Cons Archives - GUJRAT INDIA

e-Marketing Basics: Pros and Cons of Hour Targeting

One of the main advantages of advanced internet technologies is the possibility of hour targeting for ads served to web sites.

Exactly how such targeting is done, that is a tech issue far beyond our e-Marketing topic. What is important to us, e-Marketers, is to be aware of this facility web servers have and use it towards making online campaigns more efficient.

Hour targeting is especially useful when:

– we already know the online buying habits of our target;

– we want to create an association between our products and a certain time of the day when interest might be higher;

– we try to avoid a certain category of customers that are known to be more active at a certain hour interval;

– we know from previous researches that sites where we are advertising have different categories of visitors, with different interests and behaviour, active at certain hours.

Let us try imagining some examples of justified hour targeting:

– Premium IT products (such as laptops) could probably use a business hours targeting, on the premises that active, working professionals have more buying power. Similarly, off-hours and weekend targeting could be used when promoting basic desktop systems with a lower price to a more younger audience with less buying power and/or buying decision.

– FMCG products might benefit from targeting ads within hour intervals when these products are more likely to be utilized. We would probably want to place ads for coffee on news-delivering web sites during the morning hours; and advertising creams and gels for muscular pains later in the afternoon or evening, when such pains are more likely to occur.

– It is widely known that surfers using a dial-up connexion get online in the evening and at night. Therefore, if we are to promote products or services destined to dial-up users (modems, access cards, offers to switch to a superior connexion) it only makes more business sense to target late hours.

Interesting enough, such hour targeting is not always successful. A media planner might be blinded by the revelation of a cool method to raise efficiency of online campaigns like an adserver, only to realise at a later time that it can be more of a bother. For example, a banner for a banking product placed on a business portal would not need hour targeting, as professionals visiting such portals usually have permanent internet connection whether it is at office, at home, or is using a mobile solution. A regular reader of Financial Times online might opt to access the site in the evening, from the comfort of his home, long after the regular “business hours”, and would be a missed target if we employ hour targeting.

To conclude, hour targeting for online campaigns makes a very powerful and efficient tool, but needs to be performed after carefully assessing surfing and buying behaviours of the visitors on web sites where we advertise.

Online News – Pros and Cons

The newspapers were hardly getting used to the news being telecast on the television, when all of a sudden the advent of the internet brought a crucial blow to the newspaper industry. Most of the newspapers have not been able to withstand the onslaught of the internet and have been forced into closure. Let us first see the basic difference between the newspapers and e-news.

Pros of the online news

The advantages of online news are mainly for the readers. Some of these advantages are as follows.

The e-news is much faster than the newspapers. The moment something happens in any part of the world it gets published on the internet within seconds. In case of newspapers there is a specific time limit for any news to be reported in any particular newspaper. Suppose the newspaper goes for printing at midnight, anything that happens after midnight is going to most probably get published the next day. In these sorts of situation the newspaper offers stale news to the readers who have already accessed the online news.

Any newspaper get published once, twice or maximum thrice a day. On the other hand e-news usually gets updated several times in 24 hours.

If one has accesses to the internet, one does not have to wait for the delivery man to deliver the newspaper.

E-news is considered to save paper and help at conservation of nature.

Cons of the online news

The online news has some disadvantages but those are mainly for the newspaper publishers. The rates of subscriptions and advertisements are greatly reduced in case of online news. This implies that as the number of readers of online news increases the revenue generation of the newspaper publisher is falling drastically.

Ways for the newspapers to survive

There are only a few ways that the newspapers can resort to for surviving the blow of the e-news. Some of the newspapers charge subscription to the readers that like to read more than what is offered for free. There is just a link for “more” which can be activated and operational after paying some subscription charges. If you do not pay the subscription the “more” link cannot be activated.

Most of the newspaper publishers have realized that if they want the newspaper to survive they have to publish the newspaper in print as well as online on the internet.

The iPad from Apple has brought some hope for the newspapers. There are applications that allow the iPad user to access the internet and the newspapers too.

Nowadays it becomes necessary for the newspaper to make a unique offering to its readers.

The other way for the newspaper publishers to survive is through blogging. There are chances that levying subscription can reduce the revenue generated but at the same it is also seen that unique blogs can bring a lot of business to the newspaper publisher.

The Cons of a 50/50 Equity Business Partnership

This article could have been titled “The Pros and Cons of a 50/50 Equity Partnership”, but the cons far outweigh the pros. When partnerships are formed, the obvious concerns are addressed. How do each partner’s skills-set and experience complement each other? How much will each partner contribute to get the business going? How long will they grow the business until they entertain selling it? Is that it? … hardly.

