The Future of Supply Chains

Posted on by Kaylyn Perry

Supply chains are a critical part of operating an efficient business. Whether you manufacture products or retail products, you will likely have some sort of supply chain. Identifying the various roles within your supply chain and analyzing how to make them as efficient as possible can save you time and money, thus allowing your business to flourish. With populations growing and technology advancing, supply chains are changing.

What is a supply chain?

The supply chain is essentially a network that facilitates how a product goes from its creation and manufacture, into the hands of the end-user. There are many links along the way, hence the name supply chain. Each link is responsible for its own individual contribution to progressing the product through the chain, however, they ultimately act as one unit. The supply chain consists of retailers,  wholesalers, distribution centers, transportation and shipping companies, vendors, and producers. When a product is created and then manufactured, that product moves its way through the chain until it ends up in the hands of the consumer. As a company, your supply chain is essential to helping you maintain a seamless operation and satisfied customers. The speed at which the product moves through the supply chain varies based on the nature of your business, who your suppliers are, and the shelf-life of the product. Some products have shorter shelf-lives where their progression through the supply chain is constant with extremely time-sensitive turnaround time from when the product is ordered, to when it is created, to when it gets to the customer. Other products have longer shelf lives that allow for the creation of bulk inventory orders that can potentially qualify for steeper discounts. Bulk orders allow companies to stockpile inventory, which can be beneficial, especially if the supplier is overseas. Sure,  it’s great to have an abundance of inventory on hand, however, a company also needs to find a balance to ensure that they do not have too much capital tied up in inventory.  A seamless supply chain can help save costs and ensure customers’ orders are fulfilled in an efficient and timely manner while making sure a company does not have too much stock on hand. Having the perfect amount of inventory in stock can ensure that a company is fulfilling orders while still maximizing the amount of working capital they have at any given time. 

How does a supply chain work?

As we just discussed, a supply chain is an interconnected system of producers, suppliers, vendors, distribution centers, transportation companies, wholesalers, and retailers. Depending on the product, a supply chain can be incredibly complex involving numerous entities across several continents. So, how does a supply chain actually work? Here is a basic breakdown of how a supply chain works in the modern era.

First, let us look at a supply chain in the simplest form. There are five main steps that every supply chain contains.

  1. Sourcing and extraction of raw materials. 
  2. Manufacturing the extracted materials into the fundamental parts of a product.
  3. Assembling those manufactured parts into finished products.
  4. The sale of the finished products to consumers. 
  5. The delivery of the finished products to consumers. 

Under the umbrella of these five steps, many coordinated tasks are happening at the same time to progress the finished products from the manufacturer to the consumer. Tasks such as:

  • The creation of contracts, documentation, and the establishment of expectations between the different parties within the supply chain. 
  • The movement of goods from one place to another, or from one organization to another.
  • The storage of goods while they are progressing through the supply chain.
  • The accurate tracking and managing of stock and inventory.
  • Supply and demand management.
  • The tracking and authentication of goods.
  • The distribution of goods to the consumer.

A supply chain should be constantly monitored, and goods should be tracked through the supply chain to identify trouble areas and to allow for optimization. The individuals responsible for this type of monitoring are called supply chain managers. Supply chain managers also monitor the supply chain daily to identify issues and to work to resolve them to maintain the seamless flow of goods through the supply chain. 

How important is supply chain management?

A well-managed and efficient supply chain increases profits by reducing operating costs and preventing wasteful spending. For example, inefficiencies in the supply chain have a way of rippling through the entire chain which can cause delays and cause profits to decrease. For example, delayed products from the distributor to the wholesaler can cause a retailer to cancel orders rather than fulfill them. Another example, an order that is lost by a transportation company en route from the fulfillment center to the customer can result in the need for a replacement product needing to be shipped. Each of the scenarios can cause overall profits to decrease. 

What does the future hold for the supply chain?

The nature of supply chain solutions as we know it is going through a drastic transformation. How do the forces of automation and artificial intelligence play a role in the future of the supply chain? Digitization? The green movement? Each of these will play a major role in the shaping of how supply chains work in the future. Let us take a close look at a few of these driving forces of change.

