How to Grow A Team of Influencers (And Why You Need Them)

Curious what an influencer is? Let’s start with a definition.  An influencer is someone with the power to affect (or influence) buying decisions due to their authority or public position.  Influencers are also content creators, publishing regular reviews, videos, and blog posts to engage their audience and encourage sales. Many influencers are minor celebs, but … Continue reading How to Grow A Team of Influencers (And Why You Need Them)

How to Grow A Team of Influencers (And Why You Need Them)

Curious what an influencer is? Let’s start with a definition. 

An influencer is someone with the power to affect (or influence) buying decisions due to their authority or public position. 

Influencers are also content creators, publishing regular reviews, videos, and blog posts to engage their audience and encourage sales.

Many influencers are minor celebs, but many stars like Kylie Jenner and Dwayne Johnson, for example, are also influencers due to their-mega popularity and their huge audiences.

Before we get down to what an influencer team could do for your business, let’s look at this growing trend.

Impact of Social Media Influencers 

Influencers, or content creators, if you prefer, are growing strong, and the worldwide marketing size now exceeds $16.4 billion. 

These days, there’s no doubting the impact of influencers. 

Research shows that consumers spend more time interacting with influencers, and they find the content ‘appropriate’ and ‘helpful’.

Consumers’ interest in influencers doesn’t end there, though.

Matter Communications research found that most (82 percent) shoppers have purchased, researched, or considered purchasing a product after influencers, family, or friends have talked about it online.

Additionally, according to the study, consumers are most interested in reading posts from influencers about:

  • Food and beverages
  • Health and wellness
  • Personal technology
  • Consumer goods
  • Beauty and personal care
  • Babies/kids

Commenting on the study, Matter President, Mandy Maidenoff, said:

“Brands of all sizes are grappling with how to shift or amplify their marketing, PR and social media strategies to adapt right now, and a challenge for many is how to authentically connect with consumers…Our data makes one thing clear: influencer marketing presents a unique and timely opportunity for companies to engage with a thoughtful, nuanced approach.”

I could go on, because there’s plenty of evidence available that shows the impact of social media influencers on brands.

However, why are influencers so popular? It’s quite simple, really. 

It’s because a recommendation from an influencer works just like a personal one would, and online, the effect gets amplified. 

By providing the power of an industry expert with a loyal following primed and ready to listen to their suggestions, these influencers can drive fast sales from relevant traffic sources, and that’s why influencers are one of my favorite ways to grow a business.

However, this doesn’t mean paying Kim Kardashian to post about your SaaS product. Instead, keep your focus on relevant, accessible influencers who can bring value and growth to your brand. Here’s how you can grow an influencer team for your company (and why you need them).

Why You Need Influencers in Your Marketing Strategy

Let me start off by telling you a story.

I recently went through the dreaded process of getting a new computer for both business and personal work.

Mine was breaking down, it was slow, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I reached out to a bunch of friends and fellow entrepreneurs to get their thoughts on what computers were the best.

A bunch of them suggested getting an Apple, but some said to buy a PC. No real specifics, just general ideas.

I left most of the conversations more confused than when they started.

I did tons of research online, scouring review sites for the best information, and it got me nowhere.

I still hadn’t made a purchase decision.

Until one friend told me to buy the 4k iMac from Apple.

Since my research had gone nowhere fast, I bought it.

Two monitors of an Apple Computer

Now I use it daily and love it.

The point is:

My friend influenced me to buy this product, and millions of purchases like this story happen daily worldwide, which brings me back to the whole point of this article: Influencer marketing is one of the best ways for marketers to grow their businesses.

I’ve not only found great success using influencers but have also participated in being an influencer.

It’s a great way to share products and content that you love and to get others to jump on board, too, and brands are spending big on influencers. Insider Intelligence predicts spending on United States influencer marketing increasing to $4.14 billion in 2022. Spending will increase from 2023 to approximately $5 billion.

Why? Typical advertising outlets aren’t working as well anymore.

Banner blindness is killing the display advertising strategies that we’ve come to know and love.

People are sick and tired of invasive ads. We see so many every day that we subconsciously tune them out or we block them.

Research shows 67 percent of consumers feel the quality of web advertising is declining, while desktop adblocking increased eight percent to 257 million. Mobile users are tired of ads, too, with the number of mobile users blocking ads increasing by 10 percent to a total 586 million.

It should be clear by now: If you’re relying on traditional advertising to fuel your business growth, these stats should sound alarm bells because it means people don’t want to see your ads anymore! They are annoying, plain, and simple.

That’s why you need an influencer campaign.

PPC display ads are going downhill fast, and I predict the typical advertising streams that once produced your best customers are likely to become non-existent

You know what that means: If you want to get the word out about your products and develop consumer trust, then that means working with an influencer, to at least some extent. 

Here’s another reason to start an Influencer campaign: they help you find a wider range of demographics. Just look at this survey from Rakuten.

It found that the impact of social influencers isn’t only effective at reaching the teenage demographic or promoting the latest trends. Additionally, Rakuten’s study found that seventy-four percent of the parents surveyed had brought an item shared online by a social media influencer.

Why? I’m telling you now that it’s not purely down to trust. It’s because social media influencers build relationships with their audience, turning them into buyers in time. 

Even your best display campaigns aren’t going to compare to the minimal effect of average influencer-marketing campaigns, but influencer campaigns are different. People love engaging with their favorite brands on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and more, so it’s not a shock that recommendations from these people deliver results.

I’ve clearly detailed the potential power of launching an influencer campaign. Now, let’s move on to the best tactics to use with influencers to grow your brand?

Popular methods tend to include:

You’ve got some ideas to kick off your campaigns. Are you ready to get started with influencer marketing? Let’s go.

Here’s how you can grow a team of influencers to get your business to the next level.

1. Set Campaign Goals

Setting campaign goals should always be your first step when conducting a new process.

The same goes for building out a team of influencers.

The influencer marketing scene is crowded with tons of famous celebrities who may be tempting to tap into but remember: You need relevant influencers who will drive relevant traffic to your products.

For example, check out beauty and fitness influencer Chanel Delisser. She’s secured partnerships with nutrition company GNC and appeared on TV shows and at conferences.

Chanel Delisser's Instagram page.

Now, I’m sure Delisser will excuse me for saying this, but she’s not a household name. However, that didn’t stop her from getting 1 million plus followers or getting sponsorships and invites for major events.

The point is, that it makes absolute sense for health-related companies to team up with Delisser.

Her Instagram account advocates a healthy lifestyle, she’s talking to the type of people most likely to buy these products, and she’s got a massive following.

Then there’s the engagement with her Instagram followers. Each post attracts hundreds, if not thousands of views and plenty of comments, so any health company teaming up with Delisser knows she’s got a keen audience ready to engage. 

In other words, they make the ideal pairing.

Think about it: If you sell SEO services, using Justin Bieber to spread the word probably wouldn’t do much for your brand besides draining your marketing budget.

The type of influencer you choose will have a huge impact on your success, so it’s imperative that you pick one in your niche or who embodies your audience.

Here’s a basic template that I’ve used to set concrete goals:

Influencer campaign goals

  • Influencer background info:
  • Name:
  • Age range:
  • Popular on social media platforms?
  • Influencer campaign revenue goal:
  • The number of expected posts:
  • Which platforms?:
  • Special notes:
  • Next, you must set realistic (yet specific) goals for the campaign.
  • Think about concrete data like:
  • This influencer campaign should drive $XX in sales by XX date
  • We will spend $XX and get $XX in sales
  • This campaign will last XX months to achieve the desired result
  • Once you’ve set achievable and realistic goals, it’s time to build your team of influencers.

