You’ve probably heard the term “go mobile” tossed around by various blog posts, articles and influencers. You know that the world is becoming increasingly mobile, but what does that really mean? How will this affect your organization? Most importantly, as a nonprofit, what do you have to do to get the most out of your mobile audiences?

Below are five ideas to help you grow your nonprofit organization with mobile apps. 

1. Get Your Own Mobile App
As a non-profit, your biggest focus, aside from making a difference in your cause, is going to be fundraising and growing memberships. With the increasing mobile traffic (check out these mobile trend stats on Smart Insights), a mobile app is the perfect channel to connect your audiences with your cause. Create your own customized app to present your messages and for your members to download to their smartphones for easy access. You can either build your app in-house or outsource to a mobile app agency. Your choice will have to depend on your organizations's resources, capacity, size, and what you need it to do. Here are some specific considerations for build-in-house versus outsourcing along with some relevant costs, for your references. 

2. Go  Mobile with Fundraising/Donations
Did you know: According to Artez Interactive, a fundraising technology and services provider, nonprofits that offer mobile app donation services generate up to 123% more individual donations per campaign than organizations that don’t. Make it easy for your members to donate by implementing easily noticeable “Donation” buttons on each page of your app. Use the app to encourage subscriptions and to track gifts. Employ a rewards program to thank your donors for their gifts and to inspire more people to give. Send your donors small gifts or honor badges based on the levels of donations.

3. Send Updates
People donate because they support your cause and want to make a difference. That’s why sending routine updates on the progress of your projects is essential to retaining and growing your organization’s memberships. In 2007, The Humane Society of the United States campaigned against the commercial hunting of seals in Canada and offered its subscribers live updates during the annual hunting period. According to Grace Markarian, manager of online communications, about 10,000 people signed up for updates in the first year. It’s a powerful way to build an engaging community around your campaign. You can send mobile updates via push notifications.

4. Expand Your Business Network
Link your app with other local businesses to increase member interactions and raise awareness for your cause. Passionate about fair trade? Designate a page on your app that locates local cafes that serve fair-trade coffee and tea, and allow members to share other fair-trade locations. Building a strong coalition with other businesses that share the same vision is key to long-term success.

5. Gamify Your App
Although your causes are serious, the membership experience can be fun. Gaming is an effective way to attract and engage new members for your campaigns, fast. For example, if you’re raising funds for a tornado-struck town, allow donors to “adopt” projects in the town. Then, as the funds start to make an impact, enable users to upload real before and after pictures. This fosters a sense of teamwork and directly connects the donors to the problems to which they are contributing. Allowing donors to see immediate impacts motivates them to remain active members for the long-term.

The key to building and sustaining high-impact nonprofit organizations is making members believe that their contributions are making positive changes to the issue. Employing mobile app effectively connects members to your organization and its projects in a way that is real time and personal. Take advantage of the app’s ability to increase donations, update your members on the status of your campaigns, and allow members to participate in your projects.

Do you need assistance acquiring and/or launching a mobile app for your organization? We're here to help! Please send us a message or leave a comment below.

The rate of change in lifestyles driven by digital innovation has forced consumer-centric industries such as retail to evolve. E-commerce and digital retail have added entirely new retail experiences to which customers have quickly become accustomed. These experiences are defined by 24/7 easy and fast access to sought-after items, personalized offers based on known preferences, and a frictionless buyer journey.

According to research from a 2017 Robin Report, despite the surge in the growth of e-commerce, more than 80% of retail sales still occur in-store and shoppers still appreciate in-store shopping for browsing and the ability to touch and try on items before purchasing. However, brick-and-mortar retailers need to adapt to the impact of e-commerce and digital retail in order to remain a meaningful and positive part of the consumer experience.

To stay relevant to consumers, retailers must combine the convenience and efficiency associated with online shopping with the benefits and experience of in-store shopping. By merging these attributes, brands can meet the needs of today's connected consumers and deliver a new, connected experience. Below are four ways to accomplish this synergy.

