Guide: How to Make Your App a Rousing Success

December 10, 2016August 25, 2022 Sakshi SharmaApp DevelopmentLeave a Comment

By the end of this year, Industry experts predict that global App Stores will be raking in about $52 billion about $10 billion more – or an increase of nearly 24%. What’s more is that by 2020, that number is expected to double. That’s over $100 billion in just app store sales. That doesn’t include specific app revenues.

But the news isn’t all good. Most SmartPhone users spend the vast majority of their time in 3-4 apps (about 90%, in fact). Right now, the biggest markets are Developed nations and those markets are intensively competitive, requiring unique marketing strategies. This doesn’t mean rule them out of course; it just points to the need for a lot of Disruptive, Innovative, and Creative thinking.

There are billions of existing AND potential App users out there – even more apps than there are people. Many of these apps are game changers, they’re apps that can revolutionize businesses and lives. They’re apps so beautifully designed and flawlessly coded that it’s enough to make a soul weep.

But they go unnoticed, languishing in the shadows. Why? Well, again, billions of apps. This biggest thing app owners let go by the wayside is marketing. Creating a marketing strategy is unique, but the end goal is simple enough: you want users.

Contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of ways for app monetization:

• In-App purchases are extremely popular right now. If you’re planning on running your app business long term and are a consumer facing app, this is a must;

• Subscription models are particularly profitable, especially if you provided a business-to-business service;

• The ol’ standby of selling anonymized user data to retailers and marketers is always a favorite;

• Ad modules, another favorite of app owners worldwide, can generate a moderate revenue;

• Last but not least is to build an app specifically designed to sell. App exit strategies are a viable approach and can make you buckets of money.

But none of these options will make you money without users (and user engagement!). And to get users, you need to make sure your app has visibility. Of course that’s the trick, right? How does one go about boosting the online presence of their brand and App? Well, you’ve come to the right place!

There is one thing that is essential to a successful marketing strategy. The message. It needs to be clear, concise, accurate, and punchy. That’s a lot – and you need to do it quickly. Lets take a look at some strategies, and why they’re useful.

The Components of a Clear Message

1. Perfect Your Elevator Speech

To any of us who went to school for marketing or business, this is a saying with which we are familiar. Figure the essence of your service, the perfect way to describe it in 30 to 60 seconds (i.e. the length of an elevator ride). Doing this forces you to figure out the best Unique Selling Points (USPs) of your business.

2. Determining USPs

Knowing the USPs of your service allows you to tailor your market approach and determine your ideal user. Obviously, gaming apps aren’t going to go after plumbers (with the obvious exception); if plumbers happen to enjoy gaming and are interested in getting your app that’s great – but you still want to focus on marketing to gamers not plumbers.

You also need to narrow this down. Going back to the elevator speech and limited time to make your point, you need to focus on your service’s biggest benefits. Don’t focus on what you think is the coolest about your service. Please, please, please pay attention here; this is the spot where people stumble the most. I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve offered this advice to a client and watched them agree wholeheartedly.

Then they promptly turn around and craft a marketing message about some nerdy technical aspect of their product. TALK TO NORMAL PEOPLE! Show them your app, ask them what they liked and what they didn’t. This will help you narrow down what message is the most effective. Remember, it’s not about you. If you want to make money, check your ego at the door and listen to your clients.

3. Test Your Message

Data analytics are the backbone of modern business. This is no less true in Marketing. You may think you have the perfect message crafted and the people who you talked to loved it. But it could still fall flat. Or maybe a different message might have a wider Appeal

To further complicate matters, the same message can have different impacts on different platforms; in other words, what works on Facebook may not work on Pinterest. This is why testing is so important. It’s an easy step to use analytics, so why not do it? Not to beat a dead horse, but again you have a very short time to make an impact. Creating a perfect message that catches the right attention is vital to success.

Crafting the perfect message is important, but it is by far from the only thing you need to a successful marketing campaign. It’s like laying down the foundation of a new house: no one’s going to claim the house is finished when the foundation is done, but we all know that the house can’t stand without it!

So if you want to become the owner of a Platinum, money making app, give SDI a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us! We will work with you to create the perfect message and a campaign to spread the good news. First hour of consultation is on us!

By the end of this year, Industry experts predict that global App Stores will be raking in about $52 billion about $10 billion more – or an increase of nearly 24%. What’s more is that by 2020, that number is expected to double. That’s over $100 billion in just app store sales. That doesn’t include specific app revenues. But the news isn’t all good. Most SmartPhone users spend the vast majority of their time in 3-4 apps (about 90%, in fact). Right now, the biggest markets are Developed nations and those markets are intensively competitive,…

3 Ways SnapChat can Grow Your Business

December 7, 2016August 26, 2022 Sakshi SharmaSocial MediaLeave a Comment

Turns out that this is a bit of an undeserved reputation, as a recent study demonstrated that only 2% of surveyed users sexted. So why are people using SnapChat? The driving force behind its popularity seems to be that it is a new way for people to be creatively expressive, to show off their personality via a new Social Outlet.

