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4 Sustainability Trends Among Retailers
Feb 1st
Retailers face major challenges when it comes to sustainability. They source products made all over the world. They use lots of energy to keep stores well lit and comfortable. They sells products that could one day end up in landfills.
But a new report from the Retail Industry Leaders Association says many retailers are taking bold steps to reduce their environmental footprints. It looks at some of the green trends and points to some success stories. While the report drew its findings from interviews with 20 major retailers – from IKEA to PetSmart – these practices are likely to affect smaller retailers as well.
Here’s a look at four trends:
1. Looking closer at supply chains. More retailers are evaluating the sustainability of their suppliers, including energy use, hazardous material, greenhouse gas emissions and water use. Some even require manufacturers to produce an annual report, so they can better gauge their total environmental footprint and be more transparent with their customers. Many big retailers are relying on third-party organizations, including The Sustainability Consortium and the Fair Factories Clearinghouse, to help them conduct supplier reviews.
2. Focusing on end of life. Some retailers are getting more active in help consumers responsibly dispose of their products — and that’s because if they don’t, it’s very likely the items will end up in landfills. Target Corp. offers recycling centers in its stores for plastic bags and aluminum, among other materials. The Gap in 2010 collected 360,000 units of denim to be repurposed into home insulation.
3. Educating consumers. Retailers have to be careful not to inundate consumers with sustainability information – especially in stores. But they’re finding ways to make it more engaging and transparent. WalMart’s Love, Earth Jewelry collection, for instance, allows people to trace their jewelry’s journey “from mine to market.” Whole Foods and IKEA created their own green labels.
4. Engaging employees. Retailers are actively asking their employees to help them lower their environmental footprint – and that’s tough: Retailers tend to have high turnover rates, which means employees don’t feel quite as engaged in the business. But some have been quite successful. Some, like Walgreen, are forming green teams of employees passionate about sustainability or hosting volunteer drives to help with local environmental nonprofit efforts.
What other sustainability measures are you seeing among retailers?
Footprint Photo via Shutterstock
4 Sustainability Trends Among Retailers
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
5 Trends to Shape Your Business This Year
Jan 19th
Trendwatching firm, JWTIntelligence, recently released its seventh annual trend forecast, JWT 10 Trends for 2012. Which of the 10 are most likely to affect small business going forward? Here are my picks.
Navigating the new normal: With the current economic situation showing few signs of major change, JWT says companies in developed nations will start introducing new products and services at lower price points. “Stripped-down offerings and smaller sizes” are one way to take advantage of this trend, JWT notes.
Takeaway: Consider introducing different versions of your products or services. For instance, if you own a spa, you could offer a “quickie” version of popular treatments that takes less time and costs less. One sales tactic that works well is creating three levels of a product or service—value, midrange and premium—and marketing them accordingly.
Bonus: Studies have shown when you have three price choices, more people are likely to pick the mid-priced option—which could boost your sales considerably compared to having just one option.
Live a little: After years of navigating through a tough economy, people are tired of cutting back and, while they can’t afford to really let lose, they’re eager for little treats or luxuries that make them feel better.
Takeaway: These little luxuries can be different things for different people—from a gourmet cupcake to a fine whiskey or a manicure. Think of a way your business can offer customers a moment of respite and a quick escape from reality for an affordable price.
Marriage optional: More and more women are opting to delay marriage or skip it altogether. This could mean they are living with a significant other, living with roommates, living alone or even becoming single moms.
Takeaway: I’ve written in the past about how weddings are a huge market for entrepreneurs, and while that’s still true, you should also consider how to reach this new market. The delay of marriage means even women who are not planning weddings are going through many of the same transitions that newlyweds do—such as buying and furnishing first homes or apartments, buying products and services for children, and planning celebrations such as birthday parties and girls’ getaways.
Celebrating aging: JWT says people are taking an increasingly positive view of aging. I personally am a bit skeptical on this front—in America, at least, I think we still have a long way to go. Regardless, America is aging, and the baby boomers, in particular, have money to spend, so ignoring or patronizing this group is a big mistake.
Takeaway: As Americans over 55 become a bigger proportion of the population, you’ll need to attract them or lose market share. Keep in mind that boomers buy products and services not just for themselves, but also for their aging parents, their kids and their grandkids. And remember, the best way to lose a boomer customer is to treat him or her like a “senior”—so make accommodations if needed, but don’t make a big deal about them.
Objectifying objects: As the world increasingly goes digital, an interesting trend is occurring: New premiums are being placed on actual objects, since they’re becoming increasingly rare.
The takeaway: If you offer products or services digitally, think about tactile “extras” you could sell along with them, or ways your customers can use digital tools to create physical goods. For instance, the report mentions Postagram, an app that lets users turn digital photos into physical postcards. I’ve seen online cartoonists who sell physical greeting cards of their work and musicians who offer T-shirts or lyric booklets to accompany digital downloads. How can you make this work for your business?
There are five more trends to take a look at in the full JWT 10 Trends for 2012 report.
