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Businesses only become sustainable when its customers are happy. But even when it happens, this stage is still very temporary. When customers sense they’re worth nothing more than their money to you, they’ll shop around and go to where they feel they’re valued the most. Customer satisfaction should be a cornerstone of your brand. With the global market today, competition is everywhere. Since the market has gone online, it’s harder to build trust between the customer and the business. With a well-developed brand, it’s easier to spot if a certain product or service being offered is reliable, or if it is a sham. Here are some tips to consider in ensuring customer satisfaction and establishing a trustworthy brand for your business: Be accessible Customers want to know the fine print about your business. Make sure to have your communication lines open – listing your social media accounts, hotline numbers, and even operating address makes a huge difference. Return the favor by assisting them and eliminating their worries. This would lead to your brand’s credibility. Be honest Being open about both your business’s strengths and weakness (or more aptly, your limitations) lets your customers know you have their best interest at […]
The rise of the Internet age has given us far more than just the capability to connect with friends or upload selfies online. It has also given modern entrepreneurs capabilities not possible several decades ago. As an online marketing consultant, one of the perks of my work is that it gives me a front row seat on the evolving landscape of business, and how the Internet is helping businesses who take the initiative of incorporating online elements in their operations. It also makes those that don’t obsolete in a matter of years and even months. Whether you have a primarily online or offline business, chances are Internet tools, widgets, plugins, apps and features play an important role in ensuring the success for your business. The following are some concrete examples: 1. Cheaper start-up cost The Internet has made starting a business simple and cheap. With just a website or even a fan page, you can already start a multitude of businesses – such as a bakeshop, an apparel store, or a bookstore – without the need for a brick and mortar office or shop. This also makes it very easy for you to test the validity of your business idea. […]
I’m a Filipino based in Taiwan, while my client is a Ukrainian located in France. We meet for the first time over a video call. I greet her with a “Good afternoon!”, and she thanks me for staying up late to meet with her. In my years of freelancing and working with multinational companies, I’ve dealt with clients in many parts of the world – the United States, China, and the Middle East – strictly online. Technology has eased barriers in communication across cultures. But we’re still fallible to misinterpret, misjudge and mistrust one another. The distance and time zone separation, the complexity of the work involved, and personal preferences make it harder to connect without the face-to-face dimension. So it’s really important to keep communications at a professional level. Try these 5 tips: 1. Have a work plan “What gets measured gets done” – especially if it involves billable hours. Spell out what your expected roles are, as well as your client’s responsibilities. It could be a short agreement or a detailed project plan complete with multiple milestones and deliverables. This sort of work plan protects you from out-of-scope requirements, sudden reshuffling of priorities, and other arbitrary demands. Have this plan signed […]
Gone are the days when coupons are cut out from newspapers and magazines. Online businesses have digitized the tactic. For customers, coupons are a lifesaver, enabling them to purchase favorite items with huge discounts. Use coupons as a way to promote your business and enhance customer loyalty. How to maximize your coupon page For many e-commerce sites, coupons encourage customer to shop more at your website. Coupons are a win-win situation for both businesses and consumers. If you want to boost your coupon campaigns, you have to start by creating appealing coupon designs. Laying down the basics, your coupon should contain important information such as merchant logos, a brief description, and emphasis on the discount or amount off purchases. Make sure to feature good brands in your e-store, since it not only encourages more shoppers to buy from you, but also strengthens your credibility as a coupon provider. Like all things on the Web, coupons need to be regularly updated, so check for validity and promo expiration. What customers get from coupons The most important part of any coupon campaign is how much the customers get when using your merchant coupons. Shoppers love discounts, so attract them to your site […]
Where would you get the money to make your cyber business happen? The answer will depend on the nature of your project, your business model, and your tolerance for risk. For a quick review of possible options, here are 5 models that you can use to fund your startup. Bootstrapping This means you’re using your own money for your business. This could also imply asking for investments from family and friends. A great majority of startups are created using this model, including eBay and Facebook. The challenge is, can you (or your immediate network) afford to use hard-earned personal funds in putting up your project? And support it for any number of months without guarantee that the business will break-even? It’s advantage is that you get maximum leeway with your vision without others getting involved or interfering with your direction. The challenge is, can you (or your immediate network) afford to use hard-earned personal funds in putting up your project? And support it for any number of months without guarantee that the business will break-even? Crowdfunding You pitch an idea, and then wait and see if a community will back it up. With online platforms like Kickstarter, it’s easy to make your case […]