2. Manually Search for Influencers

According to Later.com, there are several ways to prospect for influencers, You could:

  1. Turn to a management platform, like Tribe or Upfluencee.
  2. Find influencers chatting about your business online by searching with hashtags or using social listening tools.
  3. See who your audience is engaging by monitoring a group of your followers that match your ideal audience.
  4. Follow industry blogs, newsletters, etc. by finding websites in your niche.
  5. Monitor appropriate hashtags with free tools, like Brand24.
  6. Keep within your budget. Use a budget calculator and understand your ROI.
  7. Look at your competitors. Follow other businesses in your niche and see if they interact with influencers.
  8. Get community recommendations by posting in forums or asking in Facebook groups.
  9. Find micro and nano influencers by looking at marketplaces, searching hashtags, or through Google.
  10. Look at influencers’ KPIs. Begin by looking at follower numbers, likes, and engagement. Or use a tool to see reach and comments etc.

You could also check out databases and marketplaces. However, these often cost money to use or access, so if you can circumvent them, you can cut costs dramatically.

On the other hand, manually searching for influencers is time-consuming. So if you have the extra money in your budget to spend on marketplaces and databases, do it.

If you don’t, you can still find great influencers on your own.

Start by heading to Google and conducting a basic Google search like “mobile app influencers:”

A Google search for mobile apps influencers.

This should turn up some basic results and round-up style list posts like this:

Some search results for mobile app influencers in Google.

Start reading through these posts and scouring the influencer profiles, like this one featuring Benedict Evans:

An image of influencer Benedict Evans.

Many of them have social links to each person, background information on their career and influencer history, and even aggregate data like their total social following.

You can start a spreadsheet on Google Sheets to keep track of their information and rank them in order of importance.

Another great way to prospect for influencers without using databases or marketplaces is by searching directly on the social media platforms you want to use.

For example, if you want your campaign to focus on Instagram marketing, start by searching for the top Instagram influencers.

You can do this by searching for the following hashtag on Instagram: “#ad:”

Results in Instagram for the hashtag ad.

Why? Because all influencers are required by law to make it clear that their post contains an ad for a product or service, that means that you can easily see millions of posts by top influencers with this hashtag.

Start by browsing the photos for related products, services, or influencers who look like their lifestyle would fit your product for promotion.

It’s a great way to find influencers who are already in the game.

For example, if you have a mobile application based on photography, you could target this influencer, who already takes incredible, scenic photos:

An Instagram post showcasing high-quality photography.

Your photography-based mobile app would be a perfect fit for this influencer because it directly fits the brand image.

Click on the influencer’s profile and check out the rest of their photos:

Inspect their follower totals, their engagement on every post, and even their website.

Ensure their brand image aligns with your goals and always check for highly-engaged audiences.

Simply repeat this process multiple times for your niche to find the best influencers on your own.

If you don’t have time to do this yourself, consider using a service.

Here’s how to do that.

3. Use Existing Marketplaces To Find the Perfect Influencer

There are hundreds of sites that focus solely on connecting marketing companies and brands with the best influencers.

Consider businesses like Tribe, TapInfluence, Upfluence, and more to help in growing a team of influencers.

These marketplaces often cost money to use, but some offer free trials that work for your basic needs before you have to make a decision.

They are great for initial prospecting without having to spend money right away.

I use them all of the time to conduct fast research on various influencers and their historical data.

TapInfluence allows you to browse tons of different influencers and see instant data and pricing:

A look at an influencer's profile on Tapfluence.

The influencer platform Tribe works with top brands such as Mcdonald’s, Olay, and Lego and works with the following categories:

  • Food and drink
  • Beauty and personal care
  • Family and children
  • Retail and E-commerce

Profiles on the influencer platform Tribe.

Upfluence pledges to take your influencer campaigns to the next level and enable you to work with twice as many influencers. The platform gives you plenty of features, including a searchable database across multiple social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook, and influencer profiles.

The Upfluence home page.

If you want to start working with influencers, just click on the red ‘Get Started Today’ link.

Impact of Influencers Conclusion

Content promotion and growing a company have never been more difficult, but times are changing, and you can’t underestimate the impact of influencers.

Consumers are tired of invasive ads and don’t always trust businesses. They do, however, trust influencers. Why? Because people trust them and their recommendations!

Thankfully, it’s not time-consuming or difficult to build a team of influencers, and they are one of the best ways to drive countless sales.

I’ve personally used influencers to grow each one of my businesses. They are great at what they do, and influencer marketing allows you to put your marketing strategy on autopilot.

Start by setting your campaign goals. You can’t have a good campaign without a perfect plan in place.

Next, manually search for influencers that relate to your brand or product. It’s a great way to save money.

Lastly, try tapping into existing marketplaces that are designed for influencer marketing and find the ideal person for your influencer campaign.

These will help you automate your marketing and save tons of time.

How has the impact of social influencers helped your brand?

Marketing Analytics: Everything You Need to Know To Start Leveraging it Today

When’s the last time you attempted to make a recipe in the dark? I’d venture to guess you’ve never done so. It’s unnecessary and reckless. Would you be surprised to learn, then, that more than 60 percent of companies have ignored marketing analytics data when making marketing campaign decisions?

Just like making a recipe in the dark is unnecessary and reckless, so too is ignoring the invaluable marketing data when making expensive and time-consuming decisions for your business.

In this post, we’ll introduce marketing analytics and its benefits. We’ll cover the types of marketing data and how to create your own report. Finally, we’ll highlight three examples of companies that used digital marketing analytics to their advantage.

What Is Marketing Analytics?

Marketing analytics is the use of data to evaluate the performance of a marketing activity or collective marketing efforts.

From 2012 to 2020, the share of projects where marketing analytics were used to make a decision has ranged from 29 percent to 43.5 percent. While this number seems low, it does go to show that using marketing analytics to drive your own business’s campaigns will give you an edge against the competition.

Why Is Marketing Analytics Important?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details, it helps to understand why marketing analytics is so important. While some companies may argue that analytics data isn’t crucial to their business, others will stake their success solely on their ability to follow the data.

Perhaps the greatest benefit to digital marketing analytics is the ability for businesses to understand big-picture marketing trends and forecast future results.

On a micro level, marketing analytics can help a business to understand the ROI of their individual programs. This can help them to determine which programs to cut and which programs to invest in. It will also teach them what they need to know for future projects.

Finally, consider that sophisticated marketers (those who utilize 5 or more analytics tools) are 39 percent more likely to see an overall performance improvement in their marketing programs. Just imagine what that growth could look like across your portfolio!

Types of Marketing Analytics Data

When it comes to marketing analytics data, there are three categories it can fall into. Here’s a description of each, as well as examples of the metrics used.

Descriptive Analytics

Descriptive analytics provide insights into the current state of your business. They answer the question, “what is happening now?”

The types of metrics you’ll see here are surface level. They provide a quick snapshot of the business as it is today but without any analysis or reasoning behind it. These metrics include page views, revenue, units sold, average unit price, and conversion rate.

Diagnostic Analytics

Diagnostic analytics provide a root cause as to the descriptive analytics. That is, they answer the question, “why is this happening?”

When you have questions about your descriptive metrics mentioned above, you’ll dig into the diagnostic metrics. These dig deeper to find the cause of the diagnostic metrics by looking at things such as traffic sources, bounce rates, exit rates, and last touch channels.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics provide a look into the future of your business. They answer the question, “what’s likely to happen in the future based on past and current trends?”

