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SCORE is also able to create these small business success stories at a low cost. Any business can use the services of SCORE. Have you used the  services of SCORE  SCORE also has recently introduced e-mail mentoring . Check them out now.
SCORE is also able to create these small business success stories at a low cost. Any business can use the services of SCORE. Have you used the  services of SCORE  SCORE also has recently introduced e-mail mentoring . Check them out now.
Here are five that are worth checking out:
One other notable mention should be Flipboard for iPhone and iPad (although it’s more like a reader where you discover content and not necessarily add your own RSS feeds). It’s feeds are limited to an inventory of websites (that Flipboard makes available) and your feeds are limited to just as many slots available, which is fairly abysmal. Flipboard seems to work better (or perhaps exclusively) on mobile devices and not so much on the web - the turf Google Reader used to dominate.
So, as Google Reader leaves the scene, what’s your poison going to be What service are you going to use for your RSS management
The Samsung Galaxy S4 boasts some exciting new features, including “smart scrollingâ€, simultaneous shooting from both cameras, and pausing that works by tracking your eyes. It has a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac network capabilities, a 13 megapixel camera on the back, and Bluetooth 4.0; all this in a neatly presented 130 gram size. The device runs on Google Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and it’s a reliable device for anyone looking to enjoy their mobile experience.
Boosting Your Bottom Line
The Galaxy S4 has many features that are perfect for running a business; not to mention all the apps that you can download and add to your Android handset. You can enjoy wireless updating, notifications of incoming emails on the home screen, secure networking, calendar and contacts, and even IMAP email functionality. This device is the perfect mobile partner for business owners and executives.
Communication is essential for any business owner and being able to connect while you are traveling is always necessary. You can now instantly reject a call with a message, enjoy a video conference while you are on the road, and book a flight while you wait for a meeting to start. This handset is literally a business companion and its wealth of new and improved features will be welcomed by all.
Here are 5 reasons why business owners should consider using the Galaxy S4:
The long awaited Samsung Galaxy S4 truly provides a lot of features for the business individual, while offering an enjoyable mobile experience for social users. This is one of the best handsets that Samsung delivered in a while - let’s hope it is a successful one.
Image Credit: CNN Money
Twitter keeps pushing the envelope about the style and content of tweets. Yesterday, it launched a new feature called “line breaks†- which are exactly what they sound like, line breaks inside tweets.  Here’s an example:
The announcement was made, where else, but in a tweet. The @TwitterForNews feed simply pushed out a tweet that said “Line Breaks†but with each letter on a separate line, along with the hashtag #newattwitter.
Digital Trends noted that the feature already existed in some mobile apps and desktop platforms, although many people may not have been aware of the capability. Â With them being launched on the Web version of the platform (what I use 85% of the time), the feature likely be used more:
What’s worth mentioning here though is that the ability to add line breaks already exists on its mobile and desktop platforms (iOS, Android, and Twitter for Mac to be specific) so it’s a natural progression for Twitter to roll this out finally to its Web app. Twitter didn’t end up saying a peep about the feature in other devices - it was more like an Easter egg until now. But thanks to the official tweet tweet, this time around a lot more people are aware about the line break’s existence.
This feature, while not a huge deal, expands the flexibility of messages you can create on the social sharing platform. Â To use it, all you do is hit the Return button to advance to a new line while composing your tweet. Â We see 3Â benefits of Twitter line breaks:
1.) Line breaks can be used to emphasize points â€"  If you want to emphasize a portion of your tweet, just set it off on its own line. In a sea of over-used hashtags and what can appear to be gibberish to the uninitiated,  it can be refreshing to see a word or a few set apart with some free white space around them.
2.) Twitter line breaks can make your tweets easier to read - Sometimes in order to cram in as many words as possible, people abbreviate words â€" to the point it feels like you’re reading hieroglyphs.  But instead of abbreviating words, you can set them apart by line breaks, in lieu of some connector words or punctuation.
3.) Twitter line breaks make your tweets stand out - Line breaks give your tweets more physical space in the tweet stream, making them stand out because they look different. Â That can lead to more engagement.
Reaction to Twitter line breaks has been mixed, according to ComputerWorld, with some people predicting an explosion of line-break spam. However, once the novelty dies down, I predict Twitter line-break spam also will die back.
This is just one more example of Twitter expanding the tweet format. Previously, Twitter added attachments to tweets, including photos and videos.
Then last summer Twitter introduced Twitter cards.  Twitter cards add attachments in the form of summaries of news articles to your tweets, so that people can preview them.  Here at Small Business Trends we implemented Twitter Cards just this week, and we’ve already seen a small uptick in engagement with our content shared on Twitter, as people can preview a link before clicking.  Twitter cards  also add a lot more information, including visually-interesting information, to our tweets.  With a little special programming, we’ve even been able to add author bylines and the author Twitter handles to our tweet summaries, giving wider visibility to our authors.
