A look at e-commerce platforms – Part IIHaving a product that is in demand in today’s economy is great, but being able to market and turn the lookers into buyers is a big task. Here we will cover some of the possibilities of taking a product from the shelves and turning it into a global commodity. There are many ways to sell your product online and there are just as many opinions on how to be successful, here are some details keep in mind from inside an e-commerce platform provider.The first step of building any business not just an e-commerce business is to ensure you save as much of your time, energy and focus as possible for building the best products or services and then marketing them to the right audience. Then the next step is to find a provider to take care of building, developing and maintaining a sound e-commerce platform that is flexible and powerful enough to meet your needs. In this part of the building process the wise step to take is to take time to select the provider that is in the business for the long haul and not a flash in the pan operator.The following is a brief overview of a few of the simpler features or services from e-commerce platform providers that will greatly help support you in the building process of your e-commerce business:Straight forward Buy Now Buttons: This feature provides vendors with the buy now button and technology, sparing the vendors of excessive programming. This is an easy to integrate feature that allows the customer to quickly select the product and then they are directed straight to the checkout/payment page. The Buy Now button will greatly improve the buyer’s online experience and reduces loss of attention due to a lengthy purchase process.Multiple Currencies and Multilingual Support: By providing each page of the website in multiple languages to ensure that the vast majority of the public can get a complete and clear idea about the services that it provides. As part of the service vendors have the opportunity to receive a fully customized payment page, and in as many languages and major world currencies as possible, this is a feature that can prove beneficial to any business. Next by employing specialists in the e-commerce industry that possess unique linguistic talents your business venture can offer customer support in many of the most demanding languages.One Click Up-Sale: This feature allows vendors to substantially increase their sales revenues by presenting a unique opportunity to the shopper. This feature allows the vendor to up-grade products and to promote other products or services and to increase sales.Cross-Selling: By adding the cross-sell feature the vendor can bundle products that will be of benefit and cost savings to the end-user, therefore increasing sales and the bottom line. This technique allows the vendor to increase the sales of their products and importantly, vendors that sell more services to a client are harder for a competitor to displace or sometimes even compete with.Coupons: By using the promotional coupons the vendor can increase their up-selling or cross-selling of merchandise simply by offering additional products or services at a reduced rate within a certain time frame.Subscribe Now Button: A good subscriptions feature offers more options to control and customize subscriptions, more detailed performance data on subscription campaigns, and increased conversion success rates. The enhancements are designed to reduce the costs of extending and retaining subscriber relationships as well as provide subscribers even more custom and localized experiences.With these few tools, an online vendor can grow and effectively start selling their e-commerce business to the world whether the targeted consumer base is large or small. To obtain these and many more useful features, take time to do the research to find the most compatible service provider to the business that you want to grow. The e-commerce platforms vary so the research is just as important as the features included in the service.
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Top 2 Tech Marketer Challenges (and Solutions)
If you’re a tech marketer, you’re already aware of the particularly difficult challenges you face. Sure, all marketers have difficult challenges, but the ever-changing tech world introduces new complexity to the marketing mix. After all, the technology industry is growing and changing so fast that no one can possibly keep up. No one, of course, except for the tech marketer, who is not only charged with keeping up, but also staying one step ahead of the marketplace.LinkedIn recently published an article discussing some of the top challenges experienced by tech marketers today. Here are two of those challenges, along with actionable information you can use to start overcoming them now.Challenge #1: Identifying the decision maker?All marketers know how important it is to identify and understand the decision maker. Without this knowledge, it’s difficult to build a successful marketing strategy to win them over.The difficulty with tech marketing, though, is that the decision maker isn’t a single person. Instead, it’s now a cross-functional group comprised of IT, Marketing, Sales, Operations, Finance and more.This complexity makes it all the more important to fully understand the needs, challenges and motivations of each group member and appeal to them directly.A recent LinkedIn study of groups that hold decision-making power over IT and technology purchases discovered that nurturing prospects with informative content is a vital part of the sales process. Why? Because members of these groups are typically not ready to talk to a sales rep until they have consumed at least five pieces of “relevant, unbranded, non-sales