Tag: Ideas

Corporate Gifting – Sensible Gift Tips and Ideas

With the wide expansion of private business since 1950’s, a new phenomenon of corporate gifting has emerged. It has metamorphosed the trend as well as the style of business. Many companies have emerged in the corporate sector. Due to the same, more and more people are taking up jobs in this sector. This is the reason why corporate gifts have become so relevant in the present scenario.

A wide range of business corporate gift baskets are available in the market and on-line as well. These baskets include a wide range of products. These promotional gifts certainly entice the receiver. They also help in promoting a product and a company name. Some common corporate gifts include stationery items, desktop accessories, leather products, decorative centerpieces, etc.

Personal corporate gifts can be customized as per the needs. Gift items like wallets, key chains, etc. make excellent corporate gifts. To make these gifts promotional, one can get his or her company logo or a corporate message engraved or printed on these corporate gifts! On the other hand, the gifts that are presented to executives, clients, boss, colleagues and counterparts should be elegant, special, formal and impressive.

Following are some ideas and suggestions for business executive gifts:

o Unique Paperweights

Paperweights that have certain great and inspiring thoughts engraved on them can be a good gift for your executives. These paperweights are available in market as well as online and come in different sizes, shapes and colors. You can choose a paperweight with a thought that suits the receiver’s temperament.

o Personalize a Computer Mouse

You can get the receiver’s first and last initials engraved on the mouse. The computer mouse can be precision-crafted for comfort.

o Cardholder

A cardholder is yet another useful gift item. A variety of them are available in market.

All that counts in the business world is your style and impression. And these gifts reflect your style. Therefore, you should be very careful while choosing such gifts!

Corporate Gifting Ideas in Dubai

Dubai, the world’s treasure for trade, is one of the wealthiest emirates among the UAE. Since ancient times, because of its significant geographical position, Dubai stations itself as the seat of trade connecting Asia with Europe and vice versa. Due to the discovery of oil in the late 60s which led to the creation of ports and free zones pumped up the status of Dubai as a world’s leader in the trade activities. Tourism has become a popular industry in Dubai in the 70s and 80s, and hence the emirate invested heavily in building tourism infrastructures. Soon Dubai has become the Hong Kong of the Middle East.

Many large corporate have established their presence in the emirate which automatically resulted in promoting business related to those corporate such as hotels, restaurants, etc., Realising the huge market capital in the gift supplying for corporates companies like Arcati, Steigens established gift product providing ventures in Dubai.

Well, there are a plethora of gift suppliers around the globe, then why would anyone buy gifts in Dubai?

As said before, Dubai is a hub for trade and business. The city holds numerous Fortune 500 companies within it. The gifting companies in Dubai have access to the manufacturers from many countries such as Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, India had enabled them to craft tailor-made gift products at affordable products.

Generally, there are many reasons to give custom corporate gifts in the corporate culture which includes:

  • To deepen connections between business associated
  • To motivate employees
  • To tell a story or promote our brand

Corporate gift suppliers from Dubai understood the significance of gifts in the corporate culture hence they procure and provide only high-quality products as the gifting items. Some of the gift items in their inventories are as follows:

  • Custom made Power banks: Power banks are an important extension for smartphones in these days. Custom made power banks with the company’s logo on it can be presented to hard-working employees.

  • Premium Watches: Watches are an excellent way to show that your company values your client. A branded watch as a gift will prompt the clients to work with your company more

  • Eco-Friendly Bags: Eco-friendly has now become a slogan among people. Bags that are made up of eco-friendly products will be the best choice to present as a gift to your business associates.

  • Leather Products: Premium leather products including mobile phone holders, laptop bags can also be chosen as gift items for the clients or business associates.

  • Printed Mugs & Bottles: Coffee mugs or water bottles imprinted with the company’s logo or any motivational quotes can be presented to either clients or employees for promotional purposes.

    • Arcati has a wide range of custom-made products for giftings and those who wish to present premium quality gifts to their business associates they can visit Arcati’s inventory through their official website.

