More and more businesses are expanding their business most especially in trading. Of course, when trading goods, owners have better opportunities in gaining better profits and improving their reputation. However, not all business owners have the finances to do so. Because of this, they usually opt for trade finance options.As of now, there are numerous type of finance options to improve trading. These include cash advances, documentary collection, open accounts and letter of credit. And, the safest option for both seller and buyer is the letter of credit.When using a letter of credit as a method to attain trade finances, importers and exporters need to work with a bank that will issue and confirm the guarantee of payment from the importer and exporter. Because of this, you can trade easily and efficiently. However, there are cases when individuals make mistakes in creating a letter of credit which can affect their trade finance. Below are some of the mistakes.Not knowing the real purpose of the letter of creditOne of the main mistakes that business owners make when creating a letter of credit is they do not know its real purpose. Of course, financing experts can help you find the best options. However, it is the job of the business owner to understand the method. Sadly, some business owners let their financial advisers deal with this issue which cause serious damages to your business when neglected. So, it is best to understand the option first before using.Not considering other optionsAs mentioned above, a letter of credit is the best and safest method to obtain finances for trading. But, it is still important for business owners to consider other options. This is important since there are cases when businesses can obtain better benefits from other payment options.Failing to negotiateWhen creating a letter of credit, there are also some business owners who fail to negotiate. In order to get the best out of the agreement, you need to make sure that all agreements are balanced. In case that there are any issues that can affect the contract, you need to negotiate and look for the best solution. In this way, you can both parties can attain better results.Neglecting to review contractsThere are also times when business owners neglect to review contracts. This simple negligence can turn agreements into disputes most especially if some details on the contracts are not clarified during the agreement.Opting for the wrong banking institution to work withFinally, there are also some instances when business owners work with the wrong banking institution. Surely, most institutions offer effective and reliable trade finance options. But, not all institutions can provide you with the benefits. Therefore, it is vital to spend time and check institutions before opting for their services to avoid problems that can affect business opportunities and finances.These are only some of the mistakes business owners need to be aware of when creating a letter of credit.
Trade Finance: Mistakes In Creating A Letter Of Credit
Photography Schools – Training and Course Options
The career choices are broad for students that have obtained a photography education. Students can learn to take, edit, and print images. Numerous training and course options are available through photography schools.Students can expect to gain all of the technological and technical skills needed by completing focused courses. Good programs are offered by accredited colleges that center education around the art, science, and business aspects of photography. Courses that teach students these categories typically include:*Intro to PhotographyThe complete basics are covered, which includes camera features, techniques, and presentation skills. Students study photography by exploring its design, history, and aesthetic principles. Understanding the theories for film, exposure, and printing are also covered in this type of course.*Color PhotographyStudents can expect to explore and understand color theory and how it’s related to photography. Concepts and practices are discussed so students learn how to choose color filters for different lighting situations. The printing procedure for color negatives is another topic discussed.*Illustrative PhotographyWhen pursuing a photography degree for advertising an illustrative course is taken. Lighting equipment, production, and descriptive advertising are all subjects covered. Students learn how to manage a photography studio in regards to equipment and proper lighting.*PhotojournalismLarge amounts of working photographers pursue careers in the field of photojournalism. Students that are pursuing work as photographers for newspapers and magazines learn the different shots taken for the field. The course covers how to shoot photos for hard news stories, sports, and editorials. Action shots, close-ups, and photo compressions are some of the styles explored.*Digital ImagingThe industry is highly comprised of the latest editing software, which allows professionals to use computer-based programs to foster an electronic darkroom. Programs like Adobe Photoshop are learned so students can change the color, brightness, fuzziness, and more of photos. The processes of manipulation and improvement are explored as well.Training programs are mostly offered at the associate degree level but some vocational colleges also provide certificate programs. Students are trained inside an associate degree program to understand the field by completing courses in visual communication, color management, and editing. Courses give students the chance to learn and practice working with people and the industry’s software. Education is imperative to career success. The field is extremely competitive and students that have earned an education have a higher chance of entering their desired career.Learning to use equipment to capture great photography is obtainable through a focused education. Students can better their chances of success in the industry by selecting a program that teaches them about their desired field. For example, students that want to work in forensics should enroll in a program that teaches them the regulations of crime scene photography.Education is available at a variety of accredited photography schools that offer many training course options. Students can find a program that is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, Commission on Accreditation ( http://nasad.arts-accredit.org/ ) and fits their passion, in order to enter a career as a photographer.DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERIC OUTLINE and may or may not depict precise methods, courses and/or focuses related to ANY ONE specific school(s) that may or may not be advertised at PETAP.org.Copyright 2010 – All rights reserved by PETAP.org.
