Use demographic data to keep your small business one step ahead

May 9, 2012 By 2 Comments

A chance reading of an article in the Sydney Morning Herald got me thinking about changing demographics. While the article was specifically looking at the expected large numbers of seniors who will require aged care, it resonated with me how important it is for business owners to consider using demographic data.

What has happened in my children’s shoe market in the past couple of years is a case in point.

Firstly about 2 years ago we had a shortage size 9 shoes. Purchasing levels were in line with expectations but they were selling faster

use demographic data

use demographic data

than usual. Talking to customers they also said that it was hard to buy clothes in the correct size.  It turns out there was a birthing bubble about 3 years prior which meant a greater demand at that time.  The lag in supply is over 6 months to a year until we can adjust our ordering levels.  My store is in New Zealand which has a population of a little over 4 million as as with most consumer products, large stocks are not held in the present economic conditions. For a few  shoe brands there were stocks available in Australia which we could draw on, but only small quantities.

While we can now make allowances for this and order based on the expected sizes required as the children grow, but there are also external factors which could also affect us. This was highlighted in a big way the last couple of months. Suddenly our draw down stocks based in Australia are NIL. It appears that Australia has had their own little boom & wiped out the current winter supply.

Use demographic data to keep your small business one step ahead

Here’s an extract from the article to get you thinking:

The demographic shift has implications for small businesses’ marketing strategies and staffing, as well as bringing potential opportunities for providing services to a mature population.

The proportion of Australia’s population 65 years of age or older has grown from 8 per cent in 1970-71 to 13 per cent in 2001-02. In 40 years’ time, a quarter of the population will be aged over 65. The number of working-age people to support each retiree will fall from five people today to 2.7 in 2049-50.Read more click here

 

So the lesson to be learnt?

Keep up with the demographic and other data  for the buyers of your products or services. Are you expecting changes due to an aging population, new technology,  changes in the income levels of your customers, growth from new residential subdivisions in your local market,  a new supermarket in the area that will bring in more customers, a new school being built.

Also, consider the supply chain lag. How long will it take for your suppliers to be able to provide stock? What about staffing?

Consider using demographic data that is up to date to keep you one step of changes to your customer base.

 

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Filed Under: Small Business General Help Tagged With: , ,

A case for not having a mobile friendly website

May 8, 2012 By 8 Comments

Here’s something going against popular opinion. I would like to put a case forward for NOT having a mobile friendly website. This has come about

does your small business need a mobile friendly website

Could your website on a mobile device be deterring customers?

from reading yet  another article on how small businesses  are missing out by not having a mobile friendly website. While it is undisputed that mobile searches are rising, having happy visitors to your site, to either a mobile site or full site when searching on a mobile device, is not mutually exclusive. Many searchers can and will have a good experience on a website that is not specifically designed for a mobile device. But, this comes with a caution, always consider the needs and requirements of your visitors.

A case for not having a mobile friendly website

I have a shoe store ( mainly children’s’) and have set up a mobile website. If searching on a mobile phone, visitors was redirected to my mobile site.  As I was unable to have all my (over 500 ) styles of shoes on the mobile site, the site had my location, phone number & address and  a tappable link to get back to my ‘full site’.

On studying my google analytics  I found that:

  •  In December 2011 most of my searchers on a mobile device where looking  for a particular brand or style of shoe
  • They were redirected to my mobile friendly site
  • They would then have to click on the link to be taken to the full site to complete the search
  • 8.14% of visitors to my site were from mobile devices
  • the bounce rate for mobiles was 50%, while non mobile vistors bounced 44%

I turned off the redirection to the mobile site as I felt that searchers were looking for products, not simply my location and/or phone number

Here’s the latest data

  • In April 2012 35.63% of visitors on mobile devices, while 39.62% of non mobile visitors bounced
  • 13.85% of my traffic is from mobile devices.

 

While there are many factors to take into account, the above findings have reinforced to me that my visitors are looking for shoes by style, brand etc and need to be able to view the products easily and quickly. Mobile traffic is indeed increasing but my traffic is happier the way my site is now. Though if you do go to my website Foot Forward Shoes there is room for improvement.  I need to work on making my address, google map location, phone number and opening hours  easier to find ( best practice for websites 101)

Now this is in reference to  my retail store, for searchers looking for a local dentist, restaurant, doctor, plumber their needs will differ. They would more than likely require what is considered best practice in mobile sites as described above namely; map, address, phone number etc with tappable buttons suitable for larger fingers (my mobile site)

Conclusion

Before running out setting up or paying for a mobile site for your business, have a good think about searchers are looking for in terms of  your business. Do not  just accept that a mobile friendly website is  a necessity and you are behind the times if you don’t have one. It’s your users that the website is designed for, their needs are paramount.

