April 2015 – Best Small Businesses to Start Blog

Big Data in Small Business

Today’s business owners learn the value of using, capturing, and monetizing big data. Whatever your business size, chances are you’ve learned about this, too. Many businesses have been told to gather as much data as they can, and they have complied. But, what is big data?

Technically, big data refers to data sets that are large and complex enough for businesses to manage within their accustomed IT systems.

Big data, stripped off its technicality, is all about opportunity to learn about your company’s data in order to make the correct business decisions. It’s not surprising that large corporations and enterprises are using the opportunity that big data provides them. But did you know that small business owners can do the same?

If you’re a small business owner, your ambition to succeed and stand alongside larger competitors is driven by your passion and commitment to offer a greater service. However, big data is transforming the landscape of businesses everywhere.

Some of your competitors, whether they’re large, mid-size or small, chances are that they are using big data to improve the quality of their products. Boost their marketing operations, and foster customer relationships. This brand-new productivity of larger competitors can be a potential threat to the sustainability of your small business.

As a small business owner, you know that finding the right tool and resources for the right users can accomplish work faster. With big data, new solutions are being developed every day and some have been built for the specific needs of smaller-sized businesses.

Check out the three characteristics that small business owner must seek in a big data solution:

Flexibility: Big data solutions geared at larger corporations usually require customers to strip current systems, thus imposing an amount of time and heavy costs on IT departments. This doesn’t simply work out for small businesses. A big-data solution for small business owners must enable them to cherry-pick only the capabilities they really need and control the solutions and systems that are already established.

Simplicity: Big data solution for small business owners should be easy to install and utilize. It should only take a few days or weeks for a business to begin using it, and should not take months or years. The system’s capabilities should all flow seamlessly together. If a customer happens to incorporate new capabilities with current systems, it should be likely to achieve this devoid of expensive specialists.

Cost: Big data solutions for small businesses should also be reasonably priced. Customers must be able to pay for their only needed and the licensing strategy must let them launch small and scale up as the requirement for analytics grows. This approach is mainly valuable for a fast growing small business, where it’s crucial for the capabilities and costs of software investments to fall in-line with the growth and expansion rate of the operations.

The shift from a gut-driven business to an analytics-driven enterprise is one small business owners can embrace. Searching for the right big data solution, one targeting the specific needs of small businesses, can help make it useful and affordable to benefit from the gamut of opportunities that big data delivers.

Effective Ways to Promote Your Small Business

As a small business owner, promoting your business may be intimidating especially if you’re not sure where to begin. Your business can use some marketing and promotion no matter what success stage it’s in. if you’re at loss on how get your business brand out in the marketplace, here are some insightful ideas you can use.

1. Start by building a blog to promote your business. Blogs should have quality content about your products or services. Blogs are a great way to get personal and direct with your customers. Share your passions, how you want to make a difference through your products, your thoughts and feelings about everything that relates to your business, even talk about yourself. It’s simple to launch your own blog by having a catchy domain name and a web host, as well as unique content.

2. Promote your products or services through content you’ve written on social media. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are great marketing outlets. You can also use Pinterest for uploading high-quality images about your products. Social media sites are free and it pays off each day you spend your time online since you have the potential of reaching out to millions of users around the world.

3. Small businesses can gain more visibility and success if you advertise where your customers are located. You can do this online (through Geo-targeting) or offline at a local area. You can purchase ad space where you think you can get the most out of your ads.

4. Have your business be received locally in printed media. Contact magazines, newspapers, and radio stations and offer something interesting and relevant to your business. If they like it, there’s a good chance of having your information printed.

5. Have your own business showcased through sites such as Mediabistro, Craigslist, or Elance. The higher your chance of raising awareness about your products and services if there are more places that you can take part in. However, just make it easy and simple for potential clients to find your business online.

6. Local promotion is still important for businesses so have your brand enlisted in Google Places or Yelp to enlighten potential clients about what you’re offering. If you have no clue how to go about marketing your business locally, the U.S. Small Business Administration offers local assistance to small business owners and entrepreneurs through mentoring, counseling and training.

7. You can offer promotions, samples and freebies, and giveaways online to have your visitors return to your website. Have people get interested in your products by letting them know how you stand out from your competitors and get them test your products out first.

8. Don’t forget to print out business cards, flyers and posters. You still need these printed materials to help market your business.

There are several ways that you can endorse your small business to the world. It’s not an easy task make ends meet by being a self-employed entrepreneur, but there’s a good chance that if you follow your heart and passions, you can succeed.

Small Business Ideas for Moms

In developing countries, people aren’t doing so well in terms of employment as they battle with economic hardships on a daily basis. In fact, most large companies in these places have downsized their number by tossing the pink slip to many of its employees. The amount of layoffs are huge and has other businesses affected as well. This puts other people in a position to opt for more than a 9-to-5 job.

In most situations, workers may want something better and more stable than a regular lifetime career of working as a sales assistant in some retail store. For instance, there are tons of women that have chosen to surrender their steady but boring job positions for more adventurous careers as small business owners. There are various reasons why they do, but one common motive is that they would like to spend more time at home with their children and families.

Mothers of today have realized their entrepreneurial potential and have launched their own small businesses which have wonderful benefits. However, before starting on a business idea, moms do need reliable information on how to successfully grow their business. One useful resource is the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Resources for Women-Owned Businesses.

There are unlimited small business ideas for women. If you’re a mom who wish to launch your very own small business to supplement your family’s income, here are a few business ideas you can start with:

Open your own consignment shop

Have you ever noticed on ecommerce companies and social media sites where vendors sell “pre-owned” clothing? That’s right, recycled clothes are back in business. Your unwanted but trendy clothes can be useful since consumers just love affordable items with “designer” tags on them. Consignment shop owners don’t have to pay for their inventory until it’s sold so this will save you a lot.

Gardening and urban farming

Take your green thumb to the next level. If you are passionate about your herbs and flowers, then you just might make some profit off of it. Even if you live in a city, you can grow your very own urban herb farm. You can sell culinary herbs, medicinal herbs, or even herbal teas and aromatherapy concoctions and candles. You just need to have a solid knowledge of growing herbs and how to hands-on produce your own herbal products.

Got flower beds growing in your backyard? Those roses and orchids can make a lucrative business. You may also need greenhouses to shelter your flowers and herbs.

Freelance writing, graphic design, coding

If you spend most of your time in front of a computer and online, you can take advantage of your specific computer skills. Do you know how to code? How about web design? The possibilities are endless. You could also set up a virtual assistant service by offering your writing, admin and graphic skills to clients.

Pampering spa

If you have the hands and experience for soothing massages, why not arrange a spa business right at your home? Since you’re just starting, your spa treatments can be offered in homes and offices. Your spa can include facials, massages, makeup, manicures and pedicures, and other body treatments.

See, by having crafty ideas, the needed talent and experience, as well as considerable time and patience, you can successfully grow your very own small business.