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5Ps for Marketing your Home Business

Home

Running a home-based business comes with several benefits, among which include being your boss, choosing where to work from, and setting your hours. However, this does not mean it does not come with some challenges. You only experience success with a home business when you offer a quality product or service to a target market.

This might sound easy, but most often, business owners are ineffective and inconsistent in their marketing because they lack in-depth knowledge of the area. Having an understanding of how the five Ps work together and marketing mix will go a long way in helping you find your target market and enticing them to buy. The five Ps of marketing refers to Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and Place. If you want to understand and reach the target market for your home business.

The more you target and understand your consumers, the more effective the time and money you spend to reach them will be. Even more interesting, focusing on these 5Ps will give you an awareness of what is working and what is not when it comes to marketing your home business.

To help you achieve maximum results from your home business, we’ll explain these 5 Ps and how you can apply them to your home business.

Product

First P refers to the products and services you provide. You need to be able to tell your audience about what you’re trying to sell to them. Be clear and specific. What are the details of the service or the physical attributes of the product? Explain how the features and functions of your product or service positively affect your audience in specifics.

Even more, highlight what differentiates and sets what you provide apart from what your competitors offer. Develop the habit of considering your product as though you are an outside marketing consultant brought in to decide if it is the right business for the period. Ask crucial questions such as “Is your current offering or mix of products suitable and appropriate for the customers and market today?” Assessing your products and services honestly is extremely crucial to success as a home-based business owner.

Price

The second in the 5P formula pertains to what you charge for your product or service. Your pricing should be sufficient to cover the expenses you incur and also make a profit. But, it also has to fit in with what the market is willing to pay for.

To find a great pricing range, you should conduct thorough research to know what your competitors are charging. You want to make sure your prices are competitive, and that you are also not undervaluing your product.

Beyond these, you should also assess and keep assessing the prices of the products and services you offer to know if they are in tune with the current realities of the market. Sometimes, you might need to raise your prices. At other times, you might need to lower your prices. What’s more, you might even need to combine your offerings with special promotions and offers. You could even include free extra items that cost you very little and make your prices appear far more reasonable and attractive to your customers. Also, whenever you experience frustration with your pricing, be open to revisiting your prices.

Place

No matter how many consumers hear about your products or services, they won’t be able to buy if they don’t know how to find it. Where are your products and services are sold? How will you get your offerings to your clients and customers? For instance, do you distribute your products through an autoresponder system or are they digital goods sold online? Or do you utilize a third-party such as Amazon?

It is important to consider the buying habits of your consumers to know where your products should be sold. The key is reaching your potential customers where they like to spend time. Review the exact locations where your customer gets your products. Sometimes, what you need for a rapid increase in sales is a change of place. Besides, you can sell your product in various places. Many companies use a combination of direct selling, telemarketing, selling through mail order or catalog, selling in retail establishments or at trade shows, and selling as a joint venture with similar products.

Promotion

How does your target audience get to hear about your products and services? After figuring out the essentials, you have to figure out how you tell potential consumers and clients about your offerings, how you market and then sell to them. Know the best methods to promote your products and services. To do this successfully, you need to understand where your market can be found, such as print, social media, television, or radio. In your marketing messages, you can point out the problem your product or service solves.

However, you should always keep at the back of your mind that whatever marketing and sales method you are using today, they will stop working sooner or later. Sometimes you might be aware of why they stopped working, and at other times, you might not. Whichever way, you have to develop new marketing, advertising, sales offerings, approaches, and strategies.

People

Previously, we only had the four Ps of marketing, until this last factor was added. If you hire employees to help you with your home business, you have to be very selective about whom you choose. While the quality of your products or services will impact your sales, if your salesperson is rude, you will lose clients and customers. There is serious competition in the market today, and consumers have diverse choices. And they always opt for businesses that provide attentive, responsive, and quality customer service.

Bottomline

By employing the five 5Ps in your marketing strategy, you can effectively reach your target market with precise and clear messaging about your products and services. It would also help if you can put yourself in your customers’ shoes and try to picture the steps they would take to locate a product or service like yours and the information they’ll require to finally buy from you. Time and money are precious commodities, and using these 5 Ps in your home business ensures that you don’t waste them on unproductive marketing approaches.

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Things That a New Small Business Owner Must Expect

Business Owner

Many people dream about starting their own business, but very few are actually able to live their dreams by executing them, and even fewer make it past the first five years. This is mainly because a large number of times, some business owner don’t really know what to expect.

There are no words to describe what it feels like but in simple terms; it’s fun but scary at the same time. A large number of small businesses fail because of an inability to successfully make it past year one.

Many business gurus believe that with the right knowledge of what to expect, a new small business owner will know how to prepare for upcoming challenges. Here are a few things that any new small business owner should expect.

Be Ready to Hustle When You’re Tired

Isn’t that what being a small business owner is about? You may be thinking that as a small business owner, you can take a day off when you feel like it but that’s not the case. As the brains behind the entire operation, you need to hustle even when you feel like you’ve done enough. That’s the difference between being an employee and a business owner; you’ve never done enough.

There will always be paperwork that you need to sign, orders that you need to make and customers whom you need to talk to, especially in the first year. Just like in every other phase of life or an industry, the initial period is always make-or-break, and the end result highly depends upon how much work you put in.