But it’s also a way that the 18-34 age range finds new products, brands, and services. It’s the way that they consume, share or distribute media – and they do it at an incredible amount; by some accounts, there are more than 400 million Snaps every day from 100 million daily active users (DAU) globally. 60 million of those daily users are in Canada and the US alone.

A. Let’s take a lot at some numbers (mostly pulled from an industry research study by Sumpto, all US Based):

B. 71% of SnapChat users fall within the 18-34 Age Demographic;

C. 77% of college students use SnapChat

D. 45% of college students would open a Snap from an unrecognized brand – and an astounding 73% would open one from a brand they did know.

E. 67% of college student users PREFER to receive promotional (discounts, coupons, etc); and

A whopping 58% of the same group are more likely to buy a product if they receive a coupon via SnapChat as compared to any other medium!

So obviously, this all points to an exceptionally potent marketing tool. Points C through E are especially useful to business owners. So let’s talk about how the savvy entrepreneur can use these insights to grow their business.

How SnapChat Can Grow Your Brand and Drive Sales

It seems counterintuitive SnapChat is one of the best ways to grow your business. After all, the whole idea is that a Snap disappears. So how can it be something that builds a brand? The answer is that we live in a world where private, exclusive content is a rarity. If you share something on Twitter, it’s going to tear through Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram in no time at all.

SnapChat provides you with a way to provide exclusive content to only your SnapChat Followers. It creates an air of mystery or allure that consumers love – and it makes them feel special and valued.

‘Value’ is what we should really be focusing on here; as the above statistics demonstrate, much of the 18-34 target demographic actually like getting promotions on SnapChat. But if you are too promotional or too ‘all about your brand’ you will squander your advantage. Users want something out of the brand, some reason they should be paying attention to it.

While coupons or discounts are a great way to give back to your followers, it can also be something as simple as promoting content from other users. The popular food delivery app GrubHub is commonly cited here; their 2013 SnapChat campaign followed this mixed-tactic approach and saw a 20% increase in followers.

Additionally, people love feeling like they’re included. SnapChat users especially love behind the scenes snaps. Photos of your employees, the manufacturing process, events or company parties; all of it is a great way to get SnapChat Users talking about you, your brand, and what you offer.

Building a Buzz

Several big-name companies have found success in using SnapChat to preview new products to potential consumers. It goes back to that allure and mystery thing; it gives you a chance to let consumers know about your new product, without them becoming overwhelmed by a viral video that gets plastered all over the web.

But there’s a way to do this. You can’t just go in all willy-nilly throwing Snaps around like they’re so much nonsense. You need to tell a story, you need to keep fun, entertaining and engaging. For an example of how this was successfully done, look no further than Amazon’s Echo.

Amazon’s SnapChat campaign was a masterpiece. It managed to provide a quirky, wonderful, and lovely personality. The endearing Snaps released by Amazon not only made us fall in love with Echo, but they also explained a product with which many were struggling. This is one of our team’s favorite examples because it accomplished so much with so little.

To Sum Up

So to recap, SnapChat lets you grow your brand, attract young, passionate consumers, and lets you create a stir around your brand. I know – this seems like (and is) a lot to process. But don’t worry; that’s why SDI is here to help. We can help you create unique and effective marketing strategies for SnapChat that grow your business and make you money.

Want to know more about how to use SnapChat to grow your SMB? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

SnapChat is the darling platform of young Millennials, especially the coveted 18-34 age range. From the perspective of a marketer or business owner, SnapChat, when used properly, can be one of the most useful items in your arsenal. I know what you’re thinking: Is SnapChat that thing teens use to send nude photos (aka sexts) that disappear? Turns out that this is a bit of an undeserved reputation, as a recent study demonstrated that only 2% of surveyed users sexted. So why are people using SnapChat? The driving force behind its popularity seems to be…

3 Ways to Grow Your SMB with Social Media

November 24, 2016August 25, 2022 Sakshi SharmaSocial MediaLeave a Comment

These days, everyone and their brother seem to have a SM account of one kind or another. More importantly, the list of Social media sites doesn’t end at the big ones mentioned above. There are thousands of different sites built around social interactions of all sorts.

The point here is that for nearly every hobby, interest, job, or problem, there’s probably a SM website that focuses on it. This is why Social Media Marketing is an essential tool in the success of any enterprise, big or small. Because no matter what your business is, you can have a massive, targeted, and curated client base, ready to go.

While purchasing targeted client lists is an age-old tradition (there are even companies that specialize in doing just this), SM is generally free. You should consider hiring a Digital Marketing team, but identifying a few key Social Media sites is part of a the general services any good company offers.