Challenging the big guys as a startup is no easy feat. Small businesses have their work cut out for them: obviously, they have limited funds and manpower to compete with conglomerates. However, there are many startup advantages that smaller businesses have over their larger counterparts. Most successful startups that were able to disrupt markets will tell you that it was their ability to listen to the market and the sheer speed of implementation that shaped their success. Ability to listen to the market You get what you focus on. When a company gets bigger, more departments are formed and more responsibilities are segmented. As a result, the larger the pie to handle, the more energy is needed to keep everything running. This leads to becoming more distant from personal contact. Jack Ma, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, said that whenever he goes to lecture in big companies, what he sees are concerns for numbers and KPI’s. But when he gives talks to small and medium sized companies, he sees passion and dreams. Get feedback from your customers, all the while considering what is best for the direction of the company. The next step relies on this. We are so […]
There have been substantial changes in the global marketplace over the past decade. It has undergone a major shift, and businesses today are not limited by geographical location or borders. The only things that count are the amount of willingness and creativity in adapting to new technologies, and finding new ways for using them to your own advantage. Business owners and entrepreneurs who want to launch an eCommerce business should know something about the eCommerce industry and what it takes to achieve and maintain success in it. The eCommerce Industry There appears to be no essential limit to strong and steady business growth in the eCommerce industry. In the past decade, all vital metrics in the eCommerce field have increased, and with a broader reach and lower startup costs, more and more entrepreneurs are switching to online retail. According to facts presented by BusinessInsider, people aged 18 to 34 remain to spend more money online than any other age group, and the majority of online shoppers tend to have incomes higher than typical (above $75,000). If you have an idea for starting an online eCommerce business or launching an eCommerce branch of an existing brick-and-mortar store, the time to do it […]
So, if you are confident about your products and services and you don’t want to waste your time, take these learning into consideration and market wisely.
The Philippines is getting serious in promoting startups as a way to grow the economy. Through Senate Bill 2217 or the “Start-up Business Bill”, the government hopes to set a favorable business environment for budding entrepreneurs. Before you get too excited, there are some caveats to the program since it’s designed for those new in entrepreneurship. The start-up business bill was filed on May 2014 by Senator Bam Aquino and is currently awaiting passage into law. Indeed, it’s a very positive step in recognizing the contributions of startups in: Job creation Production Innovation Trade What’s a “startup”? According to the bill, “start-up enterprises” are newly registered businesses either in industry, agribusiness, and/or services. Digital startups are covered under this broad definition, which also spans offline and more traditional sectors. It includes all ownership types – from sole proprietorship, cooperatives, partnerships, to corporations. What does the bill mean for you? As a cyberpreneur, you’ll be exempt from paying taxes in your fist two years of business! It covers both national and local taxes. A tax break! How cool is that? You get to keep your earnings and reinvest it to grow your startup. It also gives you time to organize, develop, and learn what works for […]
To get your cyber business found online, you need likeable content. The challenge is that there’s really no formula that can guarantee if your content will ever reach its ideal users or deliver on its purpose. If you need inspiration on how to start, we’ve expounded on popular statements from some of the most prominent brand gurus, bloggers, and content marketers: We’re not in the Mad Men era anymore. Expensive campaigns from advertising agencies are routinely trumped by amateur content for most impact. Seasonal campaigns won’t cut it for today’s generation. Your customers are connected 24/7, and are from all over the world. To be convincing, you have to address their unique interests, pain points, and felt needs. Going viral (the good kind) with your content is more a matter of chance than careful execution. Pulling PR stunts won’t work. People can detect what’s contrived, and they may even hijack your message. Start with a good reason for creating content. If you care enough about your message, the right people will eventually find and appreciate your content. They’re the ones who will contribute to your bottom line. When have you ever actively searched for an ad? If you’re like most […]
