BringShare Announces New Tool for Small Businesses

Allison Howen — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT

The co-founders of BringShare have announced a new tool at the DEMO fall conference.

The announcement is for the public beta launch of an online tool that is designed to help marketing professionals and entrepreneurs measure their online marketing investments in a more efficient and cost effective way.

BringShare provides its users with a way to connect all of their accounts, as well as the ability to gather data across common online marketing platforms such as paid search platforms, analytics software, social networks, email tools and search engines. Additionally, it collects data and puts it into a dashboard, which gives users an easy way to compare initiatives.

"We're taking the aggregation of marketing data a significant step further to provide greater value to marketing professionals," says Justin Spring, co-founder of the Columbus, Ohio-based company. "BringShare actually mashes data together and presents it in a way that makes it easier for businesses to make smarter decisions about their online marketing that drive leads to sales, and ultimately bring more market share. That's what makes BringShare unique."

Bringshare also produces custom reports with quality information quickly — within a matter of minutes. The solution aims at providing a smart, fast and cost-effective way for small businesses to evaluate online marketing efforts.

Currently, Bringshare is targeted for small businesses; however founders believe that applications for larger businesses will evolve in the future. Prices for the solution start at $49 a month and reach upward of $199 for the Premium model.

Survey Finds Most Small Businesses are Pessimistic

Allison Howen — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:00:00 GMT

A recent survey shows that most small businesses do not plan on hiring within the next year, and are pessimistic or neutral in regards to the overall business environment.

The Small Business Authority Market Sentiment Survey shows that 69 percent of small businesses do not plan on hiring within the next year, 50 percent are pessimistic about the future business environment, 30 percent have raised their prices in the past year and 72 percent do not plan on utilizing cloud computing within the next two years.

"Technology utilization needs to be embraced by small to medium sized business owners over the next several years,” says Barry Sloane, President and CEO of The Small Business Authority. “It is the only area where internal costs to run one's business can be reduced as well as produce efficiencies in performance and production of one's labor pool.”

If your small business falls into the “pessimistic” category, here are a few ways to utilize technology for saving money and increasing sales:

Cloud Computing- By switching to cloud computing, a small business can save money because there is no software or hardware to purchase. Additionally, maintenance and support costs are usually included in the price of the solution. Cloud computing is also convenient, with files being accessible from anywhere and on any computer. A few cloud computing solutions worth checking out include Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce and Quickbase.

Email marketing- By implementing an email marketing program, small businesses can endorse promotions, sales and events— which will send consumers to e-commerce sites or bring them into brick and mortar stores. This direct marketing option is low in cost and doesn’t take much time to execute. For email provider solutions, check out StreamSend, ConstantContact or EliteEmail.

Social Media- Social media is often mentioned when advising businesses on ways to increase their sales, and this is because social media is a big platform that a business owner has total control over. By taking time to make a social media campaign strategy, a business can gain more fans and followers that may turn into consumers. By consistently and constructively using social media (not being a spammer), a business can increase sales and brand loyalty— and the best part is it is free! If time management is a concern when it comes to social media, try a monitoring solution like HootSuite.

'Net Features : small business authority

BringShare Announces New Tool for Small Businesses

Survey Finds Most Small Businesses are Pessimistic