But Social Media Marketing is an ongoing task, something you need to keep up with or you’re loose followers. Plus it’s hard to know which are tactics are effective and which are not. So, we thought we would discuss a few tricks or activities proven to be effective in creating a vibrant SM presence.

Choosing the Right Platforms

Twitter attracts Millennials and Startups. Instagram really targets Teens and College age people. Pinterest attracts designers, photographers and artistic people. Facebook is used by mostly everyone, but especially 30+ crowd.

These are not hard and fast rules (for instance, Visually oriented people also use Instagram at high rates) but it is important to be aware of what sites attract which people. This helps you know upon which platforms you should focus your attention. For instance, if your industry is one that is very visual, a tactical emphasis on Pinterest over Twitter would be advisable.

This should also be extended to choosing the right groups to join or people to follow. Identifying key influencers in your industry can lead to Improved access to your target market; Joining the groups most closely associated with your business introduces you to even more cultivated target groups.

Be Real, Be Social, and Be Relevant

Think about your own experiences on SM sites. What are the biggest turn offs? Most people find obnoxious, fake, and promotional content offputting. This means all that effort is not only wasted, but probably actively working against your own interests. Posting content on Social Media is an artform:

• Be Real: You can’t lie but you shouldn’t be overly pushy. So be honest about your interest on any sites or groups you post, and make clear your biases. But feel free to talk about what you do, if it’s relevant to the conversation or general theme of the group.

• Be Social: Don’t just post on your page, or introduce new posts. Comment on other conversations . This often turns into direct engagement with interested users (i.e. warm leads).

• Be Relevant: Talk about what’s happening in your industry or in the world, or other big news that people are interested in.

Ideally, these three things work in tandem (which is why we put it all in one header ;)), because being real is a social thing that necessitates conversations on relevant topics. That being said, don’t be afraid to use tools like HootSuite to buffer posts.

You should still take 20 minutes a day to scope out and comment on trending topics, but if you only post from 11:30 to 11:50 everyday, many of your posts will get lost in the noise. Buffer tools help you post throughout the day without requiring you to manually do it yourself. Don’t be afraid to experiment with them.

Create and Curate

You should always repost interesting content. It not only is appreciated by the original poster (who often return the favor) but it let’s get an idea of your Business based off your feed or profile page. And if it can potentially introduce you to new customers or users.

That being said, you shouldn’t just become a reposter. You should be out there making new content, whether that’s showing off your designs on Pinterest, or writing industry relevant blogs, you should post it on your social media outlets. By creating things, you’re telling users that you’re an actual business, that you’re not a bot or some farm out in India. AND it tells people exactly what your business is about.

Don’t Go it Alone

Digital marketing is as complex as it is amorphous. There’s no reason you should have to go it on your lonesome Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 (or contact us online) to learn how SDI can use Social Media to grow your SMB.

One of the best digital marketing tools available to any SMB is Social Media. Let’s face it, Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become a dominant feature of the lives of most U.S. Citizens (and much of the world in general). These days, everyone and their brother seem to have a SM account of one kind or another. More importantly, the list of Social media sites doesn’t end at the big ones mentioned above. There are thousands of different sites built around social interactions of all sorts. The point here is that…

How to Build an App for Your Beer Garden

November 21, 2016August 25, 2022 SakshiApp DevelopmentLeave a Comment

Today, we want to focus on the very specific intersection between App technology and Beer Gardens. Why? For a couple reasons:

1. Mobility is key in this new world (aka Mobile First). Already there are billions of SmartPhone users and as much of the developing world comes online, they are entirely bypassing stationary devices (i.e. laptops) in favor of Smartphones/Tablets. An app is the best way to reach the biggest consumer market. Plus app technology today is amazing and offers the Business Processes Management we want in addition to the consumer-facing interface.

2. Beer Gardens, like Mobile Apps, are a Growth Market; in 2000, Beer Gardens weren’t even on the radar of most US citizens. Today there are some 5,000+. Anyone who lives in Silicon Valley can relate to this. Additionally, Beer Gardens especially attract Millennials; and Millennials are quick to adopt new technologies.

So let’s talk about the common problems a burgeoning beer garden may face and how an app can help mitigate these problems, while solving even more problems. As a caveat, we will break this down into 2 main sections: Consumer-side and Business-side. However we recommend developing a single app, with at least 3 distinct interfaces (Consumer, Business, Admin). It save you money, time, and creates a more seamless system for your business.

Also, please keep in mind, this can all be extrapolated to almost any business or sector – contact us now to learn more.

Consumer-Facing

As anyone who has ever worked in a consumer facing business can tell you, customers are a fickle beast. Bar owners spend a lot of money trying to keep updated menus (beer and food), possibly even offering forms of entertainment, or Tap Takeovers (where a specific brewery takes over all or the majority of taps at a bar). And, unfortunately, this often goes wasted. Weekdays especially are hard on business, especially ones that focus on selling alcohol. In general, people are less likely to go out during the week.

