Devon Blog

Tag: connectchief

  • How much does a typical small business in the US spend on online ads?

    The amount that small businesses spend on Google or Facebook or other online Ads varies widely, and there’s no set “average.” The amount a small business spends on Online Ads depends on several factors, including:

    1. Industry and competition: Some industries are more competitive than others, and therefore require more investment to drive results.
    2. Budget: The budget available for advertising will directly impact the amount spent on Online Ads.
    3. Target audience: Reaching a specific target audience will impact the cost, as more specific targeting often requires a higher budget.

    A small business can spend anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per month on Online Ads, but most small businesses typically spend between $500 and $1,000 per month. It’s important to note that the best budget for a small business will depend on their individual goals and advertising needs.

    In addition, Businesses can spend anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars per year on third-party social media management and online review management, with most small to medium-sized businesses spending between $2,000 and $10,000 per year.

    As opposed to the above, a small business can utilize the tools from connectchief to reach their target audience at almost half the cost of their typical online ads budget. Get started with connectchief for free while the software is in beta phase.

  • Co-operation

    Co-operation teaches us to seek out other individuals to boost the outcomes we want. It is because of co-operation that humanity achieved it’s greatest findings

    BusinessConnect by connectchief is all about nurturing cooperation between businesses that can help each other grow. BusinessConnect should remind you of symbiosis from biology.

  • Flash sales for retail businesses

    Slow days are not good for any business. But every business knows they have to account for slow days.

    With the tools in our connectchief chest, your business to make your slow days a little or a lot better. We want to talk to you about how you can take advantage of flash announcements to engage with customers on slower days.

    We will take 2 examples –

    1. End of day flash sales
    2. Special time-limited promotions or announcements to draw in consumers

    First, lets understand how flash sales work for you –

    • Every business receives its personalized SNC code with connectchief.
    • Businesses print & place these SNC codes as various places within their establishments.
    • Customers scan these SNC codes to avail promotions, review your business and even follow your business.
    • Customers who follow your business are the ones who are most likely to frequent your business and are the ones you should be engaging with on an ongoing basis

    To do this we suggest doing the following –

    • Regularly create time-bound promotions that can you can send out as announcements to your target customers

    Some example activities that some of our businesses can do

    Denise’s cupcakes has a few dozen cupcakes left over and there are only 2 hours left before store closing…

    1. Denise decides to go into connectchief & create a today only promotion announcing everything in the store at 50% off.
    2. She attaches this promotion to an ad that she associates with her store. Connectchief broadcasts this ad to all connectchief & insideconnect users within a 5 mile radius of Denise’s storefornt.
    3. She also sends the same promotion out as an announcement to all customers that follow her store. Connectchief then sends the announcement out to only those customers who are within a driving distance of Denise’s store and those who have previously marked Denise’s store as a favorite in their insideconnect app

    Advantages for Denise’s cupcakes – They created amazing engagement by attracting existing and new customers during the final 2 hours of their day’s operations. New customers were able to try out Denise’s because of the flash sale pricing. Those who were in a short radius of Denise’s discovered here store. And Denise’s avoided having to throw away/discard product at closing time.

    Advantages for customers – Those who loved Denise’s products were happy to come in and buy product on an impulse (the draw in was created by Denise). Those who had never tried Denise’s product were happy to come in and try out Denise’s products

    Ron’s Sandwich shop can do exactly that same during the lunch hour …

    Ron can create a lunch hour only promotion on a Tuesday and broadcast it out to his target customers in his area so he can turn the typical slow-at-lunch Tuesday into a more exciting day for business.

  • Is it OK to incentivize customers to publicly review your business

    It is absolutely OK to thank customers for the effort they make in writing a review for your business. However, its OK only as long as the business owner does not have any influence on what the customer writes on the review.

    In fact, we’ve taken a few measures at connectchief to enable business owners to be able to get more real reviews from real customers.

