How can marketing automation support startups through festive season?

The festive season has already knocked the door and this is the right time for most of the retailers especially the one dealing in consumer good to make the most out of ,or over, it’s the right time to convert your prospective leads into long-term clients. But, how does one do that? Well, the answer lies in technology. All of you who would be reading this right now would agree with me on the fact that technology is a panacea and is helpful in finding out the right way to make more business. Marketing automation can prove as one shot that will hit the dart right at the point.

How marketing automation will help your business this festive season?

If you have been using marketing automation, I’m sure you would have noticed the difference in your war of working from what it was before but for those who still haven’t experienced the difference, you must immediately get this tool on board so that your sales and marketing performance escalates.

The success of any business lies in the fact that how well-connected you are with your customer. Marketing automation helps in regular and continuous interaction with the customer on time and real-time.

Marketing automation helps in managing action points of communication with consumers in advance to avoid any indistinctness especially when the flow of traffic is high during the festive season.

Application of marketing automation:

Here we will be focussing on a case study which shows how marketing automation tool can help business flourish during the festive season. We all know that all the e-commerce companies come up with various offers and sale during the festive season and they promote offers during a limited period and date, thus, it becomes paramount that the information about the date of offer and details of offer should be intimated to the customer well in advance. Here comes the role of marketing automation which helps pre-planning the communication workflow with the consumer. The tool runs through the historical data of the consumer and identifies the preferred channel of interaction like email, messages, social media, mobile apps etc. and then this data is used to interact with the customer and disseminate information accordingly. Marketing automation allows traction with consumer and hence, is the best tool to gain back the interest of the consumer in buying a particular product or service.

Let’s take another example, suppose a person buys mobile phone online, then there is a high probability that the person will also buy a mobile accessory in future. Marketing automation can help the company reach out the customer with various offers related to mobile accessory thereby leading to purchase from the same portal.

The applicability of marketing automation is not restricted to e-commerce or online purchase, rather, companies and retailers can use this tool in their store as well. For example, when a customer visits a store and is connected to Wi-Fi, marketing automation tool identifies the customer and can send information related to offers that the store is offering on a particular day. This real-time interaction can help in increasing the probability of sales, especially during festive season.

Email marketing is yet another version of marketing automation which will help you gain your customer’s interest and regularly engage customer with the brand and its offers.

Marketing automation has proven to be a tool that can help your business grow and escalate to the high level of success.

Marketing automation – The secret element that will make your startup thrive

Any new business has a lot of work on its to-do list, but as compared to the earlier times, the modern world and entrepreneurs are blessed with technologies and tools that have simplified the task. As the time is passing, we are witnessing new tools and techniques unfolding and showing a new way of doing business. Whether its ways of promotion, marketing, connecting and advertising, business in every form has a strong influence of technology. Marketing automation is one such tool which has simplified business and has helped in streamlining the process which helps in removing bottlenecks.

What is marketing automation?

It’s a software platform which helps in automating your marketing and sales engagements such that you are able to generate more leads and gain your customers’ loyalty. Overall it ensures making your business a success by removing bottlenecks.

Marketing automation can be a great help if merged with sales and marketing team, it allows the team to work together and helps in optimizing leads.

Here are the benefits of marketing automation:

• It helps in generation of more leads
• It helps in qualifying leads
• It helps in prioritizing the leads so that you can convert them
• It helps in managing all marketing emailers
• It helps in generation more leads

The benefits of the marketing automation can be reaped by entrepreneurs who have newly entered the business and those who are a well-established name in the market.

Related post: How can market automation support startups through festive season?

The sole objective of implementing marketing automation is that it helps in enhancing the performance of the sales and marketing team by streamlining their way of work and also prioritizing the leads which help enclosure and sales. Under marketing automation, you don’t have to micromanage the work; instead, everything runs on autopilot which gives you enough time to focus on your core area of work. It enables you to have a 360-degree view of how your prospects are communicating with the tool and how this tool is working on converting the prospects into clients.