Look, we’re techies, so let’s put our techie spin on this: essentially the problem is a lack of foot traffic, or as we refer to in the tech world, User Engagement. When we look at the problem like this, the value of a mobile app becomes clear; reminding users that you exist. The good news is that the nature of a beer garden plays well into user engagement.

Most Beer Gardens have to constantly rotate taps and since most of them support local breweries, there is always something new. An app can help drive traffic by informing customers who have your app when you have a new beer being tapped. This also works for food menu updates, tap takeovers, live entertainment, et cetera.

Further engagement methods could include offering discounts or promos, offering information on the world of beer, even driving in-app merch purchases. Plus, you can use it as an in-store payment portal. Customers can place their order with you and automatically pay through their phone. No more leaving cards behind for customers – and no open tabs at the end of the night for you.

Obviously, consumer facing apps can do a lot more than what we discussed above but, alas, we should move on to how an app can help grow your Beer Garden by improving business processes – and the power of AI.

Business Growth

Apps for business growth are quickly becoming an exceptionally powerful tool in the kits of entrepreneurs and CEOs everywhere. A Beer Garden is no different: restaurateurs need to manage their employees, inventory, utilities, and so on. An app for business can help with onboarding, scheduling, reservations, inventory management, and so on.

But let’s take this a step further: using Machine Learning and AI, Beer Gardens that serve food can revolutionize their process. One of the challenges of serving food is offering quality meals, with good ingredients. Also important is menu freshness. The target market for a Beer Garden is especially fond of menus that are changed pretty frequently.

One of the benefits of AI is it’s ability to pull and process information from thousands of data points. So imagine an app that tells it chef that one of the local farms is having a deal on brussel sprouts soon. Or that beef prices are about to drop – after all predictive analysis is one of the crucial benefits of AI.

This can help a Chef create hip and fresh ingredients without paying an arm and a leg. Chef Watson even demonstrates that AI is capable of suggesting unique Beer-Food pairings based off the beers you currently have on tap.

Hopefully we’ve successfully demonstrated some effective ways that an app can help grow what is already a growth enterprise. So if you own a Beer Garden, why not call us at 408.805.0495 or 408.621.8481 for a free consultation (or click to contact us). Don’t own a Beer Garden? There’s nothing to stop you from creating an app and selling it to restaurants. In fact, it is a superb way to make a lot of money!

The restaurant business is one of ups and downs, drops in business and bumps in stock prices – or vice versa. Running a Beer Garden is no different, especially those that offer a food menu as well as the beer menu. However, modern technologies offer new tools to help restaurants succeed, including mobile apps. Today, we want to focus on the very specific intersection between App technology and Beer Gardens. Why? For a couple reasons: 1. Mobility is key in this new world (aka Mobile First). Already there are billions of SmartPhone users and as…

AI for Smarter Business Insights

November 15, 2016August 25, 2022 SakshiArtificial IntelligenceLeave a Comment

Fortunately for the curious Business owners out there, SDI is here with a brief guide on how you can use AI to get better, clearer insights into your SMB or Startup. Here’s the rundown on how AI can help your business make smarter decisions:

• Better risk management. A fully functional AI system learns from your business, delivering clearer, more accurate predictions of what obstacles (or opportunities) your SMB may soon face.

• Full Business Process Management. We covered this in more detail in our last blog post, so take a look at that if you would like to learn more about how AI can unlock the value of Big Data for your business.

• Added and/or improved value to your service or product. Again, true Artificial Intelligence (or at least we know it today) learns from its users, gradually becoming better at predicting their wants. Additionally, AI can use data to anticipate new market trends, putting your business ahead of the competition.

AI, when done correctly can accomplish all of this and more. But there are risks, especially to the non-tech savvy:

1. It can be expensive, especially if you lack a clear and focuses strategy.

The fix: Sit down with your development partner; discuss a clear strategy informed by your industry specific knowledge and the expertise of the developers. For the most part, we recommend putting one person in charge of this strategy. Create clear goals that are achievable, identify what constitutes the completion of said goals, and finally, figure out what metrics you need to study to track your progress. In general, the best person for this job is the business owner.

2. You can be collecting the wrong info, or not studying the right, industry-specific metrics.

In addition to identifying metrics to judge goal progression, you need to figure out what metrics are going to be the ones you should really watch. These metrics should be both general to data analytics, and more specific to your business Figure out if your developer has any experience in your industry, but also make sure you are putting in your opinion. Good developers listen because it helps us identify further possible metrics we can task your AI to study. However you should also keep in mind that good AI will most likely identify other pertinent metrics (again it grows with your business!).