Twitter keeps pushing the envelope about the style and content of tweets. Yesterday, it launched a new feature called “line breaks†- which are exactly what they sound like, line breaks inside tweets.  Here’s an example:
The announcement was made, where else, but in a tweet. The @TwitterForNews feed simply pushed out a tweet that said “Line Breaks†but with each letter on a separate line, along with the hashtag #newattwitter.
Digital Trends noted that the feature already existed in some mobile apps and desktop platforms, although many people may not have been aware of the capability. Â With them being launched on the Web version of the platform (what I use 85% of the time), the feature likely be used more:
What’s worth mentioning here though is that the ability to add line breaks already exists on its mobile and desktop platforms (iOS, Android, and Twitter for Mac to be specific) so it’s a natural progression for Twitter to roll this out finally to its Web app. Twitter didn’t end up saying a peep about the feature in other devices - it was more like an Easter egg until now. But thanks to the official tweet tweet, this time around a lot more people are aware about the line break’s existence.
This feature, while not a huge deal, expands the flexibility of messages you can create on the social sharing platform. Â To use it, all you do is hit the Return button to advance to a new line while composing your tweet. Â We see 3Â benefits of Twitter line breaks:
1.) Line breaks can be used to emphasize points â€"  If you want to emphasize a portion of your tweet, just set it off on its own line. In a sea of over-used hashtags and what can appear to be gibberish to the uninitiated,  it can be refreshing to see a word or a few set apart with some free white space around them.
2.) Twitter line breaks can make your tweets easier to read - Sometimes in order to cram in as many words as possible, people abbreviate words â€" to the point it feels like you’re reading hieroglyphs.  But instead of abbreviating words, you can set them apart by line breaks, in lieu of some connector words or punctuation.
3.) Twitter line breaks make your tweets stand out - Line breaks give your tweets more physical space in the tweet stream, making them stand out because they look different. Â That can lead to more engagement.
Reaction to Twitter line breaks has been mixed, according to ComputerWorld, with some people predicting an explosion of line-break spam. However, once the novelty dies down, I predict Twitter line-break spam also will die back.
This is just one more example of Twitter expanding the tweet format. Previously, Twitter added attachments to tweets, including photos and videos.
Then last summer Twitter introduced Twitter cards.  Twitter cards add attachments in the form of summaries of news articles to your tweets, so that people can preview them.  Here at Small Business Trends we implemented Twitter Cards just this week, and we’ve already seen a small uptick in engagement with our content shared on Twitter, as people can preview a link before clicking.  Twitter cards  also add a lot more information, including visually-interesting information, to our tweets.  With a little special programming, we’ve even been able to add author bylines and the author Twitter handles to our tweet summaries, giving wider visibility to our authors.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 boasts some exciting new features, including “smart scrollingâ€, simultaneous shooting from both cameras, and pausing that works by tracking your eyes. It has a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac network capabilities, a 13 megapixel camera on the back, and Bluetooth 4.0; all this in a neatly presented 130 gram size. The device runs on Google Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and it’s a reliable device for anyone looking to enjoy their mobile experience.
Boosting Your Bottom Line
The Galaxy S4 has many features that are perfect for running a business; not to mention all the apps that you can download and add to your Android handset. You can enjoy wireless updating, notifications of incoming emails on the home screen, secure networking, calendar and contacts, and even IMAP email functionality. This device is the perfect mobile partner for business owners and executives.
Communication is essential for any business owner and being able to connect while you are traveling is always necessary. You can now instantly reject a call with a message, enjoy a video conference while you are on the road, and book a flight while you wait for a meeting to start. This handset is literally a business companion and its wealth of new and improved features will be welcomed by all.
Here are 5 reasons why business owners should consider using the Galaxy S4:
The long awaited Samsung Galaxy S4 truly provides a lot of features for the business individual, while offering an enjoyable mobile experience for social users. This is one of the best handsets that Samsung delivered in a while - let’s hope it is a successful one.
Image Credit: CNN Money
Here are five that are worth checking out:
One other notable mention should be Flipboard for iPhone and iPad (although it’s more like a reader where you discover content and not necessarily add your own RSS feeds). It’s feeds are limited to an inventory of websites (that Flipboard makes available) and your feeds are limited to just as many slots available, which is fairly abysmal. Flipboard seems to work better (or perhaps exclusively) on mobile devices and not so much on the web - the turf Google Reader used to dominate.
So, as Google Reader leaves the scene, what’s your poison going to be What service are you going to use for your RSS management
Here are five that are worth checking out:
One other notable mention should be Flipboard for iPhone and iPad (although it’s more like a reader where you discover content and not necessarily add your own RSS feeds). It’s feeds are limited to an inventory of websites (that Flipboard makes available) and your feeds are limited to just as many slots available, which is fairly abysmal. Flipboard seems to work better (or perhaps exclusively) on mobile devices and not so much on the web - the turf Google Reader used to dominate.
