The #1 mobile app platform worldwide
Posts tagged mobile apps for smbs
7 Mobile Apps To Manage Business On The Go
Jul 31st
If you’re a small business owner, you know the importance of being able to work on the move, by always be accessible to your customers, clients, colleagues and employees.
There are a number of business apps that are emerging on the market, making it possible to stay on the go while remaining in touch when you need to be. These apps can increase productivity, help you manage your time, and stay connected with employees & customers.
Here are 7 great apps that can help your SMB:
1. MozyPro
MozyPro allows users to back up computer files that are important to businesses, allowing them to sync with smart phones, tablets and computers. The app backs up files automatically and is able to be recalled instantly. It is a phenomenal resource for those who want a foolproof backup.
2. Moonfruit
Moonfruit is a website building app that helps the user create a mobile optimized website quickly and easily. It is praised as one of the most helpful and easy apps of its type. Users find it especially helpful, since designing a mobile optimized website from scratch can be time consuming and difficult.
3. DocuSign Ink
DocuSign is helpful for those who have lots of forms to sign, who deal in contracts and other types of paperwork. DocuSign Ink exists solely for smart phone users. You save your signature and use it to sign virtual documents, contracts and more. You can also use it to send others contracts and documents for their signature.
4. TripIt
This app is for people who travel a great deal. The app organizes your travel schedule, lays out flight info, car rental, trains, hotels and any other relevant information related to business travel. It keeps track of your schedule and more, mapping out your entire trip and organizing your travel history.
5. Mynd
The app self-describes as “a calendar with a brain”. The app helps organize your meetings and appointments, looking up the people you’re meeting with via LinkedIn and other places, so you can have background info, as well as tell you about the traffic in areas you’re traveling to, giving transport reports, and more. It is a helpful resource for those who have lots of meetings and meet new people regularly.
6. 30/30
This app is designed for self-starters, and works as a timer. If you work hard for 30 minutes, you get thirty minutes to “waste”. The timer will ding when you’ve used up your time. It works on a cycle pattern, and the user is able to set the times for themselves. This app boosts productivity and helps the user keep track of the time they work and the time they waste, making them more productive.
Interested in building an app for your business? Check out Bizness Apps today.
5 Myths About Mobile Apps For Small Businesses
Jul 30th
Many small businesses have joined larger ones in developing a mobile app for their customers, but there are still many holding out, with several small businesses not getting connecting with their customers on a mobile level. A recent study showed that more than half of small businesses don’t even have a website, much less a mobile app.
The mobile app industry isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so all small businesses should consider engaging their customers with a mobile app, otherwise they will lose out on some serious business.
But what’s holding small businesses back from going mobile? Why are some small businesses finding it so hard to develop a mobile app or even a mobile optimized website?
Experts say it can be a combination of factors that can be easily avoided. We’ve detailed five of the biggest myths that might be holding SMBs back when it comes to mobile apps.
1. Developing a mobile app is too hard.
Developing and creating a mobile app hasn’t always been as easy as today, but these you can build a mobile app in minutes using platforms like Bizness Apps. The problem is, many SMBs don’t realize that technology has changed, and that developing an app is actually really simple.
2. Mobile apps aren’t really necessary.
Many SMBs make the mistake of thinking that they are well-known enough among their customers, and that a mobile app is just a waste of time and money. They mistakenly believe that an app, while helpful to some, won’t really drum up any new business for them. To the contrary, if you don’t have a mobile app to increase repeat business, or at the very least, a mobile optimized website, you are losing out on a huge chunk of revenue.
3. Social media presence is good enough.
Small business owners often make the mistake of thinking that if they are on Twitter or Facebook, that they are getting through to all their customers. This isn’t completely the case – Facebook filters out posts from “fan” pages and business pages, so your customers only see a tiny percentage of the things you post. And with Twitter’s massive feeds, the sheer number of posts people see every day mean that your updates might get lost in the shuffle or buried under other tweets. Push notifications on the other hand arrive directly on a customer’s phone, which can be hard to miss.
4. Mobile Apps don’t provide enough functionality.
Business owners mistakenly believe that apps can’t really do much other than offer some information that’s already out there anyway, but that’s not the case. Mobile apps are built to engage your customers and encourage loyal customers to come back through in depth functionality. For example, you can message specific customers based on location or interest, interact with customers, providing them answers to emails and queries no matter where you are, rewards programs, loyalty programs, incentives, promotions, coupons, contests and other sales-generating marketing strategies, and so much more.
5. Mobile apps are way too time consuming.
Mobile apps are designed specifically to not take up too much of your time. In fact, they can often save you time, by doing things for you like updating your content, keeping data organized, providing customers with helpful information, automatic updates, etc. In addition, features like mobile food ordering or mobile reservations can reduce time spent talking with customers on the phone for their orders, automating the whole process, which is good business for everyone.
