It's important to include access to testimonials on your landing page and on a dedicated page as well because "Social Proof" helps build trust toward your brand, products or services.

"Customer reviews and testimonials have tremendous influence over the purchasing decisions of other consumers. On average, online consumers look at up to ten reviews before purchasing an item; 88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 72% of consumers say they trust a local service more if the service has positive online reviews."

So I know you get it ... using reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers can help visitors decide whether to select your business over your competition.

Here's something else we know: Collecting feedback is not as easy as it may seem.  You'll find that getting people to actually take the action required to leave a positive remark can be quite challenging. 

You may need to put several strategies in place to cover all of your bases. Why is it so hard to get people to leave a few positive words?  Our research showed some of the most well-known excuses:
http://blog.aginto.com says:

• There's no obvious place to submit a review.
• No one asked for a review.
• There's no incentive for writing reviews.
• The business doesn't respond to the reviews that are left for them.
• It’s difficult to leave a review. The process is to complicated

Now that you've seen just a few of the reasons why people say they don't leave reviews, perhaps you are already thinking of some ways to overcome these challenges.

I can tell you there are countless ways to get honest and much needed reviews from your Clients and I wish I could share them all with you, right here, right now, but getting positive feed back is totally tied into your individual business set-up.  A plan created specifically for your business would work best.

I will however give you a good starting point: In setting up a strategy for requesting reviews you should always consider a mobile solution.  And I've got lots more on this topic.

If getting more reviews for your business is a challenge and you'd like some fresh ideas on how to overcome the hurdle, I'd love to connect with you.  Let's talk

These words are quoted in various combinations by many well know experts....

• Forbes
• Deming
• The Harvard Business Review
• The McKinsey Maxim
• and many, many more.

This quote ranks high on the list of quotations attributed to Educator Peter Drucker, and has always been one of my favorites.   There’s just one problem: He never actually said it according to the Druker Institute.

None the less, Mr. Drucker did put in place some of the most life-changing, inspirational quotes I've encountered related to life and business management. What he did say was (to me) even more fruitful:  “Your first role . . . is the personal one,” Drucker said in a 1990 TV interview .

“It is the relationship with people, the development of mutual confidence, the identification of people, the creation of a community. This is something only you can do.”

Does that ring true for you?  If you're looking for proven, affordable ways to build business relationships and grow your business, connect with me to learn more about how we do it and the methods we recommend.

Continuing the conversation from our weekly newsletter....

We all know that we should have some "rainy day" savings stashed away and I think some folks are better at getting that done than others, but when you are self-employed and operate a small business it can be difficult to find extra cash for savings.

The old adage, “pay yourself first” is wise, but not so practical if you are struggling to manage a family and you haven’t reached the point in your business where you can pay anyone…including yourself!

So I’m sharing with you some great and easy tips from a video sent to me by PNC bank. They have lots of helpful tips for small business owners as well as just every day folks. This presentation is given by David Ning, Money Expert
You may have heard some or all of these clever ways to “squirrel away” funds, but I picked-up on a couple of new ones.

A savings account is very important, so don’t overlook it in your life plan.

Kinda on the same note (of saving) ….I believe that saving money is like making money…so I thought it would be interesting to check out some Coupon Mobile Apps (no more cutting and clipping) and Apps to help manage your budget! If you have not tried some of these already, I think you'll have some fun and save some "cash" as well!

The Coupon App

(By the way, if you have coupons for your business  products and/or services this may be a good resource!)

Consumer Reports has a list of the 10-best coupon apps: (Here you get a list that’s a year old, but you get coupon tips that are ageless!)

Kiplinger a longtime authority on all things financial provide a great list on Money Saving Apps

When I started in business back in the early 90’s, I had a simple goal, to earn an income while staying home.

I was blessed to be at the beginning of the time when small businesses and agencies were looking at something called the Internet and various ways to market their products and services and communicate with their customers and clients.

I quickly realized that a Web presence leveled the playing field for small business owners. 

Suddenly, things like staff size didn’t necessarily matter and the lack of a physical location was no longer an obstruction to doing business around the world.