So, as Google Reader leaves the scene, what’s your poison going to be What service are you going to use for your RSS management
The data for the report on Time Killers comes from a worldwide survey of over 600 people, most of whom were small business owners, freelancers and professionals. Each person was asked about particular daily activities - for example, meetings. For each activity, the researchers calculated the percentage of people saying they engaged in this activity for 1-2 hours. The activities were then ranked in order of highest percentage to create a Top 10 list.
Many of the time killer activities related directly to business requirements. For example, 8 percent of people said that getting caught up in bureaucracy/red tape was a time killer (#10 on the list). Others cited commuting (13 percent, #7) and meetings (18 percent, #6).
Another important time killer can best be summarized as ‘idle time.’ Sixteen percent of people waste time in non-business-related conversations (#6 on the list) and 19 percent waste time by procrastinating for 1-2 hours a day (#4). Although not everybody procrastinates to that extreme, 9 out of 10 respondents admitted to some level of procrastination.
The final group of time killers is perhaps the most ironic of all. Technology has the power to streamline and simplify office work, but apparently it’s also the cause of a lot of wasted time. This includes talking on the cell phone/texting (10 percent, #9 on the list), social networking (11 percent, #8), watching TV (26 percent, #3), and surfing the internet (27 percent, #2). Finally, the number one time killer of all was email. 33 percent of respondents admitted to spending 1-2 hours per day with emails and an additional 22 percent said they spend more than 2 hours a day emailing.
Here’s a quick look at the full infographic of time wasters:
Top 10 Time Killers - An infographic by the team at OfficeTime Time Tracking
Here at Small Biz Technology, we love to talk about how technology can make small businesses more efficient and help them grow. This survey, however, serves as a reminder that there are also potential downsides of technology. Take a moment to analyze the time killers that you and your employees have fallen victim to, and then take the steps to correct the problem. Technology should be a small business’ best tool for success, but it all depends on how you use it.
The data for the report on Time Killers comes from a worldwide survey of over 600 people, most of whom were small business owners, freelancers and professionals. Each person was asked about particular daily activities - for example, meetings. For each activity, the researchers calculated the percentage of people saying they engaged in this activity for 1-2 hours. The activities were then ranked in order of highest percentage to create a Top 10 list.
Many of the time killer activities related directly to business requirements. For example, 8 percent of people said that getting caught up in bureaucracy/red tape was a time killer (#10 on the list). Others cited commuting (13 percent, #7) and meetings (18 percent, #6).
Another important time killer can best be summarized as ‘idle time.’ Sixteen percent of people waste time in non-business-related conversations (#6 on the list) and 19 percent waste time by procrastinating for 1-2 hours a day (#4). Although not everybody procrastinates to that extreme, 9 out of 10 respondents admitted to some level of procrastination.
The final group of time killers is perhaps the most ironic of all. Technology has the power to streamline and simplify office work, but apparently it’s also the cause of a lot of wasted time. This includes talking on the cell phone/texting (10 percent, #9 on the list), social networking (11 percent, #8), watching TV (26 percent, #3), and surfing the internet (27 percent, #2). Finally, the number one time killer of all was email. 33 percent of respondents admitted to spending 1-2 hours per day with emails and an additional 22 percent said they spend more than 2 hours a day emailing.
Here’s a quick look at the full infographic of time wasters:
Top 10 Time Killers - An infographic by the team at OfficeTime Time Tracking
Here at Small Biz Technology, we love to talk about how technology can make small businesses more efficient and help them grow. This survey, however, serves as a reminder that there are also potential downsides of technology. Take a moment to analyze the time killers that you and your employees have fallen victim to, and then take the steps to correct the problem. Technology should be a small business’ best tool for success, but it all depends on how you use it.
A study last month indicates that while Facebook still maintains its domination with 67 percent of American Internet users, Twitter, the second runner up with 16 percent of the same audience, may soon be overtaken by Pinterest, which now has about 15 percent.
It kind of makes you wonder why small businesses aren’t moving faster to adopt the popular image sharing site.
Another study showed that while small businesses are focusing on Facebook and Twitter, adoption of Pinterest has been slower.
Here’s our admittedly tongue in cheek list of reasons small businesses might not be adopting Pinterest, just for fun.
You Don’t Really Care About Analytics
This week, Pinterest announced the introduction of analytics tools telling site owners how many people have pinned images from their websites, how many other users have viewed these pins, and how many people have visited their websites from Pinterest. Who needs that, right Small Business Trends
Shiny New Social Tools Just Leave You Cold
Tools and tips for improving your skills using Pinterest abound. Here are more than 26 of them collected by blogger Wong Ching Ya that can take your social media efforts to the next level. But hey, maybe your small business doesn’t really need that kind of thing. Social@Blogging Tracker
You Don’t Need Better Sales or SEO
Experienced Pinterest marketers like Melanie Duncan are regularly giving free seminars like this one to boost SEO and sales. Duncan claims her strategies can double your traffic, followers and sales using Pinterest in the next 90 days. Now, why would you want something like that, right LinkedIn
Monetization Just Isn’t Your Thing
In this post, Jacob Kastrenakes claims Pinterest’s new analytics isn’t just a way of improving results for marketers who already love the site. It also opens the door for more precise monetization, not just for Pinterest, but for businesses who use the site for driving traffic. But then, finding a way to better monetize your web presence probably doesn’t much interest you, huh The Verge
You’re Oblivious to the Current Trends
You may have heard small businesses and brands aren’t the only ones using Pinterest to market themselves. Job seekers have also gotten into the act. This story suggests job seekers are using Pinterest to learn more about potential co-workers at a job they want and employers can use Pinterest to figure out whether an employee would be a good fit. Yes, these techniques might be translatable to your business, if you’d just give Pinterest a try. LifeInc.