 

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Filed Under: Small Business Websites Tagged With: , ,

Examples of how daily deal sites have worked for some small businesses

May 7, 2012 By 3 Comments

I came across the article below on VCStar.com which has some good examples on how a daily deal sites has helped build awareness of local small businesses. As it

dail deal site getsocio

Could you use a daily deal builder for your own daily deals?

was awareness that most of the businesses were after,  they were prepared to lose money in order to gain new customers and repeat business. While  I would say that doing the numbers on the deals is extremely important so that the deals do not result in a surprise by costing the company huge dollars, there is always the possibility of add ons. And it’s here that one of the businesses does give ideas within the window services industry for other services which can be added on to the ‘deal’ job. So if you are interested in some examples of how daily deals sites could work for your business, check out this article:

 

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/may/05/business-owners-weigh-pros-and-cons-of-online/

 

If you are interested in setting up your  own daily ( weekly, monthly) deal site you can, click here to read.

 

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Ideas and Tips Tagged With: ,

Recognizing and dealing with stress and burnout – help for small business owners

May 1, 2012 By 6 Comments

Are you stressed or suffering from business burnout? Maybe you have not yet got to the point of recognizing the problem. I came across an article by Bob Dahms on dealing  these issues which I have just got to share. Just like millions of small business owners around the world I thought I was coping ok with doing ‘everything’ in my business, but now can see how easy it is to fall into the trap that will result in business burnout. The link to the article is below, please read through to the end which deals with recognizing  and some tips of dealing with stress in business.

recognizing and dealing with stress

recognizing and dealing with stress

Don’t leave it too late, recognizing and dealing with stress and burnout is important for you, your family and friends.

 

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/04/30/2497668/what-to-do-when-faced-with-business.html

Filed Under: Small Business Personal Development Tagged With:

How to track and analyse my facebook for business fanpages to help with measuring a ROI

April 28, 2012 By 6 Comments

Just looking at how many likes I have is not enough, how can I track and analyse my facebook for business fanpages?  To help measure a ROI

track and analyse your facebook fanpage with google analytics

track and analyse your facebook fanpage with google analytics

(Return on Investment) I know I can use Facebook Insights, which I might add, looks like I’ll have to do some googling on to understand how to interpret and use. But did you know that you can add a google analytics code by embedding a tracking code  to an image. The information provided by google is not the same as the facebook data, but used in tandem I  will be able to track and analyse my facebook for business fanpages to give me more information on working with Facebook. After all the end result should be profitable sales, is this happening? if not and I make changes, has it worked?

 

How to track and analyse my facebook for business fanpages to help with measuring a  ROI

Here’s some great info from a post by Kaylan Smith

  • Time your users spent on the page.
  • The location they are viewing your page from.
  • Traffic sources

In addition, Google Analytics will tell you some of the other information that Facebook Insights provides, such as the level of social engagement.

Overall though, it doesn’t provide that information in as much detail as Facebook’s.

If you are going to set up Google Analytics into your Facebook page, you need to be aware that you are not going to be able to proceed the same way you did with your website.

Facebook prohibits Javascript on its pages, so you will need to create an image with your tracking code embedded in it. This is fairly straightforward and there are a number of tutorials on how to do this.

Ideally, I would suggest setting up both Facebook Insights and Google Analytics into your Facebook page.

Facebook Insights provides information on a more narrow range of data, but it does so in more depth. You can get a much clearer picture of the way your users are accessing your site if you combine both tools in your report.click here to read the full post.

 

Here is a link to the facebook note on adding google analytics to a facebook fanpage:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=325063857203

 

Of course once I started researching this topic I found some more tools that may be of interest, check out the links below to see if they could be of benefit to your business.  Spending your valuable time on facebook and other social media takes you away from other business activities, so I hope this post on how to track and analyse my facebook for business fanpages has been helpful. It is important to take stock and analyse the data, and if necessary make changes, try different option. At the end of the day you need a ROI on facebook and these tools will help you.

 

http://edgerankchecker.com/

http://klout.com/home

 

Filed Under: Small Business Social Media Tagged With: ,

small business start up success – find solutions to existing problems (video)

April 27, 2012 By 2 Comments

Small business start up is plain hard work. If you are wanting inspiration and ideas here’s 2 videos from Backblaze, a company specialising in having customers back up their data onto the Blackblaze system.  There are a many great points that I took away from  the videos and  I am sure that if you are in the start up or planning stage of a business you will find helpful as well. My opinions will be different  from yours, as each of us will pick up on different ‘aahaa’ moments.

The videos are  4 & 3 mins. respectively

Here are my take aways:

1 – recognize a need –  96% of computer owners do not not back up their data regularly

2 – keep it simple – simple pricing option just do ‘everthing’

3 – business start up is hard, many owners do not take a salary for years

4 – little things that can be forgotten even a on/off switch

5 – most start ups require owners to take a high risk with investing their savings

6 – look at  and review all options – built their own storage system

 

part 2

What did you find helpful from the videos? We can learn from both small business start up successes as well as failures, it’s great to report on a success!