Now Photo via Shutterstock
5 Trends to Shape Your Business This Year
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Read The End of Business as Usual for Social Media Insights, Research and Trends
Dec 31st
At the end of each year and into the beginning of the next, we take stock of where we’ve been and where we are about to go. TV shows and magazines look back on the significant events of the year, and then prognosticators predict what’s yet to come.
One of the best prognosticators out there (although he may not take to being called that) is Brian Solis (@briansolis). In 2010 he wrote the book Engage, which leads you through the specific steps you need to take to conceptualize, implement, manage and measure a social media program.
I had the privilege of interviewing Brian Solis for an article I wrote for Personal Branding Magazine. In some ways, he reminded me of Matthew Broderick’s character Ferris Bueller; fun, smart and super-savvy about the ways of the social media environment and how to play it. Solis knows how to navigate, pull the technological strings and use these tools to business advantage.
But wait, there’s more
And new for 2012, Solis has released The End of Business as Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution. This book takes you to the next level, taking social media away from the context of tool and into the context of strategy. Let me put it another way: We don’t write about telephones or microwaves or stoves as revolutionary tools for communication or cooking. We’ve integrated these items into our lives. Business as Usual does the same thing for us in terms of social media. Solis is taking the tools and technologies we’ve been enamored with and pushing us into accepting them as tangible, real and unimportant as tools, but vitally important in terms of what we do with them.
The End of Business as Usual is a bellwether
If you like Groundswell, then you will love this. This is a business book, a social media book and a trend book all in one. It’s 20 chapters and 300 pages of lesson after lesson, insight after insight, and terrific charts and graphics that give you a perspective on what Solis is talking about.
There are so many facts and figures in this book relating to what’s going on in social media that you could probably tweet out a stat every day and have enough to last you a couple of years. I’m not sure if I’m exaggerating, but I think I’m pretty close.
Here are just a few chapter names that will give you some idea of what to expect:
Chapter 3: The medium is no longer the message. This is the core message of the book. People are spending more time on social networks, TV shows are live tweeted, news comes from Twitter online video networks – in other words, social is as integrated into our lives as phones and appliances.
Chapter 4: Attention deficit crises and information scarcity: This chapter addresses one of the key reasons I admire Brian Solis: “If you don’t have anything interesting or productive to say – then don’t say it.” While Solis is a social media expert and evangelist, I respect his integrity in terms of using social media as a valuable communication channel rather than a vehicle for pabulum.
Chapter 7: Your audience is now an audience of audiences with audiences: This chapter has terrific visuals and charts to show you exactly how communication and information functions in the social media world. This chapter is worth reading and rereading.
Chapter 11: The rise of connected commerce: You’ve already heard the phrase “blurring the line between personal and business. This chapter gives you the background on how and why this is happening. Mobile devices, constant connection and communication will force business to look and feel more personal.
Chapter 14: Reinventing the brand and sales cycle for a new genre of connecter commerce: The message in this chapter is to plug into decision making. We’ve never had better access to data about our customers’ behavior. Businesses will have to become masters at managing their brand promises.
Who should read this book?
To say that anyone who intends to be in business over the next three to five years should read this book is an understatement. Business owners will see data and research that will help them create a context for the world that they and their customers are participating in.
Sales and marketing professionals will get insights and be able to develop much more powerful marketing strategies that get to the heart of what’s important to their customers.
Social media practitioners will have evidence and resources to share with their clients that will show exactly why the strategies they are proposing will work.
At the risk of sounding over the top, The End of Business as Usual is a book you absolutely, positively must read to succeed in 2012 and beyond.
Read The End of Business as Usual for Social Media Insights, Research and Trends
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
The Top Franchise Trends for 2012
Dec 22nd
There’s certainly no shortage of dynamic concepts to explore in franchising in 2012. Finding opportunities to get into a business of your own is the easy part. Finding a willing financial partner to help you invest in a franchise business is still a bit more challenging.
For example, if you want to get involved in a franchise business that’s focused on renewable energy and maybe even sustainability, no problem; do a Google search of “green franchises.” Maybe you’re comfortable calling on customers and giving sales presentations; there are several opportunities (such as Sandler Training) available for you. Do you like food? (Silly question!) If you’ve always wanted to own your own restaurant, there are hundreds of unique food franchises, such as these gathered by Franchise Direct, to choose from.
Not all franchises require a commercial space; Pillar to Post and Mosquito Squad offer ways to be your own boss without having to negotiate a lease for the business. Another advantage of investing in a home-based franchise is that you can be up and running pretty fast. One more thing: Remember that your customers aren’t going to find you if you’re sitting at home. You’re going to have to do some serious networking. Your networking should always include being on the lookout for strategic referral partners, as John Jantsch suggests.
Some Things Haven’t Changed
In last year’s post on the top franchise trends, I wrote about the fact that small business lenders weren’t all that excited to lend money for franchise startups. As much as I don’t want to start going all negative here, it’s still true today; lenders aren’t lending enough, The New York Times reports, especially to small businesses.