You Couldn’t Care Less About Industry Leaders
Retailers like online auction giant eBay have begun looking at Pinterest’s success. They are redesigning their sites to look more like Pinterest. Ebay says its redesign already has customers spending more time on the company website. Oh, but what does eBay know, right Digiday
You Don’t Want to Know What Your Customers Think
The new analytics for Pinterest also give a better sense of what consumers respond to, both positively and negatively, on the social network. If your business used Pinterest, you would get a much better view of how your social marketing efforts were working with your audience. If that kind of thing interests you, of course. Internet Retailer
E-commerce Isn’t a Part of Your Game Plan
Pinterest and sites like it could have a huge impact on e-commerce, and this isn’t just because big companies like eBay are copying some of Pinterest’s successes into its own business model. It’s also because of Pinterest clones with e-commerce capabilities like Wanelo. Are you sure your business doesn’t need a tool like this Fox Business
You Don’t Want to Boost Your Social Engagement
Lorna Sixsmith writes in this post about the opportunities to increase social media engagement using Pinterest. Sixsmith gives a brief tutorial on how to boost Pinterest followers using a contests and other techniques on the site. But maybe social media engagement with your customers isn’t something your company needs. Write on Track
Pinterest isn’t just the latest social media channel out there. Some data suggests it also works more effectively than its competitors. Take a study last year suggesting that Pinterest drives 2.5 percent more traffic to a homepage than rival Twitter. If you believe in all that data stuff, that is. Econsultancy
Obviously, we’ve had a little fun compiling this list of reasons your small business might not be putting a priority on adopting Pinterest. In fact, we’d really like to know the sentiments of the small business community out there.
Do you consider Pinterest to be a priority in your online presence and why or why not
Courtesy cloud technology, more and more small businesses today are able to implement CRM systems and develop marketing strategies basis gathered customer intelligence. However, the conundrum most small business owners face is choosing a marketing method that is both effective and affordable.Â
Mobile Texts: The most cost effective CRM tool for small businesses
SMS, or mobile text is fast becoming a popular way for communicating with clients and here’s why.
Firstly, almost everyone has a mobile phone; some estimates put the number of smart phones sold each year as higher than the number of PC’s sold. Not to mention that smart phones are being used as comprehensive business communication devices. This means that customers can be reached on their phones almost all through the day.
Secondly, SMS text campaigns are cheaper compared to print and televised ad campaigns. And venturing into a social media marketing campaign can be rather daunting, especially for smaller businesses who may lack the necessary manpower, resources or technical expertise.
Thirdly, text marketing messages are sent to customers who have agreed to receive communication from the specific business, making it the most effective way to reach the target audience. It is estimated more than 90 percent of campaign text messages are read by recipients and have a response rate that is much higher than traditional media.
With SMS marketing businesses can offer mobile coupons for redemption, send appointment reminders as well as market products and services (think SMS sweepstakes).
Looking to initiate an SMS Campaign Here are some Free Trial Options!
To address concerns of prospective first time clients on the effectiveness of mobile text campaigns, several SMS marketing companies offer a free trial period of about a month. If you are a small business owner who has been contemplating a marketing SMS campaign for a while, here are some companies that offer a free trial account.
EzTexting is a SMS marketing specialist that has handled campaigns for over 50000 companies, which includes the likes of Pepsi and Domino’s Pizza. You can generate an SMS campaign on their website via a free trial account (no credit card details needed). Their paid packages vary from $29 for 200 messages to $149 for 6600 messages a month, with free incoming messages. The company also supports Canadian cell phone carriers. Visit their website to read some of the company’s success stories.
SnapGiant is a social and mobile marketing provider that offers a 30 day trial of 100 messages. Its pricing varies from $24 for 500 messages to about $175 for 5000 messages a month, with a roll over message of credits.
GreenRope with its trademarked business operating solution has also introduced SMS marketing services as part of its overall CRM offering. Besides the free trial offer, it is priced competitively at $99 for 1000 contacts to $169 for 7500 contacts per month.
SimpleTextin is an SMS marketing company which offers 50 free messages for the first trial month. It has the option of paying for a specific number of messages to unlimited subscribers or sending unlimited messages to a specific number of subscribers.