1. Empower store associates with mobile technology that enables instant visibility into the entire product assortment and inventory.
This is something that customers have become accustomed to online and the connected consumer expects the same in-store. Mobilizing your sales force with digital technology allows the consumer to get what they want, when they want it. Empowered associates that can provide faster and more valuable services to customers in-store serve to increase the value of that physical retail experience to customers.

2. Offer an immediate option to have items delivered directly to the shoppers' home.
This generates transactions that may be lost due to lack of stock in that location, customers' preference not to carry the items, etc. This especially appeals to the growing "I want it now" consumer and urban areas where local delivery of everything is becoming a normal part of life.

3. Provide timely product recommendations.
Based on what the shopper has in-hand or has asked to look up for in inventory, a digitally connected store can provide intelligent, personalized product recommendations to better engage, inform and support a customer. It also allows store associates to have more information on the product(s) and access to reviews — an online shopping aspect that would enhance the customer experience in-store. These kinds of capabilities allow the store to become an active part of the customer’s shopping experience.

4. Analytics and optimization.
​Mobile technology can provide managers with data on overall customer servicing and individual associate performance (if each store associate is equipped with a mobile device). For example, data can be gathered on how many customers an associate services, how long it takes for an associate to accept a service request, as well as how long completing that request takes. This can help managers track and analyze the efficiency of the service and develop ways to maintain or improve associate staffing, timeliness and efficiency. Similar to e-commerce businesses, the ability to gather analytics data on store operations is the first step to creating opportunities to optimize the customer experience, enhance efficiencies, and drive more sales.

Speed and quality are becoming such significant factors in customer experiences; they can make or break consumer loyalty. Today's independent shopper expects a frictionless journey.

As a business owner, who doesn’t love some good--and FREE--publicity? Many businesses strive to gain earned media (or free media) through promotional efforts other than paid media advertising or owned (branding) media. After spending hours on perfecting your press release pieces, researching media outlets, building your contact list and distributing your press release articles, then waiting and hoping that it gets picked up by a journalist, your phone finally rings and someone’s interested in publishing your story! Getting a media interview is both exciting and scary. Along with the opportunity to share your vision also comes the pressure to generate a glowing impression of your business.

If this is your first time interviewing for the press and you’re feeling nervous and anxious, you’re not alone. Even seasoned PR professionals may get the butterflies in front of the reporters. However, remember that you are always in control of your message, and with some preparation, you’ll feel much more at ease with the interview. Below are some pointers to help you ace that interview!

1. Prepare Yourself
​When setting up the interview, make sure to obtain the reporter’s deadline, angle, and specific information needed. Or, at the very least, understand what the reporter is trying to get out of the interview. If you receive a call from the reporter, offer to call back rather than giving the interview on-the-spot without any preparation. The best way to do this is by saying, “I’m in a meeting. Please give me your number and I will call you back.”

Also, check that your facts are accurate. This is your opportunity to shine as a subject expert, whether it’s on the product and service that you offer, your company or your industry, so be sure to know what you’re talking about and don’t present assumptions as facts. In the age of internet and social media, people will notice inaccuracies in your statements. Be ready to answer additional questions that are off-topic, such as broad questions relating to your industry that may add value to the piece.


2. Make a plan
What’s your business objective? Always go into an interview knowing what goals you want to achieve and the points you want to make. To make your messages memorable, your objectives should be specific and action-oriented. Don’t default to generic agendas like “raising awareness” and “enhancing understanding”. Center your objectives around what you want the audience to do differently after reading/viewing your segment.  

Take control of your messages by establishing two or three key points. Many people simply answer questions, which only help the journalists get what they want. It’s most important to get what you want, fulfill your business objectives, so make sure you always have your key points in mind when answering the questions. The best way to do this is by rounding your answers off with a benefit statement relating to your key points. Never leave your audience wondering about the “so what?”.

Take the initiative to ask the question you want to answer, when appropriate. Segue into the topic you want to discuss if the reporter hasn’t brought it up. You can do this by simply stating, "The more important issue is __." or "What really matters is ___."

