RIGHT NOW, INTERNET MARKETING IS CHANGING THE BUSINESS MODEL FASTER THAN ANY OTHER TIME PREVIOUSLY

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Real Asset Solutions Australia

Many businesses will simply not survive in their current format and will need to be ready to adapt to fast changes in coming technology should they wish to remain viable.

Gone are the days where a small business can rely on a physical office or retail location to attract new customers. Research clearly shows that those small businesses who are bucking the economic trend and are experiencing growth can attribute most of the growth from online marketing or having an online presence.

Shoppers now have more choice at their fingertips than ever before. Statistics tell us that nearly 50% of people will not do business with a website that does not load correctly, is cumbersome and slow to use or is not designed to be viewed on the persons device. Coupling this is the fact that consumers will use a number of different devices across numerous platforms throughout the day. Mobile is now expected.

A quite remarkable number bandied around is that approximately on 30% of Small Businesses have an internet offering that can not be viewed on any platform and even more astounding is that close to 30% of small businesses in Australia do not have a dedicated website for their business. With over $92 Billion transacted in 2013 via mobile gateways a figure that is over 300% higher that 5 years ago these retailers are missing the opportunity to capture sales from this group of people. They are in fact promoting their business to a little over half of their available markets.

Don’t be fooled by the latest trend or gimmick. Sustained Activity aimed at the correct audience will get you far better results than any tool or software

When the internet first arrived it took many years for people to feel safe enough to purchase and pay for things online. Sites like Ebay were the pioneers that made online purchasing an everyday event. With the introduction of the internet, there were  benefits for small business owners in that it  allowed a particular organisation to reach many prospective clients wherever those clients may be.. Even if you have one store or location you could now advertise your goods/services anywhere in the world.

The hard part for Small Business Owners though is the fact that getting your business on the  internet and getting noticed is not an easy task. Think of the Internet as the biggest shopping mall in the world with new shops opening and others closing every millisecond. Each operator ever more keen to promote their products and services with the latest gadget or plug in.

Think back 20 years ago; having a small flyer designed and printed was a two week-long event – if you were lucky! Today you can order printing from any where in the world and have it delivered to your door within a few days. Not only do you have a product and service far more superior than 20 years ago you also have literally thousands of competitors worldwide all trying to get your business.

The lesson for small business is don’t regard the internet as a medium for advertising your business, if you look at it from that angle you might as well take a classified advert out in every paper in the world. Obviously there needs to be some narrowing down of target markets, research needs to be conducted and testing and improvement is extremely important to develop a profitable distribution channel. All of these things are part of the core principle of Marketing, Product, Price Promotion & Price.

People often confuse marketing as being only advertising related, they feel a catchy slogan or an amazing offer will be enough to sway people to their product or service over their competitors. However Marketing is far more of an exact science that relates to getting a product to market whilst earning the greatest amount of return on your investment of time and money.

Think of Marketing as the recipe to product success; just like with baking a cake some ingredients suit better than others.

The answer and solution is working out what ingredients and at what amount need to be added to your cake mix to bake that award winning masterpiece. Sacrificing water for milk or cream for eggs does not work just as mixing the wrong marketing tools together will not work either.

To succeed online you have to harness and maximise the unique qualities of the web, this includes being able to find a way to offer your clients or customers a better way of doing things or a better experience than they can get elsewhere.

The words Online marketing – these two simple words placed together cover an enormous amount of subject matter, This is where a good marketer will understand that this raw data needs to be filtered and targeted to a point where you now have a method to communicate effectively to  those who may be seeking your product and services and what you are promoting is an enticing offer that in some way is better than your competitors.

Remember as a Small Business you do have some leverage over large competitors in terms of speed to market and the ability to be adaptable without a big bureaucratic noose around your neck. As a small business owner you need to maximise these weaknesses in your competitors Armour and cement your place in the market place before someone in a far far distant place finds your customers and begins to drag them away.

REDDOG Business & Marketing Strategies is an agency that differs from many other marketing consultants as we are salespeople and small business owners ourselves and first and fore most we agree and understand that having the biggest glossiest website or the best pay per click budget is worth nothing unless they are proven to be the right ingredient used at the right time in the right way.

Visit our website www.reddogstrategies.com.au for Free Marketing Tips

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Will we see then end of waiters and people serving behind counters in convenience stores etc?

