Data Scorcher and Coming Trends

NOTE: This is an interesting research done in 2013, to see how accurate were these forcasts. Give it a quick read and let me know what you think? Were they on-point?

Today I finally took a moment to read through the 117 pages of the Kleiner Perkins Internet Trends 2013 with some good music playing and a cool drink.

I’ve been watching their reports since 2010 and they’ve been dead on, but more importantly for me is their accuracy for current trending in the social space.

Looks like Ms. Meeker lays down some current facts that the many business owners looking to better leverage their marketing dollars must to take notice of. Her report points out that (get this!) all social space has seen strong growth over the last two years except Facebook – where people are spending most of their wasted time. So what does this mean? I think that when it comes to quality of life or business improving initiatives, which is an ideal environment for martial art school owners and it means Facebook may not be the ideal place to spend your dollars.

Learn how I run my Dojo on one system. Seriously, it's simple.

Some quick insights you’ll find in this slideshare:

• Opportunity for mobile adoption into your business is mega-big right now. Still in the infancy stage.
• Global mobile usage bumped up 30% in 2012! … Holy s***t!
• 15% increase in folks going online via their mobile device from just a year ago.
• Mega growth opportunity in mobile has yet to even really start.
• Businesses spend $37B on adverts online, while mobile accounts for just $4B of the chunk… but the data says that folks are spending 12% of their time on their mobile things, meaning that accounts for just 3% of ad spent. Compare that to the 26 percent of time spent on the Internet, accounting for 22 percent of ad spend.

Do the math.

In this post, I’ve provided you with  that report. Read through these 117 pages of pure awesome content. Then I’ll offer some fundamental considerations from my perspective as a small business consultant that should be drafted from this data, and put to action.

Now that you’ve read it through, you may be asking what this has to do with your Dojo. Well, maybe nothing… If you strive for a continually diminishing student base. Let me tell you this very clearly, with experience and time spent working with many small businesses, there are solid, traditional busineses killing it right now. Going way beyond what their own goal set is. That’s right, killing it.

What are they doing? Paying attention to the power purchasing influencers. Where is the discussion to be had and what is the sentiment? Also, they’re pumping out super high value content with quality and consistency into their social media properties to generate massive traffic that points to a call to action.

Also, considering your customers take their smart phones with them into everywhere – and not always their laptop, magazine or coupon book pack, there are some immediate creative considerations you need to make based on the raw data above. Here’s what I would immediately speak to my clients about;

Is your Dojo’s website mobile ready?
Meaning, can I go on my iPhone, view your site and get it in a mobile version? If you’re like nearly 60% of the traditional business models I’ve researched, the answer is no. Most local business sites are garbled crap when viewed on mobile or tablet. And given the solutions available today, there’s no excuse for this. Given the data above, you’re losing prospective members because of it. Period.

Is your content mobile (or even web) optimized?
Stop putting 4,000 pixel images on your website. Mobile browsers hate that stuff, people leave your site as you clog their memory. Your images must be 72 dpi, where most cameras will shoot in 150-300 depending. Unknowingly, people will upload a whole drive of monster images and bottleneck their site’s performance, thus bounce would-be prospects right off your page. Are your file names, alt text and meta data set up to best serve your prospect’s mobile searches? If you have no clue what I’m talking about, go ask your web site developer this question or just youtube it.

Does your business have an app?
No excuse. Easy as pie with such solutions as Como Mobile. I have one for my Dojo, over 1,100 free downloads at the time of writing, accessed an average of 32 times per day, average time spent is 4.1 minutes on my app… $32 bucks a month. How’s your coupon book doin?

Are you serious about your website?
This is probably the most important question. My research on local market dependent small business says that chances are, no. 1 in 5 are doing ok at best. 1 in 12 are no-doubt generating solid prospects and conversions, while using this same site as their most valuable retention resource.

Most small business owners have outsourced to the cheapest solution, such as the phone-book free-page, some dish washer who’s doing web development in college or they’re trying to save some coin and do it themselves, (which is right up there with someone thinking they can self-learn being a karate teacher.) Nonsense to all of it!

Make the investment in your web and mobile efforts. Build a profit center based solutions that generates consistent and high value traffic for your shop. Synergize it with your social presence online, position your business as a destination point within your community by delivering consistent, high value content.

Those are some first steps and there’s a ton more I could write about this. If you’d like any help here, just give me a call and I’ll review, critique and help you map out a strategy for building greater market traction in your area. I’m here to help.

Hope you enjoyed the data, but more important is that I hope it resonates to create change within your school’s future.
– Adam

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