By Hana LaRock

There are a lot of tactics businesses can use to help them stay on top of the competition. Being at the top of your game takes a lot of work and commitment, and it can’t always be done alone. That’s why companies utilize marketing automation services, like The Mission Suite, to help take care of business. You already heard that marketing automation is a good idea, but do you really know why? Take a look at this.

You Can Match Up
​Just because you’re not a big company doesn’t mean you can’t act like one. Marketing automation lets you level the playing field and do things that much larger companies are able to do. Instead of stressing about who is going to help you do what, getting things done by the deadlines, and reaching goals with your leads, we got you covered.

​You Won’t Waste Time
If you’re a small business or an expanding business, there’s always a lot to learn about yourself and how you relate to customers. It seems like there are times when you don’t want to continue what you’re doing because you can’t understand what you’re doing wrong or what needs to change in order to see results. Luckily, marketing automation can help you understand your business more clearly, so you can make the changes you need to make without wasting any time.

It Takes Care of CRM all in One
​Managing your customer relationships is a whole other ball park. Growing relationships with your customers takes a lot of time and budgeting, that busy companies don’t always have. However, when you use a marketing automation software, it takes care of most of your CRM jobs, in half the time. Marketing automation should help you with your current CRM plan, as well as fill in the gaps for the things you can’t do on your own.

​No Need to Hire an Expert
This point should be taken with a grain of salt, but ultimately, using a marketing automation program means you already have your expert. Such a software can do the work of five experts in one. And, like experts, marketing automation can help you make decisions about implementing an array of different strategies.

You Have The Means to Do More Important Things
Marketing automation just lets you do things much easier. Especially if you’re a small company, you often need to make financial sacrifices to get where you need to be. Marketing automation helps you save money so you can put more towards things like technology, advertising or cyber security.

Mobile marketing is constantly moving forward and evolving, stay on top of the trends

​By Megan Totka On October 26, 2016

​Mobile marketing is different than other methods of marketing because it lets businesses get directly in front of customers on devices they use all the time – tablets and smartphones. From mobile check-ins to text messages, to emails and social media, mobile marketing may help small businesses boost sales when they send coupons or offer discounts, sales, or promotions to customers.  It’s smart to reach out to customers on the devices they constantly have in their hand – this is why mobile marketing can impact both online shoppers and walk-in customers, too.

Luckily, more and more companies and individuals realize the benefits of mobile and want to lead the way into the mobile future – and the first stop is adopting mobile marketing solutions for your small business. Take a look at these 8 mobile marketing tips that can help your small business. 

Text marketing
The professional side of texting is something to embrace. SMS is for more than casual conversation – even financial institutions now send sensitive data via SMS and it’s pretty powerful. Now that more than three-quarters of the world’s smartphones are SMS-enabled, it’s time to make sure your small business is, too.

Create opt-in campaigns that allow customers to sign up and receive alerts and rewards for joining the campaign. The platform is a great way to encourage customers to take specific action in exchange for a reward, such as a discount on a purchase. There is a greater chance that people will open their texts than read emails, and texts are opened more rapidly than emails, too. 

Transition to a mobile-ready website
Responsive design is crucial – if you don’t have it, you risk text that doesn’t fit on the page and may notice that your customers come up missing, supporting a competitor who can offer a site that is mobile-ready. Make sure your website reads beautifully whether it is accessed on a laptop, desktop, mobile phone, or tablet.

Create a mobile app
Mobile apps aren’t inexpensive to build – they can easily cost a pretty penny if you’re willing to pay. Like anything, though, with some time and effort, you can make sure the process is affordable. Your app doesn’t have to be super fancy, and you don’t have to join forces with a well-known firm that will charge you a lot of cash. Find new creators who are eager to get business and showcase their talents. Pay them reasonably and offer referrals and site recognition, too.

No matter how you do it, make sure you get an app built, around 80 percent of smartphone users use apps every day. You can’t let your business miss this simple way of making sure your brand is in front of all of those people.

Incorporate mobile payments
Small businesses have either a product or a service to offer consumers. As a result, your strategy should include acceptance of mobile payments – know what to look for in a payment processor before you rush to make a decision. Payment processors offer various benefits when it comes to service, security, ease of use, and cost efficiency. Make it easier for customers to pay you with modern payment options.

Have meaningful social presence
Facebook isn’t all about fun and games, and while it is a lot of fun, it’s also a great way to gain new customers. Marketing is about first giving to your customers. This means you should give your audience on social media what you would want yourself. Share posts and start meaningful conversations. Leave comments and ask and answer questions. Work to make sure your brand is where people see it and appreciate it; it doesn’t take much time out of your day.

Offer up deals
Your business can continue to make money while sending out digital deals. Send messages straight to your consumer’s smartphones, SMS coupons have redemption rates 10 times higher than print coupons like the ones we see in the Sunday paper. The other good news: it’s nearly impossible to lose the smartphone version of a coupon.

Consider mobile customer service
More businesses are jumping on the mobile customer service bandwagon to track orders, take payments, share shipping details, and respond quickly to questions via smartphone. This is easy and convenient for both the small business owner and customers. Plus, customers really enjoy the quick response time mobile customer service offers.

Register with mobile directories
The days of thick phone books with yellow pages are just about history. Instead, the majority of people now turn to mobile directories. To ensure your small business is found, register with various mobile directories. Think along the lines of YP, Yelp and Google+Local.  Remember to include the details of your business such as its name, the products and services offered, business hours, a contact phone number, a link to your site, and your physical address.

Mobile marketing is constantly moving forward and evolving. Stay on top of the trends and times and make sure you know what your competitors are doing in the mobile marketing arena. Try not to fear the cost or changes that accompany mobile technology -- Smartphones and small businesses are a perfect match.

In addition, realize that mobile marketing isn’t going away – it’s actually our future -- so now is the time to get on board and don’t look back. While some small business owners shy away from mobile because they perceive it to be complex or time-consuming, many realize it’s simply another way to market a small business. After all, small business owners are in a better position to utilize mobile for customer engagement. It’s all about connecting with customers, and mobile allows that to happen.

Source:​http://www.business.com/marketing/megan-totka-mobile-marketing/

By Joe Escobedo 

I recently got a LinkedIn message from a product developer based in Singapore. He mentioned he just launched a training aggregator mobile app and was now working on a content strategy for his company’s blog. He asked me, ”What’s the ideal length for my business’ digital content?” It’s a question I’ve been asked many times by startups in Asia.

Here’s the advice I gave him

Before you dive into how long your content should be, ask yourself three simple questions:

1. Who is my audience?
2. What are their pain points?
3. How does my business help?

Once you’ve answered those questions, start by defining your audiences in terms of personas. (Not sure where to start? HubSpot offers a free buyer personas template.)

Now put yourself in your personas’ shoes. What kind of content would solve their pain points or interest them? Let’s say your target audience are busy CEOs. They’re likely interested in topline insights and best practices rather than long-form whitepapers. (At least, that’s been the case in my experience.) Alternatively, if you’re targeting digital marketing managers, they often crave in-depth articles with practical tips on a particular topic. See the difference? ​

Source: ​http://www.forbes.com/sites/joeescobedo/2016/10/24/whats-the-ideal-length-for-your-business-digital-content/#6bbec2bf2e7e