3. Frankly, you could be getting ripped off by half-rate developers.

This is always a risk, but I can tell you that SDI is a globally recognized company with 15 years in business and over 10,000 clients. Honesty is our brand, and premium development is what we offer; that’s probably why 80% of our business is generated by returning customers. While any company can claim honesty here are a few further assurances:

i. Iron-clad NDA. We sign one of these puppies with each of our clients, guaranteeing the safety your proprietary information.

ii. An hour free consultation. Just give us a call (408.805.0495) to talk about your idea. We’ll offer some free helpful suggestions and ideas – whether or not you decided to hire us.

iii. A six month Guarantee. Any bugs, issues, or errors that arise within the first half year we’ll fix. On the house. That’s twice the industry average, by the way.

Smarter Insights

When done intelligently (no pun intended), AI can be the single greatest digital tool available to your business. It can give you clearer insights based on better information, reported on in real time. It can help you better navigate the unforeseen future. Finally, it can figure out what you should be studying, and what the future may hold for your SMB or Startup.

Want to get started? Give SDI a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

There’s a lot of hubbub around Artificial Intelligence and the possible benefits it may (or may not) provide SMBs and Startups. To be clear, most of it is well deserved, but there is a lot of misinformation out there. For people who are Tech experts, identifying what is and what is not helpful can be difficult. Fortunately for the curious Business owners out there, SDI is here with a brief guide on how you can use AI to get better, clearer insights into your SMB or Startup. Here’s the rundown on how AI can help…

How AI Can Unlock the Value of Data for Your Business

November 4, 2016August 25, 2022 Raj SrivastavArtificial IntelligenceLeave a Comment

AI and Cloud computing are providing SMBs with the tools to take on massive organizations; or as SalesForce’s Business Manager Sanj Bhayro puts it:

“All the innovation in the industry is coming from these small to medium sized businesses. They are disrupting the traditional market which is in turn forcing the traditional players to transform their own business models” – Sanj Bhayro

Bhayro goes on to point out how SMBs now have the capabilities and tools to grow well beyond what they could even 20 years ago. The two biggest reasons for this are the aforementioned Cloud Computing and AI for Big Data.

Prior to the cloud, custom software systems with complex algorithms for Data Analysis almost always required an in-house IT staff. At the very least, it meant a contract with an expensive Tech company capable of sending out people to your office. For most SMBs, the budget required for either option was prohibitive.

So for years, SMBs were stuck with off-the-shelf software – and software development companies were limited with what they could offer these enterprises. Because let’s be clear here: the cloud and AI offers a Software Development Companies like SDI and SalesForce huge opportunities as well.

The cloud means that complex Software programs don’t have to be tied down to a business’ location. SDI can host custom software programmers on our servers; for SMB owners, this means that if your software goes down, it can be easily rectified with a phone call. No need to have an IT department on hand, no need to have someone sent out to your office.

So, Business owners can have the same advantages custom software has provided large corporations for years, at a fraction of the cost. At the same time, the custom software provider can add value to their product and service, reaching a new, massive market in need. Oh – here’s a free piece of advice: your custom software system can make you money, not just save money.

SDI’s developers can provide you with the ability to create more unique user accounts – for you competitors. In other words, you can easily market your system to people in your industry. Talk about turning competition into your client base!

So the Cloud represents some unique opportunities for growth and even for revenue generation. But in all honesty, the cloud is small potatoes when compared to the advantages that AI/Machine Learning offers to SMBs.

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence

Big Data Analytics are the single greatest resource a Business owner can have. Hands down. “Wait but what about a cash flow, or even the basic product/service itself??” Nope. Here’s why: you may think your product is awesome, but the data generated from it will actually tell you whether or not you’re as great as you think you are.

When it comes to custom software, Big Data can provide us with tons of information for any change in the system, big or small. The biggest issue most have with analytics is that for most SMBs, the true potential of Big Data was out of their reach. As we discussed above, custom software systems are only now becoming affordable for smaller budgets.

But with the cloud, plus advances in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, improved data analytics are within the reach of any business budget. AI has revolutionized Business Process Management (BPM) with faster, real time data reporting and actionable customizable metrics. To really drive this point home, all you have to do is look at Industry legend Gartner’s study on just this topic:

A concession stand owner used an AI-enhanced BPM system at an event to monitor wait times at each stand, directing customers to stands where their wait would be minimal. BPM was even used to monitor what was selling and how often. This helped to prevent overstocking. Even better, AI is capable of making predictions based off the data it studies; in this case, it means that an AI BPM system would be capable of ordering supplies before you even knew you were about to be low. And, as this decision is based of a mountain of data, error rates in inventory decrease.

So, to conclude, Artificial Intelligence, when embedded into Custom Software provides business owners with predictive capabilities, improved/streamlined analytics, and the ability for massive (but intelligent) growth. And we didn’t even touch on how AI can help automate business processes; Just look at Tesla, who employs Robotic Experts to automate their entire manufacturing floor!

