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3 Apps Stats That Will Focus Businesses On App Development

/ Insights      / 3 Apps Stats That Will Focus Businesses On App Development

3 Apps Stats That Will Focus Businesses On App Development

The smartphone has made mobile applications a vital retail, content and enterprise platform for entertainment, education and work.

This is transforming the way we interact with the world creating opportunities for businesses to find new ways to reach customers and make processes more efficient.

To highlight the value of mobile apps we unearthed three recent statistics from Adobe

1) Mobile users spend 90% of their time in apps compared to mobile web
This stat from Flurry shows that mobile users prefer apps to the mobile web. This is often because apps are designed specifically for mobile rather than websites, making them easier to navigate.

If users are on apps rather than the web then this may be what your business needs to hold the attention of its audience.

2) 26% of installed apps are only used once
Although mobile users may spend most of their times in apps, that does not mean that they will use your app. App developers are under pressure to make their apps engaging so that they will be used again and again. The key is giving the user a reason to use the app.

Of those who stop using an app, some said they would use it again if offered a discount (30%), whilst others said new or exclusive content could have the same effect (24%)

3) 51% of companies measure user engagement and return on investment
Nearly half or companies do not measure the engagement or ROI from an app, suggesting that there is a lack of a coherent strategy from many companies.

Knowing what you want to achieve and what success looks like a important part of an app development strategy. This statistic shows that many companies are unaware of whether their app is a success or what success would look like.
Before investing in an app businesses are more likely to see a positive impact on their business if they have a strategy in place and a way of measuring its success.

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Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology web Webdesign

5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

/ Insights      / 5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

A website is a huge opportunity for small businesses to attract new customers and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

We have put together a set of five quick tips that will help small business owners get the most from their website.

Tip 1 – Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile Friendly

We have repeatedly spoken on this blog about the importance of your website by those using mobile devices.

This is especially critical for businesses that operate within a small local area as appearing in local mobile results means people can find you on the move when they may need your product/service urgently.

Tip 2 – Add A Blog

Google loves websites that have lots of fresh and relevant content, publishing a blog post once a fortnight will ensure that when Google looks at your site it can connect what you are saying to what your customers need.

Tip 3 – Make Your Contact Information Easy To Find

If people visit your website and want to find out more but cannot find a way to get in contact with you easily then they will leave and find a competitor.

We recommend you have your business phone number on every page.

Tip 4 – Make Your Site Visually Appealing

Images can help explain what you offer to customers and make your site more visually appealing. The more appealing your website to the eye the more likely people are to stay and assimilate the information on your page. This tip goes hand in hand with easy to use navigation so people can find what they need straight away.

Tip 5 – Promote Your Blog Posts More Than Once

Only promoting a good quality informative blog post is a wasted opportunity, use social media to repackage the content repeatedly to ensure

If you would like to know more about what your business needs to keep up with modern consumers and changes to the way online marketing works give us a call on 020 8861 0115

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

/ Insights      / Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

Many of the small businesses we speak to about web design and digital marketing are looking for a simple one off solution or strategy that will last for set period that can then be refreshed.

This approach is designed to give the small business owner the opportunity to reap the benefits of digital marketing without having to invest time and money on a regular basis. With the need to balance budgets and focus on the core aspects of the business this is understandable.

Unfortunately, the rapid advances in technology and the way in which the titans of digital marketing such as Google and Facebook work mean that it is virtually impossible to fully futureproof your business.

These companies regularly change the metrics they use to determine the way they rank small businesses within their platforms.

This means that in order to maximise the value of your website and social media efforts, the way you market your business online must be reviewed regularly and evolve with changes.

The Value Of Content & Having An Active Website

These companies reward organisations that are regularly creating new content and adding it to their website and social media channels. This means that small businesses that succeed using digital marketing need to have a strategy that involves the regular creation and publication of content.

This is why at Aspiring Panda we encourage our customers to understand the concept of an active website. A site that is easily updateable and aspects that update regularly such as social media feeds and blogs.

We wrote a full blog about active and passive websites last year that explores the differences and why it is important.

If you would like to know more about what your business needs to keep up with modern consumers and changes to the way online marketing works give us a call on 020 8861 0115

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

A Smart Business Website Does Not Have To Cost The Earth

/ Insights      / A Smart Business Website Does Not Have To Cost The Earth

A Smart Business Website Does Not Have To Cost The Earth

Creating a business website that suits the needs of your business can be daunting for small business owners. It is a decision that can frustrate even the most experienced business owners.

There is so much choice and the prices seem to range from pennies to tens of thousands of pounds with no one properly explaining the difference. This can make it really difficult for business owners to know what is the right fit for their business.