Marketing Ideas For Small Architecture Firms

Small architectural firms have slowly dwindled, being unable to cope with competition from established larger firms. This makes it essential for the existing small architectural firms to have a well-thought-out marketing plan and effective marketing strategies to become successful firms. Some firms have selected a certain niche to specialize in; others have formed alliances with other services to stay in business. With a good marketing strategy they can attain their target goal more easily.

Some Marketing Ideas for Small Architecture Firms:

– Making use of the Internet is a great way to market small architecture firms. By creating a content-rich, visually pleasing and easily navigable website, you can attract a number of clients. You can make your small architectural firm visible to the whole world using the Internet; and if it is keyword-search optimized, your site can be displayed when keyword searches are done by prospective clients, thus making it highly target market-oriented.

– You can also start a free newsletter service asking those who visit your site to subscribe to it, generating leads as well as staying in touch with potential clients.

– Ask for your satisfied customers to put up their testimonials on your website as this may help persuade other clients to consider your firm.

– Permission-based e-mail marketing is a very cost-effective and easy way to market your services online.

– Use carefully planned advertisements that are well planned and that convey the right message to the clients extolling the benefits of choosing your firm. The TV, radio, newspaper, free newspapers, and magazines can be used effectively to advertise your services. Make sure you advertise regularly and effectively. Try advertising in magazines that deal in home decoration or building and construction. Infomercials on TV that are informative as well as portray your firm as trustworthy and capable can help, too.

– Form alliances with other services that complement your business, in which they can refer you and get a commission from you for doing so.

– Work out deals with local real estate agents who may recommend you to people who are in need of your services.

– Offer excellent customer service, since nothing can compare to word-of-mouth advertisements. Your firm has to appear dependable and experienced and promise them quality work, but make sure you keep your promise.

– Market research and competitive analysis have to be done frequently to stay ahead of your competition and to counter any of their strategies.

– Keep track of how your client heard of you, since it can help give you valuable insight as to which advertising media is working for you and which area is not that effective so that you can allot appropriate funds to the various media.

You can use these tips and many more for getting new clients for your firm. If required you can even take the services of professional marketing consultants and business management software for managing and developing your business.

Forbes Africa – Delivering Information, Ideas and Technologies That Change the World

Started by B. C. Forbes and Walter Drey in 1917, Forbes Africa is published as a biweekly magazine. The original name of the magazine was Forbes: Devoted to Doers and Doings. Its current editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes, and its CEO is Mike Perlis.

At the time, B. C. Forbes was a financial columnist for Hearst papers, and Walter Drey was the General Manager of the Magazine of Wall Street. While B. C. Forbes went on to become the Editor-in-Chief, Walter Drey became the Vice President of B. C. Forbes Publishing Company. Ever since, the publishing company has stuck to being a family run business, with its headquarters in New York City, where all its primary competitors have their footing too.

Forbes is the one of the few magazines that features original articles on various topics including: finance, investing, marketing, and industry. In addition to the previously mentioned, the Forbes Africa magazine also features articles on technology, science, communications, and law.

Forbes is famously known for its lists and rankings, including lists of the richest Americans (the Forbes 400); and rankings of world’s top companies (the Forbes Global 2000). One such list that was lately released is the Forbes Africa magazine list of the 50 Richest Africans 2013; where Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote is at the No.1 spot, with a net worth of $20 billion.

Forbes Africa’s mission is “Creating value and empowering people by accurately and passionately telling Africa’s business story – first.” It is distributed in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.

Apart from offering topics such as “The World’s Most Powerful People,” “Global High Performers,” and “The World’s Billionaires,” the magazine also features various topics from around the continent, adding relevant content, where necessary, from partners in the US.

The magazine makes the connection from various patterns, and explores beyond the obvious, to give insights of a completely different kind. This serves to deliver sharp, in-depth, and engaging stories written by experts who use an African standpoint to look at global and domestic issues.

Forbes has come to come to be known as a media brand that documents all things interesting and encourages business, culture, innovation, leadership, politics, entertainment, and technology. The distinguishing factor for Forbes is their special access to all of the world’s most powerful people; who are game changers and influencers in advancing industries across the globe.

