Category: Business Development

Does Your Business Really Need a Mobile App?

Have you ever pulled up a company webpage on a smartphone and immediately been asked if you’d rather load the content on the company’s app? It seems like businesses of all sizes have gone app crazy over the last several years. Google Play currently hosts 2.6 million apps and the App Store is not far behind with 2.1 million.

Many small businesses may fear falling behind on this ubiquitous form of customer interaction, but does your company really need to have an app? In an article for Entrepreneur, Thomas Smale discusses several factors to consider when deciding whether or not to spend the time and money to develop a mobile app. Continue reading “Does Your Business Really Need a Mobile App?”

Are You Telling Your Customers About the Great Services They Receive From You?

Customer reviews, client reviews, best PR firm, public relations, content marketing

It’s important for any business to know whether or not their customers are satisfied with the service the company is providing – the same applies for products, but we’ll focus on services here. Many companies ask customers for feedback to gauge their experience, and this can take many forms, including surveys and post-purchase emails among others. This feedback could be asking for a simple thumbs up, thumbs down or sliding scale review of the overall service, or it could ask more specific questions, focusing on different aspects of the service: timeliness, quality, likelihood to repeat business, likelihood to recommend to others, etc. Continue reading “Are You Telling Your Customers About the Great Services They Receive From You?”

Could Holographic Tech Change the Way We Communicate?

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

Communication is key to any business, whether it’s a meeting with potential clients on a sales opportunity or coordinating and staying in touch with staff. Distance is becoming less and less of a hindrance to effective and meaningful communication. New technologies introduced over the last two centuries have greatly enhanced our ability to stay connected; from the telegraph to the telephone to internet and video conferencing we can now see and hear people from anywhere in the world in real time. And a recent strategy by a 2020 presidential hopeful is demonstrating the increasing development of the latest iteration of long-distance communication. Continue reading “Could Holographic Tech Change the Way We Communicate?”

Networking for Introverts: Practicing the “Loose Touch”

We often hear about the importance of networking and it’s tough to challenge that notion. Networking is a great way to make new connections that can lead to job offers or other professional connections. For small business owners and entrepreneurs, networking is especially important, because simply generating awareness of your organization can be difficult without meeting people in person and building personal connections. Continue reading “Networking for Introverts: Practicing the “Loose Touch””

No-Cost, Low-Cost Ways to Boost Your Brand

We’ve previously discussed the challenges many companies face when trying to calculate an ROI on their marketing efforts. For small and medium-sized businesses, this can make it difficult to justify increasing spend on marketing efforts.

But, just because you feel like you can’t spend more money on marketing doesn’t mean you can’t invest in your brand. Continue reading “No-Cost, Low-Cost Ways to Boost Your Brand”

Leveraging the Law of Reciprocity

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

 

It’s hard to overstate the value of relationships in business. And, while it’s true for companies of any size, this can be especially crucial for success among small and midsized businesses (SMBs) as well as in the B2B world generally. “As an entrepreneur, you have countless relationships you need to manage on a daily basis,” writes Jennifer Spencer in an article for Entrepreneur. “There are your employees. There are the vendors who provide needed support services to help you run your business. And, of course, there are also your customers.”

  Continue reading “Leveraging the Law of Reciprocity”

Growing a Subscription Model Business

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

 

content marketing, content management, newsjacking, social media, digital marketing, SEO, online marketingWith an up and down history dating back to the 1960s, the software-as-a-service or SaaS model has become the norm in tech-centered industries over the last couple of decades. With a SaaS model, providers of various applications or data storage capabilities allow end-users to remotely access the application or data. This is in contrast to models many of us were familiar with in the 1990s and 2000s where you would purchase an operating system software and install it via CD on a personal computer, for example.

In an article for Entrepreneur, Thomas Smale writes that the SaaS model has moved further and further toward a subscription model and suggests several subscription model-oriented growth strategies. These aren’t strategies only for very large, enterprise organizations. Even the smallest businesses, or solopreneurs, can leverage the subscription model to build sales. Continue reading “Growing a Subscription Model Business”

What Social Media Outages Should Tell Content Marketers

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

 

Earlier this year, an outage on Facebook, as well as its subsidiary services Instagram and WhatsApp, demonstrated that even the most sophisticated tech companies and social media platforms are not immune to technical challenges. In an article for Entrepreneur, Kimanzi Constable argues that the outage could hold some important lessons for content marketers and online advertisers. It wasn’t an isolated incident. Lately it seems that every week brings another outage—most minor, but all troubling.

“There is no doubt businesses lost revenue with this outage,” he writes. “For those who pay for advertising, their ads weren’t reaching potential customers. For those that rely on posting in their Facebook groups, on their personal pages and on Instagram, they lost revenue because they couldn’t use the strategy that they’ve always used.” So what should companies do from a strategic standpoint to prevent this kind of negative impact in the future? Continue reading “What Social Media Outages Should Tell Content Marketers”

Forget Disruptive Innovation: How NON-disruptive Innovation Can Help You Expand Your Market

Many of us are familiar with the concept of disruptive innovation: a new product or service enters the market and overthrows established competitors by fundamentally changing the paradigm. Common examples include the advent of the automobile, the personal computer,  or direct streaming services. But, do we really need to be disruptively innovative? Continue reading “Forget Disruptive Innovation: How NON-disruptive Innovation Can Help You Expand Your Market”

Amazon Zigs When Others Zag: Meeting Consumer Needs Before They Know They Have Them

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

 

Amazon has proven time and again to be particularly adept at figuring out what its customers want and giving it to them. Whether it’s shopping suggestions based on previous orders, on-demand media content or same-day delivery, the retail giant answers the demands of the people whose purchases are lining its pockets.

The latest example of this as-you-wish mentality was recently announced and reported in an article for CNN by Taylor Nicole Rogers titled “Amazon’s new waste-reduction strategy: Delivery only once a week.” Continue reading “Amazon Zigs When Others Zag: Meeting Consumer Needs Before They Know They Have Them”