  • Automation and AI: Automation and AI will change the way information is shared across the supply chain as well as change how goods are manufactured. The more goods that are manufactured through automation, the more jobs will be lost. 
  • Sustainability focus: How raw materials are sourced is currently under a microscope of scrutiny, maybe for the best. However, there is increasing global pressure from consumers to source materials sustainably and to leave as little an environmental impact as possible. Sustainability also heavily applies to the transportation industry. How can we move goods along the supply chain while decreasing air pollution and environmental degradation? The future of the supply chain is green. 
  • Digitization: The digitization of the supply chain will change how supply chain managers analyze data to make improvements. It also changes everything from how purchase orders are submitted, how orders are tracked, and how money is moved to pay for goods and services in the supply chain, including the use of crypto-currencies and blockchain technologies. 

These are just a few of the many driving forces that are creating drastic changes in the supply chain. The future of the supply chain will be greatly transformed in the next decade, and if you are a small business owner, it is important to evolve alongside the supply chain in order to make sure your business can compete in a changing market and landscape. 

Tips to future-proofing supply chains

If you are a small business owner, you may want to consider taking some important future-proofing steps in order to prepare yourself for the future to better compete in a constantly evolving marketplace. Here are a few small steps you can take to better prepare for the future of the supply chain.

  1. Complete digitization and digital integration of the entire supply chain.
  2. Identify supplier relationships that are sustainable and consistent. Complete digitization will allow businesses to better analyze their supplier relationships to identify inefficiencies. 
  3. Automation in the supply chain. For example, automating procurement may allow an AI to identify low stock items and automatically order them when stock falls below a certain threshold. 
  4. Adopt ethical and responsible practices that are fair trade, fair labor, and sustainable. 

These are just a few of the many small steps that a business can take to make sure that their supply chain is prepared for the future. 

Grow your business with Kickfurther

As a business owner you will need to invest in several areas to help your business grow. As you expand operations, cash flow may get tight. If you need access to cash for inventory, you may need to consider financing options. What detours most business owners from financing is the cost and qualification requirements. At Kickfurther, we can help lower costs and make it easier to qualify. 

Access the funds you need to grow your business. . . visit Kickfurther today!

How to Increase Customer Retention for Your Ecommerce Business

Posted on by Kaylyn Perry

Finding creative ways to increase customer retention can help grow your eCommerce business. In the eCommerce world, consumers have an unlimited amount of access to products and services. Without human interaction, it can be difficult to retain customers or educate them on why they should do business with you. So how do you increase customer retention while growing revenue in the eCommerce space?

Why is customer retention important for eCommerce businesses?

Customer retention is extremely important for any type of business. Restaurants, clothing stores, and even gas stations do everything they can to make sure that their customers are loyal and that they return time after time. This idea of customer retention is especially important for an eCommerce business. For an eCommerce business, a slight increase of customer retention by 5% could see an increase of profits by anywhere from 25% to 95%. For all business owners, there is a general rule that you may learn in business school or find out through your experience. The general rule is that 20% of your customers will bring in 80% of your total revenue. Repeat customers are not only important for increasing profits and generating revenue, they are also important because they can be your best advocate. Satisfied and loyal customers are more likely to recommend your business to their friends and family and on social media. Essentially, by building a loyal customer base, you are building a small army of advocates that do not directly take money from your marketing budget, who will fiercely defend and recommend your products. 

Another reason why customer retention is so important for an eCommerce business is that acquiring new customers is much more expensive than taking care of your loyal customers. It is estimated that acquiring a new customer who then turns into a loyal customer can cost up to 16 times more than simply nurturing an existing one. Although you will want to strive to add new loyal customers to your customer base, you will want to make sure you take care of your existing loyal customers. A small eCommerce business owner can become too focused on advertising to new customers to acquire growth that they begin to lose some of their existing customers. This is short-sided. The key to long-term and stable profitability for any eCommerce business is to maximize the number of repeat purchases and to retain the highest percentage of existing customers possible. 

It is for these reasons why it is extremely important for an eCommerce business to pay close attention to their customer retention metrics and to make adjustments to ensure positive results. The customer retention metrics that any eCommerce business owner will want to pay close attention to are the repeat customer rate, purchase frequency, and the average order value. The repeat customer rate shows you how many of your customers have returned to your website for at least a second time. The purchase frequency metric shows you how many purchases a customer makes through your website. The average order value is a metric that you will want to improve over time. Once you have repeat customers coming to your website to make frequent purchases, how do you increase the overall value of their orders? By paying attention to these three main customer retention metrics, you can see if your marketing efforts to increase customer retention are effective or not. 

What are the benefits of eCommerce customer retention strategies?