Since 1917, Forbes magazine has been providing world business leaders useful strategic insights into the business world. A part of the Forbes’ initiative is to introduce in their agenda, cover stories of celebrated people who are changing the world for the better: Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Christine Lagarde, Jack Dorsey and more.

Forbes is an iconic status in the lexicon of American media and a huge success in both print and digital formats because of its wide editorial lens. The magazine has changed the way content is being created, propagated, read, and shared through their unique platforms of print, digital and mobile products. The Forbes Africa digital magazine and all the other Forbes e-magazines have seen an increased growth recently. It is so much easier now to carry your digital copy of the Forbes Africa rather than a paper magazine. The digital magazine stays accessible on your mobile device whenever and wherever you need it, and it offers you interactive content on the fly.

There are plenty of options when it comes to mobile devices and their operating systems, including: iOS, Android, Windows, and Symbian; you also have the option of the web and the newsstand apps that are used to download and view the magazines are plenty. Most of the apps are free to download for the user, who only needs to pay for the subscriptions to the magazines they choose. Some of the apps are free for use to the publisher, who is then able to offer competent prices to the user.

Get on the band-wagon and start downloading your favorite a few magazines! Make way for digital reading!

Intranet Project Names – Some Ideas

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet.”

In this famous quote from Act II of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and the fact he is a Montague and she a Capulet (warring families) means nothing to their love.

However, there is some strong evidence from the UK’s Cranfield University – and elsewhere – that the name one gives a project does have a marked impact on the behaviour and motivation of the people involved. It may surprise you, but the name you give to your Intranet Project could well be the most important decision you make in the early stages of mobilisation!

The Direct Approach

There is an argument in faour of naming your Intranet Project the – wait for it – “Intranet Project”! Often, so-called “secret squirrel” names (where one has to ferret out from colleagues what Project Banana is all about) serve only to create an unnecessary air of mystique (fit only for secret M&A projects). They can also serve to be divisive, by separating ‘people in the know’ from people outside the immediate project audience.

The functional approach

A functional name focuses on what the intranet does (e.g. search, find, access). This enjoys the same benefits as the direct approach, but affords one a little more poetic license. What about names like “Project Connect” or “Project Gateway”, which serve to signal the core “must have” requirements for the project?

The conceptual approach

There is a problem with the direct or functional approaches; Research from Cranfield has demonstrated that people on projects tend to be very heavily influenced in their actions by the name of the project itself. If you call your project the Intranet project, it is a working intranet (i.e. the technology) that you will get. If your ambition was something much more visionary, such as a wholly new way of working for your people, you are likely to be disappointed!

The conceptual name targets what is achieved by the functionality, rather than the functionality itself. For example, if your company name was BigCo and your purpose was seeking to get everyone in the company working together, you could call the project “Project OneBigCo” or “Project Unity”. For the aforementioned new ways of working objective, you could use “Project Future Workplace”.

The abstract approach

The abstract approach deals with how the project makes people feel. For example, “Project Bliss” (for happiness), “Project Wizard” (for magic) or “Project Pulse” (for fast-pacedness). Although one world usually fails to capture all you are trying to achieve with an Intranet Portal, this approach can prove highly effective (particularly where counter-cultural).

If all else fails

Nothing grabbed you so far? Well there is no saving you, then! I suppose there are always the standard fallback options: names of greek or roman gods, names of planets, names of birds and names of dances. These have the added value that – if you spawn follow-on projects in a sequence – you have ready-made logical follow-on project titles. Incidentally, “Project Mercury” would be my recommendation for planets or gods (as Mercury was the roman god of communications).

For more ideas on project names, why not check out my presentation in chapter 10 of my (free to access) Intranet Portal Guide.