focused content”.Additionally, LinkedIn’s post highlights the importance of producing content for every role on this cross-functional buying committee… at every stage in the buying process. Because, as the post explains, the tech decision maker is a group, not an individual, marketers have a responsibility to reach out to and engage with every one of them. You never know who will make that first contact, who will lead the buying committee, or who will have the most influence over the other members.That’s why it’s critical to have a strategy for how to reach, engage and ultimately convert every member of the group at each stage in the buying process. It sounds like a lot of work, yes, but tech marketers have the opportunity to influence every member of the buying committee and begin to win them over through always-on education. What’s “always-on”? It’s content that provides valuable, educational information at every stage of the buying process – anytime the users may want it. When you consider that, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 63% of tech buyers are more likely to consider vendors that take an always-on approach, it’s worth the effort.Challenge #2: Creating Engaging ContentAccording to the Content Marketing Institute, 93% of tech marketers use content marketing. However, they also say that “creating engaging content” has been a top challenge for the last five years. What does this tells us? While tech marketers see value in content marketing, they also have limited time and resources, which keeps them from creating content that is as successful as it really could be.So how do you compete in the saturated tech marketplace? According to LinkedIn’s post, build a reliable toolbox. If you think about it, there are more content marketing tools and resources available today than ever before – many of which are free or very reasonably priced. Marketers have more options available now than ever before to design, create, write, build and develop on their own – free of any outside support. Just think about what has done for marketers!If you’re a tech marketer, you understand the pressure to stay ahead of the ridiculously fast-paced world of innovation. It’s our job to not only reach out to, but also engage some of the brightest, most forward-thinking minds in the industry. Thankfully, there are tools and resources to help make it possible.
Nutritional Yeast vs. Vitamin Supplements
Nutritional yeast is deactivated yeast–often, Saccharomyces cerevisiae–that is yellow in color and has a nutty and cheesy flavor. It is a reliable food source for vitamins, especially B-complex vitamins such as folic acid. It is also an excellent source of protein (52%) and contains essential amino acids–making it a very popular choice for vegans. Some products are fortified with vitamin B12, which is produced separately from bacteria. Because of its rich nutrient content, nutritional yeast is a very good choice to include in a daily diet, instead of taking synthetically formulated vitamin supplements. Some of the benefits of nutritional yeast vs. vitamin supplements are discussed here.1. Flavor When it comes to the flavor of nutritional yeast vs. vitamin supplements, nutritional yeast is the winner. Nutritional yeast has a nutty, cheesy, and creamy flavor that makes it an excellent cheese substitute–in fact, it is often used by vegans as a substitute to parmesan cheese. Nutritional yeast comes in the form of flakes or powder, and can thus be sprinkled to almost anything–from popcorn, bread, and vegetables, to pizzas, pastas, and casseroles.Meanwhile, how many vitamin supplements can be used to flavor or enhance food? This alone gives you enough reason to go for nutritional yeast (vs. vitamin supplements). Because of its unique flavor and the many versatile ways it can be added into food, nutritional yeast (vs. vitamin supplements) are easier to ingest and administer to kids and adults alike. Furthermore, nutritional yeast is low in fat and salt, making it perfect for those who are watching their weight.2. Natural vs. synthetic Nutritional yeast vs. vitamin supplements is different in how they store nutrients. Nutritional yeast is naturally grown–providing vitamins and nutrients at their natural state. It is not processed, and therefore, is a whole, organic, food vitamin. Inorganic vitamin supplements on the other hand–those that are not obtained or extracted from whole foods–are usually synthesized in high concentrates. Some say that vitamins and mineral elements are so complex and dependent upon each other, that when they are separated, they can no longer provide the same nutritional effect on the body.Thus, high concentrations of synthetic vitamins may not be beneficial. On the other hand, nutritional yeast provides vitamins in their complete form–including all their parts and cofactors–because they are derived from whole foods.3. When vitamin supplements are better Of course, nutritional yeast is not always better. Some ingredients and contents of vitamin supplements are not found in nutritional yeast and may be needed to counter deficiencies of meet Recommended Daily Allowances. When weighing nutritional yeast vs. vitamin supplements, it is still advisable to consult a physician to find out what’s best for you.IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that the sale and distribution of nutritional yeast and vitamin supplements are unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration Board. As much as you can, buy only products from a manufacturer that strictly follows and adheres to the GMP standards. This assures you that the product contains the right amount of ingredients and dosage indicated, and that it is free from known contaminants.