5 Key Benefits of Advertising on Social Media
We are well aware that the trend of social media platforms and the increase of internet users are rapidly growing at a fast pace. The global scope of internet and mostly communications, deals, selling, buying and other activities are now easily available on these social media websites. Social media is now a substantial part of every marketing strategy and the benefits of social media are so significant that anyone missing out on reaping these benefits is at a huge loss of marketing opportunities. Informate Mobile Intelligence reported how attached Americans are to their smart phones and their social media networks. According to their latest report, U.S citizens check their social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others a staggering 17 times a day. Not only Americans, but also users from other countries such as Thailand, Argentina, Malaysia, Qatar, Mexico, and South Africa check these networking applications at least 40 times a day. This is how popular you can be.
1. Cost Effective
Social media is a lot cheaper and faster way of connecting with people. You are saving a lot of money rather than spending on costly advertisements. Signing up and creating a profile is free for almost all social networking platforms and any paid promotions are relatively low on cost compared to other marketing tactics. Initially spend small amounts of time and money and gradually fine tune your strategy and increase your budget which will significantly increase your conversion rates and return on investment. Social media agencies know the prospective of this growing platform and use effective social media strategies for the growth and development of businesses.
2. Brand Recognition
Every strategy available to increase your brands visibility is of great value. Social media are great channels to voice your brand’s presence and content. It creates a way of access to new customers, thereby increasing the radius of your target audience. Social Ad’s will work as a favour and repeatedly show up on your target audience’s profile. There will be a continuous reminder of your brand’s name and area of expertise, familiarizing new customers. You can ask your business partners, sponsors and employees to ‘like’ and ‘share’ your page which will increase brand awareness.
3. Traffic
Posting on social media will get you some site traffic, but it is only restricted to the audience who already know and need your business. More effort than that is required to achieve significant success. Every social media post is an opportunity for a new visitor. Ranking in the top positions for your keywords will revolutionize your traffic. Create high quality content such as blogs, infographics, case studies, business information that integrates your targeted keywords. This will make your web page more intriguing and credible. Followers will automatically like and share your website or web page which will expand your reach. Search Engine Optimization is one of the ways, which very important for achieving higher website rankings and acquiring traffic to your website as long as the web design company did a good job in developing the website with the required technical infrastructure for SEO.
4. Insights & Engagement
Customer insights are extremely valuable and that’s what social media does. It provides an insight to customers’ interests and choices. For example, Facebook insights help you understand exactly a customer’s point of view and their preference. If you consider 20-35 year olds as the age group for your target audience but Facebook Insights suggests that 25-40 year olds prefer your brand then your target audience should shift accordingly. This will increase your demography and boosts your business where there’s maximum profit. Secondly increased customer engagement will directly benefit your business. The two-way style of communication on social media will help you to improve the customers experience with your brand. Able to answer product related queries and solve problems will develop customer relationship, adding value to your brand. This way you will also achieve loyal customers and frequent buyers.
