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Crack the Marketing Code To Attract New Customers To Your Small Business

Crack the Marketing Code To Attract New Customers To Your Small Business
Mohab Customer Experience 0

Crack the Marketing Code To Attract New Customers To Your Small Business

To sell your products and services as a small business, you need the right information. I have distilled the vast information available online to make it easy for you to promote your business and attract customers on a shoestring budget.

This information comprises of some old school methods of promotion combined with some modern and innovative methods. All of these activities together will yield wonderful results. I have tried to make sure that the tips suggested here are proven yet low cost methods to promote your business and attract your customers.

All of the methods listed here may not be suitable for your business type, so focus on the ways that would work best for your business.

These methods can broadly be divided into three major categories.

  1. Offline Promotion
  2. SEO and digital marketing
  3. Other innovative methods

A. Offline Promotion

As far as offline methods of promotion are concerned, we can again divide it into the following points:

1.  Volunteer work
Start volunteering for community services in your neighborhood. Arrange free health checkup camps or simply sponsor an event.  Just try it, your community, church or mosque is waiting for your services. Its worldly incentives include free publicity.

2. Host community meetings

In spite of the fact that it’s prevalent mostly in the Western countries you can try it in the East as well. Invite groups such as book clubs, football fans, local groups, and political and religious groups for a meet up or get-together. Offer freebies, discounts, donuts and coffee. They will likely come back to buy from you.

3. Distribute leaflets and flyers

One of the most powerful weapons of the old school marketing arsenal, leaflets and flyers are still relevant and effective.

4. Do some charity and conduct charity shows

Arrange charity shows and invite children and other artists to organize the show. Distribute the proceeds to the poor and the weak and get free publicity.

5. Hold in person events

Get outside your premises and offer your services outside, or simply organize an event and invite people to your place. Collect their contact information, offer freebies and discount coupons, or send coupons to their mailing address.

6. Partner with other related businesses

If you are a wedding planner, partner with music bands, flower shops, decorators, caterers and other event organizers. Partner with these businesses and distribute discount coupons and membership cards to their customers. Offer a free appetizer on their first visit.

7. Offer great customer service

Customer service is the key to success in any business – big or small. Offer exceptional customer service, so that you get a lot of referrals and word of mouth promotion.

8. Nurture existing customers and expand your customer base
Use your existing customers to expand your customer base. Give personalized gifts to your customers on their marriage anniversaries and birthdays. Offer incentives to your customers to bring more customers for you. It may be a jumbo discount or a free offer.

B. Digital marketing

Digital marketing is one of the most effective ways to attract customers to your startup or small business. Try the following action tips and experience a flood of customers pouring in:

  1. Create a website
    It’s the first step of digital marketing and a platform for all your future campaigns. Later on, you can create a blog and a video log on YouTube.
  2. Go for directory listing
    List your business on all local and popular online directories to improve your visibility. Hire an SEO professional, if it’s too much for you.
  3. Create your presence on “Google My Business”
    It’s Google’s own way of local listing and SEO for your business. It will not only create your online presence, but also increase your visibility in organic searches.
  4. Create your presence on social channels
    Choose a social media channel that is popular among your customers and audiences and use it fully to promote your brand. It can be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or WhatsApp.
  5. Do some online advertising
    Try Facebook and Google advertising. It instantly brings results, leads and traffic. This is the fastest way to convert your prospects well before you appear on organic searches.

C. Other innovative methods
Apart from these, there are some other innovative methods as well that you can try to attract customers.

      1. Leverage influencer marketing through word of mouth
        Use your existing customers to act as your brand ambassadors. Offer “real” and “valuable” incentives for every sale you close through those customers. You can also use them to distribute your flyers etc. Reward the people, who mention your brand in their public meetings and social gatherings. Run campaigns like, bring 5 customers and take your free gift, etc.
      2. Offer free gifts, discounts and deals
        This is a great way to promote your business. “Free” is a magic word in the world of business, use it to your advantage. Look for opportunities to offer freebies.
      3. Arrange contests

    Contests are a great way to attract customers. Arrange both offline and online contest. Use your creativity.

    4. Share your knowledge

    Sharing knowledge is a great way to promote yourself and your business. You can use a blog, a Vlog(video blog)            or an event to share your knowledge. Make sure it offers value to your customers.