As you can imagine, predictive analytics requires more sophisticated input. While you can pull descriptive and diagnostic analytics and make connections, you cannot do so easily with predictive analytics. Instead, you’ll typically need the help of a predictive modeling tool or a data analyst.

How to Create a Marketing Analytics Report

If you’ve been tasked with creating a digital marketing analytics report for your business, the steps below will help to get you started.

1. Pull the Raw Data

Where does it all begin? With the raw data.

How you pull your data will depend on the tools and platforms you use. There are many free and paid options available and you may find yourself using more than one to get a fuller picture.

Step one of creating a marketing analytics report.

Google Analytics is a free tool that provides you with in-depth website analytics. If you’re using an e-commerce platform like Shopify, you may also have access to free analytics within your account. Paid options include HubSpot, Domo, and Tableau.

2. Understand Your Audience

There are two important questions to answer before you compile your data. They are:

  1. What’s the purpose of your marketing report?
  2. Who’s the audience for your marketing report?

To answer those questions, you’ll want to dig deeper by answering the following:

Are you pulling the data just to get a snapshot of the business, or is there something more specific in mind? Are you delivering the report to top-level executives or a direct manager? How will this data be used? How often will this data report need to be compiled?

A weekly report on the state of the business to your direct manager will look completely different than an analysis of a business unit to the CFO of the company.

3. Highlight the KPIs That Matter

You have the data and you know the purpose and audience for your report. Now it’s time to ensure you’re highlighting the right data in your report. This will come down to understanding the type of data analytics you’ll need to answer to your audience (e.g., descriptive, diagnostic, predictive).

Let’s say you’re tasked with reporting on the launch of your company’s newest product. It hit the virtual shelves two weeks ago and it’s time to evaluate its initial success. What does this look like?

Here you’ll be pulling descriptive analytics. This includes metrics like product page views, add to carts, revenue, and conversion rate.

It doesn’t end there, though, because your audience will likely want to know whythe above metrics are what they are. Whether they’re below or above the target goals, it’s good to understand what happened to get you where you are.

This means you’ll also be pulling diagnostic metrics like last touch channel and traffic source. You can also dig into the customer demographics and behaviors.

A screenshot of a variety of metrics in Google Analytics.
Step three of creating a marketing analytics report.

With this data, your report will begin to shape itself into more of a story than just a bunch of KPIs and graphs.

4. Use Visuals to Break Down the Data

You have the data, you know your audience, and you have your story. Now it’s time to consider the best way to tell your story to make sense to your entire audience. Visuals are a crucial way of doing so.

Visuals include graphs, charts, maps, funnels, and Venn diagrams. They are a great way to help you see your data in a new light andtell your story more effectively.

The good news is most analytics tools offer a suite of visualization tools so you don’t have to find yourself reinventing the wheel. However, programs like Microsoft Excel also make it incredibly easy to turn raw data into visualizations.

Examples of Marketing Analytics

It can be inspiring to see how other businesses are using marketing analytics to inform their decisions. Here are three examples for you to consider.

Marketing Analytics Example #1: Costa Rican Vacations

Averages are used frequently when evaluating marketing analytics. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but as we’ll see below, it can be good to look at those outliers to determine the true efficacy of the average.

Looking beyond the average customer for Costa Rican Vacations has resulted in a 40 percent increase in website conversion.

According to Casey Halloran, the Co-Founder and CEO of Costa Rican Vacations, their team frequently looks to averages to inform their decisions: average spend, the average length of stay, and the average number of travelers.

Upon taking a deeper dive into the data, they realized the average number was so far off the actual customers’ metrics due to the extremes of the outliers. That is, the majority of their customers were on one end of the spectrum or the other with very few actually falling into the middle.

With this information, Costa Rican Vacations made a shift in its product offering. One way they did so was by adjusting the total budget slider on their homepage to go up to $20,000.

An image of the Costa Rican Vacations booking page.
An example of marketing analytics from Costa Rican Vacations.

By doing so, they opened up their offering to a new, higher spending customer base and increase website conversions by 40 percent.

Other businesses, too, can benefit from this example. After all, how often do we look at averages and medians without considering the impact of our marketing decisions on the outliers? With this in mind, take time to truly understand how average your average customer really is, or whether they’re simply a product of extremes on either end.

Marketing Analytics Example #2: Allrecipes

Allrecipes is the world’s largest digital food brand. It boasts 18 websites in 23 countries and more than 85 million users. No matter how large your brand, there’s always the competition to consider. To maintain their competitive advantage, Allrecipes worked with Tableau to better understand every stage of the customer journey.

The brand had several primary objectives, including to:

  • improve user experience
  • increase video engagement
  • drive mobile engagement
  • inform product strategy
  • expand user base
  • grow advertising revenue

Allrecipes leveraged Tableau, a business intelligence platform to visualize data all in one place. With custom dashboards and organizational collaboration, the brand was able to achieve numerous goals. In particular, let’s look at how Tableau’s device-level analytics enabled them to drive mobile engagement.

According to Esmee Williams, the VP of Consumer and Brand Strategy, mobile usage had increased from 8 percent to three-fourths of all visits in recent years.

The goal was to increase mobile usage while also providing a continuous experience across devices. They performed an A/B test which showed the mobile site on all devices as a way to learn more about how users interacted with mobile site elements.

An image of an Allrecipes page with various foods.
An example of A/B testing in marketing analytics from Allrecipes.

Using Tableau’s digital marketing analytics collection and visualization tools, Allrecipes used the data they collected to improve the mobile site. This included optimizing content and encouraging photo uploads with an easy-to-use interface.

While you don’t need to perform a cross-device A/B test to get these same results, your business too should evaluate mobile device engagement to understand customer behavior. Only then can you implement changes that have a measurable impact on customer engagement metrics.

Marketing Analytics Example #3: Netflix

Let’s end our examples with a titan of industry, Netflix.

Netflix has a customer retention rate of 90 percent which is far above Amazon Prime’s 75 percent and Hulu’s 64 percent. What is it that drives Netflix’s success? According to Netflix, its success is largely due to the collection and use of customer behavior analytics.

What kinds of data does Netflix collect and feed to their algorithm? Here are a few examples:

  • What time and date did a user watch a show?
  • What device was used to watch the show?
  • If the user pauses the show, do they resume watching?
  • Does the user binge-watch an entire season of a TV show?
  • If they do, how much time does it take to binge-watch it?

Of course, Netflix also looks to interactions the customer has with their shows and movies. If a user selects a show based on the 96 percent recommended rate by Netflix, does the customer finish the series? Do they rate the series well?

An image of the Netflix homepage.
An example of Netflix using marketing analytics to improve their customer experience.

With more than 150 million subscribers, Netflix has a large data pool from which to gather insights. This is critical to their success considering 80 percent of viewer activity is triggered by algorithmic personalized recommendations.

Marketing Analytics Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about marketing analytics.

Are there additional types of marketing analytics data?

In addition to the three marketing analytics data types listed above (descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive), there are also said to be prescriptive analytics and cognitive analytics.

What are the three main components of a marketing analytics campaign?

Your digital marketing analytics campaign should be scalable, sustainable, and affordable.

What are the best marketing analytics tools on the market?

The needs of your business will largely inform your decision on marketing analytics tools. However, a few tools to consider are Tableau, Power BI, and Adobe Reporting.

Does my business need a data analyst to decipher our marketing analytics?