Internet Home Business Ideas

The internet has made it possible for anyone to run a successful business from home without the huge overheads that would normally be involved in running a corporate business. As a result more and more people are seeking effective methods of doing business online to avoid the huge overheads. One of the most effective Internet Home Business Ideas which has become more popular over recent years, is by becoming an affiliate for ClickBank information products. Anyone can join ClickBank by simply completing a short online form to confirm their identity, once registration has being confirmed, they can log into their ClickBank members area from where they can access the ClickBank marketplace.

Members can then choose any products from the variety of products available, they are instantly given their own unique URL link to promote anywhere online. For every sale generated by their unique URL they receive commissions, commissions on some products are as high as 100%, thereby giving members the opportunity to make a good income. All commissions are paid directly into their ClickBank account which they can withdraw at any time. The unique URL can be promoted on search engines such as Google and Yahoo, as well as online newspapers, ezines, and article directories amongst a host of other advertising methods many of which offer free advertising.

Added to this, selling items on eBay offers another most effective Internet Home Business Ideas. As with ClickBank anyone can join for free, there are very low fees involved but this is not paid until the items are sold, therefore there are no start-up costs involved. Any products can be sold on eBay, from CD’s to laptops and mobile phones amongst a host of other products. Millions of people shop on eBay daily therefore making it a fantastic market place which is guaranteed to bring regular sales. There are two methods of selling on eBay one is a bidding process and the other is a buy now process.

The bidding process basically involves starting on a low bidding price of 99 cents, the bidding on any product has a set time, at the end of that time the bidder with the highest bid wins the purchase. The buy now process has a set price that is lower than the original price and cannot be bidded on, however buyers can contact the seller to suggest a lower price, which the seller can accept or reject. This is a great way of selling the product quickly as the buyers will be aware that they got the product at a lower price than the original set price, and all buyers love a good bargain. Providing the products are of a good quality and are delivered according to the specified time, many of these buyers will become regular customers.

To add to these Internet Home Business Ideas, taking online surveys from home is another way of making regular income 0nline. There are many large companies who are seeking people from the general public to take surveys on a range of products and services. Most of these are free to join, and they can then begin immediately to take surveys and earn regular income.

Brilliant Business Ideas: Turn Useless By-Products Into Cash

Anybody who is looking for brilliant business ideas needs to study the life of a man called Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Corporation.

In case you don’t know who this man is, Henry Ford was the inventor of the Ford Model T – the first mass-produced automobile in the world. The man literally invented the assembly line which is used in industries all over the world today. The assembly line invention was significant because it enabled Ford to increase production and produce many more cars than before.

But what I want to focus this post on was another business he was involved in which very few people took interest in. This business genius took the wood scraps that were left over from the production of his Model T’s and turned them into charcoal briquettes (used in cooking and heating).

This “side venture” (built off of by-products) became so profitable that he built a separate charcoal plant and founded the Ford Charcoal Company, which was later renamed Kingsford.

There are obvious by-products or waste that are generated by many enterprises. To give an example, there is saw dust which is generated by sawmills. This can be put to a lot of profitable use. For instance it can manufacture particleboard and even fireplace logs.

It is said that every art of creation has a byproduct which means that whatever business you are doing or want to do is sure to generate “waste” which is actually a byproduct that you can turn into huge profits.

A few of the brilliant business start-up ideas in my book involve making huge profits from byproducts and they don’t have to be your own byproducts. I hope that gets you thinking in the right direction.

But let me tell you another true story from right here in Kenya about a company that made huge profits from the waste it was generating.

Everybody knows about Nation newspapers. The company publishes the highest circulating daily newspaper in the region. A few years ago they had a serious problem. The price of oil, as always was on the rise and the cost of distributing their newspapers was growing alarmingly. The waste they generated was the extra space in the huge pick up vans that remained when the newspapers were packed to be delivered to various towns and destinations. There was even more “waste” when the van came back from delivering the newspapers virtually empty. What a waste.

And so they devised a way to turn the “waste” or by-product into huge sums of money. They launched a courier service to deliver letters and packages all over the country. They called the company Nation couriers. Immediately they had a huge advantage because newspapers are delivered daily and they usually have a very tight delivery schedule because daily newspapers are perishable products that must be delivered on time. Today’s newspaper cannot be sold tomorrow. It has to be sold today and preferably early in the day. And so Nation courier could promise it’s customers that the package will reach it’s destination without fail the next morning.