You can spend each second checking and rechecking your plans and improving them, working on ideas and developing new strategies. After all, there’s so much on your plate (marketing, product development, vendor contracts and employee training)

You Can’t Make Every Customer Happy

It’s true that as a business owner, you need to retain a sense of balance in everything you do but when it comes to satisfaction, you can’t make everyone happy. As a small business owner, you’re bound to make quite a few customers unhappy and the truth is, you don’t really need to make everyone happy, either.

It’s important that you remember that the key is to have a consistent customer service policy and handling complaints carefully. If your product doesn’t impress a customer all that much, then the way you handle a complaint is sure to make them a loyal customer.

A major factor that differentiates your small business from that of a larger conglomerate’s is that you, as the owner, can give customers the attention they want, which is why they are likely to approach your brand in the first place.

Be the Master of All Trades

When you first thought of starting a business, you may have guessed that you’d only have to sign things and the wheels of your business would turn themselves. Wrong. In year one, you should expect to be able to do everything and know how every process works.

Along the way, you’ll think ‘they didn’t teach me this at business school’ as you try to find a good web hosting company for your company website or take aesthetic pictures of your products so you can post them on a social media account. You don’t learn everything about starting a business; you have to experience it hands-on.

From managing office operations during the day to writing content for your website at night, you’ll have to do most of it in the first year. You’ll be lucky to have friends or family who’ll be willing to help around but in year one, you can’t afford to hire many employees. In addition, even when you do get people on-board, you’ll have to know how to do things yourself before teaching them the basics.

Be Familiar with Laws

No this is where it gets interesting. Staring a small business will require you to be familiar with laws about hiring and taxes so that your business will genuinely be able to help people in the community by offering employment.

There are a number of regulations, laws, and licenses you need to know about before you can officially carry out operations as a business. In the beginning, you should expect to hire a lawyer for such needs because it’s impossible for you to know all the complex regulations that surround the startup of a small business.

This is crucial because no matter how hard you work on your business, it’s likely that even a small detail or legality can be held against you. You’ll be doing yourself a favor by investing in proper legal advice and obtaining all the licenses you require. Nevertheless, legal counsel isn’t cheap so you should expect to have enough financial resources.

There Will Be Some Bumps along the Road

Failure, no matter how big or small, is an inevitable part of running any business, whether big or small. You could make a product that doesn’t turn out as successful as you thought, your marketing strategy may backfire or worst-case scenario, you get a wave of negative feedback.

The first year won’t be failure-free but that doesn’t lessen your chances of reaching success. To keep yourself prepared for these situations, business experts advise that before you should quit your job, you need to have some savings. To be more specific, you should have enough money to support yourself for a year.

You need enough savings because no matter how well you plan the first year of your business, you can’t predict the future so there is always a chance that you might fail. There’s nothing wrong in preparing yourself for the worst-case scenario while planning for the best.

Conclusion

These are just some of the things that every small business owner must expect, especially during the first year after launching their business. Of course, no amount of expectation and preparedness can actually make you battle-ready to start a business but knowing a few of the most common symptoms will help you diagnose and reassure yourself that this is supposed to happen.

 

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Profitable Small Businesses that are Worthy of Your Investment

Investment

Starting up a business is a challenge. Whether it is small or big, you need to follow a series of steps along with different strategies to make it a profitable venture. To make a business worthy of your investment, it is necessary to perform thorough research on each aspect such as a business idea, market, competitors, and finances etc.

Once you find the best idea, your next step should be based on logistics of your business along with a well-crafted plan. These steps are fundamental and crucial. This way, you will create a strong base for your business as well.

So, if you are looking for a small startup that is worthy of your investment, have a look at these 10 fantastic business ideas.

1.    Real Estate Broker

Working as an intermediary between sellers and buyers, real estate brokerage is one the most profitable businesses. You will only require a brokerage license. This is also a cost-effective business idea, which means you can run it without an office as well.

However, you need to know the industry and your competitors before beginning and then you are good to go. Plus, real estate brokering is all about contacts; make sure lots of people know about your business so you can achieve your milestones.

2.    Catering Service

Catering is ideal if you are looking for a small but profitable business as you can provide these services from your home. Many people and even businesses do not think twice to pay high-quality caters. With reliable catering services, you are sure to make a handsome profit, especially on different special occasions.

If you are a hard worker and determined to build a successful small business, catering seems a decent business idea.

3.    Online Tutor

Online tutoring involves creating professional social media profiles and letting people know about your skills. Whether you love to play musical instruments or know different languages, you can teach anything online and become an online tutor.

Online tutoring neither requires extra expenses nor time. So, you can consider it if you can speak fluent French or play different piano tunes.

4.    Food Truck

Food always stays in demand and attracts people. Therefore, you can never go wrong with a food truck, especially if you provide high-quality food and beverages. Take note that opening a small restaurant requires a considerable amount of money.

Plus, there is a risk of loss because of intense competition in the food industry. In this case, a food truck seems an interesting idea. You do not need space or extra staff which makes it a profitable small startup venture.

5.    Personal Trainer

People who love to stay fit and healthy never mind paying their personal fitness trainer. Also, getting certification in personal training is affordable as well. Thus, you can get the required qualification and start offering personal training services.