A data analyst can certainly offer important insights for your business. For small and medium-sized businesses, though, they likely aren’t necessary.

Marketing Analytics Conclusion

Marketing analytics is more than just a collection of data. It provides invaluable insights that could have otherwise gone unnoticed.

After all, when you’re making big decisions regarding your business’s marketing campaigns and programs, you need to evaluate all of the data available to you. Only with a proper analysis of previous data and current trends can you ensure you’re making the best decisions for your company’s bottom line.

What percent of your business’s marketing decisions are made using analytics?

Mastering TikTok Ads: Everything You Need to Know to Get More Revenue From TikTok

With over 1 billion users and counting, TikTok presents a great opportunity for businesses to advertise their services, grow their audience, and increase their ROI through targeted ad campaigns. 

The challenge? Standing out on such a competitive platform and ensuring the right audience sees your ads at the right time. If you want to get the most from your TikTok advertising budget, you need to employ effective strategies, so here’s how to master TikTok ads and execute winning campaigns.

Who Should Use TikTok Ads?

Anyone can advertise on TikTok. However, TikTok ad campaigns work better if you’re targeting certain demographics.

Here’s what I mean. TikTok typically attracts teens and young adults. According to DataReportal’s research:

  • 43.3 percent of users are aged between 18 and 24.
  • 32.2 percent are between 25 and 34 years of age.

Just over 11 percent are 45 or over, so it’s not the best platform if you’re targeting this age demographic.

We can delve a little deeper into the demographics.

  • Although men and women use TikTok, it’s more popular with women: females account for over 60 percent of TikTok’s user base. 
  • TikTok is most popular in the United States where there are over 136.4 million users. 

Say you’re targeting young U.S. women. Do TikTok ads work better for certain businesses instead of others even within this demographic? Possibly. Fitness and sports-related content are among the most popular content with over 57 billion views, while beauty and skincare content has over 33 billion views.

To be clear, TikTok is available in 154 countries, so it does have global appeal among teens and young adults.

7 Steps to TikTok Advertising Success

While there isn’t a “right” way to run a TikTok advertising campaign, there are ways you can optimize your TikTok ads and boost your chances of success. To master TikTok advertising, follow these seven simple tips.

1. Get to Know TikTok Ads Manager

TikTok Ads Manager is a hub from which you can create, run, and manage your ads. With TikTok Ads Manager, you can:

  • create engaging ads using different visual formats and templates;
  • target specific audience groups per campaign; and
  • track ad performance through customized reports.

How much does TikTok advertising cost? Well, TikTok uses a bidding model, so you can set your own daily and campaign limits depending on your marketing budget. As a guide, be prepared to spend at least $50 per day for campaigns, and $20 per day for specific ad groups.

Before you create TikTok ads, you need a TikTok Ads Manager account. TikTok offers a breakdown for getting going, but here’s a quick start guide. 

First, head to the TikTok for Business page and “Get Started.” From the next screen, click “Sign Up” then input your details before hitting “Sign Up” again:

TikTok Ads Sign Up Screen to Create Account

Next, input some basic business details to create your account:

 TikTok Ads Manager Input Business Details to Create Account

Once you’ve registered, you’ll need to provide a few more business details, including payment information, and wait for account approval before creating your first ad.

Creating TikTok Ads

  • From your TikTok Ads Manager account, click the “Campaign” button at the top of the page. 
  • Choose your campaign objective e.g., app installs, traffic, lead generation, or audience reach.
  • Set a campaign name and a budget. If you choose “No Limit,” your spend is determined by the budget you set at the “ad group” level. Or, you can choose “Daily Budget” or “Lifetime Budget,” which means you’re limited by the daily or lifetime budget you set at the campaign level.  
  • Create your campaign. 

Once there’s a campaign set up, you can set up an ad group and then create individual ads. The instructions are super easy to follow, and you can be up and running in minutes.

Here’s something crucial to note. Once you create a campaign, you can’t change the budget. Make sure you’re happy with your maximum spend limits before creating your TikTok Ads campaign.

2. Use Creative Elements to Stand Out

Although you can run ads for up to 60 seconds, TikTok suggests you keep most ads under 15 seconds. Given the short timeframe, you’ll want to use some fun creative elements to stand out, so here are some suggestions. 

  • Try “Branded Effects.” Branded Effects are elements like stickers and filters you can use to enrich your ads.
  • Choose your ad format wisely. In-Feed ads, for example, look and feel just like native content which helps them feel more authentic, while TopView ads appear at the top of a user’s “For You” section and might help drive brand awareness.
  • Add music or sound to add extra layers to your ads. Just make sure the music or sound effects match your brand’s voice.

Laneige, a popular Korean skincare brand wanted to increase engagement and encourage people to download a coupon for skincare products. They used Branded Effects to show what people may look like before moisturizing: 

TikTok Ads for Laneige Branded Effects Before Moisturizing

Then after moisturizing:

TikTok Ads Thirst for Life Hashtage and Branded Effects Campaign Laneige

The result? 419,000 engagements, 12,000 new followers, and thousands of coupon downloads.

Unsure of what elements to use? View popular posts in your niche, consider why they resonate with your target audience, and apply these principles to your campaigns.

3. Test Spark Ads

Ever seen someone using (and loving) your product on TikTok? Do you wish you could run this user-generated content (UGC) as part of your own ad campaign? 

Well, thanks to Spark Ads, you can take existing, organic posts from other TikTok accounts and turn them into original ad content. Why would you want to do this? Let me give you three reasons.  

Using existing content means less work for you, for one thing.

What’s more, since the content comes from real TikTok accounts, any activity you generate (such as likes, follows, or shares) is linked to your post. If you’re looking to boost your engagement, Spark Ads can help.

Finally, UGC adds authenticity to your company and helps to boost your brand’s reputation. Since customers are over two times more likely to prefer UGC to branded content, Spark Ads are definitely worth your time.    

Here’s an example. Digital bank Up targets Australians aged between 18 and 34. They wanted a creator partnership to build brand awareness and grow their audience reach. 

For their mission, Up chose an Australian finance influencer, @TashInvests. They produced Spark Ads which generated over 1.5 million impressions and 76 app downloads, which exceeded Up’s original expectations:

TikTok Ads Up Bank Spark Ads Collaboration

Here are some tips for getting the most from this form of TikTok advertising.

  • Opt for content with happy, positive undertones to present your products in the best light.
  • Use short text overlays to emphasize key points e.g. product features. 
  • Run A/B tests to identify which ads are performing best and revise your less successful ad content. 
  • Finally, always ensure you get someone’s permission before using their content in Spark Ads.

4. Test Different Targeting Options

The most successful ads target a specific audience. TikTok knows this, so the platform lets you tailor who sees your ads by excluding certain audiences and directly targeting others. 

You can target audiences by dimensions such as their age, behaviors, device, interests, and physical location. For example, maybe you want to target under-25s using iPhones, people based in Canada, men interested in soccer, and so on. 

Here’s how to do it.

From TikTok Ads Manager, go to “Ad Group,” then “Targeting.”

Then, choose which audience segment to target. For example, you might choose U.S. users aged between 25 and 44:

TikTok Ads Audience Targeting by Location Age and Gender

TikTok will then optimize who sees your ads so there’s a greater chance of running a successful campaign. Cool, right?

5. Use Data to Leverage Hashtags Effectively

Hashtags allow people to organize content into categories so others can find what they’re most interested in. For example, someone looking for Starbucks content might search for #starbucks.