This conundrum led us to create our ‘Smart Website’ concept specifically designed to put a professionally developed web design within the reach of even the smallest business.

The concept is that we give business owners the features that they need in a simple way. This allows our customers to get the benefits of having a website built by experts, without the eye watering price tag.

This sites are mobile friendly, seo optimised and beautifully designed in a way that is customised to your business whilst remaining easy to maintain.

Smart Website Main Features

Be In Control – Our sites are designed to allow you to upload and update the content on your website at anytime from anywhere you can access the internet.

Use Your Own Colours – Our template is customisable to allow it to reflect the colour scheme of your brand

Integrate Galleries For Photos and Videos – Images and videos help customers picture and understand your goods and services. These can be easily integrated within your website

Integrate Social Media – Social media is a great way of gaining new customers, we allow visitors to your site to see your latest social posts and vice versa.

If you are unsure whether your business has the right web presence, or you are looking to create a new one and think a “Smart Website” is for you give us a call on 020 8861 0115

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

5 Quick Ways To Improve Your Website For Your Customers

/ Insights      / 5 Quick Ways To Improve Your Website For Your Customers

5 Quick Ways To Improve Your Website For Your Customers

The easier your site is to use and find the information your customers need, the more likely you are to convert visitors into clients or customers.

A business website is a place where clients and customers can find and interact with your business.

So when we analyse a site for a business one of the main things we look at is if the existing site is easy for customers to use or whether it needs to be improved.

We have put together five things to check that can make it easier for your customers

Simple and Clear Navigation Menus

The menu at the top of the page is the first place your customers will go to try and find what they need from your site.

Poor design may lead customers to leave before they find what they need.

A simple and easy to use menu structure is a quick way to guide your users around your website.

Provide Contact Information and Opening Hours

Having as much information about your company and where you can be found builds trust and makes it easier for customers to get in contact.

Put Contact Information On Every Page

If you have a physical office or retail presence, then some of your customers may be looking for you online to find out when you are open and where to find you.

Putting this information on every page makes it easier for them to get in contact which will have a positive impact on your business.

Check Your Page Load Speed

A website that loads slowly discourages visitors from spending time on your site, keep potential customers happy by making sure your website loads as quickly as possible.

Check Your e-Commerce Works

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to buy something and the system is not working properly. Regularly check your process is working properly and is as pain-free as possible to maximise the conversions from the basket to sales.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Does Your Business Need An App?

/ Insights      / Does Your Business Need An App?

Does Your Business Need An App?

At Aspiring Panda we network with businesses locally and one of the first questions we get asked when we tell local business owners what we do is “does my business need an app?”

In our experience the answer is yes, however this is a difficult question to answer on the spot as without knowing more details about the company, it’s customers and it’s processes it is impossible to give accurate guidance on the value of an app.

Businesses can use apps in a number of different ways from a sales tool to an internal process tool that helps improve efficiency.

Understanding Your Business

So before answering this question we turn detective and ask questions about the business to find out what challenges it faces and how interactive software packaged within an app can be applied.

Questions will focus around the demographics and behaviours of customers including how they find the product or service the business provides and whether purchases are one off or repeat.

If customers buy or book regularly it could be that an app could increase loyalty or make it easier for regular customers to book at their convenience.

If you have a project based business or one operating business to business it may be that an app can help automate or manage processes. This could be by improving the tracking of projects, to apps that allow information to be recorded and stored centrally.

Finding the Right Fit For Your Business

Understanding the role that technology can play in your business and how it can increase sales and/or reduce costs and make processes more efficient is vital to deciding whether an app is right for your business.

If you are unsure of how to integrate technology within your business, or whether an app would be right for you, give the Aspiring Panda team a call.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

The Challenge Of Digital Transformation For Small Businesses

/ Insights      / The Challenge Of Digital Transformation For Small Businesses

The Challenge Of Digital Transformation For Small Businesses

When working with smaller or local businesses, we find that business owners are overwhelmed with the digital decisions they need to make to keep their business competitive.

For a small business the internet and other digital technologies hold opportunities, but also threats and challenges to their business model.

Digital Transformation

This is caused by the digital transformation that the UK has undergone over the last 15 years that continues to rapidly change the way that customers view the world and how they find and buy products and services.

Children growing up today are entering the world as “digital natives” and run significant portions of their lives online, that previous generations including their parents did not.

Adapting To Changes In Behaviour

These changes in behaviour are redefining the business communities we live in and businesses are under pressure to adapt to the changing needs of consumers or risk becoming irrelevant.

Changes that include offering, click and collect, pre-ordering and different ways to buy and pay for products/services.

Business owners face the challenge of determining the best way to invest digital resources to get maximum return on investment for their business.