This is one of the small businesses that are worthy of your investment as in current times people know the significance of a healthy lifestyle. Since this industry is competitive, you should use the internet to market your services and to build your client network.

6.    Web Designing

Technology companies are always looking for web designers who can make top-notch websites. Web designing entails developing value-driven, intuitive and beautiful websites.

If you have got an eye for website designing, you can offer these services to various companies and brands and start your web designing business. If you are new to this field, you can even learn the basics of website crafting and become a pro. Moreover, there are many online courses available that can teach the latest website trends as well.

7.    Social Media Marketer

Social media platforms have become a part of our daily life. Not only this, many people are running their businesses online on these platforms. You can start marketing on your social media profiles as well. For instance, you can use your Instagram account for marketing purposes.

All you need to do is decide the type of content you are willing to share such as technology, beauty, or health etc. and build up a considerable following on your account. Brands often look for social media accounts with a huge following to market their products. If your content is related to their business, they are likely to approach you.

8.    Local Business Consultant

New startups are always in demand of consultants who can solve problems related to their business and provide solid advice. Therefore, if you have developed the right skills or are a pro in your industry, you can become a consultant.

Whether you are a business strategist, marketer, or have other skills, feel free to offer your services to local businesses. Plus, you can take help from online courses on how to get clients and build your brand that is worth your investment.

9.    Travel Consultant

You can turn your love for traveling into a profitable small business. You can begin by creating official groups on Facebook or LinkedIn. This is an effective way to attract travel enthusiasts. In the group, you can share cheap flight rates and even recommendations for next traveling destinations.

Travelers are always in search of different recommendations to explore different places. In this case, they can count on you and you can teach them how to turn their dream trip into a reality.

10.    Become a Photographer

Turning your skills into a small profitable business is easy if you have a passion for photography and you own a camera. All you need to do is learn top-notch editing skills which are crucial in this industry along with finding a suitable niche, such as food photography or travel photography etc.

To build an impressive online portfolio, you should do photo-shoots frequently so people will know about your skills. For this, you should not hesitate to capture a few photographs for free. With a professional portfolio, you are likely to get clients in a short time.

Bottom Line

There are plenty of ideas that are worthy of your investment. However, the competition in different industries can give you a tough time. You can overcome this part if you focus on the quality of your services.

 

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The Building Blocks for Great Marketing Copy

Marketing

Marketers and copywriters craft the best marketing copy to guarantee more conversions and sales.

But how do you write the best copy that convinces even the most demanding consumers?

What is Marketing?

Marketing refers to creating the image a business wants to portray to their consumers and stakeholders. Marketing is all about representing your image and establishing your unique identity in the market.

Marketing content is not restricted to your products and services. A company can market its work culture to attract the best pool of talented employees. A business can also market its eco-friendly operations to show that they care for the environment we live in.

Common formats of marketing copy include:

  • Blogs
  • eBooks
  • Social media posts
  • Landing pages
  • Whitepapers
  • Video scripts
  • Infographics
  • Paid ad copy
  • CTA copy
  • Email
  • Case studies
  • Webinars

Now that you know what marketing copy is all about, here are the best ways to write an attention-grabbing marketing copy.

Focus on a Single Message

The best copy revolves around a single subject. While copywriters and marketing gurus are multi-taskers, they strongly recommend focusing on one message that is the crux of your campaign.

For instance, if you are writing a copy for a company that sells Bluetooth earphones along with other accessories, such as speakers, create unique content for each product. Whether you’re writing a blog post or creating a landing page, there should be separate information available for every product.

Brainstorm

There’s no copy without understanding the philosophy behind producing and selling a product. If you run a small business, here are a few factors to consider:

  • What are your strengths?
  • Why is your product different than other products in the market?
  • How do you aim to serve your consumers?
  • What are the channels or mediums that you want to use for your marketing campaigns?

Once you’ve identified the goals you want to accomplish with your copy, crafting the best marketing copy becomes easier. The best way to capture your audience is to address a current problem that needs to be dealt right away.

If you’re a web design and development company, base your marketing copy on statistics that reveal how much online traffic has shifted to mobile devices. This way you can pitch companies that are in need of responsible websites.

Keep it simple

No need to complicate things when all your consumers want to read is simple information. Owing to an exponentially decreasing attention span of today’s busy online visitors, the simplest copy gets the most views and shares. This is because an average user is unaware of the technical terms and jargon you might be tempted to use in our copy.

Keep it short and simple and avoid long-run sentences. Make sure you come up with adjective-rich copy that sums ups the best part of your products in just one word.

Use catchy headlines

Boring headlines and clichés are just a big turn-off.

What’s marketing without any creativity? Interesting headlines ignite interest and push your audience to skim through a blog post or open an email. A few effective ways to create your headlines are:

  • Pose a question to pique your visitors’ interest
  • Compile “Top 10” like lists related to your products and services
  • Include a current or trending subject in your headline
  • Make an irresistible offer if you’re writing a copy for your social media pages

Value-added services include complementary products and discounted services to first-time and loyal customers. We all love free offers and consumers are always looking for something they can try out for free before investing. The fun part is that a great copy makes even the smallest of offers tempting and popular among customers.

