Business Plus Baby

Photo: Kaboompics

As a software developer, the owner of a software company, or the leader of a marketing team in charge of generating brand awareness for the software company, there’s one thing you all have in common – you want more downloads, more installs, more copies sold, more subscriptions, more ad views, more everything. Well, one proven way to turn what you already have into more is to use your current user base to get new customers and users. The best way to do that is to somehow motivate your current users to recommend your software to other people. With that said, here are five of the best ways to convince your current licensees and users to suggest your product to others:

1. Use Software Escrow to Safely Give Licensees Source Code

This is often the last thing that developers think about after they’ve published their software. Are you going to give every licensee access to the program’s source code automatically? Will you make a download link available upon request? The problem with giving out source code to every customer like candy is that it is obviously the inner workings of the app, so it can be stolen and copied by future competitors.

In a sense, when you start giving the source code to every customer, there’s a good chance that a few of them will share it or upload it to the web somewhere. Once that happens, it’s only a matter of time before someone is using your source code to enhance their own app or create a clone of yours. On the other side of the pendulum, it’s completely understandable that licensees want access to the source code, especially in the case of businesses who depend on your software to continue operating as usual. A good way to share your source code with licensees upon request is to host it securely using a software escrow service online.

2. Start a Referral Program with Incentives

This is usually the first step that software companies take when trying to increase the amount of referrals they’re getting. Of course, it seems to be the most obvious route to getting instant referrals – just promise your user base something good in exchange for each referral. The cool part is that you have complete control over what the incentive is, so you can decide what each new user is worth to you and set up a simple yet profitable affiliate program based on that data.

The key to making your b2c referral program successful is to make it well-known and make the referral rewards worthwhile. Many companies make the mistake of hiding their referral programs in the fine print and as a result they’re barely ever used. Send out a weekly newsletter to your users and be sure to mention the referral program every time in large text. Also, send out special offers via email and add a menu option within the app or software to make the referral program more prominent within the UI of your product.

3. Provide Excellent and Responsive Support

Great customer support experiences are common conversation pieces. People like to talk about the time they were helped by an excellent company when their friends or family members are asking for recommendations. Naturally, the best way to position yourself for referrals is to make your company the first thing that comes off the tip of the tongue when a person talks about your industry. Aside from developing a stellar product that speaks for itself, accompanying that with superb support and service is the best way to give your brand the word-of-mouth edge.

Providing extremely responsive and knowledgeable customer support should be one of the highest priorities for any company in any industry, especially in competitive software niches where your competitors may be doing a much better job of responding and addressing user concerns.

4. Offer Exclusive Discounts and Bonuses

This goes back to enhancing the referral program that you’ll be launching and promoting. Think of something really special and exclusive that you could offer users in exchange for a referral. Ideally, you’ll want it to be a digital product or upgrade that you can produce and distribute without spending too much overhead but which provides abundant value to the user. Something very desirable that regular users can’t get their hands on, unless they’re able to muster up a referral.

Setting up the “only way to get this is via referral” technique is a lot like cornering interested licensees into practically begging one of their friends to sign up. It’s also a good idea to offer different levels of bonuses for those who are able to get multiple referrals, so there would be more incentive to continue promoting the brand.

5. Honor New Feature Requests

Finally, don’t forget that the users themselves are the ones who will be in charge of referring your software to others, so treat them with courtesy and respect when they ask for a simple feature addition or amendment. While you’ll have to take into consideration the wishes of the user base as a whole, and the practicality of implementing certain features, most of the time you should be able to reasonably accommodate the request with something that will impress the person(s) who asked for it. In the end, it’s the little things, like adding a special button or menu option that someone asked for, that will not only impress your users enough to suggest your product but will also gradually enhance the feature set.

Growing a Good Reputation Organically

Ultimately, there are no special gimmicks or tricks that you can use to grow your user base and get more referrals. The above recommendations are proven fundamentals that you can put into place to ensure your current user base is satisfied and motivated to recommend your software. That being said, it’s good to go ahead and acknowledge that referrals will only make up a percentage of your new downloads and installs, so no matter how hard you push the referral game, you still have to allocate efforts to other forms of advertisement and distribution.