While you can use as many hashtags as you want, you won’t reach your ideal audience unless you know which hashtags to target, so here’s how you might choose the right ones.

First, check out which hashtags your most successful competitors use. Chances are, it’s worth including at least one or two of these hashtags to boost your visibility.

Next, use trending hashtags. Mountain Dew, for example, targeted #nationalpetday to advertise its “Code Red” beverage in a fun, engaging way:

TikTok Ads How to Use Popular Hashtags Mountain Dew Ad

To find these hashtags, scroll to the “Discover” tab and check out the day’s top tags. Choose any that resonates with you:

TikTok Ads Discovery Feature for Finding Popular Hashtags

You can also find related keywords by searching for a word and leaving the hashtag out. Tap “Hashtags” under the search bar, and you’ll see similar hashtags to include in your campaigns.

6. Create High-Quality Graphics

TikTok is a highly visual platform, so your ads need graphics and videos to stand out. If you don’t have expensive recording equipment, don’t worry; you don’t need it. Here’s how TikTok creator @lucajpeterson quickly creates high-quality visual content. 

First, film and upload your video content as usual. Before clicking “Post,” hit “More Options” and drag the “Upload HD” bar right so it turns green:

How to Create High Quality TikTok Ads Video Content Upload HD

Sharp videos bring your content to life. In this Zoomerang TikTok video, for example, we get a real sense of the fabrics, textures, and colors since the brand uses high-quality graphics:

To get the most from your TikTok advertising, upload the clearest, sharpest graphics and videos you can.

Let me leave you a final tip here. According to TikTok’s own research, more than 63 percent of videos with the highest click-through rate (CTR) highlight the main focus product within the opening three seconds. Whatever your marketing goal, get to the point quickly.

7. Keep Your CTAs Simple

When it comes to TikTok ads, you might only have someone’s attention for a few seconds. This means that you need a clear, concise, and actionable call to action (CTA).

CTAs ask viewers to do something, whether it’s visiting your website, using a promo code, or downloading an app. Good CTAs can help boost sales by responding directly to users’ needs and driving specific actions.

For example, Sour Patch Kids wanted to promote its “custom mix” which lets customers build own candy bag. The display card “Make Your Mix” is colorful, engaging, and fun, and specifies the desired action: 

TikTok Ads Custom Mix Campaign for Sour Patch Kids

You can access pre-made CTA buttons through TikTok Ads Manager; however, creating your own visual inlay helps make your campaign stand out.

  • Focus on your goals and use as few words as possible to communicate the message. 
  • Choose the right color palette: your button should complement the ad.  
  • Try to create a sense of urgency that entices viewers to click the button. 
  • Use different versions of the same ad and run A/B tests to see which CTA performs best.

Frequently Asked Questions About TikTok Advertising

How much does TikTok advertising cost?

Your TikTok advertising cost depends on several things. At the campaign level, there’s a daily and lifetime budget of $50. At the ad group level, you need a minimum budget of $20 per day, and your lifetime budget works out as your daily budget multiplied by the number of campaign days scheduled.  

How do you create ads in TikTok?

First, create a TikTok Ads account and choose your campaign objective. Name your campaign, set your marketing budget, determine the ad placement, and choose your target audience. Set your campaign schedule and create your ads.

What kind of businesses should use TikTok advertising?

If you’re a business on TikTok, you could try TikTok ads. However, TikTok ads might work best for retailers selling to younger audiences. 

What makes a good TikTok ad?

Good TikTok ads are visually appealing with clear CTAs and well-chosen hashtags to boost visibility. They use high-quality images and successfully capture a viewer’s attention within just a few seconds.  

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Conclusion: TikTok Advertising

If you want to maximize visibility, increase your ROI, and boost your social media reach, then try TikTok ads. TikTok advertising is suitable for all businesses on the platform, it’s easy to get started, and since you don’t need a huge campaign budget, it’s accessible for startups and small companies. 

To create a winning TikTok ad, use images and creative elements like videos where possible, keep your CTAs brief and impactful, and target the most relevant hashtags. Need help getting started? Take a look at my consulting services.     

Have you tried TikTok advertising yet? What do you find most challenging about TikTok ads?

Using Ubersuggest for E-Commerce: Everything You Need to Create a Killer Online Store

Despite the growth of social selling for e-commerce, SEO keyword optimization is still crucial to long-term business success. Why? Because that’s how most customers find you.

Search traffic is responsible for 65 percent of e-commerce sessions. If you’re not optimizing for keywords, buyers won’t find you among your competitors.

SEO offers many other advantages. SEO offers many other advantages. For instance, it has a fantastic ROI when done correctly. 

If you want further proof of SEO’s advantages, case study after case study shows how a few tweaks can potentially get your site to the front page of Google. 

ubersuggest for ecommerce - search results

A few words of warning before I move on: 

  • Don’t expect results overnight. SEO can take time to yield results, but it’s a valuable investment that pays off long-term. 
  • Don’t let SEO overwhelm you. There are numerous areas of SEO I could discuss here, but let’s just focus on keywords for now.

Why Should E-Commerce Companies Care About SEO Keywords?

With an estimated 4.2 million e-commerce businesses in North America, there’s a ton of competition. 

To stay ahead of the curve, you need to do everything possible to optimize your site, rank higher in SERPs, and increase visibility. You’ve probably guessed by now, but one of the best ways to do this is with strategically chosen keywords.

For guidance, your chosen keywords should be:

  • Relevant to your product and target audience. 
  • Attainable in search results.
  • Lucrative in terms of driving targeted, profitable traffic to your online store.

When it comes to finding keywords, you need resources to help you along the way. This is where Ubersuggest comes in. 

Ubersuggest is a free tool that makes it easy to research keywords and identify which ones to target. 

But, you don’t have to take my word for it. Let’s talk about how Ubersuggest helped our e-commerce customer, Portrait Flip, improve traffic and drive ROI. 

Portrait Flip is an online store that creates real portraits by real artists from customer photos around the world. Using Ubersuggest for its keyword research, the company increased its organic traffic by 70% in just two years and increased revenue by 32.33 percent over their goal. 

Perhaps you think that’s unattainable. However, there’s a simple reason behind the enhanced results: you drive more relevant, organic traffic to your website by optimizing your pages by targeting the right keywords.

How to Use Ubersuggest to Create a Killer Online Store

From SEO audits and competitive analysis to monitoring results and adapting your approach, plenty goes into running a successful online store. However, there’s no need to get overwhelmed. With the right tools, creating a killer e-commerce store isn’t complicated. 

Below are five steps to creating a killer online store using Ubersuggest. (link to each section)

  1. Create a project from your dashboard in Ubersuggest,
  2. Perform an SEO Audit.
  3. Find the right keywords to target. 
  4. Conduct Competitive Analysis
  5. Create a Backlinks Plan
  6. Track Your Progress

I’ll walk you through each step of the way. 

Step #1 Create a project in Ubersuggest

If you’re new to Ubersuggest, you need to start with the basics.

Begin by registering for a free account.

Once you do that, go to the dashboard and click on “Add Your First Project.” Next, add your website URL and name.

create your project using ubersuggest for e-commerce

It’s also essential to connect your project to your Google Account to see how your keyword strategy is affecting your Google presence. Here’s how to do that:

  • Go to the dashboard.
  • Select the project you want to connect to Google Search Console. 
  • Click ‘connect with Google.’
  • Connect the account or select the ‘Use another account’ option.