Target the Fearful Customer

Copywriters are known to play off the customers’ fears. For instance, if you’re marketing an insect repellent spray, make your reader imagine a situation where his bed is infested with bed bugs. Nobody wants to imagine ugly crawling insects making their way to their children’s beds.

You’re not doing anything wrong here. You’re just identifying a current or potential problem and offering a solution. Basically, you’re playing off the masses. Needless to say, this is one of the best ways to push more sales.

Again, do your home work to identify what troubles your target audience. What drives them during the day and what keeps them up all night.

Convince not Converse

A customer only buys a product once he’s convinced that the product is going to solve his or her problem. Let’s say you are writing a copy to sell a dietary supplement. Listing ingredients and compounds is not enough to lure someone into buying the supplement.

Make sure you also list the benefits of each ingredient. Even if your marketing copy proclaims that a product solves a specific problem, consumers will remain doubtful. However, if you tell them ‘how’ it takes care of their problem, you convince challenging customers.

Call to Action

All great marketing copies come down to a clearly visible call to action. One deadly mistake that most marketers and copywriters commit is to keep CTA at the bottom of the page. While placing the call to action button in the end is a common practice, there is no fixed rule that prevents you from initiating customer activity during any part of your copy.

Whether it’s providing free consultation, receiving a free eBook or signing up for a newsletter, remember to incorporate CTA’s throughout your copy.

Test your copy

There are plenty of ways to test your marketing copy. The best method to track success is to conduct A/B tests. These tests can be done for any landing page, blog post or infographic. A/B testing helps businesses expand their outreach to a wider audience. It also helps marketing teams tweak suitable changes to their current and future campaigns.

Final Thoughts

Today’s smart consumers can tell the difference between functional and fad products. Great marketing stems from incredible products. If your products don’t add any value to your customers’ lives, not even the best marketing copy can save you. Focus on creating amazing products and let your marketing copy take your business to new heights of success.

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10 Need To Know Things Before Starting A Business

Starting

Establishing a starting business – especially for those who do not have experience – is a very complicated and difficult task. More than once, the business owner’s lack of experience would often lead to regrettable, if not disastrous, outcomes. If you are planning to start a new business, here are ten things that you must know if you want to avoid startup failures:

1. Put everything on paper. Some people might tell you that you should avoid contracts as much as possible. Unfortunately, they are wrong. Before starting any deal – whether with a supplier or investor – work first on the terms of the agreement and put in on paper. This will assure you that you have a written documentation that might help you in case issues about the arrangement that was earlier agreed upon arise.

2. Formulate an effective business system. Businesses to tend to rely on efficient systems that ensure optimized operations. As the owner, it is your task to create, evaluate, and re-evaluate this kind of system that will guarantee quality and profitable results not just from your employees but from everyone and everything involved in the company.

3. Know your finances. Businesses rely heavily on your capital and profits. Even if you hire a professional accountant to handle your finances, it is important that you have more than just an inkling of knowledge about this aspect of your company. Know your financial limits. Likewise, have an idea on when will you receive payments. You would not want to wake up realizing that you don’t have the money to pay this month’s electricity bill.

4. Have an attorney. It might appear over the top, but having a person who will be there to offer legal assistance may be one of the best decisions that you will ever make. Keep in mind that attorneys are not just about legal suits and court trials – they can also assist in contracts and other agreements. In the end, you will realize that their worth is more than what you have paid them.

5. Decide on whether to hire an employee or get an independent contractor. The decision is up to you, really. It basically depends on the job that is needed to be done. You have to consider the risks of hiring one over the other. Employees, for instance, are good for long term tasks while contractors are the best choice if you are looking for someone who can work on specific assignments.

6. Be ready with your legal agreements. This is basically a combination of this list’s first and the fourth items. Like what was stated, contracts should be signed before the implementation of any deal. And that includes arrangements with your employees and contractors. Familiarize yourself – with the help of your attorney – with non-disclosure, intellectual property, and other forms of agreements that might come in handy.

7. Be careful with joint ventures. Teaming up with another business – especially with established ones – are very enticing for startup owners. And while this is an indication that your business in on the right track, be wary of these partnerships. Ask the question, what will you get if you sign that agreement?

8. Do not muddle up your personal and professional lives. Sure, you own the starting business. But that should not encourage you to put your personal money and your startup’s capital in a single bank account. Keep everything separated, especially with accounting. Businesses flourish if you professionally – and not personally – handle the finances.

9. Be ready for additional tax types. Taxes are part of our everyday lives. And don’t be surprised if it becomes a part of your every hour’s life once you establish your startup. Businesses tend to pay a lot of taxes, and you shouldn’t lose your mind because of this. There are tools available in the market that might help you. Or better, hire an accountant.

10. Look for the right tools. There are many services that can help you operate your business. Browse through a number of software, applications, and programs that can be downloaded from the Internet.

Establishing a starting business requires passion. But more than that, would-be entrepreneurs are also encouraged to have some knowledge on what they are about to do. It might sound difficult, but it sure is fun.

