Marketing tips

Unlike applications for unsecured credit cards, applications for secured credit cards often required a one-time set-up fee or an application fee. If you are concerned that your application may be denied, ask the credit card issuer before applying if your application fee will be returned should your application be turned down. You will also want to ask if your security deposit will be returned to you should you decide to close your account in the future. Make sure you understand all the terms and conditions before you accept the card.

Along with charging an application fee, secured credit cards also usually have a much higher interest rate than unsecured credit cards. Like some unsecured credit cards, secured credit cards also have monthly or yearly fees associated with them, and you may be charged service fees for certain transactions, such as cash advances, converting foreign transactions into your national currency, wire transfers, money orders, travelers’ checks, and racetrack bets or lottery tickets.

In most cases, you will be assigned a credit limit that equals your deposit. For example, if you submit a security deposit of $1000, your secured credit card will have a credit limit of $1000. The issuer of the secured credit card does this as a protection measure. If you fail to make your payments on time or at all, they will use your security deposit to pay your debt.

Considering the drawbacks of secured credit cards over unsecured credit cards, why would you want one? What use are they? Secured credit cards are useful for three categories of people.

If you have no credit history because you have never owned a credit card or borrowed money before, you may have a hard time acquiring an unsecured credit card. In this case, you may opt for a secured credit card just long enough to build the favorable credit history that will allow you to apply for and be granted an unsecured credit card.

If you have a poor credit history or have recently filed for bankruptcy, a credit card company may not take the risk of giving you an unsecured credit card. You will need to apply for a secured credit card until you can improve your credit score.

Finally, if you have recently immigrated to a new country, you may have trouble applying for an unsecured credit card until you have a good credit history within that country.

If you end up needing a secured credit card, you are safer sticking to a card from Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. Avoid any secured credit card offers from non-brand name companies.

Return on investment in marketing cannot be measured accurately.

Do you buy a Coke because it is on the billboard; because you saw the ad on television; because you saw the Coke truck; or because the Coke machine is convenient? Was it the ad this month or last? Or was it the ad you saw when you were 10? Or is it the fond memories you have of drinking Coke? Or the nice logo?

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The answer is – you probably don’t know exactly why you buy the Coke at the particular time that you do. It is a combination of all these factors that make up marketing that cause the consumer to take action.

Marketing is the battle for perception. Good marketing can create the perception needed to cause purchasers to buy.

The only type of product that can have an instant return on investment in marketing is something that is truly commoditized. If you are selling water and there is no perception that your water is any different than anyone else’s water, then if you do a marketing campaign or a promotion or a price reduction, you can shift share from a competitor. Most manufacturers should actually be spending their marketing dollars differentiating their product. It is much easier to sell “Clean Glacier” water over “bottled city” water if Clean Glacier can sell the refreshment and health benefits of their brand.

The only companies that should want to commoditize their markets are ones that are truly the lowest cost to produce (not to be confused with lowest price). To sell at the lowest price without the lowest cost is a recipe for failure.

There is a great book called Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, that talks about mavens (product experts) and connectors (natural networkers who spread the word). The thesis in the book is that getting products known by enough mavens and connectors can cause a product to “tip” and become pervasive and successful.

I sit on the board of Research in Motion (RIM). When RIM was first introducing their products, they spent most of their marketing budget on giving samples of their product to people they identified as mavens or connectors. Most stockbrokers qualified. Because the product worked well, they evangelized it and eventually that lead to more adoption and ultimate success.

A single influencer can persuade hundreds of customers to buy over a long period of time.

The purpose of marketing, then, can be to influence the influencers. Design any program with that in mind.

Marketing is also best done with multiple media. It is best to not only

send a flyer but to telemarket, email, fax, press release, demonstrate products in trade show, advertise etc. The different messages reinforce each other and different people get different things from different media.

All marketing tends to be more effective if it is repeated often. It has been said that the first time a person sees something about the company, they don’t see it; the second time, they are vaguely aware of it; the third time they look at it; the fourth time, they read it; the fifth time, they absorb; and the sixth time, they buy it.

All marketing effects occur over time.

Because of the difficulty in measuring ROI, some companies will just stop marketing. This is great news for those that keep marketing. In time share will shift to those that continue to invest.

I am a time management person. I pride myself in using my time well. I even authored an eBook and audio CD on the topic. People ask me why I Blog and do I get a return on the time I spend blogging. I do know it has given me a higher profile. It has added to the traditional press I get (I have been written about in the Globe and Mail, Forbes Magazine and many computer trade journals like CRN). Can I measure the ROI? No – but no long term company can measure ROI accurately.

Let’s face it. It is not very easy for every body to succeed in self employment. Some are better at being working stiffs and others will even prefer not to work at all.

Now, if you want to succeed as a self-employed person, you need to have the following traits.

1) Confidence:

Being self employed is not a stroll in the park. You need to have the self-belief and the confidence that you can do what it takes.

Without confidence, you will lose the plot even before you begin.

2) Determination:

A soft-hearted person cannot go far as a self-employed person. The rough times will surely come and when they do, you need to have the determination to push on against the odds.

3) Leadership skills:

Being self-employed means being a leader. You will be the boss. You will employ others. As a result, you need to have the ability to lead, to take charge and direct others.

4) Aggressiveness:

Now, don’t take this the wrong way. Being aggressive in this context does not mean you are going around looking for a fight. It means you need to be a go-getter. You need to be outspoken, bold and convincing. As a self employed person, you need to find customers and you need to retain your customers. For all these reasons, an aggressive personality will do you a lot of good.

5) Dynamism:

If you the kind of person that is afraid of change, self-employment is not for you. You need to have that quality to change and to benefit from changes in the business world. You were selling typewriters before but now they are out dated. So, what do you do? You begin to sell computers. Yeah! That is what being dynamic all is about.

6) Ambition:

The guy that is content with a small but adequate income is not cut out for self employment. To be self employed, you need to have ambitions. You need to have dreams, plans and a vision that you want to actualize. This singular quality is what separates the contented working stiff from the self-employed individual.

7) Communication:

As a self-employed person, you need to have excellent interpersonal communication skills. You have to relate with a variety of people: staff customers, suppliers and all that. For this reason, you need to be able to express yourself very well. Your communication skills in this context must include both oral written skills.

Honesty:

Finally, we get to this very important trait. As a self employed person, you need to come across as a principled and honest person. Your customers and other people you relate with have to trust you. You have to exhibit a high sense of transparency in your dealings with people or else they won’t trust you.

Of course, there are other traits necessary for success as a self employed person. But the ones discussed above are the most important ones. Apply these tips and you are on your way to success.