The MacBook was first released by Apple in 2006 and has become an indispensable tool for many creative types ever since. Most MacBook owners, however, use only a small proportion of their device’s functions, ploughing the same furrows day after day without getting the full benefit of Apple’s wizardry.

This is a shame, as MacBooks have lots of functionalities that can save time, cut corners and even get people out of trouble! Here are a few examples to show how clever the average MacBook is, as well as some amazing facts about it.

Your MacBook can read you a bedtime story

If your eyes are tired, or you’re busy cooking but need to schlep through yet another work report, you can get your MacBook to read it to you as you drop off or chop vegetables. You just need to highlight the text you want, choose “edit”, then “speech”, then “start speaking”. This could save you a lot of time in the evenings, as well as save your eyes if you’re fed up with squinting at small fonts.

You can hide your pages in a second

We’ve all been there; you’re either at work, sneakily checking up on your friend’s ongoing drama on Facebook, or ordering your significant other a special present, when you feel like you’re being watched. If you need to hide a page in a flash, all you need to do is hit Command and H and the page will instantly be hidden. Phew.

Photo: FirmBee

You mustn’t smoke near your MacBook – ever

Hopefully you don’t smoke anyway, but if you do, keep your cigarettes away from your MacBook. Apple’s own repair teams will refuse to work on your device if it has traces of tar or cigarette smoke in it, as the company deems it to be contaminated with a hazardous substance. It’s possible that if you’re looking for MacBook repair in Miami you’ll be able to find somewhere a bit more relaxed about second-hand smoke, though.

The MacBook’s predecessor sent the first email from space

In 1991, the first email from space came from the Mac Portable, an early version of the MacBook. The astronauts onboard the STS-43 Atlantis used specialized AppleLink software to get the message across.

Apple was the pioneer of wireless tech

Apple was the first company to break the reliance on wires. Beforehand, even laptops had to be connected to phone lines. This wireless tech came out of the iBook, another of the MacBook’s precursors.

The word’s priciest laptop

Apple has produced the most expensive laptop in the world – the MacBook Air Platinum. As the name suggests, this laptop is made from solid platinum and retailed for around $486,616!

You can sign your documents without a pen

It’s annoying when you need to print off a document just so you can sign it, scan it and then email it. What’s more annoying is that there’s a lot of documents that need to be signed, especially if you run or own a business. Thankfully, the MacBook lets you sign your name using the trackpad, then stores it for insertion into whichever documents you’ll need to sign in the future. Job’s a good-un!

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There must be a reason why customers choose to do their business with one company rather than another, right? As an entrepreneur, you need to figure out what it is that prompts these choices so that you can persuade all those potential customers to come and spend their money at your company.

The best way to persuade people to use your company is to make sure that it is offering everything that they want. But then that poses the question, what do customers really want? We’ve done our research, and we think these are the things that make people tick.

They Want You To Listen To Them

We all want to be listened to, right? This is certainly the case for your customers! So, if you are in an industry in which you need to pitch your company to customers in a face-to-face manner, you need to always listen to them and what it is they want. Make sure that you don’t always launch straight into a sales pitch whenever you chat to potential customers. They can see right through this, and they definitely won’t be impressed. Instead, take the time to give them a chance to voice their views before trying to nail the hard sell.

They Want Their Security Taken Seriously

Lots of businesses now interact with businesses online and buy their products and services from online stores. Hopefully, you already have a strong online presence to compete with all the other competition on the Internet! But that’s not enough – you also need to make sure your online security is up to scratch so that customers are always protected when on your site and purchasing your goods. If you need to upgrade your current security, it will be worth investing in payments API, especially if most of your revenue comes from online sales. Once you improve your reputation as a secure online business, you will find that you start to attract a lot more customers.

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They Want You To Know Your Stuff

Are you the most knowledgeable company in your sector or industry? You should be, as most customers will only do business with the company who is an expert in their particular area. So you should expect potential customers to try and look for various clues that will give away just how knowledgeable you, your employees, and your overall company are. Make sure that you plug any gaps in your knowledge!

They Want You To Explain The Purchasing Process

No one wants to be confused when all they are trying to do is buy an item. Various different tax figures and prolonged purchasing processes can really get on people’s nerves. So, firstly, make sure that buying your product is quick and easy, even if it is all done online. Secondly, ensure that you fully explain what the final price will be. This should include all of the additional taxes that might be added on.