There are many benefits to implementing e-commerce customer retention strategies. The main benefit is building a loyal customer base that will make frequent and repeat purchases which will increase your profitability and help your business generate revenue. It is estimated that an eCommerce business is 40% more likely to sell to an existing customer than they are to convert a new customer. Aside from these types of statistics of how repeat customers potentially generate the most revenue and increase profitability, what other benefits can be seen by implementing e-commerce customer retention strategies? Let us take a deeper look at a few benefits that can come from focusing on retaining customers.

  • Return customers are more profitable: It is estimated that return customers can generate on average 23% more profit than the average customer. However, it is important to know that a satisfied customer only comes back to a business if that business can build brand loyalty. It is not enough to simply give a customer a good first-time experience, they need to be encouraged to return the implementation of customer retention strategies. 
  • Return customers provide more feedback: Loyal customers are much more likely to leave feedback, write product reviews, and/or complete customer satisfaction surveys. The means for an existing customer to leave feedback should be simple, quick, with a focus on quality over quantity. A few good product reviews are much better than 10 vague reviews. That being said, a product that contains at least five quality customer reviews is 270% more likely to sell than a product with no reviews. You may want to encourage existing customers to leave their reviews by incentivizing the process. By offering special promotions or discounts in exchange for leaving feedback, you could potentially increase the number of quality reviews on your website and on social media. 
  • Loyal customers make good advocates: A loyal customer who is always satisfied with their experiences may be more willing to recommend your products to friends and family as well as answer questions from potential new customers on social media. For example, someone in a Facebook group may create a post looking for product suggestions to solve a particular dilemma they have. A loyal customer who has had great experiences with one of your products is much more likely to chime in and recommend your business. 
  • Return customers are cost-effective: It takes far less advertising dollars to encourage a customer to make additional purchases than it does to acquire a new customer. 

These are just a few of the many benefits that having a strong customer retention program can bring to your business. You should still always work on acquiring new customers, but try not to lose focus on your existing loyal customers in the process. 

Effective tips to increasing customer retention

There are many ways to increase customer retention for your ecommerce business. Loyalty programs, special offers, personal correspondence, and encouraging customers to follow your social media profiles, are all effective ways to increase retention. Since customer retention is so important to an online business, here are a few more tips on how to increase your customer retention. 

  • Use social media to nurture your customers: Give incentives to your customers to follow your business’s social media profiles. Create engaging content, promote new products, and offer exclusive discounts and promotions to your social media followers. Create an online presence and community of loyal customers. 
  • Email marketing: Trigger-email marketing is a productive way to advertise to customers who have already made at least one purchase on your website. Sending out targeted emails at the right time can increase open rates and click-through rates. 
  • Customer loyalty programs: Customer loyalty programs can be an effective tool to encourage repeat purchases. Reward your loyal customers and they will reward your business with all the benefits that come with having a loyal customer base. 
  • Coupons/promo offers: By including coupon codes and promo offers in your email marketing campaigns, you can ensure that your repeat customers feel special since they are receiving an incentive that is exclusive. 

Again, these are just a few of the many ways to improve your customer retention. One more simple and effective way to retain customers is to simply listen to them. What do they like about your products? What do they not like? Do they wish your business could also offer something you may not currently offer? Listening to your loyal customers is a way to make them feel appreciated and that you value their input, but it is also a way to grow your business by expanding into new markets and avenues you may not have realized unless you heard it from your customers. 

Conclusion

As an eCommerce business you can achieve impressive customer retention rates. However, just like any business, you will need to work for it. You will need to stay in front of your customers and treat them right. Finding more ways to connect to customers in a valuable way can help improve retention. As your eCommerce business grows, you may need to stock more inventory. If you do not have the right inventory levels, you may miss out on sales. In addition, you may be able to purchase inventory for a cheaper price if you order more volume. Regardless of the situation, eCommerce businesses often need to use inventory financing. Qualifying for inventory financing may be a challenge. Affording inventory financing may also be a challenge. Kickfurther is the world’s first online inventory financing platform that enables companies to access funds that they are unable to acquire through traditional sources. We connect brands to a community of eager buyers who help fund the inventory on consignment and give brands the flexibility to pay that back as they receive cash from their sales. This alleviates the cash-flow pinch that lenders can cause without customized repayment schedules, allowing your brand to scale quickly without impeding your ability to maintain inventory or financial flexibility.

Discover affordable inventory financing. . . visit Kickfurther today!

