Loading

Grow Smart Business


teaserInfographic
Close
For more information and charts about Small Business Mobile:
and See Key Highlights from the Web.com Small Business Mobile Survey
homepreneur

Search Articles



Small Business News

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: PEX Card (Business Prepaid Card)

January 28th, 2013 ::

PEX Card

Is your company’s spending getting out of control? Are you finding it hard to keep track of employee expenses? PEX Card is a business prepaid card specifically designed to help companies take control of employee expense management. For a monthly per-card fee, businesses can distribute funds for employees to spend and then keep track of transactions as they occur. There are no transaction fees and no interest charges, and businesses gain more power over the company’s cash flow. You or your internal PEX Card administrator can easily add funds to your employee cards through the PEX website; that money is available to employees immediately.

 

How to Use Psychology to Boost Sales, Part 1

January 28th, 2013 ::
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Using Psychology to Boost Sales

psychologyI majored in business administration, and looking back, it amazes me that at least one psychology class wasn’t a required course for business majors – especially those of us focusing on marketing. So much of marketing and sales is based on what people respond to – which of course has its roots in psychology.

So I was delighted to stumble across a great infographic on the SocialFresh blog called “10 Ways to Convert More Customers Using Psychology.” If you have a chance to check it out, do, but if you don’t, you can rest easy knowing I did the work for you.

Here are the first 5 ways to turn a no (the problem) into a yes (the solution):

Problem: Action paralysis, in which we avoid making a decision for no good reason

Solution: Set minimums that are easy to attain.

Example: Purchase 2, get 1 free; First month free

Problem: Not feeling special; just feeling like a number

Solution: Label your customers so they feel like part of a special group.

Example: VIP; platinum, gold, silver levels

Problem: Convincing tightwads to open their wallets

Solution: Since tightwads (yes, that is an actual psychology-based term) make up 24% of buyers, you need to appeal to them by reframing the value of your product or service.

Example: Bundle products for a better price, reframe value ($2 per week instead of $110/year), roll fees into the price

Problem: Not admitting to fault

Solution: Because buyers trust companies who admit a problem is their fault, take the blame, even if it’s not your fault (really!).

Example: If a product is not available temporarily because shipment from a vendor is delayed due to a manufacturing problem, apologize and explain what you’re doing to fix the situation.

Problem: Incomplete calls-to-action (CTA)

Solution: Sales messages that convey urgency and scarcity work, but only if buyers are told how to make the purchase.

Example: Add a phone number, email address, or link to a landing page in your CTAs.

Look for my next blog post, in which I share the final 5 ways to turn no’s into yes’s.

What are your favorite tricks and tips to boost sales?

Image courtesy of psy.ed.ac.uk

Mobile Commerce, Mobile Payments: What’s the Future?

January 28th, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

While mobile payments and m-commerce have generated a lot of buzz in the media recently, both have been slow to take off and still comprise a very small percentage of payments and sales in the U.S. However, that may soon change, as two separate studies by Forrester reported in MediaPost project that mobile payments and m-commerce will surge in the U.S. in the next few years.

Payment Predictions

The first study projects mobile payments will increase from $18.2 billion this year to $90 billion in 2017—growth of nearly 50 percent. The study looked at three kinds of mobile payments. Mobile proximity, or in-store, payments are expected to grow fastest, increasing 137% to $41 billion by 2017, and going from 6% of mobile payments to 45%.

Much of the proximity payment growth is predicted to come next year, when Forrester says “early adopters” will begin using mobile payment solutions. This will force retail businesses to play catch-up and offer more mobile payment alternatives, as well as to incorporate Near Field Communication (NFC) technology into their point-of-sale systems.

Mobile Matters

The second study predicts that m-commerce will rise from $12 billion in 2013 to $31 billion in 2017, but its growth rate of 31 percent will be low compared to that of mobile payments. What’s holding m-commerce back? Currently, Forrester says, consumers are worried about security issues related to mobile transactions; m-commerce still isn’t well integrated with other ways to shop; and the checkout process needs to be simplified. (Both reports focused solely on the use of smartphones for payments and m-commerce, not on tablets.)