Hailed as a game changer, FinTech (otherwise known as “financial technology”) is seen to transform financial services in infinite possibilities. It has been many decades ago since there has been a real shake-up in the realm of the financial world. New and young players alike will experience its sweeping changes on how we manage finance and run businesses professionally. What is FinTech and Why It Matters to You FinTech can be best defined as technology that imparts disruptive elements (in a good way) to areas such as money transfers, mobile payments, fundraising, loans, asset management and even investment. In layman’s term, it is the thing that enables you to have access to various financial services from your own smartphone, tablet, laptop and other electronic devices. Furthermore, FinTech is one of the hottest areas that receive massive investment from around the world. This accelerates its exponential growth. Whether you like it or not, FinTech is about to drop a bomb on everyone. It’s very important to know how it can change money practices that we think we already know. FinTech: Threat or Opportunity for Business Owners? While one may argue that FinTech is just a change of paces and phases, the […]
The first thing your potential customer will probably do is visit your website. From that single visit, your customer will form opinions about your brand, product, or service. According to a Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab study, nearly half of all consumers (46%) said that a site’s design is the number one criteria when people are deciding whether a business is credible or not. If there is too much scrolling and clicking, or if the site is not well organized, the average consumer will navigate away after 60 seconds tops. Anyone can build a website these days, but it takes a skilled specialist to build a site that looks polished and professional. One glance could turn someone into a loyal customer, or force a person to click away. If your company is looking into the possibility of designing a new site, here are some of the ways it will help your business grow. Digital presence is everything A survey from Visible Logic found that almost 90% of respondents take a look at the website of every new product they purchase. People will turn to the Internet to research your brand and formulate their opinions – sometimes even long before they make a direct contact […]
Starting a business isn’t easy, and sustaining one is even harder. How did Kimstore, an online marketplace for gadgets started by Kim Lato in 2006, grow from a humble Multiply outlet to one of the pioneers of e-commerce in the Philippines? Kim Lato talks about the challenges of starting and sustaining a business. Before Starting a Business When asked if she knew from the beginning that she was going to be an entrepreneur, Kim answered, “I came from an entrepreneurial family, so it was normal for me to see my parents running their own businesses. Then when it came time to start my own, it was easy for me to welcome the idea.” Multiply, which was where Kimstore started, was used mainly as a social networking website. So how did she think of using Multiply as a marketplace? “I had a pool of friends on Multiply, which at the time was the fastest-growing social network. Usually, people just blogged on it, but I thought, ‘Hey, I have friends on Multiply, so why not sell in this community?’ “So I started selling cameras, lenses, and other accessories. Then, people who bought cameras from me were also looking for phones and tablets, […]
Being a cyberpreneur need not be hard. Considering the vast array of tools and techniques available to us web professionals, nothing can go wrong as long as we know the tricks of the trade. What could be that “little secret” to keep our online businesses flourish through time? The Power of “We” Having started my freelance writing career in 2009, I ventured onto the unknown path of a web content writer then. I racked gig after gig – writing over 5,000 words a day for a meager sum. Little did I know that there’s more to what I have been doing during that time. I would spend an average of six hours a day writing until my hands were sore. Well, not to worry, I thought, for by the end of the week, I would fill my heart’s desire – through new books I’d buy from the local bookstore (all from my hard week’s writing work). Months passed, and I realized how tough it really is to be a freelance writer. It took perseverance, commitment, and passion to weave through words. Months passed, and I realized how tough it really is to be a freelance writer. It took perseverance, commitment, […]
Truth be told, the thought of making a career shift – from the office cubicle to my home desk – as a freelancer/cyberpreneur has always lingered in my mind ever since I learned about the concept some years ago. I’ve felt that working from home was an ideal setup. At least for me though, a shift that’s not in the immediate future, but after x number of years. With that in mind, I had a plan – not properly drawn out, but all there nevertheless. Building the foundations For the past 3 years or so, I began to establish the foundations of that possible next career phase. I looked for writing contributions, both unpaid and (especially) paid ones. I completely overhauled my old blog, as I migrated the site to a new domain and a new hosting service. I did so, for my site to have ads for some additional revenue. Then early this year, I made the move to get myself registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as a part-time freelancer. Or as the BIR would classify freelancers, a professional. It was originally intended to fulfill the requirements of some publications that freelancers like myself should have official receipts to issue. But I was mindful at the same time that I would […]
