As a business owner, you have to keep coming come up with creative ways to attract new customers. But as you know, this type of marketing can be expensive.

It’s much more cost-effective to market to your existing customers than to find new ones. Acquiring a new customer is six to seven times more expensive than retaining a current customer.

Sure, you may be very profitable right now without putting too much emphasis on acquisition. However, that business model isn’t sustainable forever.

You can’t grow at an exponential rate without expanding your customer base. Sooner or later, you’ll need to run marketing campaigns to attract new customers.

That’s why you need to implement customer acquisition strategies that won’t break the bank.

A customer referral program is one of my favorite ways to do this. Your campaigns will leverage your existing customers to bring in new business.

Take a look at the most significant driving factors of retail revenue:

As you can see, retention and acquisition ranked first and second on the list. Combining both of these into one marketing campaign will be very beneficial for your business.

If you can properly implement a customer referral program, you’ll get new customers without having to do much work. All you have to do is set up the program. The rest will take care of itself.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

The key here is coming up with the right referral program that gets your current customers excited enough to participate.

Whether you’re creating your first customer referral program or trying to improve your existing one, this guide will help you. I’ll tell you everything you need to know about referral programs that drive sales.  [click to continue…]

Did you know that 65% of people are visual learners?

Furthermore, 90% of information that gets transmitted to the human brain is visual.

But if you thought that was crazy, consider this. We process images 60,000 times faster than we process text.

Let that sink in for a moment.

As you’re reading this, you may believe you’re processing the information I’m sharing with you, and that very well might be the case. But if I show you an image, like this one, it will increase the chances of you remembering it:

As a marketer, you need to use this knowledge to your advantage. You always have to come up with new ways to reach and engage with your target market and current customers.

If your most recent marketing campaigns didn’t succeed, I want you to reevaluate those strategies.

Did you use any visual elements?

If you answered no, you have a significant room for improvement as you move forward. But some of you may be using visuals and still not having the success you’re looking for. That’s okay.

It’s possible you’re using the wrong visuals. Or maybe you’re just not positioning them properly within the campaign. You might need to make slight adjustments.

Regardless of your scenario, this guide will help you.

I’ve narrowed down the top 8 visual elements you can use to improve your marketing campaigns. I’ll tell you what they are and explain how to implement them.  [click to continue…]

Launching a mobile app is a great way to increase sales for your business.

If you already have a live app available for download, you’re headed in the right direction. That’s because your customers are active on mobile devices.

It’s more convenient for them to shop from their phones and tablets because they use these devices on a regular basis.

Yes, you still need to have a web design optimized for mobile users. But that alone won’t be enough.

Having a mobile app will definitely help you maximize your potential revenue.

In the last six months, 62% of smartphone users have used their devices to make purchases. It’s clear people are willing to shop from their phones.

But just having an app doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be successful.

There are certain features that successful mobile commerce apps have in common. If you have an app, you need to implement these features if you want to share a similar success.

If you are building an app, make sure you include these features so your app is in great shape to perform well when it finally launches.

I’ve narrowed down the top 10 features of successful mobile commerce apps.  [click to continue…]

It’s no secret that our world is trending in a mobile direction.

As a marketer, you need to recognize this concept and adapt accordingly. Your customers are using their mobile devices to consume, so that’s where you need to target them.

Those of you who developed a mobile app are already heading in the right direction.

In fact, without the app as a platform, you won’t be able to use push notifications as a marketing tactic. But even if you don’t have a mobile app, you should continue reading this post.

While you may not be able to implement this strategy right now, you’ll be able to do so once your app launches.

Let’s start with the basics. What is a push notification?

I’m sure you’ve seen push notifications before, probably on your own mobile devices, even if you didn’t know what they were called. It’s a message that appears on your screen, similar to a text message, but it comes from an app.

This is a great opportunity for you to share information, provide updates, and stay in contact with users who have your app downloaded to their devices.

But with great power comes great responsibility. Overloading your customer with these messages could backfire, which I’ll explain in greater detail as we continue.  [click to continue…]

So you’ve got a great idea for a new business.

You took the time to write a business plan for your startup. After long and grueling months of conducting market research, coming up with prototypes, and analyzing your competition, you’re finally ready to turn this plan into a profitable business.

You even came up with a plan to raise the funds to get your company off the ground.

But before you can proceed any further, you need to name your startup company.

You may have had an idea or two. But how do you know if that name will work?

Naming your startup may seem minor, but it’s actually one of the most important and undervalued aspects of your business. This name will be attached to your brand image for years to come. You need to get it right from the beginning.

Otherwise, you’ll face some challenges if you try to change your name down the road. That’s a headache you won’t want to deal with.

With this in mind, I wanted to show you how you can simplify this process. These are the top 16 tips to keep in mind when you’re naming your startup.

Use this guide as a reference before you finalize your name.  [click to continue…]