This brand new overnight courier service created from a “waste product” has made huge profits for the Nation media group and also makes their newspaper delivery very efficient.

Take a closer look around you.

What is being wasted?

Can you turn it into profits?

Small Home Biz – Top 10 Home Based Business Ideas and Opportunities For a Beginner

Kudos to the small home biz segment that brings into a significant number of the educated, senior and entrepreneur work force from the masses. This section comprises of the people who cannot resist the temptation of working in niche areas and utilizing their creative skills without the corporate intervention and hypes. The small home business sector provides them the essential opportunity they are searching for. No fancy skills like web designing, computer programming and scripting are required for these top 10 home based businesses. It is a small leap from a full-time office job to a full-time “working from home” which eventually gives way to flexible hours when there is a steady source of income.

My choice of “Top 10 home based businesses” that will give you an edge and expedite earnings to break even quickly with your investments are the ones that produce results and have ways to measure your incremental success in steps, however small. A birds eye view of the systems that will make you a self employed home biz owner –

  • Plug-In Profit Site (PIPS)
  • Niche Profit Classroom (NPC)
  • Ewen Chia’s Super Affiliate Inner Circle Club
  • Internet Marketing Centre (IMC)
  • Strong Future International (SFI)
  • Empowerism
  • Global Domain International (GDI)
  • The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs (IAHBE)
  • Warrior Pro
  • The Reverse Funnel System

    • Plug-In Profit Site commonly known as the PIPS program comes with a complete money making system that runs on auto-pilot. The package has everything – a professional website, reputed 5 affiliate programs, pre-written sales letter and automated emails by an autoresponder. It is all about earning a residual income from the internet. The advantage of the program is that it gives a kick-start to a newbie who is readily equipped with a useful internet product. A small disadvantage of the system is the initial cost of the membership programs and a 30 days training series that may end up in a total spending spree for an inexperienced marketer.

    Niche Profit Classroom is a membership program that I have found very helpful from my personal experience. NPC provides one-to-one support, premier web hosting for 15 domains and ready made high quality niche websites that are very easy to customize and deploy. The video tutorials are very educational and are made keeping the view of a novice who is new to the internet with no expertise in computer skills. Every month, you get instant access to two ready made businesses and a step by step approach to implement the blueprint. The membership fee is slightly on the higher side for newbies who have just come in but worth investing.

    Ewen Chia’s Super Affiliates Inner Circle Club is a monthly membership program in which the super affiliate shares the secrets, strategies and resources on how to make a fortune from affiliate marketing and various other online techniques. The membership provides 5 modules out of which three of them provide new content every month. One of the modules contains products that you have PLR (Private Label and Resale Rights) that alone is worth your investment in the program.

    Internet Marketing Centre has 12 modules and each module contains a number of lessons, resources along with bonus materials that are broken down into small steps so that you can follow the time-tested, proven business building techniques in order to make profits. There is an action plan for you to follow once you read the lesson. You should join only if you are serious and ready for investing a significant amount of the one time yearly fee. With the latest upgrade, it comes in different options of quarterly payment as well.

    SFI for more than ten years is successfully showing masses how to build a highly profitable internet business from the comfort of the homes. By promoting TripleClicks, an online store, the affiliates can earn commissions by simply referring the people to store. To grow in SFI, you need strong referral and sponsoring skills that can be easily built up with the online SFI training.

    Empowerism is a great web based home business that provides state-of the art website, powerful SEO tools to help drive free traffic to your site, comprehensive training with full access to resources and free “Excellence” magazine that is filled with latest online success tips and strategies. The only thing which may deter one’s online business is that one needs to be good in referring and building network.

    IAHBE is an organization that champions the home-business opportunities and provides access to an unparalleled, one-of-a-kind business building arsenal of your own. You will have at your disposal, dozens of exclusive reports, interviews with the internet’s most successful entrepreneurs, and much more!