5. Analytics
Social media provide in-depth analytics and statistics about your brand that will help you in understanding and learning what your next step should be. You are able to look back at the performance of your ads and analyze the results by improving your next ad campaign. For example, Instagram Insights provide statistics on your page activity, content and audience. The activity insights show the amount of profile visits you had during the week. The content insight will show the number of posts you uploaded over the week and the audience insight will give you the statistics on the population that was reached by your brand. Insights interpreted in the right way will help you in increased brand awareness, targeted audience, and traffic. Social advertising analytics let’s you easily access everything like frequency, impressions, clicks, engagement which will help you to touch points to see how your business has grown over the particular ad campaign.
Don’t Be Afraid to Show Your Personality on Facebook
Social Media has allowed us entrepreneurs to start businesses with little cost and spread our message to thousands more people than we could have otherwise. But, in the process, you have to be careful not to only post about your business. When you do that, you may come off as just a pushy salesman, and your followers can soon get bored and abandon you.
But the beauty of social media, especially Facebook, is that you can also show your followers who you are “off the job”. You can pique their interest with personal “lifestyle” photos and posts.
Sharing parts of your life is a good way to help develop a “know, like, and trust” relationship with your audience. Posts that include things like photos and funny stories will make you appear more approachable, and your followers be more likely to be interested in your products.
So, here are just a few fun ways to lighten up the mood on Facebook and increase engagement with your followers:
1-Share Your Humor
Did your preschooler tell a funny story at breakfast? Feel free to share it. Did you have a funny conversation with your “beastie”, teenager, or grandparent? Share it. Everybody needs a little pick-me-up during the day, and laughing of course, releases stress.
2-What are Your Weekend Plans?
Do you have a favorite hangout on Friday nights? Do your Saturdays find you on the soccer field? Will you be supporting your favorite local charity by attending their running race or annual gala? I guarantee you’ll get some other soccer moms commiserating with you, and in the process you may bring awareness to a local charity.
3-Love to Travel? Share Your Favorite Tips and Locations
Whether you travel for business or strictly for pleasure, sharing notes of your favorite locations can help others who may be planning a business conference or personal trip. These types of posts are also great for starting conversations about vision boards and bucket lists. Even if your customers don’t travel, they can still live vicariously through you!
4-Share Your Lunchtime View
Almost everyone enjoys leaving the office for lunch, so why not settle in at a park, by the water, or on the beach and share your view on Facebook. Even if you’re stuck inside during bad weather, your view can stir up interesting conversations.
5-Show Them Your Favorite Hobbies
How do you relax after a long day’s work? What pulls at your heart strings and motivates you to push through your work load so you can enjoy your free time? Hobbies are a wonderful way to engage people in your posts. Show pictures of your workspace, your finished project, or simply share how you discovered this hobby.
These are just a few ideas of what to share online that shows you’re a real person with a real life outside of work. But, because you are so uniquely different from every other person in the world, the list of what to share is unlimited. So, showcase what makes you YOU; show your talents outside of your work. Sharing these glimpses into your personality and your life will attract your audience that wants to engage with you.
How Can a Small Business Leverage Social Media?
Social media offers individuals and business owners alike a great deal of ability to get the word out about any event or happening. Most people use social media of some kind – and what’s more, they keep it close to them with their mobile devices at the ready.
People share everything on social media, from their baby’s first steps to more mundane things like what they’re eating for dinner tonight.
Being online and using social media to promote your business offers many benefits.
Brand Recognition
If you want people to recognize your brand, it’s important to develop a branded appearance that you use across all social media networks. Use the same logos, in different sizes, and stay true to your brand at all times.
Slow Marketing Converts
When you provide information over a long period of time, your audience becomes accustomed to your message. Over time they develop trust, and after being exposed to you a few times they are more likely to place an order.
Improves Authority
When you often post a lot of accurate and helpful information, people start viewing you as an authority on the topic. Once you’re viewed as an authority, you will start making even more money because people will be waiting to hire you or buy your products.