So there you have it. If you run a small business, you owe it to yourself to develop an app to interact with your customers and tap into the mobile marketing opportunity. Creating a mobile app is easy, convenient, and shows a high return on investment.
19 Million Small Businesses with Facebook Fan Pages Active on Mobile
Jun 13th
According to Facebook’s director of small business, Dan Levy, the company currently has 30 million small businesses with active fan pages on their social networking website. That number is up by 25 million from last year, when Facebook first started counting SMBs with their current definition.
Levy detailed this information during a press Q&A at Facebook Fit, a small business based event.
He went on to say that Facebook has, in recent months, been “really trying to pivot to be more proactive” - meaning that rather than just reviewing and approving ads, the company is making more of an effort to work more closely with SMBs, making sure they have information they need. He called the process “an evolution”.
If small businesses already have Facebook fan pages, it stands to reason that many of them are already implementing mobile apps, or will be doing so soon.
Levy answered questions about how Facebook fan pages allow small businesses to interact with their customers, as well as the “reach” these businesses have with their “fans”. Facebook has taken flack in recent months for the decline in “organic reach”, that is to say, accessibility to their posts. The average viewer only gets so many posts from a fan page on their feed. Facebook claims that this is due to the increasing number of connections and updates, but users have complained that with Facebook becoming more and more ad and interest driven, Facebook is picking and choosing what they allow their users to see.
How will this affect the average small business with a fan page?
With it becoming more and more likely that businesses can only reach their fans with paid-for ads, it seems more likely to generate business and new leads with a mobile app. That way, customers can download the app and interact with their fans as often as they’d like. Businesses can offer special rewards, loyalty programs, interactive features, push notifications, and more. Facebook fan pages are much more limited in what you can offer your customers.
As far as Facebook is concerned for small business, Levy said that the company will try to do “what’s right for the people on Facebook”, and that they will try to adapt, to “make the changes to keep things engaging for people.”
According to Levy, Facebook plans to build more mobile tools for businesses. He says that 19 million of small businesses with Facebook fan pages are already active on mobile. This goes to show that businesses of every size has mobile high on their agenda for small businesses - including Facebook!
How to Succeed on Your New Years’ Resolutions, for Small Business Owners
Dec 26th
The new year begins with almost unlimited optimism. No goal is too farfetched, and no transformation is too drastic. No success is out of reach. It almost seems like you could accomplish anything this year . . .
And then comes January 2nd.
How quickly things change. The exciting new goals fall away, and the quick slide back into old habits begins. By February, all is forgotten, and the year winds up just like the one before it.
This year is going to be different!
Follow these basic steps, and you can make 2014 a year to remember for your small business.
Step 1: Buy in
Adopting a goal without truly believing you can accomplish it is pretty much pointless. Part of this will be adopting challenging, but realistic, goals. But once you’ve adopted them, you need to buy in to the fact that you are going to do this. You can’t commit halfway, and you can’t approach it miserably. You need to get excited about what you’re going to do, and commit to making it happen.
Step 2: Set measurable goals with deadlines
A general goal is usually too vague to allow for accountability. For example, “Make my business successful” is not measurable in time or magnitude, while “Book $X in sales in the first quarter” is.
When you decide how to define your goals, make sure that they are measurable and have a time limit. This will help you take clear, effective steps to achieving them.
Step 3: Break goals down and schedule tasks
Goals need to be broken down into smaller, more manageable tasks. And this is a critical part of the process, so don’t breeze through it. If you want to increase sales, for example, you’ll need to spend time researching methods and deciding how to allocate your resources most effectively.
But once you’ve decided on some methods, break them down into steps and schedule them. Literally, on your calendar. Do it. Those are now rock solid appointments that you can’t miss.
Your future depends on it.
Step 4: Execute as scheduled
Do what you are supposed to do, when you’re supposed to do it. That’s it. Don’t give yourself a pass. Don’t leave it for another time. Just simply soldier on. It couldn’t be easier than that.
Step 5: Evaluate
Okay, you’ve done what you were supposed to do – how is it working? If it’s going well, great! Keep it up. If not, re-evaluate and choose new actions. Then schedule them. It’s time to execute a new plan.
As you execute the new plan, evaluate that one as well. Keep repeating this process until you are making progress to your goal. Don’t give up!
Step 6: Reward yourself
If you hit your targets, or make a lot of progress toward them – nice work! – don’t forget to reward yourself. Life isn’t a death march and you need to make sure that you pat yourself on the back when you succeed. Soon enough it will be time to repeat the process again with new goals, and continue progressing onward and upward.
For now, however, take a breath and relax. You’ve adopted a goal and reached it, and most people never manage to do that.
Well done!
Also, make sure to check out Bizness Apps Reseller Program to start off the new year with your own mobile app company! Cheers to 2014!