3. Practice your delivery
Now that you’ve planned out your message to fit your business agenda, you need to practice its delivery to ensure that its perceptions are aligned with your intentions. Since reporters operate under strict timelines, it is important to be prompt and concise with your responses. Speak clearly and avoid too many filler words like “um” so your responses are communicated without distractions. As a general guideline, responses should begin with a less-than-ten-words answer, followed by a brief and relevant example, then conclude with a simple benefit statement. Remember the ABC rule: Answer the question; Bridge (example); Communicate your message (benefit).  

If you don’t know the answer to a question, state so. Rather than saying “no comment”, which leaves the impression that you’re withholding information, it’s better to be forthcoming and explain why you’re unsure about something.

Finally, reporters love a good and memorable quote to make their story come alive, so prepare a couple of quotes that highlight the points you want to make to enhance the credibility and emotional factor of the interview. Incorporate key action words or descriptive metaphors to make the quotes memorable.

4. Be you
You know that you’ve done your homework and, most importantly, you’ve got a great story that you’re proud to share with the world, so be confident and enthusiastic when you speak. Show that you’re passionate about your brand, your organization, and your cause, but remember that you’re always “on-the-record” when talking to a journalist. Let your authentic self shine and have a natural conversation with the reporter. Try to avoid professional jargons so your content is accessible and easy to understand. Enjoy your moment under the spotlight and don’t forget to follow-up with a thank-you note and an offer to be available for any further questions or fact-checks if the journalist wishes.

Now that we’ve shared our tips, it’s time for you to go face the press and nail that interview! Need help with your press release? Check out our Custom PR package or send us a message!   ​

Offline to online. Online to offline. Today’s consumers live very dynamic and multi-platform lives. Their buying behaviors reflect that same dynamic complex. In so many ways, retailers are now rushing to catch up.

Can retailers become just as multi-dimensional? Is there a possibility for them to be everything to everyone?

Fortunately, retail success is not about being everything to everyone. It’s about optimizing the online/offline mix so you can present the most desirable options to customers. Without further ado, here’s a look at how the top retail giants are doing it.

Target

In-store
Also known as “Tarjay” since the 1960s, Target is the second largest department store retailer in the United States after Walmart. It was founded on June 24, 1902, by George Dayton and headquartered in Minnesota, U.S. Redbrain.com reports that its in store revenue is $67.93 billion. There are 1892 stores throughout the United States and 345,000 employees as of 2017. It has 43.94% visits from Midwest U.S, 14.60% Northeast U.S, 30.27% South U.S, 31.19% West U.S. It has had ten acquisitions so far. 

Online
Target went online in 1999 and in April 2018, it has attracted 125.94 million visitors. Its online revenue is worth $3.953 billion, and it’s available on Android and iOS. It’s average visit time is 3 min 55 sec. U.S, Australia, and Canada are the top 3 countries which bring in traffic. Slickdeals, indeed.com and theknot.com are its top 3 referral sites while Facebook, Reddit, and Pinterest are the top 3 social referral sites.

Walmart

In-store
Walmart was founded on July 2, 1962, by Sam Walton and is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S. With instore revenue of $461.9 billion, it has 11,718 shops around the world. In 2017, it had 2.3 million employees and 1.4 million in the U.S. Walmart has 23.285% visits from the Midwest, 9.47% visits from Northeast, 48.50% visits from the South and 18.75% from the West.  

Online
Walmart went online in 2000 and had 386.61 million visitors as of April 2018. Its online revenue is $15.316 billion, and its apps are available on iOS and Android. Average visit time is 4 min 56. Traffic majorly comes from U.S, Canada, and Mexico. Its top 3 referral sites are buzzfeed.com, searchencrypt.com, and gowatchfreemovies.to. Its top 3 social referral sites are Facebook, Youtube, and Reddit.

Kroger

In-store
The Kroger Company or simply Kroger was founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. Its in-store revenue is $100 billion and has 2,778 stores across the U.S. The number of employees in 2017 was 443, 000. It has 36.54 % visits from the Midwest, 0.18% North, 63.11% South and, 0.17% West of the U.S. 

Online
Kroger went online in 2000 and had garnered 24.6 million visitors in April 2018. It has an online revenue of $22 million, and its apps are available on iOS and Android. Its average visiting time is 28 sec, and the top 3 countries that visit their website are U.S, Canada, and India. Its top 3 referral sites are Kroger.softcoin.com, indeed.com, and career8.successfactor. It’s top 3 social referral sites are Youtube, Facebook, and Reddit.

