More and more businesses are making use of the technology that is available to them for efficiency on how the business is run. Services that are made available to businesses with technology include quality management, databases for important files, and small business bookkeeping. There’s no doubt that a good Business app can simplify everyday tasks and improve productivity for small business owners. Here’s a sampling of apps from different categories that might help to make your job easier.

Payments

PayPal Here stepped out when Square came on the market. PaPal Here allows business owners to accept payments and track expenses.

Finance & Accounting

Gusto streamlines company payroll, tax and benefits process. For a more all-encompassing solution to your company’s payroll, perhaps something like Cloudpay would suit your needs well as a powerful, global tool with access to expert assistance to ensure consistent and accurate results in every country in which you operate.

Communication

Slack’s instant messaging platform allows you to organize your team’s conversations into separate private or public channels or send a direct message. The platform also allows file and image sharing.

Time Management

RescueTime tracks time spent on applications and websites and sends you detailed reports and data based on your activity, giving you an accurate picture of how you spent your day. It works for Mac, PC, Android and Linux.

Organization

BoxMeUp organizes and tracks packages and containers. It also allows you to print the properly QR labels which you can scan with your phone to access a list of items in each container at any time.

Other Favs

Expensify makes tracking business expenses a lot easier. Additionally, there is also expense tracking software that can be downloaded onto a computer, whilst still allowing users to access it from their mobile phone. FileCenter Receipts software allows business owners to track all of their receipts and expenses digitally. This makes it easier for them to see where the business is spending money and also simplifies tax season as all of the business’ expenses should already be filed on the computer or on the app.

Does the brand name REALLY matter? This month the obstacle de jour is clients agonizing over their brand name. Should they use their own name? Is it too long, especially when using the same as a domain name? Does it speak to the industry it serves? The best answer is that when naming a brand, go with your gut. If the brand is successful, no one will think twice about the name. With that said, it is important to consider how a name might work across media platforms such as in a domain name for example. Long names can be cumbersome to remember and difficult to use on print collateral such as business cards where space is limited. Remember that less is almost always more! A good brand can take on a life of its own regardless of its name. While it is necessary for a brand to have a name, it is not really necessary for the name to speak to the function of the product itself as the real brand building lies in the story that the brand tells.

Some brand names are so great that they become part of our daily lingo. For example we don’t search for information, we “Google it” and kids ask for a “Band-Aid” when they have a scrape not an adhesive bandage. Here are a few interesting facts about famous brands and where their names were derived.

• Amazon: Founder Jeff Bezos wanted a company that began with “A” so that it would appear early in alphabetic order. The Amazon itself was named after the largest river in the world – Bezos hoped his company would have such a commanding presence.
• Google: The search engine was originally nick-named “Backrub” because the system checked backlinks. Eventually it was renamed Google which came from the misspelling of the word “googol” which prepresents the large number 10^100.
• Nike: The sporting goods brand was named after the Greek goddess of victory and the “swoosh” is symbolic of her flight.
• Samsung: Korean for ‘Three Star’
• Nivea: Derived from ‘Niveus’, Latin for ‘Snow White’
• Volkswagen: German for ‘People’s Car’
• Lego: A contraction from the Danish phrase ‘leg godt’, meaning ‘play well’ (coincidently in Latin for ‘I put together)
• ADIDAS: A blending of sounds from the founder’s name Adolf (Adi) Dassler
• Adobe: Named after the ‘Adobe Creek’ located behind the cofounder John Warnocks home.
• 7 Eleven: A reflection of their extended work hours (7a.m. to 11p.m.)
• Canon: Originally ‘Kwanon’, Japanese for the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Mercy
• IKEA: An acronym comprised from the Swedish founder’s name and native village (Ingvar Kamprad and Elmtaryd Agunnaryd)
• Pepsi: The soft drink was named after the digestive enzyme ‘pepsin’
• Sony: Derived from ‘Sonus’, the Latin word for sound
• Starbucks: Named after a character in the novel Moby-Dick
• Vodafone: A combination of ‘Voice’, ‘Data’, and ‘Phone’
• Wendy’s: Named after founder Dave Thomas’ daughter
• SKYPE Derived from Sky-Peer-to-Peer which evenually morphed into SKYPE.

So you think that you’ve come up with an awesome name for your business and one of the first items on your agenda is to search for a matching domain name. Hold your horses! Resist the urge to start that search until you have brainstormed a list of possible domain names and are ready to make a purchasing decision.

Here’s Why

If you start your search and then decide to sleep on it before making a decision, the chances are likely that the domain name will either cost twice as much the following day or be scooped up by another buyer who has plans to hold it for hefty ransom. Although large purchasing services deny that they save searches, studies have proven otherwise. The same holds true in the travel industry where the price of flights mysteriously go up overnight.

