Author Archive
Posted on April 22, 2010 by SBarbalho
As most of you know, Twitter is a free social media platform. Its users micro-blog everything from what they ate for lunch to news articles that they’d like others to see and share. Users express themselves in short 140 character broadcasts to designated groups of “followers” (Tweets), which can be read and passed virally through the Twitter site, mobile devices, and a number of 3rd party applications. In the last months,
The Growthwire has received
a lot of questions about the use of Twitter for local businesses. Most of these questions come from people who clearly see Twitter’s value as a social and a customer-service/relationship tool, but are uncertain about Twitter’s usefulness for
customer acquisition.
Our honest answer is that we don’t know the answer yet.
The platform obviously has many evangelists, some of whom say it’s a great acquisition tool. We’re not entirely convinced that these anecdotes are objective or applicable to the average local business. Most of the more thoughtful discussions note that even if it does ‘work,’ it’s probably not for everyone. The most common challenges appear to be: 1) It requires a lot of work and a broader social media strategy to use effectively, 2) Its potential decreases significantly as the geography of its use narrows (i.e. global, virtual companies like Dell will get more ROI than the small brick and mortar/local market computer shop), 3) Despite all the talk and awareness, only about 11% of the US is using the service (compared to 40% for Facebook), and 4) A lot of Twitter activity is now the cultivation of mass-follower lists to facilitate spam advertising.
Maybe we’re jaded – we’ve been through several major cycles of internet hype to date… So instead of trying to tell you what’s going on, we’ll simply ask. Read on to take our one-question poll and see links where you can learn more about Twitter.
Posted on April 20, 2010 by SBarbalho
Small businesses that don’t have storefronts or hard-wired point-of-sale systems often have a tough time handling today’s most common methods of payment – debit, credit, and gift cards. If you’re reducing your customer pool to people who can pay with cash or check, or those with good enough credit to merit an invoice, you’re likely missing a ton of business in today’s economy.
This might change very soon with the new generation of low-cost, easy-to-use, card-swiping systems designed to work with smart phones.
For businesses that are largely mobile, such as home service & construction businesses, this technology can open new revenue streams. You’d be surprised how much home improvement spending is blocked today by the inability to easily transact on credit cards. These businesses are often also plagued by bad debt – checks that don’t clear and final invoices that are not paid or not paid on time. It may also open doors for part-time businesses or those wanting to commercialize their hobby interests. Say you have a side business like wood carving, photography, or making ironic t-shirts. You’d like to rent a booth at the local arts fest and sell your wares. With technology like square you can easily set your booth up with real-time credit card processing. You’ll not only save a lot of time and aggravation associated with cash boxes – the convenience will translate into more customers and higher potential price points.
Posted on March 4, 2010 by SBarbalho
What will you do to win more than your fair share of the Spring ’10 spending season: The 2
nd busiest shopping season of the year? When it comes to gifts for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Graduation events, there’s no right choice. The firms that market the best win the largest share. Even though there may be conventional “fail-safe” gifts for each occasion, it’s within the power of almost
any business to win an impressive share of this season’s gift spending.
According to the National Retail Federation, there will be about $87 of spring gift spending per 18+ consumers in your market (if there are 200,000 adults in your trade area, this is about $17 million).
How do you win? Tap into an emotion that drives your purchase.
Posted on November 14, 2009 by SBarbalho
Y
ou work hard and invest regularly to win new customers. Are you making the most of these relationships? Are you doing what’s needed to prevent competitors from peeling off your customers with the heavy discounts we now see every day? These 10 Tips will help you build a stronger bond with your customers and, in so doing, will help you increase their lifetime revenue value.