Filed Under: Small Business Start Up Help Tagged With: ,

An issue facing all small business owners – where to advertise your business

April 24, 2012 By 5 Comments

I know that half of advertising doesn’t work, the problem is I don’t know which half – As a small business owner does this quote ( paraphrased) by retailing tycoon John Wanamaker, resonate with you? Do you want to know where to advertise your business? Knowing how, what & who to advertise with was  bad enough when the  options where limited.

where are you going to spend your advertsing dollar

where are you going to place your advertising dollar?

Not so long ago the options were television, newspapers, radio, mail outs, flyer’s, and a small amount of others and now? The internet is fast being a superhighway of advertising. What with Google ads and other pay for click advertising, internet marketers advertising everything including the kitchen sink, our own business website, Facebook ads, Facebook offers (on the way, see below), Twitter ( and soon twitter ads), pinterest,  You Tube ads, and next, you tube ads for small businesses. Don’t forget all those fantastic coupon deals and loyalty schemes our businesses must be  a part of that will drive thousands of buyers to our stores, services or websites…

An issue facing all small business owners – where to advertise your business

Basically the whole web and most social media is becoming advertising driven.  Now I’m not saying that that is wrong, it’s just the way it is. There was always going to be a price to pay for the mega load of information  on the web. Someone, somewhere needs to be paying to support the infrastructure and on going maintenance of websites of, for example, charities and other social causes, craft forums, pet information etc. Facebook is going public, and as such will need to generate a return for it’s investors from what? from businesses advertising on the platform.

What worries me most, as a small business owner is, where do we place our advertising dollar? What is going to give us the most return? Who do we trust [Read more…]

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Ideas and Tips Tagged With: , ,

Planning to start up a business – try the business model canvas (video)

April 23, 2012 By 5 Comments

Are you in the process planning to start up a business or are you wanting ideas to grow your business to the next level. While some businesses start up and grow organically without a  formal business blueprint or strategy, most start up business owners have a spent many hours constructing a business plan. So, if you are wanting to know where and how to start planning to start up a business the business model canvas may be for you. What is does is to force you to think about you business strategy and work on  rather then in your business. I  call it a conceptual framework for business.

The Business Model Canvas, is a strategic management and entrepreneurial tool. It allows you to describe, design, challenge, invent, and pivot your business model.source

So grab a coffee, tea or water and watch these 2 videos.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Small Business Administration and Mgmt, Small Business Growth, Small Business Marketing Ideas and Tips, Small Business Start Up Help Tagged With: , ,

Don’t let it get you down, learn from mistakes made in business

April 21, 2012 By 2 Comments

Great entrepreneurs are good at failing. That’s what caught my attention in an article by Rhonda Abrams in USA today. Don’t let it get you down, learn from mistakes made in business. After all we all make them!  And that is what I call success, taking those failures, turning them around and applying those lessons to move forward. Rhonda covers Fail Forward, Fail Fast, Fail Smart, Fail  Cheap, Fail with Integrity.

To read Rhonda’s post  in full click:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/abrams/story/2012-04-19/small-business-know-smart-way-to-fail/54420610/1

 

Don’t let it get you down, learn from mistakes made in business

In fact you nearly have permission to make mistakes.

I found this great video from life & business coach Jeff Klubeck, giving a practical example on how  learn from mistakes  made in business and life.  He talks of a mistake ROI (Return on Investment), changing your mindset and using failures as life lessons. This has been quite a revelation to me as it’s so easy to get down in the dumps with a ‘poor me’ attitude rather than, ok, I made a mistake, what can I learn from this in order not to do it again. I hope this has a similar affect on you.

Filed Under: Small Business Personal Development, Why Small Businesses Fail Tagged With: , ,

Is cash flow management a problem? perhaps accepting prepayments could be an option

April 19, 2012 By 1 Comment

Is cash flow management a problem for your small business?  Having enough cash to pay suppliers when due is a common issue, especially in times of

a cash flow management a problem

a cash flow management a problem

growth when you could be building up inventories. In her article No substitute for cash in the till, Dianne Buckner shares one company’s success with accepting prepayments as part of their business model and strategy for cash flow management. A problem no more for MacMarr, here’s what they have achieved.

 

 Is cash flow management a problem? perhaps accepting prepayments could be an option

“Guitars are the whole basis of our business,” says Marr. “We can’t have a day when a bill is due from one of our suppliers and say, ‘Sorry, I don’t have the money.’ No guitars means no sales — and that would mean no company, real fast.”

But after a customer offered to pre-pay for his guitar purchase, even though the delivery was months away, Marr found himself thinking “I hope there’s a lot more customers out there who think like that.”

He and MacKenzie promptly put a notice on their website, promoting pre-payment in exchange for free delivery. Normally customers pay $35 for delivery anywhere in Canada. The response to the new offer was so positive, that Marr now estimates 25 per cent of their clientele pay up front. The strategy turned MacKenzie and Marr’s cash-flow problem into a solution. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Small Business General Help Tagged With: , , ,
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