Increases Brand Loyalty
The more people see your brand out there, the more loyal they will become toward what you offer. Your offerings should represent what your brand stands for and you’ll find that people become more loyal to you as you stick to what you know and believe in.
Increases Traffic to Your Website
Use social media to share and promote your blog posts, and new offerings will increase the traffic to your website exponentially. One of the best ways to rank higher on search results is to be active on social networks.
Is Inexpensive
It’s not an expensive form of marketing. It can also be fun. Guard yourself from getting sidetracked, but always be interactive and engaging with your followers. Remember, time is money. Automate what is not direct communication so that you can get more done in less time.
Allows for Useful Consumer Engagement
Social networks can let you engage with users in a very beneficial way. You can have deep conversations about many topics. Just remember to keep it professional and handle controversy carefully.
Works with Mobile Devices
Better than most websites and email, social media works effortlessly on mobile devices. Social media and mobile really go hand-in-hand. People take their devices on dates, and to bed – you’ve never been closer to your audience than now.
How to Use Facebook Live for Marketing
There are so many ways to use Facebook Live to market your business. As you read these ideas, it’s likely you’ll think of even more ways. When you do think of ideas, write them down in a file so that you can try them out.
Host a Customer Contest
Go live and then invite your customers to go live in your group or on your page. Tell them you want to hear about how they use your product or service, and what a difference it’s made for them in their lives or business. This is a great way to get testimonials that can even go viral. Whichever live gets the most likes, wins.
Host a Round Table with a Panel of Experts
Bring in some experts about your topic and host a round table. Allow viewers to submit questions in advance so that even those who watch the recorded version can get their question in. Then let the panel offer their advice on the question. You can have many questions or just one question, weekly or monthly.
Host an Open Question Hour
You can go live at any moment and let people ask questions while you’re live. You can give your people a warning via email and announcement or by scheduling the Facebook Live, but you can also do them last minute.
Create Private Content for Your Group
An effective way to use Facebook Live is to create content only for your private group. Announce it on your page, market it through your email lists, and blog – but require them to join the group or membership to get the content. You can even make this another income stream.
Share a Day in the Life
You get four hours to stream, so you can host a working session where you work live while everyone can watch. You can talk about what you’re doing, share with them how you do what you do, share your screen, demo what you’re doing and so forth during the live stream.
Host an Open Live Critique Hour
This will work for many different niches, marketing experts, content experts, logo designers, coaches, and so forth. Invite people to be in the hot seat and get critiqued for something that you can normally fix if they hire you.
Conduct Regular Training
You can train people how to do things via Facebook Live. It doesn’t matter if it’s knitting, creating spreadsheets, cutting hair, doing makeup, or cooking. Think about the things you know how to do that’s relevant to your audience, and show them how to do it.
Branding Through Social Media
Are you looking forward to social media as the coolest, cheapest and the most effective medium to reach your customers? Well you are really canny and updated to think so.
Social media is being widely used for the branding by brands both old and new. This is because it is the platform where the people peep for even the teeny-tiny information about everything from FMCG to durables, from food stuffs to cosmetics and almost everything.
However this trend has equally been recognised by your competitors. So how do you make sure that your product is liked from among the competitive brands, and the customers feel the brand as the one they can trust?
After all its your customer reach that matters. Many brands these days hire branding agencies to handle their social media pages I would suggest you to do it by yourself with some easy to go tips. So here are a few tips to use social media to not just create brand awareness but also compete with your competitors and not just inform maximum of the customers.
Don’t speak your glory: People these days are least interested in knowing about you or your brand. Therefore use words that don’t just speak the glory of your product rather relate to and sound familiar to the customers.
For example, if you are selling a home theatre, rather than a content that touts about your product, speak such that it presses the emotional wants of the consumer. A content that says of how it would let you enjoy a homelike theatre that brings you closer to yourself.
Such a language not just creates brand awareness but also help you face the competition by hooking into the minds of the customers. Such a language is what customers feel familiar of and help them to speak of your product out of trust.