Costco Wholesale

In-store
It was founded on July 12, 1976 and is headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, U.S. Its in store revenue in 2017 was $112.5 billion, and it has 741 stores spread across the U.S, Canada, Mexico, UK, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Spain, Iceland, and France. It has 231,000 employees (2017).


Online
1998 was the year Costco went online. Its traffic as at April 2018 was 28.33 million and its online revenue was $4.623 billion. It’s available on iOS and Android. Average visit time is 4 minutes and 23 seconds. Traffic comes mainly from the US, Canada, and the UK. Its top 3 referral sites are dealsea.com, bensbargains.com, and dealmoon.com. Its top 3 referral sites are Facebook, Reddit, and Youtube.

As we can see, while people still spend a lot of time shopping in-stores, there are significant traffic to be captured online. Advantages of going online include:

• Relatively low investment
• 24/7 access
• Customer convenience
• Lower overhead costs
• Potential rapid growth
• Targeting global market

However, there are also disadvantages, which includes:

• Security and fraud
• Infrastructure cost
• Legal issues 
• Customer trust
• Lack of personal customer interaction
• Large marketing budget 

Existing businesses should carefully assess the pros and cons of investing in an eCommerce platform (or vice versa). If you're thinking of expanding your brick-and-mortar into the eCommerce space, you should consider your target customers' buying habits, identify specific benefits that would meet their needs, and structure your eCommerce strategy around those objectives. Another option is to integrate online and offline platforms with technologies like iBeacon, which enables digital interactions with customers in-store. By blurring the line between online and offline, you are minimizing frictions in the shopper's journey. 

In conclusion...
ECommerce platforms are important assets of many major retailers. There is no denying that having an online shop is a relatively low-cost way to expand your business. The lack of geographical boundaries make online stores great channels to broaden market reach, thus enabling rapid growth. Before your dive into the eCommerse world, it is important to formulate a clear strategy that reflects your competitive advantage and responds to essential customer needs. Additionally, there are other options to engage with in-store customers digitally to bridge the gap between online and offline platforms.  

The choice of going online or offline is not an easy one to make, but you will be further along if you prioritize your customers when you make your decisions. 

Social media and content marketing have dramatically changed the sales process over the past 10+ years. In the “Mad Men” days, sales people acted as the gateway to a company’s information. You know the drill: Sally needs to hire so and so for xyz. She grabs the phone book and looks up a business and gives them a call to receive more information. Depending on the industry, a meeting would be set up and a series of visits and follow up calls would proceed. The process was often long and drawn out.
Nowadays, 57-70% of B2B buyers are done researching a business by the time they contact a seller. This means that everything a business does online is a sales opportunity.
Here are some tips that businesses can use to make sure they are utilizing their online presence:

1. Content Marketing – To gain customers trust, share information that is valuable, shareable, and useful. Ask yourself, if you were the customer, what would you want to read?
2. Strong Social Presence with a Strategy – Be sure to have clear goals about how your business uses social media. What voice do you want to have? Are you fun and comical or business and serious? Do you have a policy for staff when interacting with customers?
3. Optimize for Mobile – This should be a no brainer, but with the majority of users making transactions via a mobile device, companies must be optimized for mobile traffic. Hop on your phone: Can you get to all the pages, make an order, or contact customer service easily?
4. Focus on Relationships – Customers don’t want to buy from corporations. They want to know your business and if they feel like they are just a number, they’ll bail and find a company that cares about them. Top-notch customer service goes a long way in gaining a new customer and keeping them long term.
5. No sales pitches – This is the information age. Consumers are looking for information and solutions to problems, not a fast sales pitch for products. Be of value. Help solve your customer’s problems.

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What are you doing to optimize your online presence? Please share in the comments below!

Originally published by ClickTime.

Depending on who you ask, retaining customers is either valuable — or really, really valuable.