Substituting technology for real-life waiters is not as far-off and futuristic as one may think. For all the skeptics out there, read the cleverly-headlined and profusely-shared “Hi, I’m a Tablet. I’ll Be Your Waiter Tonight.” article published in The New York Times recently. The piece asserts that “restaurants have been late to the tech party, and many are now scrambling to incorporate tablets, apps, computerized kitchen equipment and data analysis capabilities.” In other words, restaurants are being transformed by technology, and not just when it comes to waiting tables.Diners are definitely on board with this. Granted, some bemoan the loss of the human connection—one Reddit user commented, “If a restaurant I go to got rid of waiters, I’d stop going.” However, a survey by the National Restaurant Association found that more than 50% of consumers said that “they would use tableside electronic payment options,” and 44% indicated they would use tablet menus.

The customer is always…happy?

Several platforms have sprung up to provide this new technology, including Revel, Ziosk, and Tanjarine, the last of which links tableside ordering, entertainment, and pay-at-the-table service with server handheld devices. Restaurants that use these platforms report increased profits, more inventory turnover, and heightened levels of customer satisfaction.

We suspect that this is just the beginning: Consumer demand for instant, friction-free service in all aspects of their lives is only increasing. And now that apps like Uber are already providing that kind of service the second diners step out of a restaurant, they’ll surely want it inside as well. Besides, restaurants will probably realize the value in forming an association between themselves and these popular new tech platforms.

It’s the restaurant revolution

With waitering service covered and taking off, the next logical step would be integrating technology into more aspects of the dining experience. As a mobile app-creation platform that currently enables thousands of restaurants to connect and engage with their customers via customized mobile apps, that next step is something we at Como have been thinking about a lot.

As things stand now, these customized apps let restaurants post daily updated menus to reflect daily specials. Users can make reservations through OpenTable and Urbanspoon. App users on both ends can integrate with GrubHub, Seamless, and Eat24. But with the anticipated development of technology in the restaurant realm, we expect a lot more things to improve for the customer before, during, and after the dining experience.

Before:
We expect that customers will soon be able to use a restaurant’s app on their phone to send their order to their table’s tablet before they even get to the restaurant. Diners may even be able to order their favorite dish to show up at their table precisely at 8:15 p.m.

During:
Alternatively, diners could change their order, confirm it, and send it to the kitchen once they sit down. Consider the efficiency this would bring to the restaurant, and more importantly, the high levels of satisfaction it would bring to customers. We all know how frustrating it can be to try and find a waiter when a restaurant gets really busy.

After:
Restaurant owners could track and monitor data such as individual customer behavior, menu choices, time spent at each table, and more. After the diners leave, a restaurant’s app could keep a record of what they enjoyed. That data would let restaurant owners offer them a discount on that dish the next time, recommend suggestions based on their culinary preferences, offer a coupon, or survey them on potential new menu items.

Puttanesca with a side of data

The development of customized apps has always meant that restaurants are as much in the data business as they are in the food business. Now more than ever before, restaurants need to think about the many ways they can “serve” this data that’s available to them back to their customers.

For example, those counting calories could be notified about the calories they consumed during their meals. In turn, this data can be integrated into fitness and wellness services within an app—like Nutrisystem’s recent Numi launch. Taking this a step further, users can be told how many calories they need to burn based on what they just ate, and how long different workouts will take to achieve that.

We’ve come a long way from the time when restaurant owners—and other small business owners—wondered why they would ever need a mobile app. Of course, there will always be skeptics. New technology always provokes that reaction; there’s probably still some people out there grumbling about the birth of the Internet. But—while there’s obviously no guarantees— this particular change looks like it could be beneficial for everyone involved.

Mobile Apps are Exploding & Australian SME's Rubbing their hands together

The mobile commerce sector in Australia is booming, with monthly sales for December growing by a massive 448% in just three years, according to an ACMA report.

The research snapshot, which uses data sourced from Roy Morgan, shows 3.4 million Australians used a mobile commerce service during December of 2013, significantly up from just 620,000 for the same month in 2010.

The figures measure the number of consumers banking, paying bills, or buying goods and services online using their smartphones.

According to the report, the local smartphone market is still growing, with 12.07 million Australians owning a smartphone as of May 2014, up 8% from a year earlier.

Overall, 59% of Australians now own a smartphone, a penetration rate that’s higher than either the US (56%) or the UK (51%).