A 2012 empirical study by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) concluded that businesses should spend at least 7 percent of their marketing budget on mobile campaigns. Whether yours is a business that deals in real estate, travel and tourism, event coordination or is a non-profit organization or a grocery /department store, mobile text campaigns offer an affordable, simple and effective platform for reaching out to existing and potential customers.
Date: March 19th
Time: 12pm - 2pm
Place: Virgo Office Suites, 575 Lexington Ave, 4th Floor
Ramon will teach you Lifecycle Marketing, a 7 step system which helps you attract traffic, capture leads, nurture prospects, convert to sales, deliver and satisfy, upsell and get referrals. Lifecycle Marketing is all about DATING your leads and MARRYING your customers. It’s about converting prospects into customers and customers into loyal customers (repeat buyers).
YOU will leave this clinic with a Lifecycle Marketing planner, customized for YOUR business full of ideas and tips to help you begin Lifecycle Marketing in your own business.
If your business is STUCK and not getting the customers you need - this clinic is for you.
If your business is STUCK and not getting fresh leads - this clinic is for you.
We’ll help you get a FRESH perspective of your business and how you can GROW and DO MORE with LESS!
There’s big business being done with this model. Netflix achieved much success with subscriptions, Amazon offers a Subscribe and Save program, and a great many small subscription businesses are shooting up every day. Businesses like Dollar Shave Club, PetFlow, ShoeDazzle and BabbaCo.
As NPR says, “Just name the item you’re looking for â€" socks, T-shirts, baby toys â€" and there’s a company that puts it in a box and will deliver it to you monthly.â€
The benefits of the subscription model are clear: when you’ve got subscribers, you don’t have to worry as much about next month’s sales. You’ve got customers locked in.
“C.E.O.’s are beginning to appreciate the value of recurring revenue in a way I’ve never seen before,†Jim Schleckser, who heads the CEO Project, told the New York Times. “I think that the software industry adopted it, which caught people’s attention. Now you’re seeing companies in just about every kind of industry embracing it.â€
If you examine at your existing business, you might be able to find a way to implement it. Take a look at Adobe. Their popular Creative Suite line of products like Photoshop and Premiere Pro were successful, but their high cost put the software out of reach for many non-professionals. Enter Adobe Creative Cloud. For $20 a month, customers get the benefit of the latest edition of any of Adobe’s Creative Suite products, and Adobe was able to reach a segment of the market that was previously inaccessible to them.
Fusebill lists some of the industries that are increasingly adopting subscription models on their website.
Brian Lee, the founder of ShoeDazzle, told the New York Times, “I think subscription models work best in two instances… Where the product is a necessity or when it’s an absolute passion. It stops making sense when you try to do something like a tree-of-the-month club, which doesn’t fit either of those categories.â€
Tell us about your subscription-based business in the comments or let us know if you’ve recently added a recurring revenue stream in your existing business!
But if you want to check just to make sure that something isn’t a scam in the first place, this is rather tedious. The hours of online research might be more of a loss than it would cost to just get shammed.
Here’s the good news: You really don’t have to stress yourself out very much. There are online resources for this that show you scams right away! Here they are:
Either of these two services could also help you speculate on whether you should really sell a product or not. If you’re in the retail industry, this is a blessing! You can always ensure you always have top-notch non-scammy products in stock!
Check out the video, or watch below:
Check out the video, or watch below:
There’s big business being done with this model. Netflix achieved much success with subscriptions, Amazon offers a Subscribe and Save program, and a great many small subscription businesses are shooting up every day. Businesses like Dollar Shave Club, PetFlow, ShoeDazzle and BabbaCo.
As NPR says, “Just name the item you’re looking for â€" socks, T-shirts, baby toys â€" and there’s a company that puts it in a box and will deliver it to you monthly.â€
The benefits of the subscription model are clear: when you’ve got subscribers, you don’t have to worry as much about next month’s sales. You’ve got customers locked in.
“C.E.O.’s are beginning to appreciate the value of recurring revenue in a way I’ve never seen before,†Jim Schleckser, who heads the CEO Project, told the New York Times. “I think that the software industry adopted it, which caught people’s attention. Now you’re seeing companies in just about every kind of industry embracing it.â€
If you examine at your existing business, you might be able to find a way to implement it. Take a look at Adobe. Their popular Creative Suite line of products like Photoshop and Premiere Pro were successful, but their high cost put the software out of reach for many non-professionals. Enter Adobe Creative Cloud. For $20 a month, customers get the benefit of the latest edition of any of Adobe’s Creative Suite products, and Adobe was able to reach a segment of the market that was previously inaccessible to them.
Fusebill lists some of the industries that are increasingly adopting subscription models on their website.
Brian Lee, the founder of ShoeDazzle, told the New York Times, “I think subscription models work best in two instances… Where the product is a necessity or when it’s an absolute passion. It stops making sense when you try to do something like a tree-of-the-month club, which doesn’t fit either of those categories.â€
Tell us about your subscription-based business in the comments or let us know if you’ve recently added a recurring revenue stream in your existing business!