Remember, SEO takes time, and there might be some trial and error along the way. Therefore, once you’ve set it all up, I recommend you use Ubersuggest at least once a week to: 

  • Check-in on your SEO progress (you can use the different weekly alerts to help you understand where to focus your efforts).
  • Work through the suggestions in your dashboard.
  • See what your competitors are up to and take small steps each week to compete against them.
  • Find new keywords to target on your product pages (try A/B testing product pages with different keywords to see which one ranks higher).

Portrait Flip did this and achieved significant success and savings:

“We were able to create and implement a clear SEO strategy with Ubersuggest starting in January of 2020 that helped our organic traffic take off. We’ve saved thousands of dollars on paid advertising by keeping Ubersuggest at the heart of our SEO, and we’ve watched our SEO and our revenue grow exponentially, too.”

Step #2 Perform an SEO Audit.

The Ubersuggest Site Audit is the best place to start with your Keyword Strategy. When you perform this analysis, you get a general overview of your website’s SEO standing. 

From here, you can understand where your website ranks in terms of industry-standard for optimal SEO health.

site audit using ubersuggest for e-commerce

To perform a site audit:

  • Go to the project dashboard.
  • Find SEO explorer on the left side menu and select ‘SEO Analyzer.’
  • Wait for the analyzer to create a report; your report sorts errors by difficulty and how fixing them impacts your SEO.
  • Review your report. Pay careful attention to the ‘See All SEO Errors,’ on the associated tab.
  • Click ‘What is this, and how do I fix it?’ on the associated tab. 
  • Once you’ve reviewed the major issues, select the ‘SEO Analyzer Overview’ option. This takes you back to the site audit main page.
  • Now, you’re ready to review the second part of your audit report, which details your desktop and mobile web speed. Use the orange circular toggle, to switch between Desktop and Mobile reports.
  • Fix the issues, return to the ‘SEO Analyzer’ overview, and choose the ‘recrawl’ button at the top of the page.
  • Finally, review the report to see if you’ve fixed the errors or if there are any fresh ones. 

Here’s how Portrait Flip used the site audit feature.

First, Portrait Flip optimized its results by focusing on the ‘Broken Link’ finder.

This helped the business understand where it was losing potential customers due to broken product links. 

At first glance, this might not seem like an important issue, but broken links negatively impact your SEO and the customer experience.

Portrait Flip also found the ‘Page Load Time’ report invaluable, as the company was keen to see if any added website code was inadvertently increasing its load times.

Again, this may not seem like a significant issue. However, speed is crucial for online shopping. Ideally, you want your e-commerce store to load within two seconds. Anything above that adds to your bounce rate and customer dissatisfaction and leads to lost sales. 

After fixing simple issues on the Portrait Flipw website, 98 percent of the revenue generated from its SEO and PPC efforts in 2021 came from organic search. 

Step #3 Research Keywords to Target

Now, this is where the fun starts. 

You can use the Ubersuggest Keyword Reports to understand which keywords to include in your content to drive relevant and lucrative traffic.

ubersuggest keyword ideas for ecommerce

There are two main features to focus on here. 

1. Keyword Overview 

The keyword overview allows you to see how competitive a keyword is and its search volume trend over time. To narrow down your keyword choices, think of the general search terms your target audience might use when searching for a product you sell.

2. Keyword Ideas  

The keyword research feature shows you how people search for keywords related to your business and your products. It enables you to uncover valuable keywords that other competitors aren’t targeting.

How Portrait Flip uses these tools:

Content marketing is at the heart of Portrait Flip’s efforts to attract traffic to its site. For example, the business used blogging and posted regularly on its social media channels. However, these efforts weren’t driving traffic the way the company hoped. 

This is where Ubersuggest proved its worth.

  • The Keyword Overview report enabled Portrait Flip to find relevant keywords to focus on and that prospects use in their searches. 
  • Next, Portrait Flip optimized its blog posts and e-commerce product pages with new keywords. 
  • Finally, Portrait Flip used the Keyword Idea and Content Idea reports to help them plan out their next blog topics. 

The results were exceptional.

Portrait Flip exceeded their traffic expectations in one quarter by over 27 percent—and that’s without any paid advertising. If you’re planning on using these reports, here are a couple of tips to get the most out of it them: 

Find The Most Competitive Keywords

Use the ‘SEO Difficulty’ filter to help determine which keywords are more competitive than others. Be intentional in comparing this with the ‘Paid Difficulty’ feature to help decide if you should pay for Google Ads against the keywords. 

NOTE: Keywords with high Paid Difficulty are usually lucrative. However, they are almost always more expensive.

find competitive keywords using ubersuggest for ecommerce

Search by Location

If you want to attract a worldwide audience, search for global keywords on the ‘location’ tab. You can target your geographical search towards specific local traffic or by country. This can help you find unique keywords in different regions to target.

using ubersuggest for keywords by location for e-commerce

Step #4 Conduct a Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis is an essential part of any effective SEO strategy. By understanding your competitors, you can learn what techniques and keywords they’re using to rank well in search engines and replicate their successes.

Ubersuggest makes this task more manageable than ever. Just use the following tools: 

  • Keywords by Traffic: Go to Ubersuggest, enter the competitor domain URL, and hit “Search” to find the top keywords that the website ranks for. Note any organic keywords and monthly traffic, the domain score, and backlinks. You can also add your competitor’s URL as a project in your Ubersuggest dashboard for regular tracking. 
  • Backlinks Opportunities: Discover what websites are linking to your competitors and get a detailed overview of who to reach out to request links back to your site. Here’s how: 

1. Enter your domain name or URL from your site into the Backlinks Opportunity tool. (Linked above).

2. Enter a competitor domain or a URL from their site. 

3. Click ‘search.’

You can also use the Ubersuggest Chrome Extension for keyword analysis directly in Google search results, YouTube, AND Amazon pages for further insights.

ubersuggest chrome extension

Here’s how you’ll see the data in your SERPs: 

You can also remove competitors or add them.

You’ll also see monthly search and CPC: 

ubersuggest chrome results for ecommerce

Here’s how to use this feature: 

Create a Project for each Competitor: On the Dashboard, click “add a project” and add a few of your competitors to get a complete overview and consistent updates on your competitor’s ranking. You can easily remove competitors or add them. Here’s some more information on using Ubersuggest to spy on your competitors.  

How Portrait Flip used Ubersuggest’s competitive analysis tool: 

Portrait Flip monitored how its competitors were performing and what keywords they were ranking for. Specifically, the company used the Keywords by Traffic and Top Pages by Traffic reports together to get an idea of keywords they were losing out on. Using the information, Portrait Flip secured Page #1 on Google above competitors for primary keywords that drove converting traffic to their site.

Step #5 Start Tracking Your Progress

As you work on your SEO Keywords, it’s critical to be patient and track your progress over the long term. 

Although you might see results with your plan in the next few weeks, as I’ve repeatedly stressed, SEO is an ongoing process and it takes time to get results. Typically, you can expect to wait a few months, so if you’re not seeing immediate progress, don’t get discouraged. 

When you track your keywords, you can see which ones aren’t working and use some fresh ones to optimize your content. 

Then rinse and repeat! 

Keep testing and learning. A/B test different targeted keywords on product pages over time and track to see which performs best. 

You can use Ubersuggest to monitor keyword performance. Here’s how:

In your Dashboard, you can view SEO progress over a specific time. Plus, you can see your progress in keyword ranking and estimated traffic value.

dashboard view of seo ovetime in ubersuggest for ecommerce

How Portrait Flip did this:

As they tracked their progress, they found that most of their year-to-year growth came from organic traffic, which steadily grew once they started using Ubersuggest. 