10 Top e-Commerce bloggers You Must Follow

Posted on by Kaylyn Perry

Any intelligent business owner understands that continual education is vital to maintaining and operating a successful and proven eCommerce business. The world of eCommerce is constantly evolving. It is critical that you and your business evolve as well. The key to this evolution is constantly learning from other seasoned and successful businesses owners and industry leaders. A simple way to keep up with advancements and changes in product sourcing, inventory management, marketing automation, and other eCommerce essentials is to read eCommerce blogs written by trusted industry sources. But, how do you know which eCommerce blogs are the most informative and helpful to small business owners like yourself? Here is our list of the 10 most trusted eCommerce blogs currently online.

Top 10 eCommerce Blogs To Follow

Sumo

Type of blog: General eCommerce blog with eCommerce tool recommendations and reviews.

The Sumo blog is an excellent general eCommerce information blog that started as a site that reviewed and recommended eCommerce web tools. Today, Sumo is a comprehensive eCommerce blog with two main sections, Sumo Stories and Sumo Growth Studies. Sumo Stories is a blog section that shares stories of successful growth case studies and advanced marketing lessons. Sumo Growth Studies offers in-depth analyses of some of the fastest-growing and most successful eCommerce businesses in the world. 

E-Commerce Nation

Type of blog: Community-based international eCommerce blog.

E-Commerce Nation is a community-based blog composed of business owners from around the world. The main focus of this blog is to provide a platform where individuals can share their experiences and expertise with an emphasis on logistics, marketing, conversion, and helping eCommerce businesses leap into internationalization. Something that sets this blog apart from other blogs is the type of content that is offered. E-Commerce Nation works with industry experts to create webinars, live interviews, podcasts, and infographics. 

Oberlo

Type of blog: Specialized blog for drop shippers.

Oberlo caters specifically to small businesses that center around dropshipping. This blog is regularly updated with information about social media advertising, trending products, and how to optimize your conversion rate. Oberlo specifically has sections devoted to what kind of products to sell and how to market your store. 

Beeketing

Type of blog: Digital marketing blog. 

Beeketing is an eCommerce blog that is a respected source for all things digital marketing. From marketing automation to email marketing, from conversion optimization to social marketing, Beeketing covers it all. Also on this site, there are practical guides to many subjects that can give step-by-step instructions using case studies. Beeketing also has a Growth Stories section that analyzes bigger brands and how they became successful. 

Smile.io

Type of blog: A blog focused on customer retention. 

There are few subjects in eCommerce that are as important as customer retention. Smile.io focuses on that very subject. Covering important topics like loyalty programs, referral policies, rewards, and the psychology of average consumers. Customer retention should be a goal of every business owner for several reasons, however, one main reason is that it is much more cost-effective to keep a repeat customer than to acquire a new one. 

Ecommerce Platforms

Type of blog: eCommerce software solutions blog.

If you are looking for a blog that is entirely devoted to the latest developments in eCommerce software solutions, then Ecommerce Platforms is your best option. The blog is managed by famous web designer Catalin Zorzini. Many blog posts are up-to-date lists of the best eCommerce resources and tools on the internet. 

A Better Lemonade Stand

Type of blog: A blog designed for eCommerce beginners. 

If you are a small business owner just starting out on the eCommerce adventure, then A Better Lemonade Stand is the perfect blog to provide decision-making advice through every stage of a business and its operations. Blog entries can cover subjects such as selling on Amazon or eBay, digital marketing, and dropshipping. Part of their catalog includes various video training webinars. 

Nerd Marketing

Type of blog: A blog focused on scalability and growth. 

Nerd Marketing focuses on helping entrepreneurs who are looking to expand their business. Growth is vital for any eCommerce business that is looking to establish its presence in the industry and make its brand a household name. This blog focuses on the steps that need to be taken to foster that type of growth. 

Ecommerce CEO

Type of blog: Comprehensive eCommerce blog covering all the basics. 

Ecommerce CEO is a blog that focuses on making the idea of creating an online business a reality for individuals who may not have gone to business school. This blog has the unique ability to take complex eCommerce concepts and make them easy to understand and digestible by the average person. The main focuses of the blog include reviews of the best eCommerce platforms and tools, marketing strategies, and complete guides for building online stores from scratch. 

Ecommerce Fuel

Type of blog: A blog geared toward writing copy and SEO best practices. 