In a fast evolving marketplace this can be difficult, especially as there are hundreds of different ways a business can define itself digitally, from their website to apps and social media.

Therefore, we find when working with businesses locally our biggest value is helping them understand how they can use digital tools such as their website, apps and social media within their business effectively.

This can be using a website to get more customers, an app to encourage customer loyalty or improve business processes to social media to manage reputation and communicate with the business community.

The business environment is transforming rapidly and at Aspiring Panda we relish the opportunity to help our customers find their way in the digital age.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Get Social Media Training At Our Harrow Office

/ Insights      / Get Social Media Training At Our Harrow Office

Get Social Media Training At Our Harrow Office

In May, Aspiring Panda will be hosting a nationally recognised social media expert to deliver training to local businesses on how to define their social media strategy.

The course will be run by Kristian Downer of DowSocial who we work closely with, on our digital marketing.

What is the course about?

Staying up to date and running a successful social media campaign is becoming increasingly challenging as social platforms change and evolve. Online audiences are bombarded daily with hundreds of messages and online content, making the task of measuring ROI (return on investment) rather challenging.

This social media training course is designed to be informative and interactive. The core focus of the course is on revealing new trends, understanding audience behaviours and social media principles that will enable you to create successful social media campaigns for lead generation and nurturing existing customer relationships.

Who should attend?

This training course is targeted at users of social media who want to achieve a greater understanding of how to implement and integrate social media to develop increased brand exposure, online reach and acquire new business.

Typical attendees are marketers, business owners, community managers, PR professionals, publishers and account managers.

What is the course outcome?

Following this training course, you will be able to:

  • Design a social media strategy plan
  • Choose the right social media platforms to use
  • Confidently use content and communication strategies that work
  • Adapt the language and tones to suit each social media platform
  • Integrate social media and offline marketing methods
  • Understand the methods and tools to generate new leads
  • Track and measure social media campaign success or failure

We look forward to seeing at you at this and future events at our office in Harrow.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Three Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

/ Insights      / Three Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

Three Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

Social media is an increasingly important part of the marketing of small businesses across the UK. With more than 30m users of Facebook alone, it is getting harder and harder to ignore that your target audience is active on social media.

For business owners that are resisting moving their business onto social media it is likely that they are missing out on opportunities and risking getting passed over in favour of companies that are more proactive with their digital marketing.

If you are on the fence, here are three ways social media can help your business succeed:

Generate Referral Business From Existing Customers

Existing customers are often the most effective way of getting new business as they refer their friends and colleagues to your product or service. Social media is an incredibly powerful way of harnessing this and broadcasting the goodwill your existing customer base has for what you do.

Target & Advertise To Potential Customers

Social media is powerful for businesses, in part due to the data that the platforms create and store about their users. Harnessed effectively, this can be used to advertise your business to exactly the people you want to target.

This means that you spend less money on traditional less well directed advertising platforms such as print or radio advertising.

Customer Service

Whether you are on social media or not, your customers are talking about you both the good and the bad. If you are on social media then you have an opportunity to see what they are saying about you, reinforce the positive and fix the negative.

After all, there is no more powerful an advocate than someone who has a negative experience that is given excellent customer service.

If you are unsure how to get a strategy that works for your business contact the Aspiring Panda team.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

How The Internet Of Things Is Changing How We Do Business

/ Insights      / How The Internet Of Things Is Changing How We Do Business

How The Internet Of Things Is Changing How We Do Business

One of the technology trends of the next decade will be the adoption of the Internet of Things (IOT) across the business landscape.

What Is The Internet of Things?

The internet of things is the name for the ability for everyday objects, devices and vehicles to collect data and transmit it via the internet. This allows for devices to be controlled and managed externally.

A Universal Example

Utilities are one area that the general public will see the IOT impact upon their lives in the next few years. Currently smart meters for electricity usage are being rolled out, which will allow companies to monitor and bill customer energy usage without having to enter the customer premises to carry out regular meter readings.

This is also being adapted to allow homeowners to control their heating remotely, this allows them to save money on their energy by having more control and ensuring that their house is warm when they go home by turning it on when they need it, rather than to a pre scheduled timeframe.

How Will This Affect Businesses?

The ability to use the principles of the IOT means that businesses can automate and manage processes that may have been previously difficult to track and monitor.

This can assist in the decision making process and allow businesses to have a tighter control of business processes and employee productivity.

At Aspiring Panda we have recently been working with and advising companies how to use the IOT in conjunction with IOS and Android apps to assist in previously difficult or dangerous monitoring tasks.

Helping companies understand the potential benefits of the IOT has underlined to us how this will be one of the most important tech developments of the next few weeks.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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