Your Tech Partner

Want to grow your business with improved data crunching and smarter business insights? SDI can help – and we have, for over 10,000 global clients. Give us a call at 408.805.0495 / 408.621.8481 – or click to contact us! Call now and get an hour of free consultation!

Artificial Intelligence has been making waves in the world of Consumer-oriented tech services (think Siri, Google Now, or Google’s new Messaging platform Allo), changing the way we think about our phones and Gadgets. But AI’s potential impact on internal business management has gone largely unnoticed. AI and Cloud computing are providing SMBs with the tools to take on massive organizations; or as SalesForce’s Business Manager Sanj Bhayro puts it: “All the innovation in the industry is coming from these small to medium sized businesses. They are disrupting the traditional market which is in turn forcing…

3 Ways a Mobile Website can Help Your Business

October 18, 2016August 25, 2022 Sakshi SharmaMobile Website

As a website development company, We want to offer you tools on how to make a real website that supports and grows your business. Specifically, we’re going to look at non-web businesses; how a website can help improve your business and what your website needs to be effective. After all, the importance of a website in an eCommerce business is pretty clear.

But we’re going to drill down even further, into 3 specific businesses: Real Estate, Education (not necessarily EdTech), and the Restaurant Industry.

Real Estate

Obviously, how a home looks is a key factor in how quickly (and for how much) it is sold. Agents spend days to weeks or even longer to make sure a home looks perfect. But when someone is looking at listings, they can only see a few boring, stagnant issues.

Today, we live in a world where anyone can snap a professional level photo, in an instant. So posting a few pictures isn’t as effective as was 20 to 30 years ago. Fortunately, a website is an excellent way to offer a whole new digital experience.

Think about it: potential home buyers make decisions by taking tours of the house. Prior to the Web 2.0, that meant your market was largely relegated to locals who could stop by your open house. And locals who happen to have spare time to take out of their busy lives.

Today, you can put on a virtual open house, visible to anyone in the world with a web connection. Even better, SDI can easily turn your website into a Web-Based App to really grow your audience to true global proportions! SDI has created apps and websites for the Real estate industry; we know how to create virtual tours that truly show off the excellence of your home.

With digital, high quality photos, you can really show off your home. SDI can build a website that lets you create 360 degree virtual tours, with drill-down details for each room and all pertinent home info a buyer needs. We can even help you create an Organizational Software infrastructure to help you convert warm visitors into hot leads and potentially closed deals!

Tutoring

We aren’t talking about EdTech here (though this is a growth industry teachers should be looking at!). We’re specifically looking here at tutors – those who have their own business helping kids (or adults!) learn. Tutoring businesses, even if you’re your only employee, can vastly expand their target market.

Creating a small webpage for marketing purposes that costs little but has huge payoffs. For individuals, find more potential students in need of help, boost your digital presence, and make it easy for people to find you. We can help you build a website that showcases your work, discusses your experience, and even provides details on your specialties (Math Wizard? History Buff? Literary Genius? All of the above?)

Are you a larger company who employs a bunch of tutors in a variety of subjects? SDI can help you offer better, more targeted services to your potential clients. Using machine learning algorithms and other coding techniques, we can design a website that finds out where a potential student needs help. Then your website will direct them to the appropriate tutors for them to choose whoever would work best.

SDI can also build a website with built-in video conferencing features, perfect for people to interview you, or even for a tutoring session itself. Our Design team can work with you to figure out what specifics you would need to truly be an effective online tutor. In our Modern digital world, having digital tools is one of the best ways to grow your business

Restaurants, Food Trucks, and More

Traditional restaurants (think Cheesecake Factory), as well as more trendy food service options like Food Trucks or Pop-Ups, can hugely benefit from having a website – especially one that’s been converted into a mobile web-based app!

Traditional restaurants can use a website to market their business, but more importantly, they can use it to push menu changes, new food items, upcoming live shows (if applicable), even take online orders and reservations. All of this is not only easy to do but relatively inexpensive, especially when you make use of the plethora of APIs and app tools out there (like OpenTable).

Food Trucks, while not a new thing, have grown exponentially in popularity. When I was growing up, we referred to these as Roach Coaches and they were only ever seen at Construction Sites. Today, that’s totally different. Brilliant amateurs and cooking legends alike are blowing our palettes away with culinary masterpieces made in a food truck. Millennials love them, restaurateurs are obsessed with them – heck there are even movies being made about them!

Pop-Up restaurants are a truly new phenomenon in the world of successful businesses and can’t succeed without a well-built website. Pop-ups, for those who don’t know, are restaurants that take over a venue for an evening or two, and then disappear, often never to be seen again. These events can be anywhere, but the key to their success is getting the word out.

So a website is a key to marketing a pop-up restaurant (and an app is heavily recommended), to get people who have been to your past events to show up again and to getting newcomers. But SDI can do more than that – we can help build you a website that helps find possible venues, chefs, and even new markets.