Overview of how marketing automation helps in enhancing the business performance:

• Saves time – The newbies and the established class in the business face the problem of time crunch, most of you will agree with me that sending emails, prioritising leads etc. bag more share in your daily work life, with marketing automation, all these tasks can be deployed to an automated tool which works as your team member so that you can focus on your work.
• One stop shop- In order to use the best of technology, most of the companies end up using an array of marketing tools which only gets you webbed in using series of marketing tools, however, with marketing automation , you have a single tool to perform multiple tasks. It gives you a complete picture of your customers likes, interest to submit up, marketing automation helps you create, deploy, manage and measure your entire asset in one place.
• Identifying sales leads- Marketing automation if merged with the CRM tool can help in understanding how customers are interacting with your marketing campaign and marketing materials, it also helps in aligning the process of sales lead prioritizing and thus helping sales team focus more on hot leads for closure.

Conclusion

Technology has come as a boon for many businesses to survive and succeed, marketing automation is the revolution in work of business and is working wonders for those who are start-ups and need to focus solely on their increasing the productivity of their business.

Are you a teenager interested to enter the startup world? Tips for young entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is the new buzz word that seems to be becoming the talk of the town. The latest development can be traced from the fact that most of the young brigade is getting inclined to become the proud owners of business rather becoming a mediator to fulfill someone else’s dreams. The passion for chasing the dreams have become so strong that many colleges have introduced entrepreneurship development classes wherein students are encouraged to come up with new ideas that can shape their as well as the nation’s future.

Advantages of having young blood as entrepreneurs:

It’s no denial that there is a rising inclination of youth to become job-giver rather job-seeker. The path-breaking contributions by these young entrepreneurs lead to employment generation which eventually helps in the growth of the economy. Entrepreneurs are an important asset for any economy as they bring forth the ideas and concepts that directly or indirectly act as a catalyst for the growth of the nation. Entrepreneurial endeavors lead to the influx of money into the economic machinery of the nation, whereas on one side the established business may hit the glass ceiling in terms of their services, offerings, and money generation, the entrepreneurial ventures will boost new products and technologies in the market resulting in income and wealth generation.

Entrepreneurs are breaking tradition, following the path-breaking rules to create something that was never thought of. Today we are experiencing the high rise of that stratum of people who believe in themselves rather than believing in the predefined systems and protocols. The latest examples of Facebook, Linkedin, Alibaba etc. are few examples of providing service to people in a manner that no had ever thought of and all this became successful because there were strong determination and perseverance of people who wanted to make it happen.

There is another side to the positivity of entrepreneurship and Italy is quite an example where self-employment has proved to be inefficient for the economic growth. Here I remember a famous phrase that says, “Too many chefs and not enough cooks spoil the soup”. Thus, it the role of the government and the state becomes very important here. They need to establish policies and rule that can work as a guideline for entrepreneurs. Unfettered entrepreneurship might result in some unsocial activities like pervasive corruption, criminal activity, unfair market etc.

Must read: 10 mistakes that you should avoid if you want to make your startup successful

Hence , the state needs to strike a balance when it comes to promoting the idea of entrepreneurship which will not only help the economy grow but will also lead to establishment of a regulated society. In order for entrepreneurs to grow, there are a few tips that will work wonder for you :

Fire in the belly

As a young entrepreneur you should be passionate about your idea and concept. Accept your failure with open arms as they are bound to happen however, don’t worry they are just a part of running a business. Your passion for your idea and zeal to succeed will help you come over this failure and make your way to success.

Delegating work

The success of any entrepreneur lies in delegating the right person right work. Your sole objective is to make your business run and increase the productivity ; technology has given us many options like Virtual Assistant, online work etc. which can be of great help .This not only reduces your workload but also lets you focus on your business.

Understand what market needs

Need analysis is the most important aspect of any business. Your product or service should match the customer requirement; make sure you run a pilot project r conduct a survey to understand what will be the probable response of people towards your product or service.

Look for mentors

Having a Startup mentor or a guide will not only help you get a third party view of your business model but at the same time they work as an excellent source to drive your business in a right direction. An important point to note here is that the mentor and the experienced brains in the business know the rules of the game, you might be good at technology but the experienced class has already, mastered the art of networking which is the key to success for any new venture.

Optimally use social media marketing

It’s never bad to use social media to market your product after all, people are now more driven by social media messages but remember to optimally use it. Don’t solely rely on social media as your only tool to market your product or service, see which is the best medium and best time to market your product.

It’s never bad to use social media to market your product after all, people are now more driven by social media messages but remember to optimally use it. Don’t solely rely on social media as your only tool to market your product or service, see which is the best medium and best time to market your product.