    The best time to ask for a review is when your business is top of mind

    They say, theres a time and place for most things. So because you know your business better, we will prefer that you make that call. However, we are almost too sure that a customer is more likely to write a positive review for a business that they enjoy visiting, visit frequently or one at which they have just had a great experience.

    Reviews are work. And the customer doesn’t need to do it. So its OK for you to return the favor.

    Its perfectly OK to incentivize a customer to write a public review. We actually make it easy for you to offer such an incentive to your customer by enabling you to create a promotion that the customer can claim only after they write a review for your business. In complete transparency to visitors , such reviews are tagged on trustENGINE to indicate that the customer was incentivized to write the review.

    Offering incentives indicates that you appreciate the customer and are seeking their support to let others know what they think of your business and its people, products and/or services.

  • Introducing APIs to create custom promotions in promoEngine

    Our mission is to help our clients grow their business. In interacting with various clients we have come to understand that most businesses do not spend enough energy in building a coupon or promo code strategy simply becuase its very hard to actually implement.

    We see a lot of traditional stores, particularly grocery stores and some big box stores spending a lot of their marketing budget in putting out weekly / periodic sales flyers that include a large number of items that are on sale. It is common sense to assume that this is quite an effective way to market your products because we’re seeing large businesses do this for decades now and the activity has not stopped. If this form of marketing didn’t work, then clearly the big box and national chain stores would have stopped doing this a very long time ago.

    Large e-tailers do the same thing by issuing 1000’s of sales & discount coupons on products and services from time to time. In fact, deal-finding sites make millions of dollars in commissions every year by simply helping consumers find the right coupon that they can apply to their shopping cart? So clearly coupons & promotions work

    Why does this work?
    1. Weekly ad flyers and coupons enable a business to stay at the top of mind of its customers. Brand retention and recall is half the battle in any competitive market.
    2. Coupons or special pricing can create that extra motivation a consumer needs to ‘tap buy’. It helps you capture customers whose need exists but may not be urgent yet.
    3. Impulse buyers can be motivated through coupons or ads
    4. Frugal buyers plan ahead, they closely manage their expenses and are most likely to buying products when they go on sale. They are also likely to shop at stores that they perceive to have ‘wallet-friendly pricing’
    5. Online shoppers can shop from a lot of businesses sitting at home, so ‘better prices’ play a greater role in their purchase decisions. The success of platforms like slickdeals, honey and various others are a testament to the fact that coupons & promotions work as well in the online world as in the brick & mortar business space.

    Despite all this traction, we do not see too many small businesses (brick & mortar or online businesses or even ecommerce businesses successfully executing a STRONG COUPON & PROMOTIONS strategy)

    How is connectchief helping businesses build a better coupon & promotions strategy?

    We strongly believe that discounts is not a good strategy for every business. If by giving a discount, the perceived value (worth) of your offering gets diminished in your customers mind, then steer clear of discounts & coupons. But if you are not in that category of business, then we’ve created promoEngine for you. Using the connectchief scan & connect code, you can present your customers with a promotion or discount right at the time when they are at your store. You can also distribute your promotions digitally via the connectchief platform so customers can see your promotions when they are patronizing a business that collaborates with you. As an example: A customer can a coupon to visit your ice-cream parlor right when they are done paying the bill at a pizza place. Ofcourse, you will be returning the favor back to the pizza place by sharing their coupons with customers who might visit you.

    We’ve created many simple coupon & promotions templates that enable our customers (business owners like you) to create coupons that can be published by them on the connectchief promoEngine platform.

    So what is the custom promotions API

    Sometimes, you need to be able to create custom promotions because the basic promotions do not quite fit in with your business scenario. You can now do that through our promoEngine API (application programming interface) and some simple programming activity on your side.

    As an example – An ecommerce website could design a promotion in promoEngine for its customers to buy a 1-year subscription to their service and receive 1 extra month if they purchased the subscription before January 10, 2023.

