Interested in Executive Buzz? March 25, 2009
Posted by theinfosearcher in Business Tips & Resources, General, Information Research, Internet Marketing.Tags: Exectweet, executive buzz, executive chatter, Executive twitter, Federated Media, Twitter, Twittering executives
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Wasn’t it just yesterday that Twitter got off the ground? It has quickly segmented its market, and now, has expanded to ExecTweets, a site devoted to what executives are saying on Twitter. ExecTweets is a partnership between Federated Media and Microsoft. It is a platform that “aggregates the tweets of top execs and empowers the community to surface valuable and insightful business-related tweets”.
ExecTweets, still in its infancy and currently being offered as a beta site, boasts of 75-80 top executives. The Twitter craze has definitely caught on and is poised to grow.
ExecTweets gives you the option of joining the tweet or recommending an executive that should be on the site by replying to @exectweets via Twitter, or alternatively, you can follow the executive chatter on ExecTweet.
Are marketing campaigns affected by the day you send it? March 31, 2008
Posted by theinfosearcher in Internet Marketing.Tags: Marketing campaigns, response rate, e-mail marketing
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If you are looking to get subscribers to any of your internet marketing ventures, according to a recent article in the MarketingSherpa, the day that you send out the sign-up or subscription notice has a significant correlation to the day that you send the follow up e-mail.
Sending out marketing campaigns from Tuesday-Thursday has been the rule of thumb until a company had tested the validity of the said dates due to poor responses to their marketing campaigns. It is interesting to note that in the tests conducted by Lumosity, if the follow up was sent on the same day of the week that the initial marketing campaign was sent, the response rate was higher. It was stated to be as high as 81%.
Therefore, while conventional wisdom had pegged Tuesday through Thursday as the best days to get the best response to marketing campaigns, the testing conducted by Lumosity to increase game usage on their site proved otherwise.
How effective is virtual business networking? March 9, 2008
Posted by theinfosearcher in General.Tags: online networking, virtual business networking
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While there are many like LinkedIn, Ryze, Friendster, Spoke, EntreMate, Facebook and the list goes on……how do you decide which is the best business networking site for you? Once you decide that, how do you determine who you should include in your network? It can be overwhelming to register on some of these sites and make the necessary connections. The idea behind these sites is to have a “warm” contact. The ”six degrees of separation” supposedly makes one feel a little better about connecting with another person that is 3-4 or possibly more connections down along the networking chain. Odd sentiment but, it exists.
I suppose there is some merit in the idea of networking this way but I can’t imagine that everyone would be comfortable connecting with you when they are not too sure of your intentions. Are they looking to build a large base of contacts so that they can say brag about having one or, is it purely to make a business connection with individuals in your network? Then, the question is, what if they are competitors, looking to tap into your network? What then?
Recently, I had several people send me a LinkedIn invite after a webinar that I did. At first I was flattered, but then when I thought about it further, it didn’t really make any sense because I hardly knew these people except for knowing that they had attended my webinar. Is it advisable to accept an invitation from someone that you hardly know and include them in your network? Or, should you wait to get to know them before you invite them into your network?
Let’s hear your thoughts.
Funding for small businesses? March 1, 2008
Posted by theinfosearcher in Business Tips & Resources.Tags: Grants, Loans, Small Business Funding
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Is there really such a thing?? It may seem hard to come by, but there are many sources that you could tap into for funding. Start by tapping into your personal savings, your family and friends then, look at your networking contacts, there just may be an angel investor/a venture capitalist somewhere out there who would consider investing in your idea.
The next funding source to consider are government grants. While the most common ones offered to small businesses are the state grants, it is time-consuming and tedious to secure. An important thing to note is the status of your business. Often times, registering as a women-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned business can be viewed favorably. The federal grants or funds on the other hand are allocated to the SBAs, SBDCs and SCORE to provide non-monetary support to the small businesses. SBA’s, however do provide different types of loans. Another source is the community block grants. It is offered to small businesses that can demonstrate the ability to create jobs in a particular region (ie; city, county, or state). Private foundations are another possible funding source and while most of that funding is usually allocated to nonprofits that benefit the community, there are private fund granting foundations and organizations out there.
While there is funding out there, it does require a bit of research to determine the best option for your particular small business.
Medical Travel or Tourism? February 24, 2008
Posted by theinfosearcher in Healthcare.Tags: Medical Tourism, Medical Travel, overseas healthcare services
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What’s in a name? Apparently, quite a bit….. The term Medical Tourism was coined when there was a flux of tourists leaving the country and combining vacations with minor outpatient cosmetic surgery. Today it is a thriving business and it is no longer limited to minor, outpatient, or for that matter cosmetic surgery.
Today, the appropriate term would be “Medical Travel”. People/patients seeking all types of medical services in countries and destinations that offer it, for possibly much less. That should reduce the burden on the super inflated insurance providers and healthcare service providers in this country. If they haven’t already thought about harnessing the overseas markets and creating a presence in those countries that have successfully implemented such services…… I guess it will just be a matter of time!
Netweaving February 15, 2008
Posted by theinfosearcher in General.Tags: business connections, helping others, netweaving, networking
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Alas, I have been hesitant long enough and have finally decided to make my foray into the blog-sphere. Just don’t ask me what I was waiting for…. Anyway, I came across the term “Netweaving” while I was at a seminar sometime back. Though I thought it was an interesting concept didn’t really do much in the way of applying this concept till I observed several people at a recent conference handle this process very effectively. I do believe it has been circulating for a while based on an article that I had read and since I think at some level all of us that network, do it, I thought I should revisit the concept and include it in my upcoming presentation on “Networking”.
Most of us have been conditioned to Network, for the most part, to connect with other individuals whether it be, for social or business reasons. But the impetus is generally on achieving a personal goal, ie; to form alliances to promote your business or at a social level, to form alliances to promote yourself. Netweaving works off of a slightly different model. The impetus is to help as many people. The focus shifts from self to others! For those of us who dread the thought of networking, this could really take the edge off. Hmmm! Something to think about…..