I also wrote about the fact that homes had gone down in value: “Real estate is usually a major part of a franchise candidate’s net worth statement, and that’s now a problem. Home values are low, and in some cases, homes are underwater.” According to Carole Cohen, a Cleveland Realtor who’s really dialed into the market, “Home prices in our area are down 26 to 28 percent.” (Her income took a hit because of the low prices.) Carole works for a family-owned real estate company, but there are real estate franchises, too, as this Red Carpet report points out.
What Has Changed?
The franchise industry’s focus has changed. By “industry,” I really mean only one part of the industry, but it’s a big one: The International Franchise Association, which is an association that promotes franchising.
I’m still trying to decide whether the combination of social media, and the business transparency that tends to be associated with it, has turned the IFA into a more powerful industry force, or not. On one hand, some of the higher-ups from the IFA, like Matt Haller, the Sr. Director of Communications, are starting to get a bit more active on Twitter, and have started to write some blog posts. However, the growth of social media has evened the playing field in the franchise industry; now voices outside of the IFA–independent ones–can be heard loud and clear, too. The industry is changing, and anyone with an Internet connection can watch some of the changes that are happening in real time.
For 2012, the IFA has decided to focus on two areas in 2012; one is nothing new, but the other one…
1. Military Veterans
Veterans who are interested in possibly becoming franchise owners will undoubtedly run across the VetFran program. This program, founded in 1991, features 400-plus IFA member franchisors that offer training, mentoring and financial incentives to veterans interested in small business ownership and/or a career path in franchising. To date, approximately 2,000 veterans have become franchise business owners through this popular program.
I’ve personally assisted with our veterans, and have even been able to help a few of them become franchise owners. Today’s veterans have three things going for them when it comes to operating a franchise business. They are:
- Finely-honed leadership skills
- Personal discipline
- Comfort with technology
I’m all for helping the men and women who’ve made major sacrifices to help us keep our freedom. Thousands of veterans are returning home from our wars, and need jobs and opportunities. For veterans who want to become business owners, franchising is certainly one path that they should look into.
Of course, they’re going to need small business loans in order to start these franchises, and that’s the part that worries me. That’s because a large number of veterans have had several tours of duty. It’s not like they’ve had a chance to build up their nest eggs. Hopefully, banks will come up with some creative loan programs to help veterans get into business for themselves.
2. Pro Athletes
There’s really only one reason that the IFA is courting professional athletes, and it’s pretty obvious; the athletes don’t need small business loans. Can you think of any other reason?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 16,500 professional athletes and sports competitors who held jobs as of 2008. This includes every sport, including all of the athletes who aren’t ready for prime time yet (that is, the minor leagues).
The thought of having 16,000 wealthy prospective franchise owners eventually searching for business opportunities in the world of franchising is a nice one. After all, what franchise development director wouldn’t want to have a slew of highly qualified candidates like Magic Johnson requesting information about a particular franchise concept?
While I don’t see hundreds of former professional athletes clamoring to become franchisees, if enough of them do, it could be terrific publicity for the franchise industry. I just don’t see it as a game-changer. (That sporting reference was unintentional!)
2012 will be a very important year in franchising. If the U.S. economy continues to struggle, growth will continue to be sparse in the franchise industry. But if things finally do start to turn around, there’s a lot of pent-up demand for the great products and services that franchises provide to both consumers and businesses.
If lenders start making more loans available for people who want to start businesses, there’s a large pool of prospective franchisees sitting in the wings, waiting to take their shot at The American Dream.
The franchise community is ready and waiting to help them do just that.
Franchise Photo via Shutterstock
The Top Franchise Trends for 2012
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Top 9 Rural Small Business Trends for 2012
Dec 20th
Rural small business trends are always different from general small business trends. This year, the difference is in the economic outlook. With the consensus of economic predictions for 2012 showing slower national growth and the odds of a renewed U.S. recession at 1 in 3, the national economy doesn’t look good. Contrast that with the local economies in rural areas. The Rural Mainstreet Index is at its highest level since 2007, and rural small business looks promising.
Here are the top 9 small business trends in small towns and rural areas this year:
1. Strong farm commodity prices mean strong local economies. That is the biggest factor in the strong Rural Mainstreet Index and is also driving a continuing boom in farmland prices, as investors look for “safer” investment classes. That makes a strong foundation for local agriculture-based economies.
2. Some places get “just one more” oil boom. Relatively strong oil and natural gas prices mean a continued boom in production, mostly happening in rural areas. Several regions are seeing new or renewed plays. That brings new residents, new businesses and temporary prosperity.
3. Supporting the local economy takes more than “Shop Local.” We’re seeing more interest in moving money into locally-owned community banks and credit unions. With extra-tight lending standards for small businesses from big banks, many small businesses are turning to alternative financing methods. The book Locavesting by Amy Cortese outlines a number of local investing and business financing alternatives. More new businesses will consider cooperatives as a viable form of business this year, and 2012 is the International Year of Cooperatives.