    Final thoughts
    There is a long list of tips you can try to promote your business and attract customers. We have tried to present  all the valuable information at one place. Most of these tips can be tried by startups and cash strapped small businesses. You can learn digital marketing through Google itself. Pour some passion into it and see the magic.

7 years ago
5 Reasons to Accept Multiple Types of Payments
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

5 Reasons to Accept Multiple Types of Payments

It is impossible to miss how all kinds of businesses are going online these days, all over the world. This is primarily because an online store guarantees to connect you with countless customers from your own country as well others, making your business a more successful venture than ever before. While you are excited about offering your products and services to worldwide shoppers, you should not overlook the fact that providing these shoppers multiple payment options is mandatory these days. And consequently, you need a payment gateway like PayTabs that offers alternative payment options and accepts almost all currencies. Why you say? Read on to know the reasons!

  1. To boost your revenue

Offering multiple payment methods to your customers means they will have a better time shopping from your ecommerce store. This is because they will be able to pay whichever way they want, without having to face issues like “Only credit card accepted” and so on. And the more they buy, the more your revenue will shoot up! For instance, PayTabs is a global payment gateway that accepts multiple currencies and offers a wide array of payment options like American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Sadad, Mada, Union Pay, WeChat Pay, Alipay, and K-net.

  1. To keep old customers hooked

Just because your existing customers use a debit or credit card to make purchases from your online store right now doesn’t mean that they won’t look for a card-less payment option in the future! And this is where using a payment gateway that offers quick and safe transactions without any card can be beneficial.

  1. To secure new and repeat customers

By offering multiple payment methods, you will also be able to attract new customers who prefer digital payments using e-wallets. And because gateways like PayTabs also accepts a huge number of currencies, your business will appeal to both domestic and international customers. The number of repeat customers will also go up because once a shopper experiences payment convenience at your store, he will keep coming back for more. For example, if a customer finds that he can easily buy a burger from you through mobile payment wouldn’t he want to do that again? Of course he will!

  1. To promote convenience and sell more

A friction-less shopping experience is all that a shopper wants. And as a merchant, you can offer multiple payment options to make this happen. In other words, if a customer wants to pay through debit card, he should be able to pay through a debit card. Offering this convenience will encourage shoppers to buy more and buy more frequently. If you couple this with discounts and coupons, your sale figure will go through the roof!

  1. To diminish overhead costs

Instead of putting in a lot of money for one expensive payment method, you can go for different payment methods which include low-cost options as well. Especially, if you are the owner of a small business in a risky industry and face a low volume of transaction, you should go for a wide array of payment options to bring in more customers and keep your overhead costs low.

Last but not the least; using a payment gateway that offers many different payment methods will mean increased cash flow. And you surely know that any business can benefit from a healthy cash flow and tide over emergencies easily. So, consider PayTabs as your gateway, offer more “payment choices” to your customers and gain a definite edge over your competition.

7 years ago
5 Emerging Trends In The Mobile Payments Space
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Internet was introduced just two decades ago and smartphones ushered just a decade ago marking a new revolution. Smartphones have already become the centre stage of our life today.

People not only communicate using their phones but do so many other things including many of their daily tasks. From shopping to social communication, and from bill payments to online learning, mobile phones have become an indispensable tool in our life.

As a matter of fact, mobile payments were not considered a viable option for financial transactions not very long ago because of the security issues involved. But with advanced technology and secure platforms, mobile payments have become a norm. According to a study, in 2016, 47% people used mobile phones for payment processing in the US.

In a way, innovations in mobile phone technologies have just begun. More and more new trends are expected to emerge in future that our forthcoming generations will use and they might completely eradicate the use of paper money and traditional payment methods.

Among the major trends emerging at present in mobile payments are:

  1. Mobile wallets

Mobile wallets first appeared in the global arena when the Apple Pay app was developed by mobile phone maker Apple. It was soon followed by a flood of such mobile wallet platforms and the prominent ones among those were Microsoft Wallet, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.

It is expected that mobile payment apps would cross a total volume of $500 billion in terms of transactions by 2020. It has seen a whopping 80% compound annual growth rate for the past couple of years. Consumers are also accepting it wholeheartedly. Smartphones are the key for the development of this form of payment technology. With greater mobile phone penetration, this figure is likely to go up.