Suddenly, the same technology that had allowed  big businesses to grow bigger was available to help small businesses grow bigger.

Suddenly, gender, ethnicity, mobility, disability and so many more fences that served as barriers to those with a dream to own and operate a business, became moot.  Still …during that time in history, it was cost prohibitive to design, host and maintain a great Web presence and even more of a challenge to market and promote the very thing that was created to promote and market the core business!

My goal was to offer small business owners the technology they needed at an affordable price and educate them on how to take advantage of the technology to grow their business. Thanks to the trust my clients have placed in me over the years, I have been very successful with that.

Much has changed in time…but one thing has remained consistent; small business owners are constantly on the look-out for ways to improve their methods of attracting new customers and increasing revenue.  It’s still a challenge; starting a business, keeping it afloat through the familiar, treacherous, five year gauntlet and coming out profitable on the other side. 

And so I’m proud …no… I’m even more than proud …and blessed,  to  have grown along with my clients over the past 20 plus years and I’m excited about the next 20!  Looking back, I especially remember those business owners who (in 1996) said to me; “No thank you,  I don’t think I need a Web site!”

Of course it didn’t take them long to succumb and contact me for the tools they needed to survive. Sadly, many business owners thought Web sites were a “Fad” or a passing “trend” and they did get left behind…they closed their doors and blamed all sorts of outside elements for their eminent failure. Many did not make it through the gauntlet.  Some came-to-the-light later on…but they struggled to regain position and suffered the loss of customers and revenue.

So here we are today.  Web sites are still an essential tool, but Mobile Apps are leading in the parade of business tools.  What’s not commonly being taken into consideration is that unlike Web sites, Mobile Apps will also make a cross-over into everyday personal and consumer usage. …simply because Mobile
Apps are being delivered by a device that is in the hands of 6 billion people.... a mobile device.  Web sites need the Internet…Mobile Apps do not.   Customers need to “go to” a Web site; Mobile Apps “go to” your customers.  

Just as “back-in-the-day”,  when small business owners were “forced” to accept the fact that a Web site is a mandatory tool for business, so will it be with Mobile Apps.

Just as their customers chimed, in past years;  “Can I visit your Web site?”
If the answer was: “NO”…what chance of success do you think that business had?

Now and for years to come, customers will chime: “Can I download your App?

If the answer is: “NO”… the chance of success will be less for that business. You can bet on that …because competitive businesses will say “YES”, and that competitor will get to occupy some very precious real-estate …with their logo and icon …on the home screen of your “used-to-be” client!

You may think by me telling you this story that I’m trying to sell you a Mobile App. 
No ….I’m not trying to sell you a Mobile App (even though if you own a growing business you should probably consider owning one) I hope that after reading my story, as a business-minded individual,
you may see an opportunity to take advantage of the huge opening that’s available  in the mobile industry;  the opening to give you a leading position in the industry, giving small businesses and consumers what they absolutely need.

When I first started in business I needed to spend years educating myself to write code and learning a lot of computer languages …just to build one tiny Web site …. but how things have changed! 

The fortunate people who decide to join me in AplhaLoop will need no special skills or technical know-how.  You don’t need money or a credit card to get into the loop. It is just the beginning of this explosion in the Mobile industry.  Come to a LIVE broadcast, or dial into a call,


MONDAY ... 8/18 - 9:30 pm EST
LIVE BROADCAST:  www.LIVEPRELAUNCH.COM
CONFERENCE CALL - 661-673-8600, code 757786#

After the Broadcast, Connect with me to get your FREE WEBSITE:
 - or call me immediately: (301) 534-5715

Doesn't it makes sense to find out if this is your chance to do something exciting, huge, world-changing and profitable?


I’ll see you at the top!

Paulette Smith - President
DonPaul Enterprises, Llc
www.DonPaul.com
Solutions@DonPaul.com
Talk/Text: 240-463-5136

Our true goal is to help your business grow with Customized Mobile Marketing.