    GDI Fight the recession with the most powerful home business, an easy program to build an income from home. GDI offers a great product – domain, web hosting and it is 100% free to sign up for. This eliminates a lot of objections that prospects have when they are looking at online business opportunities. There is absolutely no risk involved.

    WarriorPro comes with a subscription to Host4profit, membership to the world famous Warrior Forum and a complete Ad tracking system. It pays you for each person that signs up for a Host4Profit hosting account either through your PIPS site or individually and is a great way of earning residual income.

    The Reverse Funnel System is an extremely profitable business built in the PIPS website where you get 100% commissions. It is not a scam but requires a significant money amounting to $2K to $5K for the membership schemes that are quite expensive. Hence it isn’t for all and does not provide a launching pad for people who are not prepared to invest.

    Today there are thousands making it big with their home based business. Success is certain for tenacious people who are there for the long haul. Just take up some or all of the above and give your best shot.

    13 Winning Facebook Business Page Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Fan-Base!

    OK, keep reading because we’ll share 13 simple strategies that

    should be the first step you take after setting up your business page!

    1. Videos are King. Post a video: This is the era of ed-u-tain-ment; your audience prefers to be ed-u-tained versus educated. Facebook users watch 1.8 billion videos per day, you may as well be one of them!

    2. Contact with your Fans. Find out their likes and dislikes, what will fly and what’s a flop. Staying connected to your target audience. Staying plugged-in is another FREE way to perform market research. Research and polling are Great ways to ascertain exactly your visitor’s desires.

    3. Add an effective CTA: (call-to-Action button) If your CTA is to book an appointment then you’ll want to write a post encouraging your target market to book their appointment now. Another advantage of correctly optimizing your CTA in this example, your clients can book their appointment by clicking your CTA. By clicking on the book now button this takes them directly to the Facebook Editorial calendar. This is a tremendous opportunity that saves massive time and increases conversion rates.

    4. We love stores so include them on your page. Page Stories let you share pictures and short videos that bring your audience behind the scenes, giving them an intimate look into your business. Talk about your new Story in your post.

    5. Let your visitors know what others think of you. Post testimonials and reviews: According to recent research consumers trust reviews just as much as personal recommendations. Ask Amazon!

    6. News sells. Announce news: You can post business announcements via Facebook Messenger. You can post events, sales, or community affairs on your Page to reach your customers at scale for FREE!

    7. Questions are the answer. One easy way to keep your visitors engaged is by asking questions. People don’t care about how much you know; they care about how much you know about them.

    8. Inspiration is always a healthy choice. Post inspirational and motivational quotes. If they are unique and highly engaging, they will be shared throughout other social media platforms.

    9. Share related news: When you share the news that is relatable and of interest to your target market, it gives them a warm and cozy feeling. They feel that you don’t just care about promoting your products or services BUT YOU HAVE A GENUINE INTEREST IN THEM.

    10. Crowd-source feedback: Ask your page followers for feedback and use it to improve your business. This is a great way to create transparency and openness with your audience and build brand trust.

    11. Share Holiday Greetings. Especially share those unfamiliar holidays, this gives it a fun-fact. And it induces engagement.

    12.Create an Event: An event can be anything you make it. Create a stir and promote it.

    13. If you post a piece of content that gets plenty of comments and shares; you should consider boosting that post! You never know when you may hit the nail squarely on the head or upload that perfect video that gets many shares; your visitors will let you know.

    Keeping in mind recent research found that 78% of American consumers say they discover products on Facebook. Facebook is considered one of the top advertising channels online. 51% of the total US advertising dollars are spent on digital ads.

    Another note, Facebook has over 2 million-month users, 65 million small business pages and 4 million advertisers on its platform. This makes it’s the biggest social media network in the world.

    Lastly, Facebook is ever-changing. It’s a good idea to keep up-to-date and current with their rules, algorithm changes and marketing tactics.

    Check out PYTalkBiz.com for more Facebook marketing tips and tactics. We stay current because we practice what we teach.

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