Remember ten or more years ago when the question for small business owners was, “to have a website or not”? Or, we may have scoffed at Bill Gate’s vision of a PC in every home? Well, we’re on the verge of another game-changing wave called Mobile Marketing. If you haven’t caught the vision, now is the time to catch it. Did you know:

• By 2012 Smartphone sales will surpass computer sales (Morgan Stanley)
• By 2013, Smartphone sales will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide (Merrill Lynch Report)
• The gross value of mobile transactions will reach $1.13 trillion by 2014 with $288.4 billion being spent in North America (Ie Market Research)

The question is, are you ready? If you’re a “Digital Slowpoke,” according to Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of Marketing Profs, here are 6 ways you can begin to catch up.

1. Create a solid Web presence. Of course, you need a website. Create one using one of several free website development tools. Some good easy-to-use options for non-geeks include Weebly, Wix, Webs, Yola.com, or Flavors.me. For a stupid-easy solution, use blog software from WordPress.org as your main Web page.

Using blogging software like WordPress, by the way, doesn’t mean your site must look like a blog. There are a bunch of inexpensive, flexible, smart design templates you can apply to blogging platforms to create a compelling-looking site, or you can pay a Web designer to customize it for you.

2. Open the door to interaction. Make sure you spell out on you website what your small business does, who it serves, and where it’s located. That sounds obvious, right? But it’s surprisingly easy to overlook the basics when you’re the one building it. Include an obvious way for people to get in touch with you.

3. Start a database. As Chris Brogan has pointed out, a customer and prospect list is key to any kind of successful engagement. Even a simple spreadsheet will do. This will help you stay in touch with people who have left comments and feedback and who have voiced interest in staying up to date with you and your business.

4. Start publishing. Use your customer database to start a newsletter for your customers or your vendors. Launch a blog and commit to refreshing it two or three times per week, and allow users to subscribe to your content via RSS or email. Use a simple Flip camera to create customer testimonial videos onsite, at trades hows and events. Upload them to YouTube.

5. Get a smart phone. Business today is global, mobile and social. For many businesses, geographic boundaries don’t exist, and you can extend your reach via social media to anywhere in the world. If you don’t have an iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or some other smart phone, get one today with an unlimited data package and spend time texting, browsing and communicating in the medium.

6. Don’t stall. Do something now. You don’t have to do everything, but you do have to do something. The best way to think about how to move forward is to envision ways that new tools can strategically extend your business (your message, products and services). Today is as good a day as any to start. After all, your competitors are…

Scott Nelson

VP Marketing, ProPay

There are many features and options associated with your ProPay account. All of these features can enhance your business opportunity and allow you to process transactions in a myriad of different ways.  One common way is to send an email invoice.  Sending an email invoice conveniently allows your customer to enter in their credit or debit information and securely pay you via email interaction.  To receive a step by step tutorial on how to send an email invoice, please visit the link below:

 http://www.propay.com/propay-support/tutorials/tutorial-email-invoice/

Once you submit the invoice through your ProPay account, your customer will receive an email with a secure ProPay website link to enter in their card information.   The payment will then be processed through your ProPay account. 

Sending an Email invoice is just one simple way you can process card information through your ProPay account.  For additional explanations on processing cards and other ProPay account features please visit our tutorial page.  Or, to get answers to some our most common questions by visiting our FAQ page .  However you need to process a card, ProPay’s simple, safe and affordable solutions are there to help create success for your business.

Today is a day of instant messages, real-time feedback and immediate gratification.  While there are a number of ways to complete a purchase online, the most prevalent (and probably easiest) way to checkout is via credit card.

 A few people may still send a check or money order.  Others may use a third-party payment account, real-time bank transfer, or store credit option.  Ultimately, online shoppers typically want to pay for their purchase quickly, receive an order confirmation, and not deal with getting redirected or working through a third-party process.

 Many consumers realize that if their card information is misused or stolen, they will typically have a very low threshold of liability for those fraudulent transactions, encouraging them further to use their card rather than a third-party method.

 If a buyer must be directed to a new website where they’ll enter sensitive bank or card information to complete their purchase, one can easily see how this could reduce the level of trust for the transaction and increase the rate of shopping cart abandonment.  While alternative payment providers have an important place in online transactions—especially when the buyer or seller is unknown—being able to simply pay by card and be done has a lot of power.

