Financial marketers may not be flavour of the month at the moment. But that should not stop you from picking yourself (and your reputation) up off the floor. There is still business out there to be won and never has it been more competitive in the financial and investment markets. Everyone is looking for financial expertise and as a financial marketer it is your job to make sure it is your expertise your potential clients turn to. So how exactly do you go about this? Here is a run-down of the 5 most important factors to consider when marketing your business in the financial world.1. Get the word-out.Whether you offer savvy online services to engage and interact with your customer-base, or are more inclined to do the leg work necessary it is important you are noticed as the trailblazers for your financial industry. Firstly, whether you are either of these, it is important to evaluate your website and judge whether it is the kind of site that makes you stand out, shows off your knowledge and skills or quite simply makes you look like professional and trustworthy. It is your digital business card. Avoid biased or inaccurately researched content – you don’t know who you might offend. Between 80% and 90% of business CEOs or decision-makers will research a financial marketing firm online. A further 30% will research you – using various social media platforms. Not having the right website or online presence might destroy your marketing practices before you even begin!2. Engage with your audienceIf simply getting the word out is not gaining any meaningful leads consider the prospect of reaching out to them in a personal but formal manner. Visit seminars, attend fund-raisers, or become more engaged in community aspects – you never know who may be there. Public Relations, as already mentioned, are not exactly a financial marketer’s friend at the moment. However, by showing you have the expertise, experience and skills in ‘how the world sees you’ you can work on a controlled PR strategy to leave your client shining in an otherwise hostile industry. Engaging with your audience through various social media channels may have the added bonus of showing your human side; your ability to interact with people at all levels. Produce an e-newsletter to your clients and potential customers. Start blogging too. Customers and consumers love to read about industry and gain any tips they can to future projections.3. Focus your email campaignStart a concentrated and focused e-mail marketing campaign and offer tips and industry insights. A consistent and newsworthy email campaign is the best. Compile a list of email content for a 6 month period and periodically release. Be sure to research your customer preferences, according to a recent survey, 32% of affluent investors prefer weekly emails and 37% prefer a monthly email. Also, the day of week and time of day is important too. Historically, morning emails have been the most popular and received the most click-through rates. Get to know your customers preferences to avoid them switching off. Information free of charge keeps your audience engaged and looking to your next release.4. Look for any kind of exposure opportunities.By becoming a recognised industry expert in your field you have the opportunity to reach thousands, if not millions of people. The most popular exposure medium is still and probably will always be television. People are more engaged by video and there is no better exposure than a TV appearance. Start by reaching out to local media in your region or country. If you have done your homework and researched your interview area well you will soon be contacted by national media, or at least placed on their contacts list for a future date. Media training is well worth investing in for this. The way you come across and the things you say could well keep your phone ringing off the hook in the near future, or leave you crawling for cover from the media spotlight. Make sure you tell the world about your exposure too, keeping it to yourself won’t do you any favours.5. Review your optionsFinally, it is important to keep your financial marketing strategy small, concise and flexible. There is no point in constructing a plan with hundreds of pages that offers no scope to adapting market conditions. This is especially true for financial marketing, the markets are shifting constantly. Keep a rough but detailed plan to hand where at strategy meetings it can be reviewed in 10 minutes and changed accordingly. Constantly measure results to have a basis for conducting your next step. This is useful to evaluate whether some steps should be repeated or changed in the future.A well-developed but flexible marketing campaign can save you money, free up time and increase your chances of successful financial marketing activities. What’s more, it can build your business through connecting better with potential and existing customers.