Ecommerce Fuel is a blog that focuses on how to utilize SEO and how to write compelling copy to run a successful online store. Main subjects include SEO, community building, business optimization, scaling, brand positioning, Facebook advertising, influencer marketing, and logistics. 

How can eCommerce blogs be helpful?

eCommerce blogs are extremely helpful because they do all the research necessary to give helpful advice to business owners who may not have the time to research themselves. Finding eCommerce blogs that are insightful, trusted, and filled with knowledge of various subjects pertaining to managing an online store can be an extremely beneficial tool for any business owner. Looking for advice on what kind of products are trending for dropshippers? Check out Oberlo for their access to blogs about their market research into the most sought after products currently on the market. Need advice on how to write quality copy that is optimized with SEO best practices? Then, maybe some time reviewing the well-written blog content over at Ecommerce Fuel may be exactly what you are looking for. Whatever information you are looking for, the knowledge to help you along the way to developing and maintaining a successful eCommerce website is out there for you to digest. There are even some blog sites, like Ecommerce CEO, that can walk you through every step of the way to create your own site and successfully market it. 

Conclusion

We are not going to lie to you, creating and managing a successful eCommerce website is hard work that requires patience and constant learning. Constant learning is best practice for many things in life, however, when it comes to eCommerce, it is vital. The industry is constantly changing. New tools are constantly being developed. New schools of thought are emerging. It would be overwhelming to expect you to keep up on all the aspects of eCommerce on your own. That is why trusting the research to eCommerce blogs that obtain their information from various leaders in the industry can help you save time and energy by cutting through the noise and giving you access to the most pertinent information. The internet is filled with a plethora of knowledge, however, sometimes people need a little help to know where to look for the information they need. That is why we have created this list of our top 10 favorite eCommerce blog websites. 

Guide to Facebook Ads for Ecommerce Businesses

Posted on by Kaylyn Perry

Facebook ads for eCommerce businesses can drive sales and expedite growth. However, you will need to formulate an effective Facebook eCommerce strategy to be successful. You will want to know exactly who you are targeting and communicate a clear and concise message. If your target market is too broad, you may end up wasting marketing efforts on Facebook. 

What are Facebook Ads?

Facebook Ads are essentially a way of advertising through the Facebook platform. But not just in the traditional Facebook feed that you may be accustomed to. When you create a Facebook Ad and campaign, your advertisement can be displayed across the Facebook feed, Facebook Messenger, and on other websites simultaneously. When you have a product, brand, or company Facebook page, anyone can come to your page and see what your brand is about or what kind of products your company sells. You can create that page for free and promote it on your own for no charge. However, you then never know how many people are seeing your posts, how many clicks or views you are receiving, and who is looking at your content. When you create a Facebook Ad, you are creating a paid message that then can be promoted. Your message can come in the form of a video, slideshow, image, or simply just text, and you can target the demographics that your brand is looking to reach. With targeting advertising through Facebook Ads, you can create content that represents your brand positioning and reach the audience that is most likely to respond to your messaging. Facebook Ads can be extremely important for any eCommerce business, whether just starting out, or if you are a large business. It is estimated that around 68% of all adults in the US have an active Facebook account. If you are looking to reach an international audience, Facebook has over 2.4-billion users worldwide. Of all the users that Facebook has, the average user spends at least 35-minutes on Facebook each day. This is why many social media marketers think that Facebook offers a higher return on investment than any other social media platform out there. 

How does Facebook Ads Work?

If you are looking for the most basic breakdown of how Facebook Ads work, the first step is to choose your ad format and where you want to direct potential users. For example, do you want to promote your brand’s Facebook page? Or, do you want to promote your own website? You can even promote specific posts on your Facebook post or posts that others created on your page. Basically, where are you going to direct users to? Next, choose your format. Are you creating video content? An image? You can also choose a slideshow or from many other formats. Once you have created your ad, let us say a video ad to direct users to your website, then you can select what demographics you would like to target. You can select your demographic by gender, age range, location, and profile interests. You can choose precise interests like a particular band or movie, or broad categories like music, film, or business/technology. Once you have picked who you want to specifically advertise to, you need to set a budget and then a bid for either each click or per 1,000 impressions your ad receives.

 Why do you need a Facebook Ads eCommerce strategy?