Currently, just 3 percent of ecommerce sales occur on smartphones, compared to some 57 percent that take place on tablets. Because of this wide discrepancy, Forrester’s report suggests that instead of worrying about how to encourage shopping on smartphones, retailers might be wise to focus on creating a better tablet shopping experience. After all, as tablet prices drop and tablets become even more widely adopted, it’s likely consumers will gravitate to them over smartphones when they want to browse or buy.

Image by Flickr user loupiote (Creative Commons)

 

 

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Lemon Wallet (Digital Credit Card App)

January 25th, 2013 ::

Lemon Wallet

Ever forget to bring the right credit card when you’re out with a client? Or perhaps you’ve had your wallet lost or stolen and have had to spend hours on the phone canceling and replacing all your cards. Lemon Wallet allows you to scan and digitize all the information on your credit cards for easy retrieval on your phone. Merchants can then scan the image on your phone to download your card information for your purchases. Lemon Wallet also keeps your credit card balance handy and allows you to store your receipts digitally so you aren’t in danger of losing track of expense receipts. Lemon Wallet works on all mobile devices.

2013 Hiring Forecast: A Good Employee Is Hard to Find

January 25th, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Will you be hiring employees for your small business this year? If so, you’re in good company–but you might face challenges as tough as looking for a needle in a haystack. More than one-fourth of hiring managers polled in the CareerBuilder Hiring Forecast for 2013 say their companies will be hiring full-time, permanent employees in 2013, up 3 percent compared to 2012. However, that doesn’t mean the hiring outlook is rosy.

Many businesses are still on the fence about hiring. Although more than 60 percent of employers in the survey say they are in a better financial position than last year, the slow pace of recovery is still affecting hiring plans, and the percentage of companies planning layoffs also increased, from 7 percent last year to 9 percent this year. Small businesses, in particular, show signs of indecision, with both the percentage planning to hire and the percentage planning to lay people off up 3 percent from last year.

If you are planning to hire, what markets will see the most competition? Sales (29 percent) and IT (27 percent) are the top areas where companies plan to hire. These are also the two areas that will see the biggest salary increases. Customer service, engineering and production are close behind sales and IT, with slightly over 20 percent of companies planning to hire for these roles.

While it may be hard to believe, in many industries and/or regions of the country, it’s hard to fill skilled positions, and employers are struggling to find workers. How are companies dealing with the shortage?

  • Temp time: More businesses are relying on temporary employees or using staffing services to fill in the gaps. Some 40 percent of companies surveyed report plans to hire temporary and/or contract workers in 2013, an increase from 36 percent last year.
  • Talent poaching: More employers are actively recruiting employees from other companies. Almost 20 percent of employees in the survey reported having been approached by a potential employer in 2012 even though they hadn’t applied for a job at that company.
  • Pay raises: Employers are concerned not only about finding skilled workers, but holding on to those they already have. No wonder many employers in the survey said they plan to increase compensation for both existing staff and prospective hires.
  • Do-it-yourself: Instead of searching for skilled employees, more companies are training their existing employees to move up to positions of greater responsibility or learn new skills that are needed within the business. Some 39 percent of employers said they will train current employees for new positions this year, up from 38 percent last year.

Image by Flickr user John Pavelka (Creative Commons)

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Heyo (Social Marketing Tool)

January 24th, 2013 ::

Heyo

Want a better Facebook page? How about a mobile app for your business? Heyo is a social marketing tool that lets businesses do all that and more–all with easy drag-and-drop steps that don’t take a lot of time. If you’ve ever run across a Facebook fan page you admire and wish you could create one, too, Heyo can help with attractive templates or custom design tools. You can choose from over 30 widgets ranging from coupons and “Buy” buttons to contest and email opt-ins. Then Heyo takes your fan page and creates a mobile app based on your social data complete with photos and fan page tabs so your customers can see your page on their smartphones or mobile devices.