As you can see, customers don’t expect the earth. They just want you to be transparent with them!

 

Image: TeroVesalainen

Millions of businesses worldwide rely on Facebook to operate, but there are still millions of others that refuse to set up Facebook pages to help their business grow. Social media is huge these days and it’s a terrific way to get your business out there, so if you don’t yet have a Facebook page you could be missing out on massive amounts of exposure. If you’re looking for some good reasons to set up your own Facebook page, here are several.

Free Marketing

It takes a while to get a Facebook page to have a decent following, but once you’ve achieved that, you’ll have an audience you can interact with and that means free marketing. You can post as much as you want on Facebook, and even though it’s not recommended to annoy your audience every few minutes, there’s certainly nothing wrong with advertising a couple of times every day just to show your audience you’re active.

Decent Exposure

The best benefit of using social media to market your business is that it offers massive amounts of exposure and it quickly gets your brand out there. By having a good Facebook cover photo template with your own brand name, your potential clients will quickly see a brand that they will remember.

You Can Target the Correct Audience

Facebook offers businesses the chance to get information on demographics and insight into what types of content are working for them, and you can too. You will be able to target the correct audience every time instead of wasting your time using traditional methods that you don’t know are going to work.

Increased Web Traffic

If you own a website, it would be silly not to take advantage of social media platforms such as Facebook because of the exposure you are almost guaranteed to benefit from. You’ll not only get an audience that continually follows everything you post, but you’ll also get a direct following on your website and that could mean more sales than ever before.

Build a Loyal Client Base

Another great benefit of having a Facebook page is that you’ll be able to interact with potential customers and that means you can build a loyal client base. They will see you’re always active and willing to reply to their messages and that will instantly build trust among your followers.

See What Your Competition is Up To

You’re not going to be able to see what your competitors are up to on social media if you don’t have your own Facebook page, and that could make the difference in how well your business does. By spying on your competitors, you’ll be able to see what is and isn’t working for them and you’ll be able to build better marketing strategies based on that information.

Granted, building a social media following is challenging work and it can take months to achieve, but if done right it could propel any business above its competition. If you do not yet have a business Facebook page, you’re truly missing out on exposure so it’s important you strongly consider creating one. It takes less than five minutes and it could be the difference between your business succeeding or failing.

When you’re running your own business, you need to ensure that everything sails along as smoothly as possible. It’s not just the workload that will be affected if not; it could be your income at stake. Whilst employees are glad for a few minutes off when systems go down, it is your money that is lost. With that in mind, you need to ensure that you are utilising the products that are available to you to invest in for your own peace of mind.

Photo: tranmautritam

The one most annoying thing about having a website hosted with another company is that when it goes down, it’s out of your control. You need something with good backup; there are cloud hosts available online which give you up to three alternatives for hosting, keeping your site constantly running without ever having the need to go down. It’s through the transfer of the hosting onto these other platforms that they can get the initial platform back up and running in quick time, without causing any disruption to you. It’s pretty simple – but it’s always the simple stuff that works, right?

Photo source: Pixabay

Your Files

If you aren’t transferring any files that are important/needed over to an external hard drive every day to make sure that they’re safe, then you’re playing with fire. Computers only last so long – experts recommend between three and five years is your betting on their lifespan. That means that once they’re gone over the minimum threshold, your files are at an increased risk of being lost. It is so important to get them backed up onto a physical format, even if it’s by burning them onto CDs rather than transferring them onto a hard drive. Even printing at this stage could be a good option, if it’s in the correct format to be done. There is even the opportunity to send them through email as attachments if they’re small enough, meaning that they’re easily accessible from remote locations with just a login and a password. If you look up the best email providers, take note of the storage space that is offered; if you buy a business account with the provider that you choose, you are more likely to be given the chance to buy more space to make room for everything that you need.

Photo: Burst

Everything Else

It’s worth saying that, to increase backup across the whole of your company, you are going to need to bring in other sources. The more people that are involved, the more likely you are to find another copy of the thing that you are looking for. For example, if you outsourced a graphic designer to take hold of all of your branding, you should have a copy and, if lost, the graphic designer should be your backup and provide you with a copy too. This is not a case of too many cooks spoil the broth; in this instance, the cooks should be welcomed to join the kitchen so that you can utilise them for this advantage.