4. Self-employment continues to rise. With all these positive trends in rural small business, there is more reason than ever to expect a continued increase in self-employment and business startups in small towns. We have to factor in the highly entrepreneurial Millennial generation, too, as the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
5. Ruralsourcing brings more high-tech to rural areas. Ruralsourcing is competing with global outsourcing, bringing manufacturing and IT service jobs into rural areas. With global supply chains threatened by higher shipping costs and rising manufacturing costs in China, we’re also seeing more projects returning manufacturing to home shores, Agurban reports.
6. Government cuts hurt. One negative factor is that 42 U.S. state governments are facing budget shortfalls again this year, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports, though recent revenue is up slightly for many. After trimming services three years straight, outlying areas are likely to be targeted this year. Watch for big cuts in two rural mainstays: tourism and arts funding.
7. Online doesn’t mean in front of a computer. Mobile Internet access just keeps growing. Tablets and smartphones are changing the way potential customers look for businesses everywhere, including in small towns. The strength of cell signals and WiFi availability are important for tourism, and for small business capturing mobile customers. Rural businesses need to get mobile-friendly now.
8. Online reviews make everyone a local. Business pages have been created for almost every single business (even in small towns) by Google, Facebook and Yelp!, among others. Reviews and comments by customers give every visitor an inside view into local businesses. Result: We’re all in one big small town. This will help some terrific local businesses be found more often, and hurt some that really haven’t kept up their quality.
9. Rural broadband drives business development. With around 28 percent of the rural population still lacking access to 3mpbs or better service, much more needs to be done on access. Those who can access broadband are using it to build businesses and conduct commerce at a record pace. Expect more public and private projects to develop more business use of broadband.
Overall, most small town businesses have plenty to look forward to in 2012. The challenges of outside competition, the need to innovate and improve service, and the importance of connection with customers won’t be going away. But the economic outlook is generally strong, and new opportunities are out there. We have more information about the 2012 trends and updates during the year at our Rural Trends page.
Main Street Photo via Shutterstock
Top 9 Rural Small Business Trends for 2012
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Hot or Not: Sales and Marketing Trends in 2012
Dec 20th
The techniques that are effective to keep and get new customers continues to radically change. In 2012, they will evolve even more. Here is what’s going to be hot (and what’s not) in the year to come.
1. Direct Selling
- Not: It used to be that every sales effort started from picking up the phone to “cold call” an industry list. This is no longer effective (partially since no one ever answers their phone!) Besides being a waste of time, the fear of rejection makes this scary to actually do.
- Hot: We are in the referral economy as John Jantsch frequently discusses. A company can automatically get put in the “maybe” pile for the a sale when a connector or past customer refers that business to another prospect. Don’t be afraid to always ask for a referral or reference. Satisfied customers almost always are happy to give them.
2. Deal-a-Day Websites
- Not: Offering coupons alone through Groupon, Living Social and other daily deal mechanism is not effective long term. This may get an immediate cash flow bump for your business, but it kills the gross margin or may even may make this particular transaction unprofitable.
- Hot: When these daily offers are used to attract new customers and then retain a lifetime value relationship, they can be worthwhile. Businesses are now turning to companies like Mob Manager that help follow up daily deal purchases with multiple emails that build a future relationship.
3. Giving Your Pitch
- Not: Trying to sell a product because it will make the future customer “better” no longer is compelling.
- Pain Killers: Every company needs a targeted “elevator pitch” that focuses on the pain the business solves for the customer that has the money. People always buy when they are in pain. JJ Ramberg gives some great guidelines on building your elevator pitch in her OPEN Forum Crash Course.
4. Generating Web Traffic
- Not: Using an outrageous YouTube video or other social media stunt that has nothing to do with your business to get website traffic that visits once and never comes again is ineffective. One and done also becomes very expensive.
- Hot: Building long-term relationships by consistently giving value through email is important. Common email marketing tools used at low cost are Vertical Response, Constant Contact and Mail Chimp. Developing your own house email list from those who are interested in your content is key.
5. Using Pay-Per-Click
- Not: Experimenting with pay-per-click by using Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing or Microsoft adCenter without really understanding how a comprehensive campaign works is a money waster. It only results in high priced ads and low conversion rates.
- Hot: Hiring a certified pay-per-click professional who actually does know how to drive qualified traffic on a budget will yield improved results.
6. It’s Still the Web
- Not: Ignoring the Internet because it is not “relevent” to a local brick and mortar business or a professional services provider is a big mistake. In 2012, if your business is not on the Web, it doesn’t exist in the minds of most consumers.
- Hot: Claiming your company’s local listings from Google, Bing and Dex Knows by verifying that all information is correct. Optimize your website for local shoppers who do research online but want to buy from a physical location.
7. More Mobile
- Not: Your company website is not visible or usable from mobile PDA and tablet devices.
- Hot: Having an “app for that” on major platforms like iPhone and Android. Prospects should be able to access information on your company through a mobile application that looks good on their phone or tablet.