Your Guide to LinkedIn Advertising

January 24th, 2013 ::

LinkedIn people puzzleIf you’re a B2B company, attracting new customers with pay-per-click (PPC) ads on LinkedIn rather than Google or Facebook may be the way to go.  That’s because you can target your ad to specific job titles, job functions, industries, company size, seniority, by LinkedIn Groups, etc. to ensure you are reaching either the end user or the person who makes the purchase decision.

Who you can reach on LinkedIn:

  • 175 million professionals worldwide, 40 million of whom are US-based
  • 7.9 million business decision makers
  • 1.3 million small business owners
  • 4.2 million corporate executives

How it works:

  • Choose your target demographic and location
  • Set a budget for clicks ($2 minimum) and the total you want to pay overall ($10 minimum)
  • Pay $5 activation fee

Types of ads:

  • Poll ads: Conduct market research and build brand awareness at the same time
  • Join group ads: If you have a LinkedIn Group, you can advertise it and increase your reputation as a thought leader
  • Social ads: These ads integrate member activities and information about advertising to target buyers based on what LinkedIn knows about your social network.
  • Video ads: This is the newest ad type, which lets you add your YouTube video or a 30 second video to ads.

Tips:

  • Make sure you measure your click-through-rate (CTR) on a regular basis to ensure your ad is working; you want a CTR of 0.025% or better.
  • Ads with images get 20% more clicks.
  • Turn your headline into a question to garner more attention.
  • You can create up to 15 ad variations to figure out which image and text work best.
  • Target ads to one specific group instead of everyone; the CTO has different priorities and needs than the CIO.

Have you advertised on LinkedIn yet? What about Google or Facebook? What strategies have you used to increase your CTR?

Image courtesy of blog.hubspot.com

Where Will Businesses Spend on IT in 2013?

January 24th, 2013 ::

By Karen Axelton

What will businesses be spending their IT dollars on for 2013? Until now, global uncertainty about the economy has been affecting IT spending, TechCrunch reports. Research firm Gartner’s projects worldwide spending on devices, including PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers, to hit $666 billion this year, a 6.3 percent increase compared to 2012. However, the rise is still a significant cutback from Gartner’s prior forecast that 2013 would see $706 billion in global device spending or 7.9 percent growth.

For small business owners, however, the decreased spending may actually be good news. That’s because much of the reason for the shrinkage is lower prices thanks to cheaper Android devices. Another factor? PC purchasing is dropping drastically as consumers and businesses switch to tablet computers, for which there are many inexpensive options available.

Meanwhile, Forrester’s newest IT spending projections forecast 5.4 percent growth in 2013, but predict that 2014 is when growth will really ramp up. The company predicts that pent-up demand for mobile devices, cloud computing and smart computing will boost IT spending by 6.4 percent in 2014.

Other trends worth noting:

  • Storage devices and peripherals are also seeing slowing growth, with that trend expected to continue as more consumers and businesses move storage to the cloud.
  • PC and server vendors were hard hit in 2012 as these technologies became less used, and the industries’ decline in sales is projected to continue.
  • Apple bucked the trend of decreasing desktop/PC sales. The company saw strong growth in sales of PCs and laptops, and that is projected to continue through 2013 and 2014.
  • Windows 8 devices will see 8 percent growth in 2014, but will still be far outpaced by the double-digit increase in sales of Linux, Android and Apple products.

Overall, Forrester and Gartner both see 2013 as a transitional year when many technologies are becoming obsolete as new, less expensive ones take hold. For small businesses on tight IT budgets, that could be very good news.

Image by Flickr user Andrew Turner (Creative Commons)

5 Types of Marketing Content That Will Fuel Your Sales

January 23rd, 2013 ::

MoneyWhether your company offers a product or a service, having content on hand that you or your sales team can share with prospective customers is incredibly important. You’ll be able to showcase your capabilities and the value and benefits of working with you over someone else.