Having a solid Facebook Ad eCommerce strategy is essential for any business, however, not all businesses are made for the Facebook platform. The first step of developing a successful Facebook Ads strategy is to determine if your business is right for the Facebook Ads model. Once you have determined that your business is indeed a match for using the Facebook Ads platform, then it is no different than developing a regular eCommerce marketing strategy. One of the most important things you should know before starting your Facebook Ads campaign is who your target market is and who you would like to sell your products to. Knowing this beforehand is going to be critical to running successful ad campaigns. You may have different target audiences for different products based on the price or nature of the product, but you need to know who is going to respond to your brand and to which products. Having an idea of who your target market is combined with a thorough Facebook Ads eCommerce strategy will set you apart from your competition. It can also help you develop future products or services with the best profit-making potential. You will also be able to see how well your audience responds or not to your advertising techniques, and you will know how to adjust those techniques for future campaigns. Your Facebook Ads eCommerce strategy should also have specific goals, whether monthly or quarterly, and you should hold yourself accountable if you do not meet your goals, and then adjust accordingly. Having a Facebook Ads eCommerce strategy before you even post your first ad is essential. 

Facebook Ads Tips for eCommerce Businesses

Once you learned how to properly create your own Facebook Ads advertisements and you have developed a thorough Facebook Ads eCommerce strategy, then it is time to remember some important tips about what makes a successful ad on the Facebook platform. Here are some tips on how to create a captivating and successful advertisement using Facebook Ads. 

  1. Communicate your brand’s story: Oftentimes people do not respond well to strict product advertisements on Facebook. Communicate your brand’s story, your identity, your brand’s mission statement, and connect with your audience rather than simply trying to sell them something. 
  2. Use captivating and high-quality imagery: When Facebook users are scrolling, the idea is to make them stop scrolling. How can you do that with a poor quality stock photo image that has nothing captivating to pull in the user? 
  3. Make original and creative offers: Everyone does love a 50% off sale, however, it’s not creative or original and some people might simply overlook it. Try contests, giveaways, or other exciting offers that are not like every other advertisement on Facebook. 
  4. Create urgency: Urgency is one of the oldest tricks in advertising. If a person knows they can get the sale or offer at any time, then why would they click on it now? 
  5. Use engagement: People like to be heard and responded to. By creating an ad that encourages users to engage with the brand, you can potentially get more people to interact with one another along with the brand and begin to create a community around the brand. Part of engagement is being responsive. If someone posts a question or concern, be sure to respond promptly. 
  6. Be authentic: There is nothing more that people hate than to have a brand think they are not intelligent consumers. Phony advertisements, big promises, cheesy ad copy, will only deter customers from engaging with the ad. Be authentic about who you are, what you are trying to achieve, and how the user can help you achieve it. Intelligent consumers want nothing more than honesty. They know ultimately that you are trying to sell them something in the end, and how you treat them is everything. 

Creating captivating advertisements using the Facebook Ads platform is not entirely difficult if you remember these tips and use some common sense practices. You are most likely a consumer yourself. So think, what would you like to see in advertisements coming through your news feed? 

Conclusion

Growing an eCommerce business usually requires capital. If you plan on growing sales, you will want to make sure you have plenty of inventory. With more funds allocated toward marketing, you may need to use financing to supplement other parts of your business. At Kickfurther businesses can secure the funds they need to ensure they always have plenty of inventory available. Discover a simple funding process at Kickfurther along with flexible repayment schedules. Kickfurther is up to 30% cheaper than other options. Avoid the obstacles that most eCommerce businesses encounter while obtaining financing. Instead, visit Kickfurther today for affordable funding options.

Grow your business with affordable inventory financing. . . apply at Kickfurther today!

How to Grow Your Business with Instagram Influencer Marketing

Posted on by Kaylyn Perry

Influencers; you’ve probably heard of them, but what do they really do? Influencers are often used to advertise products in an indirect manner. Once an individual has a following on social media that has shared beliefs, they may become an influencer. For example, a yoga teacher may share information about yoga, yoga clothes, lotions to relax muscles, and so forth. Companies may send this yoga teacher samples of their products to try. If the yoga teacher/influencer likes them, they can form a partnership to share information about the products. Consumers often appreciate a real marketing approach. Influencer marketing is booming and should continue to grow. 

What is Instagram influencer marketing?

An Instagram influencer is an Instagram user that has cultivated a considerably large following through years of engagement with their audience. An Instagram influencer has established credibility in a particular niche, while at the same time, having a voice that is unique, engaging, and persuasive. Their presence on Instagram has the power to impact various markets due to the fact that their followers see them as authentic and trustworthy. They have the power to influence users to buy particular products and services that they recommend. Instagram influencer marketing then is when a brand collaborates with an Instagram influencer to expand the brand’s awareness, develop a positive identity for the brand, and/or help sell products or services that the brand offers. A company will work with the Instagram influencer to create, publish, and prompt brand-sponsored content in the form of photos, text, and videos. 