    They would simply define a promotion in promoEngine using our API and specify the customer facing parts as in a catchy Title for their promotion, Add a banner image, Add a description describing the promotion & its terms in plain text. In addition, they can now setup a small set of rules in their preferred format that they can save alongside the promotion for it to be provided back to their ecommerce software when that promotion is being redeemed by a customer on their website. See the graphic below as a simple explanation.

  • Unlocking success through collaboration

    Every small business owner we’ve spoken to is no stranger to the challenges and triumphs that come with running your own venture. Whether you own 1 storefront or a chain of 10, the challenges remain.

    When we looked around we have discovered something untapped. Hardly anyways has considered the untapped potential that lies in collaborating with fellow local businesses in the communities they serve. So, we at connectchief decided to build BizzConnect a way to help our patrons explore the power of collaboration, where the combined efforts of non-competing businesses can lead to unprecedented growth, mutual support, and an uplifted community.

    So, we delved into the world of collaboration, drawing inspiration from the successes of global corporations that have proven the undeniable value of working together. We found so many amazing examples and proof of yet another thing that all small business owners need to be doing more of – COLLABORATING!

    Think about tech titans Apple and Nike. While they operate in vastly different industries, their collaboration led to the creation of the Apple Watch Nike+, a marriage of technology and fitness that resonated with consumers worldwide. This partnership not only showcased innovation but also tapped into the strengths of both brands, enhancing their offerings and captivating a wider audience.

    Now, consider the alliance between Starbucks and Spotify. Recognizing the shared interests of their customer bases – coffee and music – these two industry giants teamed up to curate unique playlists for Starbucks stores. This collaboration turned Starbucks locations into music discovery hubs, enriching the café experience and boosting Spotify’s user engagement simultaneously.

    These examples offer invaluable insights for small business owners –

    1. Elevated Exposure: Collaborations between global giants magnify their reach, driving awareness among each other’s customer bases. The same can be applied at the local level, where cross-promotion between non-competing businesses can lead to increased foot traffic and sales.
    2. Resource Sharing: Just as Apple and Nike combined their expertise, local businesses can share resources like marketing strategies, maybe space, or even staff training, amplifying their collective potential.
    3. Community Enrichment: Partnerships between big corporations often extend to social initiatives, displaying a commitment to community betterment. We’ve seen local businesses already mirror this by collaborating on local projects, fostering goodwill and positive impact.
    4. Innovative Synergy: The Apple-Nike and Starbucks-Spotify collaborations exemplify how diverse entities can come together to create innovative products or experiences. By working alongside non-competing businesses, you can spark creativity that might otherwise remain dormant. Think of the businesses that are around you and the ones that you need to be forming relationships with.
    5. Shared Growth: Just as global collaborations lead to shared profits, local partnerships result in a strengthened community economy, benefitting everyone involved. Most importantly, if you are serving a common customer audience, its a no brainer for your businesses to be finding ways to collaborate

    bizCONNECT by connectchief can make collaboration easy. We can help you promote each other. Keep track of your cooperative efforts and do this not just across 2 but across over a 100 potential simultaneous partnership arrangements.

    Drawing inspiration from these giants, local businesses can embark on collaborative journeys that enhance their own fortunes and that of the entire community. The lessons are crystal clear: unity breeds success.

  • What businesses can benefit from connectchief?

    We’re building connectchief as a collection of tools that help businesses be more efficient at utilizing their resources, tools can that help raise the value businesses can offer to their customers with the ultimate goal of helping you (the business owner) grow your business.

    There are many aspects to connectchief and many more to be added as time progresses however we can share with you a few things that your business could do with connectchief. So if you are a business that can envision doing one or more of the things below, we have the tools to help you succeed.