Use hash tags quick to search through: Be as good, creative and interactive in your content as you can be, but how would you make sure that the content is read by your customers or is even flashed in front of your customers?
Hash tags may help you ensuring this. Attach every possible tags to your content, to make sure that on every search by your customer that is close to your content is flashed for your customers.
For instance, if you are posting a creative picture and caption for your product say headphones, use every tag that relates to the headphones, everything from music to sound and sound clarity.
Use pictures that speaks the tale of your product: Pictures are creatively used by brands since the early days to tell about your product. Howeverthe use of pictures have changed drastically. During the earlier days where the pictures were product centric, these days they are more of consumer centric by stressing on the benefits the product would bring to them.
Encourage consumer feedback: Consumers fell familiar to a brand that encourages and recognises its opinions. A brand image that developes by the opinions of the consumers at large is more likely to be successful.
The Importance of Social Media Marketing in Business
Social media is everywhere these days, it’s impossible to run a business without some sort of social media presence. There is such a huge variety of social media available that finding a solid marketing strategy can be very time-consuming. I’ve compiled a great deal of information into this short report that should help you get started and get your business off the ground. Hopefully, by the time you have finished reading this, you will have a better idea of what a good social media marketing strategy is and how you can build one for your company.
The first thing that a social media marketing strategy should do is tell your audience what your purpose is. You need to be able to identify your target audience, you also want to tell them why you want their attention. This can be done through your website or through blogs and articles you write consistently. It also can be done by including links in your social platforms allows you to engage with your audience on a more personal level. Most of this platforms allow you to create a profile page that has links pointing back to your other pages and posts, you can use this to promote your current blog post or just send a quick message out to let your audience know what you are up to.
Next, your strategy should include several different options to reach your audience. This websites are becoming a popular method of reaching potential customers, so you may want to consider adding an RSS feed to your website or blog to increase your audience. Social analytics will help you learn which sites are getting the most views and which ones you can potentially exploit to your advantage. There are quite a few applications available to help you learn which social media platforms are the most effective in your particular niche. Some of these applications include Google Analytics and Mixpanel.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that you should only post links on social that have a high chance of being clicked. If you are not sure as to whether or not your link will be effective, you can always take a look at Alexa rankings for each of the platforms you are considering. This will give you an idea as to which platform is the most popular among your target audience. This is a great way to find out if your chosen platform will truly appeal to your target audience.
Another strategy for you to consider when it comes to using social media marketing to market your business is connecting with influencers. Influencers are professional individuals who have created a large following in their specific niche and are known for their expertise in a particular subject. Being able to connect with influencers is an effective way to gain the attention of your target audience because they already care about the topic you are covering. You may want to look for influencers in your specific industry that are not only influential in their industry but also accessible.
The use of social media marketing as a marketing tool is a great way to drive traffic to your website. However, you should also use it as a means of building relationships so that you can develop a sense of trust with your audience. It is important to remember that customers enjoy being offered helpful tips from someone they can talk to, especially if it is someone who is perceived as an expert in their industry.
Finally, social media is also becoming an employee advocate. This is because many employees feel like they are not receiving the support they need from their employers. In addition to this, employees who feel empowered by their employer are happier overall. It is important to make sure that you do not use social media as a tool of recruitment until you have an employee advocate group. The use of social media as a recruiting tool should be reserved until a strong advocate for your industry has formed. This ensures that you are not only following your employee’s needs but your own as well.
Social media is quickly becoming one of the most effective tools available for internet marketing. If you are a business owner or an internet marketer, it is important to learn how to use these resources effectively. Social media allows you to connect with your audience on a personal level. It allows you to interact with customers on a more human level and to build a bond that cannot be achieved through email, phone calls, or face-to-face interactions. Because of this, social media can be more than just a marketing strategy, it can be a strategy that can change the way your business operates altogether.