8. The Social Media Hard Sell
- Not: Attempting to use Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook or other social media for a hard sell or spamming.
- Hot: Think social CRM. Use social media to make others aware of your expertise. Helpful conversations will develop loyal bonds from people who want to hear more from you.
9. More Content
- Not: Putting up a blog every week and thinking that’s enough to spread your company’s message. If you build it, they really don’t come.
- Hot: Include the latest sharing buttons so readers can spread the content for you. The hot sharing buttons for 2012 are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn (for B2B businesses) and Google+, plus other selected ones specific to your industry or type of site. The ShareThis widget is an easy way to add these capabilities to any site.
What do you think is hot for 2012?
Hot or Not Photo via Shutterstock
Hot or Not: Sales and Marketing Trends in 2012
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
5 Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2012
Dec 13th
5 Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2012
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
This post originally appeared on American Express OPENForum.
It’s time for my annual prediction of small-business trends.
No matter what business trends are reported in the media, small businesses will always adopt them more slowly and in ways that don’t follow the hype.
JasonLangheine via Flickr CC
Small-business owners don’t care what’s cool. They care about what’s practical and what seems obvious—and that’s not always what gets buzz. (I’ve been pretty much spot on with most of my predictions for small-business trends in 2011 and trends for 2010.)
Here are my predictions for 2012. Some of these might not seem as obvious as those in previous years. But, welcome to the odd world of small business.
Social networks evolve into markets
As social networks become more important in the lives of their users and the level of social behavior continues to evolve, they will become much more than outposts. These sites will move toward wholly functioning, self-contained marketplaces.
A growing number of people simply see the Internet as Facebook (and Facebook is OK with that). Other marketplaces such as Amazon, Etsy, Buy.com and eBay are moving toward socializing your product search and becoming decision engines.
This behavior signals the need for small-business marketers to view some outposts as destinations. Consider building a store on Facebook, Shoply, Amazon, Buy.com, Etsy and eBay.
Ramp up your participation in these markets and educate yourself about them. Stop looking at them simply as transaction enablers. These sites are growing into major cities and you need to claim and increase your holdings there before they become overcrowded.
Content becomes conversion
Most small-business owners have come to see content as strategy, rather than merely words to be produced. Blog posts, white papers and in-person and online seminars create awareness, build trust, educate and illustrate core stories.
That much is now a given in marketing now, but content adoption, expectation and use will evolve next year. I believe you will see a lot of content, social media-driven and otherwise, that is designed to convert rather than to simply inform.
Expect free content to get better and paid content to be part of the logical path. Expect video sales letters and automated online seminars. You’ll see members-only content, ROI calculators and content-enhanced products becoming the norm.
Mobile powers local
Last year, I predicted that mobile would finally land for small business. We’ve talked about mobile as a marketing channel for years, but it seemed it wasn’t happening.
Finally, mobile has become an important medium. This is in part because of smart-phone adoption and in greater part because of the shift to mobile behavior. Every age demographic is using mobile devices to locate local businesses and those people intend to purchase.
Mobile websites, mobile offers, mobile payments and geo-location will become essential elements of the small-business local-marketing toolkit. Even Near Field data exchange, which had a science fiction ring just a few years ago, will be part of that picture.
Oh, and small-business owners will get over their fear of using SMS in smart ways.
Customer service goes community
The cable provider Comcast launched Comcast Cares, a social media push to repair a poor customer-service perception. It set the bar for how brands need to engage with their customers in the always-on, always-public world of social media.
As the toolset evolves with players like ZenDesk and Get Satisfaction, businesses of any size can provide incredibly high-tech support without losing high-touch service.
Small business will embrace the community in a peer service-provider model and start providing service in public-facing, brand-building ways. They will embrace tools that turn customer service into a shared community model, where customers help answer questions and evangelize the products and services.
Search moves to apps
My use of search-engine technology is slowly being replaced by the use of apps that provide me with answers relevant to my personal needs. My guess is that while you may not have taken note, you’re using search engines less and answer engines more.
This trend highlights the marketers’ need to go beyond SEO and PPC and move deeper into social networks, mobile marketing and app-based local marketplaces.
Apps inside social networks provide answers. Apps inside social-bookmark sites serve up interesting reading. Apps in content-curation tools like Storify provide relevant context for content. Apps on mobile devices, such as Yelp’s, help you find bars and restaurants. Apps using QR readers give you deeper information on companies and products. Apps are delivering sports scores, movie times, videos and images.
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
Small Business Software Trends for 2012
Dec 13th
Are you confused by the terms SaaS and cloud computing? In their simplest forms, software as a service (SaaS) is the application, and the cloud is the place where you store the data from that app (and in most cases the application itself). Many of the latest technology announcements have implications for SaaS and cloud development that will serve small businesses everywhere.
Note: This is not a “predictions” post. I’m simply sharing what I’m seeing in the software marketplace.