Is coworking right for you? Arguments both for and against coworking space

With the rise in real estate prices, it became very easy and convenient option for start-ups or freelancers to pay a small amount to operate in a readymade office kind of environment (actually better than that), rather than investing bundles of money in buying an office. Coworking spaces are often confused with collaborative office rental facilities and incubators. It is not exclusive to people looking to build tech startups and it is also not limited to a better way to rent space, it offers a lot more than that

Let’s look at what really are the advantages of working in a coworking space that professional are not able to resist themselves:

• First of all, it offers the office like infrastructure that has facilities like dedicated desks, conference rooms, cafeteria, wifi/internet connection, print & scan facilities, power backups, etc. at single cost and also saves time in maintaining records of such overheads.
• These spaces organize some events or conferences for its members, sometimes just as a part of motivational activities and sometimes specific to particular topics.
• It offers the most wanted feeling of an office environment to the freelancers or startups who cannot or don’t want to invest in their own office spaces.
• Contact building becomes very easy for the young entrepreneurs and that will help them grow their businesses in future.
• A very important advantage of a coworking setup is it has variety of business ideas and concepts operating from a single place which can really be helpful for its members as some of them can find the services helpful for their businesses right on the next desk which will provide prospective clients to that service provider who’s also a member.
• Idea-sharing becomes easy and insightful which makes the environment exciting.
• Because generally the members of coworking spaces are young or open minded freelancer or startups, the culture is highly energetic and rocking.

But, it is said that something that glitters is not always gold, same as that this highly aspiring concept of coworking space also has it’s own drawbacks which make it avoidable for some professionals:

• The biggest disadvantage one will have opting for a coworking space will be spending money just to have an office environment which is not always affordable for the freshers or people who do not earn much. Coworking spaces are not always cheaper as currently the concept is quite new and is only available in big cities.
• If a coworking space is not available nearby, one will have to incur the transportation cost and also time to reach at the location.
• Coworking spaces sometimes observe too many changes. Coworkers are never the same and same goes with the desk that one uses. Their staff and location are also bound to change if they have very low-profit margins.
• Coworking spaces are sometimes more noisy than what members who like peaceful working environment would have expected. Constant noise sometimes becomes annoying and distractive.
  Such places are not really meant for people who are working on some top secret projects. Privacy of ideas becomes very rare in coworking spaces, especially when members are of same work domain.
• Coworking spaces are not complete substitutes of typical offices. Sometimes, you might not get the same level of guidance or help from the coworkers that you get from your office colleagues.

Understanding how e-wallet is changing definition of transactions

Basically, a wallet is something which holds money, credit card, debit card, shopping cards, ID proof etc. When you are already out for shopping and you forget your wallet at home then do you think it is a done thing ? No, it is not. In this fast moving world, everyone believes in smart work which will save their time and make work easier.

eWallet trend

E-wallet is a digital wallet in which you can preload some amount, credit card number, user’s identification and contact information behind a secured password. With the help of e-wallets, everyone can shop efficiently. According to open source survey, more people prefer online marketplace platform for shopping and e-wallet become its payment arm. Not only online stores, but e- wallet is helpful in physical stores too. E-wallet has made tedious paperwork transactions easy and fast. A person can pay for goods just by transmitting a number from one device to another and the transaction is done. Isn’t it Fast and Interesting?

E-wallet can be classified into three parts:

1. Closed E-wallet : Closed e-wallet can be used at particular places authorized by e-wallet offering organisations and it does not allow cash withdrawal. e.g.Freecharge.
2. Semi-closed E-wallet : Semi-closed E-wallet like Paytm can be used as prepaid online accounts. One can buy services and products from merchants having tie-up with the issuing entity. It does not allow cash withdrawal
3. Open E-wallet : Open E-wallet can be used for purchasing products and services. Unlike closed e-wallet & semi-closed e-wallet, it allows cash withdrawal at ATM’s. e.g. MasterCard, Visa card, Rupay card.

Digital wallet uses various methods to accomplish transactions such as Pull method, Push method & Tap-and-go method. In Pull method, a merchant will ask you for your mobile phone number and will enter it on their payment terminal, after that you will get one-time password (OTP) on your mobile phone then you have to share that OTP with the merchant, and in this way, money gets pulled from your e-wallet. Another is Push method, in which you have to send quick response (QR)code to merchant for scanning, which will help you to transfer money. The merchant will send you a QR code with the bill. QR code is nothing but a barcode which has details of the merchant’s establishment, bill details, etc. When code scanning is done, money from your e-wallet gets deducted and merchant’s account gets credited. Tap-and-go is an interesting and easy method in which you just have to tap your mobile phone with merchant’s terminal for money transfer. Both phones should be NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled phones to perform transactions by tap-and-go method.

