Mobile Marketing Advice That You Can Trust

Mobile marketing might appear very complicated at first. Once you know what you are doing, it can be a very profitable strategy. If you don't know what you are doing, you can lose a lot of money or lose customers. Fear not, the tips listed below can help you avoid this.

Be prompt with your messages. This goes along perfectly with being relevant. You can send out an email about something happening, but it doesn't always translate when you need to send a text message. Don't be too early or too late with your messages. For example, you can announce a sale minutes before the store opens, versus days.

Have a goal. Do not start a mobile marketing campaign until you know exactly why you want to have one. You may want to have extra revenue or draw in more readers, but whatever the reason, you need to track the information you receive to find out if your program is really successful.

When developing content for mobile marketing, be sure that you portray a sense of urgency along with a reason for your customer to perform at least some type of action. This is important because the fear of missing out on something special is one of the best sales techniques in existence. Also, without an action for the customer to take part in, you are failing to bring in any immediate business.

Negative impressions of your brand can spread like wildfire over the internet, so you want to attempt to jump out in front of negative buzz with a positive spin. Mobile marketing reaches a lot of people, and things can become popular or unpopular in a hurry. If something's becoming unpopular, fix it before it catches on.

So as you can see, mobile marketing is not as complicated as it may appear. You do need to research the basics, and methodically apply what you learn. With the above tips in mind, you should be smarter and more effective when it comes to creating your mobile marketing plan.

Excellent Source Of Information For Anyone Looking To Purchase Wine

Are you a wine lover? If so, then you aren't alone because millions of people from all over our planet love all the different kinds of wine that exist. However, in order to enjoy wine, you need to be knowledgeable about it. Continue reading to learn some advice for enjoying your glass of wine.

Bring along your wine resources with you to the store. There is so much information on wine out there, and bringing along different source materials can help you make better choices. Items like brochures, magazines, books, and websites have great information to pick the best wine for your plans.

Consider purchasing a wine from a lesser-known region of the world. While everyone gravitates toward wines from France or California, there are great varieties to be found most everywhere! You might find a lovely red wine in North Carolina or a never heard winery in Australia. Give a few a try, and enjoy the variety, they bring to your table.

A great tip if you're interested in buying wine is not to get too carried away with buying a lot of wine that you currently like. Tastes change all the time, and you might regret packing your wine cellar with a bunch of wine that you happen to like right now.

Do you need a wine all your guests will enjoy? Instead of choosing a rare wine people might not appreciate, choose a Beaujolais, a Chilean, a Sauvignon or a Cava from Spain. These wines are easy to find and offer enough diversity to remain interesting for connoisseurs without making novices feel like they are sophisticated enough to enjoy the wine.

As you have just seen, there is a lot more to wine than you probably realized. When it comes to wine, you need to know how to buy it, store it, drink it, etc. The above article provides an excellent array of tips so that you are certain to enjoy wine to the fullest.

How NOT to Move Your Business to Mobile

Mobile is a great platform that has worked exceedingly for some companies, but the platform is still young and going through some growing pains; this means that your results from mobile marketing and design/development campaigns can be hit or miss.

Which takes us to the sorrowful case of Pizza Hut's new mobile campaign. Don't get us wrong, we love Pizza Hut, especially Pizza Hut's new Crazy Cheesy Crust Pizza, which is already up for an award from our staff. However, their new iOS app is -- in our opinion -- ugly, lacks a quality user interface (UI), and is cumbersome.

From The Intro Screen, Pizza Hut App Looked Promising

We downloaded this app, and were excited from the get-go. The intro video included very good high resolution graphics and delicious toppings flying around the screen of our iPads and on AppleTV, but the awe soon worn off when we arrived at the first functioning screen.

Where it All Starts to Unravel

To the left, you will see the screen we are talking about. While the graphics still look okay -- though you can tell that less work was put into this screen than the intro -- the functionality goes to pot. 

Don't worry about which button to choose, as the flow of the app is so bad, that you will be taken to the same screen no matter which you click on. The page you are brought to is the hideously designed order page, which will be the exhibit B that we get into next.

Simply Unattractive Design

(To the Right) Exhibit B is here for you to see, where a sliding app development project goes from bad to worse. By this point, design wasn't much of a motivating factor. The over-sized buttons could have been made more attractive, but the patterned red background is what really kills this screen. 

I wish we could say that the app got better from this point, but we would be lying.

As if the previous screen weren't designed bad enough, expediting our request as either delivery or carryout only brings further shame. That lovely picture box of flying toppings plays host to shadow-box fields where you must immediately enter in all of your information before even seeing a menu or having any other option to move forward. (See the nightmare image below).

Almost Illegible Before you Start Typing in Black Font

And here is where Pizza Hut is certain to lose more customers than just we that are testing this app... The information fields. Whoever had the idea to make this a black shadow box on dark red with black type is criminally insane. When you start typing your personal information, the black type is nearly impossible to decipher, making corrections frustrating (A huge problem for iPhone users, but still a concern for iPad users). It was at this point that we did not want to continue further in the app, as we felt this was the pivotal point where the entire idea of the app -- and certainly millions of dollars of design and development work -- were wasted. 

Disappointed, we decided to compare the ordering process of the application, to the ordering process of the mobile website for Pizza Hut. Only then did we find that the mobile problems were across the board for Pizza Hut.

To the right, you will find the mobile landing page for pizzahut.com. Even worse than the application, this mobile site should have been first and foremost in the marketing department's eyes and should have been optimized before anyone brought up the idea of an iOS app. Not only are they trying to divert us (the customer) from ordering through the mobile site, and downloading the app, but ordering through this platform is even more convoluted than the interface of the application.