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How To Keep Cash Flow Positive As A Business Startup

cash flow

One of the biggest challenges for any business startup is the ability to have positive cash flow at all times throughout the year. When times get lean,and profits go down, you can feel a pinch in your working capital and need a way to build these monetary reserves back up to their peak. The reverse holds true when profits are soaring and you are making bank – you feel the beneficial weight of some added funds sitting in your cash flow reserves ready to be spent. But, you need to even out this cyclical trend with a positive cash flow all year-round. Here are some ways you can keep your working capital positive throughout your sales cycle.

Prevent Overspending

One of the easiest ways to get your cash flow in check is to stop overspending when the need is really not there. It can be tempting to buy the latest and greatest of everything for your business,but if tomorrow’s sales take a dip, you will find your reserves a little slimmer than normal. Spend cautiously on what you need for your business startup to survive each day. This can help you have the cash you need when an issue arises without having to struggle to come up with the funding.

Stay On Top Of Invoicing

Getting paid for the work you have completed is an arduous task for any startup. It is no fun chasing down late payments, but it is your responsibility as a business startup owner to make sure your invoicing goes out on time and gets paid. Getting your invoicing in order can make sure you have a steady flow of income coming in and can make sure money is left over for positive cash flow at the end of each and every month.

Track Daily-To-Day Costs

Keeping a good record of your costs all throughout the year can help you better identify where you are overspending. You may need to reign in your expenses, but without tracking them, you have no way of knowing where your cash flow is going each day. Keep a record of all the expenses you make every single day and review them to see where you can cut back. You may be making unnecessary purchases that are costing are adding up and affecting your working capital.

Keep A Cushion

If you know your business startup struggles from time-to-time with its working capital, you can plan for these times by setting aside a cushion of funds that you can rely on when you need it. This can make your slower months easier to bear and provide you a solid reserve that you can count on when an emergency arises. It can give you some added security that you have the funds when profits dip and keep you in the black all throughout the year.

Estimate Future Earning Conservatively

When you look ahead, it can be easy to overestimate what your earning will be the following year. You may anticipate sales that don’t come to fruition or unexpected circumstances could take hold. To keep your cash flow positive, be realistic in your future earnings and plan for the unexpected, so you don’t wind up in a situation where your working capital vanishes without warning.

Increase Sales

While it goes without saying that increasing your sales can help grow your cash flow, but this is one area that business startups can lag in. Think about the ways that you can add value to your offerings and entice customers to buy more than ever before. Bundles and add-ons are simple ways to get a customer to spend more with you and help increase your sales in any given month. You need to consider all the ways that you can get each transaction to its maximum value so you can have that extra working capital after your receivables, payroll, and expenses have been paid.

Secure A Short-Term Investor

Short-term angel investors are a sure-fire way to jump start your business startup and get the funding you need to help with your cash flow problems. They can help provide funding when times are tough and allow you to breathe a little easier with their financial support. A short-term angel investor can provide you money to grow your business while still maintain the day-to-day flow. Paid back over a shorter amount of time, these seed investors help to give you more flexibility and provide an alternative means of securing funding for your business startup.

Create Loyal Customers

Turning your customers into to loyal fans that frequent your business on a regular basis can help you grow sales and increase your profits all throughout the year. These repeat customers can give you business start up the boost it needs while also helping your working capital to balloon with each purchase. When you can count on a customer to return to your business, not only does it ensure another sale but it makes it easier to project future sales and keep your cash flow from dipping into the red.

Keep Inventory Lean

Making sure that you don’t overstock your inventory can also prevent a negative cash flow for your startup business. Practice being lean and only have the inventory you need at any given time. This can make a difference in your business’ bottom line and improve your cash flow situation. Having product and materials on hand may be nice,but it can affect your ability to have the cash reserves when you need it most. Keeping inventory to a minimum takes a special knack, but you will find that your operations are just as efficient and you are not waiting months to sell your backlog, affecting your monthly working capital.

Taking stock of your cash flow on a daily basis can make sure it is positively flowing each and every month. These simple tips can help you stay in the black and make your working capital less of a worry for your business startup. Planning  ahead, staying lean, and growing your sales will ensure you have the cash reserves you need to keep your business startup afloat year-round.

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Understanding Venture Capitalists: How to Get Their Attention… And Approval

venture capitalists

It might be surprising, but a lot of venture capitalists understand the situation of would-be entrepreneurs who are looking for investors who will finance their startups. The reason for this is simple: these people who now have millions of venture capital funds stashed in banks also started as a small company owner who experienced the challenges of looking for someone who is interested in providing financial support.

They might have followed the traditional venture capitalist model or used personal means – such as credit cards and personal guarantees – to raise significant amount of money. But one thing is clear – most venture capitalists understand the position of startup owners. And this shows their true nature when it comes to dealing with these kinds of partnerships.

Unlike the common conception that they are all too powerful and very difficult to please, venture capitalists are also human. And because most of them have experienced and succeeded in this industry, the requirements that they ask from startup owners should be seen as reasonable and realistic. Here are some of the traits that startup owners applying for financial support should have:

Passion – Those who are passionate, enthusiastic, and confident with their startups usually get not only the attention, but also the approval of investors.

Intelligence – Knowledgeable would-be entrepreneurs always have the advantage. Venture capitalists think that intelligence is tied with the success of the company.

Defensibility – Having a great concept is one thing, but being able to defend it at different levels is another. Most of the time, investors will point problems on the concept submitted by the startup owner. He or she must be able to defend the idea and convince venture capitalists that the problems can be resolved.