How to Start an Online Business With Ease
You can easily start an online business if you know the right steps to take. These days, many people do business online. Several companies have also come into the online market place. You too can succeed if you know how to go about the process. You can start by following these tips discussed below:• Develop a business plan
You’re starting point when thinking of building a lasting online career is to develop a business plan. You must have something to sell on the internet. Your business plan can be an idea. You can start by selling a nice product. You can equally plan to sell a service. If you have a good talent, you can plan selling it online. Your business plan must be carefully thought out. You have to plan how to execute the idea in order to make enough returns. You can create time to search a market niche for your business plan. Once you have the plan set, you can be sure of succeeding in your online career.• Set up your Virtual Office
There’s a need to have a virtual office for your online business. You can work comfortably from the confines of your bedroom. All you need is to have a cubicle. You need a computer for your virtual office. You also need a fast internet connection. You don’t need to spend huge sums of money to procure a good computer and a fast internet connection. You can easily purchase them very cheap from reliable dealers around. You also need a good office desk and chair for your business. Once you have these equipments, you’re set to start your business on the internet.• Create a Website for Your Business
To start an online business successfully, you need to have a platform to sell your idea. The best platform you can have is a good website. You can start by creating a free blog or a free website for your business idea. There are several online resources offering free blogs and free websites. You simply need to sign up to use such resources. Once your business starts to yield enough cash, you can create a better website for it. You don’t need to spend much on that since there are web designers offering quality web design services at affordable rates. Your site can easily be developed and hosted on a reliable server. You can also register a nice domain name for the website.• Promote Your business daily
You can do well in any online career when you engage in daily business promotion. This is very vital if you truly want to succeed. You have to promote your product or service on daily basis. If you have a website for your business, you have to submit the link to various online directories. You can write nice articles or reviews about your product and get them published on popular article directories. You have to include your website link on the articles. Once they are published, people can easily visit your site through the link.Finally, you’ve got to be patient to make it in any online business venture. You have to keep working day and night in order to succeed with ease.
Urban Fashion Trends for 2011
In the present day world, it’s surprising to see men taking more time to look their best when going out. Looking ones best comes to the front when they try on new clothing brands, and fashion tips. There are numerous blogs and forums online which give men and women unique fashion tips for the current year, 2011. Though it may be seen that men’s fashion trends don’t change very often, the same can’t be said about women’s fashion trends as every season brings a new collection of fashion goods.In the year 2011, there have been a number of improvements in the fashion sector. In recent years, designers have begun to take a more practical approach when it comes to designing collections and fashion attires. In the year 2011, the main aspect which is influencing the fashion brigade is military styles. Though fashion designers don’t design for the overkill subtle references to the armed forces by using a mix match of colors like greens, whites and blues can make simple looking attires really stylish. There are military coats and aviator boots which are available and are quite popular with the masses. If you are short in stature, you can go in for short styled army knitwear attire which has military embossing on the shoulders.Apart from the military look, there have also been references to the skinny side of clothing. Skinny suits, jeans and dresses have all been seen on fashion ramps this season. A skinny suit or jeans can help retain the shape of the body and thereby put forth a lovely and beautiful picture to those looking at you. Jeans on the other hand are popular with girls as it helps bring about the shapeliness of their figures.Woolens have been revamped with clunky sweaters and baggy knitwear coming into fashion. There is a lot of scope for one to choose sweaters and oversized woolens to keep themselves warm this season. This look is superb and beautiful and can be associated with men as well as women of all ages.Hats are another aspect which has dominated the fashion season this year. You will have found a number of people wearing hats and head wear during fashion shows. The hat variations are numerous and range from top hats to beanies, trapper hats and much loved military styled headwear. These caps are available in materials like leather, fur and fabric. English driver hats are also very common picks as an urban fashion trend in 2011.With women, the style of dresses available in the year 2011 has been limited to animal prints, shoulder detailed dresses, as also floral decorations and culturally inspired dresses. Animal prints create a sexy and haute look, while floral prints can be mixed and matched to be a pride in your wardrobe every single time of the year.In order to brief yourself on the other fashion trends seen this year, you can start by logging onto internet sites and forums as also, reading magazines and updating your knowledge watching television fashion shows and similar telecasts. The year 2011 has only just begun, so, you can expect many more style laden urban fashion trends as the season changes.