Once the business gets going no doubt economic and industry variables change which affect the business. Each partner’s perception of the direction the business should go changes as well. There are constant decisions with regards to the mixture of product and service offerings … the decision to get into another line of business or get out of one. Should the focus be on a higher volume, lower profit margin business model or vice versa? What about a shift to a more capital intensive model. If the business becomes a success, many times potential investors creep in, whether an angel investor or venture capitalist. Both partners need to agree on the investment proposal.

What if one of the partners acquires an asset for the business whether it’s land, a building, a small data center, a thousand servers, or to complicate things further contributes an intellectual asset of some sort. When the company is going to be sold, what is the value of the partner’s contributed asset? Who is supposed to value it? This can become an insurmountable hurdle. Most buyers know not to value any one piece near what it’s worth by itself.

When it’s time to sell the company, the financial situation of each partner has no doubt changed since the company was founded. The consideration for the company could be all cash, all stock or a combination of cash and stock. The tax implications of each of the three scenarios are different for each partner. I have seen the process of divesting a company go up in smoke too many times because the partners didn’t agree on the proposed deal. They spent years growing the business then totally disagree about when to sell, who to sell to, and/or how much to sell it for.

Business is about return on equity, not “all for one and one for all”. My suggestion … one ship, one captain.

Business Pros and Cons

So many people have a dream of having their own business. They focus on benefits that they could enjoy including freedom to choose schedule, pride of ownership and hopefully large profits.

Unfortunately, according to Innovation, Science and Economic Development in Canada as many as 97% of new start-ups with less than one hundred employees fail in the first year of operation. Only 85% survive for three years and 70% for five years. Approximately 7000 business bankruptcies occur in a year.

Even those who have years of university training and professional licences can struggle if they don’t have good business sense. From the outside it might look like psychologists, dentists, lawyers, physicians and accountants have it made! The truth is that their fees do not go directly into their personal savings accounts.

If you think that costs for professional services and expertise are too high, consider the following:

1. Credentials – Besides registration fees, books and living expenses during the many years of university study, many practicums and supervised practice situations are unpaid. Obtaining a degree parchment and practice license don’t just represent success. They also trigger repayment of what can be many thousands of dollars in Student Loans.

2. Yearly fees – Each year I pay almost $3,000 to my regulatory bodies and insurance agent for licensing and professional liability coverage.

3. Facilities and Equipment – Those who begin a practice not only need to have office space but also appropriate furnishings and equipment for their trade.

4. Staffing – Look around your physician’s office the next time that you have an appointment. How many families are receiving income from the doctor? Do they get paid if the doctor is on vacation or in training? How much is paid by the professional on their behalf for employee benefits?

5. Supervision – The more staff, the more time is needed for mentoring, meetings and system work.

6. Monthly expenses – Besides interest on any business loans, office rent or mortgage payments, and staff salaries, there are utility bills, office supplies, janitorial costs as well as technological costs to operate the office.

7. Professional development – Most licensing bodies require a set number of training hours each year to ensure that the professional has cutting edge skills and knowledge.

8. Accounting – Costs for Income Tax filing and government program requirements need to be completed by an expert who usually charges by the hour. Some professionals also have to wait for payments from companies or chase the cheque when clients don’t pay cash. It doesn’t take long until Accounts Receivables build up.

9. Taxes and Benefits – Unlike employees, professionals do not have paid sick leave, vacation time or sick time. If they don’t work, they don’t have income. They still, however, have to pay personal as well as income taxes.

10. Paperwork – Often what could be billable hours, are eaten up by paperwork, administration or other unpaid tasks.

11. Time – Do not be deceived. Starting and operating a business takes a lot of time. Most successful entrepreneurs work a lot of hours, many of which are never seen by the public. When you see someone on the golf course in the afternoon you might not realize that that same professional had been at the office until midnight the previous evening.

12. Accountability – You are the one responsible to ensure that ethical and appropriate services are provided to the public by all of the work done by you and your staff. When there is a problem, you are the one who needs to deal with it.

Over the years, I have worked in government, retail and private practice businesses and therefore know that no matter what career path you choose, there are pluses and minuses. If you are wanting to open a business, consider the above so you are not naïve and vulnerable.

When you access the services of a professional, look around and remember that the person in front of you will only be receiving a fraction of the fee that you are being charged. The rest goes to business expenses.