_______________________

   

When it comes to mobile app development, your marketing strategy needs to start before your app even goes live on the app store. Similar to any successful product, understanding exactly who your customers are and where they can be found is one of the most important aspects of app marketing. Manish Jain - http://www.konstantinfo.com is right on, with these 9 steps and insightful advice:

1. Know Your App

Start off by looking up a list of successful and popular apps and try to figure out exactly how they are affected by their name, design, icon, and other such aspects. Try to gain as much information on this subject as possible.

● Collect a list of successful apps.
● Checkout how they are profiting by the Name, Design and icon of the app.

2. Select Important Keywords:

Keywords play an important role in successful app marketing. The term keyword can mean a lot of things in the app world, but generally speaking, a keyword is a representation of a term used by customers, which they will use to recognize what your app does. For example, the most important keyword for a game based on chess would be “chess”. Similarly, the most crucial keyword for a dictionary app would be “dictionary.” Of course, these are just simple and common examples, but for some apps, the keywords might be a little less obvious.

3. Choose A Good Name

A good name for your app is highly important. The perfect name can make miracles overnight. Your app needs to be named in a unique as well as memorable manner. However, keep in mind that this name needs be termed with the most important keywords as a part of that name. The perfect name matters a lot in app store searches. Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure you are not infringing on someone else’s copy righted name. In such cases, there is a high chance your app may be rejected or removed from the app store.

● Memorable
● Include Most important keywords
● Don’t infringe on trademarks

4. Find Your Competitors

Once you have decided what keywords to use, you can move on to carrying out some research on your competitors. Ask yourself some questions; which apps have the highest ranks when searched using your keyword? What features do those apps contain? Do they target any additional keywords? These and other questions will help you figure out how to refine your app.

Irrespective of how unique you think your app idea may be, given the number of apps on the app store, chances are strong that there will be several apps similar to yours. Keep track of all your initial competitors without filtering any out. Carry out research on these potential competitors and scale it down to the top 4 or 5 heavy contenders based on similarity to your app and the competitor’s success.

5. Choose the Right Category

Choosing the right category for your app is yet another important aspect to successful app deployment. Landing on the app store’s Top Chart helps drive an immense number of downloads, which makes choosing the right category imperative for the app’s success.

Before choosing a category, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of every category. Categories like Lifestyle apps are easier to climb as opposed to categories like Social media apps, simply because the Social media category attracts more downloads and users. Climbing the Social category is no easy task due to the intense competition; however if you do manage to do so, you will drive a serious number of downloads. Therefore, sit down and calculate the risks of every category and its pros and cons before you decide on which category is best suited to drive the highest number of downloads for your app.

● Estimate the numbers of downloads you will need to rank.
● Calculate Your Strength: The More competitive a category, the more downloads you will get.

6. Create an Amazing App Icon

An app’s icon is the very first thing that a user will notice about your app and good business sense dictates that the first thing that a user notices should leave a lasting impression. Design your icon is a manner that conveys your apps purpose in a clear and concise manner. Additionally, your icon should also leave a positive impression on a viewer as that is how the user will recognize your brand. Refrain from going with a stock or boring icon as this will only serve to lower your downloads. It is a well know fact that viewers are more likely to respond positively to icons that stand out and have their own unique touch.

● Your Icon Matters a lot!
● Make it amazing and eye-catching.
● Deliver style and purpose.

7. Take Great Screen Shots

Screenshots! Good screenshots drive a high number of downloads. Convincing your visitor to check out the details of your app is not enough to land a download. You need to offer them more and entice them into hitting that download button. Screenshots are a good way to achieve this goal. Make sure that your screenshots are not only memorable and informative, but also peak the visitor’s interest.

Apart from exciting the visitors, your screenshots should also give them a clear idea of what your app is all about. Given the hustle bustle of today, not every visitor is going to go through the trouble of reading your entire app description. Make sure your screenshots provide this information to the visitor in a visual form.

8. Make An Attractive App Demo Video

● Explain what the app does.
● Make them memorable informative and exciting.
● Convince users to download/buy the app.