Part of a small business’ daily life sometimes consists of dealing with scams. Oh, there are many people trying to scam you into purchasing their products. Maybe there’s this new mop out there that helps you clean your tile floors at closing hours. It sounds like it can do some really crazy miracles, which are...
The post Two Services That Reveal Scams And Give You Peace Of Mind appeared first on Small Business Technology.
Date: March 19th
Time: 12pm - 2pm
Place: Virgo Office Suites, 575 Lexington Ave, 4th Floor
Ramon will teach you Lifecycle Marketing, a 7 step system which helps you attract traffic, capture leads, nurture prospects, convert to sales, deliver and satisfy, upsell and get referrals. Lifecycle Marketing is all about DATING your leads and MARRYING your customers. It’s about converting prospects into customers and customers into loyal customers (repeat buyers).
YOU will leave this clinic with a Lifecycle Marketing planner, customized for YOUR business full of ideas and tips to help you begin Lifecycle Marketing in your own business.
If your business is STUCK and not getting the customers you need - this clinic is for you.
If your business is STUCK and not getting fresh leads - this clinic is for you.
We’ll help you get a FRESH perspective of your business and how you can GROW and DO MORE with LESS!
A lack of take-up for the openscada.org project has been criticised.
Sakir Sezer, chair of secure information technologies at Queen's University Belfast, said that the idea will 'open things up and make things more transparent and allow for more security analysis'.
Speaking at the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) summit in Belfast, Sezer said that there has not been enough adoption and people are not keen on adoptng it as it is a different approach.
He said: “If it is offered to critical infrastructure companies, they cannot take the risk of using an open source tool, they would prefer to use something more expensive. There is also a lack of trust, what is happening to what you put on it The vendors do not help either as they need to develop and their biggest change is the targeting of the systems.
“The challenge is that support for it is restricted due to it being difficult to design. However 20-25 years ago, Linux was not adopted and it is widely used, and now the challenge is for critical national infrastructure.â€
Sezer said that there needs to be take-up to evaluate the vulnerabilities of the operating system and tools, as well as the platform itself. “Critical infrastructure needs to focus on creating a secure network and identifying solutions to make SCADA more secure,†he said.
Doubts have been cast on the realities of mobile malware, with analysis of traffic showing a tiny amount of infections.
Presenting research at the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) summit in Belfast, Patrick Traynor assistant professor school of computer science at Georgia Institute of Technology, said that analysis of three weeks worth of DNS traffic provided by a major US cellular provider showed the use of 380 unique devices (an average of 20-21 million devices per day) and 15 million unique domains visited.
His analysis found that the most downloaded malware was 'Fakedoc', 2,415 times on a mobile and 5,417 on all devices, which resulted in a 1111,000 of a per cent download rate.
“Quite simply, you are more likely to get hit by lightning than download mobile malware, the data does not support the extraordinary claims,†he said.
“There were no more than 219 and as few as 57 devices connecting to malicious domains a day, so an average of 166 out of the 20-21 million, this is a tiny number.
“Last year we presented here and said that there had to be a measurement and have to see an increase, and we did it and we do believe that mobile malware exists for iOS and Android, but no-one is downloading it. Mobile malware is real but it is not all that it is built up to be, there are plenty of other problems in telephony that need to be resolved.â€
In a question and answer panel later on, Traynor was asked about whether iOS or Android was safer, and whether there was malware specifically written for the different platforms, after he said that 'nothing is inherently safe for iOS' and 'you're not safer on iOS than an Android'.
He said: “It is a question that is difficult to answer, what is harmful and what is going on out there Are iOS users more sophisticated - it is not true. From the network behaviour I have seen, they are no different from anyone else, but I see that no one is being infected anyway.â€
A comment was made if it was time to create something before there was something to steal. Traynor said that attackers will write something that will be spotted, and asked whether this is mobile malware at all, calling it a 'moral grey area'.
The Cloud offers many enticing benefits and opportunities to small businesses that they otherwise may not have had access to. Tune in as Steve Cox, Oracle’s Vice President of Oracle Accelerate Programs, joins Brent Leary for a discussion on the lure of the Cloud - return on investment.
* * * *
Steve Cox: Sure, I have been with Oracle Accelerate Global Programs for Oracle, focusing on two programs for applications with midsize customers, Oracle Accelerate and Oracle Business Accelerators. I joined Oracle in 1997 as a consultant and since joining, obviously I worked as a consultant. I did three years in product development and since 2003, I have been focusing on the midsize segment.
Small Business Trends: Can you explain what Oracle Accelerate is
Steve Cox: Oracle Accelerate is Oracle’s brand and strategy for midsize applications. Partners who are members of the Oracle Accelerate program offer complete package solutions for customers that include our applications, rapid implementation tools and methodologies, their services and their Internet property.
Oracle Business Accelerators, are cloud-based rapid implementation tools developed and maintained by Oracle, and only available through proven and qualified partners.