Here are 5 types of marketing content you should keep at the ready:

Explainer videos

An explainer video tells a visual story of how your product or service works. While these are especially handy for physical products you can see, they can also be used for virtual products/services, like an app or cloud-based service (check out Dropbox’s video).

If you are a professional service provider, like a real estate agent, consultant or attorney, you can use a video to quickly explain the value you bring to your clients while letting them get to know you a little bit.

Blog posts

Yes, it is OK to mention your products and services in your blog posts – on occasion. You could write about how you use your own product or service in your company, how-to guides, or a list of quick tips. You can also publish news, in which you announce important new partnerships, new products or services, or new features or updates, just like Modus Create did here.

Case studies

These are one of the best ways to market your company and convert prospective clients into new clients. Case studies give you the chance to show the value of your products and services. When I write them, I keep them pretty structured, like these that I wrote for Brighter Strategies. The first paragraph explains the problem, the second paragraph talks about the solution and how it was implemented, and the third paragraph concludes with the outcome or results.

Presentations

If you ever give presentations on your products, services, or company, whether it’s a seminar or at a conference, save them in Slideshare so you can easily share them later – and others can easily find them with a quick search. If you have a sales team, definitely create presentations for them to ensure your products and services are discussed the way you think is best.

Data sheets

Data sheets are full of information – they’re not sexy, but they are important if you sell a product. You can list product features, hardware, software, or other types of  requirements, competitive comparisons, charts and graphs that demonstrate product value, and even return on investment data.  Here’s a really comprehensive one for the Audi A3 (my car!).

What marketing content do you share with prospective clients?

Image courtesy of gurusoftware.com

Affluent Men Are From Mars, Affluent Women Are From Venus

January 23rd, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Both affluent men and affluent women have optimistic outlooks about their personal financial situations in 2013, a new report from Shullman Research found. However, there are significant differences in the optimism levels of men and women that could affect how you market to these wealthy consumers.

The Shullman Luxury and Affluence Monthly Pulse conducted in December found that 48 percent of U.S. adults with a household income of over $250,000 believe the U.S. economy is doing better today than it was a year ago. About one-third (34 percent) thought the economy was doing the same as 12 months ago.

However, when you dig down into the men’s vs. the women’s responses, some key differences emerge:

  • Some 45 percent of men are very optimistic or optimistic about the economy, compared to just 35 percent of women.
  • About 42 percent of female respondents say that the economy is essentially the same today as it was 12 months ago, compared to just 26 percent of male respondents.
  • While men and women generally felt positive about their current financial situations, with 78 percent of men and 73 percent of women describing themselves as financially stable, men were more positive about the future. Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of men believe they will definitely or most likely be better off financially one year from now than they are today, compared to 64 percent of women.
  • Overall, 90 percent of those surveyed reporting that as long as the economy keeps improving, they will spend either more than they did in 2012, or the same amount. However, men were more likely to spend more; 43 percent of men said they will spend a lot more or slightly more than they did last year. Just 36 percent of women said the same.

Shullman Research Center founder Bob Shullman says women tend to take a more cautious approach to their finances than do men. What do these numbers mean to your business?

If you’re targeting upscale women, your marketing message will need to work harder to reach them and overcome that inclination to be conservative in their spending. Use marketing messaging that will calm their financial concerns, such as emphasizing the value of your product or service, how it will benefit them or their families, and how it’s a smart investment.

If you’re targeting upscale men, marketing messages that focus more on “fun” and rewarding oneself may be more effective. Affluent men are more willing to boost their spending and feeling more confident, so tap into their pent-up desires to spend a little more by playing up the desirable features of your product or service.

Image by Flickr user ToGa Wanderings (Creative Commons)



 
The Network Solution Digital  Community Solutions are Power Grow Smart Business Womens Grow Business UnintentionalEntrepreneur