- Pricing: Most readers of Small Business Trends know that it is my pet peeve to visit a software site and not find transparent pricing details. The market seems to have echoed this sentiment (unrelated to my little rants) and I see more companies making it easy for customers and prospects to uncover pricing. Susan Payton recently did a piece on how we are afraid to talk pricing because we think we need to talk about and prove value first.
- Two new categories of mission critical applications: Business intelligence and scheduling. Social data continues to mushroom, leading small business owners to need better business intelligence (BI) tools. One of my favorites is Tableau Software, which has a paid desktop version (yes, I know that isn’t SaaS) and a public version for bloggers. Tableau allows you to visualize your data in powerful ways. Of course, many of us are still using spreadsheets to mine data into intelligence. It is possible, but a lot more work. Zoho Reports is another small business BI tool I recommend; so is Bime Analytics, which has an affordable small business offering.
Scheduling staff and workers is increasingly important to business owners, but so is letting customers set appointments based on openings in your schedule. Back in 2009, I wrote about Shiftboard for staff scheduling. For appointment setting, I would suggest Tungle or BookFresh. Large companies may care about being able to access software from anywhere more than the smaller company, but given that small business is the lifeblood of the economy, remote access to applications is rapidly becoming mission-critical.
- Cloud security gets talked about fairly often, and may be a concern for small business owners. I’m not sure it is any more of a risk to be in the cloud or accessing apps from a SaaS provider than to be on your own local desktop connected to the Internet. Life is risky. There are plenty of tools to mitigate this risk, whether in the cloud or anchored to your desktop.
- Online storage and backup as a category appears to be like coffee in the morning: Everyone has it. You can find it cheaply just about anywhere and if you want a special gourmet flavor, a premium level provider can serve it up.
- Ease of use improves daily or often. SaaS, like traditional software, gets easier to use each day and the best part is that as the development team makes a change, you benefit. There are downsides to SaaS, but for the most part, the benefit of “always upgraded” holds true. The feedback loop on SaaS development is near instant, so the development teams have learned to create a user experience that was not possible in traditional development cycles.
- More hardware tools. If you take a mobile device and create a useful gadget like a credit card reader, you can make the small business owner’s life a lot easier and win new customers. Witness the growth of SquareUp, which makes the Square credit/debit card reader. Elegant, small, simple and no monthly fee. Without easy and fast SaaS development and broadband access, these tools would not be possible. If you are looking for a payment processing device, also look at Intuit’s GoPayment or NetSecure’s Kudos Payment. The music industry is another great example of mobile apps and hardware; check out the Tascam iM2 recording device.
- Mobile SaaS is growing. This is slightly redundant, but my view of mobile app development rests on a software-as-a-service philosophy. Some may argue that the mobile app is not necessarily in the cloud nor SaaS, but many are or will be.
- Tablets are creating cloud comfort. In a Starbucks the other day, I counted four iPad or tablet devices (they looked sort of iPad-ish) and only two regular laptops. I’ve noticed the same thing at every other mobile warrior spot I frequent. The people using the tablets are often remote workers, not just college students listening to music while they study and surf. The point is that the iPad has kicked off a whole new expectation of what a machine can and should do, and often the apps that are needed to run these devices are SaaS-based.
- Collaboration is routinely getting bolted onto most SaaS offerings. Naturally, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions were the first to offer this. But many other types of applications are thinking social, which is increasingly synonymous with collaboration today. Even if you’re not collaborating in a public social network (few are), teams form around a document or process and share.
- HTML5 is shifting how we look at apps and software. Right now, the browser is central to how we use SaaS solutions, but as more users operate remotely and via mobile devices, there is solid evidence that the browser could go away, or at least become dramatically different from what we experience today. Again, this is not a prediction, but HTML5 makes it possible to add functionality to the browsing experience. If Adobe’s recent decision is any indication of the trend, they terminated their mobile Flash development work to migrate to HTML5. Apple and Steve Jobs have long refused to work with Adobe’s Flash. Dan Rowinski at ReadWriteWeb does the best job I’ve seen of explaining what HTML5 means and six trends around it.
- Landline telephone use is declining. Companies like Twilio and Tropo that offer simple Web services APIs for telephony are enabling developers to build SaaS telephony products much more easily than before. For example, ZenDesk recently released an inbound phone support feature built on Twilio. Hat tip to Michael Kaiser-Nyman, CEO of Impact Dialing, which lets you send voice recordings from your browser.
- Amazon’s Infrastructure as a Service will increase adoption of custom SaaS. Amazon is the master of figuring out efficiencies in technology and passing them on to customers. You can rent storage space, processing power and network servers to grow your business. If you don’t find a SaaS solution that fits your needs (hard to imagine, frankly), you could find developers fluent in infrastructures like Amazon or Rackspace.
All in all, SaaS is still on fire and growing fast. According to Forrester Research data, SaaS total revenues will reach $21.2 billion in 2011 and more than quadruple to $92.8 billion by 2016. This is 26 percent of the entire packaged software market. However, Forrester predicts SaaS will reach a saturation point in five years, and growth will slow between 2016 and 2020. Hat tip to CMS Wire for their summary of this report.