  1. User experience is king 

User experience is everything when it comes to payment processing through mobile platforms. More and more companies are now targeting audiences by offering a smoother and better user experience in terms of navigation, site layout, load time, and processing.

User experience can be defined on the basis of the following three points:

A. Time saving
People also use their smartphones to save their time while performing a routine task. All they have to do is to take it out from their pocket and start using it for many of their daily tasks. A secure app they can trust for payment processing can save their time and energy. But, the website should be designed in such a way that users can perform their tasks in minimum clicks working on an easy interface.

B. Look, feel, and speed

The look, feel, and speed of a mobile site are extremely important when it comes to payment processing. It helps when the interface is clutter-free and offers a smooth user-experience. More and more customers are prompted to make payment through such sites and apps.

C. Load time
Load time is also an important part of user experience. Make sure that the entire navigation is smooth and fluid. Avoid such stuff on the web page that takes a long time to load.

  1. Advancement technology to ensure security

More and more security options are being introduced, thanks to advancement in technology. MasterCard recently experimented with selfies in place of passwords and biometric authentication is also just around the corner. The other technologies that are expected to be prevalent in near future are voice recognition, cardiac rhythm and facial identification. Since technology is always in the process of advancement, the sky is the limit for such ongoing innovations and possibilities.

  1. mPOS adoption

Mobile Point of Sale is also becoming extremely popular with merchants all around the globe. It offers safety and ease of use. As far as mobile payments are concerned, there are certain other benefits that come with them. It is expected that more than 50 million mPOS devices will be installed by 2019, according to ABI Research.  This is roughly 50% of the POS machines already installed at present. Though mPOS will not completely take over POS, but both are likely to coexist for the convenience of users.

  1. AI to handle routine transactions

Artificial intelligence has introduced many innovative solutions related to mobile payment processing. One of the most common AI application used is “chatbots”.  These chatbots are designed to meet the needs of people making mobile payments. Financial chatbots are designed to transfer funds and print basic financial snapshots on receiving simple voice commands.  Verbal instructions can also be handled by AI. It also helps routing number verification and completing ACH payment processing without having to interact with a call centre agent.

Final thoughts
With mobile payment technologies growing further, more and more consumers are likely to make payment using their mobile phones. With biometric and facial recognition, AI and Internet of Things, mobile payments will likely speed up despite challenges.

7 years ago
Expand Your eCommerce Business by Offering Newer Payment Options
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Expand Your eCommerce Business by Offering Newer Payment Options

The e-commerce landscape is changing drastically. According to the latest trends, when it comes to the entire shopping experience, customers are looking for flexibility and convenience. With regard to that, the payment function online is very troublesome. Most of the customers will cancel their purchases if their favorite payment option is not available.

According to a survey by YouGov, more than 40% of the participants said that they feel more comfortable if the web store they have chosen offers multiple gateways and different modes of payment. E-Commerce sites are offering more and more payment options. With digital wallets and contactless & mobile payment options, people are looking for credit card alternatives.

In order to maintain a higher conversion rate, you need to be aware of the growing demand of customers for better alternatives and inclusion of popular methods of payments. Because of the diversity of demographics and the choices available, people have developed biases against particular modes of payment – and it can either be a credit card or a particular digital wallet.

Here are a few necessary things to take care of when offering payment options:

Make it convenient, simple and easy
Convenience is the key when it comes to choosing the mode of payment. Many people abandon the effort when they reach the Shopping Cart because an e-commerce web-store doesn’t provide them with the required payment options. Customers get impatient and demand better service and ease of use. So, if you provide additional modes of payment, you make the life of your customer easy.

Bring in a touch of professionalism
If you take customer psychology into consideration, you will find that that web stores that provide multiple modes of payment look more professional, reliable and worthy of endorsement.

Capture an international audience
With lots of choices available, you will do better to have an eye on international customers who have to use different modes of payment according to their personal and local preferences. Forget about countries, sometimes even different regions in a country have different preferences.

Create loyal customers
customer frustration is not just about preferred modes of payment. Transaction failures are also responsible for customers looking for alternatives. Sometimes, they get frustrated when they choose a particular mode of payment and the transaction fails repeatedly. Even customer support is not able to address these issues immediately and the entire experience may result into customer leaving your site and going to your competition.

According to the research firm, Bain and Company, if you increase the rate of customer retention by 5%, you are definitely heading towards increasing your profits by more than 95%. So, give your customers a wide range of options, so that in case of transaction failure, you can still divert them to another mode of payment and save their purchase.