The growth of smartphones led to the number of Australians using the internet on their mobiles to grow to 8.3 million during December 2013, up 196% from 2.8 million during the same month in 2010.

Not surprisingly, younger consumers leading the charge, with people aged 25 to 34 being 33% more likely that average to use mobile commerce, whereas use of those same services was 58% less likely than average among consumers aged 65 and older.

In terms of mobile shopping transactions, 33% of Australians over 18 participated in online auctions through their phones, 33% used an online mobile payment system and 21% paid for purchases using a credit card.

Meanwhile, a massive 77% of adults transfer funds using their mobiles, while 46% use them to pay bills, suggesting there’s still significant further room for growth in mobile shopping.

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Has it Been A Good Year For Property?

Has it been a good year for property?

I can not see a lot of confidence in the market, yet prices are rising ? 

Perhaps we are at an equilibrium where we will see a more balanced market going forward? 

Interesting thought, Are we more motivated by making money or does the fear of losing money outweigh our greed?

In my opinion the main problem with any investment at the moment is affordability. Whilst inflation may be under 3% overall, do some research on essential services and see what high inflation is about.

You cannot rip an extra $5000 -$10,000 out of the average families cash flow and expect no flow on effect.

What is the easiest thing you can do to keep in the black,easy forget about the future and stop saving or investing- you need a house to live in, a car to drive, clothes, gas, electricity TODAY, not in 10, 15 or 20 years.

So if you are short on money after losing so much on extra essential services charges what do you think you will give up to make up for it?

Of course, your future financial goals are first on the list. They don't come around to cut the power off if you don't pay unlike your power provider.

Hence it is pretty hard to save your way to Financial Freedom living in a society where boundaries move and you have absolutely no control.

Obviously, this scenario is nothing new, 20 years ago it was oil and petrol, prior to that building materials etc, there will never be a perfect storm in an economy with natural disasters, financial crashes and market cycling happening everyday.

Savvy investors are usually people who make well researched decisions based on reliable modelling, whilst you can never totally remove risk you can plan for it. A plan that takes into account the what if's and provides a strategy that is based on worst case scenario integrated with good risk management and reporting is the most safest, secure and predictable way to success.

Whilst it may take a little longer your journey is going to be so much more relaxed and enjoyable.

If you are struggling to get ahead financially and feel that you are caught up in a scenario where you have the least amount control over your money then perhaps you may need to consider making an effort to stop being reactive and become proactive.

A simple phone consultation can often save our clients over half their term in mortgage payments and still have more cash flow coming in than previously.

It really depends on your circumstances and what you want to achieve, not everyone wants to buy and own investment properties or shares, however you need to find something to reduce the amount of interest and tax you will pay in your lifetime if you want any chance of financial freedom and don't want to be be another million dollar sucker paying your banks CEO's yacht off for them.

Book a Free Consultation during September using our Online Appointment Scheduler & Reminder System and Receive a $50.00 SHELL Fuel CARD as a Free Reward to pay for next weeks fuel bill.even better it may change your life....

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The 9 Things A Small Business Can Try to Get Paid On Time

1.Get it in writing. Have an engagement letter or services agreement to protect your
legal right to be paid fairly for services rendered.

2. Get a deposit or a retainer. This helps to reduce your overall financial exposure.

3.Get your invoices out quickly. The longer you sit on your bills, the slower you will get paid.

4. Communicate early and often. Customers tend not to pay quickly or at all when
they are dissatisfied. Reach out to them right away if there is a problem or a dispute
and talk it through. Be ready to compromise if their complaints or concerns are legitimate,
but only in exchange for prompt payment on the adjusted balance.

5. Establish budgets and target ranges. Customers hate surprises. If the bill is much
higher than expected, they might delay payment in protest.

6. Get creative. Can you include mutual incentives for prompt payment? Can you
break payments into installments? If you make it easier and more rewarding to help
them pay you, you might get paid faster.

7. Establish mutually beneficial and dynamic relationships with your customers and
clients. Customers will pay faster when they like you, appreciate your product/service
and feel as though it is a two-way street.

8. Try the carrot before the stick. If a customer pays late, don't threaten them with
litigation until you first try to work things out. A reasonable approach is less invasive
and less stressful. It can also save your business relationship.

9. Protect against the inevitable. If you know that customers or clients will pay late, then make
sure you have a line of credit or access to financing to cover cash flow gaps. Your business is
a car. You are the driver. Cash flow is the gas that makes your business go.