Tablet Cloud Photo via Shutterstock
Small Business Software Trends for 2012
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
5 Internet Marketing Trends for SMBs to Watch in 2012
Dec 12th
In just the blink of an eye it will be 2012. And with that comes the opportunity for us to focus in on the hottest trends of the upcoming New Year, and maybe even those that eluded us in years prior. While you’re putting the finishing touches on your action plan for 2012, let’s dig into some of the hot Internet trends for SMBs to watch over the next 12 months. After all, you want to kick off the New Year on the right foot, don’t you?
Of course you do.
SoLoMo
It was during November’s PubCon Vegas show that distinguished Google engineer Matt Cutts stood in front of a packed room and encouraged search marketers to focus on three areas over the next year:
- Social
- Local
- Mobile
While these areas were certainly hot in 2011, the data shows they’re only going to heat up from here.
The year 2011 saw a 400 percent increase in the number of mobile searches, with 74 percent of people using their mobile phones to search while running errands. For Black Friday this year we even saw advertisers attempting to lure customers away and steal competitor sales while they were waiting on line to make a purchase, as The New York Times reports.
Piggybacking off the explosion of mobile are social networks trying to get in on the action. Mashable reports Facebook just bought Gowalla’s management team to help them tie proximity to intent, while SearchEngineLand reports FourSquare recently released the new FourSquare button to add your place to their ToDo lists to help customers find you before they even realized a need was there. It’s awareness through relevance and, if you’re a small business owner, it’s a fantastic way to appeal to new customers.
In the face of the SoLoMo revolution, SMBs must not only adapt to new screens but also to new ways of reaching customers.
Using Online Reviews As Social Signals
Focusing on online reviews is not new, but in 2012 its continued importance will be driven by two impressive factors.
1. A Shift in Buying Behaviors: A study from NM Incite showed us that 63 percent of social media users list “consumer ratings” as their preferred source for getting information about a business, product or service. Data shared by Gregg Stewart during March’s SMX West event told us that 32 percent of all searches expect to find ratings and review information. And when they don’t, they wonder:
- Why aren’t you visible in search?
- Why aren’t people naturally reviewing your product/service?
- Why has no one used you before?
- Why don’t others trust you?
Once they’re done with the “why” questions, they simply go search for a business that does have this information available. They go to your competitor.
2. Social Brings Accountability: It’s not just consumers who love online reviews; so does Google. Google looks at reviews as just one of many social signals that will bring accountability back into their algorithm. Google is so serious about accountability and social signals that they even built a new social network around it called Google+. Here consumers are forced to interact on the Web using their real names and identities. That changes the types of interactions that are taking place. Search engines want to return the best possible experience, and an increased focus on social signals is one way they’re looking to do that.
The combination of users looking for this type of social data and Google wanting to display it is a clear sign that SMBs need to invest in this area. In 2012, the SMBs that will be left behind will the ones who have not developed a strategy for how they’ll solicit online reviews, how they’ll manage them, and how they will respond to negative reviews that pop up around their businesses.
A Move Into the Cloud
Cloud computing alternatives will continue to go mainstream in the upcoming year, RingCentral says, as SMBs look to save money and gain access to resources they wouldn’t have otherwise. If you’re not familiar with the term, cloud computing refers to using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store and manage data instead of hosting it on your local server.
For example, instead of hosting your email on your personal computer, if you use Gmail, they host it for you. Or maybe you use DropBox to store your media instead of putting it on a local server at your office. The benefits of moving into the cloud are obvious:
- Low barrier to entry: All you need is an Internet connection to take advantage of most cloud computing options.
- More accessibility: You can log in and edit your data from anywhere.
- Easier scalability: You can add storage or licenses as your company grows and as you need them.
- Reduced costs: You’re only paying for what you use and you are responsible for none of the overhead.
Through the use of cloud computing, SMBs can run their businesses more smoothly thanks to established infrastructure they don’t have to build (or pay for) on their own.
Of course, moving into the cloud does pose some issues. For example, check out the next big trend for 2012…
Site Security
Yes, with more businesses using Web-based services and with hackers shifting their attacks to smaller firms, site security is a major issues for SMBs in 2012. Hackers are setting their eyes on small computer users who they know will have weaker security systems in place and who, The Huffington Post reports, still think hacking can’t happen to them.
Only it can. And it is.
If you think your SMB is safe from hacking because you have nothing “worth stealing,” think again. Even a local pizza joint that delivers will have access to tens of dozens, maybe hundreds, of street addresses and credit card numbers. And that’s all the hackers are after. Protect yourself by putting basic security measures in place like changing default passwords often, setting up strong firewalls, and not falling prey to the kinds of phishing scams or malicious emails that Security News reports.
Going App Crazy
What else has the proliferation of smart phones done besides make us all mobile-crazy? It’s also driven us app crazy. And it’s not just Facebook, Twitter and Angry Birds, either. We’re turning to apps to help us run our businesses and be more efficient and, we hope, more profitable.