All in all, we have to classify Pizza Hut's entire approach to mobile marketing and interface as a FAIL!!! With all of the money spent on the app alone, the business should have had a clearer strategy from the get-go, and could have avoided this altogether. This is why it is so important to 

really think about your mobile marketing strategy, 

and avoid an embarrassing situation.

We must re-iterate though, that we love mobile marketing and apps, and believe that they can truly benefit a business. However, remember that the platform is still in its infancy, and even designers and developers don't have a full grasp on the capabilities and standards of mobile platforms. Be sure that you have a solid strategy for your app before you begin development; and please, please, please! Develop your mobile landing page before even considering an app.

Wine Information That Will Make You The Toast Of Your Next Party

Wine has been around since early times and there are people. Sometimes buying or drinking wine can lead to confusion.This article provides information to help you through the labyrinth of wine and its uses.

There are many different message boards online dedicated to wine. You may find a new wine that becomes one of your favorites from a suggestion made by another forum member.

Not every white wines should be chilled before serving. White wines do differ in texture, and can be served at various temperatures. Sauvignon blanc is at its best when chilled, while a chardonnay or pinot gris can stand to be a little warmer.

Trust your instincts when you experiment with wine. For instance, if a friend raves about a wine that they love and you know you are not a fan of that particular type, do not run out and purchase any. You might end up giving it away your money.

If a bit of lemon or butter would work, look for a wine that has one of these undertones. This is an excellent way you'll always have a lovely pairing.

When shopping for wine glasses, get the cheapest ones you can find. There are many retailers where you can get glasses, but search discount stores to find the best buy.

Pinot Noir is a great hostess gift if you're going to a party. Pinot Noir is very easy to serve with many different foods. It doesn't overwhelm any dish, but it isn't weak either. This really is a reliable choice.

Allow your wine to be exposed to the air. Red wines especially benefit from 15 minutes of breathing in order to give an optimal taste.It is not enough to just uncork your bottle. You might also want to try an aerator intended to make the process go faster.

Since you are now more knowledgeable about wine, navigating wine menus or wine stores will be more easy. You can then serve wine to your guests without getting frustrated. Your learning here will make you a sommelier before you know it.

Cash Registers Are Obsolete

Let's face it, cash registers have become obsolete -- at least in the forms we are used to seeing them for the past 100 years. Cash registers had their hay day during the cash hay day. Cash is not as popular as it once was. Plastic is today's preferred form of tender, and for a very good reason, because it is so flexible. That being said, the true champions of modern cash registers are POS systems that utilize credit cards and make billing and paying quite simple.

POS systems have also come along way since their original inception. Once just a simple touchscreen with boxes marked for items, today's POS systems are just as powerful as laptop and desktop computers. These new technical advances have made the process of paying more interactive and streamlined. Some restaurants are even using iPads as both a menu, which sends your order to the kitchen, and you can also use it to pay after your meal. This is both convenient for the business owner, and for the customer.

There are lots of innovative and interesting uses for POS systems beyond simply paying for goods or services. However, the bottom line, is that they are becoming the new standard for nearly every business in the world. If you haven't upgraded yet, what are you waiting for?

Restaurant Renovation Tips

It is a small business owner's dream, a retail outlet location that was already a restaurant before. It is the perfect location for a new restaurant, the lease is affordable, and restaurant equipment is already in place. Could it be anymore perfect?

Well hold on there, just a moment. This perfect location may be perfect on the outside, but how does it hold up under strict investigation? There are a few points of the restaurant that you want to pay particular attention to, before you declare this a pristine and perfect location.

Equipment

Restaurant equipment is not a huge deal, because ovens, stovetops, blast chillers and such can always be moved in and out and replaced at any time -- as long as you can afford it, that is.

Flooring

This aspect, however, is a very big deal. Anytime you are renovating a retail space, especially in the restaurant industry, you want to pull everything out the the bare floor. If there is tile flooring, the tile needs to be scraped off and removed in order to see what is below it. Grease, chemicals, dirt, and other unwanted filth can seep below carpets and tiles and create a health risk, or even a stability risk in floors and walls. This is why it is so important to remove, grind and polish all floors.

Wiring

This too is important to check, especially if you are going to be upgrading restaurant POS or computer systems. You need to ensure that the wiring is sufficient, and will be able to handle any upgrades.

There are many more items to look at when scouting restaurant locations, but these are a few of the most important, and will get you started. Stay tuned to Techno Burger for more tips on opening a restaurant later.

Creating Change With Restaurant Software

The experience that you are able to provide to a customer when they step foot into your business would likely have a very large impact on their spending habits in the future. When you have software that is old and outdated, it is very likely that you would suffer from delays when it comes to processing payments and getting customers out of your door and on with their day. The best restaurant software would be able to make sure that your business does not cause customers to wait in long lines as a result of difficulty processing payments. Instead, you would be able to take advantage of this technology to quickly checkout customers and provide them with great customer service in the process. Effective bar pos software focuses on allowing you tocomplete the transaction quickly and do so in a way that the customer is happy with. When you have many transactions to process in a short window of time, the software that you are using can make a very big difference. A great coffee shop pos can make it a much easier task to handle a large amount of customers without feeling as if you are under a large amount of pressure. 

The restaurant software that you are using should be well organized and simple to understand, this helps to eliminate an adjustment that you would have to take into account when hiring new employees. When your bar pos system is designed with simplicity in mind, you would not have to waste time getting your employees to understand difficult aspects of how to deal with customers based on the technology you are using. If the current system you are using requires too much effort on your part, you may want to consider switching to a coffee shop pos that would make your life a lot easier. When you do not have to worry about navigating the interface of your software, it becomes a lot easier to focus on offering goods and services people enjoy paying for. Having the right software in your business may be the key to turning over a new leaf.