Who says that you cannot have the time of your life while working from home? Working from home is undoubtedly fun! With more than six years as a cyberpreneur, I’ve had my share of ups and downs. But nevertheless, about 70% can be linked with F-U-N. True story. So yeah, here’s my list of things to do or things to think about to have the best-est days as an online entrepreneur. 1) Define fun What does “fun” mean to you? Get clear with it and work from there. We surely have various perspectives, so what might be fun for me might be different from you. I might envision fun as curling up with a nice book or you might consider heading to the beach to spell “fun”. Mull over this for 10 minutes. Right down your answer. 2) Integrate passion with fun What is it about passion that makes people tick? And how is it connected with fun? Well, passion is all about what excites you. It’s all about what keeps you up at night without complaining at every bit of it. Whatever that is, keep at it. You’ll be amazed that work, when considered your passion, becomes stress-free. Passion […]
If you’ve been in an online business for quite a while, for sure you’ve already met “Joy”. She’s the one who would comment or message with all-caps and multiple exclamation points about how she loves what you’re selling. She would even tell you a back story on why she loves it, and then proceed on asking lots of questions. And of course, she would reserve the item enthusiastically, promising to pay next week. But she won’t. “Joy Reserver” is an online selling jargon that means a buyer who enthusiastically shows interest on an item, but will not actually buy it. As an online seller, you may have already encountered several — if not many — of these people, who don’t even qualify to be called “buyers.” Aren’t they annoying? That the customer is always right is of course a hyperbole. As classic business wisdom, it just means that we must be patient with our customers — even just the potential ones — as best as we can. Like in other aspects of life, in business, we put reason above emotion. Set a reservation period Setting a one-week reservation, for example, not only prevents Joy Reservers to delay their orders, but […]
Already secured a domain name for your business? After using it for your website, the next thing you’d want to do is to set up your custom email. This means receiving and sending mail as juan.delacruz@customdomain.com rather than from a generic Gmail or third-party account provider. Having this ability sets you apart as a serious business, however limited your initial offerings or small your initial market is. The great Zoho option If you’re looking for a free service to customize your email from your domain name, Zoho is your best option. You can create up to 25 free accounts for your domain in Zoho. At no cost, there’s really no better deal since it also gives you POP/IMAP, Active Sync and configuration settings. To link your domain with Zoho and set up as an administrator, follow the detailed steps provided by Zoho. Forwarding emails to Gmail If you’re one of the many people that depend on Gmail, you can automatically forward emails you receive from your custom email account in Zoho to your existing Gmail account. Follow these steps to configure your account. 1. From your Zoho inbox, click the settings icon, and then click Settings. 2. Under Mail settings, […]
From the fixation of businesses in recent years with millennials (those born between the early 1980s to mid-1990s), many are now shifting their attention towards the millennials’ successors: Generation Z. How can products, services, and marketing approaches be devised to attract this new target population? Gen Z is generally the future of retail. Born after 1996, this emerging generation has a new worldview and different expectations as customers compared to generations prior. Marcie Merrimen, executive director of growth strategy and retail innovation at Ernst & Young mentioned to Business Insider that “if you see it from a spending perspective, teens or Gen Z are millennials on steroids.” Important Generation Z Characteristics that Businesses Should Know About Gen Z’s non-traditional mindset and different communication styles pose challenges to reach out to this population effectively. Gen Z are the most influential group of technology trendsetters, offering a prequel to predict upcoming trends in the aspects of retail, technology, and consumer behaviour. Hence, it is important for businesses to understand key characteristics that make them stand out from the past generation of consumers to identify effective ways to approach this generation. Despite sharing many similarities with millennials, there are also key distinctions that […]
Maybe you couldn’t get a straight answer from a client, or a team leader won’t send you a project document as promised. For all the benefits it brings to the company, there are still many people who resist sharing knowledge. At the heart of the resistance is the fear of change: what would happen if I share my knowledge – and more so, if I depend on another person’s knowledge? As Thomas Davenport notes in Ten Principles of Knowledge Management, “Sharing and using knowledge are often unnatural acts.” To make things more complicated, sometimes people won’t even admit or show resistance openly. Not wanting to share knowledge speaks a lot about the interests (sometimes conflicting and competing) of people in your company. Understandably, people have various reasons for resisting knowledge sharing as much as they have different stakes. Here are some common reasons for resisting knowledge sharing and the troubleshooting tips to address them. 1. Insecurity “I don’t want to share what I know because it may reduce my value or jeopardize my job security.” Guarantee that sharing knowledge won’t diminish anyone’s value – on the contrary, it would increase respect and trust. Your company could assign knowledge-sharing objectives to each employee’s […]