What Else Should I Know

There are other factors to consider as well when selecting a domain name that can affect the price and marketability of the domain name. Among them:
1. Keep the name as short as possible – 3 words is best.
2. Try to get .com but do not fret if .net or .us are the best fits for your business.
3. Avoid awkward names such as speedofart.com or expertsexchange.com
4. Avoid using dashes or numbers in the URL

Despite rumors to the contrary, email marketing is alive and well and, collecting emails is pretty easy in today’s world. Last week, I asked a restaurant owner if he had considered taking advantage of seasonal opportunities by selling gift certificates online. Unfortunately, the profitable Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail opportunities had passed us by; neither of which should be missed by any C2C business. One of the easiest ways to capitalize on these opportunities is through email marketing.

Fighting from where we stood, we decided to focus on Valentine’s Day. We started with a drawing for a free $100 gift certificate. Enrolling was easy – a fish bowl was placed at the entrance to the restaurant. Visitors simply had to drop a business card or a completed slip into the bowl. Next to the bowl, there were some business cards and booklets for consumers to take so that they could have email, social media, and business information to look back on if they needed to. By using booklet printing services, relevant information can be passed to consumers relatively easily and it’s a great way to share information if a consumer is reluctant to give you their email address or any other personal information like a phone number. Likewise, a pop-up link was added to the website urging visitors to sign up for a chance to win a $100 gift card. The links were simultaneously posted on Facebook and Instagram.

Voila! The restaurant’s email list multiplied threefold within the first hour. These simple marketing tactics are and effective way to gather leads to be used in automated email marketing campaigns.

With Amazon bulldozing its way through the marketplace in nearly every industry, small business owners are fearful of being left behind in the rubble. Those who are selling products online, that are also available by large retailers, are at a competitive disadvantage and should find a way to set themselves apart from the super stores, perhaps by selling items not available on the likes of Amazon. But what about businesses who are selling their own product line? Should they join forces with the enemy by selling their product through the Amazon marketplace?

Absolutely! Even if the profit margin is reduced, it is best to sell goods in as many different marketplaces as possible. While the profit margin may be less, the volume of sales will likely be higher, making it well worth the effort. The Amazon ecommerce platform is powerful, and one to be taken on step by step as small businesses would otherwise not be able to gain such broad market exposure.

Should small retailers abandon their online store? No. They should keep doing what they do best, being an authority on their product line and play big. A small retailer’s website should be filled with valuable compelling content such as “How To” videos and blogs that offer consumer’s insight into the product. If you don’t already have an online ecommerce store, you should get started with one right away! You can either use Shopify or Volusion (look at details here to find out more about them both).

Furthermore, digital ecommerce businesses might also want to find new ways to embrace current trends surrounding subscription-based business models.

With the rise of technology and software as a service (SaaS) products expected to continue soaring over the next few years, more companies seem to be moving from a revenue model where revenue is made from a one-time purchase towards a subscription model where revenue is made on a recurring basis in return for consistent access to the delivery of goods or services. To learn more about the software required for setting up a subscription-based business model, head to the FastSpring website.

The Amazon shopping cart is a marketing workhorse but it can’t offer the same personalized, interactive experience that business owners can to woo customers. They might even consider offering an incentive to purchase directly from the manufacturer such as a money back guarantee. Remember that Amazon is only another marketplace and everyone has their favorite places to shop.

Marketing often gets placed on a back burner by many small business owners who are overwhelmed by the day to day administrative tasks that they have to do just to keep their business running. However, creating a brand that is cohesive and recognizable is important for all businesses regardless of their size.

While branding often begins with a name and logo, the two along do not define a brand. Branding runs far deeper. It tells a story about a company, it is the voice that speaks to the core values of the business. The benefits that a business will reap through strong branding are multifold with the most obvious being industry recognition, trust and credibility with consumers, financial return, and vested employees who understand the goals of the company.

Does your brand tell your story accurately? Is the message you want to send being told consistently across all platforms? Although some of the rules of branding may seem tedious to the untrained eye, establishing brand personality will have a positive impact on the bottom line of a company.

Keeping your clients happy is easy – it involves employing your social and networking skills.

1. Be willing to share and give free advice without always watching the clock. Take the time to talk to your clients and build a relationship without launching into a sales pitch. It’s all about the “Givers Gain” philosophy that is based on the law of reciprocity.
2. Make introductions between people who would benefit from knowing each other.
3. Become an ambassador for your clients brand. Show them that you share their passion for their own brand and be willing to spread the good word on your own social media pages.
4. Give regular progess updates while in the midst of a project. My goal has always been to reach out to my clients before they ask me about the progress of a particular project.This is particularly important during a crisis – people feel more comfortable when they are kept “in the loop”.
5. Give honest quotes and stick by them. It doesn’t do any good to under-cut a project and then come in over budget.
6. Respect deadlines and go out of your way to meet them.
7. Be a good listener. Ask lots of questions to gain a good understanding of their business the finished professional product will be that much more sensational.
8. Be prepared to accept blame when it is due.