    1. Engage your customers as soon as they get into your physical store (scan & connect codes for every business)
    2. Grow your business network by partnering / collaborating with non-competing businesses so you can promote/introduce each other to your customers (see more about promoEngine)
    3. Capture 1 click input from your visitors about their experience (visitXP is coming soon)
    4. Ask repeat customers or satisfied customers to review your business publicly (see trustENGINE)
    5. Offer an instant discount to a customer who reviews your business publicly (trustENGINE & promoENGINE working together)
    6. Provide customers an incentive to spend with you (PromoEngine)
    7. On slow days, attract your frequent users to come in (Flash sales with PromoEngine – coming soon)
    8. Run ads without spending an arm & a leg for them (Virtual billboards on PromoEngine)
    9. Run special promotions on your website without having to build sophisticated coupon code software (Promo codes with PromoEngine)
    10. Send out important announcements to your customers via connectchief (Customers already get enough email. Send them a message they can see when they think of you next)
    11. Let your visitors know you are hiring (some of your customers can be your best future employees.)

  • What is a ‘virtual billboard’ and how can it help me promote my business?

    Advertisements are a great way to get consumers to discover a business. Up until today advertisements have been posted either in the physical world (newspapers, magazines, billboards, hoardings or other print media) or in the digital world (TV ads, radio ads, cinema ads, website ads, mobile app ads, video ads etc).

    Pretty much most of the above ads are encountered in-the-home – either on your digital instruments (TV, Radio, mobile phone or PC) or in print media (newspapers, magazines etc). Billboards are the most common Out-of-home (OOH) forms of advertising available in the market. We’ve seen these as massive public display ads on the sides of roads, highways, at busy intersections, in shopping centers or on the side of large buildings. They are available in traditional poster formats and over the last two decades also in digital versions, which can take the form of animations and video, as well as still pictures. 

    The connectchief team has developed a unique concept of a virtual billboard. The talk of virtual reality is all round us. The metaverse is the future. A virtual billboard is a billboard that has been placed at a physical location.

    Businesses use Virtual billboards to display advertisements to users in the connectchief platform. Users receive these ads in their mobile apps and as mobile notifications when they are in the vicinity of a virtual billboard. A user is presented with a virtual billboard in their mobile phones in a ways that’s very similar to a real billboard that they would see when crossing one on a street.

    Whats more interesting about virtual billboards is that their content and context can be completely personalized to the end user. So the same virtual billboard can present me with one promotion while you see a completely different one.

    Another huge benefit is that 100s of businesses can put up virtual billboards at the same physical location without any risk of overcrowding or running out of physical room.

    Most importantly, Virtual billboards are far less costly, more effective, impactful, flexible and engaging than traditional billboards.

    Traditionally, Businesses end up spending a large amount of time looking for the right spot to advertise their brands and products. With virtual billboards businesses can experiment with their ad formats, locations and time of day.

    As is the case with all forms of advertising, Your products or services should has an impact on your preferred ad channels and on your shortlist of locations. For instance, if you sell books and stationary then your billboards should be carefully placed around education institutions and be presented to your target clients when they are most likely to be making a buying decision that’s in favor of your business.

    Connectchief’s virtual billboards, allows business owners to advertise and to connect with customers digitally using the industry’s most cost-efficient approach

    Our software enables any business owner to advertise in the specific location they choose in any city. By using virtual billboards businesses can reach out to a larger audience in any desired locations at a minimum cost. Virtual billboards help in presenting your ads or coupons to customers when they are at a location where you wish to be on top of their mind

  • Why are we building flexxWORK?

    1. Why we’re building connectchief…
    2. Every business should build its ecosystem for growth
    3. Why did we create trustENGINE?
    4. Why we are building promoENGINE?
    5. Why are we building flexxWORK?
    6. Why we’re building loyaltyENGINE?

    The Internet has changed too many things – infact almost everything. It’s become our go-to place for information and influences how we make decisions.

    Today, we can get a degree without ever stepping foot in a school or university. We can shop for practically anything without visiting a store. We order food for it to be delivered to where we are. We can even order services like a cab at the press of a button on our mobile phones. Very few things require us to leave home. After the pandemic, ever more of us realize that while offices are needed for somethings, they’re not required anymore.