Build Your Own Website in 6 Weeks or Less

Ready to get started? Don’t worry about website development costs: for as low as $1200 or $20 an hour, you can have your own, tailored website, designed to meet your exact needs. SDI knows the tech world, from development to marketing, we can help your SMB grow.

Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Website this and website that; I’m sure you’ve heard all about how great the internet is for your business. And it’s true: it’s basically the best, most cost-effective way to grow a modern business (surpassed only by mobile apps). But more often than not, you just get 1000 words of someone telling you that websites are great. As a website development company, We want to offer you tools on how to make a real website that supports and grows your business. Specifically, we’re going to look at non-web businesses; how a website can help improve…

CheatSheet: How to Build an App for UberRush

October 4, 2016August 25, 2022 Sakshi SharmaTaxi app developersLeave a Comment

This is where the success and brilliance of Uber Cofounders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp truly lie. It isn’t in creating a beautiful piece of code that performs with near perfection, while simultaneously being some complex that it kept any competitors from pulling ahead of Uber. It isn’t even their ability to bypass state and city regulations, thereby avoiding the huge costs that Taxi companies face.

It was in their ability to realize that there was a problem: people around the world were in dire need of a ride service that was available immediately. Plus, they wanted something that can be summoned to the rider, rather than the rider hunting down a taxi. Most people didn’t even realize this was an issue, much less seeing the path toward solving it!

Disrupt, Disrupt, Disrupt!

But as with most Silicon Valley tech companies, Uber follows a simple creed: innovate or die. Conquering the world from San Francisco to Beijing to New York wasn’t enough; so UberEats was launched. Similar to other food delivery services, UberEats allows the user to order food and have it delivered by an Uber driver.

Camp and Kalanick have also launched UberRUSH; which delivers products within an hour. The true entrepreneurial genius behind UberRUSH is that it’s offered to businesses as an API. This means that SDI’s developers can take any app and add in the UberRUSH API. This way, users never even have to leave your app to have their orders delivered near instantaneously.

Let’s take a traditional Marketing approach to this: First, we will identify the problems with delivery services, then we will talk about how integrating the UberRUSH API is superior to other options and good for your SMB or startup.

The Problem[s]

There are a lot of delivery services out there. A lot a lot. We all know the big guns: UPS, FedEx, even the US Postal Service. There are even Delivery Services that go beyond the traditional shipping giants, such as GrubHub, DoorDash, or PostMates. Even Amazon has its own rapid delivery service.

While these are all great options with their own advantages there are issues with each one:

• Traditional Shipping/Receiving companies (UPS, FedEx, etc) are great for shipping in volume and have nice inexpensive options. But the fastest they offer is 1-day shipping, which costs an arm and a leg. 10 years ago that would have been enough. Unfortunately, today is the day of instant gratification, so 24 hours is 23 hours too long.

• GrubHub and other Food Delivery App businesses are great, quick options that aren’t super expensive. But they only focus on food delivery, and are only consumer-facing. As a business, you probably have your own app (contact us if you don’t!) so what you need is a Business to business API. Something that can be added to your branded app.

• PostMates solves the issue of B2B services, but isn’t an integrated API. Users and shoppers need to use the branded PostMate app. So that cuts out your own app and brand, unfortunately. Also, PostMate tends to focus on the big players, leaving the small guys by wayside.

• Of course, there’s always the old, traditional way of doing things: having your own drivers. But then how often do you have a rush delivery order? Even if you have a lot of them, you’re still looking at paying employees for round trips, providing auto insurance, wages, gas money, maybe even benefits.

The Solution

Let’s talk about how UberRush works. UberRUSH integrates fully with any app, granting you the ability to provide one hour delivery service. Not tomorrow, not just relegated to food. Even better, UberRUSH is specifically oriented at small local businesses, ones that can’t traditionally offer deliver services.

As Uber’s Product Manager (Calvin Lee) has stated, UberRUSH is the company’s first attempt at a wholly B2B service. With SDI’s help, you can integrate this API right into your app, allowing users to instantly order their products with a single tap of a button.

It avoids the expense of maintaining your own delivery service, because you’re only hiring a driver as needed, you don’t pay their insurance and other incidentals and you’re only paying for a one way trip. As the company itself points out, when an UberRush Driver, you’re only paying for the trip from your business to your client (and that cost is passed on to your consumer).