Choose the right option between Integrated and hosted gateways
Again, there are two types of payment gateways:

  1. Integrated gateways
    With integrated gateways, the customer performs the entire checkout process on your website without being redirected to the third-party website. It offers them the smoothest experience, but it can be less secure. In this case, the responsibility of maintaining security lies on you as the service provider. Make sure that you are PCI compliant, so that the payment process taking place on your website is safe and secure.
  2. Hosted gateway
    When you redirect a customer to a hosted gateway, they are being directed to a third-party website which takes care of the customer’s transaction. In this case, customer experience might suffer. It is not as smooth as the first option, but in this case, you need not worry about the security issues as the responsibility of maintaining security lies with the third-party website. If you are a startup and have a low budget, you can go for this option, because to ensure security you need to invest heavily.

 
Therefore, payment gateways play an important role in customer retention and customer experience. Make sure that you provide enough payment options to your customers, so that they love the entire experience on your site and, especially when they are making their payment. It will ensure less customer loss or abandonment at the shopping cart and increased customer loyalty.

7 years ago
Changes in the E-Commerce Landscape That Could Affect Your Business
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Changes in the E-Commerce Landscape That Could Affect Your Business

It is no news that merchants have been making the most of the e-commerce boom for quite some time now. Most businesses these days sell products as well as services online, to customers sitting in far-flung parts of the world.  While the internet has opened up a whole new world of opportunities to merchants, there are certain things you should focus on if you wish to thrive as a virtual business. As the e-commerce landscape is constantly changing, if you want to stay ahead of competition, here are the things you should keep in mind:

Offering multiple payment options

If a shopper visits your website, likes a product, clicks to buy, but sees that you only accept credit cards, he or she might abandon the cart. This is because they were probably looking to use their e-wallet. Naturally, you will lose valuable customers this way. Luckily, these days, there are payment gateways like PayTabs that allow merchants to accept many different currencies and multiple payment options like Visa, MasterCard, Union Pay, WeChat Pay, American Express, Sadad and more. Hence, as a business, you have a better chance to convert potential shoppers into actual ones if you offer more payment choices by adopting these gateways.

Make social media work for you

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have become smart ways to advertise products online as well. Hence, businesses of all sizes have the scope to compete and connect with customers and turn them into loyalists. So, you should focus on social media marketing, create engaging posts, and interact with potential shoppers to build trust and confidence. Remember to accept both positive and negative reviews to get better.

Go mobile or get wiped out!

More and more online shoppers are using their mobile devices or smartphones to make purchases these days, be it a pizza or a gold ring! It is expected that by 2019, sales through tablets and smartphones can be as much as $150 billion. So you see how important it is to make your e-store mobile friendly. Or, you will lose out on sales. Adopting a payment gateway like PayTabs is also essential to make the payment process seamless and easy on mobiles.

Don’t ignore Omni-channel marketing

There was a time when people could make purchases only through a merchant’s website. But those days are long gone. You can now use social media, mobile apps, emails and even SMS to connect with your audience, inform them of sales and such, and make it easier for them to shop from you. This way, you will open up multiple channels to them for convenient shopping. Are you worried that managing the revenues from these different channels will be tough? Don’t worry as thanks to gateways like PayTabs, payment integration irrespective of the transaction channel is a reality.

Focus on customer service

The world of online shopping has become intensely competitive over the years. Customers today have more options than ever before, whether it comes to brands, type of products or benefits. So, in this scenario, great customer service can take you a really long way! But it is often expensive to set up and manage a call centre, especially if you are a new business. Though automated chatbots are popular and widely used by many e-stores, they are not always personal and don’t provide the support needed. Hence, a better idea is to use IVR or Interactive Voice Response which will work round the clock to cater to customer needs.

Payment security is very crucial

Online shoppers will only trust you when you use a secure payment gateway like PayTabs. This is because online frauds, identity thefts and phishing are on the rise. Hence, using a gateway that is PCI compliant makes total sense. Such a gateway will protect customer details, transaction data and prevent fraudulent attacks.

Finally, you see how surviving and succeeding in the e-commerce landscape is a tricky business! But with a little foresight and discretion, you can make technology work wonders for you. Just keep the above tips in mind and stay abreast with changes.

7 years ago