Media training 101 for small businesses

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Great news: you just scored a big press interview to promote your business. The story will expose your brand to the perfect new audience and drive meaningful traffic to your website. So…don't blow it. Yes, just as quickly as the excitement for the opportunity arrived, the realization that you now have to do an interview sets in. I get it—press interviews can absolutely be intimidating. The resulting coverage represents a significant opportunity to acquire new customers, drive sales, or raise awareness, and you want to be sure to represent your brand well and really compel the audience to check out your company. On top of that, you have to contend with adrenaline and nerves in the moment. You may be thinking, "So many other business owners are so polished and articulate in their interviews. How am I going to pull that off?" Deep breath. A successful interview is usually the result of good media training: preparation and practice in advance of an interview. I've tr...
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3 ways to automate your payments with Stripe

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Stripe is a payment platform that powers commerce for thousands of companies of all sizes, processing billions of dollars for businesses each year. Whether you're creating a subscription service, an on-demand marketplace, an eCommerce store, or a crowdfunding platform, Stripe helps you create the best possible payment experience.

When you connect Stripe to your other apps using Zapier, you can automate common payment-related processes. Here are a few of the most popular ways that Zapier users automate Stripe.

Zapier's automated workflows are called Zaps. We've included some pre-made workflows—called Zap templates—throughout this piece to get you started. Just click on the Use this Zap button, and we'll guide you through customizing it. It only takes a few minutes. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.

Create customers in your CRM from new Stripe transactions

If you use a customer relationship management (CRM) app as a hub for your sales or support activity, it's important to make sure your leads are up to date. If a customer has already made a purchase from you, it will change the way you reach out to them in the future. But keeping purchase information updated in your CRM can quickly become daunting, especially if you sell things at a high volume.

Instead of trying to keep up manually, you can set up an automated workflow to find and update (or create) customers in your CRM whenever there's a new Stripe transaction. Here are a few Zap templates to get you started.

Make sure all Stripe purchase information goes into your accounting app

Another challenge with online payments is making sure you're tracking them appropriately in your accounting app. It's crucial to keep trustworthy financial records—but it can be phenomenally time-consuming to log every sale, reversal, and refund by hand.

Many Zapier users connect Stripe to their accounting tool so they can automatically log new transactions without doing any extra work. Here are some of the most popular Zap templates for this.

Turn one-time customers into repeat buyers with Stripe and your email marketing app

If you're accepting payments online for individual items—such as things you sell in an eCommerce store—you probably want to stay in touch with first-time customers to encourage them to buy again.

Many businesses use a dedicated email marketing app to do this by sending tailored nurture emails to customers. Instead of manually adding new buyers to a specific mailing list in that app, you can use a Zap to do it for you. These Zap templates are a great place to start.

New to Zapier? It's a tool that helps anyone connect apps and automate workflows—without any complicated code. Sign up for free to use Stripe with Zapier.

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