So with a simple call to our developers, you can add incredible value to your app, while keeping your users firmly planted in your own app. Plus, the costs are negligible and the appeal massive. Don’t have an app for your company yet? No problem: Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Everyone knows about Uber. They’re one of the most disruptive and successful tech companies in the world, having started off as a ride-sharing, pseudo-taxi service. They’re an algorithm and associated mobile app revolutionized the taxi industry, solving a huge issue most people didn’t even realize was there. This is where the success and brilliance of Uber Cofounders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp truly lie. It isn’t in creating a beautiful piece of code that performs with near perfection, while simultaneously being some complex that it kept any competitors from pulling ahead of Uber. It isn’t…

3 Ways to Acquire More Users with Better Data Analytics

September 29, 2016August 25, 2022 Sakshi SharmaData AnalyticsLeave a Comment

For centuries, people have sought to have better data reporting tools; but until the advent of the digital age, crunching massive amounts of data in a realistic, actionable timeframe was near impossible. Fortunately for the entrepreneur of today, we now live in the time of Big Data.

Big Data gives CEOs and business owners more control over their business than any time in human history. With Big Data Analytics, you collect more data, from more places, with better reporting – in real time. This means a lot for how a marketing strategy is created, concerning anything from brand growth to user acquisition for apps and websites.

Why is real time so important? Because it allows you to move quickly to new trends before it’s too late. Finding out that a particular element of your mobile app isn’t performing up to snuff a week later could potentially mean thousands in lost revenue.

Of course, with so much many metrics being analyzed, it’s easy for the important ones to get lost in the noise. That’s why it’s important to hire an expert development team, like the one at SDI! SDI can install top-notch software like Google’s Analytics 360 Suite to help you gain full control of your business.

Then we research the heck out of your industry to discover what data metrics will be the most effective. By providing tailored metrics with real-team actionable reporting, our team helps your team quickly and accurately respond to data changes. With our help, you will have the ability to make real, positive, impacts on your business.

So Data makes the world go ‘round, but why don’t we narrow down the scope of this discussion just a little bit: how data can help you convert users for your app or website (sometimes referred to as a Data Driven Acquisition Strategy). Specifically, let’s take a look at some common tests that web marketers perform and more a more general conversation on User Acquisition.

Growth Hack Tip #1: Testing

There are many tests a good digital marketer uses to analyze user traffic on a website or app. That being said, there are two in particular that help a marketer when it comes to a visitor to user conversions The first is A/B Testing.

A. A/B testing is a very cool user acquisition tool that SDI’s marketers especially adore. It lets two visitors who are roughly similar and visiting your website or app at the same time see two different versions. Whichever gets more visitors to signup is thus better at getting users.

B. One of SDI’s marketer’s favorite tools is A/B testing. This lets us create a control user and a variable user: they are shown two different versions of your product; whichever converts more visitors is judged to be the more effective design.

Growth Hack Tip #2: Multivariate Testing and Heatmaps

Multivariate testing is similar to an A/B test, in that marketers are looking to see which design is more effective (A or B). But whereas an A/B test compares two complete designs, Multivariate testing compares different elements on a single page.

For instance, if I’m running a Multivariate test on the login page for my iPhone app, one visitor may see a screen with red headers and green footers, one may see one with a red header and no footer, another may see no headers or footers – and so on.

The idea is that a Multivariate test allows marketers to test near endless mashups of various elements. Well really, the idea is, as always, to see which design converts more visitors into users.

Multivariate Testing also works exceptionally well when combined with analytic heatmaps. Heatmaps allow marketers to track exactly where on a web page or app screen a user is hovering or touching a screen. This makes it a great tool to judge points of interest, especially for apps (heatmaps for websites, while very useful can be confounded by users hovering a cursor over an element while away from their keyboard).

Growth Hack Tip #3

Hire professionals. Obviously, we’d prefer it was us, but no matter what, this isn’t an area where you should just take a leap of faith. This is one of the most effective tools for business growth out there (and it’s largely free), but it’s also a hot mess. You don’t want to hike this big [data] mountain without an excellent Sherpa.

A professional team already knows the morass that is digital marketing. We know what to track and how. We know what works and what doesn’t. But most of all, we know how to show you what to track, watch and change (that whole teach a man to fish proverb and all!).

A good marketing team like SDI can help you create User acquisition and growth strategies that work. From industry-specific, actionable metrics to improved analytics testing tools, SDI can put full control of your business, right at the tips of your fingers!

All in all, a robust, effective Analytics software is the most essential weapon in the arsenal of modern day business owners. It allows you to see what’s working, what’s not – and what might work better. Most importantly, it good analytics are designed around your industry, ensuring you are provided with the most effective tool possible.

Your Big Data Team

Ready to install robust Big Data analytic software like the Google Analytics Suite 360 on your app, website, or software program? Give us a call at 408.805.0495 / 408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Businesses, small to large, startups to corporations, survive and thrive off of data. This has been true for as long as the business has been around. CEOs at the beginning of time understood that the more data they had about their organization, the more chance they had a succeeding. For centuries, people have sought to have better data reporting tools; but until the advent of the digital age, crunching massive amounts of data in a realistic, actionable timeframe was near impossible. Fortunately for the entrepreneur of today, we now live in the time of Big…