​By some estimates, a repeat customer is the equivalent of striking gold. One study found that increasing customer retention rates by 5% increased a business’s profits by 25% to 95%. On the other hand, the cost of acquiring a new customer can be steep: anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than the cost of retaining an existing one.

Cut down on expenses and increase your profit, all in one marketing strategy. Customer retention doesn’t have to be complicated, especially when your business is well established. Focus less on reaching new customers, and more on increasing the frequency and spend amount of the customers you already have. Here are five ways to increase customer retention and start growing your revenue to new heights.

1. Figure out where you’re losing customers.
There are two benefits to digging into your retention rates to see where you’re losing customers. The first, obviously, is you begin to identify areas where your customer experience can begin to improve. Are people frustrated trying to navigate your online ordering process? Is your customer service failing to resolve their issue? Do they feel disconnected from your brand after being loyal customers for so many years? When a customer closes their account or decides to stop frequenting your business, send them an email to find out why. If sending a personal email feels uncomfortable, send them a survey. You can also start to pay attention to your online reviews — and follow up directly to learn more about your customer feedback. When customer experience is the root of the problem, a better time tracker can make employees more aware of their tasks and ultimately provide better service.

The second benefit? By asking these questions, you begin to build a personal relationship with your customers. Not many companies take the time to connect directly with their clients. Even if you may not convince someone to return to your business, you will start to build a reputation as someone who cares.

2. Increase customer retention by building personal relationships.
Customers — especially millennials — want the brands they shop from to be more “authentic.” What does that mean? They want transparency, great customer service, and a personal touch. Again, customers want to see that there’s a human person behind the businesses they frequent. Look to Everlane’s “Radical Transparency” or Harry’s Shave Club for inspiration on how to make transparency work for you.

To be more authentic, you need to be committed to being honest, open, and personal. If a customer doesn’t trust you, they will find a company they can trust. Look for ways to recognize your customer as an individual with personal touches: hand-written notes, small gifts and remembering birthdays are all details that can go a long way. Even when you mess up — and every company messes up at some point — be sincere about what went wrong and open about your process to fix the problem.

3. Make your customers feel they’re part of something bigger.
It’s easier for customers to switch companies if they do not perceive any differentiated value between your company and your competitors. One way to create value in your brand? Include customers in a larger social mission. Research shows that customers are likely to ignore brands that don’t “stand for anything.” Of customers who cited they had a strong relationship with a brand, 64% reported their “shared values” as the primary driver behind that relationship.

Start by identifying who your best customers are. If you’re a local business, think about what issues in the community you can support: the local animal shelter, for example, or donating to a food drive. If your company is bigger, dive into your data to get a clear picture of your customers’ goals, pain points, and desires. Then, craft a mission statement that mirrors their language and goals.

4. Use customer accounts to make it easy for repeat purchases.
Getting your customers to set up an online account can be a tricky proposition. Some customers may not want that level of commitment: they may be wary of sharing their personal data with a business. But, customer accounts make repurchasing much easier (and pre-filled shipping information can be enough incentive for a customer to sign up!).

One tactic you may take to lead customers to create accounts? Provide the option to “create account” after the first order has been placed. This does not disrupt the checkout flow or distract someone from finishing their final purchase. At the same time, once someone has an account, it becomes much easier to retain their business. Some platforms will even allow your business to send email invitations to activate their account after the purchase is complete. If your business runs on a membership model, make sure you have a membership management software to manage members, payments, events, and more.

5. Start a customer loyalty program with perks!
Everyone loves free stuff! It turns out loyalty can be bought: and surprising your loyal customers with great perks can lead to much higher lifetime value. Discounts and free rewards are the obvious extras you can offer your best customers.
​
Don’t be afraid to get a little more creative. If you’re running a B2B company, reward your customers by returning the favor (customer loyalty programs, anyone?) — and using their products or services when you can. Use your social media channels to do a little cross-promotion, or let a customer take over your account for the day. Some companies will tie their rewards back to their mission — REI’s Co-Op Dividend and American Express’ Small Business Saturday are a great examples of this. Show your customers you appreciate them, and they will return the favor!