    In fact, one can start and build a successful business without ever renting or owning an office.

    A laptop and a phone is pretty much all that most people need to work productively. While there are enough coffee shops that offer you access to free internet, every business still needs a respectable address for receiving its official communication. Businesses also occasionally need that office space to bring teams together to collaborate, have meetings or sometimes simply socialize. This fractional model of utilizing office space is our new reality.

    Hybrid work is a powerful force being felt all over the world. flexxWORK software is making hybrid work happen for office real estate providers & business owners

    While co-working spaces offer subscriptions to enable flexible usage, most business owners prefer not being limited to a single provider or a single city for that matter. flexxWORK is software solution by connectchief which gives glocal business owners the flexibility they need while creating a positive outcome for office real estate owners globally.

    The flexxWORK platform enables real estate owners (office building owners, co-working providers and anyone who owns real estate) to maximize the monetization of their assets. Our platform provides all the software necessary for real estate owners to –

    1. Create, manage and rent out subscriptions to virtual office addresses with the flexxWORK software
    2. Offer usage of their real estate facilities like desk space, meeting rooms, event facilities and more on a pay per use basis.
    3. Stay in control of their property while maximizing the revenue opportunity with shared use.
    4. By being part of the flexxWORK alliance you are continuously introduced to new entrepreneurs and business owners from other towns & cities across the globe.

    flexxWORK provides everything you need to serve today’s digital nomad. Office/Commercial real-estate owners & co-working providers can each offer & advertise their services like virtual office addresses, hot desking, events spaces, meeting spaces and more. Users get the option to use one ore more services on a subscription or a pay-per-use basis.

    Business owners have so much to gain by using flexxWORK –

    1. Rent a virtual business addresses in one or more cities across the world. You receive digital copies of all your business mail directly in your flexxWORK app. Physical mail is forwarded to you upon your request at an additional cost (we provide all the software you need)
    2. Subscribe to one or more desk spaces in one or more cities where your staff resides. Reserve meeting rooms or larger event spaces at any office location across our network. Meet with client(s) or hold conferences any many of the facilities that are a part of the flexxWORK alliance.
    3. Get favorable pricing from all participating facilities for being a flexxWORK user/member.
    4. You and your business are no longer limited to a single office.

    By being part of the flexxWORK network, business owners & office space providers both become omnipresent. A business owner from Austin, TX can have a subscription to an office space in Austin and they can book ahead & access office spaces in Los Angeles or other cities when they are visiting those cities.
    An office space provider in Los Angeles may be renting out their premises to various local businesses but they can also be reselling virtual office subscriptions to their clients for virtual office locations or selling hotdesking credits to their clients for use in many other cities across the nation.

    Being part of the flexxWORK network creates a win-win for everyone!

  • What is the connectchief, scan & connect (SNC) code

    At connectchief, we build software tools that enable small businesses to thrive. See this post on the various reasons on why we’re building connectchief.

    Through our conversations with many successful business owners, we have found that customers have a very interesting behavior. Customers tend to go back to businesses where they feel heard. Even if they didn’t have a great experience with a business at first, they feel comfortable giving that business a second or third chance if they felt the business heard them and is taking steps to do better the next time.

    Our scan & connect (SNC) system enables any business to engage its customers. Through its scan & connect (SNC) code, businesses can –

    1. Provide surprise discount coupons and / or promotions to visiting customers
    2. Ask for (one click / super quick ) feedback from customers on the service, facilities or other relevant items for the business
    3. Ask customers to provide online reviews for the business
    4. Share announcements with customers
    5. Let visitors know about open positions that the business is hiring for
    6. Poll customers or simply provide a way for customers to directly communicate with management
    7. Even send out instant flash sales & promotions to customers that follow the business

    Businesses can chose which of the above functions to expose using its scan & connect code. The ultimate goal is to provide a single tool using which customers and businesses can engage and build a strong relationship for their mutual benefit.