How Instagram influencer marketing works

Instagram influencers already have content that is entertaining and that engages their large audiences, therefore it is up to a company and the influencer to create a way to seamlessly integrate a brand’s product, service, event, or brand positioning into content that follows the framework of the influencers previous content. It may be off-putting for the influencer’s core group of followers, if by pairing with a particular brand, the content that they have grown accustomed to, and the content that they love, was suddenly a complete reversal of everything they have come to know. If this is the case, the influencer could lose followers, and the entire marketing campaign could potentially backfire. Some of the easiest ways that influencers and companies try to make Instagram influencer marketing campaigns subtle is through product placements, hashtag campaigns, event appearances, and creative campaigns. You may already know what a product placement or hashtag campaign is, or what event appearances are, but what is meant by Instagram influencer creative campaigns. Here is an example of some of the more common creative campaigns that companies use when launching an Instagram influencer marketing campaign.

  • Host giveaway: A host giveaway is where an influencer asks users to complete a task like entering an email address, following a brand’s account, liking, commenting on, or sharing a post, and in exchange, they could win a highly valuable prize. This tactic can help a company collect email addresses, gain followers, and/or create some excitement around a brand or a particular product or service.
  • Affiliate marketing: Affiliate market is an interesting approach that gives incentive to the influencer to come up with ways to promote your product or service on their own. Their compensation is a percentage of every sale that comes from a direct referral from content created by the influencer. It is a win-win situation. The influencer gets paid for their efforts and the company gets the sale. Additionally, the company does need to invest time or energy in helping create the content. The influencer is incentivized to do all the work on their own. 
  • Product seeding: Companies often send their products as gifts to Instagram influencers hoping to score some free publicity. Influencers can record reaction videos of them receiving and opening their gifts. These videos then can be used to launch marketing campaigns around a new product. If the influencer loves the product, their followers who see the video reaction may be persuaded to purchase, or at a minimum, look deeper into the product or the brand. As an added bonus, the influencer can mention a special coupon code or a special offer that is only available for a limited time for the people who have reviewed the influencer’s reaction video.

These are just three examples of common ways that companies use Instagram influencers to help launch marketing campaigns around a product or service. The best part of Instagram influencer marketing is that a company, working with influencers, can be as creative as they would like to be in order to create the most engaging content to drive sales. 

Benefits of Influencer Marketing

With the rise of social media influencer marketing, the benefits of such campaigns are becoming more apparent. Here is a quick list of some of the benefits that companies who start social media influencer marketing campaigns enjoy. 

  • An influencer can bring trust and authority.
  • Effectively reaches target audiences through niche influencers. 
  • Enhances brand awareness. 
  • Sets trends.
  • Connects to a wider market than other forms of advertising.
  • Creates partnerships between the company and the influencer.
  • Generates leads.
  • Helps content strategy. 
  • Offers tangible value.

These are just a few of the many benefits a company can enjoy by launching its own social media influencer marketing campaign. 

Types of social media influencers

When it comes to different types of social media influencers, you can categorize them in different ways. You can categorize them by the type of content niche they are associated with, and you can categorize them by how many followers they have. When it comes to content niche, there are twelve main categories that social media influencers fall into. The content niche of a popular social media influencer may be one of the following categories: parenting, fashion, beauty, travel, photography, bloggers/vloggers, sports and fitness, and gamers. When it comes to categorizing social media influencers by the number of followers they have, you have the four main categories seen here. 

  • Nano influencers: Nano influencers are social media users with 1,000 to 10,000 followers who have very engaged social media followings with high engagement rates. Nano influencers are great for small or midsize businesses with a smaller marketing budget who are looking to test a product launch or who are looking to cross into a new social media market niche. 
  • Micro-influencers: Micro-influencers are social media users with 10,000 to 100,000 followers who most likely are an authority in their specific niche. Although they have a large following, they are still engaged with their audience and they are seen as relatable by their followers. A company that is looking to generate focused leads in a particular niche may consider seeking the services of a micro influencer. 
  • Macro-influencers: Macro influencers typically have between 100,000 and 1-million followers. A macro influencer may be an internet celebrity or social media start. Since they may have a smaller engagement rate, a company may want to work with a macro influencer to bring brand awareness and to help establish a brand reputation.
  • Mega influencers: Mega influences have 1-million or more followers. They also tend to be celebrities that are already famous for other reasons other than their social media presence. A company looking to work with a mega influencer should already have a pretty large marketing budget since the services of mega influencers can be expensive. However, if a company can afford it, they can create brand awareness and reach millions of people in one well-planned and effective campaign. 