Contrarianism – Investors are waiting for the next big thing. Thus, unique ideas that have huge potential almost always get the nod of venture capitalists. After all, nobody wants another social networking site, not if we already have Facebook. We want something new.

Perseverance and Persistence – Startup owners who exhibit determination on their ideas always get the attention of investors. Consistent follow-ups and immediate response to queries sent by the potential investors show how important the deal is for the entrepreneur.

Humility – Despite the need for passion and determination, startup owners also need to have an ounce of humility. One must keep in mind that even the best actors or athletes have to follow the orders of their directors and coaches, respectively.

Aside from the traits enumerated above, would-be entrepreneurs should also understand what goes in the mind of venture capitalists. Usually, it only involves two things: fear and greed.

As noted earlier, investors want to put money on proposal that will be as big as Facebook. Because of this, they are afraid of letting a potential project go (fear). Also, venture capitalists look at the things that they will get once they finance a startup. This includes profit, recognition, and a powerful position within the company, among other benefits (greed).

In the end, it all comes down to these two. And startup owners might want to use these to their advantage. Of course, it would not be easy. Venture capitalists are experienced people who will know if they are being manipulated. But having the knowledge of what they want is something that could spell the difference between failure and success.

Who we are:  Funded.com is a platform that is A+ BBB rated over 10+ years. Access our network of Investors, get instantly matched with a Lender, or get a business plan by visiting us Funded.com

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What does it take to run an Online Business?

OnlineOwning an online business allows you to work from anywhere you want.  All you need is to set flexible work hours and establish your presence. Not only this, online businesses have significantly low startup costs and that is what makes it ideal, especially for new entrepreneurs. This is one of the main reasons why traditional brick-and-mortar businesses are gradually declining. They are now more focused on being globalized and ubiquitous.

To put it simply, running an online business has a plethora of benefits if you are an experienced entrepreneur. However, if you are a startup and facing troubles in creating a presence, you need to understand that starting an online business is easy, but running it requires your attention. Whether your digital set up is in its initial phase or has achieved some milestones, knowing key details of the mainstream market and understanding it is of paramount importance.

Another major aspect that is essential to consider when it comes to running an online business successfully is familiarity with technology. If anentrepreneur lacks knowledge of digital marketing or other tech-based strategies, reaching the target audience becomes a daunting task.

If you can relate to this, then the provided details might be useful for your online business. All you need is to consider the following steps while running your online business.

How to Run an Online Business?

Establish Your Business Market

There is no doubt that without understanding the target market you want to focus on, you cannot increase your sales. However, if you know where you will find your target audience online, developing marketing strategies become a breeze.

According to expert marketers, when an entrepreneur understands their core audience, it will help them find the right ways to offer the products that interest the audience. The point is, researching the market position and analyzing the needs and interest of customers is substantially important before launching your product.

 Register Your Domain Name

Your online business requires a domain name. Without registering it you cannot run your business as it is your online address, spot or place where people will find you on the internet. The good news is that there is a myriad of companies that sell a domain name.  Google Domains, in this regard, is one of the common choices you can opt for.

Your domain name plays a critical role when it is comes to branding an online company. Here is when you need to come up with a domain name that truly reflects your company and its goals. While choosing a name, make sure you use the name checker tool to help you see what is available.

Host Your Business Domain

Hosting a business domain is an integral part of running a business online. Through a web host, your online business gets space on various servers. Sometimes both registering a domain and finding a host for it can be achieved with the help of one company. Following are the key features you need to consider when you choose a web host.

  • Uptime percentage
  • Available marketing tools
  • Storage capacity
  • Email features that are based on domain
  • How it offers customer response forms
  • Hosting capability for blogging
  • Accessibility for customer support

Focus on Your Business Website Design

The first impression is the last impression’ -whether you believe it or not it is undeniably true when it is about your website design. Your customer doesn’t have a place to visit or judge your market credibility; however, it’s your e-commerce platform/website that enables customers to understand your marketing skills.

That is to say, the more attractive and informative your website design is, the more customers your online business will attract. This is where both your marketing expertise and technology create a storefront for you.  If your brand is failing to grab the attention of potential customers, it is the right time to consider alternative options.

Hiring a professional web designer with sound web skills can make a huge difference to your websites’ layout.  We recommend you choose a quality e-commerce platform to not only help you customize the website, but also run an online business.

Add an Online Payment Option

The concept of online shopping encapsulates customer’s easiness whether it is about purchasing online or paying online. That is what adding online payment feature to online business makes extremely important. It gives customers satisfaction that they can process transactions without having to go through a long and arduous payment process.

Besides that, giving your customers multiple gateways for shopping can also have a significant impact on your business success. Allow upgrades and provide different packages for purchase options to make shopping fun and convenient from your online store.

Increase Website Traffic

Providing quality products and excellent user experience to your customers is your foremost responsibility if you are an online entrepreneur. It is the only way you can retain your customers while driving more traffic to your website.