Conclusion: Using Ubersuggest to Improve Your E-Commerce Store

One of the toughest tasks for e-commerce business owners is standing out from the competition. Gaining visibility, discovering the right keywords, identifying backlinking opportunities, and conducting competitive analysis are some of the most challenging tasks every online store owner faces.  

Fortunately, Ubersuggest offers a solution to these common problems, allowing you to enhance your e-commerce store in key areas. This allows you to increase visibility, attract targeted prospects, and enhance conversions. 

Do You Want a Million Dollar Business Loan? Here’s What You Need to Know

What could your small business do with a million dollars? Most small business owners think getting a million dollar business loan is a dream come true. Yet, do you really know what it takes not just to get a business loan of that size, but to pay for it? How much does a million dollars cost? Here’s what you need to know. 

The First Step is Building a Fundable™ Foundation

Your small business needs a Fundable™Foundation to qualify for business loans. The foundation is how your business is set up.

A small business that isn’t set up to be Fundable™ will be hard pressed to get business loans of any type, especially traditional bank business loans.

For sure, a million dollar small business loan will be difficult to get. This is what sets your business apart from you as the owner. As a result, the foundation is the kick start to overall Fundability™.

What’s In a Fundable™ Foundation? 

A Fundable™ Foundation is necessary for any type of business loans. That means a small business loan, vendor credit, credit cards, or any other type of business funding. It includes the following. 

Business Name

First, your business name needs to be registered with the Secretary of State.  Furthermore, it should not include or allude to a high-risk or restricted industry. Lenders do not like risk, and most are not in the habit of making business loans to businesses in high-risk industries.

Consistency

Also, your business name has to be consistent everywhere you use it. If it changes, change it everywhere, and be sure it is the same.

Consider the following examples. 

“Bill & Tom’s Discount Fishing Lures, Inc.” 

“Bill and Tom’s Discount Fishing Lures”

“Bill’s and Tom’s Discount Fishing Lures”

Of course, they are similar. Yet, they are not the same. So, if you use one of these on your registration with the Secretary of State and one of the others on your million dollar loan application, you may not even make it to the underwriting process.

Likely, your application will be automatically denied for business loans due to fraud concerns. 

Business Address

This must be a deliverable physical address, never UPS box or a PO Box. It’s true, a virtual address can work.  Yet, we know of at least one credit provider that will not accept them. 

EIN

You can get an EIN, or Employer Identification Number, free at IRS.gov. Then, use it to open a bank account and to build a business credit profile.

Be sure to verify that all agencies, banks, and trade credit vendors have this number and associate it with your business .

Business Entity

Using a corporation or LLC structure gives you more credibility.  Better yet, it reduces your personal liability. 

Business Phone and 411 Listing

Remember, toll-free phone numbers are best.  Also, it should be listed in the 411 directory. 

Business Licenses

Always make sure you have the proper licensing. 

Web Domain and Professional Website

For many reasons, you need a professional website that is helpful. Lenders will research your business online, especially before lending a million or more. 

As a result, you should pay for web hosting. Unfortunately,  this is not the time to use a freebie. Also, the domain should be the business name, if possible.

In addition, you need a company email address. It should be the same domain as your website.  

Business Bank Account in the Business’s Name

Due to the fact that business banking history is vital to getting business financing, it is necessary to have a separate, dedicated business bank account.  Of course, the longer the bank history is, the better. 

Next Step is to Build Strong Business Credit

As you know, lenders like to see a strong business credit profile. As a result, while personal credit isn’t ignored, good business credit can soften the impact of a bad personal credit score. 

Nothing Replaces a Strong Business Plan

Without a strong business plan you won’t get business loan approval. Whether you are looking for a traditional loan, SBA loans, or working with online lenders, this is important. This is true even though online lenders tend to be less strict with business financing approvals, a strong business plan never hurts. The presentation should be professional in both appearance and content.

Business Plan Writing Resources

You can hire a business plan writer, or do it yourself, but use all available resources.  

The Small Business Administration offers helpful business plan writing resources, and not just for SBA loans.

The Small Business Development Centers have a number of helpful aids also. Check with local universities to find one near you.

The Major Clincher for a Million Dollar Business Loan is Revenue

Obviously, you can’t get funding without revenue. Of course, this is because business loan repayment comes from revenue, and lenders want to know they will be repaid.

But, exactly how much is the payment on a million dollar business loan? 

Example Monthly Payments on a Million Dollar Business Loan

Business loan terms and payment amounts are variable based on terms and rates. Consider a $1M loan with an interest rate of 4% fixed for 20 years. The monthly payments on that business loan would be $4,774.15.

Then, consider the same business loan with the same interest rate for 15 years.  The payment on that is $7,396.88 a month. 

A Word About Collateral

If you have a Fundable™ Foundation and strong business and personal credit, the next step to getting more funding is collateral. It allows for better loan terms, including more money with lower interest rates and better terms. Furthermore, many SBA loans require collateral anyway.

Types of Collateral

Collateral can be pretty much any valuable asset. These include:

  • Buildings
  • Equipment
  • Inventory
  • And more

What Does it Take to Get a Million Dollar Business Loan?

To get the most funding possible, whether through small business loans or other funding, you need: 

  • Fundable Foundation
  • Good business and personal credit score
  • Professional business plan
  • Collateral

Credit Suite Can Help

We can help with the Fundability and business credit. We know the secret sauce to get you started and help you grow in the most efficient way possible.

Then, you can get the funding you need, when you need it. With Credit Suite, you may be eligible for a million dollar loan sooner than you think.  

The post Do You Want a Million Dollar Business Loan? Here’s What You Need to Know appeared first on Credit Suite.

Same-Day Business Loans: Everything You Need to Know

Same-Day Business Loans: Everything You Need to Know

Many small to medium-size businesses need rapid funding at some point. Same-day business loans can be a lifesaver for a business owner, whether there is a cash flow crunch or a time-bound opening. Same-day business loans are structured like any other loan. You receive a certain sum at an agreed-upon interest rate and pay it back with interest over a predetermined repayment time.

The main distinction is that same-day business loans offer funding within a day or less. To get the most of same-day financing opportunities, you’ll often need to keep up with lending industry trends.

Five Types of Same-Day Business Loans You Must Know

Providers of same-day business loans now operate can help smaller companies get through hard times. . There are several business loans and short-term financing options accessible.

1. Business Line of Credit

If you have a line of credit, it functions like same-day business loans in that it lends you money on the go and is accessible anytime you need it. As you make the payments, the line of credit extends anew. It enables you to raise funds just when necessary, pay interest solely on the amount borrowed, and thus build your business credit score.

If you are forming an LLC in Georgia, business lines of credit may be helpful for financing working capital as well as a source for emergency funds.

2. Accounts Receivable Financing

Here, your lenders provide you with a portion of your client’s invoice. This financing allows you to get by until your installments arrive. It includes both invoice factoring and invoice financing. Still, they vary slightly in how lenders collect payments and how invoices are processed.

3. Equipment Financing

Use this type of financing to buy equipment, inventory, or devices to keep your agreements. . You won’t need collateral because the loan gets secured on the equipment itself. It implies that you have a good shot at getting approval even with a bad credit score.

4. Merchant Cash Advance

A merchant cash advance (MCA) is a lump sum of funding you borrow from an online financing provider. And you repay it with a percentage of your businesses’ daily card transactions. The MCA is a quick and straightforward way to secure a business loan, but it is perhaps one of the more expensive models. The amount approved is calculated as a proportion of the business’s daily transactions. The businesses that use an MCA usually charge back between 20% and 40% of the money borrowed as a factor rate.

