The entire world, including small business owners are fully embedded in the information age. Long gone is the era when we were forced to market our business by taking out expensive ads in the newspaper, or on the radio, just to get a few extra customers.
While any marketing efforts are inherently risky and one never knows what kind of results to expect, Internet and mobile marketing methods give us freedoms that traditional methods never could. We can definitely reach a much larger “targeted” audience with a few clicks of a mouse – as everyone in the marketing business knows, it’s all a numbers game. Reach more people using less money and resources, and you’ll make more money – provided your product or service is sound.
The apps discussed in the following paragraphs can make your life a lot easier, and really will afford you a lot more time to brainstorm and research for better and more effective ways to market your business better.
Nuff said…
Please note: This recommendation doesn’t apply to their archaic payment processing system, which is briefly mentioned further down the page.
But seriously, Google has tons of tools you can use to market your business to thousands and even millions of avid buyers. Though I could discuss many of them, the prime tool for small business owners who own a website is Google Analytics. Many small business owners have yet to harness this tool’s potential, and if you don’t have a website in this day and age, you’re crazy! And if you don’t have analytics running in the background, you’re doubly so!
Just by adding a small snippet of code (instructions here) you can find out what’s driving visitors to your website: the keywords they used, how much time they spent onsite, the pages they focused on, or if they even bothered to make it past your home page – among lots of other useful information that you can tailor to your individual business.
MailChimp
If you are still cc’ing existing customers or leads through your Outlook, Gmail, or “GASP” Yahoo email account, you’re seriously way behind the times. MailChimp‘s been around for years, and it’s FREE if you have 2,000 or less emails to send out. Let’s face it, 2000 potential sales is nothing to shake a stick at!
Mailchimp will let you import an existing subscriber list from a .csv file, and literally have you up and running in minutes. They allow you to easily set up mobile responsive auto-responders on the sales or information pages within your website, newsletters, tutorials, etc. – to efficiently and “legally” capture client emails. Sign up here. With over 7,000 new customers signing up every day, you have no reason not to give this free app a shot.
Stripe
This is a somewhat biased recommendation, but many of you’ve experienced the sting of having Paypal put YOUR available funds on hold because some monkey in their compliance department decided that 2 chargebacks to your account in a single month is fishy (no matter how many good sales you had).
Next thing you know you’re waiting for the powers that be to allow you access to money that you’re counting on to fund other ventures in your business, or to just simply pay your employees or suppliers what they’re owed.
This is relevant to your marketing efforts, because the games Paypal can (and will) play with you can effectively put your business on hold until things are resolved – sometimes months later. You then get put into a special “risk” category where a certain amount of your money will always be held (by Paypal) “just in case”.
Rant over…
Stripe is still slightly controversial because of Paypal’s monopoly in the online world. They do offer lots of advantages, however, particularly if you’re in the SaaS (Software as a Service) business, or any other kind of service, subscription or otherwise, that requires flexibility and the ability to work within custom parameters that that other “Paypal alternatives” cannot.
Read through the following handy list of Stripe’s advantages over Paypal, and other (futile) inflexible payment processors (ahem: Google Checkout and 2Checkout!) The others aren’t worth discussing as they’re utterly useless outside single one time purchase (there are many other advantages aside from those listed; read the bullets and sign up for Stripe here):
- This might just be one of the most important advantages to using a reliable, proven processor like Stripe: Some clients actually abhor Paypal, so you’re “S.O.L.” without another safe option for customers to pay you.
- You don’t have to send customers off your site (like with Paypal) to process your payment: Stripe’s api doesn’t redirect customers to a separate website, where you could potentially lose a sale while the payment page is “loading”. They also include onsite credit card processing without the need for a merchant account.
- Customers don’t need an account with Stripe to make a payment: This is very useful for SaaS and other services that require monthly or other payment methods outside a one time fee, as the customer can make their concurrent payments in the blink of an eye instead of being directed offsite, then having to sign in, then authorize – this annoyance alone is the bane of any business owner using Paypal.
- Stripe doesn’t limit future upgrades: Paypal limits the amount a customer can upgrade their account, or payment terms with your business by only 20% every 180 day cycle. 20% might mean a lot to your current business plan, and can make a significant difference if you’re dealing with tens of thousands of customers a month, but think of it this way: if a $15 per month customer wants to upgrade to a $20 a month plan after their first month, and you’re using Paypal, it’s not going to happen – the only caveat here would be if you have an ancient account from the early 2000’s that doesn’t have such limits. Not small business friendly is it?
- Fees: Stripe – same as Paypal to start, but 2.4% + $0.30 per transaction once you hit 10-grand in monthly sales. Paypal – 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction straight up, no discounts or other advantages offered. This next one is a real gasper though, Stripe in their infinite knowledge of customer service actually offers discounts to power-sellers. They have special discounts for businesses that do a million dollars or more in sales per year. This is a “hush hush” discount and you have to email their support if you fall into this category. Stripe funds are available for transfer immediately to your account. We all know how long it takes PayPal to transfer funds (while they wait for interest to accrue on your money!)