For running an online business successfully, you need to make extra efforts to stand out from your competitors, which is not possible until you leverage the right strategies to attract the right customers.  Always focus on the target group to generate more sales and create more traffic online. Here are few tips o drive traffic:

  • Register with popular search engines, like Bing and Google
  • Use persuasive online advertising on social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
  • Focus on quality content marketing

Gradually incorporate advanced digital marketing strategies to increase quality traffic on your website. Remember that, driving massive traffic involves a number of technicalities and requires you to consult with digital marketing experts.  In addition to that, never compromise on the quality of e-commerce software as it will help you keep a tab on financial information, customer data and other analytics for your future business decisions.

Final Thoughts

All in all, an online business is undeniably a decent way to earn money, but requires proper strategies and planning to run it efficiently. It takes your hard work, time and most importantly market understanding to run an online business.

Who we are:  Funded.com is a platform that is A+ BBB rated over 10+ years. Access our network of Investors, get instantly matched with a Lender, or get a business plan by visiting us Funded.com

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How to Avoid Financial Problems for Your Startup?

Startup

There is no denying that starting your own business in an established niche is exhilarating. However, at the same time, you cannot eliminate the risk factors involved. As a startup, you have to deal with a plethora of problems, with an endless stream of administrative tasks. Not only does it require a lot of your attention but also time and critical thinking to manage business finances.

When you launch a new business, you require sufficient capital to cover all the expenses, and also funds to run your business before it turns a profit. This reason is why it is important that you work with a proper financial plan that can ensure your leap into the business world that is secure and realistic. Once you are sure that your business has enough finances, you will be able to maximize the chances of success.

Here are some tips to help startups and entrepreneurs manage financial problems:

Tips to Avoid Financial Problems for Startups

Avoid Taking Expensive Credits

Whether you’re an established brand or thinking to set up a startup, you need to make optimal use of your business funds. You need to establish some financial goals that can help you build a progressive business portfolio to benefit your business.

Remember that it is the growing period of your business, and the credit cost plays an important role. Your foremost financial goal must be to set up interest core at a minimum price to attain profitability and reduce costs.

Keep Expenses Low

Business is in the survival stage in the initial phase, so keeping expenses fixed or low is a wise move. Expenses play a critical role in helping you maintain steady business revenue. 

Always try to plan large expense, including taxes, payrolls, and cost materials for products, interest, utilities, and operating expenses in advance. Managing these expenses may help you reduce the financial burden. Moreover, low expenses will ensure your cash flow is running smoothly, even on a tight budget.

Keep a Balance between Personal and Business Finances

This important step can help you avoid financial problems. Once you register your business, make sure you set up a commercial business account. To put it simply, use different banks for your business and personal accounts.

Keeping business and personal financial accounts separate can make accounting straightforward throughout the year. Also, you can easily calculate your taxes as well as eliminate the cash crunch situations startups face due to unexpected withdrawals. This also means you need to avoid withdrawing money for personal use from the business account.

You can use different credit cards and loans for your startup but avoid using them for personal expenses.

Consider Insurance

You might not like the idea of insurance and paying a big amount for your startup, but you cannot deny that your business actually needs it. Do some research about what suits your business needs for managing business finances and building a profitable portfolio. This step is imperative to evaluate which type of insurance can provide your business with long-term financial security.

Prioritize Payments

To keep financial problems at bay, entrepreneurs need to draw a line between less important and essential costs for at least the first six months. This helps entrepreneurs project where they need to inject the cash flow. They can start by reducing unnecessary expenses and adjusting the budget.

Prioritizing payments may also help you determine the key issues, such as business overspending. Once entrepreneurs take a closer look, they will find ways to become more cost-savvy with their business expenditures.

Invest in Advanced Technology

The next important thing to avoid financial problems is to invest in the right technology. To retain a prominent position in the business world, analyze your competitors’ strategy, and upgrade business operations. Use online software to track finances and also establish a strong online presence.

Using bookkeeping software for developing budgets, paying taxes, and understanding your business financial position is a great idea. Almost, all large-scale businesses have a separate finance department that uses professional software.

However, your business is in its infancy, but if you don’t embrace technological advancements gradually,   running a business efficiently will become challenging.

Manage Money Movement

Regardless of what stage your business is at, outlining payment terms is important to manage business finances efficiently. The best way to do this is to track money movements, from supplier costs to product purchasing. Make sure you consider both the legal and the financial sides of monetary transactions to trace money movements.

This way, you can figure out which business areas are performing efficiently and where you need to invest fewer funds. The data is useable for not only tracking progress but also developing a reasonable budget.

Negotiate Your Business Needs with Vendors before Finalizing a Contract

Don’t hesitate to negotiate whenever you are signing a deal. Successful entrepreneurs know what rates can benefit their business and how they can achieve them. They carefully examine purchase terms, such as grace periods or payment penalties, which can help them negotiate a great deal.

Maintain an Emergency Fund

Once you know how important it is to negotiate the right prices with vendors for managing business finances, you need to set aside emergency funds to ensure the success of your startup entity. Know that your sales will not be consistent throughout the year. This part is where you need to have some emergency funds, particularly for the off-season, to maintain a steady cash flow. 

For emergency funds, take out a proportion of your profits or income every month (particularly during high sales) and keep it for off-month expenses.

Bottom Line

While starting your own business is exciting, it entails a myriad of challenges, especially when it comes to handling business finances. If you’re facing these same issues and want to be prepared, try implementing the tips mentioned above to help you move towards a bright future.