How businesses can leverage influencer marketing on Instagram

There are several ways that businesses can leverage social media influencer marketing on Instagram. They can create giveaways and contests, acquire reviews from influencers who are seen as authoritative figures in their niches, create special add-on sales and promo codes, and they can have influencers create testimonial videos. A company is only limited by their imagination and their marketing budget. 

Grow your business with Kickfurther

As you dive into new marketing approaches, you should expect sales to take off at some point, sooner than later. You will want to be prepared with plenty of inventory on hand. Inventory financing can help you access the funds you need to take your business to the next level. Oftentimes inventory financing is expensive and hard to qualify for, leaving business owners feeling hopeless. The good news is that Kickfurther was founded to help business owners like you. Discover affordable inventory financing at Kickfurther. The application process is simple and straightforward and so are the terms. Business owners can take advantage of flexible repayment terms. Kickfurther is up to 30% cheaper than other options. Even if you have a well established business, you may still need to use inventory financing. Kickfurther can help small and large businesses secure funding.

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Why growing manufacturers need ERP software to manage inventory and more

Posted on by Kaylyn Perry

Managing inventory as a manufacturer is difficult with spreadsheets for several reasons, especially when you start to expand operations. While spreadsheet-based inventory management systems assist manufacturers in the management of their company, they only make sense for small companies — especially when they have a limited budget to invest in an end-to-end ERP system. 

However, if your organization starts growing or you encounter issues with spreadsheets that affect your service delivery, it might be time to consider other alternatives such as ERP software. Here’s why and when you should turn to manufacturing ERP software for help.

 

Advantages of ERP software for scaling manufacturers

ERP software has several key advantages that can help improve your business processes compared to traditional methods of managing inventory using spreadsheets. 

Generally speaking, process improvements made possible with manufacturing ERP software can also increase revenue and decreased costs. But here are a few more benefits beyond higher returns that may convince you to make the switch.

  1. Improved accuracy 

ERP software can improve the accuracy of inventory management by eliminating manual entries and spreadsheets, improving data quality through the standardization of processes across data input points, and tracking relationships between items that are often not tracked in spreadsheet ERP systems. 

  1. Streamlining operations

Not only does ERP software improve the accuracy of inventory management, but it can also improve many other business processes. Many ERP software solutions have direct integrations with e-commerce and accounting platforms, allowing you to track all business operations and data in one place.

  1. Access to real-time information 

With traditional spreadsheets, some data is entered manually while some comes from a barcode scanner. So, for example, if you do not something, you won’t know if the data is wrong until you receive the physical product. ERP software provides a single source of truth for data, which is updated in real-time as transactions occur. This means that you always have access to the most accurate information possible.

  1. Reduced costs

ERP software can help reduce inventory costs by allowing users to create and manage Bills of Materials (BOMs). BOMs allow manufacturers to define the components that make up a product and track their relationships. This helps organizations make better decisions about what items to produce and how much stock to keep on hand.

  1. Better customer experience

Your customers drive your business, and ERP software can improve your customers’ experience by providing sales staff with real-time information about product availability and delivery dates. This allows them to provide more accurate information to customers and helps reduce the likelihood of missed sales opportunities.

  1. Other benefits beyond manufacturing

ERP software can help improve many other business processes, including accounting, purchasing, and human resources. For manufacturers who are struggling with managing inventory using spreadsheets, ERP software is a valuable solution that can improve accuracy, visibility, and performance. 

 

Manage growth and scale your business with Katana

This is a guest post from Katana. Katana is a manufacturing ERP that gives thousands of manufacturers a live look at their business. The cloud-based software comes with live inventory and manufacturing management features, batch tracking for end-to-end traceability, a Shop Floor App for total floor-level control, open API, and a growing channel partner network. 

Real-time master planning features also automate resource allocation based on prioritized sales orders and integrations with e-commerce, accounting, CRM, and reporting services to centralize your operations in one visual platform. Sign up for a free 14-day trial here.