9. Build a great landing page

Do not underestimate the power of your website in terms of what it can do for your mobile app. The web is a great way to increase your potential customer base. If someone was to write an article or blog about your app, chances are, they will provide links to either your app page on the app store or your website. Unfortunately, the app detail page on the app store is limited and non interactive. Creating a web page that provides this functionality is a great way to gain conversions.

Your web page could even include a web version of your app that lets users get an interactive feel for your app by engaging with it on the web. This is a great way to show the users exactly what they stand to gain by downloading your app.

● Write Good Title and Description.
● Optimize the Web Page.
● Include Screenshots and App demo Video.
● Ask users to put the email ID so when app went live you can send them emails.

And now you’re ready to launch your app on the app store and watch it climb the popularity charts.

We are experts at helping small business owners in planning, promoting, launching and getting the best benefiting from their Mobile Apps….it is one of the most exciting journeys you can experience in taking your business to the next level.   

This is a very powerful and thought-filled video from Earl Mann - the President and CEO of ComF5

  Get your touchPRO Express customized Mobile App and you'll get a great feature to help your business grow.  GeoFencing is included in your App and will allow you to create some cool marketing and advertising strategies.

Here are just a few thoughts on the benefits of GeoFencing and how it can work best for you:

1. GeoFencing can help you engage local shoppers. It is a location-based service that sends messages to smartphone users who enter a defined geographic area. Some companies send promotions to customers' smartphones when they enter a store, mall or neighborhood.

2. Deals can be hyper-local. Knowing that customers are nearby lets businesses tailor offers based on local events or holidays.

3. It leverages your location. By sending a targeted offer to a customer in a parking lot, you may be able to steer them away from competitors.  Companies can also work with businesses that offer complementary products.

4. Collect customer data that you can really use and offer rewards accordingly. When you know where customers are and how they behave, you can not only customize offers but also give them rewards and a personalized experience. Neiman Marcus is piloting GeoFencing in its stores so salespeople can see when VIP customers are in store, look at their purchase history and provide more personalized service.

Thanks to http://www.cio.com/

1. Fish where the fish are. Build GeoFences where you believe your customers are, not necessarily where you want them to be. If you business is located near a highway or thoroughfare, alerts may not reach them in time to take an exit ramp! 


2. Big fences do not work. By definition, a GeoFence can be any size or shape. But want to attract them when they are near by your retail store.  Construct GeoFences that are small and thus more relevant. Use this rule of thumb: the distance should equate to approximately four minutes travel time to your doorstep. 
If your store is in a mall, that is a four-minute walk. If along the road, that is a few blocks. Anything larger and you are reducing relevancy in your “local messaging.”

3. Bland messages do not work. If your message is an ad versus an action, you will not drive the customer behavior you desire. You are not alone in your GeoFence aspirations. Today more than half of U.S. mobile ad spending is local. Your message must be brief, be locally-relevant and prompt action.  And money always drives action: do not be cheap.

4. Make it important. The Starbucks latte coupon message magically appearing on your iPhone has been cited as the Holy Grail of location-based services for a decade. Technically, the capability is beginning to emerge with some – albeit spotty – location sources, but persistent handset location on the handset is too costly in terms of its toll on battery life.  Besides, which customers want to receive dozens of coupon texts as they stroll through the mall? If you build a GeoFence, have it trigger an important action.

Saving a quarter on a cup of coffee is not important, but redirecting a high roller away from a competitor’s casino is important.  Choose your GeoFence purpose wisely.   

5. Watch the clock. A GeoFence is not just a place on a map, it is also a place in time. When you take action on a trigger and when you notify a customer to do something is just as important as where. 

6. Measure everything. Even if you are unsure of how certain metrics directly impact your campaign ROI, record them anyway.  A GeoFence combines the physical world with the data world, which adds up to a brave new world for marketing analytics. Insight from the data comes from surprising places.   Do you know what time of day marks the highest propensity for spending among your customer segments? You should.

Thanks to: Rip Gerber is CEO of Locaid Technologies, San Francisco.