What is making E-wallet a boom

• It is time saving.
• It comes up with various offers and coupons.
• Password security service is provided to maintain the confidentiality.
• People can track their expenditures as it facilitates them with their transaction history.
• Some of them offer data retention till 40 years.
• It is easy to use and easy to access.

Let’s see the downside of E-wallet

• E-wallet of one country can not be used in another country.
• Yet few merchants do not offer digital wallets. e.g. Amazon.
• In some conditions like lack of network, a Dead battery of the device or device is not in a working condition then one can not access E-wallet.
• It does not provide 3D secure password which helps to avoid unauthorized access of data.
• E-wallet does not assure you the security of your money if the device is lost.

A deep dive into online marketplace : how does it works, pros and cons

A marketplace is generally a location where people purchase or sell goods and services. It is the place where the seller meets the buyer, whether it is a B2B or B2C type of market. A market can be a wholesale market, retail market, high end or a street market according to the brands available, and the target customers of the locality. There are concepts like Supermarkets and Hypermarkets where one can find everything, from Safety pin to High-End cars under one roof.

Online Marketplace is an e-Commerce marketplace where products/goods/services are provided on an online interface. Here the transactions are facilitated by the operators of such online marketplace. e.g Amazon, Flipkart etc. the online marketplace is a dais from where the sellers display their products with the help of online marketplace operators, who in turn facilitate the financial transactions on a commission basis, while the final delivery of the goods, the after sales services responsibilities lie with the sellers. Hence and online marketplace provides a vast array of goods /services as compared to retail stores, where the prices are also competitive due to huge inventories of goods.

Sellers/Wholesalers have started selling their products through the online marketplace with the help of marketplace operators. Sometimes, these sellers also concern business mentor who guide them to select the best suited platform for business. Sellers can sell their products to the customers through multiple online marketplace operators, simultaneously. The inventories/ stock, never lie with these online marketplace operators. These online marketplace operators enable buyers meet sellers online and facilitate financial transactions thereof. The sellers usually make a list of products they intend to sell and thus upload them with the online marketplace operators. In few cases the sellers give the responsibilities of advertising, financial transactions, delivery of the goods, and after sales services of their product entirely wit the online marketplace operators, while in some cases the responsibility of delivery and after sales services lie with the sellers, while the responsibility of advertising the product lies with the online marketplace operators. The online marketplace operators generally pay the sellers for the goods sold in 7 days. On an average, the online marketplace operators charge around 15% commission for the products on their portal.

Worldwide Statistical Analysis :

Customers prefer online marketplace because,

• 73% find it time-saving.
• 67% think there are more varieties.
• 58% feel relaxed because it is less crowded.
• 59% think it’s easy to compare prices.

From a sales perspective, in 2016 global B2C e-commerce sales is expected to reach 1.92 trillion US dollars which will increase to 2.14 trillion, 2.36 trillion and 3.42 trillion US dollars in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively. In 2020, it is expected to grow almost double the figure of 2016 to 4.06 trillion US dollars.

In India, the sales figure of e-commerce marketplace in 2016 will be around 23.39 billion US dollars which will zoom to 37.5 billion US dollars in 2017, 52.54 billion US dollars in 2018, 65.09 billion US dollars in 2019 and 79.41 billion US dollars in 2020.

In 2016, Worldwide number of digital buyers is expected to reach 1.61 billion which will increase to 1.77 billion, 1.91 billion, 2.07 billion in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively. The forecast for a number of digital buyers in 2020 is 2.59 billion.

A number of digital buyers in India is expected to touch 112.7 million from there it will go on increasing to 153.2 million in 2017, 192.6 million in 2018 and 239.7 million in 2019. Further, it will go on and reach 288.9 million in 2020.

Let’s look at some benefits of online marketplace:

• The online shopping trends are increasing day by day and the sellers have also started catering to the demands of the consumers.
• The online marketplace is having its own numerous profits and positive points involved, both for the consumers as well as the sellers.
• All the products are just a couple of clicks away, as one can shop right from his home, flexible payment options, the customers can easily return the products if no satisfied with the products, can review his shopping etc. the buyers can compare thousands of products and prices to purchase accordingly.
• A consumer can shop anytime as the online marketplaces are open throughout the entire day and night.
• A local seller gets an opportunity to sell his products to the customers of the entire world with the help of online market.

