6 Ways to Improve Your Relationship With Your Customers

Several recently published articles are creating buzz among small business owners, and have them wondering: could it really be the case that the small business industry is pulling out of economic turmoil? According to an article published today in the Wall Street Journal, it may truly be the case that it is becoming easier for small businesses to be approved for additional funding, even if the recovery is moving very slowly.

Here are some of the numbers, as provided by the Wall Street Journal:

The number of small-business owners who said they found it difficult to obtain credit dropped to 30% from 33% since January, the last time the survey was conducted.

The number of business owners anticipating difficulty securing credit over the next year also fell, to 32% from 38%.

Furthermore, several big banks have gotten the message: small business owners are tired of feeling like it is impossible to be approved for a loan. As a response, Bank of America has begun to focus their efforts on making funding more available for businesses, even though it can be a risky pursuit for the big banks due to low consumer spending, high rates of default and bankruptcies among small businesses, and other factors.

Several days ago, the Chicago Tribune elaborated on this recent trend in Bank of America’s lending practices. In an article titled “Small Business Loans on the Rise,” the publication explained that this is one of the first times in Bank of America’s history that the bank has made small business funding a priority. The rates of small business lending among this and other major financial instutions appear to be improving, but at a very slow rate. In turn, more small businesses appear to be taking the steps to receive additional working capital to grow and expand their business. And most importantly, many leading economists believe increased access to small business loans is an indicator that the economy is growing on a larger scale.

Has it become any easier for your small business to receive funding due to more leniency by the banks? Do you feel that the economy has recently improved for small businesses? Share your stories with us.

Learn more about what funding options are available for small businesses and the advantages of using a merchant cash advance to fund your business.

QR Codes are the latest trend in small business marketing – to say the least. At this point, it is hard to see an advertisement that doesn’t have one of those little black and white square codes lurking in the corner. How and why did QR codes become so popular, and are they effective? Here are our thoughts:

Using QR Codes for your business is practically effortless so it has become a common practice among many small business owners engaged in social media marketing. However, we at Our MCA Funding Company believe QR codes to be a weak attempt to keep “on top of the social media wave,” and that only very rarely will QR codes translate into more revenue for your small business. Here are several reasons why:

Unless you have an Android or iPhone with the corresponding application already installed, QR codes are not necessarily easy for the user to operate, and certainly not much easier to use than it is to type a URL into a browser or type a company name into a search engine. QR Codes require you to take a picture with your smart phone by way of using that application, so it’s not as easy as scanning a bar-code with a scanner. Furthermore, your audience without smartphones can’t even access your company website this way, so you’re automatically marginalizing a good amount of your customer base who don’t use smartphones.

Business owners love QR codes because they are simple and free to generate, they can be scaled down to a very small size, and best of all, they are all uniform in terms of appearance, so a competitor can hardly make a “better looking” QR code than the one assigned to your own website. So many small business owners have begun to print QR codes onto every item they sell, big or small, as if “more codes will generate more traffic” to the business website. Wrong. Just because you can print your QR code all over your small business’ product does not mean your customers are going to be more likely to check out your website while they’re trying to use or enjoy your product. It’s really that simple.

For those business marketers who reside in cities with underground modes of transportation, and who choose to implement QR codes on their subway advertisements, here is one minor issue: Your customers probably don’t get service when they’re riding the underground train, and so their QR scanning smartphone applications are not going to load your webpage. Yes, it is true that they can take the photo and access the URL later, but this seriously risks losing the interest of your potential customer in the meantime.

Every time your customers access your site by taking a photo of your QR code, it means one less instance of your customers typing your brand name into a search engine or your company’s website into their address bar. And a good rule of thumb about brand name marketing is that, for all intents and purposes, the more your customers repeat your name and actively write it down, the more likely they will be to remember your brand later on.