Small Business Trends: You mentioned they are cloud-based. How does this help companies get up to speed and moving in the Cloud
Steve Cox: Cloud computing brings companies within reach of the same powerful technologies and latest innovations that the largest companies in the world enjoy.
The Cloud can offer the ability to compete with these larger companies with lower cost. You create a configuration that allows customers to have the flexibility they need to maintain what makes them unique, and what gives them a competitive advantage.
Small Business Trends: How quickly are you able to help these companies get started
Steve Cox: Most customers that I speak to move through five key phases on their journey. Oracle, and our Partner Ecosystems, provide support and professional associates throughout each of these phases. So that first step is aligning your organization’s business objectives and goals. Understanding those goals and aligning with how you are going to consume your software - whether it is in the Cloud or on the premise.
Then they need to use a cloud readiness service to reduce complexity and automation. Are you ready for the Cloud Is your IT system ready for the Cloud You should get complete implementation of migration services that can deliver the best practice and tools to help you succeed.
Small Business Trends: When you say, “ready for the Cloud, †what does that mean
Steve Cox: First thing is, you need to determine a return on investment on your IT project. Whether you are going to purchase applications in the Cloud, or whether you are going to move your IT back into the Cloud, or whether you are going to be able buy SaaS services.
You need to understand what would be the return investment. You need to invest to support growth. You need to understand the opportunities that the Cloud and any IT system provides. I think you need to understand the jargon:
Small Business Trends: Are your customers and prospects looking to go to the Cloud to get to the next level Or are they going so they can be more efficient
Steve Cox: They are doing it for economic reasons. When you come to the Cloud, there is a lot of promise there that you can improve your return on investment. It can lower the cost of the adoption, and that is always on top of mind.
Small Business Trends: What are some of the biggest challenges that companies face when they make the move
Steve Cox: I have never come across a company that plans enough. If your organization is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate of 20% or 30% or more, what effect is that going to have on your priorities and challenges What are you likely to be facing this time next year, or the year after
The next question is what other resources available Nearly everyone I have spoken to has a real good grasp of their budget. And then there is time. How long does it take for me to realize the return on an investment
The next one really comes down to time scale. That is a measure of patience. When do I need to do this Do I need to do this because my business is changing and I have to maintain competitive advantages Or to improve it Do you need to do it now, or can you look forward and say, “By this date I need to achieve X and Y.â€
Small Business Trends: What functional area are companies really looking to the Cloud to get up to speed with
Steve Cox: The Cloud option has a head start in CRM and human resources simply because it is a model that has lent itself to those two business areas. But I would say that in every conversation I have had with every customer and every partner, they look at it on a very broad basis and they tend to look across all the areas. They want the back office to front office solutions. They want to be able to support human capital management (HCM).
Small Business Trends: You have already laid out where you see things going over the next two years. Is there anything else that you see that will make this kind of move, something that midsize businesses in two years will not have to think as much about doing Is going to be that easy in two years to do it
Steve Cox: We have talked about the time scale, budget, business priority and challenge. I think it is going to be a lot easier to make the decision to adopt having made that adoption a lot easier. But it is still a decision you need to think about.
This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.
The department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has lost 83 smartphones and 17 laptops over the past five years.
According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act requested by Veracode, the last 12 months saw the department lose one BIS-networked laptop, seven BIS-issued mobile phones and 24 Blackberry devices. The BlackBerry has been the biggest headache for the department, as 83 have been lost over the past three years - 24 in 2010/11, 35 in 2011/12 and 24 this year.
A letter from the Information Rights Unit, said: “We are not able to differentiate whether an item has been lost or stolen. We do not record information on the estimated replacement values of the items. All departmental IT equipment listed as lost or stolen is encrypted to the required standards to protect the department's information assets.â€
Veracode senior security researcher Tyler Shields, said: “The explosion of mobile devices in the last few years has improved working collaboration and productivity, but also created new risks for the private and public sector.
“It's critical for the government to not only secure these devices with mobile location and remote lock and wipe technology, but also secure the apps that reside on them. A phone or tablet does not have to go lost or stolen to be at risk, and ensuring the security of mobile applications is equally critical to protecting against an ever increasing threat profile to governments and businesses alike.â€
Just recently, Salesforce announced a whole swath of new featured integrations, with favorite tools like Dropbox and Desk.com. Do can:
- Market to your current and future customers: Engage with prospects and customers through Wufoo online forms - the filled out forms then automatically become actionable contacts, deals and tasks in Do.
- Sell to your customer: Contactually automatically creates Do Contacts for people and prospects you interact with via email. It also spins up reminders and Do tasks so you follow up with the right people at the right time, helping you close more deals.
- Share files with your customers: Sharing content with customers is fast and easy with Dropbox and Google Drive. All it takes is one click directly within Do to circulate content and materials to the people who matter most to your business.
- Bill your customers: Harvest on Do makes time tracking painless. Click on the stopwatch within a specific Do task to quickly log your hours for a specific customer, making reporting seamless and fast.