There are some drawbacks as well:

• The consumers cannot check the product quality before the delivery of the products.
• The consumers in few cases, incur losses due to the faulty products and faulty handling during delivery.
• The sellers incur losses due to the return of the products, logistics involved in it and in some cases return of used products (used by the customers for 5-7 days).
• The online marketplace operators take around 7-30 days for the payment of goods to the sellers.
• Sellers have to offer coupons and discounts to stay ahead in the competition which will affect their profitably.
• Apart from product cost, a buyer has to pay shipping cost as well.

Important Startup Terminologies that should be a part of vocabulary

As an entrepreneur are you planning on boot-strapping or is it the help of a venture capitalist that you are interested in? In either case you would need a great pitch. When attracting investors, you should impress upon them that they are going to get good ROI soon enough.
Confused at what was written above? If you are a young entrepreneur with huge dreams but little experience, the jargons used above should startle you. But worry not. They are just jargons and you can easily learn them. They won’t be a roadblock to your dreams – but nevertheless knowing them will help. Let us take a look at some of the startup terminologies that should be part of your vocabulary.

#1 Accelerator

Mentorship and financial support are two things that help every entrepreneur understand the business environment. This is what accelerators do – they are formal learning centers for startups to acquire knowledge from industry experts, aka, mentors. Startup accelerators are also known as seed accelerators, and are formalized centers for learning.

#2 Advertorials

It has become a common trick to generate revenue through advertisements in the garb of “real content” and this is called advertorials. When you pay for publishing content but what it to appear as an ad, it is referred to as advertorials. These type of advertisement gimmicks are becoming popular because the effectiveness of ‘traditional ads’ are decreasing, especially in online media. Advertorials are proving to be great means of capturing ad revenue.

#3 Boot-Strapping

The term boot-strapping evolved from the phrase “pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps” and literally means to start a business using funds from one’s own resources. This could mean starting the business by using your own savings or taking help just from close family and friends. Once the startup starts running with the initial investment, and slowly starts making profit, the revenue is used as further investment.

#4 B2B & B2C

These are two very common terms used in the business world. B2B translates to Business-to-Business and suggests that a business sells products or service to other businesses. For example, if you are into the business of selling machinery to a garment manufacturing store, you run a B2B. On the other hand, in B2C or Business-to-Consumer, products or services are sold to consumers. For example, the clothes made by the garment manufacturer are sold to consumers.

#5 Deck

Also known as Pitch Deck, it is a standard slideshow presentation, normally with just 10 slides. A deck has to be concise and informative so that when an investor sees it, he is convinced that there is merit in your idea and funding you would be rewarding.

#6 ESOP

ESOP or Employee Stock Ownership Plan is an investment plan that encourages employees to acquire stock of the company and earn direct profit. Most often employees do not have to bear any upfront cost to acquire the stocks. They are more or less seen as remuneration given to employees for their work done. It is common practice to keep the allocated funds in an ESOP fund that employees can sell once their leave or retire from the company.

#7 MVP

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a product in its early phase of development which is launched with bare minimum features for the public. As more customers start using the product, they also offer feedback on its drawbacks – which is then incorporated by the startup. MVP has become a tried and tested method of launching products as it helps startups invest less on product development while at the same time get direct feedback from customers. MVPs reduce the stress startups have to put on R&D.

#8 Ramen Profitable

When a startup aims to earn just that much profit so that basic living expenses are met, it is called ramen profitable. When startups aim for just ramen profitable, they are looking at just initial profits, without thinking of earning huge profits right at the beginning. It is like giving yourself more time to improve your startup.

#9 ROI

ROI or Return on Investment is what the investor expects as revenue returns from a startup. It is usually expressed as percentage and the standard formula used is ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100. ROI is generally the investor’s methods of finding out how his/her investments are bearing fruit and whether the money has been efficiently used.

#10 Venture Capitalist

An investor who helps a startup or a small company financially by venture capital funding in the initial phase is called a venture capitalist. Venture capitalists usually help people with big ideas but little or no financial support. They believe in the credibility of the idea and hope that they will earn huge returns on investment once the startup succeeds.

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