Market research is pretty much mandatory in today’s business world. The landscape has seen a shift; businesses have unprecedented access to a vast amount of information. Those who learn how to utilize this information are discovering new levels of success. Even small businesses have access to this vast network of information. The problem is that while large corporations might have six-figure budgets to invest in research, small businesses have limitations. Don’t let those limitations stop you! Here are ten tips for finding ways to perform market research inexpensively.

Always Have a Questionnaire Ready
Make sure that you take the time to develop a questionnaire so that it’s crisp and objective. Then have it ready to hand out to people. Creating in-house surveys is an affordable way to gather data from real customers, so it’s important that you tap into this source of information. Almost every successful company has a system for getting their customers to fill out questionnaires. Look at your receipt next time you go shopping, and you’ll see for yourself. In order to create your questionnaire, you’ll need to define the objective, develop questions, and then find a way to convince people to fill it out. Companies normally offer discount codes to those who fill out their quick surveys.

Create an Online Marketing Survey
This is probably the most affordable option available for polling consumers who have never used your business. Polls are one form of online surveys. They are generally taken on social media or across blogs. Aside from polls though, there are websites like Survey Monkey and Easy Polls that will host your surveys for a small fee. They allow you to target specific demographics so the information will match your needs. Surveys help you discover ways to make your products better and to provide services that your competitors do not.
​
Develop a CRM System
Most businesses focus on gathering data from numerous outside sources but forget about the data they already have. If you don’t already have one, you need to develop a CRM system so that you are gathering real data from your current customers. This system is very cheap to install and implement, but that’s not even the best part. It gives you high-quality information about your current consumers.

Analyze the Competition
By knowing your competition’s strengths and weaknesses, you’ll be able to make slight changes that differentiate your business. Everything you have done up to this point should provide you with a wealth of information about your competition. This step is more about analyzing that data. Try to forecast what your competition will do in the future. Determine ways to offer products/services that offset the weaknesses of your competition. For example, Apple products are wonderful, but their weakness is cost. They are expensive. Therefore, other businesses offer more affordable products to pull in customers who are unable to afford the high costs of Apple products.

News and Trade Journals
This is a secondary source of research that is used by a lot of businesses. Subscribe to magazines within your niche. Read online journals. Anytime one of your competitors makes a change, you will see it in news and trade journals. Trust me when I say that there’s always a reason behind a successful company making changes. It could be a shift in the market. Maybe they have forecast a future trend that they want to set up for? Keeping up with business news allows you to use their movement as a sign, so all you’ll have to do at that point is determine what that sign means.

Consider Hiring Interns for Research
There are several tasks that an intern can help with when it comes to research. The most obvious is that they can browse the internet, researching your niche and creating a detailed report for you. Interns can also visit places to personally deliver questionnaires to the market. Every questionnaire you get back is more data entered into the system.

Transform Events into Research Venues
Do you attend conferences and trade shows? If so, then this serves as a wonderful opportunity to get to know your target market. A little face-on-face time can go a long way. If you do not attend conferences and trade shows, then consider adding them to your schedule.

Use Social Media to CrowdSource Research
Facebook is an amazing platform to engage with your target market. You can ask simple questions and let your followers answer them. This will lead to conversations that you can read. The sheer amount of information you can get here is incredible. For example, make it a weekly thing to post a question. Then give it a few days to brew, go back in and read all of the comments and create a report.

Use Information That’s Already There
You’ll be surprised at how many studies you can find online that have already been conducted by companies in your niche. Don’t ignore these; use them to your advantage. You can either hire a virtual assistant or allow an intern to do this work for you. I don’t recommend doing this yourself because it’s a real drain on time.

Hire a Research Firm
Your final option is to hire a market research firm to take care of this for you. This is by far the easiest solution, but it does cost money. However, when you figure in the time it would take you to follow through with the nine steps in this post, that cost is justified. Plus, the information you receive will be of much higher quality.
If you do choose to hire a research firm, consider using our services at Research Optimus.
The overall goal of market research is to either confirm a hypothesis you might have about your market or to gain insight so you can predict future trends. Small businesses must be able to separate themselves from everyone else. This can only be done if you can figure out what it is that consumers want that is not being offered by your competition. Then you simply build your product/service around that idea.