5. Working Capital Loans

During a downturn in business, use these loans to finance routine operational expenses like rent, salaries, and utility payments. They are mainly for modest sums of money.

Furthermore, these loans tend to not demand collateral and often get repaid over a year and a half. You might be able to secure a working capital loan very fast, particularly if you’ve previously used one and repaid it on time.  

The Pros of Using Same-Day Business Loans

same day business loans Credit SuiteA swifter financing process

The key benefit of same-day business loans is that you will get the financing you need on the same day you ask for them. If you get all the necessary documentation ready and match the qualifying criteria, some lenders even grant business loan approval instantly.

A convenient loan application process

Instant business financing does not call for substantial paperwork. To apply for a same-day business loan, you must provide basic financial details but no extensive financial documents.

Loan approval even with low credit scores

Same-day business loans have far less demanding approval thresholds. This is when compared to traditional company finance. While the criteria for business loan providers differ, it is possible to get a quick small business loan with a credit score as low as 500. Furthermore, many same-day lenders do not ask for collateral.

Repayment discounts

It varies from lender to lender. But at times, a lender may provide an early payment discount if you repay your entire loan amount with interest in a particular period.

The Cons of Using Same-Day Business Loans

Higher interest rates and associated fees

Same-day business lenders deal with the financing and approval of riskier applications. This results in greater default risk. To be profitable and offset the risk in the face of increasing loan defaults, such lenders demand higher interest rates and fees.

Fewer lending alternatives

Conventional lenders, like credit institutions and banks, often do not provide instant business loans. As a result, it’s often harder to identify legitimate lenders who offer same-day loans.

Smaller financing amounts offered

Most entrepreneurs seeking same-day business loans resort to personal loans to cover business expenses. Personal loan amounts tend to be much lower than what you’d expect from a conventional business loan.

Takeaways

The trick to getting a same-day business loan is making sure your financing proposal is thorough. You need to fulfill the lender’s requirements for documentation. And you need to submit documents per the lender’s timeline.

At the same time, it’s critical to remember that there is no need to rush the process of applying for a business loan. These loans can be exceedingly expensive due to high-interest rates. Hence, before you enter into a loan agreement, double-check that you understand all the surcharges, cost of interest, and penalties in your term loan contract. 

Guest Blogger Matt Horwitz of LLC University for Credit SuiteAuthor Bio:

Matt Horwitz is the founder of LLC University, a website that teaches people how to form LLCs. Matt is the leading authority in LLC education. He is featured in CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Entrepreneur Magazine, and US Chamber of Commerce. Matt holds a Bachelor’s Degree in business from Drexel University with a concentration in business law. LLC University®, established in 2010, was the first company to create free LLC courses in all 50 states. 

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What You Need to Know About How Personal Credit Impacts Business Operations

There are 125 factors that affect the fundability of your business. Personal credit is one of them. Since it impacts the fundability of your business, personal credit impacts business operations.

Personal Credit Impacts Business Operations in More Ways Than One

Fundability is the obvious one. This is the ability of your business to get funding. If you don’t have funding for your business, it can’t operate. 

However, there are more subtle effects as well. For example, if you are worried about your personal finances, business decisions can suffer. You may be more tempted to make decisions based on trying to control personal issues, rather than what is best for the business. Personal financial issues can distract you from running your business well. 

Control What You Can, Mitigate What You Can’t

Bad credit doesn’t have to be the downfall of your business. Some factors are out of your control. Others are not. The key is to know what is causing the problem, fix what you can, and mitigate the rest. 

One way to mitigate personal bad credit and its negative impact on business operations is to build strong business credit. It can also help to know which types of funding rely most heavily on the credit score from your personal report. 

Until you improve your credit, you may not qualify for a traditional business loan. However, there are other options.

Your Personal Score Even Affects the Types of Funding You Can Get

While you are working on improving your credit score, you don’t have to be stuck without funding. You just have to find those types of funding that you can qualify to get with a less than ideal credit score. 

Invoice Factoring

If you have open invoices and offer credit to customers in some form, then you can get paid faster with invoice factoring. Usually, this involves invoices with net terms, such as net 30, 60, or 90. You turn those invoices over to a factoring company, and they give you an agreed upon percentage of the total of the invoices. You get this amount of money immediately, and when your customer pays, the factoring company keeps their agreed upon fee while sending the balance to you. 

Merchant Cash Advances

A merchant cash advance (MCA) technically isn’t a loan. Rather, it is a cash advance based upon the credit card sales of a business. A small business can apply for an MCA, and have an advance deposited into its account fairly quickly. This is ideal for business owners who accept credit cards and are looking for fast and easy business financing. 

A lender will review 3 months of bank and merchant account statements, looking for consistent deposits. They’ll also verify revenue of $50,000 or higher per year and a time in business of 6 months or longer. A lot of Non-Sufficient-Funds (NSFs) showing on your bank statements will likely be a deal breaker, as will excessive chargebacks on merchant statements. 

Basically, they want to see that you manage your bank and merchant accounts responsibly. Of course, a decent number of consistent credit card transaction deposits each month is important for this type of financing as well. 

Alternative Lenders like Fundbox

Fundbox offers a revolving line of credit for up to $100,000 and will auto debit your weekly payment from your bank account. They connect directly to your online accounting software. You pay in equal installments over the course of a 12 or 24 week plan. 

You do need to have a 600+ personal FICO score and $100,000+ in annual revenue, and you must have a business checking account. Ideally, you will also have 6 months in business or more. 

Can You Fix Personal Credit?

If you have bad credit, it needs to be fixed. How do you do that? The short answer is, pay your bills. Still, if you already have bad credit, it will take some time for that to make a difference. 

Also, make sure your credit report is current and free of mistakes. YIn fact, you can get a free copy of your credit report annually. 

The three main reporting agencies when it comes to personal credit are:  

You can get a free report from all three each year. How? 

Per FTC.Gov: 

“You’re entitled to one free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. Order online from annualcreditreport.com, the only authorized website for free credit reports, or call 1-877-322-8228. You will need to provide your name, address, social security number, and date of birth to verify your identity.”

Once you get your report, read it carefully and make certain all of your information is correct. Contact the appropriate credit agency in their preferred manner if you find a mistake. Each agency has its own procedures for corrections.  Generally, you can find them on their website. Online options for disputes are more common now due to the pandemic. 

These steps will help you get a jump on improving your credit score

Credit Monitoring

In addition to a free copy of your credit report each year, there are free monitoring services that will give you an updated credit score each month. New information that has been posted to your credit report is available with some of these services. As a bonus, some will offer suggestions as to which  factors are dragging down your score. Some of these services even provide real-time credit updates for a fee.

Good Personal Credit Also Affects Business Operations

Of course, a good FICO score will impact business operations as well. Business lenders will generally look at personal credit when you apply. Consequently, good credit will not only help you get approvals, but better rates and terms also. 

Maintaining good credit is important for a number of reasons.  Keeping your business running is one of them.  

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All You Need to Know About The 3 Credit Bureaus

What are the 3 Credit Bureaus for Business All About? Are they really different? The 3 credit bureaus all have reports – are any of them more valuable than the others? The 3 Credit Bureaus for Business There are three credit reporting agencies for business in the US: Dun & Bradstreet Experian Equifax Commercial These … Continue reading All You Need to Know About The 3 Credit Bureaus