 There are a number of marketplaces online where individuals or businesses can sell their wares.  However, many of those venues lack a coherent or consistent way for sellers to accept payment.   Without a unifying process, buyers may not as easily trust that their purchase is safe. 

 To attract customers, improve trust and bolster their legitimacy, online marketplaces and sellers can offer a seamless, straightforward option for buyers to pay by credit or debit card and complete the purchase.  Sellers and the marketplaces can use new technologies like data tokenization to reduce their own liabilities, safeguard the customers’ payment information, and maintain a high level of trust.

Target marketing, as defined by Wikipedia, is the group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts to and ultimately sale merchandise. Effectively targeting the correct market for a company’s upcoming or current product generally will not only help increase sales, but will increase the number of potential customers communicating with each other about the product.  Creating the correct target market takes resources from most departments, but how does a company choose which market is best for their product line and how to effectively drive the marketplace?

Recently, I have been involved in research around ProPay’s Social M-Payments platform ProPayLink (recently known as Zumogo).  The company needed to define its target market for the new, upcoming product.  What were the components we needed to search out? ProPayLink is an application for Smartphone users; therefore we needed to research who used Smartphones, the average income for Smartphone users, what type of Smartphones these consumers used, etc.  Compiling this information helped in the decision factor for the target market and therefore we were able to create the marketing strategy for ProPayLink.

Once the target market has been decided, the next step is to effectively drive it to the marketplace. I have become a big fan of a few select initiatives to take the product to consumers; let me share them with you:

Create a social atmosphere. Social media has become integral in the buzz about any new product offering.  Create multiple channels of social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Blogger); update regularly and respond to any questions/concerns in a timely fashion.  “By monitoring online conversations about your brand, industry, product or related services, you can strengthen product development, customer service and a variety of other core business functions,” (Defining Social Media Engagement, Mashable.com).

Beta launches work wonders. Your product was made for success; place the product out in the field and test how the marketplace takes to it.  This is the best environment to create positive feedback to take back to developers, marketers, product development, etc. and change/update what consumers are looking for.

Continually update. A product is never finished. It needs to be continually updated and refreshed to keep your target market interested.

Creating the most effective target market for your business’s products can and will be time consuming, but eventually bring consumers to the table. ProPay continually enhances its products for our merchants and offers them a variety of devices to allow their customers to pay.

Find us and Like us!

Facebook: ProPay and Zumogo

Twitter: @propay @zumogoapp

From time to time we get questions about transaction rates and fees. Some companies offer free accounts, free card readers and tout “rates as low as…” It may sound good but the reality is, you need to understand your “Effective Rate”— the rate you actually pay for your transactions.

First, a brief explanation. Most merchant account providers will charge different transaction fees based on the type of transaction. The transaction could be a retail or restaurant transaction, a mail order or telephone order transaction or perhaps an online, Internet order transaction. Additionally, the type of card used impacts the transaction rate and fee. The customer could use a Qualified Consumer Card, Qualified Rewards Card (e.g. airline miles, or cash back card), a Commercial Card or Government Card, or the transaction may be typed or keyed into an online web terminal. These are just a few examples. The transaction type and the type of card used impact the transaction rate and fee. In one case, a merchant account provider advertises, “rates as low as 1.48%.” But if your customers use a rewards card to make an online purchase that merchant account provider would actually charge you a transaction rate of 2.91% plus a $0.33 transaction fee—not the 1.48% rate advertised.  But this is only part of what makes up your Effective Rate.

Second, to calculate your overall Effective rate, in addition to the actual rate charged and any per transaction fees, you need to take into account all other fees associated with the account. For example, some merchant providers charge an application fee, an annual account fee, a monthly fee, statement fees, a monthly minimum fee or more. All of these costs must be taken into account to calculate your Effective Rate. For a sample comparison, click here.

ProPay makes it simple to calculate your Effective Rate. Our single blended rate makes it easy to understand what you’re paying for each type of transaction. And, there are no hidden fees—just simple, straightforward pricing. For more information on ProPay’s account pricing and transaction rates, click here.

Scott Nelson

VP Marketing, ProPay