likelihood of your email marketing efforts yielding meaningful responses while also keeping you safe from spam filters.

2. Use Email List Management Software.
The rise in email marketing has been met by a number of companies (iContact, Constant Contact, MailChimp) that have created very affordable tools to help businesses manage their email lists. These tools can help marketers get an idea of how many members of their email list open emails, how many click on links, and other such data that can help marketers get data that lets them measure what is working and what is not. Moreover, advanced email management software will have even more functionality that allows emails to be automatically sent on a given schedule, and for emails to be customized based on how users interact with the email (whether they open it, if they click on a link, etc).

3. Use Email to Build Other Channels (Like Text Messaging).
The efforts marketers put toward building their email lists can also help them in other marketing channels -- like Facebook, Twitter or text messaging. For instance, allowing people to provide their mobile phone number to receive text messages when opting in to email lists is a way to "kill two birds with one stone" -- meaning build multiple marketing channels with the same amount of effort. In this way, email marketing can be the foundation of extraordinarily cost-effective marketing campaigns.

Ultimately, creativity is the only boundary that limits the possibilities marketers have with email marketing. As the Internet and smartphone usage grows, email may become the best method of reaching your prospective customers and marketing to your audience. From this perspective, getting the most out of email marketing efforts will become increasingly paramount.

Doing Mobile Coupons the Right Way with Text Messaging is the second in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Simit Patel

Thanks to the rise of mobile devices, specifically cell phones, the coupon industry is experiencing a revival. Mobile research group mobiThinking estimates that more than 77% of the people on the planet can be reached via their cell phone. This creates an unprecedented opportunity to reach customers at any time, affording marketers a greater opportunity to acquire customers and earn trust via coupon marketing.

Thus far, the media surrounding this trend has focused largely on location-based group commerce services like Groupon and LivingSocial, but there other routes open to small business owners that they can inexpensively and effectively use to their advantage. Indeed, perhaps the most powerful way to promote mobile coupons is through text messaging.

Text Messaging is Pervasive and Cost-Effective
Text messaging has "crossed the chasm" to become a mainstream phenomenon: a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center noted that 72% of American adults now use text messaging, sending an average of 10 text messages per day. For the younger generations, the numbers are even more staggering: 87% of teenagers text, averaging 50 sent messages per day. Since smartphone penetration is just now reaching 40% (according to a Nielsen study) a mobile coupon campaign built around texting can help marketers reach a wider audience relative to other options.

Of equal importance to marketers for small businesses is that marketing services built around text messaging are typically far less expensive to try than the daily deals offered by the aforementioned smartphone-centric group buying services. With Ez Texting, for instance, marketers can get started at just $29 per month; the smartphone daily deal networks, on the other hand, have a more complex method that can result in greater risk for firms if the campaign is not thoroughly planned.

Using Push and Pull Campaigns to Boost Sales
Once you're ready to go down the text messaging route, the first step is to decide how best to execute your mobile coupon marketing campaign. There are two basic options: push campaigns and pull campaigns.

In a push campaign you gather phone numbers, and send out a text message with a unique code.The customer can then show this code at your store to redeem their discount. On the other hand, in a pull campaign, members send a text to a number you publish. Doing that subscribes them to your mobile coupon list. Essentially, creating a mobile coupon campaign is like building an email list online - something many small businesses and marketers have already used to their advantage.

Of course, the key to a successful mobile coupon marketing campaign is not simply the technology used, but rather ensuring that the entire process is a positive one for the customer. Customers who opt-in to mobile coupons have granted you permission to send them text message coupons. Make the redemption process simple, and the customer will come away feeling positive about doing business with you. This in turn establishes the trust of the customer, and helps you build your brand. Your gain comes in the form of increased sales and beneficial word-of-mouth marketing--which leads to future sales at no additional marketing cost.

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Want to send SMS Coupons to your customers? Learn about Ez Texting's SMS Marketing Features.

How to Effectively Use QR Codes is the first in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Simit Patel

Perhaps you've seen these black and white squares that look a bit like a Rorschach test on a billboard, in a display ad on public transportation, or in a magazine, and wondered about them.

They're QR codes. QR is an abbreviation for Quick Response. Like a bar code that's scanned by the cashier at the supermarket, a QR code  can be scanned by consumers using smartphones to get information about a product or service.

Introduced in 1994 by Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota, QR codes have recently gained a second life as a marketing tool. Accessing a code can unlock a variety of goodies for customers, from discounts, to reminders, to smartphone applications.

Codes allow companies to build relationships with customers. They offer businesses insight into consumers buying habits and needs, allowing them to spend ad dollars more effectively while creating more personalized offerings for shoppers. 

So what's the first step in the QR code process?

1. Find the right partners
If you're not a software developer, finding technology partners is key to the execution of a successful program. Firms like SmartyTags can help you create the code, and firms like Ez Texting can help you disseminate the message.

2. Decide where to place them for maximum return
Along with finding the best technology partners for your business, you also need to determine where to advertise them. Customers will be accessing the codes and the information on them via a smartphone, so you need to figure out where you can best reach your target audience. 

In addition to obvious places like ads in magazines, newspapers, and other print media, you also want to include them on display panels at trade shows, in store windows that sell complementary products, and on your business cards. 

3. Determine what to offer to entice potential buyers
Use your creativity to decide what information you want the user to receive after scanning the code. Just about anything is a possibility. You can send a coupon redeemable at your store just for accessing the code. You can offer a discount for liking your Facebook page; you can even invite viewers to participate in a poll or contest, and further engage their interest. 

As smartphones become increasingly commonplace and powerful, QR codes will present ever-increasing marketing opportunities. So investing in QR marketing now, will help you build a foundation for the future. What's a trend today, has the potential of rising to the forefront of digital marketing, as technology progresses. 

Other resources: Ez Texting QR Code Generator