If your QR code is arbitrarily placed on the corner of your ad alongside your other contact information, you shouldn’t be surprised if these QR codes generate little to no traffic towards your business’ website. Quite frankly, it may just be overly optimistic to imagine that your audience will be so engaged by your ad content that they will whip out their smart phones, access their QR code application on their phone, and scan a picture of your code. Realisticallly, if your ad affects your users, most of them will use Google to look up your brand or your service later down the road, when they need it. The QR code won’t be of much help to your customer then. A more effective way to use QR codes may be to incorporate them contextually into your ad, so that your engaged audience must scan the code in order to answer a question, resolve a problem, or otherwise learn more about what it is that you’re selling.

Do you agree or disagree? Has using a QR code worked well for your business? Share your story with us in the comments below.

Since the economy took a nose dive in 2008, many small business owners have grown accustomed to the feeling that this is a terrible climate in which to run a successful business – and Mom and Pop type small businesses are among those being hit the hardest. These small, locally owned and operated businesses tend to be disproportionately hurt because of the spread of larger corporations throughout the community, which often offer cheaper, name brand products that ultimately put the smaller guy out of business. While competition between large companies and small businesses is an issue that raises many deep, moral and political questions, the fact remains that in general, the boom in major corporations has left Mom and Pop shops struggling to hold on.

Consumers carry many deeply-seated misconceptions about buying from major corporations instead of the local, small business alternative. Here are five truths about supporting your community’s businesses and how it can be beneficial to the economy at large:

1. Cheaper is not always better.

In many cases, when the big guy comes to town, like WalMart, Target, PetCo, or other major corporations, consumers find it less appealing to buy from the local small business because they can now get a cheaper alternative. However, although a product may be cheaper, there could be many underlying issues with the product that explain how it came to be so cheap. Mass production can raise a red flag because the production process can be ethically unsound or potentially risky for one’s health. Some problems involved in mass production used by major corporations could include outsourcing of the manufacturing of the product to international factories with inhumane working conditions; poor-quality, artificial, or otherwise unhealthy ingredients; flagrant animal testing or other abuses; or other harmful manufacturing practices. Furthermore, it is likely that the small business offers a product that is of higher quality because the ingredients or components are most likely local, and the product itself has received more attention than it would in a large factory.

2. Cheaper is not always cheaper.

Despite popular belief – it is not always the case that the big company offers the product for cheaper than the Mom and Pop business! Many small businesses focus on providing deals and discounts to stay competitive with their larger, corporate counterpart. Furthermore, small business owners are more likely to know their customers and offer them friendly discounts, loyal customer programs, or other perks that one would never receive when purchasing from a large corporation. Some Mom and Pop shops even like to give their customers products for free, just because they’re loyal and part of the community.

3. Mom and Pop shops care about you – yes, you.

It is a great feeling to be known and remembered by the person from whom you have to make frequent purchases. Your local Mom and Pop small business owner will be more likely to be there for you when you need help from the business in any way. They can also be a good resource for you in your career or social network because they are so well connected to your local community, and can help introduce you to other locals you may otherwise never have met. Your community’s local businesses serve the community because they custom built by and for the people who actually live there.

4. It’s an economically, morally smart move.

The pervasive idea of the “American Dream” starts to lose its meaning when keeping a business competitive in this country is nearly impossible. If the economy requires that you outsource services or production to other countries because it’s cheaper, or if big banks won’t loan to small businesses, small businesses can’t function and the very American idea of the “self-made man” starts to become more of an idea than a reality. Supporting small businesses encourages individuals to be entrepreneurial and to allow their own skills to serve the community. And once the small businesses operate efficiently and bring in good revenue, this builds the groundwork for an interconnected, thriving national economy.

5. They give your city character.

If all cities were overrun by the same few large corporations, what would distinguish one city from the next? What would the tourist centers in each city be able to tell visitors about what their city has to offer? Mom and Pop small businesses give cities their own flavor. They give the community members a local space in which to connect with each other and share a unique experience. They give children specific memories about growing up in their hometown. They make each community and city unique, which is not only culturally rich, but also helps to diversify and drive the economy at large.

For information on financing for small business, visit Our MCA Funding Company Cash Advance and learn about the funding options available for your small business.