Social media marketing has its importance in business. In a nutshell, it’s a type of marketing where you network and interact with your clients, prospects, and existing customers through the use of social media websites. These sites are usually social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and a lot more. It can help you market the products and services that you are offering by using online communication methods.
Why Social Media Marketing Automation Is Necessary for Your Business
Social Media Automation is an important aspect of your digital marketing strategy. Admit it, your time is never enough to do everything that you need to do in order to grow your business. As many experienced entrepreneurs will say, you should focus on the 20% tasks that will generate 80% results.
In marketing, there are a lot of bases to cover. Aside from making sure that your branding is always on point, you should also focus on the quality of communication that you send out for your customers to see. On top of it, you also have to maintain consistency and the correct frequency so you can start creating momentum in your marketing activities.
With all these considerations, social media automation is the perfect support that you should start using in your business. This is especially true for start-ups, small to medium businesses, and solo entrepreneurs. By automating your social media, you will be able to enjoy the following benefits:
1. Save a lot of time. Instead of spending hours researching interesting contents, and fresh articles, then scheduling them on your social media account, in just a few minutes you can now do all those. Imaging setting up you social media automation for less than 15 minutes and you are already set for the week, or for a month even! With your saved time, you can work on more important aspects of your business that need your attention.
2. Save a lot of money. The good thing about automation is you still have control but at the same time, it works even without your presence. So instead of hiring more people to do this repetitive jobs, you can just do it yourself and pay a fraction of the salary you are supposed to pay.
3. Increase brand interaction the easy way. Digital marketing professionals agree that an active social media account tend to deliver higher results. Also, consumers are most likely to buy into a business with an active page. This means that they are very serious about what they are offering and they are in touch with their customers.
These benefits are yours to reap. Remember that you don’t need complicated tools in order to achieve your goal. With a basic social media automation tool, you will surely achieve the KPI that you are trying to reach. There are many available online tools, you just have to pick the one that fits your needs and your goals.
4 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Advertising
When advertising on Facebook, you always want to know how your campaigns are doing, and you want to push for best results possible.
Even though return on investment (ROI) is the most crucial metric, it takes time before you have enough data. That’s why many marketers focus on the click-through rate (CTR) of their ads first. It’s the best way to compare your campaigns once you get some initial data.
This is not only relevant to you, but Facebook also uses it. The CTR of your campaigns plays a huge role in the relevance score of Facebook ads, and it can help to bring your advertising cost down.
In other words, improving your CTR helps to improve your Facebook advertising.
With that in mind, here are 4 ways to improve your Facebook advertising.
1. Select the Right Audience for Your Campaigns
It’s essential to target the right set of audience for your campaign. For instance, if you target apple juice lovers in an orange juice campaign, you’ll get low click-through rates. You may get some traction, but this is not what you want to get and nor does the targeted audience.
So, you need to select the right your audience for your ad if you want it to perform well.
2. Improve the Look and Feel of Your Campaign
You’ll need an impressive ad copy and design to make sure your targeted audience click on your ads.
To increase the chances of people noticing and clicking the ads, you need to focus on your headline. Your headline should be the “magnet” of your campaign. People always read the headline first before moving onto other elements.
Also, use spaces well and create content that’s engaging and persuasive. In Facebook ads, image occupies 80% of the space. So your image should speak louder than words.
3. Build a Solid Offer behind Your Ad
The success of Facebook advertising doesn’t just depend only on the right audience and killer copy. There’s more to it. If you don’t have a solid offer or reason behind your campaign, you won’t get more traction – even if many people see your ad.
To get your targeted audience interested in your product, you need to have something that will make them want to explore and find out more. Make a strong case why someone should sign up for your services.
4. A/B Test Everything
A/B testing is the most crucial way to improve your CTR and conversions. Proactively monitor your ad’s performance to maximize and improve your CTR. Monitor the performance you’re getting from your different audience sets and change and optimize where possible.