Financial stability in business leads to better money management and success opportunities, and thus, these factors are crucial for the success of any startup.

Who we are:  Funded.com is a platform that is A+ BBB rated over 10+ years. Access our network of Investors, get instantly matched with a Lender, or get a business plan by visiting us Funded.com

You can review our featured partners to help your success with your business or project.

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Nail These 3 Strategies Before You Launch Your Social-Media Campaign

Campaign

In today’s digital era, every business dreams to execute the perfect social media campaign to stay competitive. It doesn’t matter if you’re an entrepreneur or run a small business, the need to launch your social media campaign is becoming inevitable over time.

Some of the biggest businesses of our times are known to create strong social media campaigns. Not only these promotions lead to increased profits, these campaigns allow a business to connect with their consumers, on a human level.

Already, a large part of today’s online content has now moved on to social media. It is natural for businesses to work on creating the best social media campaign that is crafted to bridge the gap between businesses and their consumers.

Why do you need a social-media campaign?

  • Boost awareness
  • Increase loyalty
  • Earn more profits

When you spread awareness and offer solutions to your target audience’s problems, you automatically get a decent number of loyal customers.

Three Strategies you must nail before launching your Social Media Campaign

But before you implement your social-media strategy, here are 3 strategies you must work on to get the most out of your campaign.

1. Set a Goal

If you don’t have a goal, you don’t know what you want to achieve through your campaign. Your goal defines the content and sets the mood for your social media plan. When you put your audience first, you are eventually able to plan and execute a successful campaign on all channels.

Do your homework to know the needs, wants and challenges your audience faces every day. Companies can collect relevant information through surveys or study their consumer behavior to identify the most common problems.

Talk it out with your marketing team. Explain how your products or services aim to change the current scenario. When you clearly define the goals of your campaign, you are able to work on the heart and soul of your brand. This is the ‘one thing’ that sets you apart from your rivals.

Some common goals that today’s aspiring and established companies wish to achieve through a social media campaign include getting more followers, creating interest in a new product and building your mailing list. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a successful social media campaign. Hence, you need to define goals and objectives every time you are launching a new campaign.

There are many other factors that you need to focus on to guarantee true success.

  • Which platforms will work best?
  • What kind of content should I create?
  • Do I need to include a video in my campaign?
  • How do I assess and track results?

Once a business finds clear and precise answers to these questions, it is easier to design and deploy a campaign.

2. Setting a Calendar

Now that you’ve done all the strategic part of launching the promotion, you need to create a schedule or a yearly plan. Your marketing team sets a fixed schedule that also includes important events, product launches and your business accomplishments. A calendar makes it convenient for a company to initiate, assess and implement your campaigns.

There are many benefits of sticking to a fixed schedule. A calendar allows businesses to work on each individual channel. For instance, having separate posting schedules for your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts will let you create personalized content, ahead of time.

While Facebook continues to dominate all other social networks with roughly two billion monthly users, don’t forget to include other mediums such as Pinterest and YouTube. Since video content is going to capture more than 80% of all internet traffic by 2022, it is important that you also include a video strategy to attract more users.

If you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner, it is a great idea to start working on a couple of social media channels before embracing them all. Once you have a respectable fan following on one channel, you can direct your traffic to another medium.

3. Monitor Outcomes

What’s the point of creating or deploying a social media campaign when you fail to track down its progress? The truth is that it is crucial that you utilize analytic tools and metrics to judge the overall performance of your strategy.

If you do not know what tools or methods will give you the best tracking results, make sure you work with the best marketing team to help you gain valuable insights.

One thing to note is that the metrics of a campaign may change with its goal. For instance, if your promotional strategy is aimed at awareness, measure growth and engagement. The metrics also include shares, likes and dislikes.

If your business wants to boost its sales, track click rates, conversion rates and shares.

When you have designed a campaign to increase loyalty, look for sentiments, engagement and influence.

What else should you do?

The secret lies to know your audience for creating the content that clicks with them. For instance, Facebook dominates all mediums as 68% of American users are active on this network. But Facebook works better when a company is targeting older users.

If you are launching a promotion for a younger audience, choose Instagram. If you are uploading videos or tutorials, YouTube continues to beat other streaming networks. Since Google now owns YouTube, uploading your content on your official YouTube channel may also improve your rankings.

Moreover, there are many social media celebrities who can endorse your products or services. Can you imagine the effect it will make on your audience? Identify key influencers in your particular niche. Partner with the most influential personalities in your industry to spread your brand message.

This tip works because the influencer you’re connecting to already has a massive network. This strategy is a hybrid of new and old marketing tactics.

Bottom Line

The implementation part revolves around narrowing in on the daily tasks. Once your marketing team has nailed the 3 strategies, the rest of the work becomes less complicated.

Moreover, it’s not always about the size of your budget, but how you spend your marketing dollars. Sometimes, smaller brands deploy more popular social media campaigns than big brands that spend millions on promotion.

Who we are:  Funded.com is a platform that is A+ BBB rated over 10+ years. Access our network of Investors, get instantly matched with a Lender, or get a business plan by visiting us Funded.com

You can review our featured partners to help your success with your business or project.