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Guide: Mobile Payments for Startups and Small Businesses
Innovating the payment process may be a great idea, but any entrepreneur looking to enter the innovative payment processing market should be aware of the following guidelines:
Don’t attempt to fix what is not broken. If your idea 
causes merchants or consumers to take extra steps to complete a process, are you really selling something that will be worth their effort? Will your customers have to invest in expensive new technology? Will transactions actually take more time than they currently do?
Don’t attempt to solve the problems of the customers. Customers really aren’t looking for new and exciting ways to pay for goods. There are lots of merchants and fewer customers, so gravitate toward the area you can help most expediently.
It’s not about your company. Consumers really don’t care who their payment processor is. Although credit and debit cards aren’t as smart as phones, they do work, so don’t think that flashy technology hardware with your company’s name embossed is the answer.
Go for startups. Big challenges, plus small aggregate numbers equals to big opportunities. Try for lots of small business victories that will eventually add up.
Watch out for standalone wallets.We all know that Square has been successful, but there is little room for digital standalone wallets. Don’t be fooled by one company’s lucky experience.
Don’t build a business on QR codes. Only Japan has seen success with these and even there, scanning phone numbers is becoming a more preferred method.
Stay away from NFC. Those who think NFC is the next best thing may very well be disappointed. NFC checkouts can take longer than credit cards.
Social media is not your savior. No one wants to stream purchase data and platform risk can be a big issue.
Banks are worried about becoming commodities. If you can somehow help them to retain their indispensability, you’ll be a winner.
As in any business, services and service reign supreme. This business is no different. If you want your company to gain customer loyalty, customer service needs to be your main concern.
Watch for Amazon, Google and Starbucks to totally reshape this payment industry. Pay attention to the above guidelines and you can go along for the ride.
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, a leading provider of virtual offices for entrepreneurs and small businesses. They entail a prestigious business address in cities across the US, a Virtual Phone Services for answering and forwarding your business calls, courier services and more. Google +
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Staggering Towards Revenue: 3 Start-Up Case Studies
Internet marketing is not what it used to be. Not so long ago, it was thought by many established technical entrepreneurs that you could build up the fan base for your Internet service, and turn the popularity into cash.
This is no longer the case, and it’s not as easy to move from Likes to generating a profit.
Insubstantial Returns
Startups like Pinterest, Tumblr and Foursquare are now 
beginning to notice the bind that they’ve managed to squeeze into. Unless they were set up with some sort of monthly payment plan, quick profit with minimal effort takes the form of an advertising move.
Some of these startups have resolved to free themselves from the bind, however. Tumblr is expected to bring mobile advertising into its marketing strategy. This comes but a few months after users were afforded the option of buying more desirable post placement.
Though, Pinterest seems to be taking a slightly different approach. Like Facebook, Pinterest will now afford marketers viewer demographics, and a running tab of their most popular posts, and this takes the stance that viewer activity is valuable to Pinterest users. Assuming you could then turn the activity into profit, you could see a substantial return.
As web-marketing tools become more popular, they drive the price of established services down, which puts a serious hold on established services’ ability to turn a profit.
Competition
Another reason that Tumblr and Pinterest may be having trouble connecting the dots is because someone else is pointing them out on the map. Instead of focusing on direct marketing strategies, Foursquare is now providing location data to affiliated companies. Internet business like Path, Vine, Instagram and Evernote, as well a multitude of other location-based features are run by Foursquare.
Many entrepreneurs find this to be extremely clever. Foursquare has chosen to leave the direct marketing ring, and turned itself into a business to business web-tool. Through Foursquare, companies can request location data and retrieve it, making the web-tool an extremely valuable small business asset.
Still, Facebook is already using location data, though in a different template. Either way, it is predicted that it may replace Instagram in the near future. It is also important to note that the data revolution could drive down the profits of individual companies, like Tumblr and Pinterest, as more of the same means more competition. Small business owners should be able to rise above this. By the time the first consumer is aware that a marketing trend has begun to take shape, the small business owners who intend to stay in business will have long moved onto something else.
About Jim Jacques
Jim Jacques is the President of United Virtual Office, which provides business owners with virtual office services to help them save money and grow their business. Virtual Offices include a prestigious business address in myriad U.S. cities, Virtual Phone Services, courier services and more. Google +
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