For example:
- Apps like Shoeboxed and Expensify help SMBs keep track of purchase history and create expense reports.
- Quickbooks Mobile (Android, iPhone) and Freshbooks MiniBooks help SMBs create invoices, access customer data and manage balances while away from their computer.
- Payment processing apps like Square or Intuit’s Go Payment make sales easier, allowing business owners to accept payments on the go.
- The Iconosys Tax Deduction Tracker allows a business owner to document tax-deductible items in real time.
The adoption of business applications will allow SMBs to streamline tasks and do more faster and easier.
Those are the five hot Internet trends I think small business owners should be aware of in 2012. Are you ready?
Binocular Photo via Shutterstock
5 Internet Marketing Trends for SMBs to Watch in 2012
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
10 Food Business Trends to Watch for 2012
Dec 7th
Are you in the restaurant, foodservice or food manufacturing business? No matter how tough the economy is, people still need to eat. And foodservice entrepreneurs have shown a lot of creativity in the past few years—in fact, you could almost say the recession has sparked a renaissance of restaurant industry creativity. Beyond food trucks, burgers and beer, what are some of the hot food trends for 2012?
Here are 10 of the most promising trends I’ve featured on my food trends site, SmallBizTrendCast.
- Artisanal everything: Not new, but still going strong, “artisanal” originally referred to handcrafted foods but is now springing up everywhere. The term has even trickled down to quick-service restaurants, with major chains like Jack in the Box touting “artisanal” breads as a selling point. One product that’s not quite so mainstream: artisanal marshmallows.
- So cool it’s hot: Ice cream (especially, you guessed it, artisanal ice cream) shows no signs of slowing down. (And why should it—who doesn’t love ice cream?) Next up, restaurant consulting firm Andrew Freeman & Co. predicts “snow ice”–a dessert with the flavor and creaminess of ice cream but that has a light, airy texture—will hit big in the U.S. for 2012.
- One potato, two potato: They may have been banned from school lunchroom menus, but they’re showing up everywhere else. Andrew Freeman & Co. says the big trend will be “have-it-your-way” potatoes, such as make-your-own mashed potatoes with customized mix-ins, fries where you can choose the cut, degree of crispness and dipping sauce; and chips with custom “dustings” and dips. If plain old potatoes sound too unhealthy for your customers, try offering sweet potato fries and dishes.
- Breakfast anytime: Customers want what they want when they want it—and for many, what they want is breakfast. Restaurants are happy to oblige, since breakfast food ingredients are typically cheaper than other meals. Some are serving breakfast menus all day long; others are reinterpreting breakfast foods for dinner with items like sandwiches made of waffles, egg dishes or French toast bread puddings.
- Juicy news: Depending on where you live, it might seem like juice bars are oversaturated. But Howard Schultz doesn’t think so. The Starbucks entrepreneur recently bought Evolution Fresh, a super-premium juice maker with a brand presence in grocery stores on the West Coast. He plans to sell the juice to more retail outlets, put it on the menu at Starbucks and launch juice bars in 2012. If Schultz thinks this market has more room for growth, maybe you should, too—especially if you’re in an area where juice bars (or Starbucks) don’t have a strong presence.
- Sweets from Swedes: Scandinavian sweets, which have long been popular in places with lots of Scandinavians, like Minnesota, are now becoming trendy in urban areas like L.A. and New York. What’s behind the popularity? Americans are craving small sizes and natural ingredients, both features of Scandinavian treats. One to watch: a dark treacle syrup called stroop, used in Dutch desserts.
- Healthy eating: Trends like gluten-free foods and products catering to diners with food allergies will continue to be hot. Watch for whole grains, a wider range of salads, selection in portion size, and low-sodium options to grow in popularity as well.
- Appetite for appetizers: Whether you call them tapas, small plates or appetizers, smaller-sized portions are going to keep growing strong for several reasons. They’re less expensive for cost-conscious diners, offer smaller portions for health-conscious diners, and are made for sharing, which appeals to people’s desire to make eating out a social experience. Chefs like them, too, because appetizers allow them to experiment with new recipes and ingredients without committing to a full-scale meal.
- Mostly Mediterranean: In a recent Technomic poll, 60 percent of restaurant-goers said they are open to trying Mediterranean food, and sales of Greek, Spanish and Middle Eastern menu items grew by nearly 2 percent between 2009 and 2010. A growing interest in eating healthfully, vegetarian foods and ethnic foods are among the factors in Mediterranean food’s popularity—so break out the chickpeas.
- Familiar favorites with a twist: One overwhelming trend that will continue into 2012 is a yen for familiarity. Consumers battered by the economy want comfort food. But that doesn’t mean plain old mac-and-cheese. Americans are eager to try new tastes, as long as it’s couched in something they know. So smart chefs are putting new twists on old formats, like pizzas, wraps and sandwiches, or using exotic ingredients in familiar foods (wasabi ice cream).
Image from atm2003/Shutterstock
10 Food Business Trends to Watch for 2012
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