- Service your customer: Link Salesforce Desk.com, the leading service cloud for small businesses, with your Do account to handle customer service issues quickly and collaboratively to give your customers the best experience possible. It’s simple to tackle difficult customer support issues by quickly escalating them as Do tasks for follow up.
And there’s more to come, as Do has publicly released its API to allow developers to build Do integration into any third-party app. We’ll see how it all pans out, but since Asana released its API first and integrated Dropbox first, this might just be playing catch up. That said, Google picked Do over Asana to get stuff done, so there must something to it.
Do you use Do Hey, almost every word in that question rhymed. Let us know in the comments what you think about these new features and social productivity apps in general!
Courtesy cloud technology, more and more small businesses today are able to implement CRM systems and develop marketing strategies basis gathered customer intelligence. However, the conundrum most small business owners face is choosing a marketing method that is both effective and affordable.Â
Mobile Texts: The most cost effective CRM tool for small businesses
SMS, or mobile text is fast becoming a popular way for communicating with clients and here’s why.
Firstly, almost everyone has a mobile phone; some estimates put the number of smart phones sold each year as higher than the number of PC’s sold. Not to mention that smart phones are being used as comprehensive business communication devices. This means that customers can be reached on their phones almost all through the day.
Secondly, SMS text campaigns are cheaper compared to print and televised ad campaigns. And venturing into a social media marketing campaign can be rather daunting, especially for smaller businesses who may lack the necessary manpower, resources or technical expertise.
Thirdly, text marketing messages are sent to customers who have agreed to receive communication from the specific business, making it the most effective way to reach the target audience. It is estimated more than 90 percent of campaign text messages are read by recipients and have a response rate that is much higher than traditional media.
With SMS marketing businesses can offer mobile coupons for redemption, send appointment reminders as well as market products and services (think SMS sweepstakes).
Looking to initiate an SMS Campaign Here are some Free Trial Options!
To address concerns of prospective first time clients on the effectiveness of mobile text campaigns, several SMS marketing companies offer a free trial period of about a month. If you are a small business owner who has been contemplating a marketing SMS campaign for a while, here are some companies that offer a free trial account.
EzTexting is a SMS marketing specialist that has handled campaigns for over 50000 companies, which includes the likes of Pepsi and Domino’s Pizza. You can generate an SMS campaign on their website via a free trial account (no credit card details needed). Their paid packages vary from $29 for 200 messages to $149 for 6600 messages a month, with free incoming messages. The company also supports Canadian cell phone carriers. Visit their website to read some of the company’s success stories.
SnapGiant is a social and mobile marketing provider that offers a 30 day trial of 100 messages. Its pricing varies from $24 for 500 messages to about $175 for 5000 messages a month, with a roll over message of credits.
GreenRope with its trademarked business operating solution has also introduced SMS marketing services as part of its overall CRM offering. Besides the free trial offer, it is priced competitively at $99 for 1000 contacts to $169 for 7500 contacts per month.
SimpleTextin is an SMS marketing company which offers 50 free messages for the first trial month. It has the option of paying for a specific number of messages to unlimited subscribers or sending unlimited messages to a specific number of subscribers.
A 2012 empirical study by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) concluded that businesses should spend at least 7 percent of their marketing budget on mobile campaigns. Whether yours is a business that deals in real estate, travel and tourism, event coordination or is a non-profit organization or a grocery /department store, mobile text campaigns offer an affordable, simple and effective platform for reaching out to existing and potential customers.
Just recently, Salesforce announced a whole swath of new featured integrations, with favorite tools like Dropbox and Desk.com. Do can:
- Market to your current and future customers: Engage with prospects and customers through Wufoo online forms - the filled out forms then automatically become actionable contacts, deals and tasks in Do.
- Sell to your customer: Contactually automatically creates Do Contacts for people and prospects you interact with via email. It also spins up reminders and Do tasks so you follow up with the right people at the right time, helping you close more deals.
- Share files with your customers: Sharing content with customers is fast and easy with Dropbox and Google Drive. All it takes is one click directly within Do to circulate content and materials to the people who matter most to your business.
- Bill your customers: Harvest on Do makes time tracking painless. Click on the stopwatch within a specific Do task to quickly log your hours for a specific customer, making reporting seamless and fast.
- Service your customer: Link Salesforce Desk.com, the leading service cloud for small businesses, with your Do account to handle customer service issues quickly and collaboratively to give your customers the best experience possible. It’s simple to tackle difficult customer support issues by quickly escalating them as Do tasks for follow up.
And there’s more to come, as Do has publicly released its API to allow developers to build Do integration into any third-party app. We’ll see how it all pans out, but since Asana released its API first and integrated Dropbox first, this might just be playing catch up. That said, Google picked Do over Asana to get stuff done, so there must something to it.
Do you use Do Hey, almost every word in that question rhymed. Let us know in the comments what you think about these new features and social productivity apps in general!
